She finally got a quick phone call from Jayne to tell her the outcome at seven o’clock in the evening.
“Hi, Doc, thought you might want to know what was going on.”
That was an understatement.
“A couple of us went to the firm and found out that the rubbish from the job was still in the back of the van, thank goodness. They were just about to take it to the landfill site. There was a bit of a wrangle about stopping them. The warrant hadn’t come through, they wanted to do it straight away because they needed the van first thing, yada, yada, yada.”
“But you managed to stop them?”
“Yes, eventually they agreed to unload it into a pile at the back of their yard and we covered it with a tarpaulin, while we wait to find out if we can take it.”
“You mean it’s still there?”
“Yup.”
“Is anyone guarding it?”
“No, but the yard is locked and covered by CCTV. I think we’ve put the fear of God into them enough to ensure they don’t do anything stupid while we wait for the powers that be to pull their collective fingers out.”
“Do you reckon you’ll get a warrant?”
Jayne hesitated before answering.
“It’s not looking hopeful, if I’m honest. It’s not like we have any evidence linking your man with the crimes. I think the boss is just hoping we turn something up that gives us grounds for one.”
Callie chose to ignore the “your man” comment. It just made her even more angry about the lies Claybourne was spreading, apparently very successfully.
“Meanwhile, the carpet is lying in a yard, and any evidence on it gets degraded?”
“Yes.” Jayne didn’t sound any happier than Callie did at the situation. “But less so than if it was at the tip, at least it’s under a tarpaulin and we will just have to hope it doesn’t rain too much, or overheats, or−”
“Gets eaten by rats,” Callie interrupted.
“Indeed. I hadn’t thought of that one, but you’re right, I will have to add rats to my list of worries now.”
Callie thanked Jayne for letting her know the situation, frustrating as it was.
* * *
Next morning, Callie got a text from Lisa, telling her to watch the local news on television and that it would make her very happy. Callie hurriedly switched it on, as she made herself tea and toast for breakfast.
She had to wait a frustrating few minutes listening to lots of celebrity gossip before the news headlines came on and, sure enough, it did make her happy.
The picture changed to the street outside the council offices.
“This morning, there were simultaneous raids on a shop thought to be suspected of selling illegal cigarettes and also the home and offices of a local councillor.”
The picture changed to a large detached house where two or three men could be seen carrying boxes out of the garage and placing them in a van.
“A large number of items have been seized at the shop and home of the local councillor, and we understand he is now being questioned in relation to suspected avoidance of duty, selling contraband goods, and a number of other charges.”
Callie felt like cheering. If he had boxes of cigarettes stored at his home, there was no way he would get away completely clean, which should put paid to his fledgling political career. If Claybourne had only known he didn’t really need to try and goad Savage, and Callie, he might have got away with it, at least for a while longer, but she was delighted that she had managed to play a part in his downfall, however small.
The next item on the local news was less pleasing. Pictures of a fire at a builders’ yard.
“The fire started in a pile of rubbish in a corner of the Truman’s site and fortunately the fire services were able to extinguish the blaze before it spread to nearby offices,” the presenter said and Callie watched as she saw a man she knew to be the fire investigator kicking over the few, still smoking remains of the carpet tiles from Ted Savage’s constituency office.
Chapter 32
Miller was in his office with the fire investigator, Chris Butterworth, when Callie marched into the incident room. Callie knew Butterworth from an arson case he had worked in the past and she was pleased to see that he was there, and already on this case.
Miller moved back slightly, preparing himself for the onslaught she had prepared all the way to see him, and held up a hand to stop her launching into her complaint.
“I know, I know!” he said quickly. “We should have got the carpet out of there before this happened.”
“Or at least posted someone outside the yard.”
“I organised extra patrols but didn’t have the resources for a twenty-four-hour guard.” He stopped. It was clear this wasn’t going to wash with Callie. To say she was angry was very much an understatement. “The good news is that it does raise our level of suspicion,” he added lamely.
“Even if it lowers your level of available evidence,” she hissed. “Did Savage know you had stopped the firm from disposing of the carpet?”
“Not as far as we know. The owner denies telling him, but any one of the workers could have said something, and the yard is easily visible from the road.”
Butterworth cleared his throat and she turned to hear
