Free The Rock by Robert Daws Page B

Sullivan asked.
    ‘Bloody well looks that way, doesn’t it?’
    *
    Thirty minutes later, Broderick and Sullivan came up on to the deck of the ‘Ailsa’. One of the keys the young policeman had handed his Chief Inspector had fit the lock of the boat’s cabin. Not that it had proved necessary, as the cabin door was already open. Down below, Broderick had been immediately struck by the immaculate nature of the boat’s interior. This came as no great surprise, as the limited confines of the living quarters dictated that order be maintained to avoid chaos. Broderick also noted that the late officer’s CD and DVD collection was meticulous in its alphabetic correctness and – more interestingly – the same faint smell of disinfectant he had noticed at Bryant’s apartment lingered in the shadowy interior of Ferra’s boat as well.
    Back on deck, Broderick stifled a sharp pain in his abdomen and blinked in the sunlight. Sullivan noticed his discomfort.
    ‘Are you alright, sir?’ she questioned.
    ‘A damn sight better than Ferra, so I’m not complaining.’
    Broderick took a deep lungful of the fresh sea air and turned to his detective sergeant.
    ‘So, what have we got so far? Ferra gets back from a night out, arrives here at his boat, climbs on board and hangs himself from the cross mast.’
    ‘So it would seem,’ Sullivan replied.
    ‘We know he’d dropped his keys in the car on his way home, so how did he open the cabin? How likely is it that he’d leave his boat unlocked all day?’
    ‘A spare key somewhere?’ Sullivan offered.
    ‘Anybody found one?’
    ‘No, sir.’
    Broderick looked out to sea, his mind trying to compose logic.‘So, like Bryant, he makes a noose from some rope and decides to end it all.’
    ‘Well, yes, but ...’
    ‘And like Bryant, no note.’
    ‘Suicide isn’t always planned out in advance, sir. It is a fact that sometimes the act is just a rash and spontaneous action. And even if there is no note here at the scene. There could be one elsewhere. Also, it’s far from unprecedented for friends to follow the tragic actions of another. Bryant killed himself and Ferra was drawn to do the same perhaps?’
    ‘I’m not saying you’re wrong Sullivan. It’s just that I have this saying. What you see is usually what you’ve got . So why do I have this small insistent voice inside telling me that in this case...it’s not?’

12
    Broderick sipped a double espresso at a corner table of the police canteen as Sullivan reiterated her theories about the deaths of Ferra and Bryant.
    ‘Both were traumatised by the accident and the death of Mrs Tavares, we know that much. Bryant took his life and Ferra decided to follow him. I saw him last night, guv, and he didn’t look too great.’
    ‘It’s possible, but it just doesn’t ring true somehow.’
    ‘Or maybe... who knows... they made some sort of double suicide pact. Stranger things have happened.’
    ‘Indeed they have.’
    Calbot entered the busy canteen and strode towards his colleagues.
    ‘Something interesting, guv.’
    ‘Oh yeah?’ Broderick didn’t even look up.
    ‘A woman across the marina saw a man walking away from Ferra’s boat at about 11:35 last night. Thought he looked a bit odd. It was too dark and too far away to get any useful description, apparently.’
    ‘Have the CCTV checks come back yet?’ Broderick asked.
    ‘That’s just the thing, guv. The CCTV in that part of the marina was down last night. Unidentifiable technical clitch, apparently.’
    Broderick threw his hands up in despair.
    ‘Great. Bloody great. One step forward, two steps back.’
    ‘Oh...and Massetti is wanting to see you, guv‘ Calbot added. ’Seemed quite agitated. In fact, I think it’s the first time I’ve ever heard her swear.’
    Calbot headed off . Broderick unhurredly continued to drink his coffee.
    *
    Fifty minutes later, Broderick bumped into Massetti as she was walking across the back yard of the police headquarters to her