Syn (The Merseyside Crime Series Book 2) by Malcolm Hollingdrake (best authors to read TXT) 📕

‘Time will tell.’ April looked down at his shoes. ‘You’d be better with Kiwi and brushes but I guess you know that already.’

On returning to the station, Lucy had tracked the possible new address of the short-term tenant who had taken over the apartment after Carla and Callum Smith vacated it. There had been no forwarding address but support officers had managed to identify two people by the names Gaskell had provided. At this stage it was a case of making a sensible guess. The mobile number also given had long since been inoperative. She had the name Simon Taylor. One was now resident in Liverpool city centre, the other lived in York. For the moment, adding the name and both addresses to the board containing Sharpe’s photograph was all she could do until she checked out the Liverpool address. Strangely both men were the same age but according to passport and DVLA records, were very dissimilar. From Gaskell’s brief description, it seemed likely that the Simon Taylor she was seeking now lived in the centre of Liverpool. She would run further background checks before making either appointment, as she always believed being forewarned is to be forearmed.

Callum Smith had arrived for interview twenty minutes early and was ushered to the area normally reserved for visiting solicitors. He had refused coffee and simply waved an oversized bottle of Evian at the welcoming officer before expanding on his health regime.

Skeeter and April had both received the call at the same time to inform them Smith was early. They met in the corridor on the way down and April passed her a pre-prepared interview agenda. Addenda had been added as the latest information had filtered through and both were aware the information they had could still change.

‘Wicca!’ a voice from an open door called out, closely followed by Fred’s face. ‘Just received some dashcam footage of the area in which Carla Sharpe was last seen. They’d seen the post we’d placed on the website … proves someone’s looking! The date and time fit.’

Skeeter glanced at April as they both moved swiftly into the room and peered directly at the computer screen. The image had been paused. Fred moved the cursor onto the triangle and tapped the mouse.

‘As you can see the driver of this delivery van has turned off Cambridge Road and onto Hesketh Road. You’ll notice there’s some traffic but it’s light. Now we’re on Argyle Road before turning right onto Park Road.’ He paused the video. ‘What occurs next happens very quickly so for the guy to spot it and react is amazing. For that reason, I’ll run it in slow motion. In the distance you’ll see a car pull across as if going to the golf club. If you look carefully, you’ll also see a runner approaching the turn in. There are a number of cars parked along the road side but you can still see the jogger’s head. Watch the car and the driver.’

Fred started the video and all eyes were focused on the screen. It happened just as he had described.

‘The runner hardly comes into view,’ Skeeter announced as Fred brought the video back to the critical moment before letting it run again at half speed. ‘Did I see the driver climb out of the car and then stand and wave?’

‘You certainly saw them put their hand up,’ Fred agreed. ‘Whether they were waving at the person or signalling for them to stop is debatable. The person’s gender cannot be ascertained from this either.’

‘So, we can’t confirm this was Carla Sharpe?’ Skeeter turned to Fred, a clear frown spreading across her face.

Fred shook his head. ‘We have a partial number plate, however, and a model but that’s it.’

‘Only one brake light working too,’ Skeeter announced, ‘so that shouldn’t be too difficult to trace.’

Fred and Skeeter checked the screen again and for a brief moment it was clear that only one light was working.

‘Bloody hell, Wicca, you’ve got eyes like a shithouse rat.’ Fred chuckled and patted her shoulder.

‘It’s only a brief flash but it’s undeniable.’

‘I’ve already got a call out to records with make, colour and reg so once they’ve traced those, locating the actual car should be straightforward, providing the car hasn’t had the bulb replaced in the meantime. I’ll keep you posted.’

‘If that were Sharpe, she was running anti-clockwise round her regular route.’

‘Does it make a difference which way she runs?’ April questioned.

‘Some runners feel comfortable turning one way. For me it’s left and so if I run a route I keep turning left until I get back. There might be the odd right turn but they would be few and far between. Which way was she running on the first video capture we got from the Park and Ride site?’

On leaving the room, April called Fred’s name, being immediately rewarded by a smiling face further down the corridor. ‘Check the first CCTV footage to see the direction in which she was running. If it’s the same fine but if not …’ She thrust a thumb up in the air in thanks.

Smith was waiting in an Interview Room when they arrived and surprised them both by rising on their entry. He apologised for being early but a client had cancelled and he hoped the sooner the interview started the sooner he could be back at the gym.

‘We’ll hopefully not detain you for too long, Mr Smith.’ Skeeter deliberately slotted in the word ‘detain’ to see if it had any effect on his demeanour. It did not. ‘Please sit. My name is DS Warlock, thank you for coming in. This is DI Decent. This interview will be recorded.’ She pointed to the smoked-glass dome in the ceiling corners. ‘That’s for your benefit and safety as much as ours. Data protection is observed and details are in the booklet in front of you.’

‘Fine, fine! Is there any news on Carla?’ There