Starvation Lake: A DCI Sean Bracken Crime novel (A DCI Sean Bracken Crime Thriller Book 1) by John Carson

Author:John Carson [Carson, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-29T16:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

The car wasn’t technically inside the scrap merchant’s but rather parked in a little two-car parking area outside. Bracken stopped his car behind the patrol cars and the forensics van and he and Sullivan stepped out into the cold air once again.

Charlie Nelson and Izzie Khan had come along from the crime scene to meet Bracken and Sullivan.

‘Funny place for a parking bay,’ Bracken said.

‘This is on a bus route, sir,’ Nelson said, coming across to them. ‘It’s an infrequent service and comes through from Ratho, going up onto the main road and ending up at Wester Hailes centre. Sometimes people from the scrap centre will wait here, mostly during the week. Only one or two, but it’s a busy wee route sometimes.’

‘How are you such an expert on this?’ Bracken said.

‘A bus just came by a few minutes ago and I stopped it to talk to the driver.’

‘And here’s me thinking you were being clever. What about CCTV from the scrapyard?’

‘They have cameras, but they only cover inside and as far as the little car park they have for employees. The trees there block the view of this part of the road. We just spoke to the manager of the place.’

‘Nobody was outside and saw somebody park this and hop on a bus?’

‘He didn’t get on the bus. The driver I spoke to has been round here twice before this trip and he didn’t pick anybody up.’

Bracken pulled up his collar against a cold wind that swept the snow around. ‘How many of you have trampled your boots around the car?’

‘None of us. We made sure not to step on the snow on the pavement. There are no footprints. And as you can see, a gritter truck has been round spreading salt, so the road is wet but clear.’

Bracken nodded and looked at Sullivan. ‘Somebody picked him up or else he walked up the road. And it’s a fair trek to the main road.’

‘Maybe he walked up to the park ’n’ ride,’ Izzie said, walking across to join them.

Bracken looked at her. ‘How far is it from here?’

‘A good walk, the driver told us,’ Nelson said. ‘Like when my parents used to walk to school, so they told me; it’s all uphill, in the snow.’

‘There are paths round here, though,’ Izzie added. ‘There’s one that goes round the side of the technology building and it goes under the bypass into Edinburgh Park. Or there’s another one further up the road that he could have taken. I looked at Google Earth and it goes along the side of the canal and continues on the side of the viaduct that crosses over the bypass.’

‘Have a uniform nip up there and see if there are footsteps in the snow,’ said Bracken. ‘Doesn’t mean anything if there are, but I want a clearer picture.’

‘He must know his way around here,’ Sullivan said. ‘He feels comfortable. I don’t think he left the car here by accident.’

Bracken looked at Nelson. ‘Didn’t I tell you two to go to the estate agent’s office?’

‘We hadn’t left by the time you called us, boss.

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