Witchmoor Edge (13 page)

"How far would you say you were behind
Hunter?"

"Not far."

"How long?"

Shields hesitated. "Just round the corner
from Knowles's place I nearly ran into him, so I pulled a bit
further back. I almost lost him in Baildon I was so far behind, but
I saw him from the crest of a hill. He turned towards East Morton.
At that point I'd say he was five or six minutes ahead of us, no
more."

Hampshire sighed. "That's another thing. If
you saw him drive there and you followed five minutes behind, there
was just five minutes for someone to kill him and that's not
long."

"I guess not," Shields admitted, "but that's
the way it was."

"You didn't see anyone?"

"I told you, one of the reasons we decided to
keep quiet was because we didn't see anyone or anything."

"Were the doors of the Porsche closed?"
Hampshire asked, again changing the subject slightly

Shields thought about it. "The doors were
closed I think, but the hood was up. That is, the front luggage
compartment lid was up."

"Interesting," Hammond observed. "I'd
forgotten a Porsche has a rear engine. Were there picnic things out
on the picnic table?"

Millicent thought that was a very good
question indeed, considering that the story Shirley Hunter had told
was looking increasingly untrue.

Shields hesitated. "I didn't really notice,"
he said slowly. "But I'd say not. I don't think there was any sign
of a picnic and I don't think there would have been time to set
things out, but I wasn't looking, you know"

"Was there any damage to the front of the
Porsche", Hampshire asked.

"Again I can't say I noticed. If there had
been anything much I'd have seen it, I think."

"Any sign of injury on Hunter?"

Shields shrugged. "You don't look that hard
when you're in a panic! When Leverett said he was dead we lit out
of there pretty quick."

"Did you see any other vehicle?" Tommy
Hammond asked.

Shields shook his head. "A couple of cars
passed me going the other way as I was driving out of Baildon.
There was nothing in the picnic area. Just after I pulled back onto
the road a red saloon pulled off the grass verge at the side of the
lane."

"Was it there when you arrived?" Millicent
asked.

"I don't think so," Shields responded, vague
as much of his statement on this occasion had been.

"What make was it?" Tommy asked.

Shields shook his head again. "It was just a
glance and I was driving. Try asking Leverett."

"Had you seen it before?" Tommy
persisted.

Shield shrugged but he looked worried. "There
are a lot of red cars," he said, "I don't reckon so. Ask
Leverett."

Hampshire thought abut the possible
implications, and where Shirley Hunter and Ellen Barnes could
possibly fit into a revised story. As Shields had remarked, there
are plenty of red cars and this was probably nothing to do with the
crime. Only probably, though. Hampshire decided to leave this
unresolved for the moment and turned to the question of Leverett's
wife.

She tried to sound casual as she asked a key
question. "What does Leverett's wife do for a living?"

Shields looked surprised at the question, but
in no way worried. "She's a doctor," he said. "I think she's
involved in that group of doctors on Bradford Road. In the Health
Centre there. Why?"

"Just wondered," Millicent said, thinking
that Shields and Leverett would certainly have had a route for
acquiring morphine and there was only Shields's word for it that
he'd overheard a conversation at all. On the other hand, if he was
telling the truth it sounded as if Hunter went to the picnic site
for an appointment with the murderer. Why had he gone to Knowles's
house though, and why had he been driving like a madman to get
there? That was a thought.

"When Hunter drove to Knowles, do I gather he
was driving differently from driving from his house?" she
asked.

"I'll say," Shields answered "I couldn't keep
up with him jumping lights and cutting corners. Later on he was
driving much better and more moderately. That's how come I nearly
smashed into him and had to drop back."

Millicent nodded, unsure of the significance.
The evidence certainly pointed to Shields being at the murder
scene, but his revised statement covered that. There was - so far
anyway - nothing else against him. She decided to let him go for
now.

"Detective Constable Hammond will transpose
this interview into a statement. After you've signed it you can
go," Hampshire said. She stood up. "But we may have more questions
for you later and we'll certainly want to talk to Mr Leverett," she
added and went out, leaving Hammond to it.

By the time Millicent had returned to the
incident suite Lucy Turner was there, just arrived back from
interviewing Gloria Cullen.

"Nothing helpful," Lucy said, in answer to
Millicent's enquiry about what she had learned from Ms. Cullen.
"She's about thirty, married with a husband who's as cycling mad as
she is."

"What does the O'Connor woman's alibi look
like?" Hampshire asked.

"Good as far as it goes, but not complete,"
Lucy said. "They were together from about eight thirty until around
one thirty."

"That would given her a maximum of half an
hour to get back to the picnic site, assuming Shields's story is
true the second time around."

"You caught him out telling porkies, did
you?"

Millicent told her the story.

"It's a bit thin but hard to disprove," Lucy
observed. "D'you believe him?"

"I don't actually believe any of them
completely," Millicent said. "I'll leave it as possible for the
moment and look for anything to prove or disprove it. I hope Bright
strikes lucky with neighbours. Someone must have seen them leave.
I'll have to talk to Knowles again and to Shirley Hunter, but it
would be nice to have something more than Shield's story for
leverage."

"I got the Cullen woman to sign a statement
before I left," Lucy said. "There's one thing not in the statement
I think you ought to be aware of."

"And what's that?"

"The Cullens have at least four bikes between
the two of them, maybe more. Rosie O'Connor could've used one of
their bikes."

Millicent thought about it. "Bikes are easier
to borrow than cars," she said. "The O'Connor woman said she used
her own and she probably did, at least she did if she's innocent.
If she used someone else's bike to cover her tracks we'd have the
very devil proving it."

At that moment Tony Gibbs returned, so Lucy
wandered off to type up her notes and enter Gloria Cullens
statement in the database.

Lucy stopped just behind PC Downing, who was
still entering notes from earlier.

"Bloody computer crashed, didn't it," Gail
Downing remarked. "I lost nearly an hour's work and all the IT
support technician did was switch the damn thing off and switch it
back on again. Smug git."

Lucy laughed. "Listen," she said. "Car was
speeding along the motorway. There were three passengers. An
electrician, a motor mechanic and an IT technician. Suddenly the
engine cut out. No warning: it just cut out dead and the car rolled
to a halt. The electrician said, 'The engine just cut out so it
must be electrical.' The mechanic said. 'It may be the belt driving
the overhead cam shaft.' The IT technician said, 'I can fix it, no
problem. Close all the windows and everybody get out of the car. So
they all got out. Then he said, now get back in again. They all got
back in again and he aid "Now see if it starts." The driver tried
the ignition and the car started OK."

Gail Downing laughed. "It's a bit too close
to the truth," she said.

Millicent was listening from across the room,
but she was addressing Tony Gibbs at the same time.

"So, what did you turn up about Doctor
Leverett, Tony?" Millicent asked. "Anything interesting?"

"Not really, no," he answered, pulling out
his notebook and consulting it. "Her name is Doctor Gwen Leverett.
She's part of the practice at the Health Centre on Bradford Road.
She's in her late thirties and fairly popular. She seems to have a
good reputation. She has cautiously dabbled in drug rehabilitation,
but it's all above board, as far as anyone knows."

"We now know she's Gary Leverett's wife,"
Millicent remarked, "Because Shields admitted that Mrs Leverett was
a GP at the Bradford Road Heath Centre. That's not proof of
anything, though."

"Nothing of note there, I'd say," Gibbs
agreed. "Do you want me to start going through her records?"

"Very time consuming to go through her
records and the hospital records and the very devil to provide
solid proof of anything. I think we'll leave that for a day or two
and see whether any alternative shows up first."

Gibbs looked relieved. "I wasn't looking
forward to the job," he admitted.

"Her involvement with drug rehabilitation
ties in with what Rosie O'Connor said," Millicent remarked. "OK,
she continued. Tommy and Tony, go pick up Leverett, cross examine
him thoroughly, especially any discrepancies between his story and
Shields's. Get a full statement. Lucy!"

DS Turner looked up from the computer. "At
your service," she said.

"Go round and have another go at Barnes and
Dent. Firstly, Shirley's story looks thinner and that casts doubt
on Barnes's version of events. Second, several of the items on the
till slip are identical with items found at the picnic site. Read
the report from forensic and see if they change their story."

* * *

When everyone else had gone, Millicent let
Gail Downing and the civilian IT operator go and sat at her desk,
drumming her fingers and thinking. Finally she took out Tobias
N'Dibes card from her handbag, got up and crossed to the
computer.

At the computer she fed it
with her private password and clicked on the appropriate icon to
compose mail. She typed in ‘
[email protected]’
, gave the
subject as remote viewing and composed her message:

To:
[email protected]

Subject: Remote
Viewing

Message:

Hello,

I think I've reached a
position where there's something I really need to know. Give me a
call so we can discuss it.

Millicent

When the message had gone, Millicent looked
vacantly at the screen for a few moments, before she wiped off all
traces of her time online, and went back to her place with the
card, which she replaced in her handbag. She sat down at her desk
in her office again, and drummed her fingers absently on the
desk.

The phone rang and Millicent picked it up.
"Hampshire," she said.

"Tony Gibbs here," came his voice. "Leverett
is away today and doesn't come back until late tonight. It'll be
eleven thirty to midnight."

"Pick him up first thing in the morning,"
Millicent said. "Knock off now, it's getting late anyway."

"Tommy Hammond will be pleased about that. He
wants to eat out with some female."

"Tommy usually has impeccable taste in
ladies," Millicent remarked. "So she'll be a looker, whoever she
is. Take the night off while you can."

Millicent had no sooner put down the phone
than it rang again.

"Hampshire," she said.

"Good afternoon," N'Dibe's deep voice rumbled
politely. "Would the same restaurant at seven suit you?"

Millicent glanced at her watch. It was five
thirty and she wanted to pay Dr. Leverett a quick call. There
should be plenty of time for that before meeting Tobias.

"The time is fine," she said.

"Very good. I will see you there," N'Dibe
said and rang off.

Millicent looked around the empty incident
suite and yawned. She picked up her handbag and walked over to the
switchboard to make sure that calls for her were forwarded to her
mobile and all other calls routed to the main switchboard, then
headed for the car park.

She was walking out of the building when she
realised that N'Dibe had used her direct line. Last time it was her
mobile. Did he know every phone number she had?

* * *

Dr Leverett had just finished her evening
surgery when Millicent arrived. The receptionist was about to say
that she was too late, but a quick flash of her warrant and ID were
enough to change her mind.

"The doctor has had a long day," the woman
said defensively. "You shouldn't be bothering her now."

"I'm investigating a murder," Millicent said.
"And I've had a long day too - and I'm still working. I could ask
her to come into the station, but I thought I'd make life easier
for her."

"I really don't know ..."

"Look. Either you phone Doctor Leverett now
or I have her picked up for questioning."

If looks could kill, Millie would have
dropped dead, as the receptionist reluctantly picked up the phone.
"Doctor Leverett? There is a police woman asking for you. Shall I
let her through?"

Millicent snatched the phone and said
smoothly, "Doctor Leverett? This is Detective Inspector Hampshire
from Witchmoor Edge CID investigating the murder of Simon Hunter.
I'm sorry to bother you at work, but we may be able to save you a
lot of time this way."

She passed the phone back to the receptionist
and waited. The woman said, "Very well doctor," and hung up.

"The Doctor will see you now," she said
primly. "Second door on the left."

Doctor Gwen Leverett appeared rather severe:
her spectacle frames were too heavy and her hair was cut short. She
was rising forty and wore a white coat, hospital style and smiled
pleasantly at Millicent when she walked in.

"Sorry to bother you, Doctor Leverett,"
Millicent said. "I'll try and be as quick as I can, but I'm
investigating the murder of Simon Hunter."