Chapter 5

She looked at their faces, noting their seriousness.

“First is the ownership of the two crime scenes. Second is the DNA results from the two victims and the foetus. Third is names of the lads that were sent to juvenile after that botched smash and grab. Tapper has told us that two of them were a Hunter and a Wolf. Fourth is something that Leeds will also be doing, but something we can do for ourselves, it’s going through the arrest records of all the Hanson, Hunter and Wolf families, which will give us ideas of where to look next. We need to also look at the marriages, with a special look at the families that they have married into.”

She stood and thought for a moment.

“Ian, you concentrate on looking at all the traffic cameras between here and Leeds. Go twenty miles north and south. Find me that Astra. It had to be seen on the two days. It couldn’t have flown here. Shirley and Helen, you two work on the ancestry side and make a list of everyone in the three families, from their grandparents on. Tim and Ginger, you work on the criminal records of the three families. John, you get the social history job. Look at all the local and social media, on-line, and print off all mention of the families. The others will give you more names to look for as they find them. Go to the newspapers if you want to read their microfiche. We need to know how they think.”

Marilyn left them to do their work and went into her own office, closing the door. Her first job was to look at her emails. There was one from Thirsk, asking her if she could drop in that afternoon. She thought it was strange that Jacob may have something to tell her that he didn’t want committed to paper.

She then saw another, from her superior, asking her to come to his office whenever she could. No doubt, she thought, he’s had his ear bashed by his opposite number in Leeds.

There was another, from Rose, the cleaner at the Minster. It contained an attachment. The message was straightforward. Rose told her that she had been talking to her neighbours and one had installed a tiny security camera. They had looked at the pictures from the day she saw the car, and the attachment was the best picture that they saw. The system, she said, was a cheap one and only recorded pictures in five-minute intervals, unless set otherwise, to save disc space. The attachment was grainy, and in black and white, but the car was there, going past the house, with the passenger looking out, as if checking house numbers. She forwarded the picture to Ian, and another to Keith, with an explanation. She printed the picture and then tidied her desk and picked up her bag.

Going out into the main room, she pinned the picture to the board, putting a question mark and the word ‘murderer’ next to it.

“Listen up, please. This picture was taken on the day Esme was killed. I think it could be the guy on his way to kill her. I’ve sent it to Keith to see if he can get a match with someone from the families. I’m off to see the boss, upstairs, and then I’ll be on my way to Thirsk to see Jacob. I’ll see you all, as usual, in the morning.”

She went upstairs to talk to her superior, who needed to know just what had created a storm of activity in Leeds, from her point of view. He had, indeed, had a call from there, to tell him what a good team he commanded. He wanted to know if there were any other surprises in store. Marilyn told him that if there were, it would be a surprise for her as well, as they were now in the end run of trying to close their cases.

She drove up to Thirsk, alone in the car, and able to talk out loud as she was thinking. It helped her to ask herself a question and answer it as if she was trying to explain. At Thirsk, she found Jacob in his office.

“Glad you could come, Marilyn. I have some answers for you which will be sent in my report to both your team and Leeds. That knife did yield some residue when we took it apart. There were two distinct blood types in the mechanism. Cutting someones’ throat does produce rather a gush. They matched the blood types on record from the Leeds job, so it was the murder weapon. I guess that Hanson will be facing another charge.”

“That’s a good result. Keith and his team will get closure, at last.”

“Now. You asked me to check the three DNAs from the Andersons and the foetus. That wasn’t really part of the case, was it?”

“No. I wondered if Tapper was still seeing Esme. We had the picture of her being a loving wife, even if Tapper had said she was on the game while Alfred was inside. Actually, seeing him, he couldn’t find his way around the corner without help. She could have gone to his place, while Alfred was out in his taxi.”

“I can tell you that the baby wasn’t Tappers’. It wasn’t Alfreds’ either.”

“So, she may have been on the game, after all.”

“No, Marilyn. The baby DNA is better than a sixty percent match with her own. Whoever the father was, it was someone from her own family.”

“How close?”

“I would guess that it was probably a son, or grandson, of one of her mothers’ brothers.”

Marilyn took out her phone and rang the office, asking to be put through to Helen.

“Helen, with the family searches, have you looked at the three families?”

“Still working through them, boss. They breed them like rabbits in Leeds.”

“Do me a favour. Take a break from them and look up Esme Anderson. Shirley had her parents’ names. I think that you’ll find that the mother may have been one of those bunnies. You can tell us about it in the morning.”

She put her phone away and sat for a few moments, thinking hard. Jacob waited.

“OK, Marilyn, what does that change?”

“It changes why Esme had to die, and why she was killed that way. It was likely to remove all trace of someones’ secret. They weren’t trying to find the stone, that day. They were only there to kill her.”

“What about the husband?”

“He found her and ran. The Youlton place was a refuge that he knew about. Before he went there, it had been left empty. Perhaps visited in the dead of night. He may have phoned the owner on his burner to tell them that he was going to hide away. That’s when someone decided to get his keepsake stone, if he had it with him. There wasn’t any sign of resistance because he knew his murderer, or, at least, his murderers’ father.”

“What now?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that? Do you have anyone with time on their hands?”

“We do have a couple on long-term jobs that can keep for a few hours.”

“This one may be a real stab in the dark, and it’s only my gut feeling. Whoever killed him looked for the stone. What if there’s something else that a lonely house in the country, with some outbuildings and some land, would be more than handy for. Can you get your guys to go back there with ground-penetrating radar and go over the whole block, ground floors and the land.”

“What are they looking for. It will be quicker if it’s something big.”

“It will be big enough. If it’s there, it will be guns, Jacob, more than a few of them, being kept safe for a much bigger job than a few diamonds. You may need an armed response team with you. If there’s someone watching the place, the gun owners wouldn’t be happy to see you with that radar. Give Keith a call and tell that I’m sending you there. He may send you a team from Leeds.”

She drove home, deep in thought, and started preparing a meal for when Anton got home. Next morning, she picked up Tim and they went into the office. When she checked her emails, there was one from Keith, telling her to ring him ASAP. She called his number.

“DCI Russell.”

“It’s Marilyn, Keith. You wanted me to call you.”

“I’m finding it very difficult keeping up with your leaps of insight. Jacob called me yesterday. I sent a tactical team to watch over his guys. It was a good job I did, as a half-a-dozen guys turned up in a Transit, around eleven that night. Our guys were waiting for a digger to arrive from Thirsk, so were waiting in the dark. The visitors were tooled up with spades and guns, and the tactical defended Jacobs’ team. I’ve now got a mountain of paperwork to do. All of the attackers were injured, some fatally.”

“That’s pretty heavy. If they were waiting for a digger, they must have found something.”

“You were right. When they dug the two targets, they brought up two canvas bags of guns. There are three other targets that they’ve plotted, which are likely to be bodies. That site was a safe repository of things that they wanted to hide. The brown stuff is well into the fan, as the press are all over it, this morning. We’ve identified two of the dead men, one was Geoff Hunter, and the other was Martin Wolf. None of the others carried ID, so we’re running fingerprints and DNA. We’ve had an early morning planning session and will be raiding all the places we know in about ten minutes. Rather than getting the intelligence before the arrest, we’ll do very fine searches, including all their devices, after we’ve rounded them up. From what Tapper told us, we have some idea of what to look for. I’ve got Carruthers coming back this morning, the case has now become one the has attracted the anti-terrorist squad.”

“Sorry about that, Keith. It seemed like a good idea, at the time. If we hadn’t been there, though, those guns would now be somewhere in their hands, and we would have wondered about a couple of holes in the ground.”

“Exactly. The consensus is that we’ve done well. There were automatic weapons and an RPG in the sacks, plus plenty of ammunition. We put someone in the council office, first thing, with a search warrant. The Youlton house was bought, in 2021, by Martin Wolf, then transferred to a shell company a year later. The shell company may well be one that’s run by the family. The public servant in charge of keeping those records is linked to the families, so that’s probably why you’ve run into a brick wall.”

“Thanks for that, Keith. I’ll update my team this morning.”

“Thank you, Marilyn, you’re making the rest of us look good.”

She put the phone down and sighed. She could see another visit upstairs in her immediate future. She got up and went out to the main office, clapping her hands.

“Right, flowers. Time for a meeting of minds. First thing to tell you is to cross Geoff Hunter and Martin Wolf off your lists. They were both shot by a tactical team from Leeds last night. They had arrived at the house at Youlton, ready to dig up their armoury of guns that had been buried there. They ran into the team that was guarding a team from Thirsk, with ground-penetrating radar, who had already logged the sites and were waiting for a digger. Expect to have calls from the press and keep quiet about what we know.”

There was a few minutes of chatter, until she held her hand up again.

“Yesterday, Jacob told me that the baby that Esme was carrying was fathered by a relative, most likely a child of one of her uncles on her mothers’ side. Helen and Shirley, did you find anything yesterday?”

“We did, ma-am. The parents’ marriage certificate shows her mothers’ maiden name as Susan Wolf. That’s why they all knew each other. I rang her friend, and she confirmed it. How does this change things?”

“I’ll get to that in a moment. Does anyone else have something?”

Tim stood.

“Yes, boss. I needed to go to the banks to get the details about the Anderson house. It was bought in 2022, about the time of the wedding, with a big deposit. Tapper had moved into the area late in 2021, buying a cheaper place outright.”

“I can now tell you that Youlton was bought by Martin Wolf around the same time, and then sold to a shell company that the family has. It looks like they spent their part of the robbery on setting up. Keith told me that this morning, along with the fact that the brick wall that you’ve been knocking your heads on is a member of the family. They put a team into the council chambers with a search warrant after finding the guns.”

She stood and thought as they took it all in.

“I have had a change of ideas. I now think that if the father of the child was one of her cousins, this guy in the car went there to eliminate her, with the searching done to muddy the waters. That’s why he poked her in the stomach before he pulled the trigger. When Alfred saw her, he did a runner, and called Martin Wolf on his burner to tell him that he was going to hide at Youlton. I’m wondering if the younger ones in the families were working towards something in the future that they weren’t telling their parents about. Martin tells his sons about Alfred being at the house. The sons already knew about the blood diamonds, so decided to kill Alfred and find the diamond, expecting that he wouldn’t have left it behind. Tapper has already told us that they asked about his.”

She looked around and Ian raised his pencil.

“Yes, Ian.”

“I went further out as you suggested, boss. I have one picture of a red Astra passing a camera on the A61, going north, about five on the day Alfred was shot. There’s another sighting in Boroughbridge a little while later, then another from a camera on High Lane, near Flawith, a nice straight bit of road that does well with speeding fines. There was another from the same camera of them going the other way at just after eight. It looks as if they were trying to avoid the main roads by looping to the north.”

“I expect that they had planned to return a night or two later, to transfer his body into an unmarked grave in the back garden.”

Ginger put a finger up.

“We still have someone putting that key back, after the CSI had looked through the house, and after Alfred was killed.”

“It may have been taken from his body. Get on to Ace Taxis and see if anyone came by with the key, perhaps saying that they had permission to look for something or do some minor work. Also, ask him when Alfred came back to drive his car. Someone just out of prison isn’t likely to be able to start normal work immediately. Why would they take a chance to put it back, unless there’s something in the car that’s another red herring.”

She went back into her office and called Thirsk.

“Jacob, it’s Marilyn. I hear that your guys had some excitement last night.”

“Me too. I went to help out. It was too intriguing to miss out on. We were sitting, behind the garage, waiting for a truck with a digger when we heard the van turn up and voices. The tactical guys went into battle mode and told us to get down before there was a gun fight when they called out. If we didn’t have them with us, we would have all been killed.”

“I hear that there’s more work there.”

“Yes, we got the digger on the solid returns and there’s about twenty weapons in our safe custody after they had been logged in. I’ve got a team out at Youlton taking more care on the likely bodies.”

“Have you had a chance to look at that Toyota taxi?”

“We have. It all seemed normal except for a smear of old semen on the back seat, in those stitched lines. The rest of the interior was tidy, but not totally cleaned for ages.”

“Any match on record?”

“It was a match for the DNA from the foetus. There was also a few kilo of high-quality weed in the space behind the gas container in the boot. It was a dual fuel car, and about fifteen years old. I passed that information to the WPC who signed the car over to us. The bag had some fingerprints on it, the same as on a note found under the front passenger seat. That declared eternal love for Esme and threatened to kill anyone who stood between them. It was signed by a Gerry, with a ‘G’. Esmes’ prints were also on it.”

“Thank you, Jacob.”

She went out into the main room.

“How did you get on, Ginger?”

“The manager said that he didn’t know of anyone and was sarcastic in his thanks for taking away one of his best workers, a lad called Gerald Strand.”

“Was he now. Jacob has just told me that there was a bag of weed behind the gas tank, and that the fingerprints matched ones on a note found under the seat. It declared love for Esme and was signed Gerry. I’m going down to the counter to see if he’s been booked in.”

She went down and checked the sign-in book. Gerald Strand had been arrested as he had arrived at work. He was now in the custody of CI Couples, of the drug squad. She went to their offices and knocked on his door. Hearing a call, she went in.

“Good morning, sir. I’m DI Houseman and you have a person now in custody called Gerald Strand.”

“We have, Inspector. He was arrested for possession of drugs. I was told that a note has also been found. Is that why you’re interested?”

“It’s a bit wider than that, sir. The car that the drugs were found in belonged to a couple called Anderson, and my team is investigating their murders. Is it possible to talk to the prisoner, sir. I don’t mind if it’s recorded, and you watch. I would prefer a companion to be someone that’s not confrontational. Perhaps the WPC who passed on the information.”

He nodded and picked up his phone.

“It’s CI Couples, can you take Strand to Interview Room Three, DI Houseman will be talking to him.”

Then he pressed another button.

“Dave, it’s Jim Couples. Is that WPC Brightman in the building? Oh, good. Can you get a message to her to be at Interview Room Three to accompany DI Houseman in an interview. Thanks.”

“Now, Inspector. What are you looking for?”

Ten minutes later, WPC Brightman and Marilyn walked into the interview room and asked the constable to leave them. They sat down opposite Gerald.

“Don’t I need a brief beside me?”

“Not today, Gerald, can I call you Gerry?”

“Whatever.”

“Gerry, I’m going to ask you a few questions which you may think are crazy, but an honest answer will save you from a lot of trouble and may give you some points to help you in the drug bust.”

He looked at the two of them.

“Neither of you are drug squad, are you?”

“No, Gerry. The WPC is uniformed, and I’m an inspector in the murder side.”

“Murder! I haven’t murdered anyone!”

“I know, flower. Someone else wants you to take the rap for one or two, though.”

“This is crazy!”

“I agree. Now. Did you have an affair with Esme Anderson? Be honest, now.”

“We did have sex a few times, while her old man was banged up.”

“Did you write a note to her, declaring your love and saying that you’ll kill anyone who got between you?”

He started to shake.

“I did. She thought that it was hilarious.”

“That note was found in the Toyota, after we had collected it. It was under the passenger seat. Both Esme and her husband have been killed. Doesn’t look good for you, now, but I do have a ray of sunlight for you. Someone that you know well gained access to that car recently.”

“I wasn’t there. Billy, who does nights, told me that a mate of mine had the key and told him that he had permission to check the car for something that he’d lost.”

“This mate of yours, does Billy know him as well?”

“He has been around a bit, yes.”

“That would be to deliver the weed and collect his money.”

“Look, I may be wayward but I’m no grass!”

“Especially when it’s the Hunter and Wolf families who are supplying you.”

He froze, and his eyes narrowed.

“You don’t have to worry for much longer, flower. Their big, bad, older brothers were both killed last night in a shoot-out with a tactical squad from Leeds. Their homes and businesses are being raided as we speak. There won’t be any more weed coming from them, and any warnings you may have had won’t be carried out, whatever you tell me.”

He still looked stubborn.

Marilyn looked at WPC Brightman, who was looking on and concentrating hard. Then looked Gerry in the eyes.

“I’ll take a good guess, flower. Your mate, and your supplier, is Bill Wolf, and his mate that gives you bad dreams is Henry Hunter. One of them left that note in the car, knowing that you and Esme had sex. Esme was shot in the stomach with a double-barrel shotgun. Blew her guts, some of her spine, and some of her baby through a hole in the chair she was sitting in. There was enough left of the baby to get DNA, though. Without that DNA, I would be talking to you about going down for murder.”

“Henry is the bad one. I get shivers whenever he looks at me. It’s as if he’s measuring me for a pine box. OK, you win. Bill is my supplier, and it was Henry who came to look at the car. I’m not going down for murder.”

“You left prints on that bag of weed, so you’re not going to get out of a possession charge. Your help will be noted, which will allow the prosecution to ask for a short period of detention in a low-risk establishment. Tell me, was Esme needing it? I ask because she’d had an affair with another guy, before you, while her husband was inside.”

“She wasn’t shy, Inspector. She came on to me and I thought that all my Christmas’ had come at once. She told me that she was on the pill. Even though Alf was home again, I think that she was missing it. Bill told me that even his brother had been having an affair with her, just before me.”

“Oh, yes. Which brother was that?”

“Terry. He’d done time for a bungled robbery, and Bill told me that he blamed Alf for getting caught. He swore that it wasn’t anything and his mates had done.”

“That, flower, is so far from the truth, it’s not funny. They broke into a shop in full view of CCTV and didn’t hear the silent alarm they had triggered, even with a sign on the front window.”

Gerry smiled at last. Marilyn stood and WPC Brightman stood as well.

“Rest easy, Gerry. By the time you’re back on the street the families will be no more. They will be replaced, but you try to be a good lad and get a better job. Your boss told my guy that you were one of his best workers. Use your brains, flower, and live well.”

The two women left the room, and the constable went in to take Gerry back to his cell. CI Couples came out of the viewing room and shook Marilyns’ hand.

“Who should I be talking to about Hunter and Wolf?”

“That would be DCI Russell, in Leeds, sir.”

“I know him. Thank you for coming down this morning. Constable, did you learn as much about interviewing as I did?”

“Yes sir. How do I put in an application to join the detectives?”

“It’s all on the system. First crime to solve is to find where the computer nerds have hidden it in several thousand pages of information.”

“Right sir. Thank you sir.”

Marianne Gregory © 2026