The Sholes Key (An Evans & Blackwell Mystery #1) Read online

  “Never ate round this part of London before. In fact, eating anything that doesn’t come in paper is normally a bit pricey for me,” Theo remarked as he covered his Cannelloni alla Romana with chili flakes.

  Dorland, who had just filled his mouth with lasagna, swallowed a large mouthful before he could reply. “I’ve eaten round here before, but… well, somewhere different.”

  “What do you mean different?”

  “Because it was in a pub where some speculate Jack the Ripper met one of his victims.” Dorland burped and quickly covered his mouth. When Theo rolled his eyes, he changed the subject. “Not that I’m hoping we have a murder to deal with. No, nothing like that. I just enjoy the mystery behind Jack the Ripper.”

  A man who had just entered the restaurant distracted Theo. Had he seen him before?

  “—but truly,” Dorland said, “I’m praying Steve’s mother had a simple crisis and will be back in a few days. To lose a mother is devastating for a boy so young. And the poor grandmother, she’ll have to explain it to him.”

  “Yeah.” Theo watched the man sit down at the table next to them and order green tea and spaghetti. Theo turned back to Dorland. “I think we need to look into the father’s whereabouts.”

  “Oh, right.”

  “Although the grandmother thought the father was a louse, there could’ve been custody disputes. If Lorna did go after the father for maintenance, he may not have liked the extra payments and thought harming her was the answer.”

  “Did Lorna’s mum know his name?”

  “Hmm, yeah.” Theo reached in his trouser pocket and grabbed his notepad. As he turned to the page with the father’s name, the man at the next table, leaned in closer to Theo and Dorland. Was he listening to their conversation? “No use telling you, it’s not like you could find the information now, anyway.” Theo slammed the book shut. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man sit back.

  “Yes, that makes sense.”

  Theo studied Dorland’s face to see if he noticed the suspicious man. Dorland was preoccupied with picking pieces of mince from between the thick noodles and cheese. Perhaps, Theo thought, he was overly cautious. Perhaps the stress at home was causing him to be suspicious of everyone.

  “Eat up, Dorland,” Theo said. “We must get on.” The man next to him hadn’t received his meal. Theo called the waiter over and asked for the bill.

  Dorland put his fork down and wiped the tomato remnants from around his mouth with his cloth napkin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fiver. “It’s all I have.”

  Theo paid the rest and a minute later, they sprinted to the car. “Get in, get in,” Theo said. “Get in and get down.”

  “What’s going on, boss?”

  “Did you recognize the man who sat at the table next to us?”

  Dorland squinted toward the restaurant. “Man? What man?”

  “That man… never mind. He looks so familiar.”

  “Is it a movie star?”

  “No. Oh, here he comes now, get down.” From his wing mirror, Theo watched as the man exited the restaurant and looked directly at their car. Theo tried to spot any identifying marks on him. Nothing. Nondescript cap, dark glasses, and characterless clothing. Even his shoes, nothing of note.

  “Why are we hiding?” Dorland whispered as he attempted to slink his large frame below the headrest. “We look ridiculous.” A woman stared at them through the car window as she walked by. Dorland nodded his head in her direction. “A case in point.”

  “You’re right, what are we doing?” Theo got out of the car only to find that the man had disappeared.

  Chapter 6

  Graffiti painted the terraced houses on the street where Lorna McCauley lived. Betterment of the area seemed to be underway, though it had not yet hit this street. Century-old houses stood lined up one after the other down the street. Lorna lived midway in a house that looked like all the others.

  Entering through an unlocked door, Blackwell and Dorland met a white dog who lay in front of door number one. The dog didn’t get up, didn’t move; only his ears stood. He bared his teeth and let out a faint growl. When Blackwell and Dorland ascended the stairs, the dog stopped growling and flicked dust off the floor with his tail.

  They climbed the steep, creaky stairs to the second floor. Having obtained duplicate keys from Lorna’s mother at the hospital, they entered a door with the number three hanging loosely upside down. The flat looked like a nursery school. Toys littered the living area. Dorland let out a large fart as he stepped on a Whoopee cushion just inside the door.

  “Excuse yourself,” Theo said and laughed as he picked up the thick, pink balloon.

  “I had one of these growing up, it drove my father mad. I think he eventually ripped it in half.”

  “Smells nice in here,” commented Theo as he spotted the air freshener above the fridge. “Better than the old curry smell out there.”

  “Probably to mask the missing cheese sandwich under the bed,” Dorland said, pointing to the large sofa bed that lay flat in the middle of the room.

  Theo toured the house—which consisted of one large room with a kitchen and one small bathroom—to confirm the missing woman was indeed missing and had not returned to her flat. He placed her toothbrush in a clear plastic bag for forensics. Satisfied, he went over to the phone and picked up the receiver.

  “She has received messages,” Theo remarked, listening to the phone. “I need a four-digit code.”

  Theo replaced the receiver, went to the calendar tacked to the wall beside the fridge, and started rifling through the months. June fourth on the calendar had a circle with the letters MY BD and the number thirty-one written within. On November second was written ‘Stevie’s BD’ and the number seven.

  “June fourth and November second,” Theo repeated. Back on the phone, he typed in 0-6-0-4. When that didn’t work, he tried 0-4-0-6, 0-2-1-1 and 1-1-0-2. The last number was what he needed. He took out his notebook and pen and listened to the messages.

  Lorna McCauley hadn’t left a message asking for help. Stevie had a dentist appointment in two days, and Lorna’s boss was extremely upset she didn’t show up for work on Thursday and Friday.

  “What would you have done if none of those numbers worked?” Dorland asked, picking the toys off the ground to look under the blue sofa bed.

  “I would have tried 1-2-3-4 and then had you ring the phone company.”

  “Then good thing you found it. Anything interesting?”

  “Nothing,” Theo replied, writing down all the numbers he found displayed on Caller ID.

  “This woman must be Toys R Us’ best customer,” said Dorland, throwing the toys into the empty box beside the bed. “Ah, parental guilt—the mass marketer’s bread and butter.”

  “Okay, now let’s walk through this: the boy came home from daycare Wednesday afternoon. We have this confirmed from Stevie, and we can confirm it from his teacher. Stevie was found in his pajamas. Unless he got into them as soon as he came home from daycare, she must have been here to tuck him in bed. Meaning she went missing between Wednesday evening and five-thirty Thursday morning.”

  “If she was thinking of leaving Stevie alone,” Dorland said, now going through the DVD’s beside the TV, “and taking off for awhile, why do it when he’s sick? Why not get her mother to watch him, or why not leave him at daycare? It’s not looking good.”

  “I know.”

  “If she was abducted or killed, did the culprit come here, to her flat? Did she let him in? That would mean she knew him.”

  “I checked her calendar. She has no markings in the last week, other than the number nine three days from now. And she doesn’t seem to keep a diary, unless she has it with her.” Looking around the room Theo noticed that other than the bed Lorna had only a double dresser, a kitchen table which doubled as a desk, and a small table that held the TV. She didn’t even own a bookshelf. “Except for toys and things for the boy, there’s not much here that belongs to her: a fe
w books, some clothes, and some bills. Have you seen a wallet or handbag?” Theo collected the bills in another plastic bag.

  “No. Why?”

  Theo went to the door and started separating the piles of shoes. “Lorna’s… Stevie’s… Stevie’s… Stevie’s… Lorna’s… Stevie’s. Do you own trainers, Dorland?”

  “I own three pairs, why?”

  “Of the shoes that belong to Lorna, she’s got a pair of flats and a pair of stilettos, probably for work. Meaning either she doesn’t own any trainers or she left the house with her trainers on.”

  “So maybe after she put the boy to bed she had a visitor,” Dorland suggested.

  “It would have to be someone she knew,” Theo said.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “See how many locks she has on the door? Three. Do you think she would open it for a stranger?”

  “Perhaps the man had a flat tire and her lights were on.”

  “I don’t care what kind of sob story someone gives. My wife and mother would never open the door late at night for a man they didn’t know. I’ve heard horror stories: people open their doors, and men rush in holding a gun to their head while they rob them. So no, I doubt she would.”

  “Even if they begged for help?”

  “She lives in multi-flat housing. If I were her, I would send the poor bloke, whoever he was, across the hall to a man.”

  “You’re saying she must have known her killer.”

  “Let’s look at it from different angles,” Theo said, starting to pace the room. “First, she never met anyone and just ran off, leaving the boy. That scenario seems unlikely from what her mother says; it’s obvious she loves Stevie. All right, second scenario—someone came to her door that she didn’t know. She let him or her in and… what? She was abducted?”

  “Based on your reasoning, that scenario seems doubtful.”

  “I agree. Third scenario, someone comes to the door that she knows, she opens it. Either she takes off with him or she has a moment of insanity, leaves the child thinking she’ll only be gone for a few minutes, and something terrible happened. I hate the last two scenarios, but they seem the most likely.”

  “If it’s the first, there’s a chance she’ll come home again.”

  Theo moved to the front window and looked out onto the street.

  “The boy wakes up,” Dorland added, “realizes he’s alone and walks across the hall to his neighbor. He does feel comfortable enough to do that. Or maybe it came down to necessity. One thing’s for sure, there obviously wasn’t a struggle in this flat. Other than misplaced toys, nothing seems out of place.”

  “There’s ash on this window, which means she’s a smoker. She smokes out this window. It explains why she has the strong air freshener on the fridge.”

  “What are you saying, boss?”

  “I have a feeling no one came to her door. She went outside.”

  * * *

  Number four across the hall was quiet. Seeing the light under the door, Theo assumed the tenant was home. After knocking three times, finally the door opened. A young bearded man in his early thirties stood there wearing nothing but flannel bottoms.

  “Mr. Allen Barking?” Theo asked.

  “I’m busy, right in the middle of something,” he said, starting to shut the door. Before he could protest, Dorland held his warrant card in the man’s face.

  “We need to ask you a few questions about your neighbor across the hall. Can we come in?” Theo made sure it sounded more like a statement than a request.

  “This won’t take long, will it? I’m working.” The bearded man opened the door and allowed them to enter.

  The decor made them take pause. A panoramic scene from a Japanese outer space cartoon covered every inch of the man’s walls. A battle scene came at them from all directions, with a wide-eyed Japanese girl the main focal point, her laser guns blaring.

  Mr. Barking explained, “I draw anime, and that is what I was in the middle of when you interrupted me.” He pointed toward the drafting tables that took up half his sitting room.

  “You are very good,” Dorland remarked, heading toward a hand belonging to one of the large caricatures.

  “Don’t touch the walls, please.”

  Dorland stepped away.

  Mr. Barking went back to his tables, took up a beige pencil, and began drawing again. The sketches were only partially colored.

  “We want to thank you,” Theo started, “for ringing an ambulance for the boy.”

  “What was I supposed to do, let him die on my doorstep? Have you found his bloody mother yet?” Mr. Barking asked as he continued to color.

  “Do you have any idea where she could be?” Theo asked. “We’re looking for information, especially on the night she disappeared—Wednesday night.”

  “I’m her neighbor, not her guardian. I don’t sit here jotting down her movements on paper.”

  “So you don’t like her?”

  “That’s not what I’m saying. Stop putting words in my mouth. She annoyed me.”

  “What did you find annoying?” Theo said.

  “Everything about her annoyed me.”

  “Did she smoke?” Theo asked. Dorland was only inches away from the Japanese girl’s voluptuous right breast. If he touched it, Theo would kill him.

  “Yes. She would tromp up and down those bloody stairs at all hours of the night. Two, three, four in the morning, it drove me insane. Who bloody smokes at that time of night? Go to bed. And the boy, he’d practically have to yell at her to get her attention. Always reading books, everywhere she went, up and down the stairs, her head in the clouds. She would carry groceries and be reading. I don’t know how she did it. I always thought she would fall down the stairs.” He shook his head.

  “Have you seen her with anyone? A boyfriend?” Theo asked, checking the books on his tables. The Making of Origin. Drawing Game Characters. My Neighbor Totoro.

  “I haven’t,” Barking replied, grabbing a light blue pencil. “But if she did, I would be the last person she would announce it to.”

  “Have you seen anyone suspicious hanging about the building?” Dorland said. Theo noticed he was staring directly at the picture’s cleavage.

  “No.” Barking hesitated. He looked up from his drawing and asked, “Why? Do you think some crazed lunatic is coming in the building and kidnapping people? Am I in danger?”

  Theo wanted to tell him that if he were looking for lunatics he should look in the mirror but instead said, “These are just routine questions, Mr. Barking.”

  “When the police came to look for Mrs. McCauley,” Dorland asked, “how did they get into her flat? Did the landlord come?”

  “I don’t know. When the boy came to me, he left his door open. I went in looking for his mum, but I didn’t lock the door behind me when I left. I only shut it. Probably the police found it unlocked and walked in. Later, Lorna’s mum came by. When I heard footsteps up the stairs, I thought it was Lorna. I went to give her a right bollocking for leaving her son alone only to find I called her mum a few really nasty words instead.” He smiled. “She locked the door on the way out; I saw her. She had a key.”

  “Yeah, we have it now,” Theo said.

  “Good for you,” Mr. Barking replied sarcastically. “You must be so proud. Anything else?”

  “Not for now,” said Theo. “Here’s my card, in case you remember something important.” He threw it down on one of his drawings.

  “I probably won’t,” Mr. Barking said and moved the card to his back trouser pocket. “Let yourselves out.”

  Once outside the building, Dorland said, “It’s possible that she ran into trouble outside. Mr. Barking confirms she goes outside to smoke.”

  Theo picked up some cigarette butts with a tissue he had in his pocket.

  “Picture this,” Theo said. “I’m Lorna, I need a smoke, so I stand here.” He leaned against the doorframe amongst the butts. “I live in the middle of the street. From this spot, I can see a man
walking towards me from either end. If I feel scared, I have plenty of time to throw away my cigarette and run inside.”

  “What if she wasn’t scared?” Dorland asked. “What if she knew her attacker?”

  “Okay, let’s say I know the man who approaches. If he tries to attack me, I can scream. Someone would wake up and look out their window.”

  “What if he hit her on the back of the head?” Dorland asked, mimicking the action.

  “If the attacker knocked her out and dragged her down the street, it would put him at a lot of risk. Anyone could have walked or driven by and seen them.”

  “Maybe he pulled her into this building or one of the buildings on this street. We should search the building and canvas the neighborhood. Maybe someone saw something.” Dorland paused, slapping himself on the head. “No. I’m wrong. What am I saying? That’s definitely not what happened, because I don’t want to visit everyone on this street.”

  Theo laughed. “Personally, I doubt the perpetrator is stupid enough to drag a woman down the street. More likely he or she had a car. But why would Lorna get in? Even if she knew him, I doubt she would leave her son alone to drive off with anyone.”

  “And if she’s dead?”

  “I don’t know, Dorland,” he said quietly. “I don’t know. Murder’s another story. They’re a lot more complex, most of them. Sometimes the motives aren’t as clear. If she knew the killer, he or she will be much easier to catch.”

  “We hope.”

  Chapter 7

  Everyone did exactly what he expected of them, and they didn’t even know they were doing it. He knew where she was going, and the route she would take to get there. Twenty-seven turns, he had it memorized. A woman after his own heart.

  Her Mercedes was easy to follow, a bright silver beacon. A beacon that urged him on. He pulled closer to her. She never looked back to see him following. Instead, her head swayed, rhythmically, enticingly. Enya, her favorite. He knew.