by S G Read
‘She was pregnant, did you know?’ Mrs. Thomas asked.
‘No, we did not know that she was pregnant, I will talk to my forensic pathologist about that fact and the fact that she missed it.’ Clayton answered. ‘I am interested in meeting this sugar daddy, which I believe is the term used for such people.’
‘When you find out inspector, I would like to meet him as well. Do you think her being pregnant was what started all this?’ Mrs. Thomas asked.
‘I think it was Mrs. Thomas but I will be the one that finishes it.’ Clayton answered.
They left with the brush in its bag and returned to the office. Clayton went straight to Bill’s laboratory to give him the brush.
‘This is the victim’s hair brush, you should get some DNA from it but I have promised that her mother will get it back, almost as it is.’ Clayton declared.
‘I will select just one hair and unravel it very carefully, Kemo Sabe, the brush well be well looked after until she gets it back after that.’ Bill answered. ‘We do have some more news about the young lady.’
‘I wonder if I can guess, no don’t tell me, yes I expect that she was with child.’ Clayton declared.
‘How did you know that?’ Bill asked.
‘Her mother told us, it is probably what caused her death.’ Clayton answered.
‘I don’t think she was that far along, Kemo Sabe!’ Bill argued.
Clayton just smiled and left him to find a DNA sample. He took the stairs to Chastity’s floor with Rebecca choosing to use the lift, they found her reading a book.
‘Don’t tell me, how to detect pregnancy in females.’ He quipped antagonistically.
‘No, the science of small minds actually.’ Chastity retorted. ‘She was a complete mess and it took time just to find all her bones in the sack she was in. When I found a very small bone that did not belong, I looked closer and found a very small skull; which in due course I found to be human.’
‘Do you think someone pulled her back out to make sure she was dead?’ Rebecca asked.
‘I don’t really know, I assumed it happened when she was lifted out by Bill’s men but he assures me that it didn’t.’ Chastity answered.
‘Was there enough of the baby to get a DNA sample,’ Clayton asked, ‘knowing who the father was will help things along, if he is in the system.’
‘I sent some tissue from inside the little skull and part of the skull to get DNA samples from, we might strike lucky. Any luck on the money chase.’ Chastity answered.
‘The grapevine round here is quicker than the tube.’ Clayton retorted. ‘I am just going to see Gerald about tracking down the person who was paying the rent on her flat.’
They both walked into the little office on the top floor where Gerald did his thing. His computer was massive and was updated regularly, unlike theirs.
‘Hello Gerald, I need you to find out who was paying the rent at this address.’ Clayton greeted as he walked in.
He slid the piece of paper with the address on it in front of him.
‘And just when am I supposed to spend my time on this one?’ Gerald asked.
‘Oh, we come first, this is part of the missing MP enquiry.’ Clayton answered, tongue in cheek.
‘So she was his mistress then?’ Gerald asked.
‘Well that we don’t know for sure until you find out just who was paying the rent, Gerald.’ Clayton answered.
‘So, if I look and it wasn’t him, you have deniability and I am left looking silly?’ Gerald asked.
He was not a silly man.
‘On the other hand, if you trace it to him, the papers will have a field day.’ Clayton answered.
‘I think I need a written order for this one, sir.’ Gerald retorted.
Clayton slipped another piece of paper in front of him and signed it as he watched.
‘Now chop, chop. I want the answer as soon as possible!’ He declared.
Clayton spun on his heel and walked out again with Rebecca following.
‘I hope he was paying the rent, sir.’ She said quietly.
‘So do I Rebecca, so do I.’ Clayton answered.
He ran down the stairs while she waited for the lift but this time he waited for her to arrive in the lift before he walked to the office, so that they could walk into the office together. With the grapevine working at full speed, Clayton half expected the chief inspector to be waiting at his desk for him when they reached it but there was no sign of him.
Rebecca went off to make the coffee, while he reacquainted himself with the cases they were working on, reading through Leslie Felltham’s file as well, while he waited for his coffee. It annoyed him that he had not solved that case, it was the one he wanted to solve to give Agnes Felltham some closure but nothing new jumped out at him. They chatted over their coffee.
‘So if he was paying the rent to her flat and found out that she was pregnant, I can understand her death, to keep his sordid secret a secret but why is he missing.’ Rebecca asked.
‘Mrs. Thomas might have found out who it was and done him in.’ Clayton answered.
‘I don’t see that one, sir.’ Rebecca replied. ‘I just don’t put the two cases together. If he wanted her dead, well she’s dead, so life can return to normal but without the bit on the side, until he can find another girl to take her place in the flat.’
‘I see your point, there is no need for him to go into hiding of his own volition, so I think he had help, but who?’
‘Now that is the big question and where the hell is he?’ Rebecca added. ‘Our search for him has drawn a complete blank, save for his burnt out car, which bodes no good.’
‘Unless he decided to do, a Lord Lucan disappearing act, but why now? Maybe there is another girl out there ready to blow the whistle on him for a shed load of money.’ Clayton mused.
‘This is becoming to be another, how long is a piece of string!’ Rebecca complained.
‘Like all my cases, Rebecca, the glory boys looked into it, got nowhere and asked the CI to give it to me but I’ll get there in the end. Possibly not as fast as the CI wants but then he is out of choices, it’s me or no one.’
‘Where do we go from here, sir?’ Rebecca asked.
‘Well we do need to wait until the girl under the lift is ruled out of this enquiry and then we have to find out who else has a knife to grind against our noble MP.’
‘Noble!’ Rebecca scoffed but did not add to it.
Her thoughts on MPs were more or less the same as Clayton’s thoughts.
‘The burnt out car maybe a complete waste but it’s position must tell us something. If the MP was met and killed, buried and then his car driven to where it was found between the event he arrived at and the next one, the one he failed to show up at, then we have somewhere to start.’ Clayton declared.
‘And how did the killer get back into London, if he came back into London?’ Rebecca threw in.
‘Another good line of enquiry, we need to contact taxi firms and to look at the local rail station videos for the time in question. Oh and check on the local buses, just in case.’
‘Do you think the MP drove out there to meet his killer, sir?’ Rebecca asked.
‘I do. I think that is exactly what happened and something happened out there which left the MP dead and the killer with a body to dispose of.’
‘The MP might have killed his attacker and decided to disappear in the killer’s car.’ Rebecca theorized.
‘Which brings us back to the piece of string,’ Clayton moaned, ‘still, if we can rule out all forms of transport to the best of our ability, then we will assume that one of them drove away in the killer’s car. Either the MP to start a new life somewhere or the killer with the MP in his boot, as we have made sure that there was no body buried where the car was found.’
‘He could be buried anywhere.’
‘Yes he could and that means we have to wait until the general public let us know where he is buried or we work it out for ourselves.’
&n
bsp; ‘Which means more waiting.’ Rebecca complained.
‘Yes, we seem to spend most of our time waiting for something to happen but when it does it is worthwhile and we solve the case.’ Clayton replied.
‘You solve the case, Clayton.’ Rebecca added.
‘Not without your help, Rebecca, you ask questions and some of those questions I have not asked myself yet. That sets my mind thinking about the case in another way but I still haven’t caught Leslie Felltham’s killer.’
‘No, that is a hard one, sir.’
When Rebecca returned to calling him sir, Clayton looked up from the file he was reading to see the chief inspector standing in front of him.
‘Did you glean anything from the burnt out car, Moore?’ The chief inspector asked.
‘Not from the car itself, sir, but its position tells us a lot.’ Clayton answered.
‘It does?’
‘Yes, we think your honourable MP was meeting someone where the car was found, between appointments, so it was an arranged meeting and not in his diary. Something occurred and one of them ended up dead, the other either fled by public transport or in the second person’s vehicle.’
‘So we are not sure if the MP is dead or has gone into hiding yet then?’ The chief inspector asked.
‘That is about the size of it, sir.’ Clayton answered.
‘Well find out and soon, I have the super asking me questions I don’t know the answer to and I have the press baying at the front door to see if any of the rubbish they print turns out to be true. I want answers Moore and I want you to put all your efforts into this case.’
‘We are doing that very thing, sir, we do have one line of enquiry which might shed some light on the case.’ Clayton answered.
‘Let me know as soon as you have more news.’ The chief inspector ordered.
He turned and walked out of the office. Rebecca waited until the inspector was well out of earshot before she spoke.
‘We do? What line of enquiry is that?’ She asked.
‘Finding out who paid for our murder victim’s flat.’ Clayton answered.
‘I don’t know what you are going to do when it turns out to be someone else, Clayton.’
‘Oh yea of little faith, I have a feeling that both cases are connected.’ Clayton retorted.
‘That is only because you want them to be.’
‘True, but if they are connected, at least I can say I told you so.’ Clayton replied.
‘I take it we are going to shake Gerald’s tree quite soon.’ Rebecca asked.
‘Like now, I think.’ Clayton answered.
They walked out of the office and while Rebecca waited for the lift, Clayton ran up the stairs. He was waiting for her when the lift arrived at the floor Gerald had his little office on. They walked to his door and even though it stood wide open they still knocked.
‘Come.’ Gerald called, not looking to see who it was as senior officers seldom knocked.
He looked up as they reached his desk.
‘You.’ He said accusingly.
‘Me? What have I done now?’ Clayton answered, despite being senior to Gerald.
‘The CI caught me looking into this girl’s expenses and gave me the third degree about it. I told him it was directly linked to the missing MP case, so I hope it is true.’ Gerald complained.
‘So do I.’ Clayton answered. ‘How far have you got?’ He asked.
‘Not far but I will get there in time.’ Gerald answered.
‘That is something we are fast running out of,’ Clayton retorted, ‘another week and I will be back on traffic.’
‘A likely story, sir,’ Gerald answered, remembering Clayton’s seniority. ‘I will devote all my time to it from now on but I certainly hope the trail leads somewhere worthwhile.’
Clayton walked out, no happier than when he walked in. He took the lift with Rebecca instead of going down the stairs, he was deep in thought, trying to work out what to do next in the investigation.
‘I suppose we have to go and see the people he actually managed to get to, and then go and see the people he did not reach. Not that it is going to do us any good.’ He complained. ‘Did we have any luck on the traffic cameras?’ He asked as a final complaint.
‘No, not even the speed cameras, you know how the MPs like to lord it over the courts. The speed cameras on the road that he would have travelled were not functioning, so there is no way of finding out where he went.’ Rebecca answered.
‘So what happens now?’ Clayton asked.
He was a person who did not like waiting.
‘It seems an odd place to bury someone.’ Rebecca answered.
‘Well, she wasn’t actually buried, just left wrapped up in plastic to decompose without anyone finding out.’ Clayton explained, not that she did not actually know that.
‘So why not bury her. Whoever did it stopped the lift working for two days, so why not dig a hole, drop her in and cement over the top of her?’
‘You have a point there,’ Clayton answered, now with interest. ‘If she was not buried, why put it out of action for two days?’
‘And she had been dead for a long time by then.’ Rebecca added.
‘Yes, what was he doing in there for those two days?’ Clayton asked, but it was a rhetorical question and Rebecca realised that. ‘I think I know and we want to see Bill, now.’
He was out of his chair and on his way to the stairs before Rebecca could react, she followed on, but stopped at the lift. When she stepped out of the lift, he was waiting for her.
‘You will never get fit like that, Rebecca.’ He jibed.
‘I just spend the night with you if I want to lose some weight, Clayton.’ She answered coyly.
‘Well maybe you’d best pop by tonight, after you have fed your pussy.’ Clayton answered.
He turned on his heel and started toward Bills laboratory.
‘It can be arranged, sir.’ She answered, now using sir as they were already going into the laboratory.
‘I will see you there then, sergeant.’ Clayton answered.
‘If the CI finds out about you two, he won’t like it, Kemo Sabe.’ Bill declared looking up from what he was doing. ‘He must be the only one who doesn’t know.’
Clayton and Rebecca looked at each other in surprise.
‘I may not be a murder detective but I can see something which is right in front of my face.’ Bill added. ‘Now, what do I owe this dubious pleasure to?’
‘Did you find any cement on the plastic that was used to wrap up the girl we found under the lift?’ Clayton asked.
‘Yes, there was some on it.’ Bill answered.
‘How far did you go down under the lift when we found the body?’ Clayton asked.
‘As far as the concrete base, we took samples and stopped there, why?’ Bill countered with a question.
‘I want you to go further down.’ Clayton answered.
‘What dig up the concrete, Kemo Sabe?’ Bill asked.
‘Yes Bill, dig up the concrete.’ Clayton answered.
‘You obviously have a reason for asking me to do it but are you going to tell me?’ Bill replied.
‘Only suspicions I’m afraid Bill and I don’t want to look a complete fool by voicing them yet.’ Clayton answered.
‘I shall do as you ask Kemo Sabe, as long as the CI doesn’t veto it.’ Bill replied.
‘Then do it sooner than later.’ Clayton retorted.
‘The inhabitants won’t like their lift being out of action again, so I think the CI will soon find out about it.’ Bill warned.
‘How long will it be out of action?’ Rebecca asked.
‘That depends what I find, if anything,’ Bill answered, ‘one day, or maybe more.’
‘Let me know when you start, I am due a day’s holiday.’ Clayton replied candidly.
‘Coward,’ Rebecca retorted, ‘do you want some company?’
‘I wouldn’t mind, where are we going?’ Clayton answered.
‘
To the coast?’ Rebecca asked.
‘There is no way that he is going to leave Pimlico while I am digging where he wants me to.’ Bill argued. ‘He’ll want to be close handy to find out what I have found.’
‘A hotel then?’ Rebecca suggested.
‘A hotel it is then Rebecca.’ Clayton agreed.
‘People will talk.’ Bill warned.
‘Let them.’ Clayton replied.
They returned to the office and started looking through their files and discussing them as was their way.
‘Why are you getting Bill to dig up the concrete under the body we found in the lift?’ Rebecca asked.
‘Why do you think, Rebecca?’
‘I think that you think that the killer has used the place before to bury a body and was planning to cover her, had she not been discovered.’ Rebecca answered.
‘Well, I am certainly expecting something to be down there,’ Clayton answered, ‘what other reason is there to have it dug up?’
‘But who?’ Rebecca asked.
‘You will find out when we get back from our holiday.’ Clayton answered, making sure he did not give her any idea of what he expected to find.
‘You’ll need this.’ She answered and passed him a holiday request form.
Clayton took it and started to fill it in. The form had to go through the system but Rebecca knew how to speed things along, she knew the girl in administration. When both forms were filled in she walked out of the office with them. When she returned they had been filed and they were on holiday in the morning.
‘I suppose I should book the hotel then.’ Clayton suggested and started phoning round.
By the time they went home they had a room booked at a local hotel, a top class local hotel. Not two rooms, just the one that was all they would need. Rebecca did not argue, she did not know. She dropped Clayton off to pack and went home to pack herself. When she returned, she had arranged for someone to go in and feed her cat and she was ready for her holiday.
As they were on holiday Clayton drove to the hotel and parked in one of the bays in the hotel car park. This was not any hotel this one had its own car park. With some of the smaller hotels the guests had to park on the road, if you could find a place to park near the hotel.
