Double Jeopardy (Hero Book 4)

by MA Comley

  ‘I know the drill. All right if we grab some of yours?’

  ‘In the boot, as usual.’

  Hero and Julie rushed to get changed, popped on their white paper suits and blue shoes, and returned to the marquee. Once they were inside, Julie gasped and Hero’s stomach lurched.

  ‘Jesus, why on earth would someone kill her like that?’ Hero asked the obvious question that everyone else in the marquee was probably thinking.

  ‘To ensure that she was dead, I’m surmising.’ Susan crouched down beside the body and motioned for Hero to join her.

  He gulped in a large breath and knelt beside her as she pointed to the massive wound in the victim’s head. Bile rose in his throat, and he swallowed it before it could make an appearance. The woman’s brain was exposed. Blood and other bodily matter were oozing from the huge hole. ‘What am I looking at, apart from the obvious, Susan?’

  Her finger hovered over several wounds in one section. ‘We’re not looking at just one shot to the head, Hero. I won’t know for certain until I get back to the mortuary, but off the top of my head, I would say we’re looking at several shots which hit their target.’

  ‘Dreadful. So you think the killer took her down with one shot and then stood over her and pumped her full of lead until he emptied his chamber?’

  Susan shrugged. ‘I’d say you’ve hit it on the head – excuse the pun. Either way, it’s a case of bloody overkill.’

  ‘Any idea of the weapon used?’

  ‘At present, I would speculate it’s highly likely to have been a couple of weapons.’

  ‘Maybe two or more killers? Is that what you’re saying?’

  ‘I don’t know, Hero. Maybe, maybe not. Let me work on her this morning and get back to you later.’

  ‘I don’t suppose there were any witnesses?’

  ‘No. Her husband came rushing out of the house when he heard the shots, but the car was driving off.’

  ‘Did he see the car?’

  ‘I don’t think so. If he did, I doubt anything would have registered with him. He’s in the house. I called his GP, who sedated him. He was in a dreadful state, as you can imagine.’

  ‘That’s going to make it hard for us to question him … still, I better try and have a word before whatever the doc has given him takes hold. That is, unless you have something else you want to share with me, Susan?’

  ‘Nope, we’ll be moving the body soon. The clean-up will take some time to complete.’

  Hero screwed up his nose and stood. He turned to face Julie, who hadn’t said anything and appeared to be struggling to keep her stomach contents inside. ‘Are you okay?’

  Julie retched and rushed out of the marquee.

  Hero looked over his shoulder at Susan. ‘I guess not. Ring me when you can, Susan. I need to get things moving on this one.’

  ‘Of course – by the end of the day, you have my word.’

  As Hero left the marquee, Julie was wiping her mouth. Her skin had turned a pale hue of green.

  ‘You better go and sit in the car, Julie.’

  ‘No. No, I’m fine now. That was horrendous. Why would anyone – how could anyone punish another human being like that?’

  ‘Come now. I know full well that we’ve seen worse than this in our time together.’

  Julie shrugged. ‘Maybe I feel this way because I knew the victim. She came across as a nice lady last week. That’s the puzzling part, to me, anyway.’

  ‘I understand. Right, this is what we’ll do. We’ll question the husband first, try and get a colour of the assailant’s car to aid our search, then I think we should revisit Spalding Enterprise. There’s more to these murders than meets the eye. It can’t be a coincidence that two of their senior executives have lost their lives in brutal attacks within a week.’

  ‘I agree. But what about your first thought? Laurence Whitehall?’

  ‘Maybe it would be foolish to rule him out. I know he can’t arrange these murders from the grave, however, we can’t rule out the possibility that he put a plan in action before he croaked on us.’

  ‘That’s a bit obscure, boss, but I’m willing to go along with your theory at this time, only because we haven’t got anything else to go on.’

  ‘Right, let’s get this over with.’

  Hero showed his ID to the uniformed officer standing at the main entrance to the house. The officer stood aside to let them enter. Hero and Julie walked through the house, drawn by the sound of a man sobbing, to the rear of the property. Hero had been in a number of mansions over the last few days, but he guessed the Jacksons’ was one of the least expensive belonging to the employees of Spalding Enterprise.

  They walked into a huge open-plan kitchen-cum-family room to find two men. One was comforting the other, who was sobbing. Hero presumed the latter was the victim’s husband.

  ‘Why? Why Miranda?’

  Hero cleared his throat, and both men looked in his direction. ‘Sorry to intrude. I’m the investigating officer in charge of the ongoing case related to Spalding Enterprise. I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Jackson. Would it be convenient to have a word with you? I appreciate what a tough time this must be. However, the quicker we can get the case moving, the better.’

  ‘I’m Dr. Carver. I’ve given my patient a sedative to calm him down. I’m not sure now is the right time to be asking questions, Inspector – ’

  ‘No, let him ask his damn questions. I want the bastard who has destroyed my life caught and strung up for what he’s done.’ Mr. Jackson had already begun to slur his words.

  ‘If you’re sure?’

  ‘I am. Take a seat, the pair of you,’ Mr. Jackson insisted.

  The four of them made their way over to the corner sofa positioned in front of the large expanse of glass overlooking the formal garden and patio area.

  ‘Mr. Jackson, can you tell me exactly what time the incident occurred?’ Hero asked, leaning forward in the chair, his forearms resting on his thighs.

  ‘Miranda always leaves at seven thirty. The bastards must have been waiting outside for her, ready to bloody pounce.’

  ‘Did you see how many assailants there were?’

  ‘I saw two men quickly getting in the vehicle. I didn’t see their faces. I ran to see if my wife was all right. Why did they have to kill her like that? They got what they wanted. Why do that to her?’

  ‘‘Got what they wanted’? I don’t understand.’

  ‘Her car, they took her damn car. Isn’t that what this is all about? They thought they could steal it and sell it.’

  Hero swiftly turned to face his partner then looked back at Mr. Jackson. ‘Can you give us your wife’s registration number and what type of vehicle it is?’

  Mr. Jackson rubbed at his unshaven chin and shook his head. ‘I can’t remember the damn reg. It’s a silver Mercedes C200 sports car. She’s only had it a few months.’

  ‘Julie, can you get on to the station, get them to check the registration for the vehicle and issue an alert for the car. Contact Jason, get him searching through the ANPR cameras. Let’s try and find that car ASAP,’ Hero instructed.

  Julie retrieved her phone from her pocket and quickly walked to the back of the room, leaving Hero to continue the conversation without interruption.

  ‘I have to ask, have you noticed anyone hanging around, acting suspiciously lately? Did Miranda ever mention seeing anyone?’

  Mr. Jackson thought over the question then replied, ‘No, nothing at all. You should be out there, going after the bastards – not sitting here, interrogating me.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I’m actioning that now. Please, I know how difficult this is, but the more questions you can answer now, the quicker we’ll catch the people responsible for killing your wife.’

  The man placed his head in his hands and began rocking back and forth. His sobbing intensified. Hero had a feeling he was wasting his time, but he couldn’t leave things as they stood, not if he wanted to catch the offenders.

  ‘I can’t.
My head is thumping … I can’t think.’

  ‘Please, Inspector. I must insist that you allow Mr. Jackson some time to get over the shock. The medication is beginning to kick in now. He needs to lie down and rest.’

  Hero smiled tautly at the doctor. ‘I’m sorry. It’s just that with two murders in a week to deal with, the urgency to apprehend these people has to remain high for us.’ He turned back to Mr. Jackson. ‘Maybe you can give us some help there by telling us if the men – I’m presuming they were men – had anything distinctive about their appearance?’

  ‘I can’t. I saw the back of them as they got in the vehicles.’

  ‘Vehicles? So they arrived in one car, stole your wife’s car, and escaped in two vehicles?’

  ‘Yes, didn’t I say that already? I’m sure I did.’

  ‘I don’t believe so, but that’s fine. Can you describe the second car for me?’

  The man sighed wearily, and Hero caught the doctor glaring at him but chose to ignore him. ‘Mr. Jackson, anything at all?’

  Julie returned and took her seat next to Hero and nodded, letting him know that everything had been actioned as requested.

  ‘I think it was a red car. Only caught a glimpse of the man as he sped away. What I can tell you is one of them was black and the other white.’

  ‘That’s excellent news. You’re doing well. Was there anything else that caught your attention?’

  ‘No, after the cars drove away, my focus lay with my wife.’ Fresh tears trickled from his eyes as he stared at the coffee table ahead of him. ‘I’m sorry. I really can’t tell you anything else. I need you to leave now. No, what I really need is for you to find the bastards who have robbed me of the love of my life. I’m going to be lost without Miranda around. Without seeing her beautiful, smiling face over the dinner table or lying next to me on the pillow. Why? What gives a human being, more like an animal, the right to take another person’s life like that? She had never hurt anyone. She put her head down and got on with her job, no questions asked. Please leave. Just leave me alone!’

  Hero nudged Julie, and they both stood up. He gave the man a business card. ‘I understand. I’m deeply sorry for your loss. You have my word that we will do all we can to locate these murderers and bring them to justice.’

  Mr. Jackson took the card and looked Hero in the eye. ‘You know what, Inspector? Words are cheap. What I need now is action. I suggest you and your team get out on the streets instead of sitting behind your desks playing with paper aeroplanes.’ The man’s words were becoming more and more slurred.

  Hero ignored the comment and headed towards the front door. Julie closed the door gently behind her. They walked past the forensic investigators and jumped back in the car.

  ‘The bloody man is right,’ Hero said. ‘We should be out there scouring the streets.’

  ‘There’s no point taking his words to heart, sir. It’s hard to crack a case without clues.’

  ‘I know. I still reckon he’s right, though. Let’s hope something comes off tracking down Miranda’s car before the day is out. We could definitely do with a break on this one.’ He started the car, revved the engine a few times, which seemed to match his determination, then pulled away from the scene and headed back to the station.

  In the incident room, Hero called the team to attention. ‘Okay, people. I’ve just had a bollocking off the victim’s husband, deservedly so. I know we haven’t had a lot to go on over the past week, however, we need to look at what we’ve uncovered so far and act on it. Something Mr. Jackson did say that interested me was that he witnessed two offenders. Although he couldn’t give us any clues to their identification, he believed one of them was white and the other black.’

  ‘We’ve heard that before, boss. From the teenage witness, right?’ Sally pointed out.

  ‘That’s correct. He also said their getaway vehicle was a red one, which also matches what the teenage witness told us. Here’s what I’m thinking … Bear with me on this. Dave Wheeler gave us a list of petty criminals working in the area who are known car thieves. I think we should start hauling their arses in here, make them squirm a little. Hopefully, they’ll be that scared they might start spewing some names. Jason, I need you to keep an eye on those damn cameras for that vehicle – both vehicles, in fact. Do you need a hand?’

  The young officer shook his head. ‘I’ll be fine, sir. I’ve got it all set up, ready to go.’

  ‘Good. Fingers crossed we get something from that. I get the impression these guys are local. Whether these vehicles remain local is another matter entirely.’

  ‘You think this is all about the vehicles?’ Julie asked, her brow furrowed.

  Hero shrugged. ‘Honestly? I’m not totally convinced by that, but it’s definitely an avenue we should go down. So, let’s get this party started, peeps. Start hauling arses in. I’m going to ring Wheeler again, see if he’s heard anything on the streets about Miranda Jackson’s vehicle. It may be too soon for that to have filtered through yet, but it’s worth a shot.’

  He dismissed the team and returned to his office. Coffee in hand, he sat behind his desk, took a brief look out the window at the dark clouds sweeping past, then dialled his friend’s number.

  ‘Dave, it’s Hero.’

  ‘Hey, I heard something on the wires about another shooting this morning. Any connection to the case you’re already working on?’

  ‘Could be. That’s why I’m ringing. I wondered if you’d heard anything on the grapevine. Probably too early for that, right?’

  Dave laughed. ‘Nothing like asking and answering your own question at the same time, Inspector.’

  ‘Oops, I have a habit of doing that. Well, anything?’

  ‘Truthfully, I haven’t heard a sausage from my contacts on the street yet, but then, in my experience, I’d say it was too soon for anything to come my way. That doesn’t mean to say that I’m not prepared to place some calls for you, mate.’

  ‘Well, I can’t ask for more than that. I don’t have to reiterate the need for urgency on this one, Dave, do I? The murder today was absolutely sickening. Bang out of order to do what they did to a woman. We’re dealing with the lowest of the low here, and someone knows who these bastards are.’

  ‘Okay, I understand the urgency. I’ll get on it ASAP and get back to you if I hear anything. I’ve got your mobile number.’

  ‘Yep, ring that. I could be in and out all day. Cheers, mate. I really appreciate your assistance on this one.’

  ‘No bother. Speak soon.’

  Hero tackled his daily post for the next half an hour until Julie popped her head around the door to inform him that the first scally, Jed Mills, had been called in for questioning.

  Hero ran down the stairs and into Interview Room One, where he found a scruffy young man slouching in a chair at the table while a bouncer-sized police constable stood guard at the door. Hero nodded hello at the constable and sat down opposite Jed Mills. ‘Hello, Mr. Mills, all right if I call you Jed?’

  ‘Couldn’t give a toss what you call me. What am I doing here? I’ve done nothing wrong, not since my last stretch.’

  ‘Helping us with our enquiries.’

  ‘Shit, man! You didn’t have to manhandle me into the car in front of all my neighbours like that. I’m gonna be the talk of the estate now. What’s going on?’

  ‘I hear you’re into moving stolen cars on the street.’

  He shrugged. ‘Not anymore. Told my old dear that I’d get straight as soon as I got out of prison. I’ve kept to my word.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it. Maybe you can point me in the direction of someone likely to have taken over your patch in the last month or so?’

  ‘Nope, can’t help ya. I swear, I ain’t into all that shit now. Cut my ties with everyone in that respect. My old dear has got cancer. I promised her that I wouldn’t go back to my old ways when I got out, that included mingling with me old mates. So, no, I can’t help you, buster.’

  From experience, Hero knew
that the young man was trying to pull a fast one. He smiled, leaned over the table, and beckoned Mills to come nearer. Mills looked around at the officer at the door then hesitantly did as he was requested. Hero clipped him round the head before he had the chance to avoid the contact.

  ‘Ouch! What the hell was that for? Oi, you – you witnessed that assault, right?’ Mills asked the officer by the door.

  The officer stared ahead of him, straight-faced, and said nothing.

  ‘Treat me like an idiot again, and I’ll bang you up in a cell on ten made-up charges. You hear me?’

  Mills threw himself back in his chair, crossed his arms, and dropped his chin onto his chest. ‘I’m sorry. I did promise my old dear that I’d go straight, and I’ve tried to do that. I promise, I ain’t done nothing wrong. I know you guys are always going to think badly of me, no matter what I do.’

  ‘Well, here’s your chance to redeem yourself. Tell me what the word on the street is right now.’

  Mills’s head rose a little. ‘About what? I hear lots of things, man. Most of it’s crap, new kids on the block trying to make themselves look big, so they’ll get accepted in a gang or something like that.’

  ‘You know what I’m referring to. Don’t give me that bullshit. Give me a name.’

  ‘I swear I ain’t got one for ya.’

  ‘A name, or I’ll frog-march you down the corridor and throw you in a cell myself. Stop wasting my time.’

  ‘I can’t tell you. If I did that, I’d be the next one on their hitlist. I ain’t prepared to put my old dear in jeopardy like that.’

  ‘Glad to see you’ve managed to obtain some morals from your stint in prison. If I promise to keep your name out of it, will you share the name then?’

  ‘Nope. I can’t. Surely you can understand that, man. You just sent a cop car to my address to pick me up. If I give you a name now and you track down the bastards, they’re gonna know the info came from muggins here, right?’

  ‘I can see where you’re coming from, Jed, but the thing is, you’re in a catch-22 situation. Because if you don’t give me the information, then I’m going to be laying an accessory-to-murder charge at your door. The choice is yours.’