The Fourth Friend (DI Jackman & DS Evans #3)(48)

‘Deep. As in he doesn’t talk much but he watches people. Looks like he’s analysing everything they say and do. Creepy.’

Jackman stared at the picture. ‘Did you ever talk to him?’

‘Not directly. He was waiting for Suzanne one day when Tom and I got back from a day on the boat. Tom had a few words with him, but I stayed back. He put my hackles up the moment I saw him.’ He frowned. ‘And then he was at a barbeque at Tom’s place. I don’t think he was actually invited, but he came anyway. That’s when I clocked him observing people.’

‘We believe his name is Ralph Dolan. Is that correct?’ asked Jackman.

Carter tilted his head. ‘I heard him called Ralphie, but I never got his surname. Tom didn’t like him at all, reckoned he had a thing for Suzanne.’

‘His sister?’ Marie looked at the picture with distaste. ‘Oh, yuk!’

‘Sums him up really.’ Carter shrugged, ‘As I said, creepy.’

‘Do you know where he lives?’ asked Jackman.

‘Sorry. I was never interested enough to ask.’ He turned to Jackman. ‘Why is he on the board?’

‘We have a witness who places a man of this description close to the Holland house around the time that Suzanne disappeared. Until now we had no idea who he was.’

Marie glanced at the clock. The others would be here in a moment for the morning meeting. It felt good to have Carter here with them, instead of being shut away in his office. ‘Cannon case concluded?’

‘Almost. We’ve passed it upstairs for a second look before we kiss it goodbye.’

Marie touched his arm. ‘Good to have you back.’

‘Good to be back.’

Marie thought he seemed rather apprehensive. Understandable, she guessed, although he seemed to function very well on the streets, going by yesterday’s unauthorised escapade. She told herself to stop trying to understand Carter McLean.

The next fifteen minutes were taken up with a report on the previous night’s activities in the town. Marie really wasn’t too interested. She half listened in case a name came up that might be useful.

Then it was Jackman’s turn, and the Suzanne Holland investigation.

‘As some of you know, DS McLean and the late Tom Holland were friends, so we are grateful to him for joining us, and perhaps filling in some of the gaps in our knowledge about Suzanne Holland.’ He looked towards Carter. ‘He has already given us a possible identity for the mystery man who was seen in the area on the night Suzanne disappeared. So I suggest we make our priority the search for this Ralph Dolan. Max? Anything on him since yesterday?’

Max stood up. ‘I’ve confirmed his name, sir. It’s Ralph Edward Doolan. The spelling confused me at first, but so far I’ve had no luck in tracking him down. He was last living at an address in Nottingham, but he’s since moved with no forwarding address.’

‘Do we know anything about him? What he does for a living? Has he ever been in trouble?’

Robbie raised a hand. ‘We checked the PNC and found nothing, sir.’

Jackman looked at Carter. ‘Anything at all that you can tell us about him?’

Carter told them about Tom Holland’s suspicions that the man was too interested in his half-sister, and what he himself had observed. ‘I have no idea where he worked or what he did.’

Robbie raised a hand. ‘So it would be reasonable to believe, if this man is Doolan, that he could have had a legitimate reason for visiting his sister that evening?’

Jackman shrugged. ‘He could, but we don’t know that. Did he go there purely to see her? Or to abduct her? Kill her? Did they argue and things got out of hand?’

‘Or did he discover her body?’ said Marie. ‘But if that were the case, why not just dial 999?’

‘And who was with him?’ added Carter. ‘You say he was talking to another man?’

‘Alan Pitt saw Doolan clearly, but not the man he was with. He stayed in the shadows.’

‘Sir?’ Marie said.

Jackman looked to Marie and raised an eyebrow.

‘It’s Alan Pitt, our witness. How can he be so certain, not only of the description, but of the date too? After all, it was eighteen months ago.’

‘Ah. Well, knowing how unreliable witness statements can be, I did ask him that question.’ Jackman exhaled. ‘He told me that the date is etched in his brain because it was the day the hospital gave him his diagnosis and he knew for certain he had cancer. He said he was in a state of shock, but still tried to carry on as normal — walking his dog and so on. He said he was totally absorbed in his own problems, and hearing the men’s voices made him jump. He wanted to speak to them, but they sounded pretty angry, maybe arguing, so he backed off. He said he felt quite disturbed, and for a moment he thought Ponytail was his cousin.’ Jackman paused. ‘I think that’s sufficient reason to remember that night and what he saw.’

‘But it was at night.’

‘If there’s no cloud cover, go out late tonight, Marie. It’s a full moon. I’m betting you’d spot a ponytail and designer glasses without artificial light.’

Marie smiled. ‘Fair enough. You’ve answered my query. Poor guy.’

Jackman beckoned to Carter. ‘Come up here and tell us anything you think might be helpful about your friend Tom, and Suzanne.’