by Lee Weeks
Tracy looked at her enquiringly. ‘What brings you over here now, Della?’
‘I want you to do me a favour, Tracy. Well, it’s more than a favour: I need help. The police still don’t know why Eddie was killed or who did it, which is why I didn’t want any of you coming to the funeral. I have come here to help them find out who killed Eddie, but it’s dangerous and I need all the help I can get.’
‘Anything I can do I’ll be happy to, Della. You’ve been so kind to me.’
‘Thanks, Tracy. I know we joked about it once before but I need you to try and change my appearance. I need you to make me a latex mask. I want to create a new me: wig, dress, make-up – everything new. I’ll pay you, Tracy.’
Tracy held up her hand. ‘You’re family, and you’ve been good to Jackson and me. Just pay my costs and we’ll get on it straight away.’
‘Tracy, you don’t know how grateful I am.’
‘No problem. The mask will take about three hours to get it right. The rest we can go shopping for afterwards. I have wigs you can try on, see what you like, or I can get one for you cost price. When do you want to get it done?’
‘As fast as we can – now, if possible,’ Tracy said with a hopeful look.
Tracy got out her diary. ‘Let me just go and check my books. If it looks free this morning, we’ll do it.’ She smiled up at Della and nodded. ‘Yes, you ready? I can do it in the salon. I have everything we need there.’
Chapter 44
Carter was on his way to work when he got a call from Chrissie, the barmaid at the Blind Beggar. He drove straight there.
‘Where did you find him?’ asked Carter as Scamp looked ecstatic to see him and started jumping up at him.
‘Someone brought him in this morning when I opened up. They said they found him. I don’t know where, or whether they even did. It was just a scuddy-looking kid in a hoody and trackies twenty times too big for him. But he looks like he’s been cared for okay. Melvin will be over the moon.’
‘Why did you ring me? Don’t you know where Melvin lives?’
‘Oh, I know, but I was told I had to tell you first.’
‘Was it because of the reward? Did you get the kid’s number?’
She shook her head. ‘Look, I was just given this piece of paper with your name and number on it by the lad. He just told me to ring it. He didn’t ask for the money. I’m pretty sure he didn’t know there was a reward, otherwise he would have wanted it, definitely; he looked like he slept on the streets. He gave me your card and he said I was to ring you and you should take the dog round to Melvin’s.’
‘Did that make any sense to you?’
She was not making eye contact with Carter, as she rearranged the furniture, ready for opening. She stopped, paused, her hands on the back of a chair she was about to push under.
‘Yes, it kind of does. People know you know one another, if you understand what I’m getting at. Melvin’s been shouting his mouth off. Maybe that’s why they asked for you. People know about him being a snitch, your snitch. Last night he was threatening to tell all about other people’s business. I tried to make him be quiet, we all did. We know he’s harmless. He has nothing of real value to tell you, anyway, I’m sure. He just does it for effect. It’s a bit sad. He’s a sweet man really. When you take Scamp back, I want you to warn him to be discreet. That’s what this is all about. These are dangerous times. He’ll be happy he’s got Scamp back, but it was a warning to him. Tell him to take a break. Tell him it might be better he kept away from here for a while.’
‘All right, Chrissie; I hear what you’re saying. It was probably the drink talking – I gave him some money to drown his sorrows, probably not the wisest of things to do.’
‘Yeah, it wasn’t. I had to throw him out in the end, spilling his drink over customers, shouting out threats. Even threatened Lev from the bakery. Luckily, Harold Butcher showed him the way out for me. He took him outside. I think he sent him home.’
‘What time was that?’
‘Late, about eleven. Look’ – she went behind the bar – ‘you say hello from me. I bet he’s got one hell of a hangover. And, look, take this bag of scraps from the kitchen for Scamp just in case Melvin hasn’t the inclination to go to the shops.’
‘Will do, thanks, Chrissie.’ Carter noticed she didn’t make eye contact as she handed him the bag.
Carter took hold of Scamp’s lead and walked out of the pub in the direction of Melvin’s house. It was the groundfloor flat in a three-storey terraced house that bordered the gardens around the church.
Carter knocked and knocked again. The bell was broken. He looked around for a possible hiding place for a key. There had been some attempts by Melvin at keeping the small front garden tidy. But people threw in litter as they passed and the shrubs had grown too large for the small space. The litter caught in the bushes. There was also the problem with dog shit.
‘He’s in there, I know he is,’ a man shouted down from the window above. ‘He came back drunk as a skunk last night. I had a mind to call the Old Bill. He was banging and crashing so loud, probably fallen asleep in the hallway, wouldn’t be the first time. He started cooking stuff at about midnight. I could smell it all the way up here.’
‘Was he on his own?’ asked Carter.
‘He came home on his own, but I heard someone else’s voice later on.’
‘Thank you.’ Carter raised his hand and was about to knock again when the door gave to his touch and he pushed it open.
Scamp was panting with excitement as he strained on his leash and sprang inside into the dark hallway, but the dog turned, tail between his legs, and came rushing back out past Carter. He stood whimpering. Carter called out, ‘Melvin?’
Chapter 45
‘Come out, Señor Butcher.’ Garcia stopped at the control-room door and kept his revolver in line with the door’s edge. Ross looked at him as if to say there was no need to be so heavy-handed, that Ross was handling it.
Garcia looked at him incredulously as if he couldn’t believe that Ross had ended up alone with Tony and on his terms.
Ross blanked him: he wasn’t about to explain himself to the Spanish detective.
The sound of Tony’s laughter grew from just inside the darkness. It bounced off the concrete walls of the control room. Garcia shook his head at Ross as if to say, Don’t take risks like that, but, if you do, don’t count on me to rescue you again.
‘Come out, Tony,’ repeated Garcia.
‘Of course.’ Tony Butcher appeared from behind the door, stepping out of the darkness. ‘Hey, just trying to show off to your friend here, wasn’t I, Ross? He wanted to see the Godfather’s car. I just can’t remember which one it is.’
Ross stepped inside the control room and shone his torch across the floor.
‘Mr Butcher, what is this room used for?’
‘Storing gas containers, as you see. It has the climate control for the cars, that’s all.’
Garcia stepped in behind Ross and he flicked on the lights.
‘The floor looks like it’s had something organic spilled on it,’ said Ross as he squatted down and shone his light across the floor. ‘Besides the smell of rotting meat, there’s bleach,’ said Ross.
Tony started walking back through the cars, into the garage.
‘Ask the maids, they’re the only ones who clean in here,’ he said with a wave back over his shoulder.
Garcia spoke into his radio and the voice of Ramirez came back in reply. ‘We are leaving, Inspector Ross,’ said Garcia. ‘It seems we have found nothing of interest here.’
Ross shook his head, nonplussed.
‘How? How is that possible?’
Ross watched Tony disappear in a flap of cheesecloth and a slapping of leather sandals, and then he turned to Garcia.
‘What was your brief here? Was this a social visit? I mean, I notice you’re all on first-name terms here.’
‘Mr Butcher is cooperating. We’re done here. There’s nothing more fo
r us to do. We gave you a chance to question him over his brother’s death and we looked for signs that Francisco and his daughter were here, and we found no sign.’
‘We definitely need to bring the forensics team in here, and we haven’t interviewed the other family members yet.’
‘Ramirez has ordered the team in, it’s time to leave.’
‘Do you want to stay until they arrive, so that we don’t risk further contamination of the site?’ ‘It is all in hand. No need to stay.’
Garcia walked smartly towards the garage exit. Ross caught up with him as they walked out to the side of the house.
‘Where is Sergeant Willis?’ Garcia asked Ramirez as they approached him standing with his officers by the gate to the property.
‘She is not back yet,’ he replied.
‘Can you call her, please? We need to go right now.’
Ross dialled her number. It went straight to voicemail. He left a message.
‘No luck – she’ll come back to me as soon as she can.’
Garcia walked away. They came round to stand at the front of the villa. The squad were beginning to exit the villa, carrying bags.
Ross started to walk on the road behind the villa.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To look for my partner.’
‘I’m here.’
Willis walked up, looking worse for wear.
‘You okay?’ She nodded. ‘Willis?’ She nodded again.
‘What happened out there? Any luck?’
She shook her head. Sheena was walking past her, back to the house.
‘Will there be a debriefing now?’ Ross asked as they took off their jackets and watched the few boxes of evidence being carried out of Tony’s house. Tony was standing watching them from the entrance. He was chatting to Ramirez as if they were old friends. Garcia looked at Ross’s expression.
‘This is a small town.’
‘So was this always going to be a pointless exercise? Is he always tipped off?’
‘Not always.’
‘But he was this time?’
‘It seems so. Detective Willis, what did you find over at the other villa?’ Garcia asked.
‘I found a gardener, Danny Miller, burning a very intense bonfire that smelled like a barbecue.’
‘How did he explain it?’ asked Ross.
‘That a dog had died and he was burning the carcass.’ Willis didn’t look Ross’s way as she turned to look back at the house. Sandra had come to stand with Tony and watch them leave.
Ross leaned across to Willis in the car.
‘What happened out there?’
She shook her head. She couldn’t talk, and her eyes flicked to the back of Garcia and Ramirez.
Inside the briefing room, the evidence boxes were piled onto the empty desks as the officers who had taken part in the raid came to sit and listen to what Ramirez had to say. He spoke in Spanish and Garcia translated for Willis and Ross.
‘It’s disappointing, basically. There was no indication that Francisco was there. There was nothing to implicate Tony Butcher in anything that might have happened to Señor Francisco or his daughter. We have registered them as missing persons and we will treat the case as such.’
Ross and Willis sat listening until they were asked if they had any thoughts, any questions after the raid.
Ross went to say something but changed his mind and shook his head.
‘It was interesting’ was all he ended up saying and he and Willis excused themselves at the end of the meeting and were about to leave.
‘You need a lift back to your hotel?’ Garcia asked as he caught up with them.
‘No, it’s okay, we can make our own way back.’
‘You want to run through with us what you want to do for the rest of your stay?’
‘We have a couple of people to see on the list of people Eddie was building villas for.’
‘Do you want to catch up later? I feel there’s a lot we need to talk about. Today didn’t go so well and I want to discuss the implications of that.’
‘Implications?’
‘Maybe that’s not the right word. What about the ramifications?’
‘That’s a good word.’ Ross smiled but he didn’t look friendly.
Garcia shrugged. His face had dropped its friendly smile and now looked irritated.
‘We’ll call you; maybe we can have dinner later? We’ll show you what makes Marbella such an interesting place.’
‘That sounds like a good idea.’ Ross smiled, nodded, and shook his hand. Willis was already walking away. She gave a wave but her eyes were looking somewhere on the horizon.
‘What the bloody hell is going on here?’ Ross said as they walked away from the police station and headed down towards the beach.
Willis shook her head. ‘There was evidence of several people having been in the area of the hut. I saw what I would say was a child’s hair clip. It was just inside the hut, in the dust. I managed to pick it up without the gardener seeing.’ She showed Ross.
‘It’s a new clip, definitely. My girls wear ones like this. Are you saying that the maid saw you pick it up?’
‘Yes, she did, and what was strange was I don’t think it came as a shock to her.’
‘It’s very weird here. We’ll hit the road, we have plenty to do for the rest of the day. It will be nice to get the roof down. I’ll buy you lunch first. We need to be away from here to talk it through.’
As they passed through the town of Fuengirola, Ross pulled up and parked on a narrow side road.
‘Fancy a wander? There’s a big market here, I read about it. We could get some lunch before we go and see the first one on our list.’
‘Okay, I don’t mind, if you think we have time.’ She watched Ross roll up his shirtsleeves and she did the same.
‘I’m going to grab some shorts from my bag,’ Ross said, hand on the door ready to open it and get his bag from the boot. ‘Do you want your bag?’
‘I didn’t bring anything else with me, just my jeans and a T-shirt.’
‘Well, that’s a bit cooler than black, anyway.’
He went to get their bags and they changed in the car.
The market was a brightly coloured mix of food and other goods. It took up the length of a wide tree-lined road.
Willis was looking at some sunglasses when Ross appeared by her side with a white, traditional, cotton tunic in his hand.
‘What about this, Willis? With a pair of shorts?’
‘You’ll look great,’ she said as she picked up another pair of glasses to try on.
‘Not for me, for you.’
She took it off him and held it up to have a good look at it.
‘Okay. That could work for me. Thanks. Where did you get it from?’ He turned and pointed to a woman on a stall who was waving. ‘I’ll be over in a minute.’
Ross left her looking at the glasses. She was choosing a pair for Carter and one for Tina. By the time she wandered across, he’d paid for the blouse. He handed it to her.
‘Thanks,’ she muttered, embarrassed. ‘You shouldn’t do that.’
‘What? It’s a present between friends.’
‘We don’t really know each other as friends.’
‘No, well, I hope we will, by the end of the week. The more we know one another, the better we’ll work as a team.’
Willis couldn’t argue with that, even though she felt awkward accepting the gift. She stared at the bag in her hands as she wandered away from the stall in search of a casual pair of trousers to wear with it. She glanced across at Ross and laughed, he was trying on a bullfighter’s hat. He picked up a cape and swirled it in the air.
‘Oh, God,’ laughed Willis. ‘I’m not with you.’
‘I’m going to buy flamenco outfits for my girls. Eb, can you give me a hand?’
She walked across and greeted the toothless stallholder, who seemed to love smiling.
‘What colour do you think?’
‘I
have no idea.’
‘What would you have liked when you were a girl?’
‘I would have hated all of them. I probably would have liked the matador’s outfit best.’
‘Well, they’re very “girly” girls so I’ll get one yellow and one pink.’ He picked up the outfits and handed them over to the stallholder. Ross reached in his pocket.
‘How much?’
‘Aren’t you going to haggle?’
‘No.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it’s not a lot of money.’
‘That’s beside the point. You have to haggle, otherwise he’s not doing his job properly. And the next tourist that comes along will have to pay even more and so on, it will just keep creeping up,’ Willis said.
‘Life’s too short to haggle,’ he said, handing over the money and then turning to her. ‘Anyway, did you haggle for the sunglasses you bought?’
‘No, because he had a deal going on when you bought more than one pair: they were three for ten euros.’
‘You could have gone for four for ten or three for nine or four for eight. You just didn’t try.’
‘Shut up.’ She smiled.
‘Come on, let’s have a beer and lunch.’ Ross picked up his flamenco dresses and steered her towards a café.
Chapter 46
‘What is it, Scamp, eh?’ Carter tied Scamp’s lead to the handle of the bin cupboard and made sure he couldn’t get away before he took a step back into the house.
‘Melvin?’ Carter walked a couple of paces into the hallway. Straight ahead of him, down at the end of the hall, he could see an upright fridge and the edge of a worktop and what he presumed was the glass-fronted door to the kitchen. There were other doors – one on the left and two on the right. The first of the doors to his right was closed. He knocked, heard nothing, then turned the handle and stepped into a dark bedroom that smelled of unwashed clothes and damp. The carpet was sticky beneath his feet. Carter stayed in the doorway and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark. The bed was empty. The duvet was half on, half off.
Carter stepped back into the hallway. There was light from a room on the left filtering in through the slightly open door. Carter stopped, called again. No reply. He could smell the kitchen; someone had been cooking. The smell of roasting meat still hung in the air, not fresh, but stale, fat-congealed, charred, tinges of crackling, a hint of pulled pork. He lifted his chin to smell it again, deeper. He turned towards the partially open door on the left. Carter took a step nearer; he tried gently pushing the door open but it was jammed. He applied more pressure. He felt his weight pushing against something that was slowly giving; he heard the roll of castors.
