marriage and her uncertainties regarding her future led to a sense of despondency, not helped by the fact that she had seen even less of David recently. She knew he was up to his eyes in work at the moment, but she really, really needed a little bit of reassurance just now. She sighed, and turned her attention back to the computer.
Late afternoon, and North Street police station was a hive of activity. Ann Morrison was seated at her desk preparing to re-interview Benny Patterson. They had struck gold in his house when they found a set of car keys in a kitchen drawer which didn't fit his usual car.
Ann and one of the uniformed cops involved in the arrest had walked up the street outside Patterson's house, pressing the remote control until they got a response. A neglected looking Corolla parked nearly a hundred metres away was a match for the keys, as well as the remote. A search of the boot revealed what appeared to be a substantial amount of cannabis with smaller amounts of what they suspected might be cocaine and perhaps heroin, as well as a bottle containing what they hoped would turn out to be GHB. Under the front passenger seat was a cheap phone which they quickly established was the one used to send the messages to Liz Kingsley.
There was a tap at her door, and Brian Cameron entered, barely waiting for her response.
'Bingo!' He could hardly contain his excitement, as he brandished a handset.
She raised her eyebrows in a silent question,
'Drew Oldman's phone, boss, he's got pictures of the flat, the girls, Patterson, you name it, it's all there!'
'Well, well well, it'll be interesting to see Patterson try to wriggle out of this one, let's have a look.'
She studied the tiny screen, and was able to confirm for herself that, along with the two girls, there were clear images of Patterson and McCall. Oldman was presumably holding the phone to take the pictures, and his presence would need to be established during the interviews if he were to be prosecuted.
Oldman however was low on Ann's list of priorities. It was Patterson she wanted, and there he was, large as life, trying to fondle and kiss Linda Hope who looked very much the worse for wear. In one picture, he appeared to be half-carrying, half-dragging Linda through a doorway, in another she seemed to be throwing up on the floor of the bathroom.
'It looks like she started to be sick, so he dragged her to the toilet,' said Brian, 'But she didn't quite make it. And of course, that's where her body was found, on the bathroom floor, choked on her own vomit.'
'What we still really need,' said Ann thoughtfully, 'Is testimony to the fact that Patterson supplied the drugs so that we're not just depending on the circumstantial evidence of the drugs in the car near his house. That means leaning on these guys, letting them know they're in deep trouble, and the only way out is to implicate Patterson as the drug supplier.'
'Oldman isn't the sharpest tool in the box, I think we could get somewhere with him.'
'None of them seem overly endowed with the old grey matter, but I agree that Oldman seems like the weakest link, definitely worth a try. You never know, we might even hear Darren Hill's name mentioned.'
'I think you might be optimistic there, boss, they might be thick, but they know better than to mention any of the Hills to the police.'
'True, Brian, but we'll give it a try. You and Ian can start with Oldman, then McCall, I'll save Patterson till last, let him sweat a bit. And try to find out who came to the door while the girls were in the flat, the guy who smelled nice. Also, I'd like some of these pictures printed to take into the interviews with us, let me know when you're ready.' Brian nodded, and headed off. Ann allowed herself a little smile. She had a feeling she would sleep better tonight than she had of late.
Chapter 8
Allan was busy charging the last few drill holes ready for the day's blast. Having completed the drilling, Jim Steel was lending a hand, shovelling gravel down each hole after the explosives were in place.
'Did you hear about the excitement round our way yesterday?' Jim was asking.
'No, what happened?' Allan carried on deftly preparing charges as they spoke.
'Police were all over the place. They're supposed to have arrested Benny Patterson and some of his mates. Everybody is saying it's to do with the lass that died of the overdose. Apparently Patterson had a car near his house stashed full of drugs. That's one of their tricks, you know, they get an old car, don't register it, then keep the drugs in it instead of in their house. That way, if the police find anything, they just shrug and say it's nothing to do with them, it's not their car.'
'Does that mean Patterson will get away with it?'
'Naah, not this time, the stupid bugger had the keys in his kitchen, and the police used them to find the right car, plus they reckon it's probably covered in his fingerprints. After all the publicity about that video he was in, admitting he was involved in the death of that lass, there's no way the police are going to let him walk away from this one, that's for sure.'
'Do you think that video did some good then?'
'I'm sure of it. Shamed the police into trying that bit harder I reckon, instead of just letting it fade away.'
'Yeah, well, you could be right, we'll never know for sure.'
With the last hole charged, Allan made a check with the meter before attaching the length of twin-core wire that would allow him to fire the blast from a safe distance. After reeling out around fifty metres, he checked with the meter again, ensuring everything was fine. He wouldn't attach the battery pack that he used to fire the blast until the last minute.
There would be a delay now while the road contractor cleared the public road adjacent to the blast, in case a passing vehicle were to be hit by a “flyer” from the blast. The technique they had been using was a rolling road block, rather than stopping the traffic completely, avoiding the hazards and delays that a total stoppage tended to entail.
Two site vehicles would approach the blast area from a couple of miles to the west, another two from the east, and then, co-ordinated by radio, the pairs of vehicles would position themselves two abreast to block the traffic behind, gradually slowing to a crawl. By stopping the traffic from entering the zone between the converging roadblocks while allowing traffic to exit, a clear break was created, allowing the shot to be fired safely. Following the blast, all being well and no debris on the road, the signal would be given for the blocking vehicles to speed up and normal traffic flow would resume, often with many of the drivers unaware anything out of the usual had occurred.
As soon as Allan received the signal to proceed, he connected the battery pack, then waited while Jim gave the sequence of horn blasts to indicate a shot was imminent. A final look around to confirm the road was clear, and that no pedestrians had wandered into range, and he pressed the button. There was a series of sharp cracks blurring together, the flash snaking from hole to hole, then the deep boom as the solid rock lifted and shattered. Allan quickly moved forward, checking every charge had gone off, then, satisfied there were no misfires, he indicated to Jim to give the long horn blast to signal the all-clear.
He noted that nothing had landed on the road, and gave himself a mental pat on the back. Within a couple of minutes he saw the traffic moving again, so no mishaps with the traffic
