A Killing Coast

Horton sat forward keenly, as Gaye handed him a photograph of the dress and one of the label enhanced. Cantelli peered over Horton’s shoulder.

Gaye said, ‘As you can see. It looks like the name Thea.’

Horton’s eyes connected with Gaye’s for a moment as they both remembered the case that had brought Horton into contact with Thea Carlsson, the first woman he’d got close to since his marriage had ended. But it had finished before it had even begun. Thea had returned to her home country of Sweden and had given him no indication that she’d ever come back. With regret he’d been forced to put her out of his mind, but it was Thea who had urged him to continue with the search for his mother and it was largely down to her that he’d made the request to see his social services case files and made contact with Adrian Stanley. Horton wondered if Stanley had managed to say anything more about Jennifer.

‘What’s that?’ Cantelli asked, pointing to more lettering that had been enhanced. ‘It looks like an “O” and an “R”.’

‘I think it’s the name of the label or designer. I’m no fashion expert, you only have to look at me to see that,’ she smiled, indicating her jeans and T-shirt, ‘but the design reminded me of dresses I’ve seen in photographs of my mother. I’d say it dates from the 1970s and that whoever owned it had some money during that decade. They’ve also kept the dress somewhere relatively dry and dust free because it was in good condition.’

If the dress hadn’t belonged to Abigail Lisle then could it have belonged to someone who had gone missing years ago, or who had been killed; a woman the killer had a connection with and so too did all three men: Lisle, Yately and Hazleton. Horton thought he’d check reports of missing women for the 1970s when he returned to the station. It wasn’t something he wished to delegate for fear the background on his personal life would be exposed and he certainly didn’t want DI bloody Dennings trampling all over his past.

Cantelli’s voice broke through his thoughts. ‘I think my sister, Isabella, wore clothes like this. Could I have photographs of the dress and I’ll ask her expert opinion?’

‘Of course; I’ve also emailed it and that photograph of the label to Sergeant Trueman. Hopefully your fashion expert will be able to give you more information.’

Horton hoped so too. He said, ‘How does Hazleton’s death compare to Yately’s?’

‘The method is similar. If you remember Yately was also struck on the back of the head, but the weapon used in his case was much larger, about seven inches in diameter, and he regained consciousness. A single blow to the head is rarely enough to kill someone unless the victim is unfortunate enough to have a thin skull, but several blows can. And it doesn’t always render them unconscious either, but it can make them dazed and confused long enough to be tied up, submerged and finally left to drown, as in Yately’s case. This latest victim was much older, and his cranium considerably thinner, so the same strength of blow could have rendered him unconscious, then your killer finished him off with a few more blows. There’s not much more I can tell you except the victim was very fit and healthy for a man of his age. No signs of living a life of excesses, and no major surgery, scars or tattoos and the like.’

‘Fit enough to climb a steep track?’ Horton asked, thinking of the one that led up from the small bay below the house.

‘Definitely. Sound heart muscles, no clogged arteries or lungs. I doubt he ever smoked and his liver was in good condition.’

Horton rose. He was about to thank her when she said, ‘Are you heading back to Portsmouth? I could do with a lift. Sergeant Elkins has been called away to investigate a boat theft at the Hamble.’

Horton willingly agreed. ‘If Cantelli feels sick on the ferry he’ll have his own personal physician on board.’

‘I might need one,’ muttered Cantelli.

She asked them to wait for her outside while she gave instructions about the body. In the car Horton rang Trueman and asked about the dress.

‘It went to the fashion expert, Dr Louise Adams, this morning.’

‘Give me her number. I’ll call her and see if she’s got anything.’

‘With pleasure. It’ll be one thing off my desk.’

‘That bad, eh?’ Horton rarely heard Trueman complain.

‘Worse. The ACC keeps popping in to ask how the investigation is going, and if I’m not mistaken there might be another murder very soon and very close to home.’

Horton winced. ‘I expect Dean’s trying to impress his new boss. Probably giving him half hourly updates. Have you got anything more on Hazleton’s background?’

Horton nodded at Dr Clayton as she slipped into the back seat. Cantelli started up and headed for the ferry terminal.

‘His father was a fisherman and his mother a housewife,’ Trueman answered. ‘Victor Hazleton was their only child and he went to the local school in Ventnor.’

So no inherited wealth. Perhaps he’d won the pools. But Trueman said not. ‘His bank statements only go back a year but I’ve been given access to his account. He has the state pension but no private pension, and no pension from Wallingford and Chandler, but there have been several large sums of money going in over the years.’

‘How large?’

‘Ranging from a thousand pounds to forty thousand pounds.’

Horton gave a low whistle. ‘Sounds like blackmail.’

‘It would if the sums of money started off small and got larger but they don’t. From what I can see, and we’ve still got some way to go analysing the accounts, they start off large, then the amounts fluctuate. And there’s no corresponding payment going out of Lisle’s or Yately’s accounts. We’ve also got some interesting information on Hazleton’s house. He purchased it in 1990 for one hundred and twenty thousand pounds, which was a lot of money then, when the average price for a house was about sixty thousand. And he paid cash for it.’

‘That’s a fair sum for an office manager to cough up.’ So where did he get the money? The late Harold Jenkins’ estate? Or had he been correct when he wondered if Hazleton had been involved in a high-level smuggling operation all these years?

Horton said, ‘Who handled the conveyance on his house?’ He doubted Hazleton would have used his old firm because if the money had been come by illegally Hazleton wouldn’t have wanted them to know about it. Unless Lisle had done the conveyance and hadn’t asked questions at the time but had since grown curious. Or could Lisle and Hazleton have been into something illegal together? But if they had then Lisle certainly hadn’t lived the rich lifestyle.

Trueman said, ‘A legal firm in Ryde, no longer in practice, and neither is the estate agent he bought the house from. The previous owner is deceased.’

‘Not called Markham or Jenkins were they?’ Horton asked, thinking of that probate file Cantelli had perused.

‘No. Deacon. We’re checking through the telephone records for Hazleton, Yately and Lisle. There’s no record of either Yately or Lisle telephoning Hazleton or vice versa, but there are records of calls between Yately and Lisle, with the last call from Yately to Lisle made the Monday before he died. It was only a short call of two minutes’ duration. Lisle’s mobile phone is pay-as-you-go so we can’t find out who he’s called or who’s called him. The phone is still dead and it hasn’t got GPS so we can’t trace it.’

Horton swiftly told Trueman about the archive box file they’d retrieved with Wallingford and Chandler’s permission. ‘You’d better tell the Super in case Dennings conveniently forgets. The names in the files will need to be checked, especially the late Harold Jenkins’ estate. Was Hazleton ever married?’

‘No, and there’s no personal correspondence in the files we’ve got from his house.’

And there didn’t seem to be anyone around who had really known Hazleton, especially when he’d been a young man.

‘There are also no receipts or invoices for the antiques in his house.’

And Horton couldn’t see why he should throw those away when they would add value to the items, unless Hazleton had come by them illegally.

‘Is the Super there?’

‘Yes.’

On the ferry, Horton finally managed to get hold of Uckfield. ‘I’d like to bring in an expert to tell us something about the antiques and paintings in Hazleton’s house,’ he said as soon as Uckfield grunted a reply. ‘I know someone