Poisoned Blue (Jamie Stanley Crime Scene Investigation Series Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter Five

Jamie stood next to Carl beside
Danny’s hospital bed. Her heart rate had finally slowed down to a normal pace,
and her hands had stopped sweating.

“Look at me,”
Danny said, “I’m fine.” He was sitting up in bed with a smile plastered to his
face. “It’s nice to know that someone cares about me though.”

“I wasn’t
worried. My job would be a lot less work if you weren’t there to boss me
around.” Carl took a sip of his coffee and then spat it back into the cup.
“This stuff really is awful.”

“You two don’t
have to wait around here with me. I’m allowed to go home later they just want
to check a few things. Go back to the station and work on the case.”

Carl was torn
between staying with his colleague and having a decent cup of coffee. Jamie
didn’t look as though she was going to go anywhere.

“I don’t need
you two standing around staring at me. However, you are needed to find Mrs
Longacre’s killer. Go.” Danny turned his back on them the best he could while
sitting in bed. Carl had bought the newest Stephen King novel from the gift
shop and it was likely that this was the only time he’d get to read it. The
sooner they left, the more pages he’d get through.

“Okay,” Carl
gave in, “we’ll go, but promise you’ll let us know when to come and pick you
up.”

Danny promised
but only because he needed them to bring him a fresh change of clothes. His
previous outfit was soaked in his own blood, and he didn’t like the idea of
riding the local bus wearing a hospital gown.

Jamie threw
another glance in his direction before following Carl out of the room.

“Peace and
quiet.” Danny sighed. He grabbed the book from the chair beside his bed, opened
it and creased the spine. His eyes scanned across the first line of words, and
he shifted his body into a more comfortable position.

Jamie spent the rest of the
afternoon trying to put together an image of the lady they’d seen in the
Longacre’s house. Whether she had anything to do with the case or not, she
wanted to find her.

“I don’t know
why you’re so determined to find her,” Carl said. “If she has anything to do
with our case, she’s likely to show her face again.”

“Not
necessarily. She knows we’re on to her, she’ll stay out of our way.” Jamie
thumped her fist on the table. Now she knew why eye witnesses always found it
so hard to identify the right person, this was near impossible. “She assaulted
a police officer, she has to pay.”

Carl laughed.

“What’s so
funny?”

“We have a
murderer to find and you’re more interested in finding a woman who–”

“Fine. I’ll
stop. But, who says she isn’t our murderer?”

“She went to
the house to get something. She didn’t get it. She’ll be back.”

The phone
rang, and Carl walked over to Danny’s desk to answer it.

“I know you’re
very busy and everything, but I can’t sit around all afternoon waiting for you
to turn up,” a male voice boomed down the phone.

“I’m sorry.
Who is this?” Carl scratched his head.

“Neil. Mr
Longacre. We had an appointment this afternoon.”

Carl’s eyes
grew wide. “Uh, um.” Was he supposed to tell anyone about Danny’s accident or
was it confidential information? “There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle at the
station.”

“Well, are you
coming or not?”

Carl covered
the mouthpiece with his hand. “It’s Mr Longacre. We were meant to see him this
afternoon,” he whispered to Jamie. “We don’t really need Danny to do the
interview, do we?”

Jamie shook
her head.

Carl uncovered
the mouthpiece. “Will four o’clock be alright for you?”

Neil grunted.

Carl hung up
and rolled his eyes.

“Will we be
able to get there by four?”

“If we go
quickly and don’t get stuck in any traffic.” Carl unhooked his coat from the
back of his chair. The weather had taken a turn for the worse and, although it
wasn’t raining at that moment, it looked as though it was about to.

Jamie downed
the rest of her mug of coffee and headed out of the door a few steps in front
of Carl.

“Is that the
phone?” he asked as he took the key out of the lock.

The shrill
ringing coming from inside could be nothing other than the office phone. It had
several different ringtones but was stuck on the setting that only dogs were
supposed to hear.

He unlocked
the door again and got to the phone just as the caller rang off.

“Leave it,
we’ll ring them when we get back.”

Carl turned
his back on the phone and it started ringing again.

“Thank God,
I’d thought you’d left me stranded here,” Danny said. “Please come and get me,
this place is full of ill people.”

“It’s Danny,”
Carl said to Jamie.

“You go and
get Danny, and I’ll go and meet Neil on my own.”

Carl frowned.
“How exactly are you going to get to the hotel if I’m getting Danny in the car?”

“You only have
one vehicle?” It wasn’t really a question, because she already knew the answer.

“We’re going
to have to grab Danny and then go straight to the hotel. He’ll have to stay in
the car.”

“No, not
staying in the car,” Danny said. They’d forgotten he could hear everything they
were saying. “Bring me a change of clothes. I’m coming too.”

“Dan, you’ve
just come out of–” Carl was cut short.

“I’m coming.”

In the back of the car, Danny
struggled to get into one of Jamie’s black t-shirts.

“When I said a
change of clothes, I meant my clothes,” he complained.

“You were
lucky you got anything at all.”

Danny
grumbled. “In the future, we need to store spare uniforms in the cupboard. Of
all the rubbish in that cupboard you’d think there’d be a spare uniform.” He
undid his seatbelt to put on the pair of jeans Carl had found in his bottom
drawer.

Carl had no
idea when they’d been put there.

“What size are
these jeans? I could fit another person in these.”

Carl put the
brakes on a bit too abruptly at the traffic lights.

“Hey, watch
it. I’ve just come out of hospital … I forgot how touchy you were about your
weight.”

“They’re old
ones. They’re too big for me now.”

Jamie sat in
the front seat looking out of the side window.

“Has anyone
got a safety pin?” Danny asked, clutching several inches of lose fabric around
his waist.

Carl focused
on the road, pretending he hadn’t heard, and Jamie shook her head.

Danny sighed,
slumped back in his seat and put on his seatbelt. His head hurt from moving,
and he was ready for another sleep – not that he was willing to admit that to
anyone else.

A few minutes
later, Carl pulled into the hotel car park and switched off the engine.

“Are you sure
you’re okay to come out?” Jamie peered over the back of her seat to look Danny
in the eye.

“Positive.”

“You had a
nasty bang to the head–”

 “Wasn’t as
bad as it looked.”

“Leave him.
He’s made up his mind, you won’t be able to change it,” Carl opened his door
and climbed out.

It was
seventeen minutes past four by the time they got to the hotel room.

“Don’t you
people believe in time keeping?” Neil answered the door in the manner they’d
grown to expect. He opened the door wider and waved them inside. “I don’t even
know why you wanted to see me. I answered all of your questions last time.”

“Why didn’t
you tell us your wife was pregnant with twins?” Danny asked.

A look of pure
confusion flushed across Neil’s face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

They waited
for Neil to sit down before continuing.

“The post
mortem results show that your wife was pregnant with twins. Looking at the
records from your local doctors’ surgery, she’s about three months along.” Carl
handed him a scan they’d managed to get from the hospital. “This was taken last
week.”

Neil still
looked confused. Either he was a very good actor or he really didn’t know what
he was talking about. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

“Maybe she was
waiting until the first three months were up. Things can happen in the first
three months. Maybe she didn’t want you to get your hopes up and then let you
down.” Jamie felt sorry for him.

“Get my hopes
up, I didn’t want children.”

The comment
shocked all of them.

“At least, I
didn’t think I wanted children until now that I know I can’t have them.” He
stared at the scan in silence. “Two. Two babies. It wasn’t enough that they
killed my wife, they had to kill my children too.”

No one moved.
A heavy silence hung over the room.

“Were there
any other questions you had to ask me?”

Danny shook
his head.

“Okay. I’d
like it if you left me on my own now. I can keep this, can’t I?” His eyes never
left the black and white scan.

“Yes,” Danny
said.

They got up
and left. The door clicked shut behind them.

“Well that
explains why he didn’t tell us,” Carl said. His voice was loud and cheery.

“Poor guy.”
Jamie pressed the button on the lift.

“Oh, come on.
For all you know, he might have killed her.” Carl strolled into the lift with a
spring in his step. “Where to next?”

“He doesn’t
feel emotions,” Danny explained. He touched the dressing on his forehead. It
was staring to itch.

“Where to
next?” Carl repeated.

“I think we
should take Danny home,” Jamie said. She’d seen the way he’d been touching his
head every few minutes. He was obviously in pain.

“No, I’m
fine.”

“You need a
change of clothes,” Jamie said.

Danny nodded,
hoisting up his trousers. “I don’t know how long it’ll be before this t-shirt
bursts.”

Jamie looked
worried.

“I was
joking.”

“Good.” Jamie
relaxed – that was one of her favourite t-shirts.

Chapter Six

After changing clothes, Danny had
refused to stay in his apartment and insisted they took him to the station with
them. Now they sat in the station waiting for new information to come to them.

“I’ve arranged
a meeting with the head of Sara’s department at ABC Production for tomorrow
morning,” Danny said, hanging up the phone. “The man sounds like a complete
nutcase.”

Jamie nodded.

“Come over
here a minute,” Carl said. He’d been looking through the information on Sara’s mobile.
It had taken most of yesterday afternoon and part of the evening to download
its contents. “There are several calls from a mobile number on Saturday
morning. Didn’t one of the neighbours say she saw a girl waiting on Sara’s
doorstep and then a man in a car came to pick the girl up after no one
answered?”

Jamie nodded.
“The main thing they found weird about that was that they rarely saw anyone
other than Sara and Neil enter the house.”

“The first
call at quarter past nine was answered but all of the others ran through to
voice mail and the person didn’t leave any messages.” Carl looked down the
list. “The same number called at nine o five, nine o six, nine o seven, nine o
eight and nine ten. There have been several phone calls since.”

Jamie wrote
the information at the bottom of her whiteboard. The more she looked at the board,
the more lost she became. They didn’t really have anything.

“Okay,” Danny
said. “I think we’ve done enough for the day.” He rubbed his head. His brown
eyes had turned dull and the sparkle had gone from them.

Carl switched
off his computer. “We need to meet here at eight to get to ABC productions by
eight forty-five. We’re their first appointment of the day.”

Jamie clicked
the cap back on her pen and put it in the tray at the bottom of the whiteboard.

Danny pulled
the venetian blinds shut.

“I’ll be out
in a minute,” Carl said. He disappeared into the cupboard and shut the door
behind him.

Jamie and
Danny waited outside.

“Will you be
okay to walk home?” she asked.

“I’ll be
fine.”

“Not going to
the pub today then?” She laughed.

He shook his
head and then held it still – the movement created a banging in his ears.

Carl came out
and locked the door behind him. He’d changed clothes.

“If you had a
change of clothes, why did I have to wear your old jeans and one of Jamie’s
tops?” Danny said. He scrunched his forehead together, creating lines that made
him look even older than normal. Although he was only thirty-nine, his frown
lines made him look a lot older.

“I’ve got a
date tonight with this girl who is just so beautiful. She’s absolutely amazing.
I couldn’t risk you bleeding on my best clothes.”

Danny shook
his head. He knew he’d always come second when it involved one of the many of
Carl’s dates.

“What’s she
like?” Jamie asked.

“Smoking.”

Jamie looked
confused.

“Smoking hot.
It’s a saying. She doesn’t smoke. Or at least I don’t think she does,” he
started to ramble.

“You don’t
want to ask him questions like that,” Danny warned.

“What’s so
amazing about her?” Jamie asked, ignoring Danny’s advice.

“Boobs.”

“You what?”

“They’re
gigantic.”

“Told you not
to ask.” Danny looked smug.

Jamie wished
she hadn’t asked. “Anything else?”

“I guess her
bum’s quite–”

“Forget I
asked,” Jamie cut in.

Carl chuckled.
“What did you want me to say? Her hair’s as golden as the sun, and her eyes
look like pools of fresh blue water?”

“That would
have been better.”

Carl shook his
head. “Okay, she has black hair and brown eyes. I guess she has a nice shaped
face, but she always wears short skirts. Her legs are–”

“Enough,”
Jamie screeched.

“Alright,
well, what are you doing tonight?” Carl undid the top button of his green,
white and blue checked shirt – it felt as though the collar was strangling him.

“I think Alex
has something planned.”

“He’s a nice
dude.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“You two have
an unusual relationship.”

“What’s that
suppose to mean?”

“I mean,
you’re close. Most brothers and sisters wouldn’t be seen together unless they
really had to be. I know I keep away from my brother at every opportunity.”

She looked to
Danny for advice.

“I’m an only
child, what would I know?”

As they talked,
they walked. Danny and Jamie separated from Carl at the next junction and
headed for home as Carl went in the direction of the pub.

“This is me,”
Danny nodded his head in the direction of his apartment.

“Promise to
call if you need anything.”

“Why would I
need anything?”

“I’ve seen the
way you’ve looked today. That injury is causing a lot more pain than you’re
letting on.”

“Alright,” he
admitted, “so it is, but I’ll be fine.” But he didn’t feel fine. Once inside he
collapsed onto the sofa. He missed dinner time and crept to his bed sometime
shortly after midnight.

“I found this place whilst
exploring this afternoon,” Alex said. They were walking through the woods
behind the police station.

“I do wish you
wouldn’t wander around in the woods on your own.”

“Stop being so
protective. It’s fine. I’m old enough to look after myself.”

“I know.
Sorry.” She’d known she’d get told off for voicing her concerns.

“Anyway,
there’s this stunning little waterfall just through those trees. The water’s so
clean you can see right through to the rocks at the bottom.”

They pushed
through the trees to get to the waterfall.

“There’s
someone there,” Jamie said.

“Oh. I didn’t
think many people would know about this place. It’s a bit secluded.” Alex
looked disappointed.

“Hang on,” Jamie
said as Alex tried to get passed her.

“What?”

“I recognise
those people. The man is the husband of the lady whose murder we’re
investigating. I know I’ve seen that woman somewhere before, but I don’t know
where.”

“Can we just
go and look. There’s this little seat–”

“I know where
I’ve seen her before. She was the woman at the house this morning.”

“What?”

“Danny fell
and that lady slammed a door shut on his head. We were in the house where the
lady was murdered–”

“You tell me
to be careful while you–”

“Shh.” Jamie
took her mobile out of her pocket and aimed it at the couple.

“I don’t think
you’re meant to photograph people without–”

“Shh,” Jamie
cut him off again.

The lady had
replaced her black clothes with floaty floral ones. The couple were close together
and the man was speaking quietly to her.

“What are they
doing?”

“It looks like
they’re talking.”

Jamie shot him
a look. “You’d make a great detective.”

“Do you think?
I quite like the sound of your job. Maybe I’ll apply–”

“I was
joking.”

“Oh, okay.”

Jamie looked
back at the couple. “They’re kissing,” she hissed.

Alex made an
annoying cooing sound and wriggled his head in the gap above hers to see for
himself. “Funny thing to do when you’ve just lost your wife.”

“That guy’s
funny full stop.”

“What are you
doing?”

“Calling
Danny.” She put the phone to her ear. It rang through to voice mail. She tried
it again. Voicemail again. “He’s not answering.”

“He’s probably
asleep, judging by what you’ve said about his injury.”

“What’s he
doing in this area anyway?”

“Who?” Alex
was lost.

“Neil. The
husband. That guy over there. He’s supposed to be in a hotel miles away from
here. We visited him this afternoon. Mind you he had been in a hurry.”

Alex laughed.

“What?”

“I love how
you get so involved.”

“It’s my job.”

“Yes, but most
people don’t get as involved in their job as you do.” Alex put his hand on her
shoulder. “It’s a good thing. It’s what makes you so good at your job.”

“Thanks, I
think.”

The couple
moved away from each other and started walking towards the waterfall.

“Where are
they going now?”

“As I was
saying earlier. There’s a seat behind the water, sort of in the waterfall.”

“So we won’t
be able to watch them?”

“I don’t think
you’d want to watch them.”

She pulled a
disgusted face. “Let’s get out of here. There’s nothing more we can do, and we
don’t want them to see us.”

Walking
through the woods, back to the main road, she said, “Maybe Carl’s right. Maybe
it is about sex.”

Now it was
Alex’s turn to look confused.