The Hard Way

off Colin, including washing-up, which she detested. She opted to handwash the plates, just to have something to do in the background. Now she’d spoken to a detective, it felt more real. Her mobile phone rang.
Marching into the hall, she retrieved it from her handbag and answered the call from her husband, Samuel. Taking it in the kitchen, she closed the door and unloaded on him, telling him everything in one outburst. Charlotte was angry with him for not picking up when she’d needed him earlier. “You weren’t there, again. I needed you, Sam.”
He apologised, kept on, until she’d had enough and forgave him. Only a few hours earlier, she’d been happy with him, but today wasn’t the first time he’d not been there for her. After the last time, she thought he would be faster at picking up his damned phone and calling her, especially after the urgent nature of her voicemail.
He agreed to drive over to Henry’s. Terminating the call, she finished the washing-up and dried her hands on a tea towel, before meandering into the hallway. Charlotte listened to Richard trying to talk to Henry.
“I thought you’d like to know it works. We took her on her fifteenth test-run just now, and she passed with flying colours. Who’d have thought it would only take three years, and fifteen tests? She’s sat in the workshop now.”
Silence. Henry failed to respond.
“Did you hear me, Henry? We made history today.”
Charlotte entered the lounge and her brother sat back in his armchair. He was not a subtle man; she felt like she’d interrupted something. “Everything all right in here?” Richard looked away. “What works now, Richard? I heard you say something works.”
“Oh nothing, a work thing. It won’t interest you.”
“But it will interest Henry? Why?”
“No reason, Lottie. Forget about it. Forget I said anything.”
Charlotte sat on the sofa and coaxed Henry to lie with his head on her lap again. She didn’t mind Richard having secrets, but he didn’t have to be so obvious about it. Now she wanted to know what he was talking about.

11
Hayes put her desk phone receiver on its dock and turned her attention to her computer. “I spoke to Fisher’s older brother, Richard. We’ll be meeting Curtis, Richard Fisher and Charlotte Edwards, the middle sister, at Henry Curtis’ home. Looks like we’ll get the whole extended family in one hit.”
Miller poked her head over the partition. “And we have an interview lined up tomorrow afternoon with Brandy’s daughter, Ellie, and Brandy’s mum.” Getting up from her swivel chair, Miller strolled up to the board and wrote Ellie’s name beneath her mum’s.
Hayes went over to the whiteboard that she had drawn three equally spaced vertical lines down. At the top of each column she wrote the names of each of the victims: Colin Fisher, Brandy Reid and Kurt Austin.
She wrote the names of Fisher’s relatives beneath his name: Richard Fisher, Charlotte Edwards and Henry Curtis. And then she wrote the name of Kurt Austin’s partner underneath his name: Fernando Linares. “Here’s our next of kin for all three victims. This is going to get complicated.”
Three lists of interviewees, three lives to trawl through, which would lead to three shortlists of suspects. Hayes sighed, going back to her computer. She picked up her phone and dialled the number for the local council. It took her a while to connect to the right department.
After a lengthy exchange with the council worker, she finally managed to acquire the footage she needed, except she had to wait for the email to ping through, and she wouldn’t hold her breath for it arriving today. She leaned back and stretched. “How’re you getting on with Brandy’s background check?”
“She’s led a colourful life, I can tell you that much. Brandy Reid’s been in trouble most of her life, by the length of her sheet. At fourteen she was expelled from her first school for beating another girl up so badly she spent several weeks in hospital. The second expulsion was for having sex with her female history teacher.”
“Quite the charmer, then.” Hayes continued listening.
“It gets better. She eventually graduates with eight GCSEs in all the decent subjects, and not bad grades, mostly Bs, with a couple of Cs, so she’s not unintelligent. But it’s post-school that her record gets really interesting.”
“Go on! I’m listening.” Hayes sat back and took it all in.
“In and out for minor offences, the last one being solicitation. In all, she’s been inside five times, for a total of four years and eight months. Brandy’s been clean and out for six years. That’s where her sheet ends.”
“We’ll have to find out more about her through interviewing friends.”
“What about you? Have you found out much about Colin Fisher?”
“He has a record, but nowhere near as lengthy as our Brandy’s. Colin Fisher was arrested for solicitation back in 2009, and for ABH in 2012. One count of lewd behaviour in a public toilet. He’s only been sent down the once, though, an assault charge, and spent fifteen months inside.”
Having read out his criminal record, Hayes clicked on Google and typed in Colin’s name. Thousands of entries appeared on her monitor. There were already news reports of Fisher’s murder on various online news outlets. Clicking on one, she caught Miller’s attention. “They’re still shouting the gangland hit theory. One local reporter claims Fisher was into Melodi Demirci for thousands in gambling debts.”
“Demirci, why have heard that name before?” Miller went to her PC.
Pulling up another Google window, Hayes typed in the gangster’s name. “Melodi Demirci took over the family’s casino after her father was found dead in the car park. He had eight bullet wounds in the chest, a little over two years ago. It says here, in an interview with her, that she almost had to close the casino, but thanks to her business savvy, it’s now a profitable enterprise.”
“Yeah, I bet she’s a real pillar of the community. Here it says she was pulled in for questioning last year over