Against a Dark Sky (8 page)

Chapter Seventeen

D
ani’s mobile phone began buzzing on the bedside table a few seconds before the alarm clock went off. She’d been in such a deep sleep that this brutal wrench into consciousness left her disorientated. It took her a little while to interpret what the caller was saying.

              ‘Okay, so you’re ringing from the Met, to inform me about a house breaking and a GBH. Are you sure you have the correct number, Detective Sergeant?’

              Dani levered herself up onto an elbow, becoming more alert as the Sergeant provided the additional details. She grabbed for a pad and pen, jotting some information down. Bevan glanced at the clock.

              ‘Thank you for letting me know. I’ll be in London with you by early afternoon.’ Dani ended the call, swinging around to sit on the edge of the bed, resting her head in her hands and rubbing at the temples.

              Amit Batra was in hospital. Someone had broken into his family home in the middle of the night. Batra had disturbed the burglar, confronting him with a baseball bat. But the intruder had got the better of Batra. The man had been very badly beaten. He’d suffered a fractured skull and had not yet regained consciousness. The rest of the family hid upstairs during the attack. They were unharmed. The intruder made off with a backpack full of valuables. The police have not yet been able to find him. All of this Dani had scrawled in note form on her pad.

              Taking a deep breath, Dani went into the en-suite bathroom and turned on the shower, returning to the bedroom to call Andy. If they were really going to reach east London by this afternoon, she’d have to get a move on.

              Calder and Bevan caught a flight from Edinburgh to Stansted Airport in Essex. They reached the town of Loughton, on the outer borders of the east London suburbs, by mid-afternoon. Dani had arranged to meet the senior investigating officer at Whipps Cross Hospital, where Batra was in the Intensive Care Unit.

              DI Long, a stocky man in his early forties, greeted them in the waiting area. ‘When I put Batra’s name into the NEXUS system, your case came up. I hope you didn’t mind the wake-up call from my Sergeant. This assault is probably unrelated, but these days you’ve got to cover all the bases.’

              Bevan nodded with understanding. ‘Has Batra woken up yet?’

              The Detective Inspector pulled a face. ‘The specialist has just finished running a few tests. He reckons there might be brain damage.’ He swept a hand through his thinning, silvery hair. ‘I haven’t told his wife the bad news yet.’

              ‘Can we see him?’

              Long gestured towards the room next door. Batra was visible through a glass partition. Bevan and Calder didn’t ask to go inside. They simply stood by the window directly opposite the bed, observing the myriad of machines and tubes currently doing the job of keeping Amit Batra alive. His face was puffed up and unrecognisable due to the multiple lacerations and oedema.

              ‘Someone did a real job on him, poor sod,’ Andy commented quietly.

              Bevan suddenly heard a movement behind them. She turned to see James Irving sitting on one of the plastic seats that lined the corridor. He had his head buried in his hands and didn’t appear to have noticed their presence.

              Dani moved across and sat down next to him. She laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘Mr Irving, are you alright?’

              The man immediately looked up, his eyes swollen and bloodshot. ‘DCI Bevan, what the hell?’

              ‘We need to find out if there’s a connection between the assault on Mr Batra and Joanna Endicott’s death.’

              ‘Might there be?’ Irving seemed utterly bemused and lost. ‘I just don’t know what to believe anymore.’

              Bevan gestured to Andy, indicating that he should buy them all a coffee. She mimed the addition of multiple sugars. Andy raised his eyebrows, but obediently shuffled off along the corridor, having apparently got the message.

              ‘Did Amit ever give you the impression that he might be frightened of someone?’

              James stared at her face intently. ‘He’d been jittery ever since the night he spent on the mountain. I thought that was pretty understandable under the circumstances. I assumed he was in a state of shock.’

              ‘There was an intruder at the bothy and now Batra’s house has been turned over and your friend left for dead. I’m afraid it is too much of a coincidence to ignore. Did Amit Batra have anything on his person when he was discovered on the hillside – an item that he didn’t set out with perhaps?’

              James screwed up his face in thought. ‘There was a glint in the morning sun, like a metal object momentarily reflecting the light. That’s how we found his position amongst the scrubland. As soon as we reached him, I thought no more about it. I was just so glad he was alive. I wanted him to tell me where Jo was.’ The words trailed away as tears rolled down his cheeks. ‘Amit and Jo were my best friends.’

              Dani put her arm around his shoulders, just as Andy arrived with the drinks. She levered James’ fingers around the paper cup, blowing on it for him and manoeuvring it up to his lips. ‘Come on, have a sip and you’ll feel better.’ The man took a tiny mouthful.

              James automatically coughed, spitting the hot liquid straight onto Andy’s trousers. ‘Bloody hell! There must be about twenty sugars in there!’

              Calder stormed off to the gents.

              Bevan put a hand up to her mouth, but she couldn’t prevent a chuckle from escaping. James turned towards her and started to laugh too.

              ‘My friend’s lying in a bed in the ICU, close to death, and I’m sitting here in hysterics,’ he managed to say between guffaws. ‘You’re definitely the bad cop.’

              This made Dani laugh even more but she took several deep breaths and willed herself to calm down. Thankfully, they were both fairly composed by the time Andy returned from the toilets, a steely expression on his face.

              ‘Sorry, mate,’ James mumbled quietly.

              Andy nodded but Dani could tell he was still cross. It made her sad. A few months ago, her partner would have been laughing along with them. It had been Calder’s grumpy reaction to getting sprayed that made the situation so comical. The heart attack had really changed him.

              She made no comment on it. Instead, Dani scribbled her mobile number onto a business card and handed it to James. ‘We’ll be staying in town for the next couple of days. Call me if you remember anything significant.’

Chapter Eighteen

T
he Batras’ house was a fairly ordinary-looking semi on one of the leafy back roads leading away from Loughton High Street. It was positioned halfway along a row of properties facing directly onto Epping Forest.

              Bevan knocked at the door. A pretty Asian woman in her early thirties answered almost immediately. She had a baby held in her arms. The face of a little girl poked out between her mother’s legs.

              ‘Tanisha Batra?’ Bevan showed her warrant card.

              The woman nodded, automatically standing aside to allow them both to enter. The house was a mess. Dani glanced through to the kitchen, where the panels in the door leading out to the garden had been boarded up. The living room was marginally tidier. Tanisha set the baby down into a bouncer and perched on the edge of the sofa, with the little girl clinging steadfastly to her leg.

              Dani thought there was something spaced-out about the woman. Her eyes had an unfocused look to them. ‘Mrs Batra, we’d like to ask you a few questions about the break-in.’

              ‘Okay,’ she said carefully, holding her daughter to her tightly.

              ‘Did you hear or see anything at all during the burglary?’

              ‘Yes. I heard the glass in the back door being broken. Amit had woken too. He went to the wardrobe and took out a baseball bat that he keeps in there. Then he went downstairs to see what was happening.’

              ‘Did you not think to call the police first? Most people have a mobile phone close to hand these days.’

              ‘It all occurred very quickly. All we knew was that there was an intruder in the house. Amit wanted to protect the children.’

              ‘What happened next?’

              ‘I went into the children’s rooms and brought them into the main bedroom with me. I closed the door. There was lots of banging and shouting downstairs. It lasted for about five minutes and then there was silence. I waited for a while, then I left the children upstairs and went down to see what was going on. Amit was lying in the hallway, with blood all over his face. He was unconscious but I found he was still breathing. I called an ambulance.’ Tears were streaming down Tanisha’s cheeks. Her words had become slurred.

              ‘So you never saw the intruder at all?’ Andy asked.

              She shook her head vigorously.

              ‘Did your husband give any indication that he was frightened or nervous in the days leading up to this attack, Mrs Batra. Did you receive any threatening phone calls or letters?’ Dani enquired.

              ‘No. He’d been very quiet ever since he returned from Scotland. All he wanted to do was stay home with us. I assumed he was sad because Jo was dead. It is a terrible shock when somebody so young dies.’

              Dani sat forward in her seat. ‘Have you been drinking, Tanisha?’

              The woman looked agitated. ‘That is none of your business,’ she retorted.

              ‘It certainly
is
my business when you are responsible for the care of a baby and a young child.’

  Andy quickly intervened, ‘have you got a relative or a friend who could come and help you out, just whilst your husband is still in the hospital, perhaps?’

              ‘My mum has been dropping in,’ Tanisha said faintly, looking now as if she might be sick.

              ‘I think your mother should take the children for a few hours and give you a proper break. We could arrange for a WPC to come round and check on you?’ Andy suggested.

              ‘Do you often drink alcohol this early in the day, Mrs Batra?’ Dani demanded.

              Andy shot his superior officer a puzzled look. 

              Tanisha became angry again. ‘What is this? My husband may not live because he confronted a burglar in our house and now you’re trying to imply that I am an unfit mother!’ She suddenly jumped up, pushing the little girl towards Andy. Tanisha rushed out into the hallway, where they heard her retching violently into the toilet bowl. Dani observed Tanisha’s daughter closely, as she stood calmly beside Andy, holding his hand. In that moment, the Detective Chief Inspector was quite certain that this was a scenario the child was perfectly used to.

‘If you don’t mind me asking, Ma’am – what was that all about?’ Andy swung their hire-car onto the driveway of the hotel.

              ‘Tanisha Batra is an alcoholic,’ Dani said levelly.

              ‘We can’t be certain of that, surely?’

              ‘The little girl wasn’t at all shocked or frightened by her mum’s behaviour. She was entirely used to it.’

              ‘I’ll get onto social services and see if there’s a file on the Batras.’ Andy sighed heavily. ‘The woman might just be struggling to deal with what’s happened to her husband. Perhaps we should cut her some slack. It’s bloody hard looking after young kids, especially on your own.’ Andy turned to face Bevan, who refused to meet his eye.

              ‘The baby is only six months old, Andy. It isn’t our job to ‘cut her some slack’. It’s our
duty
to look after the kids.’ Dani climbed out of the passenger seat and slammed the door shut behind her, leaving Andy sitting behind the wheel, thinking that he’d never seen his boss react quite so strongly to an interview before.

Chapter Nineteen

D
etective Inspector Long showed Bevan and Calder into an open plan office area on one of the upper floors of New Scotland Yard.

              ‘Social Services don’t yet have a file on the Batra family, but they’re sending out a social worker today to do an assessment,’ Long informed them, gesturing towards a coffee machine in the corner of the room, indicating they should help themselves. ‘We were already onto the problem, DCI Bevan, even before you mentioned it. One of the officers who took Mrs Batra’s original statement could smell alcohol on the woman’s breath. This was at 9.15am.’

              Dani nodded. ‘Have you got an up-to-date list of what was taken from the house?’

              Long eased onto a swivel chair and opened a file on his desk. Dani and Andy took the seats in front of him, waiting patiently for the information they needed.

              ‘It appeared that Batra’s attacker took some jewellery; a gold necklace and a couple of bracelets, a smartphone and purse which had been lying on the kitchen table and a small digital camera. Obviously, Mrs Batra is not the most reliable of witnesses. We were depending upon her to notice what was missing.’

              ‘And that was worth battering a man nearly to death for?’ Andy added with feeling.

              ‘You know as well as I do, that some folk would stab you for a bag of sweets,’ Long responded soberly.

              ‘Were the smartphone and camera Tanisha’s or Amit’s?’ Bevan suddenly asked, letting her eyes run down the list.

              ‘The phone and purse were Tanisha’s and the camera was Amit’s. Mrs Batra said the camera was practically brand new. Amit had bought it especially for his trip to Scotland. He wanted to take plenty of shots of himself at the top of some mountain or other.’

              ‘Ben Lomond,’ Dani said absent-mindedly, her thoughts elsewhere.

              ‘How is Amit Batra, has he woken up yet?’ Andy enquired politely.

              ‘Not yet, I’m afraid. The docs won’t know the extent of the brain damage until he’s out of the coma, poor bugger. But we’ll send in an officer to interview him as soon as he does wake. It looks as if Batra was the only one who actually saw this intruder. The neighbours didn’t hear a thing.’

              ‘Any luck on tracking him down?’

              Long shifted uncomfortably. ‘There were no prints in the house or on the baseball bat. He must have been gloved up. We’ve got absolutely no witnesses. Tanisha Batra was so late calling us in that the bloke was long gone by the time we got there. He must have taken off into the woods, but there was no sign of him.’

              ‘Well, I don’t think there’s much else we can do from here, Detective Inspector. Thank you for your time. Please let us know about any developments in Amit Batra’s recovery.’

Bevan and Calder had already packed their bags and were ready to drive to the airport. As they walked towards the car Calder commented, ‘what would make an intelligent young woman like that become an alcoholic?’

              ‘Post-Natal Depression may have triggered it, or boredom being at home with small children all day. Having an unhappy marriage wouldn’t help. She may always have suffered from mental health problems and used the alcohol to self-medicate. Didn’t Phil say they’d had financial problems a couple of years back? That could very easily have made Tanisha start drinking. The strain of money issues on top of looking after a little one may have proved too much.’

              Andy was amazed at how much Dani seemed to know about the subject. ‘It makes you wonder what came first.’

              Dani looked puzzled.

              ‘Well, whether Tanisha drank because her husband had affairs, or Amit found another woman because Tanisha drank.’

              ‘It’s a miserable situation either way,’ Dani paused, as the mobile in her pocket began to ring. She spoke briefly to the caller and then turned to Andy. ‘That was James Irving, he’s remembered something. He wants to meet me and discuss it.’

              Dani waited for Irving in a large, soulless pub next to Bank tube station. This was the nearest place they could both reach at short notice. Dani didn’t want to have to get a later flight. James Irving pushed through the huge, glass and metal doors a few moments later. She watched as he approached her at the bar. He was dressed very smartly, every bit the young urban professional.

              ‘Is the Detective Constable not with you?’

              Dani shook her head, ‘he’s driving around in the car. There aren’t many parking opportunities in the City of London.’

              ‘As long as he wasn’t worried I was going to spit my drink at him again.’ James gave a wry smile, ordering an orange juice.

              Dani smiled, determined not to allow herself to be charmed. ‘What information do you have for me?’

              Irving hopped onto the stool next to her, their knees dangerously close to touching. Dani unconsciously reached down to lower her black skirt, suddenly aware of revealing a reasonable amount of thigh. The action simply resulted in James’ vision being drawn in the direction of her legs, which made them both blush.

              ‘It came back to me in a kind of flash,’ he began. ‘I recalled that as we were climbing the mountain, with the burn cascading down to the side of us, Daniel Goff brought out this little slim-line camera. I was surprised, because I didn’t have Goff down as the type to take holiday photos. It struck me last night that this is what I’d seen in Amit’s hand when we found him the next day. Well, I can’t be sure, but that it might have been. Because the camera had a dazzling silver coating and when Daniel had been snapping away at the scenery, it reflected back a piercing beam of sunlight, similar to that which I’d seen when we were searching the heathland and discovered Amit. Sorry, I hope that helps, it sounds a bit silly now I’ve said it out loud.’ James took a sip of his juice.

              ‘Not at all, that’s extremely helpful. Mr Irving, did you ever think that Tanisha Batra drank too much?’

              James stared down into his lap, as if examining the hand-stitched seams on his trouser pockets. ‘She did used to knock it back a bit at parties.’ He looked up. ‘Amit had to practically carry her home sometimes. But we all enjoy a drink occasionally, don’t we? Amit said Tanisha became quite depressed after Sunetra was born. I probably noticed her drinking more after that.’

              ‘Okay, thanks. I don’t believe it’s got any bearing on the case. Look, James, I’m going to have to dash off. Our flight’s in an hour and we’ve still got to get to Stansted.’

              Irving nodded. ‘Sure, of course. Just, erm, keep in touch, yeah?’ he said.