On A Dark Sea (The DCI Dani Bevan Detective Novels Book 2) (10 page)

Chapter Nineteen

‘S
he’s very beautiful,’ Dani said absent-mindedly, as they drove back towards Stavanger.

              ‘Kristin Riddell, you mean?’ Andy replied, keeping his eyes fixed on the winding road ahead. ‘If she gained about 10lbs, maybe. She’s too brittle to be beautiful. I prefer something soft to hold onto.’

              ‘Too much information, thanks,’ Dani said, with a smile on her lips. She thought about Carol Calder, who was every bit as pretty as Kristin but probably a couple of stone heavier. ‘Is she the kind of woman that men commit crimes for?’

              Andy shifted round to look at his boss. ‘Not this man, but I get your point. There might be plenty who would. Where are you going with this, Ma’am?’

              ‘I’m not sure, just thinking out loud, really.’

              ‘Kristin is obviously more tolerant of Charles’ working patterns. What Fiona found impossible to live with, she has accepted.’

              ‘It appears that way, although we can never know what’s really going on in a relationship. I can’t imagine anyone being happy in that house, stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Kristin and the baby must be there a great deal by themselves. It’s very isolated.’

              ‘That’s what many people crave,’ Andy added sagely. ‘But the Riddell’s peace has been shattered now. The idea that a person has been on their property, watching the family, able to take the baby from under their noses, whatever we might say to reassure them, it will have ruined everything.’

*

Dieter Karlsen was waiting for Bevan and Calder when they got back to the Bureau. ‘You’ve had a telephone message from Sergeant Boag,’ he informed them. ‘He wants you to call him as soon as possible.’

              Bevan glanced at her watch. ‘Is it to do with the Maisie Riddell case?’

              ‘He said not,’ Dieter replied. ‘Phil gave me an update. There are no further leads at his end.’

              Bevan nodded. ‘Okay then, I’ll ring him later.’

              ‘Did you get much out of Charles Riddell?’

              ‘I really don’t believe he’s being intimidated or blackmailed by anybody. The man is desperate to get his daughter back. I genuinely think he’d tell us if he was.’

              ‘I’ve put Magda onto the job of checking his phone records; at home and work. If he’s been in contact with an organisation that he shouldn’t have, we’ll soon find out.’

              Dani asked Andy to help Magda with this line of enquiry, telling him she needed to pop out for a while. Bevan ignored the suspicious look that Dieter shot her when she scooped up the keys to a squad car and marched out of the bureau.

              The DCI was headed into the older quarter of Stavanger, back to the office building of Skaldic Conglomerates. She had no appointment and no authority to question witnesses, so Dani simply hoped that the person she was here to see would be cooperative. Bevan showed her badge to the receptionist and was told to wait at a seating area in the lobby. Eventually, a dark-haired woman of a similar age to herself; dressed in a figure-hugging sweater and woollen skirt, stepped out of the lift. Dani knew immediately that this was Sofie Karlsen.

              Bevan stood up and put out her hand. ‘Mrs Karlsen. Thank you so much for giving up your time to speak with me.’

              The scientist managed a thin smile. ‘I’m on a break. Can we go out and buy a coffee somewhere?’

              ‘Of course.’

              Pleased to finally get the chance to see something of Stavanger itself, Dani allowed Sofie to lead her into a quaint little tea-shop that overlooked a market square of 18
th
Century buildings. They both ordered strong coffees and a plate of tiny pastries.

              ‘I’ve no right to ask you questions, I realise that. But we are in the middle of a missing persons inquiry – a young Scottish girl, just fourteen years old, hasn’t been seen for several days now. Her father works at Barents Oil. I think her disappearance may be connected to the attack on your boss, Aron Holm.’

              ‘She’s the same age as our son,’ Sofie said quietly, sipping the jet black liquid.

              ‘Then you’ll understand how distraught her parents are. The longer Maisie is away from home, the more it will seem as if she is just another teenage runaway. I believe there is more to it than that.’ Bevan watched the woman’s pretty face closely.

              ‘You mustn’t waste any more time on Aron’s case. It has nothing to do with your missing girl.’

              ‘I realise that the Criminal Investigation Service has decided it was a random attack, but the evidence just doesn’t fit that explanation. As soon as I read the details I knew it was planned – this man was targeted. He was attacked in an area without CCTV coverage and with a broken street light. You were dining in the restaurant that evening. Are you certain you saw nothing suspicious?’ Bevan leant forward, so that her arms were resting on the table and their hands were nearly touching.

              Sofie let out a tiny sigh. ‘Can I not persuade you to let the issue drop? If I tell you what I know, we will lose everything.’ The green of the woman’s eyes had begun to mist and swirl with tears.

              ‘I have no jurisdiction here in Norway. If you satisfy me that this case has nothing to do with my investigation, then my colleague and I will go back to Scotland. It will be none of our business.’

              Sofie breathed in a sob. ‘I have a friend. He works with me. His name is Jakob and I love him very much. Dieter and I have been experiencing problems for many years. He is hardly ever at home. I needed someone to care for me, to cherish me. I thought that Dieter knew about my friendship and never for one moment did I imagine that he would care.

              But it turned out he did. Dieter was watching us. He’d been doing it for months. When the evening of our office party came around, he followed Jakob to the restaurant. My lover got a lift there with Aron, because he wanted to be able to have a drink. But I was going to drive him back home again, so we left out of the front exit, a little after our boss did.

              Dieter was waiting down that side alley. I think he’d been driven half-mad by his jealousy. The only way he could communicate with me by that stage was by seeing me as part of one of his precious cases – by observing me from an unmarked car on a dark street corner. When poor Aron came out of the restaurant door, because he was all wrapped up in winter clothes, Dieter thought it was Jakob. He vented all his anger and frustration through his fists, beating the man senseless. As soon as I heard what had happened I just knew it had been my husband who was responsible. Dieter told me everything, once he realised the terrible mistake he had made.’

              ‘Does anybody else know about this?’

              ‘I think Magda Hustad suspects it, but she would never say. She is devoted to Dieter.’ Tears as round as little glass ornaments were sliding down her face, reflecting back the lights of the café. ‘I never wanted our son to find out.’

              ‘Thank you for allowing me to have coffee with you. Please stay here whilst I pay. Take some time to compose yourself before returning to the office.’ Dani laid her hand briefly on top of Sofie’s, left a few notes on the counter top and stepped out into the street.

              Conflicting thoughts were bombarding the DCI as she strode back to the squad car. She sat in the front seat for several minutes, doing absolutely nothing. Then Dani jolted into action, taking the mobile phone out of her pocket and placing a call to Phil Boag’s desk at the Pitt Street Headquarters in Glasgow. Her Sergeant answered swiftly, launching into a diatribe she had to struggle to keep up with. What Bevan managed to pick out of the jumble of words, was that Phil had mentioned a name she’d not heard in a while. The sound of it now, in this distant town in a faraway land, sent shivers of fear and dread shooting down her spine.

              Richard Erskine. 

Chapter Twenty

B
evan was trying to adjust her mind to accommodate the sight of Bill and Joy Hutchison, sitting stiffly upright, on the sofa of her office in the Serious Crime Division of Police Scotland. She’d not seen the couple in several months and they looked entirely unchanged.

              Dani stood with Andy Calder by Phil’s desk, peering at their guests through the glass partition, like a group of gawping children outside the tiger enclosure at Glasgow Zoo. ‘So, Richard Erskine’s car was parked opposite the Hutchisons’ house all night and Bill thinks the man was in the front seat watching them.’

              ‘Bill noted down the registration number. When I had a spare moment, I ran it through the system. The car was registered to Erskine at his Inverness address,’ Phil clarified.

              ‘Why is Richard Erskine interested in the Hutchisons?’ Andy looked utterly incredulous.

              ‘That’s what I intend to find out.’ Dani paced across the floor. Taking a deep breath, she walked purposefully into the office.

              Bill leapt to his feet. ‘Detective Chief Inspector! How lovely to see you. Did you enjoy your trip to Norway?’

              Dani was immediately wrong-footed, certain that Phil would never have disclosed where she and Andy had been for the last few days. She simply ignored the comment and ploughed on, ‘yes, it is good to see you both. I just wish it was under different circumstances.’

              Bill looked sheepish. ‘I know you told me to leave the investigating to the authorities, but I just had this one lead. I thought if I could chase it up, I’d leave things at that.’

              Dani sat down in the seat opposite them. ‘So you visited this ‘Fisherman’s Bar’ in Aberdeen. Did you pick up anything useful while you were there?’

              ‘I met a few of Sinclair’s drinking pals. One of them, who referred to himself as Stewart, seemed to think that Sinclair was involved in illegal activities of some sort – I got the impression it was to do with buying and selling.’

              ‘I’ll give DI Lyons a call and run the information by him. His team may already be aware of all this.’

              Joy nudged Bill’s arm gently. ‘There was something else too, wasn’t there dear?’

              Bill was hesitant. ‘It was more of a
feeling
than a solid piece of evidence. I told Joy about it afterwards, because I’d left the place with a sense of uneasiness.’

              Dani nodded encouragingly, knowing that despite appearances, Bill’s instincts were finely-tuned.

              ‘There was a young girl working out in the kitchens. I only caught the vaguest glimpse of her, but when I did, the situation struck me as odd. She was very young, fifteen at the most, I’d say. Her colouring was so fair that you might even have thought she was albino. When I asked the manageress about the girl, her attitude immediately changed, in a way I couldn’t quite put my finger on - as if she were reassessing me, perhaps.’

              Dani sat back and considered this for a moment. ‘Did anyone see you enter the bar, or follow you to Aberdeen?’

              Bill shook his head. ‘The road was practically empty. Most cars were driving
out
of the city at that time on a Friday evening.’             

              ‘Okay. I’ll speak with DI Lyons first thing in the morning. You say that Erskine’s car hasn’t been back since?’

              ‘No,’ said Joy. ‘I think he knows we spotted him.’

              ‘I’ll get the Falkirk station to send a squad car down your road every couple of hours just in case, but I think you’re right. If it was Erskine in that car, he’ll not be back in a hurry. He’s a very clever man, not one to slip up twice.’

              Bill shuffled forward in the seat, lowering his voice unnecessarily. ‘What interest can Erskine have in us? How did the man discover I had my suspicions about him being responsible for Sinclair’s murder?’

              ‘I don’t know Bill, but Erskine isn’t superhuman. There must be some kind of logical reason why he’s turned his attention to you. But don’t worry, I’ll find out what it is.’

When Dani returned to her flat she was completely exhausted. After kicking off her shoes, she dropped her case in the hallway and left it there, padding straight into the kitchen-diner. Bevan had a series of messages on her answering machine, so she brewed a pot of tea and sat at the table to listen to them, gently massaging her foot as she did so.

              A couple were from her father in Colonsay. They described the fairly mundane routines of a fortnight’s worth of island life, which to Dani sounded utterly blissful. Another was from Sam Sharpe, her American boyfriend. He knew she was in the midst of a case and wouldn’t expect a reply. The final message was from Fiona Riddell. Her voice sounded oddly distant. She was ringing for an update on what they’d found out in Norway. Dani took a quick sip of tea and fished out her mobile phone, knowing that this was a call she’d certainly have to return.

*

Dani had met DI Lyons once at a function. She knew that he was mid-fifties and not far off retirement. He was also a perfectly pleasant man and had seemed dedicated to the job. When Dani had run through the information she’d gleaned from the Hutchisons, she gave the man a few moments to respond.

              ‘Well, you realise this is highly irregular, DCI Bevan - to have a civilian running around town, interfering in a live murder inquiry. We could easily have a court injunction slapped on the fella.’

              ‘Mr Hutchison has sworn to me that he will stop his investigations now. I don’t think that it will be necessary to take things any further.’

              Lyons grunted.

              ‘It is strange, don’t you think, that Erskine has been watching the Hutchisons’ house. If the man has got nothing to do with Sinclair’s murder, why is he so interested in Bill?’

              ‘Perhaps because Hutchison has been busily slandering his name the length and breadth of Scotland. In the eyes of the law, Erskine is an innocent man. He’s been tried and found not guilty of any crime, yet Bill Hutchison is trying to label him a serial killer.’

              ‘But how would Erskine know what Bill’s been saying? He’s only voiced his suspicions to the police.
I
certainly haven’t mentioned it to anybody outside the force.’

              ‘I hope you aren’t suggesting that one of my team has let the information leak, Detective Chief Inspector? I hear this Hutchison chap’s not quite the full ticket. If there’s been any loose talk, I bet it’s come from him.’

              Dani wondered who DI Lyons had been discussing the Hutchisons with. ‘Where are you at with the Sinclair case, Ian? Were you aware that your victim was a petty criminal who’s been operating around the Aberdeen area for decades?’

              ‘We know Sinclair was arrested a couple of times in connection with smuggling out of Aberdeen Harbour. This is our main line of inquiry at present. A couple of his ex-bosses can’t give us an alibi for the night the man was killed. It’s just a question now of trying to get the forensics to tie one of them into the scene. There was so much blood. It’ll just be a matter of time.’

              But the blood would have been all Sinclair’s, Dani thought to herself, remembering the Mackie Shaw case and how the man was attacked from behind, the blood from the severed arteries in his neck spurting out onto the wall of the shed. Unless they could find the assailant’s clothing, they wouldn’t be able to get a forensic match. ‘Erskine makes sure he takes a change of clothing with him. He knows that the scene is going to get messy. If you can find those clothes, or the place where they were disposed of, then you’ll have got your man, bang to rights.’

              There was silence on the line for several seconds. Dani wondered if the inspector was still there. ‘I’ll take that under advisement,’ he said finally.

              ‘Do you know much about what goes on at the Fisherman’s Bar? There have been a few raids in relation to smuggling and the fencing of stolen goods, but do you know of any connection to the employment of underage girls, possibly of eastern European origin?’

              ‘I’d have to get onto Vice and check it out with them.’

              ‘Be sure to do that for me would you, Inspector? And let me know what you find out by the end of play today.’