No Hiding Place: An edge of your seat mystery/thriller. (DI Sally Parker thrillers Book 2) (17 page)

“I know. Again, I apologise.
Over the next few days, maybe we’ll gain enough information to
address that situation. Until then, I have to keep the suspect’s
name under wraps. Please understand that, Heather.”

“I can’t believe this. Will you
tell Mark, or have you told him already?”

“No. To be honest, I would
rather keep the details hush-hush for now.”

“Why?”

“He’s just lost his wife, which
is a devastating experience in itself. If I went over there and
told him that Gemma was carrying a baby when she died, how do you
think he’s going to react to that? He needs time to grieve for his
wife. The only reason I have decided to tell you is because I
promised you that I would keep you informed on how the case
progressed. I’m relying on you to keep this information between us
for now, Heather.”

“I really don’t understand
that, Inspector.” She gasped.

“What is it?” Sally asked.

“I know you haven’t named the
father, but if it’s Colin, do you think this is what the
contretemps between Gemma and Colin was about?”

“Again, I can’t speculate on
that at present. When did the contretemps take place? In August?
Can you remember the date exactly?”

“Not without looking at the
calendar.” She crossed the room to the calendar standing upright on
the cabinet and picked it up. Pointing, she counted back the weeks.
“I think it was around the sixteenth of August.”

“Well, it’s September
seventeenth today, which just tallies at a stretch with what the
pathologist told us. He thought Gemma was only four weeks
pregnant.”

“It has to be him, Inspector.
He must be the one who killed my daughter. Perhaps he had an
inkling that she was pregnant. Maybe they were using
contraceptives, and it broke during sex… oh, I don’t know. I’m
grasping at possible reasons. To me it adds up, but then I’m not a
copper. Surely you can see how plausible that could be, can’t
you?”

“Of course I can. Even if your
line of thinking is accurate, Heather, it’s not an offence to have
an affair.”

“Then what are you doing
wasting time here? You should be out there, looking for evidence to
capture the man guilty of
killing
my daughter.”

“I understand you being upset,
Heather. I want to assure you that my intention is to keep
questioning the suspects we have already highlighted, in the hope
that one of them will finally fold and admit to the crime. Do you
know when the funeral is going to take place?” Sally asked,
changing the subject, wishing to cool down Heather’s anger a
little.

“The
funerals,
you mean?
No, the Whiting family have so far kept me out of the loop there,”
she replied bitterly.

“I can ring Mark if you like.
Would that help?”

“No. They’ll probably think
I’ve put you up to it. I’m sure they’ll tell me eventually, once
the arrangements have been made.”

“Very well. We’ll be going now
then. I’m sorry to drop such a devastating bombshell on you. I want
you to be assured that I am doing everything I can to bring your
daughter’s killer to justice.”

“I’ll have to take your word on
that, Inspector,” Heather said once they’d reached the front
door.

Sally smiled at the woman, but
Heather slammed the door in her face in response. “Well, that could
have gone better.”

Back in the car, Joanna locked
her seatbelt in place and said, “Let’s hope she doesn’t go around
there to cause a stink.”

“Do you think I was wrong,
telling her about the pregnancy?”

“No. I think she had a right to
know. However, looking at things from her point of view, boss, I
know I would want to avenge my daughter and her child’s death.”

“Really?” Sally was shocked to
hear the constable reveal that. “But without evidence, there’s
little we can do to place Colin at the murder scene.”

“Maybe you should call him in
for questioning for his own sake then. It’s pretty obvious she has
him in her sights as being the father of the child.”

“Rather than let Heather get
her hands on him? You think she’d be capable of harming him?”

Joanna shrugged. “I’m not a
mother, and neither are you, boss. Who’s to say how we would feel
in the same situation? A mother’s love is a powerful force to be
reckoned with, or so I’ve been led to believe. She also intimated
that she has a temper on her at times.”

Sally started the car and
pulled away from the kerb. She headed back to the station but
changed direction when she was halfway there. “Maybe I’ll do as you
suggested and bring Colin in, after all.”

Colin Whiting was standing in
his drive, watering a hanging basket, when Sally and Joanna walked
up the path. “Hello, Colin.”

“Inspector? What brings you out
here?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“Is your wife inside?”

“She is. Why?”

“Tell her you won’t be long.
I’d like you to come to the station for more questioning.”

He placed the watering can on
the ground beside him, and through gritted teeth, he said, “What?
I’ve told you everything I know. Why are you harassing me?”

Sally laughed. “It’s hardly
police harassment when I’m asking you politely to accompany me to
the station, Mr. Whiting. I’ll even let you have a solicitor this
time. How’s that?”

“Are you saying that I need
one? Why?”

“Let’s discuss that back at the
station, shall we?”

“But I’m due at work in a few
hours.”

“I’d suggest you ring your firm
and ask them to get someone to cover your shift. I can’t express
enough how important it is that I question you further today. Now,
we’re wasting time. Do you have a number for a solicitor, or do you
wish me to appoint the duty one when we get to the station?”

“I have one. Let me get my coat
and explain to Leona what’s going on.”

“You have five minutes, Mr.
Whiting.”

Sally and Joanna kicked stones
off the path while they waited for Colin to reappear. Leona peered
out the living room window and glared at Sally when she waved at
the woman. “Oops, someone’s not pleased to see me.”

“Right. I’m ready.” Colin
pulled on his black waterproof jacket and pressed the key fob to
open his car. “I can take my own car, yes?”

“Of course. You can drop the
attitude during the drive to the station, too, Mr. Whiting—unless
you have something to hide, that is.”

“If I have an attitude,
Inspector, it’s because you’ve turned up at my home unannounced and
unexpected, when all I’ve done is abide by your wishes and been
honest with you.”

“Good. Then you have nothing to
worry about. Honesty is always the best policy in these
circumstances. Don’t you agree, Constable?”

“Wholeheartedly, Inspector,
especially if someone can prove their innocence.”

Colin opened his car door and
scowled at them. “I
have
proved my innocence. Look where
it’s got me. My solicitor will wipe the floor with you; I can
guarantee that.”

“Follow me, if you will, Mr.
Whiting. I’d hate for you to get pulled over for speeding on the
way.”

He huffed and jumped into his
car.

Sally watched Colin Whiting’s
fury escalate as he waited in the reception area of the station for
his solicitor to arrive.

A dishevelled man in his early
forties entered the room and shook Whiting’s hand.

“I’m DI Parker, if you’d like
to come with me.”

“Mr. Scottman. Sorry for the
delay, Inspector.”

Sally accepted his apology then
led the way up the grey corridor.

Joanna and a uniformed officer
were already present in the room. Sally started the tape and
introduced everyone.

“Thank you once again for
taking time out of your busy schedule to drop by for questioning
today, Mr. Whiting. I really appreciate your cooperation in this
matter.”

“According to my client,
Inspector, you have already questioned him in connection to his
sister-in-law’s untimely death. May I ask why you’ve dragged him in
here a second time in as many days?”

“We don’t make a habit of it, I
assure you, Mr. Scottman. Our time is valuable, especially at the
beginning of an important case such as this. However, it would be
foolish of me to ignore a significant piece of evidence that has
come our way since our last meeting.”

“Which is?” both men asked in
unison.

“That the deceased was pregnant
when she died.”

Colin’s features darkened, and
he reclined in his chair and folded his arms. “So… oh, I get it!
This is why you wanted a DNA sample from me.”

“Actually, it wasn’t. That was
to eliminate you from the crime scene. However, I did ask the
pathologist to run the test, all the same, and bingo bongo, what
did he come up with?”

“Are you saying the child was
mine?”

Sally suppressed the urge to
applaud him. “You don’t seem that surprised, Mr. Whiting. Why is
that?”

“Then your radar is way off,
Inspector. This piece of news couldn’t have come as more of a shock
to me.”

Sally thought back to the
conversation she’d had with him at his house, in front of his wife.
She clicked her fingers. “That’s right. Your wife told us that
you’re in the process of going through fertility tests.”

“I wasn’t referring to my
personal life.”

“This whole situation is about
your
personal
life, Mr. Whiting. Have you fathered any
children before?”

“No. What has that got to do
with anything?”

“Just asking the question. How
do you think your wife is going to react when she hears the
news?”

He huffed out a breath and
tightened his arms in front of him. “No doubt she’ll be over the
moon! How the
fuck
do you think she’s going to react?” He
sneered, revealing a side of him that Sally hadn’t witnessed
before.

Scottman glanced at his client
and shook his head.

“What?” Colin snapped at his
brief. “Have you never heard a client utter the word
fuck
before?”

Scottman kept his head down and
stared at his notebook.

“Well, at least it’s answered
one question for you during the fertility process.”

“Nice, Inspector, very
sensitive,” Colin bit back.

“It wasn’t meant as a
derogatory slight on your wife. I was merely stating a fact that
you could possibly pass the information on to the fertility
clinic,” Sally pointed out with the tightest of smiles.

“Duly noted. So does this put
me at the very top of your list of suspects?”

“I’m afraid it does. It also
gives us a prime motive, too—as I’m sure Mr. Scottman will attest
to.”

“Well?” Colin asked his
brief.

“It certainly highlights a
motive; the Inspector is right there. However, I doubt very much
the fact that you fathered a child with the deceased could be
regarded as a
prime
motive.”

Sally looked at Scottman as if
he were a crazed lunatic. “Seriously? You really believe that?”

“I do, and I would do my utmost
to challenge that fact if this ever goes to court, Inspector.”

“Okay, then I guess you and I
obviously view the damning evidence differently.”

Scottman looked up from his
notebook and nodded, ending the conversation.

“So, in view of the
damning
evidence against you, Mr. Whiting, are you willing
to tell me what kind of relationship you had with your
sister-in-law, Gemma Whiting? Bearing in mind that I’m also aware
of some kind of argument you had with the deceased at a family
barbecue in August of this year.” Sally couldn’t help feeling smug
when Scottman sharply turned to face his client.

Colin waved away the
solicitor’s concerns. “It was nothing.”

Sally frowned. “What? The
relationship?”

“The
argument
.”

“Why don’t you disclose what it
was about and let
me
be the judge of that. Did this occur
before or after your affair ended with the deceased?”

“After, and it wasn’t really an
affair, Inspector. Sorry to throw water on your enthusiasm.”

“Then what would you call
it?”

Colin shrugged and stared at
Sally as he struggled to supply a suitable answer.

Sally suddenly remembered that
he’d had a sexual assault charge against him. “Or perhaps it was
something more sinister altogether?”

He narrowed his eyes, and his
jaw moved as if he were grinding his teeth. “Meaning?”

“Maybe you did have an affair,
in your
mind
. Perhaps you
forced
Gemma to have sex
with you.”

His eyes widened, and colour
rose in his cheeks. “What? Are you crazy? She was my sister-in-law,
damn you!”

“Funny how you’re only just
recognising that fact now, Mr. Whiting. If you did have an affair
with Gemma, why wouldn’t the fact that she was your relative
through marriage have prevented that from going ahead in the first
place? It’s a little late playing the family-member card now, don’t
you think?”

“No. I had consensual sex with
Gemma. I’m telling you the truth, I swear.”

“Again, I only have your word
on that. I also can’t discount your previous conviction for sexual
assault, so you’ll have to forgive me there. So, how are we going
to get out of this stalemate, Mr. Whiting?”

“How the fuck should I know?
All I can tell you is that whatever warped suggestions you’re
trying to make about my relationship with Gemma, you’re way off the
mark. I’d also like to say, on the record, that I think the more
you’re looking in my direction, the less likely you are to track
down the real killer.”

“In your opinion.”

“Yes, in
my
opinion.
This is utter bullshit, and you’re just grasping at straws. So
what, if Gemma was expecting my baby? So
effing
what?”

“And do you think both your
wife and your brother will be saying that once they learn the
truth?”