Riddled on the Sands (The Lakeland Murders) (20 page)

‘Priceless’ said Hall, when the item had finished. ‘Did the kids even have bikes to begin with?’

Jane laughed. ‘I think so. One of their neighbours would have grassed him up otherwise. But the garage was such a mess that you couldn’t really tell.’

‘You’ve got to hand it to him either way though, haven’t you? What a chancer.’

Jane raised her glass to the TV screen. ‘Shouldn’t you be slaving away over a hot stove, Andy?’

Friday, June 28th

Jane was glad to be back on the Bell case for a while. She’d sent an email to Perkins, and followed up with a phone call, explaining what she wanted him to do.

‘I have got a business to run’ he’d said, and Jane had only barely resisted the urge to point out that he didn’t actually have anything very much to sell.

But by the end of the daily meeting she wasn’t really thinking about John Perkins any more.

‘Jane, any thoughts?’ asked Hall. ‘Be useful to get a fresh pair of eyes on this one.’

Jane didn’t like to admit that she’d been reading the case file daily anyway. But she needn’t have worried about that, because Hall knew perfectly well that she had.

‘What about the human trafficking angle?’ she suggested. ‘That still sounds just as likely as drugs to me. Based on the information we have, anyway.’

Mann was watching Hall carefully. He was pretty certain that Hall hadn’t confided in Jane, and he was glad of it.

‘It’s possible, certainly, and we shouldn’t rule it out’ replied Hall. ‘But there’s nothing to point us in that direction, and if we’re right, and Capstick was intended to be some sort of courier, then it’s more likely that that the cargo was drugs, rather than people.’

‘But maybe he was just a guide’ Jane persisted, ‘in which case that assumption wouldn’t necessarily be true, would it?’

‘Agreed. Tell you what, Jane, why don’t you take a fresh look at that angle? Maybe make a start when you get back from this morning’s interviews with Ian? I’ve got a couple of contacts, one at the Home Office, who you might want to talk to about it.’

Half an hour later Jane was sitting in Mann’s immaculate car, and wondered, briefly, if she’d ever driven him anywhere. She was pretty sure she hadn’t. Andy Hall was different, he didn’t much like driving, so was always happy for her to take the wheel.

‘So what do we know about these two lads, then, Ian?’

‘Well, they’re two peas in a pod by the looks of it. They’ve both worked at the same place, doing much the same work, for seven or eight years. Skelton is 37, and English is 36. They both did 12 years in the Marines, and while they were in they even got nicked for the same affray, up in Scotland.’

‘Any other previous?’

‘Quite a bit as juveniles, nothing since.’

‘The positive influence of military discipline, was it?’

Mann wasn’t sure if Jane was having a dig at him or not. He decided to play it safe. He was that bit more inclined to take the cautious line, now that Jane and the boss were an item. And that irritated him slightly.

‘Aye, maybe it was, or perhaps they just grew up.’

‘Sounds like they’re inseparable, anyway.’

‘Aye’.

‘In a gay way?’

Mann could tell, from Jane’s tone of voice, that he was being teased.

‘Aye’ he said, ‘maybe they are. Who are we to judge?’

‘Congratulations, Sergeant Mann. You’ve passed today’s diversity course.’

Mann laughed. ‘Don’t joke about it. Andy’s already got me down as some kind of dinosaur, and the Super thinks I’m whatever came before them.’

‘Plankton?’ suggested Jane, helpfully.

‘Which one do you want me to talk to?’ asked Jane, as they pulled in through the yard gates. The place smelt of swarf and sweat.

‘You take English. The foreman said they’d be ready, and he’s loaned us a couple of empty offices for half an hour, so let’s get to it.’

Ian Mann was sitting in the office he’d been loaned when Mike Skelton knocked at the door. There was a rotating card index on the dusty desk, and filing cabinets that looked as if they hadn’t been opened in thirty years. The odour of old engine oil permeated the whole place, and it seemed to have thinly coated every surface too. But Mann had been in much, much worse.

Skelton didn’t look familiar, but then Mann hadn’t really expected him to. But even if he hadn’t known Skelton’s military background he reckoned he would have guessed soon enough.

‘So, Mike, you know why I’m here?’

‘Aye, something to do with Pete Capstick, is that it?’

‘Sort of. We’re investigating the disappearance of Jack Bell, another one of the net fishermen. Have you ever met him?’

‘Not met, not really like. But when I saw his picture on the telly I recognised him. When we’ve been out with Pete we’ve seen him a few times. Shame, it was, really. So he’s dead then, this Jack Bell?’

Mann didn’t answer. ‘Who’s ‘we’? You and Paul English?’

‘Aye, that’s right. We both like a bit of fishing.’

‘And that’s what you do, is it? When you go out with Pete Capstick?’

‘Aye, sometimes. A few times we’ve just been out to see what it’s all about, like. I get a bit sick of this place sometimes, and I’ve thought about giving the fishing job a go instead. Maybe on the side to start with. So Pete had been showing us the ropes.’

‘So how often have you been out with him?’

‘Not sure. Maybe twenty, thirty times.’

‘And do you know your way around on the sands now?’

Skelton laughed. ‘No way. There’s times when Pete gets off the tractor and goes and has a close look at the sand before he drives the tractor on it, and he’s been doing it his whole life. It takes years to get to know that place.’

‘And when did you last go out?’

‘A couple of months back, something like that. I’ve been taking all the overtime that I can get because me and the girlfriend are off on holiday next week, and she’s been on at me to bring in the extra cash. You know how it is. So I’ve not seen Pete for a bit.’

‘And how about Paul?’

‘No, you’d have to ask him yourself, but I don’t think he’s been out with Pete lately either. We usually go together. Make a night of it, have a drink afterwards, you know the score.’

‘Do you still have mates from your time in the Marines?’

‘Aye, ‘course I do. But what’s this got to do with Pete? He’s never been in the forces, not as far as I know.’

Again Mann ignored the question.

‘So are you going to have a go at it, the fishing job?’

‘No, it’s just a pipe-dream. I’ll be stripping and rebuilding lorry engines until I bloody retire, or I get too weak to do the work. It’s heavy work, is this. Mind you, the fishing job is too, and there’s no proper money in it neither, not really.’’

‘You got your training in the army?’

‘Aye, then finished it here. I’ve got a degree, you know, got it last year.’

‘Well done. So will that get you off the shop floor?’

‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? No, all it got me was a day off work for the graduation, which I didn’t have to take as holiday, like. So that was all right, I suppose.’

‘All right, Mike. Well I think that’s it for now. Oh, just before I go. When you were out with Pete, did you see anything that struck you as odd?’

‘Out on the sands, like?’

‘Aye.’

‘No, nothing that I can think of, sorry. A young whale got beached right out in the Bay, and we went to look at that, because Jack Bell was trying to get it back it back in the water. Lost cause it was, Pete said, but that didn’t stop Jack trying. But every time he got it free it just beached itself again on the next tide. Was that the sort of thing you meant?’

‘Not exactly. Did you see any people, any vehicles, anything like that when you were out there?’

‘Aye, I’ve seen a few cockle-pickers, and a few other net fishermen on their tractors, but that’s all. Oh, and we saw the northern lights one night. Fantastic, it was.’

‘I’m sure. OK, that’s us finished. Sorry to have taken you away from your work.’

‘No worries, and it’ll still be there when I get back, worse luck.’ Skelton got up to go. ‘By the way’ he said, ‘don’t I know you from somewhere?’

‘Not unless I’ve nicked you for something’ said Mann.

Jane was standing next to his car when Mann emerged. They didn’t speak until they’d driven between the yard’s tall steel gates.

‘Anything?’ asked Mann.

‘Not really, no. He said that they started going out with Pete Capstick because Skelton had got some idea into his head about becoming a net fisherman.’

‘And English didn’t believe him? Did he think there was some other motive?’

‘No, nothing like that. English said that Skelton has these enthusiasms occasionally. He’s always dreaming of escape from where they work now. Talks about it constantly, apparently.’

‘And you thought he was telling the truth?’

‘Yes. How about Skelton?’

‘The same. Nothing he said came off wrong. It’s a shame though, because those two lads would know how to shoot straight, that’s for sure and certain. Must admit, Jane, I was starting to get my hopes up.’

‘It doesn’t look as if anything’s going to come easy on this one.’

‘Does it ever? I’ve got a nasty feeling that we’re not even going to be able to lay a finger on Pete Capstick, let alone whoever the shooters were.’

‘Can’t we at least keep Capstick under observation?’

‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But Andy can’t even get that signed off these days. Apparently the Super nearly fell off her throne laughing when he suggested it. So unless we get Capstick to tell us what he knows, or we get some other breakthrough, then I’d say we’re buggered.’

‘I wonder if they’d come back? To try again, I mean.’

‘Who? The shooters?’

‘Yes.’

‘No, they’d be mad. We’ve gone public with most of what we know about Jack’s death, remember, because we needed to try to find another eye-wit or two, so they know that we’re on to them. Must do, surely. They’d just go somewhere else.’

‘But what if Andy’s right, and Pete came back without the gear the night they shot Bell? What if someone still wants to get it ashore? All they’d need is eyes on the ground and they’d soon know that we’ve hardly got any extra presence. They’d be as safe as they were before, safer maybe. I know that Andy persuaded the Super to get a patrol car round the slipways once a day, but I think that finishes today. And it’s hardly high-profile policing, is it?’

‘I’ve forgotten what that is, lass, honest I have. I do see where you’re coming from, but it still sounds a bit far-fetched, though. My twenty pence says that they’ve moved on, whoever they are, and we’re not going to move this case on one more inch. I almost wish we hadn’t recovered that bloody tractor now, because all I’ve achieved is that his wife and family now feel even worse, and more uncertain, about how he died. And you know as well as I do that we’ll never find his body now. That’s at bottom of the bloody sea, well weighted down. They’re just going to be left hanging, never knowing for certain what happened to Jack.’

‘Maybe Capstick will do the right thing yet. Stranger things have happened.’

‘Never. I’ve seen people like him before. He’s a coward, Jane, that’s what he is. And they never change, never take responsibility for what they’ve done. No, Morecambe Bay will freeze over before we get a word out of that bastard. You see if I’m not right.’

When Jane walked back into the station Tim Brown got up and walked over. He was out of uniform, and Jane didn’t recognise him for a second.

‘Tim, what are you doing here? I thought you were rushed off your feet.’

‘I am. I just came with a bit of information, about the O’Brian’s garage fire. But if you’re not interested...’

‘No, come up and let’s talk about it. I’ll even make you a cuppa if you like, but it’s your funeral if it burns the roof of your mouth.’

‘Very funny. But you’re on, I could do with a brew.’

‘So what have you got?’ asked Jane, when she’d made the teas. ‘I thought there wasn’t anything to go on at the O’Brians, because he’d had all the stuff taken away.’

‘That’s right, but when I was back in the office I had an idea, so I went back and took another look.’

‘That was good of you.’

‘All part of the service.’

‘And what did you discover?’

‘There’s a strong likelihood, but not a certainty, that the fire was accidental. Judging from what I could see on the concrete base I’d say that the seat of the fire was very near the side door, and not at ground level. So no accelerant was poured in, and it’s unusual for someone to deliberately start a fire so close to their only means of escape.’