‘That all you need for now?’ the man asked.
‘This is it. The wife will be back for the car. You can move it out of here if you need to.’
‘Yeah, will do. We’ve got another fatal coming in, I think. Not sure where they’re dragging that from but they usually ask for them to be put in here.’
Maddie glanced back over at the smashed up family car. She shivered again. Harry was already moving back out into the sunlight. She caught up with him.
‘These places give me the creeps,’ she said.
‘They do have an atmosphere.’ He didn’t speak again until they got back in the car. He put the bag on her lap. ‘Can you take the seal off? They can be tough. I want to drop it back in and speak to the wife.’
Maddie did as she was asked. There was no more conversation. She watched through the window as the setting became more rural again until they entered a town signposted as DEAL. Immediately the architecture changed: older, country-style cottages, thatched roofs, neat lawns and even castle ruins. They didn’t go far into the town before pulling into a quieter road. The house they stopped outside was detached. It had flint walls with a wooden front door that looked smaller than was standard and had surely been made bespoke to fit.
‘Do you want me to stay in the car?’ Maddie asked.
‘No.’ The door closed, stilting any further conversation. Maddie climbed out. She stayed still, watching Harry walk towards the door. She considered staying where she was, making him come back for the property that she clutched in her hands as a sort of protest. But she was pretty certain it would change nothing. She moved around the car and walked up the path. Harry was already knocking. The door pulled open just a few seconds later.
‘Are you the inspector?’
‘Yes. Harry Blaker.’
‘Someone called ahead. They said you would be coming.’
‘That’s good news. I asked for one of my team to let you know. Did they say why?’
‘Yes.’ Her eyes moved to the bag Maddie was carrying. ‘Is that it? Are those his things?’
‘Some of them. That’s anything that was found as part of our initial searching. We haven’t kept anything back.’
‘Okay. Well, did you want to come in?’
‘Yes please.’ Harry stepped in. ‘It’s Mrs Beasle, is that right?’
‘Yes, but Linda please.’
‘Linda. Thank you. This is my colleague, DS Maddie Ives—’
‘Maddie’s just fine,’ Maddie said, reaching forward to shake Linda’s hand.
‘Maddie. Nice to meet you.’ She smiled but it fell away quickly. Her voice was low and on a set level, like an undertaker arranging the final details, missing any emotion at all. No anger, no sadness, no nothing. Maddie had seen it before in the recently bereaved.
‘Where should I set this down?’ Maddie said.
‘Oh!’ Linda moved through to the kitchen. Maddie was tall, nearly six foot, and she had to stoop as she stepped through the doorway. The ceilings were low; the beams that ran along them even lower. ‘Put them in here, could you?’
Maddie put the bag down on a rustic kitchen table. It was a natural wood, the edges rough and unfinished, the knots in the middle thick and rugged.
‘That is an incredible table, Linda,’ Maddie said. ‘Beautiful.’
‘Yes, isn’t it? That was my treat to myself for my sixtieth. Ron — well, he had his Land Rover thing. That was his pride and joy that was. Shows you how different we are. I guess you could say this is my pride and joy. Sounds a bit sad really, doesn’t it?’
‘Not at all. I think if I had something like this in my home it would be mine, too. And is this the man himself?’ Maddie gestured at a picture that was pinned to a downward beam. In it, Linda wore an evening dress and was slightly side-on to a tanned-looking man in a tuxedo whose smile beamed out from a face littered with laughter lines.
‘That’s him. That’s my Ron. It was taken on a cruise we did — just last year. A wonderful trip. I take a little comfort in a strange way that it was our last. We couldn’t have chosen better.’
‘You should remember that. All the good times in fact.’
‘We had a lot of those. Can I make you a tea?’ Linda had been looking at the picture. She snatched her eyes from it and moved to a large cooker that was cut into a tiled alcove. A kettle sat on top of the stove.
‘Yes, that would be lovely,’ Harry said. He picked up the bag of property that Maddie had left undone and reached in to take out each item individually. Maddie noticed he was gentle as he placed them down. Nothing in the bag appeared to be of any real monetary value: a few dog biscuits, a small, tattered notepad, a black plastic watch, a silver-plated Saint Christopher necklace. There was also a hat and from inside it Harry tipped out a wallet, a phone with a cracked screen and a wedding ring.
‘This is it then, is it?’
‘No, Linda. There are more bits in the Land Rover. You can go and pick that up any time you want. Normally they charge sixty pounds a day for storage up there, but they’re very good. They bill us for the initial recovery and then they tend not to worry for a day or two after that in these sorts of circumstances. So make sure you go up there today or tomorrow. Is that going to be okay?’
‘Yes, that should be fine. I have a friend who has already offered to come along.’
‘Is that John, by any chance?’
‘It is, yes! How did you know that?’
‘I spoke to a man named John up at the shooting club. He was obviously a good friend to your husband. He was shocked by the whole thing, of course, but I got the impression he would help you out all he could.’
‘He’s a good man. We see a lot of him and his wife. At least we did . . .’
‘I’m sure that won’t change, Linda.’
‘It might. I mean, people are nice, but they’re not going to want to spend time with me down in the doldrums, are they? Life’s too short to surround yourself with miserable people. You know who told me that? My Ron.’
Harry said nothing for a moment, but his face carried a warmth that Maddie hadn’t seen before. ‘This is going to be hard on you, Linda, but you have the strength to get through it, that much I can tell. You’ll need to use the people around you, friends and family, and I can promise you that no one will mind spending some time down in the doldrums with you, if it means they get to help lead you out.’
Linda beamed. She rushed in a breath like she was fighting her own emotions.
‘So this stuff . . .’ Harry continued, ‘this is just what was on Ron’s person generally. I think the wallet came from the car — we just didn’t want to leave it in there. We’ve taken a forensic copy of the phone, but there’s nothing relevant on there that we can see.’
‘He couldn’t even use the thing! Thank you.’ She picked up the wedding ring. She turned it over in her hands a couple of times, then she made a fist around it and her knuckles whitened, her face suddenly wearing a grimace. She looked like she would never let it go, as if it was everything to her. Maddie didn’t speak. Harry stepped forward, Linda kept her hand clenched but she reached out to him and stepped in for a tight hug. She expelled a loud sob that caught under the low ceiling to fill the kitchen.
Maddie’s eyes fell to the table. She picked up the notebook for something to do, somewhere to look, and flicked idly through the pages. It was mainly rows of numbers that looked like scores, with some notes and names. Maddie guessed it was what he used to keep tallies for groups of shooters. It fell open at the front cover. Her eyes were drawn to a handwritten series of numbers and letters. The writing was awful but she could just make it out: GN66 LGO. Her pulse quickened suddenly and she looked up at Harry. He had his palms on Linda’s shoulders, his head bent as he whispered more words of comfort.
‘Harry, can I talk to you?’ She knew she sounded abrupt, the urgency clear in her voice. Harry looked at her with sudden surprise. She could feel Linda looking at her too.
‘Sure. Would you excuse us a mome
nt, Linda?’
Linda wiped at her face. ‘Of course. Let me make that tea I promised you!’ She sniffed again and turned away. Maddie stepped out of the kitchen and took Ron’s notebook with her.
‘What’s the matter?’ Harry said. He sounded agitated.
Maddie held up the book, her finger under the handwritten numbers and letters. Harry glanced at it, then immediately back to her.
‘Go on?’ he said.
‘This job. The running theory is that our man got hit by a truck and didn’t see it coming, right?’
‘It’s all we have.’
‘And your offender doesn’t know the victim. Never has, never will?’
‘What am I looking at, Maddie?’
‘The registration number for one of the McCall’s trucks. They were up on that board in the office. This is one of them.’
‘The one that was burnt out?’
‘I would guess so, but I don’t know which one that is.’
‘You’re sure?’ Harry bit down on his lip. He leaned in closer to study the book. Maddie could see the excitement in him too.
‘You pick it up when you do what I’ve been doing. Reg numbers, phone numbers, that sort of thing. I’m one hundred percent sure that this was one of the reg numbers written on that board.’
‘Can I see that?’ He reached out for the book. ‘Golf, November, six, six, Lima, golf, Oscar?’ he read, looking straight at Maddie for a reaction.
‘That was it.’
‘We need to take this back with us. I need to make some calls, find out what the reg number was for that truck. I wasn’t told it. The plates were either missing or melted. They identified it by a chassis number.’ Harry rubbed at his head. ‘So what are we saying here? There’s some
dispute? Or one of the surveyors was a . . .’ Harry moved back into the kitchen. He spoke directly to Linda, his tone immediately more urgent. ‘Have you ever heard of a property developing company called McCall’s?’
‘McCall’s? No. I . . . I don’t think I have.’
‘Do you own any property?’
‘Well, yes, this one. But we don’t own anything else. We’re not into all that.’
Maddie spoke up. ‘What about land, Linda? Do you own any land? Maybe where the shooting club is?’
‘No! We don’t own anything like that. The club is on a ninety-nine-year lease from some lord of something-or-other. I don’t know much about it — just that they have permission and they pay a good levy for the use of it. There is . . .’ She faded out.
‘There is what, Linda? What were you going to say?’ Maddie pressed her.
‘Some land. Between here and Dover. It’s not ours — it’s Jimmy Leonard’s place.’
‘Who’s Jimmy Leonard?’
‘A good friend. Of both of us, really. He had a big farm, worked it all his life until he became unwell. Then he saw an opportunity to secure his family’s future, you know. He was talking to some company about selling it for development. Apparently they renovate what’s there or something. It’s the only way you could get any sort of permission for housing on there. Jimmy didn’t make it unfortunately. Cancer. He got bad and they were trying to rush something through, then he died and it was all up in the air. It still is. Jimmy asked my Ron to keep an eye on the land. They had a bit of bother up there with travellers.’
‘What sort of bother?’
‘It’s out on its own. There are a few barns and bits. They had stuff suddenly appear in them. Some farm machinery, a couple of quad bikes, that sort of thing. It was all stolen. Ron reckoned they were left up there while the heat died off and then the travellers would come back for them. He’s seen that happen before.’
‘Travellers, you say?’
‘Oh, well I don’t know that he knew that. He didn’t see who left it. I think he put two and two together.’
‘So he didn’t challenge anyone up there?’
‘No. He was going to call the police but then the stolen gear was gone. He never actually saw anyone. Do you think it’s got something to do with what happened to my Ron?’
Harry shook his head. ‘I don’t know, Linda. When was he there last? On the land?’
‘I don’t know for sure but probably Saturday. He would often check on it before he opened up the shoot. He certainly left early enough.’
‘Okay, this notebook . . . I was going to give it back but do you mind if I keep hold of it for now? I need it for a little bit longer.’
‘You can have that. I think that’s his score book. Just a load of old tallies.’
Harry opened it up so the inside of the cover was showing. ‘And this . . . is this his writing?’
She nodded. ‘Yeah, that’s all his. I don’t know what he’s written there, but, yes, it’s his writing.’
‘Great. Thanks for your help, Linda.’ Harry pulled a card from his pocket. ‘These are my contact details. If you need to speak to me, my number is on there. I will do my best to keep you informed, okay?’
‘Thank you. Are you leaving? I didn’t have chance to finish the tea yet?’
‘Yes, Linda, sorry. We’re going to have to get back to work.’
‘Very good, then. I’ll wait to hear from you.’ Harry was already back to the front door. He pulled it open and the sunlight was like a burst of energy. He stepped out into it. Maddie stopped at the door to speak to Linda.
‘You’ll be hearing from us soon. Don’t forget to pick up Ron’s Land Rover as soon as you can.’
‘Yes, I will.’
Maddie turned to the car. She could hear the engine revving. By the time she pulled the door shut Harry’s phone was already ringing through the speakers.
‘Boss.’ It was a man’s voice that Maddie didn’t recognise.
‘Mitch, I need a favour,’ Harry snapped. The car pulled away with purpose. Maddie snatched at her seatbelt.
‘Sure, what do you need?’
‘Two things . . . Do you have the reg number to hand for that burnt-out vehicle? I only remember seeing a chassis number.’
‘Hang on a sec.’ It sounded to Maddie like Mitch was chewing something and she could hear clicking. ‘I’ve got the PNC here somewhere. There was only a chassis but we did get a reg from running it through. Ah, here we are: golf, November, six, six, Lima, golf, Oscar. What else?’
Harry hesitated, like he was considering his next move. His eyes flicked to his watch. ‘Find out what you can about Leonard’s Farm in the Dover, Deal area. A Jimmy Leonard used to run it but he died recently. Find out if we attended the death — we should have details for next of kin. Also, can you do open source research on the farm itself.’
‘Open source research on a farm, boss? It would help if I knew what angle we’re coming from with this?’
‘Angle? Assume you’re a developer and you’re interested in buying it. See what you can find out.’
‘Okay, I’ll let you know what I get.’
‘Great — and one more thing, Mitch . . . We downloaded the victim’s phone. I want it reassessed. I want every phone number on there reviewed for any links to property developers called McCall’s — business numbers or the personal number of anyone linked to that company. As best you can.’
‘Leave it with me.’
Harry ended the call. Maddie waited almost a minute before she prompted him.
‘Do you want to tell me what you’re thinking then, Harry?’
Harry looked pensive. His driving was noticeably quicker and Maddie had hold of the door. ‘I’m thinking we should go to Leonard’s Farm. I’m thinking that it might have been one of the last places our victim visited. I want to retrace his steps.’
‘What do you expect to find up there?’ Maddie asked.
‘I don’t know. Nothing, probably. I just want to see it for myself. Then we can get back to looking for your girl. I have some questions that need answers. Ron was looking after land that a property developer was interested in. That has to be McCall’s. His wife thinks that Ron might have been on
that land on Saturday morning and then later that day he was run down by a truck owned by McCall’s. And when it ran him down, Ron had the registration number for the truck that killed him in his pocket. We’ll go to Leonard’s Farm so I know it at least. Then we’ll go back to McCall’s. Somewhere between those two places are some answers, Maddie. There have to be.’
Chapter 24
Maddie had to use her phone for guidance. Leonard’s Farm was showing on her mapping app with three entrances. It covered a large area, crossing roads and other farm territories in a jumbled mass of land. The easiest entrance looked to be off a road that ran along the top of the cliffs towards Dover’s famous castle. This was also somewhere she had visited as a schoolgirl. She could still remember its giant rooms, cobbled floors and far-reaching views. They were travelling from the Deal end and the castle wasn’t even a speck in the distance before they needed to turn off. Maddie was almost disappointed not to see it up close again.
The farm track presented a real change in terrain. The car’s higher suspension took turns in bouncing, then grounding out on the muddy ruts. The winter had been a sodden one, during which farm machinery had carved deep grooves into the mud. Since then the intense sunlight had scorched them into solid gullies with the tread of thick tractor tyres still visible. At least it forced Harry to slow down. They were soon surrounded by fields and Maddie could just make out a perimeter fence in the distance. There were no signs of any crops, just solid mud with tufts of straw stripped close to the ground and wild grass growing around it. Maddie was no expert on farming but it looked to her as though the land hadn’t been worked for some time.
They pressed on. The land had a natural curvature and resting on the horizon in front was a dark-coloured square. Maddie fixed on it. They edged closer and she could see it was a small barn. The track ran right past. Harry must have seen it too; the car sped up a little, the juddering through her seat becoming almost unbearable. They made it to the barn. Harry slowed and they were drifting past when he seemed to make a decision and stopped harshly. He backed up a little and turned off the engine. The silence was blissful. Maddie felt the straw stubble under her feet; it cracked and snapped as she walked around to the driver’s side. Harry was already out and striding towards the barn.
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