Against a Dark Sky (7 page)

Chapter Fifteen

D
uring their briefing the following morning, Dani read out the transcript of Imelda Watson-Caballo’s statement to Strathclyde Police. When she got to the section about Goff pressing his hand down on Imelda’s throat, a ripple of excitement was palpable throughout the assembled group.

              ‘I want to know if Goff assaulted any other women when he was working his way around Europe. Kendal, any luck on finding out where Goff taught for the decade he lived abroad?’

              ‘I’m getting there, Ma’am. I’ll go back to my notes and contact the relevant colleges and police forces to find out if he committed any offences during those years.’

              ‘Good. Anything else to report?’

              ‘You were correct about Joanna Endicott making a will, Ma’am,’ said Driscoll. ‘She left all her property and savings to her uncles and aunts. The house in Chiswick is worth 2.5 million pounds.’

              Several whistles went up from the men.

              ‘That’s more than enough to kill for,’ Driscoll added.

              ‘You’re right. We definitely need to check it out. Can you gather together statements from all of the principal beneficiaries? We’ll need alibis for the night of Joanna’s murder. I still don’t think money is our motive here but it would be remiss not to investigate it. Driscoll, can you and Clark get the train down to London today to interview the family?’

              The Sergeant nodded his head, pleased to be given the responsibility.

              ‘Isn’t all property in London worth that kind of money these days? If it were a motive for murder, there’d be no one left alive in the south-east of England,’ Andy Calder said dryly.

              Driscoll shot him a sideways glance, not sure what to make of the comment.

              Dani smiled. ‘If my wee hoose in the west-end were worth that much, I wouldn’t be standing here in front of you guys, that’s for sure. But seriously, Andy, I take your point. However, it could have meant a great deal to a member of the Endicott family who needed it desperately enough.
That
would be our motive.’

              DC Kendal jumped to his feet. Dani thought he was about to take issue with her. Then he announced, ‘I’ve just had a reply to my post on Facebook! A guy who says he used to play in a band with Goff, in Stirling, about seven years ago.’

              ‘Reply to him straight-away please, and get us an address.’

It took Andy and Bevan just over an hour to drive to Stirling. The man they’d come to see lived in Cornton, a district on the north bank of the River Forth. Craig Douglas’s house lay within a sprawling new estate. Andy made several wrong turns before finally locating the address. It was after six by the time the detectives parked up. Dani hoped Douglas would be home from work by now.

              The house was only about ten years old but already appeared tatty. The letter box was broken and the front garden overgrown. Andy pressed on the bell. Eventually, the man opened up. Craig Douglas was in his early thirties and possessed a mop of dark greasy hair pulled back into a ponytail. He led them through to a cluttered sitting room. Musical instruments seemed to fill every free surface.

              ‘Just move something aside if you want a seat,’ Douglas suggested unhelpfully, taking up position by the window. ‘Can I make you a brew?’

              ‘No thank you, Mr Douglas. We’d like to ask you a few questions, that’s all.’

              ‘You’re still into the music then?’ Andy commented, squeezing himself onto the sofa next to an acoustic guitar.

              ‘Aye. My band play gigs in town. Mostly at ‘The King and Castle’ on the roundabout, do you know it?’

              Andy shook his head. ‘Can you tell us what you remember about Daniel Goff?’

              ‘Not a great deal if I’m honest. I only go on Facebook to promote my band, that’s why I noticed your request on the College site. We sometimes do concerts at the campus during Freshers’ week. I hadn’t heard the name in years. Dan played guitar with us for a few months about seven years back. He saw an advert I’d put in the student magazine.’

              ‘But Goff wasn’t a student at the time,’ Bevan added.

              ‘No, he was teaching English at the summer school. Dan was a couple of years older than us and was pretty cool. He’d played in all kinds of places, like Madrid and Rome. It seemed glamorous to us boys at the time.’  

              ‘Do you recall Daniel Goff having any girlfriends during the months you associated with him?’

              Craig furrowed his brow. ‘Girls kinda liked him. The pretty ones always came up to Dan after we’d finished a set. He took lassies home from time to time.’

              ‘Do you remember a girl called Imelda from the college, she was eighteen years old back in 2007?’

              ‘No, I don’t. Dan didn’t introduce us to any of his mates. He came to practice, usually at my place, which was at the Top of the Town in those days. He’d turn up for a gig and that was it. By the end of the summer he simply disappeared. We were due to have a session on the Saturday night but Dan never showed. I’ve heard nothing from him since. So when I saw the message on the college Facebook page I was quite excited. I thought we might be able to get back in touch.’

              ‘So you’ve had no contact with Daniel Goff in the last two weeks?’ Andy asked carefully.

              Craig Douglas looked surprised. ‘As I said, I’ve no’ seen Dan in years.’

              ‘Do you follow the news at all, Mr Douglas?’ Dani enquired gently.

              The man now appeared embarrassed. ‘Aye, when I can, but life’s busy, you know? What with work and the band. When I’m no’ writing new material, I’m asleep.’

              ‘Could you give us the names and addresses of the other band members who knew Goff back in 2007? And if the man does try to get in touch with you, please inform us straight away.’

              Dani handed Craig Douglas her card.

              The man examined it carefully before asking, ‘so is Dan in some kind of trouble then?’

Chapter Sixteen

‘D
o you think Craig Douglas is hiding Daniel Goff somewhere?’ Dani asked this only semi-seriously, as she and Andy finished their dinner at the hotel.

              ‘I had a good shifty round the house when I went to use the toilet - definitely no sign of him there. If Craig Douglas
is
helping Goff to hide from the police, he deserves an Oscar.’

              Dani chuckled. ‘We’ll check out the other band members in the morning. My suspicion is that Goff could have another girlfriend in this area. Someone he’s been cultivating for all these years. I think it is women he has a skill at manipulating. Sadly, he kept that side of his life very secret. If there is a woman out there protecting him, she’ll be totally in his thrall. It will be very difficult to persuade her to turn him in.’

              ‘We can’t get Joanna’s parents to make a television appeal, because they’re both dead.’

              ‘And there’s no grieving husband, either.’

              Andy suddenly shifted forward in his seat. ‘What if we released the details of Goff’s attack on Imelda Caballo? That might make this woman have second thoughts about him. It would at least shake her up a bit, which might encourage her to make a mistake.’

              Dani became alert. ‘It would be even better if Imelda talked about it in person. Phil says she’s very sympathetic.’ The DCI shook her head. ‘Imelda’s husband isn’t aware of the relationship the girl had with Goff. Phil promised that her testimony could remain anonymous.’

              Andy shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’s your call, Ma’am. But bear it in mind. I’m sure you could talk her into it. This guy will probably go on to kill somebody else if he isn’t caught. He’ll disappear back abroad, where it will be easier for him to target vulnerable women.’

              Dani stared at her half-eaten dessert, her appetite gone. She glanced back up at her companion. ‘There’s something about Imelda’s testimony that has been bothering me, ever since Phil sent the details over.’

              ‘What is it?’

              ‘Well, Goff is a sexual predator, right?’

              Andy nodded.

              ‘He gets his kicks out of dominating women during the sexual act. I read Imelda’s account very carefully. It seemed to me that Goff’s attack on her was centred on him reaching climax. Once he’d been satiated, he let her go. She was of no further use to him. It’s like an exaggerated form of a primitive male attitude towards woman - that once the sexual act is completed, the fascination is gone. He then moves onto another prey.’

              ‘You’ve obviously been going out with the wrong kinds of men, Ma’am.’

              Dani ignored the comment. ‘Therefore, I would’ve expected the murder of Joanna Endicott to have a sexual element to it. There was none. Her clothes hadn’t even been loosened. There was no evidence of semen anywhere on or near the body.’

              ‘Perhaps the motive was different this time. Goff killed Joanna out of expediency. He needed her dead because she knew something about him and he had to silence her.’

              ‘Or, the environment was wrong. Goff was exhausted and tired after getting lost on the mountain. He simply couldn’t perform in that state. But to me, that would mean the impetus to commit the murder would no longer be there.
If
, it really was a sexually motivated crime, that is.’

              ‘Let’s get some sleep. It’s an angle to consider when our minds are fresher.’

              The pair exited the dining room. Dani’s eyes were suddenly drawn to one of the corridors leading off to the left, where there were a number of ground floor rooms. It was dimly lit, but Dani had seen a figure standing about half-way along, watching them intently as they passed. Dani raised her hand to acknowledge the man, when she realised it was Bill Hutchison. He remained entirely impassive, as if in a trance and Dani wondered just how long he’d been waiting there.

By the middle of the following day, Driscoll and Clark were back in Ardyle. Dani called them into one of the side rooms at the Town Hall she was using as her office. There was only just enough room for the three of them to sit down.              

              ‘As we might have expected, they’ve all got pretty solid alibis. Most of the relatives were amazed to discover the house was worth that much and even more amazed that Joanna had left the money to them. I didn’t sense the family were all that close. One of Joanna’s cousins is off travelling the world on his gap year. His mum gave us a print-out of the e-mail she received on the day Joanna was killed. He was in Kuala Lumpur.’

              ‘Okay. It was worth pursuing. Dave, could I have a word with you in private for a moment?’

              ‘Certainly Ma’am.’

              Clark left the room, pulling the door closed behind him.

              ‘Have you ever heard of the Hutchisons? They lost their son in the Ardyle tragedy.’

              Driscoll screwed up his face and then shook his head. ‘I really don’t recall the name. I was a young copper in Fife back then, I didn’t have any connection to the town.’

              ‘Could you send DC Reid in to speak with me, please?’

              The older policeman nodded, but his body language suggested he wasn’t overly enthusiastic about the idea.

              DC Sammy Reid was about the same age as Dani, perhaps a year or two younger. He was tall and good-looking. A fresh-faced type of character with neatly styled hair. Dani gestured for him to take a seat.

              After asking him to update her on his current assignments she said, ‘I hope you won’t find this intrusive, Sammy, but I wondered if I could ask you a couple of questions about your sister?’

              The man cracked a wistful smile. ‘I thought this might come up, Ma’am.’

              ‘Do you mind?’

              ‘Not at all. It happened a long time ago.’

              ‘Did Katrina’s death have a bearing on your decision to become a police officer?’ Dani thought for a moment about her own mother’s death, which occurred at a similar time to the Ardyle tragedy.

              ‘I suppose it must have. You find yourself forever searching for the answer to something. Sorry, it’s hard to explain.’

              Dani nodded, she understood only too well.

              ‘Do you recall the Hutchison family? Their son died on the mountain along with Katrina and William.’

              ‘Aye. We knew each other well. Mum and Joy remained friends for a long time. But they moved away from here a good few years back.’

              ‘They’re staying at The Carraig right now. The couple approached Andy Calder and me at dinner the other evening. They seemed to believe they could assist us in solving our current inquiry.’

              Sammy grimaced. ‘Permission to speak off the record, Ma’am?’

              ‘Of course.’

              ‘The Hutchisons took Neil’s death very badly. Well, we all did, but Bill and Joy went a little peculiar. They became devoutly religious afterwards. Joy was always trying to get Mum to go with her to the Kirk to pray for the souls of the children. Mum didn’t think it was healthy. In the end, she used to avoid her like the plague. It sounds mean, but Mum and Dad had their own way of coping with Katrina’s death and the Hutchisons really didn’t help. When they moved away, they kept sending us cards, with clippings folded up inside. We assumed they did the same with the other family who lost a child that night.’

              ‘What did the cards say?’

              ‘The clippings were excerpts from local and national press reports of walkers who’d got lost in the Ben Lomond National Park. The cards always had a religious image on the front and inside they said, ‘our angels have kept them safe’. Mum knew the Hutchisons were trying to gain something positive out of their loss, but to be honest, it just freaked us out.’

              ‘I can see that,’ Dani replied gravely.

              The Detective Chief Inspector thanked Sammy for his time and allowed him to take his lunch-break. She sat back at the cramped desk and thought for a while. For some reason, the Hutchisons’ angels hadn’t kept Joanna Endicott safe. This was why the couple had felt compelled to return to Ardyle. They were determined to find out why not.