As The Crow Flies (The DI Nick Dixon Crime Series) (12 page)

‘Like what?’

‘Well, Jake and Hunter were stealing Peregrine Falcon eggs, selling them in Dubai and making a lot of money doing it. Someone was setting up the deals and it would be reasonable to assume that they were taking a cut for doing so.’

‘How d’you know someone else was involved?’

‘I don’t have any evidence, granted, but it must be right. Neither Jake nor Hunter could have done it themselves.’

‘Not even over the internet?’

‘I doubt it. Let’s hope High Tech find something on Jake’s computer one way or the other. And then there’s the person Jake was arguing with outside the Vic the night before he died. Who was that?’

‘It’s a shame Sarah Heath didn’t get a good look at him.’

‘It is.’

‘We’ll get a look at Hunter’s computer now too, don’t forget, Sir.’

PC Stevens appeared in the arc lights.

‘Pathologist has arrived, Sir. PC Clarke is going to bring him out here.’

Dr Roger Poland was the senior forensic pathologist based at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton. He was a large man with greying hair and a direct manner evident from rather perfunctory introductions. Dixon decided that he liked him anyway and watched with Jane while he examined Hunter.

‘Any idea how long?’

‘He was last seen alive on Saturday afternoon as far as we know and there was no one fishing here on Saturday either, according to the farmer,’ replied Dixon.

‘Probably came fishing on Sunday then?’

‘It looks like it. He didn’t turn up for work on Monday.’

‘There’s a small bullet hole in his right eye, probably a .22 calibre.’ Poland rolled Hunter towards him and looked at the back of his head. ‘And a corresponding exit wound just below and behind his left ear.’

‘Is a .22 pistol powerful enough for that?’ asked Dixon.

‘There are a couple that could do it at close range, particularly if the bullet enters the skull through the eye socket. A Sig Sauer, perhaps.’

‘Was it at close range?’

‘Almost certainly. Judging by the angle, I’d say the victim was seated and the killer standing.’

‘What about the bullet?’

‘If he was sitting on that chair with the killer to his right then, on the angle, the bullet is almost certainly in the water.’

‘One for the divers in the morning then.’

‘Good luck to them’.

‘Would it have killed him instantly?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘I’m not sure that it does when you put it like that.’

‘Possibly. I’ll soon be able to tell if he was still alive when he went in when I open him up. I’ll do the PM in the morning and let you have my report by lunchtime. Ok?’

‘Yes, thank you, Dr Poland.’

‘You’re the new chap?’

‘Yes,’ replied Dixon.

‘We must have a beer sometime. And it’s Roger, by the way.’

Ten

Dixon was late arriving at Bridgwater Police Station the following morning, having stopped off to break the news of Dan Hunter’s murder to John and Maureen Fayter. DCI Lewis was waiting for him.

‘Where have you been?’

‘To see Jake’s parents, Sir.’

‘Fair enough,’ replied Lewis. ‘You let the girlfriend and her mother go?’

‘I did. They’ve got nothing to do with it.’

‘That’s not what Steve Gorman thinks.’

‘I was under the impression that I was in charge of this investigation, Sir.’

‘You are.’

DCI Lewis waited for a response. Dixon had nothing further to add.

‘So, what happens now?’ asked Lewis.

‘We follow up the leads that we have. We need to revisit the statements from the tourists in the gorge, chase up Hunter’s bank statements. And I’m still waiting for High Tech’s report on Jake’s laptop and phone.’

‘Anything interesting at Hunter’s place?’

‘Just an iPad, which is already with High Tech.’

‘What about the man Fayter was arguing with the night before he died?’

‘We’re no nearer finding him at the moment. We’ll be checking the CCTV and taking statements from the regulars at the Vic. There are two banks near there with cashpoints so it may be that they have some CCTV footage too.’

‘Good. Get onto it straightaway and let me know if you need any help. This is a double murder investigation now.’

‘Yes, Sir.’

By mid-morning Dixon was sitting at his desk reading the report on Jake’s laptop and iPhone that had finally arrived from the High Tech Investigation Unit. Steve Gorman and Mark Pearce were on their way to Birmingham to interview the tourists again and Jane Winter was chasing the banks for Dan Hunter’s statements. She was also pursuing the CCTV footage from Burnham-on-Sea covering the evening before Jake’s death.

The report gave a detailed forensic analysis of both the laptop and the iPhone and made a surprisingly interesting read. The laptop was a Sony Vaio, an old model that was still running Windows XP and IE8. The internet history showed little of interest, except for several visits to a website offering advice on building a homemade incubator. Login details had been extracted for Facebook and Twitter accounts, giving both username and password. Dixon was aware of them from Jake’s blog and was a Facebook Friend and Twitter Follower of both.  Dixon thought it odd that there were no login details for Jake’s blog and made a mental note to follow that up.

Jake’s email was web based using a Googlemail account. All of the contacts had been extracted and accounted for. The Google Chat facility had not been used. There was no Skype account or similar. There were several folders of photographs, all of them showing various climbing trips and routes, but no documents other than the odd letter, which had been reproduced in the appendices to the report.

The laptop had clearly been used for little more than photograph storage and occasional web surfing. It had revealed nothing of real interest.

Dixon moved onto the section dealing with the iPhone. All of the phone numbers for calls made and received had been extracted and accounted for. There were numerous calls to and from Sarah and Dan and also Jake’s parents. There were also several calls to a number known to belong to Conrad Benton. Dixon noted something else to be followed up later.

The iPhone email was set up with the same Googlemail account. There was no evidence that iMessages had ever been used and the Facetime contacts were only Sarah and Dan. The Facebook and Twitter login details extracted from the Safari web browser on the iPhone were the same as on the laptop.

High Tech had noted a word game similar to Scrabble called Words With Friends, which included a chat facility but there was no evidence that this had been used. In any event, the contacts list included only Sarah and Dan. Apart from that, there were three folders of photographs.

Jake’s Facebook and Twitter accounts had been accessed and, again, nothing of interest was found. In each case, no Facebook or Twitter direct messages had been sent and Facebook chat had not been used. The posts to Jake’s Facebook Timeline revealed nothing of interest and Dixon had already seen his tweets.

Both the laptop and the iPhone had been the subject of detailed forensic analysis and had revealed nothing. Dixon vented his frustration on his biro and threw the broken pieces in the rubbish bin. Jake must have been communicating with the egg dealer but they had not yet found the means by which he did so. Dixon was convinced this was the key. He opened his office door and shouted to Jane on the other side of the open plan office.

‘Jane.’

‘Yes, Sir.’

‘Ring High Tech and tell ‘em we must have their report on Dan Hunter’s iPad by the end of today. Remind them this is a double murder investigation.’

‘Yes, Sir.’

Dixon sat back down at his desk and picked up the report from High Tech again. He read it from start to finish for the second time. He was working on the basis that he may have missed something. The best part of an hour later he realised he had not. He reached over, picked up Jake’s iPhone and ripped open the evidence bag. He placed it on the desk in front of him and then placed his own iPhone next to it. His own phone was switched on. He pressed the home button, entered the passcode and unlocked the home screen. He sat staring at it for several minutes before picking up Jake’s iPhone and switching it on. Unlike his own, Jake’s was not password protected.

Jake’s home screen looked much like his own but there were subtle differences. There were all the standard icons for Phone, Music, Mail, Internet and the like. There was also Newsstand. Dixon had never understood what Newsstand was for, nor had he ever worked out how to delete it. Jake had also installed the Climber Magazine app and the Crags Climbing Log Book. Dixon looked up the Police Station wi-fi password and connected Jake’s iPhone to the internet. He then returned to the Home screen.

Jake had not received any email but the App Store icon was displaying an update alert. The figure 1 in a red circle at the top right corner of the icon indicated that one app needed updating. Dixon touched the App Store icon and opened the Updates screen. It showed a Twitter app requiring an update and gave the new version number. Dixon pressed the Home button and returned to the home screen. He then tapped the Photos icon and spent five minutes looking at Jake’s photos. All of them climbing photographs. He recognised the sea cliffs at Gogarth, the Dinorwic slate quarries and, inevitably, Cheddar Gorge.

His mind wandered back to climbing on the slate. It had always suited him. The rock was rarely vertical and it was possible to stay in balance on the tiniest of foot and handholds. Jake had enjoyed climbing on slate too and had proved to be exceptionally good at it, bagging a number of outstanding second ascents. Dixon remembered a whole week spent ticking all of the routes on the Rainbow Slab, including a second ascent by Jake of Raped by Affection (E7 6c).

There was a knock at Dixon’s office door.

‘Come in, Jane.’

‘We’ve got Hunter’s bank statements, Sir.’

‘Well?’

‘He has two accounts with Barclays in Burnham. A current account with small change in it and a savings account with just under one hundred and forty grand.’

‘That’s a lot of money for a divorced postman, wouldn’t you say? Do we know when it arrived?’

‘17th May. The bank checked with him and he told them it was an inheritance, apparently.’

‘I bet he did. That’s the money from the second trip to Dubai.’

‘Looks like it.’

‘Well, now we know why Dan was killed. And it’s reasonable to assume we’re sitting on what the killer wants.’

‘We are.’

‘Get back onto the bank and find out where that money came from, will you?’

‘They’re coming back to me with that information. Anything on the laptop or phone?’

‘Not really, no. You have a read of it, see what you think.’ Dixon handed her the report.

‘Yes, Sir’

‘I’d better take Monty for a walk.’

Dixon arrived back from Victoria Park to find Dan Hunter’s post mortem report on his desk. Single gunshot wound to the head. Dan had been alive when he entered the water but, almost certainly, unconscious. The time of death was given as between 1.00pm and 4.00pm on Sunday afternoon. Nothing new.

Dixon spent the rest of the afternoon watching the CCTV footage from Burnham the evening before Jake’s death. There was extensive coverage, which the local CCTV Control Team had provided. It included Automatic Number Plate Recognition but, sadly, this did not make it any more interesting. There was over nine hours of footage in total from four different cameras. Not only that but Barclays and NatWest had also been able to recover the footage from their cashpoint cameras and a police constable had been despatched to collect it.

Dixon watched with his finger hovering over the fast forward button. After nearly three hours he had seen nothing of note. He stopped the tape, went back to his office and sent an email to DCI Lewis asking for a junior officer to assist with reviewing the CCTV footage. He then shouted across to Jane.

‘Fancy a drink, Jane?’

‘Yes, Sir. Where are we going?’

‘The Vic.’

Dixon drove out through Bridgwater and headed north on the A38.

‘We’ll stay off the motorway, I think. What did you make of the High Tech report?’

‘Disappointing. I was hoping there’d be some email or chat exchange with our man.’

‘Me too.’

‘Maybe all of the contact was in person?’ asked Jane.

‘If it was we’re in deep trouble. The only person who could identify the dealer was Hunter.’

‘That would explain why he was killed?’

‘It would. But then so would the money.’

‘True.’

‘We’ll see what we find in the Vic but I’m not holding my breath. The CCTV is the better bet but we’re not entirely sure what we’re looking for, are we?’

‘No, Sir.’

Dixon was deep in thought. Suddenly, he thumped the steering wheel with the palm of his hand.

‘Oh, shit.’

He stamped on the brakes and swerved into the entrance to the British Car Auctions depot. The car behind swerved to avoid him and hooted its horn in a loud blast. Dixon spun the Land Rover around and was trying to cross the northbound traffic and head south.

‘What is it?’ asked Jane.

‘Was there any mention of a Twitter app in the High Tech report on Jake’s iPhone?’

‘No, there was a Twitter account but no app. There were some climbing apps and Words With Friends but he hadn’t installed the Twitter app.’

‘Yes, he had,’ said Dixon, spinning his wheels as he sped across the line of northbound traffic and headed south. ‘I looked at his phone. There was an App Store Update alert and it was Twitter.’

‘But it may be for the same account?’ said Jane.

‘We’ll soon see.’

They were back at Bridgwater Police Station within ten minutes. Dixon retrieved Jake’s iPhone from the evidence store and switched it on while he walked up to his office. Jane was waiting for him in his office.

‘Are you familiar with this Twitter app?’

‘No, Sir, sorry.’

Dixon unlocked Jake’s iPhone and looked at the Home screen. There was no Twitter app icon. He showed it to Jane.

‘Try the Utilities folder,’ she said.

Dixon touched the Utilities folder icon and there it was, the familiar blue square with a white songbird in flight. Without hesitation, Dixon opened the app.

‘Will it work if it’s not connected to the internet?’ asked Jane.

‘It’s opened but I don’t think it will update, that’s all.’

Dixon placed the iPhone on his desk and sat in his chair. Jane was standing behind him looking over his shoulder.

The app opened at the Home page, which displayed tweets from users Jake had been following. It had not been opened for some time, as evidenced by the most recent tweet being timed seventeen days ago. Dixon had never really understood Twitter and skipped the @Connect and #Discover icons, opening instead the section called ‘Me’. This displayed Jake’s full name and username, the number of tweets, following and followers, as well as the Account Settings button. There was a direct messages icon in the form of a grey envelope on a white background. Next to Settings was an icon Dixon did not recognise. It looked like the head and shoulders of two people in silhouette. Dixon pointed to it.

‘What’s that one?’

‘No idea, Sir. Open it and see.’

Dixon tapped the icon. The screen turned clockwise to reveal a new page headed Accounts. There were two. Dixon recognised the first. It was the account detailed in the High Tech Unit report. The second account was new. The full name was Armitage Shanks and the username @NewSlatesman. Dixon tapped the screen and it rotated anticlockwise to reveal the new Twitter account.

‘You crafty bugger, Jake,’ muttered Dixon.