Death on the Lake by Jo Allen (early reader books TXT) 📗

‘It isn’t so much that. I don’t want him misinterpreting our interest in what happened at his property as being interest in his financial activities. That’s all. Hence the reason why I really don’t want to know what kind of thing his sons get up to at this particular stage. There may be questions to answer later. But the National Crime people don’t want him getting wise to the fact that they’re looking at him.’

‘Can you tell me any more about why?’

‘Only what I know myself, which is that he has a lot of links to a lot of very dodgy businesses, and also that his accountants are the very best in the business and act for some very interesting people. And I always think if someone’s prepared to spend as much money as he must do on a firm of accountants, it can only be because it’s worth their while. So for my money, if Robert Neilson isn’t a big-league crook himself, he’s knowingly playing the part of the acceptable face of a dodgy organisation and benefitting financially from it. Does that make sense?’

Jude nodded. Thank God he wasn’t in that line of work. His own job was filled with long stretches of fruitless paperwork but there could be little more dull than spending years unpicking the enmeshed digital trail of someone determined to hide the source of their money. ‘Strange, though. By all accounts he’s obsessively moral about the behaviour of those two kids.’

‘I don’t think it’s strange at all. It’s just a different sort of wrongdoing. He’ll have persuaded himself that what he’s doing is somehow okay, just as those kids will have persuaded themselves there’s nothing really wrong with taking drugs. People are very quick to persuade themselves that something illegal really ought not to be and therefore it’s okay to do it. You must see it often. The illusion of victimless crime.’ She jumped down from the desk.

In Jude’s view, motive was usually more complicated than that. He knew a little of Robert Neilson, who had a reputation locally as strong-minded, charming and ready to put his hand in his pocket for a good cause while managing to keep himself at a distance from the locals. This was telling, given the close-knit nature of the community where he’d grown up. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to find some pretext to go down and chat to him?’

‘I really think not. I know you’re curious, with reason, but we have to treat this case exactly as what it is — a death that looks like an accident. If it turns out to be suspicious we’ll rethink. But I’m sure Neilson is streetwise enough to know a chief inspector wouldn’t normally be overlooking something so straightforward. Keep on eye on it by all means, but now we have the body and it seems relatively innocent, keep your distance.’

‘And if there are drugs involved?’

‘Get Doddsy to follow it up, of course. As normal’

When you lifted a stone you uncovered all sorts of things that you’d rather not know about. Once more Jude recalled that exactly this sort of operation had led, in the past, to landing Adam Fleetwood in prison for supplying Class A drugs. ‘And if it leads back to Robert Neilson?’

‘That’s a very interesting point, but I don’t think it will. If he has anything to do with drugs, which he may well do, it’ll be at a high level and he’ll be careful not to dirty his own back yard. Which might, of course, explain why he takes such a moral high standard on the subject with his children. I’ll lay my house he’s a criminal, but I’ll also lay the rest of my financial assets that his sons are capable of sourcing their own narcotics.’ She turned to the door. ‘Here’s Ashleigh. This must be your team meeting convening. I’ll leave you to get on with it.’

Jude stifled a smile, as much at the sight of Ashleigh as at the obvious fact that Faye didn’t want to hang around too long while her ex-girlfriend was there. Ashleigh had no inhibitions about her sexuality, but Faye thought it mattered, or at least thought it might be damaging to her career. ‘I’ll keep you informed.’

‘You know where to find me.’ Faye whisked out of the door, holding it open for Ashleigh and her fellow detective sergeant, Chris Marshall, and failing to make eye contact.

Even people as tough as Faye Scanlon had their insecurities. The only surprise was that she’d let it show. Jude turned his attention to the matter in hand, to an inquiry that was surely a foregone conclusion. ‘Okay, then. Let’s have it. I’m hoping this one’s going to be fairly straightforward. Where’s Doddsy?’

‘He was just behind us.’ Chris, who had already come in, popped his head out again and then lingered, holding the door open until Doddsy’s long strides had brought him to the office and he’d taken his place at his desk.

‘Okay,’ Jude said. ‘First up, I’m only part of this meeting because Faye asked me to keep an eye on this case, for reasons I can’t be explicit about. So carry on. Doddsy, you’re in charge of events on the ground.’ Even giving an apparently routine case to an inspector without strong evidence of foul play might raise the odd eyebrow. ‘Run us through it, would you? Beginning with some pastoral care. Do her family know?’

‘Yes. Her parents have been told. They’ve seen the body and given us a positive ID, they’ve been allocated a liaison officer and they’re away back to London now, to try and come to terms with it. Obviously they want the body for burial as soon as possible, so we’ve had to break it to them there’s a chance it’s suspicious.’

Jude sat back. ‘And is it suspicious?’

‘The PM results are just in.’ Doddsy looked to his computer and ran a quick eye down them, absorbing all