Blood Line (5 page)

‘You must have been working late or came in very early,’ Anna said as Paul handed her a list before she could even take her coat off.

‘Early, but I couldn’t sleep. There’s something about this Alan Rawlins that doesn’t sit right. Maybe it’s his girlfriend Tina – she doesn’t ring true. Look, these are all the people I’ve arranged to interview. We now know that his mobile was pay-as-you-go, but the calls and texts don’t show anything suspicious and pretty much fit with what Tina told us.’

Anna looked down the list, adding up how long it would take to interview everyone.

‘Listen, Paul, I’ve given it a lot of thought and I’ve come to the conclusion that this is all a waste of time.’

‘But didn’t
you
think that something didn’t add up?’

‘If I queried everything that “didn’t add up”, we’d never get anything done, and quite honestly, I don’t think I’m prepared to spend much more time on this. We’ve not actually been allocated Rawlins’s disappearance as a murder investigation; Mispers are still handling it.’

‘Yeah, along with how many hundreds of other missing persons? He’s just going to be a number, Anna. That washed-out beige on beige in that flat gave me the creeps.’

‘Look, I’ll tell you what. We’ll sift through these people on the list, but as far as I am concerned, that is going to be that.’

‘I think you’ve changed your feelings since yesterday.’

Anna sighed and gave him a brief rundown of her meeting with Alan’s parents. Paul wagged his finger, smiling.

‘So last night you did have the same feelings as I have?’

‘No, last night I was hesitant, but after talking to Mr Rawlins I came to the conclusion that, given the circumstances, Alan Rawlins has simply taken the easiest route out of all the pressures.’

‘What pressures?’

‘That he had maybe made the wrong choice of girlfriend and that his parents were too needy and he’d just had enough.’

‘You think.’

‘Yes, that is exactly what I think, and to be honest, if I’d been in his situation I might have been tempted to do the same thing.’

‘But you don’t know for sure if that is what he would have done. You are just surmising or putting yourself in his situation.’

‘Don’t make me repeat myself, Paul, but yes, that is exactly what I’d have done. There is not a scrap of evidence that gives us probable cause for a murder, and I don’t know if you checked about any life-insurance policies . . .’

‘I have.’

‘And?’

‘Alan Rawlins had a life-insurance policy for fifty thousand pounds,’ Paul stated.

‘Well, you know it takes years before someone can be declared dead after disappearing, and I can’t see Tina as the type to hang around waiting.’

‘Why should she when she’s got their joint bank account?’

Anna headed towards her office. Over her shoulder she told Paul to book out a CID car so they could get started.

‘Already done – your carriage awaits you downstairs, ma’am.’

Irritated, she turned back to him. ‘Just give me a minute, all right?’

The first place they went to was Metcalf Auto in Staines Road. It was a small business, but it looked as if they were busy. There were four cars for sale on their forecourt, two workshops with cars waiting for repairs, and inside the main garage, a Volvo was up on a ramp being checked out by two mechanics. Inside the small office cubicle, which contained just a desk and swivel chair, was the head mechanic, Joe Smedley. He was well-built and dark-haired with a thick beard that made him look like a gerbil. He had an equally thick growth of chest hair that spouted from the open neck of his overalls.

Anna introduced herself and Paul, and having nowhere to sit they both stood in the doorway. Joe got up to shake their hands and showed himself to be surprisingly short.

‘Is this about Alan?’

‘Yes. We’d like to ask you a few questions; hopefully we won’t take up too much of your time.’

‘You take as long as you need to. We’ve all been worried sick about him; he was one of my best mechanics. I’ve already had to replace him – couldn’t keep his job open any longer as we’re so busy. Since the recession began we’ve had a lot of work, as customers who used to change their cars regularly now just keep the old ones and get them repaired. It’s been good for us.’

‘Tell me about the last time you saw Alan, Mr Smedley,’ Anna said as she glanced around the rows of documents pinned up on a cork board.

‘It’d be the Monday, a good few weeks ago now. I’ll have it in my diary, the exact date. He came to work as usual – always on time he was, sometimes he’d be here a lot earlier to work on his own car – but if I remember correctly, he was over at the fridge in the garage taking out a bottle of water. He looked a bit wan. I asked him if he was feeling okay and he just said he had a bad headache.’

Smedley scratched his thick beard and opened a drawer in his desk, taking out a diary.

‘About a couple of hours later he came in here and said he was feeling really bad and could he use my phone. He said he felt he should go home, but didn’t want to drive himself. He called Tina, asking her to pick him up. Then he went out and sat on the forecourt with the bottle of water.’

Joe passed over his work diary to show Anna the exact date, and where he had written that Alan had left work.

‘Tina arrived, he went over to her car and got in, and that was the last time I saw him. When he didn’t turn up for work the next day I just thought he was still feeling bad so I didn’t call Tina until the day after. No, wait a minute . . .’

He scratched at his beard again.

‘She called here first, asking if Alan had come in to work. I said he hadn’t and that I wondered if he was still sick, but she hung up. I rang a couple more times because as I said before, we’re busy and we needed him here, but he never rang back and she said she hadn’t seen him.’

‘On that Monday, was he acting strangely?’

‘What do you mean? All he said to me was he had a headache and he looked a bit off-colour.’

‘How about other times previous to that Monday?’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Well, had he acted out of character?’

‘No. He was a quiet one, though. He wasn’t a drinker and he never socialised with either me or the other mechanics, but he was a hard worker and a nice bloke.’

‘Did you meet Tina on any other occasions?’

‘Not really. I’d seen her, obviously; she’d collected Alan a couple of times when his car wasn’t roadworthy. She’d just pull up, toot her horn and he’d drive off with her.’ He shrugged. ‘To be honest, I think she thought of herself as being above the rest of us. They never even came to the bit of a do we had over last Christmas, but that wasn’t my business.’

‘Did he have a locker?’

‘Yeah, it’s at the back of the garage. Used to keep some of his clothes here and change when he turned up for work.’

‘Can we see it?’

‘Course. I’ve not emptied it, just in case.’

‘Just in case of what?’

They followed Joe out from his office across the garage.

‘Him coming back to work. I miss him and I tell you something – he’s been working on that Merc of his for months. He is planning to sell it and should get a good price, maybe not a lot right now, but if he holds onto it it’ll get a nice wedge as it’s in great nick and he was just waiting for a soft top to be delivered.’

Joe took out a large ring of keys as they approached a row of thin lockers. The two mechanics working on the Volvo looked over then returned to work. Inside the locker was a pair of greasy stained overalls, a pair of oil-streaked trainers and a couple of jumpers. On the top shelf were manuals and auto-repair magazines. Paul checked the pockets of the overalls and flicked through the magazines. They found nothing personal; in one pocket was a packet of aspirin and a folded handkerchief.

‘Do you know if everything was all right between Alan and Tina?’

Joe hunched his shoulders and gave a wide gesture.

‘I wouldn’t know. He was a very private guy. Like I said, I only met her a couple of times. I think they were going to get married, but he never really even discussed that with me.’

Joe led them out of the garage and towards the workshop storing the cars waiting for repair. Covered in a green tarpaulin was Alan Rawlins’s Mercedes and it was, as he had said, in very good condition. Joe went into a long explanation of what Alan had done, from respraying to fitting new engine parts. Even the leather seats had been re-upholstered.

‘It’s odd that he wouldn’t want to take this, wherever he is. He must have spent weeks on it – in his own time, mind – but I know he was waiting for that soft top to be delivered. Maybe . . .’

‘Maybe?’ Anna prompted.

‘I don’t know. It’s just not like him to take off without letting me know. He’s worked here for five years and he’s been a bloody good employee, always on time. In fact, he’s hardly ever taken a day off unless for his holidays.’

‘Do you know where he went on these holidays?’

Joe nodded. ‘Well, I know he went on a sailing trip in Turkey once and a number of times he went surfing in Cornwall.’ Joe gestured at the workshop. ‘His board is back there. He said he didn’t have much space in his flat and could he store it there. It was an expensive one, because I think he was pretty good at it. Do you want to see it?’

‘I don’t think so, thank you. What about his mobile phone?’

‘That was in his glove compartment. I think Tina came round for it when I wasn’t here.’

As they returned to Joe’s office Paul said he would need to have a word with the other mechanics before leaving. Anna thought there was really nothing else she could ask him, but Joe wanted to know if she felt that something bad had happened to Alan.

‘By bad, what do you mean?’

‘Well, it’s odd, isn’t it? He’s a good bloke, a hard worker, and for him to take off without a word to anyone isn’t like him, so maybe something has happened to him.’

‘Like what?’

‘I dunno – he’s got mugged or something. He was very particular about himself, always very spruced up. He wore a spotless white T-shirt under his overalls, even his jeans were pressed, and I know he worked out a lot in the local gym because he’d sometimes have his tracksuit with him. Even that was always pristine, and I don’t know how many times he’d wash his hands. Sometimes he’d even wear surgical rubber gloves if he was doing up an oily engine, and—’

Paul interrupted him. ‘You mind if I ask you something personal about Alan?’

Joe shook his head.

‘Was Alan Rawlins gay?’

‘
Gay?
’

‘Yes.’

Joe stared at him, then laughed. ‘Because of what I just told you about him? Well, if he was, he kept that well-hidden, and if you want my opinion, he was straight. He was getting married and there was no way he ever gave me any indication he was a poof. Is that what
she
says about him?’

‘She?’

‘Tina. I mean, she’d be the one to ask – right? Not that I have anything against them, but I’ve never employed one.’

‘A homosexual?’

‘Yeah. Sometimes this is heavy work, not to mention getting dirty and oil-streaked, so I’ve never had anyone light on their feet so to speak.’

Paul, irritated by Joe’s comments, left the office to go and speak with the other mechanics.

‘You said he worked out – do you know which gym?’

‘Yeah, he used a local gym called Body Form in Inwood Street, next to the park, did a bit of weight-lifting and ran the odd marathon for charity so he was fit. He was also a good-looking fella, not that he ever made it obvious. In fact, I don’t think he ever realised that he was a bit of a head-turner.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Well, we had a girl in the office handling the calls a couple of years back. She had to go because we couldn’t afford her, but she was all of a-flutter if he came anywhere near her.’

Anna smiled and said that he had been very helpful and she appreciated the time he had given.

‘You never answered my question,’ Joe said, following her out.

‘I’m sorry, what question?’

‘You’re a detective and we’ve had people from some other Department for Missing Persons talking to us. What do you think has happened to him?’

‘That is what we are trying to find out, Mr Smedley.’

As Anna returned to the car she looked at her watch and realised that talking to Joe Smedley had taken longer than she had anticipated. It was a further ten minutes before Paul finished speaking to the mechanics in the workshop and she could then see him in the garage yard talking on his mobile. When Paul finally returned Anna found herself even more irritated as he stated the obvious.

‘Mechanics couldn’t add anything interesting. We’re running late,’ he said to Anna as he got into the car. ‘I called Dan Matthews, and he said he could wait – he’s a graphic designer and we’re seeing him in his studio. The other bloke, Julian Vickers, has had to put us off until later this morning. Just as well, as he’s all the way over in Kilburn.’

‘Why did you bring up that Alan might be gay?’

‘Way the hairy man was describing him – the clean white T-shirt, pressed jeans, rubber surgical gloves, all that – he was a mechanic, for chrissakes. Plus him being a fitness freak – I just thought he might be a closet.’

‘Really! Well, I don’t buy that. Let’s drop in at the Body Form gym Alan used. How long have we got?’

‘Two hours.’

‘Fine. Maybe we can also see if Tina is at work. I’d like to take a look at her salon.’

‘Whatever you say. But it was just a thought about Alan.’

‘Maybe best to keep your thoughts to yourself, Paul.’

They drove in silence for a while and then Paul asked Anna what she was thinking. She smiled.

‘Just making a food shopping list in my head for later.’ She didn’t tell him what was really on her mind. Sometimes it felt as if she was acting on autopilot, that everything she said and did was just going through the motions, but she was really elsewhere, in some kind of lethargic haze. It was becoming one of those days where she was finding it hard to motivate herself to do anything, let alone her job.

The Body Form gym was small and almost empty. There were two fitness instructors sitting at a coffee bar in a glass-fronted area where some elderly women were having an aerobics class. Music was thudding out, but the rows of equipment were stationary. The weight room had one man lifting and he looked as if he was ready for a seizure. The manager, Benjamin Issacs, was a muscular giant of a man who was clearly into bodybuilding as a daily ritual. He introduced himself as ‘Big Ben’ and then took Anna and Paul to his office and invited them to take a seat. He recalled Alan Rawlins at one time being very regular, but over the past six months he had only been in to work out a couple of times. He said he was always polite, not a mixer – and then ‘Big Ben’ laughed, observing that Alan was very different from his girlfriend.