Page 21 of Murder in Shades of Fire and Ash

Unexpectedly, Charlie slept.

16

Monday morning

Charlie woke up at six a.m. with a stiff neck, a headache and the strong feeling that he needed to add “Access to the back door of the shop,” to his list. Because whilst the fire had been started from outside the empty shop, the murderer must have had access to the back door and the staircase. That meant keys, and keys probably meant either the Hassans or the Estate Agents. Someone else could have acquired keys, but those two seemed like the obvious starting point. He found his list on the floor by his makeshift bed, and there it was:find out who had access to the shop.He stretched and wished he hadn’t as every muscle twinged. Despite the early hour, the temperature in the break room was unpleasantly hot and sweaty — Charlie assumed that the night had been no cooler than the day. He looked at the weather app on his phone. It was going to be another scorcher.

The headache he could deal with. Neck stretches and a large glass of water. That done, it would be time for coffee and whatever was left in the fridge from the parcel of food Tom had given him.

Tom. Charlie wanted to see his husband, kiss and cuddle him, talk to him, get back to how they should be. They couldsort this out, and they would. Soon. For now, he sent a message:Morning!With a heart emoji. Then he put his phone in his pocket, because their problem wasn’t going to be sorted out by text message. When the phone chirped, Charlie assumed the message was from Tom, so he left it, until it chirped again, and again.

DI Ravensbourne:Local press have got news of Unwin’s murder. Insinuations about his sex life. Someone’s been talking, possibly for money. Be careful. The nationals will pick it up soon.

He senta thumbs up emoji back and cursed loudly. So loudly that he didn’t hear the door open or Eddy’s footsteps along the corridor.

“Good morning to you, as well,” Eddy said, his eyes running over Charlie’s bare chest and legs.

“Make some coffee,” Charlie growled and gathered his clean clothes. There was time to wash and dress before he shared the bad media news with Eddy.

It turned out Eddy already knew.

“It was on the local radio news this morning,” he said. “Mam heard it and told me. We made sure Patsy didn’t hear, but she’s bound to find out. They didn’t say anything about Unwin’s personal life, but they did name him. Of course, they mentioned that this wasn’t the first murder case we’ve had in the town.”

It was going to make everything much harder.

Eddy had made coffee, and he’d brought some of his mother’s home-made Welsh cakes to add to the breakfast supplies.

“Mags is trying to find if Jeff Britton is a real fire fighter, or conversely, a known arsonist,” Charlie said. “We’ll get a coupleof helpers from HQ today, and I’d like them to construct a timeline of Unwin’s movements from the last time he was seen at work. Can you put a request in for his phone records? And start harassing the crime scene people? I’m going to get those estate agents out of bed. We need to know who could get access to the shop.”

“When we got there, the back door was open,” Eddy said. “The question is, was it open all night?”

Charlie nodded. “Quite. There was no sign of breaking and entering that I could see. Jeff Britton, or whatever his name is, just opened the door. I’m going to find out who had a key.”

It was shortlybefore eight when Charlie got to the estate agents, and there was aClosedsign on the door. He could see someone moving around at the back of the office, so he hammered on the glass until Huw Jones came into view, looking irritated.

His expression changed when he recognised who was knocking. He unlocked and opened the door to let Charlie in, and then carefully re-locked it, before ushering Charlie to the back, where there was an office not unlike his own, carved out of the bigger space.

“What can I help you with?” Huw said, sliding behind his desk and waving Charlie to a visitors’ chair, as if they were meeting about a house purchase.

Um, no. this isn’t business as usual.

Charlie didn’t sit down. “The shop next door. Specifically, who has a key to the back door?”

Huw looked puzzled. “Surely it was a break-in?”

Charlie shook his head. “It looks like someone used a key. So, who has keys?”

“We do. In a locked key cabinet. Well, I say locked, it’s usually open during the day, and all the staff have keys to it anyway. But the actual keys aren’t labelled with the address of the property. There’s a numbering system. On everyone’s computers. Not foolproof, but good enough to stop a casual burglar.”

It was what Charlie had expected. Huw Jones was right. It would stop a casual burglar. He wondered if Huw had considered the implications.

“What about the previous tenants? Would they have a key?”

The estate agent shook his head. “Don’t think so. I mean, they might have made a copy, but I’m pretty sure we got all the keys back. If they kept a key, it would be by mistake. I’ve known them for years.”

“We need to check,” Charlie said and

watched realisation dawn on the other man’s face.

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