Death on Account (The Lakeland Murders) (10 page)

‘Charming. So we’ve got no chance of nicking him?’

‘Not a one. Even if he does get nicked at some point we’ll be at the back of the queue for a chat. So do you want to get down here and talk about what’s next, or shall we talk through where we go from here on the phone?’

Jane held up her hands as if she was holding a steering wheel, and Hall nodded.

‘We’ll come down. At the very least we’ll buy you and your team a beer.’

‘It’s a bit early, even for Scousers.’ Hall laughed. ‘Seriously, I’m a bit surprised that he let us find his prints. It seems a bit sloppy for such an old hand.’

‘I see what you mean, but maybe he wasn’t that bothered. He knew that by the time we worked out who he was he’d already have changed planes and passports twice. And maybe he doesn’t mind if people know it was him. Maybe he puts his prices up because of it. Anyway, thanks for letting us know so quickly. When did you find out?’

‘I got woken up by an over-excited young DC at four. She said I was a genius, and I didn’t like to tell her that it was your bright idea. Rather nice she is actually, Andy, so thanks for that.’

Sheridan must have heard Jane’s laughter. ‘Bugger, am I on speaker-phone?’

‘You are, but don’t worry about it. Listen, we’ll be down for nine, and thanks for the news.’

‘You don’t sound entirely overjoyed.’

‘I’m not, Tony, and you know as well as I do why that is. With Sanchez away we’re going to have a hell of a job tying this back to Cafferty, and finding out who it was who gave Williams up. So it’s just one step forward, two back in a way.’

‘Yeah, understood. Let’s talk about it when you get here. You’ve already won the whodunnit award from this station for the month, maybe the year, so let’s see what brainwaves you can come up with later on today.’

‘I wouldn’t count on any’ laughed Jane.

‘You going to stand for that, Andy?’ said Sheridan.

‘No, and now we all know who’s going to be driving us down this morning. See you in a couple of hours, Tony.’

Hall rang off, and he spent the next ten minutes writing an email to the team, and he attached the photo of Sanchez. He barely more than glanced at him himself, because he knew that he’d never meet the man in person.

‘Charlie Coward is going to love me’ said Hall, as he and Jane walked out to her car, ‘his troops are going to have to re-canvass everywhere they’ve already been with that photo now, and it’s a total waste of time really. We know it was him, and it’s never going to court. Not Sanchez, anyway.’

‘Can’t you get Charlie to let it go then? Or not put many people on it?’

‘He’ll probably do that a bit himself, God knows he’s overstretched enough, but of course we still need to place Sanchez here with certainty, assuming we get some others in the frame for the conspiracy later on. And that’s really down to Tony and his team, working this from the Liverpool end. So I’ll be interested to see what they’re like.’

They talked about the case for the first half hour of the drive, and Hall took a brief call from Robinson.

‘He’s chuffed’ said Hall, when he’d rung off. ‘So what are you up to this weekend, Jane? Not working I hope.’

‘I’m not sure yet, Andy. I’ll play it by ear.’ She wasn’t sure why she’d been so evasive, because her weekend was already pretty well mapped out. A long lie-in on Saturday, chores, and probably an hour or two in the office on Sunday. ‘How about you?’ she asked, but not until they’d driven another mile.

‘Much the same’ said Hall cautiously. ‘But I tell you what: I’ll enjoy it a bit more now we know who our killer is. Because at the very least it’ll keep Robinson off my back for a while, and it should help us put an end to this daft stuff about Ian or someone else from our nick grassing up Neil Williams.’

When they arrived at Sheridan’s station Hall couldn’t help but get a case of facilities envy. The station itself was the usual sixties monstrosity, but inside there was lots of shiny new technology. Even the carpets were clean. And Hall was impressed by Sheridan’s team as well. They seemed bright, keen, and there were plenty of them too. When they were all settled in the briefing room, a picture of Sanchez on the interactive whiteboard, Sheridan stood slightly to one side and brought them all up to speed.

‘We’ve now got Sanchez boarding a shuttle to Heathrow at 1830, traveling under the name Ramirez, on a Mexican passport. We’re checking to see if he travelled out of the UK on the same passport, or a different one, assuming that he’s left at all. For obvious reasons it might take a day or two to be sure.’

‘Understood’ said Hall, ‘have you got him arriving at the airport?’

‘Yes, on foot. Matt, would you run the footage?’

They watched the CCTV footage of Sanchez coming through the revolving doors.

‘Anything from the drop-off area?’

‘No. It doesn’t look as if he was dropped off there.’

‘That’s a shame, so we may struggle to find the vehicle that brought him?’

‘Give us a chance, Andy, we’re working on it.’

‘Of course. There must be hours of the stuff to go through, even though we know when he arrived. So how about the phone, anything?’

‘It’s with the techies now. I’ve asked Donna to come and join us if they get anything. But it had the SIM in place, so we should get something out of it. Like you said on the phone, Andy, maybe he’s happy enough for us to know who he is. I can see that it could be good for business in future, if everyone knows what a quick, efficient killer he is.’

‘That sounds good. So how about Cafferty? Based on the assumption that he’s behind all this, which we all think is a fairly safe one, then how might he have sorted all this international hit-man stuff. Is it his usual speed? Has he done anything like this before?’

‘Gary will take that’ said Sheridan.

‘DS Gary Chivers, and the Caffertys are my specialist subject. No, actually I was surprised that they went out shopping for Sanchez, and as far as we know Billy hasn’t used him before. As far as he’s concerned foreign starts on the far side of the Mersey Tunnel. Usually Billy only works with a very small number of trusted lieutenants, no more than three, and if one crosses him then he deals with them himself. And that doesn’t mean a pay off and a fat pension. Soon after he took over from his dad he found out that one of his senior lads was skimming from their prostitution income, and we fished him out of the Mersey back in the late ‘80s. It was hard to tell what had been done by a ferry and what by the killer before the man died, but it looks like Billy Cafferty took his time doing the job. So he rules by fear, and it’s worked well for him so far. He’s our number one target criminal, but we’ve never had a reliable tip about him. Look at his record. Thirty years a working criminal, and he’s hardly been inside. He did six months for a nasty road rage incident, he punched a sixty year old woman in the face when she nipped into a parking space.’

‘Not something you should ever do here, Andy’ said Sheridan, and a few people laughed.

Hall smiled. ‘So he went overseas this time to establish extra distance, in every sense, between himself and the hit on Williams? He’d have known we’d connect him immediately.’

‘Looks favourite’ agreed Chivers. ‘Needless to say we’ll get warrants to search Cafferty’s place and his office, but the chance of getting anything to tie them to Sanchez is the square root of bugger all. He’s very tech-savvy in his own way, his younger brother even more so, and in a funny way that fits perfectly with Billy’s old-school methods. Nothing written down, he never uses a mobile or email, except when it comes to their legitimate businesses. And, incidentally, they don’t launder cash through any of them. Not a penny as far as we know. He even pays his tax and VAT on time.’

‘Is there any chance that we could follow the money then? Maybe not to Cafferty, but to one of his circle. That would certainly be a start. Find the payment to Sanchez, or even for his plane tickets or something?’

‘No’ said Chivers, ‘I doubt it. Even if the payment was in currency, rather than something else like diamonds, it will have been made offshore, and through an account that Cafferty has no direct control of. He’s really very careful, or rather his accountant is.’

‘So we’re going to struggle to tie Billy in to Sanchez?’

‘Early days yet’ said Sheridan. ‘Remember we’ve got all that lovely airport CCTV to go through yet.’ There was a simultaneous groan from several of Sheridan’s team. ‘And when I say we I don’t mean me, obviously’ he added, smiling. ‘We’ll find footage of Sanchez arriving, if he flew in to Liverpool, and we still might get him being dropped off after. Billy Cafferty is cautious, but that doesn’t mean all his boys are. And we’ve already identified Sanchez, so we’re on our way.’ Sheridan stopped, and looked towards the door at the back of the room. ‘Yes, Donna, you got something tasty for us?’

A young woman had only half walked in to the room, and she said her piece from behind the protection of the half open door.

‘Yes, Tony, we’ve got what there was on the SIM card on the phone. Do you want it on the screen?’

Sheridan said he did and Donna shouted something down the corridor behind her. By the time she reached the front of the room a chart showing incoming and outgoing calls was on screen. It wasn’t a long list.

‘It’s a pay-as-you-go phone, bought twelve months ago from a supermarket in Wigan. So no chance of CCTV of the purchaser now. Three incoming calls, all on Tuesday, two from the number of another pay-as-you-go stolen here in Liverpool last week and was used in the city for these calls, and finally one incoming from another old SIM, never been used before or since, and that one was from the Kendal area.’

Hall’s heart sank. ‘Can we tell where exactly?’

‘The town centre area, within half a mile or so.’

‘Let’s come back to that’ said Sheridan. ‘How about outgoing?’

‘Just one. From the M6 southbound, about an hour after the killing.’

‘Probably arranging his pick-up. So was that back to the number in Liverpool?’

Donna nodded. ‘The only other thing I can tell you was that the phone was only switched on for seven hours in total, between just after 10am and a little before five, so that might help you. If nothing else it tells us that he was in contact with at least one other person here.’

‘Thanks, Donna’ said Sheridan. ‘Why don’t we home-in on that first time for the CCTV of arrivals? See if we can pick him up arriving. Maybe start at 8am, and run through ‘til ten. We know he had made contact with Cafferty’s man by then, so we’ve got a decent chance of getting lucky. OK, any thoughts?’

The group discussed everything except the implications of the fact that there’d been an incoming call from Kendal, because everyone already knew what it meant. Hall started to wish that someone would raise it, but they never did.

‘We’d better get back to Kendal’ he said eventually. ‘Thanks for all your hard work to date, and let’s hope we can find Sanchez’s contact here, even if he himself is beyond our reach. Tony, will you email this phone analysis through to us?’

‘To the full email list, including your Super and that DI in your Chief’s office?’

‘Yes please’ said Hall. He tried to make it sound as if it didn’t bother him.

Saturday, 27th April

Nobby Styles was glad to be off door-to-door, and glad to be back on his own too. His paperwork was as near up-to-date as it ever got, and it was another lovely day. His good mood must have been catching, because a few people who he’d never even nicked said good morning, and didn’t look away as they passed in the way that they usually did. His radio was quiet too, and that was the best bit of all.

He strolled past the Walker’s house, where the curtains were drawn and everything was quiet, and he thought about knocking on Eleanor’s door and checking that everything was all right. He glanced down at his old Casio G-Shock, and decided that since it was still only just after nine it was still too early. But even as he did so he knew that was just an excuse. He didn’t knock at the door because he was embarrassed.

He stood there for a minute, then walked on. His good mood was starting to evaporate. Then he caught sight of a familiar figure running towards him. Fell runners tended to be wiry, and their long strides always suggested to Nobby that they’d worked out a way round the law of gravity, but Ian Mann was almost as wide as the pavement, and his strides were short and fast. So he was always easy to recognise.

‘All right, Nobby’ said Mann, stopping and holding out his hand. ‘I’m just on my way to see my dad.’

‘How is he? I haven’t seen him in a while.’

‘Champion. Doesn’t get out as much as he did, but he still does about four gardens round about. He calls them ‘old dears’ and I know for a fact that two of those women are younger than he is. I think he does it so he can hear all the local gossip.’

‘Juicy, is it?’

‘What do you think? If it wasn’t for that wanker Walker they’d have nothing to talk about.’

‘You heard then. I was just thinking about that little bastard.’

‘He wasn’t really pelting that poor kid with coals off a barbie was he? I told my dad he had it all round his neck.’

Nobby nodded slowly. ‘Couldn’t make it up though, could you? What a tosser. I was just looking forward to nicking him and his mates, ideally with a bit of bother thrown in, and I got called back in. If it had been you Ian you’d have taken all three on your own, there and then, but I like to even the odds. You know, after what happened the other time.’

‘Very sensible, mate. If I took a bit more of that attitude I wouldn’t be suspended now.’

‘But you’ll be back soon, right?’

‘Don’t count on it, Nobby. They’re even trying to fit me up for grassing Williams up to Cafferty’s lot. I was back down the nick again last night. Apparently Sanchez got a call from Kendal on Tuesday, presumably telling him where he’d find Williams. But I expect you’d heard all that already.’

Nobby Styles looked away. ‘Aye, something about it. I expect Gory Gorham was there.’ Mann nodded.

‘I wouldn’t worry about her’ said Nobby. ‘She’s just a bloody pen-pusher, not a detective. I bet she loves a good rota, that one.’

‘Andy Hall says to watch her, and I am. He reckons she may have all the charm of a hanging judge, but she’s got a copper’s brain.’

‘That sounds like Andy Hall. Too clever for his own good he is. I’ve never understood why he stayed here with us lot, he should be down at the Met with the other college boys.’

‘Maybe, but I hope he doesn’t go too soon. I’m relying on him to find out who grassed up Williams.’

‘And if he doesn’t?’

‘Nothing really. It’s all nowt to do with me, but mud sticks. And I’m not exactly the most popular copper in the county.’

‘Not with the bosses mebbe, but the likes of Ray Dixon would say different. He might be dead if you hadn’t done what you did.’ Nobby was about to say his goodbyes and head past the house of another of his regulars on the estate, when he had an idea. ‘Tell you what Ian.  Would you do me a favour and keep an eye on Walker, and Eleanor and the kid too? I’ve just got a bad feeling about that twat Terry.’

‘Sure, if you want. What do you have in mind?’

‘You’ve met Eleanor, haven’t you? Why not pop in and have a cuppa sometime? It would be a big help.’

‘I’ve got no Warrant Card mate. Not sure what I could do if it kicked off.’

Nobby laughed. ‘Do you really need one? Just make sure you use reasonable force if you need to. But if he’s got half a brain he should know that you’re not a man to mess with. Terry might even take some notice of you. Like all the local scumbags he knows what you did to those two up at the Abbey, so if you need to have a chat with him then he should listen. I only said ‘should’ mind, Terry’s the kind of twat who you can never predict.’

‘You want me to pay him a visit then?’

‘No, just keep an eye out for me, would you mate? I had a hobby-bobby out with me when we last saw Terry and her face was a picture when we were in his house, honest it was. You could see her trying to work out what makes a wanker like Terry act the way he does.’

‘And did she manage it?’

‘Christ no. I’ve been on the job twenty years and I gave up yonks ago. Terry’s a nasty, vicious little bastard and his bloody kids are on the way to being even worse. I don’t know why, and I don’t care. All I want them to do is leave everyone else alone. And maybe he will this time, at least for a bit. I reckon he knew he was in for a tug for the bloody barbie incident, and all being well he’s still celebrating the fact that he’s not on remand in Strangeways today.’

Mann nodded. It sounded unlikely to him. ‘I better get on.’

‘Sure, see you soon, mate. I was in such a good mood until we started talking about Terry fucking Walker.’ Mann watched Nobby walk off, and aim a kick at a stone on the pavement. The stone stayed exactly where it was.

Jane Francis was glad to be off duty. She went for a run with her friend Sally, over the Helm, round town, then out along Scout Scar. She was glad that they didn’t have to talk. She was getting tired of talking, tired of thinking. She wished she could do a bit more feeling instead. And she was starting to have serious doubts about staying in the job too.

When they stopped for a blow at the mushroom, the distinctive shelter on Scout Scar, she made the mistake of saying as much to Sally.

‘Is it because the lovely Andy is spoken for now?’

‘I knew you’d say that. No it isn’t. And he’s not that lovely, and I doubt he’s spoken for either. He’s a mess, she’s just got him on the rebound, that’s all.’

‘What, so you’re waiting to scoop him up when he’s all better? You might be waiting a long time.’

The two women were sitting on the bench, looking out across the valley towards the Langdales. A few wisps of cloud were trailing past the peaks, but otherwise the sky was cloudless.

‘That’s what I’ve been thinking’ said Jane, after a while. ‘He is comprehensively fucked up, is Andy Hall. Coppers don’t make the most trusting sorts at the best of times, and I should know, but I can’t imagine how he feels now. He’s not the kind to say much to anyone, not just me. It’s funny, but the fact that he’s such a family-oriented bloke is what makes him attractive, even though he’ll never want another family. I just know it.’

Sally was surprised. The two women were the same age, both had turned forty within the last year, and they never talked about whether or not Jane wanted kids. Sally had two, and couldn’t imagine life without them, and it was just a subject that was never broached. It seemed the sensible thing to do, and Sally decided to stick to that policy. ‘So are you having doubts about staying in the Police for some other reason then, Jane?’

‘Yes I am. Lots of reasons I suppose. I work too hard, I hardly have a life outside work, and I haven’t got any friends at work really either. Just being good at the job isn’t enough, not for me and not for the force, and now that Andy’s going out with the lovely Gill he seems to be acting differently around me too. Like we’re just colleagues, mates, you know. And I honestly thought there was some chemistry there.’

‘With blokes you’ll find it’s really only biology that’s important’ said Sally, and they both laughed. ‘Come on, let’s get back on the path. There’s a pint of cider with my name on it when we get back into town.’

Monday, 29th April

Ray Dixon was nearly ten minutes early for the start of his shift, and that was unusual enough for Hall to notice. So he wasn’t too astonished when Dixon knocked at the door five minutes later, carrying two mugs of tea. But it was sufficiently out of character for Hall to eye all three suspiciously. Dixon hardly ever made a brew, and when he did it was the colour of the River Kent in spate. It usually tasted much the same too, so Hall took a cautious first sip.

‘Have a good weekend, Ray?’

‘Not really, boss. I was gardening. The wife had me planting stuff out. Horrible it was, like forced labour or something.

‘She’ll have you doing a lot more of that sort of thing when you’re retired, Ray.’

‘That’s what I’m afraid of. Anyway, what about you? Did you have a good one?’

Hall thought that Dixon had an even slyer smile than usual.

‘Yes, fine thanks. Now, what can I do for you this fine spring morning? By rights you should still only be parking in the car park right now.’

Dixon laughed. ‘I know, boss, but I wanted to talk about Ian, unofficial like.’

‘What about him? Ray, we’ve both given our statements on what happened up at the Abbey, so you know we can’t talk any more about it.’

‘It’s not that, it’s all this shit over Williams’ death. I hear they had him in again over the weekend.’

‘Yes, but he wasn’t arrested. And the phone that Sanchez was using had an incoming call from Kendal town centre, on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately Ian lives in the area that’s covered by the mast that picked the call up.’

‘So are thousands of people.’

‘But not thousands of people knew Williams’ true identity.’

‘Have they asked you to account for your movements as well, boss? Or Superintendent Robinson?’

Hall smiled. If Ray had been more tactful, and less of a clock-watcher, he might have ended his career with a DS’s pension, maybe more. ‘No, Ray, they haven’t asked me. But perhaps they will. To be honest I can’t see this one going anywhere now. Sanchez is well away, and even if we did catch him we’d never get anything out of him. And our friends down in Merseyside will probably start scaling back their effort any time now as well. They’re just so used to not being able to touch Cafferty that they don’t expect to be able to make any meaningful connections that might lead us back to him, or his people. I can sense it.’

‘So where would that leave Ian? Under suspicion indefinitely?’

‘No more than anyone else who knew, and as you rightly say that includes me and the Super. Not to mention anyone else who saw that file, or a copy, anywhere else. There must be dozens of people who knew. Not just coppers, but all sorts from the CPS to the outside lawyers. You know how the system works, some civilian somewhere will have set up his new bank account, his rented house, everything. So they’ll know too.’

‘So will there be an investigation by another force, a proper one, to look at it?’

‘Come on, Ray, you know that’s not going to happen. Despite Gorham and the Super trying to lean on Ian, which as we both know is a total waste of time, there’s not a shred of evidence that Williams’ new identity was compromised by a leak. What if he was just spotted and grassed up? What if he gave his own identity away? I know we’ve got nothing from his mobile or email trail, but that doesn’t mean to say he didn’t do it some other way. As far as I know buying a stamp and sending a letter still works, even in Liverpool.’

‘And you’re happy about that boss? About knowing who killed Williams but sod all else?’

‘I didn’t say that. Finding out how Williams’ identity was compromised is a part of this investigation, but it’s not a priority. What we need to do is to connect Sanchez back to Cafferty, or one of his people, and follow the trail from there.’