Next Victim

by Helen H. Durrant

  “C’mon then — race you!”

  Bad move on Elwyn’s part. She was much fitter than him. By the time they reached the fifth floor, he was gasping. “You need to get back in training,” Rachel said smugly.

  Elwyn was bent double, his hands on his knees, taking in gulps of air. “I . . . let you beat me,” he panted. “You’re the boss and I want a favour.”

  “Work favour?”

  “No, personal.”

  That sounded like trouble. “We’ll talk later,” she said hastily. In a room at the end of the corridor, Rachel could see groups of teenagers sitting around the tables. “This lot’ll take some sorting.”

  Rachel and Elwyn walked in. All eyes turned to look at them, and the chatter suddenly ceased. They’d obviously heard about Oliver.

  “I’m DCI King and this is DS Pryce. We want to speak to you all about Oliver Frodsham,” Rachel began.

  A tall woman stood up. “I’m Pam Reed, one of Oliver’s lecturers. Talk to the students by all means, but I’ll sit in if you don’t mind.”

  “Is it true he’s been murdered?” asked a blonde girl.

  “Yes.” A silence ensued, followed by a few stifled mutterings. “You were his friends,” Rachel continued, “and there are things about Oliver’s life that we need to know if we are going to catch his killer. We’re hoping you will help us.”

  There was more murmuring around the room and then the blonde girl stood up.

  “People thought Ollie was friendly, the get-on-with-anybody sort, but he was more complicated than that. I think he was in trouble. He stayed a couple of nights at ours and didn’t want anyone to know where he was.”

  “What sort of trouble?” Elwyn asked.

  “Someone was looking for him. He wouldn’t say who, just that the man was dangerous. Ollie was secretive. We were his friends, yet he didn’t trust us. For instance, he dropped out of his course but he wouldn’t tell anyone why. I don’t think his mum knew either.”

  “Can you think of a reason why?” asked Rachel.

  “Ollie wanted to be a journalist. He was always working on some story or other. And he’d recently become involved with a local businessman, a developer I think, and some villain. I got the impression something dodgy was going on, but Ollie wouldn’t say. I think he was threatened. I guess he had more to be scared of than we realised.”

  First a villain, now a local businessman and land. Rachel’s nerves sounded another warning. Jed was a crook but in recent years he’d also turned developer, no doubt as a cover for his more nefarious dealings. But he was successful, and responsible for a number of housing estates that had sprung up around the city. It gave him a veneer of respectability.

  “What’s your name?” Rachel asked.

  “Grace Hopton,” said the girl.

  “Does anyone else want to add anything to what Grace has told us?” There was a general shaking of heads. “Okay, but my colleague and I will still have to speak to you all individually.”

  “You can use the office next door.” Grace pointed to it, and they went through.

  “What d’you think?” Elwyn asked Rachel once they were inside the small office.

  “I think we get set up and start rolling them through. There must be a couple of dozen out there. If we don’t watch out, we’ll be here all night.”

  “A local businessman, eh. Greyson?” Elwyn said.

  “Don’t jump to conclusions. We need a lot more.”

  “Can I be first?” The voice came from the doorway.

  Rachel looked up and recognised Hayley from the student house in Fallowfield. “Do you have something you want to tell us?”

  Hayley Burton sat down. She looked nervous, and was biting her bottom lip.

  “Have you spoken to Alice?” she said.

  “Alice Brough?” The girl nodded. Alice was Megan’s friend. “Not yet, but we will.”

  “Alice hated Ollie. I mean really hated him,” she said. “That joke with the tattoo that Ollie and some of us played on her? Given how she felt about finding her brother, she took it badly. Swore she’d get even, and that Ollie would rue the day. How were we to know she took the thing about her brother that seriously? To be honest, some of us doubted he ever existed.”

  Rachel looked at Elwyn. Was he was thinking the same as her? A joke taken too far? A motive for murder, perhaps?

  “When did you last see them together?”

  “A week or so ago, when Alice found out the truth. She was furious, even went for him with a knife in the canteen. Mr Gaskell, one of the lecturers, had to stop her. She was practically foaming at the mouth. I had no idea she had such a temper.”

  Neither had Rachel. The Alice she knew was a gentle soul who loved animals and was a committed vegan. She would never have imagined that sweet girl as being capable of violence.

  “Alice lives at home with her dad, but he’s often away. She has freedom and enough money to do what she wants. Ollie was staying there before they fell out,” Hayley said.

  “Has Alice said anything since you learned about his murder?” asked Elwyn.

  “She’s not been in. That’s strange too. I don’t recall her missing any lectures since we started the course.”

  “Thank you, Hayley. That was very helpful.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The two detectives were on their way back to the station.

  “What now?” Elwyn asked after a long silence.

  “Alice appears to have a motive,” Rachel said. “Harboured a grudge perhaps, but I don’t see her as a killer.”

  “Nevertheless, we’ll have to interview her about what happened.” Elwyn said.

  Rachel shook her head. “It took strength to do what was done to Oliver. Dragging him to the canal bank wouldn’t have been easy either. Alice is a tiny thing, skinny. I want to know about that scoop Oliver was after, and who it involved. He may have trodden on someone’s toes and suffered the consequences.”

  “Hayley said Alice had money,” Elwyn said. “Perhaps she got someone to do the killing for her.”

  “I don’t see that either. I doubt Alice knows anyone that dodgy. Let’s not get bogged down with the Alice angle.”

  “The scoop Oliver was after then. Perhaps he crossed one of this city’s real bad guys.”

  God, she hoped it wasn’t Jed. The idea that the young man could have crossed the villain made her feel sick. Jed did not forgive, he got even. If it came to it, there was no way she could interview him. What excuse could she make to Harding?

  “Where career criminals are concerned,” she said, “swift and to the point is the usual choice. Execution is what they do, with a bullet or a knife. Our killer went to a helluva lot of trouble, took his time. Not what we’re used to with gangland killings.”

  Elwyn was doubtful. “It could still be, Rachel, despite not fitting the profile.”

  “Well, we’ve no idea, have we really? All we know is that Oliver Frodsham upset someone. That someone could’ve been Greyson or Alice. Then again it could be someone we know nothing about. Some villain wanting revenge, for instance.”

  If this was down to one of the first two, they were in with a chance. That would please Harding. If not, they could be chasing their tails for months. No one had ever gotten anything on Jed McAteer, if that’s who Oliver was afraid of. Plenty had tried, but the man was too clever, and he had plenty of people to watch his back.

  She decided to change the subject before Elwyn mentioned any names she’d prefer not to hear. “What’s the favour then?” she asked. His face clouded over. “C’mon, something’s up, I can sense it.”

  Finally, he blurted out, “Can I leave some of my stuff at yours?”

  “What sort of stuff? Not junk, I hope. Can’t you just bung it in the garage like most folk?”

  “It’s my personal stuff — books, photos and some clothes.”

  “Clothes?” She stared at him. “Elwyn, what’s going on? How do you square this with Marie?”

  “I don’t, and
she won’t give a damn anyway. I’m leaving her. The marriage is over.”

  Rachel was gobsmacked. Elwyn and Marie married young, in their late teens. Everyone thought they were the perfect couple. She wanted to ask what had gone wrong, but bit her tongue. This wasn’t the time. They must be good at hiding the truth. She’d only seen them socially a fortnight ago, and all had appeared well.

  “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

  “Made my mind up last week, actually. I’d reached the stage where I knew I’d had enough. We don’t love each other anymore, that’s all there is to it. There’s no one else, unless you count the job.” He gave her an awkward smile.

  Rachel understood only too well how he felt. She’d never really loved Alan. She cared for him, loved him as a friend, but that was as far as it went. The job had filled a void in her life too. Jed McAteer had been the man she wanted. She’d been smitten ever since her teens and had never got over it. But it wasn’t to be. As soon as she found out what he was, she’d dumped him. It broke her heart, but what else could she do? If she wanted to keep her sanity — and her job — Jed had to go.

  “You can have the study. None of us uses it. The girls do their homework in their rooms and I use it as a dumping ground anyway.” She heaved a sigh. “That puts paid to Boxing Day nights round at yours. What will we do now?”

  “You can still come. We’re still friends, you and me.”

  “Not the same though, is it? I enjoy my chats with Marie. Over the years, the job has put paid to a lot of girly friendships. They got fed up of inviting me out and being let down.”

  “It’s coming to something if me and Marie are the sum total of your social life,” he said with a smile.

  “That’s about the size of it.”

  “Thanks, Rachel, I owe you one. I’ll come round later if that’s okay with you.”

  * * *

  As soon as they entered the incident room, Rachel asked Amy, “Oliver’s phone records, what have you got?”

  “He sent several text messages and made a number of calls during the few days before he was killed. To just four numbers. He never contacted anyone else using that phone. One of those numbers belongs to Alice Brough. I’m still investigating the others.”

  “Did Alice text him back?”

  “Boy, did she! Rants on about that tattoo and him making a fool of her, and how he wouldn’t get away with it.” Amy held out the transcript.

  The words were harsh, Alice promising to get even, make him pay. Given that the lad was murdered, they’d have to take the threats seriously. “The other numbers — is one of them Greyson’s by any chance?”

  “Not their main number. It might be Greyson’s personal mobile, I suppose. I’m still working on it.”

  Rachel had no time for this. “Give it here.” There was a quicker way to find out. She tapped the number into the office phone and rang it. “Mr Greyson,” she said, beaming at the team, “we need another word with you. My colleague and I will be round within the hour.”

  The look she gave Amy said it all. The sergeant needed to sharpen up. “Has anyone looked at the CCTV from Greyson’s?” No one replied. “Well, come on. I can’t do everything myself. Get it accessed and start ploughing through it.”

  Rachel left them and went into her office. She needed coffee and to check in with the girls. It would be another late one. Not that she minded, Alan was sorting the meal, and she’d grab a sandwich for herself later.

  Elwyn Pryce stuck his head round her door. “Want me to come with you?”

  “Okay. We still need to speak to Alice Brough. Greyson first, then Alice. After that we’ll call it a day.”

  “Don’t forget what I said about my stuff,” Elwyn said.

  “You’re sure about this? I help you out and people might see it as me condoning your breakup, which I don’t,” she added swiftly. “You and Marie have always been the perfect couple.”

  He shook his head. “Not anymore.”

  Rachel picked up her mobile and rang Megan. She wanted a word about Alice. “Where are you, love?”

  “At home. Restaurant’s off, Dad’s got a client coming round. He’s asked me to order pizza or something.”

  “Have you seen Alice today?”

  “She rang me earlier. She’s not well. I was going to pop round later, try and cheer her up.”

  “Don’t!” Rachel insisted. “We’re going to speak to her about Oliver Frodsham’s death, so I want you to keep away.”

  “You can’t be serious, Mum. Alice won’t be involved. Her and Ollie were okay. You’ve got this horribly wrong.”

  “It’s just a chat, but stay away until I tell you different.”

  There was a knock at the door. Amy. “Ma’am, you should see this. We’ve found something.”

  “Don’t forget what I’ve said, Meggy. Keep away.”

  Rachel could only hope that her daughter did as she was told for once. Alice obviously had a violent streak that she didn’t want Meggy falling foul of.

  The film was as clear as day. Oliver Frodsham and Paul Greyson, arguing in Greyson’s yard. It was just a pity that there wasn’t any sound.

  “That’s not all.” Amy smiled. “Later on, when the place is closed up, Oliver comes back and climbs over the fence.”

  Rachel studied the few seconds of film closely. What was going on? Greyson wasn’t stupid. He must have realised they’d see this when he’d given them access to the film.

  “Amy, take a couple of uniformed officers and bring him in. He’s got some explaining to do.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Paul Greyson was not a happy man. “This is outrageous! What am I supposed to have done?”

  They were in an interview room at the station. Greyson was sitting opposite Rachel and Elwyn, with the duty solicitor beside him.

  “Mr Greyson, we have a few questions for you about the murder close to your premises,” Rachel began.

  “I’ve already told you. That had nowt to do with us.”

  “We now have a film clearly showing the victim in your yard. If you would take a look, please?” Rachel handed him a still taken from the CCTV.

  Greyson’s eyes narrowed. “This is him, is it? Never seen him before. Can I go now?”

  Rachel sat back in her chair and folded her arms. She was going to enjoy watching him wriggle out of this one. “I’m wondering why you’re lying to us, Mr Greyson.”

  “I’m not in the habit of lying, young lady. Now, charge me with something or let me go.”

  “Do you know where we got this photo?”

  “Not a clue.”

  “From your CCTV. Now how do you explain that one?” Rachel took a series of still images from a folder and set them down one by one in front of Greyson. They showed the progression of the argument between him and Oliver, up to the moment where Greyson was shaking his fist at him.

  “It’s a fit-up.” Greyson cast a sidelong look at the silent solicitor.

  “Film doesn’t lie, Mr Greyson. You obviously did know the victim, so why not just say so? What aren’t you telling us? What have you got to hide? Perhaps we should start again.” She tapped the image of Oliver. “How did you know him?”

  As he spoke, Greyson kept his eyes on the photos. “When you came to the works the other day, I didn’t know it were him you were on about. You had no photo and no name. Neither my workforce or me knew anything about any murder. We still don’t. Today you show me these. I admit, I do recognise him, but that’s as far as it goes. He were looking for work, that’s all. We had nowt, so I told him to sling his hook. But he hung around. In the end I had to get shirty just to get rid.”

  “Why should we believe you?”

  “Because it’s the truth. He probably took the nuts and bolts while he were in my yard.”

  Elwyn shook his head. “Why would he do that?” I doubt he’d waste his time. Has there been anyone else hanging around looking for work since then?”

  “We get folk calling from time to time. But hi
m,” he nodded at the photos, “he were a mad bugger. As well as a job, he kept going on about some report or other. I’d no idea what he was on about, but he didn’t want to listen. Kept insisting I had it and that he knew it was fake.”

  “Did you see him leave your premises?” Elwyn asked.

  “Eventually.”

  “He came back later, climbed over your fence. The film shows him doing it. I’m surprised your alarms weren’t triggered. What was your nightwatchman doing while the lad was breaking in?”

  The two detectives watched Greyson wrestle with this. “I’ll have to ask him. He never reported anything.”

  Rachel smiled. “We’ll ask him ourselves, don’t worry.”

  “Have you two done now?” Greyson said. “I’ve got a meeting to go to and it’s getting late.”

  “We’ll be wanting to speak to your staff, particularly your watchman. I’ll be in touch.” Rachel said.

  Greyson was allowed to leave. Rachel gathered up the photos and put them back in the folder. “What was Oliver doing breaking in, Elwyn? More to the point, what was he looking for? Not a few nuts and bolts, that’s for sure. That report Frodsham asked Greyson about, what was that, I wonder?”

  “Who knows? Greyson was no help. Whatever is going on, he doesn’t want to say.”

  “There has to be something. Oliver was interested enough to risk being caught when he went over that fence.”

  “It could be about that piece of land,” Elwyn suggested. “It is right next to Greyson’s place. It would make sense, if he wanted to extend his business.”

  “You think we should have asked him?” She shook her head. “I doubt we’d have got anywhere. Greyson wasn’t up for telling us anything. But you’re right. My gut says that land is important. But we need to make some enquires first, get our facts straight. Finding out what is planned for the land will do for starters.”