Cold Revenge (Willis/Carter #6)(26)

‘What do you think should happen?’

‘I just wonder if we can trust him. He’s seen a lot. I think we should make sure he understands what will happen if he speaks out.’

‘You can decide his fate, my little spider.’

Cathy turned and smiled at her.





Chapter 16


Maxwell was busy looking at all the details of the case when Willis and Carter arrived back at the station at nearly three. Hector was with him. They were sharing an office; it was pretty cramped. Also in there were two civilian researchers. There was a small office off the main space which Hector usually used for privacy when he worked, but it had been given over to Maxwell until they could find somewhere better. Hector was looking frazzled.

‘What happened with Yvonne?’ asked Maxwell.

‘Come with us, we’re headed for the canteen and we can fill you in there. Hector? All okay?’ Carter asked as they were retreating.

Hector gave him a thumbs-up.

The canteen was busy; Tina, Ebony’s housemate, was flat-out cleaning up after the lunch service, washing up all the stainless steel vats. They ordered their drinks and took them over to a quiet corner.

‘How was it with Yvonne Coombes?’ asked Maxwell.

‘Yvonne Coombes is now a single parent on methadone,’ said Carter. ‘I feel for her, she’s doing her utmost to try to make it through with her little girl.’

‘She was Millie’s only friend by the sound of it, and hadn’t seen her for a couple of months,’ said Willis. ‘We know this was an especially bad time for Millie, broke and without Yvonne to turn to, or her dad.’

‘She’d fallen out with everyone, so maybe Millie took some chances she wouldn’t normally have taken. She was obviously thinking about the friendship, the photo of them both was by her bed. I’m not ruling out the possibility that she needed money so badly she went into that park with a man,’ Carter said.

‘She was still bragging about her time with Douglas,’ said Maxwell. ‘She was never going to make many friends like that.’

‘No, probably not,’ said Willis, ‘but who else did she know? Yvonne might be able to help with that, if I push her.’

‘Could still be one of her peers,’ suggested Maxwell. ‘They have fights all the time, they have stabbings over territory, over punters. This is one step more, that’s all.’

‘Yes, I agree,’ said Carter. ‘Except, they’d have had to drag her kicking and screaming into that park.’

‘Or doped?’ volunteered Maxwell. ‘She could have been given a bigger dose of heroin. What was her father like?’

Willis answered, ‘He was bitter, angry, frustrated. He’s had to put up with a lot, but she was his only child; so mostly he was heartbroken.’

‘Could he have tipped over the edge?’ asked Maxwell.

‘It’s something we will need to look into further,’ answered Willis. ‘He is the kind of person she would have gone to the park with but I don’t think it’s his way.’

‘Gavin Heathcote, a former disciple, who still proudly bears his tattoos and talks about those times with great affection, especially his part in the slaughter of the animals in the foot and mouth epidemic, he needs looking in to more thoroughly – he is capable of killing and he says he has seen Millie a few times. Having met him, I don’t see Millie getting anything for nothing. Maybe she became a nuisance, and perhaps Gavin decided enough was enough,’ said Carter.

‘He has an alibi,’ countered Willis. ‘It was provided by his wife and backed up by his father-in-law, the landlord of the Swan pub near Gavin’s home, who says Gavin was working on the pub roof for two weeks from the fifteenth of September through to the first of October all day, and spent all night drinking in the pub.’

‘He works with a team of men, let’s find out who they are and ask them.’

‘Will do,’ answered Willis, taking notes.

‘She tapped all the disciples for money, apparently. Did she get to be a massive nuisance?’ Carter wondered. ‘But, this was no way a professional hit. Two of the ex-disciples have done very well: Stephen Perry and Cathy Dwyer. If I was one of them, and I had the money as they do, and Millie was a nuisance, I would have paid someone to kill her.’

‘But, who would you have paid?’ asked Maxwell. ‘Someone from her own world, like a person who lived or worked on the streets? That’s what I would have done. This still could be a professional hit.’

‘I agree with the theory of that except,’ said Willis, ‘if people hated her that much, then they would be queuing up to tell us who did it, and they’re not.’

‘Sorry we don’t have a lot for you to go on at the moment,’ Carter said to Maxwell. ‘I know you’re a facts and figures type.’

‘That’s okay, I’m looking at known offenders in the area, charting their movements. I’ll also pursue any of the working girls who have had charges for assault in the past. I would also like to take the rest of the day to go and do a bit more research on Douglas.’

‘Sure, what are you thinking?’ asked Carter.

‘The farm he took the rape victim Rachel McKinney to, the one he intended to bury her in. I want to get the feel of it.’