CRIME ON THE FENS a gripping detective thriller full of suspense (4 page)

‘But would you respect her?’

Joseph dropped his gaze for a moment. ‘Respect can only be earned.’

‘Mm.’

‘May I ask one favour?’

Had she been any other woman at the station, or maybe even one or two of the blokes, she would have found herself melting. ‘You can ask.’

‘If I endeavour not to moralise over your actions, or draw your attention to the rule book too often, would you be kind enough never to bring religion up in conversation?’

Nikki kept the feeling of enormous relief out of her tone, and said, ‘The conversations that we will be having, Sergeant, will be entirely professional. I’m not here to make friends or indulge in chit-chat, so rest assured, it’ll be my pleasure. Now, can we start work?’

Joseph nodded. ‘That’s what I’m here for, ma’am.’

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Joseph and his new boss, entered the CID room.

‘Okay, this is the team. Such as it is.’ DI Galena indicated to the two other occupants of the room. ‘Sadly, you will discover that you have come to work with the most dysfunctional bunch in the whole of the Fenland Constabulary. This is PC Dave Harris,’ she pointed to a large, middle-aged man with thinning hair and a shirt that looked as if it had never met up with an iron in all its life. Dave raised a hand to Joseph and nodded vigorously, as if he was completely agreeing with the ‘dysfunctional’ comment.

‘He’s on loan from uniform,’ continued the DI. ‘The super thinks he only wants to work with me because he’s a lazy bastard and knows that he can spend most of his time hanging around doing sod all, while I do all the hard graft.’ She looked at Dave, who was still nodding, although with considerably less conviction. ‘Maybe that’s right, or maybe I know different.’ She turned to the other officer. ‘And this is DC Cat Cullen. Frankly, she’s a bit of a Billy No-Mates, too. She’s only here because no one else would have her. Her inability to get in on time doesn’t go down too well with most team leaders.’

The woman said nothing, but threw Joseph a “Poor sod, what have you let yourself in for?” look.

‘But,’ conceded the DI, ‘if you want a genius to go undercover, she’s your woman. Send her out on a bit of recon and even our own surveillance boys don’t recognise her. Frankly, her own mother wouldn’t know her.’

‘Talented, ain’t I?’ said Cat with a grin.

‘Whatever, and it pains me to say this, but nice work helping me to nail Darren Barton.’

‘That slime-ball! Believe me, it was a sheer delight, guv.’

Galena suddenly turned and looked directly at him. ‘And this is Detective Sergeant Joseph Easter, here for one month,
maybe
, on loan from Fenchester. And with your reputation, Joseph, you should fit in a treat.’

Joseph smiled. After all, he
had
been warned. And so far, DI Nikki Galena was delivering everything that he had expected.

‘Right. Sit. And listen. Two things. One, we are still trying to find the origins of those damned masks. Dave, you fill the sergeant here in on them later. And two, the super has given us a low-key investigation to carry out.’ She perched on the edge of a desk and picked up a thin file. ‘It’s less official, more a favour under the old pals act, unless we discover otherwise.’ As she looked at her small team, Joseph noticed an odd look in her eyes. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it looked very much like pain.

‘We have a missing student. Now, I know all the reasons why a twenty-one-year-old would skip a few classes, but the dean of the uni believes that in this case, it’s too uncharacteristic to ignore. He is certain that she’s either met with an accident, or been taken by someone.’ The DI skimmed down a brief report with her index finger. ‘As the dean coughs up regularly for our fund raising projects, the super thinks we should check her out. So, this is how I suggest we proceed. First, I’ll go speak to the dean. Sergeant, you come with me. We’ll check out the girl’s living accommodation. I understand she lives on campus. If we are concerned, we’ll speak to her friends, then we’ll decide where to go from there. Meantime,’ she glared at Cat and Dave, ‘if you two can manage to stay awake long enough, keep plugging away at those bloody masks!’

CHAPTER SIX

Dr Villiers was in the foyer waiting for them. He moved quickly forward, hand out stretched. ‘Thank you for your time, officers. I know it’s not the normal procedure, but I really appreciate it. Please, come to my office, and I’ll explain why I’m so worried.’

Villiers was stick thin, but exuded energy. He gave the impression of being able to take on the London Marathon with no notice or training. Nikki and Joseph sat down, but he paced as he talked.

‘Brilliant student. Incredibly sensitive to light and shade. Kerry’s picture composition is almost a natural thing: the sort of young person who, without doubt, has chosen the right career path to follow.’

Nikki’s usual impatience welled up, she wanted to get down to the nitty gritty, but recognised that the man felt he should explain himself fully.

‘And that is one of the reasons that she just would not have missed the field trip to Derbyshire yesterday. The whole trip was organised around a particular place that she herself had designated as a superb spot for landscape photography. The pictures that she hoped to take were going to be used in her final presentation, in her portfolio.
No way
would she have missed it.’

‘Does she have any particular problems, sir?’

‘None that I know of, Inspector. She seems very well balanced.’

‘Friends? A particular friend here?’

‘She’s generally popular, but strangely, has no one that I would call a best friend.’ He frowned. ‘But I think that may simply be because she is so passionate about her course. She’s something of a rare breed, truly dedicated. Her supervisor has high hopes that Kerry will go a very long way.’

‘Boyfriend?’

‘No one from the university, but she does spend time with a young man from one of the marsh villages, I understand. I wouldn’t know if they were actually a couple, but frankly I’d doubt it.’

‘Do you know his name, Dr Villiers?’ asked Nikki, deciding that he would be her first port of call.

‘No, I don’t, but I’m sure one of the students will be able to help you.’ He handed her a typed sheet. ‘I thought this might help. It’s a list of students who are probably closest to her.’

‘What about her family? Do her parents know that she has missed classes?’

The dean looked worried. ‘Not exactly. The secretary rang them earlier, on some pretext, just to ascertain if she was there, but they said that they were not expecting to see her until next Friday for some family birthday.’

‘Didn’t they get concerned, if you didn’t seem to know her whereabouts?’ asked Joseph.

‘Third-year students have a fair amount of free time for their studies, Sergeant. There’s a greater emphasis on independent learning. We don’t keep them locked up.’

‘What is her background, sir? Family well off?’

‘Absolutely not. They live on the Carborough Estate. Kerry came here by way of a scholarship and a grant. Her school work and examination results were exemplary.’

Nikki’s eyes widened. ‘A kid from the Borough making it to uni, now that’s refreshing!’

‘Not every child from a poor background finishes up as a mug shot, Inspector. A few have enough drive and inclination to move upward.’

‘Not many. Sadly, we spend most of our life seeing the other end of the spectrum.’ Nikki stood up. ‘May we see her room, Dr Villiers?’

‘Of course, but they don’t have rooms anymore, the modern version is called a pod or a cube. And if it’s alright with you, I won’t come with you. My visits to the student’s quarters are kept to the minimum, and my presence would definitely cause speculation that something is amiss.’

‘And ours won’t?’ asked Nikki.

‘You aren’t wearing uniforms. Lots of people come and go through the living centre.’ The dean opened the door. ‘Excuse me, I’ll go and get you a pass card.’

‘There goes a seriously worried man,’ muttered Joseph, as the door closed.

‘Wouldn’t you be, if this kid is the A-class swat that he reckons she is?’ Nikki walked to the window and looked across the acres of grounds, and whispered, almost to herself. ‘I’ve got a very bad feeling about Kerry Anderson.’

* * *

Joseph looked across the campus and his eyes widened. ‘This has all changed beyond recognition! An uncle of mine used to live in one of the old houses in Blenheim Road.’ He indicated to an area beyond the perimeter wall. ‘You could see the art college, as it was then, from his bedroom window. It looked like some rambling old mansion house in lovely parkland. Nothing like this!’

‘Ever heard of progress?’ Nikki was in no mood for giving talks on Greenborough’s regeneration over the last decade, and thankfully, Joseph took the hint.

The student living quarters bore no resemblance to any student digs that Nikki had ever seen, and she’d seen a few grubby rooms in her time. Ultra-modern, the main entrance opened onto a large communal space with a central hub that housed chairs and tables, and a bank of ovens, refrigerators and store cupboards. Several students were making snacks, getting hot drinks or generally hanging out there. A series of corridors radiated from the central core, and off these, were the student pods.

Using the swipe card, they let themselves into Kerry’s private domain.

For a student, it was unnervingly tidy. The bed was made, and there was very little clutter of any kind around. It seemed that Kerry’s only concession to traditional student living was to cover the walls with pictures. But hers were very professional pictures.

‘Bloody hell! Villiers was right.’ Nikki studied an atmospheric black and white study of a derelict windmill. ‘She’s damned good. I suppose it’s her work?’

‘I’d say so.’ Joseph looked from picture to picture. ‘With the probable exception of these.’ He pointed to a collection of postcard sized photographs.

Nikki squinted. ‘What are they? Stars and stuff?’

‘They are astro-photos, taken through a telescope, and to get quality like this, someone was using some pretty expensive equipment, I’d say.’

‘Not her?’

‘Wouldn’t think so. Unless she keeps her telescope and accessories somewhere else. There’s no room for that kind of stuff here.’ He looked around, then added, ‘And frankly, science, astronomy and cosmology enthusiasts who would be capable of taking shots like this, tend to be male.’

‘Sexist!’

‘Far from it. I’m actually admitting that geeks, nerds and anoraks are generally blokes. She clearly has an interest in the subject, or she wouldn’t have the photos, but I just feel, looking at these other pictures, that she’s more artistic, more into moods and atmospheres.’

Nicely side stepped, Sergeant Easter! ‘
Right, well, let’s see what we can find. You take the living area and I’ll take the bedroom section.’

Nikki had never been inside a pod before, and was impressed. Within the small area was a living space with desk and workstation, a bedroom with roomy storage boxes, hanging space and cupboards built around the bed, and a full en-suite. The windows in both rooms were floor to ceiling, giving the small apartment a bright and airy feel. There were no cooking facilities except for a narrow breakfast bar with a microwave and an electric kettle, but she guessed the communal hub provided everything they needed for eating and socialising.

She thought about her own early years, and decided it was best not to try to make comparisons, because there seemed to be none.

She began to sift through Kerry’s belongings, and felt a pang of nostalgia at seeing the young woman’s bright, trendy clothes. Every drawer was neatly packed with carefully folded T-shirts, blouses, camisoles, shorts and underwear.

Why hadn’t Hannah been as tidy as this when she was at home? It would have meant a lot less heated arguments, that was for sure. She picked up a make-up bag, took out a lipstick and undid it. She twisted the base. Same colour as Hannah’s favourite. She glanced at the label and knew that she would see the words, “Seriously Sexy Pink”. She put it back and tried to push thoughts of Hannah away. Instead she stole a surreptitious glance at Joseph. Sadly she found nothing to complain about regarding his search techniques. He was annoyingly thorough, methodical and careful.

‘I’ve found a birthday card for her father.’ Joseph called out.

‘The dean mentioned a family birthday. Has she written in it?’

‘Yes. She says, “Have a great day, old man! See you for a birthday drink on Friday. Love and kisses. K.” Oh,’ his tone altered, ‘ma’am, I’ve just found her credit cards, student card and some cash.’

Nikki felt a cold shiver snake across her shoulder blades. ‘I said that I had a bad feeling about this.’

Joseph gave a short sigh and held out a piece of paper with a scrawl of handwriting across it. ‘Look. She’s even left herself a note to ring someone about a workshop next week. Hardly the thing to do, if you are planning on doing a bunk.’

‘Right, I think it’s time we spoke to some of her colleagues, and in a very informal manner, Sergeant, I don’t want any of these kids panicked.’

‘Don’t worry, ma’am. I can do softly-softly rather well.’

‘Why doesn’t that surprise me? Come on, let’s start with the
neighbours
.’

* * *

An hour later, they made their way back to the car.

‘You drive,’ she threw Joseph the keys, ‘while I bring the super up to speed. I assume that if your uncle lived around here, you can find your way back to the nick without needing satnav?’

‘I’ll try my best, ma’am.’ He adjusted the seat, clipped on his safety belt and listened as his boss spoke to the superintendent.

‘Yes, sir. It looks as though your academic friend may be right. Her room shows no signs at all of anything being out of the ordinary. Kerry has taken nothing with her to indicate that she was planning on going away, and she was seen leaving the student’s block at around midnight on Monday. She was wearing casual clothes, carrying only a shoulder bag and wearing hiking boots.’

After a short break in her side of the conversation, she said, ‘No, not unusual. Midnight is far from late for a student, sir, and her friends say she would often go out with her camera taking night studies, although the boots do indicate that where ever she was going, it certainly wasn’t clubbing.’

There was another silence, then the DI said, ‘I agree, sir. So if she hasn’t met with some kind of an accident, on whatever clandestine excursion she went on, I’m forced to think the worst.’ She flipped the phone closed, ‘The super has already checked round the local hospitals, and zilch.’ She sat for a while, chewing on her lip. ‘As soon as we get back, I’ll ring Villiers to make sure that no one goes into that pod. I would normally get uniform to close it up, but until we know a bit more, we still have to keep this unofficial. Our bloody budget doesn’t extend to our chasing round after every kid who goes on a three day bender.’ She gave a short sigh. ‘Not for one minute do I believe that’s the case here. However, our next task looks as if it will be speaking to the parents.’

Joseph glanced across and saw her face harden. No one liked this part of the job. He loathed it, but looking at her, he had the feeling that DI Galena hated it as much as he did.

Without thinking, his foot eased further down on the accelerator. He was starting to feel as uneasy as his new boss.