The Inspector Walter Darriteau Murder Mysteries - Books 1-4 by David Carter (best finance books of all time .txt) 📕

much good news there either, ma’am, usually in a case like this we would be mining the underbelly for all it’s worth, looking for help and intel from our snouts and grasses, but this time they are already scouring the city for her, just in case she’s still in the area, not to help us, of course, but to line their own pockets. There’s a huge reward out for anyone who can locate the girl and we’re not going to get a look in.’

‘Do you think she’s still here?’

‘I’ve no reason to, but DCS Wortley and his crew at the UK Protected Persons Service seem to think so. We have to take that seriously.’

A hard knock came to the door.

Mrs W nodded Karen to deal with it. She stood and opened up and a grinning Gibbons was revealed to them.

‘Think I’ve found him, Guv, on the CCTV.’

‘Progress at last!’ said Mrs W, and they all hassled across her office and headed outside.

‘Can you put it up on the Hytec?’ asked Mrs West.

‘Sure!’ said Gibbons, and a minute later the slightly blurred CCTV black and white pictures were beaming down from the monster, courtesy of Chester railway station.

‘That’s him, isn’t it?’ said Gibbons.

They all watched a guy walk down the platform and get on a train.

‘The time line’s right,’ said Gibbons, ‘the day’s right, looks like him, I think it’s him.’

The pictures were not great, but the moving man definitely resembled Donald Rushnell. He was carrying one medium sized modern canvas bag.

‘Maybe we should get his mother to come in and see if she can confirm it’s him.’

‘It is him,’ said Walter, ‘he’s wearing the same lightweight jacket his mother told me about. Where was the train going?’

‘Newport, Guv,’ said Gibbons.

‘What, in Shropshire?’ asked Karen.

‘No, the South Wales Newport.’

‘And where was it stopping?’ asked Walter.

Gibbons looked down at his sheet. ‘Oh God, Guv, loads of places.’

‘Like where?’ persisted Walter, just about keeping the irritation from his voice.

‘Whitchurch, Wem, Shrewsbury, Church Stretton, Craven Arms, Ludlow, Leominster, Abergavenny, and Newport.’

Pretty close to the England-Wales border all the way down, thought Walter. ‘Fair enough. Find out which of those stations has CCTV. Get hold of any that have, upload it to the monster, and go through it all.’

‘We need to be careful here,’ said Mrs West. ‘The guy hasn’t committed any crime that we know of, and we have to use our resources where they’re most needed.’

Everyone knew she meant the Sadie killing first, and the Jessica Stone abduction second, but those enquiries were stalling, and sometimes good news elsewhere had a positive effect on another inquiry, and sometimes two quite separate cases could morph into one.

‘I know that, ma’am,’ said Walter, ‘Only Gibbons and Browne will work on this.’

She pursed her lips and reluctantly nodded.

‘Why would he be going to any of those places,’ speculated Karen.

‘Good question,’ said Walter. ‘Could be any number of reasons. Might have a secret lover there, or a bolthole of some kind. And you can get a London train or down to the south coast from Newport.’

‘Bit of a long way round of going about it,’ said Karen.

‘Maybe he considered he might be on film, so perhaps he was trying to shake us off, better chance of that with several shorter journeys using lesser known stations. And anyway, Mrs West is right, let’s forget Donald Rushnell for the time being, and get back to thinking of the dead girl, and the missing girl.’

Mrs West nodded her approval to that and made her way back to her office. Walter nodded at Karen and said, ‘Ring the Rushnells, ask them to come in and ID the pics.’

Before she could do that her phone rang and she grabbed it.

‘Yes, he’s here, just a moment.’

‘Who?’ said Walter.

‘Mrs Cresswell, from Lion Loans.’

Walter bobbed his head and reached out for the phone.

Thirty-Four 

Another phone rang in Minstrel Electronics.

Pryce picked it up. Said, ‘Hel-lo?’

‘What the fuck are you sending me here?’

It was Harry from the Cicero Club and he didn’t sound at all happy. Truth was, Pryce had been expecting a call.

‘What’s the problem, Harry?’

‘You know full well what the problem is. The units are faulty!’

‘Oh?’

‘Don’t “Oh” me. One’s as thin as a starving rat, and the other’s just plain damn ugly.’

‘Untouched by human hand,’ said Pryce, in an annoyingly upbeat manner.

‘Don’t give me that crap! The quality of the units has been deteriorating for some time. I ain’t paying for these.’

‘Now come on, H, – I am sure you can do something with them. Good wash and a tight dress and away you go.’

‘I’m not paying for them, Pryce. They’re shite!’

‘Shame. I guess my boys will just have to bring them back.’

The line went quiet. Maybe Harry had been a bit hasty, and he did need new stock. ‘I’ll give you 40K for the two. Take it or leave it.’

Pryce’s turn to take a moment out, though he already knew his answer.

‘I could maybe do 50K.’

‘No, no, no! 40K or you can fuck off!’

It was only as Pryce imagined.

‘You drive a hard bargain, H. But on this one occasion, I’ve bought well, so I think we can accommodate you.’

‘It’s me that’s doing you a big favour!’

Pryce sniffed and said, ‘Put my man on, I’ll confirm that’s okay.’

‘No more faulty units!’ blustered Harry. ‘I’m warning you, Pryce. Any more like this and I’ll be returning them pronto pronto!’

‘I’ll look into the quality control aspect.’

‘You bloody do that! Here’s your guy.’

IN POLICE HEADQUARTERS Walter rammed the phone against his bushy grey hair and said, ‘Mrs Cresswell, what can I do for you?’

‘Donald Rushnell has been thieving.’

‘Oh?’ Walter sat up straight. ‘How much?’

‘As of now, £263,838, and that’s before interest!’

‘What! How?’

‘He’s been making fraudulent loan applications. One per month going back over the last eighteen months. Between 15K and 20K a time.’

‘And he was responsible for processing and passing the loans?’

‘You got it, Inspector. He checks out the creditworthiness of the applicants, and approves them.’

‘And they are all bogus?’

‘They are.’

‘How did this