Fire in the Blood (Scott Cullen Mysteries) (25 page)

"And they reckon it's Paddy Kavanagh in there?" asked Cullen.

"A man matching his description, certainly," said Murray.

They had caught up with the officers. Cullen recognised a few of the faces from Haddington and the case in January. At the head was DS Bill Lamb, speaking to a heavy woman who was dressed unseasonably in a long overcoat.

"That's our DI," said Murray, as if reading Cullen's mind. "Sandra Webster. Total nightmare."

"Got you," said Cullen.

A couple of other officers joined the group at the same time as Cullen and Murray.

Lamb cleared his throat and took in the group of officers. "Okay," he shouted, making eye contact with Cullen, "the plan again for those of you who have just joined our merry band." He pointed over to the building. "We have the place surrounded and all of the exits blocked. Our objective is to enter the building while maintaining full operational control of the site, and apprehend the suspect for further questioning."

One of the older officers - Cullen could just about place his face - held up his hand.

"Sandy," said Lamb, with a nod.

"Who is this Paddy Kavanagh felly?" asked Sandy.

Lamb smiled. "I was just coming on to that," he said. "The suspect has been at large for eighteen years and is a lead suspect in a murder investigation dating back to then. He is moderately dangerous and should be treated as such. He may be armed. We suspect that he has killed before. I don't want any heroes here. If he escapes, then we've got officers in cars and on mountain bikes, so we will catch him."

Cullen turned to Murray and whispered in his ear. "Didn't think you lot could rustle up a cup of tea in less than two days," he said. "This is impressive."

"Careful," said Murray, "you're sounding like Bain. Besides, Bill's had a rocket from Webster. Don't want to look inept in front of the big city police."

"Any more questions?" shouted Lamb. Nobody had any. "Okay," he shouted, "I want four squads." He split the twenty or so officers into four groups - Cullen and Murray were in group two. "Groups one, three and four cover the east, north and south of the building." He looked directly at Cullen and Murray. "Group two, I want your DCs to enter the building. Group one and four need to leave a flanking officer to provide cover when they go in. Once inside, I want you to apprehend the suspect, or at the very least flush him out." He looked around the group. "Are we clear?"

A ragged chorus of 'Yes, sir!' broke out.

"Let's get to it," shouted Lamb.

Cullen retrieved his baton from his jacket pocket and extended it. He got the can of pepper spray out of his jacket and put it in his trouser pocket, ready to use it.

They quickly got into formation. Group three headed off first, covering the back of the building. There was already a wide perimeter of officers, but this provided an inner cordon to support what was suddenly looking like Cullen and Murray going inside. Cullen started to feel a surge of excitement - it was a good few months since he'd done anything like this.

Lamb approached Murray and Cullen and shook hands with the pair of them. "All right, boys?" he asked, smiling at them and extending his baton. "I'm coming in with you pair."

"Thanks for nominating us," said Cullen.

"No problem," said Lamb. "Most of these lads are only useful for getting in the way." He took a deep breath. "Come on, then."

Lamb led Cullen, Murray and two uniformed officers into position. There were two flanking officers from other groups keeping them covered. "On my mark," mouthed Lamb. "One. Two. Three. GO!"

Cullen and Murray followed in Lamb's quick footsteps, hugging the ground and then stopping outside the door. One of the uniformed officers had bolt cutters and quickly got through the lock on the front door. Lamb pulled it open and motioned for Cullen to lead. He ran inside. They entered a vestibule - still stocked with some tourist leaflets - leading inside to the main shop area. Cullen eased the door open with his baton. The room was pitch black - the windows had all been boarded up - with only a crack in one board letting any light in. There was a pervasive smell throughout the building - a mixture of mould, mildew and rotting meat.

"Lights," said Lamb.

Cullen fumbled on the wall and found a set of stubby light switches. He turned them on and was surprised when the overhead lights flickered into life.

The room was big - it would have been a diner at some point, though the section nearest them appeared to be a shop. The till was just there, mounted in a wooden frame with a seat. Next to it was a pile of dismantled metal shelving - Cullen prodded it with his baton, but it wasn't budging. There were old laminated tables against the walls. Red plastic and metal chairs were scattered through half of the room - in the other half, they were stacked neatly. A serving hatch ran down one side of the room, half-closed.

"Fan out," said Cullen to Murray. They went into half of the room each and progressed down slowly. Lamb stayed at the entrance. Halfway down, Cullen kneeled down and looked under the tables. He got up and continued down. They met up at the far end of the room. Murray gave Lamb an okay sign.

On the wall with the serving hatch - on Murray's side of the room - was a large double door. Cullen pointed at it and gestured to Lamb, who squinted at it and eventually nodded.

"You first," mouthed Murray.

Cullen extended his baton. He prodded the door and it opened. He entered quickly but cautiously, his baton brandished in front of him. He found another light switch and flicked it. Slowly, a strip light came to life.

They were in the kitchen - it had been stripped of all of its appliances, leaving an empty shell of cabinet carcasses. The advantage for Cullen and Murray was that there were no hiding places in the large room - it was empty.

Another door led off the room. "Your turn," said Cullen to Murray while pointing at it.

Murray sighed and opened the door with his baton. He entered the room and Cullen followed him closely. It was colder in there than in the other rooms. The lights didn't work, so Murray pulled out a torch. He flashed the beam around the room - Cullen quickly realised that it was a staff room. There were coat racks, lockers, some seats, a kitchen area and a kettle. Murray's torch caught a dark shape on a cursory scan.

"There," said Cullen, "middle of the floor."

Murray shone the light on the patch of floor. There was a sleeping bag in the middle of the floor. "Shite," said Murray.

Cullen went over to the windows and ran his fingers down the side of the boards. The second one he came upon wasn't particularly well attached. He easily managed to get it off the window, letting light into the room. The glass in the window behind had all been removed - Cullen figured it would make the most logical entrance into the building, given that the front door was locked. He could see the ring of police officers around the building. The one that Lamb had addressed as Sandy was closest to him, looking in at the building. He called over at him - Sandy raised his hand.

"Have you seen anyone come out of here?" shouted Cullen.

"I would have called if I had," replied Sandy.

Cullen muttered to himself. He turned and looked at the sleeping bag - Murray was crouched down and scanning his torch all over it. He slipped a pair of rubber gloves on and started prodding at it with his baton, then started touching it with his gloved fingers. "It's cold," he said.

"So we've not just missed him," said Cullen.

"Well, can't say either way," said Murray, "but he's not been sleeping in it in the last half an hour."

Cullen had another good look around the room. He went over to the lockers. The doors were all open. He looked through every single one - all empty. There were no other doors in the room.

"Were there any other rooms next door?" asked Cullen.

"There should be, aye," said Murray. "I'd expect a stock room at the very least."

"Come on," said Cullen. "We can get forensics in here."

They went back through the kitchen into the main room. Lamb still stood guard at the far end. "You found him yet?" he asked.

"Not yet," said Cullen. "Give us another five minutes."

"Fine."

Along the side wall were several dining tables, the tops were cracked and scarred. At the far end was a door, blocked by the tables. Cullen headed over and started moving tables, eventually getting to the door. He got his pepper spray out and looked at Murray.

"Ready?" asked Cullen.

"When you are."

Cullen pulled the door open. The room absolutely stank. Cullen pocketed the spray and covered his mouth with a hanky. "Get that torch out again," he said.

Murray shone the torch into the room. It was the stock room that Murray had mentioned earlier. It looked to Cullen like nobody had bothered to clear it when the place shut. The floor was covered in a thick goo. There were two large chest freezers, looking and sounding like they were switched off. There were no doors or windows in the walls.

"That is fucking rank," said Murray.

"I bet the power on the freezers went off when the building was shut," said Cullen. "Different circuit to the lights. And I bet that the freezers weren't empty when it was turned off."

"Come on, let's go," said Murray.

"You're kidding," said Cullen. "We'll get a pasting from Lamb and Webster if we don't check the freezers. Perfect hiding place."

"Fine," said Murray, "but you'd have to be really fucking desperate to climb inside that."

Cullen turned around and got one of the smaller tables. It was long and narrower than the doorway. He pushed it in the room - if he climbed on it, he could just about reach both freezers with his baton. He got up on top of it and inched his way along. He opened the first freezer - it was empty, but it emitted a raw stench. He let the lid fall down again.
 

He moved along to the end of the table and reached out with the baton - it was quite a stretch and he struggled to get a good grip of the handle. He looked down at the floor, covered with God knows what. Eventually, he managed to budge the lid. The stench in the room increased dramatically - the freezer was full of something. Cullen didn't even want to think what, but it didn't look like Paddy Kavanagh. He let the lid down again and went back to the main room.

"Well?" asked Murray.

"The far away freezer has something in it," said Cullen, "but I'll be buggered if I'm touching it."

"You've got to," said Murray.

"You're welcome to," said Cullen.

"You're all right," said Murray.

Cullen leaned against another table. He thought it through for a few seconds. "Look, there's no way that if there's someone hiding in that freezer that they're getting out of the building without getting caught," he said. "There are no windows or doors in that room and we've got the place covered. It's a job for a SOCO, not us."

"Good point," said Murray.

Cullen nodded at Lamb. "Let's go and brief the big man," he said.

"You are seriously stretchin' my fuckin' patience with this shite, Sundance," said Bain. "You mean to say that we had a sighting of this Paddy boy and you couldn't fuckin' find him?"

They were back at Leith Walk an hour later. Cullen and Murray had driven in their separate cars after collecting Cullen's car from outside Marion Parrott's house in Gullane, Bill Lamb having tagged along with Murray. Caldwell was sitting in the corner of Bain's incident room, tapping away at a laptop. The rest of them were stood near Bain's whiteboard.

"Listen," said Cullen, "we received an anonymous call from the public that someone matching Paddy Kavanagh's description was staying at this old service station."

"How the fuck did the public know what he looks like?" asked Bain.

"We issued a photofit last week," said Murray. "You remember that you were going ballistic at me for not finding Paddy? Well, I worked on the assumption that he was still alive and got a press release issued. The East Lothian Courier and News both ran with it. And we got a result from it."

"Not finding him is not what I call a result," said Bain.

Lamb loudly cleared his throat. "Brian," he said, "we know two things. First, we know that he is alive. Second, we know that he's been staying in Haddington. I've heard about all the whiteboard magic that you've been up to over the last week, and one of the distinct possibilities that you've got is that Paddy Kavanagh is your number one suspect, that he killed Iain Crombie for reasons as yet unknown, and that he has returned, again for reasons unknown." He took a pause and stroked the triangle of beard on his chin. "If you're smart - and I know you can be - then you can use this to your advantage. Your objective is to solve this case, but if there's a dangerous killer who has returned then that represents a very real threat to the public. And you can go to Jim Turnbull and get a bigger squad on this."

Bain screwed his eyes up and squinted at Lamb for a few moments. Eventually, he nodded his head. "You've got a good point," he said. He checked his watch. "I'm due to meet Jim at 8pm. Looks like I've finally got something positive to talk to him about."

"Damn right you do, Brian," said Lamb. "This is a chance to get back on top."

Bain scowled at him. "Who fuckin' says I'm not?" he said, his voice harsh.

Lamb held his hands up. "All I know is what I hear," he said. "Cargill has become the golden girl here, but she's got her hands full with about seventeen other high profile cases. This is a chance for Jim to have a golden
boy
- you."

"I like your thinking," said Bain.

Cullen had no idea what Lamb was playing at. The previous time that Bain and Lamb had worked together had seen Lamb raise a formal complaint against Bain over his conduct - the black mark had stayed with Bain ever since.

Bain wheeled round to look at Cullen. "So Sundance," he said, "you were supposed to be back out with Irvine on this obbo for Cargill. How come you were out in Haddington?"

Cullen closed his eyes, trying to keep his cool. "I was actioned with breaking the news of Iain Crombie's death to Marion Parrott," he said. "DC Murray and I completed that action just prior to receiving the call about the sighting of Paddy Kavanagh."