Riddled on the Sands (The Lakeland Murders) (23 page)

‘So how are doing on the door to door and the searches? Anything?’ asked Hall.

‘Not so far. Most of the people who live around here are older, and they all seem to have been in bed by half ten. SOCO has searched the house and the yard, and no sign of the weapon. Drains and bins being checked now. One of the lads is a detectorist, a PC from Grange, so he’s been on to a few mates for us. They’ll be on the beach in an hour, and if we’re talking about a time of death around midnight we should be able to get them out as far as they need to go. You are just talking about going straight out from here, I take it?’

Hall looked round. There were a couple of cottages further down the stretch of foreshore.

‘Stick to this end, Ian. Our man would have wanted to get rid of it as fast as he could, and he’d have kept away from those houses, wouldn’t he? I’m just guessing, but if it was me that’s what I’d have done.’

‘OK, Andy, will do. What’s your plan from here?’

‘Get back to the office, get on with the form-filling, and go back over everything we’ve got on Capstick already.’

Hall’s phone was ringing. He grimaced, and answered it.

‘Boss, it’s me.’ Ray Dixon sounded like he had something urgent to say.

‘Morning, Ray.  So you’ve heard then?’

‘Heard what?’

‘Pete Capstick is dead, mate. As far as we can tell he took an overdose last night, but before it could kill him someone stabbed him to death.’

‘Jesus. He called me last night, left a voice-mail. Wanted me to come out and see him.’

‘When did you listen to the message?’

‘Just now. Literally a minute ago. That’s why I’m calling. I had a bit too much to drink last night, you know, after that letter from the Chief. And I wasn’t due on until four today. I’m so sorry, boss.’

‘Don’t worry about that, Ray. When you’re off duty, you’re off duty. Look, can you get into work now and pass your phone to SOCO, so they can recover that message. I’ll make sure there’s someone there to meet you in half an hour.’

Dixon didn’t reply. ‘Ray, can you hear me? Shit, I think I’ve lost him.’

But the connection was unbroken. ‘This is all my fault, boss. I can’t believe it. My last few days in the job, and I’ve fucked this right up, haven’t I?’

‘’Course not, don’t talk such utter bollocks. Like I said, you weren’t on duty, and he may well have taken the pills when he called. He probably just wanted a copper to find him, that’s all. It probably wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference if he you had called him back, except maybe our murderer would have had a go at you too. Can you remember what time the message was?’

‘Just after eleven, eleven minutes past I think.’

‘OK, just relax. Go in to work, and remember what I said. You couldn’t have saved Pete Capstick, and you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. Don’t go saying anything different to anyone. You turned on your phone, heard the message, and called me. That’s it, end of story. You hear me, Ray?’

But there was only silence at the other end of the line, so Hall said his goodbyes and hung up.

Hall and Mann walked back to the incident room, and was Hall was just checking in with SOCOs when Jane ran up the stairs and into the truck.

‘Andy, boss, I think I might have something. Just speaking to one of the neighbours, Rose Williams, and she told me that Capstick had a visitor a few days before Bell disappeared. I can’t be absolutely certain, but it sounds very like Mike Skelton to me. And if I remember rightly he told Ian that he hadn’t seen Capstick in a couple of months, not a couple of weeks.’

‘What was your impression of the witness?’

‘I thought you’d want to have a word yourself.’

‘No, what did you think, Jane?’

‘I’d say her memory is bob-on. Everything else she’s told us tallies with other statements, so I’d say she’s reliable.’

‘OK, thanks. Right, you know what to do now. Get hold of a picture of Skelton, and show it to her. If she IDs him then let’s pay him a visit, OK?’

Hall walked to his car, and set off back to the office. But he’d barely left the village when his phone rang.

‘Rae want to meet’ said Ian Mann, dispensing with the formalities. ‘Humphrey Head in ten minutes.’

‘I’ll be there. Anything you want to tell me before we see him?’

‘Like what?’

‘I don’t know. What have you got?’

Hall spotted a turning on the right, and he used it to get the car turned round.

‘Well’ said Mann cautiously, ‘I did phone a couple of mates who’ve worked with Jimmy recently, in the last year or so. They said the drug thing’s become a bit of an obsession with him.’

‘Really? Any reason?’

‘I’m afraid so. His younger brother died three years ago, heroin overdose. The word is that his dealer turned up at some London cop-shop after, looking to be arrested. Even grassed up a couple of mid-level dealers while he was at it.’

‘He’d heard that your mate Jimmy was after him?’

‘Exactly. I hear Jimmy had to be spoken to about a couple of the things he and a couple of his mates got up to after his brother died. Can’t say I blame them, mind.’

‘Did it surprise you?’

‘How do you mean, Andy?’

‘I thought self-control was one of your big things. You know, lying in a ditch for three days resisting the urge to sneeze.’

‘It’s not quite the same, is it? And they don’t take hay-fever sufferers, Andy, or anyone with sensitive skin come to that.’ Hall laughed. ‘But listen, Jimmy had lost his brother, so allowances were made. That’s how I hear it. And he didn’t kill anyone either, remember that.’

‘And that’s why you can’t see him being mixed up in any of this, is it? I can see that it makes him much less likely to be involved in importation, but if he knew for certain that Capstick was involved with the gang then maybe he would have tried to persuade him to talk?’

‘Like I said before, no chance. Do you really think someone like Jimmy would start carving up a comatose man? Come on, mate, that’s daft. He’s on our side, Andy, even if he doesn’t quite see the world in quite the same way as you do.’

Hall was tempted to ask Ian Mann how he saw the world, but there wasn’t time, and anyway he knew how Mann would respond. The man had non-committal down to a T.

When Hall parked and walked out onto Humphrey Head, the expanse of the Bay shining in the sun, Mann was already there.

‘Is he here somewhere?’ Hall found himself whispering, when he reached Mann, who was looking out at the metal detectorists further along the shoreline.

‘Oh aye’ he said loudly. ‘He’s here all right. About twenty yards behind you and off to the left when you came up the path.’

‘Very good, Ian’ said Jimmy Rae, walking out onto the path behind them. ‘A guess, or could you see me?’

‘You and your mates, Jimmy.’

‘Really? How many are there, then?’

‘Three. One back near where we parked, and two on the high ground just over there.’

Jimmy Rae laughed. ‘They didn’t call you Catseyes for nothing, did they? Or maybe you reckon that our tactics haven’t changed much since your day and you just guessed right. Anyway, I’m pleased to meet you, Inspector.’

They shook hands, and Hall was surprised at how much taller he was than Rae.

‘You know what happened to Capstick?’ said Hall

‘Yes, I’d heard.’

Hall nodded. He had no intention of asking how Rae knew, because he was sure that Rae wasn’t the killer and that the information hadn’t come from Ian Mann, and that was all he cared about for now. ‘Can you help us with the investigation at all?’

‘Not directly, no. Sadly we didn’t have Pete Capstick’s house under observation last night, so we can’t tell you who was responsible. But I do have some information, yes. Two main points, really. The first is that we have reason to believe that the shipment intended for delivery on the night of Jack Bell’s disappearance has not yet entered the UK, and that another attempt will be made within the next week or ten days.’

‘And I suppose that you can’t tell me how you know this?’

‘That’s right. What I’m telling you now is strictly off-the-record, and, frankly, only because Ian is one of our own, and he vouches for you. We also know that you haven’t logged the fact that I’ve been in contact with you previously, and I’m grateful for that. If you had, we wouldn’t be talking now.’

‘Understood. We’ll take any help we can get. But you’ll appreciate that I have to be cautious about any information, where I can’t corroborate the source.’

Rae smiled. ‘I do find civilians so polite, don’t you, Ian? What you mean, Inspector, is that you’re not absolutely sure that myself and my colleagues aren’t involved in all this in some way.’

‘It was just an observation.’

‘And a very pertinent one. I’d take much the same line if the boot was on the other foot, as it were. Perhaps we have more in common than either of us imagines.’

Hall had no time for that discussion, and not much interest in it either. ‘So what else did you want to tell us? I’m assuming you can’t tell us anything about the possible timing or location of any further attempt at delivery of the gear?’

‘I can’t tell you that. Not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t know.’

‘Because you really don’t know, or because you and your pals intend to be the ones doing the intercepting next time?’

‘Both. We really don’t know where and when, and yes, we are tasked with helping other agencies in recovering the shipment and the people directly responsible for it reaching our shores. I think you can be fairly certain that your shooter, or shooters, will be among them, and you can rest assured that we will ensure that Jack Bell’s death doesn’t go unavenged. If we do come across them, and they are foolish enough to think that’s there’s an option other than immediate surrender, then we are tasked to subdue them by all means necessary. We’re not policeman, Inspector, we’re soldiers.’

‘Of course. I understand that. I just hope that you’ll at least give us a chance to make an arrest. So what else can you tell me?’

‘Just that we believe that we have narrowed down the source of our leak.’ Rae handed a piece of paper to Mann. ‘Those are the names of our six suspects, all Coastguard officers based in this area.’

‘And were they all at home or on duty last night and this morning, between 10pm and 6am say? I imagine you’re in a position to help us on that point too.’

Rae smiled again. ‘Indeed they were. All six are fully accounted for during the hours in question. Nor did any of them make or receive any form of electronic or voice communication that seems likely to have been in any way connected with the Capstick killing. Anyway, I hope that helps.’

‘It does, and thanks for speaking to us. I appreciate that you don’t have to, and that you have access to all of our data anyway, so all I can ask is that you continue with these informal contacts. And given that Ian is perfectly qualified for the role, can I suggest that you regard him as your informal liaison?’

Rae nodded, shook hands with Hall and Mann, and walked back along the path.

‘What about this list?’ asked Mann. ‘I’m assuming you want them looked at? You don’t think Rae’s bullshitting us, do you?’

‘No, of course not. We’ve got no choice really. We can’t do anything official, so we’ll have to do it off the record. But leave that with me. Just hang on to the list for now, OK?’ Hall turned to walk back to his car, but turned, mid-step, and stopped. ‘By the way, Ian. Did you really spot Rae’s mates, or were you just guessing?’

‘No, I saw one of them, the one back by the road on the way in. He must be the new guy, I heard they had one. So he’ll learn, or he’ll die. One or the other.’

When Hall got back to the office he went to see Val Gorham. She was wearing civvies, and she looked smaller somehow, but no less intimidating.

‘I’m sorry about this, ma’am’ said Hall.

‘Don’t be daft, Andy. You did all you could to break Capstick, and it seems that someone thought you were getting close.’

‘You heard about the message on Ray’s mobile?’

‘Yes, I read his report and called him up for a word, about twenty minutes ago.’

Hall was on his guard. ‘Oh, yes?’

‘Don’t worry, I didn’t ask him any difficult questions. He was off duty, his phone was switched off, and then he was asleep. End of. He was very upset about it all, and I told him not to worry. He’s done nothing wrong.’

‘I appreciate that, ma’am.’

‘Not at all. For the remainder of his service I need DC Dixon straining every sinew to assist in this investigation.’

‘That’s appreciated.’

‘Not at all. And I wanted to run something past you. In view of the fact that you now have two unsolved murders on your hands I wondered if you could do with some extra help?’

‘Like what, exactly?’

‘How about Dixon? I’ve spoken to the Chief this morning, and a month’s contract extension is on offer.’

‘How about six? Give him something to work for.’