Blood Sport: A Yorkshire Murder Mystery (DCI Harry Grimm Crime Thrillers 7)

by David J Gatward

  Harry then pulled out a photo from a folder on the table in front of him.

  ‘Can you confirm that this is your vehicle?’

  Eric leaned forwards.

  ‘Yes, that’s mine,’ he said. ‘Why are you taking photos of it? What’s the point in that?’

  ‘We have a witness who says that they saw this very same vehicle in Redmire on the night in question,’ Harry said.

  ‘What witness?’ Eric asked.

  ‘I’m not about to tell you that, am I?’

  ‘Well, they’re lying, aren’t they?’ Eric said. ‘I was at home.’

  ‘If that’s the case,’ Harry continued, ‘can you tell me why, when I came to find you in the early hours of the following morning, that you weren’t at home?’

  ‘I’m a busy man, Detective,’ Eric said. ‘I’m a gamekeeper you see. It’s not a job with sociable hours.’

  ‘This was, I think, around four am. You were out then?’

  ‘I was.’

  ‘Doing what.’

  ‘Work.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘On the estate I look after.’

  ‘That’s rather general, isn’t it?’ Harry said. ‘Estates are large places. You must remember a specific location, I’m sure. And also what it is you were doing while you were there.’

  ‘What does any of this matter?’ Eric said. ‘I’ve not done anything wrong, even if I was over at Arthur’s, which I wasn’t.’

  At this, Harry glanced over to Jen.

  ‘Can you just check, Constable Blades, did I mention anyone by the name of Arthur in this interview?’

  Jen checked her notes and shook her head.

  ‘Once again, not a sausage.’

  ‘Not even a dickie bird?’

  ‘Not even one of those,’ Jen said.

  Harry turned his attention back to Eric.

  ‘Can you tell me why you said that name?’

  ‘What name?’

  Harry leaned forward, and his calm voice grew gradually less calm as he went on.

  ‘Look, Eric, this is all being recorded by this here fancy device in the middle of the table. If you want me to, I can rewind it and playback your very own voice saying the name Arthur. Do you want me to, or can we just get a wriggle on and stop all this buggering about?’

  ‘It was a slip of the tongue,’ Eric said.

  ‘In what way was it?’ Harry asked.

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘Well, a slip of the tongue means you said something you didn’t really mean to, doesn’t it? So, why did your tongue slip enough to say that name?’

  ‘Arthur lives over in Redmire,’ Eric said. ‘That’s why. Because if someone says Redmire, that’s what I think, isn’t it?’

  ‘So, it’s like word association then, is it?’

  ‘Yes, that,’ said Eric.

  ‘Okay, then,’ said Harry. ‘What would you say if I said, oh, I don’t know, how about taxidermy?’

  ‘Taxi what?’

  ‘Taxidermy,’ Harry said. ‘It’s where you get an animal, a dead one preferably, and stuff it. I’m not sure with what, never mind the why.’

  ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’

  ‘Constable Blades?’

  Jen opened another file and pulled out a collection of photos. Each one showed the various animals from Eric’s shed, from the strange partly skeletal dog creation on the table to an owl, a fox, a buzzard, and a red kite.

  Eric stared at the photographs and Harry watched the man’s face change colour, growing scarlet with anger.

  ‘You… you had no right! They’re mine! That’s my house! You trespassed!’

  ‘No, you’re the one who’s trespassed,’ Harry said. ‘And I mean that in the biblical sense. You know the Lord’s Prayer, right? Forgive us our trespasses? Unsurprisingly, it has nothing to do with anyone being on someone else’s property. But what it does have a lot to do with is breaking the rules, the law.’

  Jen then asked, ‘Do you have an Article 10 certificate, Mr Haygarth?’

  ‘A what now?’

  ‘An A10,’ Jen said. ‘And are you registered with DEFRA, you know, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs? What about APHA, the Animal and Plant Health Agency?’

  ‘Are you making this up?’ Eric said.

  Harry saw Jen’s jaw drop just a little.

  ‘Am I making up DEFRA and APHA?’ she said, shaking her head in obvious disbelief.

  ‘You see,’ said Harry, ‘a lot of these animals here are protected. And, to sell them, you need to be registered. And it looks to me like you’re not. And that’s a little bit of trespassing on your part right there, isn’t it, Eric?’

  ‘You’ve no proof I’ve sold any of my work,’ Eric said.

  Harry produced another photograph, this one of a stuffed owl that looked a little worse for wear.

  ‘We’ve already matched this one to the materials found in your shed,’ he said. ‘It was found in a house that was broken into last night. As you can see, it’s a little damaged, but it’s definitely yours.’

  ‘You’re losing me,’ Eric said, and Harry could see panic in the man’s eyes. He was starting to unravel, which was good, because Harry wanted answers.

  ‘I want a list of your customers,’ Harry demanded. ‘And don’t even try to pretend that you don’t have any or that you’ve lost their names or can’t remember them. I want them, Eric. And I want them now!’

  ‘What, you expect me to remember them all?’

  ‘I expect you to have some recollection, yes.’

  ‘But all of them? How am I supposed to do that?’

  ‘If we have to, we can send someone over to your house to collect your records.’

  ‘Which I don’t have.’

  ‘Then your brain is all that we have,’ Harry said. ‘Your memory.’

  ‘But all of them, though,’ Eric said. ‘I mean, I can try—’

  ‘You can indeed,’ Harry said.

  Eric then looked over at Jen and asked for a pen and some paper.

  ‘I’ll write them down,’ he said. ‘It’ll take me a few minutes though.’

  Harry smiled.

  ‘See how much easier this is if you cooperate?’

  ‘But I still don’t understand what any of this has to do with, well, anything, actually,’ Eric said, starting to write on the piece of paper. ‘They’re just dead birds!’

  ‘They’re not though, are they?’ Harry said. ‘They’re birds you purposefully killed to make a bit of extra cash. And as for the dog and fox and whatever else you have in your collection, did you shoot those, too? Did you?’

  ‘No!’ Eric shouted. ‘I didn’t! I didn’t shoot that dog! It was roadkill, that was all. It was a waste to just leave it on the road, wasn’t it? And while we’re at it, I didn’t have anything to do with Arthur’s dog either, if that’s what you’re thinking. I didn’t steal it. I didn’t! And I had nothing to do with whatever happened to it after. Why would I?’

  ‘Constable Blades,’ Harry said, and raised an eyebrow.

  ‘No mention of a stolen dog either,’ Jen said.

  Harry eased himself back in his chair. It creaked and complained ominously.

  ‘So, here’s the thing, Eric. We know that Arthur Black called you that night and accused you of taking his dog. Why? Because he told us he did, that’s why. We also know that you were seen there by a witness later that evening. So, what I now need to know, is why you attacked Mr Black.’

  ‘I didn’t!’

  ‘Eric, you were there! Arthur called you and accused you, didn’t he? You were angry, you drove over to have it out with him. Things got out of hand and you got carried away. It’ll be easier for everyone if you just admit what you did and come clean.’

  ‘I didn’t! I really didn’t! It’s the truth!’

  Harry was starting to believe him, but still, he pushed to see if he would trip up, offer any other information.

  ‘Did you go there to kill him?’
<
br />   ‘It wasn’t me!’

  ‘Did you honestly think you’d get away with it?’

  ‘It was someone else!’ Eric shouted. ‘You have to believe me! I walked in and saw him, Arthur, I mean. He was on the floor, and there was this other person, standing over him. And they were wearing something over their face, a balaclava! So, I ran! That’s what I did! It’s not brave, I know, but it was none of my business, was it? So, I didn’t hang around, I got out of there sharpish!’

  ‘You expect me to believe that?’ Harry said. ‘You disappeared, Eric! You sodded off! Was that guilt? Is that it?’

  ‘I’m not guilty!’ Eric replied. ‘I’m not! I was scared! And I knew everyone would think it was me. What else was I supposed to do?’

  ‘Call the police?’ Jen suggested. ‘I mean, that’s what someone who wasn’t guilty would probably do, don’t you think?’

  ‘I’m not guilty!’

  Eric shoved the piece of paper and pen back to Jen.

  ‘That’s everyone I can remember who’s bought one of my pieces,’ he said.

  Jen glanced down the list.

  ‘This is all of them?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And it took you all that time to remember them?’

  ‘What’s your point?’

  Jen handed the list over to Harry.

  Harry had a read.

  ‘You do know a list is generally something with more than two items in it, don’t you?’ Harry asked.

  ‘There is more than two,’ Eric said.

  ‘You’re right, there is,’ Harry said. ‘There’s three.’

  Eric gave a disgruntled shrug.

  ‘My work isn’t really that good,’ Eric said. ‘It’s the best I can do, like, and it’s improving. But most people don’t really seem to like it.’

  ‘And of the three names you’ve given, one of them is Andrew Bell?’

  ‘He’s the vet,’ Eric said.

  ‘I know who he is!’ Harry replied. ‘I’m asking why his name’s on your list!’

  ‘Because I’ve donated a few pieces to the surgery, that’s why. For their raffles, like. The other two ended up giving me my birds back. Said they’d gone rotten. Which they had, but that’s not the point, is it? A deal’s a deal, right?’

  Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  ‘You thought it was appropriate to give the vets stuffed animals to help them raise money to be nice to animals?’

  ‘Why not?’ Eric shrugged.

  ‘And Andrew didn’t ask any questions about your license? Nothing at all?’

  ‘They’re anonymous donations, aren’t they?’ Eric said. ‘Though I did put a little note on them, you know, saying how they were family heirlooms, that kind of thing. How I didn’t really want them in the house, but wanted them to go to a good cause.’

  When Eric had provided air quotations with his fingers around the words family heirlooms Harry had wanted to reach over and snap them off at the knuckles.

  ‘You lied, then,’ Jen said.

  ‘Of course, I lied! I’m not an idiot!’

  ‘Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,’ Jen muttered just loud enough for Harry to hear.

  Harry was staring at the vet’s name on the piece of paper. He knew that there was no point tracking down the other two names if they’d given Eric back what he’d made for them. So that left a list of just one: the vet. If Harry thought things hadn’t made much sense before, well now he was so confused he didn’t know how much more his brain could take.

  ‘Jen?’

  ‘Boss?’

  Harry waved Eric’s list in the air.

  ‘I need to go check up on this. Can I leave you with Mr Haygarth here?’

  ‘Of course,’ Jen said. ‘It’ll be fun, won’t it, Eric?’

  Eric said nothing, but the sneer he provided was world-class.

  Harry finished the interview, then switched off the recording device.

  ‘Make sure he’s comfortable and doesn’t cause any trouble.’

  ‘What, and you’re just leaving, are you?’ Eric said.

  ‘That I am,’ Harry said, standing up.

  ‘You have to believe me, though,’ Eric said. ‘I didn’t do anything to Arthur or his dog!’

  ‘Right now, I don’t know who did what to whom,’ said Harry. ‘Which is why you’re staying here in case you want to tell us anything else.’

  Harry saw Eric’s eyes flit between him and Jen.

  ‘There is something else,’ Eric said, and Harry heard desperation in the man’s voice. ‘Well, someone else, I mean.’

  ‘Yes, we know, Eric,’ he said. ‘Whoever it was, they were wearing a balaclava. Or you were. Which was it?’

  ‘No, not that someone, the other someone, someone outside,’ Eric said.

  ‘What someone outside?’ Jen asked. ‘Who? Why didn’t you mention this before?’

  ‘They were in this red car, watching the house.’ Eric said. ‘Arthur’s house!’

  Harry stopped dead.

  ‘Repeat that.’

  ‘There was someone else there! I swear there was! I saw them when I was leaving, staring at the house. I couldn’t see them properly, like, but they were definitely—’

  ‘No, what you said before, about the car,’ Harry said.

  ‘I didn’t really see it,’ said Eric.

  ‘But you saw its colour.’

  Eric gave a nod. ‘I did. It was red. Why?’

  Jen caught Harry’s eye.

  ‘Didn’t the farmer over in Snaizeholme say he saw a red car?’

  ‘He did,’ Harry said, remembering something else. ‘Reedy… doesn’t he drive around in something flash and red?’

  ‘Yes, he does,’ said Jen. ‘A Subaru Imprezza.’

  ‘A red Subaru Imprezza,’ Harry said.

  Then he was out the door and back in his vehicle, heading once again to Cotterdale and the barns hidden in the woods.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Harry arrived at the barns to find that more people had turned up to help deal with the hellish mess they’d uncovered. An RSPCA van was there and he saw that Detective Sergeant Matt Dinsdale had been joined by a group of helpers, who were all dealing with the dogs as best they could.

  As he climbed out of his vehicle a message pinged through to his phone from Liz.

  Sorry, boss, forgot to send you these. Maybe that bump on the head was worse than I thought? Liz xxx PS: Smudge is such a cutie!

  Harry was pretty sure the three kisses were unnecessary. And by Smudge he assumed that the PCSO was referring to the puppy. Had she really named it? he thought. Already?

  Harry opened the attachments Liz had sent and quickly scrolled through the photos she had taken of the tracks she’d found out at the barn. They were definitely different to any of the others he’d seen, and Liz was right, they were fresh. Though what exactly was different about them he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Which wasn’t really a surprise, he thought, considering everything that was running around inside his head like a herd of a spooked cattle. The final photo was of the little black puppy, apparently now going by the name of Smudge, snuggled up on Liz’s lap.

  Putting his phone away, Harry made his way over to Matt, realising as he drew closer that Andrew Bell was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘Vet not here, then?’ Harry asked. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘Got called away to another job,’ Matt said. ‘But this lot were here by then, so it wasn’t a problem.’

  ‘And how’s it all going?’

  ‘Slowly,’ Matt said. ‘Most of the pups and the mums are okay, but a few have had to be put down, just too far gone, you know? Breaks your heart, doesn’t it, that folk can do this? Let animals get into this state. I mean, why would you? What do you have to have wrong inside your head, your soul even, to treat them like this?’

  ‘Maybe some folk just don’t have souls,’ Harry shrugged.

  ‘We’ve been sending details over to Gordy,’ Matt said. ‘Keeping her up to da
te with everything, for her little chat with that Mr Peacock. The RSPCA are all behind the prosecution and I’m pleased to say that I don’t think he stands a chance. They also think they have some idea as to who else he’s been working with to do this. Looks like it could be the tip of the iceberg.’

  Harry asked, ‘Can you remember what car it is that Reedy drives?’

  ‘Impossible to forget something like that,’ Matt said. ‘Red Subaru Imprezza. Beast of a thing. Why?’

  Matt’s memory confirmed his and Jen’s discussion earlier.

  ‘I think Eric Haygarth saw it outside Arthur Black’s house the night he was attacked.’

  ‘You mean Reedy attacked Arthur?’

  ‘Eric says he saw someone in it, that’s all we know. Who it was though, I’ve not the faintest idea.’

  ‘But it has to be Reedy, surely!’ Matt said. ‘It can’t be anyone else, can it? That car, well, it’s just a massive dick extension, isn’t it? And he doesn’t half-love to get it out and show it off.’

  ‘Well, we can’t actually do anything about it until we find him. I mean, where the hell is he? And where is that car? People and vehicles don’t just disappear, do they?’

  Matt said nothing, and Harry was grateful for that.

  ‘I need to speak with Andrew,’ he said eventually. ‘Do you know where he is?’

  ‘Probably best to just give him a call,’ Matt said.

  Harry walked away from the barns and made the call. The man answered on the second ring.

  ‘Mr Bell? It’s DCI Grimm. Just wondered if it would be possible to have another chat?’

  ‘Not a problem,’ Andrew replied.

  ‘Where are you?’

  ‘Home, actually,’ Andrew said. ‘The call I got wasn’t the emergency everyone thought it was. Happens sometimes. You get a panicked call from someone, race out, only to find that whatever animal it is has decided to get up and walk around like Jesus himself has been there and sorted it out. So, I just stopped off to grab some stuff before heading back out to all those dogs.’

  ‘Well, may I ask that you stay where you are?’ Harry asked. ‘I think they’re doing fine. Looks like everything is in hand.’

  ‘Sure, not a problem,’ Andrew said. ‘You’ve got my address, yes?’

  ‘I have,’ Harry said. ‘I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.’