‘Christ, he kept up using Daniel Matthews’s name for years!’ Paul exclaimed.
‘Maybe he was planning to do a runner for that length of time,’ Williams suggested.
Anna disagreed. ‘Maybe he was planning to leave Tina and London to live here, but something changed his mind, and it had to have happened around the time he arranged to rent out his house.’
She looked out of the window. ‘Where are we going now?’
‘I thought you would like to have a coffee and meet the team at the station.’
‘I would, but do you have access to Sammy Marsh’s place? You said he’d upped and left it as well.’
‘Yes, and legally, as he’s wanted, it’s still in our possession. You want to go there now?’
‘Yes, if you don’t mind.’
Williams gave her a sidelong glance and then put in a call for an officer to be at Sammy’s flat with the keys.
It took almost three-quarters of an hour to get to the flat, which was in a modern block with small balconies overlooking the beach, and lock-up garages to one side. The place looked in very good order. Williams parked, and as they headed towards the entrance a patrol car drew up with DC Harry Took driving. He didn’t get out, but dangled the keys out of the open window. Williams took them, and they headed into the apartment block.
‘Sammy also had numerous rented flophouses, plus the caravan,’ he told them, ‘but he bought this place a few years ago. We’ve checked out all the other places and they’ve been let out since he disappeared – apart from the caravan obviously, because it was trashed.’
‘So Mrs Flowers also cleaned for Sammy?’ Anna mused.
‘Apparently a few years ago she did, but like I said, he was always late paying her and the rentals were always left in a terrible state.’
Williams used an entry code that opened the glassfronted reception door. There were eight flats and Sammy’s was the large one on the top floor, which they reached via a small lift. Anna was impressed. It was all well decorated, and Williams observed it would have cost about four hundred grand, and was probably worth even more now. Most of the tenants were retired elderly couples who lived in the flats all year round, but a few moved out and rented their homes for the summer, to make some money.
Williams used two keys to open up the front door. There was no hallway; it opened into a huge lounge with spectacular views across the bay.
‘It’s pretty much left as we found it,’ Williams said.
‘How did you get the keys?’
‘From the caretaker. He doesn’t live on the premises so couldn’t give us any details about who came and went.’
Anna looked around the tasteful room. There were huge floral-fabric sofas and matching armchairs, a glass- topped coffee table and a small bar close to the sliding doors to the balcony.
‘Best place I’ve ever seen a drug-dealer live in,’ she said.
‘Yeah, compared with the other shitholes. He had places all over the main beaches that he rented, mostly just bedsits. You can see from here, the boat is moored at the dock in front of the property.’
The boat was covered in a tarpaulin. It was amongst numerous others and yet the size of it was impressive.
‘Cost two hundred grand and is very fast.’
Drawers had been left open in a fitted cabinet.
‘You find anything of interest in there?’ Anna asked.
‘Nope. Lot of bills for his furniture, and wait until you see the kitchen – cost a fortune and looks like it was never used.’
They looked into the high-tech, very well-equipped kitchen. As Williams had said, it didn’t look as if anyone had ever used it. New crockery filled the glassfronted cabinets and some of the cutlery still had the prices attached.
‘He must have come into a lot of cash to own a place like this,’ Paul said, looking around.
‘How many bedrooms?’ Anna wondered.
‘Just the one. Follow me.’ Williams led them to one side of the immense lounge and pushed open a door. The room had white carpet, white walls, the bed was unmade and clothes were strewn around with the wardrobe doors left open. The clothes were mostly designer jeans and flash T-shirts, rows of trainers and boots with Cuban heels, and there was even a drawer dedicated to thick gold bracelets and chains.
‘Left in a hurry, wouldn’t you say?’ Williams said as Anna fingered the heavy gold bracelets. There were a few empty boxes and a gold Rolex watch.
‘You know how much these cost?’ Paul asked, opening the case.
‘We do, and . . .’ He turned as Anna was drawing the sheet away from the bed.
‘Have Forensic checked out the bedlinen?’ she asked.
Williams shook his head.
‘We would like this done, if it’s possible, to check for any DNA.’
‘I can organise that, but basically we’re only just beginning to consider that he might have been bumped off. If he hasn’t been, I’d like to get my hands on him. I told you we found a few fake passports – good ones.’
They opened the bedside drawers, which were full of gay pornography and lubricants. There were also numerous DVDs with lurid titles. Paul entered the en-suite bathroom and after a moment he came out and gestured for Anna to join him.
There was a mirrored cabinet beside the huge Jacuzzi bath with gold dolphin-shaped taps and a glass screen around it. White towels were stacked on a shelf beside the bath and hung on gold rails. Paul had opened the cabinet to reveal fake tanning lotions, bubble bath, bath oils, shampoos and conditioners.
‘What?’ Anna asked, looking around the bathroom.
Paul held up the shampoo container. It was identical to the one shown to them by Mrs Flowers. Tina’s Salon labels were on the shampoos, the conditioners and massage oils.
Anna turned to Williams. ‘This is confirmation that Alan Rawlins knew your drug-dealer.’
Chapter Seventeen
Coffee was served with fresh pastries in the Newquay incident room. The pilot had called in to say that they could take a flight in the helicopter to get an aerial view of all the various beaches, and Paul couldn’t wait to pass on the good news to Anna, who’d been busy ringing Helen.
‘Good – although you might be on your own, Paul. I need to do a few enquiries and without Williams breathing down my neck.’
‘Oh, right.’ Paul was puzzled. He hadn’t felt that Williams had been anything other than helpful.
Anna was introduced to everyone and accepted her coffee gratefully as four members of the Drug Squad also joined the team. With one eye on the wall clock she listened as they outlined their investigation into the whereabouts of Sammy Marsh. They were certain that over the past eighteen months, Sammy had joined forces with some heavy hitters. The boat, the flash apartment and his cars all flagged up that Sammy was moving from smalltime dealing along the coasts to large amounts of cocaine and heroin. The Senior Investigation Officer from the Drug Squad stood by a wall map of the beaches earmarked as Sammy’s playground. He was a burly six-footer who introduced himself as Ted Brock and he had the same tough, no-nonsense attitude as Williams.
‘Sammy has been well-known to us over a long period, but it is only in the last few weeks that we’ve had some factual evidence against him. The three teenagers all dying of heroin overdoses have been DCI Williams’s priority, but obviously linked with us. We have now been able to learn that each one of the victims was supplied with drugs by Sammy or one of his henchmen. They scored the heroin from different locations, but it’s taken time to get the poor kids formally identified. The Forensic Department have also ascertained that the heroin had been cut with ketamine and was very pure, so we’d back up DCI Williams to get Sammy charged with murder.’
‘But if they scored the heroin themselves and injected themselves,’ objected Anna, ‘won’t it be difficult to make such a charge?’
