Reprobates (10 page)

‘Yes, I
’ve already done some digging and it appears that he lives there alone, but don’t take my word for it. I’m not one hundred per cent sure. There is no info on him to tell us what his occupation is. Do you want your detectives to follow it up?’

‘Yeah, I
’ll get Detective Constables Hardacre and Wormald to liaise with you. Then they’ll do the enquiries at the complex. Probably better that they go out of uniform at this moment in time. Thanks again and pass on my regards to your team.’

‘
Will do, sir, I’ll wait to hear from the detectives.’

‘I
’ll make sure you get the necessary feedback,’ said Dylan.

Things were looking up. They had some positive leads to follow up. A message on Dylan
’s computer caught his eye. He lifted his head and saw that DC Vicky Hardacre was just about to leave the Incident Room.

‘DC Hardacre,
’ he shouted. ‘My office.’

For once Vicky wasn
’t sure of his mood by his voice. Was he annoyed? It certainly seemed like he was from the tone, but why? She turned on her heels and walked into his office fully expecting a dressing down, but for what she wasn’t sure.

‘Sit down,
’ he said.

Dylan
’s eyebrows were lifted and he nibbled at his bottom lip – it was not a good sign.

Vicky had left the door open and he rose from behind his desk and shut it. Dylan sat back down and studied her face. The computer keyboard keys ceased to tap in the outer office. Vicky remained silent, she couldn
’t read him. What on earth had she done?

Penny could tell Jen had been crying.

‘Oh, my God!’ she said seeing the distraught look on her friend’s face. Penny burst into tears. Jen quickly put her arm around her and hugged her tight.

‘It
’s Max, isn’t it? I knew it,’ she said, sobbing into Jen’s shoulder.

‘
Heavens, no. Max is going to be okay. I’m upset because I have a bit of bad news. We’re not going to need you to walk him any more and I feel bad. I know you used the money for Troy’s karate lesson.’

Penny
’s relief was tangible. ‘You bloody idiot,’ she said laughing through her tears. ‘I thought...’

‘I
’m sorry... I never thought you’d think that.’

‘So,
’ she said more composed. ‘You’re going to work afternoons? You sure you can manage?’

‘Well, I hadn
’t much choice. I’ve signed the contract now. Jack and I discussed it last night and like he says, at least I’m not having to rely on him to take Maisy to the childminder’s and pick her up, so Beaky’s plan could actually work to our advantage. Don’t tell her though,’ she said. ‘I can walk Max myself before I come to work. It would be a real help, seeing as I’ll be working everyday though, if you’d do us a spot of cleaning or ironing once or twice a week?’

‘
Of course. Thanks for thinking of Troy,’ Penny said. ‘You sure Jack is okay with it?’ she asked.

‘He
’s fine. He wouldn’t trust anyone with a key to our house but hey, you’ve had one longer than him,’ she laughed.

‘
When do you want me to start?’

‘
This week?’

‘
Any specific days?’

‘
No, whenever you can fit it in to your busy schedule is fine,’ she said.

***

Vicky wasn’t a stranger to Dylan’s wrath. She had seen ‘that face’ before. He shuffled paperwork about on his desk when he was troubled. She wriggled in her seat.

‘
Ants in your pants?’ he asked, leaning forward with his forearms on the desk.

‘
Just get it over with,’ she said raising her shoulders. She screwed her eyes tight up tight and wrinkled her nose.

‘Okay.
’

Vicky folded her arms.

‘I’ve been informed by HQ that from today Detective Constable Hardacre is no longer on my team.’

‘
What?’ she squealed. ‘What’ve the twats out there been saying about me? Cos whatever it is I never...’

‘I
’ve an email from HQ here that says...’

‘
Oh right, so whatever they say is gospel now is it? Typical!’

Dylan held up his hand.
‘Well actually in this case yes and I’m quite happy about it.’

‘
You are?’

‘You
’re going to be my Acting Sergeant, Vicky.’

She cocked her head, raised her eyebrows and took a lungful of air.
‘You’ve picked me to act up? Me?’ she asked, looking genuinely surprised. ‘And the twats at HQ have agreed? Bloody hell boss, thank you. I won’t let you down.’

‘
You better not. Don’t forget to let Dorothy in Duties know. Now before you get ahead of yourself, I’ve got a job for you.’

Vicky moved to the edge of her chair and her mouth remained slightly opened.

‘I love it when you’re rendered speechless,’ Dylan said. ‘We believe the man we found in the canal is a Barrington Cook and,’ he said handing her a piece of paper, ‘we have an address for him. Go and have a look around to see if you can find out when he was last seen. I’m sure they’ll have CCTV at the complex.’

‘
Provided it’s in use. Family? Job?’

‘
According to the checks already made by uniform he lives alone. I don’t know any more.’

‘I
’m on my way,’ she said jumping to her feet.

‘
Have you forgot something?’

‘No?
’

‘
More coffee, sir?’

‘You
’ll look like a bleedin’ coffee pot!’

Dylan cocked his head and smiled.

‘
Just this once, but remember now I’m a sergeant.’

‘
Acting Sergeant.’

‘
I might not have time to make you coffee.’

‘Oh, I
’m sure you will always have time, Vicky.’

‘
Whoopee!’ she said bouncing over to the door. The door slammed behind her and he heard her let out a squeal. ‘I’m acting up!’ she shouted.

***

The canal death enquiry appeared to be moving at a pace and ultimately Dylan knew it wouldn’t be long before they had all the relevant information for the Coroner. It was time today for his focus to shift to the mystery surrounding the sudden death and subsequent unusual disappearance of Kirsty Gallagher from within the confines of what should be one of the safest places on earth, a mortuary. Picking up the phone he fingered through the papers on his desk for Mr Fisher’s telephone number. Derek Harper’s boss needed to be spoken to. To his surprise, the man himself answered the telephone in a fine rolling voice.

‘
Mortuary, Mr Fisher speaking.’

‘
Mr Fisher, Detective Inspector Jack Dylan, Harrowfield CID.’

‘
Hello sir, good news, the freezers are all in working order, the window is repaired and arrangements are in place for security to be revised. I am assuming that’s why you rang?’

‘
No actually, but thank you for the update. I’m actually ringing you in confidence about one of your team, a Mr Harper.’

‘
Derek. Not the brightest button but a very willing work horse. He’s not been inside with us long.’

‘
My colleague and I, who visited the mortuary on the morning Kirsty Gallagher disappeared were both concerned at some of the comments he made to us at the time.’

‘
Really?’

‘
Yes, hence this phone call. Mr Harper also admitted to us placing two corpses in the same fridge.’

‘
Yes, Inspector, I heard about that and I can assure you we had words. It’s a totally inappropriate and unacceptable thing to do. As you can appreciate personnel is difficult to find in this profession. But I will look at his suitability for the post and arrange further training for him. In the meantime I will keep an eye on him.’

Dylan felt
reassured Mr Fisher would take the appropriate action. For now he had more pressing matters to deal with.

Detective Sergeant Robinson was waiting at Dylan
’s door.

‘You got a minute, boss?
’

‘
Of course, how’s the house search going?’

‘
Slow, if truth be known, but it’s thorough and on a positive note we have found her car. It’s a black Renault Megane which was parked a few yards up the street from her house. On inspection that also seemed extremely clean inside and out. I’m wondering now if she had some kind of obsessive compulsive disorder.’

‘
You think?’

‘I
’ve just been informed by Ned Granger that he has found a picture under the sun visor on the driver’s side, so maybe we have a lead.’

‘Male, female?
’ Dylan said.

‘
Male. I’ve been speaking to the CSI Supervisor, Karen Ebdon who has confirmed to me what we already thought boss. Someone definitely cleaned up at the house after the body was removed to the mortuary. Now who would do that and why?’

‘
Interesting. Who indeed?’ Dylan shook his head.

‘
I have an appointment with her doctor, maybe that will tell us something more about her lifestyle.’

‘
At the very least it will tell us the last time she visited her GP.’

‘
Hopefully, I’ll have some more for you at the debrief. I’ve arranged for Sergeant Clegg, team leader at the house-to-house search to be here, so we’ll also have his up to date input.’

‘
Her occupation and place of work?’ Dylan asked.

‘
Well, you’d think that would be easy wouldn’t you? But, we haven’t found anything significant yet.’

‘Family?
’

‘
Again boss, nothing known yet. She appears to have kept herself very much to herself.’

‘
Oh, for the days of a gossip over the backyard wall, or nipping into the neighbours to borrow a cup of sugar.’

‘Sir?
’

‘
Nothing. Let’s get the picture that’s been found in her car blown up and get some copies made. We might get a quick ident if he’s local.’

‘
See you later,’ he said with a raising of his hand as Dylan’s mobile phone rang.

‘Vicky?
’ he asked.

The connection was lost. It rang again.

‘Boss, I’m in Barrington Cook’s flat and you’re not gonna believe this.’

‘Not another body?’

Vicky
was standing in a vestibule with three doors opening from it, one to the left, one to the right and one facing her.

‘
No boss, but a substantial amount of rope and the same type visually as that that was tied to his ankles.’ Vicky bent down to scrutinise it. ‘No clues as to where it was purchased though,’ she said.

‘
Never mind. It’s a good find. If we can match it to the pieces of rope recovered from the canal, and tied to him it will confirm he took the rope with him.’

***

DC Wormald was cautiously peering into the room on Vicky’s right. The walls throughout appeared grey from lack of paint. He turned his head and looked at Vicky, the corners of his mouth went down. There was a pine bed within with other bits of furniture to match. On entering he noticed a couple of hair pins that were somewhat out of place on the top of the dressing table next to a hairbrush and a red lipstick. Vicky picked up an old picture with a gloved hand. It was of a woman sitting on a throne who looked as if she could have been in drag.

‘
He is, was, an accountant,’ Vicky said picking up an official looking letter that had already been opened and was lying on the grey worktop in the squalid, dim kitchenette. There were as many as two dozen empty bottles of wine lined up next to the fridge. ‘And I thought I had a problem,’ she said to Andy.

The flat was cold and Vicky shivered.
‘No laptop or mobile phone that I can see, you?’ she called.

‘No,
’ said Andy.

The flat was sparsely furnished and the furniture in it was basic. A pair of black leather armchairs, a black wooden wall unit and a couple of pictures amounted to the contents of the lounge area, apart from the mandatory large flat screen TV, a VHS video recorder and a DVD player which stood alongside stacks and stacks of neatly piled videos and DVD
s.

Andy Wormald joined Vicky.
‘No computer equipment as far as I can see. But then again there is nothing “lying around” is there. Everything is very neat and tidy – they might be hidden away.’

‘No
up-turned chairs or open drawers,’ Vicky said. ‘Look at that collection of Adult DVDs and videos. To all intents and purposes these appear to be unused.’ She picked up a case from the TV stand. ‘I’ll bet you a tenner this isn’t Mary Poppins,’ she said.

‘
Yeah, and I’m not as green as I’m cabbage looking – I agree.’ There was a DVD in the machine and he pressed play. The TV screen displayed child pornography.

‘
You seen enough?’ asked Vicky. ‘Better make sure the lot are seized.’

‘
For sure.’

‘We
’ll call at your lass’s on the way back for a quick brew shall we? I hope you’re still seeing Marlene at the hairdressers it’d be a shame to lose a tea spot.’

‘I am,
’ Andy said. A slight blush in his cheeks.

She took out her phone and dialled Dylan
’s mobile and told him about the obscene images.

‘
Anything else obvious?’ he asked.

‘
At some time he was an accountant or bookkeeper of some sort but really he’s nothing more than one strange deviant git if you ask me.’

‘
Leave it with uniform to deal with. It no longer requires a detective’s involvement. That’s one problem resolved but we still have a body to find.’

‘
Such a promising start too... turned out to be a bit of a damp squib didn’t it? I had a feeling finding Barrington Cook’s body was just the beginning of something big,’ said Vicky.

‘It
’s a result. Don’t forget from the evidence available we can prove exactly what has taken place, and how he lost his life.’

A message came over the airwaves. Dylan was quiet. Vicky listened intently.
‘Kyle Russell’s fingerprints are confirmed as those on the bike “For Sale” sign, sir,’ she said.

‘
Nice and neat for the Coroner. Do we have a next of kin for Barrington Cook yet?’

‘No.
’

‘
Let uniform do the death notice if you find it. I need you back here.’

‘
Yeah, they’re welcome to that job.’

‘
Not easy to stomach, but putting it bluntly our man was a self-abuser just like those who use drugs, alcohol, sharp implements... In his case he used sex to get his fix.’

‘
Our daily dose of the weird and wonderful.’

‘
That reminds me, I want to talk to you about you and Andy working with Paul and Ned...’

‘
That’s not very nice, sir.’

‘
Less of the wisecracks. We need all hands on deck to try and find our body snatcher. No tea spots on the way back. I need you back here ASAP, like I said.’

‘
Tea spots, us? Would we?’ she said, crossing her fingers. Andy stifled a laugh.

‘I
’m sure Dylan’s chuffin’ psychic,’ she said as she put her phone away.

A knock sounded at the door. Andy went to answer it.

‘Yes, I’m Detective Constable Wormald,’ she heard him say to the uniform officers who entered.

‘
All up to speed?’ asked Vicky. ‘Guess we can leave it with you then, kid!’