Close to Home (A DI Mitchell Yorkshire Crime Thriller Book 4) Read online

  Stephen made a soft noise in his throat that might have been relief or worry. We sat there in silence, neither of us willing to leave until we knew more. A half-hour stretched into an hour, and then two. Stephen texted Gaskell to update him, and I fetched up cups of coffee and tea and something to eat. We talked quietly about unimportant things, the tension making it impossible to think about the case.

  I wanted to help, to be actively doing something to fix things, but I wasn’t a doctor, and I couldn’t do anything here. So we waited and watched Maddie’s door, holding our own quiet vigil.

  Twelve

  I was into my third coffee by the time Maddie’s family finally emerged. Stephen and I stood up sharply, and Maddie’s parents looked at us blankly. Both had red, swollen eyes and they were leaning against each other like they couldn’t manage to stand alone. I looked between them and feared the worst as I looked at their faces.

  I couldn’t seem to find the right words so, to my relief, Stephen stepped in.

  “Mr and Ms Packham,” he said gently, “we wanted to come to offer our support to you both and Maddie. As a father myself, I’m so sorry you’re going through this.”

  Ms Packham, Annabel, swallowed and gave a little nod. “Thank you,” she said thickly. “Maddie…” she trailed off, looking down at the floor. Her partner gently squeezed her arm in support and took up where she’d left off.

  “Maddie is stable again,” he said. The huge relief I felt almost made me miss it when he added, “She had a bad seizure. The odds aren’t looking good.” He clenched his jaw.

  “I’m so sorry,” was all I could manage. They silently moved away, moving with small, shaken steps.

  I sat back down in the chair, my legs feeling weak, and set my coffee cup down on the floor so that I could press my hands to my face. The chair beside me creaked as Stephen joined me, putting a hand on my back.

  “There’s still hope,” he said carefully, not sounding all that certain of it himself.

  I was looking blankly down the corridor after the Packhams as they drifted slowly away and didn’t reply. My gaze went unfocused as I thought about the worst-case scenario, of Maddie’s young life being cut short so awfully, before I saw something down the corridor that made me tense.

  Stephen glanced at me as I straightened up, frowning down the hallway. “What is it?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure,” I muttered. “Stay here, okay?”

  I didn’t wait for his reply before hurrying off. I wasn’t certain that I wasn’t goddamn hallucinating, but I couldn’t leave without making sure.

  As I rounded the corner, my eyes widened to see a figure walking quickly away. I hadn’t imagined it at all.

  “Ms Davies!” I called as I sped up, wincing as my shins twinged. “Isabel!”

  I saw her shoulders stiffen, and she finally turned around. She was dressed in an umber-coloured business dress, and there were dark smudges under her eyes, making her look wearier than last I’d seen her.

  “What do you want?” She looked me up and down coldly. Her voice was hard, but her hand was shaking, where she was clutching her handbag to her shoulder.

  “I- It’s a surprise to see you here,” I said.

  “Yes, well,” she said, avoiding my gaze, “it’s not a crime, is it? Why are you following me?”

  I was briefly stunned by that. “I was still hoping we could talk to you. This case-”

  She glowered at me, her face so tight with tension that it drew her lips back almost into a snarl. “And I said ‘no’,” she snapped.

  “There’s a young woman down there,” I said, jabbing a finger back the way I’d come as anger flared in me, “who’s fighting for her life. She may die, because of what someone did to her. Your husband, ex-husband, is wrapped up in it somehow. I would think that you of all people would want to help her.”

  Isabel had gone pale, though there was still fire in her eyes. “Do you think I owe you?” she demanded. “That because the police helped me once that I’m somehow in your debt?”

  I looked at her in shock. “No-”

  “I’m not a victim any longer,” she hissed at me, glancing around the hallway at a couple of people who’d turn around to stare at us. “The police did the bare minimum for me and nothing more. I owe you nothing, and that girl,” she pointed in Maddie’s direction, “is nothing more than a stranger to me. Are we clear?”

  I was silent for a moment, looking at her.

  “I never thought you owed us,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “I just want justice for her, for Maddie.”

  Isabel shook her head. Colour had started to return to her face. “That’s your job, not mine.” She fixed me with a look. “If you really wanted justice, Alec should’ve been locked up for what he did to me. Then none of this would have happened at all.”

  She turned away smartly, head held high, and I silently watched her go. I made my way back to Stephen, who was looking at me like I’d grown another head.

  “What was that about?”

  “I just spoke to Isabel Davies,” I said tiredly. I got out my notebook and, as I made notes for my own records, I recounted what she’d said to Stephen.

  “Blimey,” he muttered. “That’s either the weirdest coincidence, or-”

  “Or she was here for a reason.”

  “Did she say who she was here for?”

  I shook my head. “She was vehemently against telling me anything, though she clearly thinks Alec’s guilty.”

  “She has reason enough to think that, what with how he hurt her.”

  I dragged my hand through my raggedy curls, blown about by the wind during my walk with Sam and still sticking up all over the place.

  “Is that all it is?” I wondered aloud. “That she’s rightfully angry at him, not that she knows something?”

  Stephen grimaced. “I don’t know, mate.”

  I sighed. “We could do with speaking to the Packhams sometime, ask them if they knew anything more, but it’s hardly the time for it now.”

  Stephen frowned slightly. “Right strange that Isabel was in this exact corridor in the hospital, don’t you think?”

  “Aye,” I hummed. “Almost like she was here to see Maddie, but she claimed Maddie was a stranger and that she didn’t care about her one bit. How would she know where to find Maddie, anyway?” I tilted my head in thought. “Though, if Alec had mentioned her name, Isabel could’ve just asked at the desk. This is the biggest hospital in the area.”

  Stephen nodded slowly. “Does she have some sympathy for Maddie after all, then? If she was coming to see her?”

  “From the way she was talking,” I said, “she couldn’t give a damn. You should’ve seen the look in her eyes.” I hit my leg with my palm, giving a quiet. “We’re missing something here. Something important.”

  Stephen and I were silent for a moment, both of us worn out by the emotional toll of the day. It was only a bit after four, though it felt far later, especially with the way the light was closing in outside. You couldn’t see any windows from here, though, and the glaring overhead lights made it into something of an eternal, unnatural daytime.

  Stephen’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he reached to pull it out, looking at the name on the screen.

  “It’s the station,” he told me, before picking it up. “Huxley speaking.”

  I pulled out my own phone while Stephen listened to whatever he was being told. I cringed slightly to see the two missed calls on my mobile, both from the station. I’d muted it for my date with Sam, and only Stephen and Gaskell could contact me, as I’d listed them as priority callers. I’d forgotten to turn the damn thing back on once I’d arrived here, so they’d clearly called Stephen instead.

  “We’ll be right there,” Stephen said, before hanging up. “Nothing too urgent,” he told me as he turned his phone screen off and put it away. “Alec’s sister, Eloise, is back at the station, bothering people and demanding to see us.”

  I sighed and got to my fee
t with a slight wince. Apart from a couple of strolls over to the coffee machine and the loos, Stephen and I had sat still for a couple of hours in the hard plastic hospital chairs. My back complained with a twinge of discomfort, and I saw Stephen grimace too as he straightened up and stretched.

  “We might as well head back,” I said, though I glanced over at Maddie’s room as I spoke.

  Stephen patted me on the shoulder. “I’m sure her parents will be back soon,” he said.

  “They’ve got Lindsey, Maddie’s sister, to think of.”

  “Yeah, but they love Maddie, too. They’ll sit with her, Darren. Come on, the best we can do now is find out who did this to her, okay?”

  “Not that we’re making much progress there,” I grumbled, but I let Stephen steer me away down the corridor and towards the lift.

  “Eloise might have something helpful to say this time.”

  I made a noise of derision. “Or she might just want to whine at us.”

  Stephen sent me a slight frown as we stepped into the lift, and he leaned across me to press the ground floor button. “Do you want me to talk to her?” he offered. “I know today’s been a lot-”

  “I can handle it,” I snapped.

  Stephen’s frown deepened. “I don’t doubt it, but-”

  The lift came to a stop on the second floor, picking up a family with two small kids and Stephen and I fell silent, giving the tired-looking parents polite nods.

  We got out on the ground floor, weaved our way through the busy waiting room and headed out into the cool late-afternoon air. The sun hung low in the sky, like an overripe peach, and cast long shadows across the car park.

  “I was offering to support you,” Stephen said stiffly as we neared the car. “There’s nothing wrong with handing over the lead to someone else for a while, you know? Unless you don’t think that I can do my job.”

  That was deliberately provocative, and I gave a heavy sigh as we climbed into the car. “Of course, you can do your job,” I said. “I’m saying I’m not fragile, Steph, okay? I’ve seen just as much darkness in this job as you.”

  I started up the car. Stephen was quiet, but his manner was tense, so I knew he only weighed up his next words rather than that he was finished.

  “I’ve never thought that you were fragile,” he said finally. “We have different strengths and weaknesses, yeah, but that’s all. You’re not able to run right now, and that’s not helping. You’ve supported me when I’ve had difficulties with my personal life. It’s not weakness, Mitchell.”

  I took a turn, making our winding way back to the station. “In terms of personal difficulties, your kid being seriously sick is hardly equivalent to me being unable to run,” I said.

  Stephen’s sigh was exasperated. “I give up,” he muttered. “You’re a stubborn ass.”

  We sat in silence for a short while, and while it wasn’t exactly relaxing, I didn’t think Stephen was truly angry, just tired and frustrated. I knew what he’d been trying to tell me, that he wanted to ease the pressure off me, but I’d always been an independent sort. Stephen’s offer to do something so that I wouldn’t have to felt like I’d be giving in to laziness, or worse, weakness. People at the station, Sedgwick in particularly, thought I was too inexperienced to be a DCI in big city policing, and I couldn’t bear the thought of fueling their suspicions by letting Stephen handle an angry woman just because we’d both had a long day.

  I couldn’t tell him this, though. I knew he wouldn’t agree and would most likely want to argue further, but I frankly didn’t have the energy for it.

  “I appreciate you offering,” I said finally, as I drove us into the station car park and pulled up. “I know that if I need help, you’d be there for me. But you’ve gotta accept that if I say I’m fine, I mean it, okay?”

  “Alright,” Stephen sighed. “Just make sure you do actually say something when you need to, and not be all stoic, stiff upper lip about it.”

  I snorted. “Aye, I got it.” I got out of the car, and Stephen followed, slamming the door shut and locking up. “Let’s go face Alec’s angry sister.”

  Eloise was sitting in the waiting room when we walked in, her attention focused on her phone. For a moment, I had the idea that Stephen and I might walk quickly past her without her noticing, but that was, unfortunately, wishful thinking.

  I took a breath, trying to fortify my reserves of patience, and came to a stop in front of her.

  “Eloise Banks?” I said. “You were asking for us?”

  She looked up, her brows pulled into a furious scowl. “Took you long enough.”

  “We were out of the station,” I said. My mind flitted back to the hospital, where Maddie was still lying, and the thought added steel to my voice. “We’re here now. If you want to speak to us, you can step into an interview room.”

  She huffed and protested briefly, but I nodded to Stephen, and we turned to walk away. I held open the door at the end and looked back at Eloise.

  “Are you coming, Ms Banks?”

  She relented, stalking forwards in her heeled boots, which came up to her knees. Over them, she was wearing a satiny, dark green dress and a thick winter coat. She did her hair in neat curls, and she looked as pristine as ever, despite the gusting winds outside. In comparison, I was sure I looked as tired and dishevelled as I felt, but it hardly mattered now.

  In the interview room, Eloise sat down primly and fixed us with an intensely cold look.

  “What evidence do you have against my brother?” she demanded. “He’s in prison for something that he didn’t do and you two-”

  “Ms Banks,” I said firmly. “We can’t discuss the details of an ongoing case with you, or any civilian.” She opened her mouth to speak, but I carried on. “We agreed to see you again despite the fact that you failed to give us any relevant information last time. Please don’t waste any more of our time.”

  Her lips parted in outrage, and she stared at me for a long second.

  “Waste any more of your time?” she hissed finally. I sat back at her tone, holding back a sigh of exasperation. She clearly didn’t have anything proof for her claims. “You’re the ones wasting time, so certain Alec is guilty that you’ve not even investigated it properly. If you had, you’d have found something, anything, to show that it wasn’t him!”

  I put my hand on the table, not hard but firmly. Stephen looked sideways at me, like he thought I might be losing my temper. But I wasn’t feeling anything other than tiredness, some irritation, and pity. Behind Eloise’s outrage and entitled rudeness, there was real pain and desperation. She loved her brother, and she couldn’t accept the possibility that he might have done this.

  “If it wasn’t Alec,” I said, meeting her gaze, “then who was it?”

  She blinked and looked away, only for a moment, but it was enough. I glanced over at Stephen, hoping he’d seen it too, and he gave me a nod, his eyebrows raised.

  “I don’t know,” Eloise said, recovering herself. “How would I? That’s your job.”

  She was the second person today who’d not only refused to help me, but claimed to know more about what my job involved than I did. I ended the interview and shut off the machine before standing up. Stephen got to his feet beside me, and Eloise stared up at us, a shocked expression on her face.

  “It is my job,” I agreed, “so you’ll leave us to it, now. Unless you bring in hard proof to back you up, we won’t see you again. If you’ve got other concerns, you can take it up with the legal team.”

  I moved around the table to open the door, looking at her pointedly until she stood up with an indignant huff and left, shooting me a look of pure loathing. I sighed once she’d disappeared out the station’s front door and looked back at Stephen.

  “Was I too pushy?” I asked him.

  He looked a touch surprised that I asked, but gave me a smile and patted my shoulder.

  “No, you were fine, mate. She wanted to vent, not to help us with the case. We’ve got to set a bounda
ry at some point, right?”

  “Thanks, Steph,” I said genuinely. We made our way back up our desks in the lift, and I went off to fetch us both a fresh hot drink. Hospital coffee was notoriously diabolical, and even the cheap coffee the station bought was better than that.

  It wasn’t long now until Stephen would need to head off home, and I’d go back to my quiet apartment too, for lack of anything urgent to get on with here. When I didn’t get caught in traffic, driving home gave me an extra hour or so that I’d not had before. I’d have rather spent it running, of course, but I was still determined to let my shins rest up.

  I was missing it particularly hard today, after the scare with Maddie. Today had started out so well, and my date with Sam should have made it a day to remember for all the right reasons, but instead, it had left me feeling wrung out emotionally and restless physically. I’d have liked nothing more than to blast my way up a rocky moorland path in the rain and the wind, feel the air burn in my lungs and the thrumming ache in my legs.

  But for now, all I could do was turn my mind away from the devastated expressions on the faces of Maddie’s weary parents and try to focus on the case. I couldn’t control whether or not Maddie would wake up and recover, and nor could I will my shins to heal faster, but what I could control was how hard I worked on getting justice for Maddie.

  And that, I would put my all into.

  Thirteen

  Waking up with my heart racing and the sheets clinging to my clammy skin was my least favourite way to start the day. The warm body beside me made a soft noise and turned towards me.

  “Are you okay?” Sam murmured, moving to rest her head on my shoulder.

  My chest was still heaving, and I passed a hand over my face. “Aye, I’m alright,” I told her.

  She’d surprised me by inviting me around to hers last night. I’d not felt up to much after the day I’d had, and Sam had understood, offering to drop round to keep me company. We’d not talked a great deal, or really done anything other than lounge in front of the TV and eat Chinese takeaway straight from the containers, but it had been nicer than I could say to have someone’s else’s companionable presence in the quiet flat.