Michael Fowler - Secret of the Dead

“So Daniel Weaver walked away from Lucy. He didn’t take her with him or anything?”

“No, no, she didn’t go after him or anything like that. He went off on his own and she just stayed there on the pavement, watching him go. I still stayed where I was hiding ’cos I was a bit embarrassed. I didn’t want her to see that I’d been watching them argue in case she turned on me — you know what I mean?”

Carol nodded. “And then what happened. Did Lucy walk away as well?”

“Oh, no. I saw her staring after Daniel, you know watching which way he went, and at first I thought she was going to run after him, but then this car comes screaming up to her. It came from nowhere, made me jump it did, and it pulled up right in front of her. That’s when she got scared.”

“Scared?”

“Well it was more like terrified. You ought to have seen her face, she looked scared to death! Especially when the bloke got out of the car.”

Carol’s eyes widened. She knew that she was on to something. She prompted, “Then what happened?”

“Well, he just grabbed hold of her by the arms, virtually picked her up off her feet. She tried to wrestle him off but he was just too strong. He shouted at her. Told her to get in the effing car. Yes that’s what he said ‘Get in the effing car Lucy,’ but he swore properly. He was really mad with her.”

“Did you know who this man was?”

She shook her head. “No but you could tell by Lucy’s reaction that she knew him. She was struggling, like she did with Daniel Weaver, you know resisting like, but not really trying to get away if that makes sense.”

Carol nodded “And then what happened?”

“Well, he flung open the passenger door, and just pushed Lucy in and then he took off. Wheels were spinning and everything. He was in a right strop with her.”

“If you didn’t know him, did you get a good look at him? I know it’s a long time now, but can you describe what he looked like?”

“I can remember at the time thinking that he was a pretty big guy. By that, I mean tall and muscular like. He’d be a bit older than Lucy, late twenties, maybe early thirties, and he had dark brown hair. I think he had a centre parting. It was collar length.” Lisa shrugged her shoulders, “I mean he’ll have changed since then so I don’t know if I’d recognise him now, but if you showed me a photo of him back then I’d maybe be able to recognise him — I’m not too sure though.”

“What about the car he was driving?”

“Big red thing. A posh car. I think it was a Mercedes. It was one of those cars with a big silver badge on its grille. A three pointed star inside a ring. That’s a Mercedes badge isn’t it?”

“This is a wild shot Lisa, but did you get the number?”

Her mouth set tight. She replied apologetically,” I didn’t, but only because it confused me.”

Carol’s brow creased. “How do you mean?”

“Well it wasn’t a British number plate. It was foreign.” She held up a hand, “And sorry, but no I don’t know which country. I only remember thinking it was foreign.”

“Don’t apologise Lisa, that’s good. Just another couple of questions. Was he alone in the car, or was there anyone else with him?”

“He was alone.”

“After all this time, why have you decided to tell us this? Why didn’t you tell us this back in nineteen-eighty-three?”

Lisa Aldridge coloured up again. “Well, because of my mum.”

“What do you mean?”

“As I’ve already said, I’d got this job in Canada and I was going down to Heathrow on the Saturday to fly off there. I told my mum when I got home what I’d seen and asked her if she thought I should go to the police. She said that it might not be anything and that if I went to the police I’d miss my flight and maybe lose my job, so she said she’d keep an eye on the news and if it was anything important she’d let me know and I could report it to the Canadian police if it was serious. A couple of days later when I’d settled in and phoned her, she told me that the woman had disappeared but that the police had arrested someone and he’d confessed to her murder. Then she later told me about the trial and him being found guilty, so I never gave things a second thought. I’ve been back in England for over five years and until I saw this in the papers I always thought that Daniel Weaver fellow had murdered Lucy that night. It’s only now reading about it that I realise they’re saying he didn’t do it. So what I saw that night might have been to do with Lucy’s murder, don’t you think?”

“I think you may just have seen who killed Lucy. It’s a shame you didn’t know who it was who took her away in the car though.”

“I didn’t know him but I heard his name if that’s any help.”

Carol’s face lit up. “You heard his name?”

“Well not his full name, but when the guy was tussling with Lucy and trying to get her into the car I heard her shout at him ‘I’m getting in the bloody car. Just let go of me Peter, will you.’”

“And she definitely said the name Peter?”

“Definitely.”

* * * * *

“It just has to be Lucy’s husband,” said Carol Ragen as she looked around the MIT office. Finally. she fixed her gaze on Detective Superintendent Michael Robshaw, standing by the incident boards at the front of the room. “I mean, which other Peter has featured in our investigation?”

“I agree Carol,” the SIO said. “Did you ask this Lisa Aldridge if she would be able to give us an e-fit. It’s a long shot, and I know it’s so long ago now, and Peter Blake-Hall will have changed considerably, but maybe we can do a comparison with old photographs Lucy’s parents have of him.”

“I considered it, but I didn’t ask because of the time lapse thing. What I have started on is trying to determine if Peter owned a red Mercedes back in nineteen-eighty-three. We know he was shipping them in from Germany during the early eighties, and that would certainly tie in with the foreign number plate Lisa recognised. So, I’ve faxed the DVLA at Swansea this afternoon to see if they can do a search of his records and find out the cars registered to him.”

“Good job Carol.” Michael Robshaw leant against the Lucy Blake-Hall incident board, crossing one ankle over the other, taking the weight on his standing leg. “I’ve already passed out this information to Tony and Mike who have been trying to locate Ronnie Fisher and track down the black four-by-four registered to him. I’ve got them parked up near to Peter Blake-Hall’s club and I’ve asked them to update me if he or Ronnie turns up there. So far the pair have gone off the radar, I don’t know if Alan Darbyshire’s arrest has spooked them.” He turned to Hunter. “Can I ask you to update everyone regarding your interview with Alan?”

From his desk Hunter addressed the group. “It went well at the start. He was unaware of the contemporaneous notes from Jeffery Howson’s safe. Unfortunately, once we showed our hand, he clammed up. We let him have another long chat with his brief but that didn’t help. Except for him telling us that he was with his wife Pauline on the night of Jeffery’s murder, he gave us a ‘No comment’ second interview. He’s refused to comment on the photos which Guy Armstrong took of him apparently arguing with Peter Blake-Hall and Ronnie Fisher and I didn’t want to push him about Jodie’s murder just yet. We’ve given him enough to think about for now.”

“So you and Grace will have another crack at him tomorrow morning?” said Detective Superintendent Robshaw.

“Yeah. His face was a picture when I told him that. I think he thought we were going to bail him. We’ll see what a night in the cells will do.”