The Night Watch by Neil Lancaster

Author:Neil Lancaster [Lancaster, Neil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

46

ROSS EMITTED A DEEP, depressed sigh.

This was bad. This was very bad, and for once, he had no idea what to do. They wouldn’t be investigating this much more, that seemed obvious. There was going to be a big debrief here, and he needed to be ready with the answers and wasn’t sure he had them all.

He had to concede that his friend did have a point – it was too easy and far too convenient. Feelings didn’t matter, though. Evidence was what mattered and, as it stood, this looked just like a suicide. He could hardly argue against that conclusion by saying, ‘It can’t be suicide, it looks far too much like suicide.’

Within an hour Lorimer’s flat had been a hive of activity. The flat had one route in or out, so they quickly secured the scene by stationing a young cop on the door with a log. Blue-and-white tape was placed across the entrance, just to reinforce what they had here.

Not just a supposed suicide, but potentially the death of a serial killer cop.

There was a different sort of tension in the air and it told in the faces of the cops attending. The duty inspector went pale when Ross explained what they had and what was required of him. No cop wanted involvement in a situation like this that could hang around anyone ambitious like a bad smell.

Ross’s phone buzzed as they all stood in the corridor outside the flat. He looked at the display and raised his eyebrows at Max. ‘It’s the chief,’ he said. ‘Morning, sir.’

‘Ross, I don’t like what I’m hearing. DCC McVeigh has just been on with a message from Miles Wakefield. Can I hear it from you?’ Chief Constable Chris Macdonald said, without preamble.

Ross told him. He told him everything.

‘Shit. So, on the face of it, a clear suicide?’

‘On the face of it, yes.’

‘I’m sensing something in your voice.’

‘Max isn’t happy.’

‘Why?’

‘He thinks it looks staged. He reckons it’s too perfect. Keys on the side, mysterious burner phone with it and a bag with what looks like a murder weapon in it. The place hasn’t been fully searched but I’ve a feeling that everything found will point to the fact that Lorimer is guilty of the murders of Grigor and Paterson.’

‘What hard evidence is there?’

‘Well, we had the GPS on the car, which is really damning, we now have a burner phone to work on, and of course, a bloodstained knife.’

‘I assume that we’re thinking it’s the murder weapon for Paterson?’

‘That’s what we’re clearly supposed to think.’

‘You don’t sound convinced?’

‘You know, boss, if I was the SIO turning up on scene now to take over, I’d peg this as a suicide, but Max has me thinking.’

‘I’m listening.’

‘It really is too easy. Why would an experienced cop keep a murder weapon? Why set it all out like that for us?’

Macdonald was silent for a moment. ‘Right, here’s what I want. A whole new team is coming out to deal with the scene and I want every bloody resource used to go over his flat millimetre by millimetre.

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