Pale Horse, Dark Horse (The Lakeland Murders)

by Salkeld, J J

  If anything the groans were even louder this time, and Hall knew why. It would take days to assemble the material, the recognition software wouldn’t work with much of it, and it would take days more to get through it all. And he was about to deliver even worse news.

  ‘We also need to gather all the footage and stills that we can from the year before last as well, but let’s prioritise the analysis of last year first. Now I know you’d all rather be out on the plot doing proper Police work, but our man has been dead for a year and we’re dealing with a community that, for better or worse, doesn’t trust us an inch, and is not inclined to engage with us voluntarily. But Travellers are citizens like anyone else, and when we find out who Morrow was with at last year’s Horse Fair, and we will, then they’re going to have to answer our questions, just like anyone else. And if they don’t then they will become legitimate subjects for rigorous enquiry. I know that some of you think that we’re being too easy on the Travellers, but let me be quite clear. We will continue to show respect to their culture, but we will not hold back from doing our duty. Do I make myself quite clear?’

  There were a few quiet ‘yes sirs’.

  ‘Good. Now you’ll all be delighted to learn that I will take my turn on the phones later today, so I will share your pain at dealing with the whole spectrum of the general public, from the well-meaning but deluded to the down-right barking. But, like I say, we all need to be alert for the one diamond that we might unearth in all the rubbish. So let’s keep absolutely open minds here. If we don’t, we’re going to make major mistakes that could set the investigation back months, and believe me we can’t afford that.’

  When Jane Francis had talked to her team and the techies, and established the lines of demarcation between sworn officers and civilian staff, she spent twenty minutes going through her emails. And she was surprised to see that she’d had a full house of replies to her enquiries about the other drivers on the Ferry. All of the drivers had been spoken to already, the details of passengers had been captured, and none of the enquiries had generated any useful information. No known sex offenders were among them, none reported seeing anything suspicious when they were on the Ferry, and none of the interviewing officers reported any concerns or suspicions.

  Jane had expected to wait days for any responses, and to have to send three or four reminders to some of the forces, but she guessed that every force was targeting sexual offences, and that was what had earned her enquiry a place at the top of the queue. There’d probably been a lot of grumbling, because the reported offence was very much at the less serious end of the scale, but that wasn’t the point. Jane was still absolutely convinced that the man who’d taken the risk of getting into Rita’s car was a very serious offender in the making.

  When she’d finished with her emails Jane talked to each member of the team in turn, and made sure that each was clear about what they needed to do.

  ‘I’m just going out for an hour’ she said to Ray Dixon, as she passed his desk. ‘Would you tell the boss if he’s looking for me for anything? There’s an enquiry I need to follow up on.’

  ‘Oh aye, what’s that then?’ asked Dixon, but Jane was already walking away, and pretended not to hear.

  Jane had to tell herself not to drive too fast on the way back to Kendal, and that her phone was off because she didn’t have her hands-free kit rigged up. But she knew that wasn’t why she had her foot down. She had a bad feeling about Tim Williams, but he’d been driving the car when he was on the ferry. So could Phil Mann be the offender? Jane didn’t want it to be him, of course she didn’t, but she was absolutely convinced that whoever the man was he was close to committing another offence. Perhaps it had already happened. She could have waited and chatted it through with Andy Hall, but she told herself that he’d be flat-out on the Morrow murder, and they’d already agreed in principle that she could talk to Mann, so where was the harm in doing it now? DS Ian Mann would have no reason to be annoyed at what she was doing; it was just a routine enquiry. The fact that he was the brother of a colleague had nothing to do with it. She told herself that several times, but somehow she never quite convinced herself.

  So Jane still felt tense when she parked her car, and then walked to the Council offices where Phil Mann worked. She asked the receptionist for Phil Mann, who made a call and said that he was in a meeting. Afterwards Jane wasn’t sure what made her angry, but she showed her badge and said, ‘meeting over’ to the receptionist. She called back straight away.

  Five minutes later Phil Mann came down, and Jane knew it was him immediately. Partly because he looked like an older, half as wide version of DS Ian Mann, but mainly because the receptionist watched him all the way down the stairs. It would be all round the building in five minutes.

  ‘Has something happened to Ian?’ he said, when he was still ten feet away. The reception area was large, slightly echoey, and apart from the attentive receptionist, completely empty.

  ‘No, nothing like that. He was absolutely fine the last time I saw him. Is there somewhere we can talk?’ asked Jane.

  ‘Not really. I work in an open plan office, and all of the meeting rooms are in use. What can I do for you, Sergeant Francis isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right.’

  ‘Ian has mentioned you, I’m sure he has.’

  ‘We’re colleagues. Do you know why I’m here, Mr. Mann?’

  ‘No, if it’s not about Ian, and it’s not about any of my cases, then I don’t know.’

  ‘Your cases?’

  ‘Yes, I’m a Social Worker. But I look after elderly care, so the Police are hardly ever involved in my work. I just thought...’

  ‘Your friend Tim Williams didn’t mention that I’d spoken to him?’

  ‘Tim? No, he didn’t.’ Jane watched the penny drop. If Mann was acting, he had a great deal more talent then his brother. ‘Wait a minute. Didn’t someone ask him about the day we used the ferry, a couple of weeks back?’

  ‘That’s right. It was me.’

  ‘Tim said something about someone getting attacked after. Was that it?’

  ‘A young woman was sexually assaulted, yes.’

  ‘So how can I help?’

  ‘Did you see anyone acting suspiciously that day?’

  ‘No, I don’t think so.’ Too fast, thought Jane. Too fast.

  ‘Did you get out of the car?’

  ‘No. Neither of us did. Look, we just use the ferry to save a bit of diesel and a good bit of time, especially when the roads round Ambleside are clogged up with tourists.’

  ‘I see. So neither of you left the vehicle?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘And Mr. Williams was driving?’

  ‘Yes, we were in his car. Of course he was driving.’

  Jane heard an edge in Mann’s voice that hadn’t been there before. He glanced towards the receptionist, then back at Jane.

  ‘Is that it?’ he said. ‘I’ve got work to get back to. Couldn’t you have just phoned, or something?’

  Jane ignored the question. ‘Thanks, and I won’t detain you further. At least not this time.’ Jane smiled cheerfully, and watched Mann walk all the way to the large, open staircase. She stood and watched until he disappeared from view. He didn’t look back, and he didn’t look down.

  Wednesday, 12th June

  Val Gorham had changed her tune, thought Hall. There must have been a change of policy overnight, and he’d missed the memo. It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened.

  ‘So this anonymous tip-off, then, Andy, how seriously are we taking it?’

  ‘It’s worth following up, certainly. But whether it increases the likelihood that it was one of Morrow’s Traveller connections who killed him, well, I have my doubts. And that was a line of enquiry anyway, of course, ma’am.’

  Gorham didn’t look convinced. ‘It’s your investigation, so I’ll leave it in your capable hands. All I wanted to say was that just because they’re Travellers doesn’t mean that they’re
entitled to any special treatment.’

  Make up your mind, thought Hall, before realising that Gorham’s mind had undoubtedly been made up for her. The Deputy, the Chief, the Commissioner, it could be any of them.

  ‘Understood, ma’am. At present our other focus is on following up any leads generated by the public appeal.’

  Gorham groaned. ‘Spare us from the loony line, Andy.’

  Hall smiled. ‘Can’t be done, I’m afraid. I know that we’ll get everyone with a grievance against Travellers, real or imagined, calling in, but there’s nothing I can do. The team aren’t exactly overjoyed about it either. And I’m also going to soak up hundreds of man hours reviewing every still photo and bit of film we can find from last year’s Fair, plus there’s our own footage and ANPR data as well.’

  ‘That’s a long shot, isn’t it?’

  ‘Absolutely, and I wish there was another way. But Cliff Morrow is a bit of a throw-back as a victim, isn’t he?’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘No electronic fingerprint to speak of at all, ma’am. That may be because he was bright enough to know how useful online activity, email and mobile phone traffic is as an investigative and evidential resource, but more likely he just saw himself as a kind of romantic gypsy figure. Either way, I can’t remember the last time that I had to fall back on so many old-school techniques. It makes me feel like Slipper of the Yard.’

  ‘Hall of Kendal makes you sound like a small furniture store.’

  Hall laughed out loud. Not because he found her remark amusing, rather he was surprised that she’d even attempted a joke. He’d known Val Gorham for several years and he wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen her even laugh at a funny, let alone attempt one herself.

  ‘Yes, I’ll need to come up with something else by way of a moniker. As soon as this is over I’ll give it my full attention. But you see where I’m coming from, ma’am. Morrow is not an easy man to build a timeline for, and when you throw in the fact that almost all of his KAs have connections to criminality and the Traveller community, well, you can see why we’re struggling.’

  ‘Is the primary purpose of this meeting about you getting your excuses in first, Andy?’

  ‘No, ma’am, it’s a bit early for that yet. But I suppose I am saying that I don’t expect us to make especially rapid progress, and I do expect us to require a significant level of resource for the foreseeable future.’

  ‘No blank cheques, Andy, you know that. Just get the best out of all your people. Squeeze them as hard as you can. And on that point, how is Jane doing?’

  Hall looked at Gorham suspiciously. Was that an attempt at another joke? He decided that, on the balance of probabilities, it wasn’t. ‘Very well, ma’am. Jane’s doing a very good job. I think it’s fair to say that she’s really taken to a supervisory role.’ Hall didn’t add that he was already well used to Jane supervising a good deal of their home life, although he suspected that Gorham had already guessed as much.

  ‘Good, that’s good. Make sure that we get the best out of her, Andy, and no dated gender stereotyping, mind.’

  ‘I’m not sure that this investigation will demand much in the way of domestic chores and childcare, but if it does I’ll make sure that I assign Sergeant Mann, ma’am.’

  Gorham smiled thinly. Very thinly. ‘I was just saying, Andy, that’s all’ she said, writing something down on her pad.

  When Hall returned to the incident room it was obvious that something was badly wrong. It was much too quiet, and as soon as he opened the door he saw both Jane and Ian Mann get up and move towards him. Jane looked as if she’d been crying. Hall just beat them to his office, and he held the door for both of them to come in. He couldn’t remember Ian Mann ever having a disagreement with anyone at work before, so he tried to think what it could possibly about. But he didn’t have time, because Jane started talking as soon as she crossed the threshold.

  ‘I want to make a complaint about this officer’ she said. ‘I just won’t be talked to like that, Andy.’

  Hall gestured to the chairs at the meeting table. ‘Sit yourselves down. Can I tempt anyone to tea and a biscuit?’ They both shook their heads, and Hall reflected that the one managerial advantage of the Police still being such a stiflingly hierarchical organisation was that at least he’d be able to get a word in edgeways, no matter what. ‘So what’s this all about? Ian, you first.’

  ‘Jane interviewed my brother, about some bullshit assault that has nothing to do with him, in plain sight at his place of work, and without talking to me first. Phil said he felt like a bloody criminal. It’s not on, Andy, it’s really not. I’m amazed you let it happen, or at least it would be, if you two weren’t an item.’

  Hall let it pass. ‘Jane?’

  ‘Andy didn’t know’ she said, looking at Mann. ‘He knew that your brother’s name had come up in the enquiry into the Bose assault, and he asked me not to interview Phil until I’d talked to him, and made some other enquiries too. I had made those enquiries, and then I spoke to your brother. It was his mate I was interested in, but it’s interesting that he’s come running to you, and grassed me up like this, isn’t it?’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ said Mann. ‘You think my brother is some kind of apprentice rapist, do you? There’s not a shred of bloody evidence that my brother, his mate, or anyone else on that ferry touched that girl up. And we’re in the middle of a bloody murder investigation here, in case you hadn’t noticed. I just can’t believe it, Andy, I really can’t.’ Mann almost seemed short of breath when he’d finished.

  ‘Well, we do have other cases to investigate, mate’ said Hall politely, ‘and I had asked Jane to keep looking at this one. I know we’ve got it down as a sexual touching, but Jane thinks it’s the start of a pattern of offending, and I have to say that I agree with her on that.’

  Mann gave him a well-you-would-say-that look, and Hall nodded slightly, in what seemed to Mann like a kind of acknowledgement. It seemed like that to Jane too, and she tried to interrupt. ‘However,’ Hall went on, asserting his rank for once, ‘I would certainly have wanted to have the opportunity to do Ian the courtesy of mentioning the fact that his brother was going to be spoken to, as a witness, in this investigation before the event. I know it’s not strictly by the book, but we work best when we respect and trust each other, and play by a few of the old rules of the job, the sensible ones at least. I think you were wrong to act as you did, Jane.’ Hall was looking straight at Jane.

  ‘Yes, Andy. I apologise. Ian, I’m sorry.’

  ‘Good, so long as you understand why Ian is upset. And Ian, one of the things that we all rely on with you is your calmness under pressure. I appreciate that it can be difficult when family are involved, but let’s keep it relaxed and friendly between us from here on in, OK?’

  ‘Aye, Andy. Understood.’

  ‘OK, now let’s get back to work. Your penance will be taking the team out for a beer after the shift tonight, mine’s a G&T, and you’re both paying and looking cheerful. I’ve just come from Gory Gorham and she as good as told me that our various lords and masters have now got Travellers, probably any Travellers, in the frame for this one already, and that I can’t expect to keep the investigation properly resourced for long. So I reckon we’ve got a few days, tops, before we start to lose resources on this one, unless of course we get the likes of Tommy Faa in our sights, in which case the top brass will probably turn up with popcorn and party hats to watch the interviews. So I need both of you, and your teams, completely focussed on this. No distractions, no silly squabbles.’

  The two Sergeants made the required noises and started to get up.

  ‘Hang on a second. I meant what I said about working the phones, Ian, so as soon as they’re up and running give me a shout. I’ll be there. Meanwhile, Jane, send me through some of the pictures or film or whatever of last year’s Fair, whatever you’d expect one of your team to get through in a couple of hours. I’ll get stuck in straight away and give
you a hand right now. We must find a picture or two of Morrow at the Fair, surely to goodness. And if we don’t, then maybe the boffins and their facial recognition software will come up trumps.’

  ‘And if not, boss?’ asked Mann.