Knight & Culverhouse Box Set - Books 7-9

Chapter 25

25

Once Wendy had joined Culverhouse down in the custody suite, they entered the interview room, where John Lucas was already waiting, sitting alongside his solicitor, Matthew Chamberlain.

‘Morning all,’ Culverhouse said. ‘Lovely weather out there, isn’t it?’

‘I wouldn’t know,’ Lucas replied, before his brief could advise him otherwise.

‘Well, maybe after we’ve had a little chat you’ll be able to pop out for a bit. I wouldn’t bank on it, though.’

‘Before we start, Detective Chief Inspector,’ the solicitor said, ‘would you mind fetching me another cup of coffee, please? This one’s got sugar in it.’

‘Tough,’ Culverhouse said, before starting the recording equipment and introducing the people present in the room.

‘Mr Lucas. Have you ever visited the house of one Frederick Galloway?’

‘No. I haven’t.’

‘You weren’t close to Mr Galloway? You didn’t go round and water his plants or feed his cats while he was away on holiday?’

Lucas looked at his solicitor, who responded by talking to Culverhouse.

‘Where is this line of questioning going, exactly, Detective Chief Inspector?’

Culverhouse furrowed his brow and looked back at the brief. ‘Your client responding to it, with any luck, Mr Chamberlain. They’re fairly simple questions.’

Chamberlain nodded at Lucas.

‘No. I’ve never been to his house.’

‘What’s your shoe size, Mr Lucas?’ Culverhouse asked, keeping his eyes on the notepad in front of him.

‘Nine.’

‘And do you own a pair of size nine Timberland boots?’

‘Uh, I dunno. Possibly. I’ve been in prison for the past decade; I don’t remember what brands of shoes I’ve got sitting in my wardrobe.’

‘What about your garage?’ Culverhouse asked, looking up at him. He saw no sign of recognition, other than a glint of surprise in the man’s eyes.

‘My garage?’

‘Yes, that brick structure attached to the side of your house, traditionally used to store a car but nowadays more often used for storing tools and garden equipment. And size nine Timberland boots.’

Lucas shook his head. ‘I’ve no idea. I’ve not been in the garage since before I went to prison.’

‘Can you prove that?’

Lucas laughed. ‘Funnily enough, no. It’s not the sort of thing I jotted down in my diary if that’s what you mean.’

‘So you can’t explain why there’s a pair of size nine Timberland boots sitting in your garage, the bottoms of which are covered in mud and blades of grass that have been matched to Freddie Galloway’s front lawn?’

Culverhouse watched as Lucas sat in a stunned silence for a few moments, seeming to hold his breath the whole time.

‘Can I have a couple of minutes with my client, please?’ Chamberlain asked.

‘You can have as long as it takes me to get myself another cup of coffee,’ Culverhouse replied, before stating the time and pausing the recording equipment.

Back outside the interview room, he asked Knight what she made of Lucas’s responses.

‘I dunno. He seemed genuinely shocked,’ she said. ‘I don’t imagine that’s because he seriously thought he’d get away with hiding stuff like that in the garage, so my instinct is that he genuinely knew nothing about it.’

‘Doesn’t quite add up, though, does it?’

‘It does if someone was trying to set him up.’

Culverhouse nodded and scratched at his stubbly chin. ‘True. Wouldn’t hurt to run along that line of questioning for a bit, see who might have wanted to frame him for it. When we go back in, you can take over the questioning. See if you can get something else out of him. People always tend to open up more to birds.’

‘Birds?’ Wendy asked, raising her eyebrows, even though she hadn’t taken any serious offence to the remark.

‘Call it good-cop bad-cop. Call it what you like. All I know is these ex-cons and gangsters will try to run circles round you if you let them. We need to keep switching things up, keep dropping things on them. Sooner or later, he’ll talk. He’ll either tell us what he’s done — or the evidence will — or he’ll cough about who he’s tucked up in the past. Either way, we’ll get our man.’

Once both detectives were suitably dosed up on more black coffee, they re-entered the interview room and started the recording equipment running again. They said nothing other than to confirm the recommencement of the interview, then sat and looked at John Lucas.

‘Sorry, did you have a question for my client?’ Matthew Chamberlain asked, his tone of voice beginning to rile Culverhouse.

‘He still hasn’t answered my last one yet,’ the DCI chipped in, seemingly forgetting their agreement to allow Wendy to do the talking. ‘What was a pair of size nine Timberland boots doing in your garage, with mud and grass from Freddie Galloway’s front lawn all over them?’

Lucas looked at his solicitor before speaking. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Not really an answer, is it?’ Culverhouse asked, before Wendy nudged him under the table and began talking.

‘Mr Lucas, we do conduct forensic tests on these sorts of items. We’ll be able to tell conclusively whether you wore those boots.’ Wendy watched as Lucas digested this information, although she didn’t let on that the tests had already come back negative. If he was the arsonist, he’d still be panicking, not knowing how the test results would come back. If he was clean, he’d be delighted to hear about the tests, knowing they could prove his innocence.

‘Like I said. I don’t remember half of what I had before I went inside. It was a long time ago.’

‘These boots are new. They were only released four years ago.’

‘Well there you go, then,’ Lucas said. ‘Can’t have been mine, can they? I was inside.’

‘All that means is you didn’t pop down to the shop and buy them yourself. Did your mum buy them? A friend? Acquaintance, perhaps? They look pretty new. Maybe someone was getting you set up with some new stuff before you were released.’

‘Like who? I haven’t got anyone. If you’ve found a pair of new boots in my garage, they’re not mine.’

Wendy leaned forward as she spoke. ‘See, that’s not all we found in your garage. We also found a jerry can with traces of petrol in the bottom of it. The fire officers believe petrol was used to start the fire at Freddie Galloway’s house. They’re working on tests as we speak to see if they’re from the same batch. We also found a key to Freddie Galloway’s house. To the front door, which we know the arsonist had access to, to douse the soft furnishings with petrol — petrol found in the bottom of a jerry can in your garage. The shoes, jerry can and key had traces of latex dust on them — dust which matches a box of latex gloves found in your garage. Do you have any comment on that?’

John Lucas buried his head in his forearms on the desk, but said nothing.

‘Detective Sergeant, let me ask you a question,’ Matthew Chamberlain said. ‘If you suppose that my client went to all that effort to remain forensically clean by wearing latex gloves, not handling the jerry can or boots without them on, buying a new pair of boots so none of his were traced to the scene, why on earth would he store all those incriminating items in his own garage? He would have known he’d be the first person you’d call on, especially considering his past and the fact that he’d only got out of prison hours earlier. Do you really think he’d make such a huge number of schoolboy errors?’

‘I have no idea what was going through your client’s mind at the time, Mr Chamberlain, nor how good he is at hiding evidence. All I know is that we found those items in his garage and that the finger of suspicion points firmly at him. I’m simply asking for his comment on that.’

‘I have nothing to say,’ John Lucas said, eventually.

There was silence for a few moments before Culverhouse spoke. ‘Who are you covering up for, John?’

‘Detective Chief Inspector, make your mind up. Are you accusing my client of arson or covering up for–’

‘I’m trying to get to the bottom of who set fire to Freddie Galloway’s house, who caused him to have to jump from a second-floor window to save his own life, a jump which failed spectacularly. Those items were found in your client’s garage. Like it or not, he was involved somehow. He either did it, covered up for someone who did it, or is being set up by the person who did it. Either way, we’re going to get to the truth and it’ll be a lot better for your client if he cooperates.’

‘With respect, Detective Chief Inspector, if he’s being set up by someone else I think you’ll agree my client then becomes the victim. So why is he sitting in an interview room in the custody suite, being grilled by you two? If you can’t come up with some conclusive evidence that my client has even set foot in that garage since being released from prison, you might as well save your time and ours by releasing him right now.’

Culverhouse looked at Chamberlain for a few moments before smiling. ‘We’ll be in touch,’ he said, before ending the recording and gesturing for Wendy to follow him out of the room.

‘Are you going to release him, then?’ Wendy asked.

‘No, I’m going to bail him. How long’s left on the custody clock?’

‘Erm. His twenty-four hours runs out in an hour and a quarter.’

‘Right. Get him bailed right on the f*****g dot. Not a second earlier. And next time that bastard Chamberlain asks for a coffee, give him eight f*****g sugars.’