“Well, that’s hardly a surprise, is it. Still, thanks again for this. It’s another step in the right direction.”
Chapter 32
Gary McCardle was no longer antagonistic when Jordan and Terry knocked on the door. He stood aside silently to allow them entrance and then turned and slogged his way into the kitchen. His hair was greasy, there were stains on his sweatshirt and the distinct smell of body odour trailed him. He had been difficult with them up to now, but Jordan was moved by the state of him.
“Is there anything we can do for you, Gary? Do you want us to contact anyone? You don’t have to stay here if you would rather be at home. As long as you keep us up to date with where you are. You might be more comfortable in your own place.”
“Thanks. I can’t go home. Not until our Molly’s back. You haven’t found her, have you?”
“Not yet. I’m sorry,” Jordan told him. “I have something I want you to have a look at, Gary. It might be upsetting.”
“Ha, nothing new there then.”
“No. Sorry. Do you recognise this?” Jordan held out his phone with the image of the handkerchief. He scrolled to a close-up of the embroidery.
Gary didn’t say anything. He left the kitchen and they heard him run up the stairs and then the creak of floorboards as he walked about in the bedrooms. When he joined them again, he was holding a small white handkerchief in his hand and he simply placed it on the table in among the dirty plates and jam jars. They didn’t need to pick it up to confirm that it was a partner to the one from the warehouse.
“Bought them for her for Christmas. She hated paper hankies.”
Jordan nodded and pushed the phone into his pocket. “We are getting a clear idea now about what happened to your mother.”
“Where did you find it?” Gary pointed vaguely towards Jordan. They knew what he meant.
“I don’t want to get into that with you right now, Gary, and to be honest it’s opened up more questions. I promise you, later on you’ll know all about it. Just one thing though, and it may seem odd. Your dad used to work at the docks, didn’t he?”
Gary didn’t answer. He stared at them for a minute and then, with a huge sigh, he lowered his head into his hands. “Yes. He did.” They could barely hear him.
“Are you in contact with anyone from back then? I know it’s quite a while ago now but, sometimes, family friends keep in touch, don’t they?”
“Ha. Family friends. No, we are not in touch with anyone from back then.”
“You still haven’t heard from Eddie?” Terry asked.
“Nope.”
“He hasn’t been in touch with Sandra?”
“Nope.”
“Okay. Well, that’s about it for now. Keep us informed if you hear anything. Look after yourself, Gary.” Jordan was tempted to reach out to the hunched shoulders with a reassuring pat but physical contact was a minefield and so they turned away and left him sitting in the mess at the kitchen table running the tiny handkerchief back and forth between his fingers. As they passed the living room, Jordan glanced in to see a little row of soft toys lined up as if they were sitting on the sofa.
“Poor bloke’s losing it,” Terry said as they clambered back into the car.
“Yeah. We’re letting him down. Shit.” As he uttered the expletive Jordan thumped at the steering wheel. “Where the hell is she? Where’s Molly and the baby?”
Terry didn’t speak. There was nothing to say after all and that was the problem.
* * *
They had been back in the incident room just moments when Jordan’s phone chimed with a message from Vivienne Bailey.
Can open – worms everywhere. Better get your butt back down here smartish. Things just got complicated.
Chapter 33
It was fully dark now and the rain was heavier. The officer on the gate had been briefed and didn’t hold Jordan up any longer than it took to examine his warrant card. “Sergeant Bailey wants you to park where you were this afternoon, sir. She’ll meet you there.”
There was more activity than there had been earlier, more vehicles, and more people. As they stepped away from the car a figure approached from the doorway of the warehouse, hand raised in front of him. Jordan and Terry took out their ID and were surprised at the close scrutiny it received.
“Sergeant Bailey will meet you. Just hang on by the door for a minute, sir.”
“Armed!?” Terry hissed as they splashed through the puddles towards the warehouse. “What’s that all about?”
“Dunno. But I reckon we’re about to find out.”
They didn’t have to wait long.
“What’s going on, Viv?” Jordan shook his head, flicking aside the raindrops from his hair, and swiped a hand over his face. The rain was heavy now and he wished he had brought his overcoat.
Vivienne Bailey took pity on them. “Come on and sit in the van. I can’t let you in there without you suiting up.” She jerked her head backwards in the direction of the storage facility. “You can go in later if you really want, but it’s a bit busy right now.”
The back of the SOC van was warm – the engine running to stave off the chill. Vivienne Bailey perched on the top of one of the boxes. “Sit down. They’re tough, these crates, you’ll be okay. Right – now then. Your case is about to become much more complicated, mate. So be warned.”
“Okay,” Jordan said.
“You noticed the pallets when you were here earlier?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Well, as you already know, they’re grain sacks. We found evidence of bodily fluids on and around them, in the aisles. She was carried through here when she was dead, or maybe dragged. But look at this.” She opened an image on her phone and pointed to a shot of one of the pallets and the plastic wrap which had been sliced open. “This wrapping is the way that they are transported to keep the stack safe when it’s moved. They are only part way through their journey here, so why would you split that, making it unsafe? It’s wrong and we had to look into it. Well, that’s when things became really interesting. Look.” She held out her phone.
“Oh, bloody hell.”
Jordan handed the phone to Terry Denn who let out a low whistle. “That explains the visitors,” he said, jerking his thumb backwards towards the guard at the warehouse door.
“Yes. We’re waiting for officers from Serious and Organised and I have a feeling Anti-Terrorism may come in on this as well. Better make sure all your I’s are dotted and T’s crossed, Jordie. You are about to come under some scrutiny.”
“The stuff in that sack, though, the packing?” Jordan pointed at the screen image. “That’s not grain.”
“Ha, well spotted, Dr Watson. No, it’s sawdust.”
“So, where do we go from here?” Jordan muttered.
“It’s turning into a foul night. There doesn’t seem much point in you hanging around here for the moment. My advice would be to go back to your place. Get Denn to make you some of his coffee.” She grinned at Terry. “Then go through your reports and wait for the call. Sorry, Jordan, this has just become very much bigger than your little dead lady.”
Chapter 34
Back at the police station the civilians had left for the day, but Rosalind Searle stood in front of the whiteboard reviewing the notes and now and again adding something.
“So, what’s the news?” she asked, turning as she heard the door.
“Ha. You’re never going to believe this.” Terry hung his damp jacket across the back of a chair and walked over to the whiteboard. He picked up the marker. ARMS CACHE IN THE WAREHOUSE. He underlined it and stepped back and then turned and looked across to where Rosalind was staring open-mouthed.
“For real – what? Where?”
“Guns in the sacks. Hidden in the grain. They had unwrapped the one we saw but there are others still all bundled up. Well, not really in grain, which is interesting,” Jordan said. “They don’t know how many yet, but it sort of doesn’t matter, one is too many and they h
aven’t really begun to search. It’s a massive job.”
“So, what does this mean for us?” Rosalind wanted to know.
“Right now, we haven’t a clue. They were expecting the heavy mob down at the warehouse. The Serious and Organised Crime squad were on the way. Vivienne Bailey was waiting for them. We came away. There’ll be dogs and goodness knows what else and actually nothing for us to do. It was good of Viv to give us the heads-up so quickly. It means we have the opportunity to go through what we have and make sure it’s ready to hand over.”
“Hand over?” Searle said.
“Yes. I don’t see any way we’ll be investigating this. Sergeant Bailey reckons there may well be anti-terrorism involved. No, this is more than likely no longer our case and I won’t pretend otherwise. It pisses me off. But we have to be realistic here. God only knows what connection a little old lady from Wavertree could have to arms smuggling, but I guess there’s something.”
“Warning,” Terry Denn said.
“Sorry?” Jordan said.
“Back at the start, you said one reason they could have burned the body and left it on the field was as a warning.”
“Yes. But are we saying here the McCardles are mixed up in international arms smuggling? It’s a bit of a stretch.” Rosalind was shaking her head.
“Is it? Why do we think that? Because they’re not rolling in money? Because they aren’t walking around like Bond villains? You just can’t tell these days,” Jordan said.
“But guns, boss?” Rosalind said. “The old woman and Molly?”
“That’s a point,” Terry said, “what happens now about Molly?”
Jordan flopped into one of the chairs. “Molly, sod it.” He blew out a long breath. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know. Right now, I have no idea how this is going to be handled. I’ll bet we’ll be sidelined. I suppose we have to accept it no matter how much it hurts. There are things here needing skills and knowledge we just don’t have. I expect there’ll be a meeting with the DCI. We’ll know more afterwards.”
“But, Molly,” Terry said again. “She’s still out there. This is going to cause all sorts of delays and complications and in the meantime – she’s still out there.”
“Is it possible,” said Jordan, “we might have been misguided about her? We’ve assumed she’s in danger and being kept away from home against her will, but does this mean we’ve been wrong all along?”
“Right now, we’re thinking, and I reckon it’s understandable, we’re all thinking Mary McCardle and Molly are somehow mixed up in this new thing, this guns thing. What if they’re not?” Rosalind said.
“Oh, come on, Ros. What? You reckon there just happened to be guns in the same place Mrs McCardle was probably killed and there’s no connection. Get real,” Terry snapped.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. It’s just that I can’t see it. I mean, why?”
“Well,” Jordan said. “Until we’re told otherwise, I’m going to carry on looking for Molly and Jakey. I’m not turning my back on her and letting her become a footnote to some sort of huge international investigation. She’s still out there somewhere. We can’t do anything about Mary McCardle, it’s already too late for her. But Molly – I’m going to keep looking. If she’s a crim then so be it. I’ll have egg on my face. But we need to know. You guys can call it a day if you like but I’m staying for a bit. I’m going through some of the CCTV from Southport. That bloody car didn’t just disappear. We need to find it and see where it went after the hotel. If we’re wrong about Molly, it’ll get us some brownie points with the heavy mob and that’ll please DCI Cross. What’s to lose?”
He knew they’d stay.
Chapter 35
After a couple more hours of peering at CCTV footage with no result and then checking all their paperwork was in order, they called it a day. “Anyone fancy a quick one? We’ve got time to get in before last orders at the Durning,” Terry said.
Jordan glanced at the wall clock. Penny would be in bed. Since she had started back at work, the whole working mother thing was wearing her out. He hated to see her so tired, but she insisted she was fine and she’d soon get used to it.
He pushed thoughts of the baby away. The pub was a typical local boozer. It would be noisy and busy. It would be a distraction.
“Why not? Are you up for it, Ros?”
“Yeah. I’m still trying to get my head round all this, to be honest, and I don’t think I could sleep if I went home now.”
It was good in the end. There was karaoke and though they didn’t actually join in, the laughter and jeering applause took them out of themselves. They were glad there wasn’t any need to struggle to make conversation that didn’t involve guns and missing or murdered women. As they were leaving Terry pulled out his phone to call for an Uber. “I’m going to meet a few mates, in town. I don’t suppose you want to come?”
Jordan shook his head. But Rosalind glanced at her watch and nodded. “Go on then, just for an hour. I’m still wound-up. It’s time I met some of your mates anyway, Terry. I’ll just send my mum a quick text to let her know I’ll be late. She worries otherwise.”
* * *
Jordan called at the McCardle house the next morning. Gary was sullen and unresponsive. It occurred to Jordan after a few minutes of stilted and difficult conversation that he shouldn’t have come. It wasn’t going to help, and he was too aware of hiding an awful truth. He gave up. “I just wanted to touch base with you. Just to reassure you that no matter what, I’m still looking for your sister and the little one.”
“How do you mean, no matter what? There’s nothing bloody happening as far as I can see. You’d be better off doing your job than coming round here at the crack of sparrow fart bothering me. When can we have Mam’s body anyway? We need to organise things and we need to start to find a way out of this mess.”
“I don’t know, Gary. I’m sorry.”
“Well, I can’t understand why they still need to keep her. What the hell good can come of it? Poor bloody woman. That’s something you could be doing instead of trying to ease your conscience visiting me.”
“I’ll find out what I can. If there’s anything I’ll let you know.”
Jordan left feeling depressed and sad.
Although he’d been expecting it, the message on his phone to report to the DCI’s office felt like the final straw. This had all become so complicated and Richard Cross wasn’t to be relied on to help to sort it out.
Rosalind was already at her desk. She looked a bit bleary-eyed and there was a bottle of water and a mug of coffee close to hand. But she looked up and smiled when he came in.
“Good night?” Jordan asked.
“Well, I’ll say one thing for Terry and his mates, they can put the booze away. Jesus, I left them to it after a couple of hours. I can’t wait to see what sort of state he’s in when he arrives. What do you reckon will be the next thing here, boss?”
“I’ve got an appointment with the DCI. Until then your guess is as good as mine. Is there anything from Sergeant Bailey?”
“No, not as far as I’ve seen.”
The door opened and they both turned expecting to see a worse for wear Terry Denn. It wasn’t him at all.
“Can I help you?” Jordan asked.
“Looking for DI Carr? Would that be you?”
“Yes. And…”
“DCI Griffiths, David. Serious and Organised Crime.” As the newcomer walked further into the room, he held out a hand, shaking first Jordan’s and then Ros’s.
“I’ve not got long, have to get down to the port pretty sharpish. But I thought it could be useful to have a chat as soon as. You can bring me up to date with things from your end. If you have time now. Then we can work out how we’re going to play this. I expect you’ll want to stay involved. It was your dead lady that led to this after all?”
Jordan didn’t look at Searle, but he imagined she was grinning widely.
“Excellent. Can I offer you coffee?”
> Chapter 36
Terry arrived as they were giving David Griffiths a rundown of the case.
“So, this Eddie, the older brother,” Griffiths said, “how much do you know about him?”
“Not very much,” Jordan said. “He has a bar in Spain. It’s one of the big holiday destinations. Seems to have done okay but there’s been nothing from him at all since the discovery of the mother’s body. We have tried to contact him via mobile phone, and we did speak to someone at the bar. He left there a couple of weeks ago and they haven’t heard from him since. They’re beginning to be a bit concerned as it’s moving into their busy period and nobody else does the ordering etc.”
“Hmm. I reckon we’ll get someone to go and have a look at his bar in person. Do you have his Spanish address? And a recent picture?”
“Address is in the file, no picture. There was a possible sighting of him by a neighbour up near where the body was found. But Gary was insistent it must have been a mistake. To be honest, we haven’t spent a lot of time on him and Gary was antsy when we asked for photographs. Of course, that was before yesterday, and he didn’t seem very important. Did we slip up there?” Jordan asked.
“Don’t beat yourself up about it. This is a developing situation, it’s no good looking at what-ifs. I fully get your thinking. Anyway, leave him with me, yeah. I may be able to help you out with some of this,” said David Griffiths.
“Okay. In the meantime, I’m intending to carry on with our search for Molly. That won’t step on anybody’s toes, will it?” Jordan said.
“No, seems like a plan, actually. Keep me updated with any developments. What have you got going? Have you put an appeal out?”
“I have discussed it with my boss and we agreed to hang fire on it for a while but I’ll run it all by him again, I don’t see a need to wait now.” He was aware that Terry was looking at him with his eyebrows raised but the young DC would learn that there were times to speak out and times when it was best to keep things to yourself. “I’ll get on to it this morning. I suppose it’s too late to use Gary now. He was against it anyway.”
Body by the Docks: detectives investigate a baffling mystery Page 11