involvement on his part, if indeed there’d been any. I think I must have pulled a face because Knox shot me one of his trademark dirty looks reserved only for people who really pissed him off, but I was past caring. In my opinion, the whole thing was becoming a whitewash. If the Matthews case had been a straightforward one, like most murders, and hadn’t had any connections to the complicated morass of organized crime, then Knox would have been a lot more interested. Instead, he’d clearly decided that it was more hassle than it was worth, that the chances of a conviction were too negligible to waste time on. These days it was all about performance league tables. Something like this, particularly when the corpse belonged to a lowlife like Shaun Matthews, was always going to be put on the back-burner if there were other, easier crimes coming along that could be solved. That was the long and the short of it.
The meeting broke up at ten past ten and Knox, after doling out orders to various individuals and trying to solve a couple of minor grievances, one involving Boyd and Capper and an alleged sexist comment, called me into his office. Neither of us was in the best of moods and the sweltering heat in the office did little to help matters. Knox had two desk fans blasting away but all they did was push the hot air around the confines of the room.
‘Look, John, I know you’re pissed off because you don’t think things are moving as quickly as you’d like on this case, but you know how things are.’ I didn’t say anything. ‘I’m going to speak to DCI Peppard, DI Burley’s boss, later this morning to see what information we can get from them. If they pick up Jean Tanner, I’ll make sure we get the opportunity to question her about Matthews, and see what she may or may not know. We’ll also chase them to find out how McBride died and whether they’ve got any leads on who may have killed him.’
‘DI Burley wasn’t exactly helpful, sir.’
‘He can be very brash, I admit.’
‘He treated me like a criminal. We’re meant to be on the same side.’
Knox’s face reddened. He had the look of a man who’s been given the job of counsellor without actually wanting it. ‘It’s not like that. Burley’s territorial. He doesn’t like people, even fellow officers, muscling in on his patch.’
‘I was hardly muscling in. I was actually trying to help him.’
‘I’m sure you were, it’s just that that’s not how he interprets it. He’s not very good sometimes around younger officers. I think he thinks they’re upstarts.’ He gave a reassuring and vaguely patronizing smile as he said this — not that I thought there was anything particularly amusing about it. I continued to look at him stony- faced.
Seeing that he didn’t seem to be making much of an impression on his disgruntled charge, Knox changed tack. ‘Whichever way we look at it, Roy Fowler still remains for me the prime suspect. He of all people had a motive. Now, I’m not letting this inquiry go, no way. What we need to do is to look into Fowler’s background much more deeply because he is most definitely the key to all this.’ Warming to his theme in a way that had been conspicuously absent in the meeting earlier, he continued, occasionally banging his fist on the desk for emphasis. ‘He and Matthews were definitely involved in the drug dealing. It’s a lucrative business. I’m sure they fell out about it, and it’s very likely that that fall-out somehow led to his death. Why else would Fowler have disappeared? Unless he’s got something to hide. He’s been gone, what? Three, four days now. Which I would describe as highly irregular. And didn’t you and Berrin tell him not to go anywhere during the course of the inquiry?’ I told him we had. ‘So let’s concentrate on him. I want you to review the case notes, go back and talk to his associates, particularly staff members at the Arcadia, and Capper and Hunsdon are going to dig deeper into what he’s been up to in the past. What scams he was involved in, particularly this brothel business. This Heavenly Girls. That might give us some ideas. It’s time for some lateral thinking.’
‘My lateral thinking would be helped a great deal, sir, if I didn’t have to worry about a missing persons case as well.’
Knox sighed. ‘I know it’s not ideal, but you know the problems we’ve got with manpower. I’ve got to put bodies on that indecent assault yesterday. The media are already sniffing around. She’s a very pretty girl, and, worse than that, her parents are high-band council taxpayers with a lot of clout, so we’re going to need a fast result. No one wants an animal like that running loose, particularly when he’s doing everything possible to make his crime as high-profile as possible, so we’re going to have to show plenty of faces. I’ve also got the Drugs Squad breathing down my neck for help on some major surveillance they’re running. Operation Swift Strike it’s called, though swift it most certainly ain’t, and it’s likely to take people out of the loop for the next three or four days. You see what I’m saying?’
‘Of course I do, sir, and I appreciate the man-power problems. We’ve always got them. But you’re paring back the murder squad to an absolute minimum, and with Berrin off sick, I think I should really be concentrating my efforts on the case.’ I resisted the urge to add, ‘You see what I’m saying?’ I still wanted to make DI again after all, and I’d more than made my point today.
‘This is very much a routine one, John, and it shouldn’t take you long. The bloke’s ex-wife phoned in this morning, says she hasn’t heard from him in days, and that he’s missed two family functions which is apparently not like him at all.’ He gave me the standard look of weary scepticism which greeted any family members’ description of someone’s actions as being ‘not like him at all’. ‘But the point is, he’s a big bloke, an ex-con and ex-soldier who works as a freelance bodyguard, so he’s not likely to have come to much harm. He’s probably just gone off somewhere for a few days but I want you to give it a quick once-over. Apparently, he does most of his work for a company called Tiger Solutions.’
I snorted. ‘What sort of name is that?’
‘A very foolish one. His ex says she’s already contacted them and they haven’t seen him for a week or two themselves, but I’d like you to speak to them when you’ve got a moment, and then give the ex a call and tell her what you’ve found out. If you can do it in the next couple of days it would be a big help.’
I knew there was no point in arguing. ‘Sure, I’ll do that.’
‘Your hard work’s appreciated you know, John,’ he said, fixing me with one of his managerial looks. ‘It all counts in your favour, I want you to know that, and I’m keen for you to make progress here. But do me a favour, eh? DI Capper told me about yesterday with Neil Vamen. Don’t go talking to him about anything unless you’ve got solid evidence implicating him, and you’ve checked it through with me.’ I nodded, and he let it go. ‘Now, remember, this missing persons case is very much a side issue, so concentrate on Matthews, and I’ll keep you informed of my discussions with DCI Peppard. And let’s try looking at it from some new angles. Lateral thinking, that’s what we need.’
I got to my feet and said I’d get on to things straight away. Thinking that Knox had probably never had a lateral thought in his whole life.
When I got back to my desk, my mobile was ringing. I didn’t recognize the number but picked up anyway. ‘Gallan.’
‘Hello, Mr Gallan,’ said a pleasant, youthful voice I didn’t know. ‘It’s Asif Malik here, SO7.’
‘Hello, Asif. Thanks for getting back to me.’
‘No problem. What is it I can do for you?’
‘I’m involved in a murder inquiry which may have a link with the area you cover, and I wonder if I could pick your brains about it for a few minutes. As you’ll appreciate, it’s not something I can talk about over the phone. Do you think we could meet up for half an hour? I’ll come to you.’
‘Can you tell me who it’s regarding, just so I know I’m the person you should be talking to?’
For some reason, I felt impelled to whisper into the phone. ‘The Holtzes, and particularly Neil Vamen.’
There was a short silence at the other end. Then, ‘I’m the right person. How about Wednesday?’
‘Fine.’
‘I’ll meet you at the Soul of Naples restaurant. It’s Italian.’ Like it’d be anything else. ‘That all right for you? It’s up near me.’
I laughed. ‘I’m usually limited to a sandwich on the run, so anything above that’s a bonus.’
‘Well, this place is good. I’ll be there at midday.’
‘Thanks. I appreciate it.’
He gave me the address and some basic directions, then rang off.
For a few seconds, I sat there staring at the mobile, hoping that somewhere among the morass of information Malik and his colleagues had undoubtedly gathered on the Holtzes there’d be something that would stop this case ending up in the growing ranks of the unsolveds.
At that point, however, I was not feeling optimistic.
