Adrian took a deep breath before entering Gary’s office, steeling himself for the inevitable physical contact and reminding himself that Gary was one of the good guys. As suspected, Gary’s face lit up when he saw Adrian and he put his arms around him in a hug. Gary was one of the few male friends that Adrian had. He had transferred in from Plymouth after Imogen came to Exeter. They became friends almost instantly. Despite the hug, Adrian was surprisingly pleased to see Gary.
‘Mate! You’ve been missed!’ his friend said.
‘I can tell. Sorry I haven’t been in touch; really not been well,’ Adrian said, pulling away.
‘Imogen said you were properly ill. I think she was really worried you weren’t going to make it.’
‘A stomach flu coupled with a fractured rib are not happy bedfellows.’
‘Well, it’s been weird without you. DCI said I need to catch you up on the case.’
‘Imogen’s been keeping me informed for the most part.’
‘Right, well, most of what we have is two dead bodies, a battered wife and a missing employee. I don’t know how he is doing it, but he has managed to keep a pretty tight lid on whatever it is that he is up to.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean in business terms, he seems to be just under the threshold to be investigated by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. He throws the other contractors a bone every now and again, but it’s not benevolence, it’s purely to keep any kind of audit at bay, by the looks of things. This is purely speculation, of course. My guess is it’s bid rigging – have you ever heard of that?’
‘No.’
‘Right, well, the way it works is that companies collude to enable the “winning” party to obtain contracts at uncompetitive prices – so, higher prices for sellers and lower prices for buyers. Typically speaking, the other contractors are compensated in various ways, either by cash payments, or in this case probably by not having their faces smashed in. They are also occasionally designated to be the “winning” bidder on other contracts, or hired as a subcontractor. This usually happens with government contracts and in past cases of bid rigging, the companies take it in turns to be the winners. From what I can see, Reece Corrigan’s company has won every significant contract in the last few years. He doesn’t take turns.’
‘Couldn’t that just be because they have a stellar reputation?’
‘It’s possible, of course, but for the other companies not to undercut him to stay afloat seems sketchy to me.’
‘So, is what he is doing illegal, or not?’
‘Not on paper. I wouldn’t be surprised if the other construction companies have to offer him some financial incentive in order to get work though. I doubt there is any kind of paper trail, probably cash in hand. It’s going to take more digging to find out what. If it’s proven, each instance carries a prison term of up to six years. So, if they’ve been doing it for ten years on several contracts a year, then you are looking at some serious prison time.’
‘What’s the point of that for the other companies? Wouldn’t they be out of pocket?’
‘Not necessarily.’
‘But if there is no evidence of this then what can we do about it?’
‘It could take months of going through all of his personal expenditure and also looking at his assets and other things. I think if you can speak to one of his rivals, they might be able to give you some information. The next largest company is Hatfield Homes; they will definitely have crossed paths. Their company hasn’t experienced the kind of growth you would expect given the current climate. In order for us to prove this by his accounts alone, he will need to be audited by a forensic accountant. It could take months and that stuff is a little beyond my capabilities.’
‘I don’t believe that for a second,’ Adrian said.
‘Well, I don’t have time to do it and it would take someone else with the proper experience half the time.’
‘Who can we speak to at Hatfield Homes?’
‘The director there is Cameron Becker. I’ll ping you the address.’
‘How are things with you, anyway?’ Adrian asked.
‘Really good. Franka and I are going on holiday in about two weeks. Hopefully.’
‘Where you going?’
‘Croatia, to see her family. Meeting the parents and all that.’
‘Oh, so her parents get to meet you before we get to meet her. I don’t even know what she looks like,’ Adrian said, half joking.
He wondered if there was something about his new girlfriend that Gary was trying to hide. It certainly felt like it; they’d been together for several months now and there was always a reason Gary couldn’t introduce her to them. He couldn’t be annoyed, though, because he hadn’t even told Gary he was in a relationship with Imogen.
‘She doesn’t do photos, sorry,’ Gary said.
‘Well, she must be pretty special to have bagged a guy like you.’
Gary blushed and turned back to looking at his laptop screen.
‘We should know a bit more after the search of the house at Oswestry. Hopefully, anyway,’ Gary said.
‘How long has this guy been missing?’ Adrian said.
‘Clive Osborne hasn’t been seen in around ten years. Hard to pinpoint an exact date after so much time has passed. He last used his bank account about two weeks before the Corrigans moved into the area.’
‘Who reported him missing?’
‘No one; that’s the strange thing. I have managed to locate his mother’s phone number. She lives in Spain now.’
‘Have you called her yet? I can do it after I speak to Cameron Becker,’ Adrian offered.
‘Great, I’ll ping the number over to you.’
Gary tapped away at the keys furiously and just seconds later, Adrian felt his phone vibrate in his pocket to alert him that he had an email. Phone calls he could do.