The Lost

Especially one who’d been suspended without pay.

Climbing out of Wilkes’s car, Jonah followed the big man up the drive to the front door. It was open, a wood-effect PVC with a frosted panel set in its top half. It didn’t appear to have been forced, so whoever had broken in must have found another way. But the house was a mess. Most of the rooms had been ransacked, drawers and cupboards emptied and the contents scattered on the floor. That would make it harder to determine what had been taken, but the signs suggested that it had been a rushed job. The house had a burglar alarm, and it seemed the thieves had torn through the house grabbing whatever valuable items they could carry before anyone responded. In the living room, a large, expensive TV and speaker had been left untouched, probably too big to move.

Marie wandered from room to room, propped up as she’d tearfully surveyed the damage. ‘Who’d do something like this?’ she kept repeating. ‘Today of all days? How can anyone be so heartless?’

Jonah picked his way through the house. The worst-hit room was Dylan’s bedroom. All his computer equipment had gone, along with a gaming console and headphones. The teenager seemed especially aggrieved that a pair of still-boxed trainers was missing as well.

‘Shit! Shit!’ he yelled, punching the wall. ‘What’s the point of having an alarm?’

‘Don’t swear,’ his mother pleaded. ‘It could have been worse—’

‘That’s all right for you to say, it’s not your stuff that’s gone! I didn’t want to go in the first place, I said it was a waste of time!’

‘Oh, don’t say that, Dylan! You know you don’t mean it!’

‘Spoilt as shite,’ Wilkes said under his breath as they turned away. ‘That’s his mother to thank for that. Gav wouldn’t have let him get away with it.’

At the back of the house, a panel in the rear porch had been smashed and the timber door frame inside was splintered. Wilkes crouched down to examine it, looking like a polo-necked Buddha as he nodded sagely.

‘Opportunists,’ he grunted. ‘Bastards keep an eye out for funeral notices, when they know everyone’s going to be out. Kicked the panel in, then crawled through and forced the lock on the door. Went for the computer stuff they knew they could flog and then legged it. They’d have been in and out in a few minutes.’

‘They must have been small,’ Jonah said, looking at the size of the broken panel.

‘Probably kids. Send the smallest through first to open up and let the rest in. Like a chimney sweep.’

Wilkes gave a wheezing laugh at his joke, but Jonah wasn’t convinced. ‘Look how jagged the edges of the wood are. Even a kid would risk getting snagged on that.’

‘So what? I’ve seen the bastards get through places you wouldn’t believe.’ His knees cracked as he heaved himself to his feet. ‘You’ve got forced access right here. Don’t overcomplicate it.’

Jonah still felt doubtful, but burglaries weren’t his field. By contrast, the ex-detective was in his element. He strutted around the house, bossing the two patrol officers there as though he were the SIO instead of a retired DC. After demanding to know when the SOCOs — scenes of crime officers — would arrive to dust for fingerprints and what follow-up enquiries would be carried out, Wilkes had seemed satisfied that he’d made enough of an impression.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll make it my personal business to get this sorted,’ he assured Marie.

She’d found an untouched glass and a bottle of wine and seemed to be picking up from where she’d left off at the wake. Her sisters were staying with her, and one of her brothers-in-law was going to secure the back door and porch, so once the police officers had left, Jonah couldn’t see any reason to stay. As he took his leave, Marie gave him a wine-scented hug that had him teetering on his crutches again.

‘Stay in touch, won’t you?’ she sniffed.

Jonah hugged her back. Sorry as he felt for her, it was still a relief to leave. Outside, it was cold, a chill in the air giving a foretaste of winter to the late-autumn twilight. But at least the burglary had put Wilkes in a better mood.

‘Rough day,’ he said, pulling on brown leather gloves as they walked down the path. His bad hip didn’t seem to be troubling him anymore, and he sounded more energised than he had all afternoon. ‘I thought Marie looked well, considering. Wouldn’t say no to her sisters, either.’

Jonah gave him a look, but Wilkes was too buoyed up to notice.

‘I’d offer you a lift but I’m not going your way,’ the big man said as they reached his car.

Jonah hadn’t told him where he lived, but he didn’t want a lift anyway. He was in no rush to spend any more time in the ex-detective’s company. It had been a long day, and he still hadn’t had a chance to process what he’d learned about Gavin, let alone Fletcher’s bombshell about Owen Stokes. He was tired, his knee was aching, and he’d not eaten since breakfast. All he wanted was to go back to his flat so he could try to order his thoughts.