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Chalkie’s syndicate had a new murder to solve, which for Thurstan was a bonus, otherwise he’d be sorely tempted to unburden himself and that wouldn’t be a good idea in the long run.
With coffee in a mug declaring him ‘the world’s greatest defective’, bought for his birthday by the woman he loved, he ambled into the quiet room for ‘morning prayers’, the daily meeting they would hold to update each other on the current status of enquiries.
This morning brought the good news that Crime Stoppers had supplied some anonymous information in relation to Don’s murder and the Lancs County intel system had provided some interesting details regarding a stop/search of known criminals, near to the scene, by one of their officers.
Thurstan read through the report Degsy handed him.
Jamie Pennyborough was known to his mates as ‘Jay’. His grandfather had been a US airman who’d decided he liked Britain more than his home town.
Jay and his companion had been checked out by a lone patrol three miles from the scene after having been spotted mooching around the area in the previous days. When the officer pulled them over, they’d been coming from the direction of the cottage, late at night on the narrow, worn-out country roads.
There’d been some thefts from local farms and at least two burglaries in the general area in the past months so it would have been foolish not to. He searched them and the vehicle but found nothing of particular interest.
Jay’s passenger was a Frankie Ellis and both had previous for serious violence. The officer had provided good descriptions of the two and the DCI thought it a job well done in the circumstances. They’d need to chase that one up, speak to Lancs County, see if they could locate the pair of them and have them in for questioning.
The Crime Stoppers input raised more enquiries. The informant had claimed, quite simply, that the murderer worked in the Northwest for a haulage firm or had the ability to travel extensively in the region. Degsy delegated the inquiries to Gandalph, after receiving a nod from his DCI.
As they dispersed at the end of the meeting, Thurstan collared his tech-savvy DC. “Stephen. Have you got a few moments spare?”
“Yes, Boss. No probs,” he replied.
Thurstan smiled. “We need to go for a walk. Albert Dock?”
Gandalph smirked. The day had just got so much more interesting.