‘No. This can’t be right.’ I stared at the report I’d been waiting for since I came into the station unusually early this morning. Juliet had arrived before me, her newly painted nails a perfect match for her lilac heels and navy suit.
Juliet’s eyes narrowed. ‘How could Dunlow have known we’d find this?’
I stood up, shaking out my hands. ‘What’s this saying? That Karl or Dunlow could have shot Melanie?’ I raked my fingers through my hair. ‘That’s not right. Dunlow pretty much admitted to killing her. Even if Karl’s DNA is all over the gloves and scarf, it has to be there simply because he lived on the estate.’
I’d run through various scenarios during a sleepless night after my calming chat with Ollie. I’d concluded Dunlow was cocky because he knew something we didn’t. I hadn’t imagined this.
‘Juliet, what does this mean?’ I turned away from Dunlow’s mocking frown.
Juliet sat back in her chair. ‘The evidence could be pointing towards either of them.’
The toast I’d stolen from Paul twisted in my stomach. ‘You don’t believe that? Karl might have run, but apart from that he’s given us no reason to suspect he had anything to do with this.’
‘I trust the evidence, and the evidence is saying Karl and Dunlow came into contact with gloves covered in gunshot residue.’
‘What about what Dunlow said yesterday?’
Juliet shrugged. ‘I guess he was playing with us or trying to throw us off his scent. At the moment, there’s no way to know.’
I shook my head and turned back to the evidence wall. ‘Dunlow’s the killer. I can feel it. He knew we’d find mixed-up DNA on those gloves. I don’t know how he got it there, but Dunlow did it.’
‘We have two options,’ Juliet said. ‘You could be right, or Karl could have shot Melanie and tried to hide the gloves, then Dunlow really did find them and panic.’
‘Stop being so cold.’ I glared at Dunlow’s shiny corporate photo. ‘It’s him. Can’t you feel it?’ The haughty distain, the taunting; it wasn’t just arrogance. He’d killed someone and was certain he would get away with it.
‘Gabe.’ A warning note crept into Juliet’s voice. ‘We have to follow the evidence.’
‘I’m not letting Dunlow go free while we pursue dead ends.’ I balled my hands into fists. I couldn’t believe the DNA results had let us down. I’d been sure they would point at Dunlow, not mire us even further between different suspects.
‘That’s not what I’m suggesting, but we have to keep our eyes on Karl and Dunlow.’
Hot rage exploded inside of me. I lifted my fist and smashed it into Dunlow’s face.
‘It’s him.’ I mashed my knuckles into the paper. ‘It’s him and I’m not going to let him get away with it.’
‘Glad to hear it,’ said a voice from the doorway.
I snatched my hand back. During my outburst, I’d forgotten our office wasn’t a closed-off space.
David Rees leant against the door frame, his ginger eyebrows raised. His baggy grey jumper and habitual black leggings made his legs look extra sticklike. Trust the biggest prick we worked with to witness this.
‘What do you want?’ Juliet snapped.
Her back was rigid, her jaw set. That could have been due to David’s sudden appearance or what I’d said. I’d turned on her because she didn’t agree that Dunlow was a cold-hearted murderer.
‘I wanted to talk to you about the results I sent through,’ David said.
‘Not necessary.’ Juliet turned to her computer. ‘They’re crystal clear.’
I pressed my nails into my palms. That was a rebuke for David and me.
‘Not quite,’ he said.
I walked around to my desk. Wiggling my mouse, I woke my computer and brought up the results. As much as I didn’t like what they said, it seemed straight forward.
‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
David rapped his knuckles on the door frame. ‘It’s the powder. Did you read the note about it?’
I scrolled down. I had read it, but it seemed unimportant after the glaringly wrong results above. ‘What does it mean?’
‘Latex powder is used as a covering on lots of things,’ David explained. ‘In this situation, I’d argue it was left over from a pair of plastic gloves.’
I frowned at the line of text on the screen. ‘Someone wore plastic gloves inside the leather gloves?’
Juliet gasped, jumping up from her chair. ‘We saw them in the barn. Do you remember?’
I scrunched my face. ‘When exactly?’
Juliet rummaged through the notes pinned to the board around Karl’s picture. ‘Don’t you remember me asking about the plastic gloves? Karl said something about having them for the dogs.’
The memory resurfaced, Juliet’s disgusted cringe clear in my mind. I stood up as well. ‘So Dunlow did kill Melanie.’
Juliet’s mouth pressed into a thin line. ‘We can’t prove that.’
‘But this is something, right?’ I paced over to the wall. ‘Dunlow would have known about the plastic gloves. He must have gone to get the dog and a gun, and spotted the leather gloves, then put them on over the top of the plastic ones. He probably only said he’d lost them because he knew he wouldn’t get rid of all his DNA. He would have known they were Karl’s. He was ready to frame Karl right from the start.’
I wished the groundskeeper was contactable. If we could ask him if he’d lost a pair of gloves recently, we would have more to trap Dunlow with.
Juliet stared at the wall. ‘We’ve got no way to prove it. And if the latex gloves protect the killer’s identity, who’s to say Terence or Jordan didn’t kill Melanie?’
‘That’s possible, but we can build on this.’ I turned and grabbed my notepad. ‘We know what to look for now. We need those plastic gloves. They’re what will really incriminate Dunlow.’
‘We already searched the whole property.’ Juliet looked at the aerial map of the Dunlow Estate. ‘We didn’t find anything. What if he burned them?’
‘He’ll still have them.’ I jabbed my pencil into the paper. ‘Dunlow isn’t the type to leave anything to chance. He’s hidden them, and we need to wait until he slips up.’
‘Unfortunately, time is something you don’t have a great deal of,’ Superintendent Angela Dobson said from behind David.
‘Ma’am,’ he said, hastily sidestepping out of her way.
Angela walked into our office, black cornrows making straight lines down her back. Her starched uniform was perfect, her belt cinched across her wide stomach. Juliet had no visible reaction to our superior’s appearance, but I couldn’t help compulsively tugging at the hem of my jumper, my eyes darting to the crumpled chocolate wrappers that hadn’t quite made it into the bin.
‘How’s the case coming along?’ Angela nodded at the cluttered wall of evidence. ‘Have you found anything to charge Leonard or Timothy Dunlow with? If not, I need you to release them.’
The excitement that had filled me since David’s latex explanation vanished. It was a step forward but wasn’t nearly enough to charge Dunlow with murder. I could imagine his smug face if we brought this evidence before him; it was exactly what he’d expected us to find and he knew we couldn’t do a thing with it.
‘We have to let them go, ma’am,’ Juliet said. ‘We had some good leads, but they’ve not taken us anywhere.’
That was an unusually kind thing to say. More accurate would have been that we’d taken one shot in the dark after another, but this time I’d jumped ahead and arrested Dunlow too soon.
‘Is anything likely to come up in the next few hours?’ Angela asked, her dark brown cheeks rounding with a sympathetic wince.
We could ask Dunlow about the gloves, but that would exonerate rather than trap him. Better to leave him guessing what we’d found until we had more to throw at him. We could ask Terence and Jordan about the gloves, but I didn’t want to tip them off on the small chance either of them was the killer. And there was no way to ask Karl about any of this.
We had a visit booked with Matthew Biss this afternoon. He wouldn’t be any help with the gloves, but hopefully he would provide another thread so that the tapestry proclaiming Karl’s innocence would be so solid even Juliet couldn’t poke holes in it.
‘We’ve got nothing, ma’am,’ I admitted.
‘I’m going to authorise their release then.’ Angela moved to the door, her broad hips swaying under her stiff uniform. ‘One of you needs to come down to deal with the paperwork in about half an hour.’ She sighed. ‘Their solicitors are threatening legal action, so we need to make sure everything is done perfectly.’
‘It will be, ma’am,’ Juliet promised.
Angela tapped on the doorframe. ‘Have you got any strong leads left?’
My cheeks burnt as I avoided looking at David and Juliet. ‘Nothing strong, ma’am. Not yet.’
‘Start taking steps to wrap it up then.’ Angela’s tone brokered no space for argument. ‘You’ve had long enough. Anything else comes to light, you can open it back up. Things have been too quiet the last week. Something new is going to come in, and I want you two ready for it.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Juliet said, her voice devoid of emotion.
Angela marched from the room and I slumped into my chair, resting my head in my hands.
‘I’m sorry,’ I mumbled. ‘I shouldn’t have brought Dunlow in. This case has been a mess from the start. All I’ve done is make it worse.’
‘Don’t talk shit,’ Juliet said.
I looked up. ‘I’ve led us in so many wrong directions, lost a key suspect, and we can’t pin anything on the killer.’
‘None of that is your fault.’ Juliet sat down at her computer. ‘Some cases don’t go the way we want. It’s not because we’ve done anything wrong. You can’t beat yourself up over this.’
But I would. I looked at Melanie’s smiling selfie. No matter what Juliet said to comfort me, I knew deep down that I’d failed.
Unless we found the plastic gloves. But I had no idea where to look.
‘Can I get you both a tea?’ David asked.
I spun my chair. David hovered in the doorway, his jumper pulled down over his hands. I’d assumed he’d scuttled off after Angela.
‘What?’
He mimed drinking, his pinkie finger held aloft. ‘Tea. The beverage. Do you want one?’
‘We prefer coffee.’ Juliet recovered from the surprise of David acting like a normal human quicker than me. ‘Black for me, milk with two sugars for Gabe.’
‘Give us your mugs.’
I passed them over and he strode out of our office.
‘He helped with the case and he’s making us coffee.’ I wrinkled my nose. ‘David might not be a complete arsehole?’
Juliet shook her head. ‘I don’t have the capacity to cope with such a monumental paradigm shift.’
I stared at the space my mug had occupied. It was easier to focus on David’s uncharacteristic actions than this clusterfuck of a case. The first I’d taken the lead on, and I’d made a mess of it.
‘You going to be okay, Gabe?’
I mustered up a smile. ‘I’ll be fine. I appreciate you asking.’
Juliet pursed her lips. ‘You didn’t do anything wrong. It doesn’t work out every time.’
She turned to her computer, her attempt at consoling me over. I couldn’t help but read into her words; she’d given up. We would go see Karl’s dad, but that was only to tie up our final loose end. We had no more leads, no other avenues to rush down. Juliet didn’t want to beg Angela for more time.
My eyes caught on the crumpled photo of Dunlow. Karl said that whoever killed Melanie was either stupid or didn’t know the body was going to be found. There was a third option. Melanie’s murderer could be so arrogant, so sure he wouldn’t be brought to justice, that he didn’t care if her body was discovered.