Between Two Thieves

by Solomon Carter

  “Now that started out sounding like a sensible theory, until you gave Carl Renton a personality transplant,” said Eva. “Theories like that tell me we’re no nearer to finding Clancy’s missing treasures than we were at the beginning.”

  “I don’t know,” said Joanne. “I saw that handover at the station after you’d left with Lauren.”

  “Okay,” said Eva. “Assuming that was part of Clancy’s hoard then we know some of it has already left town – for sale in London, I assume. The city’s only an hour away.”

  “Even if we don’t recover it all, we’ll still uncover the culprit. We can close the case and earn our fee,” said Dan.

  “Let’s hope Clancy sees it that way, but that’s not what I was focusing on. If Clive Grace is shifting stolen gold, it puts another question mark over the motive for Norman Peters’ death. Peters was killed the day after the robbery. So he could have been involved in it... but why would he have Carl Renton’s silver case in his pocket?”

  “Which Carl had on him the night he disappeared. He gave Georgie a Bible quote from it as he left them.”

  “Which suggests to me Carl was still very strong in the faith. No personality change there, so him being involved in the robbery still seems highly unlikely. This case is a mess. What is it? Is it a robbery gone wrong? A conspiracy, with one thief killing off the other thieves so only he can benefit from the proceeds? How does Renton fit in?”

  “Joe knows more than he’s letting on,” said Joanne. “I think Georgie could be the best way in. She always talks about honesty. If she had the opportunity to be honest with us, I think she would.”

  “Perhaps. But this is where the murder happened, right here. And this is where Clancy’s Celtic band was found,” said Eva. They paused by the sea wall and looked out to the blue water lapping on the glistening shore near the end of the marine centre jetty. The smarmy-faced constable was one of two PCs guarding the white crime scene tent, and he looked ready to bark at them as soon as they came near. Eva didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. They kept a safe distance. There was still plenty of signs of past treasure-scavenging and raked sand higher up the beach, but further down the tide had done its job and washed all footprints and spade marks clean away.

  “From the outside it seems complicated, but most motives are usually grimly predictable. If there’s a way into this case, we’ll find it. You spoke to Hogarth,” said Eva. “How’d that go?”

  “Better than you’d think, but he didn’t want to talk about Carl Renton. Not yet. He’s still working the Norman Peters’ murder like it’s an entirely separate thing.”

  Eva nodded. “To be expected. Any news on Peters’ body?”

  “Beyond Peters having a broken jaw? If there was, Hogarth wasn’t sharing. He says he’s waiting for the toxicology report.”

  “Toxicology? And will he share the results?” said Eva.

  “If you call him, maybe.”

  Eva nodded. Dan started to climb the steps over the sea wall but Eva tugged him back. “Not here. That awful PC is just itching for a confrontation. Let’s take the next steps along.”

  Dan eyed the PC and backed off. “Uh. That guy again,” he said, with a sigh. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  They walked no more than fifty yards on and took the next set of steps. Here they stepped down alongside a volleyball net which seemed to be a permanent feature, but Eva couldn’t remember ever seeing it in use. The marine centre was a way to their left on the other side of the net. The sand here looked barely touched compared to the rest. Clumps of natural grasses poked through in random areas, and the line of scruffy old wooden dinghies continued, all turned upside down on the sand, left by the side of the wall, some with names messily daubed on their sides. But a cursory glance confirmed no sign of any motor boat which might have been used for a run to the jetty.

  “We’re moving too far from the marine centre, too far towards the town,” said Eva. “The marine centre is the focal point in this business. Let’s take a careful walk back but keep away from that cop. I’m not in the mood for any more awkward encounters today.”

  “It didn’t go well with Lauren then, I take it?” said Dan.

  Eva met his eyes. “She’s trapped in a seriously toxic relationship, emotionally and physically abusive.”

  “It happens,” said Dan. “Shame it’s happening to a friend.”

  “That’s the thing. Lauren’s not a friend, is she? She was once, twenty years back but we’re different people. All the same, I’m having trouble forgiving her.”

  “Why did she want to meet up? For advice?.”

  “More than that,” said Eva. “She’s hired us to help her. She’s even given me an advance.”

  “An advance? To do what?”

  “To investigate her partner and dig up some leverage on the guy so he’ll let her go without carrying out any of his threats.”

  “Most of those types are weak little scumbags. That should be a cinch.”

  “Hmmmm,” said Eva. “I’m still not sure if I’ve done the right thing.”

  “Because you’ve taken her money? But you said it, Eva, she was a friend. She’s not now. Now she’s just another client who pays actual money. Well done. You turned a problem into a paying job. We’ll get stuck into the evil boyfriend case right after we solve this one...” Dan started to walk towards the marine centre.

  “It’s not about the money, Dan. It’s about her. It’s about the case. Maybe I should pass it on to someone else. Someone totally independent.”

  “Why?” said Dan, looking back.

  “I don’t know but I have some reservations.”

  “Yeah. So what are they?”

  “I can’t explain it. Not yet.”

  “Keep the case, Eva. I’ll work it if you don’t want to.”

  Eva shook her head. “No. She wants me to do it, I know she does. That was the whole reason she came down here.”

  “It’s a job, Eva. Sometimes we don’t like the client. Just like this case. In fact I don’t like the Clancys much at all, but we’ve got to get the case done to get paid. The same goes for this Lauren woman.”

  Joanne gave Eva a sympathetic look, but it didn’t do much to soothe her. Even if she was being precious and judgmental, Eva couldn’t do much about it. She watched Dan cut across the grassy dunes back towards the marine centre jetty. Joanne began to follow, walking further down towards the muddy tideline, her eyes searching the sand along the way. Eva decided to split the difference and walked a line halfway between them, both cases churning through her mind as she paced along the sand.

  Stolen treasures or deadly drugs... what was the heart of the matter? The case seemed to have no beginning and no end, no up and no down. Without proof of who had the treasures, or a motive for the Peters’ murder, or a sign of the missing man, they were stuck. Eva’s face was set in a tight frown, her eyes tracking toward the sun as it tried to burst through a haze of summer cloud. She was so caught up with her distracted thoughts she almost trod in it. But her shoe landed beside a clump of grasses growing from a patch of soil instead of sand. Odd. And then Eva saw the dark area wasn’t soil at all. It was sand just the same as all the rest. Discoloured sand, stained dark reddish-brown in a blotch which had spread beyond the tufts of tall grass, fading at the edges where fresh clean sand had been kicked over it.

  “What’s this...?” muttered Eva. With grim caution, she prodded the edge of the sand with her fingernail. A clot of sticky, half-dried sand substance came away on her nail. She took a close-up look and then a reluctant sniff. Hard to be sure... but she reckoned that if blood had been spilt on the sand in sufficient quantities, it might have looked a lot like this. The majority of the treasure hunters had been on the other side on the beach between the bistro and the marine centre, but there had been a few detector men hunting on this side. But those must have been so busy hunting for gold they’d not noticed the blood. And the police crime scene people were centred around the dinghy further up the beach. T
hey’d ignored the wider beach. The possibilities flashed through Eva’s mind. A street fight spilling onto the beach from one of the neighbourhood pubs... An injury from a broken bottle. But Eva had taken her fill of supposition. The blood had to be related to the other crime. But she needed certainty.

  “Dan! Come here,” she called. He turned back, saw Eva’s face and broke into a jog. Joanne came too.

  “What is it?” said Joanne, looking at the sand.

  “Blood,” said Eva. “It has to be blood. And again, it’s close to the jetty. Not far from where we found Norman Peters’ body.”

  A way off, at the white tent, the PC and accompanying PCSO watched them with interest but stayed put by the tent.

  “Do you think the blood belonged to the market trader?” said Joanne.

  Dan looked at Eva and shook his head. “No, I don’t. From what we saw, that guy had been beaten around the head.”

  “Hogarth confirmed it,” said Dan. “A blunt trauma.”

  Eva nodded. “There were no big cuts. Nothing to make this much blood. So where did it come from?”

  She peered at the marine centre building and at the long wooden jetty as the sea began to lap at its furthest struts. “The proximity of Peters, now this blood. That jetty has got something to do with all this. We need to know who uses that jetty... someone must have seen something...”

  Eva narrowed her eyes. “This is getting out of hand. If you think Joe Clancy is holding back on us in any way we need to know what it is now. The same applies to Georgie too. More lives could be at stake. They’ve got to tell us what they know before someone else gets hurt.”

  “Aaron Clancy was at the house,” said Dan. “If we go back there now, he’ll see us grilling them.”

  Eva pondered for a second. “True. He’ll only pressure us about his missing collection. We need to talk to them in private.”

  “And the way Joe was trying to play it, all those half-truths and correcting Georgie when she tried to tell us more, I’m not sure we want Joe at all. It’s Georgie we need to speak to at this point.”

  Eva nodded. “Good idea. But how do we get her attention without alerting Joe and his father?”

  Dan took his phone from his pocket. “Easy. Georgie and Joe are always there. We’ll call the house. It’s fifty-fifty that she’s the one to pick up the call. Joe didn’t bother last time, and Daddy Clancy is probably out by now.”

  Eva prodded at the bloodied sand. “We need to know who this blood belongs to. You’d better call Hogarth as well.”

  “You’d be better for that job,” said Dan.

  “Okay,” said Eva. “I’ll call it in – after we’ve arranged to meet Georgie.”

  Eva took Dan’s phone. He’d used the Clancy number before. Eva dabbed at the screen and put the phone to her ear. Fifty-fifty, just like Dan had said. But when the phone was picked up, Eva found she had the wrong end of the fifty-fifty. Aaron Clancy’s deep voice answered the call.

  “Mr Clancy?” she said..

  “Hello,” said Clancy. “Miss Roberts. Have you called to tell me you’ve found my collection?”

  “Not yet, I’m afraid. But I do have some questions for Georgie. Is she there at all?”

  “Questions for Georgie? Whatever for?”

  “She’s a bright girl. It’s a simple thing.”

  Clancy fell silent, and Eva wondered if she’d have to blag her way past the man. But Clancy stayed quiet. She heard him pull the phone from his ear and call out the girl’s name.

  “Georgie! Phone call for you.”

  “For me?” came a little voice.

  She heard the girl’s feet descending the stairs, then the phone being picked up.

  “Georgie. This is Eva Roberts.”

  “Yes, Miss Roberts?”

  “I need to speak to you. Alone. It’s urgent. Do you know anywhere we could meet?”

  “Umm,” the girl’s voice turned quiet. “Chalkwell Park is near here. We could meet there... or wherever...”

  As they spoke, a new sound came on the line. A small click, and then a hint of an echo – just the merest change in the quality of the call. Eva narrowed her eyes. The girl was dithering but now Eva couldn’t wait for that. In fact she knew neither of them could say another word without being overheard. “See you there in ten, Georgie.”

  “In ten? Where?” said Georgie.

  But Eva hung up. She hoped the girl was smart enough to work out the reason for it. And if Georgie was smart enough for that, she would be smart enough to avoid telling the others where she was going.

  “What was that about?” said Dan, reading Eva’s eyes.

  “There’s another phone at the Clancy house and someone else picked up. They didn’t say a word, so they were trying to listen in.”

  “Who? The boy or the golden goose?” said Dan.

  “Aaron Clancy seemed curious about why I wanted to speak to Georgie. But after what you said about Joe, it could be either of them. Come on. Time to go,” said Eva.

  Under the watchful gaze of the PC and the PCSO they climbed the steps through the sea wall. By the time she set foot on concrete Eva already had her mobile phone to her ear. “Inspector Hogarth? This is Eva Roberts. Brace yourself, Inspector. I think we’ve found another one for your to-do list...”

  Fourteen

  They drove at a pace, sweeping along the wide hill of Kings Road. The steep incline afforded a decent view of the houses on the other side of the dip where they rose up towards Leigh and the busyness of the glamorous Broadway shops just a mile beyond. Their perspective meant they caught a glimpse of the dark car on the driveway. Clancy’s car. Which meant he was still home. They scanned along the pavement, but Georgie was nowhere in sight, which meant she was either still at the house or already in Chalkwell Park. If anyone had followed her, they would be there too by now. Eva and Dan had come separately, Joanne opting to travel with Eva in her Alfa. They parked both cars across the street from the entrance to Chalkwell Park, and well out of sight of the Clancy house. Across the street a black signboard beside a black wrought iron fence marked the entrance to the park. Behind the gate a steep tree-covered path climbed towards the back field of the park, which itself was set on an exaggerated slope.

  “Let’s hope she’s in there,” said Eva.

  They walked through the gate and shut it behind them. Dan looked into the tall conifers which darkened and cooled their surroundings the further they walked up the slope. Ahead, the canopy formed an archway, which opened out into bright summer light. Reaching the top of the path they looked out over the bottom sweep of the great green field as it rose to join the rest of the vast park. On their immediate left was a children’s playground, with mothers and children buzzing around the swings and the roundabout, many noisy and emotional from too much sun. On the field groups of teens were kicking balls around and frisbees flew. Shouts came from the tennis and basketball courts up ahead.

  “Chalkwell Park in summertime. It’s a busy place,” said Joanne.

  “Yeah. Which gives shady types plenty of places to hide,” said Dan. He studied the most obvious of the people ranged around, both near and far. A few noticed Dan watching and looked right back, but Dan couldn’t see anyone who looked suspicious.

  “There she is!” said Eva, sounding relieved. She pointed to a small isolated figure sitting alone on the grass like a pixie. Her long hair and shy demeanour marked her out. As soon as she saw them the girl stood up and gave them a little wave, a curtailed flick of the hand which seemed extremely self-conscious. Georgie stuck her hands deep into her pockets as they left the path and climbed up the rolling field. Dan’s eyes tracked from the dark trees towards the cluster of leafy green trees by the pond at the top of the field. He couldn’t see anyone watching, but it was impossible to be sure.

  “Thanks for coming, Georgie,” said Eva

  The girl offered a wavering smile. “No problem,” she said. “But what is this about?”

  “Do you think anyone followed yo
u here?” said Eva.

  “Uh... no. I don’t think so. Did you seriously think they would?”

  “Someone was listening to our call,” said Eva. “There’s another telephone in that house.

  “Yes, there’s one upstairs in Aaron’s study.”

  “Then he eavesdropped on you,” said Dan.

  Georgie frowned. “You think so?” she said. “But the door’s rarely locked. Joe uses that phone too sometimes. I’m a bit confused. Why did you want to see me, Miss Roberts?”

  “I’m going to risk speaking out of turn, Georgie,” said Eva. “If I offend you, you’ll have to forgive me. But we’ve asked you here because we think you might be the most trustworthy person in that house.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” said the girl. “I think it’s easier to be honest.”

  “It always is,” said Dan. “If you’ve got nothing to hide.”

  “I haven’t got anything to hide from anyone. Nothing except that Aaron doesn’t know that I err... well, stay around the house overnight sometimes.”

  “Sometimes?” said Eva.

  The girl’s face turned a shade of pink. “Well... most of the time, to be honest. Most nights most weeks. My mum stopped complaining about it. She knows that Joe’s father is well off. I told her all about it, all about what he does, about his jewellery business, his treasure and all that so she stopped complaining. I think she hopes I’ll end up marrying Joe and get access to the money. She doesn’t know how it really is.”

  “It’s okay, Georgie. We’re not here to discuss your private life,” said Dan.

  “Our concern is with what really happened to Carl Renton, because we think it could be connected to the dead man on the beach.”

  “Because of the silver tin,” said the girl, wide eyed and solemn. “Yes. You know, I’ve thought long and hard about this,” she said, slowly.

  “Yes...?” said Eva.

  “There are a couple of things you should know. The man you found on the beach. Norman Peters...”