SHADOW CRIMES a gripping crime thriller full of twists

by MICHAEL HAMBLING

  ‘Let’s be honest, Laura, even these days it’s not that unusual, is it? Part of the blame has got to lie with us women and the way we pamper our sons. And, if you ask me, too many seem to enjoy playing the martyr, they quite like their partner being helpless.’ She paused. ‘Sorry. I digressed. I’ll get back on track.’

  Laura caught the slight smile of amusement on the sergeant’s face.

  ‘Were you aware of anything that was bothering Tony at work?’ the woman said. ‘Did he ever mention any concerns he had? I know the local CID has already asked you this question, but please bear with me.’

  ‘Tony never talked about his work to me. Never. It was pointless me asking because it would only set off one of his moods. But there did seem to be something bothering him, starting from about five years after we arrived here.’

  ‘When was that?’

  ‘We came here about fifteen years ago.’

  ‘Okay. That’s all the questions I have at the moment, Laura. But there’s something else I need to mention. You were meant to inform the local CID when you felt ready to return home. You didn’t, and we only found out by accident.’

  ‘I just felt I needed to come home,’ Laura said, thinking it sounded a bit lame. ‘I missed the place. My sister’s was fine for a short while, but you miss your own home, don’t you?’

  ‘I can understand your feelings, Laura. But it’s my job to keep you safe. Something happened at the weekend that caused us to have serious concerns. We just can’t have you staying here by yourself, I’m afraid. Is there no chance of you being able to return to your sister’s for a few more days?’

  Laura shook her head. ‘We had a bit of a falling out, actually.’

  ‘Okay. If I remember rightly, you had an offer from a neighbour, a Mrs Gibson. Do you think that offer might still be open? There are reasons why I don’t want you here until we’re sure it’s safe.’

  Laura looked shocked. ‘Well, I imagine Jane would still have me if it’s that important. Is it really so bad?’

  ‘We don’t know. But I always plan for the worst. That way I keep people alive.’

  Laura’s hand went to her mouth. ‘Oh, my goodness. I didn’t realise things were that bad. Yes, Jane lives opposite. She’s the woman I was chatting to the afternoon Tony died.’

  The detective smiled at her. ‘Barry here will go across and speak to her. Better to be safe than sorry.’

  Chapter 30: At the Barracks

  Tuesday Morning

  Buckley Barracks is situated in the north Wiltshire countryside. The area doesn’t have the rolling beauty of Salisbury Plain further south, but on this crisp, sunny winter’s morning, the trees and hedgerows sparkled and it looked enchanting. Lydia and Jimmy turned off the main road toward the army base.

  Lydia showed her identification to the sentry at the gate. ‘We’re here to see Captain Hudson,’ she said. ‘We have an appointment.’

  They were directed to the main reception office where, after a few minutes wait, he escorted them along a corridor and into an office. They were greeted by a tall officer with a thickly freckled face and sandy hair. He stood up and walked around his desk to greet them.

  ‘I’m Colin Hudson, in charge of security. I’ve a vague idea why you’re here, and I’ve done a bit of preparation for you.’

  Lydia smiled at him. ‘Thanks.’

  He pulled some documents out of a drawer in his desk. ‘I’ve found the records of the men you mentioned in your request form. I’m allowed to share with you anything that I think might be relevant to your criminal investigation, but no other stuff. I only got a hazy idea from the ministry’s message, so you’ll need to fill me in on the details. Just to reassure you, I’m aware that all information relating to an ongoing serious crime investigation is confidential. Whatever we discuss in here won’t leave this office.’

  Lydia gave him a brief description of the Operation Shadow investigation, along with her theory that the smuggling operation in different areas might be organised by the same gang, some of whose members could well be former logistics corps soldiers. ‘Our suspicions mainly concern the two named in the form. One of them, Liam Fenners, died at the weekend in a house fire, along with his wife. We think it was arson.’

  ‘You’re talking possible murder, as well as this smuggling operation? Now that is serious.’

  ‘Absolutely. I’d like to spend time going through what you’ve dug out, but I wonder if it would be possible for Jimmy here to go walkabout with someone from your team? If he could talk to some of the guys who’d been around at the same time as Fenners and Boulden that would be great.’

  ‘I don’t see a problem in that. I’ll get one of my NCOs to take him to the canteen. A lot of the units will be starting to drift in for lunch. Then we can meet up with him there a bit later and grab a bite to eat ourselves. How does that sound?’

  ‘Perfect.’

  * * *

  Jimmy Melsom was the ideal person to put off-duty soldiers at their ease. His engaging, man-on-the-street personality and his obsession with football and cricket meant that he had plenty of topics for conversation. His temporary host, Lance Corporal Jacqui Winter was a great help, she seemed to know most of the soldiers by their first name. She also knew those that would have been serving there at the same time as Fenners and Boulden.

  Halfway through his pasty, she touched Jimmy’s arm. ‘There’s a possible useful contact. He’s been here yonks. It’ll be worth chatting to him.’

  They moved across to join a middle-aged man with a round face and grizzled hair, who’d just settled at a nearby table.

  ‘Can we join you, sir?’ Jacqui asked. ‘I’d like you to meet Detective Constable Jimmy Melsom from Dorset. He’s visiting the base as part of an ongoing inquiry. Jimmy, this is Sergeant Graham Dixon.’

  The two men shook hands.

  ‘Must be important if base security have got themselves involved,’ Dixon said.

  ‘We’ve left our bosses doing the important stuff,’ Jacqui replied. ‘Jimmy wanted to meet some ordinary squaddies, so I decided to bring him in here for lunch.’

  ‘Nice place. Good people,’ Jimmy said to Dixon.

  ‘Yeah, I like it. Otherwise I wouldn’t have stayed so long. I’m one of the permanent staff, in charge of the stores here. I’m probably too old to move on now and, to be honest, I’ve lost the wish to keep moving about. It might have suited me in my younger days, but I’ve put down roots around here, so I’m happy to stay put.’

  ‘I’ve never been away from Dorset,’ Jimmy said. ‘Apart from holidays, that is. Lived there all my life, so I’m a real stay-at-home.’

  ‘Nothing wrong with that. I wouldn’t have agreed with you when I was your age, but I’ve changed my tune as I’ve got older.’

  Jimmy took an instant liking to this man. He seemed shrewder than all the other soldiers Jacqui had introduced him to, who were keen to gossip about football and the current state of the premier league. He wondered how to start, but Jacqui did the job for him.

  ‘Jimmy is interested in some people we had with us a few years ago, Graham. I think they may have created a few problems in their time. Fenners and Boulden? Do those names ring a bell?’

  Dixon laughed. ‘Why aren’t I surprised that the police are here about those two? Real pair of scumbags, if you ask me. Do you want to know what they were thrown out for? Though it’ll all be in the records anyway.’

  ‘That’s what my boss is doing at the moment, going through the paperwork with your security chief,’ Jimmy said. ‘I thought I’d try a different angle, speak to people who were here at the time, and try to get a feel for what they were like. Your comment about them’s told me a lot already.’

  ‘It wasn’t just what they got cashiered for — filching stuff from the stores. They just weren’t nice people. I never felt like I could trust them. They were the worst two I ever had working for me, particularly Fenners. He could be nasty.’ He paused. ‘Well, they were almost the worst.’
/>   Jimmy’s ears pricked up. He waited, but no further explanation was offered. Instead, Dixon changed tack.

  ‘In one way, they did us a favour. We were forced to examine all of our store security procedures afterwards and tighten them up one hell of a lot. Then other logistics corps places copied our new system. Stuff’s always gone missing from army stores, and always will, but it’s mostly small things. What those two managed to do was steal stuff by the vanload by exploiting loopholes no one knew about.’

  ‘I didn’t realise it was that serious,’ Jimmy said. ‘Why didn’t they end up in prison for it, rather than just being chucked out?’

  Dixon shrugged. ‘I asked myself that question all the time, and I could never come up with a sensible answer. It’s a mad world, not a whole lot of fairness or justice in it. Why are you interested in them, by the way? Still the same nasty, lying, cheating thieves?’

  ‘Pretty much. I can’t give you any details, since it’s still an ongoing case. I’ll tell my boss, though. She might get back to you.’ He wondered how much he could safely tell Dixon. The information was already in the public domain, so how could it do any harm? ‘Fenners is dead, by the way. He was killed in a house fire at the weekend, him and his wife. Luckily his two kids escaped. It was arson. Possibly deliberate murder.’

  Jacqui Winter sat bolt upright in her seat. Graham Dixon whistled. ‘Blimey. That is a shocking bit of news.’ He was silent, frowning. Jimmy waited.

  ‘There was a third man, though nothing ever stuck to him. He was only here briefly, and he was gone before we got started on the investigations, transferred to some other unit. I could never understand why we couldn’t trace him, but he somehow slipped into the shadows. I always thought he was the ringleader. If the other two were bad, this guy was evil. Nastiest person I ever came across. Taylor. That was his name.’

  ‘Right,’ Jimmy said. ‘Any other name?’

  ‘Never knew his first name.’

  ‘So he could still be in the army?’ Jimmy asked.

  Dixon shrugged. ‘Anything’s possible. If he’s out now, it’ll probably be because he decided to quit. The other two were stupid, but he always managed to escape trouble, often by the skin of his teeth. There was never any evidence to nail him.’

  ‘Anything else we should know about him?’ Jimmy asked.

  ‘Well, if you ever have to confront him, you need to be prepared. He’s a psychopath. I’m serious. He’s just the kind of slime that would set fire to a house in order to kill whoever was inside, then stand and watch them burn.’ He picked up his tray. ‘I’ve probably said too much already. Good luck.’ Then he was gone.

  Chapter 31: Family Memories

  Tuesday Morning

  Kerry was tense and edgy, Rae could see. The teenager had been fine at breakfast, but as the morning wore on she’d become moody and irritable, snapping at anything Rae said. The latest cause of friction had been Kerry wanting to reply to a message on her phone asking where she was. She was sensible enough to show the message to Rae, but wasn’t happy with her answer. Rae had said she could reply to the message but she wasn’t to mention that she was still in Dorset.

  ‘But it’s not as though saying I’m in Dorset tells anyone where we are,’ Kerry said. ‘It’s a big place. It wouldn’t help anyone.’

  ‘It would if someone had access to a list of police safe houses in Dorset,’ Rae said. ‘That’s the problem. We think they have inside information.’

  ‘In that case, wouldn’t they guess that we were in one of them? They’d start checking them. It’s obvious. Then they’ll find us.’ Rae was beginning to realise that Kerry was much brighter than she seemed.

  ‘That’s quick thinking, Kerry. And you’d be right, if we were in one of those places. But this house is special. Only a few people at county headquarters know it exists, and no one from Weymouth does. We want to keep it that way. We’re worried about these tracking apps that can be installed on mobile phones. That’s why yours was checked yesterday before we left the hospital. We can’t afford to take any chances. Just tell your friend that you’re okay, and so’s Danny. I said earlier that your head teacher knows you’re both safe and being looked after. She’s happy as long as you keep doing the work your teachers send, and Danny keeps his music practice going.’

  Kerry glared at Rae with a look of simmering distrust, but it didn’t last long. Making sure that the two youngsters could overhear, Rae chatted with Charlie about his son-in-law.

  ‘Did Liam ever talk about his time in the army, Charlie?’

  Charlie took a sip of tea and settled back in his chair. ‘He was in the army when he met my Sara,’ he said. ‘He was based somewhere well north of here, but was down for a couple of weeks doing something for the artillery at the Lulworth ranges. They met in a pub or club in Weymouth one weekend. He wasn’t in the artillery, mind, he was in some kind of transport unit. He used to go all over the place. When they were first married, he and Sara had an army house up in Wiltshire. That’s where these two were born.’

  ‘Did he like the army?’

  Charlie ran his fingers through his thinning hair. ‘That’s a hard one. It kept him busy, and he made reasonable money. And your mum used to work part-time in a local shop, didn’t she, Kerry?’

  The girl, who had indeed been listening intently, gave a slight smile. ‘She bought sweets for us. It was great. Danny probably can’t remember.’

  Rae was intrigued by Kerry’s change of mood. The smile softened her face and it lost its usual wary and pinched expression. She was very pretty then.

  ‘So, why did he decide to leave the army? Do you know?’ Rae was treading on eggshells here. She’d been asked to find out all she could about Liam and his background, and they needed this information as speedily as possible.

  ‘They only got married because mum was pregnant with me. That’s what I think,’ Kerry interjected. ‘It’s obvious. You just got to look at the dates.’

  ‘It wasn’t like that, Kerry.’ Charlie said quickly. ‘I explained that to you. We never put pressure on your mum to get married. In the end, the choice was hers. We’d have supported her no matter what. I’ve told you that lots of times.’

  ‘And with a baby they could get a better house. She told me that once,’ Kerry retorted. ‘It wasn’t as if I was ever wanted. They never loved me. It’s obvious.’

  Rae listened. This explained a lot. No wonder the girl was so moody and aggressive if she had so little self-esteem.

  ‘You’re wrong again,’ Charlie said. ‘She doted on you when you were small. It was only when she started drinking that she got difficult. And that was after your dad left the army and was around a lot more. The two of them weren’t really suited. They got on each other’s nerves.’ He turned back to Rae. ‘As for why he quit the army, I never found out. But that’s when all the trouble started — the arguments, the drinking. I think he fell in with a bad crowd. They came back to Weymouth, but I stopped seeing them. Babs, their gran,’ he nodded towards the two children, ‘she got ill, but Sara never came round to lend a hand. I gave up on her then, and just kept my eye on these two. I just couldn’t understand why she never lifted a finger to help her own mother. I mean, her older brother and sister did. I still don’t know why. That was the reason why the family split. And now, with both of them dead, there’ll never be a reconciliation. It’s tragic. I just keep thinking, could I have acted differently? It gnaws away at me.’

  ‘Mr Bailey, you seem to me to be a kind and thoughtful person. I’m sure you’re being too hard on yourself. And what you’re doing now, and have been doing, for these two is fantastic.’ She turned to the two youngsters. ‘Isn’t that right? Where would you two be without your grandfather?’

  ‘Grandad,’ Danny said with feeling, ‘you’re the best person in the world. Kerry thinks so too.’

  Rae decided to leave it for now.

  * * *

  Rae was back at the safe house by late afternoon, in time to help prepare an evening m
eal. The sounds of Danny practising on his saxophone reverberated throughout the house. Rae was glad he felt able to resume such activities. Maybe things were settling down. She poked her head through the lounge door.

  ‘Spaghetti Bolognese?’ she asked. ‘How does that sound?’

  ‘I’m okay with it,’ Charlie replied. ‘How about you, Kerry?’

  ‘Fine.’ She didn’t look up from the magazine she was reading.

  ‘Do you feel like giving me a hand, Kerry?’ Rae asked.

  The girl looked up. ‘What? Oh I get it — women’s work, isn’t it? Is that how you see it? Just like my dad?’

  ‘No, I don’t see it that way. My boyfriend’s a better cook than me and he rules the kitchen. I’m too untidy for him. But I can cook a few things, and I’m always better with a bit of help. But if you don’t want to, that’s okay.’

  Kerry rolled her eyes, stood up slowly and followed Rae to the kitchen where they searched the drawers for aprons.

  ‘Spag Bol is messy stuff,’ Rae said. ‘Well, it is when I make it. It’s safer to protect my clothes. Can you start by chopping an onion?’

  They chatted about cooking for a few minutes, then, when Kerry seemed to have relaxed, Rae returned to the subject of Leary.

  ‘Kerry, is there anything else you can tell us about this Tonto Leary character and how he got to know your dad?’

  ‘I think they met in the army. We lived up in Wiltshire then, and I was younger. Dad left the army when I was about eight or nine. That’s when we moved down here, and he got a job on the docks. But that horrible man has only been around for a few years, probably from when I was in year eight at school. I never liked him and Danny doesn’t either.’