Deadly Reprisal (Detective Zoe Finch Book 5) Read online

  “In cases of emergency, yes. A kid’s been killed. What if the killer’s still in the building?”

  Heaven save me from over-zealous security guards, she thought. “Whose idea was that?”

  He smiled. “Mine. The warden was in agreement.”

  “Oh he was, was he?”

  “She. Yes. She was. They’re all tucked up safe in their corridors.”

  “What if they need to go to lectures?”

  He shrugged. “There’s been a murder. That’s more important.”

  Zoe sighed as the lift doors opened. The door closest to them hung open, voices spilling out beyond it, forensic floor protection plates leading inside. Zoe pulled on her overshoes and gloves and cleared her throat. Jenks hung behind her.

  “Thanks,” she told him. He nodded.

  “I mean, you can go now,” she said.

  He wrinkled his nose and stepped back into the lift. Someone would have to interview the man later, find out what he knew. She hoped it wouldn’t be her.

  “Hello?” she called.

  A white-suited tech with their back to her stood up and turned. The eyes, the only part of the human inside visible, crinkled at the sight of her.

  “Zoe!”

  “Adi,” she replied. “What have you got for me?”

  “Good to see you too,” said Adi Hanson, Forensic Scene Manager. After a pause he turned back to the room. A young man lay slumped against the bed, his face raised towards the ceiling and his mouth hanging open. White foam surrounded his lips and his skin was turning blue. On the carpet next to him was a splash of vomit.

  “Looks like an overdose to me,” she said.

  “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” said Adi. “But look at his wrists.” He pointed.

  Zoe leaned forwards. The victim’s wrists were ringed with purple-yellow bruises. “You think that’s connected?”

  “Not my job to put two and two together, Zoe. But there’s marks in his nostrils too, scarring. And on his tongue and gums. Recent, I reckon.”

  “You think someone forced drugs into him?”

  “At first glance it looks like an overdose,” Adi said. “But apparently the girl who found him was a medical student, and she decided to take a look.”

  “Great,” Zoe said.

  “Tell me about it. But she may have done him a favour. The knuckle-dragger calling himself a security guard would never have called us out if she hadn’t.”

  “That’s a bit rude,” Zoe told him.

  Adi turned to her, eyebrows raised. She suppressed a snort. “OK, so what did this medical student tell you?”

  “She’s along the hall,” he said. “You can ask her yourself. Name’s Lin Johnson.”

  “I’ll get to her in a minute. First, tell me about the scene. Any signs of a struggle, someone forcing their way in?”

  “No forced entry, but if these students are anything like I was back in the day, no one locks their door anyway.” Adi pointed to a folded-up sheet of cardboard next to the door, which was now propped open with a chair. “Wedge them open, like.”

  “OK. So someone came in, but he didn’t want them here, and he certainly didn’t want them shoving drugs into him.”

  “Hi.” Mo hurried in, bringing a cloud of cold air with him. “Your car’s bloody miles away. Sorry.”

  Zoe took her keys from him and shoved them into the pocket of her jeans. “That’s OK. Adi’s telling me about signs of a struggle.”

  “Well, it’s not all that cut and dried,” Adi said. “I mean, the kid could just have been a slob. And if he had been using, then he might have done himself some damage. But there’s books all over the floor, and that mug…”

  He pointed to a mug which lay on its side beneath the bed, liquid puddling beneath it.

  “What about the body?” Mo asked. “Defensive wounds?”

  “We’ve got bruising on the wrists,” said Adi.

  “Could have been self-inflicted,” Mo said. “If he was an addict…”

  “They’re fresh,” Adi said. “But the pathologist will be able to confirm.”

  “Where is Adana, anyway?” Zoe asked.

  “She’s sending one of her team,” Adi said. “This is small beer, for her. Especially as I couldn’t convince her it definitely wasn’t an overdose.”

  “Maybe she’s right,” said Zoe.

  “The only way to be sure is for a pathologist to take a look,” said Adi.

  “Do I detect professional tension?” Zoe asked.

  “Ignore me,” Adi said. “I just want them to take him away so we’ve got a bit more room in here.”

  He did have a point. The room couldn’t have been more than two and a half metres square, and it housed a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, two detectives and three FSIs. As well as a body.

  “OK,” Zoe said. “I’ll get out of your way. Mo, let’s go talk to this Lin girl.”

  Chapter Four

  Kayla clamped her hands over her knees, trying to stop the trembling. She’d fled to her room after they’d found Laurence. Lin had tried – and failed – to calm her down.

  His room had stunk. Vomit, and shit, and something else she couldn’t identify. She’d been in there before, of course. It hadn’t smelled good before, but it had been nothing like this.

  An image of his pale face on the floor flashed through her head, and she let out a whimper. She jerked her face up to check the door. They’d confined the students to their corridors, which meant she was alone. The other students on her corridor were wary of her: they knew she was somehow damaged, and they didn’t want to find out more.

  But she couldn’t risk anyone coming in.

  Kayla pulled herself up, pushing past the weakness in her legs, and stumbled to the door. She leaned against it as she turned the lock. Someone was outside, talking.

  “He had it coming,” said a voice. Kayla leaned against the door, trying to still her breathing.

  “You can’t say that,” said another. “No one deserves that.”

  “Maybe he did. He was bad news.” A third voice, lower. This one was male, the other two female.

  “They’re saying he took an overdose.”

  “You reckon he killed himself?”

  “Maybe. What with it all hanging over him…”

  Silence. Kayla pictured the three people outside: Dawn, Shavon and Ricky. They’d be staring into space, trying to make out like they were affected by it all. Trying to pretend they cared.

  Well, she cared. She’d been there when he’d been found, and she’d known what he was like. For weeks. She should have told someone…

  She brushed tears from her cheeks and staggered back to the bed. There was movement outside. Her doorknob turned.

  “Kayla? You in there?”

  She stared at the door. She shook her head.

  “Kayla?”

  “Leave her. She doesn’t want to talk to us.”

  “Yeah, we might give her the plague or something.”

  Laughter. Kayla tensed, wishing she had the courage to go out there and talk to them. To tell them what she knew.

  She couldn’t. She would take it to the grave.

  She let herself fall back onto the bed and curled into a ball. She grasped her legs, hugging herself, and allowed the sobs to rip through her body.

  Chapter Five

  “Lin Johnson?” Zoe stepped into the room, a smile on her face. The student sat on the bed with a female constable beside her: PC Lark.

  “That’s me.” The young woman straightened and met Zoe’s gaze.

  “How are you doing?”

  “I’m good.” A slight American accent.

  “You from the US?”

  Lin stared at her for a moment then shook her head. “My dad is. But I’m from Hemel.”

  “Hemel?”

  “Hempstead? Outside London?”

  “I know where it is.”

  Lin nodded and wiped her face with her sleeve. Despite the bravado, her cheeks were blotched with tears.
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  Zoe nodded at the PC who gave the girl a reassuring rub on the shoulder and stood to leave the room. “I’ll get you a cuppa,” she said.

  Zoe exchanged glances with Mo, who was still standing in the doorway: cups of tea, the family liaison officer’s answer to everything. She doubted the students drank much tea.

  “Why not make that something stronger?” Zoe suggested. Lin looked up at her, a smile flickering across her lips. “Vodka?”

  “There’s a bottle in the wardrobe.” Lin replied.

  PC Lark frowned. “It’s only eleven o’clock…”

  “I think Lin’s been through enough of an ordeal to justify a drink,” Zoe said. “Have you slept?”

  Lin shook her head. The PC grunted and opened the wardrobe door.

  After the vodka had been found and the student had downed two generous shots, Zoe sat on the chair opposite the bed. Mo was still hovering at the door. PC Lark had left.

  “My name’s Detective Inspector Zoe Finch. This is Detective Sergeant Mo Uddin. You don’t need me to tell you why we’re here.”

  Lin shook her head. “There were contusions on his procheilon. Lacerations to the frenulum. I can write it all down, or make a video for you…”

  Zoe put a hand up. “It’s OK, Lin. To be honest, I don’t understand half of what you just said anyway. And the pathologist will be able to figure all that out.”

  “So why…?”

  “You found him. We need you to describe what happened.”

  Lin slumped into herself. She was short and slender, with cropped dark hair. Zoe thought of Andreea Pichler, the Romanian woman who’d died in her arms. Superficially the two young women were nothing like each other, but there was something in this girl that reminded Zoe of Andreea.

  “He was lying on the floor, next to his bed,” Lin said.

  “Wait a minute,” said Mo. “We’ll need you to start at the beginning.”

  Lin frowned. “From when I opened the door?”

  “Before that. Why did you go to his room? Did you see him beforehand?”

  “Uh-uh. No one had seen him for days.”

  “Days?” asked Mo.

  “Yeah. He was… kinda reclusive, you might say. Attended tutorials, the ones he had to, but that was it. The uni has started putting lectures online, helps overseas students they say. But really it encourages introverts to stay in their rooms and everyone else to get up late.”

  “So when did you last see him, Lin?” Zoe asked.

  A shrug. “About a month ago. I guess.” Her face darkened.

  “So why did you go to his room?” Mo asked.

  “We were making a video. Lin’s Lens. I’m a creator, that’s my channel. I was looking for dirt. You usually get a lot of it when there’s a party on. People making out, taking drugs. That kind of shit.” She clapped her hand to her mouth. “Sorry.”

  Mo scratched his head. Zoe gave the young woman a smile. “We’re police. We’re used to swearing, you know.”

  “First hand, in her case,” Mo added.

  The student blushed and nodded. “Sorry.”

  Zoe leaned towards her. “So you went to his room thinking you might be able to catch him on camera taking drugs?”

  “I don’t know why I went to his room. Not really. Guy’s a creep. Kayla didn’t want me to go, I think she’s allergic to him. Don’t blame her.”

  “So is Kayla the other person making the video?” Mo asked.

  “Yeah. She was behind the camera. Always is.”

  “Anyone else there?” Zoe asked.

  “Place was deserted, they were all downstairs, at their pathetic party.”

  “You’re not a fan of university parties?” Zoe asked.

  The girl shrugged. “They’re OK, I guess. Plenty of material, for the channel. But… yeah. Not a fan.”

  “OK,” said Mo. “So you came to his room with your camera and…?”

  Zoe raised a finger. “Wait. Where’s the footage?”

  “Oh. Yeah, Kayla’s got it,” Lin replied.

  Zoe turned to Mo. “We’re going to need to speak to her, asap. In fact, can you go to her now, get that tape.”

  “It isn’t a tape,” Lin said. “No one uses tape anymore.”

  “File,” Zoe said. “You know what I mean. Where is Kayla?”

  A shrug. “In her room, I guess.”

  Zoe sighed. “Any chance you might give me her room number?”

  Lin eyed her and recited a number. Zoe gestured at Mo, who left the room.

  “Right,” Zoe said to Lin. “So you went to his room and you found him on the floor. Did you see anyone else around?”

  “No one. We passed his door about ten minutes earlier, too.”

  “OK. Where did you go in those ten minutes?”

  “Along the corridor. We were filming, seeing what we could get.”

  “Were you in sight of Laurence’s door the whole time?”

  “Sort of. Kayla would have been, but she was looking at the screen. Filming.”

  “She didn’t say she’d seen anything? No one coming or going?”

  “You’d have to ask her.”

  “We will. Let’s go back to when you found him. What did you do?”

  Lin swallowed. “I took a look at him.”

  Zoe nodded, slowly. It wasn’t this student’s job to do her own post-mortem, but there was no point in berating her for it now. “Describe that.”

  “I’d already rolled him over with my foot.” Lin looked into Zoe’s eyes. “I was careful not to touch him. I had gloves in my pocket.”

  “You always carry surgical gloves?”

  “We’d been doing anatomy that afternoon. I’d put them in my pocket instead of handing them over for disposal.”

  Great, Zoe thought. Now they had a body contaminated by whatever Lin had brought in on those gloves. She clenched a fist and nodded for Lin to continue.

  “He had foam coming from his mouth, and he’d vomited. So I took a look at his lips and his gums. He had bruising and lacerations, small cuts. The frenulum.” She opened her mouth and put her finger on the webbing between her gum and upper lip. “And on the lower gums and the procheilon. Here.” She shifted her finger to her own upper lip.

  “You talked to my colleague about this, the crime scene manager?” Zoe said.

  “The cute guy in the mask? Yeah. I think he was impressed.”

  Zoe tightened her fist. She wondered if Adana’s colleague had arrived yet. They needed a professional autopsy, not the ham-fisted efforts of a medical student.

  “What year are you in?” she asked.

  Lin blushed. “First year.”

  Of course, Zoe thought. Keen, but inexperienced. Maybe Adana not being here was a blessing: she could only imagine the pathologist’s reaction to Lin.

  “OK,” Zoe said. “So what did you do after that?”

  “I went looking for Kayla.”

  “Kayla had gone?”

  “I hadn’t noticed, I was too busy looking at Laurence. I found her in the bathroom at the end of the hall. Shitting herself, she was. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean…”

  “Then what?”

  “Jenson appeared. He’s our pastoral tutor. S’posed to look after us. I guess he’d heard Kayla, she was shrieking by that point. And I told him.”

  “Did anyone else go into Laurence’s room?”

  “No. Jenson shut the door. He sent everyone away, and he told security. I didn’t see anything else.”

  Chapter Six

  Zoe leaned against a wall outside the hall of residence and took out her phone. The area was quiet, no students coming or going. She wondered how long it would be before they rebelled.

  “Hey, boss.” DC Rhodri Hughes’s voice was perky.

  “Rhodri. You got Connie with you?”

  “Both here, boss. Awaiting your command.”

  “Put me on speakerphone.” Zoe wondered if she should wait for Mo. But she had no idea which part of the building Kayla’s room
was in.

  “Boss.” Connie’s voice came on the line.

  “OK, you two,” Zoe said. “We’ve got a nineteen-year-old male killed by what might be an overdose, but could be suspicious. Signs that someone may have forced whatever killed him into his mouth. I’m waiting for the pathologist to get here” – and where is Adana’s colleague? she wondered – “but in the meantime I want you to check out our victim. Laurence Thomms. Comes from Leeds, studying Chemistry, in his first year. A bit of a recluse, from what I’ve been told. Find out if he’s got a record, if he’s reported any threats or attacks. Anything you can dredge up.”

  “No problem,” said Rhodri. “You want us to liaise with university security?”

  Zoe could imagine that Mark Jenks guy responding better to the constables than to her or Mo.

  “Yes. The guard on duty is Mark Jenks. Rhodri, you get out here and talk to him. Find out what you can from him and his colleagues about the students involved, whether there’s anything suspicious we need to know about.”

  “There’s more than one of them?” Connie asked.

  “He was found by a Lin Johnson and a Kayla Goode. I’ve spoken to Lin, Mo’s talking to Kayla right now. There’s something that made me wonder about Lin. I want to know about their relationship with Laurence, if they had one, and any other students. There’ll be staff at Boulton Hall who might be more willing to tell us what’s going on than the students.”

  “Boss,” Rhodri said.

  “I’ll call you back when the pathologist has turned up,” Zoe said. “Let you know if there’s anything you can follow up on.”

  She heard Rhodri make a guttural noise.

  “You want to go to the post-mortem, Rhod?”

  “Er…”

  Zoe laughed. “Don’t worry, Constable. It’s Connie’s turn.”

  “Really?” Connie sounded hesitant.

  “We all have to do it at some point. Believe me, Connie, this one won’t be as bad as some you’ll see.”

  “OK.” Zoe heard the two constables mutter between themselves.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Nothing, boss. I’ll let you know when I’m at the uni,” Rhodri replied.

  “Good. Keep me informed.”