Riddled on the Sands (The Lakeland Murders) (25 page)

Jane had always hated that kind of emotional, old copper’s response. She knew it was the product of prejudice more than evidence, but she also knew better than to say so. Because Andy Hall trusted his instincts too, even when he probably shouldn’t. And she was pretty sure that he was proud of it, even if he shouldn’t be.

After the evening team meeting Ian Mann made a bee-line for Hall’s office, and shut the door behind him. And it stayed shut. That was unusual, because Hall’s usual MO was to try to share information as widely and as quickly as possible. She was starting to feel annoyed again, but not with Andy particularly. It was Ray Dixon who seemed to have bought Skelton’ sob story, and she was glad that Andy had tasked her with leading the deep background checks on him. It was, she knew, Andy’s way of saying that he trusted her instincts too, and of giving her a chance to discover if Skelton was involved. So Jane did what she always did in these situations. She made a task list, and she started to work her way through it. She wouldn’t have any answers tonight, but at least she’d have asked quite a few of the right questions.

‘Well done finding that knife, Ian’ Hall said. ‘You think it’s the one?’

‘Unless there’s another murder victim going cold somewhere else in the village, then yes.’

‘And we’re sure it matches the ones in Capstick’s house?’

‘Well, they’re a mixture of brands, ages and qualities, but it’s well worn and very sharp, just like the rest of the ones in his house.’

‘So the killer either came in intending to use one of Capstick’s knives, and knew where they were, or he just improvised when he was in the house. And since we know that Capstick was comatose when whoever it was came in it looks likely to be the former.’

‘Aye, that seems likely. So we’re saying it was someone who knew him?’

‘Yes, for sure we are. And since we also need to think about what your mate Jimmy Rae had to say today we need to think about those Coastguards too. We know they didn’t stab Capstick, if Rae is telling the truth, but that doesn’t mean to say that he’s not right. One of them could be the contact, even if they didn’t stab Capstick. How many were on the list of his KAs?’

‘Two, and they’ve both been interviewed. Neither rang any alarm bells. They’d both known Capstick for years, saw him around all the time, weren’t especially close. And neither seemed nervous or evasive.’

‘OK, thanks. We’ve got to think how to incorporate them all into the investigation without having to explain too much in the reports. So what I’ll do is just slip a line into my daily summary for the Super that we’re talking to the other local Coastguards, just for background. I’ll pad it with a couple of other routine checks.’

‘So you want me to talk to all of them, including the two that have been covered already?’

‘Yes, tomorrow. Do any of them live in Flookburgh?’

‘Aye, two of them, and as you’d expect they’re the same two we’ve already spoken to.’

‘But the others are all reasonably local?’

‘Aye, within a few miles. Chances are they all knew Capstick as well, and they’d certainly know their way round the village. No doubt about that.’

‘And the Bay? As well as him, I mean?’

‘I see where you’re going with this, Andy. If one of the Coastguards is in on this, and he knows the Bay as well as Capstick did, then why involve him at all?’

‘Precisely. So how well do they all know the Bay, when the tide’s out rather than in?’

‘Good idea, but I’m not sure it’ll take us far. I’m guessing here, but I’d say that only the active fishermen really know their way around properly, especially at night. I dare say that the Coastguard lads could get off the Bay if they had to, but at night, in a hurry, the likes of Pete Capstick would be your best bet.’

Hall thought for a moment. ‘OK, here’s how we play it. Tomorrow you talk to all of them. How well did they know Capstick, when did they last see him, how well do they know the Bay? You know the stuff. I suppose none of them has cropped up on our intelligence reports?’

‘No, and none have any previous either. I guess that’s only to be expected.’

‘OK, so just push that a little bit further, and check any close family, but just with intelligence. I don’t want the Super asking why we’re doing records checks on the families of folks who aren’t even suspects. So use your charm, and keep it as quiet as you can.’

‘And what happens if one of them catches our eye? Maybe more than one?’

‘I’ve been thinking about that. Realistically, we’re going to have to do what we can on our own. I believe that your pal has gone out on a limb here, so we can’t expose the fact that we’ve even got the information that we have. So we need to keep it unofficial, where we can.’

‘Can’t we just invent an informant, put it down to them?’

‘Those days are gone, mate, and in any case it’s pretty obvious that Jimmy’s bosses have got a very clear idea about what we’re doing. If they saw us suddenly taking an interest in their suspects they’d soon twig where the information had come from. They must know that you and Jimmy were in the same mob. We have to believe Jimmy when he tells us that he’s acting without official approval.’

‘I can’t argue with that, Andy. But if we do keep it tight, just you and me, then how could we follow up any leads that we do get?’

‘Let’s cross that bridge if and when we come to it. It may be that none of those Coastguard lads are involved at all, remember.’

‘Aye.’

‘But to answer your question, if we do need to get anyone else involved in any informal investigation, then it’s got to be Jane and Ray. Agreed?’

‘Not Geoff Atkinson? I’d have thought he’d have been your go-to guy on this.’

‘Absolutely not, Ian.’

‘So you’ve got him down as a suspect then?’

‘No, not as such, but we have to proceed with the utmost caution here, and I can’t say with certainty that we’ve eliminated him from our enquiries. We know that he wasn’t involved in Bell’s disappearance, because he was in the pub until closing time, but he lives alone, just a few yards from Capstick’s house, and he was at home last night.’

‘Come on, mate. He was in the job for thirty years. Straight as a die, Geoff is. He was out searching the sands with me today, really getting stuck into it, too.’

‘I agree with you, Ian. My instinct tells me he had nothing to do with it. But someone in or around that village got Capstick involved in all this. I’m sure of it.’

‘Aye, and Mike Skelton has to be favourite. Like Jane says, he has the look about him.’

‘I don’t doubt it, and I agree he’s an infinitely better bet than Geoff Atkinson, so let’s see where Jane gets to with him. You know how thorough she is. She won’t miss anything. But all I’m saying is that there’s no way we can tell Geoff anything about Jimmy Rae, or his information, even if we eliminate Geoff as a person of interest once and for all. So let’s proceed as we agreed. You try to get round all of those Coastguards, and let’s meet up again tomorrow night, and see where we’ve got to.’

Sunday, 30th June

Hall had set the alarm for six, Sunday or not, and by quarter to seven he and Jane were in the office. They’d barely said a word over a hurried breakfast, still less in the car, and only a month or so before Hall would have wondered if something was up between them, and Jane would have been thinking much the same. But they were really getting to know each now, and they both knew that they’d been thinking about the case, and the day ahead, from the second that they’d opened their eyes on the new day. And that was OK with them both.

Jane was hoping that some of the emails she’d sent out the previous night about Skelton would have been replied to, but she knew it was unlikely. And, sure enough, her inbox was empty. She went and made tea for herself and Andy, then returned to her desk. The pile of emails from Perkins caught her eye, and she remembered that she’d planned to check the letter against the few that had been missed before. She frowned, checked her email again, then opened up her Perkins case folder.

Andy Hall’s morning was also progressing much as he’d expected. The initial PM results were in, and he read the repot carefully, but didn’t bother with the photographs. He didn’t need to look at those. Time of death was now put between one and three AM, and preliminary toxicology confirmed that Capstick had taken an overdose, probably sometime around midnight, and at least an hour before he died, judging from the concentration in his blood at the time of death. There were no signs that he’d put up any resistance when he was attacked, nor that he’d been forced to swallow any of the tablets.

Hall opened the SOCO report and checked that only Capstick’s prints were on the bottle of pills, and on the glass of water, half drunk, that they’d found in the kitchen. They were, and that was no surprise. Hall wrote ‘no note?’ on his pad, and then thought about it. Did that seem odd? Statistically yes, it did, and the more he thought about it the stranger it seemed. Because Hall knew that Capstick had called Ray Dixon, very possibly to own up to what he’d done or at least had been a witness to, so surely he’d have written a note? And if he had it was equally reasonable to assume that the killer had taken it.

Hall went back to the SOCO’s report. Capstick’s computer had been recovered, and he did have a printer. The analysis would take another day or so. But Capstick just seemed like a pen and paper man, so Hall looked at the stills of his living room, and especially the coffee table. Sure enough, there was a ball point pen there, it had rolled right to the edge, but nothing that looked like a writing pad, or even something that Capstick had leant on.

Hall looked at his watch. It was just after half seven, so he took a chance and made a call.

‘Tonto’ he said brightly, ‘good morning to you.’

‘How did you know I’d be up?’

‘You have a three month old child. You’re a modern man. I’m a detective. You put the pieces together.’

‘All right, clever clogs, what do you want?’

‘Were you at the Capstick locus yesterday?’

‘Yes. I popped in for a poke about. Why?’

‘Do you remember the coffee table in his living room?’

‘Yes. Wooden, pretty battered looking. Why?”

‘If he’d written a suicide note on it, with the ball-point that’s in the pictures, would you be able to find an impression?’

‘What kind of paper? How many sheets?’

‘Printer paper, maybe just one sheet. Maybe more. I don’t know, I’m not a bloody psychic.’

‘I don’t know so much. You guessed where that knife would be. That was pretty impressive, even Sandy thought so. No need to ask what superpower you’d ask for if you cam back as a
bona-fide
superhero.’

‘It wouldn’t be second-sight, Tonto.’

‘Really? I’d have thought it’d do wonders for your detection rate. Act as a bit of deterrent too, I’ll be bound.’

‘Maybe, but it would take the fun out of the job. Now, riddle me this. If Capstick didn’t lean on anything too absorbent do you think you’ll be able to get anything off that table for me?’

‘Then it’s possible, likely even. But it would depend on the timber, its age and condition, and how hard he pushed of course. Lots of variables there, Andy. You want me to check it out anyway?’

‘Yes, please.’

‘And I assume you’re thinking of a time that starts with ‘n’ and ends in ‘w’?’

‘Now would be good, Tonto, if you can manage it.’

‘All right, Andy, seeing it’s you. I’ll get on it now. I’ll need some kit from HQ. We don’t just dust it things magic powder these days you know. But one question, why weren’t we asked to do this yesterday?’

‘Because the murder protocol was adopted then, but that’s not what this is, is it? It’s a murder and a suicide, and the suicide came before the murder, if you catch my drift.’

When he’d rung off Hall went back to the PM report, and kept switching between it and SOCO’s analysis. Capstick hadn’t consumed any alcohol, and from what Hall could gather he hadn’t been drinking especially heavily for very long before his death. The knife was definitely one of Capstick’s own, it was the murder weapon, and although a couple of samples had been sent off for DNA analysis Hall knew better than to get his hopes up. It would all be Capstick’s.

The wounds were exactly as Doc Beech had described them, too. Several were shallow and tentative, and all would have been survivable. But the last two weren’t, and one was the cause of death, or rather it did the job that little bit faster than the overdose. And SOCO confirmed that there was no sign of forced entry, and that Capstick’s keys were in his trouser pocket. There were absolutely no signs of theft. Two neighbours had looked round, and Geoff had as well, and seen nothing out of place.

Hall sat and tried to picture what had happened. He tried to get a film running in his head. He didn’t make any more notes, and his tea was almost cold by the time he started to drink it. He looked at the summary of the door-to-door inquiries, then turned to the one for Geoff Atkinson. He read it twice. Nothing had struck him as odd, and no-one else in the street had seen or heard anything. No vehicles, no nothing. That didn’t mean to say that there weren’t any, but it did make it more likely that the killer approached on foot.