Riddled on the Sands (The Lakeland Murders) (15 page)

‘Shit. I didn’t know that.’

‘The clue’s in the name, Ray. That’s why it’s called a satellite phone. The phone talks to the satellite. So it could have been anywhere, pretty much.’

Normally that would have earned Matt an earful, but not today.

‘Right, you two. Drop everything and get this sorted. I want to know everything, everything mind, that there is to know about that satellite phone, and I want to know it this morning.’

Two hours later Dixon was sitting alongside Ian Mann in Andy Hall’s office.

‘Nice one, Ray’ said Hall.

‘It was you who got those bloody kids in to help. I would never have known otherwise. So what’s the craic from here then, boss? Bring Capstick in?’

‘Ian?’ asked Hall. ‘What’s your feeling?’

‘Do we know if he’d called that sat-phone, or any other, previously?’

Dixon shook his head. ‘Not yet. But they will know, for both the numbers that Capstick has. They say it’ll take another few hours. I’ve only asked them to go back twelve months though. Is that right?’

‘That’s plenty’ said Hall. ‘Did you ask them to work backwards, checking the most recent dates first?’

‘Aye, I did. I know that’s how you like it done, boss. So you’re still thinking that Capstick might be new to the game, then?’

‘It’s certainly a possibility. Capstick doesn’t seem any richer than he was, and if he was up to no good wouldn’t Jack, or one of the other fishermen, have seen it before? I’d have thought it was likely. Anyway, Ian, you reckon we should wait until we’ve got the full picture on Capstick’s phone, then?’

‘I do, aye. We all saw him at that memorial service yesterday, and he was in a terrible state. I’ve been to a few of those in my time, and they’re not fun when it’s a mate who’s gone, I can tell you. But even so, I’ve never seen the like. I hear he was so pissed afterwards that they literally had to carry him home from Betty’s house.’

‘Agreed’ said Hall. ‘Let’s wait. He’s not a flight risk; he hasn’t got the imagination, poor sod. But do we bring him in here, or talk to him at his place?’

‘Here’ said Mann firmly. ‘Let’s pressurise him.’

‘OK’ said Hall, sounding slightly uncertain. He reached for the phone. ‘I’ll just give Geoff a ring, shall I? See what he thinks.’

Hall made the call, and Dixon and Mann listened to half the conversation. But they knew what Atkinson had suggested before Hall had even put the phone down.

‘He says that he agrees, here would be best. But he’s saying it might make sense if he brought him in, rather than us. I said yes to that. I’m a bit worried that he might go to pieces completely, that we might not be able to get a word of sense out of the bloke.’

‘Are you sure that’s wise, Andy?’ said Mann.

‘Why do you ask?’

‘Just feels wrong, somehow.’

‘OK then, how about you drive them both in? When we’re done here maybe call Geoff and let him know. Tell him the Super is on my back, whatever.’

‘Not a problem’ said Mann. ‘When will we do it?’

‘Tell Geoff tomorrow morning, not too early. Let’s try to get Capstick before he’s been on the sauce for too long if we can, though. And Ray, can you get the Police doctor to come in as well, say for ten, so we can get Capstick checked over first. I wouldn’t be amazed if we end up not being able to interview him at all, but better that than get a confession ruled inadmissible later.’

Dixon nodded, but Hall could see that Mann wasn’t happy. It was never difficult to tell.

‘Come on, Ian’ said Hall. ‘You know the rules.’

‘Aye, of course. But Capstick’s right in this, isn’t he? A man is dead because of him, and we need to bloody nail him for it, no matter what some bleeding-heart bloody quack says. If the bastard has PTSD or whatever it’s down to him, no-one else. He needs to face up to the consequences of what he’s done, like a man.’

Both Hall and Dixon were taken aback. It wasn’t like Ian Mann to say that much all at once, nor to give much away about how he felt. But Hall thought that the memorial service had touched a nerve, and that Mann had begun to associate Jack Bell with some of his own fallen comrades, somewhere in the inner reaches of his mind. And, not for the first time or for the last, DI Andy Hall had guessed right.

Tuesday, June 25th

Ian Mann sat and waited in Pete Capstick’s living room while he got dressed. It took a while. Geoff Atkinson didn’t say much, and Mann was pleased about that.

‘You’re coming to the station voluntarily’ said Mann, when Capstick returned, ‘but there’s nothing to stop you having a lawyer present. I would, if I were you.’

‘No, you’re all right. I’m sure Geoff will see me right.’ Capstick’s voice was thick with tiredness and half-metabolised booze.

‘It’s fine for Geoff to be present in the interview if that’s what you want, but you understand that he’s not your lawyer? He’s actually assisting us with this enquiry.’

‘Aye, I get it. Let’s be on our way and get it over with.’

‘Don’t you want a bit of breakfast before we go?’

Capstick laughed briefly. ‘You wouldn’t want to see what I put on my cereal.’

Mann nodded. ‘Well I’m peckish, and I bet Geoff is too. So let’s stop at the farm shop and maybe get a bacon roll. It’ll keep us all going.’

Soak up the alcohol more like, thought Atkinson, getting up as Mann did. Capstick was slower getting to his feet, and Atkinson had to take his door keys to lock up. Capstick had three goes first, and he never even touched the lock.

Andy Hall had taken his laptop down to the observation room as soon as heard that Capstick had been booked in. Ray Dixon knocked and came in.

‘We’re on with it in a minute, boss.  The doc says he’s all right. The bacon sarnie that Ian managed to get him to eat must have soaked up a bit of whatever it was he’s been drinking. It was touch and go, though. So you want me to take it easy on him, or what?’

‘Yes, I do. Ian’s got a bit wound up about all this, and even if he doesn’t say a word he’s still pretty intimidating.’

‘He certainly scares me.’

‘Exactly, and I’ve asked him to leave it to you, unless you explicitly invite him to chip in.’

‘You know what, boss?’

‘No, what?’

‘I’m as nervous as a kitten.’

Hall looked visibly surprised, and Dixon could count on the fingers of one hand the times that he’d seen that.

‘Why? You must have done this thousands of times over the years. And Capstick’s not what you’d call a criminal mastermind, is he?’

‘No, it’s not that. If his brains were dynamite he couldn’t blow off his ears. But this might be the last one of these I ever do. The last time that I get to sit across a table from someone, tell the difference between truth and lies, and try to look right into their soul, like.’

‘That’s very poetic for you, Ray. Carry on like this and you’ll spend your retirement writing sonnets and painting watercolours.’

‘Not if my missus has anything to do with it. The only painting I’ll be doing is the bloody bathroom.’

Ray Dixon took it slow, and gave Capstick time to settle in the room, get used to it. Hall watched him looking round, blinking, trying to take it in. Atkinson was sitting on the same side of the table as Capstick, and Hall couldn’t tell if his upright posture was only the result of spending thirty years in uniform. 

Dixon spent ten minutes going over the events of the evening of the fourteenth one more time, ‘just so it’s all on the tape’, and he hardly followed up on anything that Capstick said, and just seemed at accept it all. Once or twice he asked for clarification, or a bit more detail, but not often. And when he changed the subject, Dixon did it without even the slightest change in tone.

‘So, Pete, do you know what a satellite phone is?’

‘Aye.’

‘Have you got one?’

‘No. I’m a net fisherman, not a bloody deep sea trawler skipper.’ Hall didn’t think he looked remotely concerned.

‘Do you know anyone who has one?’

‘No.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Aye, I just told you.’

Dixon didn’t follow up immediately, and Hall felt himself relax as he watched and listened. Ray was doing well.

‘Does anyone else have access to your mobile phone, Pete?’

‘No, ‘course not. Everyone’s got their own.’

‘What, you never lend it to anyone?’

‘Well, maybe one of the lads has phoned for a cab home from the pub on it the odd time, that sort of thing. But not lately.’

‘Does anyone ever borrow it, and put their own SIM card in?’

‘No.’ Hall could see that Capstick was starting to get agitated. The tremor in his left leg was getting worse. Hall could see the water in his glass starting to ripple from the vibration caused by his leg being in contact with the table. But maybe it was just down to the booze.

Once again Ray backed off, and changed tack again.

‘Let’s go back to last Friday the fourteenth again, shall we? You say you had a kip in the afternoon, made something to eat at about five, and from about half-six you were out in the yard, getting the gear ready for the night’s fishing.’

‘Aye, that’s right.’

‘And there wasn’t anyone with you? No visitors, anything like that?’

‘Like I told you, no. I was on my own. I didn’t see a soul.’

‘OK. And where was your phone, all this time? Do you carry it with you, or do you leave it in the house or somewhere?’

‘I have it in my pocket all the time. It’s got a waterproof case, so it’s OK to take it out on the Bay. It’s a good safety precaution, like.’

‘Have you got it with you now?’

‘Aye.’ Capstick pulled his phone from his left hand trouser pocket and put it on the table.

‘So on the day that Jack went missing, that Friday, did you have the phone with you the whole time?’

For the first time Capstick hesitated.

‘Aye. I don’t remember exactly, but I expect so. I don’t know for certain.’ For the first time he glanced across at Atkinson.

‘Try to think back for me, Pete. Did you have it with you the whole time?’

Again there was a pause, and a long one.

‘I just can’t remember, not for certain.’

‘Would you mind if we borrowed your phone, just for half an hour? We can ask one of our people to check for other fingerprints on it, on the SIM card, whatever. Would that be all right? We’d be able to see if anyone else had handled it, see?’

Again Capstick thought about it. He seemed to be making a big effort to think carefully, to make the right decision.

‘And I don’t have to? If I don’t want to, like?’

‘That’s right.’

‘What do you think, Geoff?’

‘What harm could it do?’ said Atkinson. ‘Ray’s explained why he wants to know, to make sure that no-one else has been using your phone.’

‘All right, then, yeah. You go ahead.’

Ian Mann slid an evidence bag under the phone, closed and tagged it, and asked Capstick to sign the label. Then he left the room, and Dixon noted the fact for the tape. He asked a couple of couple of inconsequential questions until Mann came back.

‘Do you have any other SIM cards, for your phone?’

‘No, why should I?’

‘Are you sure? This is important, Pete.’

‘Aye, bloody certain. I’ve got an old phone somewhere, but it doesn’t even work.’

Dixon nodded. ‘Well, then, you’re going to have to help me out here, Pete, you really are. Because on Friday the 14th your phone had a different SIM in it, a pay-as-you-go one, just for a little while in the afternoon. And that’s not all. Because you know what, it made a call, from right in Flookburgh, to a satellite phone that we think was out on the Bay.’

‘What? No, that’s all wrong.’

‘I’m afraid not. You see, your phone has a unique identity, they all do, and we can see every call it made, even when a different SIM was in it. It’s not easy, but we can. Not a lot of people know that, as someone might have once said.’

‘No, you’ve made a mistake. I don’t know what you’re talking about, honest.’ Hall thought that Capstick looked seriously flustered now. ‘I’d like to go home now. I don’t feel well. Must have been the car ride, like.’

‘Whatever you want, Pete. You’re here voluntarily, but if you hang on five minutes we can give you your phone back. So maybe hang on a bit, yeah?’

‘OK’.

Hall watched Atkinson. Would he intervene? He looked as if he wanted to say something, do something, but he didn’t.

‘It’s a mystery really, isn’t it, Pete?’ said Dixon conversationally. ‘You had the phone with you all that afternoon and evening, you don’t have another SIM card, and you don’t know anyone with a sat-phone. Yet your phone made that call to that satellite phone, it really did.’