A Killer's Calling: Incite to Murder 1

by John Stuart Owen

  ‘Don’t play down your role detective . . . now if you’ll excuse me I’ve a meeting to attend. Oh, by the way, a few of your old team are in today, why don’t you go and say hello; I'm sure you will enjoy bringing them up to date.’ She smiled, knowing how peeved her old colleagues will feel. It’ll do them good.

  The two detectives made their leave. ‘Fancy a coffee before we make tracks?’

  Matt screwed up his face. ‘I’d love to Orla, but I need to hand in our two bits of evidence and I’ve also got to put that report together. Could you stay on here? If some of your old buddies are kicking around, it would be a good time to start pumping them for some clues on Crystal’s behaviour. Maybe someone picked up on . . . well anything; any change in his behaviour. You will probably know better than me what constitutes normal behaviour with him.’

  ‘Leave it with me; I’ll see what I can come up with. I’m going to enjoy seeing the look on their faces when they learn that we’ve cracked this case.’ She was laughing at the thought of it.

  Matt shared her glee. ‘Call when you’re on your way back and I’ll put the kettle on.’

  ‘Will do.’ She nodded in agreement and went in search of her mates of old.

  Ronnie and Charlie were huddled together reviewing their time sheets; their faces lit up when she walked in on them. ‘Stone the bloody crows, look who we have here! Couldn’t keep away could you?’ Ronnie turned with his arms outstretched.

  She felt good; they had missed her. Orla recounted the details of their investigation and they were blown away at the success they had achieved. There was no resentment at their accomplishment and it was not long before the chat began to focus on Kevin Crystal.

  ‘We had known for some time that Kevin had got it wrong, but what can you do? We tried a number of times to get him to change tack; in fact Charlie had his head bitten off for daring to suggest we should be looking elsewhere. No . . . we are very pleased for you Orla. The division needed a boost and you’ve delivered the goods . . . well done.’

  ‘Talking about Kevin Crystal, has anyone seen or heard of him lately?’ Orla was now back on the job . . . got to be cautious.

  Ronnie was quick to respond. ‘He has been in a couple of times. I know he spoke with Mark Wheeler, but mostly he spent time with Janet Warley.’

  ‘There’s a surprise!’ Orla was chatting now as “one of the boys”.

  ‘Yeah, they think we’re all stupid. Don’t know what’s going on.’

  ‘What about Catherine? What's going on there?’ This was delicate territory and she knew it.

  ‘Matt never got over that you know; poor bastard!’ Charlie looked around as he spoke; it was a subject they tried not to bring up. ‘They bought a new 4 wheel drive motor and set off on what was to be a second honeymoon, that much we know . . .What we don’t know is what happened, because when they got back she moved out and went back to her parents.’

  ‘My . . . that is interesting!’ Orla was intrigued but she needed more; she didn’t want Charlie to blather on with the usual gossip. She needed more focus.

  ‘Ronnie, did you notice any changes earlier, in Kevin’s behaviour, you know, before he left? I felt he was not quite the same, those last couple of weeks. I wondered what he was about!’

  ‘Yes Orla . . . I know what you mean, but I can’t put my finger on anything in particular.’ He turned to his colleague. ‘What about you Charlie?’

  Charlie, always cautious, hesitated before responding. ‘Kevin never confided in anyone really; very shallow individual. He certainly never exchanged any banter with me. Even when he was with you, his eyes were always elsewhere; strange fellow. Mind you, there was one incident with Mark Wheeler that I recall. I don’t know what went on but I remember Mark was shaking his head and muttering about Kevin. It was just after he had left, but that is the only thing that I can recall.’

  ‘I heard my name mentioned!’ A smiling Mark Wheeler had entered the room. On seeing Orla, his grin took over his whole face. Ten minutes later a more serious Mark began to relate his misgivings about Kevin Crystal. ‘You know, I introduced him to the “Off Road” scene, and when I learnt he was going to buy a late model Discovery through some family connections, I got him to promise to introduce me to them as I was looking to upgrade my old banger. Anyway, I was in town when I saw him park up and get out of his wagon. He didn’t see me, but as I walked past his car I noticed that the dealer’s name was plastered all over the spare wheel cover. You know those external spare wheels always have a cover on them with the dealer’s name and it was from the “Hook Norton” dealership. Well my wife and I were in the Cotswold’s recently, doing a bit of mooching, so we dropped in at their showroom and had a nose around. There were a couple of motors that we liked the look of so we got a hold of the Sales Manager. We told him that we were friends with Kevin Crystal and that we believed he had some family connections with the business which is why we had dropped in. Now this is the funny bit, the guy remembered Kevin but there was no family tie up. He only came in to buy the wheel cover! He said the other one was stolen . . . I mean who steals a wheel cover. The spare wheel, yes! . . . But a wheel cover!’ He shrugged his shoulders . . . ‘Makes no sense!’ Turning to Orla, he took her hand. ‘It’s been great seeing you. When are you coming back? This place needs brightening up!’

  She smiled softly. ‘With all the changes coming, I doubt any of us will be seeing out the year here, but we must stay in touch.’ Ten minutes later Orla was heading back to Wellesbourne.

  Matt sat at his desk, head down. ‘God, I'm struggling with this bloody report. Trying to keep it factual whilst trying attempting to implicate Ana in the murders . . . especially the last one, it’s giving me grief. How did you get on; anything that we can follow up on?’

  ‘I’ll make some tea.’

  ‘That good eh?’

  ‘Something that will interest you . . . Catherine has moved out of the happy home!’

  ‘Well I’ll be damned! What brought that on?’

  Orla smiled to herself. . . I’ve got his attention now! ‘You know after his leaving party . . . they left the next day . . . the Friday, and went to pick up their new motor. Well, they stayed away for a few days but when they got back, she upped and left; went back to her parents. The only other thing I got that seemed a little odd, was something from Mark Wheeler,’ and she went through the story as Mark had related it.

  Matt thought for a moment. ‘Well you’re right; it does seem a little odd, but buying a spare wheel cover is hardly something to get too excited about . . . but back to “trouble in paradise”, do you know what caused the bust up?’

  ‘No . . . no one seemed to know what had gone on.’

  Matt pondered on what he had just heard. ‘I wonder if she found something out? Something that would be of interest to us!’ Orla waited, not wanting to break his train of thought. ‘She probably just found out she had married a prat. I’ll tell you what . . . I need to finish off this blasted report; why don’t you go and see if you can find out where he did buy that car from. I can’t see it having a lot of relevance but it’s all we've got at the moment.’

  ‘I’ll get on with it . . . Here’s your tea!’ Orla settled into a quiet corner and began to make the calls that would bring her the information she was after. Half an hour later, she sat down, paper in hand. ‘There you are. It’s not actually in his name. It’s registered to Catherine and was bought from a dealer in Pembrokeshire; a place called Llantywyn.’

  ‘Never heard of it; but that’s not surprising. Just file it for now Orla, but it is certainly worth a look at. Look, you must be worn out. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off. I’d like to have some help on this but it’s really a one man job. You can give it a going over before I hand it in, but you’ve earned a break. Go home and do whatever it is you do when you’re not chasing baddies and I’ll see you in the morning.’

  ‘No, it’s OK. . . I’ll feel guilty leaving you here. There must be something that needs to be
done.’

  ‘I’m sure you’re right, and do you know what, you can start doing it first thing tomorrow morning. Now be gone before I start getting ugly.’

  ‘It’s a bit too late for that!’

  ‘Why you!’ . . . He turned, rising from the chair as he did so, but she was gone, her laughter reverberating off the bare walls of the staircase. Sinking back into his chair he tried to suppress the laugh that was taking over his body: he failed. . . . she is something special. . . .she’ll make someone very happy. The euphoria left him quickly. God Catherine, what have you done to me?

  Chapter 35

  The three story block of flats didn’t boast a lift and Orla cursed quietly as she reached the top step. The two plastic carrier bags were cutting into her hands as she arrived at her front door. The milk and the bread made up most of the one bag; the other held the necessities. . . Corona beers and a bottle of Pinot Grigio. The last week had been pretty demanding and as a result, things had been neglected.

  I’ve got to call Mom. . . I must have a dozen text’s that I haven’t responded to. She’ll be going ballistic! Orla collapsed on the bed, phone in hand.

  ‘Hi Mom!’

  ‘Oh my! . . . I thought you had slipped off the planet. Where have you been?

  Your father has been worried sick; it’s not like you to be so quiet!’

  ‘I’m really sorry not getting back to you sooner but this case I’m working on has just taken up so much of my time. I’ve spent every waking hour on it but at last we’re making headway.’

  ‘That’s nice dear. . . What’s his name?’

  ‘What do you mean? . . .What’s his name?’

  ‘Well tell me if I’m wrong dear, but whenever I’ve lost track of you for a couple of weeks there’s usually a man involved.’

  ‘Well it’s not like that this time. I’ve been working on this case with a new team and we have had an incredible couple of days. We’ve actually solved the crime! It’s been hanging over us for months, but now, with this new detective inspector, we have found out who was responsible. Actually I said we had solved it but we have only half solved it.’

  ‘I don’t understand; how can you only half solve a case?’

  ‘Oh mother! It’s just that there is another murder related to this case and we’ve still got to sort that out.’

  ‘That’s wonderful Orla. . . you make us so proud, but I do worry for you. How many do you have in this new team? Are you doing your fair share?’

  ‘There’s only two of us Mom, and yes I'm doing my fair share!’

  ‘Only two! That's hardly a team; it’s more like you have a partner. You be careful my girl, don’t let him take advantage of you.’

  ‘Oh for heaven’s sake Mom, I’m all grown up now!’

  ‘So was I, and look what happened to me: I ended up with your Dad! That reminds me, please give Seamus a call; he was round here again yesterday asking after you. You know he’s running the farm now. I’ve always said you would make a lovely couple. Your Dad is now spending more time up there with him, than he is with me; but the rain is getting a bit colder so maybe that will change.’

  ‘Speak with you soon Mom. . . Love to everyone!’

  God! . . . That was hard work. I need a drink . . . I hate to drink alone . . . but sometimes!

  Household chores and washing took up the rest of Orla’s afternoon. A Chinese takeaway, delivered, rounded off her day. She settled down to watch some epic movie but her mind was too busy with other goings on. Eventually she gave up and turned in; tomorrow was going to be tough. Back to square one! Her thoughts were still racing but as tiredness took over, she drifted off into a sexual fantasy. Unfortunately for Seamus, he didn’t feature.

  Chapter 36

  Matt arrived at the office early; his report lay on the desk. In true Matt Black fashion, it was factual, accurate and concise. No-one wanted to wade through reams of perfect prose, and honing this skill had taken Matt many years to perfect; he was particularly happy with this one. He had been able to cast some doubt on the apparent suicide of Viktor Maric, the whole purpose of which was to implicate Ana. He sat in his chair looking down at the report.

  ‘You look pleased with yourself!’ Orla's arrival took him by surprise.

  ‘Oh! . . . I was just imagining Janet Warley’s face as she wades through this!’ He pushed the file towards her. ‘Have a read; hopefully you like what you see.’ An hour later they were ready to review their strategy.

  ‘Are you happy to agree that Kevin Crystal is our prime suspect? We have Ana and her pal in the wings as a possible, but I think that she was guilty of playing around and not much else.’ Matt looked at Orla as he waited for a response. She hesitated at first, struggling to actually say the words that he was waiting to hear.

  ‘Well . . . in the absence of . . .’

  Matt interjected. ‘Orla, let me tell you what I think and perhaps a little bit about how I work. It’s been effective for me in the past so here goes. At this stage of our investigation we haven’t got a lot to go on; only some deep suspicions. I take our best suspect, in this case our late colleague, Kevin Crystal, and assume that he is guilty. I know most of our compatriots would cringe at this approach but I find it gives me better focus in looking for evidence. If you are forever giving the suspect the benefit of the doubt, you very quickly grind to a halt. They say the devil’s in the detail; well it’s not always the case. Sometimes it’s staring you straight in the bloody face. So . . . with our mate Kevin, I want to draw up a list of checks and balances and see how much that we know, fits his profile as our killer.’

  ‘Don’t you think that you might find that you are making the evidence fit the crime?’

  ‘No . . . not at all. We are not here to fabricate evidence, just to view it with a little more circumspection.’

  Orla gave a deep sigh . . .‘OK, what have we got?’

  Matt began his discourse. ‘Whoever killed Dennis Parker, knew exactly how our first two murders were committed, and to a degree that very few people could have known. Those people would have been Viktor Maric, deceased, and the investigative team. So what are we talking; six people! It wasn’t you was it?’

  ‘Are you looking for trouble?’

  ‘Then we are down to five. . . You see progress!’ He gave her a smug smile.

  ‘And here’s me thinking that the Sherlock Holmes correspondence course couldn’t deliver. What about a motive?’

  Matt pondered the question. ‘We have trouble with the motive but it was common knowledge that the investigative team was going to be reformed and the main casualty would obviously be Kevin Crystal. All the other members, yourself included, would have been accommodated elsewhere. But Kevin would have been out; which is ultimately what happened. Perhaps he thought he could buy himself more time to actually solve the first two murders. As a motive it’s a bit thin, but it’s all we’ve got.’

  ‘My God, I’ve just remembered something’ . . . Orla covered her mouth with a hand. ‘It was just a throwaway remark that Simon made at one of our Monday meetings; you know what he’s like.’

  Matt was restless. ‘What did he say?’

  ‘It was because we had nothing to do . . . he said, “What we need, is another murder!” . . . Gosh, how did I forget that . . . but it was such a flippant remark, it never really sunk in.’

  ‘Was Kevin there?’

  ‘Oh yes: he always led the meetings . . . and do you know, when Simon made that remark, we all fell about laughing, and I looked straight at Kevin; he had a strange look on his face. He didn’t call order and he wasn’t laughing. I can’t believe that that silly remark might have been responsible for Mr. Parker’s murder!’ Orla was visibly upset at the thought.

  ‘Strange isn’t it that every new snippet of evidence seems to reinforce our theory that we are on the right track.’ Matt pushed on. ‘I can’t think of any other person that has anything to gain from this death. I’m certain that his pursuit of Catherine was because she was with me. His
deep hatred of anything to do with me and the thought of him being demoted must have played on his warped mind. He would have known that I would replace him.’

  They both sat in silence looking blankly into space.

  ‘We’ve got to find a connection between Kevin and poor Mr. Parker.’ Orla was back on track and her words brought Matt out of his trance. ‘When I spoke with Mrs. Parker that next morning, she stated that her husband had had an altercation with another motorist just a week prior to his death. If we adopt your approach to consider who that motorist might have been, then we should assume that it was Kevin Crystal.’

  ‘And I think your assumption would be dead right!’ Matt smiled; his face said it all. ‘I think that that was a chance meeting: coming face to face after so many years must have brought back some unpleasant memories for Kevin. If he was looking for a victim, I think that that’s when he found one.’

  Orla looked puzzled. ‘To make that connection, we have to put Kevin at Lyndon Heath some twenty odd years ago, but when we looked at their records, that wasn’t the case.’

  ‘That has to be where the connection was made Orla, and with it the reason for the obvious hatred. We just weren’t looking in the right place. That has got to be our priority; I think we need to revisit Lyndon Heath School.’

  ‘I’ll get Mrs. Wilkes on the phone: I think we should see her today. We have to make that connection.’ Orla was on the phone for a few minutes. ‘Right! We have a meeting with the Head at two o’clock. Janet Wilkes is on a week’s leave and the Headmaster, Mr. Bateman, would like to see us. He was aware of our previous meeting and would like to know more.’

  A bemused look appeared on Matt’s face. ‘What we can’t do is tell him more, but that’s great Orla; let’s hear what he has to say.’

  Chapter 37

  Headmaster, Trevor Bateman greeted them warmly. A firm handshake and welcoming smile put everyone at ease.