Frozen Grave (Willis/Carter #3)(85)

‘Bored teenager syndrome,’ said Hector from his desk.

‘Not many people are capable of glassing someone,’ Carter remarked.

‘Drink was involved,’ said Pam, as she continued reading from the email. ‘Paula Seymour always denied it was her but a jury convicted her. She was pregnant at the time; she did community service. She’s been clean since.’

Carter sat quietly. He leant back in his chair as he stared out into space.

‘Ellerman could have killed Gillian Forth,’ he said after a few moments’ contemplatation. ‘He had time that evening, to get from Exeter to Reading; three hours max. Fire started at seven. He would have got to Paula at ten.’

‘It’s possible – she seemed vague on the phone; we need to pinpoint his arrival time.’

Carter sat up in his seat.

‘But then we know that whoever set Olivia up is able to manipulate or pay for someone else to do the job,’ he said. ‘Could someone have been paid to set fire to Gillian Forth’s house?’

‘We looked into the possibility of a hired killer coming to do it,’ answered Robbo. ‘Truth is, it would cost a lot more than the money Ellerman took from her. I can’t see that being worth it.’

‘He could have paid one of Toffee’s crew to come and do it. That would have cost him, what? A few grand, tops. Or Balik – he might be up for a change of scenery. We need to look at CCTV of trains to Exeter, see if we can spot any of them waiting to board.’

‘I think,’ said Willis, ‘that if he paid someone, he might even have to drive them there. They’re all off their faces. How could you be sure they would do the job?’

‘No, I reckon you could go through the route with one of them. You could show them exactly what, where and how and they could do it. We need to get the computers taken out of the hostel and we need to look at them – that’s the most likely place any planning would have been done. Toffee’s got to come out of this coma with a name for us of who paid him. Someone must have seen him talking to a stranger. We need to ring Detective Blackman now and ask her if there’s any news on Toffee.’

Willis rang Blackman and put her on speakerphone.

‘What’s the latest on Toffee?’ asked Carter.

‘I’m at the hospital now, sir. He’s stable, and there’s talk of starting the process of bringing him round. The swelling on his brain is reduced. They’re not sure how much it will affect his memory or speech at the moment.’

‘Is Simon Smith still there?’

‘Most days he calls in. Sometimes he stays a few hours, sometimes it’s a flying visit.’

‘We’re having the PCs picked up from the hostel. What about your mum in there? Does everything seem okay in there to her? Is there any more talk of the murder?’

‘There’s plenty of talk about it. Apparently, Balik is bragging about how he murdered Olivia Grantham. There’s talk that he kept a souvenir from the attack. He’s saying he got paid by Simon. The Hannover Boys continue to come over and intimidate the residents. I think we need to have a show of force on the estate.’

‘Why is it so hard to find Balik?’

‘I don’t know, sir. We have patrols out looking for him. I think the only hope is through his grandfather.’

‘Well, keep looking, Blackman. We need Balik in for questioning.’ They fininshed the call to her as Sandford joined them.

‘I’ve prepared a report on Harding’s car.’

‘That was quick,’ said Robbo.

‘Yes, well, it didn’t have to be examined on the inside. We’re just looking for matches on the outside to Olivia Grantham’s car and to the crime scenes.’

He came across to Robbo’s desk, put his case on the floor and opened the file, spreading the photos and diagrams in a line across the desk.

‘There are twelve sites which are of interest on Hardings’s car. We have dog hair of a similar light colour to that found in Olivia’s car. We have two sets of hand and fingerprints that match to her car also. Here, on the roof, where someone’s stamped on the roof and a boot has torn the fabric. There is a match to the heel imprint and the boot print around Olivia’s body.’

‘That’s not going to convict anyone,’ said Carter.

‘No, but this along with evidence might do.’ Sandford brushed aside Carter’s negativity. He had saved his best piece of information till last. He pulled out another set of photos from the file and held them in his hand.

‘I contacted Fiat and they sent me a replacement first-aid kit because someone had ripped hers open. They also sent me a replacement spare-wheel kit.’ He took the kit out of his case and unfolded it. ‘This . . .’ He held up the foot-long piece of metal piping with a square end for undoing the wheel nuts. ‘Is an exact match to the puncture wounds on Harding’s car.’ He spread out the photos he had in his hand. ‘And the same diameter as the . . .’ He looked at Willis.

‘The blow that killed Olivia, the one that punctured her skull.’

‘Exactly.’ He smiled at her.

After she finished talking to Carter, Zoe picked up her car keys and drove to Hannover Estate. She sat there, watching the activity. There was no sign of Balik. She regretted not arresting him outside the hostel. She thought it reflected badly on her. She hadn’t handled it as well as she could have. She thought about Balik’s dog and rang an old boyfriend – a police-dog handler.