Peter Robinson: Strange Affair

“What about inside the car?” Gristhorpe asked.

“It’s in the police garage right now, sir. We should know something later today. There is one thing.”

“Yes?”

“It looks as if she was definitely forced off the road. The left wing hit the drystone wall.”

“But there was no damage to the right wing, at least not that I could see,” Annie said.

“That’s right,” Stefan agreed. “The car that forced her over didn’t make physical contact. Pity. We might have got some nice paint samples.”

“Keep looking,” said Gristhorpe.

“Anyway,” Stefan went on, “whoever it was must have got in front of her and veered to the left rather than come at her directly from the side.”

“Well,” said Gristhorpe, “what do you do if a you’re a woman alone and a car comes up fast behind you on a deserted country road at night?”

“I’d say either you take off like a bat out of hell or you slow down and let him get by and put as much distance as possible between the two of you,” said Annie.

“Exactly. Only in this case he forced her over to the side of the road.”

“The gear stick,” Annie said.

“What?” Gristhorpe asked.

“The gear stick. She was trying to get away. She was trying to reverse.”

“That’s the way it looks,” said Stefan.

“But she wasn’t fast enough,” said Annie.

“No. And she stalled.”

“Do you think,” Annie went on, “that there might have been two of them?”

“Why?” asked Gristhorpe.

Stefan looked at Annie and answered. It was uncanny, she thought, how often their thoughts followed the same pathways. “I think DI Cabbot means,” he said, “that if the driver had to put on the brake, unfasten his seat belt and pull out his gun before getting out, those few seconds might have made all the difference.”

“Yes,” said Annie. “Though why we should assume a murderer would be so law-abiding as to wear a seat belt is stretching it a bit. And he may have already had his gun out and not bothered to turn off the ignition. But if someone was there to leap out, say someone in the back, with his gun ready and no seat belt to unfasten, then she wouldn’t have had time to recover from the shock and get herself into reverse. Remember, she’d probably be panicking.”

“Hmm,” said Gristhorpe. “Interesting. And possible. Let’s keep an open mind for the time being. Anything else?”

“Not really,” said Stefan. “The victim’s been taken to the mortuary and Dr. Glendenning said he should be able to get around to the postmortem sometime this afternoon. In the meantime, it still looks very much as if death was due to a single gunshot wound above the right ear.”

“Any ideas about the sort of weapon used?”

“We’ve found no trace of a cartridge, so either our killer was smart and picked up after himself, or he used a revolver. At a rough estimate, I’d say it’s probably a twenty-two caliber. Anything bigger would most likely have left an exit wound.” Stefan paused. “We might not have had a lot of practice with gunshot wounds around these parts,” he said, “but our ballistics specialist, Kim Grainger, knows her stuff. That’s about it, sir. Sorry we can’t be a bit more helpful right now.”

“Early days, yet,” said Gristhorpe. “Keep at it, Stefan.” He turned to the rest of the group. “Has anyone verified the woman’s identity yet?” he asked.

“Not yet,” said Annie. “I got in touch with Lambeth North. It turns out their DI at Kennington is an old friend of mine, Dave Brooke, and he sent a couple of DCs to her address. Nobody home. They’re keeping an eye on the place.”

“And there are no reports of her car being stolen?”

“No, sir.”

“So it’s still more than within the realm of possibility that the registered keeper of the vehicle is the person found dead in it?”

“Yes. Unless she lent her car to a friend or hasn’t noticed it’s gone missing yet.”

“Do we even know for certain that she was alone in the car?” Gristhorpe asked.

“No.” Annie looked at Stefan. “I’m assuming that’s something they’ll be able to help us determine down at the garage.”

Stefan nodded. “Perhaps.”

“Anyone run her name through our system?”

“I did, sir,” said Winsome. “Name, prints, description. Nothing. If she ever committed a criminal act, we didn’t catch her.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Gristhorpe said. “All right, first priority, find out who she is and what she was doing on that road. In the meantime, I assume we’re already making door-to-door inquiries in the general area of the incident?”

“Yes, sir,” said Annie. “Problem is, there’s not much in the general area. As you know, it happened on a deserted stretch of road between the A1 and Eastvale in the early hours of the morning. We’ve got people going from house to house, but there’s nothing except a few holiday cottages and the occasional farmhouse within a mile each way of the car. Nothing’s turned up so far.”

“Nobody heard the shot?”

“Not so far.”

“An ideal place for a murder, then,” Gristhorpe commented. He scratched his chin. Annie could see by the stubble that he hadn’t shaved that morning. Hadn’t combed his unruly hair, by the looks of it, either. Still, personal grooming sometimes took backstage when it came to the urgency of a murder investigation. At least as far as the men were concerned. Kev Templeton was far too vain, of course, to look anything but his gelled, athletic and trendy best, not to mention cool as Antarctica, but Jim Hatchley had definitely taken a leaf out of Gristhorpe’s book. Gavin looked like a train spotter, right down to the National Health specs held together over his nose by a plaster. Winsome was immaculate in pinstripe navy trousers and matching waistcoat over a white scallop-neck blouse, and Annie felt rather conservative in her plain pastel frock and linen jacket. She also felt unpleasantly sweaty and hoped it didn’t show.

Finding herself doodling a cartoon of Kev Templeton in full seventies gear, complete with the Afro and tight gold lamé shirt, Annie dragged herself away from her sartorial musings, admonishing herself once again for having difficulty concentrating these days, and got back to the matter in hand: Jennifer Clewes. Gristhorpe was asking her a question, and Annie realized she had missed it.

“Sorry, sir?”

Gristhorpe frowned at her. “I said do we have any idea where the victim was driving from?”

“No, sir,” said Annie.

“Then perhaps we should set about canvassing all-night garages, shops open late, that sort of thing?”

“If the victim really is Jennifer Clewes,” Annie said, hoping to make up for her lapse in concentration, “then the odds are that she came from London. As the road she was found on leads to and from the A1, which connects with the M1, that makes it even more likely.”

“Motorway service stations, then?” Kevin Templeton suggested.

“Good idea, DC Templeton,” said Gristhorpe. “I’ll leave that to you, shall I?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to get the local forces on it, sir?”

“That’ll take too much time and coordination. We need results fast. Better if you do it yourself. Tonight.”

“Just what I always fancied,” Templeton grumbled. “Driving up and down the M1 sampling the local cuisine.”

Gristhorpe smiled. “Well, it was your idea. And I hear they do a very decent bacon panini at Woodall. Anything else?”

“DC Jackman mentioned that there had been a similar crime some months ago,” Annie said.

Gristhorpe looked at Winsome Jackman, eyebrows raised. “Oh?”

“Yes, sir,” said Winsome. “I checked the details. It’s not quite as similar as it appears on first glance.”