Page 57 of The Other Side
“You have no right talking about her.” Purbeck was almost yelling.
“Everyone has asked me about her. These are close-knit communities. I’m doing my job, keeping my eyes peeled and responding to what I see and hear. I’ve told them I don’t know anything. Sir.” He didn’t care if Purbeck thought that pause before he called him sir was deliberate or not.
“If you’re short of something to do, other than interfere with my investigation, you can stand guard outside her home. Get here now.”
The phone went dead. Fuck. Drum drove to Calver.
There was one car parked outside the cottage. The tape was waving in the wind. Drum walked down the path to the front door and pushed it open with his toe. He couldn’t hear anyone. The place already looked abandoned. Drum stepped towards the kitchen. In his experience it was the place where coppers tended to congregate. Purbeck spun round as he walked in.
“What the fuck!” Purbeck yelled as he jerked back.
“I didn’t mean to make you jump, sir. Sorry.”
The moment that came out of his mouth, Drum knew saying it had been a mistake. This was a guy who would never admit to being surprised, but he’d seen the panic in Purbeck’s eyes.
“You didn’t make me fucking jump. What are you doing inside the house?”
“You asked me to come, sir.”
“You should have knocked.”
“Sorry, sir.”
Purbeck scowled. “So what do you think?”
“I should have knocked.”
“Not that, you idiot. What do you think about the case?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“You must have an opinion.”
“I don’t know what motive there could be. She was an old lady of apparently modest means, liked by her friends. She either knew the person who killed her and let them in, or they used the key under the flowerpot and put it back after they’d killed her.”
“How did you know that was there? Should I be looking at you for this?”
Fucking arsehole. Drum kept calm. “I didn’t know it was there. I was going to force entry and thought I’d look around just in case. There was hair on the floor in the bathroom. I mentioned that in my report. Did forensics spot that? Because it looked as though a chunk had been taken out of her hair.”
“Sir!”
“Sorry—sir.”
“Think it’s a local?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
Purbeck glared. “You’re supposed to have your fingers on the pulse of this community.”
“I’ve been in the job for less than a week, sir.”
That got him a snort of annoyance.
“Is there any forensic evidence, sir?”
“Something you didn’t touch?”
Drum stiffened.
