Page 44 of Worse Than Murder
‘There’s no reason why you can’t open as usual,’ Gill says with a solicitous smile.
‘Will your vehicles be gone by this evening? We will need the car park for our customers.’
‘I’m afraid I can’t say for certain. It all depends on what we find.’
‘Well, would it be possible for your team to at least use the parking bays correctly rather than screaming to a halt wherever they like?’
I stifle a grin. It’s unusual for me to be watching the beginnings of a police investigation from the outside. If I’d been in the inspector’s position, I would have taken against Philip straight away for an aside like that. However, my head is firmly in the ‘member of the public’ camp, and I’m seeing the police as an intrusive force for the first time.
Go, Philip!
Gill inflates herself to her full height. ‘I shall ask my team to park respectfully, yes.’
‘Can we get you anything?’ Sally asks. ‘Teas or coffees?’
‘No. Thank you. We’re fine, for now.’
Gill turns on her heel and heads for the door, not before she steals a quick glance at me with a daggered stare.
I’ve not even met her, and she’s pissed off at me. My reputation has clearly preceded me.
‘I wonder what they’ve found,’ Sally says. She reaches for Philip’s hand.
‘Where’s Carl?’ he asks. ‘I don’t want him seeing the police vehicles out front and panicking.’
‘He’s in his bedroom with the dogs.’
‘I’ll go and have a word with him.’
‘Alison?’ Lynne sees her daughter through the window, opening the boot of a marked police car, changing out of her sensible shoes and into a pair of wellington boots. She jumps up and runs out of the restaurant.
I watch as she flies down the stairs, calling her daughter’s name. Alison looks up, her face pale with worry. She goes over to her mother, takes her by the elbow and leads her away from the scene, talking to her in what seems like hushed tones.
‘What do you think they’ll have found to have brought all this lot out?’ Sally asks.
‘You don’t usually get this many police without there being a body.’
‘From the storm? I haven’t heard of anyone being missing.’ Sally pulls her long cardigan tighter around her body and folds her arms. There’s a look of worry on her face.
‘I think this might go further back than last night. And judging by the fact that Lynne Pemberton appears to be inconsolable, I’d say they might have found her first husband.’
* * *
The police station at High Chapel is only a small one. It doesn’t have a forensic team, a CID, a fraud squad, a drug squad, or a crime squad. There aren’t even any holding cells or a custody suite. Any large-scale investigations are run from Kendal. Major incidents use officers from all three stations at Kendal, Barrow and Hunter Lane, often calling in those from Lancaster Police Station who are a part of the British Transport Police.
At present, nobody knows what is lurking beneath the waters of Lake Windermere. Matilda Darke has presented them with a registration plate. Records show that a blue Vauxhall Astra 1.3 Merit Estate with the registration number E311 TVC was registered to Travis Montgomery. It was never reported lost or stolen, and the tax ran out in January 1993 and hasn’t been renewed. Had Travis dumped it himself and later claimed the insurance money?
PCs Lydia Marsh and Katie Dixon were sent out to the site to have a look around. They immediately got on the phone to Inspector Forsyth and told her of their findings. Also tangled in the debris of the fallen trees was a child’s-size shoe and a tarnished silver necklace which was lapping at the shore. As Travis had never been married and had no children, it was puzzling as to how these items and his car registration plate could be linked.
Gill stands on the edge of the lake with the items sealed in evidence bags. She has a dark feeling that there is something lurking at the bottom of the lake that will cause her many sleepless nights and a few thumping headaches.
‘What do you want to do?’ Sergeant Alan Stokes asks as he approaches. ‘My brother-in-law goes diving on holiday. He’s got all the gear. We can always ask him to go down and have a look.’
‘No. If anything happens to him, it would come back to us. To me. We need a qualified commercial diver. Get on to the North West Police Underwater Search and Marine Unit. Tell them we’ve got a possible submerged car on the bed of the lake and to send a team out here to have a look. They’ll have all the necessary equipment.’
‘Right. And in the meantime?’
‘In the meantime, we say nothing to anyone. There might not be anything down there.’
