Hunted (11 page)

“What is he like as a person?”

“He’s okay. He used to be out on all the sites, checking on progress but he likes to sit in his ivory tower these days cooking up new deals. He trusts us to get on with it.”

“Sounds like a good employer.”

“He is and I feel lucky to have a job when so many are out of work. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to it.”

“Just one more question Eddie,” said Battler.

Eddie sighed and tapped his foot impatiently. “We are on a tight schedule here.”

“It won’t take long. Did you notice any unusual behaviour from your staff when you were working on the annex?”

Eddie shrugged. “No more than the usual, except for Todd, but that was understandable. His girlfriend was about to pop with their first baby. She went into labour the day we filled in the foundation on the annex. I remember because he went on paternity leave and we had to bring in a new lad.”

“Who?” said Battler.

“I can’t remember. Oh that was it, Chris Marsh’s eldest boy. He’s moved away now but he was eighteen at the time and after a bit of extra work. He was good too, a real grafter. There’s not many of them left.”

“So I hear,” said Ryan. That confirmed Chris had been telling the truth, but was it coincidence that the Marsh’s name kept cropping up?

“Thank you for your time Eddie,” said Ryan but the man was already returning to work, bellowing at two of his men who had taken the opportunity while he was distracted to have a crafty fag.

“Interesting,” said Ryan as they returned to Battler’s car.

“Chris Marsh’s son?”

“Yes. If he’d gone home and started telling his parents about his day Chris would have known there was a huge pit of lovely wet concrete just waiting to hide a body.”

“You really think it’s him?”

“I don’t know, my investigation was inconclusive.”

“Listen to you talking like a copper.”

Ryan turned to him, appalled. “I beg your pardon?”

“You heard,” smiled Battler. “Let’s go and talk to the Tebbs now.”

CHAPTER 13

“Alright, I’m coming,” said Rachel in response to the loud banging at the door. “Boys, will you please get out of the way, Mummy needs to answer the door,” she told Ethan and Aaron, who were running around her legs, chasing each other.

They accompanied her to the door, making a load of noise, almost tripping her up twice. “Please boys,” she said, exasperated as she opened the door. She staggered backwards when a pair of arms reached out for her and wrapped themselves around her neck. “Daina, what is it?” she said.

“We have news, very good news, don’t we?” said Daina, turning to look at Bruiser standing behind her.

He nodded.

“We’re going to have a baby,” cried Daina, taking Rachel’s hand and pressing it to her stomach.

“Wow, congratulations,” said Rachel, delighted.

“I want to tell you first because you give me everything,” continued Daina, her Latvian accent getting thicker in her excitement. “It is because of you I live in this beautiful place and have good job and this lovely man,” she said, grasping Bruiser’s hand. “And he will be a good father to our baby.”

“I’m sure he will,” said Rachel, glancing over Daina’s shoulder at Bruiser to ensure this was good news for him too. He smiled and nodded, to Rachel’s relief.

“Bruiser asked me to marry him and I want you to be Matron-of-Honour like you were at Amber’s wedding. Say you will be, please?”

“I will be honoured to. I’m so happy for you both,” she said, hugging Daina then Bruiser. The man looked genuinely pleased and she was over the moon for him.

“You will help me with this pregnancy?” Daina asked her. “I know nothing about babies and neither does Bruiser. I have no mother to ask, you are the closest to one I have.”

A lump formed in Rachel’s throat. “Course I will and don’t worry, you’ll be a brilliant mum.”

“Thank you.” She kissed Rachel’s cheek. “Now we go to tell Sabine and the girls at the salon. I didn’t go in today because I being so sick at home. Now I know why. They will be so excited,” she grinned.

“I’m sure they will.” Rachel watched as Bruiser slung his arm around Daina’s shoulders, the pair of them walking happily back to his car. He opened the door for her and she pecked him on the lips before climbing in. Rachel closed the door, smiling to herself. She’d been right, they were for life.

“Boys, please,” she sighed when they ran round her in a mad circle, screaming at the tops of their lungs. Poor Daina had all this to come.

“Who was that?” said Leah, appearing in the hallway.

“Uncle Bruiser and Aunty Daina. They’re going to have a baby.”

“Oh. That’s nice.”

There was a time when Leah would have been excited over the prospect of a new baby. Now she looked like she couldn’t care less.

“You love babies, don’t you?”

She shrugged. “They’re okay.” She moved to return to the living room then hesitated. “Will they lose their baby like you lost Thomas?”

The tears sprang immediately to Rachel’s eyes, there was nothing she could do to stop them. The question broke her heart. She extricated herself from the boys, who went charging into the living room, knelt down before her daughter and gently took her by the shoulders. “A pregnancy is a very delicate time for a woman. There are lots of things that can go wrong but I’m sure Daina’s baby will be fine.”

“That’s not fair when you lost Thomas.”

“Yes we did lose Thomas but we also have you, Ethan and Aaron and because of that we are so lucky.”

“Uncle Alex isn’t here to take Aunty Daina’s baby.”

“No honey, he’s not. He can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

“Because of Dad.”

It frightened Rachel how much her daughter understood. “You do know never to talk about that to anyone else, don’t you sweetheart?”

“Yes Mum,” she said slightly sarcastically. “I’m not stupid.”

“No you’re not. You’re a very clever girl and I’m so proud of you. Come here,” she said, hugging her tightly. It was a relief when Leah hugged her back. Sometimes she really feared for her little girl.

“So, are you excited about the baby?”

Leah actually smiled. “Yes, I can’t wait to see it. I bet it’s a girl.”

Rachel thanked God for that foetus. It had brought her daughter out of her shell again.

Ryan was very uncomfortable in the Tebb’s house. Mrs Tebbs was in full mourning, dressed in black. All the curtains in the house were drawn, casting everything into stuffy shadow. Battler on the other hand looked completely at ease, his face full of understanding. Who would have thought Battler would ever be adept at dealing with grieving parents? He’d come a long way from being a Maguire heavy. Now he was free of their yoke he’d turned into the man he was supposed to be. Ryan was perfectly happy to take a back seat and let him lead.

“Excuse my husband not being present but he had a mild heart attack when the police told us Daniel had been found. He’s in the hospital,” began Mrs Tebbs.

“Will he be okay?” said Battler.

She nodded.

“I’ve been hired by the relatives of one of the other missing men to look into his disappearance. I can’t tell you who exactly, it’s confidential. I’d be happy to act on your behalf if you like, free of charge?”

Ryan tried not to look surprised at Battler’s generosity. Clearly this case was getting to him.

“Yes we would like you to act on our behalf, the police are less than useless,” said Mrs Tebbs angrily, a proud, upright woman with short dark hair swept back off her face, indicative of her constantly running her fingers through it. Her little upturned nose was bright pink from crying. “We told them something was wrong, that Daniel wouldn’t just run off but they wouldn’t believe us. Six years of worrying and searching and now it’s over do you know what? It’s a relief. What kind of parents does that make us, glad to know their son ended up buried in concrete after being shot to death?”

“It makes you human Mrs Tebbs,” said Battler sympathetically. “It must be such a weight off now that you’ve found him and you can finally lay him to rest.”

“There is that I suppose but there’ll be no real closure until we know who did that to him and why. There could be other young men out there, lying somewhere cold and alone. We’ll pay you the same rate as the other family you’re representing. We’ve got plenty of money, we can afford it.”

Battler realised it was a matter of pride to her so he just nodded. “I wonder if you could tell me about the last time you saw Daniel. I understand you’ve probably told the police this many times but it could still be important.”

“If you think so. He wasn’t living here, he’d moved out, got his own flat. He came for tea the night before. He was just Daniel,” she said, smiling at the memory, tears standing out in her eyes. “Happy, full of excitement about his flat. He enjoyed having his own space, but he still liked to come home for a good roast dinner. He was useless at cooking. He stayed for a couple of hours then left. He kissed me goodbye, said he’d see me at the weekend and that was that.” Her lip trembled but she was fighting hard to keep her emotions in check.

“How did he get home?” said Battler.

“He drove. He had his own car, a little silver Fiesta. The police found it parked on the edge of a cliff, which was why they thought he’d killed himself. I said they were wrong, Daniel was so happy, but they just looked at me like I was fooling myself. Someone made it look like he’d killed himself, didn’t they?”

“It’s a strong possibility,” replied Battler. “What happened to the car?”

“The police checked it over and found nothing, so they gave it back to us. We kept it for three years until it became apparent Daniel wasn’t coming back. I couldn’t stand having it hanging around, it reminded me that the police thought he’d committed suicide, so we sold it.”

“Who was the last person to see Daniel?”

“A neighbour who lived in the flat above his. He was looking out of the window and saw Daniel leaving for his evening walk just before seven. He was never seen again.”

Ryan knew exactly where Daniel had been headed, for his tryst with Chris Marsh.

“Didn’t the police think it strange Daniel was last seen walking and his car was found abandoned?”

“They should have done but they didn’t. They thought he must have returned without the neighbour seeing and gone out in his car. I mean, that’s impossible to prove, isn’t it?”

“Did he keep the car keys in the flat?”

“Yes and he went out walking with the house keys in his pocket so whoever hurt him would have taken his house keys, so they could have got his car keys…” She buried her face in her hands. “Sorry, I’ve gone over this so many times.”

“And I apologise for making you do it again.”

She sat up straight, once more composed. “And I’ll do it a hundred times over if it gets him justice.”

“Did he ever complain to you about anyone watching him? Did he have any enemies?”

“No to both questions but he wouldn’t have told me if he had. He didn’t like to worry me or my husband. His dad has always had a weak heart and he didn’t like to tell us anything slightly unpleasant. I know what you’re thinking,” she said quickly when Battler glanced at Ryan. “Daniel wouldn’t have told us if he’d been depressed but he wasn’t, he was making plans for his future. He wanted to go back to college and retrain. He wanted to be a personal trainer, he loved his sports.”

“What sports was he interested in?” chimed in Ryan.

Mrs Tebbs looked at him with surprise, as though she’d forgotten he was there. “Everything. Football, badminton, cricket, swimming, jogging. Kickboxing too.”

“Any other hobbies?”

“No. Sports were his life.”

“Was he working?”

“He worked part time as a ranger on Dartmoor. He enjoyed the fresh air and exercise.”

“Did he ever have any problems when he was working up there with the tourists or other members of staff?”

“No, he said everyone was really friendly. He also worked some evenings in a pub in Teignmouth. He liked that too, he was so sociable and outgoing.” She bent her head and wiped away her tears.

“Is there anything else you can think of,” said Battler, “anything at all that might help?”

“Well, there was just one thing…”

Ryan and Battler both leaned forwards in their seats in anticipation.

“After he disappeared I got the feeling I was being watched. So did my husband. When I was out shopping, even here at home it felt like someone was looking at me. It only lasted a few days then I didn’t notice it again.”

“Did you ever see anyone?” said Battler.

“No, neither did my husband, which made us think we were imagining things,” she breathed before tears choked the words from her throat.

Ryan thought it was like watching a porcelain doll slowly cracking. Soon she was going to give way completely and he didn’t want to be there when it happened. Battler must have sensed this too because he wrapped things up.

“Thank you for your time Mrs Tebbs, you’ve given us a lot to be going on with.” He removed a card from his inner jacket pocket and placed it on the arm of her chair. “You can contact me any time and I’ll keep you up to date with our progress. Once again, I’m sorry for your loss.”

Mrs Tebbs nodded, the tears already rolling down her face. Ryan and Battler quietly let themselves out, leaving her alone with her grief.

“Poor woman,” said Ryan once they were outside. “Maybe not knowing was better. At least that way she had a little bit of hope.”

“Maybe.”

“What she said tallies with what Chris said. Daniel left his house just before seven to meet with him.”

Battler nodded his big bull’s head. “Me and Bruiser went through Luke’s stuff Tracey had in storage. There was nothing there that could tell us anything.”

“Damn, I’d hoped there would be.”

“There was one thing I did notice during our little chat with Mrs Tebbs.”

“What was that?”

“Daniel worked part time as a ranger on Dartmoor and Luke enjoyed taking walks there. It’s the first real link I’ve found between any of the victims.”

“Dartmoor National Park is a huge space, full of quiet, isolated spots, the perfect place to take someone to shoot them.”

“Just what I was thinking,” said Battler. “What will that lad’s poor mum think if she hears that?”

“I’m seeing an entirely new side to you Battler, a shockingly sensitive one.”

“Don’t fucking tell anyone,” he growled. He was distracted by his phone ringing. “Slow down, you’re going too fast, I can’t tell what you’re saying. Yes, uh huh, okay. I’ll be there soon.”

He hung up and looked to Ryan. “That was Bruiser.”

“That person who was talking too fast on the phone was Bruiser?” he said incredulously.

“I know, it’s a first. He’s got something really important to tell me.”

Ryan went cold. “Good or bad?”

“Good. He said it was the best news ever.”

“That’s a relief. Well I’ll let you get back to him then. Let me know if it’s anything you need any back-up with.”