Knight & Culverhouse Box Set - Books 7-9

Chapter 49

49

Back in the major incident room, the team were eagerly awaiting more news. There wasn’t much they could do — dog units were out on the ground and Hotel Oscar Nine Nine, the regional police helicopter, could be in the air within minutes. But first they needed to know whether Lucas was on foot or not.

Culverhouse had held out on requesting the chopper, knowing there was a chance Lucas would have used the taxi firm at the station. He didn’t have a car of his own, and he would have had to rely on another form of transportation to reach Middlebrook in the first place. It wasn’t on the major bus routes, so that only left taxis or favours from friends. And it wasn’t often people called a friend for a lift to go and kill themselves.

Once he heard back that Lucas hadn’t taken a taxi, he’d have the chopper in the air. Until then he’d have to hang fire, knowing it would cost the force a lot of money to engage Hotel Oscar Nine Nine and that the Police and Crime Commissioner would have his guts for garters if it was sent up unnecessarily.

The phone on the desk in the middle of the incident room rang, and Culverhouse immediately jabbed the speakerphone button so the rest of the team could hear.

‘Culverhouse.’

‘Sir, we’ve got Mrs Wilson in reception. She wants to see a detective, she says. She thinks her next-door neighbour is breeding spy dogs for the Russians.’

‘Jesus Christ. Steve, get down there and do the dance, will you?’ Culverhouse barked.

‘Not me, guv. I went last time. I think it’s your turn, actually.’

Culverhouse’s face told Steve everything he needed to know about his reaction to that.

‘Do you not think I’m a bit f*****g busy here?’

‘I’ll go,’ Wendy said, standing up. ‘I need the loo anyway.’

A few seconds after Wendy had left the room, the phone rang again. Again, Culverhouse jabbed the speakerphone button and stated his name.

‘Sir, we’ve had an update from officers at the scene. The taxi company confirmed that a driver left about twenty minutes ago with a man who matches Lucas’s description. Said he wanted to be dropped off in Mildenheath, but gave no specific address.’

Culverhouse let out a huge sigh.

‘Right. Get onto the driver and find out where he’s dropping him off. In the meantime, get units round to Lucas’s home address. That’s where he’s likely to be going. In fact, I’ll go too. I’ll take DS Wing and DC Mackenzie with me. Twenty minutes, did you say? That might even give us time to cut him off if the traffic was bad. There’s a decent chance he might not have got back yet. We can be there in three or four minutes.’ Culverhouse ended the call and turned to Steve Wing and Ryan Mackenzie, who’d already heard what he’d said and were putting on their jackets. ‘Right, you two. Let’s get moving.’