‘Salacia’s handbag?’ asked Horton, eagerly. Or it could be the murder weapon.
‘No, a bracelet, and it’s still attached to what’s left of an arm.’
‘Shit! Whose arm?’
‘No idea. But it isn’t Salacia’s, both were accounted for,’ Trueman said somewhat facetiously.
Horton rang off after saying they’d be there in about twenty minutes. He gave Eames the news. She looked surprised and then thoughtful, and as they sailed past the ancient walls of Old Portsmouth he knew she was thinking the same as him. How on earth did this link with Woodley and Marty Stapleton?
TEN
The divers had recovered a humerus, a femur, a pelvic bone and a skull. Clarke had been and gone and Horton, using his mobile phone, had taken a photograph of the bracelet before despatching it in an evidence bag to Joliffe for forensic examination. He showed the picture to a very hot and troubled Uckfield, who had arrived a few minutes ago. ‘It looks like an identity bracelet.’
‘Worn by a Second World War serviceman?’ Uckfield asked hopefully.
Hardly, thought Horton, but he knew why Uckfield had suggested it. He was thinking of the munitions barge and if the item and the bones were those of someone from the war it meant they could put this investigation on a slow burner and concentrate on the current one.
‘Sorry to disappoint you, Steve, it’s modern, and the kind a woman would wear. As you can see it’s small, chain-linked with an oblong flat surface in the middle. Once Joliffe’s examined it we might get more.’ He didn’t dare say such as a name, because he didn’t want to push their luck. He hadn’t seen anything inscribed on it, but it had been filthy and he hadn’t wanted to tamper with it and destroy any evidence they might possibly get from it, which after being immersed for so long he guessed was unlikely.
‘It could have been washed up near the bones and have nothing to do with them,’ Uckfield suggested hopefully.
‘It was found entangled around the radius and ulna at the lower end, the wrist.’ Horton indicated one of the bones laid out on a black plastic sheet in front of them on the quay. ‘The bones weren’t displaced from the munitions barge either. They were on the second wreck.’
‘Doesn’t mean this is homicide, though.’ Uckfield was clearly determined to stick to his viewpoint. ‘Whoever it was could have been killed accidentally or committed suicide.’
‘But that still begs the question, why there are two deaths in this boatyard?’
‘All right, no need to rub it in and hang a bloody great neon sign on it.’ Uckfield exhaled and ran a hand through his short dark hair. ‘Is this linked with Marty Stapleton?’
It was a question Horton had discussed with Eames when they’d seen the first of the remains brought up by the divers. They were still diving for further bones.
‘Eames says there’s nothing on file that Stapleton was ever in Portsmouth or used this route to get his stolen goods out of the country but the Intelligence Directorate and Europol might not have discovered that.’
‘The rate we’re carrying on we might as well blame Marty for the sinking of the Mary Rose.’
Horton permitted himself a smile. ‘I don’t think he was around in Henry VIII’s day.’
‘Have you checked? Probably some scumbag relative of his opened the portholes or whatever they had in Tudor warships. You think Harry Foxbury, the previous boatyard owner, might have something to do with this?’
‘I can’t see why Foxbury would want to kill Salacia here and draw attention to another body unless he’s some kind of nut,’ and that was possible, although Horton had never heard of any trouble with Foxbury. Trueman had confirmed he was clean when he’d run Foxbury through the computer. ‘But he must know something about the wrecks. Eames is trying to contact Foxbury now.’ Horton glanced in her direction across the boatyard. She seemed to be having some success because she was speaking into her phone. Marsden stood a discreet distance away from them obviously still wary of Uckfield’s wrath, talking to the officer-in-charge of the diving operation.
Horton added, ‘Foxbury might be able to tell us how long the wreck has been submerged, which might give us some idea of when this person died, and Dr Clayton’s going to examine the remains in the morning. The divers will recover what they can tonight. We’ve got about two hours of daylight left. But the wreck won’t be raised until tomorrow.’ He’d instructed photographs and a video recording to be made using specialist underwater cameras and the position of the remainder of the bones to be mapped before being recovered. Tomorrow a forensic archaeologist from the university would examine the video footage for an in-depth analysis of the wreck.
Uckfield turned away. ‘How on earth did Manley and his crew miss it?’
‘They wouldn’t have been using the same equipment as us to explore the wrecks for evidence, and there was no need for them to search the middle wreck. They were more concerned with getting the live ammunition off the barge.’ Horton saw Eames come off the phone and cross to Marsden.
‘They seem to have missed a bloody lot,’ grumbled Uckfield. ‘One of them could be involved. Kevin Manley doesn’t have an alibi for the time of Salacia’s death and neither does Ethan Crombie. Either of them could have arranged to meet Salacia here and kill her.’
‘Were either at the crematorium?’
‘No. They were both here,’ Uckfield replied gloomily. Then he brightened up. ‘But they could have met her on a different day and elsewhere. There’s no evidence she flew into the country on Tuesday, either on a scheduled flight or a private plane. She could have been living locally, or anywhere in the UK for that matter. We’ve assumed an awful lot from that suntan. She might have been to Majorca, or the Isle of Wight, on holiday. I’m going to Swansea tomorrow to see if I can jog Stapleton’s memory about Salacia, and I’ll ask him about that photograph. Can Geoff Kirby be trusted? He’s not making it up, is he?’
‘I don’t see why he should.’
Uckfield began walking to his car, which was parked just inside the cordon. ‘DCS Sawyer’s coming with me and if Stapleton runs true to form we’ll get nothing out of our trip except a blast of wet Welsh air, it’s bound to be raining, always is in Wales. Bliss couldn’t break Maureen Sholby’s alibi but she’s convinced Maureen’s hiding something.’
‘When isn’t she?’
‘I’ve had to release Reggie Thomas. We’ve got nothing on him. Even the threat that Marty Stapleton might send one of his bad boys after him didn’t make him wet his pants and plead for witness protection. So either he’s developed nerves of steel, which is unlikely, or he has an even more powerful protector than Stapleton, or he has sod all to do with it.’
Which wouldn’t please Sawyer. It didn’t look as though it pleased Uckfield either. They drew level with Eames and Marsden.
Eames said, ‘Harry Foxbury lives in Langstone, that’s about five miles out of Portsmouth to the east.’
‘We know where it is, Agent Eames. We work here,’ Uckfield replied frostily.
‘Yes, sir,’ she replied unfazed, adding, ‘I’ve spoken to his wife, who told me that he’s on his boat at Horsea Marina-’
‘And we also know where that is.’
‘Sir. Debbie Foxbury read about the body being found and asked her husband whether he should contact the police but he said, “The yard has nothing to do with me any more.” I didn’t mention the fact that human remains had been recovered. I asked for the name of the boat, and said could Mr Foxbury call us when he returned home.’
Uckfield zapped open his car. To Horton he said, ‘See what you can get out of him. I’ll brief DCS Sawyer about this.’
Half an hour later Eames was keying the security number the marina office had given them into the keypad at the bridgehead. Horton realized that Foxbury’s boat was on the same pontoon as his father-in-law’s yacht. He only hoped Toby Kempton wasn’t on board. He didn’t relish an angry exchange in front of Eames, although Toby was more likely to give him the cold shoulder. With relief Horton saw that Toby’s yacht wasn’t in its berth. Foxbury’s gleaming motor cruiser was, though. It was far bigger and newer than Horton had anticipated and he estimated must have set Foxbury back at least a cool six hundred thousand pounds.