Category:

There was sunshine now, so pale you could tell that winter was on its way, and on the drive outside, two cars pulled up. Her sergeant, Joe Ashworth, climbed out of the first and a woman from the second. It took the inspector a moment to recognize her. She got to her feet and left Limbrick’s office to greet the newcomers.

They stood outside the house. Vera was glad of the fresh air, the chill of the breeze from the sea. Rosebank stood on the edge of the town and she could see there were still lights on in the houses just inland. People had forgotten to turn them off when the sun came up.

She nodded to Joe and turned to the other woman. Katherine Willmore, former lawyer and now Police and Crime Commissioner. A political appointment, elected by the residents of her patch. Ma’am.’ Vera had time for the woman, but there was a question in the inflection of her voice:

'I was in the office early,’ Willmore said. She was another woman who couldn’t sleep. 'I knew this would be a sensitive case.’ A pause. 'Private care homes have been in the news lately. There was that TV documentary.’ Another pause and then a confession. 'I’d like to bring them back into local authority control. It doesn’t seem right to be making a profit from troubled children.’ She looked up and gave a wan smile. 'Not that it’ll happen, the way things are financially.’ She looked out over the sand stained with coal dust to the grey sky. 'More likely to see a herd of pigs flying out there.’

Willmore had a daughter who was a little troubled herself. Vera nodded, but said nothing. She kept away from politics. Instead, she talked Willmore and Joe through the case as she understood it. 'A dog-walker found the body at about nine-thirty. Woodburn’s car was here—the manager heard it at about eight and assumed he was inside—but nobody saw him. So we can assume time of death at between eight and nine-thirty. We won’t get any closer than that, even after the post-mortem. The others were in the lounge watching a film, apparently. It’s a rambling place, but they can only take four kids. They all have problems apparently. Tricky to handle.’

'And the missing girl?’

'Chloe Spence. Fourteen going on fifteen. The youngest resident of Rosebank now. Father left the family and the mam had some sort of nervous breakdown. A year on and the mother’s back in the psychiatric hospital. According to the records, she’d suffered bouts of depression since she was a teenager. Chloe’s an only child and there are no other relatives she’s willing to stay with.’

'We think she killed Woodburn?’

'Well, she’s disappeared. Hard to know if she’s the killer or another victim. We need to find her.’

Joe Ashworth was lurking just outside Vera’s field of view, and she could tell he was feeling restive.

'Go and see how Doc Keating is getting on.’ She gestured towards the gathering around the tent. 'Then find the manager, Limbrick. He’s in the office just inside the front door. He’ll show you into Chloe’s room.’ She paused for a moment. 'We need to find the lass.’

'She’s our prime suspect then,’ he said. It was a statement rather than a question.

Vera didn’t know what to say to that. She was remembering the diary entry. I think I could be in love with him. Could the lass have written that and then hit him so hard that his blood and bone spattered the thin grey grass?

'Billy Cartwright is already in there. Can you chat to Limbrick, once you’ve got an idea of the lie of the land? He’s been up all night and I think we should let him go home as soon as we can. Get him to introduce you to the kids. Tracey, the other worker on duty, is already here getting their breakfast. She’ll be on shift all day and we can get a statement from her when the kids are out of the way.’

Vera didn’t want to go in yet. She needed a few more minutes to enjoy the sunshine. To give her the energy to put on a brave face.

She’d expected Willmore to follow Joe in, but the woman hovered beside her, irritating as a fly in summer.

'I hear you’ve made an appointment. Holly’s replacement.’

That stab of guilt. Nobody will replace Holly.

'Yes, ma’am.’

'A local woman?’

'From Newcastle.’ Brash and loud and as different from the cerebral Holly as it would be possible to be. The new DC would enjoy a night out with the lasses on the Quayside, eyeing up the footballers, getting pissed and rowdy until the make-up smudged and the shoes were discarded. 'I think she’ll do very well. I’ve had good reports and she seems the sort to be able to look after herself.’

Willmore nodded once more. 'I’ll leave you to it, then. Keep me informed.’ She walked briskly towards her car. Vera took a breath and went inside.