Imposition (DI Gardener 5)

“Okay, I think we have enough to go on for now,” said Gardener, collecting his files.

“Can I go this time? I’ve been here for thirty-six hours.”

“We know that. There are a number of things I want to check on and we’ll come back and see you later.”

Gardener and Reilly left to a torrent of abuse.

Once outside, Reilly turned to Gardener. “Are we charging him, or letting him go?”

“I think we’ll have to let him go, Sean. I simply don’t have enough to hold him on much longer. Even if we do extend it to forty-eight hours, I still don’t think I can question him on anything else. It’s time we started digging elsewhere.”

Chapter Fourteen

Gardener studied the incident room that Maurice Cragg had arranged. The whiteboards had been positioned ready for action, with a number of photos: one of Jane Carter on her own, one of Robbie Carter, and two with the couple together. Positioned alongside those were the photos of Jane Carter in death, all taken from a variety of angles. Despite the pain she must have suffered, the expression on her face was calm. The bruises told a different story.

Gardener’s team comprised of Colin Sharp, who was chewing the fat with Dave Rawson and Paul Benson. Bob Anderson was sitting in a corner sipping coffee with Patrick Edwards. Gardener also had the experience of the Bramfield police station resident, Maurice Cragg, and two of his team, Mike Atherton and Emma Longstaff, both of whom had been taken off the nightshift.

“If I can have your attention, please,” said Gardener.

The noise didn’t stop immediately but everyone did as he asked. Before he delved into the meeting, Gardener formally introduced DC Sarah Gates. They all knew Sarah from a previous case when she worked under DI Goodman. He explained that Sarah had transferred from Bradford and was now a part of the team. For the time being she would be replacing Frank Thornton who was on compassionate leave. Sarah was mid-forties with a tanned complexion and red hair cut fashionably in a bob. She wore a two-piece navy trouser suit, with a crème blouse and a blue leather jacket.

“You all know that Sean and I were called out at two-thirty yesterday morning to a house in Swansea Court in Bramfield to investigate a murder.” Gardener pointed to a photo. “Fifty-year-old Jane Carter was discovered dead on the bedroom floor by the time we arrived.”

He pointed to another photo. “Her husband, Robbie Carter, had reported the incident at two o’clock here in the station, but he wasn’t sure whether she was dead or dying at the time he found her.” He detailed Carter’s actions upon arriving home and finding her body before adding, “It’s what happened afterwards that gives us a real problem. Carter claims when he came down the stairs, that’s when he noticed the place had been turned over.”

“So he says the place was burgled?” questioned Anderson, a solid officer who could always be relied upon in a crisis.

“Yes.”

“But you think otherwise?” asked Sharp.

“From what we saw at the scene, yes.” Gardener went on to describe what he and Reilly had found in the bathroom and why, in their opinion, they were questioning whether or not the burglar had even made it upstairs.

“Is it definitely homicide?” asked Rawson.

“We think so,” said Gardener, pointing to the photos taken from the scene. “If you take a close look at these you will see Jane Carter’s body bears two large bruises that, according to Fitz, were very recent. One, he felt, would need further investigation; the other, in his opinion, could be a footprint.”

“Do you have any ideas, sir?” asked Patrick Edwards, the youngest member of the team – a fresh-faced constable at twenty-one years of age, with one earring and curly blonde hair.

“Not at the moment. Robbie Carter has an alibi. He is a musician and was working at Seacroft Working Men’s club for the night so he should have no shortage of witnesses when we check that one out. To be honest, Patrick, you may as well do that – being a budding musician and all that. Establish and clarify Robbie Carter’s movements. Talk to his agent – Sean has the details. Speak to staff at the club, and the manager. Get a list of everyone in the place on that night and speak to those as well. Find out what time he left the club and how long it takes for him to drive home.”

Patrick Edwards had trouble keeping up with Gardener as he wrote his instructions down.

“This is a tough one, guys, with a lot of ground to cover. As usual, the discovery of an unexplained death presents us with a series of questions that we need to structure our investigation around. Firstly, is it a homicide?” Gardener nodded at Rawson who had already asked the question. “Yes, we think it is. Secondly, who killed the victim? That we don’t know, but I will elaborate on that later with Maurice’s help. So, let’s stick to the basic murder investigation formula: what, why, when, where, how, and who?”

Gardener took a pen and drew three large, interlinking circles on the whiteboard. In the middle section he wrote, Homicide. On the outer edges he wrote the words, Location, Victim and Offenders, knowing that within a day or two the board would hardly be recognisable.

“Usual points to consider here.” He pointed to Location. “Selection, transportation and escape. Has the offender chosen the location deliberately? How did he travel there and how and when did he escape? Planning: is there any evidence? Was the incident spontaneous, or planned? If it was planned, what level of planning was required? What did the offender do to avoid detection?”

Gardener then pointed to Victim. “There’s a whole wealth of information to be chased up here – lifestyle being one of them. We need to establish Jane Carter’s movements for the whole day, and the night in question. Sean and I are going to talk to her employer, Matthew Atkinson, he runs stables out at Thirsk.”

Dave Rawson was quick off the mark to connect the stables and the bruises. “Is it possible something happened at the stables to cause those bruises?”

“That’s one of the things we want to ask about,” said Gardener. “According to her husband she had a riding accident a couple of weeks back.”

“But you said those bruises on her body were fresh.”

“They were,” said Reilly. “We don’t think they were caused by a riding accident.”