Devil in the Detail by A.J. Cross (love letters to the dead .TXT) 📗

‘The two shots they heard seem too early to me.’

Judd was silent, then said, ‘How many shots are fired in the city per night, do you think?’

‘My optimistic side says very few. It’s possible they heard a car backfire. Or fireworks.’ He took out his phone. She listened. He was onto Jonesy in the incident room.

‘Request city centre CCTV footage as a matter of urgency. All possible vehicle routes from Newhall Street into the inner city and the Forge Street area.’ He ended the call. ‘Let’s hope that turns up something.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Almost four thirty. We’ve got somewhere else to be, Judd. The home of Christy Williams, the sixth victim of the Bristol Road interchange carjacking series on Friday the thirtieth of November. She’s expecting us.’

‘Why her?’

‘Because she was physically injured, but more to the point, she claims she saw a gun during the attack on her. Even more to the point, the Lawrences were shot just three days later.’

She studied him as he reversed the BMW. ‘You stressed, Sarge?’

He was thinking about a criminologist and academic he knew and how he might approach this investigation.

‘No. Just considering all possible angles.’

4.50 p.m.

They stepped inside the overheated Kings Heath terraced house, Ms Williams’ partner leading the way along the hall, his voice low.

‘I need to warn you, she’s still a bit rocky, not dealing very well with sudden, unexpected movement, particularly on her left side.’ He stopped, slowly opened a door. ‘Christy? It’s Detective Inspector Watts and a colleague.’ He stood to one side. ‘I’ll leave you to it,’ he said quietly.

Going inside the room they were hit by a wall of heat, a gas fire blazing. Watts introduced himself and Judd to the thirty-year-old woman with long blonde hair wearing a heavy red sweater.

She looked up at them. ‘Sorry, I know it’s hot in here, but I can’t seem to keep warm.’

‘It’s not a problem.’ Watts glanced at her heavily bandaged left hand propped up on a cushion.

She gave him a shaky smile. ‘I never realized how inconvenient it is having only one usable hand.’

He took out his notebook. Judd did the same. He kept it simple. ‘We need your account of what happened, Ms Williams.’

She nodded. ‘I reported it to the local police when I got home. They rang this morning to tell me you’d want me to go through it at some time.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I left my office which is just beyond the mosque on Friday afternoon. It was raining. Getting dark. I put my briefcase on the passenger seat … I don’t usually do that. I won’t do it again, ever. I joined the dual carriageway, turned right at the traffic island and followed it down to the Bristol Road. I was preoccupied about some work I had to do at the weekend.’ She gazed at the fire. ‘The traffic was bad. Really heavy. As I reached the lights, they changed to red. I pulled up close behind the car in front of me.’ She looked at Judd. ‘After I reported it, two officers came here. I was advised not to pull too close in future …’ She paused. ‘So, there’s room for manoeuvre if needed.’

She looked down at her bandaged hand. ‘I was just sitting there, waiting for the lights, when I sensed something, a movement close to the passenger window, a dark shape. That’s when the side of my car sort of exploded.’ She took a couple of breaths. ‘Glass flying everywhere, hitting my hair, wind and rain coming inside the car onto my face and … suddenly, an arm appeared.’ She looked across at Watts. ‘Crazy, I know, but without thinking, I reached out, grabbed my briefcase.’ She took another deep breath. ‘It was really nice. Mulberry.’

‘What happened then?’ asked Watts.

‘I gripped the briefcase, felt him pull at it. That’s when I saw it. The gun. At least, I think it was a gun.’

Watts sent Judd a quick look. She sat forward, keeping her voice low. ‘Christy, how sure were you at the time that it was a gun?’

‘I don’t know … eighty per cent? He was holding something. He used it on my hand. Something heavy, like metal. The next thing, my hand felt like it was on fire. He shouted at me and then … he was gone, just disappeared.’

‘He shouted. Can you tell us about that?’

‘He said something like, “That’s one easy way to get yourself killed, lady.” I think that’s what convinced me it was a gun.’ She looked up. ‘I keep going over and over the whole thing. I’m sorry. I can’t be one hundred per cent it was a gun, but it’s what I thought at the time.’

Watts allowed a short pause. ‘In your witness statement taken shortly afterwards, you said you believed he was armed.’

‘That’s right. I actually thought that he had shot me in the hand. The whole incident lasted seconds but … I didn’t hear anything like a shot.’ She looked at her hand. ‘At the hospital I was told that he had struck my hand very hard with something heavy. They were worried that there might be some long-term damage but I can move my fingers a little now, see? I’m hoping that it’ll be all right.’

‘Can you tell us anything else about this man that isn’t in your statement?’

‘I’ve thought about it. I didn’t see his face but I can tell you that he was strong. My briefcase was crammed full, really heavy, but he pulled it through the car window as if it was nothing. He sounded confident when he spoke. I watched him run. He was agile. He moved like a young person.’

Inside the BMW, Watts looked down at his notes. ‘The picture I’m getting of the person she described is confident.’ He looked across at Judd. ‘And confidence suggests what?’

‘He’s done it before.’

‘Five previous times would do it, wouldn’t you say?’ He started the engine. ‘The question now is who is he,