The Scent of Death--A Sukey Reyholds British police procedural (20 page)

‘So,' Leach resumed, ‘the question is: where do we look that we haven't looked before?' He got up, indicated a flip chart standing beside his desk and picked up a marker. ‘Right, everyone – let me have some ideas. Yes, Mike?' he said as DC Haskins raised a hand.

‘Well, sir, we interviewed all the staff at Dallington Manor after Rainbird's death and questioned them about their movements at the crucial time. We also asked if any of them witnessed anything suspicious or that could in any way help to establish how he came to be in the water. As you know from our reports, sir, we didn't turn up anything helpful there. However, speaking for myself, I didn't ask any of them specifically if they had observed anything of particular interest about Rainbird's relationship with any of the guests and none of them mentioned anything of that nature worth pursuing. Once they'd given satisfactory accounts of their movements we eliminated them from our enquiries. We know that at least one of the waiters – Mal Carter – has worked at the hotel long enough to be there during several of Freeman's previous events. There may be others; do you think it's worth having another talk to them?'

Leach turned to Rathbone. ‘What do you think, Greg?'

‘I think it's a good point, sir. In fact, Vicky and Sukey have already put further questions to Carter.'

‘Yes, I have their reports, but it appears they were focusing on relationships between the attendees at Freeman's party.'

‘That's correct, sir.'

‘I agree; the point Mike makes is an interesting one,' said Leach. ‘I think it might be worth pursuing. Right, any more ideas?' He glanced round and DC Pringle raised a hand. ‘Yes, Tim?'

‘Well, sir, I see that Vicky – DS Armstrong – mentions in her report a comment by one of Rainbird's female colleagues that he was “quite sexy in an odd sort of way” and suggested he might enjoy “a bit of nookie”. I was wondering whether it might be worth enquiring among his neighbours to try and find out whether any of them have noticed any regular female visitors, especially one wearing a wedding ring.'

Leach raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you suggesting that he might have had some sort of liaison with a married woman and that her husband found out about it and pursued Rainbird to Dallington Manor with the intention of murdering him?'

‘I know it does sound a bit far-fetched, sir,' Pringle admitted. ‘I just thought a bit of house-to-house near his home might throw up some detail of his private life that could possibly give us a lead.'

‘It's true we know virtually nothing about his private life,' said Leach, ‘and whereas I'm not sure there's much mileage in Tim's initial suggestion, we haven't paid a visit to his home which, as you know, is in London. We asked the local police to ask if anyone had noticed any suspicious characters hanging around the house but nothing of any interest emerged. I think perhaps we should have a look in his flat to see if there's anything that might, as Tim suggests, give us a lead. Yes, Sukey?' he added as she raised a hand.

‘It had occurred to me that Rainbird's private life might bear investigation, sir. It so happens that I'm not on duty this weekend and a friend has invited me to London. I'd be willing to give up some time during my visit to call at Rainbird's address if you think it worth while.'

‘That sounds a handy arrangement,' said Leach. ‘You'll have to clear it with the local police, of course. I presume there were keys among Rainbird's possessions, Greg?'

‘Oh yes, sir – house keys and car keys. The hotel manager wants to know when his car can be removed and I've told him we're waiting to make arrangements with his solicitor, a Mr Horace Nielson, who will come and collect it, together with his personal effects. Rainbird's friend Mr Ashman kindly put us in touch with him; as you all know, it was through him that we learned of the connection with Luke Grayson.'

‘Excuse me, sir,' said Haskins. ‘Do we know who stood to benefit from Lance Rainbird's death?'

‘I understand from Mr Nielson that he's left his entire estate to be divided between several well-known charities, so even if he was murdered – and don't let us lose sight of the fact that we're still not a hundred per cent sure – it wasn't for his money. Right, we've turned up a couple of new avenues to explore. Any other ideas?'

‘Going back to the possibility that women found Rainbird attractive, sir,' said Vicky, ‘one or two of the people in Freeman's party hinted at the same thing. We already have all their names and addresses, but no phone numbers. We could easily get them from directory enquiries, of course, but as Freeman has expressed his willingness to cooperate we could ask him for them, explaining that we want to ask the same sort of questions Mike has suggested putting to the hotel staff. I'm thinking particularly of the lady in the wheelchair, Charlotte. She gave the impression of being very observant; she was positive that Rainbird had something on his mind because he was unusually quiet over dinner. She was equally certain that he was murdered, but she wasn't able to add to anything we already knew about people's movements.'

‘Yes, that's worth pursuing as well,' said Leach. ‘It'll be interesting to hear how Freeman reacts to the request; if he makes excuses about confidentiality it might indicate he's not anxious for us to question them further.' Throughout the discussion he had been making notes on a pad and he pressed the intercom. His PA came in and he tore off some sheets and handed them to her. ‘Run me off half a dozen copies of those right away, please.'

‘Certainly, sir.'

‘Right, I think that session has been worthwhile,' he said as she went out of the room. ‘So, take your team back to the office, Greg, go through those notes, come back to me if anyone has anything further to add, otherwise allocate the tasks and tell them to get on with them. You can issue a statement to the press telling them we're now treating the death of Lance Rainbird as murder; I'll attend tomorrow's briefing and take questions. Meanwhile, I'll report to the Superintendent.'

As they left DCI Leach's office Rathbone said, ‘If anyone wants coffee they can get it from the machine and bring it to my office in fifteen minutes.'

‘It's OK for him; he makes filtered coffee in his own fancy machine,' Vicky muttered in Sukey's ear as Rathbone headed for his office. ‘No instant stuff in a plastic cup for Sir.'

As the team clustered round the drinks machine in the CID office, Mike Haskins said, ‘Any idea how he's going to play this, Sarge?'

‘My guess is he'll allocate the new lines of enquiry to those of us who suggested them,' said Vicky. ‘With the exception of Tim's idea, which Sukey seems to have bagged. You never mentioned you were off on a jolly to London this weekend,' she added. Her tone invited further information and Sukey was aware of curious glances from the others, but she ignored them.

‘I only got the invitation yesterday evening,' said Sukey, ‘and in any case there was always the chance that something might break and all leave cancelled.'

‘Instead of which the most interesting job has landed in your lap,' said Tim. ‘Even though it was my idea,' he added with a touch of resentment.

‘Most interesting in more ways than one,' said Vicky, giving Sukey a sidelong glance which she pretended not to notice. She finished her coffee and threw the plastic cup into the bin. ‘Let's go and get our orders.'

‘Right,' said Rathbone when they assembled in his office. ‘We came away from Mr Leach's office with basically three lines of enquiry to follow up: Rainbird's private life, his possible relationship with a particular member of staff and ditto with one of the members of Freeman's party. Sukey, you will take care of the first; Mr Leach has made it clear to me that as you're going to be in London on a social visit the only expenses you'll be entitled to claim are those directly connected with the time actually spent in your investigations in and around Rainbird's home. And in the meantime you can help Vicky go through the list when she gets it from Freeman. Understood?'

‘Yes, Guv,' said Sukey.

‘Mike, you will interview the staff at Dallington Manor and I'm going to draft in DC Penny Osborne to help you,' Rathbone continued. ‘I think she should be the one to talk to Gunn about Reg Law, but give her a thorough briefing first. This will involve more than one visit, and bearing in mind the hotel staff work shifts arrange as much over the telephone as possible in advance to keep mileage claims to a minimum. Is that clear?'

‘Perfectly, Guv,' said Mike. ‘Do you think I should speak to the hotel manager first, out of courtesy?'

Rathbone nodded. ‘Yes, he won't like it so be diplomatic. Vicky, you will get on to Freeman and sweet talk him into coughing up the list of phone numbers. As soon as you get it, you and Tim can settle down to some telephoning, OK? Is everyone clear what they have to do? And before anyone asks what I'll be doing,' he added before anyone had a chance to speak, ‘it occurs to me that Justin Freeman's private life might be worth looking into as well. I might look up one or two of his former colleagues. Any questions? No? On your way then.'

Back in the CID office Vicky said, ‘I guess we'd better take a little time to decide how we're going to approach people. They'll all have had their fill of questions and a bit of what Sir calls “sweet talk” might be necessary. That should take us up to lunchtime; meet me back here at two.'

‘S
o, now that we're on our own, are you going to come clean about your trip to London?' asked Vicky as she and Sukey settled with their lunch trays at a table in a corner of the canteen. ‘Is lover boy there on some special assignment for which he needs your expert assistance?'

‘He's there to cover the trial of the cannabis farmers at the Old Bailey,' Sukey explained. ‘I don't think he wants me around for my expertise – just my company over the weekend.'

‘Lucky old you,' said Vicky. ‘Whenever I have a free weekend Chris seems to be extra busy with the hotel full of people taking special offers. Your Harry manages to land some interesting jobs,' she went on. ‘I'm expecting to hear any day that he's decided to start writing detective novels based on his experiences as a crime reporter.'

‘I'm not sure I want to encourage that idea,' said Sukey. ‘He'd be forever running his ideas past me for feasibility. Anyway, in answer to your question, his editor has decided it's cheaper for him to stay in a B and B in town while the trial lasts than to commute every day. I'm not all that keen on the idea as it means I don't see him during the week while the trial lasts and it could go on for ages. But when I mentioned I was free this weekend he suggested I join him, and needless to say I jumped at it.'

‘Well, I hope you'll be staying in something more exotic than a B and B,' said Vicky before taking another bite from her tuna baguette and washing it down with a mouthful of apple juice.

Sukey hesitated; she ate a forkful of chicken salad to give herself time to decide how far she was going to confide in Vicky. ‘I'm going to suggest he finds a quiet hotel somewhere in the Richmond area, within striking distance of where Lance Rainbird lived,' she said.

Vicky gave her a shrewd glance. ‘Just between ourselves, how much are you going to tell him about what you're planning to do? He's a journalist first and foremost and he's sure to put two and two together. He's probably done his own ferreting around; for all you know he may have located Rainbird's address and done a few house-to-house enquiries of his own.'

‘I wouldn't put it past him, but if he'd come up with anything useful I'm sure he'd have told us,' said Sukey. ‘Look Sarge, can you forget rank for a moment?'

Vicky glanced round to make sure no one was within earshot, but lowered her voice just the same. ‘You're going to tell me something you don't want to get back to our newly promoted Sir?' Sukey nodded. ‘You have my word. Do tell,' she went on eagerly.

‘Like DCI Leach, I had this feeling we were missing something significant, something that would give us a definite answer to the question as to whether Rainbird was murdered or not – and if so throw up some sort of lead. We've pulled out all the stops to find evidence and a motive; the nearest we've got is that stuff about Rainbird tackling Freeman about his phoney degrees and wanting to do his accounts, but it's all circumstantial and it seems that even Sir is beginning to have his doubts. Knowing Harry was going to be in London I asked him if he'd be willing to do a spot of sleuthing around Rainbird's house in his spare time and let me know if he came up with anything.'

‘I hope you didn't confide in him too much,' said Vicky dubiously. ‘You've told me more than once how persuasive he can be.'

‘I promise you I didn't tell him anything he didn't need to know,' said Sukey. ‘I didn't say anything about Rainbird's connection with Luke Grayson or the rows about religion, or even tell him the name of the firm where the two of them worked.'

‘And then you just happened to mention that it was your weekend off and he suggested you join forces in the sleuthing?'

‘Well, yes. I've made him swear not to breathe a word to his editor – or anyone else – until I give him clearance.'

‘In that case all I can do is wish you the best of luck!' said Vicky.

Sukey swallowed the last mouthful of chicken salad and raised her glass of mineral water in salute. ‘Thanks, Sarge!'

When the team foregathered in the CID office at two o'clock DC Penny Osborne joined them. ‘I've been working with the Gloucestershire mob on the cannabis farm case, Sarge,' she said to Vicky. ‘They've got connections in our area, but DI Rathbone said …'

‘Yes, I know,' Vicky said briskly. ‘As the case has gone to court he thinks they can manage without you from now on, and you're needed here to help us on the Dallington Manor case.'