‘I was suspicious about the approach, and so I called him back myself, to verify that he was who he said he was. I asked him the reason for his enquiry. He got evasive, and told me he wasn’t at liberty to say, but that it didn’t really matter. In return, I told him to go away and read the Data Protection Act.’
‘Nice one.’ Singh chuckled. He imagined that crossing Ms Savage might be a mistake. In the background he heard another phone ring, but paid no attention.
‘Do you have any idea what this might have been about?’ she asked him. ‘Yours is clearly a Scottish investigation; it has nothing to do with the Home Office. I know this, for I worked there myself before transferring here.’
‘I have no idea, but I’m pretty sure that my boss is going to want me to find out. You didn’t run across this man in your time there, did you?’
‘No. He’s new. I checked with a chum: he moved there last year, on a sideways transfer from the DTI.’
‘Okay. Thanks for the information, Roberta. I’ll see how my DI wants me to play it.’
‘Keep my name out of it, please.’
‘Absolutely, Roger. That’ll be no problem.’ She laughed again, and hung up.
Singh did the same, then entered her number into his personal contact book. When he was finished, he turned to Wilding. ‘That was interesting, we’ve got competition from the Home Office. They’re asking about Padstow too. When’s the DI back?’
The sergeant was sitting upright, feet no longer on his desk, his face serious and more than a little anxious. ‘No time soon,’ he replied. ‘That was him. There’s been another death.’
Forty-nine
Happily, Doreen Gavin was alive, well and, as usual, generally bewildered when Steele and Montell arrived at the bungalow in South Queensferry.
‘Why is that car outside, Inspector?’ she asked, as she led them into her living room.
‘It’s nothing to panic about, Mrs Gavin,’ Steele told her. ‘Your husband isn’t home yet, is he?’
‘It’s Friday,’ she replied. ‘Russ doesn’t come home for lunch on Fridays. He’s always away then, out of town on business trips; most weekends he doesn’t get home till Saturday afternoon. In fact, there have been one or two times lately when he’s been away until Sunday. They work him far too hard at that factory, you know.’
Standing behind her, Griff Montell rolled his eyes. ‘He’ll be home today, Mrs G.,’ he said. ‘We managed to catch him at the factory before he left, and told him we’d like to see him here.’
‘But what is it? Have you found Dominic? Has he come forward to help you with your investigation? I’m sure he will when he hears that you’re looking for him.’
‘Let’s hope so.’ As Steele spoke he heard the sound of tyres on the driveway. He waited, silent, as Russ Gavin made his way in to join them.
‘Hello, dear,’ his wife greeted him brightly. ‘Isn’t this a strange to-do? And isn’t it lucky that Mr Steele managed to catch you before you left on your trip.’
‘Yes, Doreen, yes,’ he agreed. ‘It is. I was just about to leave when he called. What can we do for you, Stevie?’
The inspector felt a twitch in his eye at the familiarity, but decided to go along with it. ‘You’ll have noticed the police car outside, Russ,’ he began.
‘What police car?’ Gavin looked out of the window to the street, where the patrol car sat. ‘Ah, yes! You know, I came in so fast I didn’t even notice it. Why is it there?’
‘A young woman called Amy Noone was murdered this morning.’
For the merest fraction of a second, something that might have been fear, or panic, showed in Gavin’s face, but then it was gone, to be replaced by an expression of deep concern. ‘Oh, my,’ he exclaimed. ‘I know that name. I’m sure that Stacey mentioned her on occasion. What happened?’
‘She was shot dead in her home, in exactly the same way that Stacey and Zrinka Boras were killed.’
‘My God, why?’
‘We can only guess at that for the moment, but one thing we know for sure is that she would have been able to give evidence that put Dominic Padstow together both with your daughter and Zrinka Boras, and she would have been able to identify him. I want to be clear about this. You told my officer that you met this man: I gather that Doreen did too. Is that correct?’
Gavin looked at his wife. ‘Yes. That’s right.’
‘Yes,’ she murmured, almost as if she was a spectator at the meeting. ‘I certainly did, whenever Stacey brought him here.’
‘Whenever?’ Steele asked. ‘He was here more than once?’
‘Oh, yes. Stacey brought him out on several occasions, but usually on Fridays, when Russ was away. He stayed the night,’ she glanced at her husband, ‘and I’m afraid I let them sleep in the same room. I suppose that’s why she only brought him on Fridays.’
Gavin shrugged his shoulders. ‘She was a grown woman, Doreen.’
‘Perhaps, but if you’d been here to back me up I would have objected. When you were away Stacey used to bully me.’
‘Oh, come on, love.’
‘Well, maybe not bully me, but she was firm with me, and always had her own way.’
‘Doreen,’ Steele said gently, ‘we’re not interested in Stacey’s bedtime habits. We’re here about your safety. One person who knew Padstow has just been killed. You and Russ are the only people left who can give hard evidence against him, even if you can’t link him directly to Zrinka. With your permission, I propose to put you under police guard, twenty-four hours a day. You’ve got an alarm system and that’s good. Russ,’ he asked, ‘does it have a night setting?’
‘Yes. While we’re asleep there are sensors active in all the rest of the house.’
‘Fine. Obviously, Russ, you have to go to work, but we can look after you there. Doreen, during the day you don’t leave the house without a plain-clothes escort. For night cover, we’ll install video cameras front and back, and we’ll have armed officers monitoring them in a van parked just up the street.’ He paused. ‘I don’t really believe that Padstow would try anything here, but if he does, he won’t get in, and he won’t get away either. Are you both okay with that?’
‘One hundred per cent,’ said Gavin, anxiously.
‘Good. We’ll get it done, then.’ He put a hand on the man’s shoulder. ‘Russ, I think you should cancel your business trip this weekend, don’t you?’
‘Yes, Stevie, absolutely.’
‘Fine.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Now, Griff and I would like a word with you in private.’
‘Sure. Hold on.’ Gavin smiled at his wife. ‘Doreen, since I’m home I might as well stay for lunch.’
‘Of course,’ she replied. ‘I’ll rustle something up. Gentlemen, would you care to join us?’
‘That’s very kind of you, Doreen,’ said Steele, ‘but we’ll need to get back.’
As she left the room, the two detectives turned back to her husband. ‘What is it?’ he asked. ‘Is the risk greater than you’ve been letting on?’
‘No, that’s as we set it out for you; it’s there, but we have it under control.’
‘Do you think this man will try to attack us?’
‘It would be out of character. He’ll probably assume that, after Amy’s death, we’ll be protecting you. This guy’s very carefuclass="underline" he doesn’t do suicide missions.’
‘Stevie, didn’t you anticipate that something like this might happen?’
The question riled Steele. ‘Mr Gavin, if I had,’ he said testily, ‘the kid would still be alive. We didn’t know she existed until yesterday, and there was nothing about her that marked her out as a potential target. All that she could have done was identify Padstow as Zrinka’s boyfriend, and later Stacey’s. That alone wouldn’t have convicted him. Taking her out was. . well, overkill is the best word I can think of. Literally true.’ He glanced at Montell. ‘But that’s not what we want to talk to you about.’