•Was Tom Bowers assignation at The Rock Inn genuine or merely a ruse?
•What was it about the Suttons’ testimony that did not quite ring true?
•Was Dick Sutton really looking for his knife on the moor?
•Why was John Sutton, when about to be interviewed, keen to make a speedy departure?
•What was Jack Lacey really up to during that Wednesday afternoon?
•Was the message on the incident board succinct enough? Why hadn’t anybody seen anything?
•Did George Kemp idle two hours of his time on the afternoon of Mary’s disappearance, or was he up to something else?
•Why was Stella Bovis edgy?
•Did Paul Betteridge really use the back lanes rather than the obvious route past Haytor, on his way to Bovey Tracey, where he may have seen Mary?
•Could Rachel Betteridge’s infatuation over Tom Bowers really drive her to do Mary harm?
•Was Cantwell really after a plumbing part or was he up to no good?
He was pondering all of these points when one of his pub friends, Steve, braved the stay-away vibes and sat down opposite King, who folded the page of his scribblings and put it in his back pocket.
“Not saying much tonight, Richard. Cat got your tongue?”
“Well you know how the saying goes Steve: better to remain silent and be thought a fool, rather than speak and remove all doubt!”
Steve laughed and a chat took the off-duty cop out of his morbid thoughts, for which he was grateful. He continued chatting for about ten minutes before his take-away beckoned.
He collected his curry and after his half-mile walk home, enjoyed his favourite meal of the week. He surprised himself when he began imagining Lucy Harris sat across the table from him sharing his chicken razdani, pillau rice, poppadums and a beer. Dream on Kingy he thought to himself…
Spookily, his sergeant was having similar thoughts whilst eating her take-away Chinese meal.
*
Well intentioned as he was, Sunday did not work out as planned as his superintendent was called to a meeting with the chief constable, although to the inspector’s relief, he told King that the meeting was about police budgets not the missing woman. Their meeting was re-arranged for the following morning.
The two detectives took some time to review the Cranson case, including King’s newspaper scribblings from the previous evening. The sense of urgency to find Mary had not abated, but by mid-afternoon the inspector called a halt, deciding that rest and a fresh impetus the next day might help the investigation.
*
He read the Sunday Telegraph in some depth, but only flicked through the supplement. After eating a late lunch of a roast beef ready meal he began to feel restless as his thoughts never strayed far from the missing woman.
Although it was now late afternoon, on impulse, and possibly looking for inspiration, he decided to drive to Haytor, parking his car in the very same car park and the very same place as Mary had parked her Punto over four days earlier. It was deserted as the weather was dank and cold; the moor mist was beginning to envelope the giant rock. Nevertheless, he got out and walked towards the ominous, threatening, granite edifice. He wasn’t really sure what he was trying to achieve. Possibly, being where she had been would give him some divine inspiration as to what had happened to her: this was a desperate detective. He turned away from the car park and headed for the massive tor, he imagined just like she had done on that Wednesday afternoon. He walked on and up as the mist crept down and dampened his clothes, but not his determination. As he paused in the lee of the gigantic rock, he glanced to his left. To his utter amazement, he saw coming towards him out of the swirling haze, a ghostly figure, walking with her arms outstretched in a zombie-like trance. His eyes widened as she came closer and closer. He had never met her, but surely this couldn’t be Mary Cranson, could it?
EIGHT
DI King tapped gently on the windowless office door. It was now Monday morning. He didn’t quite understand why he had mistaken the late afternoon walker for Mary Cranson. Perhaps it was brought on by stress, investigation fatigue, wishful thinking or a combination of all three. The grateful woman rambler, who wasn’t exactly lost, was very pleased to see him hence her outstretched arms. If he had been thinking clearly he would have realised that her garb was nothing like the clothes Mary was dressed in. The almost surreal experienced had shaken the normally unflappable detective.
“Come in, inspector.” As he entered the room, the superintendent gestured towards the chair in front of his desk. “Apologies for having to postpone our meeting yesterday. Take a seat, Richard.”
Superintendent Colin Edwards had joined the Force as a graduate entrant six years before on a fast track scheme starting at inspector level. After two years training he had progressed rapidly to superintendent. If DI King was a ‘copper’s copper’, liked and respected by all ranks, that sobriquet could not be applied to Edwards. Nevertheless, although he did not possess the charisma of King, he was certainly a very capable senior officer.
Before the inspector had settled into his seat, the superintendent began the informal meeting. Mary Cranson had been missing for over four days and, as expected, his boss wanted to find out what progress, if any, was being made on the investigation. That wasn’t the only case where an update was required: there was growing interest in the media over the thefts from farms. However, of primary concern to the senior policeman was the disappearance of the young woman.
“Any progress on the search for Mary Cranson? Chief Constable Briggs is taking a keen interest in the case and has asked to be kept informed of any developments. Obviously, her concern is for the missing person.
“She is also aware of the bad press the Force is receiving due to the lack of progress on the farm thefts: with each one it is getting increasingly difficult to defend the fact that they are continuing and that no arrests have been made.” Criminals never fazed the inspector and neither did senior officers.
“Okay, sir. Let me update you on where we are on the cases we are working on. Firstly, the most important case, the disappearance of Mary Cranson. From the time we were first alerted, I felt that she had been abducted. We’ve not had any reported sightings of her and the only firm lead is the discovery of a mitten near Hound Tor, which Forensics has identified as belonging to Mary. I have also been considering whether or not this was a random abduction or if she knew her abductor. A number of people, mainly close friends, knew that she would be on the moor last Wednesday afternoon. We know this as after rugby training at Bovey Tracey Rugby Club, attended by most of her friends, she asked the group about the weather forecast for the following afternoon on Haytor: effectively this was an announcement of her intentions.
“I have been working closely with Sergeant Harris and we have had an initial interview with all of those people who knew where she’d be that afternoon. We have planned follow-up interviews with two farming brothers and three other friends, a local estate agent, a plumber and a car salesman. Also present after training were the club coach and his daughter. We may want to see both of them again as we are not entirely happy with what we’ve been told about their movements. We are not yet satisfied that any of these people have given a satisfactory account of where they were at the time she disappeared. We are also trying to identify a vehicle whose tracks we found in the vicinity of the mitten I referred to earlier. Incident boards have been placed near the scene, but as yet, no one has come forward with information.
“So, we have a number of leads and some suspects, but insufficient evidence to make an arrest.
“With regard to the thefts from farms, DC Dyson has been investigating in particular two of the stolen vehicles that were recently sold by Cameron and Wise car sales and we have some suspicions that there may be a link. It would appear that someone at the firm has ordered duplicate keys, presumably with the intention of theft. Statem
ents have been taken from all the owners and the neighbouring Forces have been alerted as to the details of all the stolen vehicles.
“DC Dyson has also viewed CCTV footage of cars leaving Plymouth docks bound for Santander and Roscoff.
“I can appreciate Chief Constable Briggs’ frustration over the apparent lack of progress on these thefts: we share her frustration. We think it is the work of a professional gang of thieves who know the area well and we feel it is only a matter of time before they make a mistake.”
“Rather than waiting for them to make a mistake, what I want is proactive policing, Richard. I want this crime spree brought to an end and some successful prosecutions to follow. It has been going on for far too long and we need a result.”
King could not deny his boss showing some irritation. “I understand that, sir.
“We are also dealing with a barn fire and we have some evidence that it was arson. Two witnesses reported seeing a moor runner with a backpack in the area and also a white vehicle, possibly a 4x4, in the vicinity at the time of the fire. DC Dyson is also investigating that crime.
“That’s a broad overview, sir, and all there is to report so far, but I am hopeful we can make progress on all the cases this week.”
“Thanks for the update, Richard, and I know you haven’t been sitting on your hands, but I need a result on all of them, particularly the missing woman case, and the sooner the better.
“Reluctantly, I am considering handing over one of the cases to another team as you are getting stretched with the missing person, the barn fire and these farm thefts. But in the meantime would extra resources help?”
“We are as frustrated as you and the chief constable. The thefts are not like burglaries, sir, where you have, what I would call, a static crime scene and we can gather evidence, such as finger prints or material we can DNA profile. In most of the vehicle thefts they are taken and all that remains is the space where they once were. At each of the places we look for such things as footprints or fingerprints on gate latches, but these villains don’t leave any trace to enable us to identify them. Those aren’t meant to be excuses, sir, but they are proving very difficult to detect without having the actual stolen items to inspect.
“Extra help? There’s little doubt that although DC Dyson is working tirelessly on the barn and farm theft cases, she is stretched. If I could have help from another DC for, say, a month, I’m pretty sure we could accelerate our investigations. A fresh pair of eyes may also prove useful.”
“You know things are tight generally since the Force has lost posts, but I’ll agree to your request. I have already made some enquiries of my counterpart in Exeter. I’ll assign a chap called DC Hammond to you for a month. We’ll regularly review the position and if substantial progress hasn’t been made by the end of the secondment, I’ll decide then what changes to make. How does that sound?”
King thought it sounded like a threat, but there was no denying the lack of progress.
“That sounds fair, sir. We will redouble our efforts on all three cases.”
“Good luck. Now, I have a news conference scheduled for 10 o’clock this morning in the Press Room, which I would like you to attend with me. When we meet the press, I think we can tell them about the timing of the disappearance, the search arrangements and the discovery of the mitten. As ever in situations like this, we must be very careful not to speculate. We can just say the investigation is ongoing. I’ll introduce us and quickly hand over to you.”
DI King gave a barely visible wry smile and thought to himself about the saying ‘teaching grandmother to suck eggs’.
“Okay, inspector, please keep me in the loop of any developments on the missing woman so I can brief the chief constable. I’ll see you at 9.55 in the Press Room.”
*
After leaving the superintendent’s office, King convened his own meeting with his detectives. Without going in to too much detail, he conveyed to Harris and Dyson the thrust of what he had discussed with Edwards, but omitted to mention the implicit threat. He told them that the efforts of the team were fully recognised by the superintendent, who acknowledged the growing number of cases the small team was having to action. He also informed them of the extra help in the form of DC Hammond. He was well aware that it could have been resented and taken as failure, which is why he had mentioned the appreciation of his boss before announcing the additional support. The inspector didn’t feel he was being disingenuous as the reason for the extra help was true. He knew the lack of progress mentioned at his meeting, if he passed it on, was likely to have a demotivating effect on his detectives: that would remain part of the private discussion between him and Edwards.
He asked his sergeant that while he was attending the press briefing, he’d like her to visit the Bedford Hotel and speak with Mary’s parents again. Both knew that this was not so much an interview, rather to reassure them that the police were still very active in trying to ascertain what had happened to their daughter. He also asked her to interview the barman at The Rock Inn and check out Tom Bowers’ version of events, while he was waiting for Mary to arrive on that fateful afternoon.
He reminded her to schedule follow-up interviews with the Sutton brothers and Jack Lacey as soon as they could be arranged.
*
The press briefing went more or less to plan with Edwards doing the introduction before handing over to King. The inspector informed the journalists of the points he had covered earlier with the superintendent without mentioning the interviews with the friends. He also reassured them that they would be kept informed if any new information became available. This seemed to satisfy the journalists about the Mary Cranson case and after answering some straightforward follow-on points, Superintendent Edwards asked for any final questions. A mischievous reporter from the Plymouth Herald put his hand up and Edwards nodded in his direction. On a different matter, he wanted to know why the farm thieves hadn’t been caught as the number of stolen vehicles was mounting and these thefts had been going on for months. The question rather caught the inexperienced senior officer off guard and for a moment he was lost for words. In desperation he turned to his inspector and delivered what, in rugby parlance, would be termed a hospital pass! King was the consummate detective.
“This press briefing was for us to share information with you about the disappearance of a young woman. However, as you’ve raised another matter, I’m sure Superintendent Edwards would be happy if I answered your question.”
King glanced at his boss who, with relief, readily nodded his approval.
“Your question is a fair one and we are keen to apprehend the perpetrators of the thefts: we see first-hand the misery it causes the hard working farmers. We have a detective devoting all her time trying to catch these thieves and when I leave this meeting, we will be discussing a new lead that was only uncovered thanks to her persistence and dedication. Earlier this morning, Superintendent Edwards authorised additional resources to help with this investigation in order to apprehend the thieves. While I speak, my detective constable is pursuing that new lead and we are hopeful of arrests within the next couple of days.
“Rural crime is a growing concern in Devon and Cornwall and we are doing everything in our power to protect the farming community. If you don’t mind, ladies and gentlemen, we’d now like to continue the investigation of the farm thefts and, of course, as a priority, try to establish what has happened to Mary Cranson.”
Without further comment or deference to the superintendent, King got up and left the room. His boss did not take exception to this breach of protocol. After all, his inspector had just saved him from a potentially humiliating experience.
*
As King left the Press Room, DC Dyson, who had listened to the briefing with Sergeant Harris from the back of the room, beckoned him to one side: “Thank you for your support, sir. I’m more convinced than ever that someone at Cameron and Wi
se is implicated in the two thefts: hopefully, we’ll find out later this morning.
“In the meantime, as you asked me to think about the barn fire, I’ve been following up the two leads. First of all, I think I may have tracked down the runner from the information given by the witnesses. I was inclined to think that his cap could be associated with a sport and, if so, I wondered if it was of his favourite national team or local team? If it’s his national team, then we’re no further forward as that wouldn’t help us much. So, I’ve worked on the basis there is a local link.
“I started searching sporting organisations that have green as their club colours with a shield type logo? I first googled ‘golf clubs near me’ and three came up, but I couldn’t see any link to the cap and motif. Then I searched football clubs, and Ivybridge Town Football Club showed up and although its club colours are green, their logo is an ivy leaf in a circle.
“Then I tried the obvious sport, bearing in mind a certain rugby club has grown in prominence in the other investigation, and bingo! Ivybridge Rugby Football Club has a shield logo. I copied it from the club’s website and tracked down the witnesses to the barn fire. The one confirmed that the logo I showed them matched the one on the runner’s cap.”
Once again, King was impressed by his detective constable.
“Well done detective. That’s another place we’ll need to visit. Ring the secretary of the club and arrange a meeting. What about the white 4x4?”
“I’m still working on that sighting, but I’m hopeful of the link to the rugby club.”
*
The detectives had wanted to interview the general manager, Mark Preston, at Cameron & Wise, but he could wait. It was more important that they continue with the investigation of the missing woman.
They arrived outside Marker and Makepeace estate agents to interview Jack Lacey for a second time: as they parked their car, he joined them outside of the shop.
Missing on Dartmoor Page 10