Imposition (DI Gardener 5)

“The first was a clicking sound, almost like a central heating timer clicking in,” said Gardener.

“But we think now it was probably the alarm,” said Reilly.

“So what was the second noise?” asked Sharp.

“Possibly a cry for help,” said Gardener. “He wasn’t sure.”

“So Jane Carter was alive when he was in the house?” asked Sarah Gates.

“It would seem so,” said Reilly.

“So why didn’t he stay and call an ambulance?” asked Anderson. “He could have saved her life.”

“He was frightened,” said Cragg. “Didn’t want to get caught red-handed for turning the place over.”

“What kind of a weasel does that?” asked Gates.

“You’ve not seen Manny Walters, then?” Cragg asked. “A few minutes with him and you’d know.”

Paul Benson finally made it through the door, apologising for his lateness.

“So if Manny didn’t do it, who did?” Anderson asked.

“My money is still on Robbie Carter,” said Gardener. “I still think that he came home and, for whatever reason, he was not happy. Maybe he'd had a bad night at the club, or an altercation with another motorist. Whatever it was, he was in a bad mood. Something then happened between him and his wife. He leaves, and in the meantime, Manny Walters stumbles across

what he thinks is an empty house and decides to rob it.”

Following a strained silence, Gardener glanced at Benson. “Anything from Whitby?”

“You could say that,” he replied, taking a sip of coffee. “Turns out, Robbie Carter, or Robert Chilvers as he should be called, had a reputation for being a ladies’ man. Rumour has it he’d been seeing Alfie Peterson’s wife. Alfie didn’t know that at the time, and could find no real evidence. From what I can gather, Alfie gave her a real beating when he found out.

“But when he finally caught up with Chilvers, he dragged him into The Ghost Train to torture him for a couple of hours, using all sorts of methods while he was tied up before letting him free. Alfie then warned him to leave town, never to return.”

“He obviously did,” said Reilly. “But maybe Chilvers came back and started his vendetta against everyone. It would explain why Alfie Peterson and his wife were killed.”

Benson opened a folder and passed over a picture. “I have a copy of the cutting of the original news story from The Whitby Gazette, and a photo here of the Petersons.”

Gardener took it. “Bingo.” He placed it next to the photo from the box they had been unable to identify. “It’s Jane Peterson.”

“I can see why a lunatic like Robbie Carter came back for the gangster and his wife,” said Rawson, “but I can’t see what started him on a killing spree of all these other women.”

“Are they all called Jane, every single one of them?” Benson asked.

“Yes,” said Gardener. “Well done, Paul. We have a bit more information to connect the dots, and another nail in Carter’s coffin.” Gardener turned and asked Dave Rawson about Grace Browne.

“This is just as interesting. Believed to have disappeared three years ago, emigrating to New Zealand. I’ve been in touch with the major airlines that operate flights to New Zealand. There is no record of her on any flight at that time.”

“So far,” said Gates.

Rawson nodded. “Well, yes, there’s still a couple to get back to me. I also contacted the passport office. It was around the time they started making them electronic, so all the details feed into a massive system that records when and where you go. If Grace Browne has emigrated, she must have done it covertly.”

“Unless she changed her name,” said Gardener.

“Oh Christ,” said Reilly. “We’ll never catch any fucker connected to this case. They’re all invisible.”

“It looks that way,” said Sharp.

“I never thought of that,” said Rawson. “If she has, it will be nigh on impossible to find her.”