Chapter 40

CHAPTER FORTY

S kinner cried throughout most of his interview to the point where Matt thought they would run out of tissues. The lad even offered to pay for the beer and crisps. Finally, he was released with a caution. His dad gave him a bashing around the head to knock some sense into him, and then Skinner went to Benson's garage to assure Needles he hadn't mentioned any names.

‘Good lad,' said Needles, slapping him on the back, much to Skinner's relief. He'd already decided to tell Needles that he wanted out of the Vipers. He'd get tanked up first and then tell him. Needles was getting out of control, and it frightened Skinner.

He'd just turned the corner into his street when the panda car passed him, and for one awful moment, he thought he might vomit in the road, but the car didn't stop, and he could breathe again.

Matt pulled up outside the garage, and he and Ana got out. ‘I don't think the guy you're after would have brought his car here,' said Matt.

‘Not for the damage, maybe, but it might have been convenient before the accident to bring it here.'

Needles recognised her immediately and tried not to show it on his face. They weren't here about yesterday. Skinner assured him he hadn't told them his name.

‘Your boss in?' asked Matt.

Needles pulled his eyes away from Ana, who was looking around the garage.

‘He's out testing a car for its MOT.'

Ana nodded. ‘I'm sure you can help. Didn't you have a Golf, reg beginning with an S, come in for repair around April 15th or sometime after that?'

Needles relaxed and pulled a book from a drawer.

‘Old school?' said Matt.

‘Yeah,' said Needles, flipping through the pages. ‘No, nothing around that time,' he said.

‘Any other time?' asked Ana.

Needles sighed, licked his thumb and flicked through more pages. ‘Only an MOT on a Golf, reg SD51 OMR in December last year.'

Ana felt a tingle of excitement run down her spine and noted down the registration. ‘Do you have the invoice for that work?'

‘You'd have to ask Margaret for that. She handles the invoices and keeps them on her laptop. She's in on Wednesdays.'

‘Thanks,' said Ana.

‘They letting you off early for the village do later?' asked Matt.

‘Yep, early finish.' Needles smiled.

‘Sure is a big thing around here, this fair,' commented Ana.

Needles watched with relief as they walked to the door when Ana suddenly turned and said bluntly, ‘Your voice is familiar. Have we met before?'

Needles shook his head.

‘Maybe around the village?' Ana smiled.

‘Yeah, maybe.'

The door opened, and a man in grubby overalls strolled in. ‘Afternoon,' he said, taking in their uniforms. ‘Something wrong?'

He glanced over at Needles.

‘Richie Benson?' asked Ana.

‘Yeah, that's me,' he said gruffly. ‘What's the problem?'

‘We're enquiring about a Golf, reg beginning with an S,' said Matt. ‘Possibly involved in an accident on the 14th of April.'

‘Driver most likely a woman,' added Ana, but already she had seen his face blanch. He knew something.

‘Would be in the ledger,' he said.

‘Okay,' said Ana, smiling. ‘So you didn't repair a Golf in April?'

His brown, beady eyes met hers. ‘Like I said, it would be in the ledger.'

‘Nothing in there,' piped up Needles.

‘What about a change of ownership?' persisted Ana. ‘You wouldn't keep those in a ledger, would you?'

Benson gave her a dirty look. ‘We keep those in the filing cabinet, but everything in there would be logged in the ledger.'

Ana was getting irritated. ‘Maybe you wouldn't mind checking the filing cabinet for us?'

Benson looked put out. ‘Right,' he said, walking towards the back office. Ana and Matt followed. ‘It's all alphabetical. You're welcome to check.'

Ana did precisely that while Benson patiently waited.

‘No, nothing.'

‘Thanks for your help,' said Matt.'

They returned to the panda and Ana said, ‘He knows something, but the question is what?'

Back at the station, she pulled the note she'd made of the registration and phoned DVLA.

‘Doughnuts or custard tarts?' Matt asked. ‘I'm off to get some.'

‘Custard tarts. Lots. I'm on hold, and this crackly repetitive music is driving me to slash my wrists.'

‘Hello,' said the DVLA woman. ‘I have those details for you. That car was scrapped in June of this year.'

‘Who was the owner?' asked Ana.

‘Hold on,' said the woman.

Ana was about to turn to Matt when the woman said, ‘Miss Beth Harper, address–' Ana didn't hear the rest. Instead, she vaguely heard herself saying yes to a Costa Coffee to Matt and then felt her head swim.

‘Bet you'll still steal a doughnut,' Matt was saying.

It didn't mean it was the same car that had hit Vanessa. Loads of people drive a Golf , Ana argued with herself. All the same, it was the same year, the same area, and there was this rumour that Beth had been drinking a lot the past few months, supposing, just supposing…

She forced herself not to lift her head and look across at Beth's office. It would explain a lot. The sudden piece of evidence she was sure she hadn't missed that said the Bladon CCTV camera wasn't working that night. What if Beth had removed incriminating evidence and added the evidence that said the Bladon CCTV wasn't working? Christ , thought Ana, am I working for a bent cop?

She dropped her head into her hands. Jesus, who could she talk to about this?

No one.

‘You all right, Ana?'

She snapped her head up to see Luke staring at her. ‘Yeah, thanks. I had a bit of a dizzy spell. Just popping to the loo.'

Alone in the loo, Ana convinced herself she was barking up the wrong tree. A strong coffee, a doughnut and custard tart, and she'd drop this investigation. She sighed. The thing was, she knew she wouldn't.