by Linda Coles
He’d been the top man in his field for more years than he could remember, and while his competition still chose to beat and maim their victims in order to collect on debts or ensure loyalty, Wilfred had always found his methods less invasive and just as successful. Fingers didn’t get pointed, blame wasn’t apportioned and snitches didn’t benefit to their own end, and that was because he held the knowhow. He, Wilfred Day, was the talent, the untraceable hacker who could hit his enemies where it hurt the most.
He turned back to Sam’s laptop. Now he had two lots of intelligence to work with that would prove valuable in both the short and long runs. But now, he had to get the druggie’s laptop back to her lounge before she suspected anything was amiss. He called the relevant number and recited the address. By the time she awoke, her laptop would be plugged in again, sitting right where she’d left it – with a little added invisible software on board for good measure. He’d report back to DS Black in the morning, and then it was down to him to decide how to handle it.
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Rick was finishing his first coffee of the day and eating a slice of toast when his phone vibrated on silent. It was still early, just gone 6 a.m.
“Morning.” He wasn’t happy about associating with the very man he’d tried so many times to put away, but right now Rick needed the shortcut – and quickly.
“I hear today will be a beautiful day. What do you have planned, DS Black?” Wilfred sounded like he’d already been up for a couple of hours. Rick ignored his joviality and got straight to the point.
“What did you find?”
“Ah, patience, my dear man. All will be explained in due course.”
Rick groaned inwardly but waited dutifully for Wilfred to say more
“First I have a question for you.”
“And what’s that?” Patience, patience.
“Since you can’t use my evidence in court, how are you planning to handle this situation?”
Rick really didn’t want to explain his plan to anyone until he’d spoken to Duncan, so he tried to evade the question. “I’m not entirely sure yet, so let me worry about that. What did you find out? Is she involved?”
“That she is, I’m afraid. As I’ve said before and will say again now, novices shouldn’t dabble in this type of thing. It took me a handful of minutes to figure out what she’d been up to.”
Rick groaned audibly now.
Wilfred went on. “Tell me, do you like this woman, or, more to the point, does DS Riley like his wife? Are they close?”
“She’s not my favourite woman in the world but then I’m not married to her. I can’t speak for Duncan, though I expect he’ll be pretty pissed off when I tell him. Why?”
Wilfred ignored his question. “Will you arrest her? Do you have any evidence other than what I’ve found?”
“Not enough, I’m afraid.” He sounded defeated to his own ears. What a sorry state to be in, and even more so for Duncan to be in. Rick could sense there was more to come. There was.
“Did you know of her habit?” Wilfred said. “Her predilection for pills, of the codeine variety? She likes to shop online, I expect to balance buying from the local chemists. That way she can always have a stash on hand, as it were.”
“No, I didn’t know that,” Rick said wearily. “But that would explain a few things.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Thanks, Wilfred. I think we’re about square.”
“Glad I could be of assistance. Let me know how it turns out. And have a fantastic day…” He gave a familiar chuckle.
They rang off, and Rick sat frozen in place, his head whirling with thoughts about what to do next and how to tell Duncan. He wasn’t looking forward to the day ahead.
In truth, Wilfred Day hadn’t yet been to bed since his discovery. One thing he’d learned early on in his career was that there was something to salvage from every situation, no matter how bad it seemed on the surface. Last night’s discovery of Sam’s activities, coupled with who she’d been involved with, had given him an idea, an idea that could be beneficial on several fronts. Once he’d found out who had been behind the hit, he’d spent time doing some homework, and it had paid off.
He liked both DS Black and DS Riley. He’d always found them easy to deal with on the few occasions he’d been interviewed officially, and he saw them both out and about regularly. He looked at the address he had jotted down, along with a man’s name. A drive-by later was in order, but for now, it was time to get some sleep.
He had a busy day ahead of him.
Sam was almost ready to go. Anika had collected the girls and taken them both to school on her behalf, allowing her an early start down south – a journey she wasn’t looking forward to and a visit she was looking forward to even less.
But there was no choice if she was to keep suspicion at bay.
Inside Sam was fuming; not only had there been no reply to her message, but the website had since vanished and with no clue how else to contact ‘him’, it seemed that was the end of that. What a waste of £6000. And with Duncan still alive, she knew she’d have some explaining to do about the transaction in the first place. Could she be planning a surprise vacation for them? Could that be her excuse? It might work; after all, why would someone suspect her of being behind the shooting. She was simply an ordinary, loving housewife. As she made her way out to her car, the sun was climbing the Manchester sky slowly, but would the day stay so bright?
She hoped so.
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Amanda and Jack were back at the station, rehashing what they knew over coffee. Mrs. Stewart had put two slices of chocolate cake into another plastic tub for Jack, and Amanda was halfway through her piece, dark brown crumbs resting in her lap. Jack hadn’t yet passed comment, but who was he to talk about messy eating? She’d thought about banning him from eating sandwiches with mayonnaise in them, since it meant a greasy stain on his shirt every time. Still, he had someone to wash them now, she mused.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit odd we have virtually nothing to work with?” Amanda asked him, looking thoughtful as she ate.
“It’s not that uncommon, Lacey. There are any number of unsolved cases that never get solved. We can only follow the evidence.”
He was right, of course, but it did nothing to ease her agitation. “I’ll call Rick. He may have some news. And maybe as time goes on, Duncan’s account of what happened will clarify. It didn’t help him being so ill, either. Also, we never did talk about the food van drugs. Maybe Rick can help with that now, too.”
“I wonder what caused him to be so ill. Can a migraine really do that to a person, and so violently?” Jack licked his fingers clean of chocolate cream filling then wiped his hands down his trousers. Amanda glared at him disapprovingly.
“What?”
She stared pointedly at the napkin dispenser on the table before going on. “From my experience, severe headache, visual disturbances and vomiting are part of it, but it sounds like Duncan had severe hallucinations at the same time, and I’ve not heard of that before. I’ll double check with the doc; she’ll know for sure.” Thinking again, she asked, “Did she do a tox screen?”
“Doubt it. He’s not dead, so there’d be no reason to do one. Why? Do you think he ingested something to cause the hallucinations? He didn’t eat anything at the restaurant.”
“No, I know that, but the ferocity of the hallucinations he mentioned seems extreme. Worth checking if it’s not too late. Right,” she said, standing. The coffee break was over. “I’ll call the doc and ask her to do a tox screen, and you check in with Rick. Then we’ll head over and see how our man is this morning. I believe his wife is coming down.”
Jack’s antennae pricked up. “That should be interesting to see. Can’t we plant a camera and mic and watch remotely?”
Amanda raised her eyebrows in a ‘no.’
“Good idea, though, don’t you think?”
“It’s still no.”
Duncan was sitting pr
opped up in bed. Normal colour had returned to his face and he spoke with a more natural voice again, his throat having healed nicely overnight. He greeted Amanda and Jack with bright eyes and an equally bright smile as they entered. Clearly Duncan was feeling much better.
“Looks like I’ll be heading back towards home soon. Just a couple more days in hospital and I think they’ll let me go home.” He sounded chipper for someone who had had the ordeal of his life a little over 24 hours ago. “Sam called me too. She’s on her way. I could have saved her a journey.” Again, his beaming smile. Amanda couldn’t help wonder if he’d had a full change of heart about her. But given what Rick had found, and what they had yet to tell him, well, who knew how he’d react. She wasn’t looking forward to it.
They pulled chairs up and sat down. Amanda took the lead.
“It’s good to see you looking so much better, Duncan. You had us all worried there for a while.”
“It seems like a distant memory now, apart from the throb in my hand. My shoulder doesn’t feel so bad in comparison. They reckon I’ll need another operation on it in a few days. Looks like I’ll be desk bound for a while.”
“Duncan, I need to ask you a couple of sensitive questions. Regarding Sam, actually.”
“Oh?”
“Do you remember what you said when you were first found, along the lines of ‘look at Sam’?”
They watched as the smile vanished from Duncan’s face.
“I wasn’t myself. I was hallucinating. Badly. God, I’ve never felt so ill as that night.”
“I understand. But we had to check it out – run the normal account checks, telco, bank, etcetera. You understand.”
“I’m guessing from your tone something came up.” It wasn’t a question.
Amanda pressed on. “There was a bank transaction, a loan taken out, of twenty thousand pounds.” A flicker of surprise showed on his face. “There was also a withdrawal the following day of six thousand pounds. Would you know what those were for, by chance?”
Duncan’s face was utterly blank now; it was clear he had no clue what the money meant.
At that moment, the door opened and in walked Sam herself, looking for all the world like the concerned wife of any man in. As she bent over the bed and brushed his lips with hers, attempting to give him a hug without hurting him, Amanda and Jack both discreetly rolled their eyes.
Jack mouthed, “Question her here?”
Amanda shook her head no. “Not yet,” she mouthed back.
They stepped tactfully out of the room and waited in the family room until Sam had finished her doting wife routine.
Duncan would surely ask her about the money, Amanda thought. Wouldn’t he?
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Amanda and Jack sat patiently in the waiting room, chatting waiting for Sam to finish her visit and clear off.
Amanda’s phone buzzed. The caller ID showed DS Black. She hit answer and put the call on speakerphone.
“Hi, Rick. You’re on speakerphone with Jack. Anything to report?”
“Hello to you both, and yes, you could say that. It’s probably better you take me off speakerphone and relay back to Jack when we’ve finished. Let’s say it’s extremely sensitive and walls have ears.”
Amanda and Jack exchanged a look, and Amanda clicked the speakerphone off again and put the phone to her ear.
“Go ahead. It’s just me now. What’s up?”
“First, don’t ask me how I know this because I called a favour in. I now need evidence to back it up, evidence that we can use in court, because what I’m about to tell you won’t fly on its own.”
“Let’s hear it, and then we can see what we’re dealing with.”
“Sam was behind the attempted hit. Paid six thousand as a down payment, likely another six on completion. The site she used is no longer operating. It closed up shop and moved on like many of them do. My source followed her trail easily. She left tracks, and because we were looking at an individual, the trace was easy enough to do.”
He let that sink in and waited for her to respond.
“So Duncan was correct to begin with,” Amanda said, “but now he’s saying she wouldn’t do such a thing. He either doesn’t want her in trouble or simply doesn’t want to believe it, eh?”
“Could be. But it gets worse. She’s also been buying packets of painkillers both locally and online, more than the average household would use. My guess is, and it’s only a guess, she will be getting other stuff as well. Maybe losing her job hit her harder than we realized.”
“And my guess is Duncan doesn’t know that part either.”
“Correct, but it explains the regular cash withdrawals I found. They’ve been going back a few months. It won’t be that hard to find out exactly where she’s buying from.”
“Well, that may be related to our news,” Amanda said thoughtfully. “We’ve asked Faye Mitchell to run a tox screen because Duncan’s hallucinations don’t add up. I’m wondering if he took something without knowing it. It makes even more sense now we know Sam arranged for his death. We should get the results later today. And speaking of Sam, she just arrived a few minutes ago.”
“Urgh, thanks. Let’s see what the tox comes back with. We could maybe trace a positive result back to her. At least that evidence would stand up.”
“Agreed. They’re moving him tomorrow; will you tail her from your end? At least possession would be a start, and I doubt much will happen while she’s down here.”
“Will do. Oh, and until the results come back, don’t say anything to Duncan. I’ll do it later if need be. Buddy to buddy, as it were.”
“Understood. He only knows about the loan, nothing more, and we’d just told him about that when Sam arrived, so I’ll keep you posted. I need to ask you something else, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Remember when we talked about Wilfred Day and our suspected food van connection? Well, Duncan was going to go through what he knew just before this all happened. So it never got discussed. Perhaps when this is all over, we can go over what we both know in a bit more detail?”
“Absolutely. Any way I can help let me know.”
“Great. Speak to you later.”
Amanda rang off and then filled Jack in, though he’d already caught the gist of it. Sam Riley had balls, that was for sure. But would those same balls keep her out of trouble? That depended on how Duncan reacted to the news when Rick had a word sometime later.
Rick sat with his phone in his hand, unsettled by the mention of Wilfred’s name again. He’d always thought he’d eventually get Day, that the man would trip up eventually, but now he wasn’t so sure. Without Day, how else could he have found out what Sam had planned, and about her drug problem? By hacking in as he had, Wilfred Day could well have saved Duncan’s life. Did Rick now owe Day, rather than the other way around?
Later that afternoon, Dr. Faye Mitchell sent a terse text to Amanda.
Drop by my office ASAP.
“Grab your jacket, Jack,” Amanda yelled across to his desk, where he was busy writing up a report. “Faye has news.”
Dr. Faye Mitchell’s office was on the other side of Croydon, which, in non-rush-hour traffic, took only twenty minutes tops. It was however, rush hour and that meant double. By the time they’d arrived and parked, there weren’t many people left in the red brick building. They hurried into her sparse second-floor office, which even on a hot sunny day gave Jack the chills. Faye seemed to like a cold working environment.
“Come in. Sit down.” She directed them to the two chairs in front of her desk. “I thought it best to go through this in person rather than over the phone.”
Jack and Amanda both looked at one another, excited.
“Ever heard of solanine?” she asked.
“Nope, can’t say I have.” This from Jack.
“Ever remember your mum telling you that green potatoes were poisonous?”
They nodded.
“I thought that was a
n old wives’ tale,” stated Amanda. “But go on.”
“Our boy Duncan was more than likely poisoned, intentionally if the amounts of solanine in his system are anything to go on. Many of us have small amounts of solanine in our systems simply from the foods we eat, but Duncan’s levels were over the top. I’d say given his reaction – the strength of his hallucinations, his extreme stomach upset and the lingering sore throat – he’s lucky to be with us, never mind the bullet wounds. Someone tried very hard to kill him, it seems. Well done for thinking about the hallucinations, Amanda!”
Amanda didn’t feel like celebrating, but the result did now give them real cause to talk to Sam more formally. Assuming Sam had given it to him, of course – that was the next hurdle. She needed to get Rick to look in the rubbish bins at the house and find whatever it was she’d given him. She hoped the bins hadn’t already been collected and emptied.
“I need to make a call quickly,” she announced, and stepped outside to speak to Rick. He listened closely and said he’d get on to it, but first he wanted to give Duncan a call since he was now more coherent. Perhaps a casual conversation would tell them what food they were looking for.
“Is Sam still there?” Amanda asked him.
“I don’t think so. She said she had to get back for the girls.”
Sitting back in her chair, Amanda felt excited and deflated at the same time.
What sort of woman would go to such extremes to get rid of her husband?
Chapter Eighty
Rick didn’t waste any time getting a team round to Sam’s place. He’d then headed out to the hospital to speak with Duncan again and had learned that Sam had baked some delicious little quiches for his journey down. Duncan had also told him what a change he’d seen in her recently, how lovely she’d been to him and the girls. He was lucky to have her, he said.
