Tell Tale: A DI Charlotte Savage Novel. Mark Sennen

a tenant of yours, correct?’

      ‘Yes,’ Foster said. ‘Although she was behind with the rent. She hadn’t paid for three months.’

      ‘I see. But you let her stay anyway for free.’

      ‘Well, I’m not an ogre. Bloody nightmare now though, isn’t it?’

      Ana, he explained, had come to him pleading poverty. Money she’d been expecting from Hungary hadn’t come through and she’d begged for a grace period. One month became two and then three. Foster tutted to himself.

      ‘I was too soft, but the lass was foreign and I felt sorry for her.’

      ‘And was that all you felt?’

      ‘Hey? I don’t get your drift?’

      ‘What about her, Mr Foster?’ Calter said. ‘Did she get your drift?’

      ‘I—’

      ‘“Good-looking lass like her goes missing you can only think one thing.” Wasn’t that what you just said to us, Mr Foster? Sounded a little bit like a confession to me.’

      ‘Don’t be bloody ridiculous. As soon as Ana went missing I was concerned about her.’

      Savage pointed at the office set-up. ‘What is it you do, Mr Foster?’

      ‘This and that. A bit of trading, a few properties, some other stuff.’

      ‘This other stuff, wouldn’t happen to involve the internet, would it?’

      ‘Sure. What doesn’t these days? I used to work up in London, but now I do everything from here. Some people moan about progress, but I say bring it on.’

      ‘So you know a bit about technology then?’ Savage looked across at the computers again. ‘You know how to set up networks and that sort of thing?’

      ‘Of course.’ Foster swivelled his chair from side to side, something like a nervous twitch. ‘What’s this got to do with Ana’s disappearance?’

      ‘We’ve found a hidden webcam in her room,’ Savage said. ‘Was that part of the deal? Is that the reason you were quite happy for her to stay, despite her being in arrears? Or maybe there were other reasons. Maybe you had something else in mind too.’

      ‘Web—’ Foster coughed and then swivelled back to face his desk. He reached for a bottle of spring water and unscrewed the top. Three gulps, and he’d composed himself. ‘Don’t know nothing about no webcam. Those girls, well they get up to all sorts, you know. Little minxes, the lot of them.’

      ‘Minxes, really? So if we were to examine the camera for fingerprints we wouldn’t find any of yours on there? If we took a look at your computers or phone there’d be nothing to indicate you’ve ever accessed this webcam?’

      ‘There … I …’ Foster raised the bottle to his lips again.

      ‘Yes?’

      ‘Accidental. Might have just taken a look when my laptop connected without me knowing.’

      ‘You take your laptop to the property, do you?’

      ‘Yes, I mean no. Not usually. Now and again maybe if I need to sort out the internet connection in the house.’

      ‘And you used the laptop to view this webcam which you knew nothing about?’

      ‘Yes, that’s about the gist of it.’

      ‘You watched Ana stripping off and you got excited, didn’t you? I don’t blame you. From the pictures I’ve seen of her she was a very attractive young woman. You must have found it hard to resist going inside and telling her how much you enjoyed watching her. Maybe you didn’t resist. Maybe she was the one who resisted. Maybe you didn’t like the way she repaid your kindness.’

      ‘You’re crazy. I never touched the girl.’

      ‘The camera, Mr Foster.’ Calter had stood. Full height, she cut an imposing figure. ‘The explanation of how it got there would go some way to getting you out of the sticky situation you’re in.’

      ‘The camera …?’

      ‘Don’t mess around with us,’ Savage said. She crossed to one of the desks and jabbed at a screen. ‘Because I’m jumping to conclusions and there’s only two of them. One, you’re a dirty little pervert who got off on watching Ana. Two, ditto the first conclusion, only – to coin a phrase – watching wasn’t enough. It’s your call, Mr Foster, which is it to be?’

      ‘This is a fucking stitch-up.’ Foster was on his feet now as well, his chair rotating round and round as he pushed it away. ‘Hobson’s bloody choice. Either way I’m in a whole heap of trouble.’

      ‘You said it. Best you tell us the truth then, hey? We’re going to be examining these computers, looking at your business receipts, checking to see if anybody else could have placed that camera in Ana’s room.’

      ‘Shit.’ Foster put his arm out to stop the chair revolving. Shook his head and then reached out for a nearby phone.

      ‘Put that down please,’ Savage said. ‘You’re coming with us.’

      ‘Sure. But I get to make a phone call first, right? My lawyer. I pay her enough – ’bout time she got off her fat arse and did some work.’

      It was the best part of two hours later before they arrived at the scene. Davies had insisted on lunch. ‘Something warm inside us,’ he’d said. ‘Be cold up there.’

      Riley had shaken his head, not much impressed. Now though, he was glad they’d eaten. He stood with his back to a strong breeze, his waterproof flapping wildly until he managed to zip up the front. The wind came from the east, scudding over a ridge and down a hill scattered with low bracken and gorse. Above them the sky was blue, nothing to obscure the sun’s rays, but Davies’ meteorological prediction was spot on. Unlike yesterday, the air temperature was struggling to get into the teens. In August.

      Waterproof secured, Riley looked down at the pony again. The animal lay at the centre of a small stone circle, the circle on a plateau set into the hillside. A dozen jagged rocks poked above the heather and grass, the largest barely above knee height, the whole circle with a diameter of perhaps fifteen metres. Stonehenge, it wasn’t. This time though, Riley thought, there really wasn’t much doubt about the cause of death.

      The animal lay on its back, a huge gash down the centre running from the base of the tail to the neck. The ribcage had been opened, all four legs forced back and down so the beast was spread-eagled. A mass of entrails lay on the ground to one side; heart, lungs, kidneys and other blobs of flesh Riley couldn’t identify. A little farther away some of the intestines had been laid in a rough circle, the remaining lengths criss-crossed in triangle shapes over the top. Another pentagram.