by M A Comley
“No, should I be?”
“You need to be vigilant in the future. I know it’s too late now, but it would appear someone is targeting the newbuild sites in the area.”
“Why?”
“We don’t have the answer to that right now. May I ask how you injured your arm?”
“It happened a few weeks back. I was passing the forklift when the arm dropped. I tried to get out of the way, but those buckets are heavy.”
“Was it intentional?”
“Not sure if it was intentional or not. I had an argument with the driver, and he ended up walking off-site. Saved me sacking the prat.”
“Who was the driver?”
“Larry Watson. He was only here for a few days. He was in between jobs. He started at Donald Windsor Homes a few days later, I believe.”
“I see. Unfortunately, he’s dead now.”
He bounced forward in his chair, his eyes as wide as beach balls. “He’s dead? How?”
“I can’t go into details. Can you tell me anything else about Stuart?”
“Not really. I wondered why he hadn’t turned up at seven like he usually does. I asked around, and no one had seen his van on-site.”
“Okay, so his van is missing, and the gates were locked when you arrived this morning?”
“That’s right. Weird, ain’t it?”
“Very. I don’t suppose you have his registration number handy? I’ll need his next of kin details too. Was he married?”
“I should have the registrations here. I get all the lads to write down their numbers when they join, something I’ve always done. Don’t ask me why. Yep, he was married, with a two-year-old daughter. His wife is called Sheryl.” He left his chair, rummaged around in a plastic box on the floor beside him and extracted a folder with pockets. “My deluxe filing cabinet,” he said with a brief laugh.
Lorne wrote down the information as he handed it to her. “That’s brilliant. We’ll call over there now to see her. Have you been in touch with her at all?”
“No. I tried to ring Stuart on his mobile but didn’t bother ringing him at home.”
“I wonder why she hasn’t reported him missing.”
He shrugged. “Maybe she was away for the weekend? I don’t know.”
“I’ll go and see her now. I have to ask, have you had any problems from anyone objecting to you building here over the months?”
“No. This is about the only site I haven’t. Why?”
“It’s a line of enquiry that we’re looking at. Okay, I’ll leave a card with you. If you hear or think of anything that you believe will help our investigation, please contact me immediately.”
“Okay. This might seem a tad insensitive in the circumstances, but I have to ask, when do you think the crime scene bods will finish?”
“They’re aware you’re on a tight schedule. I reckon they’ll be out of here by the end of the day.”
“Good to know. Time is money and all that.”
“Of course. I’ll be off then. Sorry for your loss.”
“No idea where I’m going to get a good replacement. You don’t happen to know any plumbers, do you?”
“I did, but unfortunately, he was killed recently too.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“Nope, totally true.”
She walked out of the office and found Katy coming towards her. “Is Patti’s team going to test it for prints?”
“Yep. Where are we going now?”
“Stuart was married. You know what that means.”
“Damn, okay.”
They walked towards the car. Lorne handed Katy the sheet of paper with the information Dickinson had given her. “Do me a favour. Ring Karen, get her to put an alert out for Stuart’s van. It’s missing.”
“That could be a good lead for us to follow. Want me to put this postcode in first?”
“Perfect.” Lorne fastened her seatbelt and started the engine while the satnav located the route information. Then she drove slowly off the site, tutting when she realised she hadn’t said farewell to Patti before she left.
An hour later, Lorne and Katy were heading back to the station after breaking the news of Stuart’s death to his wife. She was devastated and hadn’t been aware that he was missing because she had been away at her sister’s house for the weekend after the couple had argued on Friday morning before he’d left for work. They left the remorseful, grieving widow once her sister had arrived to comfort her.
“I seriously hate this job sometimes,” Lorne said during the journey, which had so far been silent.
“I’m glad that sort of crap is down to you now. I hated dealing with grieving family members when I was in the job.”
“Was there anything you liked about the job?” Lorne replied, shaking her head.
Katy’s mobile rang, interrupting their conversation. “What have you got for us, Karen?” Katy asked, putting the phone on speaker.
“I put a call out for any available patrol cars in the area to keep an eye out for the van, and they’ve found it a couple of roads away from the site where he was working.”
“That’s excellent news. Karen, can you give the location to the SOCO team attending the scene with Patti?” Lorne requested.
“Will do.”
“Thanks, Karen. We’re on our way back to base now.” Katy ended the call.
“That’s good news. Let’s hope they’ve been careless and left some prints.”
Katy grunted. “Knowing our luck, I bloody doubt it.”
A few days passed before the results came in. Patti arranged for her team to rush the tests through as a high priority. She rang Lorne with the results mid-afternoon on the Wednesday of that week. “Are you sitting down, my friend?”
“I am. I hope the news is good.”
“The best, I believe. We ran the fingerprints we found on both the vehicle and the padlock, and they matched. That was the first sigh-of-relief moment for us. Then we ran the results through the system—and bingo! We hit the jackpot.”
“Never! You’ve got a name for me?”
“I do. A Noel Lingard.”
Lorne wrote the name down on her pad. “It’s not a name we’ve come across during our enquiries. Thanks, Patti. I’ll get Karen to do some digging on him. Well done to you and your team.”
“It’s a pleasure.”
Lorne tore out of her office. “Karen, look into this man’s background for me. Patti’s just rung to tell me he’s in the system, so it shouldn’t take long.”
Karen’s fingers flew across the keyboard, and within seconds, she had a hit. “Got him.” She swivelled the screen in Lorne’s direction.
Katy joined them. They eyed each other and shook their heads.
“I don’t recognise him,” Katy said. “Do you?”
“Nope. It’s no one we’ve met over the last few weeks. This gets more infuriating the further we dig. Wait a minute…” She held her hand up to cover the man’s nose. “I recognise him now, sort of. What about you, Katy?”
She shook her head then suddenly gasped. “Bloody hell, I do. Isn’t that Nathan Davies, the assistant manager at Donald Windsor Homes?”
“I’m thinking the same.”
“I don’t understand why you didn’t recognise him immediately,” Karen said.
“He has a beard now. Find out what car he drives, Karen.”
Another few seconds passed before she supplied the answer. “A black BMW with the registration number GF656OLY.”
Lorne punched the air in jubilation. “We’ve got the bastard—or one of them at least. Now all we have to do is find out who his sidekick is.”
“Do you think it’s someone he works alongside?” Katy asked.
“Maybe. He seemed a nice enough chap when we met him the other day. Maybe he’s disenchanted about something that’s gone on during his time on-site.”
“Let’s go and arrest the bastard then.”
“All right, let’s go pick him up. I’ll get Ray to supply us with a backu
p team on our way out.”
Katy clenched her fists. “Yes!”
Chapter 17
The drive to the Donald Windsor Homes site was an anxious one for Lorne. When an arrest was in sight, Lorne always felt a large knot settle in her stomach. Two squad cars were accompanying them to the location. On board were four of the burliest coppers the station could provide at short notice.
Lorne pulled into a lay-by close to the site and left the car. She told the constables to remain in their vehicles until she gave the signal for them to join her. The last thing she wanted to do was pull up on-site and scare Nathan into running off. With the plan put into action, Lorne jumped back in the car and carried on the rest of the journey to the site, just a stone’s throw from the lay-by where the backup team was waiting.
“Are you ready for this?” Lorne asked Katy.
“Too bloody right. Can’t wait to see that weasel’s face when we finally confront him with the news.”
“Me neither.” She ran her sweaty palms down the front of her trousers. “Let’s do this!”
When they opened the door to the sales office, Candice smiled broadly, but that smile slipped a little when she realised who’d walked into her office. “Hello, ladies. What can I do for you today?”
“Is Nathan Davies around, Candice? If so, we’d like a quiet chat with him.”
“Sorry, you’re out of luck.”
“Where is he?”
“He and Will have gone home to get changed.”
“I’m not with you. Has something bad happened on-site today? Why would they need to get changed?”
“Sorry for not making it clearer. They’ve left early to get ready for tonight. The award ceremony takes place this evening.”
Lorne and Katy exchanged puzzled glances, then Lorne asked, “What award ceremony?”
“The prestigious National Housebuilder of the Year Awards. Our site is up for the local award for this area. Proud of that fact too. I’m going along later. The boys wanted to look their best as they’re pretty confident they’re going to win.”
At that moment, everything slotted into place in Lorne’s mind. The two men involved in the crimes are Will and Nathan! They’ve been killing off the competition, in Sutherland’s case at least. The rest of the murders were designed to hamper progress at the other sites.
“Would you mind explaining how the awards work? Congratulations, by the way.”
“Thanks. We’re pretty stoked by our achievements. It’s not the first time Will has won an award, but this is Nathan’s first time. In fact, he’s never even attended the award ceremony before. To answer your question, each stage of the build is judged by a panel of four men. It’s a pretty stringent judging schedule too. That’s probably why Will looks so stressed out all the time. He deserves all the praise he gets, though—he works really hard to ensure the site runs like clockwork. Handles the tiniest problem as it rears its head. He’s been at this for a good few years, so his experience shows to the people who count at head office.”
“That’s great to know, and what about Nathan?”
“This is his first year. He’s funny, runs around here like a headless chicken most of the time, eager to please Will, and well, the awards ceremony will be the icing on the cake for him. He’s so excited about this evening. Never dreamed this type of thing would happen to him in his first year with the company.”
“I see. That’s amazing. Wishing them both well for this evening. Dare I ask where this swanky event is going to take place?”
Candice’s eyes lit up. “At the bloody Savoy Hotel. Can you believe that?”
“Wow, it must be the crème de la crème of awards to be held there,” Lorne replied, genuinely impressed as her mind formulated a plan.
“Oh, it is. I assure you. Do you want me to give the boys a message when I see them later?”
“What time is the event?”
“It starts at seven with a formal dinner. The award ceremony will take place afterwards. That’s usually around eight thirty.”
“Excellent. Don’t bother talking work business tonight. Go there and have fun. We’ll drop by and see Nathan in the morning. It was just a general enquiry anyway. Hey, have a smashing time tonight. Hope you guys don’t end up disappointed after all your hard work.”
“Thanks. We’re quietly confident about the outcome.”
“See you tomorrow.” Lorne and Katy left the sales office.
Once they were a few feet away, a bemused Katy said, “What’s going on? We need to get their addresses and pick them up while we know where they are.”
“That’s exactly my intention, partner. Have you got a fancy party frock?”
“Er… lingering somewhere at the back of my wardrobe. What the bloody hell are you getting at?”
Lorne grinned broadly. “My dear lady, we’re going to the Savoy tonight.”
“Holy crap! You’re really going to take them down in front of the industry’s finest people?”
“After what these feckers have done, that, dear partner, will be an absolute pleasure.”
The rest of the day whizzed by in an excited buzz. Once they returned to the station, Lorne asked Karen to check back on last year’s ceremony to prepare themselves for what to expect. As soon as Lorne realised the awards were going to be presented by the Mayor of London, she had reservations whether they were doing the right thing. That thought only lasted a few minutes, however.
At around four o’clock, she summoned up the courage to make Roberts aware of what was about to take place. Her stomach was churning when she walked into his office and sat in the chair opposite him.
“What? You can’t be serious, Lorne? This has to be one of the craziest ideas you’ve ever come up with… and I love it!”
She was taken aback by his enthusiasm. “Bloody hell, I thought you were about to sling the book at me. I take it you want in on the plan?”
“Too bloody right, I do. What about Tony and Joe? They’ll no doubt want to be involved, as well. It’ll be great all of us working as a team again on another mission.”
Lorne laughed and shook her head. “I take it you’re going a little stir-crazy sitting behind your desk.”
“You guessed right. I know the super let us down when I requested reinforcements, but we don’t need them. We’ll do it between us. Revel in all the glory for ourselves.”
“Did he? You forgot to pass on that snippet of information. I’m not surprised. Right, I need to ring Tony, see if he’s up for the task.”
Sean picked up the phone and handed it to her. “Do it from here. I want to hear what his reaction is.”
Lorne laughed as she took the phone. “You’re acting like a kid in a toyshop with the latest Star Wars toy in reach of your fingertips, Sean.”
He sat on his hands. “Sorry. To say I lead a dull life nowadays would be the understatement of the millennium.”
Lorne dialled Tony’s mobile. “Hi, love. I’m with Sean. I’m going to put you on speakerphone. Is Joe with you?”
“He is. Is everything okay?”
“I suggest you put yours on speaker too. This involves the pair of you, if you’re up for a challenge.”
“Sounds intriguing. Doing it now.”
Between them, Lorne and Sean ran through the gist of what had taken place that day and bounced a few ideas around as to how they wanted things to proceed during the evening.
“Bloody hell, guys, are you sure you want to out these bastards at a public event like this?” Tony asked, amusement noticeable in his tone.
“I think it’s an excellent plan,” Sean replied. “What about it, guys? Are you up for it?”
“Well, I’m in,” Joe piped up.
“I’m clearly outnumbered so, okay, I bow to your enthusiasm. Let’s hope we don’t end up with the celebratory cake on our faces,” Tony said.
Lorne screeched. “Yay, thanks, guys. You won’t regret this. We’ll work out the finer details with Katy and the team now, and I’ll give you
a call later. Shall we meet up in town for something to eat before we tackle these bastards?”
“Good idea. Let us know where and when, and we’ll be there.”
“Thanks, love. See you later.” Lorne ended the call and handed the phone back to Sean, who was looking at her with a weird look in his eye. Uh-oh! What the hell is he thinking? Suddenly feeling uncomfortable in such close proximity to her boss, she shuffled back in her chair and crossed her arms.
“Now don’t go getting all defensive on me. Let’s keep this light and informal. I was only going to apologise and point out how obvious it is how much you and Tony mean to each other.”
She unfolded her arms. “He truly is the love of my life, Sean. He understands my thought process and just gets me. No man, including you, has ever really dug deep enough to discover the real me. I don’t mean that to come across as being harsh or disrespectful, but it happens to be the truth.”
“I get that. Again, I’m sorry for putting you in that awkward position when Emma was in trouble. I wasn’t thinking straight. I hope that going forward we can truly put that unfortunate mistake behind us.”
Lorne extended her hand across the desk.
Sean shook it vigorously.
“We can. We’ll make a pact to never speak about the incident ever again.”
Sean smiled. “That’s a deal. Now go. You have a lot of planning to go through with your team.”
“I’ll be in touch later. You’ll join us for dinner, right?”
“Wouldn’t want to miss out on that.”
Lorne left his office and walked back to the incident room with a spring in her step to thrash out the rest of the plan with her team.
At six o’clock, Lorne’s team, along with Sean, Tony and Joe, were all assembled around a table in a small Italian restaurant in the heart of the city, tweaking the last-minute details of how the evening should proceed.
“Sean, you’re going to need to use your clout to get us in there in the first place,” Lorne said, realising that she should have asked him to do that earlier on in the day.
“I can do that. A mate of mine knows the manager of the Savoy. I’ll get him to have a word. He’ll probably be okay about us going in there as long as we promise not to be too disruptive.”
