Rose Denning moved around the scene, oblivious to the carnage, the barbarism that had occurred.
‘How can you take it?’ Larry asked.
‘I’m just focussed, that’s all. Don’t come looking for me later in the day,’ she said.
‘Why?’
‘I’ll have my head over a sink, blubbering like a child.’
‘Delayed reaction?’
‘Yes. That’s it.’
Windsor moved around the outside of the room, careful where he stepped. He looked at the bloody mess that Larry had seen earlier from a distance. ‘Good God!’ he said.
‘What is it?’ Grant Meston asked.
‘It’s a head.’
‘Dougal Stewart?’ Larry asked.
‘We’ll need to get it to Pathology. Not much I can tell you here.’
Chapter 7
Larry and Wendy returned to Challis Street. Gordon Windsor and his team were occupied at the warehouse in Ladbroke Grove.
Vicenzo Pinto was led out of the police station later that morning and placed in the back seat of a marked police car. His hands were cuffed at the front. Larry sat on his right side. Wendy sat in the front passenger seat.
‘Which way?’ Larry asked.
‘Go back to where I threw Dave in the canal,’ Pinto said as the car exited the car park at the rear of the police station. A man sitting in a café on the other side of the road took note. He made a phone call.
The police car drove to Warwick Crescent and pulled up outside the flat of Mrs Gregory, their first witness. ‘Up there, cross the bridge, and then turn left,’ Pinto said.
The vehicle crossed Westbourne Terrace Road Bridge and turned into Bloomfield Road, before turning right again two blocks later into Clifton Villas. ‘That’s where I dumped it,’ Pinto said.
The garbage skip was close to overflowing with builder’s rubble from a house renovation. ‘We’re about to take it away,’ the foreman said.
Larry flashed his police ID badge. ‘It’s a crime scene now.’
‘My boss will be furious.’
‘There’s not much I can do about it,’ Larry said. After dealing with the foreman’s concerns and with an irate house owner, he phoned Windsor.
‘I’ll get a couple of my people over there within the hour,’ Windsor replied.
Larry and Wendy stayed at the scene for another fifteen minutes, before two uniforms arrived and secured the area with crime scene tape. They also put up some barriers directing pedestrians to the other side of the street. A few complained, but most complied.
Once the area was secured, Larry and Wendy, along with Pinto, went back to Challis Street. Pinto was returned to the cells, awaiting transfer to prison. His lawyer had applied for bail, the charge for aiding and abetting in a murder reduced to drug trafficking.
***
DCS Goddard was full of praise when Isaac entered his office later that day. He shook his DCI’s hand vigorously. ‘Soon have this one wrapped up,’ he said.
Isaac let the man have his moment of glory.
‘I’ve phoned Commissioner Davies to let him know that we’re moving forward. He’s delighted.’
‘There’s still a dangerous group of individuals behind this,’ Isaac said.
‘That’s not your concern. From what you’ve told me, one of the two heavies killed Stewart and then cut him up.’
‘We know where they’ll be on Friday.’
‘Then what’s the problem?’ Pinto will give evidence that they killed Stewart and we’ve wrapped up the case.’
‘What about the drug trafficking? And what about this mysterious man who gave the heavies an order to kill Stewart?’
‘That’s up to Serious and Organised Crimes Command,’ Goddard said.
‘We should inform them as to what we’re involved with,’ Isaac said.
Of course. Follow agreed procedures, but remember we’re Homicide. We deal with murders, and you know the two men who killed Stewart. That’s what I want, a conviction for murder.’
‘We’ll deal with that first, but I can’t help thinking that it will not be as easy as all that,’ Isaac said.
‘DCI, that’s your problem. Always looking to stir up a hornet’s nest. Our job is to apprehend a murderer and ensure he’s convicted. Those behind the murder are not for us to go chasing. Think of your career: another case solved, and in record time. It’s a win–win for both of us. Let’s show our commissioner what we’re made of.’
Isaac left his superior’s office feeling disconsolate. The man was not interested that someone had been murdered and dismembered; he was only interested in his career and his cushy life. Isaac realised that the man he had admired since he was a sergeant had sold out. Richard Goddard in his estimation was a man who lacked a soul.
Isaac knew that he had not reached that situation and wondered if he would. Was it necessary to be shallow and political to rise to the top in the London Met? What about competence and professionalism?
***
With his DCS more interested in a conviction for murder than a resolution to the crime syndicate, Isaac felt the need to check further. One man had been found dismembered so far, but were there others, or could there be more in the future? He also had concern for the well-being of Vicenzo Pinto, so much so that he had requested special security for him in the prison where he was to be confined.
Pinto had grassed, and those who had killed Stewart would regard his confession as tantamount to betrayal. Isaac had to agree with Pinto’s estimation of his precarious situation, but there was a murder to solve, and two men to be arrested. One had committed the murder; the other had assisted with the chainsaw.
Larry intended to visit the pub in Paddington on Friday, where the two heavies who had killed Stewart were known to drink, knowing full well that his wife would be giving him the cold shoulder on Saturday, and there’d be no chance
