He moved the ice that had formed with a metal rod that he found in the garage. Wayne Norman, a lazy man, jumped back, falling over as he rapidly retreated from the garage. A local man walking his dog saw him exit. ‘What are you doing in there?’ he asked.
‘It’s a …’ Norman’s only reply as he ran down the road.
The old man looked inside the garage. He took one look in the freezer and made a phone call.
The team at Challis Street were alerted, and within minutes were in the car, moving towards the location. They brought a couple of uniforms to secure the area.
Isaac, usually office bound, led the team into the garage. They had been forewarned of what was inside and had put on foot protectors and gloves. They kept to one side of the garage, as there were clearly footprints in the middle. Isaac reached the freezer and lifted the lid.
‘Vicenzo Pinto, I presume,’ he said in an attempt at levity, emulating the immortal lines of Henry Stanley when he first met Dr Livingstone in remotest Africa in an earlier century.
One phone call from Larry, and Gordon Windsor and his team of investigators were on the way. The three police officers retreated from the garage. The curious onlookers were starting to gather. A collection of police cars and police officers was not an everyday occurrence, although there was a good collection of third rate rogues and villains who lived nearby. However, Isaac did not believe any of them were responsible. He knew who had put the body there, and he was in custody for one murder. Another one would not faze O’Shaughnessy, although it may Alex Hughenden. Isaac was determined to nail the man. He didn’t believe him responsible for the death of Dougal Stewart or of this victim, almost certainly Vicenzo Pinto – the clothes matched his parents’ description from the day he was last seen – but Hughenden was instrumental in them, had possibly given the instructions for two men’s deaths, possibly a third with Rodrigo Fuentes.
Once Pinto’s cause of death was confirmed, Isaac intended to force Hughenden to speak. The evidence, although not conclusive, was adding up, and was enough at least to charge the jewellery shop owner as an accessory to murder. He knew Galbraith would try to wriggle his client out of a conviction, but it was enough to hold the man in the cells at the police station.
Chapter 17
It only took Gordon Windsor and his team one hour before he was able to give a verbal report. ‘It’s Pinto,’ he said.
‘Is the body intact?’ Isaac asked over the phone from his office.
‘Yes. He was stabbed in the chest.’
‘Is that the cause of death?’
‘Pathology will need to confirm, but it seems conclusive to me. He’s only been in the freezer for a short time. He’s still recognisable. DNA checks will confirm it’s him, as well as identification by a relative.’
‘When can that be done?’
‘We’ll take the body to the pathologist in the next couple of hours. Give it another few hours for him to defrost, and it should be fine.’
‘I’ll make it for five this afternoon,’ Isaac said. ‘Fingerprints?’
‘O’Shaughnessy’s.’
‘Any sign of Hughenden’s?’
‘None. Just O’Shaughnessy’s, although my people will stay on and check further. It looks as though Pinto was dead when he was brought here.’
‘We could ask the neighbours if they saw anything.’
‘Around here? Are you joking? They’re not the friendliest, and besides, it’s clear who put him in the freezer.’
Isaac ended the phone call. Wendy and Larry were in the office. ‘Wendy, a job for you,’ he said.
‘The worst job for a police officer: telling the next of kin their loved one is dead,’ Wendy said.
‘It’s either you or a local police officer where they live.’
‘I’ll do it, and besides, you need them for an identification. I’ll bring back one of his parents with me.’
‘Larry, check out if anyone saw anything.’
‘I’ll get some uniforms to do it. We’ll need to talk to O’Shaughnessy again.’
‘I’ll phone up Galbraith,’ Isaac said.
‘If you don’t mind me saying, you have some unusual friends,’ Larry said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Rasta Joe and Galbraith.’
‘Believe me, neither are friends. I grew up with them: one of us became a criminal, another a smart-arse lawyer, and the other a police officer.’
‘An excellent police officer,’ Wendy said.
‘Thanks, but I don’t think that is how Commissioner Davies would refer to me.’
‘Then he’s a damn fool.’
***
Devlin O’Shaughnessy, even after time in the cells, was no more agreeable than the previous time. Adam Galbraith was present. Larry and Isaac represented the police.
‘We’ve found Vicenzo Pinto,’ Isaac said.
‘What’s that to me?’ O’Shaughnessy replied.
‘It seems you have a preference for freezing your murder victims.’
‘I’ve killed no one, so don’t try and put his death on me.’
‘We’ll
