Complete Detective Stephen Greco Box Set

by Helen H. Durrant

“Five years, sir.”

  “Their personnel department will have her previous address. Get it, will you?”

  Just then a uniformed officer entered the room and beckoned to Greco. “This could be important, sir. It’s Dave Holt. He’s been picked up in the Ashtree pub in Gorton again. This time he wasn’t just talking about selling jewellery, he had stuff on him. A stroke of luck for us — the bloke he was selling to was being watched. A separate case another team are working on. We brought him here because he’s connected to the murders you’re currently investigating.”

  Greco turned to the team. “You all heard that?”

  They nodded.

  “Speedy, you and I will speak to him.” Greco turned back to the officer. “Did you recover the jewellery?”

  “Yes, we did. Quite a haul.”

  “We’ll take a look first. Grace, get that list and descriptions from the centre.” He beckoned for Speedy to follow him.

  The jewellery was laid out on a table in the evidence room. Some of it was cheap fashion jewellery, but there were one or two pieces that looked valuable. Among them was a gold watch. It was old-fashioned and had the name ‘Joe Davies’ engraved on the back.

  Speedy peered at it. “What’s the betting this belongs to one of the seniors that use that centre?”

  But Greco’s attention was elsewhere. He’d picked up a locket. It had a heavy gold chain, and the locket itself had ‘Ava’ inscribed on the back. “It looks like this belongs to Ava Whitton. If so, then the two lads have to have taken it from her house.” He smiled. “There is stuff here stolen from the centre and from Ava’s house. That means the lads must have been involved in both. It needs investigating, and Max Marsh is our best bet there. As far as we know, the thefts were all from folk in his group.”

  “Do you reckon he’s involved too, sir?”

  “Very possibly. But with regard to Ava, this is our way in.” He passed the locket to Speedy. “We now have a legitimate reason to send in forensics. She can hardly complain, can she?”

  “There is a maker’s mark on here too, sir. I’ll check it out, but it looks like the ones on the rings.”

  “The locket is old and valuable. Open it up,” Greco told Speedy.

  It was a fiddly thing and obviously hadn’t been opened for years. Speedy held it out to Greco in the palm of his hand. “There’s a lock of hair inside. What d’you make of that, sir?”

  “At a guess, I’d say it was infant’s hair. If it does belong to Ava, she’ll want it back.”

  * * *

  Speedy left Greco and went to look in on Dave Holt. He stood outside for a few moments, watching the man pace the cell floor. He’d been apprehended while attempting to sell the gold watch to a local villain, Bert Banister — the bloke he’d attacked. They had both been apprehended at the very moment the money changed hands.

  “Have him brought along to interview room three,” he told the desk sergeant.

  Speedy and Greco interviewed him together.

  Dave Holt wasn’t having any. He kept insisting he was innocent. “That watch was my grandad’s. He left it to my mum, but she’ll never wear it. We need the money. We’ve got a funeral to pay for, you know. Forgotten that, have you?” He leant forward in his chair. “Bloody coppers. Pounced on me like I was vermin. Everyone was watching. It’s my local too.”

  “Come on, Dave. This never belonged to a member of your family.” Speedy looked closely at it. The watch bracelet was all solid gold links. “This will have cost a fortune. Tell me the truth. It’s got something to do with your Vinny and what he was mixed up in, hasn’t it?”

  “No! You’re wrong. The lad wasn’t involved in ’owt. And you can’t prove otherwise. This stuff is my mother’s. So unless you’ve got evidence to prove me wrong, I want out of here.”

  “Do you want a solicitor?” asked Greco.

  “No, I don’t intend stopping long.”

  “Then tell us the truth. Where did you get the watch?” Greco said patiently. “This isn’t just about robbery. As you well know, we are investigating two murders. One of them is your own brother. Do you know anything about those, Dave?”

  Dave looked horrified. “You can’t pin those killings on me! I’m innocent. I might have given our kid a clip around the ear occasionally, but I’d never hurt him for real.”

  “The watch. Where did it come from?” Greco persisted. “We know it isn’t yours. Very soon the real owner will come and identify it. Lying to us is a waste of your time and ours.”

  Dave Holt’s face fell. He sighed. “Okay, I’ll tell you what I know. But it goes against the grain, copper. I don’t grass, not on my own brother!”

  “I think Vinny would understand,” Greco said. “He’d certainly want us to catch whoever killed him.”

  “Vinny got home that day right full of himself. Like I told you, he bunged mum fifty and then got ready to go out. He was meeting Craig. The pair of them planned to hit town. There was a gig on in some pub in Manchester. They were going to get a taxi. We had a bit of banter about the cost, but Vinny wasn’t having any. Said he had a bob or two, and to keep my nose out. After he left, I had a look round his room. I found the jewellery and a bundle of notes stashed in the bottom of his wardrobe.”

  “You should have told us before. That would’ve saved a lot of legwork.” Speedy said. “Did you ask him where he got it from?”

  “Never got the chance, did I? Next thing I knew, he’d been done in. I took the money, spent some, and then panicked. I know what it looks like, but I didn’t hurt those lads.”

  “Do you know anything about the heroin?” Greco asked.

  “Heroin?” Dave Holt looked genuinely puzzled. “There was no heroin, just dosh and jewellery.”

  “Don’t lie to us again, Dave.” Speedy leaned forward and gave him a look full of menace. “Feed us more lies and we’ll throw the bloody book at you!”

  “It’s not a lie. That is all there was.”

  “If we presume that Craig Riley took his share, what would he have done with it?” Greco asked.

  “Much the same as Vinny. Although Craig wouldn’t want his mother or Callum rooting around in his stuff. Up until the killings, there was just the twins and her at home. She’s a right nosey cow. Vinny told me once that Craig stashed stuff under a loose floorboard in his bedroom.”

  Chapter 13

  The man who stood in front of Ava Whitton was in his fifties, thin and small with dark hair. His clothes had seen better days, but he looked reasonably tidy, and he was clean shaven. In any event, she had little choice. Barton had sent him to her. As far as that thug was concerned, everything had to seem normal. They were standing outside in the huge yard belonging to Greyson Logistics. Half a dozen lorries were parked up against the far wall.

  “You will have to learn better English, Vasili,” Ava told him. She looked at the teenage girl who’d accompanied him. “You must make him understand. Speaking good English is not an option, it’s a necessity. How does he cope at the moment? You tell me he drives for a living. How does he read the road signs?”

  “He uses a Polish satnav,” Zosia Pakulski replied simply. “My father is a good man and a hard worker. He won’t let you down.”

  “That is not in question. I can see that he is keen, but that is not enough. There are times when this job can get tricky. Sometimes our drivers are stopped by customs at the ferry ports, Calais or Dover. A soft touch is required. It helps if a driver is able to communicate well.” That was putting it mildly. A smooth tongue and a friendly smile could work wonders in certain circumstances.

  “Please give him a chance. Me and my sister Elena will help him. I have time off school soon. I can go with him.”

  Ava shook her head. “That would pose all sorts of problems, insurance and such.”

  “He needs the job. Being able to stay in our house depends on it,” Zosia pleaded. “My sister spoke to a friend of hers who helps out at the community centre on the estate. She sent us to see you. We were told
you would give Papa a job.”

  Ava looked a little closer at the girl. She was talking about someone who must know Barton, a girl Ava knew nothing about. “What is her name?”

  “I only know her as Dee,” Zosia replied.

  Ava nodded. She had no choice. This man would be taken on. Officially, he would work for Greysons, but he was in hock to Barton just as much as she was. Eventually he would drive the firm’s lorries across to Europe and back with cargo for bona fide customers, and drugs for Barton to distribute to his network.

  “You will accompany George over there for now.” Ava nodded at a middle-aged man sorting the cab in one of the lorries. “His next trip is in a couple of days, to Warsaw. He will give you the details. Speak to him and then go home and pack what you need. George will ring and tell you when to return. You will be gone for the better part of the coming week. Be aware that life as a long-distance driver is no picnic. You will be on the road for hours, eat in roadside cafes, and sleep in the cab, mostly in laybys along the route.” Ava was wasting her time. The man didn’t understand a word of what she said. She could have spoken to him in his native tongue, but she didn’t want to do that at work. She nodded at Zosia. “Explain it to him, will you?”

  “He is fine with that,” the girl assured her.

  “Another driver?” Martin Greyson was standing at the main entrance, watching her.

  “We need him, Martin. Drivers don’t stay long. We work them too hard.”

  “They don’t complain,” he retorted.

  “Not to you. They daren’t, Martin. You put the fear of God into most of them.”

  “That one is foreign.”

  “Most of them are,” Ava replied. “Might not be so great when they drive the British roads, but it can be useful once they’re in Europe. That one is Polish. He will go on the next run to Warsaw with George.” She flashed him a rare smile and went back into the office building.

  * * *

  Craig Riley’s mother lived on the second floor of Trojan House on the Lansdowne. After what Dave Holt had told them, Greco had no difficulty in obtaining a search warrant for her flat.

  “We go carefully. I don’t want the woman upsetting,” Greco told Speedy, who wasn’t known for his tact. “She has just lost her son, remember. Whatever Craig took home and hid under the floorboards, it’s unlikely his mother knows anything about it.”

  “What about the brother? D’you reckon he was in on this?”

  “I’ve no idea, but we will question him. They were twins, lived under the same roof. Callum is bound to know things, whether he realises their importance or not.”

  Greco was right about Craig’s mum. Joan Riley had no idea what they were on about, or why they would want to search her son’s bedroom. However, with a warrant in place, she realised there was no choice.

  “Is Callum here?” Greco asked.

  “No, love, I’ve sent him to the supermarket. He won’t be long though.” She followed them into Craig’s bedroom. “He was a good lad mostly, our Craig, but he could give me grief too. Got himself into bother a few times, but not recently. Him and Vinny seemed to have turned a corner. Joined that group Clovelly runs. Became a pair of do-gooders. It changed the pair of them. Like I said before, Craig had even got himself an interview, a driving job with a firm in town.”

  “Which firm, Mrs Riley?” Greco asked.

  “Greyson Logistics. They were going to train him up and everything.”

  “Guv,” Speedy whispered. “That firm. It’s where Ava Whitton works. She’s the transport manager.”

  Greco hadn’t forgotten. It might be important. They’d have to see. But the mention of that woman’s name made him more determined than ever to search her house. Craig applies for a job, gets an interview and then robs the woman.

  “Were your two boys close, Mrs Riley?” Greco asked.

  “Not recently. Identical twins they might be, but they had very different personalities. Callum is kind and thoughtful. There’s no way he’d get involved in the antics Craig did.”

  The lad sounded almost too good to be true.

  “Found his stash!” Speedy announced with a smile. He’d moved the bed and lifted the loose floorboard. It was exactly as Dave Holt had told them. There was a roll of notes, mostly twenties, and a few items of jewellery. “No drugs or packets here. If they took any, the lads must have hidden them somewhere else.”

  * * *

  The items of jewellery were bagged up individually, ready for forensics. Before it was sent off, Greco decided to see how much of it had come from the community centre. The watch they knew about, but what about the rest?

  Grace and Joel laid out the jewellery on one of the tables in Max Marsh’s room. Each piece was in a clear plastic bag, so all folk had to do was take a look and point. Joel was ready with his notebook.

  Graham shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t believe this. It must have been going on for weeks, and right in front of my nose too.”

  “Like you say, going on for a while,” Grace told him. “We need to find out who was involved in this. Craig and Vinny we know about, but there could be others. It was organised, they had a system. What we have to do now is find out who and how.”

  Clovelly addressed the group of pensioners. “Come and have a look. See if you recognise anything of yours.”

  “But don’t touch,” Grace added. “Just point it out to us and we’ll get your names. You’ll get it all back shortly. First, we need to check for fingerprints and the like.”

  The group was in sombre mood. Some of them had discussed the problem among themselves, but none had made a formal complaint. Max Marsh hung back. He stood by a window watching events.

  “We didn’t want to make a fuss,” Doreen told Grace. “Graham does such a lot. None of us wanted to see him get into trouble. Or even worse, see this place close.”

  Grace smiled reassuringly at her. She pointed to the watch. “There is a gold watch. Was it yours?”

  “Yes, love,” Doreen replied and picked up the bag. “It’s been missing for a month now. I’m so grateful to you for finding it. I thought I’d never get it back.”

  Grace took her to one side. “Who knew about your valuables?”

  “No one but me. I keep this in a box in the sideboard drawer.”

  “Were you broken into?”

  “No. One day I just noticed that it was gone. It could have been missing for ages, and I never noticed. I mentioned it to Joe over there, and he told me about his bank account.”

  No break-in, and no one knew. “Have you had anyone in your home, a stranger or a friend who could have stolen it?”

  “I can’t remember, love, but I don’t think so, not strangers. My sister comes round, but she wouldn’t take it. The man comes to read the lecky meter, but he stays in the hallway.”

  “Okay. If you do remember anything, just ring me.”

  Grace went to have a word with Joe. He’d not lost any jewellery but his bank account had been accessed without his consent.

  “I check it all the time,” he told her. “We’d been doing about online banking with Marshy. He’s a good lad, set it all up for me.”

  “Did he know your log-in details? You know, password and the like?” Grace asked.

  “Well, yes, love. I’m all fingers and thumbs. I couldn’t get it right at the start. When the money went missing, I went into my branch and they changed everything for me.”

  “And you’ve not told anyone your log-in details since?”

  “No. They said not to.”

  Grace went over to Joel. “Anything?”

  “Max Marsh has gone through online banking with them. He’s also helped one or two set up their computers at home. That means he had the opportunity to look around.”

  “I wonder if he went to Doreen’s? He’s been busy, has Marshy, don’t you think? Have a word and I’ll speak to the others.”

  Most of the pieces were identified and logged. They belonged to half a dozen of the group.
Grace gathered the owners together. “Are any of you aware of a break-in at your homes?”

  There was a unanimous shaking of heads.

  “In that case, you either knew them, or they knew where to get hold of a key.”

  A man called Ernest Knowles spoke up. “Whoever it was must have been bloody quick. My cigarette case disappeared after I’d been to the bookies. I know because I’d had it out, showing a mate that morning. When I got back, it was gone.”

  “And your mate couldn’t have taken it?”

  “No. He left, and I put it back in the drawer. When I got back, everything was normal, exactly like I’d left it. Except for my cigarette case, that is.”

  “Did Marshy come to your house, help you set your computer up?” Grace asked.

  “He did, love,” Ernest Knowles replied. “He came once or twice until things were working right.”

  “He’s been to most of our homes,” Doreen told her. “He’s keen to help and comes in his spare time.”

  “Keen to help, eh? I bet he is,” Grace whispered to Joel.

  “What’s going on?” Dee came into the room and immediately clocked the display of jewellery.

  “Theft,” Grace told her. “Someone has been targeting the group.”

  The girl said nothing, but her hand flew unconsciously to her neck. She touched a round pendant, studded with red stones.

  Grace nodded at it. “Nice. Where did you get it?”

  “It’s mine. Max gave it to me.”

  Grace looked round, but Marsh had made himself scarce. She made a mental note. “We will want to speak to you further, Dee,” Grace warned her. “Both you and Max, so don’t disappear.”

  Chapter 14

  Ava Whitton checked the two ID badges carefully before reluctantly admitting Greco and Grace into her home. “I have taken an hour off work, so this will have to be quick.”

  Greco felt his pulse quicken. The woman was as flawless as before. Her hair was wound into a neat plait at the back of her head. The expensive clothes she was wearing suited her tall, willowy frame perfectly. He had to get a grip. This woman was involved in their investigation up to her neck.