by M A Comley
Rebecca removed the black leather glove from her right hand and struck Robert across the face with the palm of her hand. “How dare you! You’re vile. What I ever saw in such an insensitive pig like you really is beyond me. You’re not welcome here. Please leave, and I never want to see you again.”
Robert glared at Rebecca, Lorne and then AJ before he turned on his heel and walked away.
“Wow, what a nasty piece of work. Sorry for our part in the upset caused, Rebecca. Maybe we should dig far deeper into Robert’s background. Perhaps you could give us more insight into that, given what’s just happened?”
“I’ll certainly do my best, Inspector. Not today, though. I hope he gets everything he bloody deserves after the way he’s treated me in the last few days.”
“I’ll drop by the house tomorrow on the way into work, if that’s okay?”
“The sooner, the better. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have genuine mourners to circulate with. That’s nothing against you. I was referring to Robert.” She shuddered when she mentioned his name, and drifted away.
Lorne turned away from the crowd and whispered to AJ, “Interesting confrontation. Did you manage to get a pic of the thug?”
“I did indeed. I’ll run it through the system when we get back to the station, see what comes up.”
The burial took place without any further unpleasantness kicking off. Family members gathered around Rebecca at her mother’s graveside as the woman again broke down in tears. Not long after, Lorne and AJ excused themselves from the mourners and returned to the station.
Lorne ordered the team to gather around and recapped what they had witnessed at the funeral. “So, what we need to do is start digging deeper on Robert Gallagher and see what we can find. Leave no stone unturned. I want his finances in particular searched. That’s where the key will be, I’m sure. AJ, I need you to look through the database of London’s most wanted, see if that thug’s ugly face shows up. Come on, guys, we’ve been dragging our feet on this one. We need to start throwing our weight around and begin getting some answers.”
The team rushed back to their computers and got to work. Lorne strode to her office, paused in the doorway, and closed her eyes when she smelt Pete’s aftershave. She closed the door and sat down behind her desk. Lowering her voice, she said, “If you’re around, Pete, lend us a hand, Chunky.”
She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination or not, but she felt a breeze waft in front of her. She smiled. “You’re here. Can you give me any insight into what’s going on? Am I going about things the right way, love? What would you do differently?”
The room remained silent between each question until Lorne had asked the final one. Not long after, the small TV in the corner of the room lit up. It flipped channels to Sky News. The red breaking-news banner running across the bottom of the screen read: “Breaking news: A woman was abducted last night. She was seen in the Sevenoaks area being thrown into the boot of a black Ford car.”
She moved away from the TV. “Are you telling me this is connected to our case?”
Nothing. She asked the same question a second and third time and received the same result—silence.
It hadn’t been the only time since his death that Pete had helped her out on a case. Although to be fair, he usually arrived in the nick of time to save her arse from being whipped—like when an associate of the Unicorn kidnapped her for his human trafficking scheme. He’d led Tony and Sean Roberts to where the villain was holding her captive, and they’d rescued both her and Charlie.
She left the office and addressed the team once more. “Guys, I’ve just put the TV on, and something interesting is flashing across the screen. A woman was abducted in the Sevenoaks area last night. A witness said she saw the woman being forced into the boot of a Ford car.”
“You think there’s a connection, boss?” Karen was the first to ask.
“That’s my take on things, Karen. Find out who’s dealing with the case, will you?”
“Right away, boss.” Karen picked up the phone.
Lorne walked over to AJ. “Any news on the thug yet?”
“I was just about to come and see you. I’m still searching the database, but I had an idea to get in touch with one of our snitches on the streets, see what he knows.”
“Good man, I should have thought about that myself. Distracted with Charlie, I guess,” Lorne replied.
AJ waved her concerns away and grinned broadly. “The word is that he’s a notorious loan shark in the area.”
“Interesting. Why would a leading barrister be in need of his services?”
“I might have dug into his finances a little to obtain the answer.” AJ wiggled his eyebrows and grinned.
“Stop teasing me, AJ. What have you found?”
“That his gambling habits regularly take him to casinos.”
“Does it now? I wonder if Rebecca was aware of that.”
“Perhaps you can ask her tomorrow, on your visit.”
Lorne nodded. “That I will. Did you see anything else suspicious in his bank account?”
“Apart from that, no. Just the usual standing orders et cetera. What are you getting at?”
“I don’t know—any huge deposits, perhaps? Maybe from either of the victims? I know, I’m going off at a tangent on this one, but we’re still looking for a motive to the crimes, remember?”
AJ shook his head. “Sorry, no. Nothing like that. Surely if I’d found something along those lines, he wouldn’t need the services of a loan shark.”
“Valid point.”
“Sorry to interrupt, boss,” Karen said. “I have the officer dealing with the abduction case on the line. He’s refusing to speak to me. Will only talk to the ‘organ grinder’.”
Lorne raised her eyebrow. “Oh, is that so? Put him through to my office, will you, Karen?” She marched behind her desk and lifted the phone. “This is DI Lorne Warner. To whom am I speaking to?”
“Detective Gregson of CID, ma’am.”
“Do you have a problem, Detective Gregson?”
“I take offence to people ringing up, enquiring about one of my cases, ma’am.”
“Why? It’s a new case that probably landed on your desk first thing this morning. I bet you haven’t even started your enquiries yet.”
“That’s right, ma’am. I had some paperwork on another case that needed my attention before I began delving into this one.”
Lorne’s brow furrowed. “Forgive my confusion then when you blatantly refuse to speak to my sergeant about the case. May I ask why? A word of warning, please be careful how you answer the question, bearing in mind I’m your superior.” You wanna mess with me, buster? Bring it on!
“How would you feel if someone demanded to know about a case you’re dealing with, ma’am?”
“I take it you’re not used to heeding warnings, Gregson. Maybe I should speak with your superior about this one. You know, talk to the ‘organ grinder’ instead of the bloody monkey. That is how you rudely spoke to my sergeant, isn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am. I apologise for my use of inappropriate language.”
“Are you really? How sorry? We believe this case is connected to one we’re working on at present.”
“Not sure what you’re getting at, ma’am?”
“In light of the way you’ve caused offence every time you’ve opened your damn mouth so far, perhaps you’ll consider handing the case over to us? Especially as you haven’t actually started dealing with it yet and a member of the public’s life is possibly in danger. Are you understanding me now, Gregson?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll let my superior know that you think there’s a connection with your ongoing cases. Sorry if my attitude sucks on this one.”
“Apology accepted. I’ll hand you back to my sergeant, Karen, and you can give her all the details, as I’m rather busy myself at present.” Lorne stifled a grin. She loved her renewed kick-arse attitude rearing its head.
“I’ll hold, ma’am. Once again
, I’m sorry.”
Lorne left the office and called Karen over. “The young man has agreed to hand over the case to us. Can you take down the details for me? Use my office; I wouldn’t want to lose the call trying to transfer it back to you.”
Karen laughed and walked into the office.
Lorne was going over the clues AJ had found when Karen emerged from the office five minutes later. Her cheeks were flushed.
“Did he supply the information, Karen?”
“Yep, hesitantly at first. I was patient with him, think it caught him off balance a little. Anyway, a call was placed by a woman just coming out of Tesco’s. She loaded her car with shopping, heard a woman scream and looked over the road to the Duke of Wellington pub just as a man was forcing the woman into the boot of his car. She didn’t know whether to intervene or not and decided to ring the police instead.”
“Can she identify the man? The make of car? The number plate? Anything, Karen?”
“She was in a state of shock, unable to give exact details. Might be worth dropping around there to take down a statement, boss.”
Lorne sat on the desk behind her and placed her finger and thumb on either side of her chin as she thought. “Why don’t we split up? Karen and Graham, you go and take down the woman’s statement while AJ and I question the staff at the pub. That leaves Stephen here answering the phones.” She nodded at the young man almost falling asleep at his desk. “Out late last night on the beer, Stephen?”
He shot upright. “Sorry, boss. What was that?”
“I said, too much ale last night?”
“No, hardly drink during the week, boss. I was awake most of the night with gut ache.”
“All the more reason for you to remain here in that case.”
“Yes, boss. Anything specific you want me to do while you’re all out?”
“Stay awake and answer the phones would be preferable.”
The team laughed and left Stephen manning the phones.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lorne and AJ arrived at the pub around four in the afternoon. A few punters were sitting at the bar, and a flirtatious blonde was standing behind it. She walked towards them, wearing a toothy smile.
“Afternoon, folks. What can I get you?”
Lorne and AJ flashed their IDs. “Detective Inspector Warner and Detective Sergeant Jackson. Are you in charge?”
“For my sins, yes. Is there something I can do for you?” Her smile never slipped.
That was always a good sign in Lorne’s book. She leaned over the bar and whispered, “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”
“Just a mo’.” She walked back to the regulars sitting at the bar. “You guys all right, or do you need topping up?”
The men all said they were fine, and the manager re-joined Lorne and AJ. She pointed to a table close to the bar so that she could keep an eye on things. “I’m by myself until five thirty. I might need to get up and serve if another punter comes in.”
“No problem. Were you on duty here last night? Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”
“Trudi Morris. Yes, I’m on duty most days and nights. Why? Have we broken any licencing laws?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. We had reports of an incident happening in your car park last night. I’m holding my hands up. We should have chased the case up when it was first reported, but another team was dealing with it.”
“Okay, what sort of incident are you talking about? I’m not aware of anything.”
“We’ve had reports of a possible abduction.”
“Get out of here! In my bloody car park? No way.”
“Afraid so. Now we’re not sure if the people concerned came in here or not; we’re guessing that’s the case. Did you see anyone having a disagreement last night? A married couple arguing, perhaps?”
Her mouth turned downwards, and she shook her head. “I was on duty all night and didn’t see anything like that going off. You haven’t said if it was a male or female who was abducted.”
“Female. A woman who’d just come out of Tesco’s heard a woman scream and then saw a man bundling the woman into the boot of his car. That’s as far as we know right now. Two of my team are getting a statement from the woman. Usually, we’d wait before coming here but thought we’d better get on with things, considering the delay on picking up the case.”
“How dreadful. No, I neither saw nor heard anything untoward. I wish I had now.”
Lorne scanned the pub’s walls. “Do you have CCTV on the premises?”
“I do, but you won’t be able to spot it. The cameras are in the mirror frames; not that we get much trouble around here.”
“Please don’t tell me the cameras weren’t working last night?”
“I won’t. They were definitely working. Would you like to view the disc?”
“That would be wonderful.”
The three of them stood and walked behind the bar. “Behave, boys. I’ll be two secs, okay?”
She showed them into a large office and led them to a corner of the room that had a screen and a DVD player set up to monitor the interior of the pub. “Do you have cameras on the outside as well?” AJ asked.
“Yes, just flip that switch there, and the angle of the camera will change. All right if I leave you to it? I trust you guys in here. Not sure I trust the alkies out there not to hop over the bar and pinch a shot or two.”
Lorne chuckled. “You go; we’ll be fine. Before you leave, is there any way we can take a copy if we find anything of significance?”
AJ tutted. Trudi smiled and pointed to a pile of DVDs sitting on a shelf above the monitor. “Sounds like your colleague knows how to work the machine and how to use the recorder.”
“Yep, leave it with me. All right to nick a spare disc if I need one?”
“Too right. I’ve gotta fly. Give me a shout if you need anything else.” Trudi left them to it.
Lorne swiped AJ’s arm. “Hey, I forgot you’re a genius with this kind of stuff. Do your thing, magic man.”
AJ shook his head in despair. “You’re hopeless.”
“I know I am. You have my permission to show me up if you like.”
AJ sorted out the disc and pressed Play. They both watched the monitor with a keen interest. “What about that couple?” AJ pointed to a man and woman putting on their coats.
“Can you wind it back?”
The disc whizzed backwards. Lorne’s eyes narrowed. The woman’s face was in clear view of the camera; however, the man had his back to the lens the whole time. “Damn, he’s acting as if he knew there was a camera right behind him.”
Lorne nodded. “Maybe he did. Is that the best shot we’ve got of him?”
“Looks like it. We need more than this, though. We’re not even sure this is the right couple.”
“What about the external cameras? Can we see if there’s a better picture of them both on there?”
AJ flicked the switch and played with the disc, going back and forth through the images until the couple came into view. “Here they are.”
“I know it’s a long shot, but can we see if they arrived together? Or did they meet up outside the pub?”
AJ played the disc backwards and found the woman standing on the corner, waiting for the man to arrive. “Did he drop her off and then find a space or simply arrange to meet her here?”
“Copy the disc, and we’ll try and figure it out back at the station. According to the footage, they’re the only likely suspects.”
“I concur. Want me to take a pic off, see if the manager knows either person?”
“Yep, do that. Fingers crossed. I’m just going to ring Karen, see what they’ve found out.” She withdrew her mobile from her jacket pocket. “Karen, it’s Lorne. Have you finished with the statement yet?”
“Just left the house. We’re on our way back to the station.”
“Anything for us? Could the lady pick out the man in an ID parade?”
“Doubtful, boss. She said she
was too far away and has some kind of night blindness, needs her specs, but they were in her glove box. By the time she found them, the man had driven off.”
“Brilliant news—not. Well, we’re at the pub and think we’ve located the couple on the surveillance cameras. We’re on our way back now, too. See you back at the ranch.”
AJ extracted a disc from the machine. “I’m all done here.”
“Let’s go.”
Lorne led the way back to the bar, where Trudi was serving a customer. “Hang fire, shouldn’t be a tick.”
“There’s no rush,” Lorne said, walking through the opening and standing on the other side of the bar.
After she’d served the four young men, Trudi approached them. “Was the footage any help?”
Lorne showed the woman the still photo AJ had printed off. “Do you recognise this couple?”
“I recognise her. I saw them both together last night but didn’t think anything of it. She’s a regular, comes in here most weeks. He’s vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t offer you a name for either of them, sorry.”
“So, that means she’s local?”
“Must be. No idea where she lives.”
Lorne’s mind swirled. “I wonder if she drove here last night. Were there any cars left in the car park at locking up time?”
“Yes, there was a red Mini tucked away in the corner. I didn’t give it much thought last night, but now you’ve mentioned it, maybe it was her car. It’s still out there now.”
“That’s great. Thanks so much for your help. We’ll note down the number plate and run it through the ANPR system.”
“I hope you find the woman safe soon. Let me know if you have any further questions.”
Lorne placed a card on the bar. “You’ve been great. Thanks again. If you could keep an eye open for this man, it would be really helpful.”
AJ walked out of the pub in front of her and crossed the car park to the Mini parked in the corner. He called the station and asked Stephen to run the registration number.
“It’s coming back with an Amanda Oughton’s name.”
AJ jotted down the woman’s address, which Stephen supplied, and ended the call. “She lives close by.”