Dead Man's Time

‘
Life’s not compulsory.
Think I’m going to use that line next time I have to deal with some total shitbag.’
    ‘Be my guest.’

124
    ‘Good morning,’ Roy Grace said to his assembled team in the conference room at the start of the morning briefing. ‘Welcome to this briefing on the progress of
Operation Flounder today, September the 13th. An unlucky day for some people – particularly our perpetrators.’
    There was a ripple of laughter.
    ‘But a lucky day for Operation Flounder,’ he went on. ‘Lots of positives to report.’ He looked down at his notes. ‘First up is that our forensic podiatrist, Haydn
Kelly, has, through his analysis of Lucas Daly and his henchman Augustine Krasniki’s shoes enabled us to put them on Eamonn Pollock’s boat at around the time that Macario and Barnes
died.’
    He turned to Norman Potting, who was looking better than last time he had seen him; clearly he had caught a little sun while in Spain. ‘You have some information for us, Norman?’
    ‘Yes, the Marbella police have found a witness who was close to Pollock’s boat on the night of Friday, August the 31st. He was approached for a light by a man who he could not see
clearly, but he was accompanied by another man, and their build and height fit Daly and Krasniki. The Spanish police are intending to issue a Magistrate’s Warrant for both of them. Just to
add to Daly’s woes.’
    Grace smiled.
    Norman Potting continued. ‘Spanish police, acting on information supplied by Shoreham Harbour, have raided a warehouse, and found a container filled with antiques matching the majority of
the high-value items taken.’
    ‘Brilliant news. Thank you, Norman,’ Grace said. Then he looked down at his notes again. ‘There’s something else which I consider significant. Shortly after the robbery,
when we requested photographs of the Patek Philippe watch, Gavin Daly informed us that the photographs he had, and those that his sister had, were missing. Search officers found them late yesterday
in a locked filing cabinet in Lucas Daly’s back office behind his shop.’ He looked up at the Crime Scene Manager. ‘Good work, Dave.’ He turned to Bella. ‘How did the
interview go?’
    ‘DC Exton and I interviewed Lucas Daly yesterday, in the presence of his solicitor, as the first of three interviews in our planned strategy. He strenuously denies killing Macario and
Barnes. He said that he and Augustine Krasniki did go to Marbella together and went aboard the boat to talk to the men about the whereabouts of Eamonn Pollock and to try to find out where the
high-value items were – one in particular being the Patek Philippe watch. He admits they roughed them up a bit, but swears they were alive when they left.’
    She paused and checked her notes. ‘Now here’s the bit that DC Exton and I find hard to believe. Daly claims that they hired a Moroccan to go and talk to the men and see if he could
get any more out of them.’
    ‘A Moroccan?’ Grace asked.
    She nodded. ‘Yes, that’s what he says. He paid this Moroccan five hundred euros to go and speak to the men.’
    ‘By speak, you mean
torture
?’ Potting asked.
    ‘That’s the implication, yes. Daly reckons this mysterious Moroccan might have just gone over the top.’
    ‘Does he have a name for this Moroccan, or a description?’ Emma-Jane Boutwood asked.
    ‘No,’ Bella responded. ‘He claims he only saw him in the darkness, on the quay near Pollock’s boat.’
    ‘This witness who gave Daly a light, did he see him too?’ Grace looked at Potting.
    ‘No, chief. The witness is adamant it was just the two men, presumably Daly and Krasniki.’
    ‘Something is not making very good sense to me,’ Roy Grace said. ‘Daly and Krasniki are big guys – what would this Moroccan, if he exists, get out of Macario and Barnes
that Daly and Krasniki couldn’t?’
    ‘Our thinking exactly, sir,’ Bella replied.
    ‘So is your view that this Moroccan is an invention?’
    ‘It is, sir, yes.’
    Grace nodded. ‘Unless someone can physically produce him, it’s mine too.’
    ‘What about this Krasniki, boss?’ Guy Batchelor asked. ‘Has he been arrested yet?’
    ‘No, it looks like he’s done a runner. He hails from Albania so he could be hiding in one of their communities here – or gone home – or anywhere.’
    ‘He left a short note in an envelope for his boss, Lucas Daly,’ Alec Davies said, and held up a small sheet of paper.
    ‘What does it