Grief Encounters (36 page)
‘And she believed you?’ Dave said, incredulous, when I was back at Heckley and had placated Mr Wood. They’d all been wondering how I’d managed to inveigle my way into Heckley’s hedonist set and win the attention of a young woman like Teri, the inference being that she was too good-looking for me.
‘Of course she did. I’m a very plausible person.’
‘That you were called…what was it…Torl Storey?’
‘That’s right.’
‘She must be as dumb as a boat horse.’
‘Actually, she’s quite bright.’
‘So whose was the Jaguar?’ Brendan asked.
‘I borrowed it from the asset recovery boys. They’d confiscated it from a drugs dealer a fortnight before. I used their offices, too, but only the boss knew about that. He stayed over to let me in with Teri one evening, pretended to be the caretaker.’
‘A DCI working as a caretaker! He’d be out of his depth, there.’
‘So what’s happening with the others?’ I asked. ‘Are they singing?’
‘Like a choir of angels,’ Dave said.
‘With four-part harmonies,’ Brendan added.
‘That’s good to hear.’ I looked at my watch. ‘Anyone fancy a curry? I’m famished.’
Once we had them charged we could take samples and set the forensic boys and girls loose. Richard’s prints were on the glass and coffee mug that Miss Birchall supplied and traces of Teri’s DNA were found in the cars of both Colin Swainby and poor old Ted Goss. I’d destroyed the CD that Zed Boogey found by drawing a ball pen across it, after carefully checking it for prints and finding it clean. It didn’t matter: the tape from Boogey’s CCTV showed Teri going into his house and leaving about four hours later, with some blank tape in between. It was a guess that she’d disabled the alarm whilst in there and they’d spent some time uploading the images, but when I accused them of going in they’d taken the bait.
Gillian Birchall was banned from driving for three months, with a
£
200 fine. The normal ban is twelve months, so she was lucky. We’re hoping for decent jail sentences for the Famous Four, as Dave calls them, but they can afford good briefs and we’re not holding our breath. A search of their houses revealed two CDs of paedophilic images at the Wentbridges’ Flour Mill, labelled as if they were holiday snaps, and some more on his hard disk, but Tristan Foyle was too canny to keep anything like that. Unfortunately for him, Wentbridge has fingered him for downloading it originally and masterminding the whole game. They’ll almost certainly have to sign the sex offenders’ register, and the
Gazette
has their photos on file, which is about as much as we could hurt them. Traces of cocaine were found at both houses, but only enough to be regarded as for personal use.
The Foyles split up shortly after they were released on bail. She’s moved in with a nightclub owner who owns the major share in the boat they have at Cannes. It’s called
Amelia Rose
, after one of his daughters. Tristan has been converting some of his investments to cash, and we’ve learnt that he’s been making overtures to old friends in South Africa, but we have him covered. If he tries to flee the country his feet won’t touch the ground.
The Wentbridges are still together, at least as far as the outside world can see. His riverside apartments have been described in the press as their love-nest, and this has generated some
much-needed
interest in the unsold units. As my mother would have said: ‘It’s an ill wind…’
JKL Mackintosh made a full confession to killing Magdalena, making it sound as if she’d attacked him and he’d acted in self defence while in a state of panic. I’ve a funny feeling that the nasty old sod is going to get away with a suspended sentence and a severe telling off. Sometimes, I wonder why I bother. We even informed Teri that he was still alive so she could consider rape charges against him but she rejected the idea. She was probably advised that her own character might not stand up to severe scrutiny.
As always, the paperwork nearly swamped us. We daren’t throw anything away because it might be needed at the trials, but haven’t room to store everything. We’d solved two cases, but right now, right here and now, two more cases are trundling around the carousel of life, with my name, Charlie Priest, written on them.
I unpinned the drawing of Magdalena from the incident room wall and laid it on the table. This was the original, unexpurgated version, drawn all those years ago. I wondered about putting a dress on her but decided not to. What the heck, I thought, we’re all grown-ups, and he might appreciate a picture of her in all her raging glory. It wasn’t signed, and I hesitated. After a few seconds I scrawled
Torl
across the corner. He’d been a good friend, we’d had some fun, so it was fitting to commemorate him.
I rolled up the drawing and slid it into a cardboard tube that I’d already addressed to Len Atkins. I kissed it and dropped it into the
out
basket.
‘S’long, girl,’ I said. ‘I hope we’ve done you justice.’
There were two message notes on my desk when I went back upstairs. The first one said: ‘Ring Miss Rhodes, Bentley prison,’ and the second: ‘A Gillian Birchall wants you to give her a call. She says you have her number.’
Flipping typical, I thought. You spend half a lifetime looking for a good woman and then two come along together. I turned the two messages face down, shuffled them and laid them side by side on my desk. I placed an index finger on the left-hand one and started to recite: ‘Eenie…meenie… minie…mo…’
‘…the wheelings and dealings of the art world made the price-fixing of the big-business cartels seem like the trading kids did for bubblegum cards…even minor artists could be manoeuvred into positions of status and wealth by powerful dealers and critics.’
Ed McBain,
Heat
If you enjoyed
Grief Encounters
, read on to find out about the other books in the Charlie Priest series …
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Detective Inspector Charlie Priest believes in doing things by the book. It’s just that, in the heat of the chase, he sometimes turns over two pages at once. His unorthodox ways have held him at inspector level for a record-breaking length of time; however DI Priest does get results. When Charlie suspects a now-respected businessman, with a background of extortion and GBH, of involvement in international art fraud, he’s taking on an enemy with friends in high places. But Charlie can be persistent to the point of recklessness – and, once he’s realised that there’s a link to the lethal doctored heroin that’s striking down the local kids, no threat will stop him …
There’s nothing Detective Inspector Charlie Priest hates more than a case involving children. When Georgina, the
eight-year
-old daughter of local businessman Miles Dewhurst, goes missing, Charlie and his colleagues soon start to fear the worst. Charlie’s suspicions are focused on Dewhurst and, in a race against time to find Georgina, Charlie’s life is further complicated when it seems a killer is targeting clergymen. Three have died suddenly, and a picture of a Destroying Angel mushroom has been left beside the body of the latest victim. But why would a serial killer focus on men of the cloth?
Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is officially on sick leave, but this brief break from work comes to an abrupt end when Mrs Marina Norris’s chauffeur is found dead from unnatural causes – namely a blast to the head from a Kalashnikov. Meanwhile, big-time drug smugglers on the Hull–Rotterdam run demand his attention. His contact, Kevin, is a lowly cog in the great smuggling wheel, and easily hoodwinked into believing that Charlie’s line of business is similar to his own. But the real villains are not such pushovers, and when Charlie uncovers a connection with his previous enquiry he realises that he’s on very dangerous territory indeed.
When Dr Clive Jordan’s dazzling career is brought to an abrupt end by a bullet, his colleagues are devastated – especially the female ones. If the doctor hadn’t been as discreet as an undertaker’s cough, Detective Inspector Charlie Priest would suspect a jealous husband. But it’s not going to be that simple. Charlie knows for certain there’s a killer on the loose – and almost certainly a rapist as well. The chances of bagging either of them seem slim, but Charlie’s a lot tougher and smarter than his affable manner indicates, and that’s bad news for the villains on his patch.
Charlie Priest was a newly promoted sergeant on the Leeds force when he was called to the scene of a tragic fire, deliberately set. Now a DI in nearby Heckley, Charlie jumps at the chance to reopen the investigation when a message left by a suicide victim suggests a new lead. Meanwhile, Charlie’s under pressure to apprehend the burglars who’re playing a dangerous game with wealthy elderly couples. By a combination of luck, detective work and, Charlie would say, soaring flights of the investigative imagination, he is soon closing in on the perpetrators of both crimes. But a cornered villain can be dangerous for a copper who’ll take every kind of risk in the hunt for justice.
Super-salesman Tony Silkstone wreaks a terrible revenge when he comes home to discover his wife dead, apparently strangled by her lover after a sex game that went wrong. But Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is the investigating officer, and he cannot be convinced that this murder is as cut and dried as it seems. When a hitman comes to town, Charlie is more interested in identifying the proposed target than in arresting the hitman, a strategy that produces surprising results. And when links are found between Mrs Silkstone’s killer and the murder of a young girl in another part of the country, Charlie follows the trail only to discover that he is suddenly faced with difficult questions about his friends and his feelings towards them.
Laura Heeley was just an average mother of two, but at the age of thirty-eight her life was swiftly taken from her, stabbed in the back on the way home from bingo. Colinette Jones was a popular, attractive and intelligent student, but she has been strangled, her body dumped on the roadside. What is the connection between the two victims? Detective Inspector Charlie Priest must solve the mystery, though with no clear motive and police movements restricted by foot-and-mouth disease this proves an increasingly frustrating task. As the number of victims mounts, it becomes clear to Priest that this could be his biggest challenge yet …
DI Charlie Priest is wise-cracking his way through his daily routine, but it’s not long before the clouds roll in. Someone has been tampering with food tins in the local supermarket. A national scare ensues and if Charlie doesn’t act fast he could be dealing with a murder inquiry. As if that wasn’t enough, he learns that an organised dog-fighting ring has set up operations nearby. Charlie’s relationship with Rosie has reached a rocky patch too. When Charlie gets to the bottom of her change of heart he is somewhat concerned, and offers his help. But, as he’s about to learn, sometimes helping only makes things worse …
Joe Crozier, a businessman with a decidedly shady past, is enjoying an evening of being wined and dined. But after refusing to sell his nightclub, the Painted Pony, he is bound and gagged, and takes a silent and deadly dip into the nearby river. Meanwhile, DI Charlie Priest is called to the murder scene of the famous mountaineer Tony Krabbe, who has been attacked with his own ice axe. Charlie’s love-life then takes a turn for the worse. He is desperate to seek out the truth in the two murder cases, but can love and violent death ever make comfortable bedfellows … or will Charlie finally be pushed over the edge?
Is selling your employer’s confidential records enough to warrant a particularly sadistic murder? Acting DCI Charlie Priest asks himself when handed the file on a bizarre murder. Appearances deceive, and it transpires that the victim may have been chosen simply because of his physical appearance. And when another body turns up, Charlie begins to wonder if he himself is the catalyst that motivates the killer. Before long he is embroiled in much more than a hunt for a murderer – now it is personal.
DI Charlie Priest is on gardening leave – the neighbours have complained about his weeds – when the call comes. Ghislaine Curzon, girlfriend of one of the royal princes, is in Heckley to open the Curzon Centre, a new shopping mall and conference facility. But as she reveals the commemorative plaque it looks like someone has got to it first, defacing it with a single obscene word in foot-high red letters. The visiting dignitaries are aghast and the chief constable insists on Charlie investigating the case. When the mayor of Heckley and driving force behind the construction of the controversial new mall is found murdered, killed by a single shot to the head, the investigation takes a deadly turn. It’s going to take more than standard police procedure to crack this case.