Chapter 2

They walked into the office to see most of the team already studying computer screens. Marilyn went into her own office and spent two hours working on administrative paperwork, to clear her mind. At around ten, she had a call on her mobile.

“DI Houseman.”

“Marilyn, it’s Keith Russell. I’ve spoken to my boss, and he is going to talk to your superiors about a joint operation. The mug shot of a younger Anderson is a better than sixty percent fit with the lad on the bike. It may have been a coincidence, but it’s the first real lead that we’ve had in that case. I’ll be reworking the Leeds side and will set up a meeting with your team when we have something solid.”

“All right, sir. I’ve got my team trawling through the records. His later arrest suddenly doesn’t seem right. It’s as if he rolled over and took all the blame.”

“I’ll send you what I get if you send me your information. I understand that the double murder at your end is your priority, just as solving the double murder in Leeds is mine.”

When she put the phone down, Ginger was tapping on the door.

“Email from Thirsk, ma-am. Jacob has sent over his preliminary findings.”

“Right! Time for a meeting.”

She gathered her thoughts as Ginger called for attention. Standing next to the ‘Rascal Wall’, now with pictures of the two Andersons, she asked Ginger to give the forensic report. He stood.

“This is preliminary only. A search of the house found a burner phone with a dead battery, which was why he had used his own phone Thursday evening. The gun had fingerprints on the stock and triggers, enough to match with Anderson. It had another set on the barrel, about eight inches from the muzzle. Jacob is certain that these are from Esme Anderson and were probably from her grasping at the barrel when it was poked into her stomach.”

Ian raised a hand.

“No other prints, sarge?”

“None. Otherwise, the victim had no marks on him to show resistance, so he must have known his assailant. He had three separate identities, one his own and two fake sets, but good enough to have credit cards in both names. We will need to talk to the banks to get the records, but receipts found showed that they had been in use since he had been released and the balances paid on time. His stomach contents were consistent with the packages found in the house, and there were no traces of drugs in his system.”

He looked at the paper in his hand.

“The bike in the garage had his fingerprints all over it. Jacob says that it was a popular model for bike couriers ten or more years ago. A pizza delivery bag found hanging from the handlebars was from a Leeds business that closed its doors in 2019. It contained the usual debris of old food and cardboard flakes. It also contained some fibres which Jacob is working on. There was no sign of a cricketers bag.”

They went around the room with the results, so far. They had tracked him back to his schooling in Leeds and had approached the schools to get the pupil names from that time. They had received the visitor list for his time in prison, as well as the list of inmates that he would have been in contact with. Marilyn looked at them.

“Good work, you lot! Ian, set up a spreadsheet to enter all the names we get to see if there are any duplicates. This case has been now linked to one back in 2020, in Leeds. I’ve spoken to the DCI in charge of that case. It was a diamond robbery that was so slick, nobody even knew it had happened until the next day. The shop was under CCTV from across the road the whole day, and there was nothing out of the ordinary, except for customers trying the door and leaving after seeing a closed sign.”

She looked at their interested faces.

“Inside, there were two females, bound and gagged and then killed with a knife across their throats. The haul was estimated at over a million, and none of it has been recovered. The link is the bike and bag found in the garage. CCTV at the time showed a cycle delivery lad come from the side road by the crime scene and turn onto the main road. The bag is a duplicate of the one Jacob has, and I had a call from DCI Russell, in Leeds, this morning. The enhancement of that lads’ face is better than a fifty percent match with the mug shot of Anderson, taken a year or so later.”

There was a buzz around the room as they took it in.

“This makes what we’re doing doubly important. The victims are now four, over nearly a ten-year gap. If Anderson was involved with that earlier robbery, he would have been on a good cut. He didn’t need to go off on a lark with a bunch of teens. We need records of his house and the place in Youlton. We need the names of those teens from the juvenile records. We also have to go back on our own case and start from finding Esme in her home. Double down on all the witness statements. Find out who first mentioned the cricket bag. Ginger, we’re going back to look at the first crime scene again. Tim, take Helen with you and look at Youlton with fresh eyes, then talk to the others in that area.”

Marilyn and Ginger went to the original crime scene and let themselves in, new gloves on. They first went to the sitting room, where the body had been found. The chair was still at Thirsk but the pellet splatter on the wall showed them where it had been.

Slowly, they went through the entire house with a fresh outlook. Marilyn was looking in the bedroom drawers. They had a disturbed look, as if someone had been pawing through the items. There were two separate bedrooms, one for her and one for him. His room also had the look that someone had been searching for something. She knew that it hadn’t been the crime scene team, because they usually dumped everything on the bed and left it there after checking it, although Jacob was usually neater.

On his chest of drawers, there was a car key with a leather tag that had a Toyota emblem on it. There was also a small rectangular piece of plastic with a different card suit in each corner and ‘Ace Taxi’ in the middle with a phone number. She placed them in an evidence bag and went down to see how Ginger was getting on.

“Found anything, Ginger?”

“There was a drawer in the kitchen, with the household accounts and his receipts. He was driving a cab.”

She showed him the evidence bag.

“If he was keeping the keys, the cab was his.”

“We need to see it, then.”

They locked up and drove a few streets to the taxi depot. Going in, Marilyn held up her warrant card.

“DI Houseman. Is the boss around.”

The lad she had spoken to turned and shouted.

“Jock! Police here to talk to you.”

An overweight man came out of a small portable and came up to them.

“Jock McBride. I’m the manager, what can I help you with.”

Marilyn held up the bag.

“Alfred Anderson. He had a car here?”

“Yes, he did. Is Alf in trouble? We haven’t seen him for a while. We put his Toyota down the back.”

“I’m sorry to tell you, sir, that his body was found before the weekend. I’m going to have to take his car. Do you have a key here and move it around?”

“We do. It’s in the ignition, we are here twenty-four hours a day, so nobody can come in and just take it. We have a few other contractors with their own cars.”

“How long has he been working with you?”

“About seven years. His wife was driving while he was otherwise detained. Good worker, too. He came back a few months ago. I was sad to read about her death and wondered if that was why we hadn’t seen him. She was such a sweet little thing, had a regular set of parents who let her take their kiddies to posh schools and pick them up. Alf had passed that business on to Karen, preferring to work the hotels and tourist spots.”

“We’ll need to collect the car for examination. Don’t let anyone in it and I’ll get it picked up. Thank you for your time. By the way, what did you think of Alf?”

“Nice guy, maybe too easy-going. Always ready to help if we were overloaded. I liked him but wondered what troubled him, at times. He was very jumpy before he was arrested.”

Marilyn went to the Toyota and put her gloves on before taking the key out of the ignition and locking it. She put the key in the evidence bag. Going out to her car, she rang Thirsk.

“Jacob, we have found a car belonging to Anderson. It’s at Ace Taxi in York. Can you send a recovery truck to pick it up, please. I’ll get a uniformed to watch over it until you get here. They’ll have two keys in an evidence bag. One was in the ignition and the other was at his house.”

She turned to Ginger.

“Can you call the local station to send over a uniform to guard the car until it gets picked up. I’ve noticed the lad we first spoke to was looking worried when I locked the car. He may have been using it as a safe place for something. I’ve got to call the office.”

She stepped away as he was making his call and phoned the office.

“Ian, I’ve got a little job for you. We’ve just found a taxi that Anderson was using. He’s listed with the company as a contractor, so the car is his. I’ve just been told that Esme was driving it while he was inside, so, whoever told us that she was on the game was mistaken. See if you can find his company records and the first time he registered the car.”

She gave him the registration number.

“Now, is Shirley around?”

She waited until Shirley came on the line.

“Shirley, I have a job for you. We’ve been given a wrong impression of Esme Anderson. It seems that she’d been driving Alfreds’ taxi while he was inside, and I’ve been told that she was very good at it, with a solid customer base ferrying kids to and from posh schools. I’ve had a look in her bedroom, and she looked like a good dresser. What I want is a background search on her. Where she was brought up, schooling, who her friends were. If possible, I want you to contact her parents and find out who her best friend was. Going further, I’d like to know where they met and where they married.”

“Got it, ma-am.”

Marilyn then made another call to Thirsk.

“Jacob, I know that it will take a while to get the results, but I would like an answer to a little problem. Can you please do a DNA set for Esme Anderson, Alfred Anderson, and what bits you have of that foetus. I want to know if he’s the father. If not, we will have something to check against someone else.”

“I had a look at the house, Marilyn, and they didn’t sleep in the same room.”

“Even you would have trouble sleeping with someone else if you’d spent five years inside, Jacob. It doesn’t mean that they didn’t have sex. I’m getting a lot of information that points to them being a genuine partnership, despite his arrest. When you checked the house, why didn’t you bag the car key in his room?”

“There were no keys in his room. Where did you find it?”

“On the chest of drawers, in full view. If someone put it there in the last week, that means that someone has a key to the house.”

They waited until a constable was dropped off by a police car. Marilyn showed her the warrant card.

“Good morning constable. That white Toyota up against the back wall will be picked up by forensics with a truck. Here are the keys. Make yourself comfy but don’t take your eyes off it. When it’s taken away, get yourself picked up.”

“Yes, ma-am. Is there something I should be aware off?”

“Good girl. You see that lad washing the blue taxi? He’s been acting strange as soon as I locked the Toyota. He may ask you if he can get his lunch out of it. If he does, get his name and address from the manager and tell the forensic team.”

The constable looked around the workshop.

“Not many places to stash a bag of weed in here.”

“You’ll go far. If you ever get a desire to get off the beat, give me a call.”

Marilyn gave her a business card and got in the car.

“Where to, now, ma-am?”

“Back to the office. We need to go through all the witness statements from the day Esme was found. There are a lot of oddities. We were told that she’d been on the game, yet there’s no record of her on the system. She was working hard while her hubby was inside. We were told about a cricket bag, yet it wasn’t at Youlton. There’s too many red herrings. The original door to door smells fishier by the day. After that, you and I are going to talk to them ourselves, without preconceived ideas.”

When they went back to the street, the first call was the lady who had reported the sighting of Anderson with the bag. They knocked on her door. When it was opened, they had to look down at the elderly woman. Marilyn held out her ID.

“Mrs. Patterson? I’m Detective Inspector Houseman and my companion is Detective Sergeant Kidman. We would like to talk to you about the day that Esme Anderson was killed. Can we come in?”

“Come through to the kitchen, dears. I’ll put the kettle on.”

When they were settled, with cups in front of them, Marilyn spoke.

“Mrs. Patterson. In the statement that was taken, that day, you said that you saw Alfred Anderson leaving the house with a cricketers bag. Is that what you saw?”

“I didn’t see anything. I was at the doctors for most of the day. It was Molly from number seventeen who told me that he had been carrying a bag. That nice young constable suggested that it could be a long one, like those cricket players use.”

Marilyn smiled.

“So, to paraphrase a saying, you weren’t here, you didn’t do it, and you saw nothing?”

“I suppose that’s right, Inspector. Molly is always good with the gossip, although she’s sometimes wrong. I don’t usually repeat things that she says.”

“Esme lived at number eight, across the road, you’re here at number eleven, so Molly will be three houses further away. I think that we’ll need to talk to her. Nice cup of tea, by the way, I do like a good Darjeeling. Did you speak to Esme much?”

“She used to take me to the hospital in the taxi. She would wait for me and bring me back on the one voucher. Such a sweet woman.”

“You’re not the first to say that about her. Did you get driven by Alfred?”

“A few times. I don’t need to go to the hospital as often as I did. They’ve done all the tests that were needed. He would go off and then come back for me. I sometimes had to sit for half an hour, and he would take the second voucher. He was a nice man. They were both good people. They were only here about a year before he went to prison. He was a different man when he came back. He had a haunted look.”

The next stop was Molly at seventeen. This time, they refused the offer of a cup of tea.

“Molly, Mrs. Patterson has just told us that it was you who saw Alfred Anderson leaving his house with a large bag, on the day that Esme was murdered.”

“I didn’t see him. It was Rosey, across the street who told me that she saw a bloke coming out of the house and get into a car.”

“Would that be fourteen or sixteen?”

“Sixteen. Rosey works late in the Minster, cleaning. That’s why she’s around during the day.”

“Thanks, flower. We’ll just go and speak to her.”

They crossed the road and rang the bell, which had a ‘Do not disturb’ sign next to it. A little while later, the door was opened by a woman in her dressing gown.

“Can’t you lot read! I don’t want to buy anything and I’m happy with my place in heaven, thank you!”

Marilyn held out her ID.

“We’re sorry to bother you, Rose, but we’re doing follow-up calls about the day Esme Anderson was killed. Our original house to house didn’t come this far up the road, and Mrs. Patterson gave a statement which was taken as gospel, but we now know that it was a Chinese Whisper, which you may have the original.”

“Come on in, Inspector, I don’t get in until the early hours. That Minster takes a lot of cleaning after a day of sightseers.”

“Thank you. This is Detective Sergeant Kidman. If you don’t mind, we’ll like to record this interview. I doubt that you’ll need to sign a statement, but we will transcribe it for our records.”

“That’s all right, come on through. I need a coffee. Do you want one?”

“No, we had a cup of tea with Mrs. Patterson. She was the one who gave a statement about what she saw but didn’t.”

“She’s a lovely lady, as kind as you would ever want. I’m sure that if you asked her about the Teletubbies down the road, she’d do her best to tell you about them.”

“You have Teletubbies in the street? All I have are talking rabbits.”

They were chuckling as they sat down, while the kettle went on for an instant coffee. Ginger took the recorder from his pocket and placed it on the table, switching it on when their hostess sat. Marilyn smiled.

“Now, for the record, could you please tell us your full name and what you saw that day.”

Rose took a sip of coffee, stated her name, and started to tell them what she saw.

“It was a day like today. The Minster was messy from a couple of busloads of German schoolkids. I got home after one and was awake around ten. I heard a sound that was like a door slamming and wondered about it. I went out the front and looked both ways along the road. There was a car outside number eight, or thereabouts. As I looked, a guy came out and got into the passenger side. He had a fishing rod bag, which he put in the back. Thinking about that, the car must have been closer to number six, as his back was towards me as he left.”

“Are you sure it was a fishing rod bag?”

“Yes. My father was a keen fisherman, and it was very similar to his.”

“What about the car?”

“It was an Astra. One of those bright red ones. My brother-in-law has a blue one.”

“When he was reaching in the back door, he would have been in profile. What was your impression? I’m not asking for a description, as those are notoriously all over the place. First thoughts?”

“Black tee, ripped jeans, long hair and in his early twenties. As soon as he closed his door, they were away.”

“They?”

“It must have been someone else driving him.”

“Thank you for that. It’s been a great help. I hope that you and your companions sing while cleaning the Minster. My husband is the audio guy in the University halls, and he reckons that the Minster has some of the best acoustics in the city.”

“Oh, yes! We sing hymns and carols to get through the evenings. It’s better than singing in the shower.”

On the way back to the car, Marilyn rang the office.

“Ian, we have a solid sighting of a red Astra outside Andersons’ house on the day of the murder. Can you get on to the camera boys to see if they have anything in that area, as well as in the Youlton area when that murder happened.”

Ginger chuckled.

“What’s so funny, Ginger?”

“Chinese Whispers and preconceived ideas, ma-am. Every day with you teaches me more. At this rate, I may go for the inspector exam before I retire.”

“Don’t do that while I’m around, Ginger. I need you beside me to give me gravitas.”

“Where to, now?”

“Now, my young padawan, I’m buying you lunch, and then we go and talk to the man with the lock-up. The one who told the constable that he thought Esme had been on the game. Now, we know, for certain, that she wasn’t, I wonder why he needed to give her a bad name.”

They stopped at the nearby pub and had pie and chips with soft drinks. Ginger wiped his lips.

“So, a late teen or early twenties, with a fishing rod bag and a red Astra, driven by an accomplice. Do we now have an idea about the unknown gunner?”

“Depends on the cameras, and whatever else we find out. I’m off to powder my nose, and then we’ll talk to Mister Bernard Tapper.”

Bernard Tapper lived one street over, with the lockups running between the two streets. They knocked on his door and waited. When the door was opened, they saw a man, probably around thirty, wearing dark glasses.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m DI Houseman and this is DS Kidman, may we come in, Mister Tapper.”

“All right. I’ll have to take your word for who you are, my sight isn’t much good, unless I have a spotlight and a magnifying glass.”

As they walked to the kitchen, following him as he guided himself with the walls, Marilyn was keen to ask him the leading questions. When they were seated, without an offer of a drink, she asked her first while Ginger quietly put the recorder on the table.

“How did you lose your sight, Mister Tapper, or is it something from birth?”

“I was always short-sighted and didn’t do myself any good in my teens. I was a computer nerd. On top of that, I was a budding scientist. What did the damage was an experiment that I was doing, with magnesium and other things. The flash took away most of the sight that I had. Luckily, I had a bit of money, and went on welfare.”

“Is that when you moved here?”

“No. I was already here. The experiment was being done in my lockup.”

“How did you know Esme Anderson?”

“I was a year ahead of her when we were at school in Leeds. I was there on the night she met Alf. He was then a year behind her. I already knew him as the lad who delivered pizza when we had video games evenings.”

“Did you like Esme?”

“I did. As a geek, I didn’t have many normal friends, especially girls.”

“Why did you tell our officer that you thought that she had been on the game? We know, for a fact, that while Alf was in prison, she was driving his taxi.”

Marianne Gregory © 2026

Chapter 3

Tapper looked as if he’d been hit, and Marilyn watched him closely. He was silent, and they could see that his tear ducts still worked. He took a deep breath.

“I don’t know. It was a sudden spite. I was really upset when they told me that she was dead. I didn’t know what to say. While Alf was inside, we had an affair, which stopped when my sight was gone. Look, there was no way that I could have found her house, these days, let alone kill her. She could have slapped me down with a frying pan before I could touch her, even though that would have been the only thing I would have wanted to do.”

“Where did Esme and Alf meet?”

“It was at the Mint Warehouse, on Freedom Day in 2021. She was smitten as soon as they danced. I left early, in tears.”

“Do you have a key to your lockup?”

“There should be one on the hook, over by the cupboard.”

“Do you mind if we have a look in it?”

“Knock yourself out. You can see yourself out. Return the key whenever you want.”

They took the key and let themselves out, walking to the alley with the lockups. The key had a number tag. Ginger unlocked the padlock and rolled up the door. They stood, putting on their gloves as their eyes became used to the gloom.

“Right, Ginger, my lad. We are looking for something that Alf wanted to hide, in a place where he knew that only he had access to. There was a similar key on his house set, but it didn’t stand out. I’m guessing that it’s something small.”

It took over an hour, and they both needed a shower and a change of clothes when they did find what they were looking for under a load of oily rags in an old car sump. It was Ginger who was feeling around in the sump.

“Something here, ma-am. Feels like a beach stone.”

He pulled out what he had found. It was a black bag, with a drawstring. When they looked inside, the contents didn’t look much different from a lump of glass. Marilyn took it and wiped it over with a cleaner cloth, then spat on a flat face, wiping it with her finger.

“What is it, ma-am?”

“This, my friend, is one of the missing links. I think that we have found a piece of uncut diamond, probably worth a quarter of a million cut into a number of stones. I will need to book this in as evidence but will transfer it to the DCI in Leeds.”

“A result, then.”

“That’s for sure. We’ll lock up and keep the key. Bernard doesn’t need it. When we get back to the office, log out and go home. You’ve earned a good shower. Be prepared for a trip to Leeds in the morning.”

At the office, Shirley was given the recorder to transcribe the two interviews for the case file. Marilyn stayed long enough to call Keith, in Leeds.

“DCI Russell”

“Keith, it’s Marilyn in York. Can you please see me and my senior sergeant in the morning, say around ten. You’ll need to have someone with diamond experience.”

“Well, Inspector. You certainly know how to surprise. Give me a hint, please, or I won’t sleep.”

“OK, how about a lump of rock, rough and uncut, but shows a nice deep view when you spit on a face.”

“That sounds like one of those uncut blood stones, from back in the troubles. That wasn’t on the robbery list, though.”

“If the jeweller was going to the source, instead of buying cut stones through Antwerp, he would be silly to list it. I think that it was part of the loot that was given to Anderson, on top of his cut. There may have been a few of these that were taken but not listed.”

“All right, I’ll set up a meeting tomorrow. See you then.”

She then made a call to Jacob.

“Jacob, if I come over this afternoon with something, can you measure and weigh it, take some pictures and let me hang on to it. I’ll be taking it to DCI Russell in Leeds in the morning.”

“Can do, Marilyn. Sounds interesting.”

“So is the bag that it comes in. See you soon.”

She went out into the main office and took the rock out of its bag, holding it in a glove.

“Have a look at this, team. Ginger and I found this, this afternoon, in the lockup where Alfred Anderson kept his old bike. It doesn’t look much, but I think that it’s a lump of uncut diamond.”

Those that were there looked at it. Shirley took a picture on her phone, to show Helen. Marilyn put it back in the bag.

“I know that I look a sight, but I’m taking this to Thirsk to be logged as evidence. I’ll be in, first thing, and taking this to Leeds in the morning, with Ginger riding shotgun. We’ll have a meeting in the afternoon. Ian, one little job. Can you find out what work Bernard Tanner was doing, about 2020. Also, what you would have to do with magnesium to create a flash bright enough to lose your sight.”

She left them to it and drove to Thirsk. Jacob was amazed at what she showed him. The rock was weighed and photographed, then he filled in the log. After that, he took a thread from the bag, photographed that, and entered it in with a full description. Finally, he washed the rock with a weak mixture of vinegar and water, bringing out the same vision that Marilyn had created with her spit.

‘I’ll check that thread against the ones from the pizza bag, but, for now, they do look similar. I’ll expect a call from the Leeds DCI, then.”

“About eleven in the morning, I expect.”

She went back to her car and locked the bag in her glovebox, then drove home for a welcome shower and a quiet evening.

Next day, she picked up Tim, as usual.

“How was Youlton yesterday?”

“It was odd. Someone had obviously gone through the place, looking for something. We spoke to the neighbours. They hardly saw him, or anyone else. One woman, coming home from shopping, said that she saw a car parked outside. She wasn’t certain of the time and could only say that it was red.”

“Shirley should have a transcript of an interview that Ginger and I recorded yesterday. There was a red Astra parked outside the Anderson house. Open the glovebox and have a look at what’s in the bag.”

He took the stone out and hefted it.

“Is this what I think it is?”

“If you’re thinking about a girls’ best friend, it is. Ginger and I found it in the lockup where Anderson kept his bike. Oh! He also had a taxi, which Esme drove while he was inside. The original statements that were taken, after her body was found, have mostly turned out to be a pack of BS. Catch up with the happenings in the office. Ginger and I are taking that lump to Leeds this morning. I’ve asked Ian to find out what Tapper was doing in 2019 to 2021. He was a computer nerd. If he finds that Tapper was working for a security or a CCTV company, ring me immediately.”

In the office, she checked her computer for emails, told the team that there would be a meeting that afternoon, and left with Ginger. They didn’t talk a lot on the drive to Leeds, both working through what they now knew. At Leeds, they logged in at the desk and waited to be taken to the meeting, the rock now safe in Marilyns’ bag.

A WPC came to collect them and take them to the meeting.

“Good morning ma-am, sarge. I’m WPC Nottage, and I’ll be taking notes this morning.”

“Good morning, Constable. It should be an interesting discussion. Have you worked with DCI Russell long?”

“About six months ma-am. That man is a walking encyclopedia of the law and case history.”

“I know, I sat in several of his lectures at York Uni.”

They arrived at the meeting room. Keith Russell stood and welcomed them, introducing his two companions.

“May I introduce our section commander, Chief Superintendent Stubbs, and my Sergeant Wallace.”

“Good morning sir. I’m DI Houseman and this is DS Kidman.”

“Right, find a seat and get settled. Nottage will be recording this. If there are papers that you need afterwards, she will organise copies for you before you go. Perhaps the best way to start is to give us an outline of your case and how you drew a line between it and my cold case.”

For the next half an hour, Marilyn took them through her case, with the Stubbs looking shocked at the ferocity of the two murders. She came to the point where she remembered seeing a bag like the one in the Leeds case. At that point, Keith turned on a big screen and showed the others the picture that she had sent him, then pressed a button that showed the piece of CCTV with the boy, the bike, and the bag. Then he pressed the button again and the screen showed the enhanced still of the boy’s face, alongside the mug shot of Anderson. Stubbs spoke.

“Now, that is some feat of memory, Inspector. Have you gone any further?”

“Yes sir, we have. I won’t bother you with advances on our case, but we have found something that relates to yours. In the lockup where our victim kept his bike, we found this, hidden away.”

She pulled the bag out and placed it on the table, in front of Keith. He carefully opened the bag and pulled out the stone. Nottage quietly muttered something.

“Exactly my thought as well. Has this been logged?”

“I took it to Thirsk yesterday, where it was measured and photographed. Jacob also took a thread from the bag to match with the ones found in the pizza bag.”

Keith turned to his sergeant.

“I think that this would be a good time to get our expert in.”

The sergeant left the room and Keith smiled.

“I thought that the best person to look at this may be the one who must have lost it. He sold the business after he got the insurance payment. We managed to track him down and asked him, politely, to help us out.”

The door opened and an old man came in, although Marilyn could see that he looked older than his years. Keith had put the stone back in the bag. The man saw the bag and froze for a few seconds.

“Good of you to help us, Mister Prentice. Take a seat and have a look in the bag.”

They all watched as the man took the stone out of the bag and rubbed a wet finger on a facet, looking at it closely with a jewellers loupe.

“What do you want to know?”

Keith smiled.

“What it is. Where you bought it. How many like this was in your safe when you were robbed, and how many cut blood diamonds you had that you didn’t put on the inventory.”

Prentice went white, and WPC Nottage gave him a glass of water. He looked at Keith.

“I thought that I was free and clear. Now this has turned up. I admit that I had bought blood stones from the source. There were five like this, plus a similar bag of cut stones that I used to put into jewels. They weren’t insurable, and I had to sell the business and use most of the insurance to pay off my account with the supplier. They were patient, but unrelenting. I feared for my life for a good two years before they were off my back. Does this mean that you’re closer to solving the case. I cry each night and pray for the souls of Liz and Sarah.”

“We’re closer than we were back then. What’s that worth?”

“Cut into a number of untraceable stones, about a quarter of a million. As it is right now, it’s worthless. No legitimate jeweller will touch them. I just saw the profits and forgot my ethics.”

“Thank you, Mister Prentice. If you’ll go with my sergeant, he’ll take a statement from you, a full and frank one, this time.”

When they had left the room, the Chief Super stood.

“I’ll leave you to your meeting. That has been an impressive presentation, with a surprise ending. I’m sure that I’ll see further reports, Russell. Excellent work Houseman.”

He left the room, and everyone relaxed. Marilyn gave a little giggle.

“That was unexpected. You must have had your suspicions.”

“I’ve thought through this case for years. There had to be something off, but I couldn’t put a finger on it until Prentice looked at that stone. That’s when it all clicked. Nottage, is the urn hot?”

“As always, sir, teas or coffees.”

They all sat with cups and shared a plate of biscuits. The talk turned to what happens next. Marilyns’ mobile rang.

“Excuse me. I told the office to ring if there was news.”

She moved away from the table and answered. She listened and said, ‘Well done’, before putting the phone away.

“That was Ian, from my team. We have a man in our case who knew Alfred Anderson from school. He told us that before he lost most of his sight he was a computer nerd. The records show that in the 2019 to 2022 period, he worked for a company in Leeds, called ‘Camera Shy Installation’. I’m wondering if they were the company that did the maintenance on the diamond store. If he was the technician, he would have been let in on a Sunday. I’m sure that if the robbery was already planned, he could have added an instruction to the software, with a command to shut down on a certain date and at a certain time. He may have had a chance to take an impression of the key.”

“Prentice will still be here. Give me a few minutes and I’ll ask him who he used. What is the mans’ name?”

“Bernard Tapper. He would have been late teens at that time.”

They spent the time while Keith was away talking to WPC Nottage about her experiences as a policewoman in Leeds. She waved at the cups.

“It’s typical. Always the one to take notes, the one who has the tea and biscuit duty. I’ll also tidy up after you leave. I’ve heard about you, Inspector. Some say that you’re an ice queen with supernatural powers. I can refute that now. You’re a normal woman with a good brain who gets the best out of the ones working with her. What you brought here, today, wasn’t any more than solid investigation and hard work.”

“Thank you. I can tell you that my move into the detective business was due to the marks I got while studying at the university. York is also the training centre for North Yorkshire Police, and I had good lecturers, including DCI Russell.”

The door opened and Keith came back in.

“He remembers Tapper! Even the day that he was checking the system and adding the camera outside the rear door. He left the lad to it while he went over the road to do some shopping. All the stock was in the safe for the day. He said that they got on well, and he trusted the lad to do the right thing. The system worked perfectly after that, even if it did only show an empty shop for a few months in the first lockdown.”

“We’ll keep looking into the group that Tapper was friends with. We already know that he knew both Anderson and his wife while at school. He’s admitted to having an affair with her while her husband was serving his five years. We’re also checking her circle of relatives and friends out.”

“OK. I’ll shout you an early lunch in our canteen, then you can get back to your team. You too, Nottage. Give the recording to my secretary and meet us in the canteen.”

“Yes, sir.”

The WPC was smiling as she left. Keith looked at the bag on the table.

“Is that ours to hang on to?”

“It’s been logged by Thirsk, and I told Jacob that you may give him a call.”

Marilyn looked at her watch.

“About ten minutes ago.”

Keith laughed.

“You, Marilyn, are almost witchlike in the way you can see the future. Let’s follow my WPC to my office, and she can lead you to the canteen. I’ll call Thirsk and put this in the safe in the evidence room.”

The three of them were sitting in the canteen, waiting for Keith. WPC Nottage was still smiling at being with a woman who was rapidly becoming her idol.

“Do you have any idea of what you’re going to do now, ma-am?”

“After eating, then going back to York, my team will have a meeting where we lay out everything we’ve learned.”

Ginger leaned forward.

“And then we bring Tapper in while we get Jacob and his team to take his house apart. If he has one of those bags, it puts him in the frame for the two murders here.”

“Not quite, Ginger. I want to hold off on that until we know more about the others in the ring. If they’re keeping in touch, which I’m certain that they are after the Anderson deaths, then taking Tapper in will spook the others. Prentice said that there were five bags with an uncut diamond in. The likely situation was that there were five in the robbery. We have the one that set the timer in the cameras and took a copy of the key. We have the young Alf who took the jewels from the crime scene. I doubt that he had any idea what he was carrying, and probably handed the bag over within the hour. He would have found out about the two bodies in the news,”

Ginger nodded.

“That would have put the fear of God in him. Being part of a robbery with a good payout isn’t the same as being wanted as an accessory to murder.”

“That could be why he was willing to be part of that smash and grab. If one of those louts is a young brother of one of the original gang, then he would have a strong blackmail case to get Anderson involved.”

Keith joined them and they had the early lunch, speaking about the world in general. When they left, Keith shook hands with both of them, while Nottage gave them a smile. On the way back to York, Ginger laughed.

“That Nottage girl is a bright young thing, with the world at her feet.”

“And a bloody big mountain to climb, Ginger. Coming into the force with a secondary education and basic training to be in the uniform, she is going to have to fight for any promotion. I hope that today has shown her that the brain can be mightier than the baton.”

Back in their own office, Marilyn told the team to be ready when she got back, then went upstairs to give her superior the latest news. Back in the office, she stood in front of the ‘Rascal Wall’ and added two pictures to it. One of Prentice that Keith had given her, and one of Tapper, which she had taken while he was being interviewed and printed in her own office.

“This guy with the dark glasses is Bernard Tapper. He knew both Esme and Alfred at school in Leeds. It was his lockup that Alfred kept his bike in, and it was that same lockup where we found that uncut diamond in, which is now in safe custody in Leeds. This other guy is Harold Prentice, the owner of the shop that was robbed, the employer of the two girls that were killed, and also, by his own admittance this morning, the buyer of that diamond from the source, along with another four. They, and a bag of cut stones from the same source, weren’t listed as stock with the original inventory. They effectively doubled the value of the robbery, when turned into cut stones.”

Ian put his hand up.

“What are the numbers, ma-am?”

“When cut, the five big stones, along with the bag that contained cut stones, would add up to one and a half million. Ginger and I think that the uncut ones were given out among the gang. We know that Anderson had one, which someone has killed him and his wife while looking for it. We think that Tapper has one, as he was the guy who did work on the store cameras, eight months before the robbery. He knew computers, so could well have added a patch to turn the system off. This makes it doubly important to find the others that they knew, as there will be the original murderer among them. Shirley, what have you found out about Esme?”

“I got on to the mother. She told me the school and the name of her best friend. I called the friend, and she told me that she remembered the night that Esme and Alf danced. They all knew each other, and the two girls had been friends since primary, but Esme was a year behind. That put Annabel, the friend, in the same year as Tapper. The dance was at the Mint Warehouse, the Freedom Day celebration.”

She looked at her notes.

“Annabel says that it was like something Disney would write. Esme was decked out in her best party dress and Alf was absolutely the bees’ knees in his clobber. In fact, she said that there was a group of them that looked like they had stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine. Esme told her, later, that Alf claimed that they had a syndicate, doing the pools, and had a big win in September, before the short lockdown. The other four guys were in her year, and she wondered why Alf would be mixing with them, socially. The four others were Tapper, a guy called George Hanson, who she said was unpredictable; Geoff Hunter and Martin Wolf, who she said tried to live up to his surname.”

“Very well done, Shirley. Has anybody anything to add?”

Ian sat up.

“I looked them up on the system. Hanson has form, in fact, he’s inside at the moment. He’s serving four years for assault with a deadly weapon. He’s in Armley. The weapon was a spring-loaded knife that had had bought while on a coach trip to see Europe in 2019, with his parents. His victim spent some weeks in hospital having operations. Hunter and Wolf come from large families. Both have brothers that would now be late teens or early twenties. Both families are career criminals, mainly auto theft and wrecking to sell parts. They’ve been raided a few times but are too canny to have anything left around.”

“Good work. Let’s concentrate on those three during tomorrow. Get whatever we can. That red Astra may be getting around on false plates that get changed. Write up a report for DCI Russell in Leeds. That knife should still be in his evidence archives. If it was the one used in the robbery, there may still be remains of blood down in the mechanism.”

Marilyn thought for a few moments.

“We still need the names of the louts that put Anderson inside. It looks as if it was an act of total bravado. Tim, get on to Andersons’ lawyer. Ask him if he has those names. If he has, it’s only covered by client confidentiality, not the juvenile rules. Tell him that we think it’s one of them that killed him.”

“On it, ma-am.”

“Ginger, work with the others to find the whereabouts of Hunter and Wolf. We still need to know how much equity the Andersons had in the house, and who owned Youlton.”

She went into her office and called Keith in Leeds.

“Keith, it’s Marilyn. We’ve just had a meeting and there will be a written report sent to you. I’m calling to give you a verbal heads-up.”

“OK, Marilyn. What do you have for us?”

“We have a witness, from the day that Alfred Anderson met Esme. She told us that Alfred looked like a fashion model in good gear, along with four others that he shouldn’t have known, as they were two years ahead of him.”

“When was that?”

“The Freedom day celebration in 2021.”

“That would fit. Who were the others?”

“One was Tapper, who we’ve spoken to. Two of the others were a Geoff Hunter and a Martin Wolf. The last one had been through your system recently and is in Armley doing time for assault with a deadly weapon. The weapon is a spring-loaded knife that he had brought back from a trip to Europe in 2019. His name is George Hanson, and our witness said that he was unpredictable in school. You would have more on him, as well as the knife, which should still be in your evidence store.”

“If it was the one used in the robbery, that type of knife is impossible to clean, unless it’s left in a bucket of bleach. Even then, you can never tell if you’ve got rid of all traces. We have blood samples of both girls in our store. Thank you for that. I’ll get on to our intelligence group to see if they have anything on him and the other two. I’ll keep you in the loop.”

Marianne Gregory © 2026

Chapter 4

There was something that Marilyn could do while she was at her computer. It would be doubling up Ians’ work, but she called up Ancestor and entered Geoff Hunter and his known year of birth. She tracked through the family tree, finding that he had five brothers. One, who would be the right age as the man that Rose had seen, was called Henry Hunter.

She also looked for ways that magnesium would create a flash bright enough to damage sight. She found that the finer that the magnesium was divided, the brighter the light. There was a mention about pyrotechnics. She picked up her phone and called the armed response office, asking for the Inspector that she had spoken to, only a week before.

“Inspector, It’s DI Houseman. With that headless body case that we have, we have a suspect who had lost most of his sight while experimenting with magnesium, and other substances. Can you shed some light on that, excuse the pun.”

“That sounds like the guy was trying to make a flash bang. Like the small grenades that we have to toss inside a room to make those inside deaf and blind, giving enough time to disarm them. There are some, on the market, that produce a light strong enough to knock out all cameras within sight of the flash. They’re only available to approved security and military groups. They’re messy and can permanently blind anyone looking directly at them. A homemade flash would be enough to damage sight. Was the guy involved with security cameras?”

“He was. I think that he may have been in a planning phase of a robbery which didn’t happen. Thank you for that.”

“No problem. Are you nearer to catching your killer?”

“Still some work to do, but, along the way, we may have solved a cold case for Leeds.”

She put her phone down and sat to think. She had an idea of what the target had been, but it was almost too impossible to contemplate. She went out into the main office and went up to John Richards’ desk, the most junior member.

“John, are you doing anything that can’t be put off until the morning?”

“No, ma-am.”

“Right, it’s time that you and I go back and talk to Bernard Tapper. Tidy up and be ready to leave.”

“Yes, ma-am.”

She went over to Ginger.

“I’m taking John to talk to Tapper. I think that I may have something to shock him into co-operating. It’s time that John experienced genuine policing.”

“Right, ma-am.”

John was quiet on the way to Tappers’ house. Marilyn glanced over to him.

“It’s all right to pass the time of day, John. I may be your boss but I’m not an ogre.”

“Thank you, ma-am. It’s just that I haven’t had a lot of experience with talking normally with superior officers.”

“I can tell you that the more superior they get, the more they call you by your surname. When we were in Leeds for that meeting, a Chief Super called me Houseman the whole time. There was a WPC taking notes who never told us her given name. We are going to see Bernard Tapper. With him, bright lights won’t work, so were going to be his friends and see if he’ll feel good enough to unload his guilt. We may even allow him to stay where he is, for the moment.”

“Damn, I brought my handcuffs.”

“That’s the way. Loosen up and listen. You may be the first to handle another one of those rocks.”

Marilyn knocked on the door and waited. It was eventually opened by Tapper.

“Bernard, it’s Marilyn Houseman back again. This time I’ve got John Richards with me. I thought that he needed to bask in a bit of sunlight. I’ve brought your key back. Can we come in? John boils a mean kettle.”

“All right. Did you find anything in the lockup?”

“We did, but more about that later.”

“Come in. The kettle’s on the stove, lad. Mines a strong tea.”

“I’ll skip, this time. John, make one for yourself. Bernard has the best Yorkshire brand.”

Bernard sat at the kitchen table, Marilyn sat opposite and put the key on the table.

“The lockup was pretty dirty. Ginger and I needed showers as soon as we clocked off. Your friend, Alf, never bothered to tidy up.”

“He only used it to store his old bike.”

“And the pizza delivery bag, Bernard. Don’t forget the bag. It was a very important part of your shared history.”

“What are you talking about, shared history. The only thing we shared was Esme.”

“Let me tell you a little story, Bernard, while the tea cools. Back in 2019, you and your three schoolmates plan a jewel robbery in Leeds. I have to hand it to you, it was well planned, so much so that nobody knew it had happened until you were all well away. You went in, eight months before, to install an outside camera. While you were there, the owner trusted you enough to go off and get some shopping. While he was away, you took an impression of the key to the rear door, and also gave his system a software patch, with an instruction to turn every camera off at ten in the morning, and then wipe the memory of the patch.”

Bernard was very still.

“On the day of the robbery, one of you went in the back door, after ten, and threatened the two girls in the shop. The rest of you came in after, bound and gagged the girls, locked the front door and pulled the blinds down. Then you took your time stripping the display cases. One of the girls would have known the safe combination, so one of you, probably George Hanson, threatened to cut them both if they didn’t give it up.”

He was now sagging, with tears running down his cheeks.

“When you had got everything you could, along comes Alfred on that bike, with a pizza bag on his back. He was loaded up with around three million pounds worth of diamonds, and off he goes, looking so innocent. After that, you left, one at a time, and blended in with the shoppers, going to cars left a few streets away. George was the last one out, wasn’t he? It must have been a shock to find out that he had slit the throats of the two girls, just because he could.”

Bernard was sobbing.

“He – he was always unpredictable. That had never been part of the plan. You have it all as if you’d been there on the day. It had been a great success, but, from that day on, we were all bound by the stigma of those murders.”

“Is that why Alfred volunteered to drive the getaway car in that failed smash and grab? That one had none of the care that your job had. Were the other lads younger brothers. Henry Hunter, for example. Did Geoff Hunter tell Alfred that he had to do it or else be exposed for the Leeds job?”

“He told Alf that it was a matter of life or death. George had already killed the girls, so he couldn’t hang twice.”

“The time that you lost your sight. That was another job in the planning, wasn’t it? I have to hand it to you; it would have made you famous if you’d pulled it off. My, the local boys who took the Crown Jewels.”

He put his head in his arms and took noisy breaths. John was looking at Marilyn with amazement.

“Let me guess, Bernard. You were developing the ultimate flash bang. The finer the magnesium, the brighter the flash. I’ve been told that they can be so intense, they can fry the lens of any camera within sight, as well as the sight of any guard who is near. That would have been quite a feat. All you needed to do was to get some plastic explosive and blow open the cases. That would have made a mess of the Minster. I went to see the display, wondering if they were fakes, until I saw them. March 2024, a great bit of kudos for York, and a good PR job for the monarchy.”

“You seem to know it all, missus. Not much more to tell. What now, a ride in a police car that’s now waiting outside?”

“Not quite, Bernard. What I want is for you to come to Leeds with us, all nice and friendly, and make a full and clear statement in front of the lead investigator of the robbery. But not today. Today, I want you to tell me who it is that’s after those lumps of uncut diamond you each had, as a keepsake, and to remind you of your bondage. We found Alfreds’ in your lockup, and the shop owner has given a full statement of his own illegal activities.”

“I told Bill Wolf and Henry Hunter that I’d hocked it, years ago, to pay for my hospital work after the flash. They didn’t believe me and looked through the house. It’s in the lockup. If you look up, there’s a double flouro in there, totally useless as there’s no power. The bag has been on the top of that since I moved here.”

Marilyn nodded to John, who picked up the key and left the house. The two sat, quietly, until Tapper took a deep breath.

“Feel better, Bernard?”

“Yes, thanks, It’s all been eating at me since that day I opened the paper and saw what we’d done. What’s going to happen, now?”

“I’m sure that the prosecution will ask for leniency if you tell all, naming names, and dating dates. You’re already living in your own prison. The only problem will be to take you somewhere that you like, where you will be looked after, and where we can keep you safe from the Hunter, Wolf and Hanson extended families. Do you know why the lads wanted the diamonds?”

“Not sure, but I did hear things about Mafia links, and they needed backing to enter that club. Their brothers and their friends made an absolute cock-up of their attempt to get some readies. Alf was a tower of strength during that time, not rocking the boat. Didn’t do him any good, as the younger brothers took that as a sign of weakness.”

John came back in, somewhat dustier, but with a grin and the bag in his hand. He put it on the table, with a thump. Bernard flinched.

“Get that out of here, lad. They call them things blood diamonds. That one has its full share of blood on it.”

Marilyn stood.

“I’ll come back and pick you up in the morning, Bernard. John and I will take you to Leeds, to the Central Police Station. I’ll push for you to get protection, in return for your co-operation. If you call the others, tonight, you know that we’ll find your body in the morning. This new mob of louts don’t take prisoners. The pain may take away your guilt, but it may be more pain than you’ve ever experienced.”

Out at the car, she took the stone and gave John the keys.

“Take us to Tadcaster, off the main road. I’ll give Keith a call to meet us there.”

She pulled a recorder from her bag and turned it off.

“He’ll be wanting to listen to this, tonight, with something strong to help him sleep.”

As John drove her along the Tadcaster Road, and past the racecourse, she rang Keith.

“DCI Russell.”

“Keith, it’s Marilyn. I have a couple of things for you. I think that you’ll want them tonight. We’re just about to get on the A64 at Askham. Can you meet us at the High Street pub in Tadcaster. Get that nice WPC of yours to drive you, as there’s something for you to listen to on your way back to Leeds. Oh! Before you dash off, I’ll be bringing Bernard Tapper to Leeds in the morning, should he last the night. He’ll need witness protection when we leave him with you.”

“See you there, Marilyn.”

As she sat, with her phone in her lap, John looked over at her.

“Should he last the night?”

“We’ve left him with a choice, John. The man is in a hell of his own making. If he’s alive when we go to get him, he’ll tell it all, warts and all. If he tops himself, then he’ll be in a better place, but we still have his testimony on record. If he does top himself, then the others won’t realise that he’s told us everything. We still have the two Anderson murders to get an arrest made. We now have the two names, it’s just getting witnesses to recognise the car, and get their DNA to test against the crime scenes.”

“This isn’t what they teach in the college.”

“Welcome to real life, John, and the desperate acts we have to do to get it right, while still showing empathy. Policing isn’t about throwing your weight around. It’s getting to know your opponent and to think like them. We’re expected to catch the crooks of the world, without touching the normal people, going about their daily life. If you upset them, then it all gets very difficult.”

When they arrived at Tadcaster, they parked a few doors short of the pub. Across the road was a marked police car. They got out and went to the pub. Keith was there, with WPC Nottage.

“We’ve only been here a minute or two. My driver, here, is very good. Having blues and twos helped.”

“Keith, I’d like you to meet DC John Richards. John, this is DCI Keith Russell, from Leeds. Keith and I will go and sit down while you try to get the given name of WPC Nottage. I’ll have a dry white.”

Keith led her to a table.

“Now, Marilyn. What do you have?”

“Firstly, Keith, we have this.”

She pulled out the bag with the stone in it and put it on the table. He peered into the bag and whistled.

“Two fifths of the blood diamonds in one day. That’s brilliant work!”

“That one was Tappers. It was above our heads in his lockup where we found the other one. It was sat on the top of a double flouro. Now, I have this recording, taken this afternoon. I’ve gone out on a limb with Tapper. If he’s there when we go to pick him up in the morning, he’ll sing like the proverbial canary. When you listen to the recording, you’ll understand why I’ve taken this road. I would say that he was bawling his eyes out before we left, his tear ducts still work, even if he can hardly see a hand in front of his face. The reason for that is on the recording as well. In my wildest dreams, I’ve never imagined something so momentous.”

“I’ll look forward to listening on the way back. Here’s our drinks. Thank you John.”

“We’ll just sit at this other table, ma-am. Pam has my drink.”

Keith and Marilyn took sips of their drinks.

“What do you have left to do, Marilyn, now that you’ve solved my case?”

“I have to arrest my own murderers. We now have two names. They’ll be living in your area, so I’ll need some co-operation from Central. I believe that the shooter is one of the Hunter or Wolf brothers. Information about that is also on the recording, so you may have to let your Chief Super have a listen to it. What isn’t on the recording is that the shooter was seen leaving the first crime scene and putting a fishing rod bag in the back of a red Astra, before getting in and being driven away. A red car was seen, parked at the second crime scene, so some surveillance may be needed to find that car, and the driver. They want to get into the big leagues and may have more weapons at their disposal.”

“Just collect your information for the rest of the week. I’ll organise my team to follow this up on the ground.”

“Thank you, Keith. I’d better get young John home again. Hopefully, I’ll see you again in the morning. I’ll give you a call when we’re on our way.”

They all stood and went out to their cars, Keith carrying the bag with the stone. Marilyn held her hand out for her keys and John got into the passenger seat. She went up to the tee junction and made a U-turn, heading back towards York. She drove them to the station, let John out by his car, and then went home to run a hot bath. It had been a big day.

When Anton came home, she told him that she wanted to eat in the pub. He knew that this, along with the scent of a bath bomb, meant that she had a day that she didn’t want to talk about.

The next morning, she picked up Tim, as usual. On the way, she told him what she would be doing.

“If Tapper is ready, John and I will take him into Leeds. We may be there the whole day. I’ll ring if I need any information that we haven’t given to them yet. They will be taking over the physical surveillance, seeing that our suspects live in Leeds, but we’ll get to make the arrests and bring them back to York. We have some brownie points with them, after this week, so expect a friendly reception if you need to call them. I think that I gave John a bit of a shock, yesterday. I’ll give you the whole story before the end of the week.”

They went up to the office. Marilyn checked her emails. There was one from Keith, sent at around the time she was in the bath. It just said, ‘Wow and double wow!’ She grabbed John and then went to collect Tapper. He opened the door to them.

“Good morning, Bernard. You look a bit more spick and span this morning.”

“That’s because I feel as if this may shed the weight of my guilt. I’ve been up since five, had a bath and packed a bag. I doubt that I’ll be coming back, so I’ve packed everything I want to keep. If John will put my bag in your car, I’m ready for whatever comes my way.”

He sat in the back seat of the car, his dark glasses making him look like a celebrity. John had his keys and went through the house to make sure that all the windows were shut, the power turned off, and locked the front door before getting in the car. Marilyn drove to Leeds, thankful that it had all turned out for the best. She got John to ring and let them know that they were coming. As they approached the police station, her phone rang, and John answered it.

“Special directions, ma-am. They want us to head for some doors that will take us into a courtyard. DCI Russell will meet us there.”

He listened and reported where they were. He directed Marilyn and they went through a gateway which was immediately closed by a couple of uniformed police. Marilyn parked by a door and Keith came out to help her out the car, his sergeant going to the back door.

“DCI Russell. I formally hand over custody of one Bernard Tapper. He has come, willingly, and should be treated with respect. His case is in the back, and John has the keys to his house.”

“DI Houseman, I take responsibility of your witness. Now, let’s all go in. I played that remarkable interview to my boss this morning, and he’s pulling out all the stops to make your visit a good one. When you said that part of it was unimaginable, none of us expected to hear about that plan to take the Crown Jewels. Our tactical Super was in the room, and he thinks that it may have worked, as long as the attackers were prepared to kill, which they have already shown that they are.”

They all went in. The sergeant taking Tapper into an interview room where an experienced officer was waiting to take him though his story, with several others sitting behind the one-way glass to observe. Keith led Marilyn and John to the meeting room, where Pam Nottage was getting the cups out. Marilyn took note that she smiled at John and was wearing some better make-up this morning.

It was a less formal meeting than the last time they were here. Given names were the norm, even with the other officers that joined them. The others were part of Keiths’ team and had been going through the information that the team in York had been sending. There was also the commander of the uniform branch who would have to be on hand when the arrests were made.

Over the course of the morning, Marilyn and John brought the others up to speed with the information that they had, and the Leeds team laid out the situation with the suspects, their families, and their operations, as far as they knew. Pictures of all the younger brothers was being collected, and all traffic cameras in their area were being monitored for the red Astra. Keith reported that the knife had been located and taken to Thirsk along with the blood samples and an urgent request to process. During that morning, John became able to discuss things easily with superior officers. He and Pam, being the only constables in the room, kept notes and everyone supplied with drinks.

About half past eleven, the door opened and a man with an obvious air of authority came in.

“Good morning, everyone. My name is Colonel Carruthers, and I was asked to come and sit in on a very interesting interview this morning. Part of my job is as a local liaison with Special Branch and other services. I have to say that what I’ve heard today has shaken me. The audacity of that jewellery robbery, and the way that it was carried out will be something added to the training courses in future. The plan for raiding the Minster was pure bravado, but could have worked, or made a hell of a mess and a nightmare in the media.”

He looked around the room.

“There will be recognition of such fine work, but that will come through normal channels when this other double murder is finalised. I know that you still have a way to go with that one. Thank you for all your work. I have to go and report to my own superiors now.”

He left as he had come, with precision and authority. The room was silent for a moment. Keith laughed.

“Now that is a man with more responsibility than most of us can handle. Those circles that he inhabits are way over my pay grade. I think that we’re all on the same page now, so how about us letting our visitors have lunch and let them head back to York.”

On the way back to York, Marilyn was thinking about the morning. She had known that having a witness willing to tell all about the diamond robbery would create a swell of interest but hadn’t expected the tidal wave that the plan to take the Crown Jewels had created. She thought back to her own visit to the Minster.

“I’m going to tell you something, John. This is between the two of us and is a word of advice.”

“Understood, ma-am.”

“When I told you that we should put ourselves in the mind of the crooks, it was good advice. However, you can start to see angles that a normal person would miss. I was just thinking about my own visit to see the Crown Jewels in 2024. I’ve just realised that I know the entry and exit ways they would have used, and the probable number that would have died. If Tapper had succeeded in producing the mega flash bang, the only sign that the robbery was taking place would be when the cameras went down. If they had timed it in with sabotage on the electrical substation for the area, the response would have been too late to stop them.”

“You’re telling me that there’s an obverse side to that coin, aren’t you. I’ll lock that in my mind. That would be a scary thing to know.”

“You’re right. It’s a side of things that security experts use when they look at events. No wonder there was one of them watching the interview with Tapper. I expect that our Bernard will be in a safe house and no good for our further investigation. At least we now have the likely name of our double murderer, and the reason for them. What I still don’t get was the brutality.”

“Could be the game training of the teens, over the last ten, or fifteen, years. They grow up eliminating their foes in gruesome ways every day. To them, it’s how you do it to be certain that there’s no regeneration of an enemy.”

“You’re probably right. When is your date with Pam Nottage?”

He laughed.

“Nothing gets past you, boss. We’re having dinner at Popina’s and then there’s a picture she wants to see at the Hyde Park. They’re having a Monroe revival and showing ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’. I believe that it has an interesting song or two.”

“I’m getting to like that girl more. She has a wicked sense of humour.”

Back in the office, she played the team a copy of the interview that she had been given. The rest of the team were amazed. Ginger was the first to ask the question.

“What now, for us, ma-am.”

“We’re back on our original case. We now have the two names that are our possible gunman and his driver. We still need to find firm links to them and our victims. Yes, I realise that they were probably looking for the blood diamond, but we can’t arrest them if we don’t have the solid evidence. We have the rest of the week for that research. There are things we still don’t know, and we need to concentrate on those as priority. They may not seem relevant at the moment but will provide more dots for us to connect until we see the whole picture. Keith Russell and his team in Leeds will be tidying up their case, and also compiling a file on the three families. I believe that the families had been acknowledged as career criminals, but not as important as they now seem to be. Leeds will lift their game with surveillance and intelligence gathering. The likelihood that they may now have an armoury of weapons has put them on another level.”

Marianne Gregory © 2026

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

Chapter 6

Marilyn walked with her to the stairs. She held out her hand.

“See you later, Brightman. I’m heading back to my office to plug a new name into our searches. We’ve been trying to get the names of the robbers that Anderson was with out of the records for a week. They all went into juvenile and the records sealed. We’re looking at another avenue, but I believe that we now have the one we really wanted.”

She went up to the team office and stood by the ‘Rascal Wall’.

“Quick heads up, team. I’ve just spoken to the lad from the taxi garage. His fingerprints were on the bag of weed so he was arrested for possession. He just told me that he had a short affair with Esme before Alfred started driving again. He also said that Bill Wolf was his supplier and Henry Hunter was the heavy. He added that Bill had told him that his brother, Terry, had an affair with Esme before him, which would be just before Alfred got out. That gives us the fact that Alfred must have known that she was pregnant, seeing that she was close to six months when she was killed. He either thought that it was his, or else he didn’t care. We’ll never know. Terry Wolf is one of those who was part of that botched robbery.”

Tim put his finger up.

“We just got the other names from the lawyer. Once we said that we thought it was a Wolf that murdered his client, he coughed them up. A couple must have been mates of Wolfs’, but the last one was Barry Hanson, kid brother of the Leeds murderer.”

“Good work. That gives us Terry with Barry, or Bill with Henry as our murderers. Send a request to Leeds to see if any of the family members match the guy looking out of the car. If that Astra has been gathered in the raids this morning, it will be great to see what Thirsk can get from it. A certain fishing rod bag would be good as well. We’ll have to wait until they start processing their prisoners and the CSI will take some time.”

The rest of the week had things in the office calming down. Only Tim and John stayed on the Anderson case, while the others went back to other cases. On Friday, they had a report from Leeds, listing the properties raided, the ones who had been picked up, and the results of the preliminary searches.

Marilyn scanned the lists, without seeing Terry Wolf or Barry Hanson on them. The Astra wasn’t among the forty cars impounded. On an impulse, she rang Otley Police Station and asked for the traffic division, getting on to the duty sergeant.

“Sergeant Walters, it’s DI Houseman from York. We’ve had a round-up of three criminal gangs recently. You may have heard about the gunfight at Youlton. I’ve been trying to track a red Astra that’s involved, but it wasn’t found, nor were the two guys I’m hoping to speak to. Do you have a patrol that goes out to the Bradford Airport?”

“We do, ma-am. Where do you think it will be?”

“Probably in the long-term parking. These guys haven’t been seen in more than a week. Can you get a patrol to run up and down the cars, all I need is the red Astra. It probably has false plates, even different on both ends.”

“Got it, ma-am, give me your number and I’ll call you back. We have a patrol on the Leeds Road at the moment. I’ll get them to swing by.”

“Thanks, Sarge. It’s a long shot, but these guys have fallen off the radar.”

She was deep into budget projections when her phone rang.

“DI Houseman.”

“It’s Sergeant Walters in Otley, ma-am. The patrol has found a red Astra in the long-term. Neither of the front or rear plates matched even an Astra. One was from an old Commer truck, years since it had been on the road. What do you want to do?”

“I’ll call Thirsk to pick it up. It’s very likely to have been at two murders, so it will need a full inspection. I’ll ring Jacob to organise recovery, can you send a uniform down to guard it until they turn up. Where in the carpark is it?”

“It’s way down the back very close to where the shuttle bus turns around. It’ll probably take a couple of hours before they pick it up, so I’ll send a motorbike down.”

“Thank you, Sergeant. I’ll ask Jacob to put a priority on the job.”

She rang Jacob and he promised to send the truck out.

“A lot of work has come my way this week, Marilyn, but thankfully Leeds aren’t sending me any of those cars that they collected. They’ve been taken to their pound, untouched. I still have to process those bodies that they took out of Youlton. If any of them are owners of one of the cars, we’ll get it in for a full look.”

“It’s a bit harder for you, now that the case has attracted attention from the press and the anti-terrorist brigade.”

“Harder for everyone. Leeds complains about the situation every time I talk to them. Mind you, I think that they secretly love the attention.”

Marilyn went to her door.

“John. Can you give me a few minutes?”

“On my way ma-am.”

He came into her office.

“Take a seat, John. Now, with your browsing the media, have you come up with any places that the families prefer, inside the UK?”

“I’ve seen a few pictures of them, on social media, with them wearing shirts with a shamrock on. At least, I think that it’s a shamrock. I’ve got one from my younger days with a thistle, that I brought back from Scotland.”

“That is very interesting. Can you get on to Ezyjet and find out if they took Terry Wolf and Barry Hanson to Belfast, say, in the few days after the Alf Anderson murder. If they did, find out when they’re coming back.”

“Will do, ma-am. Can I ask why?”

“I’d be unhappy if you didn’t. We’ve found the red Astra in long term at Leeds Bradford. It’s a cheap and quick flight to Belfast International from there. The thing is, that if they’re bringing back guns, or gun parts, there’s no customs inspection unless a situation is declared. Belfast is considered domestic UK, even if it’s only a few miles from the spiritual home of the IRA. Those guns, dug up in Youlton, could have come in that way. Let me know what you find.”

“On it, ma-am.”

After he left, she rang Leeds.

“DCI Russell.”

“Keith, it’s Marilyn. We’ve located that red Astra in the long-term park at Leeds Bradford. I’ve got Jacob getting it picked up. We’re checking with the airlines, but I think that Terry Wolf and Barry Hanson are the ones who left it there. I’ll give you a call when we have confirmation. We did put the surnames through immigration as soon as we had them, but domestic doesn’t require passports. If any of those guns you found have originated in Ireland, that could be how they got here, in bits. Let’s face it, thirty quid each way is cheap transport.”

“We haven’t had a report on the guns yet. We’ve been busy sorting out the family ties. Do you have anything more with your case?”

“With the DNA check of the Andersons and the baby, I think that the father was Terry Wolf, who had an affair with her before Alfred was released. She had another short affair with that lad from the taxi garage and told him that she was on the pill. That could have been that she already suspected that she was pregnant. Did you get an ID of the guy in the Astra that we sent you?”

“Not definitive. It’s certainly one of the Wolf family, but there’s three young ones who are almost interchangeable. If the Astra turns up fingerprints, that will narrow it down. That sighting that you got of it being north would fit, as Hansons’ father bought a nice house in Alwoodley in 2022. Looking at his job, there was no way he could have afforded it on his wage. Let me know what you come up with, I’ll organise an armed team to make the arrest. It would be best done where the car was, away from the crowds.”

“I’ve been told that it’s just past where the shuttle turns around.”

“That would be perfect, them worried at the car gone, very few of the public around, and that tree line where our team can hide.”

Twenty minutes later, John knocked on her door and came in, a smile on his face.

“Ezyjet had the two of them on a flight on the Saturday after Alfred was killed. They have a return flight tomorrow, arriving just after one.”

“Good work. Go out and talk to Ian. There’s a traffic camera alongside the airport, White something Lane. Take a guess at when they would have needed to arrive to get their flight and get him to access the records for that camera. If we can get a clear picture of the Astra, with the two of them in it, then we can organise an arrest when they come back. Keith had suggested that we set up a team where the car would have been, so we can surprise them without many of the other travellers close.”

A half an hour later, Ian knocked on her door, photo in hand.

“Here we are ma-am. One red Astra with a couple of likely lads clearly shown. No wonder I’ve been chasing my tail trying to find it.”

“Good work. Send that picture to Keith Russell, in Leeds. Get the return flight details from John to send with it. Did you get something back from the number plate?”

“It was last seen on a Mister Whippy van at Scarborough.”

“That’s our boys, sure enough. It looks as if I’m going to have to see the boss about overtime on Saturday. The arrest will be the team from Leeds, as part of the round-up, but we will need eyes on the ground. Monday, we’ll need to have our skittles in a row when we go to interview them.”

She followed him to the main room, where she clapped her hands.

“Right. We have almost reached the end point of the Anderson murders. We have Bill Wolf and Henry Hunter in the cells in Leeds, picked up with the round up. On Saturday, around one, we have Terry Wolf and Barry Hanson flying into Bradford from Belfast. They will be unhappy that the Astra that they left in the long-term isn’t there. It will be in Thirsk, being inspected by this evening. Leeds will be setting up an arrest at that point, away from the public. We will be going to interview them in Leeds on Monday, so I need our case against them. Hopefully, Jacob will have extra facts from the Astra, hopefully blood from both murders and a key to the Anderson home. It had been used after the first search by CSI, which was brazen, in an attempt to put the spotlight on the taxi and the lad who worked at the garage.”

She smiled.

“I’m going upstairs to see if we can get some overtime for Saturday. It would be good if a couple of us are there to witness their reactions when arrested.”

When she got back, she announced that the overtime was restricted to just three of them, so she chose her two sergeants as the most experienced in arrests which included armed officers.

She rang Keith and told him that there would be three of them in her car on Saturday, arriving about midday. His team will be going in earlier and would save a space for her near the action. He would have tactical in the tree line, who could stand after the others leap out of a van and start yelling at them to lay down, giving them nowhere to run.

On Saturday morning, Marilyn drove to the office, picking up Tim on the way. At the office, they met Ginger and took out their bullet proof vests from their lockers. Marilyn didn’t like wearing hers as it wasn’t exactly made to suit a full chested woman. They went over the plan as it had been sent to them. An operation like this is choreographed like a modern dance sequence. It’s needed to make sure that when armed officers are facing other armed officers, with the target between them, any shots aimed at the target will not strike another officer. It wasn’t a scenario that the tactical team would normally use, but the site demanded it.

When they arrived at the boom gate to the long-term car park, an officer lifted it for them and then got on his motorcycle to follow them. When they arrived at the place where the Astra had been, there was a space for them opposite, and a few spaces to the side. Immediately beside them was a white van, unmarked, with another several spaces along.

Marilyn backed into the space and Keith joined them, with Ginger giving up the passenger seat for him and getting in the back. Keith had a radio and was in contact with the rest of his officers, of which there was no sign. They all got comfortable and sat talking about the aspects of the case.

The two-way crackled.

“Targets now collecting luggage. Two big suitcases. More than you would need for a couple of weeks. Acting as if they didn’t have a care in the world.”

It went quiet for a few minutes.

“Targets now boarding shuttle. Out.”

Some minutes later, the journey from the terminal to the car park being a long one, it came to life again.

“Shuttle heading your way, dropping off passengers.”

Looking through the trees, they saw the shuttle approach the last turn that would take them to the turning place. They slid lower in their seats, ducking down as the two men walked their way. When they heard some loud swearing, they sat up and Keith spoke into his radio.

“Teams go!”

The doors to the van opened quietly and four officers got out, walking on rubber -soled shoes and fanning out into a semi-circle, cutting of any escape along the roadway before shouting.

“Hands on heads, drop the cases, on the floor.”

The two turned around and dropped the cases, then spun back to see another four officers with guns pointed their way.

“You heard the man! Hands on heads, on the ground, now! I said now!”

The two men dropped to the floor and two from the team handcuffed them, behind their backs. When they were secure, the four detectives got out of the car. Keith called for the transport and two marked police cars appeared from the far end of the car park to stop by them. The two men, protesting loudly, were bundled in the back and driven away.

The back doors of the other van opened, and Jacob stepped out in his white CSI outfit, along with one of his assistants. He had a key ring with a load of case keys and squatted by the cases, trying the keys until the locks opened. When the cases were opened, under a layer of clothes were a number of bags. Jacob picked one out and looked inside, holding it out for the others to see. Even Marilyn could tell that it was a breech section of an assault rifle. Jacob put it back and the two cases were put into his van for a trip to Thirsk. The tactical team were thanked for their good work and got into their own van. Both vans left the site with Marilyn behind them and Keith behind her with his sergeant driving.

On the way back to York, it was Ginger who broke the silence.

“In all my time on the force, I’ve never seen a take-down so impeccably carried out. It was like watching an opera scene.”

Tim laughed.

“Oh! I can just see it on the stage. It would have to be a hell of a story to go with that scene. The trouble is that it would lose its edge if a character sang ‘Hands on your heads, get on the ground’. The repeated phrase would be all right, as they do that a lot in opera. It would probably work in Italian.”

Marilyn was smiling as she drove.

“Calm down, lads. Now we’ve seen our likely murderers. The trick is to get them to lie enough to pin them down. You two, take it easy tomorrow, next week will be hard work to wrap this one up.”

She took them back to Fulton Road, so that Ginger could get his car, and dropped Tim off outside his house.

“Tim, a word, if you don’t mind. Next week we’ll be spending time in Leeds, where a number of superiors will be looking on. Try to wear something crisp, or at least ironed to go there. I appreciate your brain, but they don’t go past first impressions.”

“Got it, boss. Crisp and neat. Does that mean that I’ll be with you when you talk to them?”

“No. I want you to grill Barry Hanson about his car, and whatever Jacob finds in it. You’ll have one of the girls with you, your choice. I think that young Barry may be distracted by a girl opposite him. I’ll have Ginger with me to take on Terry. If Barry caves and starts blaming Terry, let him have his head. We can always go back and see them again. With the weapons charges pending, and national security at stake, they won’t be going far.”

She went home and changed for a comfortable evening at home, cooking their dinner and just relaxing, which was spoiled by a special report, after the news, about the mass round-up in Leeds, linked to the gun battle in Youlton, and the takedown that morning, filmed by a bystander on their phone. Anton noticed her stiffen.

“Were you there, love?”

“I was. I can see the bosses wanting to have a press conference to try and explain it all. That means that I have to formally charge one of our prisoners with murder, so they can say that it’s all over and there’s no danger to the general public.”

“Was there? Danger, I mean?”

“Oh, dear me, yes. Those families were amassing guns, including a rocket propelled grenade launcher. They had something extremely dangerous to the public in their minds. I don’t know what it was, and I don’t want to know. What I do know was bad enough, and that didn’t happen, thank God!”

On Monday morning, Marilyn picked Tim up, looking dapper in a suit, In the office, she called a meeting.

“Good work, everyone. Today is the start of the final phase. Tim will be talking to Barry Hanson, and I’ll be talking to Terry Wolf. I’ve just looked at the results from the Astra, Tim. I think that there’s enough there to get him talking, including the famed fishing rod bag, which had a nice Purdy in it this time. It also had traces of Alfred Andersons’ blood and brains on the passenger seat carpet, so someone had walked in the splatter. Jacob is sending Keith a full report, so we’ll be up to the minute when we see the prisoners. The rest of you, back to work on other things. We’re off to close the case.”

The ones left behind gave them a cheer as the four left the office. Tim and Helen would take a separate car, in case they finished at a different time. At Leeds, they were directed to the meeting room, where Keith went through the latest information and gave them a heads-up.

“Today, you’ll have a member of the security branch watching over you. If you can get either prisoner to lift the lid on the guns, then they’ll be very happy. The others, in the families, all claim that they know nothing.”

“Do our prisoners know about the gun battle?”

“Not unless they had been in contact with the family.”

Marilyn and Ginger walked into the interview room, where Terry Wolf was sitting with a lawyer beside him. Ginger was holding the file and opened it in front of Marilyn as they sat down. Terry just sat there, impassive.

“Good morning, Mister Wolf. I’m Detective Inspector Houseman and my companion is Detective Sergeant Kidman. We’re from the murder squad, based in York.”

The lawyer looked shocked. Terry sneered.

“Is that supposed to throw me off my balance? I haven’t killed anyone.”

Marilyn put the picture of him looking out the car on the desk.

“Do you deny that this is you?”

“Looks like me. What on earth does a traffic picture prove?”

“This picture was taken by a house owner, in the street where Esme Anderson lived, just before she was murdered. I have a witness that saw you come out of her house, with something in a fishing rod bag, not long after she heard something like a door slamming, or maybe a shotgun blast.”

“Who is this Anderson woman?”

“You knew her, flower, because you had an affair with her, a bit over six months ago. I have a witness who will testify to that.”

“What on earth does that have to do with me being arrested at the airport?”

“Absolutely nothing, flower. That’s a different case, which you will stand trial for when you’re a much older man. By the way, those gun parts would have cost a packet.”

“I’m not saying anything.”

“Afraid of your brother Martin, are you. Or perhaps it’s Geoff Hunter who frightens you more. You really don’t have to be afraid of them, any longer, flower. They’re both dead, killed in a shootout with police in Youlton, where they had gone to dig up the guns already there.”

“My brother is dead! That will upset Dad.”

“I’m sure that someone is asking him that, since he was pulled in last week, along with all the Wolf, Hunter and Hanson family members we could find.”

“That’s ridiculous! We may be car thieves, but we’re no master criminals.”

“Don’t make me laugh, flower. It must have rankled you that you were banged up in juvenile while your big brother was planning the raid on York Minster, after the Crown Jewels.”

His face went white, and the lawyer leaned towards him but was brushed off.

Marilyn put the picture of Esme in front of him, a hole in her abdomen.

“Lovely looking girl, wasn’t she? Was it Bill who introduced you? He knew her when she was driving the taxi when her husband was inside. Alfred Anderson, remember him?”

“Should I?”

“He was sitting outside that jewellers while you and your mates were playing robbers, before the cops arrived. He had been told to play with you by your mate Barrys’ big brother, George. He took the rap on the chin and did his five years, while you swanned around in juvenile for a couple. Don’t try to lie any more, flower.”

He was looking at the picture of Esme, tears in his eyes.

“Why did you need to destroy the baby, Terry. Did you know that it was yours?”

He looked shocked.

“Surely it was Alfs’, he was out of prison.”

“It was yours, flower, the DNA proves it. Your father will be upset when he finds out that you killed his niece, your own cousin.”

“What do you mean. She was just a girl who was at school with Martin.”

“That part’s true, flower. The thing is that her mother is your fathers’ sister. The paperwork is clear on that.”

The lawyer was starting to pack his papers into a file, now that what he had been employed for had been consigned to another day. Marilyn now put another picture on the table. It showed the Astra, with Terry and Barry plain to see.

“What’s this?”

“This, flower, is you and your mate going to the house in Youlton on the day that Alfred Anderson was killed. The Astra wasn’t stolen, as you may have thought. It was taken to Thirsk by our CSI to be looked at. Among other interesting things in it are traces of Andersons’ blood and brains in the passenger side carpet. You must have trodden in it when you were looking through the house for his uncut diamond. You didn’t find it after you killed your cousin, and you thought that he would have taken it with him when he fled.”

“I heard that he suicided.”

“From whom? It certainly wasn’t suicide. No. You made the mistake of closing your eyes when you pulled the triggers. When the second shot happened, his head wasn’t there any longer. Oh, you had wiped the gun before you shot him, and then pressed his hands onto the stock and triggers, but that’s what made us know that he’d been murdered. One other thing, when you wiped it down, you missed the barrel, which still had Esmes’ prints on it from when she was clutching the gun before you pulled the triggers. I’m sure that when we check all of your clothes, we’ll find residue on what you’d been wearing on both days. You’re too cocky to have thrown anything out.”

“It all seemed too easy. We were told that we had protection.”

“For the reason you’ve been collecting guns, you mean. The four guys that were with your brother, on the night he was killed, have all been identified as Russian Mafia. Let me take a wild guess. There’s talk that the new King and Queen are going to visit York next year. The suggestions that I’ve seen, in the newspapers, are the Minster, the Jorvik Center, and a possible planting of a commemorative tree in St. Nicks Reserve. An assassination would trump a few Crown Jewels. I’ve been told that your family is very competitive, but that’s well over the top.”

“That’s what I told Martin, but he had already been paid big money to set it up.”

“It was Barry with you on both days, wasn’t it. He isn’t the sort of lad who would let just anyone drive his car, even if the front plate spent most of its days on a Mister Whippy van.”

“He didn’t kill anyone, detective. He was in the car when Esme died and was looking through the garage when I shot Alf. God knows, I didn’t want to do it, but Martin had told me that we needed that diamond to show our commitment. Bill had found that the other one had been hocked.”

“He was telling you a porky, flower. Bernard Tapping had kept it, not ten feet from where we found Alfs.”

“You seem to have all the answers.”

“Even the ones where you got Henry Hunter to put the note in Alfs’ taxi, in an attempt to muddy the waters and frame young Gerry. You didn’t think that we would wonder about a key that suddenly appeared at a crime scene, well after CSI had gone over the place. Your big brother, Martin was part of a very well-planned robbery, but it doesn’t look as if the brain gene has carried on in the family. By the way, we found the knife that George used in that robbery, back in ’20. When he’s finished his time for assault, he’ll be facing a double murder charge, just as you will be, soon. Terance Wolf, I am arresting you for the murders of Esme and Alfred Anderson. Ginger, read him his rights.”

She looked at the lawyer.

“You have a leg in if you want to move up in the world. It is a losing brief, but it will put you in the newspapers.”

He laughed.

“I’m not that stupid, DI Houseman. I have someone in the office who will jump at the chance to defend a double murderer. He can have it. I’ve heard enough to stay well clear of it. I’ll also walk away from the unlawful arrest that I had been engaged to defend. It’s all too deep for me.”

He stood and left, without shaking hands with his client. Marilyn waited until Ginger had completed the details, then the door opened, and two uniformed officers came to take Terry away. She gathered up the pictures and put them back into the file. Keith was waiting outside and shook her hand.

“Another one for you and your team. Marilyn. We’ve been passing notes to Tim as you were getting things from Wolf. I believe that he is close to a full admission from Hanson, with a lot more about the future crime. He has all the brains and brutality of his big brother. I can tell you that the security guys are almost creaming themselves from what they’ve heard.”

“TMI. Keith. Any chance of a cuppa for Ginger and me?”

“Head for the meeting room. There will be a gathering later on. Nottage is up there getting the urn hot.”

“You need to treat that girl better, Keith. She’s better than a skivvy. Come on, Ginger, I need to make room for a cup of tea.”

The meeting was as expected, without the security officers who were busy letting their own branches know what had been planned, and by who. Tim was basking in the glow of the praise being heaped on him and Helen, having pulled open the top of a can of worms.

When all was said and done, the Chief Super took them to a restaurant for lunch, and then the four of them drove back to York, to carry on their jobs trying to solve the crimes presented to them while working on the final processes of this one.

Marianne Gregory © 2026