Child's Play (D.I. Kim Stone #11)(14)

Lynne threw back her head and laughed.

The two of them had met when Travis had arranged a team-building day at the go-karting course for all of them following a particularly harrowing child murder case, and he had taken Jasper along. The final race had been between his brother and Lynne who had recently completed her advanced police driver training course.

He knew she had let him win and he had appreciated the gesture. He met her gaze, realising how much he missed her. It was Lynne he’d been looking forward to seeing again.

‘Yeah, well, thanks for letting him take the…’

‘I did no such thing. The kid beat me fair and square.’

Penn’s smile and response froze on his lips as Philip Maynard hurried towards them wearing a pensive expression beneath his CPS wig.

‘One of the witnesses has gone missing,’ said Philip, urgently.

‘Ours or theirs?’ he asked.

‘Theirs,’ he answered although it didn’t really matter. Any missing person had the power to disrupt and derail the trial, preventing a guilty man getting the justice he deserved.

‘Who?’ Penn asked. Last time he’d checked everyone had been present and correct.

The recall bell sounded behind them.

‘Dexter McCann. He slipped out twenty minutes ago and hasn’t been seen since.’

Gregor’s neighbour, who insisted the man was at home on the night that Devlin Kapoor was murdered.

The man was no threat to the prosecution and the alibi he was providing for Gregor Nuryef was as thin as 1-ply toilet paper, but the bad feeling in his gut was not going away.

In fact, it was starting to get worse.





Fourteen





‘Guv, I am willing to bet my car that the distance between those lobelia plants is spot on,’ Bryant said, as they traversed Mr Blenkinsop’s paved pathway, along which was a one-foot-wide border on either side holding purple, and only purple, lobelia blooms.

‘Even if you offered something decent I wouldn’t bet against you,’ she said, taking in the symmetrically planted hanging baskets on either side of the door.

Vertical hanging blinds adorned both the upper and lower windows. A way of maintaining privacy but allowing the occupant to see out. Perfect for the nosey neighbour.

‘Mr Blenkinsop?’ Kim said as the door was opened by a man in his late fifties.

The smell of lemon hit her nostrils and she wasn’t sure if it came from the house or him.

His jeans had a crease pressed into the front of each leg and his short-sleeved white tee shirt was spotless.

A pair of glasses hung on a cord around his neck.

He nodded.

‘May we come in?’

He didn’t step aside but nodded again, as he looked down. ‘Of course, if you’ll just remove your shoes.’

Kim looked at Bryant and then back at the man.

‘I’m sure our footwear is reasonably clean, Mr—’

‘Please remove them,’ he insisted.

In all her years as a police officer she had never once been asked to remove her shoes before entering a property.

‘Never mind, sir, we were hoping you could assist with the events along the road but we’ll continue on our way to the next property.’

‘Okay, okay,’ he said, opening the door. His obvious need to be involved trumped his need for carpet control.

‘If you wouldn’t mind talking in the kitchen,’ he said, pointing along the hallway.

Damage limitation. They were not being allowed into the reception rooms with their shoes still on.

She headed past him towards what appeared to be the epicentre of the zesty smell.

The kitchen was surprisingly modern, light and airy, with flagstone tiles. A bistro table was set before a patio window looking out to the garden. A small fish pond was surrounded by colourful blooms.

‘So, Mr Blenkinsop, what can you tell us about Belinda Evans?’

‘Well, I didn’t know her all that well. I mean, we waved and said the odd hello, exchanged Christmas cards and such but…’

‘I understand,’ Kim said. It was way more than she did with any of her neighbours except Charlie, Barney’s best friend. ‘So, what can you tell us about her habits? Did you happen to notice anything?’

‘Well, it’s all a bit strange, if you ask me. Unmarried, no children, no partner, buying the house next door for goodness knows what reason.’

So, the man had never been in her home, and looking around his own pristine surroundings it could very well have been the death of him.

‘Did you ever notice any visitors, strangers coming to the house or hanging around outside?’

He shook his head. ‘She seemed to go out a lot, late at night. Sometimes came back early hours of the morning, occasionally gone overnight.’

‘Any idea where?’ Kim asked, thinking about the overnight bag.

He shook his head.

‘Or with whom? Maybe her sister?’ Bryant asked.

‘No, I don’t think so,’ he said, frowning. ‘Very strange. Hard to tell the two of them apart. Same hair, same clothes, similar car. A bit like they were trying to be twins.’

Except that by all accounts they couldn’t stand each other.

‘Two to three times a day the other sister turned up, sometimes just for a few minutes or half an hour but it was like they couldn’t bear to be apart for more than a few hours at a time. Most strange for two women in their…’