Dead of Winter

Chapter 11

Carter came off the phone to Ebony and walked into the Major Incident Room. Robbo was sitting at his desk with his cafetière. When he saw Carter coming he slid his chair from one end of his desk, picked up a sheet of paper, and slid back.

‘Here’s how far I’ve got.’ He read from the sheet in his hand: ‘The vehicle in the driveway at Blackdown Barn: a man. . Mr Arnold Williams. . delivers the bi-monthly parish paper to Blackdown Barn. He remembers seeing a van in the driveway on several occasions. It was a large Transit type, almost like a Tourer, but regular-shaped, not fancy: no windows; it was white.’

‘Number plate?’

‘No. . he says the back doors of the van were always covered.’

‘We know its length. Find me a make and model. Use the moulds from the tyre tracks to see what tyres it took.’

Robbo pointed to the screen. Carter came round to have a look.

‘I fed in the information from the tyre prints and it came up with a basic model of van; most of the major manufactures made a Transit-type vehicle like this. It’s a working van rather than a run-around. The tyres indicate that it’s less than three years old. Meant to carry a lot of weight.’

‘Ebony says that when she went back to Rose Cottage she met a gardener there who says he repaired the gatepost after that night. It took out the whole upper section in a clean chunk. Could it be this van type?’

‘There was no mention of that in the case file. I never saw a statement from him.’

‘Yeah, I know. We need to get the exhibits from the Carmichael case back over here from the warehouse and see for ourselves.’

‘So how’s it going working with Ebony Willis?’

‘Yeah. . I’m sending her up on her own to interview Carmichael tomorrow; she’s swatting up on the case tonight.’

Robbo gave him that look that said: interesting but risky.

‘She’ll be alright.’ Carter sucked his finger where the cuticle was bleeding.

‘Hopefully. . She’s a bright kid.’

‘Funny how you see her as a kid.’

‘Everyone’s a kid to me. I’m not long after Davidson when it comes to retirement. Of course I don’t have any choice, being a DC. He could stay on. You help solve this one, Dan, they should seriously consider you for promotion.’

‘Maybe. I won’t hold my breath. Just passing my exams doesn’t seem to be enough. Ebony will probably get there before me.’

‘Ebony’s going to have to battle against prejudice. She’s going to have to prove herself every step of the way if she hopes people will forget what happened to her. If she hadn’t already joined the Force when it happened she would never have been allowed in.’

‘That would have been a tragedy,’ said Carter. ‘I can see how much she loves it. She wants this career so badly. She’ll make it, despite what she’s been through — or maybe because of it.’

‘Yeah,’ said Robbo. ‘She’s a sponge when it comes to info, techno stuff. She’s been asking me about the latest in this and that. Even though it’s not her department.’

‘You should have seen her around the bodies. .’ Carter smiled. ‘She practically climbed in beside them to interview them.’

Robbo sat back in his chair, shook his head. ‘You’d think seeing your mum stab someone forty-seven times would put you off bodies for life.’