Gone to Ground

by Rachel Amphlett

  He rose to his feet as she appeared.

  ‘Look. Toothbrush is missing. Half the contents of this drawer are gone – including an electric razor, and I’ve checked the bedroom. There are empty hangers in the wardrobe.’

  Kay blinked as she processed his words. ‘What about a laptop or a mobile phone?’

  ‘No sign of any up here – you?’

  ‘No, and no chargers for either of them downstairs.’

  Kay snapped her gloves off her fingers and handed them to him before breathing a sigh of relief. ‘He’s not missing, is he? He’s gone away.’

  Twenty

  The next morning, Kay held the door to the incident room open for Sharp, then strode towards her desk and dumped her bag on it before raising her voice above the hum that filled the space.

  ‘Everyone gather around. Front of the room, please.’

  The conversations grew quiet as her colleagues joined her, a few with quizzical expressions on their faces.

  She waited while chairs were dragged across the threadbare carpet and the team found places to perch on desks, then thanked them and provided an update from the previous day’s activities.

  ‘On the basis of our search at Clive Wallis’s house, it appears that he may have left his home voluntarily. However, until we know for certain, Mr Wallis is to continue to be treated as a missing persons case.’

  She waited while the assembled team caught up with their note-taking, then gestured to Carys. ‘Can you look into his employers for me while we’re here? They’re based in Dover – details are on the system. Find out if they know where he is.’

  ‘Will do, guv.’ Carys moved to her desk and pulled up the relevant information on HOLMES while Kay continued.

  ‘What’s the progress on the CCTV from the landfill site? Anyone?’

  A uniformed officer next to Carys’s desk stepped forward. ‘We’ve obtained the footage from three of the four cameras at the site,’ he said. ‘Two of those are no use to us – they show the vehicle compound where the excavators and everything are kept, as well as the site office. We’ll start to go through the others for the gate and the public right of way today.’

  Kay frowned. ‘It would’ve made more sense to do those first.’

  ‘Yes, guv – the problem was, none of the files were named properly, so it was a bit hit and miss until we realised what they’d done.’

  ‘All right. As fast as you can, though.’

  The phone on Kay’s desk trilled, and Barnes stuck his hand up. ‘I’ll get it.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Kay turned back to the whiteboard. ‘What about statements from the other employees at the landfill site?’

  Debbie cleared her throat. ‘We’ve completed those and they’re all in the system now. No-one has reported any unusual activity, and there are no other cases of suspicious items being found on site.’

  ‘What about past convictions for any employees?’

  ‘Only one bloke – Justin Tinner. Two months for possession of drugs when he was nineteen. Been clean since, and that’s going on six years.’

  Kay noticed Carys ending her phone call and waited as she made her way back to the group. ‘Anything useful?’

  ‘I spoke with Clive Wallis’s HR manager. She says she last saw him at a conference at a hotel outside Maidstone last week. She said he was hobbling a bit, but fine. Hasn’t been seen since – they’re about to write to him and issue a formal warning.’

  Kay caught Gavin’s brow furrow, noting she probably wore the same perplexed expression.

  ‘When did the conference finish?’

  ‘Thursday, apparently.’

  ‘And yet all his personal effects are still missing from his house.’

  ‘Guv?’ Barnes was holding up his hand to get her attention. He replaced the desk phone back in its cradle, then moved back to where the group gathered and elbowed his way past a couple of junior members of the uniformed team, holding out a piece of paper to her as he drew closer. ‘That was Lucas – he confirms we’ve got a match between the amputated foot and some of the other body parts found at the landfill.’

  Kay scanned the page, then raised her gaze to Carys. ‘You might want to suggest to Wallis’s employers that they hold fire with that plan to issue a formal warning to him until we speak with them.’

  Carys’s eyebrows shot upwards. ‘You think it’s him?’

  Kay exhaled. ‘Could be. Lucas needs a DNA sample to confirm it. Can you get onto Tunbridge Wells and ask them to take a swab from the house? Gavin – with me. Let’s go and find out what Wallis’s employers can tell us.’

  Twenty-One

  Kay and Gavin set off for Dover as soon as the briefing concluded, and although the morning rush hour traffic had passed, it took Gavin over an hour to reach the busy port town.

  They passed a steady stream of articulated trucks on the M20, many of them with intercontinental licence plates and colourful logos adorning the trailers. The opposite carriageway was as busy, with goods from the ferry terminal being transported across the south of England towards their destinations.

  When they entered the town via the main road, Gavin’s mouth turned down as he surveyed graffiti tags that adorned the boarded-up shop windows.

  ‘Some things don’t change. I was a probationary constable here for six months,’ he said. ‘That was an eye-opener.’

  ‘They usually pick an interesting one for your first year.’

  ‘What about you? Where did you do your training?’

  ‘Tonbridge. Loved it.’

  ‘Lucky you. Did you always want to be a detective?’

  ‘Yes. I applied as soon as I could and volunteered for any opportunity to help with a major investigation that came along – same as Debbie does. There were a couple of years where Adam and I hardly saw each other – we really were like passing ships. There was me trying to work my way up the career ladder with Kent Police, and him eager to set up his own veterinary practice.’

  ‘How did he manage it in the end?’

  Kay dropped her mobile phone into her bag. ‘He’d been caring for a couple of horses for an old woman who lived on a smallholding near Tenterden. She rescued them from being sent to an abattoir after their racing careers were over, and he used to go over there once a month to check them over. Wouldn’t take any money off her for it – you know what he’s like. He spent a lot of time chatting with her, too while he was there and often did odd jobs around the place at weekends if I was working. I think she was lonely; her husband had died years before and they’d had no children, and she enjoyed Adam’s company. When she died, we got a hell of a shock – it turned out she was very well off and left him the house on Weavering Street and the smallholding on the condition he continued to care for the horses.’

  ‘Wow.’

  ‘I know. He had no idea. She’d never said anything to him, but I think she wanted to make sure those horses were in good hands after she died, and he was the only person she trusted. We lived at the smallholding at Tenterden for a couple of years until the horses died, and then sold that and moved back to Maidstone.’

  ‘And he used the money from the smallholding sale to start up the clinic?’

  ‘Yes – hasn’t looked back since. Loves his work, as you know, and now the clinic is established he can afford to bring on younger veterinarians to train them.’

  Gavin flicked the indicator to turn left and gestured through the windscreen at an imposing three-storey building that towered over the low-set industrial units around it.

  ‘This is the place.’

  Smoked glass obscured Kay's view of the inside of the building, but when they pushed through the single door, she was surprised to find herself in a large light and airy space that belied the outer façade.

  The woman behind the reception desk waved them to a group of chairs around a low table at the far end of the atrium.

  The chairs were built to impress, rather than for comfort, and Kay resisted the urge to fidget while she waited.


  Thankfully, Clive Wallis’s employer didn't keep them long, and she turned to see an enormous man bearing down on them.

  His appearance gave her the impression he imbibed his own food and wine imports on a regular basis. His mouth formed a broad smile as he approached.

  ‘Montgomery Fisher, general manager for sales,’ he barked, and thrust out his hand. ‘Call me Monty.’

  Kay managed not to wince as he crushed her hand within his and breathed a sigh of relief as he let go and turned to the receptionist.

  ‘Got a room free, Sharon?’

  ‘Conference room,’ said the woman. ‘I put a pot of coffee on.’

  ‘Good lass.’ He turned back to Kay and Gavin. ‘Come on through.’

  For such a large man, he moved with ill-concealed haste, as if every precious minute with them prevented him from another sale – or meal.

  He swung a door open and stepped to one side to let them pass, then gestured to the eight seats placed around a highly polished conference table.

  ‘Coffee?’

  ‘Please,’ said Kay.

  She positioned herself in the nearest chair facing the door, Gavin taking the one next to her and they waited while Fisher fussed over the coffee machine.

  He slid a cup and saucer towards Gavin, placed Kay’s in front of her and eased himself into a seat opposite them before tearing two sugar sachets open and stirring them into his drink.

  ‘Right, so your colleague said on the phone you wanted to talk to me about Clive Wallis. What do you want to know? I take it Hayley in HR told her we were about to issue him with a formal warning?’

  ‘Yes, can I ask why that is?’ said Kay.

  ‘He’s been absent since Thursday’s sales conference, that’s why. Our permanent staff are expected to phone us immediately if they’re unable to work, and we haven’t heard from him for over a week now. It’s unacceptable.’

  ‘Is it out of character?’

  ‘Yes, but you have to understand – we’ve had to make a number of redundancies earlier this year; business hasn’t been doing as well as it ought, and Clive was one of the ones we agreed to keep on board. Last week’s get-together was set up in order to gee everyone up a bit, get them refocused after the rough patch we all went through. Cost a fortune, mind. And then Clive hasn’t been seen since.’

  ‘This “get-together” as you call it. Where was that held? Here?’

  ‘God, no.’ He spread his hands expansively. ‘This is the biggest room we’ve got. No good at all. A lot of our permanent sales staff work from home, like Clive. Helps to keep the overheads down, you see? Meant we didn’t have to take a lease out on bigger premises, thank goodness.’

  ‘So, where was it held?’ said Gavin, turning the page of his notebook.

  ‘That new hotel on the A20 outside Maidstone. Can’t remember the name of it. Sharon sorted it out. Two days of executive training – team building, that sort of thing, then everyone got given their sales targets for the rest of the year. Bloody expensive, like I said. But, it gets them all together in one place – they work autonomously, so it’s good for morale, especially at the moment.’

  ‘What day did the conference finish?’

  ‘Thursday. Everyone got there Wednesday from about lunchtime onwards. There were some activities and things held in the afternoon to break the ice – golf, team building games, that sort of thing. Then, we had the sales training on the Thursday morning. They were all on their way home by four o’clock that afternoon.’

  ‘And you haven’t heard from Mr Wallis since?’

  ‘No.’ Fisher leaned back in his seat and folded his arms. ‘Hate to think he’s gone off and met with a competitor. Some of the information shared in the conference on Thursday morning was bloody confidential.’

  ‘And you’ve been trying to contact him?’

  ‘Daily. Phone and email. Like I said to your colleague, our next step is to issue him with a formal notice. We can’t have our staff going off like this. It’s unacceptable.’

  ‘Did you know he had been in hospital the previous week?’

  He frowned. ‘Only a minor procedure on his foot, as I understand. He was hobbling a bit but didn’t seem to be in too much discomfort.’

  ‘Why would he attend the conference if he’d been in hospital?’ said Kay.

  Fisher sighed and fiddled with his tie. ‘Look, like I said, times are tough. He may have thought that if he didn’t turn up, then he’d be next in line for the chop.’

  ‘Did you threaten him?’

  ‘Of course not.’ A faint blush began at his neck and worked its way north. ‘That’s not legal, for a start.’

  ‘Do you have a next of kin on Mr Wallis’s personnel file? Anyone who might be able to help us understand where he might be?’ said Kay.

  ‘I’ll have to ask Hayley. If there are, she would’ve tried to contact them as well.’

  Kay smiled. ‘Thanks. We’ll wait.’

  She turned to Gavin as the sales manager left the room, and he held up his mobile.

  ‘Text message from Barnes. Tunbridge Wells got the swab and it was couriered to Lucas immediately. I’ve asked him to text me the minute he hears back from the pathology lab.’

  Kay nodded, then sat back in her chair as Fisher returned, a slim file in his hand.

  He hesitated a moment, then slid it across the table to her.

  ‘You understand that I can’t let you walk out of here with that unless I have a formal request?’

  ‘That’s fine.’

  She flicked open the file and scanned the meagre contents until she found what she was looking for. The section of Clive’s employee details where a next of kin would normally be noted was blank.

  ‘No family?’

  ‘His father died some years ago from complications arising from diabetes and his mother passed away a year or so ago,’ said Fisher. ‘Left him the house. A bit sad, really. I don’t think he has much of a social life. Never seems to talk about it, anyway.’

  She shoved the file back towards Fisher as a two-tone beep reached her ears.

  ‘Guv.’

  She took the phone Gavin held out to her, scanned the message, then rose from her seat before handing it back and turning to the sales manager.

  ‘Last question, Mr Fisher. What’s the name of the hotel you used for the conference?’

  Twenty-Two

  ‘Lucas? Just got your message. What can you tell me?’

  Kay shoved the phone into the hands-free cradle on the dashboard and turned on the speakerphone mode so Gavin could hear both sides of the conversation as he drove back towards Maidstone, the speedometer hovering a little over the national speed limit.

  ‘Okay, so we’ve got Clive Wallis’s blood test results from his GP together with the samples we took from the amputated foot. We’ve also extracted DNA from the foot, the bones found at the landfill and ran a comparison with the DNA swab taken from a water glass in his bathroom by your colleagues at Tunbridge Wells. You’re lucky it’s a quiet week at the laboratory – you’d normally have to wait at least a week.’

  ‘I know, thank you. So, it’s definitely a match with Wallis?’

  ‘We’re certain.’

  Kay exhaled, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. ‘That’s great work, Lucas. Thank you. Please thank Harriet and her team for me as well – I realise that was hard work at the landfill site for them.’

  ‘No problem.’

  ‘What about the second victim?’

  ‘Nothing at the moment – those results have yet to come back. I’ll be in touch with my formal report as soon as possible.’

  Kay ended the call and glanced up as the vehicle shot underneath a gantry. A blue and white sign displayed the distance to the county town, and she tried not to let her impatience show as the traffic crawled to a standstill outside Ashford.

  ‘What next, guv?’

  Gavin’s voice jerked her from her thoughts.

  ‘Straight to the hotel that Wa
llis stayed at.’

  She scrolled through the contacts on Gavin’s phone until she found the name she was seeking, then hit the dial button.

  Barnes answered within three rings.

  ‘Gav?’

  ‘It’s me,’ said Kay. ‘We’re on speakerphone. We’ve heard from Lucas – you’ll get a copy of an email he’s sending to me shortly, but he’s confirmed he’s got a match on one of our victims as being Wallis.’

  ‘How did you get on in Dover?’

  ‘There’s no next of kin, but his manager, Montgomery Fisher, confirmed he was last seen at a sales conference and team building exercise held over two days last week at that new hotel just off the M20 at Maidstone. We’re heading there now. Can you organise the paperwork to get us access to their personnel files? I’m going to try and have a look at the hotel’s security video footage when we get there.’

  ‘Will do. What was Wallis doing there the day after leaving hospital?’

  ‘Trying to keep his job, by the sounds of it.’

  She ended the call as the traffic started to move forwards once more, and within fifteen minutes Gavin had found the hotel and parked in a space close to its reception doors.

  As Kay climbed from the car, she noticed a group of four men in light coloured trousers and pastel short-sleeved shirts making their way from the car park to an opening in a hedgerow on the far right of the hotel. A sign next to the ornamental planting proclaimed the newest eighteen-hole golf course in Kent and promises of weekly competitions for enthusiastic locals.

  ‘Wonder how they stay in business?’ said Kay. ‘There’s another hotel a few miles from here with a golf course, isn’t there? Makes you wonder how this lot are doing, having to compete with an established hotel.’

  ‘Lots of businesses in the county need a central conferencing location, guv and golf’s a popular game.’

  She wrinkled her nose, and Gavin chuckled as she joined him on the steps leading up to the reception area before holding the door open for her.