A Killing of Innocents by Deborah Crombie

Author:Deborah Crombie [Crombie, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Crime
ISBN: 9780062993397
Google: yLSjzgEACAAJ
Amazon: 0062993399
Goodreads: 58975192
Published: 2023-02-07T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

“So you think it was Sasha Johnson who came calling here on Thursday night?” asked Sidana.

“From Mr. Quirk’s description, it’s certainly a possibility,” Kincaid said. “It’s too bad he didn’t get a look at the woman’s face.” They were standing outside the Dean Street building, waiting to hand over the keys to the PC who would take charge of access for the SOCOs.

According to Quirk, he’d heard only two voices in the brief moment his door had been open, but he’d recognized Chowdhury’s. “You could tell he was trying to keep his volume down,” Quirk had recounted. “But he said something like, ‘You can’t just walk out and expect me to cover for you.’ Then she said something I didn’t catch, and he said, ‘What about the supplies, then?’ in a sneering kind of way.”

“That’s all?” Kincaid had asked.

Quirk had shrugged apologetically. “I was closing the door, but I think she told him to leave her alone. Well, that’s not exactly what she said,” Quirk continued with a twinkle, “but you get the drift.”

“What about CCTV?” Sidana asked when he’d filled her in.

“The bank at least will have a camera over the cashpoints, but it may not be close enough to give us anything useful,” Kincaid said, surveying the street. “We’ll have uniform check the other businesses once they’re open.” The smell of dough baking was already beginning to waft from Pizza Express, although it was at least an hour until opening time.

“If your Mr. Quirk is right about the conversation, and if it was Sasha, it sounds like Chowdhury was threatening her.”

“That’s a lot of ifs,” Kincaid said. “Based on a description of her hair and coat, and a reference that might apply to a hospital ward. But if it was Sasha, something must have happened that day.”

“What about the note in her locker?” Sidana asked. “Maybe he sent it—or gave it—to her.”

“We haven’t had a result from the handwriting expert yet. Until then, we can’t be certain she didn’t write it herself.”

“Who writes a threatening note and carries it around in a pocket?” Sidana argued.

“Maybe she wrote it and changed her mind,” Kincaid said, “although I agree it’s unlikely. But if someone else wrote the note, what did they want her to stop? Could she have been taking some sort of hospital supplies? Not drugs, surely—they’re too carefully monitored.” He shook his head. None of it made sense.

“What if getting the note made her cry?” said Sidana. “That would explain the crumpled tissues in the same pocket. I keep thinking she’d just found out she was pregnant.” She turned and looked up at Chowdhury’s windows. “Let’s just say that Sasha was here on Thursday night. Friday morning, she goes to work, and when she gets off, she texts Jon Gibbs and says she has to see him urgently about her brother. But what if it was really about the pregnancy test and he didn’t want to admit it?”

Kincaid considered it. “He says they weren’t an item.”

“There are lots of reasons people hide relationships.

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