Imogen watched Gary tapping away at the computer, pulling up various documents and sending them to the printer.
‘How’s Adrian?’ Gary said.
‘He seems to be improving. He’s lost some weight, though; this bug really has a hold of him.’
‘What’s the doctor given him?’
‘I don’t know. Antibiotics, I assume,’ Imogen responded. ‘What are we looking at?’
‘I’m just looking at all the construction jobs that have taken place over the last few years since Corrigan Construction moved into town.’
Imogen remembered what Angela had said about moving from Shropshire.
‘How long ago was it again?’ she asked.
‘Around ten years now. Which is not that long in business terms; he grew that company very fast.’
‘Do you think we can get him on dodgy books or something?’
‘Nothing obviously illegal as yet. We’ve tried reaching out to his competitors in the area, see if he has been strong-arming them into letting him win bids on big contracts. He seems to get more than his fair share and I find it hard to believe that’s completely above board. Same story, though. No one has anything to say about him on the record. I mean, why aren’t they kicking off about it?’
‘Why wouldn’t it be legal to win bids?’
‘It was a huge deal a few years ago. Then the law was changed to ensure the bigger companies weren’t fucking over the smaller ones, which they were by ensuring that they always won the biggest construction bid, basically putting lots of smaller companies out of business. You aren’t allowed to create barriers to prevent other companies from entering a market; it’s possible that’s what was happening here. Again, nothing on paper that is untoward, but you don’t know what he is saying to these people in person.’
‘He’s probably not taking them out to dinner. He knows how to make people do what he wants, which means there won’t be a paper trail,’ Imogen said. ‘Can you find out more about Angela Corrigan when you have done that? Where she is from, if she still has any family that maybe we could connect her with. Do it when you finish that. Let me know if you need me to speak to anyone. Although so far no one wants to say anything specific against this guy; he is like a Sith Lord or something.’
‘Oh no, has Adrian been making you watch Star Wars?’
‘Last month he made me watch the first three movies.’
‘The first three?’
‘You know, the first three to come out, not the first three in the series.’
‘Oh, good. I was about to go mad and text him some strong words,’ Gary joked. ‘Do you think he would be up to a visitor yet?’
‘I don’t know. He’s really not been well. I can ask him when I see him, though.’
‘Let him know I’m thinking about him.’
‘Why don’t you just call him?’ Imogen said.
‘I have; he doesn’t answer. I guess he is asleep or something.’ Gary shrugged.
‘How long until you get through all this lot, do you think?’
‘It could take a few days, I reckon. More if I go through the contracts or look through past business deals. I want to make sure I don’t miss anything. From what you have told me, this guy is a complete shit and deserves to be locked up. If we can’t get him for domestic abuse or murder, then we will get him on something white collar. Who cares as long as he is put away?’
‘I agree. Everything is a dead end at the moment and even if we could compel Angela to speak, I doubt she would say anything of use; she is too terrified of him. I think she would rather go to jail than bank on us putting him away.’
‘Well, let’s hope we can get her out of there some other way, then,’ Gary said.
‘Just quickly, can you see if there is anything on Reece Corrigan when he was younger, too? Like a juvey record or something. As an adult he’s been clean as a whistle, but it all had to start somewhere. I can’t help thinking we have missed something big.’
Gary tapped away at the keys for a few minutes and Imogen watched as he pulled up several documents at such a speed that it seemed impossible to glean any useful information from each one. Obviously, Gary knew what he was looking for.
‘OK, so yeah, he was on the periphery of a few things but never directly involved. Looks like he spent a few years in Liverpool, where he got mixed up with the wrong people. He was cautioned twice but then nothing.’
‘What was he cautioned for?’
‘A couple of cases of common assault when he was seventeen years old, both wiped from his record after two years because of his age. In both cases the victims didn’t speak out against him. There was a knife on the scene, but they couldn’t prove it was his, hence the caution and not an arrest.’
‘Sounds like our man.’
‘He had an older brother who was killed in a street fight. His father was in and out of prison, too. Mother left when he was still in nappies, so no strong female influence in his life.’
‘Get you, Mr Forensic Psychology. What was his dad in for?’
‘Organised crime. Low-level, though. They didn’t have much in the way of money and certainly no power.’
‘Maybe that’s his problem, then.’
‘Sounds like being a manly man was a big deal in that household.’
‘As usual, you are amazing. Can you send me over all the pertinent information? Can you check if there is anything else on him and the company? He told us he hired ex-cons before. Maybe see if we can get a list of those together and assess whether any of them could have killed Glover. I don’t think Corrigan gets his hands dirty himself.’
‘I’ll see what I can find.’