When the Evil Waits by M Lee (top fiction books of all time txt) 📕

‘Great,’ he said, handing it over.

The third was an ATM in the side of a convenience store. She went inside and found a man standing behind the counter. She flashed her warrant card and said, ‘I’d like to see the footage from the ATM’s camera.’

‘Nowt to do with me. I get the rent for it being in my shop, plus it’s a service for the customers.’

‘So you’ve never looked at it?’

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Why would I?’

Why indeed? she thought. ‘Do you own this place?’

The man shook his head. ‘Rent it. The owner lives in Spain. Went for a couple of weeks and decided never to come back.’

Emily looked around the pokey shop. ‘Can’t say I blame him. And your name is…?’

‘Matthew, Matthew Oram.’

‘You live here?’

‘Not far away, in Sharston.’

She took down the address. ‘How do I get hold of the footage?’

Matthew Oram shrugged his shoulders. ‘I dunno. There’s a customer service number next to the ATM, you could call that.’

Emily walked outside to the ATM. Above the hole in the wall was a small plaque with a number in case the ATM wasn’t working. She rang it and reached a call centre somewhere in India.

‘I’m ringing about an ATM at a convenience store in Wythenshawe.’

‘What’s the machine number?’ a bored voice said on the other end of the phone.

Emily looked everywhere but couldn’t see anything. ‘What machine number?’

The voice became even more bored. ‘There’s a code number on the top right of the machine.’

Emily checked and there it was, almost indistinct. ‘It’s 4768930 – 423.’

‘OK, it’s one of the older machines. What seems to be the problem?’

‘This is DS Emily Parkinson of Greater Manchester Police, I’d like to access the CCTV camera next to the machine.’

‘I don’t think it’s possible.’

‘You don’t understand, this is a murder enquiry and I need to access the footage on the camera.’

‘I’ll talk to my supervisor.’

Emily waited on the phone for five minutes, listening to some inane voice crooning ‘My Way’.

Finally, the same person came back on the phone. ‘I’ve spoken to my advisor. Accessing the camera is not possible. It’s sealed.’

‘I know it’s sealed – I need to access the hard drive where the images are stored.’

‘I’ll have to speak to my supervisor.’

Again, a wait, shorter this time, but not much.

‘Accessing the hard drive is not possible, it’s sealed.’

‘Can I speak to your supervisor?’

‘Let me talk to my supervisor.’

Emily mouthed the words before the man had finished saying them. A minute later a woman came on the phone. ‘Hello, how can I help?’

Emily went through the whole rigmarole again, desperately trying to keep the impatience from her voice. After being reminded that the unit was sealed for the fourth time, she had a brainwave, remembering a piece of advice from her dad. ‘When dealing with jobsworths always ask them what the company policy is.’ She formulated the question in her mind. ‘What is the company policy for accessing ATMs with broken cameras?’

‘Let me check the manual.’ Five minutes later: ‘We’re supposed to refer that information to our security department in England.’

She punched the air. ‘Can I have that telephone number?’

‘Certainly, just a minute.’ The supervisor seemed inordinately happy to pass her onto somebody else. She came back ten seconds later. ‘The number is in the UK.’

Emily wrote it down, dialling as soon as she had rung off from India. She was immediately put through to the head of security, Brian Carter.

‘My name is DS Emily Parkinson of Greater Manchester Police, I’d like the footage from one of your security cameras, number 4768930 – 423.’

‘Why do you need it?’

She rolled her eyes. This was becoming annoying. ‘It could provide useful information for an investigation… a murder investigation,’ she added.

‘No problem.’

‘What?’

‘No problem. What was the number again?’

‘The camera is in a convenience store in Wythenshawe, number 4768930 – 423.’

‘OK. What do you need?’

‘Footage from two weeks ago – 21 July, from one to two p.m. On second thoughts, you’d better give me the whole day, just in case.’

‘OK. It’s one of the older machines with a separate camera. I’ll download it from the hard drive and send you a link if you give me your address. It’s going to be a big file, so I’ll compress it and send it in different packets.’

Emily gave him her work email.

‘It’s probably easier if I send it direct to your techies, otherwise it might get stuck in your server.’

‘I don’t have their email now as I’m at the convenience store.’

‘OK, I’ll send you my email and you can forward me the address later.’

‘That sounds too easy.’

‘I used to be a copper myself. We get lots of enquiries for CCTV footage from the ATMs, I’m afraid it’s not the best quality and the cameras are fixed.’

‘Well, it’s a long shot for us but if you don’t look, you don’t find.’

‘You sound like my ex-boss. Good luck with the investigation.’

The phone clicked off.

Finally something was going right. Now she had to convince the techies to look at it without letting Turnbull know.

She crossed her fingers. Easier said than done.

Chapter 42

Ridpath met the new assistant coroner, Helen Moore, as he was going into the Coroner’s Office and she was coming out.

‘Hi there, I wanted to have a chat since our meeting, but I haven’t seen you around much.’

‘I’m on secondment from GMP, and still have to do work there. How are you settling in?’

‘Not bad,’ she smiled and leant in towards him, ‘but between you, me and the lamppost, Mrs Challinor scares me a little, she’s so stern. Does she ever let her hair down?’

‘I’m sure she does, but not when she’s at work.’ He pointed up the steps. ‘I need to get in, I’m late again.’

‘I’m off for a coffee, do you want to come for one?’

‘Perhaps another time, Helen, I really need to go in.’

‘OK, no worries – but all work and no play makes Tom an awfully dull boy.’

Ridpath climbed the steps to the office. Was she flirting with him? Surely somebody must have