Riddled on the Sands (The Lakeland Murders)

by Salkeld, J J

  ‘What is it this time?’ said Capstick. He was dressed, and it looked as if he’d showered. He didn’t smell of booze either.

  ‘A few more questions, I’m afraid’ said Ray. He sounded genuinely apologetic. Mann was impressed.

  ‘Sorry if I’ve been out of it the last few days’ said Capstick, when they were sitting in his living room. It smelt as if someone had aired the place thoroughly since they’d last been there. ‘But you know it is, the shock like. But I understand now, it wasn’t my fault. I’m not to blame for any of what’s happened.’

  Mann wondered if Dixon would follow-up on that, and he did.

  ‘It’s good you’ve been talking it through, mate. That’s a great idea. Who have you been talking to, the vicar was it?’

  ‘No, not him. I don’t really know the bloke. I don’t go to church anyway.’

  ‘Got you. So who was it then?’

  Capstick looked absolutely wide awake. ‘Just a mate. Look, what’s it got to do with you? I want to get out to my nets in an hour, so can we get on with it? Though I’ve got no bloody idea what there is left for you to ask me.’

  ‘I agree’ said Dixon, smiling. ‘I can’t see the point either. But it’s our boss. He’s certain you’re mixed up what happened to Jack Bell, and it’s all because of that call you made to that sat-phone. Sorry, but that’s how it is.’

  ‘I told you, it wasn’t me. I don’t know anything about all that. I’ve done nothing wrong.’

  Dixon held up his palms. ‘Sorry, and we won’t be long this time, I promise. I just need a list of everyone you’ve met up with, or have seen in the last few weeks.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I’ll level with you. I shouldn’t, but I will. It’s because our boss has got this theory that someone you know is the connection between you and what happened to Jack Bell. It’s crazy, I know, but there it is, mate. There’s no telling the DI when he’s got an idea into his head, is there, Sarge?’

  Mann grunted assent.

  ‘So, let’s go through them, shall we? How about folk from the village? Why don’t we start with the pub?’

  Twenty minutes later Dixon had almost fifty names in his book, over forty were men, and all but a couple were local.

  ‘Tell me about these two lads here, Mike Skelton and Paul English. Where do you know them from?’

  Mann had never watched a suspect closer in his life, but a far as he could see Capstick didn’t tense up when Dixon returned to those two names.

  ‘I used to go drinking in Kendal, years ago. Went to the nightclub there, on the pull, like.’

  ‘And that’s where you met these two, is it?’

  ‘Aye, sort of. I met Mike through this girl I was seeing then, and Paul’s his mate. I took them out fishing a few times, and we still meet up. I take them out every once in a while, still.’

  ‘When was the last time?’

  Capstick shrugged. ‘Not sure exactly, but it’d be a month or two at least.’

  ‘And was it both of them?’

  ‘No, just Mike. I’m not sure where Paul was the last time.’

  ‘And what do they do for work, these two?’

  ‘Paul’s a fitter at a truck repair place in Kendal, and Mike’s there too. They’ve worked there all the time I’ve known them, anyway.’

  ‘And how long’s that?’

  ‘Eight or ten years I suppose. Something like that.’

  Dixon closed his notebook, and waited for Mann to take over. But he didn’t say a word.

  ‘Is that it, then?’ said Capstick eventually.

  ‘Aye, for now’ said Dixon, not sure how far he should let his good-guy persona slip. ‘But if there’s anyone you’ve forgotten, make sure you let us know, eh? I’ll leave you my card, OK? Just phone one of those numbers whenever you like, if anything comes back to you. Because it wouldn’t look good for you if we find that you’ve got a mate that you’re not telling us about. You can see that?’

  ‘Aye, I can see all sorts. And I know I’ve done nowt wrong. I’m not responsible for whatever happened to Jack. That’s just not down to me.’

  Mann didn’t say much until they were five minutes from the station.

  ‘You heard what he said?’

  ‘That he’s not responsible for what happened. Aye, I heard’ said Dixon.

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘You think someone’s got into his head?’

  ‘I do. Clever too, whoever it is. They’ve figured out the best way to keep him quiet isn’t to threaten him, but convince him that what happened to Jack Bell isn’t his fault. It’s what he wants to believe anyway, so it wouldn’t have been hard to do.’

  ‘So that’s why you didn’t lean on him?’

  ‘Aye, that’s right. It just didn’t feel like the right time. I don’t think I’d have got through.’

  Dixon was impressed. He’d never had Ian Mann down as a sensitive kind of copper, and he if he had developed shoulders that broad he probably wouldn’t have been either.

  ‘I reckon you made the right call. Let’s have a good look at these KAs when we get back.’

  ‘You mean those two lads from Kendal?’

  ‘Aye, them first. The names didn’t ring any bells with me though. Did they with you?’

  ‘No, can’t say they did. I have a vague memory that we did a bloke who worked there for fiddling tachographs, but that’s it.’

  They drove in silence for a while.

  ‘I’m glad Atkinson wasn’t there, anyway’ said Dixon.

  ‘Oh aye?’

  ‘I don’t know, Ian, but I just don’t like the bloke. When he was in the job he had a reputation as a bit of a skiver, didn’t he? And now he just seems so bloody keen, somehow.’

  ‘It’s probably just retirement, mate. Does strange things to the brain. Or so I’ve heard.’

  Dixon wished he’d bought another pie when they’d stopped in Grange on the way out. Not because he was hungry, but because he’d love to drop a load of tiny flakes of pastry all over the inside of Ian Mann’s precious Focus.

  Andy Hall and Jane Francis left work at the same time that evening, and when they got home he poured her a glass of wine and she took the last of the olives through to the living room. For once the kids weren’t watching reality TV shows, the kind that made her leave the room, so she turned on the local news.

  ‘Andy, look at this. Quick.’

  ‘Just a sec. Crucial time here.’ She’d never known anyone take what he called cooking, and she called re-heating, quite so seriously.

  Jane was laughing when Hall came in to the room. ‘Look who it is.’ Jane raised her finger to her lips. The interviewer was asking someone how much money had been raised so far.

  ‘Nearly five hundred pound’ said Gary O’Brian, ‘and there’s more to come in yet, like.’

  ‘And will that be enough to replace the children’s bicycles?’

  ‘Aye’ said Gary, a little doubtfully, ‘but any extra will go giving them a few nice days out over the holidays. To make up for the loss of their bikes, like. They loved them bikes.’

  ‘Priceless’ said Hall, when the item had finished. ‘Did the kids even have bikes to begin with?’

  Jane laughed. ‘I think so. One of their neighbours would have grassed him up otherwise. But the garage was such a mess that you couldn’t really tell.’

  ‘You’ve got to hand it to him either way though, haven’t you? What a chancer.’

  Jane raised her glass to the TV screen. ‘Shouldn’t you be slaving away over a hot stove, Andy?’

  Friday, June 28th

  Jane was glad to be back on the Bell case for a while. She’d sent an email to Perkins, and followed up with a phone call, explaining what she wanted him to do.

  ‘I have got a business to run’ he’d said, and Jane had only barely resisted the urge to point out that he didn’t actually have anything very much to sell.

  But by the end of the daily meeting she wasn’t really thinking about John Perkins any more.
>
  ‘Jane, any thoughts?’ asked Hall. ‘Be useful to get a fresh pair of eyes on this one.’

  Jane didn’t like to admit that she’d been reading the case file daily anyway. But she needn’t have worried about that, because Hall knew perfectly well that she had.

  ‘What about the human trafficking angle?’ she suggested. ‘That still sounds just as likely as drugs to me. Based on the information we have, anyway.’

  Mann was watching Hall carefully. He was pretty certain that Hall hadn’t confided in Jane, and he was glad of it.

  ‘It’s possible, certainly, and we shouldn’t rule it out’ replied Hall. ‘But there’s nothing to point us in that direction, and if we’re right, and Capstick was intended to be some sort of courier, then it’s more likely that that the cargo was drugs, rather than people.’

  ‘But maybe he was just a guide’ Jane persisted, ‘in which case that assumption wouldn’t necessarily be true, would it?’

  ‘Agreed. Tell you what, Jane, why don’t you take a fresh look at that angle? Maybe make a start when you get back from this morning’s interviews with Ian? I’ve got a couple of contacts, one at the Home Office, who you might want to talk to about it.’

  Half an hour later Jane was sitting in Mann’s immaculate car, and wondered, briefly, if she’d ever driven him anywhere. She was pretty sure she hadn’t. Andy Hall was different, he didn’t much like driving, so was always happy for her to take the wheel.

  ‘So what do we know about these two lads, then, Ian?’

  ‘Well, they’re two peas in a pod by the looks of it. They’ve both worked at the same place, doing much the same work, for seven or eight years. Skelton is 37, and English is 36. They both did 12 years in the Marines, and while they were in they even got nicked for the same affray, up in Scotland.’

  ‘Any other previous?’

  ‘Quite a bit as juveniles, nothing since.’

  ‘The positive influence of military discipline, was it?’

  Mann wasn’t sure if Jane was having a dig at him or not. He decided to play it safe. He was that bit more inclined to take the cautious line, now that Jane and the boss were an item. And that irritated him slightly.

  ‘Aye, maybe it was, or perhaps they just grew up.’

  ‘Sounds like they’re inseparable, anyway.’

  ‘Aye’.

  ‘In a gay way?’

  Mann could tell, from Jane’s tone of voice, that he was being teased.

  ‘Aye’ he said, ‘maybe they are. Who are we to judge?’

  ‘Congratulations, Sergeant Mann. You’ve passed today’s diversity course.’

  Mann laughed. ‘Don’t joke about it. Andy’s already got me down as some kind of dinosaur, and the Super thinks I’m whatever came before them.’

  ‘Plankton?’ suggested Jane, helpfully.

  ‘Which one do you want me to talk to?’ asked Jane, as they pulled in through the yard gates. The place smelt of swarf and sweat.

  ‘You take English. The foreman said they’d be ready, and he’s loaned us a couple of empty offices for half an hour, so let’s get to it.’

  Ian Mann was sitting in the office he’d been loaned when Mike Skelton knocked at the door. There was a rotating card index on the dusty desk, and filing cabinets that looked as if they hadn’t been opened in thirty years. The odour of old engine oil permeated the whole place, and it seemed to have thinly coated every surface too. But Mann had been in much, much worse.

  Skelton didn’t look familiar, but then Mann hadn’t really expected him to. But even if he hadn’t known Skelton’s military background he reckoned he would have guessed soon enough.

  ‘So, Mike, you know why I’m here?’

  ‘Aye, something to do with Pete Capstick, is that it?’

  ‘Sort of. We’re investigating the disappearance of Jack Bell, another one of the net fishermen. Have you ever met him?’

  ‘Not met, not really like. But when I saw his picture on the telly I recognised him. When we’ve been out with Pete we’ve seen him a few times. Shame, it was, really. So he’s dead then, this Jack Bell?’

  Mann didn’t answer. ‘Who’s ‘we’? You and Paul English?’

  ‘Aye, that’s right. We both like a bit of fishing.’

  ‘And that’s what you do, is it? When you go out with Pete Capstick?’

  ‘Aye, sometimes. A few times we’ve just been out to see what it’s all about, like. I get a bit sick of this place sometimes, and I’ve thought about giving the fishing job a go instead. Maybe on the side to start with. So Pete had been showing us the ropes.’

  ‘So how often have you been out with him?’

  ‘Not sure. Maybe twenty, thirty times.’

  ‘And do you know your way around on the sands now?’

  Skelton laughed. ‘No way. There’s times when Pete gets off the tractor and goes and has a close look at the sand before he drives the tractor on it, and he’s been doing it his whole life. It takes years to get to know that place.’

  ‘And when did you last go out?’

  ‘A couple of months back, something like that. I’ve been taking all the overtime that I can get because me and the girlfriend are off on holiday next week, and she’s been on at me to bring in the extra cash. You know how it is. So I’ve not seen Pete for a bit.’

  ‘And how about Paul?’

  ‘No, you’d have to ask him yourself, but I don’t think he’s been out with Pete lately either. We usually go together. Make a night of it, have a drink afterwards, you know the score.’

  ‘Do you still have mates from your time in the Marines?’

  ‘Aye, ‘course I do. But what’s this got to do with Pete? He’s never been in the forces, not as far as I know.’

  Again Mann ignored the question.

  ‘So are you going to have a go at it, the fishing job?’

  ‘No, it’s just a pipe-dream. I’ll be stripping and rebuilding lorry engines until I bloody retire, or I get too weak to do the work. It’s heavy work, is this. Mind you, the fishing job is too, and there’s no proper money in it neither, not really.’’

  ‘You got your training in the army?’

  ‘Aye, then finished it here. I’ve got a degree, you know, got it last year.’

  ‘Well done. So will that get you off the shop floor?’

  ‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? No, all it got me was a day off work for the graduation, which I didn’t have to take as holiday, like. So that was all right, I suppose.’

  ‘All right, Mike. Well I think that’s it for now. Oh, just before I go. When you were out with Pete, did you see anything that struck you as odd?’

  ‘Out on the sands, like?’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘No, nothing that I can think of, sorry. A young whale got beached right out in the Bay, and we went to look at that, because Jack Bell was trying to get it back it back in the water. Lost cause it was, Pete said, but that didn’t stop Jack trying. But every time he got it free it just beached itself again on the next tide. Was that the sort of thing you meant?’

  ‘Not exactly. Did you see any people, any vehicles, anything like that when you were out there?’

  ‘Aye, I’ve seen a few cockle-pickers, and a few other net fishermen on their tractors, but that’s all. Oh, and we saw the northern lights one night. Fantastic, it was.’

  ‘I’m sure. OK, that’s us finished. Sorry to have taken you away from your work.’

  ‘No worries, and it’ll still be there when I get back, worse luck.’ Skelton got up to go. ‘By the way’ he said, ‘don’t I know you from somewhere?’

  ‘Not unless I’ve nicked you for something’ said Mann.

  Jane was standing next to his car when Mann emerged. They didn’t speak until they’d driven between the yard’s tall steel gates.

  ‘Anything?’ asked Mann.

  ‘Not really, no. He said that they started going out with Pete Capstick because Skelton had got some idea into his head about becoming a net fisherman.’
r />   ‘And English didn’t believe him? Did he think there was some other motive?’

  ‘No, nothing like that. English said that Skelton has these enthusiasms occasionally. He’s always dreaming of escape from where they work now. Talks about it constantly, apparently.’

  ‘And you thought he was telling the truth?’

  ‘Yes. How about Skelton?’

  ‘The same. Nothing he said came off wrong. It’s a shame though, because those two lads would know how to shoot straight, that’s for sure and certain. Must admit, Jane, I was starting to get my hopes up.’

  ‘It doesn’t look as if anything’s going to come easy on this one.’

  ‘Does it ever? I’ve got a nasty feeling that we’re not even going to be able to lay a finger on Pete Capstick, let alone whoever the shooters were.’

  ‘Can’t we at least keep Capstick under observation?’

  ‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But Andy can’t even get that signed off these days. Apparently the Super nearly fell off her throne laughing when he suggested it. So unless we get Capstick to tell us what he knows, or we get some other breakthrough, then I’d say we’re buggered.’

  ‘I wonder if they’d come back? To try again, I mean.’

  ‘Who? The shooters?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘No, they’d be mad. We’ve gone public with most of what we know about Jack’s death, remember, because we needed to try to find another eye-wit or two, so they know that we’re on to them. Must do, surely. They’d just go somewhere else.’

  ‘But what if Andy’s right, and Pete came back without the gear the night they shot Bell? What if someone still wants to get it ashore? All they’d need is eyes on the ground and they’d soon know that we’ve hardly got any extra presence. They’d be as safe as they were before, safer maybe. I know that Andy persuaded the Super to get a patrol car round the slipways once a day, but I think that finishes today. And it’s hardly high-profile policing, is it?’