The Operator (Bruce and Bennett Crime Thriller 2) (16 page)

As it turned out, she more than earned any future
calories during a very packed day. She arrived at the police station and asked
for Inspector Bennett. She was asked to wait.

If there’s anything that Erica hated, it was being
forced to hang about at someone else’s pleasure, wasting precious time in a
state of inaction. She went over to a bench seat and sat down on the edge of
it, fidgeting, unable to keep still. She hated hierarchies and everything they
imply. This place with its uniforms and badges brought back unwanted memories.

Then Tessa and a woman, presumably Tara, walked
through. They’d been called in for another interview with Will and Hassan, and
Tara had suggested she and Tessa, who was becoming distressed, have a break to
get some coffee and consult. Tessa fell upon Erica with glad cries, and
introduced them. Tara was like Tessa pared down and hardened. She wore a dark
blue suit and high heeled court shoes, and her blonde hair was severely cut and
bobbed into sleek head-hugging place. She had an attractive face with good
cheekbones, and small pearl earrings in her lobes. She smelled of Pears Soap.
It was a pleasant note in the mix of disinfectant, tobacco smoke drifting in
from outside, and cheap coffee that filled the air.

She invited Erica to join them in the most
charming manner. She was clearly keen to get Erica onside, and was pleased to
find out that Erica had brought the syringe. As she said, anything which kept
the field of suspects as wide as possible could only be good for her client/sister,
if only to create reasonable doubt, should things get as far as a trial.

‘I know Tessa feels she owes you a lot.’ Tara took
a precise sip from her police canteen coffee, and made a face of disgust. ‘We
could do with any help you can give us.’

‘Absolutely. I’ll back Tessa, and what’s more, I’ve
no intention of stopping my own investigations. Despite what happened last night.’

She showed Tara her golf ball injury, feeling
rather foolish, but Tara took photographs, and made copious notes. ‘This may
have been a deliberate assault on you, rather than random mischief. It could
suggest the real killer is out there, watching the scene, and feels threatened
by you. I’d only anticipated your backing up Tessa’s account of Kingston’s
physical and psychological abuse, however. It’s not normally the thing for
unlicensed people to undertake their own investigations.’

‘The thing is Tara, people talk to me. I’m used to
it, as a homeopath, our whole job is talking to people to find out what they’re
like. Or more to the point, we listen to them talk. About all sorts of aspects
of their lives. Plus, I’m a journalist, or sort of. I’ve got reasons to ask
questions. I know people don’t much trust journalists with all the phone
hacking scandals and such, but they don’t feel that way about the local paper.
Well maybe not so much. I can find out whether Kingston made enemies elsewhere.
I can suggest other avenues of enquiry to the police. I want to help!’

‘That’s great, Erica. The police are getting more
focused on Tessa...’

Tessa had been holding her machine hot chocolate
in both hands, gazing into the sweet depths as if looking for her reflection,
but she looked up at this.

‘I’m so stressed, Erica, I don’t know what to do!
Thank god for Tara, and you.’ She looked terrified, gazing at each of her
champions in turn with truly touching faith.

‘I’ve been getting Tessa to hold back on Kingston’s
abuse of her, as it makes her motive stronger. But now I think we need to
introduce it. Just in case.’ Her cool light blue eyes bored into Erica’s and
she read the message in them without difficulty. If Tessa was charged, being an
abused wife would be her defence, and mitigation if the worst came to the
worst.

‘At the moment it’s just her word that it ever
happened.’

‘Nobody’ll believe me!’ Tessa sobbed a little as
she spoke but kept herself under more control than usual. Tara seemed to be a
good role model. ‘They’ll say I should have done something, said something,
sooner. I could kick myself now, I went along with his falling downstairs
story. But at the time I was so shocked.’

‘Don’t beat yourself up, you’ve had enough of that
treatment from him.’ Erica patted her arm.

‘You had no proof, and they’d not have believed
you Tessy. So let’s deal with the situation we’re in now shall we?’ Tara’s tone
was both fond and a tad exasperated, as if this was her habitual feeling in
dealing with her younger sister.

Tara resembled Tessa, there must have only been a
couple of years between them, but she looked like a mature adult, fit, strong
and decisive. She was more attractive than Tessa to Erica’s eyes, though
dressed in a smart professional way instead of going for kittenish cute like
Tessa did. She continued speaking to Erica. ‘So if you could confirm what Tessa
told you about the abuse that would be very helpful. You can also confirm that
she suffered from symptoms related to stress and trauma perhaps.’

‘If Tessa agrees I can break confidentiality,
sure. And I’ve got some information for you.’

She gave Tara and Tessa a brief round-up of what
she’d gleaned at the hospital, and from Laura, not mentioning that Laura had
come to her practice let alone naming her, but making it clear that there were
other areas of his life where Kingston could have made himself hated even if
none of those people ever talked about it before. None of them would expect to
be believed, given Kingston’s status and social standing.

Tessa gave Erica an impulsive hug and went off to
the Ladies’ to prepare her ‘face’ for the next phase of the interview.

‘I’m so glad Tessa has you,’ Erica told Tara. ‘She’s
a Pulsatilla - I mean, she’s easily influenced and I’d be worried she might be
browbeaten into a false confession.’

‘Over my dead body! Or somebody else’s!’ Tara was
fierce. ‘I let Tessy down badly, leaving her to that monster’s abuse. Letting
him separate us. I’m not letting her down again. Whatever it takes to get her
out of this, I’ll do.’

‘You seem like a good influence on her.’ Erica
rather enjoyed the thought of Tara and Will going head to head.

‘Yes well I’m trying to set her up to take control
of her own life after all this is over. Getting her to take courses, think
about a career. She’s already so much better for Kingston being - well, out of
her life. She’s really helping me with the kids, I’m getting out more in the
evenings, we can do so much for each other. I even sleep better, knowing she’s
in the house. It’s tough being a single parent. She’s really very sweet you
know. She actually looked at his medical records and the pathologist’s report,
which I know cost her, she gasped, she went white and nearly fainted, but she
read it all right through, and do you know what she said? ‘I just wanted to be
sure he didn’t suffer too much.’ Huh! Didn’t suffer enough more like. The
police are still sniffing about for a possible lover who might have assisted
her with the crime. I’m certain there is none. She’d have told me.’ She looked
at Erica as if seeking confirmation, perhaps not being so certain as she
claimed.

‘I don’t know of any. And that’s just typical! Not
only do the police assume it’s a woman, they don’t even give her the credit of
being able to do it herself!’

Tara gave Erica the low-down on the forensic
situation, and why it looked potentially bad for Tessa.

‘No evidence of a break in. No evidence of anyone
being in the house, no clear outsider’s DNA except Tessa’s, oh and a
fingerprint or two of mine. From our visit that afternoon of course. The
mutilations were carried out in the consulting room, apparently, but the first
attack, which caused catastrophic head injuries, happened elsewhere.’

‘Hence the lack of blood in the room.’ Erica
remembered the small rusty trails from Kingston’s wounds, the sticky mass under
his head glueing it to the table.

‘Kingston insisted on a high level of hygiene,
appropriately enough. There was a lot of bleach and cleaning materials for his
consulting room. Sometimes he saw private patients with wires and frames and
inspected their wound sites. His nitrile gloves and disposable aprons could
have protected the killer from blood spatter.’

‘They could have dragged him through to the room
unconscious, on a sort of raft of surgical aprons to keep blood from the head
wound off the floor. And the stone used to bash his head in was from outside
the back of the house. So he may have been attacked outside on the footpath.’

‘Not sure what he’d be doing out there at night.
But it’s all they’ve got. No signs of break in, remember. I wouldn’t be
surprised if the police have been watching my house to see if Tessa’s imaginary
boyfriend-stroke-accomplice makes contact with her. ‘

Just then Will Bennett appeared. His face looked
thinner, and a suspicion of dark stubble showed on his usually well shaved
chin. Erica felt a pang of concern, instantly dispelled by his look of
displeasure to see Erica and Tessa’s legal eagle sister in close conclave. It
had not occurred to Will that Erica would be able to get any further
information on the case from anyone but the police, and that would be carefully
controlled information to suit them, not Ms Bruce. He ushered the two
interviewees through to resume their ordeal. Just as Erica was realising she’d
not be able to speak to him now as he’d be interviewing Tessa, he came over.

‘Inspector.’

‘Hello Erica, I hear you have some ‘information’
for me.’

‘Aren’t you questioning Tessa Kingston? Again.’

‘The Super and Hassan are taking it from here.
Anyway, I thought you were bringing information, not seeking it.’ Will switched
to official-speak, knowing it would wind her up. ‘We have no statement to make
at this time, my Superintendent is now following up a promising lead and the
press will be informed if anything definite transpires.’’

‘Yeah, right, like I don’t know Golden Boy only
follows promising leads to hot dinners or cake. I’m not just ‘the press’, Will.
I’m Tessa’s therapist. That makes it my business.’

‘Not in my book. She’s entitled to a solicitor and
a doctor. A real one, not a so-called ‘homeopath’.

‘Oh yes, she was married to a
real
doctor.
That turned out well!’ Better say nothing more on that for now.

‘And I hear you’ve been asking questions at the
hospital. I hope you aren’t thinking of interfering in our investigation.’

‘Just doing my job as a reporter,
Inspector.
’
She glared up at him. ‘You can’t control the hospitals and you can’t control
me.’

‘Come on then let’s have this information. Then
get out of my hair.’

He motioned her into a small room of depressing
aspect. DC Sally Banner was there already. The look she gave Erica made Will’s
look like true lurve.

‘You looked different when we last met.’ She
looked pointedly at Erica’s lycra leggings, short skirt and black zip-up
stretch top, state of the art trainers, and loose hair.

‘I don’t think dressing with intent to disarm is
an offence, is it? I brought you this. To help Tessa Kingston. I know you don’t
want any help from me.’

She placed the syringe in its tatty bag on the
table. The two officers looked at it.

‘What’s this? A new hobby you’ve taken up? Skull
collecting not exciting enough for you?’

Sally couldn’t resist a dig. She looked at Will
for his approval, but Will just looked uncomfortable, remembering how he and
Erica got together over a dead bird on the beach as she stooped to harvest its
skull. And how her skulls watched them having sex at her flat with their huge
hollow eye sockets.

‘I found it in the lane behind Kingston’s house.
At the hoodies’ drinking den. It might have come from Kingston’s medical
supplies, stolen when he was murdered perhaps.’

‘I see. Well, thank you for bringing this in, Ms
Bruce.’ Sally was as frosted as a Magnolia Bakery cupcake. ‘Of course, it’s
pretty much useless as evidence because we haven’t had a chance to examine it
in situ.’

 ‘Exactly.’ Will’s blue eyes, bright in his dark,
thin face, fixed Erica’s. ‘A break in the continuity of evidence... it’s been
removed from the scene, put in a contaminated bag, handled by god knows who...
And how did you come to have this in your possession? When did you find it?’

‘I was jogging along the path last night. I
thought I’d bring it in case it suggested other suspects. The hoodies who hang
about there for example.’

 Will sighed. ‘We have considered all
eventualities, believe it or not. Mr Kingston either opened the door to his
assailant, unlikely in the case of a bunch of youths, or they used a key, again
unlikely. The final attack took place in the examination room. It’s unlikely Kingston
let strangers into his house, especially at night, don’t you agree? It seems
likely he knew his killer, perhaps
very
well.’

Sally went in for the kill. ‘We only have your
word for it that the syringe was there at all.’

Erica’s eyes narrowed with fury at this slur. ‘It’s
not just my word, someone else saw it there.’

‘And who was that?’

‘Stacey Reed.’

Will laughed. ‘Oh we know Stacey.’

‘You, and Stacey Reed, were jogging? Stacey,
charva queen, jogging!’ Sally couldn’t stop laughing. ‘Hahaha, good one! You’re
keeping some strange company these days Erica!’

‘That’s nothing but class prejudice, and you both
know it! Stacey happens to be my intern.’ Wild horses wouldn’t get Erica to
disown Stacey as an intern now she’d been mocked by these two smug bastards.
Stacey was now her official intern as of, well ages ago.

‘Intern!’ Will snorted in derision.

‘Yes intern. She needs work experience.’

‘You can say that again! She’s spent her whole
life avoiding it.’

‘Yes well she’s changed. People do change you
know. I want to help her. A young single mother trapped on benefits... I owe it
to her.’