by Anita Waller
‘Yes of course you can, but you’re not. If you change address in future, Mr Ireland, I’m the first person on your list to be notified. When I say keep me informed of your whereabouts, I mean keep me informed of your whereabouts. Is that clear? In fact, it couldn’t be any clearer, could it? I suggest you get in that car of yours, and get yourself to Chesterfield, before I issue a warrant for your arrest.’
‘I’m leaving now.’ He was miserable. It appeared he was destined to be bullied by women.
‘Mr Ireland. Where are you? You’re still not listening. Keep me informed, I said.’
He told her his location while trying to steer his arm, complete with cast, into the sleeve of his coat.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘You’re down to twenty-five minutes. And don’t speed.’
He threw his phone down onto the bed, and forced his arm into the jacket.
‘Bloody women,’ he growled and ran out of the room, fully aware he needed fuel before he could even think about going to Chesterfield.
Twenty-two minutes.
27
The radio played Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, and one or two other smooth singers, people he hadn’t listened to before, and Luke found it strangely pleasant.
‘You always listen to this sort of music?’ he asked Doris.
‘On long journeys, yes. Calms me, stops me wanting to kill everybody else on the road. It’s also my mission in life to educate the younger generation – that’s you – in what good lyrics are all about.’
‘It’s kinda nice.’
‘Kinda nice? Listen to it. It’s more than kinda nice. And when they sing, all these crooners, you feel as though they mean every word. Today’s songs are all about the choreography that goes with them, the video that’s made. They’re not about the music.’
The car travelling by the side of them in the overtaking lane put on its indicators and pulled in front of them, almost slicing off the front wing of their car. Doris swerved slightly and drew in her breath.
‘Idiot,’ she muttered.
‘The music’s not working then.’ Luke smiled.
‘Oh it is. I’ll leave you to imagine what my words would have been if I hadn’t been listening to Frank Sinatra. Anyway, you’ve not told me about last night. ‘Was it good?’
‘Surprisingly so. It was a Disney movie so the girls were happy. I figured I could stick my kindle on a dim light and read, but I actually started to watch it, and enjoyed it. They’re good kids, so I didn’t have to keep telling them to behave. Imogen’s a proper joker, really quick with clever comments, and she had us laughing all night. They… no, we… consumed vast amounts of popcorn and chocolate, and didn’t get home until half past ten. I think it was a success.’
‘Sounds it. I would have enjoyed that. I love the Disney movies. Beauty and the Beast is my all-time favourite, but Maleficent is one I never miss.’
They chatted about other films they had enjoyed, and the miles disappeared under the wheels. They stopped for a toilet break and a coffee, and reached their hotel in Cromer just before six.
Doris organised their early morning calls and they went for a walk down into the town. It was pretty much deserted; out of season, only locals ventured out into the cold of the evening.
They had a meal in a local steak restaurant, then headed back to the hotel for an early night, but not without taking a slight diversion to find the cul-de-sac they would need the following day. The house was in darkness, the road quiet, and they located a parking spot around the corner which would give them a view of the house, without it being obvious they were there to survey the occupants.
They had a substantial breakfast, not knowing when they would get the chance to eat next.
‘Fab night,’ Luke said. ‘I spent a bit of time with the camera, read through the manual, and took a couple of practice shots which I’ve now deleted. I feel a bit more confident with it now. Then I read for all of five minutes before I zonked out, and didn’t wake till the alarm call. Were you okay?’
‘I was. I watched the news, read for about an hour, then fell asleep. I woke early though. A couple of emails pinged through around six and woke me. It seems I can go to Florida for £599, room only, including a car.’
‘You want to?’ Luke spread marmalade on his toast.
Doris shrugged. ‘Might do, but I didn’t want the option at six this morning. It is cold here, a bit of sunshine would suit me okay, I think.’
She pulled the little basket of jams towards her, and selected apricot. ‘Sounds nice,’ she murmured. ‘You ever been to Florida?’
He shook his head. ‘No, bit too expensive.’
‘I have. Mouse and I went just after she came to live with me. We hired a car, did the theme parks, acted like tourists. It was amazing. But I’d like to go back on my own, forget there are theme parks, and just see Florida. Perhaps go in a more upmarket hotel than the one on International Drive that Mouse and I booked, so I can rest as well as travel. Maybe when I retire…’
He laughed. ‘How can you retire? You’ve only just become a partner.’
‘I know.’ She smiled. ‘But sometimes I have to accept that I am seventy. I am fit, I’ll grant that, but I feel as though I should be winding down, taking things a bit easier. Is your nan like that?’
‘Nope. She’s like you. Although I don’t think she could have handled that Ewan bloke in quite the same way you did. It seems seventy is the new thirty. So don’t start talking about winding down, you’d be miserable. You were the first one to jump at doing this job, the other two just followed on from what you said.’
Doris laughed. She was really starting to get to know their protégé. ‘It was more a case of wanting to follow through on something I’d done the bulk of the work for.’ She held up her hand to indicate she wanted a second cup of coffee, and the waiter obliged. ‘Mouse has enough on her plate at the moment anyway, with Joel’s move to Eyam next weekend, and we try to keep Kat away from any long-distance trips because of Martha. And don’t tell them, but I enjoy stuff like this.’
Luke finished his toast, and checked his watch. ‘It’s nearly eight. I’ll go up to my room and bring everything down, while you’re finishing your coffee. Then I can help you.’
‘Luke, I have one very tiny suitcase. But you can bring it down while you’re getting yours if you want.’ She handed him her room key. ‘There’s my suitcase and my coat, that’s all. I brought my bag down with me. I’ll see you in reception in five minutes.’
Doris paid the bill using the Connection credit card, and carefully folded the receipt before placing it in her bag as Luke returned. ‘I once went to pick up some business cards, paid for them with the company card, and lost the receipt. I got the look from Kat. Know what I mean? The look that Kat excels at that says how could you be so stupid. I’m more careful now.’
‘The look works then. I’ve not experienced it yet. Don’t want to either.’
They climbed into the car, and Doris turned on the ignition before doing anything else. ‘It’s time the weather was warming up,’ she grumbled.
Luke placed the camera in the central storage compartment, then reached onto the back seat and pulled the fleece blanket on to his knee. ‘You wrap this around your legs when we stop,’ he said.
The parking place they had chosen the previous evening was clear, and Doris pulled up, and set the handbrake.
‘Okay, Luke. We could be here for some time. We need to be comfortable, so sort your seat out for the best angle, but don’t fall asleep because you’re too comfy.’
‘As if,’ he said. ‘I’m proper giddy about this. What if someone comes and asks us what we’re doing? Like a policeman.’
‘I have my licence with me. If it’s the police, I’ll show that, explain we’re on surveillance in a possible divorce case, and we’d be obliged if they’d bugger off and leave us to do our job without alerting the bloke who’s committing adultery. That explains away the camera as well. They’ll go, they’
ll know we’re not here to be burglars. And I’ve arranged that if anything like that does happen, they can ring Kat and she’ll confirm what we’re doing. If it’s a nosy neighbour, and not a policeman, we’ll say we’re here to pick up a car for you, a second-hand car, and the present owner is meeting us here to hand it over. Then we’ll wait fifteen minutes and move, in case they come back to check.’
Luke looked at his mentor with admiration. ‘Crikey. You’d thought this through?’
‘I had,’ she said with a grin. ‘Last year we went on surveillance in the Ewan Barker case, and had to sit with the bonnet up for ages because Mouse decided our cover story was we were waiting for a rescue service to come and get us going again. A neighbour did ask us, and we told him the story which he believed, so I worked ours out, roped Kat in to confirm it, and we don’t have to sit with the bonnet up, obscuring our view.’
Doris lowered her seat back slightly, and spread the blanket across her knees, guiding the other half over the gear stick. ‘Here, tuck this around you. It will soon start to get cold.’
Luke followed instructions and lifted the camera onto his knee. He took it out of its case, quickly set the dials he now felt comfortable changing, and they settled in to wait.
They had an excellent view of the house, and Luke snapped three people as they left their homes on the cul-de-sac and went about their business. It was a quiet morning in a very quiet area. Despite Doris’s careful planning, nobody approached them, and they laughingly decided neighbourhood watch didn’t have many members in the cul-de-sac and surrounding streets.
Doris produced bottles of water and fibre bars from the depths of her handbag, and they munched away at them, more out of boredom than hunger. Kat checked in with them, saying everything was okay in Eyam, and Mouse had emptied her car, laid down the seats and shot off to IKEA, muttering things that sounded suspiciously like wardrobe and chest of drawers.
The sun came out and afforded them some warmth, but it disappeared late afternoon, and it really became quite cold.
Doris sighed. ‘We’ll stay here until six…’
Luke nudged her. ‘Look.’
Coming out of the end of the alleyway that ran down the side of the house they were watching, was a man. A man in a red and white football shirt, and tugging a black wheelie bin behind him.
Luke took photographs.
The man walked back down the alleyway and returned a minute later with another black bin. He repeated the process, and a third bin joined the other two. The first bin he had brought out had a large Manchester United sticker on the front of it. The other two had simple house numbers.
Luke clicked photo after photo until the man disappeared and didn’t reappear. Neither of them had spoken; in fact neither of them felt as though they had breathed.
‘Thank the Lord for a council that collects bins in this area on a Tuesday,’ Doris whispered.
Luke’s hand was trembling. ‘That was brill, Mrs Lester. Result! The pictures are close-ups and distance. Surely we can get an ID from these.’
‘Let’s hope so.’ Doris removed the fleece from her knees and legs, and Luke threw it onto the back seat. ‘Let’s go before he comes out again and clocks us, or we get arrested. Fancy fish and chips? Out of newspaper?’
‘I could be persuaded,’ he said, feeling on such a high he wasn’t convinced he could eat anything.
He carefully packed away the precious camera, and put it in the central compartment. All this, he thought, and fish and chips. Brilliant day.
28
Despite the lateness of their arrival home the previous night, Tuesday saw Luke and Doris in the office before Kat and Mouse. Doris downloaded the pictures and collated them all into one file, which she sent to the other three computers.
Mouse arrived carrying a travel cup full of coffee, and looking bleary-eyed. ‘Good grief, you two are early. Couldn’t you sleep?’
‘We need to work through these photos, make our report to Debbie, and get Tessa here to show her. But Debbie has to come first.’
‘You think it’s him?’
‘Pretty sure. He’s older, his hair has a touch of grey, but he’s still a good-looking man. If pushed, I’d say I’m ninety-five per cent sure. Debbie will be the ultimate yay or nay, of course, because she actually knew the man, whereas we only know the photographs. I’ve set up the file, take a look and see what you think,’ Doris added.
‘I’ll have this coffee first,’ Mouse said. ‘I was still up at midnight putting a wardrobe together. I had a good look at what space I could free up for Joel’s clothes, and it was clear the answer was none. I’ve picked up a wardrobe and a chest of drawers, and I haven’t even started on the drawers yet. I get a degree in engineering when I’ve finished, I hope.’
‘We need a quick meeting anyway, just to fill you in on our Friday night, Saturday morning, and all-day Monday activities. Luke and I have had a busy weekend. The other issue wasn’t major, so I didn’t trouble either of you with it, and Luke’s handling it anyway.’
Luke smiled, and held up a thumb.
‘The other issue?’
‘I’ll tell everything when Kat gets here. No point going over it all twice. You need help with the chest of drawers?’
‘I’m currently considering handing Joel the box it comes in, and wishing him good luck with it. The wardrobe was bad enough, but I’m dreading this one.’
‘Have you bought identical ones to those you bought when you moved in here?’
‘Yes.’ It was definitely a grumpy reply.
‘And didn’t you say all this when you put yours together?’
‘Yes.’
‘So it’s not in my imagination that you said never again will I buy IKEA furniture?’
‘No.’
Luke couldn’t stand it any longer. ‘Beth, when I’ve finished work today I’ll put the chest of drawers together for you.’
She looked at him in shock. ‘You’re volunteering? Have you ever put furniture together before?’
‘Mum’s slowly replacing everything in our house with IKEA stuff. Guess who puts it all together.’
‘Then you’re on. Thank you so much. My god, where did we find him, Nan?’
‘In the Co-op.’
Kat arrived ten minutes later and was immediately organising her seating arrangements for the meeting. She had been itching to ring Doris the previous night, but realised it would be a late return for them so abandoned the idea.
‘Okay, let’s crack on,’ Doris said, once they were finally seated with drinks in front of them. Their laptops were open, and files clicked. They went through all the photos, then repeated the action.
Kat was the first to comment.
‘It’s him. He may have aged by ten years, but the basic head shape doesn’t change, the nose doesn’t change, even the overall shape of the man hasn’t really changed. I’d place a bet on this being Adam Armstrong.’
Doris nodded. ‘I think so too. Let me fill you in on the day, so that you’re aware of how hard we worked to get these pictures.’
Luke looked at her and raised his eyebrows. Hard work?
‘We got up at seven and packed our suitcases, then headed down for the biggest breakfast we could manage, because we knew it could be some time before we saw a proper meal again.’
Luke played an imaginary violin. Doris reined in the laughter.
‘We finished breakfast, and then drove down to the site we had chosen the night before, while we were out having our steak meal.’
‘So far,’ Mouse said, ‘you’ve had a steak meal and a massive breakfast. Is that right?’
‘Sort of. We stopped on the way down for tea and a piece of apple pie at a services. Anyway, we parked up, decided on our story if either the police or a nosy neighbour turned up, and then made ourselves comfortable. Kat, the blanket you bought me for Christmas is wonderful. We were really quite warm under that. I’d taken some biscuit things to nibble on, so we were fine.’
‘Oh good.
’
‘Mouse, was that a touch of sarcasm?’
‘No, Nan, of course not.’
‘Right. Back to our story. After our steak meal the previous night, I went straight to sleep, but Luke, bless his heart, stayed up and read the instruction manual for our swish new camera, so he was fully familiar with everything it could do.’
‘Oh, bless his heart…’
‘Was that a second touch of sarcasm, Mouse?’
‘No, Nan. It is starting to sound as if you two had a lovely holiday.’
Doris ignored the comment. ‘So… we sat there, Luke poised to use the camera. For practice, he took photos of people who live on the cul-de-sac leaving for work, but nothing happened at the house we wanted to show signs of life. Nobody challenged us, and we were in a perfect place for seeing it.
‘It got to around five, and I’d just said we’ll give it until six, when there was movement. Luke put on his photographer head, and took the first picture that’s on your file. You get a really clear picture of the Manchester United shirt on that one and the next one, which is a close up of the same shot. I actually think that second picture is the best one we have of the face in a full forward-facing shot. That is the one that tells me it is Adam Armstrong.
‘There are, as you have seen, twenty-four pictures of him and his actions over about three minutes; the last three pictures are the practice shots Luke took in the early morning. I don’t know who they are, those people, but the first one came out of the house next door to Adam. Adam brought out the wheelie bins of his neighbours, as you can see by the numbers on the bins. The Man U stickered bin is his own, I’m presuming, as it was the first one he brought out.’
She sat back in her chair. ‘Well?’
‘Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And all this from lucky guesswork. We had no proof that he was anywhere near there, not even proof that he was alive. In fact, without that throwaway remark from Debbie about the old school photo, we would never in a million years have been able to come up with this.’ Kat scrolled through the pictures again.