‘Another intriguing encounter,’ Annie said.
‘Very.’ Zoe was taking the road back into the city on their way to complete their final task of the morning, which was to try to track down Carl Francis. By now, it was feeling almost like a waste of time. As far as they were aware, Francis had had no recent contact with Parkin or Garfield and there was no strong reason to think he’d be able to tell them anything useful. Annie had more than enough to deal with and had been tempted to delegate the task, but, after Garfield’s death, part of her felt some responsibility that Francis was another loose end they’d left dangling. He was still one of the few people who might be able to give them some insights into what Parkin and Garfield had been involved in. At worst, they’d waste half an hour.
‘He was in a state,’ Annie went on. ‘Looked scared of something.’
‘It was like when we saw Jonny Garfield. The way he seemed almost to be expecting someone else at the door.’
‘Everyone seems to be running scared of someone or something. But what?’
‘I don’t know. I just hope Miller doesn’t end up in the same condition as Garfield.’ Zoe paused while she overtook a slow-moving van. ‘You think it’s worth following up this Kennedy character?’
‘I recalled the name from the directors of Werneth Holdings,’ Annie said. ‘He was the major shareholder and MD of the parent company, I think. We need to talk to him anyway about the links between Werneth and Parkin. Strikes me it might be worth throwing Miller’s name into the pot when we do. There’s obviously a story there, and I got the impression Miller might not have been telling all of it.’
‘Once you’ve done this afternoon’s briefing, that’s likely to be the day sorted, then. When do you want to bring Sheena over?’
‘I’ll give her a call. Might be better to do it this afternoon if she’s up for it. If we leave it till later presumably more of your neighbours will be around. More risk of her being spotted.’
‘Fine by me. I’m good at the cloak-and-dagger stuff.’
Annie laughed. ‘It’s really good of you to do this, Zo. You’re sure it’s not too much on top of – well…?’
‘On top of what we were talking about yesterday? Or what we weren’t talking about because I wouldn’t. Yes, I’m fine. Really.’
It was clear that Zoe had no intention of saying more. Annie decided not to press further. She just hoped that Sheena would have more success in getting to the bottom of what was troubling Zoe.
They made their way back into the city centre, caught up in the slow-moving morning traffic, and Zoe eventually found a parking place in a side street close to the address they’d been given for Carl Francis. A short walk brought them to the location of Francis’s flat, part of a conversion of what looked to be an Edwardian terraced house.
‘If Francis wasn’t in contact with Parkin and Garfield,’ Annie commented, ‘he was living interestingly close to them.’
‘Not only that.’ Zoe pointed to the ‘To Let’ sign on the neighbouring house. ‘Same agents. Looks like these might be another part of the mighty Werneth empire.’
‘Curiouser and curiouser.’ Annie studied the array of doorbells alongside the front door of the building and pressed the bottom one. Francis’s mother had told them he was sharing the ground-floor flat.
After a moment, the speakerphone by the bells buzzed and a voice said, ‘Who is it?’
‘Police. We’re trying to contact Carl Francis.’
‘Police?’ There was a moment’s pause, then the front door clicked open. ‘You’d better come in.’
Annie stepped into the narrow hallway beyond. At the end of the hallway there was an open door, with the figure of a young woman silhouetted in it. ‘In here,’ she said.
The decor and feel of the flat was similar to those in the flats where Parkin and Garfield had been living, but this was larger, clearly designed to accommodate several people. The room was tidy but felt more personalised, with an array of pot plants and a vase of flowers on the table.
‘I don’t understand what’s going on,’ the woman said. ‘Do you know anything about Carl?’
Annie frowned, surprised by the question. ‘We were hoping he might be here. Or at least that you might be able to tell us where he was.’
‘But that’s it,’ the woman said. ‘I don’t know where he is. We haven’t seen him for ages.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry. I’m Ellie. Ellie Jordan. One of Carl’s flatmates.’
‘Good to meet you,’ Annie said. ‘I’m DI Delamere. This is DS Everett. Are you saying that Carl hasn’t been here for some time?’
‘It’s probably getting on for a couple of weeks. He just didn’t come back from work. At first, we thought he was just away for the night. But he hasn’t been back since.’
‘Have you tried to contact him?’ Zoe asked.
‘Yes, of course. We’ve tried his mobile repeatedly but it just goes to voicemail. We’ve left messages but he’s not called back.’
‘Have you tried his work?’
‘That’s the other thing. He’d told us he worked in the local Tesco. But I called them and they claim they’ve never heard of him. Those were the only contacts we had.’
‘Who else lives here?’
‘There are three of us including Carl. Ged’s at work at the moment. I can contact him if you want me to.’
Annie shook her head. ‘It doesn’t matter for the moment. You’ve not reported Carl missing, presumably?’
‘It just seems stupid, doesn’t it? I mean, he’s an adult. He’s not obliged to be here. For all I know, there could be countless places he might have gone. I hardly know him.’
‘How did you end up sharing a flat with him?’
‘Just answered an advert on one of those websites. I was really looking for an all-female place but this was the best flat I saw for the money, and Carl seemed pleasant enough. He’d just started renting the place and was looking to split the costs.’ She added, ‘It was all done through the agency. They were okay with it, and Carl wanted to do it all properly. So it’s a three-way split. The rent’s very reasonable for the quality of the flat. To be honest, that was one reason we were concerned about Carl. If he doesn’t pay his share of the rent, me and Ged have to cover it.’
‘It’s a decent place.’ Annie was gazing round the room, trying to spot any items that might have belonged to Carl Francis. Anything that would give her a sense of what the young man had been like. ‘Do you mind if we take a look at Carl’s bedroom?’
‘No problem as far as I’m concerned,’ Jordan said. ‘And Carl’s not here to object.’ She paused, realising what she had said. ‘Do you think something’s happened to him?’
‘We honestly don’t know,’ Annie said. ‘We wanted to contact him in connection with one of our ongoing enquiries. We expected him to be here or at work. So we really know no more than you do just yet. Which is Carl’s room?’
Jordan led them across to one of the rooms off the living room. ‘In here. It’s not locked. Carl never locks it.’ She pushed open the door and stood back to allow them to enter the room.
It was little more revealing than the living room had been. It was clear that, whatever the reasons for his absence, Francis had expected to return. The wardrobe and drawers were full of clothes, and a couple of pairs of shoes were tucked under the bed. There were football posters on the walls, but otherwise little effort had been made to personalise the room. There was a row of books on the top of the chest of drawers, most of them apparently gaudy-looking thrillers. Annie walked across the room and looked more closely at the selection. Tucked among the thrillers there were a couple of more sombre-looking volumes. The Left-Hand Path and Another Route to Enlightenment. Unexpected reading for a young man, and very similar to the books in Parkin’s flat. Annie felt a sense of disquiet.
She turned back to Jordan. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve a picture of Carl?’
‘I probably have on my phone. Hang on…’
Jordan spent a few seconds skimming through her photo library, then held the phone out to Annie. ‘That’s the best I can find. We went to the pub for Ged’s birthday a few weeks back and got someone to take it for us.’
Annie gazed at the image for a few seconds, then handed the phone over to Zoe, who nodded. They’d clearly both had the same thought and their fears were confirmed. The photograph was clear and the likeness unmistakeable, even compared with the stark images prepared by the CSIs. The first body they’d found, the body on Beeley Moor, had been that of Carl Francis.
‘Could you let me have a copy of this image, Ellie?’ she said. ‘We won’t take up much more of your time. Is there anything else you can tell us about Carl? Any close friends you’re aware of?’
‘Not really. Like I say, I hardly knew him really. I was even wrong about where he worked, though I’m sure that was what he told me. He said he had a few friends locally, but I’ve no idea who they were. He never seemed to bring anyone back here. He was away a fair bit, sometimes overnight, but he never told us where he’d been. He seemed a very private individual.’
Annie had had a quick look through the drawers in Francis’s bedroom, but had found no sign of an address book or mobile phone. There was little evidence of anything that might have shed any further light on Francis’s life. Once his death was confirmed, they’d get the flat searched properly, but she had little expectation that they would find much more.
She handed Jordan one of her business cards. ‘If you think of anything else that might help us track him down, please let me know. But we’ll take care of it now.’
‘Do you think I should have reported him missing?’
‘It probably wouldn’t have made much difference.’ That was true enough, she thought, given that Francis would most likely already have been dead. ‘As you say, he’s a grown man. You had no real grounds for concern about his well-being. Nobody would have given it a high priority.’
‘You’ll let us know if there’s any news?’ Ellie said.
‘Of course. We’ll take your number before we leave. But thanks again, Ellie. You’ve been really helpful.’
Annie waited until they were well away from the house before she spoke. ‘Shit. I’m not wrong, am I?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Zoe said. ‘It looked like him.’
‘We should have followed up Francis earlier.’
‘It wouldn’t have made any difference, would it?’
‘Who knows? It might have helped prevent Garfield being killed.’ She shook her head. ‘No, you’re right. It almost certainly wouldn’t have made any difference. I just feel bad because I’d more or less dismissed Francis as a lead.’
‘It was what his mum told us,’ Zoe said. ‘All that “butter wouldn’t melt” stuff. We assumed he was out of the picture.’
Annie had stopped walking. ‘She was lying to us, wasn’t she? I mean, it wasn’t just the usual thing about mothers only seeing the best in their children.’
‘Maybe she was just relaying what Carl had told her. He must have told her the stuff about working at the supermarket, just like he told his flatmates. Though why lie about that anyway?’
‘Because the real story was less pleasant or more complicated, I’m guessing. But that wasn’t what I meant. His mum told us that he phoned them every few days and came to see them regularly. But if he’s been missing for a couple of weeks, and if we’re right about what’s happened to him…’
‘Then she wasn’t telling the whole truth.’
‘Doesn’t necessarily mean much, of course. Maybe Carl didn’t contact her as frequently as she wanted us to think. Maybe she had an inkling he was back involved with Parkin and Garfield. Perhaps she was just trying to protect him. I had a sense that she didn’t want us to be there when her husband got back. It’s possible she was afraid he might have given us a more accurate picture.’
‘Which suggests that we need to speak to them together,’ Zoe said.
‘If we’re right about Carl we’ll have to break the bad news to them in any case, and that’s best done when they’re both present. We’ll need to handle it with some sensitivity, but that might be the moment for a bit of truth-telling.’ She gave a mirthless laugh. ‘Christ, there are times when I think this job has turned me into an utter callous bastard.’
‘The job needs doing, though. And we have to do it in whatever ways we think will work best. If their son has been murdered, they’ll want us to catch the killer.’
‘And that’s me told.’ Annie laughed again, this time with more humour. ‘Okay, let’s head back to HQ. I need to get an update on how everything’s going. Especially how everything’s going back at my place. And we can double-check those photographs against the one that Ellie Jordan copied across to me. Then I guess we need to deal with Sheena.’ She glanced at her watch as they continued walking. ‘It’s turning into a hell of a day. And it’s not even lunchtime.’