After her Tuesday morning tutorial, Carla was surprised to find a voicemail from James Franklin asking her to call him. Not only was she convinced she hadn’t made much of an impression on him at the fundraiser, but she was pretty sure the only people who had her new mobile number were Patricia and Erin. She’d made do with her English phone at the start of term until she’d seen the dent September’s bill had made on her bank balance. She called the number back and got the secretary who had stonewalled Carla’s attempts to reach Franklin earlier.
‘I’m Professor Carla James from Jericho College. Mr Franklin left a message for me to ring him.’
‘Mr Franklin is in a meeting right now. Can I get him to call you back?’
Carla made a face. Franklin wasn’t the only one with a busy schedule. ‘I’m teaching all afternoon. Tell him I’m free from five thirty.’
‘Hold on a minute.’ The phone went silent until she heard the baritone of Franklin’s voice.
‘Carla. Thank you for calling back. How are you?’
‘Well, I’m fine, thanks.’
‘Look, I’m tied up at the moment, but I wondered if you fancied having dinner sometime. There are a couple of things I wanted to chat to you about.’
His manner was brisk and impersonal. Whatever the reason behind the call, he wasn’t asking her on a date. She relaxed, pulling her diary out of her bag. ‘Can I ask where you got my number from? I was surprised to get a call on this phone.’
Franklin paused, unused to explaining himself. ‘My secretary found it for me.’
His tone was evasive, but Carla was pretty sure that if she pushed it, his secretary would cover for him.
‘That’s fine.’ She wondered what he wanted from her. ‘When did you have in mind?’ Far better he choose a date than admit that she was free most evenings.
‘How about this Friday?’
Let me check my social calendar, thought Carla. ‘That would be fine.’
‘I’ll get my secretary to book a restaurant and let you know the venue. I can pick you up from your house.’ Franklin rang off before Carla could give him Patricia’s address. He probably knew it already. She wondered how a man of his status found out personal details of private citizens. One possibility was he had a private detective on call who could furnish any information quickly. Another, more disturbing, possibility was that he had a contact at the police department.
Carla looked at her watch. She had half an hour spare, which was probably enough time to drive to a deli and grab a sandwich. She’d still not got used to the concept of getting into your car to pick up something as inconsequential as a bagel. She was beginning to put on weight from the lack of exercise; the yoga she did in her room hardly counted. She’d need to be careful as her five-foot-two frame wouldn’t tolerate more than an extra couple of pounds. She grabbed her keys and headed to the parking lot. In the distance, she saw the uniformed figure of Viv Kantz leaning against a Mercedes parked next to her own car. She had her arms folded as Carla approached.
‘What part of stay away from my investigations don’t you understand?’
Carla frowned. ‘What have I done to upset you?’ She pressed her car fob to open the car door and flinched as Viv grasped her arm.
‘I thought we had an agreement.’
‘Things have moved on since our last chat. I’ve found—’
Viv’s grip on her arm tightened as she pulled Carla away from her car. The lieutenant was slight but muscular and her strength made Carla’s legs wobble. ‘I don’t want to hear what you’ve found. You’re jeopardising months of hard work with your unfounded accusations and wild theories.’
It took all of Carla’s strength to shake her off. ‘What the hell’s wrong with you?’ Carla’s voice carried across the campus car park. Two female students made towards her but stopped when they saw Viv’s uniform. ‘You’ve asked me for a pattern and I’m offering you one. Why ask for expert help if you’ve no intention of paying any attention to my conclusions?’
The girls might not be coming any closer, but their presence had Viv in check. ‘It’s a half-cocked tale of superstition. Now I hear you’ve been trespassing on murder scenes. The killing of Jessica Sherwood is high priority. I have the Mayor’s office on my back and I don’t need you messing things up.’
‘Did Baros tell you about the daisy wheel I found etched into the window? None of your team noticed it. Call yourself professionals.’
Viv stepped forward, her face red with fury. ‘Now you listen to me. There’s no evidence Miss Sherwood’s killer scraped that pattern. Forensics have taken a look – anyone could have placed it there. The house is over fifty years old.’
‘But the daisy wheel is important. I want to show you a map with the crime scene of the six killings.’
‘Six? What the hell are you talking about?’
‘I’m adding Lauren Powers to the deaths—’
Viv took a step towards her in fury. ‘Listen here, I’m not having my professional competence questioned by someone who knows nothing about how things work. We have due process here and I follow it to the letter. Doctor Powers’s death was a suicide and you’ll be very sorry if you continue along this line of inquiry.’
Carla saw how Viv had got her reputation. In her rage, she was terrifying, but behind the anger, Carla glimpsed an implacability that would blind her to anything which did not fit in with her view of the world.
‘I want you to hand over all your notes right from the beginning when I called you out to Silent Brook. I’ll send Baros around this afternoon to pick them up and I want everything. Maps, drawings, notes. I’m calling an end to this as of today.’
‘And if I say no?’
‘I’m not someone to be messed around with. That will become clear to you if you persist.’
‘So that’s how things work in Jericho, is it?’
Viv held her gaze. Her deep brown eyes were flecked with green. ‘Don’t underestimate me. My priority is to keep residents safe.’
Carla opened her car door. ‘And you’re doing a terrific job of it.’