“OK, either your shampoo’s giving you problems, Liam, or there’s something you’re burning to say.”
The shake became a nod. “Not say, ask.”
“Which is?”
“Are we treating Madam Lewis’ disappearance and the McManus shooting as two parts of the same case now? ’Cos it sounds a lot like it to me.”
It did, but Craig didn’t nod as the D.C.I. had expected, instead his forehead creased, not in a frown but in thought. When it had ironed out again Craig was equivocal.
“Look at it like this… The deeper we dig into McManus’ death, the more we’re led back to the IBP, some of whose members-”
Ash interjected.
“Several, chief. Loughrey, two substantial donors to the party, McArdle and Bell, and now possibly Leonard Montgomery.”
The last name made Craig’s eyes widen, but he carried on.
“OK, several people linked with the IBP seem to have habits that might lead them to, or we already know them to be frequenting, Veronica Lewis’ parties.”
Craig hadn’t missed Kyle twitching and shooting Ash a hostile glance at the mention of Loughrey’s name; as if the analyst had betrayed him in some way. He deliberately didn’t dig into the details; if Kyle wanted to know what Ash had found out on Loughrey then he’d have to ask him himself.
He waved Davy on again.
“OK. On page one you’ll see the outgoing calls from Lewis’ office. There’s very little interesting there’s…so far, but we’re only a third of the way through. It’s mostly Chinese takeaways-”
Annette interrupted. “What about supplies? Creams, makeup, materials? She’s supposed to be running a beauty and design business from that office.”
It was a good point. Davy shook his head.
“None of the calls fit. We’ll be dumping Lewis’ home phone next, s…so we may find them being ordered from there.” He turned over the page. “The incoming calls were more interesting, once Ash got the phone providers to uncover them. Check out the ones marked in green. That number belongs to Annabel Montgomery, wife of the Finance Minister.”
Liam gave a throaty laugh that said it all. “Who’s been a naughty boy then?”
“More than likely. We think his wife found out and has been making s…silent calls.” Davy smirked. “But we thought we’d leave the pleasure of asking to you.”
Craig sat forward hastily, picturing the complaint Liam’s tactlessness might cause. “By you he means me, Liam. Nicky, make an appointment for me, please.”
Her eyes widened incredulously. “With Mrs Montgomery?”
Craig rolled his eyes. “With her husband. Let’s hear what the Minister has to say for himself first. If he has been using Lewis’ escorts then he may have been at her parties as well, and that could prove useful. Well done, Davy. Keep going.”
The analyst covered his next point from memory. “So far, we’ve found nothing Europe wide on the DNA, but Interpol can take a while.”
“John says he’ll give you the complete profile once it’s finished running. Tomorrow sometime.”
“OK. Knowing it’s German will help narrow things down anyway.” The analyst turned to his junior. “Ash has been checking out McArdle, Bell and our Earl.”
“Before you get to them, what about that email code. Any joy?”
Davy shook his head. “It’s almost definitely a book code, but without knowing the book it will be impossible to decode. I’ll keep my s…searches running just in case. Ash?”
As Ash opened his mouth to speak, Liam cut in again.
“Hang on. Boss, what did Bill McEwan say about his men being suspects?”
Craig scoffed. “What do you think? Very little, and all of it defensive. He said he’d ask if they saw anyone they didn’t recognise in any sort of police uniform, even a detective’s suit, and let me know, but I’m not holding my breath. He did raise one interesting point though; what if the shot we heard at the Travis when we arrived wasn’t actually the one that killed Regent?”
Liam looked sceptical. “What, so Regent was already dead but they thought they’d just fire off another to draw attention to themselves? Why the hell would they?”
Hearing it put so succinctly convinced Craig that they’d been right all along.
“I suppose they could have done it to confuse us, but no, you’re right. The killer-”
Davy interjected. “Henceforth known as the German.”
“When I can remember. OK then, the German killed Billy Regent just as we arrived and then disguised themselves as a resident or one of us.”
Liam shook his head. “Not just us, boss.”
“What do you mean?”
“He could have hidden for a while till the CSI’s arrived, and then put on a white jumpsuit and left with them.”
Damn. He’d completely missed that possibility.
He turned back to Davy. “Davy, give Des a call and find out who attended the scene from his office, then Nicky can arrange for them to be interviewed.”
More bloody work and too few of them to go around.
“Enlist Jack Harris’ help with those interviews, please. OK. Ash. On you go, please. McArdle etcetera.”
Ash went to shrug, but at the sight of Craig’s frown converted it to a twitch and a contrite look.
“Only basic bio stuff, chief. Sorry. It looks like their businesses are all above board and none of them have as much as a parking ticket.”
Craig had to admit that he was surprised. The men’s sexual predilections must have been the only bit of naughtiness in their lives. He pressed the point.
“Never? Not even as youngsters?”
Ash shook his head. “Nothing. I went right back to schooldays.”
Liam gave a knowing nod. “Sure sign of guilt.”
Annette had been thinking quietly, now she sat up straight. “Since when has a lack of criminal activity proved someone’s guilt, Einstein?”
“Since three middle-aged men haven’t even been done for drinking underage.”
He grinned, remembering his own misspent youth, then frowned as he recalled the thick ear he’d got from his dad when the cops had brought him home one night and swiftly diverted attention to the other men in the room.
“OK, which of you lot wasn’t dragged to the copshop at least once when you were a kid?”
Annette was just about to dismiss the question as nonsense, and follow up with an objection to him excluding the women in the team, when she noticed Jake start to blush. It was followed by some of the other men shuffling their feet and averting their gazes, and in Craig’s case his chin hitting his chest in shame as he recalled the time he’d almost beaten a man to a pulp when he’d attempted to abduct a six-year-old Lucia from their front garden.
Annette quickly changed what she’s been about to say. “So, Bell, McArdle and the Earl have been keeping themselves squeaky clean because-”
Not one to have his thunder stolen Liam cut in.
“They’re up to something bigger. But the point is, what?”
Annette shook her head. “Someone might just have wiped any early offences they had.”
Nicky groaned. “Oh God, not another crooked cop.”
Craig straightened up again, glad to be off the topic of youthful crimes. “That’ll be something to consider if Liam’s idea doesn’t lead anywhere, but for now, good catch, Liam. Davy, pull up any occasions when the men might have connected with each other in the past. If you find anything bring it straight to me.”
Annette stared at him curiously. “You think they knew each other before the parties, sir?”
“I don’t know what I’m thinking yet, Annette, but Liam’s right, they’re too damn clean.” He turned back to his senior analyst. “CCTV, Davy. What have you got?”
Davy’s response was to gesture to Rhonda. “Ash and Rhonda checked it.”
“OK. Rhonda?”
The Snow-White look alike nodded, and as a video clip appeared on the LED screen she turned to Aidan Hug
hes.
“This clip runs from before the gunshot you heard, forward to when the chief and Liam arrived on the estate. It was taken from the cameras outside Carson Tower.”
She pressed start and the group watched as the shabby tower block, of which they could only see the lowest six floors, went from being a community playground, with young girls playing handball against its walls and a group of teenagers lounging on a balcony planning God only knows what, to a hive of activity as the police land rovers screeched in, making the kids all stop what they were doing and turn to look.
They kept viewing as the Armed Response Officers disembarked from their vehicles, raised the cordon around Carson and started scoping out the estate. One minute further on there was a sudden crack, that sent the kids scattering and made the officers eyes jerk up. The video rolled on as the cops disappeared into the tower and then as Craig and Liam appeared on the screen.
Liam pointed at the grainy images. “That’s just before we went up to the roof to take a look.”
Craig didn’t comment, just turned back to the DC. “Isn’t there any CCTV that shows the roof? Or even a shot from inside the block?”
Ash made a face. “We checked and there are no cameras on any of the roofs, chief. We’d been hoping a camera on an adjacent block’s roof might have caught what was happening on Carson’s.” He brightened up slightly. “There was a camera inside Carson’s lift though.” He switched to another media file and this time they saw Billy Regent entering the block’s lift carrying a black bag.
Liam nodded. “Rifle.”
He was followed into the lift by a narrower figure wearing a baseball cap.
“That’s the bloke Reggie’s witness must have seen. The German.”
Craig nodded Ash to pause the video and crossed to the screen, pointing. “There’s your logo, Davy. On the bag Billy’s carrying. His rifle bag must be inside that one.”
Davy nodded. The logo was exactly as Kelly Atkins had drawn.
“But Reggie’s witness said Baseball Cap w…was carrying the logoed bag.”
Craig gave a shrug. “They must have passed it between them, so Billy was going along with whatever was happening.” Before Liam could say something smug he added. “But he still might have done so under duress.”
Craig peered at the narrower figure, as if staring at it hard enough would remove the man’s cap and allow them to see his face. After a moment, he shook his head and sat back down.
“Keep going.”
As the lift travelled the fifteen floors from the lobby to Carson’s roof, Billy Regent kept staring straight ahead, while the other man, now standing behind him, didn’t lift his head at all.
“He’s hiding his face, boss.”
Craig nodded. “The question is, why isn’t Regent? He must have known that he would be IDed. Lifts in those towers always have cameras. It’s how the council detects vandalism.”
Liam shrugged. “Maybe he thought it was broken.”
“Or maybe he wanted us to see his face, and why would he do that if he intended to kill McManus of his own volition?”
Liam sat forward in his chair, marginally less disbelieving than he had been.
“You really think Regent was being forced to do it under duress and wanted the cops to know that?”
“Yes. Which means he didn’t expect to die on that roof.”
“OK, but where’s the duress? They walked in together. Even if the German had a gun in Billy’s back-”
Suddenly Liam rushed over to the screen and tapped on the point where the two men’s torsos were closest.
“Ash, can you enlarge that?”
One second later they were looking at an unquestionable dent in the back of Billy Regent’s coat.
Ash tutted to himself. He’d missed it completely. “If we’d had the facility to rotate the image we could have seen the gun and typed it.”
He was vindicating himself unnecessarily, Craig had already moved on.
“Good catch, Liam. The model of handgun’s irrelevant, Ash, it was probably the one left at the scene. What’s important is that we now have proof that Billy Regent shot McManus under duress and not because he or Loyalism had targeted the man. My guess is that if we could see more clearly, his killer would have been wearing gloves.”
Ash nodded energetically, reversing the tape. “He was. Look.”
The German had entered the lift wearing black gloves on a summer’s day.
“And beneath those, he was wearing the latex ones John found in trace.”
Craig fell silent, thinking things through. Billy Regent had had a gun in his back coercing him, yet the squaddie had still believed he was coming back alive and had wanted them to see his face to prove his innocence. Something still didn’t fit and he and Liam asked the question simultaneously.
“Why didn’t he fight?”
Liam’s added “boss” hit the air a second later.
Jake was confused. “What?”
Craig turned to the sergeant, repeating the question. “Why didn’t Regent fight? He was bigger than the German and trained in combat. He could have overpowered him in the lift.”
Annette’s eyes widened. “Because he was protecting someone else! The German must have told him that he had to comply or they would kill his daughter or his mum.”
Liam screwed up his face, puzzled. “Eileen Regent didn’t mention anything when she was interviewed.”
He turned to Kyle, breaking the team’s hour long unofficial shunning of the D.I.
“You saw Regent’s daughter. Did she mention anything?”
“Not a word. She just wanted her gran.”
“Right then. We need to interview them both again. Boss?”
Craig was sitting with his head in his hands, deep in thought. A threat would have ensured Billy Regent’s compliance, yet neither his mother nor daughter had mentioned it. He roused himself, looking up.
“Ask them again, just for certainty, but I don’t think either of them knew that they were under threat.” He sat up straight. “Which doesn’t mean to say that it wasn’t real. They could have had someone watching them from a distance, or the German could have threatened Billy that he would kill them afterwards if he refused to make the shot. Either way he was obviously convincing enough to make Billy comply.”
As the group debated for a moment he turned to Ash.
“Was he inside the cordon after the shooting?”
“What?”
Craig’s response was to walk to the screen and point to Billy Regent’s killer.
“Did you or Rhonda see him amongst the people held inside the cordon?”
Ash glanced quickly at the constable, and then both of them shook their heads.
“We can check again, chief.”
Craig nodded, already doubting that they’d find the German there.
“Check all police and CSIs, as well as the residents. We don’t have a face, so you’ll have to work on his height and weight alone.” He turned to Annette, moving on.
“OK, Annette, what did the other escorts Jennifer Wasson gave you have to say about the parties?”
“The same as her, but with even less detail. Recreational drugs, but nothing else that they knew of, and they were blindfolded so they’d no idea of the venues. They were both stoned at the time so I think Wasson’s our best bet. She gave us the Earl’s estate and we’ve got the dates of the parties now. The next one is this Saturday.”
This time Craig did comment on Kyle’s twitch.
“But then you already knew that, didn’t you, Inspector Spence?”
Kyle was tempted to say ‘oh, so you’re speaking to me now, are you?’, except that he knew it would make him sound like a ten-year-old. Instead he shrugged so arrogantly that nobody but him was shocked by the speed at which Craig blew.
He bellowed across the group, almost deafening Liam who was sitting beside him.
“IF YOU SHRUG AT ME ONCE MORE, INSPECTOR, YOU’LL BE WALKING A SODDING BEAT ON THE DEMESNE! D
id you already know about this weekend’s party? Yes or no, and don’t bloody lie to me!”
No-one moved. Some because they’d seen Craig’s temper blow before (what had happened earlier with the boxes didn’t compare) and didn’t want to get caught in the backdraught, and others because they hadn’t and weren’t quite sure what would happen next. Kyle Spence fell into the first category.
Just as Craig’s university experience of sharing a flat with Spence had taught him how slippery the ex-spook was, so had Kyle’s taught him about his flatmate’s personality. To the world Craig was easy going and well mannered, and so he was, until he wasn’t, and that happened when someone severely and repeatedly pissed him off. When that occurred Craig’s façade of civilisation collapsed, and in the past, windows, bouncers in bars and men who’d been rude to his girlfriends had all felt the end of his fist.
Nowadays Kyle imagined the fist had probably been replaced by invective, although if he’d been present at John Winter’s Christmas party two years before to see Craig punch through a window he would have known he was being optimistic, but even the thought of lacerating invective was sufficient to make the ex-spook decide to blurt out the truth.
“Trevor Rudkin.”
It was a name that none of them knew. Craig’s frown deepened and changed quality, from fury to curiosity.
“And he is?”
“A snout that I’ve cultivated for years.”
Seeing that was insufficient the D.I. carried on.
“He’s a snivel pervert.”
Liam translated. “He means civil servant. It’s not exactly a pet name.”
Craig had heard the pejorative term before.
“A civil servant where?”
“Department of Trade.”
“And?”
Kyle swallowed hard to clear his throat; he felt like he was choking and it was no longer from fear of Craig. He hated the idea of sharing even the existence of his snouts with anyone else. They were his. He’d cultivated them as diligently as if they were plants and he was a gardener, spotting their potential in some social setting that he’d attended just for that purpose and then approaching them stealthily and slowly drawing them in. Setting the scene with how they could help the police and their country by passing along information they might come across, then sweetening the pot with tales of excitement and promises of financial remuneration if they did.
The Cabal (#16 - The Craig Crime Series) Page 20
