“There’s nothing wrong with any of my people.”
“George, they are incompetents who do what I…we…tell them to do. That’s about the limit of their abilities. With any luck Sergeant Vernon will actually discover who the real killer is. I’m fairly confident no one working for you will.”
“We found the killer. Hannah McShane. We had witnesses.”
“You keep saying that, George. But no one believed your witnesses. They were not credible. I don’t know why they weren’t credible. Not yet, but no one believed them. You had no murder weapon. No blood on Hannah McShane. No DNA or finger prints. No evidence at all.”
“She had a shower or bath, changed her clothes, threw the knife in the river.”
“George, I could destroy that assertion in my sleep, and she did have decent legal representation.”
“She did it. She killed the woman.”
“Gloria.”
“Yes, whatever.”
“Did she? Or was she just someone picked up in the general area by your people? George, I want you to understand we take this seriously. We’re not looking for a scape goat. We don’t some random person for this. We want whoever did it.”
“Hannah McShane did it!”
“Then I want evidence of that. I don’t want supposition and guesswork. Maybe she did do it. Maybe she is guilty and got away with it. We want to know one way or the other. It’s not going to be you or any of your squad who find out. We can’t trust you to do anything that simple.”
“My squad did find out. It’s Hannah McShane.”
“You are to work with Detective Sergeant Vernon.” Camilla said.
“I’m not going to….”
“You are to work with Detective Sergeant Vernon. I expect full cooperation with her. Give her any information or help she asks for. Be polite. Be helpful. Don’t mention me or Victor Monk or anyone else you may know around here. If you have to insist Hannah McShane did this…”
“Of course she did. There’s no one else.”
“….then do so, but don’t expect her to listen to you. It’s her investigation and the results we’re interested in.”
“You want to know what she finds out.” Raeburn said, nodding.
“Yes but we can find that out without any help from you, thank goodness.” Camilla said. “OK you may go.”
Annoyed, Raeburn stood, shoving his chair back. The thick carpet absorbed the sound making his angry exit less than he would have liked.
The door of the conference room banged behind him. A moment later another red haired woman in a dark suit stepped out of a side room.
“You never did think Hannah was guilty, did you?” Camilla said.
“I thought it was unlikely. Tell Victor I’m grateful he hasn’t done anything.”
“He still might if this isn’t resolved. Do you know this Sergeant Vernon?”
“I know of her. I’ve never met her and what I do know comes from the newspapers, so it’s questionable to say the least. She seems, however, to be intelligent and capable, as you said earlier. We should leave this in her hands.”
“For how long?”
“For as long as it takes. This is a proper investigation. Not a bunch of halfwits looking around for someone they can find just to make life easier for themselves. I don’t know why you had to rely on the Elm Street CID anyway.”
“We had to because they were there, we know and can control them. And the crime squad was having problems of its own. Anything else you’d like to tell me?”
“Yes.” The other woman said, “Make sure we get the right person this time.”
WOTR C3
CHAPTER THREE
“How come you left the CID for this?” Hazel sat in a police patrol car with PC Jonathan Stanger. They were parked outside Gloria Kelsey’s home in Keys Court. The Keys was as smart and upmarket as Hazel remembered.
“Less stress.” Stanger said. “Better hours.”
Hazel nodded, as if she believed that. Stanger didn’t look like the sort to let stress get to him. He was, at twenty eight, six years younger than Hazel. A couple of centimeters taller. He looked fit and capable. Stanger was one of the few black officers on the force. Though to be fair there were not that many Afro-Caribbean people in town. Asians, however, Temple Caneston had a massive Asian community.
Stanger had a valid point about better hours in uniform, CID shifts tended to last absurd hours. So perhaps he had made the better choice.
“What happened with Gloria Kelsey?” Hazel said.
Stanger shrugged. “You might want to talk to the CID about that.”
Hazel would have to do that but she certainly didn’t want to. “You were the first on the scene.” She said, sidestepping the point, “What happened?”
“Well,” Stanger looked out of the car, “I was working the night shift and I happened to be nearby. Just up near the abbey. That’s when I got the call to come here.”
“The call? Just a general call to come here or was it specific?”
“You mean did it mention someone had been killed? No, not it didn’t then. Just that there was a suspicious character in the area. The security guard called it in, I think.”
Hazel nodded, “You remember the time?”
“Five, six minutes after two.” Stanger said. “I did write out a report.”
“Yes, just clearing up some details.” Hazel said. Such as what actually happened and why the report was so empty.
“You mean because she got away with it? I don’t understand that.” Stanger said. “Must have had a good lawyer.”
“Yes.” Hazel said, “I imagine that’s what it was.”
“They can really twist things.”
Hazel nodded, “How long did it take you to get here?”
“A couple of minutes.” Stanger said. “I was just round the corner and up the road.”
“You went blues and twos?” Hazel said, referring to lights and siren.
“At two in the morning, sergeant?” Stanger shook his head. “It was a couple of minutes to get here and you know what people are like if they get their sleep disturbed by
