Cold Justice (35 page)

‘Does he own that Surfshack? Could he raise funds on it?’ asked Willis.

‘I’ll find out,’ Pascoe said.

‘Meanwhile we need house-to-house searches starting with all the people who were at the funeral or in London that day,’ said Carter. ‘We have to find Mawgan’s car.’

‘Pascoe, we need to know what investigation was made into the disappearance of Ella Simmons in 2000.’

‘Yes, I brought the file on it.’ He stood and went to the corner of the room where he’d put his belongings brought over from Penhaligon police station. ‘I’ve made you both a copy.’ He handed them out. ‘Raymonds was in charge, of course. That means we cannot be sure of any real investigation. It looks thorough, on the surface; they had a possible sighting of her hitching up on the dual carriageway.’

After five minutes’ reading Carter sat back in his seat and shook his head in disbelief. Willis glanced up at him and spread out the pages from the file. She picked up the photo of Ella.

‘I don’t think she ever left here,’ said Willis.

Carter looked at her and felt a chill reach down his spine.

‘Right, that house gets pulled apart,’ he said. ‘We need to know which parts of it have been redone and at what time. We’ll rip up floorboards to get samples.’

‘Will this find Samuel?’ asked Pascoe.

Carter sat back in his chair to think.

‘If we think Kensa took Samuel then we give her what she wants to get him back.’

‘Which is?’ asked Pascoe.

Willis answered: ‘Justice.’

Raymonds drove into Penhaligon to see the bank about the life insurance he’d taken out on Martin Stokes and then he phoned Towan.

In the background Raymonds could hear a squeal of a piglet and the grunt of a large sow. He heard Towan’s breathing as he walked outside to talk in private.

‘How far have the forensics got?’ Raymonds asked.

‘They’ve been through the house, cordoned off Dad’s room with tape.’

‘How are you holding up?’

‘Just waiting to go down to the village for the police interview this evening.’

‘The best thing is for you to say nothing.’

‘I’m relying on you to bail me out if they should try and pin Dad’s death on me.’

‘They have no evidence. Besides, there was everybody coming through there at that time and the rain has begun to flood the lower lane. Soon any scrap of evidence they did have will be washed away.’

‘What do you think they’ll ask me?’

‘They’ll ask you about your relationship with the old man. Everyone knows that was pretty testing at times. It’s no good lying and saying it was good.’

‘There’s more people than me with good reason to kill him.’

‘Yes, that’s the main thing to keep in your head.’

‘Except they’ve not been inside with GBH before, and I have.’

‘While you’re up at the house you need to keep searching for your dad’s ledger. The old man was tight with money. Every penny was traceable from the farm. Somewhere there’s a list of men who stayed at Kellis House and what they paid your dad for, what service they got. It won’t take much to work it out, then we can make a few phone calls and get some more money in. We buy the house and the empire continues. It’s a real shame Martin won’t be here to reap the benefit. He must have really pissed someone off to make them do that to him. You need to have a word with Mawgan. I think she could have stolen the contacts book.’

‘I’ll get it off her if she has.’

On his way back Raymonds drove round to the village and as he passed the shops he slowed right down so that he could check on who was where. The Surfshack was closed again. People would think Marky was taking the piss. This was his chance to make something of himself.
Useless piece of shit.

He parked up behind it. There were four police cars in the car park. He watched them knock at the farm shop, which was closed.

Raymonds crossed over and asked the officers if they would like him to open up for them, as he had keys to all the shops in the street. As he talked to them in the middle of the road he glanced across to Mary-Jane sipping tea behind her desk. He smiled. She averted her eyes from him and he smiled to himself. Those nails of hers . . . he watched them tap against one another on the desk –
sharp as claws digging into his back.
He finished talking to the police officers and walked along to Mary-Jane’s shop. She was decorating the window. She turned her back on him and he stood there looking at it for a few minutes. Her slim frame would break beneath him. Her sharp tongue would slice into his flesh, if he let it. She waited. She knew he was watching. He coughed, moved on. He walked down to Cam’s café.

‘Espresso, and make it a double.’ Raymonds watched Cam prepare his coffee. ‘Did you hear about Martin Stokes?’ he said almost under his breath.

‘Yes. The police came in earlier.’

‘Thought they must have.’ Raymonds held eye contact for a few seconds and then sniffed loudly as he picked up his coffee and took it across to the window seat. ‘When I allowed you back here, Cam, it was because I respected you. There was something I admired in the way you coped with everything when you were young. You moved away and that took guts too. Okay, it didn’t work out so well for you, but you’re not a quitter and you came back and set up this. What a great place you have here, Cam.’

Cam nodded but he didn’t smile.

‘You’re getting stronger here by the day. How’s it been going?’

‘Okay,’ he answered as he cleaned up the counter. ‘It’s busy now with the police arriving.’

‘Any problems?’

‘No, I don’t think so, Mr Raymonds.’

‘No, quite right too. Remember, every day you draw a line under the last and you start as if it were all new.’ Cam nodded. ‘You have a great future ahead of you. Have they been in here to ask about other things apart from Stokes?’

‘Yes. They came in and asked some stuff.’

‘Don’t tell them anything that happened in the past. Talk about the trip to London, okay, but don’t trouble going back into the mists of fucking time. They’re just nosy – prying. They don’t need to know any of it.’

‘Any of what?’

‘I’m saying to you – tell them the truth. Tell them something they can confirm and then that’s enough. Do you understand?’

‘Yes. I’m very grateful for everything you’ve done for me.’

Raymonds looked around as if to make sure no one had snuck in while they’d been talking. ‘What I’m saying is – loose tongues cost lives and all that – you want all this to continue?’ He opened his arms out in a theatrical gesture as he turned on his heels.

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Well, believe me, laddie, it needs some clever footwork from you. I know these detective types – all smiles and sweetness but they just want to trick you into relaxing and spilling out your guts. And . . . let me tell you now . . . your guts will be all over this café floor.’ He smiled. ‘Hypothetically, of course. Did they talk to you about the beach party in 2000?’

‘Yes.’

‘You told them nothing happened at the house? It was just a bit of tomfoolery. Kensa never got in trouble from one of our lads. It was all that Toby’s doing. Is that what you said?’

‘More or less.’

‘Oh . . . did they ask about Ella?’

‘Yes. I said she ran away.’

‘Yes, she did. She was seen hitchhiking up the road the next day.’

‘It’s odd she’s never contacted,’ Cam said.

Raymonds eyed him suspiciously as if, just for a second, he thought he might be toying with him. ‘Oh well, some things in life you have to learn to accept. You have to try and view them positively. You inherited your old man’s money. He was a nasty piece of work, I know, and I also know what happened to him; we both do. I was glad I could help at the time.’ Cam nodded. ‘Don’t think I didn’t try and help you when you were young ’uns, all of you, because I did. But it was hard to prove.’

‘Stokes was just as bad. Mawgan suffered the most.’

‘Yes, and even though Martin was my cousin I would have done him for abuse if I had thought there was a chance. I want you to believe that.’

Cam was staring into Raymonds’ eyes for the first time in his life. It made Raymonds uncomfortable.

‘Well, that’s all I want to say for now. You . . .’ He smiled as he poked Cam in the chest. Cam stayed where he was, unflinching. ‘Do as you’re fucking told and keep your mouth shut.’ Cam didn’t answer, he stood where he was, watching as Raymonds left the café and walked back across the street. Cam smiled to himself.

Raymonds walked back past the dress shop and stooped in the doorway. He filled it with his arms resting against the doorframe.

‘Mary-Jane?’

‘Yes? Did you want to talk to me?’

‘I want to ask you what’s going on with Jago.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Jago has a hell of an opportunity in this place but he seems hell-bent on destroying this village. He’s dragging my Marky down again, just like in the old days. I tell you, it has to stop, otherwise I’ll have to be strict and say Jago will have to leave, for good this time.’

‘No, he hasn’t done anything wrong.’

‘Where do you think he gets his money from? Haven’t you heard him sniffing all the time? He’s sticking stuff up that stuck-up nose of his. He’s making my gullible Marky into a bigger fool than he already is. Marky was doing well before Jago came back. I even signed over the Surfshack to him. He was full of plans for the future but now all he does is go surfing.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, that’s not Jago’s fault.’

‘He’s always been the smart one, your Jago. He’s always had the upper hand when it comes to intellectual capabilities, but my Marky is a trier. Eileen is breaking her heart with worry over him.’

‘He’s just not used to the way things are here any more.’

‘No, that’s for sure. You better remind him how we all depend on one another. We’re a game of dominoes – one falls, we all fall.’

‘Tell that to Kensa – she’s getting madder every day. She’s out of control. She needs reining in. I don’t know why you haven’t done more to stop her from behaving like an animal, having sex in the car park, wearing provocative clothes.’

He scratched his eyebrow. There was a small scar that ran through it, split it almost. It was the only imperfection on his smooth, stretched skin like crispy roast chicken: always evenly golden-browned. The scar had never healed completely and when the heat came to his face it made it itch. He took a step back to look out of the window and then he started to walk towards the back of the shop.

‘We need to make sure you’re not missing any clothes, any children’s outfits.’

‘Now?’

‘Yes. No one but the police will be coming in here today. Don’t bother to put the closed sign up, just come with me, we won’t be long.’

She followed him down into the stock room at the back. Boxes were packed on shelves and on the floor. There was a toilet, and a kettle on a tray on a draining board.

‘Christ, it’s freezing out here,’ Raymonds complained. He switched the overhead electric fan heater on.

‘Well, I don’t have to keep the clothes above a certain temperature, they are perfectly okay as they are.’ Mary-Jane kept an eye on the shop as she hovered. ‘I haven’t seen you since London.’ She turned back to him.

‘All this commotion going on – I’m finding it hard to take five minutes, plus Eileen is becoming more demanding by the day.’

‘Eileen, Eileen, that’s all I ever hear. I’ve wasted a good part of my prime waiting for you.’

‘Not wasted.’ Raymonds looped his arm around her waist and drew her to him. She was melting a little; he saw it in her eyes. ‘I could hug you so hard that you wouldn’t be able to breathe and you’d pass out in my arms – carry you off to bed, or take you here between the boxes.’

She laughed, breathless as Raymonds lifted her skirt. He stopped and looked across at three bags on the floor.

‘What are you doing with Marky’s stock over here? Those bags are from his shop.’

‘Jago brought them over, asked me to keep them for Marky. I don’t mind. I don’t know what’s in them, they’ve put a padlock on them. Special stock to bring out at the beginning of the season, apparently.’

Raymonds walked across, picked up one of the bags and weighed it in his hand, and then he rested it on a box.

‘Give me a knife.’

‘You can’t cut it open, for goodness’ sake, that’s a perfectly good bag. It’s none of our business.’

‘Pass me that knife, now.’

She passed him one from the draining board. He slit the stitching next to the zip and pulled the bag open, snapping the stitches. He reached in and pulled out a bag of white powder.

‘I will fucking kill them.’

‘Mrs Raymonds, is your husband about?’ asked Willis.

‘No, he’s gone out.’

Carter took a step back from the doorstep and looked towards the garage.

‘Has he driven?’

‘Yes, I expect so.’

‘Any idea where he went?’ Eileen Raymonds had the shakes, badly.

‘Are you all right, Mrs Raymonds, can we assist you?’ asked Willis.

‘The door has come off the cupboard – it’s so heavy, I can’t lift it. It fell on me.’

‘We can help,’ said Willis. ‘Can you find me a screwdriver?’

Eileen looked nervous but then nodded and stood back to let them in. She went off to find a screwdriver kit and came back and handed it to Carter. He handed it straight over to Willis.

‘Ebony’s my apprentice.’ He winked at Eileen.

‘Yeah . . . taught me all he knows,’ Willis joked, ‘then I had to start from scratch with someone who actually knew something about DIY.’

Eileen smiled.

‘Please, Mrs Raymonds, sit down.’ Carter eased her into the kitchen chair while Willis propped a small stool under the drooping door. Carter sat down opposite Eileen while Willis set about mending the cupboard.

‘We were told that you were a nurse at one time in your life?’

‘Yes. A long time ago now.’

‘Was there ever a hospital here in Penhal?’

‘No, I was a district nurse mainly but before that I worked in Penhaligon.’

‘This house keeps you busy and I suppose now that Mr Raymonds has retired – there’s probably plenty to do here?’ Eileen didn’t answer. Willis glanced over at Carter and was wondering if he was going to give any examples of things to do – she was amused to hear what they’d be. Once when they were working on a job Ebony had tried to engage Carter in a game of Scrabble but he was hopeless and even lost when he cheated; she’d found four vowels under the seat after he left.