Pale Horse, Dark Horse (The Lakeland Murders)

by Salkeld, J J

Faa sat back and smiled.

  ‘Are you aware, DCI Hall, that there are people who associate themselves with the Traveller community, without being part of it by blood?’

  ‘No, I wasn’t.’

  ‘Well there are. Their numbers are increasing, in fact, but that’s the power of television for you. And this man is, or rather was, one of them. His name is Cliff Morrow. He came from somewhere over near Newcastle, and was known to several Traveller families.’

  ‘He worked with them?’

  ‘Yes, I believe he did. Manual work, I expect.’

  ‘What kind of manual work?’

  ‘I don’t know. But I hope that’s enough for you. I can assure that no member of the Traveller community was involved in his disappearance. So I do hope that we won’t be seeing you here again during the Fair. It would place such a dampener on proceedings.’

  Hall smiled. Faa didn’t smile back.

  ‘Well, thank you for that, Mr. Faa. But I’m afraid our investigations will take us where they take us. And you’re quite sure that this is the man? You’ve met him yourself, have you?’

  ‘No, I haven’t. But this picture was being shown in a pub in Appleby last night, by an older man who I take it was one of your colleagues.’

  ‘And one or more of the community recognised him?’

  ‘That’s right, and they came to me. They were concerned about possible repercussions, shall we say.’

  ‘I see. And did any of them have an address for this Cliff Morrow?’

  ‘No, but I could make further enquiries, and let you know.’

  Hall smiled again. ‘I tell you what, Mr. Faa. We’ll go away now and check Cliff Morrow out. If he’s our man then we will want to talk to people who knew him, in both the Traveller and the settled community, as a matter of urgency. So the best way of keeping our presence to a minimum would be for you to use your good offices and arrange for anyone from the community who knew him to meet with us voluntarily, rather than us having to spend a great deal of time around here over the next few days. We really don’t want to spoil your enjoyment of the Fair.’

  Faa thought about it.

  ‘Can you give me twenty-four hours?’

  Hall nodded.

  ‘And you’re only interested in the death of Cliff Morrow? You’re not using this as the pretext for some wider investigation into criminality in a wider sense?’

  ‘You know how this works, Mr. Faa’ said Hall patiently. ‘Our prime interest is the investigation of the murder of Cliff Morrow, so we’re certainly not interested in expired MOTs and minor offences of any kind. We just don’t have the time or the resources to investigate them. But if we find evidence of serious criminal activity then we would pass any such information on to the relevant Police Force or specialist team. But our focus is finding out who killed Cliff Morrow, and we won’t be easily diverted from that task, believe me.’

  ‘I see. Very well then. Come back here tomorrow, and I’ll arrange for the people who knew Morrow best to be present. And one other thing, DCI Hall.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘There won’t be any need for DC Murphy to accompany you. She makes some of our community a little uncomfortable, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Are you saying that you’d prefer DC Murphy not be present, even though she’s the Traveller Liaison Officer?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Can I ask why?’

  ‘We prefer to know where we stand with people. As with many minority communities some of us have a bit of a them and us mentality. You’re either with us or against us, that sort of thing. I do hope that DC Murphy doesn’t take it personally.’

  ‘DC Murphy’ said Hall, ‘are you happy not to attend?’

  Annie Murphy’s face was red. She looked close to tears, and Hall felt sorry for her. He was tempted to tell Faa that she was coming back, whether he liked it or not.

  ‘Of course it is, sir, if you don’t need me. As you say the investigation has to be the priority.’

  ‘But I think we do need you, DC Murphy. It’s entirely possible that I’ll need to seek your advice tomorrow. So how should we proceed? Any suggestions?’

  ‘I don’t know, sir.’ Murphy looked confused.

  ‘How about this, Mr. Faa?’ said Hall. ‘What if DC Murphy remains outside during the course of our meeting, but is able to join us as and when required by myself or DS Mann? For example if we need advice in terms of understanding aspects of the Traveller lifestyle or community structure, that sort of thing.’

  Faa smiled. ‘That would be acceptable. Until tomorrow then. And can I offer you a lift back to the Police Station?’

  Hall didn’t need to ask how Faa knew where they’d parked.

  ‘No, thanks. We’d be as quick walking.’

  ‘I was thinking of a more traditional conveyance.’

  ‘A trotting pony and trap, you mean?’

  ‘I do. I can have one of our fastest teams here in two minutes.’

  ‘That would be very kind, thank you. But I’d settle for one of your slowest, I think.’

  Five minutes later the three Police officers were perched in a trap, while a shirtless man and his two young sons sat up front and drove the two trotting ponies. The driver wasn’t introduced, but the kids kept looking keenly at the officers, as if trying to commit their faces to memory.

  Hall was surprised at how comfortable it was, although he had no idea how they’d stop if they had to. So he reached behind him and grabbed the metal bar, and held on tight. As they hurtled down the hill Mann waved to a couple of uniformed coppers, who looked back in astonishment. When they reached the station the trap pulled up, and Hall said thanks to the driver as he got off. For some reason it reminded him of childhood and thanking the bus driver as he got off at school. He wondered, briefly, if kids still did that.

  On the drive back to HQ Hall called the incident room, and spoke to DC Dixon.

  ‘Positive ID, Ray. Faa sounds very confident that it’s a man called Cliff Morrow, from the north east somewhere. I’ll be astonished if he hasn’t got form. So get everyone onto it right now. By the time we get back I want to know if we’re onto a winner at last.’

  ‘Thanks, sir’ said DC Murphy, when Hall had rung off from another call, this one to Superintendent Gorham.

  ‘What for?’ said Hall, turning round in his seat.

  ‘For not letting Faa get away with that. He was just trying to undermine me.’

  ‘Really? Why would that be?’

  ‘He’s quite the politician, is Mr. Faa, and hard as nails with it, despite the university education and the posh manners. His dad was a right villain, a vicious one with it, let me tell you, sir.’

  ‘Do you suspect Tommy Faa of being involved in anything himself?’

  ‘Oh no, he’s much too clever for that. But I wouldn’t trust him, that’s all. He’s only helping you because he sees something in it for himself, I’m sure of it.’

  Hall turned round, and they drove in silence for a few minutes.

  ‘So, DC Murphy’ he said over his shoulder, ‘are you suggesting that he’s only helping us because he knows that none of his own community were involved in the death of Cliff Morrow, or whoever he is?’

  ‘I hadn’t thought of it that way, sir. But yes, put that way I’d say that’s a real possibility.’

  ‘I see. And if he knows that Travellers weren’t involved I suppose that could also suggest that he also knows who is responsible.’

  ‘Quite possibly, sir. Like I say, Tommy Faa really isn’t a man to underestimate. All that King of the Gypsies stuff is overblown, but he’s a rich, powerful and ruthless man. And they tend to get their own way in all walks of life, don’t they, sir?’

  ‘They do indeed, DC Murphy.’

  ‘But one thing, sir. Why didn’t you just do as he asked, and stand me down? It would have been the easiest way to get him on-side.’

  ‘Two reasons. First, we may well need your expertise, DC Murphy, and it’s possible that Faa wants you kept
away because of things you might notice that we wouldn’t. But there’s another reason. Mr. Faa needed to understand that we control this investigation, not him. I’ll be as culturally sensitive as I can, and I’m sure that you’ll help keep us right on that, but in the end Mr. Faa and his Traveller friends are citizens like anyone else.’

  DS Jane Francis had pitched straight in, along with everyone else in the incident room, when Dixon had shouted out Morrow’s name. In five minutes they had found their man, along with his mug-shot from his last arrest three years before, and when the picture appeared on the big screen a ragged cheer when up. There was absolutely no doubt about it. Cliff Morrow was their victim all right.

  Jane loved that feeling, especially when a breakthrough had been a long time coming. Ray emailed round Morrow’s file, and Jane read it carefully. She knew that his Police record would only tell one part of the man’s story, and it was familiar enough. Half a dozen arrests as a juvenile, followed by a few public order offences and a couple of relatively minor assaults.

  ‘He wasn’t Al Capone, was he?’ Ray called out cheerfully to Jane. ‘It’s a pretty typical CV for a fully unpaid-up member of the criminal underclass.’

  ‘True enough. So I wonder what he did to earn himself a shotgun blast to the chest and a shallow grave to follow?’

  ‘Could be anything. Looked at someone’s missus in a funny way, didn’t look at someone’s missus, fell out with our killer over a footie result in 1989. You know what they’re like, Jane, vicious bastards who don’t give a shit. Some of them don’t need any reason at all to kill.’

  Jane nodded, but still hoped that this killing would have a bit more about it than that. In her admittedly strictly anecdotal knowledge of gangland murders bodies were usually left in much more prosaic places than a stone circle. But perhaps she was expecting too much: a killer with a sense of theatre, maybe even of history. It was a lot to ask, she knew, and she knew that Ray was almost certainly right. The chances were that whoever the killer was they’d be as thick as pig-dribble and as hard to find as a verucca.

  Fifteen minutes later Jane had made contact with DS Pete Burdon, the Northumbria Police DS who had nicked Morrow the last time, for a threatening behaviour that seemed like a lot of fuss about nothing. But then they usually were. And Burdon didn’t seem to know much about Morrow at all.

  ‘Honestly, I can’t tell you much about the lad. I know the picture was circulated, but I didn’t recognise it when I saw it and I probably still wouldn’t recognise it now. If I remember I was just helping out uniform. It was probably a Friday night, and they were all needed in the city centre. That’s how I came to nick him. If I remember he denied the charge, but the magistrate believed us and the victim for once, and he got a suspended.’

  ‘What do you remember about him? Hard man, was he?’

  Burdon laughed. ‘No way. Where he comes from if you haven’t done time for an attempted murder by his age you’re officially a pansy.’

  ‘How about his KAs?’

  There was a pause while Burdon had a look on his screen.

  ‘None of the names ring any bells, so they’ll all be nobodies, like Morrow. There are hundreds like him, and quite a few do wind up dead. Just not in such unusual circumstances. We usually just fish them out of the Tyne.’

  ‘You don’t sound sorry.’

  ‘I haven’t got time to be sorry, love, and he won’t be missed.’

  ‘So it seems. No-one reported him missing. Can you check out his next-of-kin for us, and find out what the story is there?’

  ‘Get your SIO to email our DCS and I’m sure we’ll get round to it. But if his mum was a junkie there’s a 50/50 chance that she’ll be dead, long since, and of course the dad won’t have been on the scene since day one. It’s ten to one on, is that. So, to be honest I wouldn’t read too much into it. I very much doubt that anyone’s been intimidated to keep quiet, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s much more likely that no bugger cared enough to even let us know he’d gone.’

  ‘And will you get his place searched as well?’

  ‘That’ll cost you another email, love. But looking at his address I’d say that when his rent didn’t get paid the month after he died his stuff went straight onto a skip, and someone else was moved in. You’ve got to be quick, down that way.’

  When Andy Hall returned he called an immediate team meeting. The buzz was excited, there were lots of smiles, a few jokes, and he had to raise his hand to quieten everyone down.

  ‘This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end’ he said, in the Churchill voice that always made Jane laugh, but when no-one else joined in with her he stopped. She did too. ‘Seriously, that’s good work all round, Ray Dixon especially. Best nose outside the Police kennels.’ A few people laughed and everyone clapped. ‘I’ve asked DC Annie Murphy here to stay with us for as long as we’re involved with the Traveller Community. Anything you want to know, just ask her, OK? She’s got my full confidence. And we all know the next steps from here, so talk to your team leaders and divvy up the tasks. Let’s get everything we can on Cliff Morrow, today. That’s telephone usage, bank accounts, known KAs, everything. And what did he do when he was in Appleby? Who did he meet, who did he call? There’ll be lots to chase down, so be careful not to rush your fences. But we’re up and running properly now everyone, so let’s go to it.’

  When Andy Hall was back in his office, writing the half dozen emails that he needed to send to Northumbria Police, Jane knocked on the door.

  ‘We’re moving at last, Jane. Let’s hope this turns out to be a nice, simple falling out amongst thieves.’

  ‘Do you really think it will be?’

  Hall heard the disappointment in her voice.

  ‘You know how it is. Most villains are stupid, idle and act without much in the way of thought and nothing in the way of conscience. It’s what separates them from us. But, on the up side, it’s also what makes them so easy to catch, most of the time anyway. So, despite all appearances to the contrary, there’s probably some prosaic reason why Morrow ended up getting buried at a stone circle. Must admit I can’t think of a likely one at the moment, but you never know.’

  ‘But you don’t suspect the Plouvin family?’

  ‘They’re still of interest, for sure they are, but realistically I can’t see it. Because whether or not social mobility stopped with the end of the grammar schools I just don’t see that we’re likely to find wannabe Travellers mixing with the landed gentry, do you, Jane?’

  ‘Maybe not.’ She paused for a minute. ‘But you went to a grammar school, didn’t you, Andy?’

  He laughed. ‘Let’s continue this conversation at home later, shall we? Was there something specific you were after? I’ve got to send all these bloody emails to Northumberland. If Morrow had lived in Carlisle it would have saved me bloody hours. I have to say, the bloke you spoke to has not been co-operative so far, and nor are his bosses. They’ve got me jumping through bloody hoops here, just to get a bit of work done.’

  ‘It was something else actually. We had a sexual touching on the Windermere Ferry on Saturday the first. A young female teacher from out of area.’

  ‘Really? I don’t remember seeing that one. Why weren’t we involved?’

  ‘It’s only been logged as an assault. It looks as if someone got into this girl’s vehicle while she was crossing Windermere on the ferry, because she got out to enjoy the view, and then he made a grab for her from behind when she stopped the car at Hill Top. She kicked off, and the bloke made a run for it. He had her round the throat, Andy.’

  Hall thought about it. ‘No chance it was a ham-fisted robbery I suppose?’ Jane shook her head, and Hall answered his own question. ‘Can’t have been, can it? Because if it was our man would have been into the car while she was enjoying the view, and he’d have been out again in twenty seconds flat. So why stay in it when she drove away unless it wasn’t her handbag, sat-nav and phone or whatever that he was after?’
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  ‘Exactly. But uniform don’t seem to see it that way.’

  ‘Have there been any other similar attacks?’

  ‘No. But I don’t know if that’s a good sign or not.’

  ‘You mean this might have been the offender’s first go, as it were? A tentative first step by a potential rapist?’

  ‘Exactly. I just can’t stop thinking about it.’

  Hall sat back in his chair. ‘If I know you that means that you’ve already done a bit of digging. Come on, spill the beans.’

  ‘Yes, I have. The file from uniform wasn’t too bad, I’ve certainly seen worse. But since the bloke scarpered and lost himself amongst hordes of tourists, and no-one working on the ferry saw anything and the CCTV’s no use either, they didn’t have much to go on.’

  ‘So what did you do?’

  ‘I’ve had a chat with the three local drivers who were on the ferry and who were travelling two-up.’

  ‘Why just the locals? Couldn’t our man have decided to offend well away from home, especially if he’s got previous?’

  ‘It wouldn’t fit the pattern though, would it. Andy? Shitting on their own doorstep seems to be a bit of an MO for the average sex offender.’

  Hall smiled. ‘Elegantly put, Jane. So did you turn anything up?’

  ‘No, none of them showing on PNC for anything that was worth nicking them for, really. One bloke, called Tim Williams, he seemed a bit wrong, sort of sleazy, but that doesn’t mean anything, I suppose.’

  ‘Christ, no. We’d be cuffing half the male coppers over forty if that was an offence.’

  ‘Only half?’ Jane smiled. ‘I was thinking of having another chat with the victim. She’s young, Asian and comes from a pretty protective background. It was a female PC who took her statement, but there were male officers around, you know. I just think that she might have a bit more to say, that’s all.’

  ‘So you’re looking for a few hours to go and chat to her?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right. Maybe tomorrow, when she’s finished work.’