She got to sleep around four o’clock, only to wake three hours later covered in sweat and with the image of her father gazing at her. When Astrid swept the daze from her eyes and her mind, Grace was standing over her.
‘I think you were having a nightmare. I heard you from my room.’
Astrid crawled from the sofa, bones aching as her brain struggled to deal with the interrupted sleep. ‘I’m sorry if I woke you, Grace.’ She pushed her arms into her sides in an attempt to control the trembling.
Why was this happening now?
She’d shoved those memories into the shadows a long time ago. She stumbled into the bathroom and buried her head in the sink, submerging herself into the running water, letting the chill return her to the present. When she lifted up, she’d missed Grace speaking to her.
‘What?’
She dried her face. Her teeth were held together by grit, the back of her throat resembling sandpaper. She spread a thick line of toothpaste on to her finger and used it to cleanse her mouth before spitting it into the sink. An aroma of mint surrounded her as she returned to the lounge.
Grace stared at her. ‘I said I was up anyway, so there’s no need to apologise. Do you want to go out for breakfast, or I’ll make eggs and toast?’
Astrid stretched her shoulders. ‘I’ll watch you cook, and we’ll discuss tactics for today.’
‘Great; let’s crack on.’
She slid into a chair as Grace sprayed oil into a pan. She smelt at her armpit, narrowing her eyes as she watched the food fry.
‘I’ll need a shower and a change of clothes.’
‘No problem, partner. How do you like your toast?’ Grace dropped bread into the toaster.
‘Well done without being burnt. Do you know if those Detectives, Cope and Wylie, took Burns in for questioning?’ Astrid reached for a glass of orange juice. It was cold against her lips and sent a shiver through her throat.
‘Knowing them, I’d guess he’ll still be at the station. They’ll make him wait before interviewing him.’ A dark shadow crossed her face. ‘Do you want to go there and speak to him before they do?’
‘You could arrange that?’
‘If we can avoid those two. I think Tanner is wary of you, which means he’ll be wary of me while we’re together.’
Astrid enjoyed the smell of the fried eggs. ‘Cope and Wylie didn’t seem too enamoured about seeing us at the crime scene. How well do you know them?’
‘Down by the river was the first time they’ve acknowledged my existence.’ Grace couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice. ‘When the other officers talk about them, she seems to have many admirers, while everyone avoids him. He’s a bit intense, from what I gather. Do you want to see Manny before they do?’
Astrid considered the idea as she finished her juice. ‘No; let them soften him up first. We’ll speak to him when he goes home.’ She wouldn’t feel awake until after a shower. ‘We’ll stop off at the station on the way there after breakfast.’
Grace poked at the yellow of the eggs. ‘What do you need there?’
‘If you can find out what time he’s due to be released, we’ll follow him home.’
Grace flipped at the food in the pan. ‘Why not talk to him there?’
‘If Manny is guilty, he might give something away on his journey home.’ Astrid’s stomach grumbled. ‘Maybe he’ll visit someone of interest.’
A large frown consumed Grace’s face as she fiddled with her phone. ‘I told you before: there’s no way he could hurt anyone, let alone a kid.’
‘I heard what you said, and I don’t doubt your belief in him, but let’s not take anything for granted. We’ll watch what he does after the interrogation, and then speak to him.’
The bread popped out of the toaster as Grace finished the eggs and placed them on to plates. She handed two slices of toast to Astrid before sending a text. The reply was instantaneous.
‘The desk sergeant says our suspect will be out in an hour.’
Astrid grabbed a slice of toast before heading to the shower. ‘That leaves me plenty of time to get ready.’
Fifty minutes later, they were in the car and sitting outside the police station. Grace pushed the seat as far back as it could go to stretch her legs.
‘I wonder how hard they were on Manny.’
Astrid sensed a connection between her and the old man. ‘Why don’t you think this guy could be a suspect in our case; or for the death of Katie Spencer?’
Grace lifted her hands on to the steering wheel, gripping the thick plastic as if she wanted to snap it in half. Astrid watched her regain control and steady her breathing.
‘When I was eight, Manny saved my life.’ She peered through the windscreen at her colleagues entering the station. ‘I was all alone in those woods, no idea how I got there when I fell down a well. I was there for hours, only the rats and the damp to keep me company. The town sent out a search party, but he found me, him and his dogs. He threw a rope down and pulled me out. I knew then what I know now: he couldn’t hurt any kids.’
‘It must have been terrible for you.’
Grace let go of the wheel and rubbed her fingers across her knuckles. There was something in her eyes, a glimpse of a shadow, which Astrid recognised from her own past: a trauma not fully addressed.
‘After the first few hours, it wasn’t so bad.’ She raised one finger to her lips and bit on the nail. ‘I think it did me good.’
Astrid stared at her. ‘Falling down the well did you some good?’
‘I was average sized when I fell, but I started shooting up in height the following year. Gran was an evolutionary biologist, and she always joked I only grew so tall because my brain was telling me if I fell down another large hole, I’d be able to climb my way out of it.’
Astrid enjoyed seeing Grace happy, even though she wasn’t sure how forced it was. The car’s digital clock hit eight, and Burns stepped out of the station on time. He glanced around as if aware someone was watching him before turning towards the beaten-up truck in the parking lot.
‘Shall we follow him?’ Grace said.
Astrid had considered what her options were on this second day of a new partnership, the places she needed to be and the people she had to talk to. Following Burns was a long shot to finding Alex, but there was something about Katie Spencer’s death that nagged at the back of her head. She was about to reply when there was a loud rap of knuckles on the car.
Grace opened the window and spoke to the teenager staring at them. ‘What do you want, Heath?’
The kid pulled at the top of his shirt. ‘The Senator sent this for you.’ He handed her an envelope. ‘He said there’s no need for a reply.’
With that, he scuttled off down the street. Grace handed it to Astrid.
‘It’s addressed to you.’
She ripped it open and removed the card. ‘I’ve been invited to a fundraising gathering at Brady’s mansion tomorrow night; me and a plus one. Do you have a party dress?’
‘You want to go?’ Grace twisted her face in surprise.
‘Why not?’ Astrid ran her fingers across the card’s gloss and examined the golden ink that spelt her name. ‘It’ll give me a chance to slip away and poke around inside that place. It’s better than having to break in.’
Grace squashed her lips together and shook her head. ‘He’ll be up to something; there’s always an ulterior motive with Brady.’
‘Great; we’ll be able to turn his arrogance against him.’
Grace watched Manny drive away. ‘What now?’
Astrid stared at the truck, wondering if trailing the old man was the priority, quickly deciding it wasn’t. ‘We’ll speak to Burns later. Where’s the Coroner’s office?’
‘It’s inside our biggest hospital. I’ll text Dr Jones to let her know we’re coming.’
Grace started the engine and turned the car in the opposite direction.
Astrid stared at the invitation to Brady’s party as they drove. This was one of the few places she’d been to across the world where the streets didn’t feature the homeless and the destitute.
‘Angel Springs appears not to suffer from the social ills most towns do. I know I haven’t been here long, but I’ve seen little of drug addiction or beggars.’
But don’t forget the missing kids.
‘We have several charities who supply food and shelter for those who can’t afford it, most of which are funded by various churches.’
‘If a society can’t provide the fundamentals of life to all of its population, regardless of circumstances, then it doesn’t deserve to call itself civilised.’
‘Did you read that somewhere?’
Astrid shook her head. ‘Just something I learnt from being homeless.’
She gave a summary of her time as a dispossessed runaway. Grace parked the car outside the hospital, and they got out.
‘It must have been hard for you, living like that.’
‘It was less dangerous than where I’d spent the first fourteen years of my life.’
She left those words hanging in the air and climbed up the steps. The sign for the Coroner’s office pointed around the corner, past the ambulance bay and the section for paediatrics. Grace’s phone vibrated with a new message.
‘Dr Jones is in the morgue.’
They marched inside together. The hallway was spacious and modern; everything which could shine did. Astrid took deep breaths as they strode through the corridor. As a young girl, she’d spent too many hours in such places, holding her pain inside as she watched her father convince nurses and doctors his younger daughter was the most accident-prone child in the world.
They followed the signs down a long corridor. A bored security guard sat outside the entrance to the morgue. He lifted his sunken eyes and nodded to Grace as they approached and went through the door.
There was a space with coolers for storing bodies and the autopsy suite for examinations. At the far end, Briana Jones was stuffing her mouth with a bacon sandwich as she stood over a fresh corpse. As they got closer, the smell of exposed brains and congealed blood drifted over them.
‘Hit and run victim,’ the Coroner said as she wiped her fingers on her coat and shook Astrid’s hand. Behind her was a board where she’d written notes.
‘Did you manage to complete Katie Spencer’s autopsy?’ Grace said.
Jones raised her eyebrows. ‘Of course I did. Do you want to see her?’ Astrid nodded. ‘Well, follow me, ladies.’ She led them to the coolers, stopping two rows in and pulling the first drawer towards her. The girl’s face looked less traumatic than the last time Astrid had seen it. ‘As I said at the scene, Ms Spencer died from a massive inhalation of water. The blow to her head would have rendered her unconscious when she hit the surface. There are no signs of foul play.’
Astrid’s gaze lingered on the teenager’s pale features. ‘Have the police checked to see where Katie’s point of entry into the river was?’
Jones shrugged. ‘The river is five miles long. I don’t think they’ll bother now they know it was an accident.’
‘Or someone made it look like an accident,’ said Astrid. She addressed the Doctor. ‘What did you determine about her wounds?’
‘Self-inflicted over a few years, I’d say.’ Dr Jones seemed confident in her opinion. Astrid turned to Grace. ‘You said Katie ran away from her home two months ago.’
‘That’s what they told social services,’ Grace replied.
‘So where has she been all this time?’
Astrid moved from the kid’s body and Dr Jones closed the drawer. Grace caught up with her as she headed for the door.
‘Maybe she’s been living in the woods, camping or in one of the caves.’
‘There are caves?’
‘This was a mining town a long time ago, and some of the entrances are still there, even though they’ve been condemned, and we’ve warned people not to go near them. That doesn’t stop some.’
‘Thanks for your help, Doc,’ Astrid shouted before they left.
‘Do you think someone was keeping Katie against her will, maybe out in the woods?’
They were nearly out of the hospital when Astrid stopped and faced her partner. ‘Why were those two Detectives there if it was only an accident?’
Grace pondered the question. ‘It might have been reported as a homicide at first, so they would have gone straight there until they knew better.’
‘Yes, but Jones knew immediately, and she would have told them it wasn’t murder. They were already at the scene before we got there. I saw them speaking to Burns as we made our way up.’
They left the building and headed for the car.
‘So why do you think they were there?’
Astrid considered the question. ‘I don’t know, but we should find out.’