Chapter 9

Tiff stood just one step behind Sergeant Kendrick as he knocked on the door of an end terrace in Netherton.

Despite the small Citro?n on the drive, no one appeared to be home. Sergeant Kendrick wasn't known for taking no for an answer and knocked again – harder.

After another minute, they heard two locks being turned and a chain engaged. The door opened a crack to reveal a young man, probably early twenties, Tiff guessed.

‘Is Olivia Dench home?' Kendrick asked.

‘Who wants to know?'

‘Police,' Kendrick answered, pointing to his uniform, which kind of gave the game away.

The chain disengaged and the door opened, giving them a better look at the man on the other side. Tiff guessed him to be around six feet tall with a muscular build but not excessively so. He wasn't a gym bunny.

‘I'm her son, Logan. Can I help?' he asked, opening the door wider.

‘May we come in?'

He hesitated before nodding.

They stepped inside.

‘It's about the missing person report your mother filed,' Kendrick said, looking past him.

Logan waited for more detail.

‘Is she here?' Kendrick repeated.

‘Sorry. Yes. Of course. Mom,' he called down the hallway.

A woman appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a tea towel. She was dressed in plain black trousers and a white polo-neck shirt. She wore no make-up, and her hair was short and tidy, if not particularly well styled. Her face said early to mid-forties, but her overall appearance said ten years older.

‘May we sit somewhere, Mrs Dench?' Kendrick asked.

She nodded towards the lounge.

Once they'd all entered, Logan took a seat next to his mother.

‘You've found him, haven't you?' she asked, looking from one to the other.

‘Let them speak, Mom,' Logan snapped.

Tiff said nothing. She was here as an observer only. And as such she'd noticed the very faint expression of irritation that had crossed Olivia's face when Logan had sat down beside her.

To be fair, there was nowhere else for him to sit.

‘I'm afraid to say that a body was recovered from a fishing pool in Dudley earlier today. We believe it to be James Nixon.'

A small cry escaped Olivia's mouth as Logan placed an arm around her shoulders.

‘Are you sure?' she asked, turning reddened eyes on them.

‘Given the description you gave us, we're reasonably certain it's the man you reported missing.'

‘Oh God,' she said, dropping her head.

Logan squeezed her tighter.

‘We understand you'd been seeing him for a few months. Did he have any family we can contact?' Kendrick asked.

‘His only relative is a sister who lives in Italy. They're not close,' Olivia offered tremulously.

Tiff knew where this was going. They needed someone reasonably close to the man.

‘We'll need someone to formally identify the body,' Kendrick said.

‘I'll do it,' Logan volunteered immediately as another small cry escaped from Olivia's lips.

‘Are you sure?' Kendrick asked.

‘Absolutely. I can't have Mom go through that. Just let me know when and I'll do it.'

He took out his phone and recited his number.

Tiff entered it in her pocket notebook.

‘And would you have a number for James's sister?'

‘It's in my phone,' Olivia said.

‘I'll get it,' Logan said, heading out of the room.

Tiff heard the patter of footsteps going up the stairs. Within seconds, he was back with them. He handed Kendrick the phone, already unlocked, and retook his place beside his mother.

‘Her name is Esther,' Olivia offered.

Kendrick scrolled down and clicked on the contact number, which Tiff also logged in her notebook. The sarge handed the phone back to Olivia, who put it in her pocket.

‘May I ask where he was found?' Logan asked.

‘Donkey Pool,' Kendrick told him. ‘There'll be a post-mortem to determine a cause of death and potentially an investigation, but that will be handled by CID.'

‘You don't think someone could have hurt him?' Olivia asked.

‘Not our area, I'm afraid,' Kendrick said, placing his palms on his knees as though to stand.

Tiff had seen a pensive expression flit across Logan's face. She was here as an observer only and wasn't sure what to do. Sarge hadn't noticed, and she didn't want to step on any toes, but she resolved that she'd rather be bollocked for something she did rather than didn't do.

‘Logan, are you okay?' she asked, leaning forward.

‘Yes, yes, I'm fine. It's probably nothing.'

‘Tell us, lad,' Kendrick urged, retaking control.

‘Well, it's just that I'm not surprised you found him there. It was his favourite place to fish. He loved it. And…' He looked towards his mum uncomfortably.

‘Go on, Logan.'

‘Well, he was suffering from depression.'

Olivia's head snapped towards her son.

‘Sorry, Mom, but he didn't want you to know. He knew you'd want to try and fix him and that you'd feel bad if you couldn't.' Logan turned towards them again. ‘He didn't want Mom thinking she wasn't enough for him, that she wasn't worth living for. He just wanted to deal with the dark thoughts in his own way.'

‘Had he talked about taking his own life?' Kendrick asked.

‘He hadn't said those exact words, but he'd said he wanted peace, to escape his own head,' Logan said, tapping his temple.

‘Okay, thanks. Be sure to pass that on to the person investigating his death. Mrs Dench, we're very sorry for your loss.'

‘Thank you,' Olivia said, without meeting their gaze.

‘We'll see ourselves out.'

‘It's okay,' Logan said, rising. ‘I'll lock the door.'

They said their goodbyes on the doorstep.

Tiff followed Kendrick up the path and heard the locks click. She had an odd feeling in her stomach that she couldn't place, but her mind kept going to the tea towel that Olivia Dench had been holding. Throughout the entire conversation when they had informed her that her boyfriend's body had been recovered, she hadn't let go of it once.