Picture You Dead

34

Wednesday, 2 October

Roy Grace had been intending to spend more time, especially weekends, at home with Cleo and Noah. Family had never been more important than right now, especially with the imminent arrival of their new baby. He needed to try to rebalance his priorities and leave behind at work the effects of the everyday violence he dealt with, separating it from his life at home.

But Sussex, with its crime hotspots of Brighton and Hove, Crawley, Hastings and once sedate and genteel Worthing, was going through something of a violence epidemic. The growing scourge of knife crime, which he’d seen first-hand during his secondment to London’s Met Police, had started to permeate Sussex in particular, and there had recently been a spate of stabbings in the county, three of them fatal – and a new stabbing in the centre of Brighton and Hove last night, with the male teenage victim in hospital, in a critical condition.

In addition to the usual crimes which sometimes involved his team, the relatively new and iniquitous crime of illegal puppy farming was fast becoming a major problem. The same OCGs – Organized Crime Gangs – which had control over much of the drugs supply into Sussex, and its surrounding counties of Kent, Surrey and Hampshire, were now behind this new, lucrative, vile – and easy – trade.

Easy, because unlike the massive efforts that went into tackling drugs, at all levels, until very recently puppy farming was little known about, there were few resources thrown at it, and ludicrously light sentences, under the Animal Welfare Act, for anyone prosecuted. But fortunately this was starting to change, thanks to actions by the RSPCA inspectors bringing two successful prosecutions for illegal puppy-farming elsewhere in England on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, which carried a much more punitive ten-year sentence.

Cruelty to animals of any kind was one of the few things that made Roy Grace really angry. The Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team was now working closely with the RSPCA on monitoring the situation and steadily building files on suspects, but no arrests of any real significance had been made in Sussex – yet. But, with the blessing of the Chief Constable, herself a dog lover, he had delegated two detectives to liaise with the current Rural Crimes case officer, Sergeant Tom Carter, based in Midhurst, and work with him on monitoring the situation.

He’d also had the traumas in Glenn’s relationship with his fiancée Siobhan on his mind. For a couple of days Glenn had seemed brighter, telling him that they’d patched things up and the wedding was back on. Then on Friday, Siobhan’s article in the Argus had come out and it was, Grace had to admit, a hard read for Sussex Police.

Glenn confessed he’d lost it with her and they’d argued again about the article and family priorities. She’d said that if he cared to read down the comments he might be surprised. Many were in support of the police, agreeing that in an organization of some five thousand people you were bound to have the odd rotten apples, but that did not make Sussex Police institutionally morally bankrupt. Glenn told Roy he realized he’d been harsh and that he should just leave her to get on with her job. It had been a bumpy weekend, but they were making progress.

Sitting at the table in the conference room, Roy was aware of his team filing in. Glenn gave him a wan smile and an I’m OK nod as he sat down. To Grace’s surprise, Norman Potting had been the first in, clutching a file and a mug of steaming tea or coffee, and looking very self-important.

‘Good morning, everyone,’ Grace said. ‘This is the third meeting on Operation Canvas which started as a review but is now becoming a re-investigation.’ Reading from his notes he said, ‘Jack and Polly, I gave you the action of interviewing Archie Goff – how did that go?’

‘We met him in Lewes Prison yesterday afternoon, sir,’ DS Alexander said. ‘It took a few days to arrange because he insisted on having his brief present. But he was all happy chatty despite having him there.’ He turned to Sweeney, who nodded in confirmation, then went on. ‘He said, quite openly, that his thing is antique silver – Georgian and Victorian – jewellery, and cash of course. Never touched paintings, except a couple of times a long while back when he was paid to target specific ones. Says he couldn’t tell a Rembrandt from a child’s painting-by-numbers. But that about sums him up: he’s not the brightest, if you know what I’m saying, boss.’

‘I remember going on a warrant to nick him about fifteen years ago,’ Norman Potting said. ‘He’s definitely not the sharpest tack in the box. I heard at his trial he gave two different alibis that contradicted each other.’

Several of the team smiled.

‘He’s got no previous for violence in any of his burglaries, sir,’ Alexander added. ‘Murdering Porteous would not be his MO.’

‘So we can eliminate him?’ Grace said, looking at them both in turn.

‘He also had an alibi,’ Polly said, ‘which he showed us in a five-year diary he’d brought along, that he’d been out for a birthday meal with his daughter at Pinocchio’s restaurant in Brighton and had remained at home with her later that night.’

‘Pinocchio?’ Norman Potting interjected. ‘Did Archie’s nose grow as he told you this?’

Stroking her own nose, and smiling, Polly went on. ‘We subsequently spoke to his daughter who attends the veterinary college at Surrey University and she confirmed this.’

Glenn Branson looked up. ‘They wouldn’t have been at Pinocchio’s all night. Could she verify that her father hadn’t gone out after they’d arrived back home, Polly?’

‘Well, she said she remembered the evening clearly because she’d never seen her father so drunk before. She told us she’d had a fair bit to drink, but he’d really been hitting it, and the taxi driver almost refused to take them because he was worried her father would throw up in the back. As it was, he passed out on the way home. She had to help him to bed.’

‘Could have been faking it,’ Potting suggested.

‘She’s a pretty sensible young lady,’ Polly Sweeney said. ‘Quite surprising, considering her old man. I think she’d have been able to tell if he was faking it.’

Grace nodded. ‘I think we can rule him out for now, but not completely eliminate him.’ He turned to Stanstead. ‘How did you get on with art dealers in the area, Luke?’

Stanstead shook his head. ‘I gave the details to Polly and we’ve been in touch with a large number of them, some who helpfully gave me the names of other dealers. I’ve a few more to go, but so far no one’s been offered that painting – all of them said they would remember a Fragonard because it would be an extremely rare occurrence. Polly also covered all the house clearance companies who put some of their stuff into uncatalogued auctions, and none of them say they’ve seen it.’

Grace thanked them, then addressed Alexander. ‘Jack, any luck with the jewellers?’

‘I’m doing the rounds of jewellers as well as all the Cash Converters branches in Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey and Kent, and all the pawnbrokers, too, for both the Rolex Submariner watch and the wedding ring. Nothing so far, but I’ve still got some to go on my list.’

‘Norman, your action to follow that car! How did that go?’

Potting grinned back, then puffed out his chest. ‘Well, chief, I do have some progress here. The current owner of the suspect Audi, a Mrs Jo Dillan of Haywards Heath, who works freelance as a bookkeeper and financial manager, very kindly allowed us to take the car. I managed to persuade Caffyns garage to lend her a courtesy vehicle in the interim as she needs transport to get to her clients.’

‘Well done,’ Grace commented.

‘Now, chief, this is where it gets interesting,’ Potting said, beaming, and looked around to ensure he was the centre of everyone’s attention. ‘The Audi A6 that was used on the night of Thursday, 15 October 2015, was the then latest model, with state-of-the-art technology. Among its onboard monitoring systems are smart airbag sensors. These are able to detect from the position of each front seat at the time of impact, and the pressure on them, the approximate height and weight of the driver and passenger. We don’t yet have all the information, but so far we know that both airbags were deployed, which indicates there were two people in the vehicle at the time of the impact.’

He paused to let this sink in. He glanced down at his open folder. ‘The driver is estimated to be between six foot and six foot two. The passenger is estimated to be a bit shorter. I’m waiting for updated information.’

‘How tall is Archie Goff?’ Grace asked. ‘I seem to recall quite tall.’

‘Well over six foot, about six four,’ Polly Sweeney responded.

‘So this could further help eliminate him,’ Grace said.

‘I think so, chief,’ Potting said. ‘I also have a plot, from the Audi’s onboard navigation system, of all the movements it made from the time it was nicked to the moment it crashed and was abandoned. And this is where it gets even more interesting.’