Kay took the briefing folder from Gavin with a murmured thanks and paused to read through the additional notes the detective constable had added in her absence.
Both he and Laura had looked up from their desks when she’d walked into the incident room half an hour ago, their faces pale as the news of Phillip’s death filtered through from the control room.
She spent the next twenty minutes consoling her team, assuring them that the young constable hadn’t been alone when he died, and that Kyle had been checked over by one of the ambulance crew.
She’d drawn the line at his insistence at returning to the station, and after making sure he would follow his doctor’s orders and stay in hospital overnight, she made a phone call to one of the appointed psychiatrists used by Kent Police.
Having survived a near-fatal incident herself and ignored the symptoms of severe mental stress on her health in the past, she was determined not to let Kyle deal with the aftermath of his colleague’s death alone.
Gavin cleared his throat, and she blinked, concentrating on the blurring words in front of her.
‘So, as you can see, guv, the MacFarlanes have been struggling to make ends meet. There’s a lot of competition in the marketplace, and they haven’t exactly grown with the times.’ He moved to her shoulder, then flicked over to the next page in the folder. ‘Some of their rivals offer costumes as well as the firearms, and offer to carry out all the Home Office paperwork required for using firearms on productions.’
‘Did you find the balance sheets online?’ said Kay, her interest piqued.
‘Yeah – here.’ Laura sniffed, then picked up a sheaf of paperwork and walked over. She wiped her eyes, and sniffed again. ‘Okay, this was all on the Companies House website. You can see they were doing all right up until about three years ago, and then two years ago – when those rival companies popped up that Gavin found – they started losing work to competitors. Last year’s profit was down by nearly a hundred and eighty thousand pounds.’
Kay gave a low whistle. ‘What about the house? Do we know if that’s owned outright, or mortgaged?’
‘Mortgaged,’ said Gavin. ‘And re-mortgaged eight months ago.’
‘That’s not all, guv.’ Laura handed her a set of four large photographs. ‘These were taken at the MacFarlanes’ property an hour ago.’
Kay’s eyes widened at the sight of a trapdoor opening that had been discovered under the workbench in the shed, and then at the cache of weapons concealed under the wooden floorboards. ‘Shit. How much was down here?’
‘If everything they found was sold on the black market, we think there’s about forty thousand pounds’ worth,’ said Gavin. ‘Most of that stock hasn’t been proofed.’
‘Do you think Porter knew about the illegal firearms sales?’ said Kay, sliding the photographs into the briefing folder.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Laura. ‘We’ve both re-read their previous statements, and nothing they’ve said suggests that he did.’
‘Having said that, it’s interesting that it was Roman who suggested the audit,’ Gavin added.
‘Unless he was covering his tracks and trying to lay the blame on his father.’ Kay closed the folder. ‘Good work, both of you. Gavin, do you want to join me in the interview? Barnes is still at Adam’s surgery.’
He nodded, then dashed back to his desk and picked up his jacket and notebook.
‘How’s the dog?’ Laura said. ‘I wondered… I mean, I didn’t want to ask because of Phillip and everything, but…’
‘I don’t know. I haven’t heard from either of them.’ Kay frowned. ‘Listen, if you want to talk any time, just ask, all right? I know you and Phil worked closely together, and…’
Laura wiped away fresh tears. ‘Thanks, guv. Might just take you up on that.’
‘I’m ready.’ Gavin wandered back, his eyes keen despite the late hour.
Kay handed him the folder, and took the notebook from him. ‘You’re leading this one. You’ve earned it.’