Need You Dead

87 Friday 29 April

‘Detective Superintendent Grace?’

‘Yes,’ he replied.

‘It’s PC DuBois here from the Road Policing Unit.’

For an instant Grace thought she was going to refer back to Corin Belling’s fatal accident.

‘I think we did meet a few years back, sir — at an inquest — a person of interest to you at the time killed on a motorcycle.’

‘Sharka, yes?’

‘That’s right, sir.’

‘I do indeed remember you. All well?’

‘Very good, thank you, sir. The reason I’m calling is that I’m currently at the scene of a single vehicle RTC near Hailsham. Looks like a BMW failed to negotiate a bend and has rolled a couple of times in a field. The driver is a DS in the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team — and the Control Room said he’s currently working with you on Operation Bantam. His name’s Exton.’

‘Shit,’ Grace said. ‘How is he?’

‘He’s in the ambulance and the paramedics have just said he’s not badly hurt — he’s mostly suffering from shock and concussion. They’ll know more when they get him X-rayed, but they suspect a couple of broken ribs.’

‘Is he conscious?’

‘Yes.’

‘Has he been breath-tested?’

‘Yes, sir, he blew a negative at the scene.’

‘Do we know what time this accident occurred, Sharka?’

‘It was phoned in by a lorry driver about an hour ago, but it looks like the car could have been there a few hours — its headlights were still on, which indicated it might have been during the night, or very early morning.’

‘Any idea of the cause of the accident, or is it too early?’ Grace asked.

‘It’s a fairly tight bend, with adverse camber, sir. It has caught people out before — there are warning signs on the approach. Or he could have fallen asleep at the wheel.’

Hailsham. That was where Exton had been living with his partner, Dawn. Before they’d split up. Was he on his way to see her? Then a more wild thought entered his head: had Exton decided to do a runner? Heading east? To the Eurotunnel, perhaps, less than two hours’ drive away?

‘There was no one else in the vehicle with him?’

‘No, sir, but there’s a lot of stuff in the car — and some of it’s spewed out all around. A sleeping bag, food, toiletries, clothing tied up in bin bags. We thought it was some kind of homeless person at first, until we found his warrant card. He smells pretty rank, to be honest — the whole car does.’

‘Which hospital are they taking him to?’ Grace asked.

‘Eastbourne. Could you have someone inform his next of kin, sir?’

‘Yes, I’ll get that done. Now, I want the car and all the contents impounded. I want you to treat it as a crime scene.’

PC DuBois sounded surprised. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Presumably you’ve found nothing of interest or significance so far?’

‘Not really, sir, no. As I said, mostly just clothes, toiletries, canned food — oh — and a GoPro camera in the glove box.’