“Do you think he’s after me?” asked Lambert. “Why would he wait ten years after he killed Alan? He can’t possibly know who to look for.”
“I hope you’re right,” said Gus.
“What happens now?” asked Lambert.
“Beats me,” said Gus. “You got money under false pretences and assumed the identity of a dead man. We’ll file a report when we finish dealing with this case. What the authorities will decide to do with it, I don’t have a clue. Come on, Alex. We’ve got a ferry to catch. At least we can get a drink there.”
The journey home to Urchfont was a nightmare. There were hold-ups on the M6 and the M5. A contraflow was in operation on the M4, and they found a broken-down car transporter stuck at the traffic lights at Kingston St Michael.
Gus nodded off to sleep before they reached Avonmouth, so he missed most of the fun.
Alex dropped Gus at the bungalow and drove home to Chippenham.
Gus had reminded him not to worry about getting to work until lunchtime.
Wednesday, 8th August 2018
Gus woke at six o’clock for the third morning in succession. He hoped his body clock would kick back into its regular routine very soon. Then he remembered that in eight months it would alter forever.
As he drifted off to sleep in the car next to Alex yesterday evening, there was something niggling at him. He’d come indoors to find Suzie asleep in front of the TV. They talked about everything except the case, and whatever was on his mind slipped out of his grasp. What was it that disturbed his sleep last night? It had to be important.
Suzie was in the bathroom by seven, Gus went to the kitchen to get breakfast for one. He wanted to get to the office. He had meant to call Luke last night to hear if any news had come from Bradford, but the trip from Liverpool had taken far too long.
Gus offered Suzie a cup of coffee when she surfaced. She took it and grimaced.
“It won’t be for long,” she said. “Mum had this with all three of us.”
“I’m going in early,” said Gus. “I gave Alex the morning off. He did the lion’s share of the driving. If things get quiet after lunch, I might come home and have a nap. I’ll see you later.”
Gus left Suzie nursing her cup of coffee sat at the kitchen table. His Ford Focus seemed happy to see him back when he walked outside. It started first time and trundled into Devizes without a complaint. Twenty minutes later, Gus was in the lift and heading for the office.
He glanced at the clock an hour later. Almost nine o’clock, The others should arrive soon. He’d updated his files. The Duncan murder case was as good as closed. The icing on the cake would be the arrest of Yuri Kovalev. Gus prayed that Lydia was right, and the killer was back in the country. They might have half a chance.
Gus clicked his fingers.
“That was it,” he shouted, just as Lydia and the others exited the lift.
“Talking to yourself, guv?” said Neil. “That’s the first sign of madness.”
Gus was already on the phone. He hoped he wasn’t too late.
Five minutes later, Gus sat back in his chair. He’d done all he could. Time to switch back to the schedule for the day.
“What did I miss while we were away?” he asked.
“DCI Banks called yesterday afternoon, guv,” said Luke.
“After exhaustive searches with various agencies he said they had come to an inevitable conclusion,” said Neil.
“Phil Banks started a search on scrubland near Digley Reservoir,” said Luke. “That’s about seven miles from the village of Marsden and twenty-five miles from the last sighting of Kyle Ellison.”
“What, they’re searching for a body?” said Gus. “Who the heck has been posing as Kyle Ellison online all these years then?”
“We wanted to see you before we left for Bradford, guv,” said Neil. “We’ll sit in on the interviews as you suggested. Phil Banks is happy for us to tag along.”
“My guess would be the brother, guv,” said Blessing, “Darren Forsyth. The language, the EDL affiliation, and his comments about the football read more like a man’s words.”
“Well, I suppose it’s all going to come out in the next couple of days,” said Gus. “If they find Ellison’s remains.”
“I didn’t see that coming, did you, guv?” asked Neil.
“We knew Maddy Telfer was hiding something, Neil. I won’t profess to have had that scenario in my head.”
“We’ll be on our way, guv,” said Luke. “We’ll call as soon as we have news.”
“Thanks, Luke,” said Gus. “Have a safe trip.”
“Alex told me what happened on your trip, guv,” said Lydia when the two detectives had left. “Where do we go from here?”
“Call the Hub, Lydia. Push them for sightings of Kovalev. We need to stop him from killing again.”
“Sorry, guv,” said Blessing. “Who’s his target this time?”
“Lenny Lambert. Oddjob. The man posing as Freddie Watts at The Mariner pub near Douglas on the Isle of Man. I’ve alerted the local police.”
“Did we miss something, guv?” asked Lydia.
“No,” said Gus. “I did. I should have kept digging into why that photograph was missing.”
“The one from Happy Valley, guv?” asked Blessing.
“That’s the one, Blessing. Long story short for now. You can read the full version in the Freeman Files later. Alan Duncan and Lenny Lambert appeared together in only one photo. Lenny was on several trips, but he knew he was overweight and chose to take the photos rather than appear in them. A few extra drinks and a Hawaiian shirt resulted in Lenny making his solitary appearance. Why did Alan remove that photo from home? He
