Nothing but Trouble (48 page)

‘So what do we know about Aimee Locke?’ she said softly to Swann.

‘Sod all, basically, other than that she’s been working at the casino for the past three years. And she hasn’t got a record,
not so much as a parking fine.’

‘And Martin Locke?’

‘Yeah, he’s kind of interesting … or should I say
was.
Stinking rich, of course, and thirty years her senior. Made most of his money from insurance. He also gave a lot of it away
to charity, and we’re talking hundreds of thousands.’

‘Maybe she decided to bump him off before his bank account got too depleted.’

‘Or just grew tired of sharing an old man’s bed.’

Valerie wondered at Swann’s ability to bring everything down to sex. ‘Do we know how much she stands to inherit?’

He shook his head. ‘Not yet, but I’m sure it’s more than adequate to keep her in mink bikinis for the rest of her life. That
house must be worth half a million for starters.’

‘I saw Vita Howard in the foyer earlier.’

‘The solicitor?’

‘Yes, and she’s backing up Aimee’s story. Well, part of it. Apparently Aimee’s been to see her several times over the last
month concerned about the text messages she was receiving. Vita advised her to report it.’

Swann stared at her. ‘She told you that? For God’s sake, guv, you shouldn’t even have been talking to her. If Redding finds
out, you’ll—’

‘Of course I didn’t talk to her. Jerry Cooke told me. He got it from a PC who overheard Vita Howard mention it to Wall.’

‘Right,’ he said, looking relieved. Then his face dropped as he realised how fast the evidence was stacking up against Harry.
‘So Locke’s got a solicitor to back up that part of her story.’

‘It doesn’t prove anything. Only that Aimee exploited her friendship with Howard to make it seem like she was being stalked.
There has to be a way of proving she’s a liar. What about this Raffles bloke that Mac called you about?’

Swann glanced down at his notebook. ‘Yeah, I ran a check on him. His real name’s Paul Rafferty. He’s a known con artist, been
at it for years. Tends to target rich older widows and try to charm them with his tales of heroic army exploits. Truth is,
of course, that he’s never been out of civvies in his life. He’s a bit of a gambler too, which would fit in with him hanging
round Selene’s.’

‘But no address, I suppose.’

‘No, nothing current. He tends to move around. He could be anywhere. But Mac’s put the word out. He’s been in touch with all
his contacts, offering a generous reward to anyone who can find him. With five grand up for grabs, I shouldn’t think it’ll
be too long before he gets a bite.’

‘Let’s hope so.’ She glanced at her watch and groaned. ‘God, if we don’t get a break soon, Harry’s going to end up in the
dock.’

‘It won’t come to that.’

But Valerie didn’t share his confidence. Wall and Henson were gunning for a result and the evidence had been laid out on a
plate. It was only a matter of time before they decided to go ahead and charge him. She was still stressing over this when
she became aware of someone hovering. She looked up to see Simon Wetherby standing beside her. ‘Hi, what are you doing here?’

‘Sorry to interrupt. I heard about Harry Lind. I’m really sorry. Are you okay?’

She smiled, pleased to see him. At times like this, every friendly face was welcome. ‘Okay might not be quite the word.’

‘No, I don’t suppose it is. But I was wondering if I could help, if you needed a hand with anything.’

Before Valerie could reply, Swann leaned across and said, ‘You solved all the crimes on your patch, then?’

Simon laughed. ‘Not quite.’

Swann’s voice took on a nastier edge. ‘Well you don’t need to worry about us. Best get back to sorting your own problems.’

Valerie glared at her sergeant before looking back at Simon. ‘Don’t mind him,’ she said. ‘He was born without the politeness
gene. It’s good of you to offer. I appreciate it. I’ll let you know if anything comes up.’

Wetherby gave her a nod. ‘I know you might not be in the
mood, but if you fancy a chat later, give me a call. We could grab a drink at the Fox.’

‘Thanks. I may well do that. I’ll see how it goes.’

She watched as he walked away and then turned to Swann. ‘Jesus, what’s with the attitude? He was only offering to help.’

‘Yeah, well, we don’t need his help.’

‘Maybe you don’t, but I’m not sure if Harry would agree.’

Swann gave a dismissive wave of his hand. ‘I don’t trust him. And the fewer people know about what we’re doing, the better.’

‘He’s not going to go blabbing to Redding.’ She suspected that Swann’s antagonism towards Simon Wetherby was down to a misplaced
sense of loyalty to Harry rather than any real worries about the superintendent. So far as Swann was concerned, she and Harry
were still an item and no other man had the right to try and muscle in. Annoyed, she found herself thinking about Jessica
Vaughan again. It was okay, apparently, for Harry to move Vaughan into his flat without so much as a word to her about it,
but far from okay for her to go for a drink with Wetherby. She was still dwelling on the unreasonableness of this when Swann’s
phone started ringing.

‘DS Swann.’ He listened for a moment and then put the receiver against his chest. ‘It’s DC Lambert, guv. Higgs and Fielding
have just met up with Kirsten Cope at Connolly’s. Cope’s handed over a jiffy bag. Looks like it may have money in it. Do you
want them picked up?’

Valerie’s expression instantly changed. ‘You bet I do.’ Perhaps, finally, they were going to get the break they needed in
the Becky Hibbert case. She shot up from her chair, the adrenalin starting to pump through her body. ‘You and DC Franks take
Higgs and I’ll interview Paige Fielding with Lister. We’ll leave Kirsten Cope until the end. It won’t do any harm to let her
sweat for a while.’

Paige Fielding had told her story and she was sticking to it. The five thousand pounds found in the jiffy bag was a loan from
Kirsten.

‘It’s a lot of money,’ Valerie said.

Paige shrugged. ‘So? We’re old mates, ain’t we?’

‘And you need the money for what exactly?’

‘The van’s packed in. I need a new one to get me gear to the market.’

‘Why cash, though? What’s wrong with a cheque?’

Paige folded her arms across her cheat and smiled slyly back at her. ‘Got an overdraft, luv. No point putting it in the bank.
And Micky, well, he just come along to make sure I got home safe. Lots of scumbag muggers on the Mansfield. You may have noticed.’

‘So does Kirsten Cope often lend you money?’ DC Lister asked.

‘No,’ Paige said. ‘Course not. It’s an emergency, ain’t it?’

Valerie inclined her head and gazed at her. ‘Must be good to have such generous friends.’

‘Like I said, it’s just a loan. She ain’t givin’ it to me.’

‘Take a while to pay all that back.’

Paige gave another of her lazy shrugs. ‘So I borrowed a few quid. Weren’t a crime last time I checked.’

‘There was money found in Becky’s flat,’ Valerie said. ‘Did Kirsten give
her
a
loan too?’

‘Are you kidding me? Kirsten wouldn’t lend nothin’ to Becky. You know where that came from. She was … y’know … making a bit
on the side.’

‘Really?’ Valerie said. ‘Only it does seem rather a coincidence that first we find cash at Becky’s place and now you’ve suddenly
come into a considerable sum too.’

‘Yeah, well, that’s all it is – coincidence.’ Paige leaned across the table towards Valerie. ‘Now, are you gonna charge me
with summat or can I go?’

Valerie knew that she wasn’t going to get anything more out of her. The girl was too savvy to be intimidated by the law or
to make any stupid mistakes. Paige was lying, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. ‘You can go.’

Paige rose to her feet, smiling smugly. ‘About time too.’

Valerie and Swann met outside Room 3 and quietly exchanged notes on their respective interviews. Micky Higgs, unsurprisingly,
had backed up Paige’s story about the loan from Kirsten.

‘What do you reckon?’ Swann said. ‘You think the two of them could be blackmailing her?’

Valerie peered through the small window in the door. Kirsten Cope was nervously tapping the tabletop with her fingertips.
Her face was tight, her mouth set in a thin straight line. Fear was written all over her. ‘I wouldn’t put it past them. Question
is: what’s the terrible secret? It has to be pretty damning to merit five big ones.’

‘Maybe Harry was right. Maybe this does all go back to the Minnie Bright case.’

Valerie felt a tightening in her stomach. ‘Christ,’ she murmured. ‘If that’s true, we could be about to open a whole can of
worms.’

Swann took a sheet of paper out of the file he was carrying and passed it over to her.

‘This just came through.’

‘Not that surprising,’ she said, reading through it.

‘Not surprising at all.’ Swann looked towards the door again. ‘So how are we going to play this? You want to be good cop or
bad cop?’

Valerie rolled her eyes. ‘You’ve been watching too much TV again.’ But as he opened the door and they stepped inside she murmured,
‘Bad.’

Kirsten visibly jumped as they entered the room. She was one of those Barbie doll girls, all fake tan, long blonde hair, cleavage
and lip gloss. If wearing too much pink had been a criminal offence, she could have been arrested. She was dressed in skinny
pink jeans, a skimpy white vest and a long pink cardigan.

Valerie made the introductions and she and Swann sat down.

‘Shouldn’t I have a solicitor?’ Kirsten asked anxiously.

Valerie frowned as if she didn’t quite understand. ‘We’re not charging you with anything, Ms Cope. You’re just here to help
us with our enquiries.’

‘What enquiries?’

‘We’re investigating the murder of Becky Hibbert.’ Valerie pursed her lips, assuming a stern expression. ‘Unless of course
you feel that you
need
a solicitor. If that’s the case, we can stop right now.’

Kirsten thought about this before shaking her head. ‘No, but I don’t know anything. How could I? What’s Becky’s murder got
to do with me?’

‘You were a friend of hers, weren’t you?’

‘Not really. I mean, not recently. I haven’t seen her for a long time.’

‘It must have been a shock, though, her being killed like that?’

Kirsten’s eyes darted between the two of them. She raised a hand to her mouth and gnawed on a fingernail. ‘Well, yeah, I suppose.’

‘Were you aware that five hundred and twenty pounds was found at her flat?’

‘Was it?’

‘That’s a lot of money, don’t you think, for someone like Becky to have. Do you have any idea where it might have come from?’

There was a distinct hesitation before Kirsten shook her head again. ‘Why should I? Like I said, I haven’t seen her in years.’

‘So it didn’t come from you?’

‘No,’ Kirsten said too quickly. ‘It’s got nothing to do with me. Nothing. Why would I give her money?’

‘You gave money to Paige Fielding. Five thousand pounds, in fact. Quite a considerable sum.’

Kirsten squirmed in her seat and glanced away. ‘She called me up, said she needed it.’ She looked back at Valerie, but only
for a second, before her gaze dropped down to the table. ‘It’s only a loan. She’ll pay me back.’

‘That’ll take a while.’

‘I suppose.’

‘And she didn’t tell you what it was for?’

Kirsten chewed on her lip while she tried to come up with an answer. ‘Bills and stuff,’ she said eventually.

‘Bills and stuff?’

‘Yeah, I think that was it. I’m not sure. I don’t remember exactly.’

Valerie could see the lie imprinted on her face. Paige and Micky Higgs might have got their story straight, but they hadn’t
bothered, or maybe hadn’t had the time, to share the details
with Kirsten. ‘You don’t remember why you lent someone five thousand pounds?’

Kirsten Cope didn’t answer.

‘So what’s with the jiffy bag full of notes?’ Valerie persisted. ‘It seems a funny way to go about things. Why didn’t you
just give her a cheque?’

Kirsten, who wasn’t anything like as glib as Paige, was still struggling to come up with answers. ‘Er …’

Swann, sliding into his good cop routine, rode smartly to her rescue. ‘Maybe she needed it in a hurry, huh? Couldn’t wait
for a cheque to clear. Was that it?’

‘Yeah,’ Kirsten said, nodding. She gazed gratefully at Swann, batting her lashes in a way that was probably supposed to turn
his legs to jelly. ‘That’s it. That’s why.’

‘Well,’ he said, glancing at Valerie. ‘That’s cleared that up.’

Kirsten looked relieved. ‘So is that it? Are we done now?’

‘Not quite,’ Valerie said. ‘There is something else I’d like to talk to you about.’ She left a deliberate pause, and then
said, ‘Minnie Bright?’

Kirsten’s whole body stiffened, her eyes growing large at this unexpected turn of events. ‘Minnie? What? I-I don’t understand,’
she stammered.

‘Oh, I think you do,’ Valerie said. ‘We’re not stupid. There’s no point in lying any more. It’s time to tell the truth.’ She
was winging it, following her instincts and watching Kirsten’s responses carefully. One wrong word and she could blow it completely.
‘Paige has given us her version, so why you tell us yours?’

‘Paige? What? I don’t … I haven’t …’

Valerie smiled coldly back at her. It was the oldest trick in the book, playing one suspect off against another. Paige would
have laughed in her face – she wasn’t so naïve – but Kirsten had little experience in dealing with the law. She might have
grown up on
the Mansfield Estate, but the last time she’d been in any trouble was when she was ten years old. ‘She’s told us why you really
gave her the money. And why you gave money to Becky too.’

‘She’s lying!’ Kirsten spat out, a red flush spreading across her cheeks. ‘You can’t believe anything she says!’

Valerie felt that familiar tingling sensation, the feeling she always got when she was on the brink of a breakthrough. She
only had to look at Kirsten to see how close to the edge she was. One more push was all it would take. ‘I’m afraid she’s told
us everything. It’s over, Kirsten. There’s no use denying it. The secret’s out.’