‘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.’
35
Wednesday, 2 October
Norman Potting now had everyone’s keen attention. ‘The dark green Audi A6 reported stolen sometime during the night of Tuesday, 13 October 2015, or early morning, Wednesday the 14th, by its owner, Monica Thaesler, was driven straight to an address off Blatchington Road, Hove, where it remained stationary until 11 p.m. on the night of Thursday, 15 October. At 11 p.m. it then moved to Tongdean Avenue, pulling up in the vicinity of the Porteous home. We don’t have its precise location, but it was less than one hundred yards from this house.’
He glanced around, looking very pleased with himself.
‘Possibly waiting for Charlie Porteous to arrive home,’ Grace said.
‘Indeed,’ Potting replied.
‘Which is further indication this was a targeted attack rather than a random street robbery,’ Grace added.
‘Very much so, chief.’ Potting studied his notes for a moment, before reading out, ‘According to the Audi’s onboard navigation system, it left the vicinity of the Porteous home at 12.51 a.m. The car’s system has additionally revealed data about its acceleration and speed. The car accelerated hard from where it was stationary near the Porteous house, covering four hundred metres in 13.1 seconds, the point at which the dog walker and house-sitter, Joe Lee, noticed it.’
‘12.52 a.m.,’ Glenn Branson said, looking down at his notes.
‘What do we know about the location off Blatchington Road where it spent the previous twenty-four hours, Norman?’ Grace asked.
Potting beamed. ‘Well, chief, this is where it gets better still. The navigation system puts the Audi in Raglan Street, just off Blatchington Road. This street is a residents’ parking zone, which means if the car had been parked there all the following day it would have been ticketed. I’ve checked and no ticket was issued either to this car or to the false registration it carried, but...’ He raised a finger in the air. ‘There is a row of five lock-up garages on this street, so it seemed likely to me that the Audi was parked in one of these — it made sense to keep it off the street and out of sight. I did some checking, with Luke’s help, on the registered owners of these lock-ups.’
He paused to take a swig of his brew. ‘Surprise, surprise, they’re owned by someone well known to us — Ricky Sharp.’
Grace frowned. ‘Ricky Sharp? That rogue? He must be older than God — is he still alive?’
‘He was at 12.30 p.m. yesterday, chief,’ Potting said. ‘Drinking a pint of Harvey’s in the Royal Albion on Church Road. He’s all there, cagey as hell. And still got his curly hair, albeit gone very grey now.’