Marked Men by Chris Simms

Author:Chris Simms [Chris Simms]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2019-01-23T05:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FIVE

‘Right,’ DCI Ransford announced before clearing his throat, ‘where are we at?’

Opposite Sean and Magda were DS Fuller and DC Moor. Tina Small, head of media relations, was at the far end of the table, eyes lifting from her phone for a few moments before the compulsion grew too great and she had to check her screen again.

Sean noticed Fuller had rested one thick-fingered hand across his folder. Like a dog guarding its food. So much, Sean thought, for the collaborative approach. He turned to Magda. ‘Shall I …?’

‘Why not?’

As he covered off their meeting with Anthony Brown, Fuller jotted a couple of things in a small pad. When Sean moved on to the meeting with Manny and Frankie, his pen began to bob away once more.

‘So,’ Ransford said, ‘this man in the army coat – he’s been busy. Bringing him in for questioning surely has to be our top priority, no?’

Heads nodded.

Ransford looked to his side. ‘DS Fuller. What have you got?’

Sean noticed the little notebook was no longer on the table. When did he pocket that? His eyes shifted to Fuller’s jacket draped across the back of his chair. Probably disappeared in there.

‘We visited the shop where Kevin Rowe’s card had been used. The owner had prepared the security tapes and the quality of recording is excellent.’ He opened his folder and produced a clear image of Army Coat at the counter. Fuller slid the shot to one side. Below it was another showing the person bagging up a load of beer cans. ‘Thirsty work, maybe? Trussing someone up and torturing them.’

DCI Ransford lifted a sheet for a closer look then passed it to Magda. She glanced over it before handing it on to Sean. No doubt it was him. He offered it to Tina who just took a quick look and nodded. ‘Time stamp has it at 20.14,’ Sean stated. ‘Does that—’

‘Completely,’ Fuller cut in while looking at Ransford. ‘Rowe died early evening. As I said yesterday, the killer had an idea of Rowe’s routine.’

‘Good work there.’

Rather than return the image to Fuller, Sean placed it in the centre of the table, curious to see how long it stayed there.

As expected, Fuller immediately reached out and dragged it back to his folder.

Ransford was looking towards Tina Small. ‘I’m wondering whether the time is right to issue an appeal. Get this man’s face on the news.’

Tina put her phone aside, but not very far. ‘My advice would be to hold back on that for the moment. Another angle to consider is that of Anthony Brown. We know he isn’t in the habit of allowing people to attack him. Several unsolved murder cases are testimony to that. If he perceives this man in the army coat is a threat …’

‘Christ, you’re right,’ Ransford said. ‘He’ll go after the person himself. This bloody case gets messier. DS Fuller, have that image of the suspect circulated immediately to all city centre patrols. Top of the list, please.’

‘Will do.’

‘A couple of other things worth mentioning,’ Magda announced.

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