Cold Justice (Willis/Carter #4)(79)
‘Probably.’ Marky rummaged through his pile of clothes. ‘And it’s never been any different. After you leave it will be the same,’ he said, as he rooted out two odd socks. He flashed Carter a look of defiance.
‘Ah . . . that’s where you’re wrong.’ Carter smiled. ‘By the time I leave here I will know what happened to Samuel, and I will know who killed Martin Stokes. I’ll go home after doing my job, same as I always do. After all, it’s just a job, right? My life will go back to normal. But yours? Your life will never be the same again, because this village is a boiling cyst that’s ready to burst. It’s not a bubble you have here – it’s a bubbling, angry, pus-filled boil, and we aim to tease it with a squeeze, enough to make it pop all by itself. When it does, it’s going to erupt good and proper, and cover you and all those people who think that the outside world can’t touch them here in Penhal. You think what occurs here in Penhal stays in Penhal? Sorry, mate, but you’re so wrong.
‘Soon you’re going to have every camera crew in the world focused in on this village and waiting for you to explode. BOOM.’ Carter mimed an explosion in the air. ‘The truth will come out whether you want it to or not, and I hope, for your sake, as well as mine, it comes out ASAP, so I can go home to people who know what it’s like to care about one another.’
Marky was watching Leonard and the SOCO team out of his front window.
‘So, tell me, surprise me with the truth, how did Mawgan get injured?’
‘I can’t interfere with family stuff. Ask her yourself.’
‘I will, and I will take her in for questioning and keep her there if I find matching injuries on her father’s body. But I’ve noticed that Mawgan is a woman of few words, and I’ve noticed that Towan is a pig, so I’m asking you first.’
‘You need to look on the back of the cellar door if you want to see how she got injured.’ Marky held Carter’s gaze.
‘What was she doing in there?’
‘She was locked in by Towan. His idea of a joke – mainly to stop her interfering with the horse fight, I expect.’
‘And the mess in the kitchen?’
‘When I found her, he got there first. He wasn’t going to let her out.’
‘Fights are common in this family, are they?’
Marky shrugged. ‘Not unless Towan is around.’
‘Him and the old man were close, weren’t they?’
‘Yeah, it wouldn’t stop him though. He should have gone far away when he came out of the nick. He only came back to try and get money out of his dad.’
Carter went outside and watched as Stokes’ body was bagged up. Marky followed and stood in the rain, watching them remove it. Towan stood in his cottage doorway.
The white forensic tent stood flapping as it took the brunt of the wind. The pigs were squealing to be fed, the horses whinnying. The noise of the cattle moving inside the barn, clashing their horns against the metal stalls, added to the din.
Mawgan appeared in the lane and she glared at her father’s body as it passed.
Robbo rang. Carter walked back down the lane to get privacy. He was still watching Mawgan as she passed. She touched Marky’s hand as he reached out to comfort her as she went by. She shook her head and walked on.
Willis waited while the caravans were jimmied open by Pascoe. They were empty – all except one which contained outside furniture for all of them stacked up inside. She left Pascoe to search them thoroughly inside and out, while she went back to Kensa’s. When he’d finished, he came to tell her he was going down to make sure things were fully operational for them at the old police station.
Kensa’s van was unlocked. Outside, the fire was still smouldering from the night before and the smell of horse hit her as she opened the door. The rain began pelting on the caravan roof and the wind came out of nowhere to buffet it, as if it was made of cardboard.
Willis took a step inside the van and took her time to look in every corner as she carefully lifted and replaced all of Kensa’s belongings. The shelves were full of things that didn’t seem to have a purpose. There were corks and bar mats and even dead flowers. Willis examined everything, hearing the officers getting on and searching the other vans. She took down a small photo album from the shelf above the seating in the lounge. It had been hidden beneath a few pictures of Misty and some horseshoes. She opened it up; it was affected by damp and some photos had begun to disintegrate and stick to the plastic. Turning the pages carefully, Willis saw it was a cross between a scrapbook and a photo album. There were stuck-in sweet wrappers and a love-heart drawn. There were photos of Kensa as a young teenager with her arms around a boy, who looked like Cam, and with Mawgan modelling hot pants, pouting at the camera. Another girl was in the shot, long blonde hair and Lolita looks. There were so many photos of the girls messing around. They were standing by a Kylie poster. Willis put the photo album aside to show Carter.
She went into the bedroom, and looked in the place she’d found weed before, but found nothing this time. As she felt along inside the cupboard, she felt a soft carrier bag and pulled it down to have a look. Inside were babies’ clothes. They were little boy’s outfits; Willis smelled them, noticing they had a damp odour. She was sure she hadn’t missed them out on her search last time. They looked like they’d never been worn, except among them was a newborn baby’s nightdress, which was covered in blood.