Trial by Fire (#14 - Sanford Third Age Club Mystery) (STAC - Sanford Third Age Club Mystery) by David W Robinson

Author:David W Robinson [Robinson, David W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crooked Cat Books
Published: 2015-08-06T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

By the middle of Friday afternoon, after one of the busiest twenty-four hour periods she could recall, Denise was almost wishing she had never become involved.

After leaving Sheila and Brenda, she had called back at Britannia Parade and it had not taken long to learn that Todd Henshaw had been employed as a security officer since the new building first opened.

Tucked away in a windowless, ground floor office, and surrounded by CCTV monitors covering all aspects of the building both inside and out, Todd was content to let her disturb him, and like most people, he was only too happy to talk about himself.

“Lorra experience, y’see. Been in security work since I left school over twenty years ago, so I was a natural for this job.”

As skilled at listening as she was talking, Denise wore a fixed smile as she sat through his chatter.

Tall, but stocky, aged about forty, his head shaven close, but with sufficient stubble to show off a thinning crown, he told her how he had wanted to join the police, but one or two minor convictions in his teens had scotched the plan, and he had settled, instead, for security work. But he complained about the pay and conditions which meant he was often called upon to work twelve-hour shifts.

Gradually, Denise brought the conversation round to the previous Monday night.

“Yeah. The cops took away sets of recordings from the CCTV cameras. Looks like they’ve got Joe painted right into a corner.”

“Yes, well, I’m not so sure. There are things which don’t add up.” Denise hastened on before Todd could ask what things. “Joe was telling me there were two truckers parked in the back lane all night.”

“There was,” Todd agreed. “They’re a pain, those truckers, but the lane is common land, see. Belongs to the council. And it’s an official parking area, so we get a few of ’em spending the night there. Can’t do nowt about it. But some of ’em don’t half leave a mess behind.”

Changing the subject again, Denise asked, “You didn’t see Joe’s car turn up or him getting out and going to his recycling cupboard? It only turned up on the CCTV?”

Todd shrugged. “Locked in here when you’re on nights, aren’t you? We’re not allowed to leave the control centre.” He threw out a sweeping hand which took in the array of monitors. “Everything is on camera. It’s like Big Brother. No one can get in or out without you, theoretically, knowing about it. At some stage anyone coming into the building will be caught on one of the cameras. Those in the back lane will be caught anyway, cos the cameras are fixed. All we can do is alter the zoom, and when Joe’s car came in and stopped at the back of the caff, there was no need to zoom in, was there? I knew it was his car. I recognised it. And he has every right to go in his cupboard, so why should I go poking my nose in.

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