‘Makes sense if he’s being careful.’ Then Banks turned back to Annie. ‘And Morgan Spencer?’
‘He wasn’t in when we called.’
‘Do you think there’s a connection with the blood found in the hangar?’ Banks asked. ‘It does seem a bit of a coincidence. Do you think the victim could be Lane? Or Spencer?’
‘No. I… I mean… I don’t know. Maybe. I was just making a point,’ Annie said. ‘I’m taking Alex Preston seriously. But now you come to mention it, an expensive tractor is stolen while the owner’s away in Mexico, a neighbour’s son with a criminal record goes walkabout, he’s living with a woman who works in a travel agent’s and his mate owns a removal van. It all seems a bit fishy to me. And someone texted Michael on Sunday morning, just before he went out. It could have been Spencer. It’s not as if we get such a collection of coincidences every day, is it?’
‘Let’s see if we can find out anything about Morgan Spencer’s removal van and that text he sent,’ said Banks. ‘And we’d also better look into who owns the aerodrome property. Does Morgan Spencer have a record?’
‘No,’ said Annie. ‘He’s clean as far as we’re concerned.’
Banks glanced towards Winsome. ‘Did you follow up on what Gilchrist told you about the lorries, get anything more, any confirmation?’
‘Not yet, sir. We’ve still got officers out asking questions in the general area. Maybe someone else noticed these lorries, too. Though Mr Gilchrist did say it was only three or four times in the past year or so.’
‘If our thieves were using the hangar as part of a route for getting stolen farm equipment out of the country, or even across it, they would probably only have needed it for larger items, like tractors and combines. As far as I know, they’d slaughter any stolen livestock locally and dispose of it here through illegal channels. Dodgy butchers. Abattoirs that don’t ask too many questions. And they’d do it quickly. Rustlers aren’t in the business of grazing stolen sheep and cattle. The airfield and hangar were ideal for large transfers. After all, the place was padlocked and signposted private. It looked official, even though it was neglected. People would most likely assume that whoever ran the lorries in and out were the owners, using it for legitimate business, or had least had official permission to be there. We could be on to something here.’
‘It’s possible.’
‘Have another word with this Terry Gilchrist, Winsome. Could he be involved? After all, he is ex-army, and he did find the bloodstains.’
‘His dog did,’ Winsome said. ‘I don’t really see why he’d follow it under a chain-link fence in his condition, with the weather the way it was, and then phone us if he was responsible for it in the first place. Do you, sir?’
‘Perhaps not, when you put it like that, but we have to consider the possibility.’
‘Without Gilchrist and his dog, the crime scene could have gone unobserved for days, or weeks.’
‘True,’ Banks agreed. ‘Unless one of the lorry drivers noticed.’
‘But if they had something to do with the blood,’ Winsome argued, ‘then they’d hardly report it, would they, sir?’
‘But Gilchrist does have a military background, doesn’t he?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘So he’s no doubt conversant with ways of killing?’
‘I suppose so.’
‘And military operations and criminal operations have several features in common, including a certain level of organisation. He also knows the area well. It shouldn’t be too hard to track down his military records. You say he was injured in action?’
‘Yes, sir. In Afghanistan. His legs.’
‘But he’s still mobile?’
‘I’d say he’s pretty nifty on his pins, sir, yes.’
Banks smiled. ‘“Nifty on his pins.” I like that.’ He turned to DC Masterson. ‘Gerry, can you see about tracking down Terry Gilchrist’s military record? You know the sort of thing, any suspicions he was up to anything illegal while he was serving, black-market activities, looting, whatever. And while you’re at it, have a look into John Beddoes’ finances. As Annie said, we can’t rule out insurance fraud.’
‘Yes, sir,’ said Gerry, scribbling fast on her pad.
‘And we’ll need to know exactly who owns the abandoned airfield.’
‘Consider it done, sir.’
‘Excellent. Stefan, do you have anything for us? Tyre tracks?’
‘We’re still working the scene,’ Nowak said, ‘but there’s not much chance of tyre tracks on the concrete. From the mess they trailed in, though, I’d say there could have been two or three vehicles at the scene, but I can’t say when or what they were.’
‘Fingerprints?’
‘There’s no decent surface to get fingerprints from. Not the concrete floor and not the corrugated metal walls. The lock and the wire mesh gate are clean. We’re still dusting around the general area, but don’t expect too much with all the rain we’ve had. We might get a few partials or smudges, if we’re lucky. We’re also going to do a thorough luminal search. If blood was spilled there recently, there’s always a chance that the hangar was used before as a place of execution. There might be traces of previous crimes, and they might lead to DNA.’
‘Good work, Stefan. Anything new on the trace evidence, Jazz?’
‘You’ll have your DNA analysis sometime tomorrow, as promised,’ Jazz Singh said. ‘And I want you to know it’s got me in trouble with Harrogate. They thought they had priority. In the meantime, all I can tell you is that the blood type of the sample is A positive. Not very exciting news, as it’s the same as about thirty-five per cent of the UK population. But if you look on the bright side, it rules out sixty-five per cent. I’ve sent the brain matter and bone fragments for outside analysis. We don’t have the facilities for that. I’m not sure what that’ll tell us, or how long it will take, but the odds are that it’ll be very expensive and you’ll probably have solved the case by then.’ She smiled sweetly and rested her hands on the table. Annie made a note of the blood type.
Banks glanced towards PC Trevor. ‘Anything from the house-to-house?’
‘Nothing, sir,’ said a sulky PC Trevor. ‘Len and Dave are still out knocking on doors in Drewick.’
Banks turned to Wilson. ‘Doug, I noticed the hangar’s very close to the railway lines. Do you think you can check with East Coast and any other companies who use it whether anyone saw anything there recently?’
Wilson nodded and made a note. ‘I’ll see if I can get a request on the news as well.’
Banks let the silence stretch for a moment, then addressed the room at large. ‘How do you get from the airfield to the A1?’ he asked. ‘Is the only way the way Gerry and I came? From what I could see, all there was around there were bumpy overgrown tracks until you got to the village.’
‘You’d have to get back to the Thirsk Road, a mile or so beyond Drewick,’ said Doug Wilson. ‘From there you could go north to Northallerton or south to Thirsk. Either way, it’s a few miles.’
‘There is another way,’ said Winsome. ‘If you continue south on that track that runs by the airfield gates, you go through the woods parallel to the railway lines, and when you get to a village called Hallerby, you can turn right on a B road leading to the A1. That cuts off Thirsk and saves you a bit of time. There’s also a lot less traffic and only the one village to drive through.’
‘Is there anything in this Hallerby?’
‘Usual stuff, sir,’ said Winsome. ‘Few houses, couple of shops, village hall, chapel, a pub.’
‘And you’d have to pass through there either way if you were taking that short cut to or from the A1?’
Winsome nodded. ‘It’s where the bumpy lane starts and heads north. The B road from the A1 continues to Thirsk.’