Cold Revenge (Willis/Carter #6)(92)

They sat with maps spread out and satellite photos of the area around Jones’s farm.

‘This is it. Margery Farm.’ Maxwell nodded. He was quiet, thoughtful.

‘You okay?’ said Carter. ‘You might have cracked it. We might find something of Heather in there as well?’

He nodded. ‘This has to be our last chance, I think?’

‘If this is Douglas’s second site, we will find evidence in there, don’t you worry. We’ll have enough to keep him inside for life. We’ll go into my office and ring Mr Cole now.’

Willis put her phone on speaker so that Carter, Bowie and Tucker, who had all crowded in, could listen to it. The farmer answered almost immediately and she explained why she had called. He remembered someone called Heathcote asking if he could buy some land from him.

‘That was in 1999? And what did Mr Heathcote say he wanted it for?’

Everyone in the office stayed quiet and listened to his reply:

‘He had a container of belongings and we aren’t supposed to put stuff like that on the fields but, seeing as I wasn’t going to use it, and I already had old machinery and a rusty old cowshed there, I said yes. I’m not going to get in trouble, am I? Stony Field was never much use for anything.’

‘No, it’s okay. Can you tell me, Mr Cole, has anyone been up to the field recently?’

‘I can’t be sure, I haven’t been up there myself for six months. I thought I did see some tyre marks leading from the road up the back lane, but I can’t be sure. I was just thinking then, I don’t think anyone’s been there for years. I thought Heathcote must be dead, although he was only a young fella, good-looking lad.’

‘Can you describe him to me?’

‘He had a slight Irish accent; he was dark-haired, green eyes, nice way about him. Do you want me to take a look and see if anyone’s been there?’

‘No, stay away from it please, and keep this conversation to yourself for now. We are going to need to come up and see for ourselves.’

Willis came off the phone.

‘That’s definitely a description of Douglas, back in the day,’ said Tucker. ‘That was never Gavin. He was always heavy-set with a strong cockney accent.’

‘Agreed,’ said Carter.

‘Maxwell, you happy with that?’ Carter asked as he informed the rest of the team what they’d found out about the field lockup in Somerset. ‘We go down there now and take a look. But we go prepared.’ Carter had been in to see Bowie to get clearance for what they needed to do. He’d called a meeting as soon as he’d got the green light.

Maxwell nodded. ‘I’d like to come with you, please.’

‘Okay.’ Carter looked at him curiously. ‘If you’re sure, I have no objections. Where is Heathcote right now?’ Carter turned to ask Hector.

‘Surveillance lost him in town, but he was picked up by a camera on the motorway an hour ago. He’s headed in the right direction. He could be on his way there.’

‘Then we go down to Margery Farm armed,’ said Carter, ‘and we get down there as fast as we can. We’ll go by road, not helicopter, we run the risk of being spotted too soon otherwise. But we’ll have the helicopter on standby and a firearms unit waiting at the end of the lane where it meets the main road.’

‘Hector, you are licensed, aren’t you?’ Hector nodded. ‘So am I,’ said Carter. ‘Willis, I need you to stay and run things from here. Maxwell, you will need a vest and protection. We leave within the hour. I want to talk to Stephen Perry first.’

Willis sat next to Carter, opposite Perry and the representative from the highly acclaimed criminal law firm Sutton and Sons. Jeremy Sutton was one of the sons. Maxwell was monitoring the video in the adjoining room.

After they had dispensed with the introductions and the caution, Carter thanked Stephen Perry for coming in.

‘Did I have a choice?’ He sat back in his chair and tried to look relaxed, in his jeans and a blue shirt, with a gingham pattern on the inside of the collar. He was neat and clean-shaven. His hair had been styled recently, cut longer on the top, and left naturally choppy and wavy.

‘You can leave at any time, Mr Perry,’ Carter added.

‘Let’s make this quick then.’

‘You’ve had time to talk to your solicitor, Mr Sutton?’

‘Yes, he’s advised me to say nothing but “no comment” but I don’t have anything to hide and as long as I feel I can help, I will, especially if it speeds things up.’ He smiled at his solicitor.

Willis spread out the photos of Tony Poulson, Simone Levin and Darren Slater on the desk.

‘Remember them?’

‘No, I don’t know these people.’

‘Let me specifically check if you remember seeing this man.’ Willis pushed the photo of Poulson around to show him as she took away the others.

‘I’ve never seen him before.’

‘We know he was a hitchhiker Jimmy Douglas picked up and brought back, remember him now?’

Perry shook his head, ‘Jimmy brought a lot of people to the bungalow and we had a lot of parties, there were strangers in and out all the time.’

‘It was in May 2000, one of the first barbecues, and it was the night before three new disciples got their tattoos,’ said Carter. ‘He had a strong Glaswegian accent, ring a bell now?’