SNOW TURNED RED

DI OLIVIA AUSTIN - BOOK FORTY-TWO

NIC ROBERTS

Copyright © 2024 by Nic Roberts

‘Snow Turned Red’

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Some may be used for parody purposes.

Any resemblance to events, locales, business establishments, or actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

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PROLOGUE

They pitied anyone who’d be faced with the hard task of digging a grave out of solid soil.

It wasn’t anything like the films with a muscular character able to drive a shovel into the earth with seemingly little to no effort, able to make short work until they’re standing in a hole six foot deep.

But it was so much more difficult than that. It relied on working with a shovel that could snap off at any moment, scraping against hardened ground that refused to give way.

And the time seemed to drag on. They could have been out there for hours. It certainly felt like it.

Their muscles ached from the effort. The adrenaline and the rush of panic had sustained them for about thirty minutes. But after that had worn down, they needed to stop, and they almost felt like they were going to collapse into the hole themselves.

But even as they were faced with the impossibility of the task ahead, they couldn’t afford to leave it. Not if they wanted to avoid being discovered. They’d already come this far anyway, so why shouldn’t they push themselves further? At least see it through to the end.

So they kept digging. Even as exhaustion threatened to boil over and the cold winter air started gnawing at them, they would not give up…

… but after nearly an hour and a half of digging, they knew that digging six feet was nigh impossible. The snow had already started to descend, and they were pretty sure that they’d been out long enough for a few people to realise they were missing. The daylight hours were over, so they had to scramble in the dark. They couldn’t even hold up the torch on their phone in case they ended up dropping that into the hole.

They managed to make it to three feet—maybe three-and-a-half—before their body gave out. They fell backwards onto the ground, staring at the whitened sky as snowflakes fell.

They could stay like this. Just let events unfold the way they were supposed to and not think of anything else.

But then their head turned to the frozen visage next to them—closed eyes that would never open again—and there was a fresh resolve. They didn’t want to see their life ruined over this.

They reached out to touch the carcass before deciding that they didn’t want their fingerprints anywhere near the body. But then they remembered there was something they needed to do.

They covered their hands with the edges of their sleeves, now wishing that they’d brought gloves with them. They reached into the pocket and pulled out the phone, checking for anything that might lead back to them. Once they were satisfied, they pocketed the phone and finished shoving the body into the hole with all the dignity it deserved.

Then they picked up the shovel and started filling in the grave, just as the snow started to pick up. It mixed with the dried blood around the body, turning it crimson.

Once they were satisfied that they’d done a decent job, they started making their way home.

With any luck, this would still be a decent Christmas.

1

“You know we’re going to have to tell them at some point?”

Olivia Austin rolled her eyes as Dean Lawrence hung some silver and crimson tinsel around the edges of the living room from a stepladder.

“Careful,” she chimed in from the floor. “Don’t want you falling over and knackering your back.”

“Why? You worried I’m not going to be much use to you then?” he asked playfully. “I can still make the occasional groan when I need to.”

“Oh, I know you can,” she replied flirtatiously, tempted to drag him down from the ladder and pull him onto her.

At that point, Briggs came over to her, nuzzling her hand and clearly vying for attention. “Are we going to be sticking him with a Christmas jumper and a pair of reindeer antlers?” she asked, remembering when she’d taken him for a walk and had seen another dog out walking dressed like a snowman.

“No,” Dean replied firmly. “I’m not cruel enough to have my dog go out and about looking like a Christmas tree ornament.”

Liv realised he hadn’t answered the question. “You know we can’t keep it quiet forever,” she noted, bracing herself for his response. Ever since Liv had accepted his proposal of marriage, they’d agreed to keep it quiet from most of their colleagues, with only a select few knowing the truth. Originally, it’d been for practical reasons, and there was a part of Liv that’d enjoyed the sneaking around aspect with a secret only they were clued into.

“It’s not like anyone’s going to try and sabotage us,” she noted, remembering that back in the early days of their relationship, there was a queue of people who wouldn’t mind keeping them separate.

“I’m not worried about that,” Dean noted, turning his attention away from the decorations to face her. “The police take a very dim view of married couples working in the same department.”

“It’s a police station, not a church,” Liv noted dryly. “What do they expect me to do, morph into a nun?” Given my track record of workplace relationships, that’s never going to happen.

“I know, but I’m more worried about Collins deciding to ship one of us off to Devon,” Dean noted with a shudder.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think Collins is going to be sending us anywhere,” she assured, thinking of his own unofficial dalliance with DS Nikki Harding. That’d definitely be the pot calling the kettle black. “Anyway, if we’re going to plan this wedding, I’m going to need some help, and Clara, bless her, can only do so much by herself.”

“Well, she won’t have to do it on her own,” Dean noted, a sudden spring in his step. “My mother’s going to be coming down in two days, so maybe she can give us some pointers… that is, if you’re okay with her knowing, of course.”

Dean’s mother Mariana had agreed to come down from Italy to spend the Christmas holidays with her son and his fiancé. Even though it was meant to be a joyous occasion, Liv couldn’t help the waves of trepidation constantly hitting her. She knew that Dean valued the relationship with his mother a lot, and she thought a lot of her son. But unlike Liv and Dean, Mariana’s romantic life hadn’t been easy sailing for her. Her husband had turned into an abusive monster, beating her for whatever reason he could find, whether it was because his shirt wasn’t ironed properly or because dinner hadn’t been cooked to his standard. Every single action was met with abuse, but she’d stayed with him because of the fear that one day, he might start on their son.

One night, Dean—having recently completed his police training—had seen red, and after his dad applied his usual routine to Mariana, Dean beat his father senseless, repaying every single punch and kick in swift succession. Though he’d never been convicted of any crime, it’d put a huge strain on Dean’s life and relationships to the point he’d left the country and come to the United Kingdom for a fresh start. It’d been a while into their relationship before Dean felt like he could share any of it with Liv, but she understood that there were elements of his past that he felt ashamed of. God knows I’ve got enough skeletons in my closet.

And now she was coming to stay with them over the Christmas holidays. Mariana had been told all about Liv, but this would be the first time the inspector had a chance to get to know her future mother-in-law. Of course, Liv was worried about making a good impression.

“Don’t worry,” Dean noted, picking up on her concern. “I’ve told her all about you.”

“All of the good things, I hope,” she responded, knowing that anybody with her past would scare off most blokes.

“You saying there’s bad bits I should know?” Dean asked coyly.

“Ha bloody ha,” Liv muttered. “How do I know we’re not going to end up at each other’s throats?” The last thing I need is a tug-of-war over Dean with his own mother.

“I think you’ve been watching too many crappy comedies,” he noted, taking her hands in his. “My mum knows all about you. And I won’t deny, she was a little taken aback that you were also a copper, but that’s more because of the risks that come with our lifestyle than anything against you. She’s actually eager to get to know you a bit better.”

“Oh, joy,” she muttered sarcastically. “Do you want me to dust off a lie detector?”

“I think you’re getting a little worked up over nothing,” he assured her, planting a soft kiss on the back of her palm. “My mum is one of the most giving people I know…” He looked away, suddenly ashamed. “And it’ll be a good chance for me to make up for lost time.”

Back when Dean had first fled his home country, he’d left his entire life behind. He’d kept in contact with his mother, but the long gaps between talking had grown between them, for which Dean blamed himself entirely.

But they were hoping that this would be a good Christmas together. Liv had gone to the trouble of sorting out the spare room for their new guest and trying to think of all the places she could take her future mother-in-law. I’m just hoping that some selfish bastard doesn’t decide to go on a killing spree over the next few weeks.

“You know…” Dean began, his touch lingering on her hands, “she’s not going to be here for a few days… but when she does get here, we aren’t going to have as much time for ourselves as we would like.”

“So…” Liv said slowly, the edges of her mouth twisting upwards slowly. “You’re saying we should make the most of it while we can.”

She moved closer to him until their chests were nearly touching and ran a hand over his chest, the loose-fitting t-shirt doing little to hide his muscular body.

Her hand drifted down to his belt buckle, and she immediately started working her fingers around it. In response, he began to back towards the bedroom.

She started going in for a kiss, but he turned his head at the last minute, conscious of tripping over the Christmas decorations.

However, it didn’t take much for them to navigate their way to the bedroom and close the door so they could enjoy their tryst of passion in private.

2

“Is it wrong that I’m struggling to see the point of this?”

Having spent the bulk of the year running up and down the streets of Newquay chasing down criminals, pacing up and down the aisles of the local toy shop was a nice change of pace for Olivia.

“It’s just as well we didn’t bring Ru,” Mills commented as she gazed at the boxes of action-oriented toys. “He’d be going crazy at everything in here.”

“Yeah,” Liv mused happily. She was enjoying a moment of peace with her sister and doing a bit of Christmas shopping while the children were with Mills’ husband Max. She came across an action figure of a police officer.

“Oh, he’d definitely love that,” Mills noted, looking at the box and all the accessories.

“Yeah, funny enough, I don’t see any disclaimers like ‘doesn’t come included with hours of admin,’” she joked, a little relieved that her actual day to day life wasn’t filled with that much adrenaline.

“Well, we’re not here for him, anyway,” her sister reminded her, her hand instinctively going to her tummy that until a few weeks ago had held a beautiful baby girl. And now, little Annie Austin was lying at home fast asleep in her cot—through no end of coaxing and bribing from her parents.

Olivia headed over to the toys for babies and pulled a large pink stuffed unicorn off the shelf. “This would probably double as a nice climbing frame for the kid.”

“I don’t think she’s at the age of climbing just yet,” Mills responded, remembering a fond memory of Annie waving her little hands in front of her face and trying to grasp her mother’s hovering fingers, always sending a wave of warmth wherever the tiny hands connected with a finger—if only by brushing lightly against it—followed by a happy gurgle from the baby.

“I don’t think she’s at the age of remembering just yet,” Liv suggested before quickly realising what she’d said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“No, it’s all right,” her sister waved the comment away. “She’s probably going to outgrow most toys I give her anyway, but I think it’s more for my benefit than anything else.”

“Well, you can count me in on that,” Liv chimed, looking at the early learning books and wondering how adaptable Annie would be. “I don’t really need an excuse or an occasion to spoil my niece. Who knows, maybe a few years from now, she’ll surprise you by reminding you of that toy you got her for her first Christmas.”

“Speaking of which,” Mills asked as she browsed some toys for Ru, mainly a plastic dinosaur, “have you thought about where we might have Christmas dinner this year?”

“Tough one,” Liv acknowledged. “With me, you, Mum and Dad, Alex bringing Tara, and the kids, it’s going to be a full house. I’d invite you around mine and Dean’s, but I don’t think we could get everyone in that house, not without giving everyone a serious case of claustrophobia.”

“I suppose yours and Max’s house is the easiest for everyone to get to,” Liv suggested playfully, prompting Mills to raise an eyebrow. “And I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be shoehorned into the annual police do.”

“And having everyone rushing to my home is in no way a ploy to leave me stuck with the washing up?” her sister asked coyly.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Liv chuckled, enjoying the camaraderie that came with her sister.

“So, have you made any New Year’s Resolutions for this year?” Mills asked, looking up a doll before deciding it was too early to be giving her infant daughter such a gift.

“Does making it to the end of the year in one piece count?” Liv retorted, feeling that for the last few years, she’d been somewhat adrift. She’d been doing well in her professional career, though the shadow of trauma had loomed large over the Austin family. But at that point, with Alex recovered and in a relationship of his own and a new arrival, the Austin family were going from strength to strength.

Suddenly, there was a buzzing in Liv’s pocket. She rolled her eyes as she saw Archie’s name pop up on the caller ID. A part of her really wanted to let the call go to voicemail to enjoy some more time with her sister…

…but she knew she’d only be kicking herself for it later.

“DI Austin,” she answered with a hint of resignation.

“Hi, Liv, hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Archie noted on the other end, oblivious to the happy moment.

“No, not at all, fire away,” she replied, slowing down so that Mills would walk on ahead and avoid listening into the conversation.

“We’ve had reports of a body that has been found in a shallow grave in Cardinham Woods,” he explained, and Liv sighed. Another touristy landmark ruined by some bloodthirsty arsehole.

She looked to her sister. Cardinham Woods was a thirty-minute drive from Newquay town centre. Before that, she needed to make sure that Mills was home safe and sound.

“I’ll try to get there within the hour,” she declared.

“That’s all right, I’m already en route, and forensics are being notified,” the sergeant replied, clearly sensing she was preoccupied and trying to give her an out in his own way.

She hung up the call, and made her way over to her sister, trying to think of an excuse. “Lisen, Mills, I’ve got to—”

“It’s fine,” Mills was quick to assure Liv. “I get it, I do. And to be honest, I need to be getting back myself. It will be Annie’s feeding time, and I don’t like being away from her for so long.”

Liv wasn’t sure whether to be grateful that people were willing to make excuses for her or ashamed that they had to bend over backwards to accommodate her sometimes unreasonable schedule. I didn’t want to be the kind of person people feel they need to tread on eggshells around.

Mills quickly gathered up two reading books and a stuffed elephant before departing the shop with Liv, bundled her sister into the car and dropped her off at home before setting out to Cardinham Woods, gathering on all her knowledge of the area.

It was a scenic forest, and Liv could remember as a small child being taken on long nature walks through the area with her family, the kind of woods one could get lost down.

It sounds like someone certainly had.

There weren’t many cars on the road, so she was able to make good timing.

She arrived at the point marked by Archie. Clearly, whoever had been here hadn’t been stupid enough to do anything by the entrance to the forest.

The crisp winter air prompted Liv to press down on the ground with her boot. It wasn’t exactly rock solid, but it wasn’t far off. The elements were already throwing up all kinds of problems for the forensics team. Liv could only imagine Sam’s face as all her attempts to gather findings were hampered.

And who says that Christmas isn’t a good time for murder?

3

Liv had tried making her way through the woods, not easy when she had an appalling signal, trying to follow the haphazard directions DS Elmhurst had sent her. I swear I’m going to end up getting lost.

Then she saw someone stumbling through the bushes, and for a moment, she wondered if this was the killer only just fleeing from the crime scene.

Then again, killers can’t get their hands on forensic gear.

“Liv!” Archie called out, trying not to trip over stray branches and uneven paths. Liv tried to meet him halfway to spare him the indignity of tripping over.

“So, what have we got?” she asked, walking alongside him.

“Apparently, a family was out glamping in the woods,” Archie answered in a derisive tone that suggested no one in their right mind should be trying camping in this kind of weather. “One of the dogs had wandered off to do their business, and when the dog didn’t come back straight away, the dad went looking for him and found him pawing for earth. They thought he was looking for bones.”

“I’m guessing he wasn’t too far off,” she mused darkly.

“There was a body found in a shallow grave,” he told her, looking a little sick as he spoke. “It’s hard to indicate how long the victim had been dead, but the soil looked fresh—or as fresh as any ground can be in this weather—which indicates that the body was recently buried.”

“Wait, what do you mean you can’t tell when the victim died?” she queried worriedly having seen enough bodies in her time to make a rough guess on the time of death.

“Why don’t you have a look for yourself?” Archie suggested as they walked on. “I’m still trying to keep my breakfast in my stomach.”

Once they got to the area, Liv could see the remains of a camping site and a forensic tent that’d already been set up with forensic officers coming in and out. A family of four was sat huddled by the entrance of the large tent fussing around a Border Collie dog that was looking about.

The snow was starting to come in much quicker by that point, and Liv was worried it was going to hinder their ability to collect any evidence.

She pulled on some protective footgear and gloves, now wishing that she’d worn something warmer to combat the elements.

“Show me the body,” Liv instructed, and Archie agreed, all the while looking increasingly nauseous.

They walked over to a shallow grave that’d been dug out; a pair of forensic coordinators had finished taking pictures of the body.

The body was already in an extended state of decomposition, all of the distinctive features having rotted away to the point that Liv was having a hard time working out if it was a man or a woman before she quickly decided to give up.

“Any thoughts on the cause of death?” Archie asked Liv, clearly expecting her to throw out some nugget of wisdom.

Liv looked over the body, the flesh muddied and decaying, feeling that the longer she looked, the more nauseated she felt.

“I think I’ll have to leave this one to the post-mortem,” she responded, accepting defeat. Maybe Dr James could get the ball rolling on the case with his findings. “Was there any form of ID?”

“Nothing that I could find,” he answered, gesturing to the naked form before them. “The killer took everything, including the clothes. We tried having a look around the area to see if he might have dropped anything along the way, but we couldn’t find anything.”

Liv surveyed the area which was heavily overgrown. “Even if he had developed butterfingers, I don’t think you would find anything in this area.”

“Guv!” Their lead forensic coordinator Sam emerged from the woods clutching a large shovel, the wood handle splintered and rotting, and it was clear the other end had broken off.

“Where’d you find that?” Liv called out, trying to make herself heard.

“About five minutes away from the site, just near some trees,” Sam replied.

“Did you think you can get any prints off it?” Liv asked half-heartedly.

“Can try it, but given it’s been in the elements, it’s a hard guess,” the FC replied.

Thinking that they weren’t going to get anywhere with the evidence, Liv turned her attention to the family sat by the tent.

She knelt down next to the family and smiled warmly at the two kids. “Hi there, my name is Olivia.” She looked up at the parents. “Did they….”

“No,” the mother replied to Liv’s relief. “We pulled them away before they could catch any glimpse.”

Thank God for that. The last thing these kids need is to be traumatised at Christmas.

“So can you tell me what you saw?” Liv asked gently, sending a glance the children’s way just to make sure they were all right.

“My husband and I sent off Barney to get some exercise. He always comes back, and when he didn’t, we were worried he’d got caught in a trap. So, I went looking for him…” The mother grimaced. “And that’s when I found the body. Afterwards, Tom stayed with the kids, and I went to the edge of the woods to get a signal and called the police.”

“You didn’t see anyone else while you were out?” Liv asked.

“No, it was just us.” She gestured into the tent behind them with a lot of weighted blankets behind them. In fact, we came out here because we thought there’d be no one else. It’d be a nice little adventure.”

Well, it’s certainly going to be a memorable one. Though not for the right reasons.

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” she concluded, handing the father her card. “If you can think of anything else, just give me a call.” She was about to wish them a Merry Christmas but felt it probably wouldn’t land the same way given what they’d seen.

Her thoughts immediately turned to the victim, knowing that somewhere in Newquay, there might be a family waiting for news of a loved one that would never come home.

That was, assuming the victim had a family.

“You’ll need to get in touch with Tim,” Liv suggested to Archie. “Have him dig through the missing persons list and see if anything crops up.”

“What am I going to have to go on?” Archie asked, pointing towards the unidentifiable husk that was being checked over.

Liv opened her mouth to speak… then thought against it. “Never mind. Let’s just get the post-mortem out of the way, and we’ll take it from there.”

“Just once, it’d be nice to have a Christmas that didn’t have someone getting bloodthirsty,” she muttered heavily, knowing that Dean’s mother would be arriving, and she didn’t want to have what was supposed to be an important time for their families taken up with a murder investigation.

“The body was found within days of it being buried,” Archie suggested, and Liv could only hope that he was right, because she didn’t want this to be one of those cases that dragged on forever.

4

“Afew of my friends had been talking about hoping December would be a quieter time for everyone,” Dr Elliot James noted as Liv and Archie joined him in the pathologist’s office. “I’ve got to admit, I’m feeling a lot of envy for them right now.”

“Sorry to send this your way,” Liv muttered, even though Elliot was probably their best bet of making sense of it all, “but any help you can give us would be appreciated.”

Detective Sergeant Tim Harris was back at the station trying to find anyone who might have gone missing in the last six months, but he was pretty much shooting in the dark until they had anything specific.

As they walked through the mortuary, Liv felt a chill as her nostrils were filled with the clinical smell that reminded her of lingering death. I’m probably never going to get used to this.

The body was lying on a slab and had since been cleansed of all dirt. In some ways, that made the grisly details stand out even more, as there was no longer anything obscuring the decay. I pity the poor soul who has to come in and do the identification.

“Did you manage to find any specifics?” Liv asked, looking at the face.

“You’ve got a John Doe; IC1 male, late-thirties to early-forties at a push. He kept himself in good physical form, which is evident despite the decay of the muscles.”

Liv sighed. Don’t know how I can get across to Tim, ‘keep an eye out for any well-toned males’. “Are there any other distinguishing features? Like a tattoo or a scar?”

“I couldn’t find anything like that,” Elliot noted. “And the face is… mostly intact. I’m sure once you have something to compare it to, you won’t have any more trouble.”

“Did you at least manage to get the estimated time of death?” Archie asked, hoping that they could narrow down the victim pool by assuming that their murder would coincide with the time they went missing.

“It’s not actually that simple,” Elliot replied, starting to get exasperated at the expectation for him to be the holy grail of information.

“Don’t you have some tech you can use or some measure?” Archie asked, letting the lack of progress get to him,

“It’s not that simple, DS Elmhurst,” he replied, prompting Archie to step back. His tone was firm but measured. “If you were to ask me about the general state of decomposition, I could clue you in. But there are a lot of factors that could either speed up or slow down decay.”

Archie nodded, wanting answers but knowing he was out of his comfort zone.

“Now, looking at the state of decay against the time the body was found, it’s possible that the victim was killed weeks or even months before the impromptu burial,” Elliot continued, looking over his notes. “So, I took the liberty of measuring the general level of SCHAD activity.”

“Said?” Archie repeated.

“SCHAD,” Dr James repeated. “Short-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase. It’s an enzyme used to determine if a body has been unnaturally frozen or thawed, and reading the levels, I can definitely tell that the body was frozen for some time.”

“How the hell can a body get stored in a freezer?” Liv asked, doing a mental note in her head of all the places that could store a frozen body, and the only place that came to mind was the local butchers.

“That’s going to dependent on your knowledge of Newquay,” Elliot muttered with a shrug. He turned his attention back to the body. “There were a few things I was able to pick up on. I noticed traces of tan on his body, which ties into the idea of the guy liking his body. I also noticed a lighter skin tone around the wrist and fingers, which could indicate that your John Doe wore jewellery.”

“We didn’t see any jewellery when we arrived,” Liv noted, and whatever the reason for the death, her brain was far too active to write it off as a simple mugging. For someone to go to the trouble of freezing the body before dumping in the middle of the nearest woods to Newquay. That’s far too much effort for your run-of-the-mill mugger. “Did you have any luck determining cause of death?”

“I did, as it happens,” Elliot replied. He carefully lifted up the head, demonstrating how it looked a little disjointed and at an angle, almost lolling.

“I noticed some ligature marks around the neck,” he noted, pointing to deep lines of purple, overlapping with bloated decaying skin. “Whoever killed him must have strangled him so hard they snapped his neck.”

“Christ,” Liv examine, braving the smell and moving in for a closer look. “They must have really wanted him dead.”

“So, we’ve got a guy in his forties who was into personal grooming and was almost decapitated during the killing,” Archie noted as they walked towards the car. “And we’re still no closer as to the time and cause of death.”

“Elliot suggests that he could have died at least six weeks ago,” Liv noted, having known by now to trust the doctor’s judgment. “I’d rely on any missing person match to take us further, but even then, that’s just going to tell us when he disappeared, not when he died. For all we know, there could be a big gap between the two. For all we know, this guy could have been floating around for a good few weeks before he died.”

“Someone must have reported the gentleman missing,” Archie suggested. “Maybe once we have a positive match, we can start narrowing down motive at least.”

She’d sent some pictures of the John Doe over to Tim—or at least, the clearest pictures she could manage—to see if he could match it back to anything he found in the database. Tim’s normal approach would be to start with the most recent disappearances and work his way backwards.

“Got to say,” Archie noted as she drove the car back to the station. “I’m going to be glad to see the back of 2024.”

“Can’t have been that bad,” Liv suggested, remembering the previous year when Archie had been taken hostage alongside several other coppers.

“We had a kill spree sponsor this year, we had DS Harding losing her husband and then going off to Derby,” he noted, his voice growing with each event, “and we had Katie bloody Gibson leaking everything to the press. I’d like to say 2025 is going to be an easier year, but I know I’d just end up jinxing it.”

It’d been a while before Liv had thought of the journalist. She’d been in court for the charges she’d faced and based on everything she’d done, and the damage done with the information she’d been entrusted with, the undercover journalist had been given a suspended sentence of four years. While Liv was pleased that she’d managed to avoid a prison sentence, it still felt like a hollow victory. Her future as a journalist was uncertain, and she’d never do any police work ever again. Which was a shame, because when she wasn’t thinking about her next scoop, she had a natural aptitude for the job.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a call from DS Harris. “Liv, you might want to get yourself back to the station as soon as possible. I think I’ve found a match for our John Doe. Name and everything.”

5

Liv rushed back to the station as fast as possible. Even though there were plenty of Christmas reminders around her—decorations, cards, a donation box—it’d be a while before it felt like anything more than another day on the job.

She made her way up to the main CID office, followed closely by Archie, where DS Tim Harris was sat at his desk looking particularly triumphant.

He pulled up on the computer a photo which showed a man who could probably pass for the man she’d just seen on the table… as long as Liv imagined him with a full face. At the very least, the picture on the screen did a very good job of filling in the blanks.

“His name was Lucas Rawlings,” Tim announced with relish. He was glad to have the role of alleviating the stress his colleagues had been experiencing over the past few hours. “He was forty-two years old at the time of his disappearance, which would have been two months ago.”

“How is it we’re only hearing about this now?” Archie asked incredulously. “It’s the sort of thing we’d be shouting from the rafters.”

“Well, maybe because he didn’t go missing in Newquay.” Tim added, pulling up some more information. “In fact, he didn’t spend as much time in Cornwall as you might think. He did a lot of travel, according to his ex-wife.”

“Ex-wife?” Liv asked, both pleased that there was a clear connection to the victim and feeling a sense of dread that they were going to have to break the news to her and her family that her ex-husband was dead just before Christmas.

“Yes, her name is Madison Spencer,” Tim continued. “She’s the one who reported him missing. According to her statements, the week he went missing, it was his turn to have the children. And apparently, though he was very laid back in all the other disputes like divorce and finances, providing for the kids and making sure he was a constant presence in their lives was one of the only things he took seriously. When he didn’t get in touch to arrange a meet-up point, she started to worry and started asking most of his colleagues if he’d been caught up in a meeting. After that, she started sounding the alarms. There was a check on his phone and credit cards, but a search came back with no activity.”

“Maybe that’s because he wasn’t in a position where he could use them,” Archie suggested ominously. “What else do we know about him?”

“Well, we haven’t been able to get a look at his finances yet,” Tim noted, “and we don’t know enough about his personal life to start chasing down friends. But there’s plenty on his work life. Apparently, he works as a freelance trainer for a company called CareCharge.”

“I’ve heard of them,” Liv noted suddenly. “Don’t they do training programs for people in the NHS and people looking to get into healthcare?”

“Yes, actually,” Tim said, pulling up the official website for CareCharge. “When people are looking to do a career in social care, they sign up to these courses. Apparently, Lucas Rawlings was a regular trainer, and quite a popular one too.” He pulled up a trainer page and revealed a picture of Lucas as well as a few likes and dislikes and no end of positive feedback. Liv read some of the comments out loud.

“’I was feeling in a huge rut when I came onto this course and was tempted to pack it all in, but Mr Rawlings reminded me that I still had something to give.’” She stepped back. “Quite a positive endorsement.”

“And yet someone decided to throttle him?” Archie asked, knowing something didn’t add up. “We don’t know if this was an accidental crime or whether it was premeditated, whether he found out something he shouldn’t have, or whether it had anything to do with his job.”

“Well, I think we can definitely rule out suicide,” Liv quipped darkly. “With those ligature compressions around his neck, he’d have a hard time doing that to himself.”

“According to his wife, everybody loved the guy. Apparently, he’d often come home from work and have all these personal stories that he’d memorised,” Tim noted, reading off the information.

“Employee of the Month status isn’t exactly a prime motive for murder,” Liv noted, briefly wondering whether this could have been a crime of passion. “I don’t suppose Madison Spencer was ever interviewed as a suspect?”

“Not to my knowledge,” Tim explained. “It wouldn’t make sense for her to be the killer considering that she was the one who raised the alarm in the first place.”

Tim’s suggestions had been spot on. Liv had been in touch with Devon CID who’d taken on the heavy burden of informing Ms Spencer that her husband had been found dead.

“Why Christmas?” Liv muttered, imagining the woman calling her children into the room to tell them with newfound certainty that Daddy wouldn’t be coming home.

“Maybe it’s better that they know,” Archie suggested, stumbling over his own words. “It’s better than torturing themselves with false hope.”

Somehow, I doubt that. “Did the guys over at Devon say anything else?” she asked, trying to press on and not think too hard on the family. The best thing she could do for them now was find the killer. “Was Ms Spencer ever considered a suspect?”

“She was at a party around the time of Mr Rawlings’ last sighting,” Archie noted, looking over the notes. “And nearly twenty witnesses. So, we can strike her off the list.”

“Considering that the guy moved around a lot, it feels like its more down to convenience that he finds himself in Newquay, or at least very close to it.” Archie noted. “He moved around a lot, so it’s unlikely to have been someone in his orbit.”

“I think we need to take this to his colleagues,” Liv suggested.

She looked up contact details for members of CareCharge, and within an hour, she had one of Mr Rawlings’ managers, Joanna Caplan, on the end of a Teams call.

“Ms Caplan?” Liv started. “My name is DI Austin. I’m not sure if you’ve been notified as yet, but one of your trainers, Lucas Rawlings has been found dead.”

“Yes, I heard,” she replied, looking appropriately morose. “Really sad to hear it. He was one of our best trainers. Even through we initially took him aboard on a freelance basis, he really gave everything to it. He chipped in with creating supportive materials and coaxing our less experienced staff.” The way she’s talking, Rawlings was basically Mother Theresa. “I don’t suppose you can tell me how he died?”

Liv thought it best not to mention the grislier details of Mr Rawlings’ passing. “We believe that Mr Rawlings was murdered, Ms Caplan.”

“Fucking hell,” she replied, breaking her professional stance. “I don’t know what to say. Can’t think why anyone would want him dead. Have you got any suspects yet?”

“Not as yet, no,” she responded, looking at the woman with slightly suspicious eyes. “At the moment, we’re trying to build a picture of who Lucas was when he died.”

“Well, I’m afraid I can only help you so much because while I had a lot of conversations with Lucas online, we only met five times in person for office parties,” she replied, and Liv couldn’t help but wonder if this was her way of trying to dodge an interrogation. “But there is somebody who did used to have regular contact with him—his co-trainer whenever he had a session down in Newquay. Her name is Penny Hatton.”

6

Liv tried to force the memory of the Lucas Rawlings case out of her head for the next few hours since those few hours were the biggest justification for her dropping DI Austin mode and acting as plain old Olivia.

She put the case to one side and focused on welcoming Dean’s mother Mariana into their home and making a good impression.

Liv had held to prepare an extravagant meal for their guest, sourcing no end of ingredients for Italian cuisine and probably spending more time in the kitchen than she was used to. “While I’m sure she will appreciate the effort,” Dean had said warmly before he left to pick her up, “she doesn’t expect you become the Italian equivalent of Delia Smith.”

Why couldn’t I just fall back into my usual method of just ordering a takeaway?

“I would ask if there’s anything I should remember to say,” she began as her eyes darted between a cookbook and the oven knobs, “but I think it would be a lot simpler if I just ask about the things I shouldn’t say.”

“She’s fairly open-minded,” Dean noted. “Not much really offends her. And don’t worry, she’s not going to interrogate you about giving her the grandchild she’s holding out for…” He eyed the Italian beverages Liv had prepared specifically for his mother. “Just as long as you don’t plan on pouring too much of that down her throat.” His face suddenly hardened. “There is one thing I would ask of you. Don’t mention anything about my dad.”

Liv nodded, figuring that’d still be a sore subject even after all this time.

“My mum put a lot of effort into pulling her life back together. She’s got a good career, a good circle of friends, and she’s at a good place in life. She doesn’t need reminding of all the shit she had to go through to get there,” Dean pleaded, and Liv could see he was reliving all the times that his dad had abused them and how he himself had acted in his mum’s defence.

“As far as she’s concerned, we’ll be looking to the future,” Liv assured him, and with a gentle smile, he left the house, leaving Liv alone to prepare the rest of the dinner.

Suddenly, her phone started going off, and she could see it was a video call. Normally, she would have let it go to voicemail and just ignored it, but then she saw the caller ID and momentarily abandoned the dinner.

“Hi, there, stranger!” Nikki Harding called out from the phone. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Nope, not at all,” Liv replied, though not before doing a quick check over the dials to make sure she wasn’t going to burn anything. “You’ve got me for about thirty minutes. I’ve got Dean’s mum coming to stay with us over the Christmas period.”

“Oh, meeting the in-laws, that’ll be a treat,” Nikki replied. “So, what’s the occasion?”

“Well, we’re going to be talking wedding plans,” Liv replied, holding up the engagement ring on her finger. She made a point of taking it off whenever she was going into the office, but any time outside and she wore it like a badge of honour.

“Took long enough,” Nikki exclaimed, punching the air with glee. “You set a date yet?”

“No, we haven’t,” she replied feeling a little guilty as she said the next bit. “We haven’t even told anyone down at the station.”

“Come on, they’re all going to want to celebrate with you,” Nikki exclaimed, turning away from the camera as her daughter Francesca wandered into the frame holding a book.

“Mummy, will you read to me?” she asked, holding up the book.

“In a few minutes, sweetie,” Nikki offered, stroking the little girl’s hair. “Mummy’s just having a chat with Auntie Liv. You want to say hi?”

“Hi, Auntie Liv!” Francesca waved from Nikki’s lap.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Liv replied, smiling sweetly. She remembered when Nikki had left Newquay under a cloud, but she seemed a lot more relaxed… almost contented. “How are you both settling in?”

“Well, the house they’ve set us up in is nice enough,” Nikki noted, looking around the room. “I mean, I was worried that they were going to violate my human rights and set me up in some sh…” She was about to continue before remembering that her five-year-old daughter was perched on her lap. “But it’s actually not a bad place.”

“You getting on all right with your new team?” Liv asked, remembering how Nikki’s blunt personality had clashed with the group.

“They’re all right,” Nikki muttered humorously. “I haven’t driven my DI to insanity… yet. But give me time. Anyway, I’m hoping to be in Newquay for a few days over Christmas.”

“Really?” Liv asked, happy to have her friend back.

“Yeah, it’s only a fleeting visit, but Francesca wants to see one of her old friends from nursery, and it wouldn’t hurt to pop in and have a drink,” the sergeant added warmly.

“We’ll make it happen,” Liv promised her before hanging up the call, knowing she needed to have dinner ready before Dean returned with his mother.

Thirty minutes later, the door opened, and Dean came through it alongside Mariana.

There was a graceful elegance to her. She had a mane of raven-black hair and wore a cream-coloured blouse over a pair of warm trousers and winter boots picked out for the elements. “I’m fine, Deangelo,” she muttered in a faint Italian accent. “I’m not an invalid… yet. Give it a decade or two, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to wait on me hand and foot, I’ll make sure of that.”

She turned and looked at Liv. They’d spoken a few times over video calls, but this was the first time they’d met face-to-face. Finally, Mariana moved forward and embraced Olivia in a tight hug, kissing her on the cheek. “It’s a great pleasure to finally meet the woman who has captured my son’s heart.”

“Thank you very much for coming to stay with us, Mrs Lawrence,” Olivia replied, feeling nervousness spilling over inside her. It’d been a long time since she had to make a good impression on anyone in her life and was terrified of giving Mariana the wrong idea.

But she needn’t have worried. She found that Dean’s mother had a dry sense of humour that Liv appreciated, and she was happy to talk about a lot of her experiences as a nurse and some of the horror stories she’d had to endure. But even as she complained about the extended hours, the belligerent managers, and the junior staff that needed constant handholding, Liv got the impression that she was content with life. Whatever trauma might have held her back once before definitely wasn’t doing so now.

“You’ll have to show me some of your old haunts, Olivia,” Mariana noted as she downed the Bellini drink that Liv had previously prepared for her. “From the way Deangelo describes it, I’d have thought you were living in a nest of vipers.”

“Newquay is still quite scenic,” Liv noted, even though she was hard-pressed to think of a place in the area that hadn’t seen a dead body turn up.

“Well, it’s nice to know you’ve made a good home for Deangelo,” she stated, looking across the kitchen table at her son. “You’ve definitely been a good influence for him. Does he still part his hair to look pensive? He did that all the time as a boy.”

“Please,” Dean begged, his face twisting into a grimace. “If anyone’s going to die, it’ll be me. Of embarrassment.”

Liv smiled. It was a good evening, and it was nice to see that her efforts had paid off.

Before they all settled for bed, Mariana took Liv’s hand and kissed it. “I’m so happy to have you as part of the family, Olivia.”

7

The next morning, Olivia and Archie set about tracking down Lucas Rawlings’ co-trainer Penny Hatton, his most regular contact when down in Newquay.

“According to the website, Penny Hatton works as a co-trainer on some of their healthcare courses like bridging and motivational interviewing,” Archie explained, reeling off a list of facts from the main site. “She’s also done training sessions in Devon and Cornwall.”

“How come she is based around the coastal area and Rawlings was pretty much sent out all over the UK?” Liv asked, feeling a strong power differential between the two.

“Because Rawlings was such a charismatic speaker, they often put him up in hotels and tried to make use of him as much as possible,” Archie noted. “Apparently, at the beginning of the year, CareCharge paid for hotel rooms for him in Coventry, Derby, and Wolverhampton all in one week.”

So, he was basically treated like royalty.

They were both taken aback by how young Penny Hatton was, having expected someone much older than her early twenties.

“They gave me my first job out of school,” Penny replied, sitting down on the chair. “I had a lot of people thinking that I was going to fail, but Lucas took a gamble on me.”

“So, you would say you had a good working relationship?” Archie asked, scribbling things down in his pocketbook.

“Very much so,” Penny replied, smiling as she looked back at supposedly fond memories. “He made work a very enjoyable environment. I was even looking at getting training opportunities outside of Newquay so that I could work alongside him.”

As she spoke, Liv noticed that she was fiddling with a silver locket dangling around her neck. It practically dazzled.

“That’s a really nice bit of jewellery you’ve got there,” Liv noted, unable to take her eyes off it. “Early Christmas present.”

“Oh, thank you,” Penny chirped, quickly tucking it inside her shirt and buttoning it up. “It was actually given to me by Lucas as a ‘well-done’ present.”

“He must have really appreciated your efforts,” Liv noted, figuring it probably wasn’t company policy to give out such personal gifts. “And been on a good salary.”

“Well, given how they all made a fuss over him, you’d have thought that he’d see all his co-workers as beneath him, but he really appreciated my efforts,” she continued.

“So, how would you describe Lucas in general?” Archie asked, wanting to apply a personality to the near-faceless body.

“He was very committed to his job and to his training. Lucas was always very pedantic about his timings, saying that he wanted certain slides done by a certain time. But if somebody in the session had a personal enquiry, like something to do with a family member, he’d halt the whole session just to go over to them and reassure them. He’d even give out his personal number so that they could call him outside of office hours if they needed to.”

Sounds like a really great guy, but for the fact that he was a bit of a nomad.

“When he was down in Newquay, did he have anywhere he could stay?” Liv asked, thinking of all the hotels around the area and wondering if he had to stay in any of them.

“Not sure, really,” she replied with a shrug. “I think he might have been put up in the Atlantic a few times.”

Liv nodded at this for all the good it might have done. Maybe I can get Clara to chase down those bookings. “Penny, I appreciate that this is a difficult topic, and it’s not my intent to put you through the wringer, losing a colleague like this. I know you thought a lot of him, but I’ve got to ask, can you think of anyone who might have wanted him dead?”

Penny went silent as she clearly considered the question. “I’m not sure, really. There were a few people in the healthcare sessions that because he wasn’t a nurse or a doctor himself, said he was more of a preacher than a professional. And there was the occasional disagreement from time to time with some of the audience members. But no one is going to want him dead over something like that.”

Liv figured as much, even though it didn’t get them any further to the case.

“So, what do you make of her?” Archie asked as they drove to their next destination.

“Two possibilities—either she genuinely doesn’t know about any reason for wanting Lucas Rawlings dead,” she suggested, “or maybe she knows more than she’s letting on.”

“I can’t help wondering if there’s more to their professional relationship,” Archie suggested. “I couldn’t help but notice when we were there, a man’s jacket was lying over the back of one of the chairs.”

“You’re sure it was a man’s jacket?” Liv asked, wondering when strait-laced, professional, suit-wearing Archie had ever been an expert on men’s fashion.

“It was several sizes too big for her,” Archie observed. “So, unless she’s thinking of growing into it, I don’t see whether that can be hers. More to the point, Penny’s got a place of her own in Newquay. I don’t see why they would bother selling out hundreds of pounds on an exorbitant hotel room when he could just as easily come to hers.”

“Maybe he just wanted his own space,” Liv suggested, though she couldn’t help feeling like Archie was onto something.

“If Nikki decided to pop by for a fleeting visit, would you make her book a hotel or let her stay around yours?” he asked pointedly, and her silence spoke volumes. “Exactly.”

At that point, Liv’s mobile started ringing. “Talk to me, Clara.”

“Liv, I’ve just spoken with the manager at the Atlantic Hotel,” she started in a tone that indicated she wasn’t happy with the end result, “and there have been no records of Lucas Rawlings checking into the hotel.”

“How far back did you check?” Liv asked, trying to avoid Archie clocking her with an ‘I told you so’ look.

“He went back by at least two years, and he said that they hadn’t had any record of him checking into the hotel,” she insisted, and Liv knew better than to question the administrator’s judgment. “So, either he checked into the hotel under a different name… or he never checked into the hotel full stop.”

“Which would indicate that Penny was lying,” Liv continued, wondering just how truthful the young woman had been.

“Do you want us to turn around and start a fresh interrogation?” Archie suggested, feeling a little validated. “Maybe even get her down the station?”

“We could, but we don’t have any alternative theories to present,” Liv continued. “As well as no evidence. We haven’t got means, motive, or opportunity, and I need those to take it further. As of right now, she seems to think that the sun shines out of his arse. The only real thing I’m suspicious about is the jewellery.”

“Yeah, I was thinking it was a bit out of the range for your typical Secret Santa,” he replied. “Whenever we’ve done office presents, most of us never go higher than a tenner.”

“Not just that,” Liv continued. “That’s high-end jewellery. Not the kind you’re likely to find behind your average counter. So two questions there: what kind of relationship did they have, and how the hell did he manage to afford it, even on his salary?”

8

They decided to start looking at some of the venues where Lucas Rawlings had hosted his talks, one of which was a community centre for disabled people.

Liv walked into the hub and saw families supporting children in wheelchairs and on crutches. None of the visitors looked remotely upset. If anything, they were contented, and Liv was heartened to see some of them mixing with each other.

A middle-aged woman with auburn hair cut short and an oversized jumper came into the waiting room. “Good afternoon, I’m Amanda. I run the Hidden Talent Centre.”

“I’m Detective Inspector Austin; this is Detective Sergeant Elmhurst,” she explained, pulling out her ID, taking the woman by surprise.

“Got to say, this is probably the first time we’ve ever had a copper in here,” she explained. “This isn’t the kind of place that invites police attention.”

“What kind of setup have you got here?” Liv asked, knowing she should be focused on the case, but she couldn’t help but be fascinated by the surroundings.

“We have a number of children coming here who have various long-standing conditions,” she explained, reeling them off on her fingers. “Autism, dyslexia, cerebral palsy—both physical and mental conditions.”

“Like disabilities?” Archie asked, prompting a dirty look from Amanda.

“We prefer the term conditions. It’s less discouraging for the kids,” she explained. “They’re dealing with a lot of uncertainty in their lives, and a lot of the time, the parents are left to singlehandedly deal with what everyone else sees as a problem child. So, this is a place where they can come and support one another. I think it gives them that little bit of reassurance knowing they aren’t alone.”

“That sounds like a lovely mission statement,” Liv noted, spying some faint mould spreading on some of the walls.

Amanda caught her glance. “Yes, we’ve been meaning to do something about that. We only get so much money pouring in, and what we do get goes towards a lot of the equipment we provide to the families and making sure the kids have a decent set-up.” She pointed to two small children in the corner reading from some storybooks, clearly donated. “But presumably you didn’t come here to ask about the upkeep.”

“No, of course not,” Liv said suddenly, remembering the reason for their visit. “We wanted to ask about a company that hosts some talks down here, CareCharge?”

“Oh, yes!” the manager chirped with recognition. “Yes, we often rent out one of our conference rooms whenever they have training to do. Normally, we have about twenty to thirty people attending. Been using us for about nine months. Always happy to have them… and being honest, it’s not as if we don’t need the money.”

“And how well did you know lead trainer, Lucas Rawlings?” she asked, wanting to get to the meat of the matter.

“Quite well,” she replied, opening a bottle of water. “He was very polite, actually took the time to speak to some of the kids here and reassure them and encourage them.”

That more or less fit with the profile they’d been building up of the man. “So you would say you were on good terms with him?”

“Very much so. Whenever he was presenting down in Newquay, he was always insistent on having it take place at this centre,” she explained, sounding grateful for the support. “You think that a guy like that would prefer training in some high-class office or fancy hotel, but he’s one of the very few people who gets big but doesn’t forget about the rest of us. He’s a rare breed.”

I’m getting a little tired of hearing how this guy is basically God’s gift. I catch bad guys all the time, and I don’t need anyone kissing my arse 24/7.

“I’m sorry, I realised I hadn’t asked you both what this was all about,” Amanda said apologetically. “Is there somewhere private you want to talk?” She led them both to a disused office space that looked more like a storage area.

“Actually, Lucas Rawlings is the reason we are down here,” she explained, gearing herself up. “I take it you haven’t heard anything from him?”

“No, we haven’t a booking from CareCharge in two months. I figured that it was because it was the run-up to Christmas and they weren’t as busy as they usually are,” she replied with a ‘what you going to do about it’ shrug.

“And you haven’t heard anything from Lucas Rawlings since his last training session here?” she asked sceptically.

“No reason why he would contact me himself,” she muttered. “Normally, the booking is done through their admin department, nothing to do with Rawlings. Why?”

“I’m sorry to tell you this, Amanda,” Liv began, feeling like she’d be repeating the phrase several times until she struck gold, “but a man matching Mr Rawlings’ description was found dead.”

“Sorry, what?” Amanda blurted, not sure what she’d just heard.

“He went missing a few months ago, and his body was only just discovered. We believe he was murdered,” Archie announced, watching the woman’s face contort. She covered her mouth with her hand.

“My God,” she muttered, reaching for one of the chairs and falling into it. “You’re sure it was him? It’s not a mistake?”

“All the evidence points to it being Mr Rawlings,” Liv noted sadly. “So now, we’re trying to work out if anyone might have had a reason to want him dead.”

“Well, I can’t see how that would happen,” Amanda replied, and Liv started to roll her eyes at yet another reminder of St. Lucas. “He had a few disagreements with some of audience members, because he’s a great presenter, but he often says it as it is. He doesn’t mince words, if you know what I mean. But for a lot of people, the truth hurts.”

“Do you think we could have a look at the register for some of the previous sessions?” Liv asked, at which point Amanda jumped from the hesitation. “It would help us to start putting down some names as possible suspects.”

“Believe me, I want to turn the list over to you,” Amanda began, and she sounded wretched as she spoke. “Mr Rawlings was a good bloke, but I can’t just give that information away. And it’s not even about him. These are healthcare professionals with a lot of money behind them. We’re a community centre barely keeping the walls from caving in. If they decide to take me to court, they’ll have the means to wipe the floor with me ten times over.”

Liv was frustrated by this block, though she could understand the woman’s reason. Maybe they could go to the lead organiser with a warrant and see about getting the information from there. She was still puzzled by the body’s rate of decay. Dr James had seemed convinced that it’d been an industrial freezer used to hide the body, but she couldn’t think of where to start. Maybe that was a task that Clara could commit herself to.

Suddenly, her phone rang. It was Tim. “Tell me you’ve got something, DC Harris,” she started, turning away from Amanda and Archie and retreating to a corner of the room.

“Yes, I’ve found a few things that might give us something to aim for,” Tim began over the phone. “I’ve looked through the police reports, and according to one of them, Rawlings’ ex-wife reported someone standing outside their house at odd hours over a few days.”

“You mean like a stalker?”

9

“Say that again,” Liv commanded as she tried to give Archie the signal to wrap things up with Amanda.

“Apparently, their son had called his mum in the middle of the night and told her that there was a man standing outside the house. She called the police, but Lucas was very reluctant for any further action to be taken,” Tim confirmed.

“Bear with me, Tim, I’ll call you back,” she instructed, hanging up the phone. “Thank you very much for your time, Amanda.” Even though the woman wasn’t able to give them anything they could use, she was still grateful for the work she was doing. “We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.”

Once they were outside, Olivia called her colleague back. “Sorry, Tim, I’m free now. Did anyone manage to get a description of this stalker?”

“No, it was too dark, and he was too far away for her to make anything out,” the sergeant explained. “Madison was really worried about her kids, but Lucas said it was no big deal and that he didn’t want police coming over to his house.”

“I’m sorry, did you say his house?” Liv asked, halting the car lest she get distracted.

“Yes, he didn’t want the police anywhere near his house,” Tim replied with relish.

Liv looked to Archie who shrugged. “I was under the impression that he didn’t have a permanent residence in Newquay.”

“Well, not that we knew of,” the DS continued. “But there was an interview with one of the sons, and he mentioned the house. As well as an address.”

“Can you send us the address?” the inspector requested, wondering if the house was still occupied. Is anyone possibly living in it?

“Oh, I can do better than that,” he responded. “I can send you a few pictures.”

She held the phone away from her ear to let Archie see, and a few seconds later, a set of photos came through. “Shitting hell,” Archie exclaimed.

The photos showed a majestic house, three floors high, looking like it’d been recently built in the last decade, a crisp smooth surface with no signs of decay. And as Liv flicked through the pictures, she could see a swimming pool with a tarp pulled over it.

“Are you sure you’ve sent us the right house, Tim?” Liv asked, thinking that her sergeant’s sloppiness was more likely than the idea that Lucas Rawlings lived in what could best be described as a small palace in what was probably the posh side of Newquay.

“I’m telling you, I’ve looked it up, and he was definitely living here in this area,” her colleague insisted. “Given that the man was a freelance healthcare trainer, I’m not sure how he was able to afford it on the money CareCharge were paying him.”

“I doubt they were paying him that well,” Archie remarked. “Otherwise, I feel like I’m in the wrong job. Which begs the question of how he got the money.”

“I think we need to secure a few warrants,” Liv suggested, knowing she was about to head back into the station cap in hand.

“I know this is meant to be the season of giving, DI Austin,” Superintendent Collins declared, gesturing to a few Christmas decorations hung in his office, “but you’re asking a lot. You’ve got a murder victim, and you want to dig through his money trail? Are you sure you’re looking in the right place?”

Is he asking me this because he doesn’t see a necessity, or is he just hoping I’ve got a good excuse on hand in case this comes back to bite me in the arse?

“With respect, sir,” she stated, standing to attention and figuring she was more likely to ensure his support if she was more formal. “He earned £300 per training session, and as far as we know, he did seven sessions a month for them. Which would mean he was bringing in just over two grand a month. Even on that money, there’s no way he could afford a place like that. He’d have to be making that sum at least fourteen times over. Now, to the best of our knowledge, he doesn’t have any other working gigs on the side. So, if the training is his only source of income…” She trailed off, hoping Collins would get the picture.

“So, assuming there’s something suspicious about his income,” Collins continued slowly, “it raises the distinct possibility that this could have been a financially motivated crime. That somebody might have murdered him over money.” He sighed in that tone that indicated he saw the inspector’s point but hoped it wouldn’t bring him too much trouble.

“I need access to his financial records and everything that went in and out of his bank account,” she insisted. “And I’m also going to need to get a look into the house. The man lived there, and we need to get a sense of the life he was leading before he vanished.”

“Point taken,” Collins replied, nodding his head. “I’ll look at getting a warrant sorted for the finances. Clara can help Tim on those. You take DS Elmhurst and some uniformed officers with you and see what you can find out. Maybe talk with the neighbours to see if they saw anything suspicious, especially if there was a possible stalker.”

Liv and Archie looked through the house, accompanied by PCs Andrew Shaw and Diana Hershel. Andrew whistled as he looked around the home. “Someone was living the high life,” he remarked as he saw a stocked minibar and a recycling bin that was overflowing, “and was clearly quite the party animal.”

“I spoke with some of the neighbours,” Diana explained, reading off her notebook. “Apparently, he had a few parties around there, but they were literally the only time anyone had any presence in the street. Every other time, Mr Rawlings apparently kept to himself.”

“Almost like he was trying not to draw too much attention,” Liv suggested.

“Well, normally if you want to keep a low profile, buying the bastard big house probably isn’t the smartest move,” Andrew suggested as he moved out onto the balcony. It was the only part of the house that looked incomplete, with safeguards and unused appliances lying around. “Looks like someone was planning a bit of home renovation.”

At this, Liv rushed over and saw the items that had been gathered—tool chest, shower heads, cement bags, piping, and plumbing. He must have bankrupted himself getting all this.

“Looks like he was trying to pursue an Instagram lifestyle,” Andrew commented as he looked down at the equipment. “He must have been to at least four. I actually know the hardware store he would have got some of these from.”

“Don’t suppose you can point me in the right direction?” Liv asked dubiously.

Nearly two hours later, they were sat in the office of one of the managers and two of the salesclerks at the hardware store Andrew had directed them to. Liv slid the manager a picture of Lucas Rawlings across the desk. “Do you recognise this man?”

“Yeah, I know him. He came into the store three months ago. He was buying all these appliances for some big home improvement job. Actually needed some help carting it out.”

“How did he pay for it?” Archie chimed in. “Did he max out on credit cards?”

“Actually, he paid with an expense card,” the manager explained, to the detectives’ surprise. “The staff thought it was a bit weird because it didn’t sound like the kind of name you hear on an expense card.”

“What kind of card was it?” Liv asked, pretty sure she knew where this was going.

The manager looked through the computer and identified the necessary purchase. “It was a CareCharge expense card.”

10

Joanna Caplan was looking put out as the two detectives walked into CareCharge’s main offices. “Do you think we can make this quick?” she pleaded impatiently, all signs of courtesy exhausted. “I’m supposed to be winding down for Christmas.”

“Well, I’m sorry, Ms Caplan,” Liv replied, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. She would rather be bonding with Dean’s mum than chasing down misplaced money, and it’d taken them a while to drive all the way to CareCharge’s main training facility. “But we’ve been looking even further into Lucas Rawlings’ background and the lifestyle he led.”

“As long as my trainers turn up on time and give their all to the job, it doesn’t really bother me what they get up to outside working hours,” Joanna retorted, which felt like a roundabout way of saying ‘not my problem.’ Well, if these purchases don’t add up, then it’s definitely going to be your problem. But once again, Liv reigned herself in.

“Well, it might be relevant to you,” she explained, conscious of the smoking gun in her pocket. “Were you aware of the property that Mr Rawlings owned?” She took out a photo of the grand house and slid it across the table. “It’s estimated at 1.3 million pounds in value.”

Joanna’s eyes widened at the massive sum. “You’re joking?”

“No, we’re being quite serious,” Archie replied, crossing his arms. “Which begs the question of how he came by that money. From what we found, he wasn’t offering his services elsewhere. So, unless you were giving him under-the-table bonuses…”

“Of course not!” she fired back, slamming her fist on the table. “And I want to know where you get off on slinging these wild accusations about! We do a huge service for the healthcare profession. Most of our trainers are away from home for long periods of time, and that definitely contributed to the breakdown of Lucas’ marriage, but he always believed in the work we were doing and always put it first. So, I’m not going to sit here and have you drag his name through the mud.”

Liv was almost taken aback by the indignance, compared to the subdued questioning of Amanda. Clearly, this was a woman who felt that her position and charitable efforts rendered her invulnerable to criticism of any kind.

“And besides, the man’s dead,” Ms Caplan continued. “Shouldn’t you be focused on finding his killer? They’re the ones who’ve committed the most serious crime.”

“We are trying to explore possible motives for his murder, financial being one of them,” Archie answered evenly. “Now, we don’t know if there’s a connection with his finances, but we wouldn’t be doing our due diligence if we left that stone unturned.” The manager opened her mouth to speak. “And before you say anything else, we do have a warrant to look through his finances.”

“And what makes it particularly grating is that he was found to have purchased many of these items with a CareCharge expense card,” Liv continued, pulling out a sheet and showing the card number. Joanna took the paper and examined it closely, looking more and more sick with each passing second.

“I’m going to assume you don’t give out expense cards?” Liv suggested and from a nod of the head, she continued, “If he was stealing money from you and the company or acting fraudulently, surely you’d want to know about it.”

Joanna’s face was chalk white. Finally, she let the sheet of paper fall to the desk. “So… what do you need from me?”

“Did Lucas operate in any other capacity than as a trainer?” Liv asked.

“When he first came to us, he was originally an administrative assistant,” Joanna told them. “He was responsible for drafting a lot of paperwork, spreadsheets…” She gulped back the next bit. “...invoices.”

“So, he would know how to put together an invoice,” Liv replied knowingly, trying to think of the various resources the training company might hire out. “We need to get to the bottom of this. I think we need to get your auditor in here.”

There was a moment’s silence as the implication dawned on Joanna. “What, now? It’s the Christmas holidays. He’s probably going to be spending time with his family…”

“What do you expect us to do? Wait until the New Year?” Liv asked, her impatience getting to her. “This is a criminal matter that we want resolved now. We need to know how much money has gone missing. We know that at least 12k has been lifted, and that’s just for home improvement. Surely, you’d want to find out why this has happened, if only so you can find out where the money’s gone.”

It still surprises me that the only way these people will ever listen to reason is if you dangle a pound sign in front of them.

The auditor for CareCharge—William Myers—looked like he should have retired a decade earlier and clearly didn’t appreciate being dragged away from his festive activities to look over what he described as ‘a simple admin error’.

But his attitude quickly changed when he started going over all of the accounts. He had asked for some privacy, but Liv was conscious of any last-minute arse-covering.

“I don’t believe this,” he muttered, flipping through the logbooks. “There’s check warrants, purchase orders, receipts—all missing.”

“Didn’t any of you think to check up and validate?” Archie asked, feeling vindicated after they’d been damn near shooed out of the office.

“I would take his word for it,” Mr Myers fired back, clearly kicking himself and fretting over the state of his once-impending pension.

“So, based on what you’ve found so far, how much money would you say you cannot account for?” Liv asked, knowing that whatever the answer, it’d probably open the floodgates for a separate investigation into corporate fraud.

William took a deep breath as though it was his last. “£175,000, give or take,” he finally gasped out, and the detectives almost fell back in their chairs at the number.

“How the hell did you not catch this?” Archie demanded incredulously.

“I promise you, I had nothing to do with this,” the auditor insisted. “I have not had anything to do with this theft. My retirement is eight months away. Why would I want to jeopardise that? I am not going to be punished for someone else’s cock-up!”

“Mr Myers, with all due respect,” Liv began, thinking that the man needed to get his priorities right. “This isn’t simply a case of misplacing a tenner. We’re talking about a serious theft of taxpayer money. And that’s just the number you’ve found so far. I’m pretty sure that there are other non-existent receipts that are probably lying in a shredder somewhere.”

“You make Lucas sound like some criminal mastermind,” Joanna said from the far side of the office. It was clear she was hoping her presence would allow her some control of the situation. “He was our colleague and our friend.”

“Your friend who managed to lift nearly two hundred grand from your company,” Liv insisted. “Now, I would really like to believe that Lucas was working alone in this, but I’m pretty sure he couldn’t carry this out by himself. He could have had help.”

“Well, don’t look at me!” Ms Caplan snapped indignantly. “If you want to point the finger at somebody, I suggest you look at his bit on the side, Penny Hatton.”

11

“Isn’t Penny a junior member of the team?” Liv asked, having wondered how this might come back to the young woman. “Given how far back some of these purchases go, I wouldn’t have thought she’d have even been with the company long enough to do all of this.”

“She may not have been the direct instigator, but I’ll bet she would have profited from it,” Joanna exclaimed, pacing herself and sitting down on one of the chairs. “I thought I was doing them both a favour by keeping quiet about it, but…” She sighed, leaving Liv wondering if it was purely for dramatic effect. “The pair of them were having an affair.”

“Well, that is quite shocking,” Liv muttered nonchalantly, having suspected that Penny hadn’t been completely honest about the state of her relationship with Lucas Rawlings.

“They started it shortly after they started working together,” Joanna explained, letting the information flow freely. “I didn’t think it was a problem. I thought that it would come across in the presentation that they had great chemistry. Eventually, it got to the point where whenever he was staying over in Newquay, she figured she’d offer him her sofa. I didn’t make any complaints because it was saving us some money in hotel bookings. But soon, the signs were very apparent whenever we were having team meetings. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen an office romance unfolding before your very eyes.”

Liv kept quiet as she thought about walking in on Superintendent Collins’ unsubtle dalliances with DS Nikki Harding.

“And Lucas wasn’t exactly known for being discreet,” she told them in a tone that indicated she was more frustrated with the sloppiness than with the unprofessionalism. “Eventually, things got back to his wife, and that’s what led to her threatening to take him for everything in the divorce. Obviously, she didn’t get very far.”

“She didn’t mention anything like this when we were speaking to her,” Liv noted, remembering that Madison hadn’t struck her as a ‘woman scorned.’’

“Well, of course she wouldn’t,” Ms Caplan said dismissively. “She was a very proud woman. She didn’t really want to advertise that her husband was doing the dirty, because in her eyes, that would have meant that she was not enough for her husband. And she hated looking inferior. Was better to keep quiet about it.”

Liv realised that if that were the case and she was still sore from the humiliation, then that could give Madison a believable motive for killing Lucas. Which makes her a suspect…

But she wasn’t willing to overlook the embezzlement angle, which Joanna had clearly been counting on when Liv waited for her to continue.

“As far as we were concerned, we were happy to leave Lucas to it as long as it didn’t affect his performance,” she continued as the auditor rolled his eyes at having to listen to her dish dirt on her employee. “Then it got to the point where she turned up to work wearing all these fancy clothes and jewellery. She was putting the rest of us to shame.”

“And you didn’t suspect anything then?” Archie asked, feeling that this was a severe case of selective obliviousness. “You didn’t think she was buying clothes above her pay?”

“DS Elmhurst, I have better things to do with my time than take note of my employees’ wardrobes,” she spat snobbishly.

Like double-checking your invoices, maybe.

“You should talk with her, maybe she can clue you in,” Joanna suggested, looking for any excuse to get them out of the office.

“This isn’t over,” Liv stated as she looked over the paperwork. “We are going to revisit this.” And find out not just how much money went missing, but who else was involved.

“So, Lucas Rawlings wasn’t the knight in shining armour that we thought he was,” Archie noted as they drove to Penny Hatton’s address. “Nobody is ever genuine these days. It’s all a bloody facade.”

“I think we should bring Clara into looking over the money trail,” Liv suggested, always considering the administrator’s watchful eye. “Maybe she can work out just how they made that money disappear… assuming Penny can’t tell us.”

“We will have to consider how we play this,” Archie noted sternly. “I saw the dates on some of the purchases, and she wasn’t even there when that happened.”

“Well, let’s just see what she has to say for herself.” Liv decided.

They knocked on the door of the apartment, and Penny was clearly surprised to see them back so soon. “Did you have any luck finding the killer?” she asked brightly.

“Getting there,” Liv offered hopefully. “But we wanted to talk about the nature of your relationship with Lucas Rawlings… as well as why you didn’t tell us you were having an affair when we last spoke to you.”

Penny’s mouth dropped open in surprise, clearly not expecting this information to reach the detectives. She appeared to be going through all the possible excuses in her head before she finally settled on, “Didn’t think it was anyone’s business.”

“This is a murder investigation,” Liv retorted sharply. “Everything is relevant until we decide otherwise. We’ve also found evidence that suggests that Lucas was partaking in embezzling money from the company to fund a luxurious lifestyle.”

Penny backed away from the door in surprise, allowing the detectives to enter the residence. “That can’t be possible. Lucas would never—”

Liv was at the end of her tether and sick of hearing all about Lucas’ charitable side. “He’s lifted at least two hundred thousand that we know of, and we’re pretty sure that he won’t have done it alone. We know he had a close association with you. So, the question is whether you knew about any of this or you are complicit in helping him cover it up.”

Penny looked from Liv to Archie, trying for some kind of leniency and finding none. “I do have some of the receipts that he kept as expenses. Maybe that would help.”

“If you can get them for us, that’d be great,” the inspector replied.

The young woman disappeared into the back room of the flat while Liv and Archie re-entered the living room. “You not worried she might do a runner?” Archie whispered.

“We’re on the third floor,” Liv noted. “Unless she thinks she can escape with two broken legs…” Just once, it’d be nice to have a killer that agrees to come quietly.

They didn’t take any seats, instead listening out for any sounds of rustling and shifting from the room, but she still didn’t re-emerge. “I’m going to check on her,” Archie decided, walking into the room to see Penny hunched over in the corner…

…at which point, she suddenly turned around, a blade in her hands and lashed out at Archie. The blade barely nicked the sergeant, but he still had to move out of the way, giving the young woman the space she needed to run for the door…

…but Liv quickly tackled Penny to the ground, prompting a barrage of screaming and struggling. “Archie, you all right?” she called out, not taking her hands off the suspect.

Archie stumbled out of the bedroom and lifted up his shirt where there was the faintest of red on his underbelly. “She nicked me. Don’t worry, it’s barely a scratch.”

Even though Archie didn’t look too put out by what’d just happened, Liv could feel a volcano burning inside her, and she snarled into the woman’s ear, “Penny Hatton, I’m arresting you on suspicion of embezzlement, the murder of Lucas Rawlings, and assaulting a police officer. You do not have to say anything, however it may harm your defence if you fail to mention something under questioning that you later go on to rely on in court.”

12

Despite Archie’s protests that he was all right—at one point, he even good humouredly referred to it as his war wound—Olivia insisted on him going to the doctors to get it checked out while she pulled Tim Harris into an interrogation with Penny Hatton.

For a woman who’d been so animated during her arrest, it was disconcerting to see her so silent and subdued. She reminded Liv of a coiled viper waiting to strike. Her solicitor was a junior figure who clearly looked like he was out of his depth but felt obliged to push himself for his client in a losing battle.

“So, Ms Hatton, we’ve spent the last few hours trying to work out your role in all of this,” she began, feeling the drain of the day wearing down on her and wanting to go home to Dean and his mother, but she couldn’t, not before she wrapped this up.

“At first, we figured that the locket you were wearing looked quite personal for a gift from a colleague,” she continued, laying out some photos on the table. “During a search of your residence, we obtained a laptop computer that revealed multiple forged invoices that match some of the paperwork filed with CareCharge’s auditor.”

“No comment,” Penny replied, her arms folded, so Liv kept piling it on.

“For the benefit of the tape, I am showing the suspect Item Reference OA-7. OA-7 is a forged invoice made out to a company called Aid Appliances, about £21,000 on medical equipment, specifically, three radiology machines that are used for demonstrations?”

“No comment,” Penny continued, confirming to Liv that she was getting close.

“We are doing an inventory of all the items that CareCharge have on stock. And so far, we haven’t found anything matching the specific make, model, and serial number listed on this invoice,” she continued, looking at the forgery. She’d previously done courses on the telltale signs of fraud and forgery and could see all the red flags leaping out at her—poor grammar, a design that looked off, an overly-requestive tone in the personal message section. Once you know the signs, it’s fairly obvious. Liv knew that if she combined the serial number with an actual model, the sequencing would be off.

The solicitor looked over the invoice, trying to string together the right words. “There’s a thousand ways this could be explained,” he replied half-heartedly.

“I’d be happy with just one,” Liv retorted, thinking of how close her friend had come to being stabbed. No way are you getting away with this, you vicious little bitch.

“No comment,” Penny continued, but Liv could see the young woman’s mind was whirring, trying to think of a way forward.

“Ms Hatton, you assaulted my colleague,” Liv remarked pointedly with as much emotion as was permitted. “I think any jury or court would have a hard time looking at you as an innocent victim. You clearly felt like you needed to defend yourself and make a getaway. These are serious allegations, and it could be a long time before you’re out of prison. So unless you want to make it even harder for yourself, I suggest you start telling us what part you played in all of this before we find out ourselves and recommend the Crown Prosecution Sentence impose the harshest possible sentence. Just assaulting a police officer carries a maximum sentence of two years inside. And that’s not even getting into—”

“All right!” Penny snapped, closing her eyes as she spoke through gritted teeth. “If I start talking, will you just stop going on?”

“Gladly,” Liv replied, watching as Penny steadied herself for the point of no return.

“Okay, the truth is… I confess to the manslaughter of Lucas Rawlings.”

The solicitor looked like he wanted to get up and leave, there no longer being any point in him being in the room now that his client had served herself up on a platter.

“Start from the beginning,” DC Harris requested calmly.

“So, when it first started, it was during a celebration of a successful presentation,” Penny explained, settling back in her chair for what was clearly going to be a long story. “Lucas had had people coming up to him and offering him the opportunity to talk at all these different conferences, and he loved the attention. So, we went out to celebrate. Nowhere fancy, just somewhere to celebrate. And they do genuinely cover expenses for things like travel and food. He had a Margherita pizza and a lemonade, but he wasn’t paying any attention, and he used the wrong card by mistake. About fifteen to twenty quid, give or take. And he was mortified when it happened. He told himself that the next time he saw Joanna, he’d let her know about the error and reimburse the company himself out of his own pocket. But work kept on getting on top of him, so he kept on pushing it into the back of his head. By the time he had a moment to himself, an entire fortnight had gone by, and nobody had said anything. I mean, who in their right mind is going to kick off over twenty quid, honestly? And it always starts with the small things. Once you know you can get away with the little things, what’s to stop you from testing the waters?”

“And this was before you started working at CareCharge?” Liv asked, trying to keep track of the dates so she could be specific about what frauds to charge to Penny.

“Yes, shortly after I arrived, and we started seeing each other, he gave me all these wonderful clothes. He knew I was good with computers and wondered if I’d help him falsify some more invoices. And before you knew it, we were getting things like a television and…” She smiled at the thought of all the riches she’d had access to.

“That money was meant to be supporting healthcare professionals,” Tim noted, unable to keep his own disgust in check. “That’s like spitting in the NHS’ face.”

“You make it sound as though we were reducing everyone around us to a third-world country,” the suspect retorted indignantly. “It’s not like they were hard up. They didn’t need the money, and we just figured it was better off in our pockets.”

“So, what happened after that?” Liv asked, trying to get to the crux of Lucas’ murder.

“The problem was that Lucas kept on pushing his luck. You have to be careful with how much you take,” she explained, sounding much more rational and ruthlessly pragmatic than her age suggested. “You’ve got to take just enough to make sure you can live comfortably, but not so much that the spending becomes conspicuous. Got to think about the optics. You take a healthcare trainer like Lucas. He earns this much…” She indicated a small space between her thumb and forefinger. “...bugger all, and he spends this much…” She indicated a much larger space between her two palms. “That’s not going to make any sense unless he’s into something dodgy, and he kept thinking that he could buy all of these ings, and no one would be any the wiser.”

“And one night, he came round to my flat, not for anything romantic, mind you, just to let off a bit of steam. At that point, he was burning through money like you wouldn’t believe. So, I asked him point-blank, ‘What are you going to do if Joanna starts cottoning on?’ I mean you’ve both met the woman; she’s not stupid. She would have smelt a rat. And he replied, completely nonchalantly, ‘well, if need be, I’ve always got a high-class girlfriend I can pin it all on.’” She paused from her story to sigh. “I probably should have checked if he was joking or not, but we were both very drunk at that point. And I snapped. I thought he genuinely cared about me, enough to leave his wife for me. And yet he saw me as someone he could just as easily throw away. Like I never meant anything to him.”

“At that point, the red mist just boiled over, and before I knew it, the beer bottle was in my hand, and I smacked him around the head. I swear to you both, I didn’t mean to hit him that hard. But then he tried to strangle me.”

13

Liv was surprised, not having considered that Lucas Rawlings could be capable of such violence. Then again, considering the manner of his death…

“I honestly thought I was going to die, so I reached out for the nearest thing I could find to get him off—which was a power cord—and I wrapped it around his throat and pulled as tight as I could. And I kept on pulling because I thought that if he woke up, he might kill me.”

“So, you’re saying that this whole thing started as a domestic dispute that got out of hand?” Liv asked, shocked at the level of violence it had resulted in. “You do realise that you had a lawful responsibility to report that death?” Liv asked, saddened that the situation had spiralled out of control so much.

“I did think about calling the police,” she noted, sounding much more like someone in her early twenties. “But you guys must have seen Lucas. How the hell could I have proven self-defence? I know how the law works, and no one leaves with their life intact.”

Liv nodded her head, accepting the harshness of those circumstances.

“I couldn’t save Lucas, but I could at least try and save myself,” she stated. “I kept the body in my flat for a few days, but after a while, he started to stink, so I hired an industrial freezer and kept the body in there. I kept on extending payments on it and leasing it out until I knew I couldn’t keep it up forever. I had to get rid of the body. So I took him out to Cardinham Woods and buried him there, and I just figured life would go on.”

“But he was missing for nearly two months,” Tim noted, thinking of all the effort that had gone into finding Lucas. “Why did you wait so long before disposing of any evidence?”

“Because I’ve seen enough true-crime documentaries to know that rash actions in the first twenty-four hours are what do in most offenders,” Penny told them, trying to make herself sound more methodical than she actually was.

Liv had called a halt to the interview so that she and Tim could properly digest everything they’d heard. “Well, that was quite a story,” Tim remarked as he poured himself a cup of tea. “Do you really think it was manslaughter, or do you think she’s just saying that in the hope of getting off on a lighter sentence?”

“Hard to say, really,” Liv noted, taking a break from her usual coffee and sipping cold water, needing to start winding down for the day. “I’m still trying to work out whether this was a crime of passion or profit.”

“Sounds like a bit of both,” the younger detective replied, sipping his tea. “The woman has given us a full confession. It’s better than what we’re used to. Normally, we have to pry it out of them, but instead, Christmas has come early. Sorry, bad pun.”

Liv smiled. She could do with a laugh after everything that’d happened. “Well, we’ve got until tomorrow before we need to either charge her or let her go. I’m fully inclined to leave her to rot in that cell for as long as possible for what she did to Archie.”

“Please tell me she’s not fussing over me,” Archie declared as he walked down the corridor. His hand hovered just in front of his side where he’d been slashed. “I can assure you, it’s barely a scratch. It won’t even scar. Which is a shame. I could do with a war wound.”

“Nice to know you can take it in stride,” Tim noted, setting his tea down. “So, we need to decide what we’re doing for the Christmas do. I’ve already been—”

“Actually, Tim, really sorry, but I’m going to end up zoning out,” she noted with a pronounced yawn. “I’ve got somewhere I need to be.”

“You don’t have to keep apologising,” Mariana said as they walked through the park. “I’m very familiar with the workings of a police officer’s lifestyle. I know that Deangelo will always put me first when he needs to.”

“Well, either way, I promise to be more present,” Liv offered as they both had a cup of hot chocolate to keep them warm. “How long do you think you’ll be staying in Newquay?”

“Well, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about. I’d like to see about staying for a little bit longer, if it’s all right,” she suggested before adding, “as long as I’m not imposing…”

“No, of course, not,” Liv replied. “We’d be happy to have you. As long as it’s not part of some secret daughter-in-law test…”

“Don’t worry,” the older woman replied with a handwave. “I know you’re right for Deangelo. When he was living in Italy, I’m sure you know, things were… quite traumatic. They took a toll on him, to the point that he almost didn’t want to let himself be happy.”

Liv knew that the circumstances surrounding Dean’s parents was a taboo subject, and didn’t want to push it any more than Mariana was willing.

“It broke my heart when he left Italy,” she stated, sitting down on a bench. “When he left me. But I told myself it was the only way he could live a fulfilling life. I did want to reach out to him more often, and perhaps I should have. But because he’d worked so hard to leave everything behind, I didn’t want to remind him of the things he’d rather forget. I especially didn’t want him thinking of his father.”

Liv decided that perhaps she should broach this, if only for Dean’s sake. “When Dean’s spoken about the idea of starting a family, he’s always worried that he’s going to turn out like his father. Like there’s some faulty gene inside him that can’t be fixed.”

“Nonsense,” Mariana replied, refusing to entertain any notion. “Back then, I was worried about how my husband’s behaviour might influence him. Growing up in that household, it wouldn’t have been surprising. But he didn’t. And he hasn’t. Whatever chain of harm he’s terrified of perpetuating, I can assure you he’s already broken it.”

“Oh, he definitely has,” Liv replied, feeling herself swoon as she thought about the love of her life. Even though they’d been together for all this time, her heart still burned with a passion that failed to ebb away, the memory of their first kiss etched out in photographic detail. “When I met your son, I was in a bad place emotionally. I’d lost people… and I had got to the point where I thought I wasn’t going to be happy ever again. That I’d never find that deeper connection. But meeting Dean, I realised it was more that I wasn’t willing to take the risk of being happy. Until I met Dean. He’s got a strong sense of justice, and he’s helped me be a better person. I would be very proud to call myself his wife. A lot of that comes from you, I imagine. And I can assure you, Mariana, that even though you might have felt separate from him, you were never far from his heart.”

“That’s very kind of you to say,” the mother replied, smiling a little, “though you aren’t giving yourself due credit. You’ve been a wonderful influence on my son. I see the way he speaks, the way he moves. There’s a lightness to him, as though he has something to look forward to. My biggest regret is that I wasn’t there to see how you both blossomed together...”

“Is that why you want to stay a bit longer?” Liv asked, thinking of all the years she’d missed out on her younger brother Alex growing up due to his disappearance.

“Something like that,” Mariana nodded, looking away from Olivia slightly. “Life is short enough as it is. We all know that. It all goes so fast, and it could be cut short at any moment. And nobody knows that like a copper…”

Liv wanted to probe more about what she meant when Dean came up the pathway with Briggs. “What are you chatting about?”

“Nothing much,” Liv called back. “Your mum’s really into childhood embarrassment…”

14

The next morning, Liv headed into the office feeling rejuvenated. If she were lucky, she could close the case down and still have a lot of time left over for Christmas. She should’ve been feeling proud of herself. Not only had she found a murderer, but she’d also uncovered a web of fraud. She certainly felt like she was going to end the year on a high.

She walked into the office and had a look around at her team getting started for the day. She’d decided that when she was finished with this case, she was going to announce her and Dean’s engagement and give them something to celebrate.

She saw PC Andrew Shaw standing near one of the desks, clearly nervous about his CID exam. His current twitchiness was a far cry from the usual confident swagger.

“Would it be too early for me to start calling you DC Shaw?” Liv asked.

The young PC grimaced. “Why do I feel like that’s just going to jinx it?”

“You’re going to be fine,” Liv replied. She was looking forward to having him as part of the team. Back when she was still in her mourning period after arriving in Newquay, she’d always been able to rely on him to brighten her day.

She was about to ask him how Helen was getting on when Clara came into the office. “Sorry, Liv, but can I borrow you for a few minutes?”

She could tell Clara was in one of her deep discovery moments. “To be continued,” she assured Andrew before going to speak with Clara.

She followed the technician to her workstation where she had several monitors all alight. Liv often wondered how she could focus her attention on them all.

“Is Penny Hatton still in custody?” Clara asked, taking the detective aback.

“We’re gearing up to charge her and speak to the CPS,” the inspector replied, feeling like the end was nigh. “You can’t argue with a full confession.”

“Well, maybe I can,” Clara replied confidently, gesturing to a laptop on the desk. “I’ve been going over her personal computer. I believe that’s where you found the faked invoices.”

“Yes,” Liv replied, knowing those invoices would be key to securing a conviction.

“Now, before I get into that, I want to show you a few things I’ve found. Firstly, the dates on the invoices go hand in hand with some of the purchase orders you’ve identified,” the technician continued before holding up a sheet, revealing that she’d circled around many of the names. “Now, I’ve made up a list of companies that never had any supply orders fulfilled. I’ve made a log of all the dates when the orders were supposedly carried out, and I’ve managed to find a few overlaps. For example, here is an invoice pertaining to the purchase of several medical cameras for an estimated pricing of £4,740.”

“I’m not really up to speed on how much those cameras cost, so I’m just going to assume that’s the typical price,” Liv said, beckoning for Clara to continue.

“So, this purchase was made in October 2022,” Clara explained, holding up a separate document. “I had a deep dive through Mr Rawlings’ financial history, and around that time, he purchased several televisions and surround sound systems for his many bedrooms in that palace. All purchased in one sitting. And the price it came to?”

“£4,740,” Liv estimated knowingly. “This is brilliant, Clara.”

“Well, don’t be so quick to pat me on the back just yet,” she responded modestly. “I’ve spent a lot of time looking over Lucas’ financial records, and there’s a few more records I can’t quite get my head around. Things that throw everything up in the air.”

“Like what?” Liv asked, concerned, but deciding she’d rather hear it from her colleague and friend than wait for some slick lawyer to take it apart in court.

“Well, I’ve looked over the invoices, and it seems that there’s a few irregularities. Many of these payments are for one-off items, but there are some recurring payments, such as to a company called Awareness Literature. Now, I would have figured they do things like pamphlets and information booklets handed out at the sessions.”

“Wouldn’t have thought info pamphlets would really break the bank,” Liv muttered.

“You wouldn’t have thought so,” Clara agreed. “But I combined all of the payments, and you’re looking at nearly £700,000 over a four-year period.”

“Shitting hell!” Liv exclaimed. She knew that the total sum of embezzled money was going to be bigger than the original estimate, but not anything like that.

“Now, here’s where it gets even more confusing,” Clara continued. “Rawlings was smart in how he covered up the fraud, but he wasn’t that smart. He put all his ill-gotten gains into his own account, for God’s sake, so I would assume that’s where he put all his money. But there are some purchases on these invoices that I don’t have a reference for. So it looks like either there’s another account we don’t know about or the money went elsewhere?”

“Is it possible they could have gone to Penny Hatton’s account?” Liv asked, knowing that she’d already benefited from the fraud.

“You’d think so, but I’ve already checked her accounts, and there are a few items in there, but I can’t see that totalling anything more that £45,000, which once might have been a big number, but given the scale of the fraud, it’s practically chickenfeed,” Clara explained. “And that brings me to the reason I called you in.”

“Now, I’ve had a look over Penny’s past, to see if she had any prior history with fraud or embezzlement, anything involving money. But no offences whatsoever. I did think to myself, ‘Where would she pick up the skills to pull this off’? So, I went through her qualifications and found that she had to retake her Maths GCSE.”

“Right,” Liv said slowly. “So, maths was a hard thing to get her head around. Nothing major. I still trip over myself when it comes to algebra.”

“But given that this is mainly a numbers game,” Clara continued, “don’t you think she’d need a fair bit of know-how when it came to embezzlement?”

Now the wheels were turning. The case that’d only that morning seemed watertight now had more holes than a colander. “What about the invoices found on her computer?”

“So, those invoices were meant to be showing purchases going back at least two years, right?” Clara asked, and then, without waiting for a response, she continued. “But I had a look at the files’ date stamps… and they were only created about two days ago.”

Liv blinked at this contradiction that became more glaring with each passing second. “Two days ago? But the invoice dates...”

“I’m not saying that those invoices aren’t referencing purchases. I’m saying they are. I’m also saying that the files themselves only originated a few days ago. And before you ask, yes, I checked to see if they’d been downloaded from another computer. Obviously, they won’t have been downloaded from anywhere. Those files have been built from the ground up.”

Liv wasn’t sure what to make of this. All she knew was that she needed to get Penny Hatton back in the interview room. “Thanks for this, Clara,” she added, amazed once again at her friend’s methodical prowess, even if it did once again blow the case wide open.

Before she could speak any further, her phone started going off. She didn’t recognise the number but figured she might as well answer it. “DI Austin?”

“Olivia?” the voice came through on the other end, and it was someone that Liv figured she wouldn’t hear from ever again.

“We need to talk. There’s a place I can meet you. Thirty minutes sound all right?”

“Sure,” Liv replied, wondering what she was letting herself in for.

15

As soon as she stepped into the cafe, Liv wondered if she’d made a mistake.

They could have gone to a Costa or a Starbucks, but this was a more inconspicuous joint that was out of the way from the main town area, and they were guaranteed not to be interrupted. She considered ordering a coffee, but looking at the layer of grease on the table made her wonder if she could drink anything without gagging. This’d better be worth it.

Ten minutes later, just as she was considering getting up and leaving, the visitor walked through the door, taking the detective by surprise.

Katie Gibson was wrapped in layers, whether for the warmth or to conceal herself from everyone else was hard to judge. She looked around the place with distaste before her eyes settled on Liv. The last time they’d seen each other, Katie was in court for her work as an undercover journalist. She’d been lucky to get off with a suspended sentence, and Liv had assumed that she’d never hear from the false police officer again.

“So, which human rights of mine are you looking to violate?” the inspector asked, gesturing around at the less-than-clean environment.

“I figured it was one of the only places we could meet without anyone interrupting us,” the former journalist replied, notably not setting down her handbag, as though she didn’t want it contaminated by any of the surrounding surfaces. “I’m guessing none of your colleagues know we’re having this talk?”

“No, they don’t,” Liv replied, not liking the idea of deceiving her friends but not wanting them to think she was consorting with the enemy. “Did you need something?”

“You’re looking into the Lucas Rawlings’ case, aren’t you?” Katie asked.

“How do you know about that?” the inspector fired, suddenly worried that the journalist had returned to her old ways.

“I still have a few friends on the paper who are happy to look out for me,” she replied, grateful that she still had some connection to the job she’d loved. “You’re looking into the Lucas Rawlings murder, am I right?” she repeated. She paused, Liv’s silence speaking volumes. “And don’t worry, I don’t expect you to give me any answers. I remember what happened last time.”

“What is it to you?” Liv asked, conscious of giving too much away with her reaction.

“I’ve been doing a bit of digging, and I have some information that might be useful to you,” she offered, about to lower her crossed hands onto the table then thinking better of it.

“What’s the catch?” the inspector asked, a bit more harshly than she wanted. She couldn’t believe that this woman who’d once nearly sold out the entire service would suddenly be moved to altruism. “What’s in this for you? You realise the risk you’re taking just by talking—”

“Who says I’m looking to get anything?” Katie asked, daring to look a little hurt by the implication. “I know what I did. I took my sentencing on the chin. And for what it’s worth, I appreciate you testifying in my favour.”

Liv nodded slowly, remembering how many members of the police force had gone into the hearing with guns blazing, but Liv had provided a more balanced testimonial, outlining out how the woman had accompanied her in the apprehending of a dangerous killer and how her heroic efforts had helped save Liv’s sister Mills and her baby. That had at least put her in good stead with the jury and may have helped her swerve a custodial sentence.

“Think of this as partly me saying thank you for having my back especially when I didn’t deserve it,” Katie replied, looking shamefaced. “The other part is me trying to make up for how things when down a few months back and ‘maybe’ end the year on a positive.”

Liv nodded along, still not sure if she could trust the woman, but the possibility of a break in the case was too big an opportunity to pass up. “So, what have you got?”

“Now, I’ve been doing a bit of digging into the man’s whereabouts on the day he went missing,” Katie explained, and from the lack of printouts on her, Liv figured she’d have to commit all of this to memory. “And he actually had a presentation that day with a few people in attendance. But afterwards, it got irate. One of the guys who attended had a bit of a blow-up with Rawlings, said he’d made all these promises about helping him sort out these holiday clubs for kids, but Rawlings had ‘taken him for a mug.’ His words, not mine.”

“How did your guy know about this?” Liv asked, feeling like the circumstances were more than coincidental.

“Apparently, my mate was looking at doing a puff piece on local communities. Rawlings had offered to let him sit in on a session if he gave him a good write-up,” Katie responded. “I get the feeling that the man loves his praise a little too much.”

“So, why isn’t he publishing his story?” Liv asked, knowing that information in the hands of a journalist never stayed private.

“Because Rawlings confronted him after the session and told him to cancel any story and paid him off to keep his mouth shut,” the former journalist responded. “He thinks that Rawlings turning up dead is somehow connected to what happened down at that centre. But obviously he can’t do anything with the information, so he figured I might be able to make use of it. And way I see it, it’s probably better in your hands than in anyone else’s.”

“You realise I won’t be able to credit you publicly with any find we make,” Liv stated, wanting to emphasise that Katie would not be getting anything out of this.

“I am aware. I have had plenty of time to mull over what I’m going to do,” she stated. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I don’t know how far you’ve got with the investigation, and it’s probably a case of ignorance is bliss, but do you think you will be able to use anything I’m giving you?”

Her tone was clearly framed less to see what she stood to gain and more to know she was making a positive impact. Funny how some people develop integrity after faking it enough times. “I’ll see if we can apply it.”

“There’s something else,” the former police officer continued, this time pulling out a notepad. “The guy mentioned a company that they’d tried to contact, Awareness Literature?”

Liv’s ears pricked up, having heard Clara mention the name only an hour ago.

“Apparently, that’s a company that has been billed consistently for the last few years. Quite high earners. My man managed to get a few contact details, but the number is disconnected, and all the emails were bounced back from the address. It’s registered to somebody called Callum Dillon. There’s an address in Cornwall for the company.”

Liv gulped. She felt a little bit resentful that this woman had been able to uncover a few things that even Clara, with all her diligence, had struggled with.

“One more thing,” Katie continued, as though she were the gift that kept on giving. “I found out that they previously had a trainer working for them, a Stephen Healy. Now, he left the company a few years ago on grounds of ill health. Apparently, he had cancer and had to take time out, but this guy says that he has been up and fit as a fiddle ever since.”

“So, he would have retired under false pretences?” Liv asked, this looking increasingly suspicious to her. Was he involved in sketchy shit like Rawlings?

“I’m going to have to stop you there,” she stated, holding up her hand. “At this rate, you’ll going to solve the case before I do. This is damn good work.”

Katie smiled at this, though there was a sadness in her face. There was a time when she could have used these connections to produce positive results, but that time was now lost to her. “I just hope something good comes of this.”

“Thank you, Katie,” Liv said sincerely, moved by the woman’s diligence.

16

Liv left the meeting feeling very re-energised from everything that’d happened. She’d developed a newfound respect for Katie. She’d acted without any thought of reward, simply driven by endless remorse. But she hoped that she could put the information to good use.

The hardest part wasn’t finding out how to apply everything she’d learned, it was having to tell her partner that she’d gone off to try and speak with a woman who was in the eyes of the police, Public Enemy Number One. For Katie’s sake, she hoped that the young woman kept her distance for the time being, especially with Nikki coming down soon to pay a fleeting visit. She knew Nikki was not the kind of person to forgive and forget, especially considering everything she’d lost because of Katie. But that was a problem for another day.

She arrived back at the station to see Archie coming out to greet her. “You fancy telling me where you spent your clandestine lunch?”

“I will tell you, but you have to promise me you’re not going to get pissed off or overreact,” Liv pleaded, holding her hands together, as though in prayer.

“When have I ever overreacted?” Archie asked, before folding his arms and waiting.

“I’ve been to see Katie Gibson,” she began. Though Archie didn’t respond vocally, his eyes widened, and she could see he was gagging to say something. “Go on, let it out.”

“Have you lost your…” he started, his voice raised before he quickly lowered it and repeated, “Have you lost your fucking mind!? After everything that woman did to the service, everything she put us through, you’re off having fancy lunches with her?”

“If you’d seen the place we met, you definitely wouldn’t be throwing the word ‘fancy’ around,” she chortled, trying to use humour to lighten the mood, but clearly, it fell flat.

“She was damn lucky to get off with a slapped wrist,” he insisted, smacking the wall in frustration. “And there are a few of us who think it should have been a lot harsher.”

“For the record, she came to me in good faith,” she insisted, trying to keep him from getting more and more irate lest anyone else hear them.

“Nikki had to leave Newquay because of her,” Archie continued, and Liv could have stopped him, but felt he needed to get it all out of his system.

“A few things, Archie,” she noted, reeling them off on her fingers. “First: yes, she fucked Nikki about, but Nikki made the choice to leave Newquay. Second: I am not oblivious to the damage she did to us all, considering I bore the brunt of some of it. But she also helped save my sister and her baby. My niece is at home safe and sound because of her. And that’s something I can’t ever forget. And third: I don’t expect you to trust her judgment, but I would hope that you would trust mine?”

They’d worked together on enough cases to know that her methods were unorthodox, but the golden rule had been that they always had each other’s backs. And Archie clearly wasn’t about to break that rule, no matter how angry he was.

“Probably best not to mention any of this to Collins,” he suggested finally.

“As far as I’m concerned, the secret should die with us,” she stated and then started with talking to Archie about what the meeting, telling him about all the discrepancies she’d uncovered and the information provided by Gibson.

“Well, someone’s been busy,” he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes. “And you’re absolutely sure that this isn’t going to be clickbait fodder by tonight?”

“Archie, this is information that would make for a great story,” she acknowledged, putting herself in a journalist’s mentality and feeling dirty as a result. “She might not be able to do much with it herself, but she could’ve sold it on to any agency for a pretty penny—which she probably needs—but instead she gave it to us. That’s got to count for something.”

Archie sighed, feeling like he wasn’t going to get anywhere arguing. “Well, I think that we need to speak to Penny Hatton again and clarify a few details. After what she did to you, normally, I’d be content to lock her up and throw away the key. But I want to see this case solved properly, and something isn’t adding up.”

“I don’t understand why we have to keep up this song and dance,” Penny said as she was once again sat opposite the two detectives in the interrogation room. “I’ve told you everything I know. I’ve confessed to killing Lucas. Hell, I almost gutted you.” She glared at Archie, who flinched at the reminder. “What more do you want?”

“We appreciate your… honesty,” Liv began, using the last word as loosely as possible, “but there are a few more details that we need to clarify with you before we can move forward with any charges.”

“What kind of questions?” she asked, looking a little nervous.

“My team had a look at the files on your computer—the fake invoices, the falsified bank statements,” she continued, pulling out the fruits of Clara’s labour. “And apparently, these documents were only created on your computer about two days before your arrest. From what we’ve seen from your background, you don’t necessarily have the know-how for widescale fraud.” The suspect looked indignant at the idea of being a ‘bad criminal’.

“Now, I have a few theories as to what is happening here,” Liv continued, playing on the young woman’s knowledge, or lack of it. “But I want to hear it through. You’ve made out that you’re happy to go to prison for all these charges, but have you honestly thought it through? I mean really chewed it down to the bone? Because you’ll be losing a huge chunk of your life if you carry on making out that you’re some kind of mastermind. Everyone thinks they can survive prison… until they’re actually in prison.”

The woman’s face went white, and she was struck with fresh turmoil. She was in a position where the only choices she had were bad ones.

“What’s going to happen to me if I tell the truth?” she asked in a low voice.

“That depends on how much you tell us,” Archie offered. “If it leads to movement in the case, then it can reflect well on you, and maybe we can allow for some leniency.”

Penny nodded at this. “Okay... The truth is… I was told to confess to Lucas’ death.”

“Right…” Liv said slowly, not wanting to dare interrupt her but unable to contain her scepticism.

“I did benefit from the fraud,” Penny replied, looking down at the table, as though ashamed for her period of weakness. “I didn’t know how they did it, but I knew enough to say something about it. But when Lucas started buying me all these presents, I couldn’t say no.”

Why do so many crimes have to come down to bloody materialism?

“I did get involved with Lucas,” she continued. “And we did have a good time. But the reason was because I was told to keep an eye on him. Everyone knew that he loved a good spending spree and figured if I was whispering in his ear, then maybe he’d be discreet.”

“Who asked you to do this?” Liv demanded.

But the young woman continued. “When he went missing, there was a lot of worry about him being found. And when the body was discovered, everybody knew that the police would be looking at him and his financial history. It was all going to come out… so they decided they needed a fall guy. They told me that if I confessed to both his murder and his role in the fraud, then I’d be set up for life. So, I had to put together the documents based on some printouts I’d received and then do away with the printouts to avoid any signs of a digital trail for when you guys started looking.”

“And who put you up to it?” Liv asked knowingly.

“Joanna Caplan.”

17

“Well, this is an interesting development,” Archie noted once they were out of the interview room. “It all makes sense now. When we were in there, she wasn’t trying to defend Lucas’ integrity. Joanna was pissing herself that we’d be looking too closely at her.”

“It's amazing how so many people will resort to the oldest trick in the book,” Liv commented wryly. “Blame it on the dead guy. He dies, and we’re stuck with Penny.”

“Makes you wonder what they could’ve offered her that was worth spending the bulk of her life in prison,” Archie suggested, feeling a pang of sympathy despite her earlier attack.

“So, if Joanna Caplan is managing CareCharge, it stands to reason she’d be one of the key instigators,” Liv suggested, feeling she should have picked up on that sooner.

“Assuming she’s the one who killed Rawlings, what’s her motive?” she asked. “He was getting a bit too over the top with his spending and she decided to kill him?”

“It’s possible, though I can’t help thinking murder would be a little extreme,” Archie suggested. “And think back to that grave. You imagine how much effort it would’ve taken for her to dig that, especially with the ground rock solid? You’d have to have an iron will to do that, and somehow, she doesn’t strike me as the type to get her hands dirty.”

“Well, either way, I think we need to speak with her and get her side of the story,” Liv suggested as they made their way to the car. “We’re going to need a warrant to search her home, as well as actual evidence. So far, we haven’t seen a paper trail. And she’s probably too smart to leave one. The only word we have for her involvement is Penny’s.”

They arrived at the house, half-expecting to see a high-class estate that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Downton Abbey. But instead, it was a modest two-floor house that easily blended in with the rest of the street.

“Maybe she had a point about Lucas being conspicuous with his spending,” Archie suggested as they exited the vehicle and knocked on the door.

“Ms Caplan, it’s the police!” she shouted, standing back. When there was no answer, she instructed Archie, “Go and check around the back, see if we need to cut off an exit.”

Archie nodded and looked around the back of the house while Liv peered in through the window for any sign of movement. But the house was silent, with no one to be seen.

“Please God, tell me she hasn’t done a runner,” Archie panted as he ran back round to the front of the house. Liv could only grunt in frustration. We could have had her!

“Are you absolutely sure she’s done a runner?” Superintendent Collins asked, looking put out by the latest development as Liv and Archie stood before him in his office.

“It looks like that, sir,” Liv explained, not one of her favourite conversations.

“Well, put a trace on her phone and her credit cards,” he instructed, trying to think of a way to salvage the situation. “She can’t get too far.”

“We need to keep on building the case against her, sir,” Archie suggested, ever the optimist. “The more evidence we possess, the easier we can nail her.”

“What about Ms Hatton?” Collins asked, knowing that the woman had been in custody far longer than normal. “We need to decide what to do with her. Do you think she will tell you anything else? Anything that could lead to Caplan?”

“I think she told us everything in the interview,” Liv noted sadly. “But we do have some other avenues to explore. Apparently, there’s a former employee from CareCharge who supposedly retired on grounds of ill health, but now, it’s looks like he was forced out so that people wouldn’t start looking at his suspicious spending.”

“Well, that sounds promising,” Collins said half-heartedly. “Anything else?”

“Yes, we have been looking at some of the fake companies that have been appearing on the invoices, and we think that if we can track down some of the addresses, we can present it to the CPS. We’ve got Penny. We just need some more testimonials.”

“You realise there’s probably going to be a lot of people demanding restitution,” Collins suggested. “But the biggest priority is Joanna Caplan. She is the prime mover in this sorry saga. Catch the big fish, and the rest will follow.”

“We’re going to check out an address for a shell company right now that’s claiming hundreds of thousands a year,” Liv noted.

“That’s a good development, DI Austin,” the superintendent noted, looking increasingly curious. “How did you come by that information?”

Liv paused, knowing just mentioning the name Katie Gibson would set Collins off.

“There’s a source linked to the company we’re using,” Archie chimed in, giving Liv a knowing look. Ever the knight in shining armour.

“Well, good to know there’s a whistleblower in the ranks,” Collins said simply. “Just keep looking for Caplan, and we’ll take it from there.”

Once they left the office, Liv whispered, “Thanks for covering for me in there, Arch.”

“Well, you didn’t give me much choice, did you?” he replied with a faint smile. “And anyway, if we’re going to make the case stick, we’re going to need more than Katie’s word.”

“Let’s see what we can find at Awareness Literature,” Liv announced.

They got to the location, and to Liv’s complete lack of surprise, it wasn’t a company building but a high-class apartment complex which clearly catered to an elite clientele.

“The housing market is going to be booming come the new year,” Archie quipped as they walked through, taking in the decor and a life that would drive most to envy.

“I want you keeping eyes down here in case anyone turns up,” she instructed, looking at the number Katie had provided for her.

She took the elevator up to the fourth floor, walked up to the front door, trying to imagine what she’d find, and knocked on it.

After a few minutes, the door opened, and a middle-aged man with curly grey hair and a brown jumper opened the door. “Yes, can I help you?” he asked in a tone that translated as ‘hurry up and bugger off’. Liv glanced over his shoulder into the apartment. It was fully domesticated, and Liv saw what she imagined was some very pricey artwork in the corner.

Who says crime doesn’t pay? “Is this Awareness Literature?” she asked, deciding that she didn’t want to risk raising the alarm. Better to play it dumb.

“Mmm…” the man began, and clearly, this was a guy who was used to sending out invoices and collecting payments, having never expected anyone to turn up on the doorstep. “Are you interested in any services?”

My God, he’s trying to bluff his way out. “I was told about your company by a friend of a friend, and was interested in any details of services you can provide?” Liv asked, feeling that she definitely needed to work on her bullshitting skills.

Suddenly, her phone rang. She took it out and saw that it was Archie. Had he seen something? “Would you excuse me for just a moment?” she asked, stepping away.

“Arch,” she whispered over the phone. “You were right, this is definitely a shell company.” There was no reply on the other end. “You there, Archie?”

“He’s a bit preoccupied at the moment, DI Austin,” the voice of Joanna Caplan stated over the phone. The lack of emotion in her voice chilled Liv to the bone.

“Where’s my partner?” she asked, gripping the phone and trying not to panic.

“If you want to see him alive again, you’re going to do exactly as I say.”

18

Archie was chiding himself for his own stupidity. He’d been standing outside looking around when he’d seen a guy knocked off his bike and falling to the ground. Momentarily forgetting his mission, he’d rushed over to offer assistance. Seconds later, before he’d had time to comprehend what had happened, a white van had pulled up sharply next to the side of the road. He’d felt a sharp clonk on the back of the head, felt the rest of him gripped by powerful arms and loaded into the van, and then blackness enveloped him.

He felt a sting in his wrists as cable ties were wrapped around them, and then he felt something thick binding his ankles together. He tried to twist his head around, but every single movement brought nothing but pain and blurred vision.

There was a distorted visage looking down at him, fumbling through his pockets, and taking out his phone. His ears were still ringing from the impact.

It wasn’t until she stopped talking that his vision began to clear, and he realised Joanna Caplan was standing over him in the back of the van.

“You just couldn’t fucking leave it alone, could you?” she snarled, getting down in his face. She gripped him close. “We gave you a patsy on a silver platter.”

“What are you doing?” he groaned, trying to ignore the throbbing in his head.

“We’re going to go for a little drive,” Ms Caplan explained. “And then we’re going to decide what to do with you. But first… we need to wait for your partner to catch up.”

Liv had listened intently on the other side of the phone, chiding herself for leaving her partner on his own. “You realise you’re only making it worse for yourself, Ms Caplan.”

“I don’t honestly see how it can get any worse,” she spat back. “I’ve got you lot snapping at my heels. You just couldn’t leave it be, could you? It’s funny, if you’d actually turned a blind eye to everything, you wouldn’t be in this position right now.”

“And what position’s that?” Liv asked, knowing she’d hate the answer.

“I want you to take your phone and give it to the gentleman in the flat,” she commanded in a tone reserved for people very far down the pecking order. As she turned around to look at the man, she saw his face had changed. There was a smugness as he held out his open palm and beckoned her over like she was some disobedient dog.

“Remind me again how I’m supposed to contact you?” Liv asked bitterly.

You won’t need to,” Joanna replied smugly. “All you will need to do is go down to the outside and wait for us to pick you up. And if we get even a whiff of another copper on the scene… well, I’ll let your imagination fill out the rest.”

Liv felt a chill down her spine at the words ‘pick you up’. She’d heard about police statistics where people were abducted, and once they were moved to a second location, the odds of survival went down considerably. But she couldn’t take any chances.

Reluctantly, she ended the call and handed the phone over to the man. “You’d better hurry,” he suggested smugly, and she was tempted to wipe the shit-eating grin off his face then and there. But instead, she turned around and walked towards the stairs, sprinting down them and wondering what might have happened to Archie.

She bumped past the people around her, the rest of the world becoming a blur as she walked towards what could be her death. She tried to push back the thoughts of all the people in her life—her family, her friends, thinking over her last interaction with them all—that was just her brain telling her this was the end. No, she wasn’t going to accept that. She was going to find a way through this. She was not going to let an embezzler get the better of her.

The van pulled up by the side of the road, and a large burly man emerged from the side, bundling her in. Before she knew it, her wrists were bound in front with duct tape and her legs likewise, but her main concern was her partner who was lying on the floor bleeding from a head wound. “What did you do to him?” she asked, prodding Archie with her feet.

“Nothing he wouldn’t have recovered from.” Joanna replied, and Liv tried not to think of the words ‘wouldn’t have’ and all the implications that came with it.

“So, it seems we’ve got ourselves in a bit of a situation here, hasn’t it?” Joanna asked, sat in the moving van, flanked by two people. “So, any ideas how we move forward?”

“Why?” Liv spat, the only thing she could think of under the circumstances.

“Why what?” Joanna asked, perplexed and a little bored.

Just keep her talking. Maybe someone will notice we’re missing and call the police.

“Why the stealing?” the inspector demanded, knowing that most criminals had an innate desire to talk about what drove them. Now’s as good a time as any.

“You make it sound so black and white,” the woman replied, seemingly oblivious to her flashy blouse and sleek trousers, no doubt purchased with her ill-gotten gains.

“It would be so much easier for you, wouldn’t it? To paint me and all my colleagues as some greedy tosspots stealing from the till?” she demanded.

“Well, aren’t you?” Liv asked with a raised eyebrow, thinking that maybe if she could infuriate the woman, she’d trick her into making a mistake.

“Do you have any idea how much time and energy I’ve given to this industry?” she asked angrily, years of resentment boiling over. “If I did this job because I wanted the money, I would have gone into banking. I’d be living in a big house in the countryside. But no, I did it because I wanted to make a difference. I didn’t think I had to deal with all the people who hold onto a ‘I know best’ mentality’, the ones who seem to take some perverse pleasure in treating us like low level service reps. We don’t just bring our intellect to this job. We bring our passion. We try to support these people in their new roles, help them do their jobs, and they dismiss us as ‘not real professionals.’ The number of times we had to beg for funding to provide a decent service, trying to convince people to invest in something that everybody needs. I’ve even had some people suggesting we do the work voluntarily, as though we can afford to live without a payday. They don’t see us as people because it isn’t convenient for them. They just forget about us and move on. But we don’t forget. I haven’t.”

“So, that’s the reason for it?” she asked disbelievingly. “I know a lot of people who don’t get much job satisfaction, but they don’t develop sticky fingers. And you can tell yourself whatever you want. I’ll bet that’s how you’ve been justifying this scam of yours, painting yourself as the martyr.”

“Had anybody really noticed the money before now?” Joanna asked pointedly. “We had this going for years, and despite a few near misses, you lot weren’t any the wiser.”

“You’ve certainly mastered the art of living pretty,” Liv commented, wondering just how much money had been squirrelled away to fund their lifestyles. “Just tell me, because I don’t think I’ll understand, was it ever going to be enough? I’ve seen the money you’ve been pulling in. You’ve got a good reputation. But you kept going because you wanted more than the contracts you were already pulling in. That wasn’t enough for you. How much money would it have taken for you to say, ‘we don’t need to keep up the embezzlement?’ Does that number even exist?”

Joanna yawned in mocking boredom. “What kind of stupid question is that? Of course not. Truth be told, we would have kept on going until retirement. We might have even dipped into other areas if we had the chance. There was no end in sight.”

19

“But Lucas changed all of that, didn’t he?” Liv asked, remembering the body’s recovery starting everything in motion. “Got to say, that wasn’t one of your smartest moves. I don’t see why you had to kill him. I would have thought the last thing you wanted was the police sniffing around.”

For the first time since their abduction, Joanna Caplan looked uncertain. “What are you talking about?” she asked, moving closer to Liv despite the moving van.

“Killing him and burying him in a shallow grave,” Liv commented. “For someone as methodical as you, I’m surprised by such shabby work.”

“Why would I do that?” she asked, and when the detective didn’t say anything, she continued. “Lucas was a friend. Yeah, he was a pain in the ass, and he needed to be kept in check regarding how much he spent, but he was probably one of the few people I could tolerate in that company. Maybe I even like him.”

“But he wound up dead,” Liv remarked, noting her own dire circumstances.

“Firstly, if I wanted him dead, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to bury him in a public pathway where some pensioner walks his dog every other Thursday. Secondly, yeah, his spending was a bit over the top, but nothing that a small talk couldn’t handle,” she countered as realisation dawned on her. “Oh my God, you actually think I killed him? Is that what this is about? You’ve been chasing me around trying to slap me with a murder charge?”

“You expect us to believe you?” Archie added, still not recovered from his head wound but determined to keep himself as part of the conversation.

“You believe whatever the hell you want,” she spat, lurching for control as the van went over a speed bump. “I’d love to know who killed Lucas, as they’re the ones that brought you lot to our doorstep. I’d happily go to town on them, but I guess I’ll make do with you.”

Liv tried to process the information she was hearing with no sound of a bluff in the woman’s voice. She genuinely has no idea what happened to Lucas Rawlings.

“So, why did you try and make Penny Hatton take the fall for it?” she asked.

Joanna gave a rueful smile. “Penny, Penny, Penny. She’s not much of a long-term thinker. Shortly after you came to my office, I took her to one side and told her that the police were closing in on us. Predictably, she started panicking. She was happy to benefit but not wanting to get caught. I told her that as Lucas’ mistress—and the one who broke up his marriage—she would look like the most obvious suspect, so it would make sense for the police to start looking into her. But I cut her a little deal. If she confessed to the murder and the invoices, pled guilty at a trial for manslaughter, then we’d have a nice care package set up for her. Think of it as severance pay.” She chuckled at her own joke. “That way, the whole situation is wrapped up in a nice little bow and we can all carry on as normal.”

“So, where does that leave us?” Liv asked, not willing to degrade herself by begging for mercy. “You realise that if we go missing, the police are going to come looking for us.”

Joanna sighed, looking regretful. “I had considered including the pair of you on the scheme, giving you a cut in exchange for your silence—the kind of scenario where everybody walks away a winner. But I remember all the posturing you did when you were in my office, and it was clear to me then that you weren’t going to let this slide. Now, just to be clear, I’m not some psychopath with an impulse control problem. I’m a businesswoman looking to acquire assets. But I can’t see any point in trying it with either of you.”

“Look,” Liv began, not so concerned for herself but more for her partner, who was only in this mess because she’d left him vulnerable. “I’m a detective inspector. He’s just a sergeant. You can keep me, but let him go, all right? Just let him walk away. You send him back, and he can tell everyone that there’s been a mistake in the case, that we’ve been chasing the wrong person. I can make sure he takes the heat off you entirely, but only if you let him go.” It wasn’t her most well-thought-out bluff, and Liv knew that even at her most desperate, she would never betray her principles as a serving police officer. But she had to try anything if only to get Archie out of harm’s way.

“Loyalty,” Joanna quipped without a hint of irony. “Gotta say, I admire that. But even if I did feel like letting him go, what guarantee do I have that he wouldn’t talk anyway?”

“He won’t, will you, Archie?” she asked, prodding him with her boot. Come on, Archie, now’s a good time for self-preservation.

“Not a change in fucking hell,” Archie groaned. “You wannabe WAG.” He then shot a look to Olivia as if to say, ‘we’re in this together’.

Liv sighed, touched that even under pain of death, he refused to relinquish his loyalty to his partner, even if it meant dooming himself in the process.

Joanna took out a switchblade and leaned in close to Archie. “Can’t say I’ve ever killed anyone before, and I can’t say I’m going to like it. But then again, it’s not exactly a normal day, is it? So…” She held the blade to his neck, and he was too concussed to move away…

Suddenly, the van lurched over another speedbump, throwing Joanna off balance.

Liv saw an opportunity and took it, lashing out with her bound legs, striking the woman in the shins. She reeled backwards and dropped the knife to the floor of the van.

The burly thug who’d assaulted Archie moved over towards her, and she tried to raise her bound hands in defence and fight him off.

He delivered a harsh blow to the stomach, grabbed her by the hair, and threw her across the van where she thudded against the door.

He loomed over her again, but spotting the discarded blade, Olivia grabbed it with both hands and dug it into the man’s shin, prompting him to scream out in pain. She yanked out the blade and sliced his Achilles tendon with it, sending him hurtling to the ground.

She twisted the blade around and cut into the tape binding her wrists, wrenching them loose. She quickly did the same to her ankles until she was free. Then, she rushed over to Joanna, who was still recovering. She shoved the woman, determined to keep her from getting back up. She applied all her body weight, keeping her pinned to the ground. “Get off me!” Joanna grunted as she squirmed, trying to get out of the woman’s grasp, but Liv refused to budge.

Keeping most of her mass on the woman, Liv handed the knife to Achie, who untied himself. “Archie, get her phone and put in a call to CID. Let them know where we are.” She looked down at Joanna. “Now’s as good a time as any to let us know where you planned on dumping us.” But Joanna glared up at her in defiance. “If you’re telling the truth and you didn’t kill Lucas, then it’s just attempted murder, not murder.”

“I’m going to get out of this,” Joanna assured her, though doubt was creeping into her words. “I’ve got lawyers who’d have a field day with you lot.”

“Let them have a try,” Liv boasted, relishing the challenge. “Abduction, assault, and attempted murder—all the triple As. I’m going love seeing them try and work through that one. Now, where are we headed?”

Archie took her phone out of her pocket as Joanna provided the address. Archie called the team and repeated the information.

When the van screeched to a halt, all four occupants inside—Liv, Archie, Joanna, and the thug—waited to see who would open the door. As it was yanked open, sunlight burst into the van, and Liv was relieved to see DC Tim Harris looking at her.

“Joanna Caplan,” Liv began, pulling out cuffs. “I’m arresting you on suspicion of embezzlement and attempted murder…”

20

Superintendent Collins looked like Christmas had come early.

It was estimated that roughly £6.2 million dollars had been embezzled by the CareCharge company, and at least three people involved in the company had admitted to the fraud. It had been found that the embezzlement carried over to smaller companies that they’d been working in collaboration with, some of which had been shut down due to the supposed lack of funds. It was one of the biggest financial recoveries in Collins’ career, and he was enjoying riding the wave, though Liv didn’t have the heart to tell him that much of the case wouldn’t have been possible were it not for Katie Gibson’s due diligence.

Archie had needed to go the hospital shortly after they’d been rescued. Luckily, he had little more than a concussion, and there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t make a full recovery. Liv was grateful to him for his show of loyalty to her, even at his own expense.

Dean had made no end of fussing over Liv and asking over and over if she was all right. “Is you being abducted a regular occurrence?” Mariana asked.

“It has started to crop up more and more, yes,” Liv replied with a shrug.

Penny Hatton had been released on bail pending further investigation. She was still going to be investigated for her part in the front, and charges would certainly be brought for her attack on DS Elmhurst. But Liv was grateful that at least she wasn’t pissing away the bulk of her life for something she hadn’t done.

Joanna Caplan seemed to have had a complete turnaround since their confrontation in the van. She’d spoken at length about how the fraud had started and provided detailed files on all the money they’d pocketed, and there were two other executives that had corroborated her story. News had certainly got out because there were already people lining up and demanding repayment. It was clear that the company wasn’t going to survive into the new year. Not that Liv could offer too much sympathy.

Archie had made his way into the office the next day to the surprise of everyone. “I thought you were told to take it easy for the next few days,” Liv noted. “Tim and I can pick up the slack, no problem. Anyone would think you’re a glutton for punishment.”

“Between nearly being stabbed and then abducted, you might have a point. But I’m not going to stay in some sickbed for the next few days while we still have a case to close,” he confirmed, and she was grateful to see there was no lasting damage.

“I can assure you, Joanna Caplan is going down for a very long time. Even her lawyers aren’t going to come up with something to keep her out. She as good as admitted to everything while she was planning to bump us off.”

“She’s not the one who started it all, though,” Archie noted heavily. “She admitted to the fraud, she admitted to setting up Penny Hatton, but when you mentioned Lucas Rawlings, she was confused. She got angry with us because we couldn’t tell her what’d happened to him. And she’s right. It made no sense for her to kill him. Friend or not, the last thing she’d want is the police snooping around. And we know it wasn’t Penny.”

“So, who else could it be?” Liv asked, feeling that despite all the progress they’d made with the case, they were back at square one.

“Do you think it could be someone who lost their money?” Archie suggested.

Liv groaned. “At that rate, we’ll be sifting through suspects until the next Christmas.”

They worked over the case, tying up as many loose ends as possible, with Liv holding out hope that they might find something, but the trail seemed to have gone cold.

Then, Liv had an idea. She took out her phone and called Dr James.

“DI Austin,” he said with a mix of happiness and weariness, having heard about her life-or-death situation. “I’m not sure whether to congratulate you or question your sanity. You should be resting after what you’ve been through.”

“Never mind that,” Liv said, waving any concern away dismissively. “I know it’s last-minute, Elliot, but I have a massive favour to ask you. I need you to do a second post-mortem on Rawlings.”

“I thought that was all done and dusted,” Elliot noted, and she was aware she was asking a lot, but she needed to see if her theory panned out.

“The first one was looking for cause of death,” she noted. “I need a second one to find evidence of a crime. I can’t really leave it to stew over Christmas so…”

“Okay, okay,” he finally responded, unable to resist the needs of a friend. “Give me a day or two, and I’ll see what I can come up with.”

“Thank you, Elliot,” she responded and hung up the phone.

She walked through the office and noticed Collins looking a lot happier than he had in a long time. He was on the phone to someone. “Okay, be great to see her. Okay, ‘bye.” He hung up the phone. “DI Austin, anything I can help you with?”

“You seem in good spirits, sir,” she suggested, tempted to pry. “Anyone I know?”

“Just been speaking with Nikki, and she’s going to stay in Newquay for a few days with her daughter. She’s just sorting out sleeping arrangements. I’ve offered to put her up for a few nights.” Catching Liv’s brief apprehension at this, he quickly added, “Don’t worry, it’s not what you think. That part of our lives is pretty much done. I’m just trying to do right by a colleague and her daughter. We’re both not quite where we want to be after everything that’s happened, but we’re getting there.”

Liv smiled at this, looking forward to having the feisty DS in town for a few days.

Two days went by, and because of the mountain of evidence they had to sift through regarding the CareCharge embezzlement, the office was anything but winding down. Liv had half-expected the news story to come out in the press, but true to her word, Katie had kept that part quiet. I should probably call her and thank her.

But before she could find the number, she saw Elliot’s number flash up. “You don’t waste time, Dr James,” she said, trying to curb her excitement.

“Well, I think we all want to see this done and dusted so we can enjoy Christmas in peace,” he stated. “I think you were right about there being more to find. I looked over the body once again and there was one particular finding… mould.”

“Mould?” Liv repeated, having expected something like skin under the nails.

“Yes, traces of it were found in his hair,” the pathologist explained. “I’m still not sure how it could have got there… or where he’d been that there would be any mould.”

But Liv was only half-listening, thinking back to all of the locations Lucas Rawlings was likely to have visited before his death. And one came to mind…

“Thanks again, Elliot, I’ll get back to you,” she said quickly, hanging up the phone and going to find Archie who was going over the paperwork. “Listen, I think I know who killed Lucas Rawlings. Elliot has just done a second post-mortem. He found mould in his hair. Where do you and I know that Lucas was a regular visitor and wasn’t in the best shape?”

Archie’s eyes widened with recognition. “Bloody hell…” He grabbed his coat and followed her to the door. “Would it sound bad if I didn’t want you to be right on this one?”

Any sense of victory died away as Liv realised what they’d have to do. “I’m not any happier than you are, but we have a job to do.”

They arrived at their destination and walked into the centre, looking at everything around them, the children mixing with each other and enjoying themselves, fearing that all of this would be gone.

“Can I help you with anything, officers?” Amanda asked in her usual jovial tone.

21

Looking at the woman right then, Amanda didn’t scream ‘cold-blooded killer’ to Liv, especially with her oversized Christmas jumper with a glistening reindeer on the front.

“Amanda, we wanted to ask you a few questions about Lucas Rawlings,” she began.

“I thought you’d found the killer,” the worker responded, her wide smile faltering.

“No, still at large,” Liv responded. “We’re not sure how much you’ve heard, but it seems that Lucas Rawlings was involved in a massive fraud. He was scamming money from the company, and he was scamming from some of the businesses he worked with.” She let the last part hang in the air and waited for the woman to respond.

“That’s a shame,” she responded finally, this time not quite making eye contact. “I guess it goes to show you don’t really know people.”

“Indeed we don’t,” Archie muttered knowingly, prompting the woman to bristle at the sergeant’s little barb. She was looking more and more like a cornered animal.

“Look, I’m sorry, detectives, but I’ve got events to plan for the kids. We’re having a film screening in a few hours, and I don’t want them to miss…” She began to walk away and busy herself at a table with some random items.

“Amanda…” Liv started, feeling there was no other way to start it. “Where were you on the 16th of October between 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm?”

Her whole body went stiff. “Are you asking me where I was when Lucas went missing?”

“Sadly,” Liv responded. She knew whatever she heard, she wouldn’t like it.

“What makes you think I know?” she asked, unwilling to open up still.

“We found traces of mould in his hair,” Liv exclaimed, pointing to the patches on one of the walls. “Now, we could take a sample from the wall and see if we can match it to the sample found in his hair, but I’d rather save everybody the trouble.”

Amanda looked around at the room, the building, and everyone playing together as though it was for the last time. “Is there somewhere private we can go?”

“Of course,” the inspector agreed, feeling the woman deserved at least some dignity.

They moved into one of the spare offices and sat down. She took a deep breath and looked like she was about to crumble. “Before I say anything, I want you to promise me that someone is going to look after the centre for these kids. They’ve done nothing to deserve any of this, and this is the only respite they’ve got in their life.”

“We’ll make sure they’re looked after,” Liv promised her, not knowing how much she could live up to that promise but feeling that she owed it to Amanda to do this favour.

“I didn’t know that Lucas was scamming anyone at first,” she began, clasping her sweating fingers together. “We got on very well, and he seemed to be bringing some good business into the centre, talking about how he was going to make sure all the kids here had what they needed to live rather than just survive.” She tutted herself. “Should have realised they were just fancy words. He always did know how to use that silver tongue.”

“He started talking about all these investment opportunities that would bring about a lot of great things, like a new playroom for the younger kids and more physical aids for some of the older ones. There’s a girl we have here who’s in a wheelchair, and though she’s doing okay with the one she’s got, because of her condition, she needs one that is custom-made. But he said I’d need to put in my own money so that the rewards would come my way.”

Jesus Christ. If it weren’t for her natural obligation as a detective, she’d have been happy to let Lucas Rawlings rot without any kind of justice. “Go on,” she coaxed.

“So I did, and I waited for any possible development,” she continued. “But the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months. He just said all good things take time.”

“At what point did you find out that you weren’t getting the money back?” she asked, already picturing how the sad scene had played out.

“One day, after one of his talks, one of the group participants went up to him and confronted him. Apparently, Lucas had offered him a similar deal that he had yet to deliver on. Lucas said that the guy was delusional and threatened to report him for harassment.”

“But you smelt a rat by that point,” Archie suggested, prompting a nod from Amanda.

“Yes, he normally stays behind after everyone has gone to pack up, so when I got him on his own, I asked him about what I’d heard and if there was any truth in it. Of course, he denied it at first, said that some guys don’t like what they hear. But I kept on poking and prodding, trying to at least get a date in mind for when I’d be getting my money back.

“And at that point, I don’t know what it was. It was as though he just got tired of keeping up the pretence,” she muttered, shaking her head. “He laughed. He asked how I could have been stupid enough to have thought there was some ‘miracle money’ for people living half-lives. And he was right. I don’t know how I could have not seen it coming.”

“You aren’t to blame,” Liv assured her, having witnessed many fraud cases where victims had blamed themselves. “I know you acted with good intentions.”

“At that point, I started getting angry with him, asking him if this persona he’d built up was all a lie,” she continued, breathing more heavily. “He said he was just looking for a decent payday, and if people wanted to make him into an icon, it was only because they were too stupid to help themselves. And I snapped. I slapped him hard across the face… and that’s when he tried to strangle me.” She fiddled with her Christmas jumper as she spoke. “I thought I was going to die. He said he couldn’t have me walking around knowing everything.”

Liv and Archie exchanged a look, picking up on the similarities between her story and Penny’s false one. “That must have been scary for you. What happened afterwards?”

“I got hold of a power cord lying around, and I wrapped it around his neck. I only meant to get him off me, but I swear, I was so angry with him over what he had done to me. And how he was going to leave those kids high and dry.” Liv could imagine the scene—what started as an act of self-defence giving way to anger as she throttled the life out of him.

“But then I heard that neck snap, and I knew I’d gone too far,” Amanda explained, holding a hand over her mouth in horror at her own actions. “I pushed him off me… but it was clear he was dead. I promise you, I didn’t intend to kill him.”

“So, what then?” Archie asked, wanting to comfort the woman despite her crime.

“I got scared and hid him in one of the storage closets until I could work out what to do. But sometime later, Penny came looking for him. We’d been chatting a few times, and she started asking questions. I don’t have much of a poker face, so it didn’t take much for her to work out something had happened. And I fully expected her to turn me in, but she didn’t. She said that she understood Lucas was a real piece of work and offered to help me get away with it. She told me to store the body in a freezer until I could find a good time to bury the body. She said not to rush into anything because every criminal gets caught because of something they’ve done in the previous twenty-four hours. I kept on waiting for her to turn me in.”

So that’s how Penny knew exactly what details to give us. “Amanda, we had Penny in custody, and she was almost fitted up for the crime by another person,” Liv explained. “I can tell you that she had several opportunities to turn you in, but she didn’t.” She was developing a newfound respect for the young woman and how she’d gone out of her way to help Amanda. “Maybe she felt that you didn’t deserve to be punished for what happened.” She sighed heavily. “And I can tell you that I take absolutely no pleasure from doing this whatsoever, but I’m afraid we’ve got to take you into custody for the murder of Lucas Rawlings.”

EPILOGUE

Amanda Harman’s arrest had been both one of the hardest and easiest arrests of Liv’s career. She hadn’t put up any kind of fight, hadn’t tried to escape or justify herself. The only thing she asked was that when they took her out of the building if they could leave off the handcuffs. She didn’t want the kids to remember her that way.

They allowed her to say goodbye to some of them and tell them she was going away for a while. The scene almost brought a tear to Liv’s eye.

“I’m going to try and help her,” she declared to Archie. “I don’t care what she’s done. Lucas Rawlings may be dead, but he’s never going to answer for all the stunts he’s pulled.” There were other points that she wanted to raise, like how if Amanda hadn’t killed Lucas, he and all his collaborators would have continued scamming people for years on end with no one any the wiser. At least now he couldn’t hurt anyone else. But she couldn’t say that. They were dangerous words to come out of a police officer’s mouth.

“And how do you plan on helping her?” Archie asked, sympathetic but unsure what they could do within their capacity.

“Make a case for manslaughter or diminished responsibility,” Liv explained, thinking about how the self-defence angle could be used to get her off lightly.

“First Katie, now Amanda,” Archie observed. “If I didn’t know any better, Olivia, I’d say you were sympathising with the enemy.”

“Well, I think I’m just waking up to the fact it’s not all black and white,” Liv replied. “But she’s right. Those kids don’t deserve to suffer just because of some greedy bastards.”

Liv later met with Katie again, albeit at a location with more cleanliness. “Just so I know you’re not trying to poison me,” Liv joked. “I thought you should know we’ve made an arrest in the Lucas Rawlings case, and we know we’ve got out killer this time. That information you gave us made a lot of difference.”

Katie beamed with pride. “I’m really happy to hear that. Nice to use my skills for something half decent for a change. I know it may never make up for everything else.”

“You realise that no one will ever know about the part you played in the investigation?” Liv asked, knowing the point was redundant, but still feeling she needed to test the young woman’s resolve despite everything.

“After everything I did over the past few months, you don’t owe me anything,” the former journalist responded. “I’m just glad I could help.” There was a pause as she considered something more she needed to say. “I was wondering… if an opportunity came for me to help you out again… do you think you would take it?”

Liv was taken aback by what she heard. “Why would you want to do that?”

“I think doing the undercover work, lying to everyone I was calling my friends, I lost sight of the person I was. Who I was supposed to be. I want to get back to that.”

Liv thought about her own brother, Alex, who’d dealt with his own identity crisis after becoming a key player in the Flock of Eden cult. He’d been given a second chance in spite of everything. “It’s not really for me to say.” Liv couldn’t help that for her colleagues, too much damage had been done for them to see Katie as anything other than a traitor to the service. “I’ll happily accept any help that you can offer, but I think you want to have a long think about what you want for yourself going forward. I think you should know that it is possible to come back from all of this. People will move on… eventually.” Just as long as the person isn’t a certain Nikki Harding. That wound may never fully close.

“Thank you, DI Austin,” Katie replied, suddenly getting emotional.

“What do you think you’ll be doing over the Christmas period?” the inspector queried, trying to take the conversation to a more casual pace.

“I’ll probably stay with my family. Funny, I thought they’d be happy to see the back of me after they heard about the trouble I was in. But that’s the thing about Christmas. Brings out the forgiving mood in everyone.” She smiled faintly, hopeful things would get better.

Liv had been to visit Alex and his girlfriend Tara in the run-up to Christmas, proud of her brother for how far he’d come over the last year. Ever since she’d got him back from the cult, the change in him had been incredible. “You got any big plans for 2025?” she asked.

“Keep trying to be there for Tara when she needs me feels like a good place to start,” Alex responded. “She still has her ups and downs, but I’m helping her stay afloat. It’s given me a lot more purpose in life.” He sighed contentedly. “I think we’re breaking the Austin curse.”

Liv had enjoyed having Mariana in the household, not just because it gave her a greater—and more amusing—insight into her beloved Dean’s childhood, but because it saw her family growing gradually. It’d taken a while for Liv to work out what she wanted in life, but she got her answer whenever she looked down at the engagement ring.

They still had yet to set a date for the wedding but were hoping for late spring/early summer. Ironically, despite her earlier hesitation, she was now increasingly impatient to become Mrs Dean Lawrence. She beamed at the comforting daydream.

The usual Christmas dinner between the officers was, as ever, an enjoyable affair as everyone swapped stories over the highs and lows of 2024.

Liv looked over at Clara and Diana, sitting together at the table, holding hands and whispering sweet nothings in each other’s ears, having recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary. That was definitely a couple that would go the distance, and it gave Olivia the strength that she could achieve something similar.

During the dinner, Andrew got up from his seat and announced he had something to say. “SPEECH!” everyone instantly called out, but Andrew shook his head.

“I have something I wanted to share with everyone, but…” he looked around the table, conscious of an absent presence in the bar.

“Anything you want to get off your chest?” Collins asked knowingly.

“With respect, sir,” Andrew began. “I think I’d rather wait until everybody is here.”

His remark was then followed by two minutes of awkward silence before a familiar face entered the bar. “Well, at least I managed to get here before everyone soaked up all the booze,” Nikki Harding commented as she walked into the room, prompting claps from everyone.

She exchanged hugs with all people present, and Liv could see the change in her colleague. When the sergeant had lost her husband three months ago, Nikki had been reduced to a shell of herself and had needed to move away from Newquay in order to recover. But seeing her there that day, her face was much brighter. Liv didn’t doubt that the trauma was still there, but she was at least coping with it and was on the way to recovery.

“How’s Francesca?” Collins asked kindly.

“She’s off at a playdate and getting some presents,” Nikki replied warmly. Her daughter was the centre of her universe, and knowing that she was happy and contented gave Nikki all the fulfilment she needed.

“How’s life in Derby?” Elliot queried. “Murder rate any better?”

“Still full of pains in the arse that drag me out of bed every morning,” she noted. “Just as well considering the pit they dumped me in.”

“What are your colleagues like?” Liv asked, secretly a little conscious of being replaced in her friend’s estimations.

“Well, they’re still getting to grips with me,” Nikki chortled. “And no, that’s not a play on words. We’ve got one guy who seems to think that a brief stint in the Metropolitan Police makes him some kind of wise old sage. I’m getting on well with one of the new DCs… though I think everyone’s worried about me turning her into a mini-me.”

“And your inspector?” Liv asked, hungry for good old gossip.

“Not a bad guy,” Nikki said slowly. “We’ve butted heads a few times… but for me, that’s pretty much a rite of passage. But yeah, he’s all right.” Liv suspected there was more to the story that Nikki wasn’t willing to confide.

“Do you think you’ll miss any of them when you come back from secondment?” Diana asked, and Nikki didn’t answer straight away. Liv wondered if Collins’ worst fears were coming to pass—that Nikki would end up enjoying life in Derby so much that she decided to move on from Newquay.

In typical Nikki style, she dodged the question. “Anyway, I’m not here to discuss the inner workings of my old life. I believe we have something to celebrate, so Duracell, the floor is yours.”

Andrew bristled at the nickname that often gave away his sexual prowess. “Thank you for that, Nikki.” He cleared his throat, looking a little nervous. “As you all know, I’ve taken the CID entrance exam. And…” He held up an envelope. “I’ve got the results right here.”

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Diana asked, already a little tipsy. “I mean… if the results aren’t what you wanted…” Then a gentle nudge from Clara later, she added, “...not that there’s any reason they won’t be good.”

Andrew cleared his throat, now nervous. He thought this would have been as good a time as any to read out the results, but now was a good time to start praying, because he didn’t know what he’d do if he’d revealed at Christmas lunch that he hadn’t made the cut.

With nervous fingers, he slid the paper out and opened it. “I am pleased to tell you that you have passed the CID exam. Congratulations, DC Shaw.”

There was a moment’s silence before the whole table erupted into a cheer that echoed throughout the whole room.

Dean gave Andrew a hearty pat on the back, an exchange that warmed Liv, when she remembered the tension between the two men that’d resulted when Liv had broken things off with Andrew to be with Dean.

“Congratulations, DC Shaw,” he said, grasping his hand tightly.

Dr Helen Pike, Andrew’s long-standing girlfriend, got up and kissed him on the cheek. “I always knew you had it in you.”

“So, it looks like I’m going to be seeing you around the office a lot more,” Liv suggested, remembering how he’d always managed to make her feel good.

“Just don’t go stealing the role of office banterer,” Nikki chimed in. “That’s always going to be my role whether I’m there or not.”

“This calls for a celebration,” Nikki insisted, and she clicked her fingers for someone to come over and demanded a bottle of wine.

Liv sat back in her chair, Dean’s arm wrapped around her and smiled. She felt like she didn’t need to wait for anything to be perfect. She had it all right now.

She had no idea what 2025 would bring, but she was sure it would be a year to remember. She leaned over and kissed Dean passionately, ready to face all the changes of tomorrow with him at her side.

THE END

TO BE CONTINUED…

Find out more in Book Forty-Three here: Against The Clock

DS NIKKI HARDING WILL RETURN IN HER OWN SERIES:

BOOK 1 - BLOOD LIKE WINE

THE RELEASE DATE WILL BE COMING SOON

Looking for Book Forty-Three? Don’t worry, it’s here!

Against The Clock - DI Austin Book Forty-Three

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Sins Evoked - DS Leah West Book One

Missed Book One? Don’t worry, it’s here!

Find the Girl - DI Austin Book One

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I’ve always had a passion for writing stories and loved being able to create a world and have my characters live inside it. Being able to do this has been a dream come true and I’m so grateful that you could join me on this journey .

I live in the United Kingdom with my Husband and four young children who keep me busy and who I wouldn’t ever be without.

I hope you enjoy reading my books and please feel free to join me on social media where I love to interact with my readers!

mrsrobertswrites@hotmail.com