A Lethal Deception, page 8
An early morning mist clung to the fringes, softening the outlines of a pub and a squat row of terraced cottages on the far side.
The house she sought was hidden behind a high stone wall and separated from the road by a thick wooden gate with a security alarm beside it.
She pressed the button below the intercom and stepped back in surprise as a female voice barked from the speaker.
‘Who is it?’
‘Detective Constable Laura Hanway,’ she said. ‘I wondered if I could please speak to Angela Tasker about Felicity Gregor.’
A pause followed her words. ‘All right. Push the gate. Follow the path around to the back of the house.’
After doing as the woman told her, Laura zig-zagged along a slate gravel path and peered up at the Grade II listed home.
The stark bare branches of a wisteria curled around the porch over the front door and one of the windows, and a wisp of smoke escaped from a red-brick chimney.
Laura shivered and pulled her jacket around her shoulders as a cold wind whipped around the side of the property, then hurried around the corner to the back door.
A woman in her early sixties had her hand on the frame, her expression one of impatience.
Laura forced a smile. ‘Thanks for seeing me at short notice, Mrs Tasker.’
‘Come on, hurry up. You’ll let out all the warmth. And call me Angela.’
‘Sorry. Thanks.’
Laura brushed past the woman, surprised by her height, and found herself in an enormous kitchen.
A range took up most of the far end of the room, creating a cosiness that immediately warmed her cheeks. A large round pine table set off to one side was covered in newspapers that were scattered with broken pieces of china.
‘You interrupted my work, detective. Come through to the drawing room.’
Laura followed the woman along a narrow hallway, her gaze sweeping across the antique vases and old oil paintings while she tried to avoid knocking against anything, and then stepped into one of the front rooms.
An enormous inglenook fireplace was the focal point of the large space, and Angela gestured to one of two sofas set on either side of the hearth.
She sat, and heard an indignant meow before a black cat sidled into view from under a low wooden table piled high with glossy magazines.
Angela swept it up onto her lap and settled into the cushions. ‘Ask away, then.’
After taking the woman through the preliminaries of an interview, Laura settled into a familiar routine, her confidence seeping back into her voice.
Angela seemed to enjoy the process, her initial spikiness subsiding while she considered each question before answering.
‘How did you find out about Felicity Gregor’s interior design business?’
‘Not through that Insta-wotsit, as I’m sure you’ve guessed. No, I knew what she was up to via her mother, Isobel. Once I made the mistake of asking how Felicity’s new business was going, that was it. I was only being polite.’
‘Did you ask Felicity to do some interior design work for you?’
‘Yes, and that was a mistake. She really wasn’t that good.’ The woman’s nose wrinkled. ‘Not for what she was charging.’
‘Oh?’
‘Delusions of grandeur, that one.’ Angela shrugged. ‘But, what could I do? Her mother asked me to request the commission to help her out. I suppose she thought that if Felicity could take some photographs of what she’d done here, it might help her business gain some traction. Although I do think she was lacking some natural flair.’
‘How long had you known her mother?’
‘We went to university together. Studied English at Oxford.’ Angela sighed, her gaze drifting to the open fire. ‘Seems a lifetime ago now. Poor Izzy. To lose a daughter like that.’
‘When did Felicity carry out the work for you?’
‘She finished two weeks ago.’
Laura took a moment to look around the room, then frowned.
Angela held up her hand before she could speak. ‘I put the room back as it was as soon as she was out the door. Awful colours she used. Terrible.’ She sighed. ‘Still, as long as it helped, I suppose. Mind you, I could’ve done without the bill afterwards.’
‘She expected you to pay for helping her out?’
‘Well, she never knew her mother asked me to.’ Angela tutted. ‘No, that was all Isobel’s idea. I phoned Felicity to arrange the appointment. Before I knew it, the girl was turning up with all new cushions and bric-à-brac, and of course I’ll have to pay – especially now.’
Laura updated her notes before looking at the woman once more. ‘Would it be fair to say, then, that perhaps Felicity was better at sales than executing an interior design project?’
Angela chuckled. ‘That’s a very diplomatic way of putting things, detective, but yes, I’d have to agree there. This will sound awful in the circumstances, but I couldn’t see that her business would last long. It seemed more of a flight of fancy to me. Something to do to look busy, rather than actually being busy.’
‘When was the last time you saw Felicity?’
‘Hmm. I’d have to say that was Monday last week. She dropped off another godawful throw to drape across that sofa you’re on.’ Angela snorted. ‘Thank goodness I hadn’t stripped the room of everything she’d done the previous Friday – and that was only because I was busy with my own work over that weekend. I hate to think what she would’ve said.’
‘And what sort of work do you do?’
‘I restore antique china for clumsy owners these days, detective. And I managed my husband’s furniture restoration business for thirty years prior to his death.’ A wicked smile crossed the woman’s lips. ‘So you see, detective, I have quite an eye for interior design. I know when I’ve been had.’
Twenty
Kay clipped her seatbelt into place while the barrier to the car park rose and Barnes edged the car into the traffic that crawled along Palace Avenue.
Pulling her notebook from her bag, she found the page with the details of Felicity’s client they were due to see and read it out to her colleague.
‘Best take the motorway, Ian – it’ll be quicker than battling the ring road this morning.’
‘Will do.’ He indicated left, and Kay looked at the multi-storey car park as they drove past.
The forensics team had packed away their tent and equipment in the early hours of Thursday morning, and there was nothing left to indicate that a young woman had fallen to her death. Pedestrians hurried along the pavement beside them while they waited at the traffic lights, none the wiser to what had happened.
‘How’s Adam?’ said Barnes, shifting into gear as the traffic pulled away and following the signs for the motorway.
‘Okay, thanks. He seems to be recovering well from the blow to his head. He’s got a check-up back at the hospital on Tuesday next week, and then he just needs to rest.’ Kay dropped her notebook back into her bag. ‘Although Scott came around last night and brought a patient with him.’
When she told him what Adam’s practice manager had said about Oscar, Barnes shook his head. ‘When he finds out…’
‘He won’t – and you’re not to tell him. For a long time.’ She sighed. ‘I do wish Scott hadn’t brought us something that farted so much though.’
Barnes let out a guffaw. ‘Smelly, is it?’
‘Oh my God, you have no idea. God knows what Scott’s friend’s been feeding him. I’m going to have to have a word with him when he comes back to collect him.’
‘And it’s too cold to open the windows…’
‘At least at this rate, I’m going to be spending more time running in the evenings than sitting in front of the TV.’
‘You see? There’s always a bright side.’
Kay rolled her eyes and settled in for the short ride to Leybourne. ‘Apparently this client of Felicity’s owns a holiday let near the castle and asked her to overhaul the conservatory.’
‘What’s wrong with a fresh coat of paint on the walls?’ Barnes grumbled, flicking the indicator stalk and slowing to negotiate the junction. ‘I was looking at her social media feed yesterday afternoon and I swear there were so many cushions on sofas, you’d never find anywhere to sit.’
‘Not a soft furnishings fan, then?’
‘If you buy a comfortable chair, you shouldn’t need cushions.’
Kay laughed. ‘Take the next right – and maybe don’t suggest that to Mrs Daniels when we speak to her. She paid a lot of money for those cushions.’
Barnes shook his head in disbelief and slowed to a standstill outside a large detached house with tall chimneys.
‘Blimey,’ he said, peering past Kay and out through the passenger window. ‘No wonder she could afford to pay Felicity.’
‘Let’s find out what she’s got to say about her, then.’
A woman in her forties opened the door within moments of Kay ringing the bell, a messy mop of blonde hair piled into a loose ponytail that draped over her shoulder.
‘Good, you’re here on time.’ She closed the door behind them and gave an apologetic smile. ‘Sorry – I’m waiting for an electrician so I wouldn’t mind if you could ask your questions before he turns up. People have a tendency to gossip around here. I’m Beverley Daniels, by the way.’
Kay provided the introductions before Beverley led them through to a large conservatory at the back of the property.
Several metres long, the room was divided up into two living areas with groups of sofas arranged around low wooden tables. Stylish bric-a-brac filled alcoves and tasteful abstract paintings had been hung on the walls, and Kay gave her head a slight shake as Barnes cocked an eyebrow at the array of cushions spread across the various seating arrangements.
A radiator ran along one of the low walls, but did little to offset the chill in the room.
The woman pointed to the ceiling where two infrared heaters hung from brackets in the framework. ‘Normally these would be on as well but they’ve stopped working. Hence the electrician. I thought you’d want to see what Felicity did for me here – all of this was her idea.’
‘How long ago did she complete the work?’ said Kay.
‘Last month.’ Beverley sank into an armchair next to the radiator and waved them to a sofa opposite as she pulled a chunky cardigan around her shoulders. ‘This room is always popular with guests in the warmer months but it was starting to look tired, and my husband and I wanted to make it comfortable for the colder months as well. The living room at the front of the property can get quite dark in winter – and crowded if we have a lot of people staying.’
‘Did you experience any problems with Felicity’s work or time-keeping?’
‘Actually, yes.’ Beverley sighed. ‘It’s going to sound awful, what with her dying like that, but we had to reschedule the decorators because she forgot to turn up to supervise them. They weren’t happy about it, and ended up charging extra to come back the next week. We were lucky they could – they’re one of the more popular local ones.’
‘Did she say why she forgot?’ said Barnes.
Beverley shrugged. ‘Oh, I got a lame excuse about juggling work commitments, but I know when someone’s lying. She couldn’t look me in the eye for starters, and then the following week I found her throwing up in the downstairs loo. She seemed disoriented. I wondered then if she had an alcohol problem or something.’
‘Did she say anything to you at the time?’ Kay looked up from her notes. ‘Anything to suggest that was the case?’
‘No, just that she hadn’t been feeling well and she wondered if she was coming down with something.’ Beverley gave a derisive snort. ‘An hour later, I overheard her making arrangements to go out to dinner with friends that night, so she couldn’t have been that sick. Like I said, I wondered if she was burning the candle at both ends.’
‘Did you have any other problems after that before she finished her work here?’
‘No. It was almost as if she knew she had to be careful after that morning with the sickness. I mean, she still expected me to give her a review after she finished the work and sent me an invoice.’
‘Once the project was complete, did you hear from her again?’ said Kay.
‘Only to chase up payment. I was a bit put out by that. It was only two days overdue, and given her attitude while she was here with the lateness and whatever, I thought that was a bit cheeky of her.’ Beverley sighed. ‘I just put it down to her starting out and needing the cashflow.’
Kay snapped her notebook shut. ‘Thanks for your time, Mrs Daniels.’
Twenty-One
Kay plucked an apple from the fruit basket on Debbie’s desk and grinned as the uniformed constable returned from the photocopier, her hands full of stapled agendas ready for the afternoon briefing.
‘What’s this? Trying to make us healthy?’
‘As if.’ Debbie smiled. ‘No – that was left at reception for us by an old couple who were broken into last week. Dave managed to trace and arrest the teenagers responsible before they’d managed to sell any of the stolen goods – including some family heirlooms. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that you lot run on pizza. They should’ve just left vouchers for the local takeaway.’
Kay’s stomach rumbled and she laughed. ‘I’ll take whatever I can get.’
‘Thought you might, guv.’
‘Okay, let’s get on with it.’ Barnes’s voice carried across the incident room as he beckoned the team over to the whiteboard. ‘The sooner we do this, the sooner Debbie can give you the roster for the weekend.’
Kay wandered over and took a seat at the fringes of the assembled group, noting the confidence emanating from her colleague while he paced the carpet gathering his thoughts as three stragglers took their places.
‘Right, Gav – do you want to give us a quick update on the vet robbery to start off?’ said Barnes.
‘Not much to report yet, sorry.’ Gavin shot an apologetic glance at Kay. ‘We spoke with a woman last night who was seen leaving the practice before her appointment was called – she would’ve been the last member of the public to see Adam before the attack – but she told us she had changed her mind about spending the money. There’s nothing on the system about her, and she has an alibi for the timing of the robbery too – picking up her parents at the airport. We’ve still got some CCTV images from the delivery company’s vehicles to work through over the next few days, so they might turn up something.’
‘Let us know if they do, and if you want to discuss anything just ask,’ said Barnes. ‘Right – onto Felicity Gregor. Laura, how did you get on today? You were speaking to Angela Tasker this morning, weren’t you?’
Kay listened as the detective constable shared her findings, waiting until she re-took her seat at the front before she provided her own update to the team.
‘We spoke with Beverley Daniels, who commissioned Felicity to do the interior design for a conservatory at her bed and breakfast. It sounds like she had a few issues – Felicity not showing up one morning, and then on another morning being sick.’ Kay pointed her apple at the notes on the whiteboard. ‘That made us wonder whether she’d been taking drugs and unable to cope with the consequences.’
‘Not to mention the fact she’d have been driving under the influence to get to Leybourne,’ Barnes added. ‘What about the second client you were going to interview today, Laura?’
The young detective flipped through her notebook. ‘That was a Mr and Mrs Starling, in Pembury. Patricia – the wife – said she asked Felicity to refurbish a single bedroom for their five-year-old daughter. She said she was pleased with the results, and was planning to ask her to come and work on a summer house project in a few weeks’ time.’
‘Any issues while she was working for them?’ said Barnes.
‘None that either of them were aware of. Patricia said Felicity turned up on time at ten each morning and was there until six most evenings. The whole project was completed in two weeks – there was a period of six days in the middle while they discussed materials and colours over email, and then Felicity ordered everything and installed it over two days earlier this month. She couldn’t speak more highly of her.’
‘Well, that averages out the online reviews,’ Gavin mused.
‘Did Patricia Starling confirm she received an invoice from Felicity?’ said Barnes.
‘Yes, and it was due for payment next week.’ Laura closed her notebook. ‘Angela Tasker said hers was overdue but she was planning to pay next week too.’
‘So Felicity had no income while she was in between jobs,’ said Barnes.
Kay finished the apple while she listened, running her gaze over the additional notes Barnes added to the whiteboard. She swallowed and waved the core in the air to catch her colleague’s attention as he turned to face the assembled team once more.
‘Ian? I spoke with Isobel Gregor earlier, and she confirmed that Felicity wasn’t expected to pay anything towards household bills and things while she lived with her parents. According to Isobel, she and Peter agreed that as they weren’t having to pay out for university fees, they could afford to support her while she tried to establish her business. It might explain how Felicity was managing to get by.’
‘Thanks guv. Laura – did either of the clients you interviewed notice whether Felicity seemed out of sorts when she was working for them, or high on substances?’
‘No, Sarge – but if Felicity had been using for as long as the post mortem report suggests, then she might have been good at hiding it from her clients,’ said Laura. ‘Her parents didn’t have a clue, did they?’
‘True.’ Barnes dropped the pen on a shelf below the whiteboard and rested his hands on his hips as he glared at his notes. ‘Anyone got an update from Andy Grey about the mobile phone records?’
‘He reckons they’ll be here by Monday,’ said Dave Morrison from the back of the room. ‘He’s had two people off sick this week so he’s running behind.’
‘All right, thanks everyone. Make sure you speak to Debbie on the way out to get your rosters.’
