Devil in the Detail A.J. Cross (read full novel .TXT) 📖

and down the entire corridor. Hearing a voice from inside, he went in, closed the door, walked to the fifty-ish man sitting there and thrust his ID in his eyeline. ‘Police Constable Reynolds.’ His words hit every hard surface in the room. Wells smiled, waved him to a chair.

‘Non-uniform officer?’

‘Yes, sir. I’m here to ask about an employee of yours, Molly Lawrence.’

‘I assumed so. Would you like me to tell you about Molly or do you prefer to ask me questions?’

‘I’d appreciate your observations. Once I have them, I’ll ask any questions which I consider necessary.’ Reynolds took out his notebook and waited, impressed with his own gravitas.

Wells sat back, looking troubled. ‘Words are rather useless to describe how we’re feeling about what’s happened to Molly and her husband. A young couple with everything ahead of them.’ He looked across at Reynolds. ‘Molly has worked here for five years, possibly a little more. She’s our financial analyst.’

Reynolds frowned in his note-taking. ‘I understood she’s an accountant.’

‘Oh, Molly is much more than that. Insurance is a growth sector and this company is growing with it. If we become aware of a company which might fit our portfolio, Molly’s job is to evaluate it. Her analytical skills and commercial acumen are second to none.’

‘Right.’ Reynolds’ pen sped, some of the words making sense, others bypassing him. ‘Are you able to say anything about her as a person?’

‘Why do you ask?’

He stopped writing, his pulse-rate climbing. How to respond? That the police needed to know all that there was to know about anyone victimized by violent crime? That it was an important part of procedure to build a complete picture of all those involved, in whatever context? He looked up at Wells.

‘I’d appreciate an answer to my question, sir.’

Another smile. ‘Of course. Molly is honest, which hardly needs saying. She’s a friendly co-worker. She works hard and she’s reliable. I know that if I hand Molly a project, it will be done thoroughly and within any deadline required. You’re welcome to talk to other employees whose work brings them into contact with her. It’s a small circle. Molly has an assistant she works closely with and that’s about it.’

‘No one else?’

Wells shook his head. ‘Not that I can think of. Sometimes when that assistant is ultra-busy, Molly takes any basic jobs she wants done to our general admin worker. Unfortunately, she left three months ago. We have a temporary worker who replaced her but I’m not sure how informative she might be given the relatively short time she’s been here.’

Reynolds stood. ‘I’ll see Mrs Lawrence’s assistant first and then the temp.’

Wells reached for his desk phone. ‘I’ll alert them. There’s a vacant office next door. You’re welcome to use it.’

Ten minutes later, Reynolds was sitting facing a weeping woman, trying to recall anything from his training which might move the situation on. Nothing was coming back to him.

‘Mrs McBride, I’m sorry to have to ask you these questions, but we’re all working very hard at headquarters to find whoever did this to Mrs Lawrence and her husband. This is the only way we have of getting information which might help us do that.’ He searched for inspiration. ‘How about I ask somebody to make you a drink?’

She shook her head, applied a tissue to her face. ‘No, thanks. I’m sorry I’m wasting your time here.’

‘No—’

‘Molly wasn’t only my immediate boss. She was my friend.’ The tears continued.

Reynolds gave her an uncertain look. The crying was making him feel uncomfortable. Like, each time his mother watched Sleepless in Seattle. A life raft of words arrived in his head.

‘Might it help if you talk about her as your friend?’

She sent him an unsteady smile. ‘You’re very kind, very astute for such a young officer.’ She took a breath. ‘When I say Molly is a friend, obviously I’m several years older and we don’t socialize, beyond a glass of wine if it’s been a particularly hard day, but I suppose I take a motherly interest in her, which she seems to like. Her job here is very demanding, you see. My job is to make her workload easier by providing whatever she needs. She doesn’t have much opportunity to speak to her other colleagues but she does talk to me sometimes about herself … her life.’

Reynolds saw the woman’s mouth tremble and silently willed her on.

‘Molly and her husband were such a happy young couple. I’m not aware that they socialized much, probably because Mike, that was her husband … Oh, you know that, sorry. They were both so busy, with demanding careers.’ She smiled. ‘When I was doing up our house a couple of years back, Molly actually brought in some lovely sketches he’d done to give me ideas.’ She smiled. ‘Busy as he was, he’d actually done them for me. Wasn’t that nice of him?’

Reynolds nodded, steeling himself for more emotional outpouring.

‘You’re aware that Mrs Lawrence was pregnant,’ he said, his eyes fixed on his notes, listening to another emotional onslaught.

‘Yes. She told me, of course, although she didn’t say much about it. Well, you don’t when you’re only a few weeks along. All she did say was that they were both very pleased and, typical of Molly, she reassured me that she would be working from home as soon as she could after the baby was born … and be back in the office after her maternity leave.’ She sighed. ‘She told me about the date they had for the scan. She and Mike had agreed that they didn’t want to be told the baby’s sex.’ She looked up at Reynolds. ‘One of my hobbies is crocheting, so I made them a blue and pink baby blanket.’

‘Is there anything else you’d like to say which you think might help me – the police?’ McBride shook her head.

‘Mr Wells mentioned a general admin worker who might help.’

‘She left weeks ago.’ She looked at Reynolds. ‘There’s a temp but I doubt you’ll get anything useful