‘The Leonards. Tell me about your business with them,’ Harry growled.
‘The Leonards?’
‘Don’t act dumb. You were the one talking about having plans tonight. I’m not here to waste anyone’s time. I’ve spoken to the wife so I know you have too. So tell me about that.’
Ryan sniffed. His eyes moved off Harry to Maddie and then to the floor. ‘What do you want to know?’
‘Tell me what you know.’
‘I know they have a place. They have some land. I know that the company are at the table to acquire it for development.’
‘The company?’
‘McCall’s.’
‘I know what company you work for, Ryan. I meant, are the company in talks or are you?’
‘They’re the same thing.’
‘Anyone else at this table?’ Harry spat his words.
‘That’s not my concern.’
‘What did I say about wasting time? Talk straight or I will arrest you and you will spend at least the night in a custody cell. I will not play your game of ask-the-right-question.’
‘I bet you’re great at parties. You don’t take a joke well, do you?’
‘Not when I’m fucking APPALLED!’ Maddie jumped just as much as Clarke at Harry’s sudden outburst.
‘Jesus, man. Calm yourself, yeah? I was just trying to lighten it all up a bit in here.’ He chuckled but it was clearly his nerves talking. Harry didn’t move his gaze away or say a word. Maddie didn’t think she had ever met anyone who used silence even half as well. ‘Look, I get why you’re upset. I called her up not long after her old man . . . well, I knew what happened, yeah, and I thought that she wouldn’t want the hassle. Not anymore. I knew she would just want that place gone. I thought I could help her out.’
‘How much?’
‘How much what?’
‘How much did you stand to make from helping her out?’
‘It wasn’t about that!’
‘How MUCH?’
Clarke flinched again. ‘Look, it’s a job. I was the only one taken on full time. They sold it to me like I was the lucky one. But I can’t make anywhere near what the others do and I’ve been working with the firm longer than all of them put tog—’
‘So you steal their leads?’
‘No!’
‘This wasn’t your deal. One of your colleagues was negotiating that sale. I know that.’
Clarke moved towards the kitchen. Harry held his ground and Clarke had to walk around him. In the kitchen, he took a glass from a cupboard, filled it with water and turned around to lean by the sink. He near drained the glass as they waited.
‘Look, I do what I’m told. I had no interest in Leonard’s Farm, okay? When I was in the game full-time, I had a reputation for picking out the right places — the easy switch.’
‘Easy switch?’
‘Yeah, you know, it’s all a game. A piece of land is just the start. There’s planning permission, access, local residents, pressure groups — the whole thing is a bit of a minefield. But if you know what you’re doing you can pick out the plots that will go easy. I used to do my homework, make sure the land was owned clean to start with — no disputes. Then I’d run it past a few contacts on the council and building regs side, slip them a sweetener for their trouble. I had contacts at the auction houses tipping me off and all sorts. Sometimes I could walk onto a plot for the first time with a deal already done. I wouldn’t touch Leonard’s Farm. That place has grief written all over it. You know there’s subsidence there, right? It’s not viable.’
‘You’re not making any sense now, Ryan. You need to start making more sense.’
‘I get tasked. That’s what this was. I get tasked to go and get a particular plot of land, or at least to do what I can. It’s always a problem. The plots I get tasked with are never without grief. Most of the time I’ll be the only one at the negotiating table.’
‘Tasked?’
‘The McCalls. They don’t get on. I can only think that he’s trying to damage the business out of spite.’
‘He? Who’s he?’
‘Who’s he? You’ve met the brothers, right?’
‘The brothers?’
‘The McCall brothers?’
‘James McCall we’ve met. He never mentioned a brother.’
‘Of course he didn’t!’ Clarke chuckled. He refilled his glass. He tightened his robe and took another deep breath. ‘Jim McCall is a good businessman. He seems to make good choices at least. He started McCall’s around twenty years ago. He was a sole trader and a good builder. He had good contacts doing the bits he wasn’t able to, like you need when you’re a small outfit. He got a good reputation and got busier — the usual story. Then he took a chance. He bought some land without any permissions or access. He saw the potential. He put in a few applications with the council and was rebutted. He kept working and almost forgot about it, but the housing crisis has changed the way councils work. A couple of changes happened at the top and he was able to get the permission he needed to build a small clump of houses just outside of Langthorne. Not too far from here. The only stipulation was that they had to be high-end. They were in a wealthy area and on the edge of an area of outstanding natural beauty, so they wanted to be sure they were getting the right people moving into them. Wealthy professionals, I suppose. Jim didn’t have the money to build what they wanted. He considered selling the land along with the permission. He would still have made a nice profit for sure. But I suppose he was still a builder at heart. By that time he had a small building firm and he couldn’t just give the project away. So he teamed up with Andy.’
‘Andy?’
‘Andy McCall. His brother. He’s ex-army — although, at the time, I think he was still in. I think he got a few ranks above where he started — nothing amazing — but he was good with his money I heard. All the time he was in the army they were paying his board, his house, his food, everything. So he never really touched his earnings. He had tax reliefs as well — he was posted away a lot. He never married. Jim once told me that he’s never even seen him with a woman. So all that money he was earning was just accumulating. Jim approached him with a proposition and they teamed up. The firm built the houses and Andy was put in place as a partner in the company, but very much a silent one. He had no idea about it all really. He used to come in a lot at first and I know he tried to get involved. He even went out on the tools as a sort of apprentice for a while, but it didn’t last. He ended up sitting at the desk next to me out in that dusty Portakabin, giving out keys to the men doing the real work. He used to turn up a few times a week. Then it was once a week. Then I wouldn’t see him. There always seemed to be some crisis going on, he was always moving house or going away for personal reasons, and when he did turn up he would often look beaten. Do you know what I mean?’
‘Like beaten up?’
‘No, not physically. I saw depression in my sister, God bless her soul. It had a real hold on her. It changes a person. They get, like, this black cloud round them. We used to talk about her and say, “She’s got the black cloud back.” I don’t know, you can tell.’
‘You think he was depressed?’
‘No doubt. I spoke to Jim about it. He didn’t disagree. I think Andy came back from the army a different bloke, but Jim didn’t really talk about it much. Andy was into communication — that side of things at least.’
‘So what are you saying? That this Andy tasks you?’
‘Exactly that. I don’t see him much at all anymore. I know him and his brother have had a couple of blowouts at work. It doesn’t look good when it happens. Andy mostly stays away but then he’ll suddenly come in with a site proposal. He’ll generally pick my brains about it and he usually wants me to get involved. The conversations are odd. It’s like he’s trying to find the most difficult plots for us to do something with. He must be doing it to try and piss off his brother. There’s no other reason.’
‘But surely Jim just blocks his plans?’
‘So, Leonard’s Farm . . . Andy came to you with that one?’
‘Yeah. Two months ago, maybe. The usual thing . . . he comes in asking what I know. I told him. I said it was a site one of the lads had looked at but we had done some work around it and were going to pull out. The land has subsidence problems and we didn’t think they were of the sort that could be resolved permanently. I told him it was total can of worms, that if we took it on we’d be looking at years of planning applications before we could even set foot on the site with purpose. That just seemed to make him want it more. I asked him if he had spoken to Jim about it and he got upset. He reminded me that he was a partner in the firm and suggested that I should value my job more. I don’t think he would fire me — I’m not even sure he could — but I don’t want to make an enemy out of him, you know? Not if I can help it. He’s a very intense fella. I get the impression he might be the sort to hold a grudge.’
‘When was the last time you went there?’
‘Where?’
‘Leonard’s Farm.’
‘I’ve never been there. I’ve been to the house where Mrs Leonard lives, but that’s off-site. It’s in Deal. I’ve never been to the site.’
‘And was anyone opposing it? Giving you any trouble?’
‘No — God, no! The owner’s desperate to get rid of the place, there’s no other houses around it to be upset. That’s a rare thing. It was just this issue with the chalk voids that we would need to resolve. But I’m still not sure if that can be done at all. There’s one good barn up there from the reports I’ve seen and there won’t be enough profit in that to justify our interest — assuming anyone would actually spend money to live there when it’s done.’
‘And Andy . . . did he ever mention it to you again? Did he enquire about the status or ask if anything was holding it up?’
‘He would check in. I’d get phone calls out of the blue asking me for updates. He was never chasing me to try and push something through. We’re waiting on structural surveys and engineers, but Andy was quite happy about that. To be honest, I reckon if I told him that there was a bigger holdup he would be delighted. Like I said, he must be trying to get back at his brother and this is the only way he can.’
‘Are there any other buildings or plots of land that he has an interest in?’
‘Yeah, there are a few.’
‘And they’re all cans of worms?’
‘They are. All of them.’
‘I need you to get me a list of them. All of them. I want to know when they came onto your books and how long until something will be moving on each project.’
‘Okay. You know I can’t do anything from here?’
‘I do. But you people work Saturdays, right?’
‘I don’t.’
‘My next conversation is with Andy McCall then.’ Harry glanced ostentatiously at his watch. ‘And tonight. I’ll be sure to tell him who sent me.’
‘Alright! Shit! I swear this ain’t right. I’ll pop in tomorrow. Andy’s asked for an update on it, too, oddly enough.’
‘Do you have a number for him?’
‘I don’t. I did have an old one but he changes his number every few weeks. I swear it. He’s an odd bloke.’
‘When did you see him last?’
Clarke bit down on his lip. His answers had been quick up to this point. Harry shuffled his position but he made sure Clarke was the next person to talk.
‘The same day I saw you, okay? I’d seen him just before. We talked about the truck that had gone missing. He got proper angry about it — like I’ve never seen him before. It was like it was my fault! He told me I needed to look after the trucks better. He reminded me that I was the fleet manager and said that I could start by cleaning them. I thought he was taking the piss — that’s not part of my job. But he just stared at me. It was weird. So I took the keys that were up there and took one of them out to the wash bay. I just wanted to be out of there to be honest. When I got back he was sitting in the office until I walked down to get you. He was gone by the time I got back.’
‘I remember talking to you about the car being clean,’ Maddie interjected. ‘You never mentioned Andy having access to those trucks.’
‘I won’t see him for weeks then he’ll just turn up. It’s not like it’s a regular thing. I get the impression he’s not a big fan of the police either. I didn’t want to be the one that mentioned him driving them. I knew you’d want to speak to him. I guessed you would get his name from elsewhere and I wouldn’t need to. I haven’t seen him or heard from him since.’
Harry sniffed. ‘Brave to the last. So he takes the trucks out . . . do you know what for?’
‘He does what he likes. You need to understand that. I’m not his keeper. The trucks are up there on the board. I don’t know why he would though. He can use any of the fleet and we’ve got some much nicer metal on the books.’
‘I see . . .’ Harry mused. Then he suddenly turned to Maddie. ‘Anything you need to know?’ Maddie was caught out by a question suddenly directed at her. She shook her head.
‘We might need to know a bit more after you send the stuff through. Give me your number in case. Will you be here?’
‘No plans for tomorrow. I expect I’ll be here in the afternoon. But call me, yeah? You got no reason to come here.’
‘We’ll see about that,’ Harry said. ‘One thing I’m good at, Ryan, is inventing reasons. And I don’t always knock.’
Harry exited the flat quickly and Maddie had to break into a jog to keep up. The car was already running when she clambered into her seat.
‘What did you think?’ Maddie said.
‘I don’t like him but I think most of what he was saying was true.’ Harry had his phone out. The screen was lit. ‘That box of employee information on my desk . . . I don’t suppose you noticed if Andy McCall was in there, did you?’
‘No, I only went through it until I found the details for Ryan Clarke. I didn’t check it thoroughly. If I was to have a wager though, I don’t reckon he will be.’
‘I was thinking the same. I can’t think who’s on late turn back in the office. I could start them looking.’
‘It’ll probably take someone all night to go through that lot.’
‘I was hoping for much quicker so I could go and see him.’
‘Tonight?’
‘No time like the present. I’ll drop you back.’
‘I wasn’t complaining! From what our man said in there, though, I’m a lot less sure what motivation a McCall’s employee could possibly have to run down Ron Beasle. Our theory was that Ron was getting in the way of the sale going through, now we’re being told that McCall’s wanted it delayed for as long as possible.’
‘Well, one half of McCall’s did.’
‘And one half didn’t. I still don’t see the link to Ron being run down.’
‘I don’t either. It’s just seems like the next logical step, to go and see this Andy. I wanted to take it before Clarke in there had the chance to speak to him. We’ve probably already lost that opportunity to be honest.’
‘What’s your thinking with getting the list of sites Andy has tasked Clarke with?’
‘I’m not sure. It’s just odd behaviour. It stands out. I want to understand why. I get the point about upsetting the brother but I can see easier ways of doing that. It’s another reason to speak to Andy, too — to see if he tells us the same.’
‘Okay. I’m happy to stay on. Let’s go and see what we’ve got on him for a start. It sounds like he moves around a bit. We might not have an address.’
‘We do have an address
for Jim McCall. I want to speak to him again too, especially if his brother isn’t in that box file — I’ll want to know why not.’ Harry gestured at his phone. ‘And I’ve missed a call from the boss. I just need to call him back.’
‘No problem. You want me to give you lovebirds a bit of privacy!?’ Maddie smirked.
‘Very funny. We need to get on our way.’
The speakers sounded with a dialling tone as the car moved off.
‘Harry!’ Julian Lowe’s voice cut in on the second ring. ‘I needed to talk to you an hour ago!’
‘Sorry, boss, I’ve been out at—’
‘Don’t worry. Look, I can’t really speak. I’m on the way to pick up the daughter. I’m on taxi duty tonight. I need a free week next week. I’ve got a load of meetings with some fella who has designs on becoming the next Police Commissioner. It’s something of a favour. He’s a bit of a twat but an old associate I gave my word to. I need you to attend some meetings for me. I have a diary full of the damned things, most of them are a waste of everyone’s time.’
‘And now mine,’ Harry said.
‘Yes, and now yours. Welcome to the club. I would swap if I could rather than spending time with a half-wit looking to make a fast impression. Speaking of which, I also need to look at what can be done with our newest addition.’
‘New addition?’ Harry said. Maddie looked over. She knew immediately who he meant, though Harry seemed oblivious.
‘Yes, the problem that Manchester kindly sent us . . . DS Ives. I’ve had contact from someone at one of the schools — just about the only place she’s actually been yet and already I’ve been given some feedback that concerns me. She needs to understand how we work down here and I think I might need to move her somewhere a little more suitable. I just don’t know where that is yet. Somewhere dark and insignificant is my plan.’
The chief inspector was speaking quickly. Harry wouldn’t have had a chance to chip in to stop him even if he had wanted to. Not that he seemed overly keen to try. Now he had to reply. He stayed looking forward.
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