Bad Sister(64)

‘That must’ve been such a terrible time for you and your family,’ Lindsay said. She’d let her speak, not interrupting up to then, but now appeared genuinely taken aback with Connie’s story – not that she’d even given her all the details. It was enough for now to share the basics.

‘It had a massive impact then – and continues to now. But, like I told you, what’s on the stick has nothing to do with the Hargreaves case.’

‘Okay, I appreciate you giving it to me though, thank you.’

When Connie went on to tell her about Brett’s surprise call and subsequent visit, Lindsay’s interest was clearly piqued and she was keen to hear all about it. She, too, was particularly struck by the discrepancies in the information held by the protected persons team, and what Steph and Brett had told Connie. They talked until after midnight, when Lindsay said she should get going.

‘Thanks for coming over, Lindsay.’ Connie wasn’t sure quite how to say her farewell: a handshake, hug, air-kiss? Possibly because of the wine, she went in for a loose embrace – which Lindsay reciprocated. The main aim of the evening for Connie had been to get Lindsay to believe that Steph and Dylan had been killed, that it was not suicide.

As she saw Lindsay out and waved her off in the taxi, she wondered if she’d been successful.





CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT


DI Wade


The cool evening air was a relief after the mugginess of the taxi. Lindsay paused for a moment before entering the police station, breathing in the night. She’d always loved that smell. The smell of night had a particular kind of scent; comforting, somehow. She made her way to the office off the main incident room, passing a few officers who were on the late shift. Or early, depending on how you looked at it. Despite the people, the room held an altogether different mood. A subdued hush. Not the hub of frenzied activity it was during the day.

She had a lot to mull over. The evening with Connie had been an unexpected one. The things she divulged weighed on her mind. Everything was so confusing – nothing was piecing together in a straightforward manner. The very fact that Stephanie’s brother, Brett, had found Connie and was telling her a different story to the one Stephanie had told was concerning. Connie was still so convinced that Stephanie and Dylan did not die by way of suicide, and Brett telling her that he was not, as she’d been led to believe by Steph, responsible for the fire, was falling on deaf ears with Connie. Why was she being so stubborn? Miles Prescott had told her there was no evidence that the brother had set the house on fire. In fact, according to Connie, Miles had denied all knowledge of a brother at first, then after finding a psychiatric report on Stephanie, changed this view and said instead that Brett had been responsible for a school fire, and it was that which he’d been sent to the secure home for. Miles had informed Connie, and Lindsay’s team, that the police at the time were confident the house fire had been caused by a petrol bomb through the letter box. But Connie wasn’t listening to reason. She’d got the bit between her teeth and was compelled to find out what she believed was the truth.

But at what cost?

If Connie carried on looking to implicate Brett in Stephanie and Dylan’s deaths, wasn’t she putting herself in a dangerous position?

If, in the unlikely event she was right, and she confronted Brett – the repercussions could be severe. Lindsay had told Connie this, hoping her words of warning would penetrate. But if Connie was as headstrong as she suspected, then it was a tall order to expect her to give up on her theory.

Maybe they should look into it further. Just in case. Lindsay opened the case files on her laptop, scrolling until she found the timeline she’d compiled. Connie had informed her that Brett had been released from the YOI on Thursday 1st June. Searching the timeline, she noted that was a day before Hargreaves’ escape from custody at the graveside, and four days prior to his body being dumped. Coincidence? Why had he turned up on Connie’s doorstep and how had he found her? The hairs on Lindsay’s forearms bristled. Were there any other links? From what Connie had said, he wanted to put his side of the story forward, tell her that Stephanie had lied about him. It was strange he’d chosen Connie to unload this on to.

A nagging itch spread across her scalp. Had they been too quick to dismiss Stephanie as a suicide case?

Lindsay scanned the notes on the database. There were still no solid links between the timing of Hargreaves absconding from custody, the body dump and prison officers’ rosters – but it had been Niall’s day off. Yes, he’d given an alibi and it had obviously checked out because it hadn’t been flagged. But someone might have lied for him. At the time, there’d have been no reason to be suspicious. Now though, the thought of a possible link between Niall Frazer and Brett Ellison crossed her mind. Both men had got in contact with Connie shortly after the deaths of Hargreaves and then Stephanie, which was either coincidental, or there was a reason for it. For Niall, it might have been purely because he wanted to offer comfort and had felt guilty for leaving it so long. Or he wanted to see how his handiwork had affected her, find out if it’d made her life better – how pleased she was with what he’d done.

Were he and Brett working together?

Lindsay shook her head. She was letting her mind get carried away. She’d allowed Connie’s hysteria to rub off on her; she was getting swept along. Connie seemed to have an odd effect on her. She’d even confided in her about her husband. Now that was a surprise, even to her. Perhaps it was the counsellor in Connie that somehow made her more approachable, easy to talk to – after all, it had taken Lindsay months before she’d disclosed any personal details to Mack and she worked closely with him.