Hail and Farewell (The Lakeland Murders) (11 page)

‘And this bloke didn’t have a go at your dad because of you? Because you’re in the job, like?’

‘Maybe, but more likely he knew that we’re related to the Gambles. That would definitely have put him off.’

‘So should we expect trouble from Tony? I do like a bit of aggro in the morning.’

‘No, I doubt it. He knows how this works. He’ll say as little as he possibly can, and hope we leave him alone after. We’ll be at his girlfriend’s in five minutes, and he’s not what you’d call an early riser, isn’t Tony.’

‘And they say that crime doesn’t pay.’

‘Actually, I don’t think it pays him that well, truth be told. Jack Moffett’s little empire has been on the slide for years, and that means less and less work for the likes of my brother-in-law. I know that he used to be a collector for Moffett’s loan sharking operation, but George Hayton took that business away months ago.’

‘What, undercut Moffett’s rates, did he?’

‘Christ, no. He had a couple of Moffett’s collectors’ legs broken in Harrington, and the rest got the message. I think Hayton charges what he likes now. But they’re all blood-suckers, aren’t they?’

‘True enough. So will it make any difference, locally? If Hayton does get Moffett out of the picture, like?’

‘Honestly? I doubt it. If anything it’ll make things worse, because Hayton is more violent and more vicious than Moffett. That’s why he’s taking over, after all. Because he can.’

But Tony Gambles wasn’t at his girlfriend’s place. Nor was he at his mum’s, the bookies, the cafe he usually hung about it, or the club. Everyone Iredale asked said that they didn’t know where he was, and said the same thing when Ian Mann asked if they were sure.

‘Sorry about this, marrer’ said Iredale.

‘Not your fault. You’re not your brother’s keeper, are you?’

‘Brother-in-law, if you don’t mind.’

Jane had phoned Mann twice for updates before they eventually found Tony Gambles. He was labouring for Mike, and they were still at the same house that Iredale had visited. Keith cursed himself for not thinking of the possibility before. It was just that he didn’t expect Gambles to be actually grafting.

‘What’s this about then, Keith?’ said Tony, when they were standing in front of the house and Mike had gone back inside.

‘We need you to come to the station’ said Mann. ‘We can talk about it then.’

‘Can’t you give us a clue, like?’

‘No’ said Mann. ‘Don’t piss us about. It’s taken bloody ages to find you.’

‘Aye, well’ said Gambles. ‘I’m still signing on, see.’

‘We expected no less, Tony’ said Iredale. ‘But fortunately that’s not our concern.’

When they got back to the station Iredale left Gambles with the desk sergeant, and went back out to where Mann was waiting in the car.

‘I hope we can find Hayton a bit quicker’ said Mann.

‘Me too. But I’ve an idea where he’ll be.’

‘Oh, aye? Got a CI tucked away have you, DC Iredale?’

‘One or two. But this tip is from my dad. He texted me when I was inside just now. Hayton has been in Maryport this morning, so I’ve got a good idea where he’ll be in a bit. The chipper, down by the harbour. I’ve seen him in there once or twice.’

‘Let’s go. We can kill two birds with one stone, like.’

‘You don’t look like much of a fish and chips man, marrer.’

‘Everything in moderation. I have been known to partake, and we didn’t get any breakfast this morning. Jane seems to be fuelled mainly by bloody righteous enthusiasm at the moment, but I need the full English to get me going.’

It was turning into a warm, sunny spring day, and it was still all of those things when Jane called again. Keith smiled at the half of the conversation that he could hear.

‘We’re on our way to Maryport, Jane. Keith’s had a tip that he’s there. Oh aye, reliable. We’re going to pick him up at the chipper down by the harbour. Aye, that’s right. No, how would I know if the fish is fresh? Of course we’re not just going there for the fish and chips. What’s that? Aye, it’s making me hungry too. But my belly will be full in a bit, won’t it?’

Iredale parked the car opposite the chip shop, and the two men went in and ordered. They sat on a bench and ate in silence.

‘My compliments to the chef’ said Mann when he’d finished, and that didn’t take long. ‘That fish was bloody fantastic.’

‘So it should be. It was only landed about a hundred yards down there last night, so it couldn’t be fresher.’

‘Where’s this lad at then, Keith?’ said Mann, when he’d put both of their wrappers in the bin. ‘Why don’t you call your old man for an update?’

Iredale smiled.

‘We’ll be all right. He’ll be along in a bit.’

And for the first time that day DC Iredale was right, because ten minutes later an old, blacked-out BMW pulled up, and Hayton got out.

‘We’re on’ said Iredale. ‘Hey, Matt, we need a word.’

Hayton took one look at Iredale and turned, and sprinted back towards the town.

‘Shit’ said Mann, as he watched Iredale take off in pursuit. He started to run too, but soon settled into a jog. Those chips were lying heavy in his stomach. Iredale was gaining on Hayton anyway, and as they all set off up Senhouse Street Mann could see that Hayton wouldn’t get much further. He was interested to see how well Iredale would deal with the situation.

Hayton was barely running now, and Iredale had no trouble catching him.

‘Stop pissing about, Matt’ he said, as he reached Hayton, who was bent double and breathing hard. Mann was about to shout a warning, but it was too late, and Hayton’s rapid punch caught Iredale flush on the jaw. This time Mann didn’t feel the weight the food in his stomach and he kicked on hard. Hayton turned when he saw the big man approaching, and lashed out with his right hand. Mann caught it with ease, and twisted the arm straight up Hayton’s back. A couple of old men who were coming out of the workingman’s club applauded and shouted something to Mann. He grinned back, and had Hayton cuffed by the time Iredale arrived.

‘You nick him, son’ said Mann. ‘He’s your collar.’

Jane Francis strolled up into the town to buy a sandwich while she waited for Mann to return. She followed a young woman who was holding the hand of a small boy. Jane guessed that he was about three, and he was having to run to keep up with his mum’s brisk pace. They were probably late for nursery, or a childminder, Jane thought. The two weren’t talking, but occasionally the boy did a little jump into the air, just for the sheer joy of it. It brought a lump to Jane’s throat. She put it down to low blood sugar, and overtook the pair. Mann would be back at the nick any time anyway now, she thought.

Tony Gambles was reading a copy of the News & Star that the custody sergeant had given him, and a half drunk cup of tea was on the table. He seemed completely relaxed when Jane and Mann walked in to the room, and although he glanced up he kept on reading. Mann grabbed the paper before he sat down, introduced himself and Jane, and started the recorder.

‘What’s this all about then? I’ve been here for bloody ages. I’ve got stuff to do, you know.’

‘If you’d leave the questions to us’ said Jane, ‘then you’ll be away all the sooner.’

‘Aye, all right, then. Is it my phone number you want then, love? It would have been much simpler just to ask, like.’

‘Last Friday evening. Where were you? From 5pm onwards.’

‘Let’s see. Was it the casino, or was it the yacht?’

Ian Mann leaned across the table, but only a little way.

‘Listen, we’ve been doing this a long time, so we’ve heard them all before, and we don’t need this pissing about. We get that you’re not intimidated, and that you don’t take this seriously, but we do. A young lad has died, there’s a funeral in a couple of days, and we want to give his family some answers. That’s all we’re trying to do. Do you want to help us with that, or not?’

‘So that’s what this is about? I didn’t have nothing to do with all that, honest.’

‘Where were you, from 5pm last Friday onwards?’ Jane repeated.

‘Let’s see. Round at my girlfriend’s for tea. Then I watched the game start on the Cloffocks, but I didn’t join in. I went up town for a few drinks.’

‘Where did you go?’

‘The club, same as usual.’

‘Who did you meet?’

‘A few of the lads. They’ve got CCTV in there, and I’ll be on it. You can check if you want.’

‘We will. Then what?’

‘I don’t remember much after after nine or ten. I’d had a few by then, like.’

‘So did you stay there ’til closing time? Go and do something else? What?’

‘I don’t remember, honest. But I expect you could track me on CCTV. Or maybe from my mobile phone, or something.’

‘What were you wearing on Friday night?’

‘I couldn’t tell you, love, not exactly. But it’ll have been smart, like. Trust me on that.’

Jane opened the folder that she’d laid on the table in front of her when she’d come in.

‘I’m showing Mr. Gambles exhibit AT19 to 24 inclusive.’ She laid them out on the table, one at a time. ‘Do you recognise the man in these photographs?’

Gambles looked at each of the pictures in turn, then looked up at Jane and Mann. He was trying to look surprised, but it wasn’t working.

‘Is that me? In the game on Friday night, like? Now that is a surprise.’

‘So you’re saying that you have no memory of taking part in the game?’

Gambles sat back.

‘Now you come to mention it, aye, it’s coming back to me. I did join in for a bit, but I was too far gone to do much, and then something happened, and it all stopped.’

‘Why do you think the game stopped?’

‘It must have been when that young lad was found in the beck. Aye, that’ll be it all right.’

‘Did you kill Chris Brown that night?’

‘No, of course not. Who’s saying I did?’

‘Did you see Chris Brown, at any point?’

‘No. Not as far as I remember, anyway.’

‘So you can’t help us in any way?’

‘That’s right. Now, can I get off? I’m supposed to be working with my brother today. Unpaid, like’ he added quickly, ‘just in case you tell the Social.’

Ian Mann leaned forward.

‘We’re not interested in your bogus benefit claims, Tony. What we want to know is this. Why is it that no-one who was in the scrum on Friday night mentioned that you were in there too? We only found you by careful, frame-by-frame analysis of a video that was taken in the minutes leading up to Chris Brown’s death. Otherwise you’d have been the invisible man.’

Gambles frowned. He took his time before answering, and he didn’t make eye contact with either of the cops. He knew that they’d be staring him out, just like they all did. They looked like robots when they did that. Not scary, not any more, just weird. Then he smiled, and looked up at Mann.

‘I’ve got it. Doing your bloody job for you, I am. It was because I was only in the scrum for a minute or two, like. They probably didn’t even notice me. Like I said, I’d had a few, so I would have been in no fit state to do much. Aye, that explains it. Must do, like.’

‘There is another explanation though, isn’t there?’

‘Oh aye, what’s that then?’

‘That you, or some of your friends, have let it be known that you didn’t want to be identified as having taken part in the game that night.’

‘Why would that be?’

‘Because you’ve got something to hide.’

‘Me? Never. Like I said, I had nowt to do with that kid’s death.’

‘Just one other thing’ said Jane. ‘After we’re finished here would you mind if we collected the clothes that you were wearing on Friday night?’

‘Oh, aye’, Gambles answered without hesitation. ‘Help yourself, love, if that’s what gets you going, like.’

Mann arranged for the search team that Jane had put on stand-by to recover the items of clothing that Gambles was wearing in the video, and where it wasn’t possible to identify them exactly to take anything that answered the general description. Then they went back up to the CID office, which was much more hushed than Jane expected. The news that they were about to talk to the DI and the DS had obviously got round.

‘We need to clarify your statements’ said Jane, when she and Mann were sitting across from Smith and Hodgson. ‘And since they’re almost the same, word-for-word, we thought we might as well do this with the two of you together. You have no objection, I take it?’

Smith shook his head, and Hodgson just looked levelly back at her.

‘What do you want to know?’ said Smith.

‘I wanted to ask you both if you saw anyone else in or around the scrum in the period between 10.30pm and 11pm last Friday?’

‘We never claimed the list was exhaustive.’

‘Yet exactly the same names are on both of your lists.’

‘There was no collusion, if that’s what you’re getting at’ said Smith. ‘I guess we’re both just good at the job. That’s all.’

‘Aye’ echoed Hodgson, ‘that’s all.’

‘New information has come to light which proves that there were additional persons present in the scrum, in the timeframe that I’ve just mentioned.’

‘As I said, I never said that my list was exhaustive. Did you, DS Hodgson?’

‘No, boss. I didn’t say that.’

‘So do you have any other questions for us?’ asked Smith. ‘As things stand I don’t wish to amend my statement. Do you, DS Hodgson?’

‘No, sir.’

‘OK then,’ said Smith. ‘So unless you want to share these names with us I’d suggest that we all get on with our duties.’

‘Certainly, sir, I can share the names. In confidence, of course.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Merely that this is information that we will not be making public at this time. The two men were Tony Gambles and Matt Hayton. Would you recognise them both, or would you like to see their pictures?’

‘No, we both know both of those two jokers.’

‘I wouldn’t describe Matt Hayton as a joker, DI Smith.’

For the first time Smith looked annoyed.

‘It was just a figure of speech, for Christ’s sake. Don’t you think I know what he’s like?’