by Wonny Lea
‘I’m more than OK now, and if you see Iris tell her I’ll be back tomorrow.
He wasn’t sure how what he had learned would benefit his investigation but Martin had a positive feeling as he left the house, clutching a beautifully designed box full of cakes.
Instead of heading back to Goleudy, Martin returned to the area he and Shelley had visited on Saturday. This time he left the car further away from Roath Park and walked around, looking carefully at where main roads turned into side roads and trying to figure out why the body had been dumped in that particular place. He was angry when he thought of the investigation files that he had read. There wasn’t even a question raised as to whether ‘Geedi’ had been killed there or murdered elsewhere and the body dumped later. Had there been a lot of blood?
Martin knew that if the body had been discovered today Alex would be able to answer his questions. SOCOs would determine if the young man had been killed there, and how long he had lain on that patch of ground. Even without a murder weapon Professor Moore and Alex, working together, would give him a pretty detailed description of what had been used to kill the young Somali. The issue of his nudity would be considered.
Was the killing racially motivated? Was it some sort of accident or perhaps a fight that had ended badly? Martin mentally answered ‘no’. The damage looked to have been deliberately and professionally executed.
The more he immersed himself in the case the more sympathy Martin felt for the victim. Brutal murder had ended the man’s life, but what had he suffered before that? Someone, somewhere, must have known him – as a son or a brother or even a lover. Why hadn’t it been possible to identify the victim? Martin wanted to see the setting up of a compulsory national DNA database and often cursed the activists who lobbied against it. However, if, as was quite likely, the victim had been an illegal immigrant, then he wouldn’t have been on a database anyway. It was highly likely that Geedi had entered Britain unofficially, but was that a good enough reason to leave this case unsolved? Absolutely not, Martin thought. He was charged with a desire to get some sort of justice for this man, and more importantly, to find the bastard that had killed him.
The patch of ground where the body had been discovered looked just as it had done on Saturday, with one exception. The stones seemed even cleaner and more polished, and there were no weeds around the edges. Shelley had suggested that someone was tending this shrine, and now it looked as if that person had been back in the past few days. Martin felt that whoever it was would be the key to solving the case.
After taking one last look around he headed for his car and was soon back at base. He had no idea how often the shrine-tender went to the memorial. The weeds he and Shelley had seen were gone, so there was no chance of guessing the frequency of visits from the plant growth. For the moment all he knew was that the shrine was being visited, and although flimsy it was his best chance of a breakthrough in this case. He pulled out his phone and called Alex.
‘Hi, mate, can you spare me a few minutes to talk about the Roath case? I’ve got the faintest glimmer of hope and I’d like your help to set up some surveillance cameras!’
Chapter Eleven
‘Love to help on both counts,’ Alex said, ‘but at the moment I’m with Matt en route to Wiltshire. We’re trying to find out how there can be two absolutely identical cars parked in two different parts of the country at the same time!’
‘Sounds fascinating,’ replied Martin ‘but I didn’t know you and Matt had joined the traffic division.’
‘Nothing so exciting! Matt’s just following up something in relation to the guy who was murdered on the train yesterday. I don’t know if there’s anything I can add to what I’ve told you about your case – I wasn’t allowed too close to the action in those days. I’m putting you on speaker in case Matt wants to join in.’
Martin greeted Matt before continuing. ‘I understand that you were very junior, Alex, but there’s one question you may be able to answer. It’s to do with the amount of blood that was present when the body was discovered. You wouldn’t have had the experience then to determine whether he was murdered where he was found or killed elsewhere. But think back, remember what you saw, and with the benefit of the knowledge you have now, tell me what you believe could have happened.’
Alex didn’t take long to consider the request. ‘Not something I would have thought of doing but my response is a definite one – he was killed elsewhere. What do you want the cameras for? I’m not going to be around for the rest of the day but Meg in my department will be able to help. I’ll get her to liaise with Charlie because she’s got some new gadgets I think she acquired off the back of the new investigation unit. It means that single mini-cameras can be remotely linked to specific computer terminals, and activate prompts when defined activities are recorded.’
Matt was driving but gave a heartfelt moan. ‘When I think of the number of times I’ve sat for hours looking out for some random criminal activity and now you’re telling me I could have been comfortably sitting at the computer, drinking coffee, and getting a better view.’
Alex laughed. ‘Time marches on, old man, and technology at the moment is leaping ahead. I’ll phone my lot straight away, Martin, and you can let them know exactly what you want.’
‘Thanks, and good luck with your twin Jags.’
Martin rang off just as Matt’s car had reached junction seventeen of the motorway and he drove onto the A350.
Alex looked at the directions given by Basil Copeland that they’d decided to use instead of relying on the sat nav. ‘Looking at this we can’t be more than ten or maybe fifteen minutes away. The note says to look out for a partially concealed left-hand turn a few minutes before the main road into Malmesbury.’
‘It’s a really nice part of the country but I’ll bet there’s a premium to pay for houses around here.’
‘Not much different to the properties around Cardiff Bay now I wouldn’t have thought …’ He stopped in midsentence and indicated what looked like the turning they were looking for just a short distance ahead.
Although Matt had not spoken to Elizabeth Ferguson since she had identified the body of her father, he’d had a brief conversation with Basil Copeland. Basil was able to give Matt the location of Woodcanton Hall, and Elizabeth had authorised Basil to pass on the access code for the Hall’s main gates.
The first code worked perfectly and the front gates opened allowing the visitors access to the grounds and they followed the drive around to the front of the house where a rather-the-worse-for-wear Mini looked completely out of place.
‘That’s Della Pugh’s car,’ said Matt. ‘I can see why Lizzie Ferguson decided to drive herself to Cardiff rather than being driven in that!’
Alex pointed to the key safe to the right of the substantial oak front door. ‘I thought those things had been abolished for anything other than holiday homes. They’re a good idea if several people need access to a property and the owner doesn’t want to have numerous keys cut, but even this heavy-duty one wouldn’t be that difficult to get into. Still I guess here they have the added security of the main gates.
‘I’d fancy a look round the house but that’s not really what we’re here for so I guess those are the outhouses we need to head for.’
Alex pointed to a group of buildings and started to walk towards them when Matt’s phone rang.
‘All hell could break out here!’ reported DS Shaw, ‘and I thought you should know about it.’
‘What’s happening?’
‘Well, it’s probably my fault, because I showed Elizabeth Ferguson the photograph that had been found in her father’s pocket. I had been with her for an hour or more and although she was still very upset about her father’s death she was determined to find out what happened to him.
‘I didn’t feel able to lie to her when she asked how her father had died and so I said we were investigating the possibility that he had been injected with some sort of poison. First of all she looked at m
e as if I had horns growing out of my head and then she went a bit potty and wanted to know why I thought there was someone out there who wanted to kill her father.
‘In a funny sort of way I think her letting off steam and shouting at me was what she needed to do and she calmed down considerably after that. So much so that I thought I would ask her about the photograph and of course she wanted to see it. When I showed it to her it had completely the opposite effect to my first revelation. For ages she sat staring at it and then the floodgates opened and she hasn’t stopped crying since.’
‘That’s OK – I mean, we would’ve had to ask her about the photo sooner or later. I would maybe have given her a bit more time, but I doubt it would have made much difference. So why do you think all hell is going to break loose?’
‘Between the bouts of sobbing she’s explained the photograph to me. She says she has a vague memory of the photograph being taken, but she’s never seen the actual print before and had no idea that her father had kept a copy of it. Apparently the young woman in the photograph is her and the baby is her child that she was persuaded to give up for adoption. She then went on to tell me that she’d called the baby Harriet and my brain went into overload!’
‘Bloody hell, I’m with you. Harriet was the name on the photo Ellie Bevan showed me and given that she’s adopted and the age gap is about right – I know where this is taking us. Whatever you do keep this information to yourself – we are going to need some advice on how we handle this situation. It’s going to be tricky for two ladies and they are both in Goleudy at the moment.
‘That’s why I had that déjà vu moment when I went from interviewing Ellie to attending the identification of Edward Ferguson. I was moving from daughter to mother, wasn’t I? I’m not a believer in coincidences so what’s this all about?’
‘God knows but I thought you should know what’s happening and get some advice on what to do.’
‘Well, don’t let the two women meet until we’ve done some preliminary work with both of them – and as I said we will need some professional help with that. It’s going to be one hell of a shock for both of them. Is there anyone with Ellie now? Has Elizabeth got any family members who will be able to support her?’
DS Shaw answered that question very quickly. ‘There’s her mother and her brother, but I don’t think there’s any love lost between those three. Elizabeth hasn’t been able to contact her mother, but her brother is a Conservative backbencher and he’s already been throwing his weight around and is apparently on his way here as we speak. I’m really looking forward to that!’
‘Don’t let the fact that he’s an MP panic you – just treat him like you would anyone else. Presumably he wants to see his father, and even if he doesn’t get on with his sister I suspect he’ll want to comfort her in the circumstances.’
Alex realised that Matt’s attention was going to be taken for a while and so he had walked ahead towards the garages. As soon as he could and after giving the offer of support if needed, Matt ended his call. He was walking towards Alex when he realised that Alex was walking back towards him.
‘That’s got to be the quickest SOC examination on record!’
‘There’s nothing to examine,’ returned Alex. ‘There’s no car there! Let’s have another look at that copy you had taken of the photo from Basil Copeland’s phone. These grounds are pretty extensive – perhaps there are more garages or outbuildings towards the back.’
Both men carefully scrutinised the photograph and both came to the same conclusion. They stood facing the garages and apart from the absent car the picture was identical.
Alex confirmed what Matt was thinking. ‘This is definitely the spot from which Mr Copeland took his picture. Look, you can see the edge of that bush there and in the image that garage door is half-closed, just as it is now.’
‘I was going to suggest that maybe Elizabeth’s mother had returned home and then used the car but that doesn’t make sense. I presume she has a car of her own so if she had taken the elusive Jag she would have left hers here and there’s no sign of it. It’s a bloody mystery.’
Alex had gone into full SOCO mode and was crawling around on his hands and knees.
‘A car has been driven away from here very recently and although there are no actual tyre marks it is possible to see where the grass has been briefly flattened. I would say that in the same period of time another vehicle has been driven here and then driven away. That was a heavier vehicle than the Jag because the pressure on the grass for both journeys is greater.’
‘OK,’ said Matt. ‘So someone drove a relatively big car here, presumably with another driver, and then they each drove away – one of them driving the Jag. Is that what you’re saying? But why? The second Jaguar, if it really exists, is obviously dodgy, but I can’t think of any explanation for it being here in the first place and then disappearing.’
Alex had turned his attention to one of the garages. ‘There’s a fairly substantial padlock on this door but it’s not in use and there are no keys – it’s not ancient and it doesn’t really look as if it’s been used that much.’
Neither men had heard the Mercedes that had used the second entrance and parked at the rear of the house, but both jumped at the sound of an angry voice booming from the verge above the garages.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing? This is private property, you are trespassing and I’m going to ring the police. I’ve got a gun and don’t think I won’t use it – I’ve shot animals bigger than you, so get your arses up here and we’ll wait for the boys in blue.’
When Matt automatically went to take his warrant card from his pocket the stranger fired a shot in the air.
‘The first one’s a warning, but try any more tricks and I’ll show you how good my aim is.’
Matt’s mind went back to the time when he and Martin had followed a murder case from Cardiff to France. On that occasion the suspect had been pointing a very lethal weapon at his wife, whereas the gun here was a simple air rifle and it wasn’t actually being pointed at anyone. Nevertheless, they had been threatened and Matt just hoped his voice would work when he voiced his thoughts.
‘Mr Charles Ferguson? I am Detective Inspector Matthew Pryor of South Wales Police and we are here in connection with the death of your father, Mr Edward Ferguson.’
Matt’s words had the desired effect, as Ferguson realised that no random intruders would be armed with that sort of information. However he wasn’t going to be made to look foolish and held the air rifle at arm’s length.
‘It’s in the safest of safe modes, and I’ve just taken it from the locked compartment in my boot. There are only two places where the ammunition is kept, locked separately from the gun, and that’s in the study here and in my London flat. There’s not much I don’t know about gun safety, Inspector Pryor, so you gentlemen have no need to be concerned.’
Matt wanted to remind him that it was criminal offence to threaten anyone, even potential burglars, with a gun of any sort. He refrained from doing so as he remembered that the man had recently had news about the death of his father and had possibly thought his mother was in the house with two strange men stalking the grounds.
‘I’m pleased to hear that,’ Matt said curtly, adding with a bit more feeling, ‘May I offer you my condolences on the death of your father and assure you we will be doing all we can to find the person who killed him.’
Matt watched as Charles Ferguson shrugged his shoulders. ‘I haven’t had much to do with the old fellow for years now, so I’m not going to pretend a loss I don’t actually feel. My mother won’t be wearing widow’s weeds either – theirs was never a match made in heaven, but each got what they wanted from it!’
‘Well, as I understand it, your sister has been really upset by her father’s death, and one of my team seemed to think you were heading for Cardiff to be with her. We didn’t expect to see you here.’
‘That’s bloody rich! I think it should be me saying that. Why i
n God’s name are you investigating my father’s death here, when for some bizarre reason he died in Wales? I haven’t been able to get in contact with my mother and, according to one of your officers in Cardiff, neither has Lizzie. Thinking that she might be here and simply not answering the phone, I thought it sensible to call in.’
‘And is she?’
‘Is she what?’
‘Is she here?’
‘How the hell would I know? I haven’t been inside the house yet – I’ve had to contend with you two, and you still haven’t explained what you’re doing here.’
Seeing that Matt was on a short fuse thanks to Charles Ferguson’s high and mighty attitude, Alex stepped in and explained about the saga of the two Jaguars. Suddenly Charles became more subdued and suggested that such a situation was not possible.
‘Exactly what we thought,’ continued Alex ‘and that is why came here to see for ourselves.’
‘And now you can see that there isn’t a second car and that my demented sister and her, probably high as kites, friends have probably made up the whole thing. Some sort of sick joke – what do you think?’
‘Even if I could think of just one sane reason for them to do such a thing, I know from the sequence of events this morning that it wouldn’t have been possible. Why are you even suggesting it? Is your sister fond of tasteless practical jokes?’ Matt was remembering the woman he had seen in Cardiff earlier and this picture of her just didn’t fit the frame.
Alex showed Ferguson the photograph of the car. If he had been subdued by the mention of it he now paled visibly on actually seeing it. Matt picked up on his reaction and watched him closely as Alex went on to explain their presence.
‘When you arrived I was examining the area around the garage and I can see that a car was driven away from here earlier.’ He decided against mentioning the possible coming and going of another car and just mentioned casually that he would be asking the local SOCOs to join him and help with his investigations.