Preacher Man: 'their blood shall be upon them' (Ted Darling crime series Book 9)

by L M Krier

  ‘You could do with a judo session, for sure. But I understand. I hope you can find him.’

  ‘I’m sorry I’m standing you up yet again. I’ll make it up to you.’

  ‘Oh, I know you will. I’ll see to it that you do.’

  The office was a hive of activity when Ted got back from court. Jo was directing operations while the boss was out. Everyone had their heads down, working hard.

  ‘Guilty on all counts,’ Ted announced as he walked in. ‘And the father’s been arrested. Has he arrived back here?’

  ‘Just come in and been processed and Mike’s downstairs interviewing him now, boss.’

  ‘So, what progress with The Preacher?’

  ‘A possible lead. We’re checking it now. Steve phoned the agents about any churches sold in the last three to four years. Initially they said there were none, then they came back to him with details of one which they had, in fact, rented out just over three years ago. It’s in a small town out the other side of Rochdale.

  ‘They couldn’t give us all the details initially. The person who deals with letting was out of the office, but they did come back to us eventually. The trail’s a bit complicated. It was all handled through a law firm. The agents never had direct contact with the tenant. The law firm were acting on behalf of a company. That sort of thing is Sal’s area of expertise, as you know, so he’s trying to work his way through it now.’

  Sal looked up from his computer. ‘It’s not going to be a speedy answer, I’m afraid, boss. At first glance it’s hard to unpick the trail and it looks as if the law firm in question was chosen because they’re good at masking identities.’

  ‘Money laundering? Something like that?’

  ‘I would say that’s a possibility. Or there’s just a chance the person renting could be a celebrity, or someone else who would want their identity kept quiet.’

  ‘Do we know the firm in question?’

  ‘Not that I know of. They’re called Parton and Carter, they have an office in Manchester. They seem to specialise in this kind of thing. I can probably follow the trail back to the source but it’s likely to take me quite some time, unfortunately.’

  ‘Have we sent anyone round there, to the church, to have a quick look round?’

  ‘I got a local area car to go and have a look. They’ve reported no signs of any activity there. The place is locked up and quiet,’ Jo told him. ‘I’ve tried speaking to the lawyers but they’re playing it very close to their chests. Client confidentiality blah-blah-blah. We’re going to need court orders.’

  ‘Check back with the Uniform officers again. I want to know exactly what they mean by no activity. Any recent tyre tracks? Are the doors locked? New locks? You know the sort of thing. If they’re our eyes on this, they need to be looking at things like one of us would do.

  ‘And Gary Heath is still missing?’

  ‘No word on him at all, boss.’

  ‘Rob, what news of Peter Spencer and Stanley Harrison?’

  ‘I’m seeing Harrison again in the morning. I’ve spoken to Spencer on the phone again but not yet via Skype. I’ve still found no trace of him listed as a passenger on a ferry but I don’t know if that necessarily proves he didn’t cross over to the continent. His excuses for not making visual contact do actually sound plausible, so I really can’t decide if he’s spinning me a line or not, boss.’

  ‘Where does he claim to be at the moment?’

  ‘In Germany. One of the organs he’s supposed to be going to see, and possibly be allowed to play, is in Freiburg.’

  ‘And where else is he supposed to be going?’

  ‘Italy and Switzerland. He said he could be away up to three months.’

  ‘We need to know if he really is where he says he is. I don’t want to involve the police in those countries at this stage. It could get complicated and costly if he is over there on a perfectly innocent tour round famous churches and organs. But try this. Trev speaks fluent German, Italian and French. If Spencer is going to be allowed to play these organs, someone must know of him by reputation. Find contact details of the churches, get hold of Trev and ask him to phone and speak to someone there, a priest or whoever. Ask if they’re expecting a visit from Spencer. If so when, and ask them to let us know if he turns up. You’ve got Trev’s contact details? But phone him soon, he’ll be going to the dojo this evening and he’ll have his phone turned off there.’

  Trev was friends with some of Ted’s team and would occasionally go for a drink with them to talk about big bikes. Using his partner to do any interpreting they needed would save Ted a few bob on his budget, at least.

  ‘Rob, another thing. You said Spencer was able to pick up your message even though his phone was damaged. So that means he had it switched on at some time. Can we trace where the phone was at the time it was on? Can we find him from its location?’

  He checked the time. It was getting late in the day.

  ‘See if Océane is still at Central Park and if she can help us on that one. If not her, get one of the other techie types on to it. We need to pin Spencer down. Like you said, it may all be perfectly innocent, but at the moment we can’t eliminate him as a possible suspect.

  ‘What about the vicar, Gabriel Clegg?’

  ‘Boringly clean, boss,’ Jezza told him. ‘Nothing, nada, zippo. Not even a hint of any scandal anywhere. And he has alibis for all of the dates that concern this case. Solid ones. Also, if he is involved and he was the one who handed in Darren’s phone, that would be a hell of a double-bluff, surely? I’m pretty sure we could write him off as a suspect, but I’ll give you my detailed report of what I’ve found and you can decide what you think.’

  ‘I’ve been to see the parents of the latest suspected victim, Gary Heath. Interestingly, but it’s possibly not significant, Gary has a boyfriend, Roger Ashton, who has an elder brother called Simon. Army, served in Afghanistan. We don’t know if Gary has ever met him but apparently Roger talks about him a lot. He’s rather proud of his big brother. And unless you’ve uncovered anything while I’ve been out, he’s our first Simon. I’ll give you the contact details, and he’ll need checking out. We need to know where he is and where he’s been, in detail, for the past three years. If he’s been serving somewhere with his regiment, then he’s out of the frame.

  ‘Maurice, is Darren saying anything else? Has he said any more about a Simon?’

  ‘Amy’s been keeping me posted since I was up there. He keeps saying the name Simon and he appears to get frustrated when she doesn’t understand. He’s also now said ‘saviour’ a few times, so another biblical reference, it seems. But I was wrong about redemption, apparently, or he’s being clearer in what he says now. Amy says it’s Redemption Song, not redemption. That’s a Bob Marley song, not a phrase from the bible.’

  ‘I know that, believe it or not,’ Ted told him dryly. ‘But how does it help us? Steve, let’s have a print-out of the lyrics. It has something about mental slavery, I think. Does that tie in with The Preacher in some way? And does it have any other significance?

  ‘I’ll be in my office for a bit, waging war on paper. Keep me posted about any developments. Above all, let me know how it’s going with Edwards. I think I’ll sleep better tonight if I know he’s safely out of harm’s way. We need to press for a remand in custody for him, on the grounds of him interfering with witnesses if there is going to be an appeal.’

  ‘Boss, Simon Ashton. Medically discharged from his unit more than three years ago. Parents don’t know where he is. The last they heard of him he was living rough. He was diagnosed as suffering from PTSD but he went walkabout and they have no idea where he is now,’ Jo explained as they got together for an end of day briefing.

  ‘Gary’s parents said Roger often talks about him and how proud he is of him.’

  ‘According to Roger’s parents, they decided not to tell him what happened. He idolises his older brother. He’s a good bit older. Roger’s eighteen, Simon is mid-30s.’

  ‘So
why does he not think it strange he never sees or hears from him?’ Ted asked.

  ‘They told him he’s on a special mission, out of touch, off the radar. From time to time, they tell Roger they’ve had a quick phone call from Simon, always when Roger’s out.’

  ‘And he believes that?’

  ‘He has no reason not to.’

  ‘So now we have a former soldier, suffering from a mental health condition, on the loose somewhere and his name just happens to be Simon. Plus he’s the older brother of the latest victim’s boyfriend. What do we know about him? Does he have a record?’

  ‘Just some minor stuff as a juvenile, mostly riding in stolen vehicles. The Army were prepared to overlook it and he’s been a model soldier since. Up until his last tour, when he saw a close friend killed in front of him when he stood on a land mine. That’s when his problems started.’

  ‘Do we have anything yet to link him to the other lads? If he’s ex-forces, could he have been involved in things like Outward Bound training anywhere?’

  ‘We’re still digging, but it’s getting to that time of day when we’re not getting replies from anyone. Offices and the like have mostly finished work and closed up until tomorrow. We may just have to give it best for today and start again tomorrow, first thing.’

  ‘I want to get a look inside that church, as soon as possible. I don’t like the idea that Gary is somewhere like that and we’re being held up searching for him by a paper trail.’

  ‘We’re on it. We’re all over it. But we need a warrant. We can’t just go steaming in. It’s going to be tomorrow at the earliest,’ Jo told him. ‘I was thinking of standing everyone down now. I just don’t see what else we can do at this time of the evening. If we all come in early and crack on, we could make the breakthrough we need tomorrow. Oh, and Steve has some interesting news, too.’

  ‘Sir, I was looking for other instances of Redemption Song and I found a group called that. It’s a five-piece band. They have a not very good website, saying they’re available for all kinds of gigs including proms. There’s only an email for contact, which is unusual, so I’ve sent them a message, from my own private mail, with my own phone number, just asking general questions.’

  Ted could see that Steve was holding the best part of his news back for special effect. He nodded at him to continue, eager to hear what he had to say.

  ‘Sir, according to the website the keyboard player is called Simon Saviour.’

  ‘We need to find this group and we need to do it soon. This is definitely one coincidence too many. If Darren’s saying Redemption Song and Simon Saviour, it must surely be connected to them. Is there no other way of getting hold of them? Can you find out who’s behind the website? And what about this Simon Ashton? Is he musical at all?’

  ‘I asked his parents, once Steve had the information. He did use to have an electronic keyboard in his teens but they said he lost interest in it as he grew up and as far as they know, he hasn’t played in years,’ Jo replied.

  ‘Rob, what news of Spencer and his whereabouts? Was Trev able to help?’

  ‘He was, boss. Spencer is expected at Freiburg this weekend, so that part of the story is genuine. At least the fact that he’s meant to be going there, although I’ve still not traced how he travelled, if he did. We’ve not yet been able to pinpoint where his phone was last used and he hasn’t called me back, although I’ve left messages on both phone numbers.’

  ‘So now make my day and tell me Spencer’s photo matches one on the website of this group and identifies him as Simon Saviour the keyboard player.’

  ‘I would if I could,’ Jo assured him, ‘but the website photo is all arty soft focus. The group members could be almost anyone. We haven’t yet got a photo of Simon Ashton but we’re working on that. Boss, we really have done all we can for now.’

  Ted sighed in frustration. He knew Jo was right. There was realistically nothing more they could do until the morning. Far more sensible to let everyone go home, have a rest and come back fresh early the next day. They were going in the right direction, finally. He just hated the idea of Gary spending another night afraid, perhaps alone, not knowing what was happening, if indeed he was now being held by The Preacher.

  ‘All right, time to call it a day, everyone. Early doors tomorrow, please. Let’s crack on and put an end to this case.’

  It was good to be home before Trev, for once. There would have been no point in Ted going to the dojo. He’d only have caught the last ten minutes or so of the judo session, and it wouldn’t have been worth getting changed for that. He was tired, he needed something to eat and a hot shower, then some time to relax and unwind.

  Trev had left a casserole in the oven on a low light, so Ted set about laying the table in preparation. Things were reasonably tidy. He checked in the dishwasher. Trev had attempted to rinse and load the crockery and cutlery he’d used for breakfast and for a snack when he got home from work. Ted methodically rearranged everything, smiling to himself. At least he’d tried.

  The cats had been fed but denied it, rubbing round Ted’s legs, looking for more. He gave himself a mental reminder that he really must speak to Doug and tell him his decision about the kitten. It wasn’t fair to keep him waiting.

  He heard Trev’s bike, then the garage doors open and close when he got back from judo.

  ‘Hey, you’re back, I didn’t expect you until much later. Did you wind the case up?

  Ted shook his head. ‘I wish we had but we just hit a brick wall for now.’

  ‘You’ll solve it tomorrow. You always do.’

  Sometimes Ted wished he shared his partner’s confidence in him.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  ‘So I want a warrant to get into that church and search it, as soon as possible,’ Ted said, finishing his summing up to the Ice Queen in her office. Jim Baker was joining them via conference call. He had other meetings to attend and no time to be there in person.

  ‘You haven’t got anything like enough even to apply for a warrant yet and you know it,’ Jim grumbled. ‘You haven’t even got the name of the face behind the paper trail. Without knowing who the premises belong to, how are you going to persuade the magistrates you suspect that a crime has been committed there? You need a hell of a lot more than you’ve got at the moment before we can make a case for a search. At least one I’d be happy to counter-sign. I can’t speak for Debs, of course, but I’d be surprised if she didn’t feel the same.’

  ‘We’re working on it now. I’m going to speak to the solicitors myself as soon as their office opens at nine-thirty. We have to do something. There’s a good chance that, whoever this Simon Saviour is, he could be holding Gary inside that church. If he gets wind of the fact that we’re getting close, there’s no telling what he might do to him.’

  ‘But that’s half the problem. You don’t yet know who Simon Saviour is. I’d be happier to go ahead if we knew that much, at least. What do you think, Debs?’

  ‘The police officer in me says we need to follow correct procedure in applying for the warrant, as you say, Jim. The mother in me wants someone to go straight round there with an Enforcer and break the door down, if there’s the slightest chance that Gary may be inside.’

  ‘Get us something concrete, Ted and we’ll get you the search warrant. Where are you at with the three suspects?’

  ‘Spencer is still unaccounted for, Rob is talking to Harrison again this morning, with his solicitor, and I’d say Gabriel Clegg is out of the frame, unless we’re missing something glaringly obvious. We’re just starting on the search for Simon Ashton, but I don’t see at the moment how a penniless ex-squaddie with no fixed abode could be connected to renting a church.’

  ‘Could he be sleeping rough there? Or maybe he’s been given a few bob to keep an eye on the place. To stop squatters moving in, or to move on any undesirables?’ Jim suggested. ‘If he’s ex-forces, he might be quite handy, a tough guy.’

  ‘We won’t know until we can get a look inside it,’
Ted retorted. ‘I’d better go and get us enough to be sure of that warrant, then.’

  Before he went back up to his own office, Ted stopped at the front desk for a quick word with Bill.

  ‘Last day tomorrow, then? Are you all set? Prepared to act surprised at your party?’

  ‘You will be there, won’t you, Ted? I need at least one person I can talk to.’

  ‘You know I will if I can, Bill, but we’re closing in on this case now. There’s just a chance I’ll be tied up. But I’ll keep in touch. And it won’t be long before you’re back here. You can always phone me, at any time, if you want to chat. If I can’t talk straight away, I’ll call you back when I can. Don’t feel we’ve forgotten about you. I mean it. Get in touch whenever you need anything.’

  He wished he could have offered more. He knew how much Bill was dreading the enforced break. He hoped he would be all right in the time before he was back at the station, the place he felt most at home.

  Sal was at his desk when Ted went upstairs. He’d clearly come in early, ahead of the others, determined to get to the end of the paper trail which was so far masking who was behind renting the old church. He shook his head in response to Ted’s question about any progress so far.

  ‘Nothing, boss. The cover-up’s been thoroughly done, by someone who’s an expert. But that’s not to say it’s impossible to crack. It just means it will take longer.’

  ‘Keep at it, and let me know when you find something. You can do it if anyone can. I’m just going to make myself some tea before briefing. Do you want anything?’

  Ted never considered himself above brewing up for his team members. It was another reason they appreciated him.

  ‘No thanks, I’m on my second coffee already.’

  Rob was going straight up to talk to Stanley Harrison so he wouldn’t be in until later on. Depending on whether or not Harrison had sound alibis for the days they were interested in, he might be someone else they could cross off their list of possible subjects, together with Gabriel Clegg, the vicar. If that was so, that left them with only Simon Ashton, the homeless ex-serviceman, and Peter Spencer, the organist, neither of whom they had so far been able to trace.