Destruction of Evidence (23 page)

‘Did you see Larry Jones leave the archway?’ Trevor interrupted.

‘No.’

‘You went to bed.’

‘No. The carers try to get me to bed at seven. I’m not a child. I’ll go to bed when I damn well please and, if I want to stay up all night in the chair, I will. It’s a sight more comfortable than my bed I can tell you. And I can adjust it any way I want.’

‘So you stayed in the chair all that night,’ Peter frowned at Trevor.

‘I did,’ she confirmed defiantly.

‘And you slept?’

‘Now and again but I woke around one o’clock. A squad car was driving down the street.’

‘Routine patrol?’

‘They drive past all hours.’

‘Have you any idea of the time Larry left the archway?’

She thought for a moment. ‘He was still there at one o’clock. The squad car slowed as it went by and I remember thinking they were checking on him. Criminals get more care and attention in this town than their victims. But he wasn’t there at twenty past two.’

‘How can you be sure?’ Peter scribbled a note in his book.

‘Because I was woken by the officer walking down the street at twenty past two.’

‘What officer?’ Peter sat forward on the chair.

‘I don’t know what officer but I heard footsteps and saw the top of his cap quite clearly.’

‘It was a man?’ Trevor checked.

‘I assumed it was but I suppose it could have been a woman. Whoever it was was wearing trousers and carrying a bag and, walking quickly.’

‘In which direction?’ Trevor asked.

‘Towards the police station.’

Trevor saw Peter watching him. He knew the same thought was in both their minds. Towards the police station was also towards the lane that led around the back of the Pitchers’ house.

‘Was it a large bag?’ Peter asked.

‘About the size of a weekend case.’

‘And you didn’t recognise whoever it was?’

‘The street lamps were lit, the moon was bright but he or she was walking in the shadow of the houses. I told Dai Smith all this when he called the morning after the fire.’

‘Constable Smith?’ Trevor checked.

‘He wanted to know if I’d seen or heard anything. I told him what I’ve just told you. That I didn’t see Larry Jones leave the archway but I saw a police officer in the street at two twenty. Other than that, the street was quiet until the fire tenders and police cars arrived after three o’clock. Then chaos broke out, with the police evacuation. They wanted to move me, but I wouldn’t go. The wind was blowing in the opposite direction so there was no danger of sparks hitting my roof. Ken Lloyd’s wife went. That woman will do anything to get attention.’

‘You’re certain you spoke to Constable Smith.’

‘My body may not work too well, but there’s nothing wrong with my brain, Sergeant Collins. I’m not ga-ga yet,’ May snapped. ‘Dai Smith made notes and said he’d be back with a colleague. When you turned up this morning, I assumed you’d spoken to him.’

‘The rate information is coming in it must have been overlooked.’ Trevor couldn’t disguise his annoyance. ‘Can you think of anything else that happened that night that might help us?’

May shook her head.

Trevor took a card case from his pocket and handed her a card. ‘If you do, this is my mobile number. If you recall anything, no matter how trivial, that you haven’t mentioned, ring this number, any time day or night.’

‘You mean that, knowing the hours I keep, Inspector Joseph?’ she questioned mischievously.

‘He means it, but he won’t enjoy a call from you as much me.’ Peter left the chair and gave her one of his own cards.

‘Call in any time. If the carers aren’t here you can make yourselves – and me – coffee. The key code is 1960. One of the best years of my life.’

‘When life was swinging,’ Peter joked.

‘You don’t know your ancient history, Sergeant Collins. That was the last year before life began to swing. When women still wore gloves and a hat when they went out to buy a pound of sugar. People were polite to one another, life was pleasant and drunks weren’t left to soil the street. They were locked up overnight and brought before the magistrates the morning after, to be fined and shamed by having their names printed in the local paper. No one in their family would have been able to hold their heads high for at least a year. But in those days people had pride. They cared for their friends and neighbours and no one was murdered in their beds or had their house burned down around them.’

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

‘I want to see Constable Dai Smith in my office immediately,’ Trevor informed Tony Sweet as he walked into the station foyer.

‘He’s not available, sir.’

‘I assumed all leave had been cancelled.’

‘It has, sir.’

‘Then why isn’t Constable Smith available?’

‘You’d have to ask Superintendent Moore that, sir,’ Tony Sweet replied.

‘Problems, Inspector?’ Reggie Moore eased past officers who were shifting furniture between rooms in the corridor that housed the offices.

‘No problem.’ Trevor looked her in the eye. ‘I need to see Constable Dai Smith urgently.’

‘Could we discuss this in the office we’ve cleared for you and Sergeant Collins? I trust you don’t mind sharing?’

‘It won’t present a problem provided interview rooms are available,’ Trevor replied.

‘As we have over a dozen interview rooms that shouldn’t present any difficulties.’

Peter followed Trevor and Reggie into the office and collided with Carol March who was carrying a stack of files.

‘Sergeant Collins.’ Hands full, she nodded to him.

Conscious of Trevor watching him, Peter took the files. ‘Where do you want them?’

‘I’ve moved in with Sergeant Howell next door.’

Trevor looked around the room. It was a square box with one desk under the window opposite the door and another set on the left-hand wall. Both had been positioned far enough from the walls to leave room for a chair. Two upright “guest” chairs, an empty bookcase and filing cabinet completed the furnishings. ‘I trust we’re not putting you to too much trouble.’

‘I’m sorry we’re so cramped at present. We’re moving to new premises in two months. If you’re still here I’m sure we’ll be able to come with something better.’

Peter returned. ‘Inconsiderate of the Pitchers’ murderer not to wait.’

Trevor was accustomed to Peter’s quips, but he saw that Reggie was irritated. He went to the window and looked out before sitting on the sill. ‘Constable Dai Smith?’

‘He’s missing.’

‘Missing as in vanished?’ Trevor checked.

‘No one’s seen him since the morning after the fire.’

‘Was he called in to help evacuate people from Main Street?’ Trevor questioned.

‘Yes.’

‘What time did he arrive?’

‘Around 5 a.m.’

‘Wasn’t that late?’ Trevor frowned. ‘I understood Sergeant Howell delegated someone to call everyone in shortly after three o’clock.’

‘He did,’ Reggie confirmed. ‘Constable Smith said he went to bed when he reached home after his shift and slept heavily. He was woken at four thirty by his mobile buzzing with the message asking him to come in. He helped search Larry Jones when he was brought into the station. The last officer to see him was Constable Rees. He told her he was going to interview Alan Pitcher’s neighbours in Main Street.’

‘What time was that?’

‘Constable Rees said it was before nine o’clock.’

‘He conducted at least one interview,’ Trevor revealed.

Reggie was surprised. ‘How do you know?’

‘Because I spoke to a witness he interviewed that morning,’ Trevor divulged. ‘Why didn’t you tell me Constable Smith was missing?’

‘I didn’t think his absence relevant to the investigation.’

‘It could well be relevant given the information Sergeant Collins and I’ve received. Did Constable Smith turn in his notes that morning?’ Trevor watched Peter try out the chair behind the desk in front of the window.

‘No.’

‘You’re certain.’

‘I checked.’

‘Did you make any effort to contact him when he disappeared?’

Reggie erupted. ‘Of course I did. We’ve tried ringing his mobile. It’s been switched off since ten o’clock that morning. I sent Constables Rees and Howell to his house.’

‘Why them?’

‘Paula Rees has worked with Dai Smith for six months. She knows where he keeps a spare key for emergencies. They searched his house. As far as they could ascertain the only thing missing was his car from the garage. His clothes are in the wardrobe. His passport in a drawer. They did find his wife’s parents’ telephone number in France.’

‘Did you phone them?’

‘I spoke to his wife. She told me she wasn’t interested in her husband or his whereabouts and asked me not to call again.’ She eyed Peter. ‘Leave us, Sergeant Collins.’

For once Peter didn’t argue. He closed the door behind him, leaving Trevor wondering if he’d followed Carol March into her office.

‘Constable Smith has personal problems,’ Reggie confided.

‘He discussed them with you?’

‘His timekeeping had deteriorated. I was considering instigating disciplinary proceedings but before I set things in motion I called him in for an informal chat. For ten years he’d been an exemplary officer with a clean service record. I couldn’t understand why he’d begun to turn up late for his shifts. I knew his colleagues were covering for him. And I also knew there were times when he couldn’t be raised, not even on his mobile.’

‘What was his response when you challenged him?’

‘He said he was depressed because his wife had left him and taken the children.’

‘You didn’t know his marriage was in trouble?’

Reggie hesitated. ‘Constable Smith’s wife is French. He’d told people she’d taken the children to France to visit her parents. I think he believed the story himself until I forced him to face facts. She’d been gone over ten weeks when I called him in.’

‘Marriage break-up is a common problem with police officers.’ Trevor crossed his fingers behind his back. It was hard enough being separated from Lyn and Marty because of work. He couldn’t bear the thought of having to live permanently apart from them.

‘Dai Smith is besotted with and devoted to his three year old twin daughters.’

‘Did he say why his wife had left him?’

‘No.’

‘You didn’t ask?’

‘It was none of my business.

‘Although he’d been shirking his duty for over ten weeks?’

‘It was four weeks before his behaviour was brought to my attention.’

‘When his shift finished at midnight on the night of the fire, he asked Constable Rees to return the squad car to the station. Presumably he also asked her to turn in the end of shift report. Or is that done on the next day here?’ Trevor questioned.

‘The end of shift procedure depends on the preference of the duty sergeant and the level of activity in the town.’ Reggie couldn’t contain her curiosity a moment longer. ‘Who did Constable Smith interview the day after the fire?’

Trevor briefly related what May Williams had told him and Peter.

‘And Mrs Williams was certain that this person she saw at two twenty carrying a bag was a police officer?’

‘She saw the top of his hat,’ Trevor confirmed, ‘and given the amount of time she spends looking out of her window at passers-by, including police officers, I’m inclined to believe her.’

‘Do you think the sighting could be connected to the Pitcher murders?’

Trevor voiced what Reggie appeared to be reluctant to. ‘Have you considered that the destruction of forensic evidence suggests the Pitchers’ murderer having a certain amount of professional knowledge?’

‘We can’t be certain it was all destroyed.’

‘Yet,’ Trevor qualified, ‘but early indicators are that someone had a damned good try to clean up the crime scene.’

‘You can’t possibly believe the Pitchers were murdered by one of my officers…’

‘No more than I can believe they were murdered by one of the forensic team working in the Pitcher house,’ Trevor interrupted. ‘Are you certain Constable Smith didn’t report back here after he interviewed May Williams?’

‘Not to my knowledge and I’ve read every witness statement that’s come in.’

‘Can we go to his house?’

‘Now?’

‘As this is the first lead we’ve had, I believe it’s worth looking into immediately.’

‘It’ll mean postponing the briefing.’

‘We may have more to report.’

‘I’ll pull his file and ask Inspector March to check if there’s been any recent activity on his phone and banking records.’

Peter knocked on the door and entered. He handed Trevor and Reggie files, keeping one back for himself. ‘The updated timeline I thought you’d like to see it before the briefing.’

Reggie took it from him. ‘The briefing is postponed. If you’ll excuse me I must see Inspector March.’