Syn (The Merseyside Crime Series Book 2) by Malcolm Hollingdrake (best authors to read TXT) 📕

‘And Carla, what did she offer?’

‘What nobody else could. CACI treatment. It was her thing.’

‘Thanks. As I say, we’ll keep you fully informed.’

She knew that the chance of their locating a body was far more likely than finding Carlos alive. They too would be very much aware of that. Now she needed to identify the two missing characters from the notebook.

Chapter 25

April was perching on a desk in the Incident Room, in conversation with Mason. Skeeter dropped the notebook onto the desk and tapped it with her finger. Both Mason and April turned to look.

‘Found by Briggs in what was Carla’s treatment room. If you recall she did foreigners one night a week, as did Nicola. Supposedly it’s some new-fangled beauty treatment, and she was teaching Briggs the techniques. This little book might just shed more light on the type of treatment she was providing or selling. Nicola had an evening too, but she worked on nails so I doubt many men came in for that.’

Mason turned to look at her. ‘Sex?’

‘Study the initials. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.’ Skeeter grinned.

‘Bill Rodgers, Cameron Jennings, possibly, and could that be Gaskell, the flat owner?’ April scanned the board until she located his name. ‘Craufurd?’

‘Just two to go to win the speed boat.’ Skeeter mimicked a popular television presenter.

Mason laughed. ‘Didn’t think you were old enough, Warlock.’

Kasum moved across to the group. ‘We have positive IDs on both from the Sir Henry. They ate there last night. Paid cash. One of the staff believes she’s seen both of them before, but not together. One, she thinks, is called Frank, but she was not one hundred percent certain.’

April let her fingers open the page showing the initials FL.

‘That’s not all,’ Kasum continued. ‘We have a contact from Coastline Taxis. One of their drivers picked up two men at the entrance to Scarisbrick Avenue at about ten fifteen last night. He recalls one was Carl, but that’s all he can remember. Dropped them at the end of Rotten Row. There was no specific address. The driver said the one who paid told him he lived just down the road.’

‘The name Carl could easily be confused with Carlos. You wouldn’t always match a short English chap with the name, Carlos.’ She nodded at Kasum. ‘Thanks, Kasum. Go with Skeeter. You’re going to bring in Craufurd Gaskell. There’s to be no ifs or buts. He’ll not argue with either of you, I feel sure. Arrest him if he does and caution him.’

‘For what?’ Kasum asked, uncertain if a crime had been committed.

‘Obstructing the police in the line of their enquiries … Christ! Make something up!’

Simon Taylor answered his phone; he could see the call was from Craufurd.

‘Did you get contacted by the coppers this morning at some God forsaken time?’ The voice was tinged with anger and a hint of fear.

‘Indeed, Craufurd, and to make matters worse, they raped my bloody phone before my very eyes. Told me it was fucking legal. I could hear the poor thing protesting. You, too, from the panic in your voice. Still have the sordid movies, do we?’

There was silence from the other end of the phone but he could hear the intake of breath. ‘Well?’

‘Fortunately, no. Transferred them on your sound advice. They’re on separate memory sticks here in the flat but they won’t be after today.’

‘Those sordid movies of you and Carla. Taking advantage of a drunk. You should be ashamed. You’re old enough to be her father!’

‘I’m not, and she consented on most occasions. Besides, the mistake was showing you!’ Craufurd snapped defensively.

‘You had to after I found the hidden spy camera secreted in what was their bedroom linked to your phone. I could have ruined you and taken you to the cleaners, man.’

There was silence. ‘It was off when you moved in and I unfortunately forgot to remove it. I made a mistake. That’s what jealousy and infatuation does to a man of my age as you should know. Besides, you received compensation for the error in the form of rent-free accommodation for the duration. Let’s come back to today’s intrusion. I was informed that the person committing the murders was supposedly at one or more of the parties held here in the flat. They’ve added a picture of the guy who’s gone missing and the killer, although they don’t refer to him as that. However, they’ve asked the public not to approach them but to call 999 if they see either. I don’t recognise him. Take a look. Ring me if you do.’

‘Maybe he was on one of your videos?’

Craufurd quickly hung up.

The Incident Room was buzzing with activity. The photographs received from both Taylor and Gaskell were being filtered and the relevant images taken at the parties were being processed. It was during this procedure that an mp4 was located. It was the only one. It stood out like a sore thumb within the files. To those officers trained in IT investigation, this proved unusual. Considering most people have a phone that will shoot video, many store them within their files. They were usually street incidents or concerts. The eight-minute movie was immediately dispatched to April. Discarding what she was doing she opened the file and watched. It showed Carla lying on the settee in what she presumed was Gaskell’s apartment. She was naked and appeared to be asleep. Moments later Gaskell appeared. He too was naked.

Brian sat on the chair to the back of the garage, the same chair to which Carla had been taped. Silver gaffer tape secured his arms and his legs; a knotted rag filled his mouth. Lloyd had to admit that from a distance, and in the hazy light, it could well have been Carla.

‘Do you recognise the car? You saw Carla in it when you were running. I noticed you, in fact, she pointed you out. The police have been looking for it. In the