“Make it a priority. Have moulds of the tracks been taken?”
“Yes, sir, the bods from the Reid were straight on it.”
“Speaking of which, want to take a ride over to the Reid, see what Hettie is working on?” Jess asked. “She might have something that’s not hit the system yet.”
Harry nodded. They had nothing else to do. All the leads they’d followed so far had led them nowhere. Caroline had given them a plausible answer and it didn’t appear that the private investigator was involved. What Harry really wanted to know was whether the disappearance of Nick Sutton had anything to do with the deadly drugs being doled out on the Baxendale.
* * *
“Kelsey Green’s body yielded nothing other than what we expected,” Hettie said. “She died from a massive overdose of fentanyl. The plastic bags the stuff was in are another story, however. They are covered in prints, but only one other set apart from Kelsey’s.”
Harry waited for the revelation. Now they would find out which of the Baxendale dealers was selling the lethal stuff.
“Not on the database, I’m afraid.”
That was a mega disappointment. So much for the revelation, and no prints on record meant this had to be down to someone new. Is that what had happened? Some new face had muscled in, killed Sutton and taken over his patch? Yet there had been no intel, no whispers that suggested such a development.
“You sure?” Harry asked.
“Quite sure. Whoever is selling or giving this stuff away is new or has managed to evade the law up to now. The only positive I can throw into the mix is that we haven’t had any more bodies.”
Small consolation for another dead end.
“But there is something.” Hettie smiled. “Nick Sutton’s hand — as I said, there was a deal of debris around the wound. I analysed it and found traces of flesh from elsewhere.”
“Are you saying the cutter was used to cut up other parts of his body? That he was dismembered?” Harry asked. “Or do you think what you found belongs to someone else?”
“It looks that way. DNA will prove the theory but I was able to get a small blood trace from the flesh and it’s not the same group as the hand.”
“What? Someone is chopping people to bits?” asked Jess, a look of horror on her face.
“Well, keep it in mind. We’ll know more once the results are through.”
“Not something we’ve met before,” Harry said. “Murder, yes, but this is something else.” He looked at Jess. “We need to find Nick Sutton, dead or alive.”
“We’ve got officers on the Baxendale and we’ve checked all his recent contacts. Without something to go on, finding him is a matter of luck, I’m afraid,” she said.
“There’s still someone we haven’t spoken to,” Harry said. “I know I’ve been putting this off, but I think it’s time we paid Andy Marsh a visit.”
Chapter Seventeen
Like Sutton, Andy Marsh also ran a legitimate business. He owned a clothing factory on the Ryebridge industrial site that produced cheap goods which were mostly sold online and by market traders. His wife, Lisa, had a jewellery shop in the town.
“I’ve rung Marsh’s office at the factory but he’s not there,” Jess said. “The answer machine kicked in, saying the place was closed today. Odd that. You have to wonder why.”
“Okay, Lisa it is then. We’ll try the Ryebridge shop,” Harry said. “We pay her a casual visit without ruffling any feathers and see if she knows or has heard anything about Nick.”
“We’ll be lucky to get a straight answer. Lisa Marsh is a piece of work, every bit as twisted as her old man. If Marsh is at the bottom of this, she’ll back him to the hilt. We have nothing concrete to go on, so, like you say, Harry, gently does it.”
He nodded.
“We’ve examined every other lead and come up with nothing. This has to be what it looks like, a turf war between Sutton and Marsh. Nothing else makes sense.”
Harry wanted to agree with Jess, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t so simple. He wanted the forensics on that cutter, when they found it, before accepting the possibility.
“Do we know if uniform have picked up on anything untoward on the Baxendale?” he asked her.
“As far as we know, there’s been no more lethal stuff doing the rounds. But the addicts are still getting their fix. That, I presume, is down to Marsh and his mob.”
They drove into Ryebridge centre and parked the car in the multi-storey. Ryebridge wasn’t a large town but it was big enough to have an indoor shopping mall, a market hall and the high street. Not so long ago the shops had been busy, the town vibrant, but today a number of them were empty and boarded up. The jewellery shop owned by Lisa Marsh was on the mall, at the opposite end to the café the pair liked.
“I’m not looking forward to this,” Jess admitted as they took the escalator down to the ground floor. “I’ve met them both before. He’s quite the gentleman — all put on of course — but she’s as common as muck and doesn’t care who she upsets.”
“We ask a few questions, keep it simple, it’ll be fine,” Harry said.
The shop was spacious, with lighting that drew attention to the glittering cabinets full of modern jewellery around the walls. Lisa Marsh spotted them as soon as they walked in. She was tall and skinny, with blonde wavy hair pulled into a ponytail, and wearing a short dress and heels. Andy Marsh was in his fifties, and Lisa must have been at least twenty years younger. Second wife? Harry wondered.
Harry expected a mouthful, to hear the usual insults and be told to leave, but Lisa Marsh surprised him. She gave him a tentative smile and said, “please tell me you’ve found him.”
“Found who, Lisa?” Jess asked.
The woman’s dark eyes flashed at her. “My husband of course, idiot! He’s been missing for twenty-four hours now and that’s completely out of character. Andy doesn’t do missing, he likes me and his home life too much.”
First Sutton and now Marsh. This was too much of a coincidence. Harry gave Jess a gentle nudge — he didn’t want her saying anything about Nick Sutton, not yet.
“Why didn’t you contact us?” Jess asked.
“Because you’re useless! You’re not interested in finding Andy. I expect you’re all silently cheering because he’s disappeared.”
“When did you last see him?” Harry asked.
“The night before last. He went out on a bit of business and never returned. I rang his mobile, it’s dead. I rang round his usual haunts, his friends, no one had seen him.”
“Factory business, was it? Who else was involved?” Harry said.
She folded her arms and turned away. “It had nothing to do with the factory. He’s sorted that one. This was some bloke from the estate I think.”
“The Baxendale?”
Lisa nodded.
“This bloke — have a name, does he?” Harry asked.
“I’ve no idea who he is — someone new. He rang Andy and suggested a meet. I heard Andy shout at him, calling him names. From the little I heard it sounded as if this new bloke had ambitions regarding the estate and Andy wasn’t having it.” She shrugged. “Whatever was said, he wasn’t happy, and he left the house all fired up.”
“I bet he didn’t like it. Most of his income is tied up in that estate,” Harry said.
She glared at Harry. “Look, we run a legitimate business here and at the factory. This is no time to get picky about the type of man my Andy is. He and Sutton make sure this town stays quiet and no one gets too ambitious. They put a stop to a lot of trouble you lot never even hear about. We all know what’s what. But now he’s missing, possibly in danger, and I want him found.”
That was straightforward enough, and Lisa was right. “Okay,” Harry said, “this is what will happen. I want you to close up shop, come down to the station and give us a statement. If we’re to find him, we need all the information you can give us.”
Lisa gave both detectives a dubious look. “Me? Come down to the station
? Can’t we do it here? Andy has a lot of friends who won’t take kindly to me hopping into bed with the police.”
He glared at her. “Bottom line, Lisa, d’you want your husband found or not?” She nodded. “Right, we need a blow-by-blow account of Andy’s movements over the last week or so, where he went and who he spoke to. That’s best done in a quiet environment where you can think straight. And this shop isn’t it.”
“You’re scaring me now. You know something, I can see it in your face. What aren’t you telling me?”
Harry sighed. “Just do as I ask, please, Lisa. We all want the same thing here, to find Andy. Okay?”
Chapter Eighteen
Lisa Marsh waited in a soft interview room with a woman PC for company while Harry and Jess were in the incident room discussing how much to tell her.
“The minimum,” Harry insisted. “I’ve sent a couple of PCs round to the Marsh house to keep watch and have a look around. We’ll visit the factory later.”
“Do we tell her Nick Sutton is missing?” Jess asked.
“Missing, but that’s it. The woman is wired enough as it is, we tell her what happened to Sutton and she could lose it. For all we know, Marsh will turn up later with some excuse for his absence.”
“We tell her Nick is missing, she’ll merely shrug and say, so what,” Jess said. “I think she should know the truth. That way she might tell us what Marsh was really up to recently and not lead us down a blind alley.”
But before Harry had time to reply, his mobile rang. It was PC Carter, one of the two uniforms he’d sent to the Marsh house.
“We’ve got . . . something, sir,” he said. His voice wavered.
It was bad. The young PC was obviously upset.
“It must have been left on the step earlier, but I reckon a fox or something dragged it off before the occupants were even up. The gardener found it in the shrubbery. Sorry, it’s a bit mangled and bloody. I think the beast must have had some of it for breakfast.”
Harry groaned. He knew what was coming next.
“It’s a hand, sir, like with Sutton, cut off at the wrist.”
Harry finished the call and looked at Jess. “This changes things. A hand was delivered to the Marsh house earlier today. It wasn’t spotted before because it was taken from the step by wildlife.”
“Oh no!” Jess exclaimed. “That’s making me feel sick. As if cutting off a hand wasn’t bad enough . . . What do we tell Lisa now?”
“Given what’s happened, it’ll have to be the truth. She needs to know the danger her husband is in, and that there is a possibility that he’s dead. That way, if she does know anything, she’ll tell us.”
* * *
Harry gave Lisa the news. She broke down, weeping inconsolably on the PC’s shoulder.
“Why my Andy? I don’t understand,” she said after a while. “Everything was going so well.”
“What do you mean, Lisa? Everything with what?” Harry asked.
“Us, the businesses, what d’you think?” she glared at him through her tears.
“When we spoke in the shop we asked about the factory, and you said that was all sorted now. What was sorted?” Jess asked.
“That was just a something and a nothing,” she said. “Some stranger made Andy a ridiculous offer for the factory, and said he should think carefully before he refused.”
“Does he have a name, this stranger?” Harry asked.
“Andy’s PA, Babs Milton, at the factory office will have the details. I’ve no idea who he was, some chancer probably. Nothing came of it anyway. Andy has no intention of selling up, not yet.”
“What about the other business, the dealing and the rest?” Harry asked. “You must understand that we need to know everything and anything that could help us find who hurt your husband, Lisa. Who Andy went off to see the night he disappeared will do for starters.”
“He didn’t tell me,” she wailed. “He never tells me much about that aspect of things. He says the less I know, the less I can tell you lot.”
That was all very well but it didn’t help. “Had anyone given him any trouble lately? Had he received any threatening phone calls?”
“Nick Sutton was a permanent pain. They’d been arguing again, even came to blows in the pub a couple of weeks ago. He argued with that Ryan Cassidy too. He came into the shop and they went into the back office. Ryan was screaming at Andy. I heard a little but not much. When they’d finished, Ryan went off in a rush. I could see Andy was upset, but he wouldn’t tell me why.”
Ryan Cassidy again. Too much of a coincidence. “Did Andy talk to Nick Sutton?”
Lisa gave him a look full of scorn. “You know very well they were rivals. They hated each other, always have done. Nick is a piece of cheating scum. Apart from making sure the town stayed quiet, which suited them both, Andy would have nothing to do with him. Have you spoken to Nick? It wouldn’t surprise me if he wasn’t at the bottom of this. He’s threatened Andy with violence many times.”
“But they had come to an arrangement — about the Baxendale in particular,” Harry said. “And it worked too, up to a point.”
“Nothing to do with me,” she said. “I’m only interested in the jewellery business. Whatever else Andy gets up to is his affair.”
This wasn’t helping anyone. “I suspect it’s the whatever else that’s got him into this mess, Lisa,” he said.
“You should drag Nick Sutton down here and make him tell you what he’s done to my Andy. He’ll be at the bottom of this.”
She sounded so sure that it was a shame to burst her bubble.
“Not Nick, Lisa, not this time,” Harry said gently.
She stared at him, her eyes wide, fearful. “What d’you mean? You don’t think Nick did this? Why not?”
“Because whatever has happened to Andy happened to Nick too. He is missing and has been mutilated in the same way.”
Her face was a picture as she tried to work this out.
“It follows that whoever hurt your husband, it wasn’t Nick,” he said slowly. “So, I need to know, apart from Nick Sutton, who hated him enough to do that.”
“I . . . I can’t think of anyone else. There is only Nick. There was the odd argument with Ryan and his clan, but Ryan’s just a hothead, he hits the roof but calms down just as quick. The row the other day was about the dealing, I think. When Ryan came to the shop, he was angry about a bad batch, I heard that much.”
The fentanyl! They needed another word with the Cassidy family.
“When Andy went out, did he take his car?” Jess asked.
“Yes, and he had his phone, but that’s dead now. And you lot haven’t found his car either, have you?”
Jess shook her head. So far they only had Nick Sutton’s. “We’ll find out when Andy’s mobile was last used. I’ll need his provider details. Meanwhile, I want you to write down every little detail you remember. The PC here will stay with you. Once you’re done, we’ll take you home and arrange for a family liaison officer to be with you.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Martha won’t like it,” Jess said with a grin, “you bothering her best boy. And you’re driving way too fast. At this rate we’ll be lucky to make it to Ryan’s house in one piece.”
Harry gripped the steering wheel tight. “He lied, the toerag.” As if they didn’t have enough to think about.
“He just didn’t tell us the whole story. There’s a difference, you know.”
“I just wish we knew what we were dealing with. If there are two bodies out there, they need finding. Perhaps then forensics could give us something useful.”
Harry pulled up outside Ryan’s house and hammered on the front door. Adele answered. She didn’t look pleased to see them.
“What now? Thought we’d sorted you lot.” She moved aside to let them through. “Ryan, love, it’s the coppers again!” she shouted up the stairs. “He’s sleeping it off. Silly bastard drank too much this afternoon.”
It was some time before a tou
sled Ryan Cassidy appeared at the top of the stairway. He yawned, stretched, and demanded water from Adele. “Can’t drink booze in the day, never could. What d’you want now?”
“You went to Marsh’s shop. You and Andy argued, what about?” Harry said.
Ryan shrugged. “Nowt much, the man’s got a short fuse.”
Harry shook his head. “Try again, Ryan. Lisa heard some of the conversation, so don’t bother lying.”
“Oh? And what did she tell you? Not much I bet. She wouldn’t dare — wife or not, Andy would kill her.”
“Andy’s missing, possibly dead, just like Nick Sutton, so what did you discuss?” Harry said.
That shook him up. “Okay, it was about a bit of business on the Baxendale.”
“Drugs?” Harry said.
“I know how this works. I say yes and you’ll arrest me. Get me banged up for dealing.”
“That won’t happen, not by me anyway,” Harry said. “I just want to know what you argued about.”
Ryan heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his untidy hair. “There’s been some lethal stuff circulating — well, you know that, you’ve got the bodies. I thought it was down to Andy, but he said it wasn’t and I should talk to Nick. I don’t know now, perhaps neither of them were involved.”
And that would give them a much bigger problem, Harry thought, an outfit they knew nothing about. “Have you heard anything on the street?” he asked.
“No, but there’s someone new dishing out dope to the kids. A foreign guy, big and angry looking. Maybe he’s working for himself, I dunno.”
Harry gave him a quizzical look. That wasn’t how the dealing worked. “You know something, you tell me now, Ryan. We’ve got three bodies from the Baxendale and I don’t want any more.”
“I know that, I can count and I’m not stupid,” Ryan retorted. “Something’s going on but I don’t know what.” He scratched the stubble on his chin. “That’s all I can tell you. You’re wasting your time questioning me any more.”
They were obviously not going to get any more from Ryan. “If anyone mentions names, you come to me, got that?” Harry said. “That way you might avoid a prison sentence. Do you understand, Ryan?”
THE GUILTY MAN an absolutely gripping crime mystery with a massive twist (Detectives Lennox & Wilde Thrillers Book 1) Page 7