CHAPTER EIGHT

 

The door to the Garden Flat was opened by a petite young woman with long wavy blonde hair and beautifully made up eyes. She wore tight, skinny jeans with a cream cowl neck top and a wide studded leather belt. Kate was immediately reminded of a poster of Hannah Montana that Eddie used to have hanging inside his wardrobe door.

‘Asher?’ The eyes became even larger. ‘I’m so sorry..,’ she stared with surprise at Kate’s warrant card. ‘...uh, Chief Inspector, he’s not here.’

‘When do you expect him back, Miss?’ asked Jon.

The girl smiled, and treated them to the results of a fortune spent on top quality orthodontic work. ‘Not until late, I’m afraid. He’s working until around ten o’clock.’

Kate, dazzled by the whiter than white teeth, tried not to squint. ‘And you are?’ she asked.

‘Lynda. Lynda Cowley, I’m Asher’s fiancée.’ Her smile faded. ‘He’s alright, isn’t he? I mean he’s not been in an accident or anything?’

Jon gave her a reassuring grin. ‘No, it’s nothing like that, Miss Cowley. We just need a word with him. Maybe you could tell us where he works, or give us his mobile phone number?’

The girl still looked worried. ‘He works for a company on George Street, Hanson and Co, but he won’t be there. He’s at a client dinner tonight, and he switches his mobile off.’

‘Do you know where this dinner is taking place?’ Kate was feeling slightly twitchy about his being so conveniently out of contact.

The girl shook her head slowly, and the long blonde hair swung gently from side to side like a TV advert for shampoo. ‘He didn’t say.’

Client dinner my arse, thought Kate, recalling Asher Leyton’s penchants for a little late night curb crawling.  ‘Well, please give him this.’ She handed the girl her card. ‘Get him to ring me the moment he returns, Miss Cowley, no matter how late, okay?’ As she said those words she was reminded of her impending talk with David. Yet another call about work could seriously damage her barely conceived game plan. ‘On second thoughts, get him to ring me first thing in the morning. It will keep until then.’

‘Can I tell him what it’s about, Chief Inspector? I know he’ll worry if I tell him the police want to talk to him.’

Oh, I’m sure he will, she thought darkly. ‘We need to speak to anyone who may have been on Brewer Street a few evening ago, that’s all.’

‘Brewer Street is directly opposite George Street, where Asher works, isn’t it?’

Jon nodded.

Lynda Cowley looked somewhat relieved. ‘I’ll give him your message.’

As they walked back to the car, Kate said, ‘Just how gullible do you think one person can be?’

‘About as gullible as that I should say.’ Jon shook his head. ‘Poor kid.’

‘She only looked about sixteen. How old do think she really is?’

‘Probably closer to twenty, ma’am, maybe even older. I think she’s another Rosie, appearing much younger than she really is.’

‘Mm, probably.’ Kate frowned. ‘I saw you looking around, looking past her and into the hall. What was bothering you?’

‘I saw something.’ Jon opened the car door and slid in behind the wheel. ‘Just for a moment and it was gone, but it wasn’t very nice.’

‘What sort of something?’

He turned the key in the ignition. ‘Just something dark and unpleasant.’ He gave a little shiver. ‘I was glad she didn’t invite us in.’

‘I don’t like the sound of that.’ Kate buckled up. ‘Maybe I should go back alone tomorrow?’

‘No way.’ Jon said quickly. ‘I go with you, no argument, okay?’

Kate shrugged. ‘If you insist.’

‘I do. Absolutely.’ He sounded edgy, and Kate was pretty sure that whatever he had had seen had disturbed him more than he was letting on. But then he grinned at her and said, ‘Now, if I may suggest, ma’am, you start thinking big, pink, positive thoughts, and gear yourself up for your soiree. I, on the other hand, am going home for a large glass of something that’s at least 100% proof, and a long soak in the bath. I think we are going to be very busy over the next few days.’

 

Kate awoke around two in the morning and found herself gripped by anxiety. A horrible nervousness clung to her, but she could not recall having just broken away from a bad dream.

She eased back closer to David, and felt his arms automatically tighten around her. Earlier they had made love for the first time in a very long while. Maybe it had been the wine, but most likely it had been Jon’s thought-provoking words still in the back of her mind, that had allowed the evening to progress as it did.

She and David had talked for hours. All their concerns and grievances had poured out, and instead of finishing up yelling at each other as they normally did, they just talked some more.

When Kate finally went to sleep she had her husband’s promise that he would see her through her present workload, and then it would be his time. He had said he was considering a slow move back into the workplace, one that left plenty of time for the boys, and Kate said that when the time came she would not object. Well, that was the plan, and she prayed that this time it would work. The problem was they’d made up before so many times before. Sworn solemn oaths, that had been conveniently forgotten when another disaster had hit their fragile family. But, as she felt his warmth against her skin she had to admit that it did feel different this time. Maybe as they were getting older, they were getting wiser.

She shifted a little, pulling her pillow closer into her neck. So if everything in her garden was now rosy, why did she feel so unsettled?

It wasn’t the old house, even though it frequently creaked and bemoaned its advancing years. The Old Police House was her home and she loved it, so no..., she sighed softly. The fear came from within, and it concerned Jon Summerhill.

Just recently she had noticed a change in him. He seemed to possess a different sort of determination to put the bad guys away. It was harder, almost ruthless, and he didn’t seem to care a damn about his own safety. He had proved that by going after the ghosts of Jamie Durham and his killer.

Kate blinked in the darkness. Maybe she shouldn’t worry too much. Jon, for all his good looks and generally gentle disposition, was actually a very tough cookie. He was made of stern stuff, even if some of the men had him labelled as a bit of a weirdo. She’d seen him take on some of the toughest adversaries, and floor them using sheer speed and ingenuity. It did not pay to underestimate DS Jon Summerhill, as several villains had found to their cost.

But if he was troubled in some way, then she wanted to help him.

One thing was for sure, if Shauna was a murder victim, Kate needed Jon on top of his game, not going off on irresponsible ghost hunts in the middle of the night.

She closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep. The other thing that bothered her, was the fact that she had told Asher Leyton’s Barbie-doll girl-friend that they wanted to see him about an incident on Brewer Street. If he had abducted or hurt Shauna, with that information he would be on his toes and far away by dawn. She shouldn’t have put off speaking to him. Kate sighed, angry with herself for allowing her personal life to come

between her and her better judgement over a suspect.

Still, at least she could relax a little over David and the kids. She had a strong feeling that he would stick to his side of the bargain; sadly it was she who was most likely to rock the boat. She drew closer to her husband; but this time, for the whole family’s sake, she really would make an effort.

 

The next morning, as she drove away from the village, she marvelled at the sky-scape that filled her view. The low farmland still held on to a thick, soft carpet of diaphanous mist, and the sky itself was a heavy gunmetal grey, scattered with left over night clouds slowly making way for the dawn.

And then there was a wide rift in the iron sky that afforded her a glimpse into the fiery furnace that burnt behind it. A dazzling strip of the brightest flame orange tore the miserable greyness apart, and the scarlet orb of the sun began to rise.

She had been born here in Bomber County, on this flat and endless landscape, but she have never tired or got used to the dawns and the sunsets.

Already the anxiety of the night before had melted away and the morning found her full of resolve. Today they should know more from forensics, and then they could plan a course of action. And the first thing they would do, after a visit to Mr Curb-Crawler, would be to visit the place where Shauna had disappeared  to see what Jon could pick up psychically.

She slowed down as she approached the road into the town and waited as a tractor towing a trailer full of bright green broccoli lumbered past. As she sat there, she wondered why she found it so easy to accept Jon’s affinity with another world, a place that she could neither see nor understand. Kate released the handbrake and pulled out. She had no answers. She didn’t understand electricity, or sonar, or how computers worked, but she accepted them. Perhaps because of her maternal family’s readiness to believe in a spirit world, it just seemed right to her. It was beyond her as to how she got a picture on her television screen, and she’d never tried to analyse that, so why doubt Jon and his talent.

By the time she pulled into her parking space at the station, a hint of the tension of the night before had seeped back into her mind.

She stepped from her car, took out her security card and approached the door. Another day, she thought, and wondered rather uncomfortably what it would bring.