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

down on his tongue and saying, ‘It’s still important you see this footage, boss.’

She waved him into her office. He placed his laptop on her desk. ‘What you’re about to see are images taken from the camera of an ATM located on a road close to the park.’

He played the footage, seeing David Carsley again in his United shirt, the white car stopping, both talking for a moment before the boy entered the car and it drove off.

‘Play it again,’ Claire Trent ordered.

Ridpath replayed the footage.

‘Is this David Carsley?’

‘We think so, boss.’

‘You think so or you know so?’

‘The clothing matches the description given by his father and his brother, later found beside the body. The video isn’t so clear on his face but I’m certain this is David Carsley.’

‘But the timecode on the video says twelve thirty. David Carsley didn’t leave the house with his brother until one p.m.’

‘I know, boss, I don’t understand it either. But Turnbull needs to see this.’

‘You haven’t shown him yet?’

‘I thought it best to show you first as you asked me to check the investigation.’

‘Where did the footage come from?’

‘An ATM mounted on the outside wall of a convenience store.’

‘How did we miss it?’

‘I don’t know, boss, but there’s more.’ Ridpath clicked on the next clip. ‘This is taken from the front cab of a tram going into the city centre at 6.23 on the morning the body was found.’

He played the footage.

‘It looks like the same white car.’

‘That’s what we thought, boss. We’re trying to narrow down the make and model.’

‘Where was this footage taken?’

‘South of the river, close to the Sale Water Park tram stop. There’s a pub with a car park at the end of the road, next to the river.’

‘Jackson’s Boat.’

‘You know it?’

She nodded.

‘It’s on the opposite side of the river to where the body was found at Chorlton Ees, but there’s a bridge next to the pub and it’s only a five-minute walk along a quiet riverside path to the place where the body was dumped.’

Claire Trent’s eyes widened. ‘But the boundary of our search was the river…’

‘Exactly, boss.’

‘Have you checked CCTV in the pub’s car park?’

‘It’s not working.’

‘Just our luck.’ She thought for a moment before leaning forward and depressing the button on her intercom. ‘Angie, can you ask Paul Turnbull to come and see me?’

Chapter 54

‘You’ve got to be shittin’ me.’

Turnbull was not happy, the deep blue vein in his bald head was throbbing. Ridpath could almost feel how angry his blood was.

‘I am not “shitting” you, DCI Turnbull. I asked DI Ridpath to take a look at the investigation, see if there was anything we’d missed.’

‘You got him to check up on me?’

Claire Trent was silent for a while, staring down at her blotter, before looking up again, the steely determination in her eyes noticed by Molly Wright plainly evident. ‘Your investigation had stalled, DCI Turnbull…’

‘I had—’

She held up her hand to stop him speaking. ‘I wanted someone who hadn’t been involved to look at it with a fresh pair of eyes. DI Ridpath had been away…’

‘On sick leave,’ Turnbull sneered.

‘Yes, on sick leave. He was coming fresh to the investigation and has turned up two interesting pieces of evidence which you missed.’

‘That…’ he said, pointing to the laptop, ‘a fuzzy video with a child who may or may not be David Carsley getting into a car. A video which I’d like to remind you has a timecode thirty minutes before our victim left his house. How do you explain that, DI Ridpath?’

Ridpath hesitated before finally saying, ‘I can’t.’

‘Because if this is David Carsley, which I doubt, it means both Michael Carsley and Daniel Carsley are lying about the time the boys left the house. Why would they both lie? Tell me that, Ridpath?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘And as for the same white car being seen in the vicinity of the place where the body was dumped, it could be any white car. Somebody could have gone for an early morning jog or they could have been dogging in the pub car park. That area is miles away across the river.’

‘It’s not miles away, it’s a five-minute walk.’

‘You still have to cross the river. Why do that when you can park on the street like all the other walkers?’

‘Because the man knows the area. He knows the dog walkers in Chorlton Ees park on the street and he’s aware it’s only a five-minute walk from Jackson’s Boat to our dump site. It’s also no coincidence that Sale Water Park and Wythenshawe Park are on the same tram line.’

‘Now you’re clutching at straws. Half the suburbs of Manchester are on that tram line.’

‘Did you look south of the river in the area of the pub?’

‘Well, no. Why would we? The river is a natural barrier.’

‘Not if there’s a bridge across it.’

‘Don’t take that tone with me, DI Ridpath, I’m still your superior officer.’

‘Enough,’ Claire Trent suddenly shouted. ‘You two will have to learn to work together. We have a murder we need to solve. Is that clear?’

‘Yes, boss,’ said Ridpath.

Turnbull stayed silent.

‘Well, Paul?’

‘I still think Michael Carsley did it. Last night, he was close to confessing, I could feel it in my water.’

‘When do you have to release him?’

‘At four p.m. this afternoon.’

‘I’ll authorise an extension if I have to, but only if it is totally necessary.’

‘I’m sure he’ll confess soon. The evidence against him is mounting up. Now I have to ask him why he lied about the time… if he did lie.’

‘OK, keep the pressure on. I’d like a confession before four if possible. Ridpath, I want you to follow up on what you’ve discovered…’

‘But I’m the Senior Investigating Officer, and I should be—’

Once again, Claire Trent held up her hands to stop him speaking. ‘Nothing has changed, Paul, you are still the SIO. Ridpath is following alternative lines of enquiry, that is all.’

‘But…’

‘I’ve made my decision, Paul.’ She dismissed him by turning to Ridpath. ‘We have only one day left to resolve this. What’s your