Fic: Blighted by Sin (2/5) (Inspector Lynley Mysteries)
Previous part: One
See part one for header information.
Tuesday 13th August
Lynley was in before her and was, well he wasn't smiling but he looked like he'd managed to get some sleep at the very least. Paperwork covered his desk.
"Someone was in early this morning."
He threw her a mock dirty look and then ignored her.
"Any luck with the phone company yet?"
"The details are on route, according to the email I've just received."
"They're couriering them over?" She was a little surprised.
"Apparently in this day and age of data loses, it's harder to lose track of a wad of paper than an email. Someone will have to sign for them."
She rolled her eyes.
"Come on, we'll leave Winston to sign for it while we interview the neighbour."
"Right. I'll drive today. Had enough of yours yesterday."
"Have you got your air conditioning fixed yet?"
"It works perfectly fine."
"I refuse to believe that."
"Well it works better than yours anyway." Barbara grabbed her keys anyway and Lynley fiddled with the system what felt like the whole drive over.
She was rather proud of her restraint in not saying anything.
~~
They parked outside Jessica's flat again, the neighbour peering out the window despite the early hour as they walked towards the main door. He buzzed them in when they identified themselves.
"I take it you're here about Jessica? The landlord just popped round to fix the tap, told me what happened. Poor thing, such a terrible thing to happen."
"Did you know her well Mr... " Lynley started the interview.
"Andrews, Bob Andrews. Well a fair bit, she was always popping round, seeing if I needed anything from the shops. Apologised if she had her friends round and they got a little rowdy. Was a great help during the winter, made sure I was all right. I checked in on her too sometimes, it must be lonely living alone and having a baby on the way. She was excited I could tell but lonely none the less."
They exchanged a look when he finally stopped for breath. "Did she say anything about the father?"
Bob shook his head, "Not to me, I didn't want to pry either. I thought it was that nice young chap that kept coming round."
"Adam?"
"Yes, that's the one. Only talked to him a couple of times but I saw him coming and going a lot, although not so much recently."
"But you have seen him recently?"
"No, but Jessica told me yesterday when Liam, that's my eldest, picked me up, that he was coming around. I was quite pleased for her actually." Bob paused for breath. "Oh the poor man. Have you told him yet?"
Lynley spoke. "We're still trying to identify him at the moment. So you left before he arrived?"
"Oh yes, never saw him. Why, do you think he had something to do with? Surely not, he was such a nice young man, a GP you know."
Barbara scribbled this down. "We're just keeping an open mind. Did she tell you about any problems she was having? Being followed or what not?"
"No, dear, she never said anything like that" He sat down heavily in his chair. "I can't imagine anyone who would want to do such a thing. Oh dear."
When he didn’t say anything else and the news looked like it was finally sinking in, Barbara and Lynley exchanged another look, one that clearly said this interview was over. "Thank you for all your help Mr Andrews, we're sorry to have bothered you."
Bob made to get up but Lynley waved him down. "Don't worry, we'll let ourselves out."
They paused outside his door. Lynley sighed as she put her notebook away. "Well that was a waste of time."
"Yeah, but at least that's another person who can say what she was planning to do that night."
"I suppose." He looked at her, his frustration evident. "Any word from Winston yet?"
She checked her phone. "Yeah, Adam Wilkinson. Got his home address, though if he's working we might have missed him."
"We'll see if any one else lives there, perhaps they can tell us something. Perhaps the wife knows."
"About that, d'you think she knows he was having an affair?"
"Motive you mean?"
"Well possibly. If he came here last night, perhaps she had suspected him. She could have followed him."
Lynley looked deep in thought as they headed back towards the car, Mr Andrews following their progress from his as they went.
"It's entirely possible. We'll know more if we can catch anyone at the house."
He started tapping impatiently on her dashboard as she drove towards the Wilkinson's place.
She took advantage of a red light to look at him. "Are you going to do that all the way there?"
Her eyes flickered to his fingers on the dashboard.
He smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Just got a feeling about this."
She refrained from answering as the light turned to green and the car drew away again.
~~
They knocked on the door of the address they had been given. There was no answer but as they started down the path back to the car the door opened.
"Sorry, I was on back shift last night. Only just up." A tall attractive blonde was smiling from the doorway.
"Mrs Wilkinson?"
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Detective Inspector Lynley, my partner Detective Sergeant Havers. Is your husband in?"
"No, he's at his work at the moment. What's this about?"
"Someone he knew, a Jessica Reid, was attacked the other night, we just wanted to talk to him, see if he had any information." Lynley smiled pleasantly to downplay their interest.
Her face didn't change at all when they mentioned Jessica's name, and Barbara scored through a note. Mrs Wilkinson looked rather relieved in fact.
"Where does he work?"
"The Oak Health Centre in Ealing. Hold on a minute, I'll write it down for you." She disappeared from the doorway and Barbara turned to Lynley.
"She's either a very good actor,"
"Or she doesn't know," Lynley finished.
Mrs Wilkinson came back, piece of paper in hand. "Here you go."
"Thank you very much, we're sorry to have bothered you." They smiled and turned down the path back towards the car.
"Is she alright?"
They stopped and turned to face Mrs Wilkinson again.
"The woman who was assaulted, is she alright?"
Barbara grimaced. "She's in a serious condition at the moment."
Mrs Wilkinson looked crestfallen. "Oh. Well, I hope you catch whoever did it." Mrs Wilkinson looked downcast as she shut the door.
Barbara started the car. "Definitely doesn't seem as if it was her."
"No it doesn't which narrows the possibilities for motive."
They made their way to Ealing. "Well, we'll just see what Adam has to say."
~~
They found themselves being glared at by a collective of receptionists as they waited for Adam to finish his surgery. Lynley avoided looking at Barbara as she mumbled under her breath about having to wait and wanting to kill snobby receptionists.
As if they would turn up to waste their time. Well, okay, maybe if they were trying to crack someone but they just wanted to interview him.
It seemed like an age before they were ushered in to Adam's office and Lynley dragged the spare chair across to the desk, angling it so that both he and Barbara sat opposite Adam.
Adam smiled. "I'm sorry, Louise didn't tell me what you wanted to talk about."
Barbara flipped open her notebook as Lynley started, not smiling in response to Adam. "Jessica Reid."
"Ah." Adam's smile vanished. "What exactly about Jessica?"
Barbara looked up from her notes and Lynley simply stared at him. "She was found yesterday morning unconscious and brutally beaten." She said.
Adam looked shocked. "Unconscious?"
"Yes, she's still in a critical condition in hospital and the baby didn't make it."
"Baby?"
Barbara took note of the fact that he looked less shocked at this.
"We know she was planning on telling you last night, asked you round to talk." Lynley said.
Adam frowned, "Who told you that?"
"Her sister and her next door neighbour. Did you?"
Adam turned away to look out the window. "No, I thought she just wanted to see me again." He slumped in his chair. "Perhaps if I had…"
"When was the last time you saw her?" Barbara asked
"About three months ago, we broke it off then."
"May I ask why?" Lynley took over.
Adam grimaced. "She found out I was married. I never meant to cheat but I met Jess and it just sort of happened."
"And you've had no contact since then?"
"Not since the text she sent asking to see me."
"Was she having any problems when you knew her? Any one causing trouble?"
"You think this was personal?"
Lynley smiled reassuringly. "We're keeping all options open at the moment. We don't want to miss anything."
Adam started drumming his fingers on his desk. "No, she never mentioned anyone but we haven't seen each other in three months. Is she going to be all right?"
"She's in a very serious condition. The baby didn't make it."
Adam's fingers stopped drumming on the desk. "Oh." He visibly swallowed. "Do they think she is going to make it?"
"At the moment the doctors aren't sure."
Barbara scribbled something else in her notes, catching his slump out of the corner of her eye and Lynley carried on regardless. "She was four and a half months pregnant, is there any possibility that the child isn't yours?"
Adam looked frozen and unsure of himself for the first time since they walked in. Seemingly he came to a decision. "I'm not sure. We never said anything about other people."
"Well you didn't anyway." Barbara couldn’t help but mention.
Lynley frowned slightly at her but she ignored the look and looked back at her notes.
Lynley started again. "Well, we would like to make sure. I'll arrange for a DNA sample to be taken for a paternity test."
Adam paused. "Only on the condition my wife doesn't hear about this."
"Dr Wilkinson, we won't be telling your wife anything unless it pertains to our investigation. However, experience has shown that spouses inevitably find out."
Adam sighed. "All right, all right. I'll get one of the nurses to take a blood sample,"
"We'll send someone over, procedure and all that." Barbara spoke up. "You know how it is."
Adam nodded and when Lynley made no move to get up, Barbara stayed seated as well. They could see Adam get more uncomfortable and try to cover it up.
He gave in. "Is that all? I have another surgery after lunch and I have a pile of paperwork I need to get through before then."
Barbara looked at Adam. "One last thing. Can you tell us where you were Monday night?"
Adam looked furious. "How dare you! Suggesting that I would want to hurt Jessica, let alone a baby," he sputtered.
Lynley intervened, playing the good copper. "We just need to check alibis of everyone Jessica knew."
Adam gripped his pen tightly and Barbara saw his knuckles turn white.
"I went for a run after work. Monday is my night for going around Hyde Park."
"Bit of a trek, isn't it?" Barbara asked.
"It's a habit I started when I was a student. Now I really must be getting on with things."
Barbara smiled sweetly. "Certainly. Thank you for your time." She stopped as she went out the door. "We'll arrange for someone to come around this afternoon."
Adam nodded and practically pushed them out the door.
Barbara felt the first tinges of suspicions form but kept them to herself for the moment.
~~
They stopped for lunch at a small cafe near the station, a good proportion of the customers from the force so no one would object over much if they discussed the case over lunch. They ordered lunch then grabbed an empty table.
"What did you make of him?" Lynley asked as she took a sip of her drink.
"He was definitely hiding something and he was lying about not knowing she was pregnant."
Lynley nodded. "Do we think he went around there the night before?"
"Yeah. From what her sister said, he was constantly trying to get in touch with her after they broke up so when he got a message from her out the blue? Definitely."
"It's just a shame we can't prove he was there."
Barbara gave a mmm of agreement. "Uniform did a door to door but either nobody saw anything around that time or they weren't in."
Lynley sat back. "Any ideas on what he's hiding?"
Barbara sighed, played with her cutlery. "Could have been anything. Possibly he did go around and they had an argument. That would make him nervous. Although it was interesting to note he was put out to realise we knew he was supposed to be going around that night."
Lynley smiled at her. "Yes, it was rather. His reaction to being asked for an alibi was interesting as well."
She opened her mouth to reply but stopped when their food arrived and they took a break from discussing the case as they started to eat.
"I meant to say, Mother's having a small dinner for Juliet's birthday next week, wants to know if you're free. I told her you were."
Barbara rolled her eyes.
"Well you are."
"That's not really the point." He looked a little saddened so she carried on. "How small is small?"
"Just really family."
She paused, chip in midair as she looked at him.
"Don't look at me like that, Mother wouldn't have invited you if she didn't want you there."
She didn't say anything, just munched on her chips as she thought that over. "I'll not have to dress up to posh will I?" She said finally.
Lynley smiled, "It's just a small dinner."
"So I'll pack my best dress then?"
Lynley laughed and resumed eating his lunch. Around bites he spoke again.
"Which reminds me, you really should call me Tommy."
She looked up from playing with her ketchup.
"Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
He ignored her question, asking one of his own. "How long have we worked together now? Eight, nine years? I think we know each other well enough."
Barbara nodded.
"And I have managed to get over calling you Havers all the time."
Barbara snorted, "Yeah, you have." She ate another chip. "All right then, just don't expect it to happen overnight."
He smiled again and finished his lunch, the light hearted atmosphere lingering for a while.
~~
The office was bustling as normal as they made it back in, still as hot and sticky as ever and Barbara fought with her desk fan as she arranged for someone to take Adam's DNA. Her next task was to phone the hospital.
Not good. Jessica was still unconscious, and though the doctor didn't say much more, she recognised that tone of voice.
Barbara slumped in her chair as she put the phone down. She sat catching the cooler air the fan blew in her direction for a minute, only jarred out of her thoughts when Winston spoke.
"Going that well?" He asked from his perch on the corner of her desk.
"About that yeah. Yours?"
"Not bad. Just the paperwork left to do." Winston grinned.
"Show off." She swatted his arm, though she was smiling.
Winston wandered off to sit at his desk and she went turned back to her computer to set in motion someone to try and check Adam's alibi. She wasn't holding out much hope but perhaps someone had seen him running. That done, she rose and went to find Lynley.
He wasn't in his office and she started to wonder if he was all right but he rounded the corner just as she started to head back to her desk, a large envelope in his hands.
"I've managed to get the crime scene pictures, and the pictures of her injuries."
Barbara nodded. "Any of the other forensics back yet?"
Lynley looked at her like she was daft for even asking but answered her anyway. "I asked but it doesn't look like there is much to go on at the moment. Of course, the CCTV image hasn't been processed yet."
"The way our luck is going that won't be much use either."
Lynley ignored her pessimism and followed her into his office. Shutting the door, he sat in his chair and spread the first set of photos across his desk.
The pictures showed the park where Jessica had been found, the spot where she had been found more specifically, along with snapshots of the scattered places they had found her handbag and her purse.
There was silence as they both pored over them. Nothing out of the ordinary stood out for Barbara and once she was satisfied she had looked at them all thoroughly she looked at Lynley.
"Are you seeing something I'm not?"
Lynley sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Unfortunately not. Looking at the pictures alone, it almost reads as a mugging gone wrong but if it had gone that badly wrong," he leaned forward and grabbed the photo of her purse, "in most cases whoever did it would have surely ran further before getting rid of the purse? They didn't even empty it."
"And CCTV tells us it didn't even happen in the park. It looks as whoever did it was trying to make it look like a mugging," Barbara mused.
Lynley nodded at her assessment, "But they overcompensated which makes me think it wasn't planned and whoever did so panicked."
"Still leaves us with no suspect at the moment."
"No, but it definitely suggests that it was personal rather than a random attack."
They fell into silence again, both staring at the pictures.
"There must be something we're missing here." Lynley sighed in frustration.
"Let's see the other photos then."
Lynley scooped the photos up and pulled the other set out from their envelope. They spread them out quickly and when they had a chance to look at them, they were too shocked to say anything.
Barbara was the first to find her voice. "Shit."
The sound of her swearing was enough to jar Lynley out of his silence. "I knew it was bad from the description but…" He trailed off, unable to speak as he continued to stare.
There was a deep gash in the back of her skull, Jessica's hair was still matted from the blood when they had taken the pictures, her left cheek was swollen and starting to bruise where she had been punched in the face. Photos of her arms showed more bruises forming, individual finger marks making themselves known, her legs, her pregnant belly covered in faint foot marks that had Barbara checked now would no doubt be darker.
She had to look away for a moment, quelling the sick feeling in her stomach and after taking a deep, steadying breath she spoke again.
"That has to be personal, far too much violence for anything else."
Lynley didn't reply and she covered the picture he was staring most at with her hand. It jarred him again and he looked up at her and Jesus, the pain in his eyes made her want to hit something or cry. He looked quickly downwards again, obviously trying to cover up his reaction.
"Definitely, it's doubtful that a random attack would be that violent." His voice was mainly level, though Barbara ignored the wobble since he was trying to.
"It is possible I suppose but it just doesn’t feel right."
She thought for a moment, giving him the time to try and recover, then checked back in her notes. "There were definitely no other reports of anything else at all that morning but I've not checked in with uniform yet today about their door to door."
Lynley frowned.
"See if they've come up with anything, I'll keep looking these over."
Barbara hesitated slightly and Lynley caught it.
"I'll be fine, Barbara."
She raised an eyebrow but moved anyway. She stood in the hallway outside his office, keeping him in sight as she tried to catch a hold of Jones on his mobile. No answer but if he was interviewing someone then he wouldn't pickup. Just when she was about to go back in he phoned back.
In this case no news was not good news.
She sat across from Lynley, somewhat relieved when he didn't startle from having been lost in his thoughts again, his mind clearly back on the case itself.
"Anything?"
Barbara shook her head.
"Nothing. Not even any reports of any unusual behaviour in the area for the last couple of days."
Lynley sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"So it's personal then."
"Yeah but the question is who? I mean I know Adam was lying about something but everyone else says she had no problems and there was nothing in her flat to say she was worried about anything."
"Had she filed any harassment reports?"
Barbara shook her head. "I checked when the file came in yesterday. Nothing on record."
"So the only problem she had we've been able to find is relating to Adam."
"Yeah. He's definitely fishy and his alibi is basically a wash."
Lynley looked down at the pictures still spread across the desk. "Well the partner is usually our first suspect and as you say, there is definitely something fishy."
"Question is do we want to interview him again? Press him on knowing about the baby?"
Lynley looked at his watch. "No, I don't want to spook him into clamming up. We've nothing concrete at all and the DNA and forensics won't be back for a while yet."
Barbara nodded. "Nothing's back from IT about her computer either. The only thing they said was there was nothing obvious but they hadn't done a full check yet."
"You think she may have had a problem she wasn't telling anyone about?"
Barbara paused, thinking before she spoke. "No, I got the impression, especially from her sister, that she would have said something." She looked down at the pictures. "Unless it escalated suddenly and she didn't get the chance to tell anyone."
Lynley nodded. "It's possible." He checked his watch again. "Why don’t you see if you can catch her workmates again? Perhaps they noticed anything strange or she mentioned anything to them."
"Okay, I'll try and catch her sister again as well." She put the photos back in their envelope and took them with her when she left, just in case he dwelled too much.
~~
Barbara rang the door bell and Lynley answered in less than a minute. She felt somewhat bemused when he directed her straight to the kitchen, and guided her into a seat. His kitchen was miles bigger than hers, though she was more comfortable in it than she had been this time last year, even if she was still slightly jealous of it. Instead of sitting down with her, he moved across to the cooker and things became clearer when he returned with a plate of pasta and placed it down in front of her.
Cooking was a good sign she supposed, though seeing this side of him was still a little strange.
He finished off his own plate as she started hers, and he let her finish before he asked, "Find out anything?"
Barbara shook her head. "Neither her friends or her sister remember her saying anything at all or acting any differently from normal." She put her plate down. "Apart from the things she was changing because she was pregnant."
"Aside from not going out so much?" He was curious.
"Just that she was eating better, trying to take better care of herself. Said she never mentioned about meeting anyone new, pretty much stuck to her close friends."
Lynley looked thoughtful. "So Adam is our main suspect?"
Barbara nodded as she slouched back into the chair. "Yeah. No one else at the minute."
She tried to get comfy but the hardback chairs weren't designed for comfort really.
He noticed her squirming and they moved through to his living room, sitting side by side on the couch, opposite the TV.
They lapsed into silence. "I hate waiting around on forensics." Barbara spoke first.
Lynley smiled. "I know, almost as much as you hate this heat."
Barbara groaned but was glad that the topic moved away from the case. "We're in London, we're not supposed to be this hot!"
Lynley laughed and she picked up the cushion beside her and hit him with it. "It's not funny!
"Yes it is." He was smiling.
She made as if to hit him again with the cushion but he picked up the TV handset and said, "You know, I think it's time for Coronation Street."
She glared at him as he changed the subject but put the cushion down as he turned the TV on.
She kept the cushion within easy reach though, just in case.
Part Three
See part one for header information.
Tuesday 13th August
Lynley was in before her and was, well he wasn't smiling but he looked like he'd managed to get some sleep at the very least. Paperwork covered his desk.
"Someone was in early this morning."
He threw her a mock dirty look and then ignored her.
"Any luck with the phone company yet?"
"The details are on route, according to the email I've just received."
"They're couriering them over?" She was a little surprised.
"Apparently in this day and age of data loses, it's harder to lose track of a wad of paper than an email. Someone will have to sign for them."
She rolled her eyes.
"Come on, we'll leave Winston to sign for it while we interview the neighbour."
"Right. I'll drive today. Had enough of yours yesterday."
"Have you got your air conditioning fixed yet?"
"It works perfectly fine."
"I refuse to believe that."
"Well it works better than yours anyway." Barbara grabbed her keys anyway and Lynley fiddled with the system what felt like the whole drive over.
She was rather proud of her restraint in not saying anything.
~~
They parked outside Jessica's flat again, the neighbour peering out the window despite the early hour as they walked towards the main door. He buzzed them in when they identified themselves.
"I take it you're here about Jessica? The landlord just popped round to fix the tap, told me what happened. Poor thing, such a terrible thing to happen."
"Did you know her well Mr... " Lynley started the interview.
"Andrews, Bob Andrews. Well a fair bit, she was always popping round, seeing if I needed anything from the shops. Apologised if she had her friends round and they got a little rowdy. Was a great help during the winter, made sure I was all right. I checked in on her too sometimes, it must be lonely living alone and having a baby on the way. She was excited I could tell but lonely none the less."
They exchanged a look when he finally stopped for breath. "Did she say anything about the father?"
Bob shook his head, "Not to me, I didn't want to pry either. I thought it was that nice young chap that kept coming round."
"Adam?"
"Yes, that's the one. Only talked to him a couple of times but I saw him coming and going a lot, although not so much recently."
"But you have seen him recently?"
"No, but Jessica told me yesterday when Liam, that's my eldest, picked me up, that he was coming around. I was quite pleased for her actually." Bob paused for breath. "Oh the poor man. Have you told him yet?"
Lynley spoke. "We're still trying to identify him at the moment. So you left before he arrived?"
"Oh yes, never saw him. Why, do you think he had something to do with? Surely not, he was such a nice young man, a GP you know."
Barbara scribbled this down. "We're just keeping an open mind. Did she tell you about any problems she was having? Being followed or what not?"
"No, dear, she never said anything like that" He sat down heavily in his chair. "I can't imagine anyone who would want to do such a thing. Oh dear."
When he didn’t say anything else and the news looked like it was finally sinking in, Barbara and Lynley exchanged another look, one that clearly said this interview was over. "Thank you for all your help Mr Andrews, we're sorry to have bothered you."
Bob made to get up but Lynley waved him down. "Don't worry, we'll let ourselves out."
They paused outside his door. Lynley sighed as she put her notebook away. "Well that was a waste of time."
"Yeah, but at least that's another person who can say what she was planning to do that night."
"I suppose." He looked at her, his frustration evident. "Any word from Winston yet?"
She checked her phone. "Yeah, Adam Wilkinson. Got his home address, though if he's working we might have missed him."
"We'll see if any one else lives there, perhaps they can tell us something. Perhaps the wife knows."
"About that, d'you think she knows he was having an affair?"
"Motive you mean?"
"Well possibly. If he came here last night, perhaps she had suspected him. She could have followed him."
Lynley looked deep in thought as they headed back towards the car, Mr Andrews following their progress from his as they went.
"It's entirely possible. We'll know more if we can catch anyone at the house."
He started tapping impatiently on her dashboard as she drove towards the Wilkinson's place.
She took advantage of a red light to look at him. "Are you going to do that all the way there?"
Her eyes flickered to his fingers on the dashboard.
He smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Just got a feeling about this."
She refrained from answering as the light turned to green and the car drew away again.
~~
They knocked on the door of the address they had been given. There was no answer but as they started down the path back to the car the door opened.
"Sorry, I was on back shift last night. Only just up." A tall attractive blonde was smiling from the doorway.
"Mrs Wilkinson?"
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Detective Inspector Lynley, my partner Detective Sergeant Havers. Is your husband in?"
"No, he's at his work at the moment. What's this about?"
"Someone he knew, a Jessica Reid, was attacked the other night, we just wanted to talk to him, see if he had any information." Lynley smiled pleasantly to downplay their interest.
Her face didn't change at all when they mentioned Jessica's name, and Barbara scored through a note. Mrs Wilkinson looked rather relieved in fact.
"Where does he work?"
"The Oak Health Centre in Ealing. Hold on a minute, I'll write it down for you." She disappeared from the doorway and Barbara turned to Lynley.
"She's either a very good actor,"
"Or she doesn't know," Lynley finished.
Mrs Wilkinson came back, piece of paper in hand. "Here you go."
"Thank you very much, we're sorry to have bothered you." They smiled and turned down the path back towards the car.
"Is she alright?"
They stopped and turned to face Mrs Wilkinson again.
"The woman who was assaulted, is she alright?"
Barbara grimaced. "She's in a serious condition at the moment."
Mrs Wilkinson looked crestfallen. "Oh. Well, I hope you catch whoever did it." Mrs Wilkinson looked downcast as she shut the door.
Barbara started the car. "Definitely doesn't seem as if it was her."
"No it doesn't which narrows the possibilities for motive."
They made their way to Ealing. "Well, we'll just see what Adam has to say."
~~
They found themselves being glared at by a collective of receptionists as they waited for Adam to finish his surgery. Lynley avoided looking at Barbara as she mumbled under her breath about having to wait and wanting to kill snobby receptionists.
As if they would turn up to waste their time. Well, okay, maybe if they were trying to crack someone but they just wanted to interview him.
It seemed like an age before they were ushered in to Adam's office and Lynley dragged the spare chair across to the desk, angling it so that both he and Barbara sat opposite Adam.
Adam smiled. "I'm sorry, Louise didn't tell me what you wanted to talk about."
Barbara flipped open her notebook as Lynley started, not smiling in response to Adam. "Jessica Reid."
"Ah." Adam's smile vanished. "What exactly about Jessica?"
Barbara looked up from her notes and Lynley simply stared at him. "She was found yesterday morning unconscious and brutally beaten." She said.
Adam looked shocked. "Unconscious?"
"Yes, she's still in a critical condition in hospital and the baby didn't make it."
"Baby?"
Barbara took note of the fact that he looked less shocked at this.
"We know she was planning on telling you last night, asked you round to talk." Lynley said.
Adam frowned, "Who told you that?"
"Her sister and her next door neighbour. Did you?"
Adam turned away to look out the window. "No, I thought she just wanted to see me again." He slumped in his chair. "Perhaps if I had…"
"When was the last time you saw her?" Barbara asked
"About three months ago, we broke it off then."
"May I ask why?" Lynley took over.
Adam grimaced. "She found out I was married. I never meant to cheat but I met Jess and it just sort of happened."
"And you've had no contact since then?"
"Not since the text she sent asking to see me."
"Was she having any problems when you knew her? Any one causing trouble?"
"You think this was personal?"
Lynley smiled reassuringly. "We're keeping all options open at the moment. We don't want to miss anything."
Adam started drumming his fingers on his desk. "No, she never mentioned anyone but we haven't seen each other in three months. Is she going to be all right?"
"She's in a very serious condition. The baby didn't make it."
Adam's fingers stopped drumming on the desk. "Oh." He visibly swallowed. "Do they think she is going to make it?"
"At the moment the doctors aren't sure."
Barbara scribbled something else in her notes, catching his slump out of the corner of her eye and Lynley carried on regardless. "She was four and a half months pregnant, is there any possibility that the child isn't yours?"
Adam looked frozen and unsure of himself for the first time since they walked in. Seemingly he came to a decision. "I'm not sure. We never said anything about other people."
"Well you didn't anyway." Barbara couldn’t help but mention.
Lynley frowned slightly at her but she ignored the look and looked back at her notes.
Lynley started again. "Well, we would like to make sure. I'll arrange for a DNA sample to be taken for a paternity test."
Adam paused. "Only on the condition my wife doesn't hear about this."
"Dr Wilkinson, we won't be telling your wife anything unless it pertains to our investigation. However, experience has shown that spouses inevitably find out."
Adam sighed. "All right, all right. I'll get one of the nurses to take a blood sample,"
"We'll send someone over, procedure and all that." Barbara spoke up. "You know how it is."
Adam nodded and when Lynley made no move to get up, Barbara stayed seated as well. They could see Adam get more uncomfortable and try to cover it up.
He gave in. "Is that all? I have another surgery after lunch and I have a pile of paperwork I need to get through before then."
Barbara looked at Adam. "One last thing. Can you tell us where you were Monday night?"
Adam looked furious. "How dare you! Suggesting that I would want to hurt Jessica, let alone a baby," he sputtered.
Lynley intervened, playing the good copper. "We just need to check alibis of everyone Jessica knew."
Adam gripped his pen tightly and Barbara saw his knuckles turn white.
"I went for a run after work. Monday is my night for going around Hyde Park."
"Bit of a trek, isn't it?" Barbara asked.
"It's a habit I started when I was a student. Now I really must be getting on with things."
Barbara smiled sweetly. "Certainly. Thank you for your time." She stopped as she went out the door. "We'll arrange for someone to come around this afternoon."
Adam nodded and practically pushed them out the door.
Barbara felt the first tinges of suspicions form but kept them to herself for the moment.
~~
They stopped for lunch at a small cafe near the station, a good proportion of the customers from the force so no one would object over much if they discussed the case over lunch. They ordered lunch then grabbed an empty table.
"What did you make of him?" Lynley asked as she took a sip of her drink.
"He was definitely hiding something and he was lying about not knowing she was pregnant."
Lynley nodded. "Do we think he went around there the night before?"
"Yeah. From what her sister said, he was constantly trying to get in touch with her after they broke up so when he got a message from her out the blue? Definitely."
"It's just a shame we can't prove he was there."
Barbara gave a mmm of agreement. "Uniform did a door to door but either nobody saw anything around that time or they weren't in."
Lynley sat back. "Any ideas on what he's hiding?"
Barbara sighed, played with her cutlery. "Could have been anything. Possibly he did go around and they had an argument. That would make him nervous. Although it was interesting to note he was put out to realise we knew he was supposed to be going around that night."
Lynley smiled at her. "Yes, it was rather. His reaction to being asked for an alibi was interesting as well."
She opened her mouth to reply but stopped when their food arrived and they took a break from discussing the case as they started to eat.
"I meant to say, Mother's having a small dinner for Juliet's birthday next week, wants to know if you're free. I told her you were."
Barbara rolled her eyes.
"Well you are."
"That's not really the point." He looked a little saddened so she carried on. "How small is small?"
"Just really family."
She paused, chip in midair as she looked at him.
"Don't look at me like that, Mother wouldn't have invited you if she didn't want you there."
She didn't say anything, just munched on her chips as she thought that over. "I'll not have to dress up to posh will I?" She said finally.
Lynley smiled, "It's just a small dinner."
"So I'll pack my best dress then?"
Lynley laughed and resumed eating his lunch. Around bites he spoke again.
"Which reminds me, you really should call me Tommy."
She looked up from playing with her ketchup.
"Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
He ignored her question, asking one of his own. "How long have we worked together now? Eight, nine years? I think we know each other well enough."
Barbara nodded.
"And I have managed to get over calling you Havers all the time."
Barbara snorted, "Yeah, you have." She ate another chip. "All right then, just don't expect it to happen overnight."
He smiled again and finished his lunch, the light hearted atmosphere lingering for a while.
~~
The office was bustling as normal as they made it back in, still as hot and sticky as ever and Barbara fought with her desk fan as she arranged for someone to take Adam's DNA. Her next task was to phone the hospital.
Not good. Jessica was still unconscious, and though the doctor didn't say much more, she recognised that tone of voice.
Barbara slumped in her chair as she put the phone down. She sat catching the cooler air the fan blew in her direction for a minute, only jarred out of her thoughts when Winston spoke.
"Going that well?" He asked from his perch on the corner of her desk.
"About that yeah. Yours?"
"Not bad. Just the paperwork left to do." Winston grinned.
"Show off." She swatted his arm, though she was smiling.
Winston wandered off to sit at his desk and she went turned back to her computer to set in motion someone to try and check Adam's alibi. She wasn't holding out much hope but perhaps someone had seen him running. That done, she rose and went to find Lynley.
He wasn't in his office and she started to wonder if he was all right but he rounded the corner just as she started to head back to her desk, a large envelope in his hands.
"I've managed to get the crime scene pictures, and the pictures of her injuries."
Barbara nodded. "Any of the other forensics back yet?"
Lynley looked at her like she was daft for even asking but answered her anyway. "I asked but it doesn't look like there is much to go on at the moment. Of course, the CCTV image hasn't been processed yet."
"The way our luck is going that won't be much use either."
Lynley ignored her pessimism and followed her into his office. Shutting the door, he sat in his chair and spread the first set of photos across his desk.
The pictures showed the park where Jessica had been found, the spot where she had been found more specifically, along with snapshots of the scattered places they had found her handbag and her purse.
There was silence as they both pored over them. Nothing out of the ordinary stood out for Barbara and once she was satisfied she had looked at them all thoroughly she looked at Lynley.
"Are you seeing something I'm not?"
Lynley sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Unfortunately not. Looking at the pictures alone, it almost reads as a mugging gone wrong but if it had gone that badly wrong," he leaned forward and grabbed the photo of her purse, "in most cases whoever did it would have surely ran further before getting rid of the purse? They didn't even empty it."
"And CCTV tells us it didn't even happen in the park. It looks as whoever did it was trying to make it look like a mugging," Barbara mused.
Lynley nodded at her assessment, "But they overcompensated which makes me think it wasn't planned and whoever did so panicked."
"Still leaves us with no suspect at the moment."
"No, but it definitely suggests that it was personal rather than a random attack."
They fell into silence again, both staring at the pictures.
"There must be something we're missing here." Lynley sighed in frustration.
"Let's see the other photos then."
Lynley scooped the photos up and pulled the other set out from their envelope. They spread them out quickly and when they had a chance to look at them, they were too shocked to say anything.
Barbara was the first to find her voice. "Shit."
The sound of her swearing was enough to jar Lynley out of his silence. "I knew it was bad from the description but…" He trailed off, unable to speak as he continued to stare.
There was a deep gash in the back of her skull, Jessica's hair was still matted from the blood when they had taken the pictures, her left cheek was swollen and starting to bruise where she had been punched in the face. Photos of her arms showed more bruises forming, individual finger marks making themselves known, her legs, her pregnant belly covered in faint foot marks that had Barbara checked now would no doubt be darker.
She had to look away for a moment, quelling the sick feeling in her stomach and after taking a deep, steadying breath she spoke again.
"That has to be personal, far too much violence for anything else."
Lynley didn't reply and she covered the picture he was staring most at with her hand. It jarred him again and he looked up at her and Jesus, the pain in his eyes made her want to hit something or cry. He looked quickly downwards again, obviously trying to cover up his reaction.
"Definitely, it's doubtful that a random attack would be that violent." His voice was mainly level, though Barbara ignored the wobble since he was trying to.
"It is possible I suppose but it just doesn’t feel right."
She thought for a moment, giving him the time to try and recover, then checked back in her notes. "There were definitely no other reports of anything else at all that morning but I've not checked in with uniform yet today about their door to door."
Lynley frowned.
"See if they've come up with anything, I'll keep looking these over."
Barbara hesitated slightly and Lynley caught it.
"I'll be fine, Barbara."
She raised an eyebrow but moved anyway. She stood in the hallway outside his office, keeping him in sight as she tried to catch a hold of Jones on his mobile. No answer but if he was interviewing someone then he wouldn't pickup. Just when she was about to go back in he phoned back.
In this case no news was not good news.
She sat across from Lynley, somewhat relieved when he didn't startle from having been lost in his thoughts again, his mind clearly back on the case itself.
"Anything?"
Barbara shook her head.
"Nothing. Not even any reports of any unusual behaviour in the area for the last couple of days."
Lynley sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"So it's personal then."
"Yeah but the question is who? I mean I know Adam was lying about something but everyone else says she had no problems and there was nothing in her flat to say she was worried about anything."
"Had she filed any harassment reports?"
Barbara shook her head. "I checked when the file came in yesterday. Nothing on record."
"So the only problem she had we've been able to find is relating to Adam."
"Yeah. He's definitely fishy and his alibi is basically a wash."
Lynley looked down at the pictures still spread across the desk. "Well the partner is usually our first suspect and as you say, there is definitely something fishy."
"Question is do we want to interview him again? Press him on knowing about the baby?"
Lynley looked at his watch. "No, I don't want to spook him into clamming up. We've nothing concrete at all and the DNA and forensics won't be back for a while yet."
Barbara nodded. "Nothing's back from IT about her computer either. The only thing they said was there was nothing obvious but they hadn't done a full check yet."
"You think she may have had a problem she wasn't telling anyone about?"
Barbara paused, thinking before she spoke. "No, I got the impression, especially from her sister, that she would have said something." She looked down at the pictures. "Unless it escalated suddenly and she didn't get the chance to tell anyone."
Lynley nodded. "It's possible." He checked his watch again. "Why don’t you see if you can catch her workmates again? Perhaps they noticed anything strange or she mentioned anything to them."
"Okay, I'll try and catch her sister again as well." She put the photos back in their envelope and took them with her when she left, just in case he dwelled too much.
~~
Barbara rang the door bell and Lynley answered in less than a minute. She felt somewhat bemused when he directed her straight to the kitchen, and guided her into a seat. His kitchen was miles bigger than hers, though she was more comfortable in it than she had been this time last year, even if she was still slightly jealous of it. Instead of sitting down with her, he moved across to the cooker and things became clearer when he returned with a plate of pasta and placed it down in front of her.
Cooking was a good sign she supposed, though seeing this side of him was still a little strange.
He finished off his own plate as she started hers, and he let her finish before he asked, "Find out anything?"
Barbara shook her head. "Neither her friends or her sister remember her saying anything at all or acting any differently from normal." She put her plate down. "Apart from the things she was changing because she was pregnant."
"Aside from not going out so much?" He was curious.
"Just that she was eating better, trying to take better care of herself. Said she never mentioned about meeting anyone new, pretty much stuck to her close friends."
Lynley looked thoughtful. "So Adam is our main suspect?"
Barbara nodded as she slouched back into the chair. "Yeah. No one else at the minute."
She tried to get comfy but the hardback chairs weren't designed for comfort really.
He noticed her squirming and they moved through to his living room, sitting side by side on the couch, opposite the TV.
They lapsed into silence. "I hate waiting around on forensics." Barbara spoke first.
Lynley smiled. "I know, almost as much as you hate this heat."
Barbara groaned but was glad that the topic moved away from the case. "We're in London, we're not supposed to be this hot!"
Lynley laughed and she picked up the cushion beside her and hit him with it. "It's not funny!
"Yes it is." He was smiling.
She made as if to hit him again with the cushion but he picked up the TV handset and said, "You know, I think it's time for Coronation Street."
She glared at him as he changed the subject but put the cushion down as he turned the TV on.
She kept the cushion within easy reach though, just in case.
Part Three