Cold Revenge (Willis/Carter #6)(54)

‘I would appreciate more researchers and I could do with more space, the maps and charts take up a lot of room.’

‘You got it, you can have the end of the inquiry team office, set up there.’

‘I would appreciate working with DS Willis on a more regular basis because she is in contact with Douglas as well as the disciples.’

‘Sure,’ answered Willis, slightly perplexed. ‘Obviously all the information I receive gets fed into HOLMES but I will come and chat things through with you on a daily basis, no problem.’

‘I believe the killer is on a personal quest here,’ said Carter. ‘Think of someone who has had their life ruined and has a possible personal connection to Heather, or at least wants us to know this is about the time she went missing, about what happened between this person and Douglas and his disciples. There must be an awful lot of people who had some sort of contact with Douglas and lived to tell the tale, get out there and talk to them, we need to find this killer.’

‘If I was looking for revenge on the disciples, Stephen Perry would be high on my list,’ said Hector. ‘He’s been investigated a few times, even ended up in prison – been bankrupt, been done for dealing coke when he was in his early thirties. He’s Mr Entrepreneurial – nice house, nice car, fourth wife, six kids. But nothing’s stable with him. He teeters near the edge often, he is on the periphery of investigations that involve fraud and gangsters. On Google his name is linked with scams. We are going to need a court order to search his offshore companies, which we’re not going to get without good reason. I did look into his credit rating, it’s really low right now. He’s defaulted on a few loans in the last couple of months and he’s been trying to re-mortgage his house but been refused.’

‘Where has his money gone?’ asked Carter.

‘I don’t know, I’ll keep looking.’

‘Who else?’

‘Cathy Dwyer,’ said Willis. ‘We know she changed her name to Bloom, we know she travelled after she left Hawthorn Farm. Perry and Dwyer have a company called Global Escape Travel, GET for short. It’s average size with three million turnover. I’m uncovering stuff about them all the time. Gavin Heathcote has been employed by GET, he’s down as head of security. I don’t know how long he’s been back roofing but he’s been out of the country for a couple of years.’

‘Gavin’s been lying to us,’ said Carter. ‘We’ll go and pay him a visit again and to Stephen Perry.’

‘Okay, thanks, we’ll wrap this up now,’ said Willis. ‘I know this is a big investigation with two victims and their connection to Douglas, but at the heart of this is a simple concept, this is personal to someone. It’s all about them and Douglas and something they want. Is it, where is Heather? Is it, who killed Heather? Or is it someone saying: why was it all about Heather when there are other victims?’





Chapter 29


Gavin Heathcote was even less pleased to see them than last time but he reluctantly came down the scaffolding.

‘How are you, Gavin?’ asked Carter. The rain had started and Heathcote was battling with a flying tarpaulin as the wind got up.

‘Hunky-dory, what do you want?’ He glared at Carter and Willis.

‘We want to buy you a coffee,’ said Carter.

They walked down the street to a workmen’s café and sat in the booth at the far end and ordered.

‘You had better alter all your routines until we catch the person who killed Nicola and Yvonne,’ said Carter. ‘They are obviously good at tracking you down and you are quite an easy find.’

‘They can try, if they like. I’d like to see them try.’

Carter took a breath and smiled. Willis resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

‘Alter your routines; don’t tell anyone where you’ll be working in advance. Ask your wife to be extra-vigilant if there’s anyone hanging about that she doesn’t know. If she’s worried at all, she should call this number immediately.’ Carter handed over the incident room number.

‘Have you finished?’ Gavin asked, pretending to be bored. ‘Was that it, the big talk?’

Willis opened her backpack and took out Gavin’s file and her notebook.

‘Things have escalated since we last spoke,’ said Carter.

‘No shit? I heard. Nicola Stone was hated by everyone. Fact.’

‘We think the two deaths are connected,’ said Carter.

‘I’ve seen the stuff in the papers. I have weirdos waiting to talk to me outside my house, hiding behind my bins, or I did have, they won’t try it again,’ he grinned. ‘Luckily everyone who knows me round here knows I am a fair bloke who does a good day’s work. I help little old ladies cross the street, I give a discount to single mums and disableds. People who matter aren’t taking any notice of the crap being printed. They’ve got my back round here and when this blows over, I’m going to have a few words with a few people.’

‘It’s not going to blow over, Gavin. We have recently uncovered three new gravesites at a place called Lambs Farm, do you know it?’

‘Never heard of it.’

‘We have already found a connection to one of the disciples in one of the graves. What will we find next, I wonder?’ Willis showed him the map and the photos of Lambs Farm.