Payback by Claire MacLeary

Author:Claire MacLeary
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Saraband
Published: 2020-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

The Devil You Know

The murder board was a mess: maps, diagrams, photographs; lists of actions and outcomes, lines and arrows criss-crossing one another. None of your hi-tech electronic gizmos here, just an old-fashioned whiteboard with wipeable pens.

‘Disappointing news,’ Chisolm announced once everyone had found a seat. ‘We’ve exhausted our initial lines of enquiry. The Porsche garage has backed up Shane Kelman’s story and the DNA and fingerprint samples he provided aren’t a match with what Forensics have lifted from Annabel Imray’s flat. Then there’s Tiffany Reid. There’s no hard evidence the payments from Annabel into her account were for anything other than promotional work. In short,’ his lips compressed into a thin line. ‘Looks like our investigation has stalled.’

Around the room there were murmurs of disappointment. They’d all – detectives, uniformed and civilian officers alike – been working flat out for days.

‘Any word on the toxicology report?’ a voice asked hopefully.

‘Still waiting, I’m afraid, though I suspect it’s only going to confirm what we already know, namely that the victim had consumed a fair amount of alcohol.’

‘Any chance we could build a circumstantial case against Shane?’ A voice from the back of the room. ‘He’s the one with the strongest motive.’

‘I doubt it. We’re evidence light. We can’t place him at the scene. We have no witnesses. No definitive murder weapon. It would be a whole lot harder to prove, never mind convict.’

‘We don’t have grounds enough to seize his computer?’

‘No chance, not as things stand. But one thing we can be sure of: as a professional football player, he’ll have resort to the best possible legal defence.’

‘I get you.’

‘What about Tiffany?’

‘All we have on her is a potential case of benefit fraud. If we used that to lean on her, we might get something more.’

‘It’s a long shot,’ Chisolm observed. ‘Still…’ He turned to Brian. ‘…get back to Tiffany Reid, find out the story.’

‘Boss.’

‘The clock’s ticking,’ Chisolm continued, his face darkening. ‘I’m already fending off enquiries from all quarters.’ He paused to let this sink in. ‘Upstairs are shouting the odds, newspaper and TV reporters fighting for precedence. Annabel Imray was high-profile, as you know. Our media department has put out a holding statement, but there’s only so long we can keep them all at bay without releasing more information. We’ve been here before,’ he went on. ‘That point where an investigation loses momentum. What we need to do now is go back over the material with fresh eyes and see what comes out of it. Keep the ABC of policing at the forefront of your minds: assume nothing, believe nothing, challenge everything.’ His eyes swept the room. ‘You’ve done sterling work, sifting through what the techies turned up. Go over it again, see if it will throw up other connections: someone close to Annabel, someone who could have harboured a grudge.’

‘That’s just it,’ one of the civilian officers complained. ‘She had thousands of acquaintances. Woman seemed to know everyone in Aberdeen.’

‘Still, it’s hard to believe there wasn’t a man in her life, looker like that.

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