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

‘What about Michael Flanagan?’ asked Mrs West, glancing at her watch.

‘Guv and I had the pleasure,’ said Karen.

‘And was it?’ said Mrs West. ‘A pleasure?’

‘Not really, though he’s certainly changed his image.’

‘In what way?’

‘Big haircut, now short and smart. Looked more like a businessman about town than a heavy metal rock guy.’

Walter added, ‘When we visited he was entertaining company.’

‘Who?’ said Mrs West.

‘A little local Tom called Tracey Day.’

‘I wonder if Tracey Day knew Ellie Wright,’ said Mrs West, thinking out loud.

‘I asked Janice that. She didn’t know the name,’ said Walter.

Karen added, ‘And I asked Tracey, and she denied knowing Ellie as well.’

‘But there is a definite connection between Flanagan and Ellie Wright,’ said Walter.

‘What kind of connection?’ said Mrs West.

‘Flanagan’s a cab driver. He said he recently took a man down Marigold Lane on more than one occasion, a man who visited Ellie. Gave us a description and it’s close to the one Janice gave of this Mirror man.’

‘Could be something,’ said Mrs West.

‘It could,’ agreed Walter. ‘We just need to find him to eliminate him from our enquiries.’

‘Going back to Flanagan for a second,’ said Hector. ‘Doesn’t he fit the description too?’

‘He does now, pretty much, with his new smart image,’ said Karen.

Hector continued. ‘This guy Flanagan has just come out of prison after murdering someone, correction, causing the death of a woman, namely his wife. We know he consorts with prostitutes, and we know he’s visited Marigold Lane, he’s admitted that. That’s powerful enough, isn’t it?’

‘It is,’ said Jenny, ‘but he’s tagged, remember? Seven till seven curfew, and I’ve checked with the tagging people and they say there have been no irregularities reported in the last ten days, and we know the caravan went up in flames around midnight, so said our witness Mr Duffield, so how could Flanagan possibly have been there then?’

Hector scowled and said, ‘How reliable are these bloody tags?’

‘Very!’ said Mrs West.

‘They are indeed reliable,’ confirmed Karen, ‘but like all modern technology they can have occasional blips and glitches. No modern tech is ever a hundred percent.’

‘I’m happy with them,’ said Mrs West, thinking back years to when she’d first recommended them, and pondering on how much money they had saved in the intervening time, as against keeping low-grade criminals longer in custody. For people like her, and all administrators and accountants, they were a godsend.

‘There is one other gent we should not yet discount,’ floated Gibbons.

‘Derek Nesbitt?’ said Karen.

‘The same. We know he also visited Marigold Lane. He wanted Ellie to give up her profession, we know that too. Maybe he had some crazy idea of shacking up with her if she’d stop working. Maybe they argued and it got out of hand. It happens. It’s all possible, and he also happens to vaguely fit the description of the man who dined with Ellie, and the man who visited Ellie in Flanagan’s cab.’

‘But he doesn’t have a foreign accent, or the need to use cabs because he has his own car,’ said Walter.

‘True, just thinking aloud, Guv.’

‘How did you get on with the publicans?’ asked Walter.

Gibbons glanced at some notes and said, ‘Better, Guv. They gave us a list of twenty possible clients. They weren’t too happy at being threatened, mind.’

‘Not threatened, Gibbons,’ said Walter, unable to keep a smile from his face. ‘Persuaded, I would say.’

‘Yeah, right.’

‘You and Hector can crack on with that for the foreseeable, checking them all out.’

‘What about Nick?’

‘Ah yes, I’d almost forgotten him, I want a word with that young man when he returns, but yes, he can help you on that too.’

‘So?’ said Mrs West. ‘Do we have a prime suspect?’

‘Mirror for me,’ said Karen.

‘Flanagan for me,’ said Hector. ‘Definitely.’

‘And it’s Nesbitt for me,’ said Gibbons. ‘Just have a feeling about it.’

‘Feelings don’t solve cases,’ said Walter, ‘evidence does.’

‘So who do you think?’ asked Mrs West.

‘I don’t think any of them yet, ma’am, though like the rest of us, I’d sure like to interview the Mirror man.’

Mrs West clapped her small cold hands together. She’d heard enough. ‘Right! Let’s get on with it, you know what you have to do,’ and she jumped up and hurried back to her office and the meeting broke up, and the detectives returned to checking and re-checking all known facts in an effort to push the inquiry forward. Was there a murderer on their patch? And was he still active? Probably and possibly, were the best guesses, but they needed so much more than that.

IN THE TRAVEL AGENTS in the city, Lena Freeman rang Belinda for a third time. Left another message. Both she and her boss were surprised, and not a little concerned that she hadn’t reported in to work, nor had returned any of their calls.

Lena was particularly on edge because Bel had seemed so upbeat and healthy when they’d spoken the previous night, and Lena was still confident that she could convince Bel that the Baltic States should be the destination for their next holiday jaunt. It wasn’t like Bel at all, for she was such a steady and reliable woman. Lena would try again that evening, and give it to the morning at the latest. If Belinda wasn’t in by then, the alarm bells would be ringing.

Sixteen

At five o’clock the team began drifting away. It had been a hard day and progress had been slow. ‘You’ve been quiet,’ said Walter.

Karen forced a smile and said, ‘You never miss much, do you?’

‘Comes with the job. Man trouble, is it?’

‘No, not really, they always disappoint you, don’t they?’

‘Do they?’

‘Mine seem to.’

‘Do you want to tell me about it?’

Karen sat back in her chair and breathed out heavy, in two minds whether to say anything, and then she thought, what the hell? And proceeded to tell Walter about her date that never was, and of how much she had been looking forward to it, and now she was wondering whether he