‘I’m merely advising you that there are certain matters you most definitely do not want going public. Believe me, I know.’
‘What matters?’ She remained standing. His calmness infuriated her. What was he insinuating? She had asked him about Adam before and he had been evasive. Now he was blatantly using her late husband as a threat. She opened her mouth to speak again. He raised a hand, silencing her.
‘I don’t want to go into details at the moment, as I’m very busy. Suffice to say, if you find this girl and her child, the information I have will never surface.’
Lottie moved quickly to the door and looked back at him.
‘I’ve no intention of surrendering to your vile intimidation. You’ll be sorry you ever started this.’
‘I doubt that very much. If anyone is going to be sorry, it will be you. Now if that’s all, close the door on your way out.’
Unable to think of a suitable retort, Lottie walked out of the office, leaving the door wide open.
He watched the detective. Watched her run out of Block A as the clouds burst and the rain thundered down. She had a nice arse in her tight faded jeans. Did she think she was a teenager going around dressed like that? Who exactly did she think she was?
But he knew who she was, and all about her family.
He heard his dog behind him and turned.
‘Did you get one, mutt?’ he said. ‘Oh, it’s a whopper this time.’
The dog sat looking up at him with a dirty big rat in its mouth.
Fifty
The second victim’s preliminary post-mortem results were sitting in Lottie’s email inbox when she returned to the office. As promised, Jane had dumbed down the language so Lottie could make sense of it immediately.
Cause of death: gunshot.
Entry through upper back.
Damage to lungs, heart and spleen.
Death instant.
Bullet exited below chest.
Bullet not recovered from body.
Left kidney removed surgically. Best estimate within the last three months.
Septicaemia present.
Wound washed.
Traces of moss lodged in two toenails of right foot. Moss sent for analysis and soil analysis. Possibility that body was washed.
Old scars on body. Self-harm?
Imprint of letter K on right ankle. Maybe from a thin ankle bracelet on victim at time of death.
Interesting, Lottie thought, looking at the last point; the killer had missed that. Did it confirm that the second victim was Kaltrina? And what about the moss? What did that mean? Both girls had moss beneath their nails. She would have to follow up on the analysis.
She raised her head as Boyd entered the office.
He said, ‘You’re soaking wet.’
‘I’m going home to get changed.’ She stood up. ‘Have a look at this. See what you make of it, in particular the bit about the moss.’
‘How did it go with Russell?’
She thought for a moment about Russell’s threat. Should she say anything about Mimoza? But she decided she had nothing to fear from that pompous bastard. ‘He told me Mimoza was a resident and that she and her son seem to have disappeared.’
‘Did you tell him—’
‘No, I didn’t tell him about Milot. What do you take me for?’
‘I don’t know, but it would be interesting to hear what he had to say.’
‘I showed him the photo of the latest murder victim and—’
‘I bet he knew her.’
‘Will you let me finish a sentence, Boyd?’ When she was sure he would remain quiet, she said, ‘I think he knew her.’
‘Told you so.’
‘I’d better go and change. I’ll see you in a bit and you can fill me in on your progress.’
‘What progress?’
‘Exactly. Ring Jane. See how long the soil and moss analysis will take.’
She left him shaking his head as he sat down at her desk to read the report.
* * *
Lottie rushed home and quickly changed into dry clothes. She checked in on Chloe but she was fast asleep.
Milot was sitting on Katie’s knee in the kitchen, eating chicken nuggets. Lottie sat down and looked at her daughter. She thought how it was only a few short years since Katie had been a child herself, and now she was just a shadow. Jason’s death really had hit her hard.
‘Granny went home,’ Katie told her. ‘I found these nuggets in the freezer and threw them in the oven. He seems to like them.’
Milot smiled and a chunk of chicken fell out of his mouth.
‘I’ve tissues somewhere.’ Lottie opened up her deep leather bag. She set aside the photo of Mimoza and Milot she’d got from Russell. It needed to go up on the incident board. Fishing around for the tissues, she pulled out till receipts and chocolate bar wrappers.
‘It doesn’t matter, Mam.’ Katie found a kitchen roll. She tore off a piece and wiped Milot’s mouth.
Lottie crumpled up the receipts. Her bag could do with a good clean-out. She glanced at the clock and scrabbled around in the mess. Pulling out a bundle of post, she scanned through it: mainly bills. She crumpled each one up, trying not to think of her depleted bank balance. Her hand stopped and she stared. The envelope that had held Mimoza’s note. Suddenly she recalled that there had been something besides the letter in it. With everything that had happened, she’d totally forgotten about it.
‘Mam, what are you at?’ Katie tidied up the table and took Milot by the hand.
‘It’s such a mess,’ Lottie said. ‘Is Milot okay?’
‘We’re going to watch some television, aren’t we, Milot?’
‘Keep an eye on Chloe. I’m worried about her.’
‘Whatever.’
Katie brought the child into the sitting room and Lottie heard the sounds of The Lion King blaring. I’m right to keep him here, she thought. Now I just need to find his mum.
Throwing everything else back into her bag, she opened Mimosa’s envelope and took out the material that was lying in the bottom fold. It was a narrow piece of green canvas about two and a half centimetres in depth and maybe fifteen centimetres in length. Velcro on one side. She turned it over. Deep green stitching embossed the edges. Her bag slid from her knee to the floor and she gasped as she realised what she was looking at. An army badge. Perfectly spaced capital letters, embroidered down the centre, spelled out a name. PARKER.
‘What’s that?’ Katie asked, coming back to the kitchen and opening the refrigerator.
Before her daughter could see it, Lottie picked up her bag and shoved the canvas badge inside.
‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘Nothing at all.’
Her hands shook fiercely and her legs twitched up and down. She took deep breaths, staring at the ceiling and trying to focus her thoughts. Why had Mimoza come to her house? What was her note all about? And how could she be in possession of Adam’s army name badge? Was it really Adam’s? Logic told her it had to be.
Her phone beeped a text from Boyd. Meet at Weir’s yard.
Mimoza. She had to find Mimoza.
Only then could she find out the truth.
Fifty-One