The Crime Trade

35

As soon as the Panner interview was wound up, and Panner himself returned to the cells, I headed back to the incident room with Malik.

‘What do you think about his story, John?’ he asked as we walked along. ‘All this stuff about hiring a gun, firing it, then replacing the bullet. I’ve heard more likely tales from Jeffrey Archer. I’m actually wondering whether he had anything to do with the whole thing at all.’

I could see his point, but tried not to think that this entire lead might be a waste of time. ‘Roy Catherwood said it was a ninety-nine per cent probability that it was one and the same gun. At the moment, that’s good enough for me.’

‘Well, then Panner’s lying to us.’

‘I’ll at least check what he’s saying,’ I said, thinking that his story was so bizarre I wasn’t sure he could have made it up. ‘See if there’s anything in it. I know it doesn’t sound likely, but you never know. Stranger things have happened.’

Malik raised his eyebrows. ‘Not many.’

And then, ten seconds later, as we stepped inside the incident room, our conversation suddenly became irrelevant. The whole place was a frenzy of activity and it seemed like everyone in there was in the midst of pulling on their jackets, their faces alive with excitement.

‘What the hell’s happening?’ I asked.

From out of the melee stepped DCI George Woodham, who was in temporary charge of the case in Flanagan’s absence. A big man with an immense walrus moustache, he was wearing a grin that spanned the moustache’s entire length as he put an arm through the sleeve of his raincoat. ‘We were just coming down to get you both,’ he said. ‘The bloke you’re talking to definitely isn’t our man. Your girl Tina’s done a good job. She’s located the one we’re after. He owns a Megane, was in possession of a credit card used to buy one of those suits, and apparently matches the description of the killer perfectly.’

I felt a real surge of pride. Don’t ever doubt Tina Boyd. ‘It’s not the accountant she went to see, is it?’ I asked.

‘No, it’s the guy the accountant lent the card to while he was away. Someone called Trevor Murk. Tina’s on her way over to his place now. She’s going to wait for us there.’