Death in the Sunshine (Retired Detectives Club, #1)(67)

‘Will do,’ says Moira, holding tight to the handrail as she steps down from the ambulance. She scans the parking lot. Philip’s nowhere to be seen, but she spots Rick a little way across the lot, leaning against the side of his jeep.

He rushes to help her. Takes her elbow and guides her to the passenger side, practically lifting her on to the seat. She doesn’t fight his help. She needs it.

Rick looks worried as he stares at her head. ‘You sure you shouldn’t be in hospital?’

Moira shakes her head, and tries to ignore the nausea as her vision goes hazy again. ‘It’s just a nasty scratch, I’ll be fine.’

Rick looks unconvinced, but he fires up the jeep’s engine, and she’s thankful for that. She closes her eyes, and as she does the conversation between Philip and Golding replays in her mind. Golding said Philip was a liar, that he killed a child, and that he was fired because of it. That’s a long way from the story Lizzie told.

She needs to know who is telling the truth.





36


LIZZIE


There’s something wrong. Philip’s trying to hide it, but Lizzie knows the signs. She doesn’t think it’s because of what happened to Moira, either. It’s something else, and it’s happened since he left this morning.

Lizzie looks at Rick. ‘It feels weird without Moira here. How was she doing when you dropped her home?’

‘Playing the tough cookie. She was feeling rough, anyone could see it, but she was real determined not to let it show. I offered to give her a hand with the dogs and all, but she said she’d be fine and I didn’t want to push it.’

‘I’ll check in on her later,’ says Lizzie. ‘See if she needs anything.’

She sneaks a glance at Philip. He’s holding his mug in both hands and staring into the coffee. It seems like he isn’t even listening to what Rick’s saying. No, she thinks, he’s not worrying about Moira, but he’s been off since he returned an hour or so ago. There is something else going on with him. Maybe it has something to do with the investigation. ‘What did you guys find?’

Rick doesn’t answer right away. Instead he looks at Philip to see if he’s going to jump in. Philip stays silent. Keeps looking into his coffee mug. Rick gives a shrug, and turns back to Lizzie. ‘We found a whole bunch, but I’m not sure where it leaves us.’

‘How come?’

‘Well, for starters, we know that Betty Graften’s grandson, Mikey, is the guy that Donald saw arguing with the victim, and that he’d been dating her for a few weeks. He told us her name – Kristen Altman – and that she was a croupier at the Flying Mustang Casino over in Conaldo Plains. He also—’

‘Hold on, we should be keeping track of this on the board,’ says Lizzie. Getting up, she picks the dry marker off the table and walks over to the patio doors. She takes the lid off the pen and turns back to Rick. ‘Keep talking. I’ll make the notes.’

‘So Mikey Graften says he was due to meet the victim the night she died, and that she’d messaged him earlier that day saying that after that night all their money worries would be over. He says he waited for her in the spot they’d agreed, but she never showed.’

Lizzie frowns. ‘And you believe him?’

Rick exhales hard. ‘The kid’s pretty messed up about it. Seemed like he was telling the truth to me. I don’t think he killed her, but Golding does. He showed up while we were still talking to the kid and arrested him.’

‘Does he have evidence we don’t?’ asks Lizzie.

‘I doubt it.’ Rick glances at Philip, who doesn’t look up. He looks back at Lizzie. ‘Golding said it was off the back of the plate sighting that he was bringing the kid in. It shouldn’t be enough to hold him long.’

‘What about the CCTV?’ asks Lizzie.

‘Nothing left, from what I could see. The hard drives had been ripped out of the computers, and all the USB backups destroyed.’

‘So Moira and Hank got injured for nothing.’

They sit in silence for a minute.

‘How did things go here?’ asks Rick. ‘You find anything useful?’

Lizzie glances through the patio doors into the kitchen. Her testing kit is sitting open on the countertop. The water-testing equipment is drying on the drainer rack beside the sink. She shakes her head. ‘Nothing of use, I’m afraid. The sample was non-conclusive – there was too much cleaning agent in the water.’

‘Worth a try.’

‘I guess,’ says Lizzie. ‘I’m still working on the phone. I haven’t managed to get it to work yet, but I’ll keep trying and maybe I’ll get lucky.’ She glances at Philip. He hasn’t spoken for ages. She keeps staring at him until she catches his eye. He looks away fast as if he’s been burnt.

Rick notices. He stands up. ‘Look, I should get going.’ He looks at Philip. ‘I’ll do another round of the volunteer patrollers in the morning and collect the last few logs.’

Philip sounds distracted when he speaks. ‘Good, good.’

Rick frowns but doesn’t say anything; instead he turns to Lizzie. ‘Thanks for the coffee, Lizzie. Let me know if Moira needs anything, I’m more than happy to help out.’

Lizzie smiles and thinks what a kind and uncomplicated man Rick is, not like her husband. She feels a pang of guilt almost before the thought is fully formed. ‘Of course.’