Imposture (DI Gardener 6)

Edwards had finished chewing and came to Reilly’s rescue. “Got a registration, sir: LA20 PUR.”

“Who owns it?”

“You’re not going to like this. It’s on a long-term loan to an Alfie Price.”

Gardener rolled his eyes; here we go again. “Was it rented locally?”

“Yes, in Leeds.”

“And you’ve visited the lease company, checked it out, seen all the paperwork?”

“Yes, but it was all done via computer and the photo ID was no one I recognised. It certainly wasn’t any of them up on the board there.”

“Did you get an address?”

“Yes. Apparently it’s registered to a guest staying at The Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate but when I called them they’d never heard of the man. There were no records to backup the fact that he either was – or is – staying there. Apparently he told Hertz that he lived in London but he was up here on business for six months, so that’s how long he needed the vehicle.”

Gardener sighed, almost laughing. These guys were unreal.

“What about the London address?”

“A block of flats,” replied Patrick. “I’ve checked the electoral roll against the paperwork. The address is real but the person isn’t.”

“Surely there’s a paperwork trail,” said Sharp. “What about the guy who does live there, has he received anything yet?”

“Still on it,” said Patrick.

“Stick with it, Patrick, but don’t waste a lot of time on it. I’m pretty sure it’s not going anywhere.” Gardener had to admit it was a clever connection. “Where did the vehicle go from Butts Court, do we know?”

“Yes. As Mr Reilly suggested–”

“Mr Reilly, now, is it?” laughed Colin Sharp.

“Hold your horses, son,” said Reilly. “This wee young man will go far, he has respect.”

“Respect my arse, he just doesn’t know you as well as we do,” added Rawson.

“Okay, lads,” said Gardener, “go easy on him, he has provided the snacks.” He waved his arm in Patrick’s direction for him to continue.

Reilly smiled, raised his fingers to his eyes and then pointed at Rawson.

“It continued up Short Street, right onto Upper Basinghall Street and then left onto The Headrow.”

“Which we suspected. Have we registered it with ANPR?”

“Yes, sir. Already done. I’m hoping to check the pings and all the CCTV cameras in the morning.”

“That’s something positive, we might strike lucky. But it still doesn’t tell us who is behind it all. So far we have one dead body in the shape of Michael Foreman. With the others all still missing it could literally be any one of them.”

“But we do have mention of somewhere new,” said Sharp. “Harrogate.”

“Good point,” said Gardener, noting it down on the whiteboards. “We need to monitor this and see if Harrogate comes up anywhere else in conversation.”

“As for who’s behind it, they’ve all got motive,” said Reilly. “They’re all involved in the death of David and Ann Marie Hunter. It must have been a pretty stressful time for them all. Wouldn’t take much for one of them to crack.”

“You’d have thought they’d stayed tight after something like that,” added Benson.

“They obviously have,” said Reilly, “but maybe time and stress have shown up the cracks. All that money, people get greedy. Maybe one of them has decided he wants it all for himself.”