The Eustice Murders (Complete)

*Chapter 13*

The following morning the guys were parking up just as captain Beesley was getting out of his car. "Morning," he greeted them, giving them a wave before pausing to wait for them to catch up.

"Morning," they both returned the acknowledgment while exiting their vehicle.

"So, how late did you guys stay last night? I noticed you were still at it when I left," the captain enquired as the three of them began to walk together.

"Oh, not too late," Sam told him. "Stayed for a couple of hours or so. We both had things we wanted to wrap up." The captain gave them a smile, clearly admiring their dedication. "While we're here," Sam continued, “how is detective Brookes coming along with the hotel stabbing?"

The captain grimaced slightly. "Frustrating, honestly; still no ID on the victim. However, they did find the murder weapon though, a kitchen knife from the hotel. Managed to get a decent set of prints from it too, although sadly no matches on the database."

Hank groaned while Sam shook his head in disappointment. "That's odd," Sam added.

"Presumably ruled out the chef?" he queried.

"I imagine so," the captain shrugged. "I didn't actually check but to be honest Brookes is a very good detective, I would have thought that would be the first thing she did.”

"Oh well," Hank nodded as they arrived at their temporary office. "Nice to catch up with you, have a good day." Captain Beesley returned the compliment and went on his way while Sam and Hank opened up the office, ready for another day.

Sam sat back in his chair and let out a large sigh. "Not having much luck with the hotel search, apart from being shareholders of course. These people don't seem to have anything in common at all; with any of them, not just Drummond."

"Hmm," Hank grumbled with a slight frown on his face. "Same story with the Apex staff, although I kind of expected that to be fair."

Sam looked up at the clock on the wall. "Still no word from the electrical wholesalers yet then?"

"No, good point," Hank answered, peering at the same clock.

"Could work in our favor though," Sam suggested. "Maybe give it another hour or so and if we still haven't heard back from them then could be worth paying them a visit. And then after that should be just about the right time to go and swing by the airport."

"Ah, I see," Hank smiled, finally realizing what his partner was getting at. "Sounds like a damn good plan to me!"

Sam switched his attention to the whiteboard, allowing his eyes to scan over all the notes he and his partner had added to it. "Come on now, who are you working with?" he muttered quietly to himself.

Hank got up from his chair, poured himself a coffee, and sat against the edge of the table, also staring at the whiteboard, hoping that some sort of pattern would emerge from it all or that something might jump out and give them something new to look into. Of course, it didn't after completely reorganizing the entire filing system, they both knew the case too well, and for all the research they had done, nothing new had materialized.

After two short knocks the office door opened and captain Beesley appeared. "Good news guys," he claimed, holding a file up in the air. "We've got the coroner’s report back. Now I don't know what you guys said to her but whatever it was it must have worked. Think this must be quickest we've ever got one of these back."

"Ah, perfect," Hank said, smiling at the captain. "Could do with having something else to look into," he added, taking the file from the captain before he could even put it down on the desk.

"Not having much luck then I take it?" The captain asked sympathetically.

"Not really," Sam answered as Hank eagerly opened up the file.

"What about the electrical wholesalers? Diabridge was it? Any luck with that?" The captain persevered.

"Funny you should mention that. We were just talking about that ourselves. To answer the question, no we haven't heard from them as yet. Hank and I were just saying we would give it until mid-day and if we still haven't heard from them then maybe we should pop out and see them."

"Sounds like a plan to me," the captain agreed. Hank was now oblivious to the conversation that went on as he scanned over the coroner’s report, his lips mouthing the words as he went, occasionally making the odd mumble and muttering sounds as he processed the information within it. He finally looked up to see both his partner and the captain smiling at him. "Interesting read?" the captain asked.

"Well, yes and no," Hank told him. "I'd have to go through it properly but from first glance, it doesn't contain anything we weren't expecting to see. It does, however," he continued, while making eye contact with Sam, "confirm the time of death as the same time we were attempting to follow Anthony Drummond."

"Not the one I pulled you away from?" The captain asked with a horrified look on his face.

"No, the second time, the time when Mr. Drummond was nowhere to be seen at all."

The relief on the captain’s face was clearly visible as Hank continued his thought process. "The thing I don't get though if Drummond was at the crime scene where was his wife? We were there pretty early, way before normal working hours, so she should have been home."

"Yes, good point," Sam added looking concerned. "Well, if you want to go through that report fully, I'll start looking into her activities to see if we can figure out where she may have been. Hopefully by the time we've done that we'll have some answers from Diabridge."

"Great, sounds like you two have plenty to do so I'll leave you to it," the captain told them, making his way towards the door.