When You're Safe, page 3
“We poor special agents aren’t on the salary of a chief constable of Hertfordshire, Rob,” Finn said. “It was a good deal.”
Amelia stepped forward and shook Finn’s hand. “It’s good to see you, Finn.”
If Finn were honest with himself, he was very happy to see Amelia too. It had been a few weeks since they had seen each other, toasting the conclusion of the Van Reece murder case, together with Rob, in the rustic kitchen of the cottage where Finn was vacationing in the village of Great Amwell.
“I can tell you missed me, Winters,” Finn said with a big grin to Amelia. “I’ll try not to leave it so long next time, I wouldn’t want you to go into withdrawal.”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “Shall we get started?”
“Yeah,” Finn said. “So, what’s happened here?”
Finn pointed to a large tree that lay across the road, blocking much of the way. To the side of it, he could see some forensic workers dressed in white sterile protective clothing, crouched down around the body of a young woman.
“Finn,” Rob said, “I’m sorry to have pulled you away like this. I know you’ve got your own problems to sort out. But after the splash you made solving the Van Reece case, as soon as another member of the DeGrey family died, I received a call from the Home Office directing me to procure your services as a detective. This isn’t even my jurisdiction, but they wanted me in on it as well. Winters, too. Thank you for saying yes.”
Finn patted Rob on the shoulder. He looked tired, as though he had been working late nights. Rob had been a great friend to him, so Finn was happy to help.
“I’ve got you covered, buddy,” he said quietly.
Finn squinted in the sun and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. “That’s better.”
“Finn,” Amelia said, pointing over to the body, “I am happy you’re here, but I have to say I’m not sure of the assessment here.”
“What assessment?” asked Finn, curious.
Rob sighed. “The young woman here. She was killed this morning, hit by a car traveling way too fast. Her body landed by the side of the road. It looks like she died from the impact, if not immediately then soon after. We’re not sure yet how long she was lying there before she passed on.”
“A hit-and-run?” Finn observed, watching the forensic team finish up. They started moving toward them.
“Perhaps something more sinister even than that,” Rob said, gravely.
“We don’t know that, Chief,” Amelia offered. She was always skeptical, and although Finn sometimes disagreed with her, he admired her keen attention to detail.
“Do you think this was deliberate?” Finn asked, but Rob didn’t have a chance to answer.
“Chief, that’s us done the preliminary, we’ll leave the rest to pathology,” one of the forensic investigators said, stopping for a moment.
“Good job,” the chief said. “Leave things as they are for now so that we can take a look ourselves.”
The men nodded and continued beyond them, getting into a large van and driving back around the blind corner.
Finn started to walk toward the body as Rob and Amelia accompanied him.
“I went through the police checkpoint at the bottom of the hill,” Finn said, pointing to the blind turn behind them. “But I didn’t see any reporters. I take it I’ve been requested because the victim is someone important?”
“It’s only a matter of time before it hits the press,” Amelia explained. “But for now, we don’t have that issue.”
Finn stood over the body of the young woman. She must have been in her twenties, and Finn could see that she was athletic and dressed in gray running clothes. Her hair was cast over her face, and her brown eyes looked up into nothingness.
He’d seen many dead bodies in his time as a special agent, but no matter how much humor he tried to use to get through the job, each time he saw a body, he felt a piece of his own faith in humanity break off, discarded by the senselessness of it all.
“Poor woman,” he said, softly.
Finn stood up and saw a look in Amelia’s eyes, as though she was somewhat surprised by his delicacy.
Winters, what you don’t know about me could fill a phone book, he thought.
“Her name is Maggie DeGrey,” Rob finally said. “She’s a member of—”
“I’ve read about the DeGreys,” Finn said. “Isn’t DeGrey Castle near here?”
“Yes,” Amelia answered. “Several of the family still live there throughout the year, others come and go visiting. Maggie must have been out on her morning run when the car came around the corner and hit her. The driver wouldn’t have had a chance to react.”
“And why is this suspicious?” Finn asked.
Amelia seemed adamant. “It isn’t.”
“Maggie is the second member of the DeGrey family to have died suddenly in as many weeks,” Rob said. “The first was Quentin DeGrey, who, I believe, owned most of the DeGrey estate as the head of the family. The initial autopsy attributed his death to natural causes, but we’re waiting on a second autopsy report as there was an anomaly in the deceased’s blood sample. We’re having that checked, could be something.”
“It could also be a coincidence,” said Amelia.
“You not buying this, Winters?” Finn asked.
“No,” she said. “Not yet. I’m here learning about this as you are, but everything I see here tells me this was an accident. Murder by car is pretty elaborate. There are simpler ways to do it.”
Finn mused for a second as a breeze rushed up the side of the steep incline below, rustling through the leaves of the sporadic trees and bushes all around.
Then Finn noticed something. He peered beyond the fallen tree to a green sign.
“That’s a forest path up there, looks like it’s paved,” he said, rubbing the blond stubble on his chin.
Rob turned to where Finn was looking. “Do you think that’s where Maggie was heading?”
Finn nodded. “It makes sense.” He pointed further along the road. “Except for that trail, it doesn’t look like there’s anywhere else to go but the road, and I can’t see someone running alongside this cliff for any given period of time. It’s too narrow. Too dangerous. And I do think I saw the entrance to another trail on the opposite side of the road at the foot of the hill.”
Finn moved away from the body, turned, and then approached the tree. It was huge, its broken trunk and countless branches too massive to climb over, even when on its side. Finn imagined the victim trying to get past it, desperately scrambling for her life.
“Okay, so let’s say Maggie was running,” Finn said, thinking out loud. “She joins this road and plans to move up the hill, around the blind corner, and then quickly to the other forest path. But she comes around the corner and sees this tree. It’s blocking her way…”
Something else caught Finn’s eye. He stepped closer to the fallen tree.
“What is it?” Rob asked.
Finn pointed to a branch on the tree. It was jutting out, but broken at the end. The top broken piece of the branch was dangling by a small amount of bark. Leaning in, Finn pointed to it as it moved subtly in the breeze.
There was something on the tip of the broken piece.
“That looks like blood to me,” Finn theorized.
Amelia stepped over and took a look. “I think you’re right. Maggie must have scraped herself on it before she died.”
“Yes,” Finn said, deep in thought for a moment. He then went over to the body. “Do you have gloves, Rob?”
Rob pulled out a pair of blue forensic gloves from his pocket. Finn put them on and then lifted up the gray running top Maggie was wearing. Her body was battered and bruised, but sure enough, there was a large scrape along her side.
“Okay, so she scraped her side,” Amelia agreed. “But that doesn’t mean this was murder. She was jogging, she probably caught herself on it as she was passing.”
“Yes,” Finn said. “But look at the branch, look at the direction of the break. And then here.” Finn pointed to a small hole in Maggie’s gray top. “Maggie’s top got caught on the branch, she pulled and tugged at it, then it broke. Maybe she fell, but she ended up over on this side of the road.”
“Right,” Amelia said, looking around. “But all that tells us is that she moved over here, which we knew anyway from where she was hit.”
“But why would she… Listen…” Finn stood for a moment. “What do you hear?”
“Just the forensic van back down the hill,” Amelia answered.
“Wait,” Rob added. “If we can hear the van, then Maggie would have heard the car coming up the road from behind.”
“Exactly,” Finn said, moving back toward the turn and pointing at it. “Maggie heard the car. She isn’t wearing buds or headphones. She must have heard it. And yet, she ran past here, got caught on the branch, and instead of moving back toward the rock face to get out of the way of the car, she still moved on.”
“It sounds like…” Rob said.
“Someone on the run.” Amelia finished the point.
“Or someone who was afraid,” Finn pondered. “Someone who thought they were in danger and who treated the sound of a car on a lonely road as a threat.”
“This is speculative,” Amelia said. “It’s possible, but we’re jumping the gun here, don’t you both think?”
Finn didn’t say anything as he stood there in thought. He was replaying the drive up the hillside in his head.
“Is he broken?” Amelia asked.
“No, he does this sometimes.” Rod sighed. “Do you have something else, Finn?”
“Maybe,” he finally said. “Care for a walk, you two?”
Amelia and Rob walked alongside Finn, moving past the blind turn and then down the hill. At the bottom far below, Finn could see the police checkpoint stopping any traffic. But it was something closer that had his attention.
Finn looked off into the distance and could see, surrounded by a small offshoot of the Thames, which had formed a moat, a huge sprawling castle with four massive turrets. “You couldn’t see it from the other direction,” Finn said. “I take it that’s DeGrey Castle?”
“Bravo,” Amelia said, cheekily.
“Give me a break, Winters,” Finn said. “You could throw a stone around here and hit a castle. I just wanted to make certain it was the right one.”
“There’s not that many castles in the UK,” Amelia said. “I mean, if there were, I’d be living in one.”
“Fancy yourself a princess?” Finn asked.
“A queen, actually,” she replied, putting on a regal accent. “And one who takes a dim view of those beneath her.”
“Remind me never to get on your bad side again,” Finn said. “The point is, even from here, I can see all of that estate around the moat. Is that part of the DeGreys’ land?”
“I think so,” Rob now answered.
“Then why wouldn’t she jog down there where it was safe?” Finn questioned. “Why run out here?”
“A change of scene,” Amelia stated, continuing her walk downhill. “Even the rich need that from time to time.”
“More money, more problems,” Rob said.
“Exactly,” Finn agreed. “Maybe Maggie was trying to get away from the place, even just for a while. Or perhaps from someone in it…”
“Conjecture again,” Amelia reminded them.
“Yes, that may well be conjecture, but this isn’t,” Finn said, stopping by the side of the road where it widened momentarily, enough for a car to sit on the muddy ground. “I saw this passing place on the way up the hill. It’s covered in mud and it’s kept the tracks. Look here.”
Amelia turned from the castle and looked at the mud. Finn was pointing at four deep indentations sitting in the middle of a set of tire tracks.
“Hmm,” she said, biting her lip in thought. “Now you might be onto something.”
“Can someone please care to explain?” Rob asked. “I see car tracks here, but they could have been from any car having to pull in from oncoming traffic.”
“Look how deep the tire indentations are,” Finn explained. “They are a lot deeper than the tire tracks.”
“And that means?” Rob asked, still seemingly bemused.
“It means,” Finn said, standing up, “that a car sat here for some time. It waited and sank into the mud more than a car just stopping for a moment would.”
Finn turned around and looked further up the hill. His eyes fell upon a trail to the right that headed down toward the river.
“If Maggie ran out of that trail onto the road,” Finn said, “and if this was a route she took often, then someone could have been waiting for her in a car. Then they timed it right to run her over after the blind turn so it looked like an accidental hit-and-run, rather than a premeditated murder.”
“What do you think, Winters?” Rob asked.
“I don’t know, Chief,” she said with a sigh. “It’s possible, but it still seems like a leap. We need to find out more.”
“Yes, we do,” Finn said, turning and looking toward the huge castle in the distance. “And I think I know where we should start looking for answers.”
CHAPTER THREE
Why is it never simple? Amelia thought to herself as two security personnel in black fatigues held out their hands in front of her car.
She slowed down, stopping inches from them, and could almost see the reflection of her car in their blackened sunglasses. Behind her, two other cars stopped abruptly, one driven by Finn and the other by Chief Collins.
Amelia rolled down her window and stuck her head out into the increasing sunshine. Behind the two security guards, the vast imposing outline of DeGrey Castle etched itself starkly against the blue sky.
“Good morning,” the taller of the two guards, a blond man, said, approaching. “Can I help you?”
“I’m an inspector with Hertfordshire constabulary,” Amelia replied. “I’m here to talk with the DeGrey family about a sudden death this morning.”
“Hertfordshire?” the man said, surprise in his voice. “Aren’t you a little far from your jurisdiction? We weren’t made aware of this.”
Amelia didn’t blame them for their wariness. It was strange herself to be outside of her own jurisdiction. But ever since she had helped Finn solve the Lord Van Reece murder, she knew that it was only a matter of time before the Home Office requested their presence again. The only shock to her was that it had been so quick.
“We’re part of a team that has been assembled on request of the Home Office,” she tried to explain.
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to verify this,” the man said, touching an earpiece in his left ear as if receiving instructions from someone.
Amelia looked past him and saw that the huge metal drawbridge of DeGrey Castle had been pulled up tight. Between her and whoever was inside was a several-meter-wide moat of dark water. A few steps before that drop into the shadowy water, there was a small stone building that had once been a medieval gatehouse.
Amelia saw a security camera on the mossy stone exterior. It was pointed straight at her. She knew implicitly that whoever was watching the security feed was instructing the two guards on how to proceed.
Stepping out of her car, Amelia shifted her attention back to the fresh-faced guard.
“I’m sure you’re aware of what happened this morning?” she said.
The guard nodded, but there was hesitation.
“I am assuming that security has been tightened for that very reason?” she then asked.
“It’s been tightened for weeks,” the man replied.
“Walt!” the other guard, an older man in sunglasses, said, stepping forward. “We have instructions not to talk to anyone. The press, remember?”
“I’ve seen the lady’s ID.”
Amelia thought it sweet that she was being referred to as a lady. So much so that she hadn’t heard Finn and Chief Constable Collins exit their cars and step up behind her.
“Lady?” Finn said, adjusting his sunglasses and looking over them. “Gentlemen, let’s not say anything we can’t take back.”
“Would you try and act professional for once in your life?” Collins whispered under his breath alongside him. But if it was loud enough for Amelia to have heard, it certainly was loud enough for the two guards.
The older guard took off his glasses and gave Collins a puzzled look. “Are you sure you’re part of the investigation?”
Collins sighed. Now it was time for him to show his standing. Amelia knew he hated waving his chief constable ID around. He had told her under the strictest of confidence that he was still uncomfortable having been promoted to chief constable at such a young age. It was a PR move to have him climb the ranks so quickly, and Rob clearly felt the strain of the expectation.
Amelia always reminded him that age was not a prerequisite for talent.
“I am Chief Constable Robert Collins,” he said in a commanding voice. “We would like to speak with Maggie DeGrey’s next of kin as part of our investigation. It’s only a preliminary chat, and I hope we can stay away from making it any more than that.”
If Finn had been brought in due to his experience handling the rich and powerful during a murder investigation, those skills seemed to be rubbing off on the chief inspector.
Finn nudged Amelia in the side gently and winked at her over the rim of his sunglasses.
The guard started to say, “I’m sorry, I still can’t—”
But whoever had been watching on the security camera had also been listening. The guard stopped talking, put his finger to his earpiece, and then, after a moment, said. “Right you are, sir.”
“Everything okay?” Finn asked with a wry grin.
“You are to go in,” the guard said. “But please… tread carefully. The family have been through a lot as it is.”
“Kid gloves, I swear,” Finn said, unconvincingly, holding up his hands.
“Get in the car, Finn,” the chief inspector said with a sigh.
Amelia got in hers and waited. Soon enough, the two guards turned and stood by the small stone gatehouse. It was then that Amelia heard the crunching metallic sound of chains and gears, rumbling from across the moat. Slowly, the large metal bridge lowered, its chains taut, moving through an unseen pulley system.
_preview.jpg)
