Michael Fowler - Cold Death

“What’s that Barry?”

“Firstly we might have identified Samia’s cousins — the two men from the Meadowhall CCTV footage. I’ve been chasing up the Intelligence Units throughout the Force and Sheffield think they have a positive ID on the pair. It looks as though they’re known to Drug Squad, so I’m just waiting on final confirmation of that. It looks promising.”

“Great stuff. And the second thing?”

“Remember we set up a trace search of the part index number of the Volkswagon Golf which that prostitute Kerri-Ann Bairstow gave us belonging to one of her punters?”

Hunter pursed his lips. “Yes?” he retorted.

“Yep. Well you’re going to love this. Guess who it comes back to? You’ve already interviewed him.”

Hunter shook his head. “Surprise me.”

“Mr Chistopher Woolfe. An address in Sheffield,”

Hunter’s eyes widened. He locked on to Grace who had the same surprised look.

“Told you. You’d love it.”

Hunter brushed past Barry and snatched up the phone, punched in a number and waited for a response. His feet were tapping ten-to-the-dozen. After a brief conversation he slammed the handset back onto its cradle and turned to Grace. “Have you got anything pressing this evening?” he enquired, searching her face.

“Nothing that can’t wait. I’ll just make a quick call to Dave to sort out the girls and then I’m with you.”

Hunter patted Barry on the shoulder. “Cheers for this. Now I’ve got some arse to kick.”

* * * * *

Hunter listened as the footfalls padded towards him. He took his eyes off the car park for a few seconds whilst he checked his watch; he and Grace had been waiting in the entranceway to the hospital generator plant room less than half an hour.

Whilst they had been there the last light of dusk had faded into early evening. The car park security lighting had activated giving everything a blue white tinge.

Hunter narrowed his eyes as he focussed on the shadowy outline of the man passing across his vision only a few yards away. He recognised him from their previous visit to Barnwell General Infirmary.

“Good evening Dr Woolfe,” Hunter greeted him, stepping out of the shadow of the doorway. Grace slipped in beside him.

Hunter saw the doctor physically jump, slapping a hand across his chest, covering his heart.

“Christ you made me jump!” Chris Woolfe returned with a startled look on his face.

“Good.”

The doctor returned a perplexed look.

Hunter took a few determined steps towards him and then stopped inches from his face. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t haul you down to the station right now for perverting the course of justice!”

Even in the low-light cast from the glow of the overhead security lighting Hunter could make out that Chris Woolfe had coloured up.

“I–I,” he spluttered.

“Why after contacting us and giving us all that information about Samia’s cousins assaulting you and threatening you, didn’t you tell us that on the evening of Friday the first of August you recognised them leaving the country park in their white van?”

The Doctor dropped his head onto his chest.

“You could have saved us a lot of time — do you not realise that? Instead you gave us a storyline half pointing us in their direction. Is it because you were with a prostitute that night?”

He raised his head and nodded. “I’m close to finishing my time as a junior Doctor. If the hospital finds out about this I’ll not get a post. Believe me I didn’t want to obstruct your investigation I thought if I gave you enough to lead you to Samia’s cousins and help catch them this wouldn’t come out.”

“Well it’s backfired hasn’t it? Do you know we’ve wasted time tracking down the owner of a VW Golf for weeks as a potential witness and all this time it was you. Now I’d be very careful how I’d answer this next question. Did you see the two men dump Samia’s body in the lake?”

The doctor shook his head vigorously. “Christ no! I didn’t spot them until they’d cut us up in the car park. When I saw who was in the van I thought they were after me again. You know because of my past fling with Samia. I thought they’d followed me there and I was going to get another hiding. When they just drove away I couldn’t fathom it out. Then of course when I saw it all on the news I put two-and-two together and realised what I had seen.” He paused and dropped his gaze again. “I’m sorry. If it hadn’t been for the prostitute I would have told you all this.”

“You might be able to save some face here Doc. Can you definitely say you recognise the two people in the white van as Samia’s cousins who previously beat you up?”

Chris Woolfe nodded. “Yes it was definitely them.”

DAY THIRTY: 22nd September.

Barnwell:

“These are our targets,” announced Detective Superintendent Michael Robshaw, holding aloft a pair of A4 size colour photographs to his audience of detectives; they were blown up head and shoulders mug shots of two Asian men, holding in front of them custody reference boards, which indicated to the team that at some stage they had both been arrested and charged.

“Ari and Pervez Arshad, twenty-nine and twenty-seven years old respectively, from the Attercliffe area,” he continued. “These photographs were taken just over five months ago when they were arrested and charged with witness intimidation after an assault on a young man at a taxi rank. Three witnesses stated that Ari and Pervez pushed in on a queue and when a twenty-two year old man challenged them they both set about him. They punched him to the ground and statements from the witnesses state that Ari jumped several times on his head — with both feet. That young man is now permanently brain damaged and the three witnesses who initially came forward have now refused to give evidence in court after being visited by the pair.” The SIO turned and pressed the images onto the incident white boards directly beneath the two earlier e-fits joining the blown up CCTV image of the two Asian men caught on camera driving away from Meadowhall in the white Renault van.

All could now see that there was no disputing the likeness.

The Detective Superintendent returned his gaze back into the room. “These two are well known to the Sheffield police and also to Drug Squad. They have been strongly suspected of knocking out cocaine and heroin to the clubbers for some time but subsequent raids have only found enough gear for possession charges. Ari has also been arrested twice for assault and aggravated burglary when it’s believed he went round to collect drug debts owed to him — though once again victims and witnesses refused to give evidence in court.” Michael Robshaw paused and scanned the room. “However their luck has finally run out. We now have clear identification which places these two at the scene on the night Samia’s body was dumped, by our witness Christopher Woolfe, who had previously been assaulted by the pair — and he is willing to testify in court. So not only do we have CCTV footage of these two abducting Samia, we can also now place them on the night her body was dumped in the lake. What we don’t have at present is their precise address. I have already learned that they no longer live at the flat they were at when they were arrested five months ago. That has been let to another couple and was occupied by them on the date of Samia’s abduction. Detectives from Sheffield have paid this couple a visit and given the place the once over. There is no suggestion that these two people have any links to our targets or to the Hassans and therefore our priority now is to identify where they are currently living and bring them in. Tasks today relate to their known associates with a view to tracking them down.”