The Major Crimes Team - Vol 1: Lines of Enquiry (2 page)

‘I know Jimmy Watson was one of your boys and I’m sure you’ll want to do everything you can to make sure his killer is brought to justice.’ Evans jabbed a finger onto the table. ‘Legal justice.’

‘Of course we do. We’re deeply saddened by his early passing.’

‘Right then. Who do you know who may have a grudge against him?’

Maureen took a drink of her wine and made a pretence of considering the question, but Evans knew she’d have drawn up her list of suspects within seconds of hearing of Watson’s death.

‘Peter Nicholson was never a friend of his. He could have had something to do with it.’

‘Really? And what makes you think the leader of a rival gang would have anything to do with one of your boys being murdered? I’m not falling for that one Maureen.’

A shrug. ‘Worth a try. That prick’s been making a nuisance of himself lately.’

‘Cut the bullshit. Tell me who you really think is behind it or I’ll whistle up a couple of vans and take you and your brothers down the station.’

‘On what basis?’

‘Let’s just say I suspect you or your brothers killed him because he was stealing from you. If I was to follow that line of enquiry, I’d have to have a team examine all your finances looking for where the money went missing from. Understand?’

Maureen’s face took on an indifferent look as she tried to bluff Evans. ‘We both know that such an investigation would be a waste of time and resources. Our accounts are above board and Jimmy wasn’t stealing from us. Tell me Harry, how would DCI Grantham and the rest of your superiors feel about another one of your hunches failing to pan out? You’ll soon be at the end of your thirty years of service. What then, a support role or do you think they’ll keep you on to make mistake after mistake?’

‘I don’t make enough mistakes for them to boot my arse out onto the street. If we take you in and go through your accounts I’m sure we’ll find something to hang you on.’

‘Go on then, make the call. We’ll come quietly.’ Maureen held out her arms with her wrists together. ‘I warn you though. Pursuing us when you should be after a killer won’t help you. My sources tell me you’re already on a sticky wicket. Wasting all that time and money on us will only cover it in glue.’

‘Yeah but if we find something, the credit I’ll get for bringing you down will make me untouchable.’

‘Roll the dice Harry. I’m game if you are.’

The confident way her eyes never left his was un-nerving. She was calling his bluff big time. And that’s all it was from him, a bluff. He didn’t for one minute think the Leighton’s accounts would show anything other than what they were supposed to show.

Lauren came to his rescue. ‘Say we do bring you in and it turns out to be the waste of time you suggest. Do you think your business will be unscathed in the time we’re looking into it and you? It’s no secret Peter Nicholson is desperate to get his hands on some of your territory. I’m sure he’ll jump at the chance and you’ve no idea how slow some of our accounting guys are. They could take weeks; months even, to go through everything of yours.’

Maureen’s eyes narrowed to slits as Lauren’s words hit their intended target. The Leightons had taken years to reach the pinnacle of organised crime in Cumbria and had seen off many pretenders to their throne along the way. Yet Maureen was more aware than most to the dangers of bleeding in shark-infested water.

Time spent dealing with Evans’ faux enquiry, would distract her attention from the day-to-day running of her many businesses. Something somewhere would slip and Peter Nicholson or another rival would pounce. They may be able to reclaim their lost asset but it would take time and money to do so.

‘Let’s all cut the bullshit. Jimmy wasn’t under threat from anyone. Perhaps a few folk who lived next to the houses he managed tenants for weren’t happy with him, but I can’t see them sticking a knife in his back.’ A hesitation as she weighed up the consequences of her next words. ‘You know Jimmy was a player right?’

Evans nodded. ‘So I’ve heard. But I thought he’d knocked it on the head after the last time Kate found out. Beats me how that ugly bugger was ever a player though.’

‘Women are interested in more than looks. Jimmy had a real charm about him when he wanted something.’ A wistful smiled crossed Maureen’s lips. ‘He didn’t stop, he just got better at covering his tracks. Kate taking the boys to her sisters gave him a real wake-up call. It took him weeks to sweet-talk her into coming back but he didn’t change his ways.’

‘So who’s he been sleeping with?’

‘He was seeing a lass from Kendal on a regular basis.’ Maureen looked at Dennis. ‘What’s her name?’

Concentration drifted across Dennis’s already bleary eyes as he trawled his memory for a name. ‘Susan something or other. He didn’t talk about her much, but I know he met her at the Crown.’

‘Does she live in the area?’ Lauren accompanied her question with a smile and a slight lean forward.’

Dennis’ eyes found her intended target and locked on. ‘Yeah, she’s got her own place in the town but I don’t know where.’

‘Was he seeing anyone else?’

‘Not on a regular basis, but he’d shag a working girl anytime he got a spare few quid his wife didn’t know about.’

‘I think that answers all your questions Harry.’ Maureen’s tone was pointed. ‘Unless you want to make a fool of yourself.’

‘You called my bluff and I folded. Don’t be the kind of bitch who milks it.’

‘A bitch. Me? Surely you’re thinking of someone else.’ Maureen’s laugh was natural and girlish despite her advancing years. ‘I hear your Janet’s in the family way. Congratulations.’

‘Thanks.’ Evans couldn’t keep the smile from his face. He’d never expected to become a father, but when Janet had told him she was pregnant he’d realised just how much he wanted a child.

*    *    *    *

Back in his beloved M3, Evans sped along London Road towards the M6 while Lauren put in a call to DS Neil Chisholm. The obese sergeant was a computer geek who could illicit all kinds of information from the internet which wasn’t held on the Police National Database.

Waiting until Lauren finished her call, Evans concentrated on getting to the motorway as quick as possible. It was getting too late to go knocking on doors. The later you disturbed the public, the less inclined they were too help you.

Thumbing the controls on the steering wheel he selected a number and put in a call to Will Cuthbertson the DI at Kendal.

‘Will, it’s the He-Man. I’m coming down your way and need to pick your brains.’

A disembodied voice popped out of the car’s speakers. ‘Al’right Harry, what do you need to know?’

‘You know the Crown on Junction Street? Owned by the Leightons?’

‘Aye. What about it?’

‘Do you know of a Susan who works there or is a regular or anything like that?’

A weary sigh came through the speakers before Cuthbertson answered. ‘Not that I can think of. There’s a Suzanne Thomas runs the Drake at Windermere but I don’t know of anyone called Susan who works at the Crown.’

‘No bother. Thanks any road.’

Evans hung up and corrected a slide as the BMW’s powerful rear-wheel drive pushed the back end of the car out as he sped round the roundabout.

‘What’s your thoughts on this guv?’

‘I think the answer is connected to his flies. Money is out the question. Big as he was, Watson wasn’t stupid enough to steal from them and he’s making plenty of money from them. His house showed as much.’

‘If you’re right about that, it puts the wife in the frame. Or one of the boys getting angry with him for hurting their mum for a second time.’

‘Possible. But which one of the four, and how would you prove it when the other three will provide alibis for them?’

‘Fair point. What about revenge?’

‘Doesn’t seem likely. If anyone had a grudge against him then it had to be someone brave enough to take on the Leightons as well. That hasn’t happened and you can be sure we just interrupted a council of war.’

Lauren pursed her lips. ‘If someone was making a play for the Leighton’s territory wouldn’t it be wise to take him out early?’

‘It would.’ Evans flashed a quick glance at her. ‘How many gangland murders have you heard of where the victim is stabbed in the back in his own kitchen?’

‘None, but by the same token, it could have been done that way to disguise the killer’s real target. By taking him out, the Leightons are either going to have to start looking after those tenants themselves, or find someone else to do it. I dunno about you, but I can’t think of anyone else in their gang who could fill his shoes.’

Lauren had made a fair point about the fact a rival may have disguised their intentions. Watson’s murder could be the beginning of a bloody turf war. With The Green Man as the headquarters of the Leighton Empire it was a logical target, but Evans doubted anyone would be brave enough to take on the Leighton’s there. Any direct attacks on them would be more likely to happen when they were divided. Killing Watson was a direct way to divide them as Tony or Dennis would have to step into Watson’s role until a suitable replacement was anointed.

Am I jumping at shadows here or should I put some kind of discreet surveillance in place? It’d be nice to see them taken down, but a turf war is bad news for everyone.

‘Say that is the case Lauren. Who would you point the finger at? Peter Nicholson isn’t yet strong enough to take them on in an open war and he’s the closest to the Leightons in terms of size and manpower.’

‘Who says it has to be someone local? What if it’s a firm from Newcastle, Glasgow or Manchester looking to expand their operations? The Leightons might be big cheeses around here, but they’re small fry in real terms.’

Evans shook his head. ‘If it was a firm from elsewhere we’d be investigating the murders or disappearances of the entire Leighton family. Big fish don’t nibble a little fish’s fins, they eat them whole.’

‘Oh.’ Lauren’s head dipped forward a little. ‘So that’s why you think sex is behind it.’

Evans said nothing. He was interested in seeing what Lauren’s thoughts were. When you got past the pretty face and blatant exhibitionism she had a sharp mind.

‘If you think it’s sex related why aren’t you speaking to the wife and the boys when they are still consumed with grief?’

‘You’ve got until we get to Kendal before you have to answer your own question.’

Evans powered past a lumbering wagon and rounded a corner at such a pace he could feel all four wheels begin to drift. Correcting the drift with a touch of over-steer, he buried his right foot to the floor and thundered towards the next bend, unheeding of the treacherous conditions.

‘I’ve got it.’ Lauren’s voice tinkled with confidence.

‘I’ll drop you at the clinic, they’ll give you some penicillin.’

‘Very funny. Shall I see if they’ve got a cure for male pattern baldness when I’m there?’ Lauren was used to Evans’ barbed jokes about her sex life and knew the best way to deal with him was to give as good as she took. ‘You don’t think it’s the wife or one of the boys, you think it’s the husband or boyfriend of whoever he was knocking off?’

‘Well done. I’ll phone your mother and tell her to put an extra tattie on your plate as reward for your excellent deduction.’

Evans pulled out to overtake a slow moving Mondeo as Lauren searched in her handbag. ‘You’re such a wit. Or at least half a…Jesus Christ guv.’ Evans managed to get the BMW back into the left hand lane before the oncoming van hit them but it was a close thing.

‘Want one?’ Evans lit a cigarette and powered his window down an inch. Drops of rain blown through the window by the turbulent air splattered the side of his face.

The near miss had been closer than he’d cared for. He knew Janet worried about his high-speed driving. Now she was pregnant she refused to travel with him unless he promised to stick to the speed limits and avoid taking unnecessary risks.

Lauren pulled her phone out and called Chisholm again. Listening with the mobile jammed between ear and shoulder she jotted a few lines into her notebook.

*    *    *    *

Chisholm had come through in spades for them. He’d managed to identify all the staff of The Crown by going through PAYE submissions. Finding no Susan listed as a Christian or middle name, he’d expanded his search to include family members of the full time staff.

The manageress had a married sister called Susan Galbraith. Checking her name against the Electoral Register he’d got her address and other details. She was the right age, her husband was a Sergeant Major in the Marines and she was the only Susan he’d found with a connection to The Crown.

Chisholm had also given Lauren the addresses of three other Susans who lived in Kendal but this seemed the most promising.

Evans parked on Greengate Lane and clambered out. Knocking on doors after ten o’clock on a Tuesday night in a respectable area would see them met with anger or fear for a family member’s health.

Looking along the street he saw most houses had their downstairs lights off. One or two had upstairs lights on where people would be reading or preparing for bed. The inhabitants of a street like this would all have work or school runs to cope with in the morning. Suburban life had its own timescales and Greengate Lane was the kind of place where every occupant would contribute to society.