In Dark Water (Detective Shona Oliver 1)

‘No, of course, Kate,’ Baird soothed. ‘No one would think that. Look, you’re a talented officer who’s just cracked a complicated case. You know what you’re doing. I want to hear how you view the wider picture?’ He looked at her earnestly. The waiter had brought a candle to their table. Tiny reflected flames danced in Baird’s dark eyes. ‘And call me Gavin. Tonight, we’re just Gavin and Kate, two colleagues having a friendly chat.’ He reached over and squeezed her hand. He could see she was tipsy now. He smiled his encouragement.

‘Well, for instance, the baby… baby milk case,’ she said, stumbling a little. ‘We could have done with better tech support.’

Baird nodded sagely. ‘Budget constraints. No magic money tree. What else?’ He took a sip of mineral water, watching her from the corner of his eye. She was flushed and had drunk almost two bottles of wine.

‘Wee Shona’s a good DI.’ She nodded her head emphatically.

‘Absolutely,’ Baird agreed, raising his glass of mineral water in a mock toast.

‘And I’m gonna be a good DI.’ She beckoned Baird closer. ‘Maybe even better, because I’m smart.’ She tapped the side of her head and attempted a wink. ‘Scientific,’ she said thickly. ‘One day they’ll all be calling me ma’am.’

‘I’m sure they will,’ he said earnestly, squeezing her hand again.

‘You see, I’m all for lias…’ it took her a few attempts to get the word out, ‘liaising with other forces, but this woman in the water, she wasn’t our case. Why are we wasting time on it?’

He nodded. ‘Cumbria are dealing with that.’

Kate held up a finger in triumph. ‘Ah, that’s what you think. Dan Ridley, sure he’s an okay officer, but why’s he always here?’ She shook her head. ‘Waste of resources. Close cases. That’s what we’re paid to do. Guy who fell from the van? If it looks like a duck, and it quacks…’ She blinked up at him having lost the thread of her thought. ‘Accident. Misadventure,’ she said finally. ‘Waste of resources.’

‘So, both those cases are still open?’ Baird said lightly.

‘Wide open.’ Kate threw her arms out for emphasis, nearly smacking a fully laden waiter on his way to another table. ‘Until the boss and her toy boy decide otherwise.’ Kate leaned her chin on the heel of her hand. ‘Poor procedure. You know… you know what the boss said? “Kate,” she said, “restrict your questions to the baby milk case,” like I’m the one who’s gone off-piste.’ She picked up her empty glass, then stared at the equally empty bottle. ‘Is there any more wine?’

Baird made the waiter call her a taxi. Kate insisted she was fine; her flat was just round the corner. Why didn’t he come up? They could talk more over coffee. She was a pretty woman, the type he liked, willowy and blonde. But Baird thought she was also the type to go running to Professional Standards if he fucked her. His old mate Murdo wasn’t around but Irving had given him what he wanted. He made a show of waiting until the taxi came and saw her off. Then he came back, paid the bill, tipped the waiter handsomely so he’d remember him and set off back home to Glasgow. As he drove, the headlights of oncoming cars settled in the deep frown between his eyebrows. He’d told Shona Oliver to stop. She’d disobeyed him. It was time to do some digging. He’d call mates in London, get the gossip around her departure. Whatever happened now, she’d brought this on herself.

* * *

The next morning Dan arrived at Dumfries HQ just before eight o’clock. He knew he was early, but he wanted to get cracking. Murdo was at his desk in the CID room, several of the civilian support staff already busy at work. Shona motivated people to do their best; it was lucky he’d run into her that day at Silloth. His fortunes as a police officer were changing, he could feel it. Maybe he wouldn’t apply to the Met. Instead, he’d come to Dumfries when the next vacancy arose. Murdo looked tired when he came over. ‘Dan, pal. Good to see you.’

Dan held up a computer stick drive. ‘Got this from a responsible citizen at the opposite end of the road from Jamie Buckland’s place,’ he said excitedly. ‘Bit posher there. They have front gardens, paved over. Bloke has a motor home parked on it. His missus says, “It’s my husband’s pride and joy, gets more attention than I do. He’s got a camera trained on it day and night. He’ll show you when he gets home from work.” Had to wait for a bit, but I got it. CCTV of Buckland from a week ago. The boss will want to see this.’ He paused, seeing Murdo’s serious face. ‘What’s the

matter?’

‘Well, the boss might have other things on her plate this morning.’ Murdo updated Dan on what had happened to Becca the night before.

‘Shit, is Becca okay? Is Wee Shona okay?’

‘We’re both fine,’ said a voice behind them. Shona swept into her office and stowed her bag under the desk. She looked pale and there were dark circles under her eyes that the subtle make-up she was wearing failed to disguise. Dan and Murdo came sheepishly to her door. ‘Really, Becca’s okay,’ said Shona. ‘Going to be off school for a while, which she’s delighted about. Murdo,’ she gave him a grateful smile, ‘thank you for stepping up, last night.’

‘No bother, boss. ID-ed a potential car belonging to one of the lads’ mothers. Ravi’s gone to lift it this morning.’

‘Good.’ She turned to Dan. ‘What’s this about Buckland?’

‘CCTV from a neighbour. No sign of Buckland for the last three days, but there’s footage from a week ago that’s interesting,’ said Dan, handing over the stick.

Murdo indicated he was leaving them to it while he got on with other work and chased up the whereabouts of DC Kate Irving, who hadn’t showed up yet and wasn’t answering the phone. ‘Probably in the shower doing that hair stuff that women do.’ He waved his hands uncertainly over his head.

‘You mean washing her hair?’ Shona said with amusement. ‘Don’t you wash your hair, Murdo?’

‘Aye, I do.’ He rubbed his shorn scalp. ‘But I don’t take all day about it.’

Shona grinned. ‘Give her five minutes and call again. Kate’s never usually late.’ She slotted the stick into her laptop and motioned Dan to pull up a chair. ‘Skip to the good part, will you?’ She left him to set the CCTV going while she texted Becca at the hospital to say she’d be in this afternoon.

‘This is it.’ Dan turned the screen towards her. In the background, behind the white bulk of a camper van, an altercation was taking place between Jamie Buckland and a second man, who pinned him up against a car and punched him several times. Buckland fell to the ground, clutching his face as the man continued to kick him.

‘When was this?’ said Shona, pulling the laptop closer.

‘Last week,’ said Dan. ‘There’s more, the neighbour thinks she saw a girl matching Isla’s description at the house back in the summer. Her husband only keeps the files for a month then deletes them, so I can’t go any further back to check, unfortunately.’