DARK CRIMES a gripping detective thriller full of suspense (18 page)

Just then a courier arrived with a package from police HQ. It was the previous week’s CCTV footage from the Poole to Studland ferry.

‘Well, that’s Jimmy’s job for the next couple of days sorted,’ said Marsh.

* * *

They sat in the interview room. Bill Rogers looked nervously across the table at Sophie.

‘So you say he’d been there earlier in the week?’

‘I think it was on Wednesday. I thought I recognised him when he appeared on Friday. When he spoke to me it gave me a chance to look at him closer up. I thought he was a new hack from one of the local rags, but he said he was just passing by.’

‘Anything unusual about him or what he said?’

‘No, not really. Nothing that stuck out. He was quite tall, medium build. No, maybe a bit heavier than average. Looked fit.’

‘Could you tell anything about his attitude?’

‘Difficult to say.’ Rogers swallowed. ‘He did look kind of determined. Focussed . . . Look, I’m sorry about what I told him.’

‘What was that, Mr Rogers?’

‘That you were leading the investigation.’

Barry Marsh asked, ‘Was he trying to find out?’

‘No. I just happened to see the Chief Inspector’s car come in at the back.’

‘Why did you ask that question about the car we were looking for? How did you find out about it?’ asked Sophie.

‘One of the other guys had just got news of it on his mobile. He told us but didn’t seem keen to ask the question himself, so I thought, nothing to lose. I’ll ask.’

Barry looked at Sophie. ‘Ties in with what we know.’

She nodded and turned to Rogers. ‘What about your new friend?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘How did he react, if at all?’

‘I felt him kind of tense up slightly, but I thought it was just my imagination. You know, it was just a feeling I had. And you were looking directly at us at the time.’

‘What difference does that make?’ asked Sophie.

‘It sure makes me nervous. Like now.’

‘What did he do when I’d finished answering your question?’

‘He just turned and walked away. He crossed Kings Road and stood at the brook for a couple of minutes. Then he walked down towards town, I think.’

Marsh looked at him. ‘Have you told us everything, Mr Rogers? It’s just that I get a sense that you’re holding back on something.’

Rogers seemed happier talking to another man. ‘I told him about the DCI’s reputation. I said that she was one tough cookie, or something like that. I told him about our run-in a couple of years ago and that she’s got a law degree.’ He looked at Sophie. ‘Look, it wasn’t illegal. It was all stuff that was common knowledge.’

‘Absolutely, Mr Rogers,’ said Marsh. ‘It’s just that there was a possible attempt to kidnap one of the DCI’s daughters earlier today, almost definitely by the same man. And knowledge of this is not in the public domain, and never will be, we hope. Do you understand our concern?’

Rogers gulped.

‘And do you understand why I’ll be
personally
very displeased if you spread or report any of this until I give you the nod to do so? In exchange, Mr Rogers, you have my word that you can have first claim on any story once it’s all safely tucked up and put to bed. Okay?’

Rogers nodded.

‘For example,’ Marsh went on, ‘it might be in your interest to call me tomorrow morning. Say about nine-ish? Information you get then would make it into tomorrow evening’s edition, I expect?’

‘Sure.’

Sophie stood up. ‘Thank you, Mr Rogers. You’ve been very helpful.’ She left the interview room. Marsh accompanied the reporter out of the building, then returned to the incident room.

‘Ma’am, you need to go home. There’s nothing immediate going on just now. It’s just a question of Jimmy getting on with the CCTV footage and me following up a bit more about this man, Rule. I just wonder whether his possible birthday on August twenty-fifth might give us a lead, so I want to do a bit of digging. But nothing requires you to be here. I think you should head off, and try to be home when your daughter and husband get back. They’ll need you there, really they will.’

‘Okay, Barry. Thanks for your concern, and I’ll do what you say. I’ll be on the end of the phone if you need me, and we’ll see what Rogers makes of the news about Berzins tomorrow morning. Should be interesting.’

* * *

Sophie was home ten minutes before Martin and Jade arrived. She watched from the lounge window as the car backed into the drive, then opened the front door.

‘Hi, Mum. What’s this all about?’ asked Jade.

Sophie gave her daughter a hug, ‘A bit later, Jade. I need to talk to your dad first.’

Jade shrugged and disappeared up to her room.

Martin put his arms around his wife and squeezed hard. ‘A bit of a fraught day, I take it?’

‘Just a bit.’ She felt tears welling up in her eyes. ‘More than a bit. It was terrifying when I realised that he was somewhere here, near the house. I thought he might be inside. I was so scared.’

‘How did Hannah take it?’

‘She didn’t seem worried in the slightest. When I phoned I asked her to lock all the doors and windows until the local police arrived. I stayed on the phone to her all the way here from Swanage until I could see she was safe. Rather than being worried, she was calming me down.’

‘Just like Jade just now. She kept saying, “Don’t worry, Dad. It’s all fine.” I wish that was true. They’re real treasures, aren’t they?’

Sophie could only nod. ‘Kevin travelled on the train with Hannah as far as Bournemouth. She phoned me when she got to Waterloo.’

‘Shall I phone for a take-away this evening?’

‘No. We’re moving out to a hotel for a couple of days. It’s just not safe to stay here for the next day or two.’

‘I noticed some men just along the road. Are they the forensics officers?’

Sophie nodded. ‘The mud on the side of the road means that they’ve got a good tyre print. They don’t think he got out of the van, and Mrs Bentley didn’t see him outside of it. We think he was just watching. The local police are doing a house-to-house to check if any of the other neighbours noticed anything. Nothing so far.’ She hesitated. ‘He took a photo of Hannah.’

‘Christ, this is appalling. What if he finds out where she stays in London?’

‘The college will look after her. I spent a while on the phone to the principal late this afternoon. She’ll be staying with one of the tutors, and getting a cab into college with her. I’m hoping it will take just a couple more days, Martin. We’re getting closer. I can sense it.’

CHAPTER 17: Friction

Tuesday Morning

Despite the comfortable rooms, the night spent in a nearby hotel hadn’t been restful. The Allen family had made good use of the pool, eaten well and enjoyed a late evening drink in the lounge bar. But Sophie had not slept well. Neither had Martin. Only Jade reported sleeping through the entire night. But the breakfast was worth savouring. Instead of the usual rush of cereal and toast, the two adults had enjoyed fresh fruit and smoked salmon with scrambled eggs. Jade was now worried that she’d put her morning training session for the school hockey team at risk because of all the food she’d consumed.

‘I’m stuffed,’ she announced solemnly, as she made her way to Sophie’s car. ‘I’m going to turn into a porky if we stay here too long.’

‘No one's forcing you to try everything on the menu, Jade. There is such a thing as self-control, you know.’

‘Mum, if you only knew how much I love bacon and eggs and all the other stuff, you’d understand that I just can’t refuse it when it’s all there, inviting me to gorge on it. It’s like I’m in heaven. I really didn’t think I’d manage anything after that meal last night, but then I saw all the breakfast stuff laid out, there was my appetite, back in a few seconds.’

‘Maybe I’d better explain all this to Mrs Wentworth when I see her. I’ll tell her that, because of all the anxiety and tension that you suffered yesterday afternoon, you were forced to eat a plateful of bacon, eggs, black pudding, mushrooms and tomatoes. After a dinner of venison casserole last night. Not forgetting your pudding of banoffee pie. Two helpings, wasn’t it?’

Sophie unlocked the car doors and watched her tall, slim daughter climb in.

‘I just don’t know where you put it all. Well I do, actually. I was the same at your age.’

‘And you’ve kept your figure brilliantly, Mum. Everyone says that you’re the best-looking mother among all my friends.’

‘Well, they won’t be saying that if we stay at this place for much longer.’

It was eight o’clock. A low sun was peeping through the clouds to the east. Once she’d dropped Jade at school, and had a word with her head teacher, she’d be back on this road heading into the sun as it climbed into the sky above Swanage.

* * *

‘Did you find Sasha Purfleet, Lydia?’ asked Sophie.

‘Yes, ma’am, but she wasn’t at all helpful. She’s a druggie and where she’s staying, well it’s just a hovel really. It’s not as though the area is too run down, but her house was one of the filthiest I’ve ever been in. It stank. And she seemed as if she was in a world of her own. You know, completely out of it.’

‘So nothing really helpful from her?’

‘Not really. She was just so vague. She couldn’t even remember what year she’d been with this Andrew Ridgway. She did confirm his name, and said the photofit could have been him, but she wasn’t totally sure.’

‘Could she remember anything about how her injuries happened?’

‘He’d hit her, that’s all she’d say. But it was all too vague to be useful. She wouldn’t be a reliable witness unless she got herself off whatever she’s taking. Otherwise it’s pointless. She’d be torn to shreds in court by any half-competent barrister.’

‘I still think we need to get her somewhere safe. Did you suggest it to her?’

‘Yes. She mumbled something about her parents. I called her mother after I left. She hasn’t seen her daughter in over a year.’

‘Are you surprised?’

‘Well, I expect things haven’t been easy between them. Anyway, her mother said that she’d do what she could, if only for a few days.’

‘Could you follow it up later this morning? If nothing has happened, we may need to do something ourselves. I don’t want her to be at risk, particularly if she’s not aware of what’s going on around her. She’d be easy prey for our man if he did decide to wipe his history. By the way, have there been any updates from Walsall?’

‘Yes. Liz Angel had time to do a bit of digging. She phoned me yesterday, and is sending down some documents later.’

Marsh walked over to them. ‘Jimmy’s just about to start working his way through the CCTV footage for the Sandbanks ferry. It could take days, ma’am, and might not produce anything useful.’

‘Get him to start with the second half of Friday morning, when we know he was out front here. He would have heard about us looking for the car, so my guess is that he’d have avoided using the main road out of Swanage. Opting for the ferry would have been safer. Say from about ten thirty. We think he was also here on Wednesday morning, but we weren’t looking for the car then. He’d probably have come by road. Make that his second priority, okay? Apart from that, you’re right. We don’t want anyone’s time wasted, so he can start looking for the student who was Donna’s first boyfriend at university. George Warrander was his name. He may know something. Meanwhile, we’ve been emailed the list of contacts from Susie Pater’s address book. That’s for you and Lydia to start on. I want the locals who might have been friends. Check each one, then we’ll shortlist those that might be worth a visit. I don’t understand the relationship between Susie and our man Andy. What was it? Were they just friends? Was he just a punter? Were they lovers? It niggles me. I’ve got to visit HQ for a meeting but I should be back before the end of the morning.’

Sophie visited the station’s senior officer, Tom Rose, before she left.

‘Tom, I’m in a rush and all my team are up to their eyes in chasing stuff up. But I want to find out the details on the transfer of ownership of Donna’s flat when it was left to her in her grandmother’s will. Can you put someone local onto tracing the solicitor who handled it? I want them to get as much detail as they can about the will and the transfer. That would be great.’

‘Of course. Anything else I can do?’

‘Donna went on a holiday sometime in the past year with Susie Pater. I think it was Corfu. I wonder if she booked it locally. Could someone pop into the local travel agents and see? I’d like to know when she went and if anyone else went with them. That’s if we can trace the company. And thanks.’

* * *

The meeting in the assistant chief constable’s office was an informal one, chaired by him. They were seated in comfortable chairs around a low coffee table. Silver and Dunnett sat either side of Sophie.

The ACC, Jim Metcalfe, began, ‘Can I say, Sophie, how shocked we all were to hear of yesterday’s events? It’s rare to hear of a criminal targeting an officer’s home or family, outside of the gangland world. This man is obviously very disturbed. There has been a suggestion that we take you off the case and you go away on holiday with your family for a couple of weeks. You’d all be out of harm’s way.’

‘No.’

Dunnett shifted in his chair beside her.

‘Sir, you know me better than that. Things are coming to a head. We’re homing in on him, and he’s starting to panic. That’s why he was watching my house. He knows that the pressure is on. He’ll also know that time spent watching me and my family is time wasted, time that he could be spending removing some of the traces that he’s left behind. And he was nearly caught. So he won’t do it again. He’s not some berserk individual who’s lashing out uncontrollably. That’s just not his style. Everything he does is careful and controlled.’

‘So why was he watching your house and family?’ Dunnett asked.

‘It was just a game to him. Curiosity. And the speed of our reaction would have scared him. He shot off like a bullet when he heard the sirens, according to my neighbour. It was a serious error of judgement on his part, and he’ll have realised it. I don’t think he’ll try it again. I think Matt’s precautions are perfectly adequate. Our man now knows that the case against Berzins has been dropped. He’ll go back into his hole. He’ll only venture out to remove another link that he realises could be used to trace him. The people at risk are his ex-partners, Tracy Beck and Sasha Purfleet, not me, and not my family.’

‘I’m not convinced,’ Dunnett said.

‘We couldn’t take a holiday anyway. Jade is in the middle of a heavy year at school, and Martin’s a senior teacher. Do you think he could just walk away like that?’

‘He would if the lives of his wife and daughters were at risk, surely?’

‘But they’re not. Look, the house is empty. None of the neighbours know where we’re staying. They’ve all been asked to look out for anything suspicious and report it. The same applies to Martin’s colleagues and Jade’s school, including her friends. You’d be putting the investigation at risk if you did this.’

‘Are you saying that Matt and Kevin McGreedie couldn’t cope?’ asked Dunnett.

Sophie looked at the ACC. ‘Jim, I’m not responding to that comment. It’s completely below the belt. You know how I feel about Matt and Kevin. They’re friends as well as colleagues. Kevin even accompanied Hannah, my elder daughter, on the train as far as Bournemouth to make sure she was safe when she went back to London. I will not accept this suggestion. If you want me off this case, you’ll have to order me off. And accept whatever decisions I make as a consequence.’

The ensuing silence seemed to stretch for minutes.

‘We’ll review at the end of the week,’ Metcalfe finally said. He stood up. ‘We’ll leave things as they are until then. I suggest Friday morning at ten. Sophie, can you stay, please?’

Dunnett and Silver left. Dunnett’s face was red and angry.

Metcalfe waited until the door closed behind them. ‘Don’t pull that stunt again, Sophie. You’re only a DCI, remember. It might just backfire on you.’

‘What makes you think it was a stunt? I always mean what I say, Jim. You should know that. That son of a bitch has been needling me from the start. Maybe you didn’t know that, but you do now. If I thought that he was genuine in his wish for my family’s safety, I wouldn’t have responded in that way. But he’s as shallow as a rain puddle. I just wish I knew what I’ve done to upset him.’

‘I don’t want to hear this, Sophie. Just make it work, that’s all I’m asking. I can’t have two of my middle-ranking colleagues at logger-heads like this. So get over it. And I won’t be so understanding on Friday if we’re no further forward. Okay?’

‘Thanks, Jim.’

‘And if you’re right, then we need to look after your man’s exes. Do whatever you think necessary. You’ve got one out of her home and into a hotel. Now do the same for the others. We can’t afford to lose any previous victims.’

He put a hand on her arm. ‘Just take care, Sophie. I don’t want to lose you, and I don’t want this case to go down the pan. The wolves are beginning to circle, even though you can’t see them.’

Sophie called in to see Berzins at the safe house on her way back to Swanage. She told him of her decision to release the news that charges against him had been dropped. She advised him that it would be safer for him to remain where he was for a few more days.

* * *

Sophie was back in the incident room, talking to Marsh. ‘How’s the check on Susie’s contacts going?’

‘Reasonable. We’ve managed to talk to about half of the ones we’ve phoned. I expect a lot of them will be at work. It would have been a lot worse if they’d all been landlines. At least with mobiles we can get through to people even if they aren’t at home. I reckon we’ll be through the list by mid-afternoon. That’s the first trawl. We’ll then start trying again for the half that didn’t answer first time round. It could take until mid-evening, and I can guarantee that there’ll still be a couple left.’

He took a sip from his coffee mug.

‘Another thing, ma’am. Gwen Davies from Hampshire was on the phone just now. She hasn’t been able to trace Debbie Martinez anywhere. She managed to get a number for a cousin in London but she hasn’t seen Debbie for a couple of years. None of the other London family members have either. Her cousin assumed that she was still in Southampton, but there’s no trace of her there. She seems to have vanished.’

‘I just hope we’re not too late. I’ll phone Jack Dunning and let him know. We need to start a major search for her.’

‘How did Donna’s brother take the news about the decision to drop charges against Berzins?’

‘He was angry at first. But he finally accepted it. And he was mollified by the fact that he can move into Donna’s flat now we’ve finished with it. Berzins, of course, was pleased for it to be out in the open.’

‘So David Goodenough is staying?’ Sophie said.

‘Yes. He said he’s taken some overdue leave from his job, and will stay until after the funeral. It makes sense. There’s so much for him to organise, with both mother and sister’s affairs to settle. It must be a shattering time for him.’

Tom Rose came into the room. ‘We have the details on the flat transfer. But I think it just confirms what you already knew. Her grandmother was Deirdre Goodenough and she’d lived in the flat for a good ten years. I have the details here. There was no luck with the local travel agents, so I sent someone up to the hotel to speak to Maria, Donna’s workmate. She said that Donna had mentioned booking it on the internet, and had gone with a friend, singular. But it was before Donna started working at the hotel, so Maria doesn’t know any other details.’

‘That’s great, Tom. Thanks for your help.’ Sophie looked puzzled. Just then, Melsom burst into the room, a broad grin on his face.

‘Gottit!’ he shouted. ‘Got the car!’