Restless Dead (Harry Grimm Book 5) by David Gatward (english reading book TXT) 📗

Harry left the room only to find Matt chasing after him.

‘Everything alright, Boss?’

‘No, it bloody well isn’t!’ Harry said, trying to rub the tiredness away from his eyes, and failing. ‘What is any of this other than a complete mess that makes no sense to anyone? We’re investigating a suspicious death by interviewing someone who reckons she can talk to the dead but at the same time admits to basically faking it! And we can’t really arrest her on that, because she’s not defrauding people out of money, and I doubt there’s any link between her and the family other than James contacting her to do what she did! So, where are we? No, don’t answer, because I’ll tell you. Nowhere at all, that’s where!’

Harry took in a heavy breath through his nose, exhaling with the sound of an angry bull.

‘Maybe it was suicide,’ Matt suggested. ‘I mean, it could’ve been, couldn’t it?’

‘No, I’m not buying that,’ Harry said. ‘Someone wants us to believe that, I’m sure, and all this stuff with James seeing things and the séance, well I think that’s just given whoever it was a nice smokescreen to hide behind. But it’s not enough. Something here just doesn’t smell right, not right at all. In fact, it absolutely bloody stinks.’

‘What, though?’ Matt asked.

‘Every last bit of it,’ Harry said, and turned away, leaving DS Dinsdale alone in the corridor as PCSO Jim Metcalf entered the building.

‘You got a minute, Boss?’ Jim asked.

‘No,’ Harry said.

‘Didn’t think so,’ Jim said. ‘But I’ve just got back from chatting with Anthony.’

‘Ruth’s son?’

‘Yeah,’ Jim said.

‘And?’

‘And I think I’ve found our intruder.’

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Harry leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

‘And you’re sure about this?’

‘He told me himself,’ Jim said.

‘So why didn’t he or his mum admit it earlier, then?’ Harry asked.

‘A mix of things I think,’ Jim said. ‘Ruth was definitely very embarrassed, and to be honest, I don’t think she connected the dots. You know, her dad thinking he’d seen her mum, and her son, Anthony, disappearing into the woods.’

Harry was getting a headache. And he didn’t do headaches. ‘Run me through it again,’ he said, leaning forward to scratch Fly’s head, the dog sitting between himself and Jim. ‘Just so I’m clear.’

‘Anthony’s been having trouble at school,’ Jim said. ‘I think he’s just found the whole teenage thing a bit much to cope with, like some do, you know? And he’s drifted a bit from friends, bit of a loner I’m guessing.’

‘So, he’s been having time off school,’ Harry said.

‘Yes,’ Jim said. ‘Ruth’s been covering for him, giving excuses. Sometimes he’s up in his bedroom, other times he’s out in the woods.’

‘And you said he’s got a little den out there or something?’

‘It’s some of his granddad’s old military kit,’ Jim explained. ‘It’s pretty cool actually. He’s got a shelter, with a fire nearby, a little woodpile, some mess tins. I think he just goes out there to clear his head. It’s not like he creeps around the house to get there. He just heads out if he needs to. Only Ruth knows about it. And I spoke with her and she said that her dad and her mum had no idea about it either, mainly because she didn’t want them worrying about Anthony.’

‘Still seems a stretch to me,’ Harry said.

‘She thinks she’s the black sheep of the family,’ Jim said. ‘You know, the one with the divorce, the one still living with her parents, while her sister and husband are out there being all successful. Proud, I think. Wants to deal with things herself.’

‘So, there’s no intruder then,’ Harry said. ‘It was Anthony all along.’

‘Well, yes and no,’ Jim said. ‘It was definitely him the second time, that’s for sure, you know, when Liz and Jen went out to the house? But the first time, Anthony swears it wasn’t him and that he was in his room the whole time.’

‘And was he?’

‘Can’t prove it either way,’ Jim said, ‘but I can’t see why he’d lie about it when it’s already clear that the other time was definitely him. And he’s nothing to gain from lying either, has he?’

‘No,’ Harry said, a grumbling rumble in his voice, ‘I suppose not. What did he have to say about the séance?’

‘Well, he’s confirmed everything we know so far about it, the knocking at the window and whatnot. He actually saw her out of the house once it was all done.’

‘And he went to bed right after, like everyone else,’ Harry said.

Jim looked down at his notebook to check his notes. ‘He saw his uncle and his granddad having a whisky together and then he went home with his mum.’

‘And now, here we are,’ Harry said.

‘Oh, and he repeated what everyone else had said about the medium talking about the bright light, and he said that bit was the weirdest part of the whole evening.’

‘How so?’ Harry asked.

Again, Jim checked his notes and read from them. ‘What Anthony actually said was, “She said she saw a bright light on an empty road and it blinded her.”’

‘An empty road?’ Harry said, remembering what Beverly had told him and Matt. ‘He said that?’

‘Yes,’ Jim said, shaking his head. ‘That’s what she said to him apparently, just before she left.’

Harry had had enough and pushed himself up onto his feet. ‘Well, thanks for going out to chat with him,’ he said. ‘And at least the whole intruder thing is cleared up.’

‘What about the first time, though?’ Jim asked.

‘Could’ve been anything,’ Harry said. ‘I think James was under massive strain. You doing anything this evening, then?’

‘Meeting up with Neil,’ Jim said. ‘He’s coming over. You know, he’s been over to visit my dad at least three times since it all happened.’

‘That’s good of him,’ Harry said and made his way over to the door. ‘You have a good evening then and send my regards to your dad. Tell him we’re doing everything we can.’

‘I will,’ Jim said.

Outside, and walking back to his flat,