“Make sure that path is taped off and get someone to watch it tonight. We don’t want the locals trampling all over any evidence,” Harry said. “We’ll have a look tomorrow in daylight, but I doubt we’ll find much. What’s the betting Lucy was dropped off in a car and told to go into the park on foot?”
“The CSI bods will take a look tomorrow. If there is any evidence of who dropped her there, they’ll find it. There’s a pull-in nearby, might be tyre tracks on that, and we’ll check all the CCTV,” the officer said.
“I’ll sort someone to watch it before I go,” Harry said.
“Right then. I’ll leave you to it.” The PC hurried out.
Harry rang the Reid Centre. This was the facility that carried out the post-mortems and did the forensic investigations for the teams at the station.
Dr Hettie Trent, one of the forensic scientists at the centre, took his call. She sounded pleased to hear his voice. “Yes, Harry, we’ve got the shoes and they’re next on the list. But I can tell you this straight off — like the dress she was wearing, they’re high-end and, given how fast kids grow, she’d most likely been fitted for them.”
That was something. “Will you check if there’s anything on them, the soles for instance, that might tell us where Lucy has been?”
“We know the drill, Harry, we’ve done this sort of stuff before, you know. Don’t worry, I’ll get the results to you as quick as I can.”
Hettie was okay, pleasant on the eye and, like Harry, in her mid-thirties. He had taken her out a couple of times since he split with Anthea, but she was another one — the camper van put her off. He’d taken her back there for a drink one time, but she wouldn’t even sit down. Jess was right. If he was to have any sort of love life, he would have to sort something and fast.
He stopped and spoke to a young uniformed PC in the office. “You’ve got kids. Where d’you go to buy their shoes, have their feet measured and that?”
“We go to Allen’s on Ryebridge Road. I think everyone does. They’re expensive, but you can’t skimp on kiddie’s footwear — growing feet and all that.”
“Do they have CCTV, d’you reckon?” Harry asked.
“They might.”
“Find out, will you, and if they do or there are cameras in the vicinity, get copies of the footage, say for the last couple of days to be sure. Have a good look through and see if you can spot Lucy Green.”
Harry saw the look on the PC’s face. Nobody liked going through CCTV footage, it was a horrendous task. There’d be hours of the stuff. But someone had to do it and who knew, it might turn up something useful.
Chapter Six
Day Two
Despite his good intentions, it had been another late one for Harry. Don, his mate, a crate of that strong brown ale he was so fond of and hours spent playing cards. The following morning Harry was dragged from a deep sleep by the sound of his mobile ringing. It was Croft, and he didn’t sound happy.
“Get out of your pit and round to the Sutton household pronto. Someone’s left the lovely Caroline a nasty surprise on her doorstep.”
Just what he needed after all that ale. “Er, how nasty, sir?”
“Very, Lennox. A severed hand. The woman is in shock and worried out of her wits about what might have happened to her husband.”
Harry’s stomach sank. “We can’t be sure it’s him though, can we, sir? Not until the Reid run tests. I take it that’s where the, er, body part has gone?”
“Well, we could hardly leave it in situ, could we? Far too horrific, and Caroline Sutton was becoming hysterical. As for being sure it’s him, his wedding ring was still on his finger. It’s distinctive and a tight fit. Of course, the Reid will run tests, his prints are on file so we should know pretty soon. I want you to talk to Caroline. Find out all you can about Nick’s recent dealings. If that hand really is his, then he’s upset someone big time.”
“When we chatted yesterday, Caroline told me that Nick had been arguing with Andy Marsh recently. She said Marsh was making a play for the Baxendale,” Harry said.
“That could be our answer, but we won’t jump to conclusions. Interview the woman, see what else she can tell you. Follow up on everything including Marsh. But be careful.”
As Croft finished the call there was a loud bang on the door. Seconds later, Jess let herself in.
He grinned at her. “You’ve caught me out again. Give me five and I’ll be with you.”
“You don’t get any better, Lennox,” she said. “You need to buck your ideas up. Croft’s not daft. He cottons on to your current lifestyle and he won’t be happy.”
“Stuff Croft. Give me five and we’ll get round to the Sutton house.”
“But I thought we were looking into the Lucy Green kidnap today.”
“And we will, once we’ve visited Caroline Sutton.” Jess looked disappointed. She was keen to find out what had happened to the little girl, he knew. “I have no choice, orders from Croft. Get to the bottom of what’s going on with Nick and I’ll be the golden boy again.”
“Big-headed sod!”
“You love me really. Go on, admit it, I’m the most exciting thing in your life.”
Jess laughed. “If that were true, I’d give up. And I have plenty of excitement, thank you very much.”
“No man though. Strange that, ’cause you’re not bad-looking in a geeky sort of way.”
Jess picked up a cushion and threw it at him. “Geeky indeed! Go and get cleaned up. I’ll wait in the car. There’s no way I am sitting down in here.”
* * *
The Suttons’ home on the outskirts of Ryebridge was a large modern detached, surrounded by woodland. “Live in some style the Suttons, don’t they?” Jess said. “Crime must pay after all.”
“Nick Sutton does have a legitimate business too, a string of car sales showrooms he runs with his brother, Craig. Perhaps the money came from them.”
Jess gave him a look. “If you believe that, you’re more gullible than I thought. Sutton runs the Baxendale — drugs, loans, girls, the lot. That’s where the money comes from.”
“There has to be something else too, something legitimate to clean up all those earnings,” Harry said.
“Well, then there’s the car sales business you just mentioned,” Jess said.
“Wonder what that makes?” he mused. “I’m also wondering how extensive the dealing really is. The Baxendale is a poverty-stricken hole, Sutton has to be selling elsewhere too.”
“Poverty stricken or not, people can always find money for drugs and booze,” Jess said. “I mean, look at you. Anyway, how do we play this?”
“Gently. The woman is distraught. Caroline and Nick Sutton have been together since they were in their teens. I’ve never heard any rumours about either of them straying, so I think it’s safe to say they really love each other.”
“You like her, don’t you?” Jess said. “She won you over the other day. It’s what she does. Remember that incident with her dog a few months ago, the one that went missing? Well, she praised the PC who found the mutt to high heaven. She wanted to reward him when he took it back, but when he refused, she settled for leaving that expensive box of biscuits in the main office instead. That’s why Croft is soft on her.”
“I wondered where they had come from.”
“Go easy, Harry. I don’t want you getting sucked in. That woman is — or was — married to the most dangerous man in Ryebridge, so watch your step.”
They parked on the driveway under the shade of a large oak tree in full leaf. Jess noticed Caroline watching them from an upstairs window.
Jess was worried. Caroline was an attractive woman and Harry was a sucker for a pretty face. He’d have to watch his step. “C’mon, let’s get on with it.”
Joan Pickford, Caroline’s PA, showed them into a sitting room and offered coffee. “I’ll tell her you’re here. Please understand that this has come as a terrible shock. So bad, in fact, that I doubt Caroline will ever recover. Nick was her lif
e. They’ve been together since their early teens.”
While Joan Pickford left them to go and get Caroline, Jess took the opportunity to look at the photos scattered about the room. “Small family — just the parents, Nick and his brother and that’s about it,” she said. “They never had any children. I wonder why if they were so close?”
“None of ours, Jess, and don’t ask, not today.”
Caroline flung open the door. “Have you found him? Is he okay?”
“Sorry, no, not yet,” Harry said.
“Do you know who . . . who could have done that to my Nick? You have no idea how dreadful it was, seeing that . . . that thing on the doorstep. I tried to get some sleep, but I can’t stop thinking about what he must have gone through, how he’s suffered. It haunts me.” She sat down and burst into tears.
“Perhaps we should come back when you’ve recovered a bit from the shock,” Harry said.
Caroline’s head jerked up and she stared at them, her eyes hard. “I’ll talk to you now. No point waiting. You see, I’ll never get over this. Nick was my husband, my life. I don’t know if I can go on living without him.”
“Okay, but understand that we need you to be honest with us, Caroline. And I mean honest.” Harry looked at her intently. “If that hand does belong to Nick, we need you to tell us everything about his business dealings, legal and otherwise. You must tell us about everyone who came to the house, everyone that rang him, who he mixed with.”
Caroline nodded. “I’ll tell you what I know, which isn’t everything. I want you to find who hurt him, but I’d prefer not to have Nick’s name blackened in the process, so please be discreet with any information I give you.”
She’d referred throughout to Nick being hurt, but the prospect of him being dead was very real. Given the state she was in it might be best to delay discussing this until they had more evidence.
“Did anyone in the house notice anything unusual this morning? Perhaps someone caught a glimpse of whoever left the, er, item,” Harry said.
“It’s not an ‘item,’ as you put it, Inspector. It’s my Nick’s left hand. It still had his wedding ring on it. You have to find him quickly. He could be lying somewhere, bleeding and in pain.”
With these words, she dissolved into tears again.
She recovered herself. “You’re right, I’m too upset to go through this today. Speak to Craig, Nick’s brother. They run the car showroom together, have done since the start. They usually get on well together, but they’ve been at loggerheads for months and I’ve no idea why, Nick wouldn’t say. But something was very wrong between them.”
“We’ll do that,” Harry said. “Anyone else we could talk to?”
“Andy Marsh has been giving him a load of grief lately. He’s been on the phone, threatening, warning him. Nick laughed it off, said Andy was a fool, but he’s not, is he? He’s Nick’s rival and a killer.”
Chapter Seven
“Do we know where to find Craig?” Harry asked.
Jess nodded. “The local showroom is on the Ryebridge Road, just before that huge stone church.”
“I felt sorry for her back there.”
Jess shook her head. “She must know he’s most likely dead, but she doesn’t want to admit it, does she?”
“It’s a very real possibility. And she’s not going to take it very well when we have to break the news.”
While Harry drove, Jess rang Angela, the team’s admin assistant, at the station to get whatever information they had on the brother and the company.
Call over, Harry asked, “What do we know then? Is Craig Sutton a good lad or what?”
“It seems he’s the straight one, no record. The business is on the level too. A limited company trading for the last ten years, good reputation and profitable. They have five showrooms in the Greater Manchester area. Nick and Craig run this one together, with managers at the others.”
“It has to be a cover for something, and laundering the drugs money is my bet,” Harry said. “It’s not in Nick’s makeup to keep things legal.”
“Well, it seems that Craig isn’t operating a cover for anything. Perhaps that’s what he and Nick had been arguing about,” she said.
“We’ll see.”
“What’s going on in that mind of yours?” Jess asked. “Go on, what theories have you got?”
“An argument, a fight, someone ends up dead is one thing. But what’s happened to Nick Sutton is way over the top. It smacks of gang warfare to me, a cold-blooded killing, not a spat between brothers. And you know what that means, don’t you? Andy Marsh.”
But Jess didn’t see it. “What would they argue about? I thought that was all sorted. They’d split the local turf, such as it is, between them, and each have their own areas. That way it doesn’t get messy and the profits continue to roll in. We might not like it, but it’s worked fine for ages. Why start fighting now?”
“Well, it’s certainly got messy now, so something went wrong,” Harry said. “Remember what Caroline said? I reckon that something she mentioned is the Baxendale.”
“I’m sure that Marsh and Sutton had other things going on, scams they were involved in. They must have. The Baxendale is a hellhole, so ask yourself, is it, or anything else in Ryebridge for that matter, worth fighting over?”
“We’ll see.”
The pair pulled up in front of the Sutton car showroom and made for the office.
A young receptionist greeted them with a smile. “Looking for anything in particular?”
Harry smiled back and showed her his warrant card. “Craig Sutton.”
The smile turned into a frown. “I’ll fetch him.”
Jess cast her eyes over the swish reception area and the rows of gleaming vehicles parked outside. “Some set-up. Posh cars too, and a good selection.”
“Nothing new though, they’re all second-hand,” he said.
“Better priced, Harry. A new car depreciates a lot during the first year.”
“The young lady is right, which is why we concentrate on the ‘nearly new’ market. Good quality, in tip-top condition, our customers get an excellent deal.”
A smiling Craig Sutton appeared and gestured for them to follow him.
Harry had met both brothers before. Craig was the slighter and shorter of the pair. In fact, they didn’t look alike at all. They both lived in Ryebridge and appeared to get along in the main. So, what had gone wrong?
“You’ll be here about Nick,” Craig said. “I’m still in shock. We had our differences, me and Nick, but I can’t believe that anyone would do that to another human being.”
Harry had to admit that he did look genuinely cut up about his brother. “Caroline’s told you then.”
“Yes, this morning. We’d been having a few differences lately, but I have always supported Nick, despite his dubious reputation, so please don’t ask me to tell tales on the man. We all know what he is, but he’s my older brother and I’ve always looked up to him. He’s a great businessman, started the car sales up from scratch.”
“Did any of these differences get ugly?” Harry asked.
“No, not really. We never came to blows or anything, it was all shouting and swearing. He could be difficult to get along with at times, but I’ve always made allowances. He was my brother — you know, family. It was him that got me into the car business. Best thing I ever did, throwing in my lot with him.”
“When did you see your brother last?” Harry asked.
“Three days ago. He left early in the afternoon, said he had someone to meet.”
“Did he say who?” asked Jess.
“No, and I didn’t ask. He was in a rush as I recall. He didn’t say it was important, but he did seem anxious. The tenants had been giving him some aggro. Rents not paid, damage done to the properties, that sort of thing. He’d had a couple of phone calls and I presumed he was going off to sort it.”
That was a new one. “Tenants?” Harry asked.
“Well, yes.” Craig Sutt
on seemed surprised that they didn’t know. “As well as a half-share in the car sales business, Nick also owns a number of properties that he rents out.”
“Where?”
“The Baxendale estate. Years ago, before that estate became the nest of vipers it is today, the council tenants were allowed to buy. Nick bought a few that came up for resale. Currently, he has five in his portfolio.”
“Why the Baxendale, Mr Sutton?” Jess asked. “I’m not being funny, but it’s not the best place to own property around here.”
Craig Sutton nodded. “I did try to tell him, but he’d have none of it. Nick is always right according to him, but he made a mistake there. Those houses have brought him nothing but grief.” Craig paused, seeming to consider his next words carefully. “It wouldn’t surprise me if one of those bastards did for him.”
“Are you thinking of anyone in particular?” Harry asked.
“He’s had a lot of dealings with the Cassidy crew lately. They’re a bunch of scallies the lot of them, and God knows how many live in that house they rent off him. If they’re running true to form, they’ll have turned that property into nothing more than a drugs den. I’ve tried telling Nick, but he never listens to anyone. I know that Martha Cassidy threatened him, not that Nick was scared. He simply laughed it off. Then he goes and gives the woman the contract for servicing the cars here before they’re sold on.”
Harry could barely believe what he was hearing. The Cassidy family were all troublemakers. Martha’s reputation for protecting her family, regardless of what it took, was well-known. “Martha Cassidy looks after the saleroom cars?”
“Yes. Ludicrous, isn’t it? They have a car repair workshop. So, when the Cassidys’ first invoice comes in, Nick challenges it and gets an ear bashing. They reckoned Nick was trying to short-change them. Ryan Cassidy came round here with that mother of his, and next thing we get a brick thrown at a Volvo we had on show. It smashed the windscreen. Cost us a fortune to replace.”
THE GUILTY MAN an absolutely gripping crime mystery with a massive twist (Detectives Lennox & Wilde Thrillers Book 1) Page 3