Page 100 of Mann Hunt
He ran into Declan’s office. “Ian had a meeting with Luke on the day he disappeared,” Charlie said. “Ian recorded it and stored it on the USB stick. Luke told him he could get killed.”
Declan said, “And that’s not all.” He rotated his laptop so Charlie could see. It was a dim picture taken from a high angle. It showed the back of a car and a man standing beside it. It was clearly Luke.
“He was there on the street outside Sheldon’s house the night Ian disappeared. It’s all fucking here in one of the other CCTV files, if I’d bothered to open it. And watch…”
Declan pushed ‘Play’ and the video continued. The view was partially obstructed. Charlie guessed thecamera was mounted high up between the trees that surrounded the property.
Luke was pacing back and forth. A minute later, he stepped out into the road. He looked like he was waving his arms. A car stopped. Charlie couldn’t clearly make out the details of the car, or the driver but he could see Luke reaching behind his back and pulling out something tucked into the waist-band of his pants. It looked like a gun. Luke yanked the driver out of the car and locked him in the trunk. The driver was Ian.
“The camera must have been well hidden. I don’t think he had any idea he was being filmed,” Charlie said.
Declan made no comment.
“Declan?”
“He was playing me all along. Once he found out we were involved, he used me to find out what we knew.” Declan started to hammer out a text on his phone.
“Declan, if he’s the killer… What happened to Justin?”
“Oh, shit!”
Declan grabbed his phone and placed a call. “Hi. Can you transfer me to the holding cells? Thanks.”
Charlie sat there, wanting to talk, but not knowing what to say.
“Holding? Do you have a Justin Neves in custody? Was he ever in custody?…”
“Maybe he’s in another district?” Charlie whispered.
Declan held up a finger. “Nowhere then… Okay. Thanks.”
Declan disconnected. “There’s no trace of him anywhere in the system.”
Charlie said, “What are we going to do?” He started to shake.
Declan went back to his phone and punched in a number. “It’s Declan. I need your help.”
“What now?” a voice at the other end of the line snapped.
“I have to know what’s happening with the Ian Mann case,” Declan said. “A boy’s life might be at stake.”
“I told you to keep your nose out of police business.”
“A boy’s gone missing. He could be in trouble.”
There was a muttering of voices on the end of the line. Sam Hunt came back on the phone. “McKeckran closed the case. His notes on file show it as death by misadventure. Ian Mann was down by the river, slipped, hit his head on a rock and fell in and drowned.”
Declan yelled, “That’s bullshit! If the case was closed, why did Constable Luke Fraser pick up Justin Neves from Airdrie last night and take him in for questioning for his role in the murder? And why is the boy not listed as being held in custody?”
“He did what? Wait a second.”
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone. Declan could hear the clacking of a keyboard.
“If it was a busy night, they may have been tied up in holding and haven’t gotten around to entering him into the system,” Sam said.
A muffled voice on the other end of the call yelled out, “Get down to holding and see if they have anything on a Justin Neves there. Now!”
Declan said, “We’ve got files that show that Luke had a fight with Ian Mann on the day he disappeared,and footage of Luke kidnapping him that evening. I’ll get Charlie to send them to you right now.”
