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

to me,’ said Karen. ‘That man is a serial abuser of women, even went to the trouble of going to Germany and buying a specialist piece of equipment, a product that is probably not available here, to assist him in doing precisely that, equipment that now has Ellie Wright’s blood all over it. How much more do we need than that?’

‘We need to check his alibi for Bel’s murder for a start,’ said Walter. ‘We’ll go and see him this morning.’

‘Do you want to bring him in?’ asked Mrs West.

‘No, not yet, ma’am, need a little bit more before we do that.’

‘How did you get on with Ronald Speight?’

Walter deferred to Karen and she recounted their meeting with Speight. Yes, he had known and met both women, and admitted visiting both women in their homes, so it would be no surprise if his DNA turned up there, and he also admitted to a sexual relationship with both, and yes, he wore size 10 shoes too, and it was also true that he had no alibi for the TODs on either women. On the other hand he had no known history of violence against women, or anyone else, and they hadn’t been able to come up with a motive. He’d also confirmed the baseball bat was Bel’s, it had previously been her father’s, and that it was kept to ward off possible burglars.

Walter jumped in. ‘He also knew that Ellie was a drug user, and after some pressure came up with an image of Ellie sitting in the pub with a known drug dealer, where he, Speight, imagined that Ellie was buying gear.’

‘Do we have a description of this guy?’ asked Jenny.

‘A vague one’ said Walter. ‘Tall, dark hair, clean cut.’

‘So,’ said an exasperated Mrs West. ‘Do we now have a prime suspect?’

‘Speight is the only one who we positively know knew both women,’ said Jenny. ‘That weighs heavy for me.’

‘The Mirror man for me,’ said Karen. ‘We have proved he is violent towards women, he has demonstrated that he does not care one bit about anyone else’s opinions, or feelings, just look at the way he has treated his beautiful wife and family. He went to Germany and bought equipment that can be used in torture, gear that has Ellie’s blood all over it, and it makes me wonder what exactly he did to that girl. And maybe, there were others too.’

‘Some people like excitement in the bedroom,’ said Gibbons. ‘It’s not unusual, and it could be nothing more than that.’

‘Yeah, but not in his own bedroom!’ shot back Karen. ‘That’s the point! He’s playing away from home, and spilling blood whilst doing so. For fuck’s sake, how much more excitement do you want?’

Gibbons grimaced and glanced away, maybe the sarge had a point.

‘We seem to be forgetting here the one man who has already been convicted of killing a woman,’ said Hector.

‘Flanagan?’ said Jenny.

‘Correct.’

‘Tagged,’ said Mrs West. ‘Both times.’

‘You know my views on that,’ said Hector.

‘Well, you’re wrong.’

‘We need to see Miro again,’ said Walter. ‘And we need to speak with the solicitor guy, Williams, too, and I’d also like to talk to Lena Freeman again. She might know more than she’s told us.’

‘You mean you think she’s holding back?’ said Mrs West.

‘Not necessarily, ma’am, just that she may know a little more about Belinda that she doesn’t think, or imagine, is in any way important. There could be something there.’

Mrs West nodded hard and said, ‘Get it done!’

Walter glanced at Hector and said, ‘You and Darren go and see Flanagan again, seeing as you have such a bee in your bonnet about him. See if you can get him to confess with tag tampering. He’d need advanced computer skills to do that, find out if he has such abilities, and after you have done that, go back to the pubs and flesh out this description on the drug dealer. Track that guy down. We want to talk to him.’

‘Sure, Guv,’ said Hector, and Gibbons nodded.

Walter again. ‘Jenny, you and Nicky, go and see Nesbitt and check his alibi for Bel Cooper, and do the same thing with Crocker, just to be on the safe side, and will everyone please remember that we have not yet identified and ruled out this Iain character, one of Bel’s five menfriends, and two others from the five are still totally missing too, so think on about that.’

‘Has Bel’s technology been broken into yet?’ asked Mrs West.

‘Not yet, ma’am,’ said Jenny, knowing that such a question would be asked.

‘Why not?’

‘Seems there is some kind of backlog delay, they have assured me it will be done by this afternoon.’

‘We have a potential double bloody murder inquiry here,’ she snapped. ‘That’s not good enough! Tell them I said so. And tell them to get a bloody move on. Today.... Or else!’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘Any questions?’ asked Karen.

No one had.

‘Let’s get to it,’ said Walter. ‘Time is slipping by, we don’t want the trail going cold.’

Karen grabbed her water and jacket and headed for the lift, and the garage down below, to grab a car before all the good ones had gone. The meeting broke up. It was half past nine.

‘Where to first?’ she said, as the Guv got in the car and scratched his cheek.

‘City centre, solicitors and travel agents. Two birds with one stone.’

Karen bobbed her head and eased the accelerator down, and the car cruised out into another dismal November day.

Twenty-Four 

The offices of Jones Rees & Wilbert were located in the ancient Rows, over an upmarket indie dress shop. Two entire floors of small queer shaped rooms, lots of paperwork, new office equipment, and that permanent smell of stationery being turned over, and quiet people with earnest faces and new glasses, and white skin and swept back hair, and a good supply of coffee and apples and bought in sandwiches, just like all the other solicitors offices across the kingdom. A pretty trainee showed Walter and Karen into Gareth Williams’s small odd