Cold Justice (Willis/Carter #4)(102)

‘Ella was all right when I left. I had nothing to do with Kensa.’

‘Okay, then. You’re going to have no problem making a formal statement, are you?’ Carter asked, as Willis pushed across paper and pen.

Carter and Willis left the room and went to sit in the office while they considered what to do. They put Bowie and Robbo on conference call on Skype and brought them up to date.

‘It’s your call,’ said Bowie, but Carter could see that he wished it wasn’t. ‘You’re in charge of this investigation, Carter, but I think you’re getting bogged down there. You’re going off on tangents. It’s four days in and we’re still no nearer to finding Samuel. And we’re collecting a host more problems along the way.’

‘I don’t agree, sir. Penhal is our strongest lead so far.’

Bowie turned away as he considered what Carter was saying. Then he turned back with a resigned expression. ‘If we had just one lead here in Greenwich I would do my best to persuade you, but we don’t, do we, Robbo?’

Robbo shook his head. ‘Every one’s a dead end. I believe we’re doing the right thing by moving the investigation to Penhal. I think the fact that these other crimes are occurring or being uncovered is proof that this is a community capable of Samuel’s abduction. And that it has a direct link to JFW.’

‘Except that now we hear that, after the night of the rape in June 2000, JFW and Raymonds decided how they’d handle the situation and this information came from an ex-con who is responsible for providing underage children for abuse at Kellis House.’ Bowie was doing his best to stay calm. ‘Have any of the names on the list been traced yet?’

‘DS Pascoe’s already coming up against a wall of silence with the names on the list, sir,’ said Willis. ‘A lot of the kids are from problem families. It’s going to take a lot of coordination with social services down here to uncover what’s been going on in Kellis House.’

‘We don’t have time for that,’ Bowie replied from his office, frustration showing through.

‘The ledger is going to be invaluable to Operation Elmtree,’ added Robbo.

‘Yes, but we are not looking into abuse rings, are we? And it doesn’t help us find Samuel. If he dies while we’re helping track down abused kids from the nearby town, we’ll all be roasted.’ Bowie shook his head and took a deep breath as he fought to stay calm.

‘What date was the last visit by JFW?’ he asked.

‘He came at Christmas, sir,’ Willis answered.

‘Is that in the ledger? Was there anyone visiting with him then?’ asked Robbo.

Willis turned the pages.

‘He came alone but he had someone visit him who’s numbered at the back of the book: Bethany Smith, seventeen years old. DS Pascoe got hold of her – said she had a private arrangement with JFW – it was consensual.’

‘In my opinion, you should hand the ledger over to the locals and let them deal with it,’ Bowie said as he waited for Carter to enter into the conversation; he’d been a little too quiet as he mulled things over.

‘Carter, convince me you’re on the right track,’ said Bowie, ‘and then maybe I can convince my bosses.’ Bowie had been chewing the cuticle on his thumbnail. He sucked the blood as it came. ‘I’ve been asked to give another press conference to update.’

‘What about basing it on the reconstruction?’ said Carter.

‘We achieved very little with that. There is nothing new we really want to share with the press. The longer we can keep them away from Penhal, the better. What about ex-Sergeant Raymonds? Can we charge him with perverting the course of justice where the rape is concerned?’

‘If we charge him we take him away from the community he controls. The people will close ranks rather than give him up. He’s running around like a blue-arsed fly at the moment, trying to cover his tracks. He’s losing control of this community and that’s what we’re waiting for. We need to give this village enough rope to hang itself,’ said Carter.





Chapter 45


Towan got out of the police station with a feeling of immense relief. He really hadn’t expected it. He didn’t usually get off so lightly. He dodged the spray from the sea crashing into the side of Cam’s café. It was a once-a-year phenomenon: high spring tides and Atlantic storms. There were thirty-foot waves expected the next day and a high tide that threatened to close Penhall off and flood the shops. He had left his Land-Rover in the car park behind the Surfshack. It was already a foot under seawater with the waves breaking over the defence. He took no notice of the shouts from excited teenagers who were pouring out of their homes to watch the waves crash in.

He jumped into his car and sped back up the hill and across to the other side. He pulled up outside Raymonds’ house and saw that his garage was open and the Silver Fox was missing, so he decided that at some time or other Raymonds would be driving it down to the bar, like he always did. Towan would wait for him down there. There were some things he wanted to have out with him. Too much of what the detectives had said rang true. What if Raymonds had no intention of allowing Towan to take over the farm or his dad’s share of Kellis House? What if he was just mugging him off? He parked up on the road outside the Penhal Hotel and had to hold on to his door as the wind came blasting off the sea and over the cliffs. Towan walked up the steps to the bar and looked around the usual local crowd. No one smiled his way. The whole bar thought he’d killed his father.