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Day One
Thurstan accepted a little plate of biscuits and the steaming mug, settling down in his chair to methodically trawl through an inventory of items found or removed from the scene of Don’s murder.
Slowly finishing the last chocolate digestive, he suddenly stopped, put it down and wiped his hand on his trousers. He rummaged around on the desk, eventually finding the Lancashire Police’s stop check report, other papers cascading onto the floor.
‘Time, date, place. Subject: Pennyborough. Description: ... wearing small black stud earring. Officers report; I could see he had a piercing for another in his left ear so asked him where it was. He replied, “It must have fallen out. It’ll be in the car somewhere.”
He went back to the property list, items recovered from the scene. Victim, female: medium-sized red stud earring in each ear (total 2). More paper turned. Living room: between floorboards by door (see photo exhibit APF7) 1 x small black stud earring.
He picked up the phone and called Scientific Support. “Can I speak to the Boss? He’s out. Ok, Slim will do.” Slim said he’d look into it and call him back.
There’d been some sort of oversight, he said. They had new staff and one of them had thought the ‘loose’ earring was part of the female’s property so had passed it to the person who was accounting for that. They, in turn, had assumed they’d receive the matching earring shortly after. Then people had days off, someone went sick, there was the bank holiday. You know how it is. He did.
“Get it sent off for DNA profiling and have it fast-tracked, Slim,” he said. “Have them check it against a buck called Jamie Pennyborough. I’ll send someone up to you with the full details in a few minutes.”
Slim replied, “Who’s paying for the fast-tracking?”
Thurstan knew MIT would have to, but longed for the ‘old days’ when no one asked such questions and the job still got done.
A tap at the door. “Boss?” It was Gandalph. Waved to a chair, he handed his DCI a sheet of paper and sat down.
“That stop check Lancashire did, Boss. I think we should take a very close look at it. I mean, do it ourselves instead of leaving it to them. One of the bucks, Ellis, was found dead on a shitty little industrial estate. Shot in the head and definitely not suicide unless the weapon had its own legs.”
Thurstan looked up from the information on his desk. “Well, that’s a very interesting turn of events. I couldn’t agree more, Stephen. We need to take a look at that and liaise with their enquiry team.” He placed the sheet on the top of his in-tray. “Incidentally, I’ve just spoken to Slim and they’re going to run a profile for me on an earring found at the cottage. It matches the description of the one worn by Pennyborough on the night.”
He sat back in his chair deep in thought. He hadn’t expected things to escalate so quickly. His new relationship was like informant handling. Never be too keen to pay out the ‘reward’ and always be the one in control. Nicks needed Thurstan more than Thurstan needed him and as far as he was concerned he’d repaid the ‘debt’ he owed simply by not locking him up when he had the opportunity. Gandalph waited patiently and inspected his own shoe laces then gazed out of the window.
Eventually, the DCI spoke: “Don’t tell Nickson this. For now, we’ll keep it to ourselves.” He saw the awkward look on his DC’s face. “What?” he said, calmly. “You’ve told him something, haven’t you?”
Gandalph shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Well, he called me so I mentioned the stop check to him and the last call on Ellis’s mobile, the unregistered pay as you go number. But, Boss, he’s not going to be able to trace it. He could call it but what good would that do him?” He shrugged. “It was all I told him. I didn’t put any emphasis on it and I only did it to make him feel we were keeping to our end of the agreement. He doesn’t know we’ve got a landline number that’s been traced. I’d have told you before but I got sent out on a quick enquiry.”
Thurstan rubbed his hands over his eyes and cheeks. “Bugger.” A sigh, then: “It’s my fault. I should have spoken to you this morning. Never mind. It’s done. Anyway, I don’t think he’s likely to do anything rash on the strength of it. At least, I hope not.”