Fatal Legacy (20 page)

‘Welcome back.’

‘It’s good to be back.’ Nightingale slung her hold-all on to a scarred corner desk, next to the radiator that rarely worked, and felt that she had come home.

‘Good time?’

‘I’ve had better, but it was OK. How’ve things been here?’

DC Adams brought her up to date in lurid detail, spending more time describing the latest rumoured affair than he did their current case load. The murder of Arthur Fish the previous week interested Nightingale at once.

‘Who’s working that?’

‘Fenwick and Cooper, plus more than a dozen others. DS Gould’s on it, so you can ask him, if you dare.’

‘What about you?’

‘I’m on a sudden death: Graham Wainwright, a hanging that could be anything – murder, accident, suicide. The DCI reckons murder, but DI Blite thinks he’s barking. My money’s with Blite on accidental death; the guy was in a leather G-string, tackle hanging out all over, surrounded by porno mags when we found him. What would you think?’

‘It would depend on the circumstances. Look, why’s Fenwick on that one too?’

‘Reckons they’re linked. Fish worked for Wainwright’s, and—’

‘Wainwright Enterprises, here in Harlden?’

‘Yeah, why?’

‘Their MD died earlier this year; suicide, so the coroner said. I was first on the scene.’

Adams shrugged. If she wasn’t going to join in a general
criticism of the higher-ups, he wasn’t interested. She left him to his report and went to find out if she could join the Wainwright case.

‘Sir?’

Fenwick raised an impatient eyebrow and stared at Nightingale as she hovered in the doorway to his office. He did not invite her in.

‘Yes, Constable, is it urgent? I’m very busy.’ He was obviously deep in thought and seemed more than usually tense.

‘Could I join the team, sir? On the Wainwright case?’

‘Speak to the incident room manager, it’s his call. He’s organising the resources.’ He lowered his head and returned to reading the papers in front of him. She was dismissed.

‘Thank you, sir.’

She left his office realising that she’d been stupid to believe their previous working relationship meant anything to Fenwick. Yet her work for him the year before had resulted in a crucial breakthrough; she had even risked her life for him, and this was all the recognition she was granted. Subconsciously she rubbed her left arm, feeling the bump of scar tissue beneath her blouse. She had felt so alive during the months the case had lasted, and so close to Fenwick, that her life had assumed a different shape, one which she still craved.

Their joint search for a serial killer had consumed her completely, so much so that afterwards she had never recovered her relationship with her fiancé. With unwelcome insight, she suddenly realised that she had never wanted to. Shaking her head to dispel the unsettling thoughts, Nightingale went to find the duty officer, only to receive a bollocking for being late and a placement on general duties. An armed raid on a newsagents was reported within minutes and she was on her way.

Fenwick had organised a full briefing and the hum of three dozen voices flowed out to greet him as he opened the door at the top of the stairs. He took his time walking down the corridor. It was one thing to prove to himself that he could still run up the stairs with ease, quite another to arrive pink-faced in front of the team.

Superintendent Quinlan had authorised more resources as
soon as Fenwick had told him of his suspicion that they were dealing with a murder. This was the first time he would be briefing them all, and some of them had been drafted in from neighbouring divisions. He was curious to find out what he had been given.

As he entered the room the noise quietened at once. Cooper looked at his boss with grudging admiration. There was an aura of power about the man that simply commanded attention and it was real, not just an act; he doubted Fenwick was even aware of the impact he had on his teams.

As his deputy on this case, Cooper was responsible for coordinating with the office manager running the Wainwright incident room. Fenwick’s insistence that the three sudden deaths associated with Wainwright’s be considered as potentially linked would complicate the investigation into Graham’s death no end, as the teams would have to cross-check all the records constantly and report any aspects that might match, no matter how coincidental.

Fenwick started without preamble, outlining the three deaths so far that year, all connected with Wainwright Enterprises, and his working assumption that they could, in some way, be
connected
. He described their concerns about Alan Wainwright’s suicide, and the lack of proof that had prevented them from taking their investigation further. DS Gould was there, summoned by the DCI to explain the Fish case and the loose ends he was following up despite the death of his murderer, Francis Fielding.

‘We still haven’t managed to trace the missing tape, number ten. It’s not in his office or at home.’

‘Keep looking. It holds his last known words and I want to find it no matter what it contains. Any idea yet where Fish went in Brighton?’

‘No, sir. None of the prostitutes we’ve interviewed recognises him. Enquiries are continuing, but the Brighton team are still working flat out to try and solve their own murders on the same night.’

‘It’s still an odd coincidence, and I want to be absolutely sure there’s no link. Have one of your team take the SOCO and forensic reports from Fish’s death and check them against those for the Grey and Bennett murders.’

What he was asking was a huge task and would add another layer of complexity to their enquiries. Cooper saw Gould’s shoulders sag slightly but he rallied quickly.

‘Yes, sir. Is there any chance of additional resources?’

‘Talk to the administrative officer and see what he can do.’

The new team had listened with polite interest as he had outlined the parallel cases, but the attention in the room focused immediately as soon as he started the briefing on Graham Wainwright’s death, and the reasons he thought it was murder, despite the inconclusive results of the post mortem. The news caused a ripple of excitement and DI Blite raised his hand in a casual way.

‘Yes, Inspector.’

‘Will you be appointing an SIO specifically for the Wainwright death then, now that it’s a murder? If so, I’d like to volunteer.’ His comment could be taken as either constructive or insulting; Fenwick was after all the senior investigating officer on all the cases already. Fenwick chose to interpret it as constructive and replied with studiedly relaxed confidence.

‘I’m discussing my proposed strategy with the
Superintendent
after this briefing and I will be recommending that we appoint an SIO for this latest murder. I’ll bear your interest in mind. DS Cooper, carry on with your report of the
investigation
so far, and the interviews last night.’

Cooper started to speak but as soon as he described the scene of death, he was interrupted by DI Blite.

‘How do you get a full-grown, healthy man to stand on a box with a noose around his neck in the first place?’

He was openly sceptical, which infuriated Cooper, given that he had just asked to be given full responsibility for the case. What would the team think now?

‘We don’t know – yet. Perhaps someone held a gun on him or persuaded him it was a game or a joke.’

‘He was over forty years old, hardly the age to indulge in some sort of stupid prank.’

‘You never know. He had a taste for young women. Jenny Reynolds is only twenty, and the one before that was apparently a seventeen-year-old model!’

Fenwick listened for a short while as they argued the
probability of murder, then intervened.

‘Whoever is given the SIO role will need to test rigorously the theory of murder by hanging. It is highly unusual, but given the other evidence so far, it would be dangerous to assume that he wasn’t murdered, simply because of the method the killer chose – probably deliberately in an attempt to make us believe that this was an accident or suicide. Let’s move on. Sergeant, where have you got to on the fruit and veg box?’

‘A result.’ Cooper smiled. ‘We traced the box to a market stall. The trader remembers the order because it was a large one – took it on his mobile phone, the number’s on his van. He definitely didn’t deliver, as Sally Wainwright-Smith said he did. He says he was on the stall, and didn’t even leave for a pee. The order must have been collected on Friday morning.’

‘Can he remember by whom and when?’

Cooper grimaced. ‘Not clearly, but he’s positive it wasn’t Sally Wainwright-Smith. I showed him her photograph and he said he’d have been sure to remember her. He thinks it was a bloke.’

‘Have you shown him Graham Wainwright’s photo?’

‘
Graham
’s? No. I showed him Alexander’s. Wasn’t him.’

‘Go back with Graham’s. And did the box go to forensic?’

‘Yes. It’s smothered with prints, though. It’ll take forever to identify and eliminate them.’

‘Never mind. Do it anyway. And make sure you check it for the dead man’s.’

DI Blite raised his eyebrows at the instruction, but fortunately he was in the front row, so only Fenwick and Cooper could see his expression of open disagreement with the authorisation of manpower to such lengthy task, for what he clearly saw as no good reason.

As soon as the briefing ended, Fenwick went to the
Superintendent
’s office to wait for the call from the ACC. He had asked to be briefed urgently. It was now twenty-four hours since Graham had died, and he was anxious for an early result. The meeting started predictably enough with the ACC challenging the need to continue work on the murder of Arthur Fish. Fenwick defended his actions on the basis that they needed to eliminate
any possible connection with the death of Graham Wainwright, and the Superintendent backed him up. The ACC gave in grudgingly but Fenwick knew he was on borrowed time. Harper-Brown had good reason for wanting the broader inquiry closed as it was consuming manpower and forensic resources that were in incredibly short supply.

He listened in attentive silence as Fenwick outlined the basis of their suspicions that Graham Wainwright had been murdered. He wasn’t happy with the conclusion but accepted it grudgingly:

‘So what’s your strategy? Surely your prime suspect is Jenny Reynolds?’

‘Well, it’s certainly one theory, sir.’ Fenwick’s tone gave nothing away but he looked at the Superintendent over the top of the speakerphone and shook his head in despair. The ACC was speaking again.

‘Look, I have to go to another meeting. Who are you going to appoint as SIO, Superintendent?’

Fenwick and Quinlan had discussed this before calling Harper-Brown. Fenwick knew that he needed a senior officer dedicated to investigating Graham’s murder, but he wanted to remain in overall charge of all the Wainwright investigations. The Superintendent had agreed – he had absolute confidence in Fenwick and trusted his judgement – but he wanted to keep the team as local as possible, and the only senior officer available was DI Blite. Fenwick had reluctantly accepted that Blite would become SIO, but reporting to him.

‘Our recommendation is that we appoint DI Blite …’

‘Good.’

‘… Reporting to Chief Inspector Fenwick, who will retain overall responsibility for all the cases associated with Wainwright’s.’

There was a silence in which Fenwick imagined the ACC searching for arguments as to why this was inappropriate, but there were no easy ones, and after a pause he said, irritably, ‘Very well, but I don’t want this connections thing overplayed. Try and keep it simple and for God’s sake don’t give any hint of it to the press.’

Blite was delighted with his appointment, despite having to
report to Fenwick instead of direct to the Superintendent. As they planned out their tactics for handling the case together, Blite returned to his point that hanging was a very unusual method for murder. Fenwick agreed. They would both study the post-mortem report carefully when it eventually arrived, and their researcher would check HOLMES for any similar cases.

‘There’s a lot to do, Inspector, and I’ll help out.’ Fenwick wanted to keep close to the case, particularly as Blite would be susceptible to any hints for quick closure that the ACC would inevitably throw his way. ‘Any aspect you’d like me to focus on?’

Blite couldn’t turn down the offer; he was to report to Fenwick and he wanted to make rapid progress.

‘My team will focus on the interviews, forensic and SOC reports; testing the feasibility of the cause of death; tracing the investigator; liaison with Scotland; talking to Kemp about the uncle’s will; and the press briefing. It would be helpful if you could interview Graham’s new solicitor and obtain a search warrant for Wainwright Hall and grounds.’

Inevitably he had passed the sensitive and tedious parts of the case over, but Fenwick had expected nothing more. They agreed to reconvene at six.

Fenwick and Cooper teamed up to interview Mr Sacks, the dead man’s solicitor. Unlike many law firms, Sacks’ practice was open for business on Saturdays until three o’clock. Fenwick was curious to discover why Graham had chosen a local firm, given that he seemed to have divided his time between London and Scotland since his father’s death.

Mr Sacks was an elegant man who had obviously spent a fortune with his tailor in a not altogether successful attempt to disguise his weight problem. He showed Fenwick and Cooper into a modern, sparsely furnished office and promptly seated them around an expensive maplewood table. The immaculate, softly burnished top made Cooper reluctant to put even an elbow on it, let alone his notebook.

There was some preliminary skirmishing as Sacks sought to avoid revealing any details of Graham Wainwright’s affairs. This stopped abruptly as soon as he realised that Fenwick was
prepared to go to the courts if necessary. He buzzed for his assistant, who arrived moments later with the files – one bound in a soft calf-hide folder and two box files bursting with papers.