the car park. Curves round past the old Alfred Watkins house into the Cathedral grounds. We might assume that, after killing the Marinescu sisters, the attackers ran across East Street, into the alley, going through the bag as they went.’
‘Why take only one bag?’ Karen Dowell said. ‘If the other was left in East Street and there was a few quid left in the purse…’
‘I don’t think we ever really considered this was about robbery, Karen, I’m just gerrin it out the way. What else? Any ideas?’
‘Personal?’ Rich Ford said. ‘They’ve committed some offence against their family?’
‘According to Goldie Andrews, they have no known family over here, and they didn’t mix much with other migrants.’
‘What about non-compliance?’ Darth Vaynor said. ‘They were invited to work for somebody but, being religious, they declined, and…’
‘Maybe.’ Bliss wrinkled his nose. ‘Have to be more complicated, though. Like that they were threatening to come to us. And how often does that happen?’
He waited for more, got blank faces. They were talking to the Romanian authorities, but the suggestion so far was, as Goldie had thought, that the Marinescu girls were from a fairly rural area and maybe not exactly sophisticated.
Bliss was still pretty sure, mind, that there was a lot of stuff Goldie hadn’t told him, maybe in connection with the fruit farm. Time to float this one.
‘It’ll surprise none of you to learn that these girls came over to work in the tunnels. In the last instance, Magnis Berries, off the Brecon Road. So… what do we know about Magnis Berries? All shut when me and Terry called in the other day, and no particular reason to take it further at that stage.’
Silence.
‘Aw, come on, children, what’ve we heard?’
‘No suicides,’ Brian Wilton said. ‘Unlike some similar establishments.’
‘Rumours of intimidation? Threats, bribery? Think back to the van driver who demanded his weekly blow job for getting a woman to work on time. Pretty scary for a couple of young lasses from a village in rural Romania.’
‘It’s a newish establishment,’ Karen Dowell said. ‘They seem to have started up with full knowledge of the kind of reputations that some fruit farms had got themselves for bullying and poor working conditions. Brought in local people as supervisors. I don’t suppose they pay any more than the others, but we’re not getting rumours.’
‘Then why did the girls leave? We need to find out.’
Karen said, ‘If we’re descending on Magnis Berries, that’d be rubbing shoulders with the Mansel Bull inquiry. I believe the farm’s being extended onto what used to be Mr Bull’s land.’
‘It is?’
‘I learned last night that he sold it a month or so ago. Causing a bit of controversy locally, as you’d expect.’
‘Absolutely.’ Bliss was blinking hard. ‘Right. Well, not too much is clear at the minute, but I still don’t expect this to take long. We’ve gorra lorra DNA to play with. So – need I say – any excuse to snatch a sample from any bugger, we grab it. Welcome to Swab City.’
‘OK, Karen.’ Assembly over, Bliss shut the door of his office, waved her to the spare chair, sat down behind his desk. ‘Give.’
‘The bit of controversy?’
‘Indeedy.’
‘You’re going to get overexcited now. This is only from my mum, right, so it might need some more looking into.’
‘I see Mrs Dowell as an impeccable source, Karen.’
Karen sighed.
‘Magnis Berries, the parent company, is in the Vale of Evesham. Well established, fairly responsible. So what you hear – or what you don’t hear – is pretty reliable. It’s still a shit job, but nobody at Magnis gets a bucket of muddy water thrown over them when they pass out from the heat.’
‘But just because it’s not too bad for the wairkers…’
‘Once it gets out that a few hundred migrant workers are going to be housed in huts and caravans, creating a new community twice the size of any of the local villages, and all the fields spread with plastic… you’ve got trouble. And as it’s now about to almost double in size again…’
‘Double? Sollers Bull agreed to this deal?’
‘Nobody locally knew that ground was even for sale until the deal was done. Which is not exactly normal procedure, if you want to get the best price…’
‘Yeh, yeh.’
‘Point is, Sollers didn’t get a chance to disagree. The deal was done by Mansel Bull. On the quiet.’
Bliss leaned his chair back on two legs, his elbows against the wall.
‘Mansel Bull… very quietly, behind his brother’s back, sells a chunk of his farm to Magnis Berries?’
‘I think it was no more than about twelve acres, but he also brokered a deal for three other neighbouring farmers to sell pieces of their land… probably for well above the going rate. Which, in a time of deep recession, would overcome any resistance they might have. The few enemies he’d make would just be incomers from Off, the roses-round-the-door types.’
‘And Sollers.’
‘Sollers… came round,’ Karen said.
‘It was me, I’d be nursing a grudge the size of Wales.’
‘Boss, bear with me. He, like, physically came round? To Magnis Berries? I mean, quite often. Oh hell, look, this is from my mum, right? And if it ever got out she was the source she’d lose her job so fast-’
‘Yeh, yeh.’
‘I mean, it’s not a major secret that Sollers puts it about, and although he-’
‘Hang on…’ Bliss was sitting up. ‘Sollers puts it…’
‘Bit of a celeb?’ Karen said. ‘Plus, the number of women turned on by hunting pink and riding boots is still considerable. He’s discreet, naturally, with a useful marriage to protect.’
‘Lord Walford’s daughter.’
‘In hunting circles, that means a lot.’
Bliss was breathing hard.
‘Karen, could you possibly… spell this out? Whereabouts has Sollers been putting it?’
‘This is only-’
‘Hearsay, yeh. I love hearsay. Just spit it out.’
‘Some of the migrant girls… always hoping it’ll end in a fairy-tale marriage and a lovely home in England?’
Bliss shot forward, the front legs of his chair clacking to the floor.
‘You’re telling me Sollers Bull was shagging the wairkers? ’
‘It only once got dicey, when a certain Polish girl… I understand he went back a few times too many, and she got the wrong idea. Shows up at his restaurant one day, demanding to see him. Which was how my mum first got a glimpse of the situation. I think she must’ve collected a good pay-off, this girl, ’cause she apparently went home to Warsaw or wherever soon after that. Anyway, it was dealt with.’
Bliss was tapping his desk, rhythmically, quite fast.
‘He was practically accusing migrants of killing his brother.’
‘That would be male migrants, boss.’ Karen’s eyes were opaque. ‘I expect you’ll have to pass this on to Ma’am, though, it being not your case any more.’
‘Sure. Although, naturally, I’ll need to visit Magnis Berries first, ask some questions about their two murdered employees.’
‘That restaurant…’ Karen looked unhappy ‘… there’s a lot of irresponsible gossip. I don’t know if he goes to the farm any more. It probably gave him a scare, the Polish girl. I think maybe you should pass this directly on to Ma’am, don’t you? It’s the way things are done?’
