by Sally Rigby
‘What is it? Mum said you want to speak to me.’
‘Let’s sit down,’ Whitney said, gently.
‘I can’t. Please, just tell me.’
Whitney glanced at Mr Dixon, who headed over and stood by his daughter’s side.
‘I’m sorry to have to tell you, but there’s been an incident and Ryan has died.’
Naomi gasped, and Mr Dixon reached out to steady her. ‘An incident? What do you mean?’
‘His body was found this morning, by one of his staff, in the car park next to the snooker club.’
‘What happened?’ Naomi asked.
‘We’re waiting for confirmation from the pathologist.’
‘What was he doing there? I don’t understand. He should’ve been at home. He—’ a sob escaped her lips.
‘Sit down, love,’ Mr Dixon said, guiding his daughter to the sofa. He sat down beside her, his arm protectively around her heaving shoulders.
‘He was with his friends last night. Were they with him, when you found him?’ Mr Dixon asked, while his daughter sat beside him, shaking.
‘No one else was at the scene.’
‘Oh, my God. I can’t believe this is happening. What am I going to do?’ Naomi said, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
‘We’re really sorry for your loss. Do you think you’d be able to answer some questions at the moment?’ Whitney asked.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ the father said, waving his hand. ‘Look at the state of her, of course she can’t.’
‘It’s all right, Dad,’ Naomi said, sniffing and brushing aside her tears with the back of her hand. ‘What do you want to know?’
‘Do you know who was at your house last night with Ryan?’
‘I expect the usual crowd, Scott Marshall, Tyrone Butler, Kurt Kastrati and Rory Clarke.’
Whitney pulled out her notebook from her pocket and jotted down the names.
‘Did they get together often?’
‘Once a month, sometimes less. It depended on whether Ryan was away at a tournament or doing a promotional event.’
‘Are they all professional snooker players?’
‘Scott Marshall is, but not at Ryan’s level. The others play but not as a job.’
‘What time did you arrive here last night?’
‘I’m not sure, maybe around five, in time for tea.’
‘Did you go out at all?’
‘No. I was up most of the night with Sienna as she wasn’t well. She’d eaten something that had disagreed with her.’
‘Can you confirm that, Mr Dixon?’
‘I wasn’t awake all night, if that’s what you mean. But I resent you asking the question. Surely you don’t believe that my daughter had anything to do with this.’
‘It’s a standard question in order to eliminate people from our enquiries. What about your wife, was she up during this time?’
‘I doubt it. Once she’s taken her sleeping tablet, she’s dead to the world until morning.’ He glanced at his daughter. ‘Sorry. Bad choice of word.’
‘Naomi, can you think of anyone who might have held a grudge against Ryan and wanted to harm him?’ Whitney asked.
‘Everyone liked him. He didn’t rub anyone up the wrong way. Oh … There was a woman who stalked him for a long time, and he ended up taking out an injunction against her. He didn’t want to, but after we saw her in the garden taking photos of me and Sienna, he said she’d gone too far and he had to do something about it.’
‘Do you know her name?’
‘Um … Deborah … I can’t remember her surname.’ She leant into her father and let out a deep groan.
‘Enough now. Surely you’ll have this on your records,’ Mr Dixon said, pulling Naomi closer to him.
‘Yes, of course. We’ll go now, but we will need to speak to you again.’
The partner of a victim was always high on the list of suspects. However, Whitney was prepared to leave it for the moment, as the woman was in no state to help.
‘Thank you,’ Mr Dixon said.
‘We’ll need someone to formally identify Ryan’s body, but we’ll be in touch when that can be arranged. Thank you, for your help. And, again, we’re very sorry for your loss.’
Chapter 5
Whitney had called in as many members of the team as she could get hold of. Brian and Frank were already on duty, and Ellie and Doug were both available. Meena was away for the weekend and couldn’t make it. When she arrived back with George, they were all seated at their desks, eyes focused on their computer screens. She wrote the victim’s name on the whiteboard which took up a large portion of one of the walls.
‘Thanks for coming in at short notice. As you know, Ryan Armstrong was found dead in a car park in the city, next to the snooker club he owned.’
‘I can’t believe it,’ Doug said, shaking his head. ‘What a loss.’
‘You’re a snooker fan?’
‘You could say. I’m a member of the Palace Snooker Club, which Armstrong owned with Scott Marshall.’
‘Marshall was one of the guests at the victim’s house last night, the wife informed us when we broke the news to her. We’ll be speaking to all of Armstrong’s guests. Brian, who did you interview at the club?’
‘Joe Dawson. He knew about Ryan as Molly had texted him. He’d tried to get hold of the manager, Glen Tibbs, but he was away for the weekend. He couldn’t contact Scott Marshall as he didn’t have his number so he closed the club for the rest of the day, and we left together. He’d caught the bus to work so hadn’t seen Ryan’s car in the car park, or he might have been the one to discover the body.’
‘Thanks. We’ll be visiting the club, but not yet. First, I want the CCTV footage surrounding the snooker club examined. The approximate time of death is between eleven and four, so until we have a more precise time, we’ll check from nine p.m. until the time of the 999 call. Frank, I’ll leave you to do this. Then, check out the cameras leading to and from the victim’s house. See if you can pick up his car heading towards the snooker club, and also anything over the last few weeks that appears suspicious.’
‘Bloody hell, guv. I’ll be here all night, at this rate.’
‘I’m sure the wife won’t mind,’ Doug quipped.
‘I want you all to warn your families that you’re going to be working late for the foreseeable future. Brian, the victim’s wife mentioned a stalker who they took out an injunction against. Her name is Deborah. Track her down and get her in here for questioning. Ellie and Doug, I want a thorough background search on Armstrong and his friends. In particular, Scott Marshall, Tyrone Butler, Kurt Kastrati and Rory Clarke, who the wife believes were at the house last night. Get them in for an interview. We also need information on the victim’s financial situation. His social media presence. His business. Also, find out if he has a manager.’
‘Yes, guv,’ they responded in unison.
‘I’m going to see Dr Dexter at the morgue shortly and, hopefully, we’ll find out the exact cause, and time of death. For now, work on the assumption he was shot between the hours of eleven and four and that’s what killed him. I don’t need to tell you this is going to be a high-profile case, and it’s going to attract the attention of the media, not just locally, but nationally and probably internationally. We have to tread very carefully.’
‘I have a contact, from when I was at the Met, who works for the snooker governing body,’ Brian said. ‘Shall I get in touch with him to see if I can find out anything about Armstrong, guv?’
‘It’s not hit the media yet, so we’ll leave that one for now. Once the news has been released, and is public knowledge, then go for it. We don’t want an accidental leak at this stage.’
Brian had only been with the team for three months and after a slightly tricky start, mainly because he knew Chief Superintendent Douglas, Whitney’s arch-enemy, he appeared to be settling in well and was becoming an integral part of the team. Occasionally, his one-upmanship from being trained at the Met showed, but
the other team members would soon put him in his place, in a roundabout way because he was their superior officer. She’d been feeling guilty recently because she hadn’t taken the time to sit down with him and ask how it was going.
‘I’m sure it will be out there soon enough,’ Brian said. ‘Before we even have a press conference, I expect. Did the wife know of any reason why her husband might’ve been shot?’
‘We couldn’t question her in any great depth because she was so distraught. But we’ll follow up. She does have an alibi of sorts. She was staying with her parents and was up all night with her sick child while they were asleep in bed. I need to speak to the super regarding the best way to handle this. According to her voicemail, she’s uncontactable today so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning, unless she contacts me after hearing my message. She turned to George, who’d been standing next to her. ‘Ready?’
‘Yes.’
They drove to the morgue and once they arrived hurried into the lab. Claire was in the main area peering over the body.
‘May we come through?’ Whitney called.
‘Yes,’ Claire replied, without even turning around to greet them.
Armstrong was laid out on one of the stainless-steel tables in the centre of the room. He wasn’t very tall, maybe about five foot eight with broad shoulders. He had an undercut hairstyle, and the top had blond highlights. He was clean-shaven and judging by the tautness of his abs, worked out.
‘Was it the gunshot that killed him?’ Whitney asked.
‘Correct. There was only one shot and he would have died instantly. This is where the bullet entered the body.’ Claire pointed to the hole in his chest, and Whitney and George both leant forward to take a look. ‘Do you see the pattern of tiny abrasions around it?’
‘Yes,’ Whitney said, nodding.
‘It’s what we call stippling, and it tells me that the victim was shot at close range. Stippling is caused by the discharge of a gunshot or round. The gun would most likely have been less than two feet from the victim at the time of shooting. The bullet was lodged in the heart and remained intact. That’s good news for you because it means you can match it to the murder weapon … when you find it.’
‘If we find it. A high percentage of murder weapons are never found. Do you know what type of gun the bullet came from?’
‘I’m not a firearms expert but will say that it most likely came from a .22 calibre handgun. We’ll know more after it comes back from analysis by the lab.’
‘Handguns are illegal,’ Whitney said. ‘Not that it would deter a would-be murderer. Can you confirm that he was shot in the car?’
‘Yes, he was shot where he was found, as we could see by the blood pooled in the car seat.’ Claire said. ‘Wait until we hear back from forensics, and we’ll know exactly what happened.’
‘Can you tell if the victim tried to fight back?’
‘There are no defensive wounds, which indicates that he was surprised and didn’t have the chance to even raise his arms.’
‘He’d had some friends around to his house on Saturday night. Do we know whether he was drunk or had been taking drugs?’
‘I’ve sent his blood off to toxicology, so I’ll let you know when the results are back.’
‘While I remember, do you have his mobile?’
‘His pockets were empty.’
‘Not even his keys in there?’
‘What is it about the word empty you don’t understand?’ Claire asked, staring at Whitney over the top of her glasses. ‘They weren’t anywhere in the car either, before you ask.’
‘Okay, I get it,’ Whitney said, giving a wry smile. ‘Can you give me his exact time of death?’
‘I’ve narrowed it down to between one and three in the morning.’
‘So, he had an evening with his friends and could well have been over the limit. But someone, or something, persuaded him to get into his car and drive to the car park. What was it? And why was it important enough to risk the repercussions of being caught?’
Chapter 6
Whitney arrived at work early in the morning, having already heard on the radio about Ryan Armstrong’s death. She was surprised it had remained a secret for twenty-four hours, considering who he was. They really needed to make an announcement to the media about the investigation. She pushed open the door to the station and saw Superintendent Clyde several yards in front of her, so she hurried over to catch up with her.
‘Morning, ma’am. I take it you’ve heard about the murder of Ryan Armstrong. I tried calling you yesterday but couldn’t get through. I left a message but didn’t want to go into any detail in case someone else had access to your phone.’
The super stopped and turned to face Whitney. ‘Yes, I heard it on my way in this morning. We were away yesterday and had no signal. It was unfortunate, as I would have liked to have known in advance, but we weren’t home until gone midnight, which is why I didn’t return your call.’
‘No need to worry about that in the future, ma’am. I’m well used to having my sleep interrupted.’
‘I also hadn’t realised it was such a major incident.’
‘Sorry, ma’am, I should have emphasised that in my message but, like I said, I didn’t want to alert the wrong person.’
Jamieson, her previous boss, had never wanted disturbing when he was off duty, and she’d assumed that Clyde would be the same. When thinking about it rationally, it was hardly surprising her new boss didn’t act in the same way as her old one as they were like chalk and cheese.
‘No need to apologise. Does Chief Superintendent Douglas know?’
The hairs rose on the back of Whitney’s neck at the mere mention of the man who had always had it in for her, and on several occasions had attempted to derail her career. He’d recently returned to the Lenchester force in a more senior position than he had been before. She’d tried to block all thoughts of him from her mind, but as he was Clyde’s immediate superior, it wasn’t always possible.
‘I don’t know, ma’am. He may have seen the dailies yesterday, if he was working. We do need to discuss strategy,’ she added, wanting to deflect from a Dickhead Douglas discussion.
‘We’ll have to hold a press conference as soon as possible or the media will be hammering non-stop on PR’s door.’
‘We have nothing to tell them, other than to confirm the murder. So far, the pathologist has informed us that Armstrong was shot at point-blank range in the chest. We’re waiting for the full report back from ballistics, although Dr Dexter believes it to be a .22 calibre handgun. Luckily, we have the bullet. We’re gathering the CCTV footage from around the car park where his body was found. His wife stayed with her parents on Saturday night and we have no idea what Armstrong was doing out at that time of night, considering he’d hosted a small party at his house earlier.’
‘I’ll give a press conference later and explain the investigation is ongoing. You don’t need to be a part of this one.’
Whitney was more than pleased about that as it wasn’t often she was excused from dealing with the press.
‘Fine, I’ll leave that with you, ma’am.’
‘Because of the nature of this case, I want you to update me each day on where we are with the investigation.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
They stepped in the lift together and the super got out at the fourth floor, leaving Whitney to continue to the fifth where she was based.
She still hadn’t got used to the new station, even though they’d been there for three months. She missed their old Victorian building with its rattling pipes and out-of-date toilets. It also had character, whereas the new one, which was all-singing, all-dancing, had nothing appealing about it whatsoever. More importantly, it was out on the edge of the city and nowhere near her favourite coffee spots. And, as everyone would attest, without her coffee she could be as grumpy as hell. Having said that, she had to admit the coffee in the new canteen was good.
After stopping by her office and
hanging up her jacket, she went through the second door leading into the incident room where the team were gathered, sitting at their desks.
‘Good morning, everyone,’ she said, calling them to attention. ‘I want a rundown on where we are so far. Frank, the CCTV footage.’
‘It was the weekend, so traffic was heavy in the vicinity because of the two nightclubs close by. Also, plenty of foot traffic. The victim drove along Fletcher Street and turned left into the car park at just after one in the morning. There are no cameras in the car park so that’s all that was captured.’
‘Did anyone else drive in there around that time?’
‘None went in, although several cars drove out at midnight, but no more after that.’
‘They could’ve been leaving the snooker club, as it closes then,’ Brian said.
‘Was it possible to tell if Armstrong was alone in his car?’
‘From what I could see, yes he was, but the images weren’t great so someone could’ve hidden from view.’
‘Did you spot anyone walking into the car park?’
‘No, but if they knew where the cameras were situated, kept close to the side of the building, and were wearing dark clothes, they could’ve avoided being seen.’
‘That would’ve involved some surveillance. Check that out. What about cameras in the vicinity of the victim’s house? Did you pick up anything?’
‘Actually, yes. Although it’s a residential area, there are several major roads leading to Pennington Grove all of which are covered by CCTV. I spotted Armstrong being followed over the last two weeks.’
A lead already?
‘The stalker?’ Whitney asked.
‘The driver was male, in a Vauxhall Corsa. What alerted me was that when the car had parked up no one got in or out, so I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that it was around the same time as Armstrong.’
Whitney walked over and Brian followed. ‘Show us.’
