‘All crime scenes are horrible when we first go back to them,’ Holly said, dragging her eyes away from the floor, ‘but this one especially so. I can’t understand why he killed them. He could have run when he heard the sirens, without pulling that trigger.’
‘You think he came in to kill them? Not for the money?’ Tom looked at Holly. This was why he enjoyed working with her, she thought outside the box first, then went inside it afterwards. ‘I must admit I thought it was over the top for the amount of money he took, but these two ladies were middle-aged mums, not the normal target group for being murdered. They had good jobs, both married with kids, ordinary people.’
Holly frowned and moved through the open staff door to behind the counter. She pulled Carla’s chair forward and sat on it, looking onto the shop floor.
‘It must have been so terrifying,’ Holly murmured. ‘That white mask, black clothes, the gun… Anybody doing this job must take it on, knowing they could be held up at either gun or knifepoint, and yet still they do it. And let’s face it, they have precious little protection, and gambling is a huge business with massive profits. Strikes me they don’t plough much back into the security of these places. I know they’re doing it for this shop now, but if they’d done it before…’
‘I couldn’t agree more. If that window had been clear glass, they would have seen him and they could have prevented him getting in. Instead of security they’re given training into what to do if it happens. That can’t be right, surely. Wait while the coroner gets all these details, he’ll properly go to town on the failings in the gambling industry.’
Holly looked under the desk and located the alarm button. ‘I’m assuming Carla Andrews didn’t press this because his eyes were on her all the time?’
‘I think so. She would know Lorraine would press it at the first opportunity. I wonder what would have happened if Carla had been on her own.’
‘You’re not telling me they let one person man these shops?’
Tom nodded. ‘They certainly do. I imagine it’s even worse at night when you’re single manning, when it’s dark outside and you’ve to do the locking up, bring down the shutters, secure them… all with your back to the outside world. Carla was tiny, nothing about her, she wouldn’t have stood a chance under those circumstances, would she? It’s time for major reform of the entire gambling industry, methinks.’
‘Methinks too,’ Holly responded. ‘I wouldn’t do it for anything. God, they must have been so scared, and it would have been that bloody mask that did it. They’d never have expected him to actually use the gun, the threat would have been enough.’
Tom walked through into the tiny kitchen area that housed the tea and coffee-making equipment, and the safe. The safe door had been left open. He glanced around, taking in the feel of it, realising how close the man had been to Carla, there simply wasn’t enough room for two people in the small space. All of it intimidation towards the shop manager.
He hadn’t targeted Lorraine until the end, it had all been about Carla. Was that because she had the word Manager on the back of her T-shirt, or was there some other reason? If Carla had been the intended victim, why? A dispute with a customer?
Tom took out his notebook and wrote down his thoughts. They could check with Sanderson’s head office for any customer complaints. It seemed a bit of an extreme action to take for not paying out on a suspicious bet.
Tom sighed and backed out of the kitchen. ‘No turning room in there. And he was in with Carla. Certainly wasn’t a big bloke, was he?’
‘Nope, especially not if he was a woman.’
‘You’re right. Let’s have the husbands in tomorrow morning and looking at the CCTV. We’ll stop it before the point where their wives were shot, they’ll have already seen the bulk of it by that stage. You really think it could have been a woman?’
Holly waggled her fingers to show she was ambivalent on the subject. ‘She didn’t have boobs, if it was a woman, but you can flatten them.’
‘You couldn’t.’ Oh shit. Tom stared at this colleague. ‘God, Holly, I’m sorry. Out of order.’
She sank back on to Carla’s chair creased in laughter. ‘Tom Fowler, you’re priceless. And you’re right, I couldn’t. But if you’re a woman of, say, a size ten, you could. Seriously, I’m not convinced it’s a man, but I do query a woman being able to coldly pull that trigger, twice. Think we have faithful husbands here?’
‘Probably not. Are husbands faithful? Does it go with the territory?’
‘Would you be?’
‘Definitely. I never underestimate a woman, and I’d be far too scared of what she would do if she caught me cheating. I know we’ve got Adele and Diane doing the in-depth on the husbands, but they’re not going to find evidence of infidelity on a computer, are they?’
‘Leave that with me,’ Holly said. ‘If either – or both – of them are playing away, I’ll find out. I’ve had practice…’
Tom looked at her.
‘Yep. A cheating ex, and he thought I wouldn’t know. That’s why he’s the ex.’
‘No second chance then?’ Tom laughed. He hadn’t known there had been a significant ex.
‘Not an earthly. I let him keep his balls, but I verbally destroyed him, and burned his clothes. Then I screwed his best mate.’
‘You didn’t…’
‘I certainly did. And took a photo as proof. Let’s have a selfie, I said to his mate. They’re not mates now.’
Tom stared. ‘I’ll remember never to cross you.’
She smiled at him. ‘You wouldn’t. I was young. Now I know which men are the okay ones, and you’re in that category. Are we done here? You need anything else?’
‘No, I’m done I think. I can’t see us having to come back here. I needed to walk through what happened. Shall we go and get a coffee and discuss what we do next?’
‘About what?’ She winked at him and left the shop.
She was running rings around him, and he knew it.
He’d asked her to go out with him for a meal. He sat in complete shock, digesting her answer. Yes. And then she had followed up with, It’s taken you long enough to ask me.
He waved a hand at the waitress and ordered two further coffees, then pulled his notebook towards him. He couldn’t concentrate at all, and knew that wasn’t good. For so long he had considered taking Holly for a coffee, and slowly leading up to the date issue.
The waitress had brought their first coffees to the table, and Tom had blurted out to Holly that he would like to take her for a meal.
Yes.
And then she had laughed at his expression.
Now they were on to their second coffees and he had arranged to pick her up Saturday night at seven.
She pulled his notebook towards her, and wrote Saturday at seven in it, then handed it back. ‘Don’t include that if you have to read from your notebook in court.’ She grinned. ‘Where are we going?’
‘I’ve absolutely no idea. I didn’t even know I was going to ask you. You have a preference?’
‘Not at all. I like anything, so wherever you choose will be fine with me.’