‘Not sure where your attitude is coming from, fella, but do us both a favour and drop it before we take this down the station. We like to get a detailed report from the person who discovered the bones.’
She held his gaze for a few seconds, appraising him. She’d met this type before. Middle-aged with a decent job but with a shady past and brushes with the law. The resentment for the police would accompany him to his grave. Not her problem.
‘You need me to repeat the question?’
‘Digging out footings for a wall, nothing major.’
‘On whose instruction?’
‘My boss,’ he answered.
‘And who instructed your boss?’ Kim asked, trying to hold on to her patience. Petty arguments and power struggles were not going to help her. She’d learned from Bryant when to hold her tongue in check.
‘And where is your boss?’ Kim asked, looking around.
‘Had to go. Urgent meeting.’
Kim stifled her irritation. She was pretty sure she’d told him to stay put. She had to admit that it took some neck to deliberately defy an instruction from a police officer. But she’d catch up with him later.
‘Bryant, will you please find me someone I can speak to about—’
‘Er… excuse me. I’m Roy Barber, chairman of the residents’ association.’
Bryant offered her a satisfied look, as though he’d just made the man appear upon her instruction.
‘Ah, Mr Barber, can you confirm what works were going on here?’
‘Yes, we’re building a small seating area for the residents to gather.’
‘You couldn’t use benches?’ Bryant asked.
‘Keep getting nicked, Officer. We put up a temporary camera. Well it was Sandra’s old babycam; caught the buggers but your lot didn’t pursue it. No justice and no bench.’
It wasn’t a case that the CPS would entertain taking to court.
‘We don’t have a lot of money and we wanted something permanent. These guys gave us a good quote, dead cheap really. They did some work here about twenty years ago, so we were happy to use them again.’
‘And does the name Steven Harte mean anything to you?’
His smile was wide on hearing the name.
‘Of course. Most of the improvements we’ve made are because of him. He started helping us out some time in the nineties. If it wasn’t for him our modest park would still be a forgotten piece of land covered in dog shit and used condoms.’ The man frowned. ‘Is he in some kind of trouble?’
Kim chose to leave the question unanswered. ‘And recently?’
‘We’ve not heard from him for a while, but he still makes a small donation annually to our committee funds.’
‘When was he last involved in any major project works, Mr Barber?’
‘Well, it would have been back in ’95.’
Damn, that was a whole year before Melody Jones had been abducted.
‘No, no, hang on. That’s not right, it would have been ’99 when he paid for some dead trees to be removed and some new mature trees planted.’
‘And you’re sure that was ’99?’ Kim asked. Three years after Melody had disappeared.
‘Absolutely positive. He and his team were determined to get the job done before we hit the millennium.’
‘His team?’
‘Yeah, the guys who were here earlier.’
Kim felt the anxiety roll around her stomach. ‘Butler Building Limited?’
He nodded. ‘That’s why we’ve used them again now of our own accord, as they did such a good job before.’
‘So, twenty-two years ago Steven Harte brought in this same company to do some work?’
Roy nodded. ‘As I understand it, Jenson Butler works on all of Steven Harte’s projects.’
Twenty-Three
‘Okay, guys, I think we finally have our answer to the “why now” question,’ Kim said, sitting at the spare desk. A quick catch-up with the team and then in to talk to Steven Harte.
‘You think he knew this was coming?’ Penn asked, glancing at the screen.
‘Makes sense.’
‘Guv, do you think Steven Harte abducted Melody Jones and also has Grace Lennard?’ Bryant asked.
‘I do.’
‘But why not just wait until we came knocking?’ Stacey asked. ‘He’s got to have known we’d get to him eventually. Still doesn’t make sense to me.’
‘Stace, I know you’re struggling to see him as the bad guy,’ Penn said, ‘but you gotta come on board with—’
‘No, she doesn’t,’ Kim said. ‘Stick with your gut, Stace. He hasn’t admitted anything yet so we can’t get carried away. We need a dissenting voice to keep our viewpoint open and other options available. We can’t afford to focus on one lead only.’
Bryant put his hand in the air. ‘Er, so, Stace is getting paid to sit here and argue with you?’
‘Pretty much.’
‘Where was the advert for that one? I’d have had a go.’
Kim saw his point, but she needed Stacey’s objectivity to remain intact in case they were chasing the wrong tail. Her gut told her that Steven Harte was in this up to his eyebrows, but without solid evidence or a full confession, there was little she could do at this point.
‘Boss, I think we may have another one,’ Stacey said, looking away from her screen.
‘Another what?’ Kim asked as her heart leaped into her mouth. Another abduction? Another bone site?
‘Another Suzie,’ Stacey said, clicking furiously.
‘What?’ Kim said, placing her coffee back on the desk.
‘I went back a couple more years. An eight-year-old girl named Libby Turner disappeared in ’92. Two years before Suzie and four years before Melody Jones. Taken from an estate in Chester. No one saw a thing and guess what?’
‘She came back?’ Kim asked hopefully.
Stacey nodded. ‘Yep, one year later she’s found a quarter mile away from a police station, unharmed.’ Stacey frowned as she continued reading. ‘Libby went straight into the social care system.’
‘Did they think her family was involved in the abduction?’
‘Don’t think so but she never lived with them again. I’ll keep digging.’
‘What the hell is going on?’ Kim asked to no one in particular.
‘Got an address here, boss. Currently lives just outside Wrexham,’ Stacey said.
Kim looked to Penn. ‘Reckon your old banger will get you that far?’
Penn laughed. ‘I’ve told you. She’s reliable.’
If not tidy, Kim thought, remembering the debris she’d had to move from the passenger seat one time Bryant had been otherwise engaged.
He stood. ‘Stace…’
‘Already texted to your phone.’
Penn grabbed his jacket and headed out.
Kim finished her coffee.
‘Stace, I want to know every project that Steven Harte has worked on with Butler Building Limited and take a look at the employees and business finances as well. These two have a history and I want to know how far back it goes.’
Bryant knitted his hands together and placed them behind his head. ‘I’ll just kick back and…’