Deadly Intent

checking it out.' Anna looked at him. 'Can you just wait for the briefing, Phil? You'll get everything I have. If you want to talk to Gordon, he can give you the information on the boat, which I don't have.''Too fucking right we need a briefing: we've got four dead bodies, and one an ex-cop. Instead of working on his case, you are running around on some crazy investigation into a guy that even the Drug Squad thinks is long dead. If he isn't, he's not likely to be getting his leg over a hard bitch in Wimbledon or hiding out in a barn in Oxfordshire!''That hard bitch cashed four million nine months ago! And if you haven't tracked down the man she calls her ex-partner, Anthony Collingwood, then bring it up at the briefing.''What's he got to do with the murders?''Because, as you well know, it is one of the aliases used by Fitzpatrick. Phil, if no one can find the bastard, then it could be for a bloody good reason!' Her desk phone rang and she reached for it. 'Can you give me fifteen minutes?'Phil slammed out of her office as she picked up the phone.'Hi there, it's me—it's Pete.'She sat down. She really didn't want to talk to him.'I've got a result for you, my darling.''I need one, Pete. What have you got?''The soil particles—and you may ask how this has come through so quickly; it is because yours truly has been pressing for details. Okay, are you ready for this?''I am.''The Mitsubishi, D'Anton's post office van, and even my dear old Morgan all have matching soil particles. Not one hundred percent confirmed—you know what wankers they are, far be it from them to commit to anything on paper yet—but I'm telling you, and it's not just mud, it's also horseshit! This made it even easier: shit is shit ... Hello, are you still there?'Anna leaned back in her chair and grinned. 'I am, and thank you.''Do I deserve dinner tonight?' 'Maybe you do, but can I see how the rest of the day pans out?' 'Okay, call me back.'Anna said she would and replaced the receiver. She got her notes together and, with knots in her stomach, because she knew this was not going to be easy, made her way to the incident room. The entire team were gathered. Anna went to have a quiet talk with Gordon. He had made no further progress in tracking down who had actually chartered the boat to Carlo Simonetti, the name they had from Spain. He had also been unable to, as yet, track down any crew members, but the shipping registry office was confident they could give more details eventually. Gordon had some information about the boat being sold in Florida, but again lacked any confirmation as to who had bought it. He had not, as yet, listed his findings on the incident board. Anna said he should mark up what he had so far before the briefing. Phil was sitting, thumbing through his notebook, and DC Pamela Meadows was writing up on the board the name Anthony Collingwood: no known address, not on any voting register, but a passport had been issued to someone of that name in 1985. Anna joined her, and asked if she would also check with passport control all the other aliases used by Alexander Fitzpatrick. Phil glanced up, as if he had overheard Fitzpatrick's name, then took a deep breath and looked back down to his notebook. 'Okay, everyone. Can we kick olf with you, Phil?' Phil went over his dealings with the Drug Squad. He had been given short shrift over the possibility they had 'overlooked' the dealers at the squat. He listed the number of times the police had been called to the estate, and how many arrests had been dealt with; he then reiterated the problems they had encountered. No sooner was a drug squat raided and boarded up than another reopened in another empty flat. He did not believe that either the local police, or anyone from the Drug Squad, had turned a blind eye to the dealing in the flat where Brandon was killed. They had now succeeded in tracing virtually all the vehicles listed by Jeremy Webster, though a few more interviews were outstanding. 'The delay in tracking these vehicles, and owner/drivers,' Phil continued, 'is due to the fact that three were stolen; two more had no tax or insurance, and were used by kids for joyriding.' Two motorbike riders had also been traced, but again, neither had any connection to the murder of Frank Brandon.Anna looked at the incident board and then back to Phil. 'We still do not have an ID on the dealers from the squat. Somebody has to have known them, so we need that covered.'The rest of the team gave a rundown of what their allocated workload had produced. They now had confirmation that the still-unidentified man, who they presumed had accompanied Frank Brandon, had not presented at any of the hospitals suffering from a gunshot wound or graze. The diary of Donny Petrozzo had been checked and all names taken from it interviewed but, as most of them were legitimate clients who had simply used Donny as a chauffeur, they had been eliminated. Pamela repeated that she had not been able to trace Anthony Collingwood and had no luck from telephone directories or voting registers. She was now proceeding to check with passport control all the aliases used by Alexander Fitzpatrick, as they knew that Collingwood was one of them. Phil almost snorted, only just managing to restrain himself.Anna waited until everyone had finished, then did a Langton pause before she began.'Frank Brandon's widow withdrew four million in cash some months ago. According to her financial adviser, David Rushton, she was advised not to, as it would mean a considerable loss of premiums, but still she went ahead. She then attempted to withdraw another large sum but this time, acting on Rushton's advice, decided not to.The dates for the withdrawal and attempted withdrawal coincide with her marriage to Frank Brandon—which I believe to be a marriage of some kind of convenience. Frank's life insurance policy was arranged by Rushton;Julia paid the premiums.' Anna paused for another moment, then continued, aware that the team already knew most of what she was saying, but she wanted to underline its importance. 'Frank, as we all know, was murdered at the drug squat. He was accompanied by someone we have been unable to identify—but we do know they drove there in a black Mitsubishi jeep. This jeep featured again, when the body of Donny Petrozzo was discovered in the back of it.The same vehicle, as you can see, features again: this time driven by Julius D'Anton in the village of Shipston on Stour.'Anna waited as they all took in the links on the board.'D'Anton's body was subsequently found in the Thames. It has been ascertained that he did not drown; we are still waiting on the results from toxicology to give us the precise cause of death. We are also waiting for the same department to give us details on how Donny Petrozzo died. We do know that Stanley Leymore was shot—and here we go with the links: the bullet that killed Stanley has been matched to the bullets that killed Frank Brandon.'She gestured to Stanley Leymore's name, and the red arrow that linked it to the black Mitsubishi. They had found papers in his garage that meant he had sold it; they knew the vehicle had been originally stolen from Brighton.Anna pointed to the post office van used by D'Anton. 'Okay, here is another link: we have traces of the same horseshit ...'Phil muttered, showing his boredom at the repetition.She turned to stare at him. 'I mean real horseshit, Phil: the same dung, for want of a better word, has been matched on the post office van, and the Mitsubishi—and, guess what?' Anna drew an arrow from the two vehicles to the names of Honour and Damien Nolan. 'Their home—Honey Farm! So why was the Mitsubishi there? And did D'Anton—who, coincidental^, had been at Balliol with none other than Alexander Fitzpatrick—by accident approach the farm and perhaps recognize Fitzpatrick hiding out there?'Anna placed down her marker pen as the team muttered. She continued by saying that, although the Drug Squad found her hypotheses about Fitzpatrick almost laughable, she had not backed down. Even if he was at pension age, she believed he had returned to the UK.Anna next discussed the painting of the yacht at Honour's farmhouse: it had been taken down, but not before Gordon had photographed it and subsequently traced it. They did not yet know, however, if the yacht was Fitzpatrick's, nor whether he could have been in England in 1997.Anna next turned back to the widow, Julia Brandon. 'She has two children: she has admitted both were by IVF treatment. We have no named father. She insists her ex-partner was Anthony Collingwood; as we all know, we have no trace on him.'Anna was in full stride. She now began using another colored pen to arrow the next set of links. 'Julia Brandon is Honour Nolan's sister. Honour denied ever knowing Fitzpatrick, and yet there was a painting of the yacht Dare Devil at the farm.'Phil interrupted. 'You know, I see all these links—in fact, it's looking like a tube map right now—but I can't see how this all adds up to a string of four murders: an ex-cop, a chauffeur, a crooked car dealer, and a junkie antique dealer. I mean, if this Fitzpatrick is here—which I do not believe for a minute—what does it give us? Why is he here? Why would this infamous drug trafficker be visiting a shithole of a squat in Chalk Farm?'Anna could feel her exasperation building. 'Phil, I don't know why Frank Brandon or Alexander Fitzpatrick was there. I am trying to bloody find out. I have said from day one that maybe, just maybe, it's not anyone in the squat they wanted-—it was something they had and that something, whatever the fuck it was, links all the dead men together and may, ultimately, link to Fitzpatrick.'It was at this point that Langton walked in. Anna almost had heart failure.Cunningham, who accompanied him, threaded her way between the tables and chairs to the front. 'In case any of you don't know, this is Detective Chief Superintendent James Langton.'Langton nodded as he unbuttoned his navy pinstriped jacket. He took it off and hung it over the back of a chair, then loosened his tie before turning to Cunningham with his hand out. She passed him a file. Langton coughed, and opened it. 'We now have a toxicology report. Donny Petrozzo was killed by a massive overdose, as was Julius D'Anton. The same drug killed both victims, linking them directly: Fentanyl. For those of you who don't know, it is a very potent, fast-acting, opiate pain medicine, mostly used in hospital emergency wards and not, thank Christ, as yet on the streets. Fentanyl is used by the microgram, it's that potent; unlike morphine, which is used in milligrams. So you understand what we are dealing with!' He grinned. 'Cocaine gives you a high for maybe an hour, heroin ditto; Fentanyl gives you no more than five to ten minutes but, because it's so strong, addicts are starting to play around with it. The U.S. have begun to get feedback on the use of this