Free Case One by Chris Ould Page A

about he says, ‘Oh, yeah, I knew you’d been round. I saw the bloke you want: big white guy with a beard. He chucked the knife in a hedge.’ We ask him to show us the hedge and there’s the knife – fingerprints, DNA, the lot.”
    â€œSo why didn’t he come forward or call in?”
    â€œThat’s what we asked him, and he says, ‘That’s
your
job, innit – to come to me.’ Real public spirit.”
    There was no answer at the door and Oz wrote
NA
against the number of the flat on his sheet, then looked at Sam. “Okay, let’s speed this up. You take the next one. I’ll go and start in from the other end. After that we’ll take different floors. Reckon you can handle that?”
    â€œSure,” Sam said. It didn’t seem like rocket science.
    â€œRight,” Oz said. He handed Sam the clipboard, then headed off towards the far end of the walkway.

6
    The car’s engine ticked over and the heater blew warm air from the footwell laced with Tommy Vickers’s eau de cologne. In the passenger seat behind the tinted glass windows, Drew Alford watched as Vickers peeled five twenty-pound notes off a roll he’d taken from his jacket pocket. The roll was too big to encompass with one hand – even Vickers’s hand, which was large and beefy like the man – and the hundred quid being removed made no appreciable difference to its size.
    Vickers offered the notes, but withheld them for a moment when Alford made to take them.
    â€œIf anyone says it was you, you’re gonna take it on your own, right?”
    Alford nodded. “There was only the owner and his missis and they didn’t see who we were.”
    â€œOkay then.”
    Vickers tipped the notes forwards again and this time let Alford take them. “Don’t go near the place again – not unless I say.”
    â€œSure, no problem,” Alford said. Then: “So, did you collect? – From the shop, I mean?”
    Vickers eyed him coolly for a moment, then half nodded. “It’ll be sorted,” he said.
    â€œRight,” Alford said. “So is there anything else you want me to do?”
    â€œI’ll let you know. There could be something. Maybe.” Then he changed the subject with a tilt of his head. “You know anything about that girl on the estate last night?”
    Alford shook his head. “We was doing the shop when it happened. First I knew was seeing the coppers all over the place this morning.”
    â€œRight. Best keep your head down then – till they clear out. I’ll be in touch, all right?”
    â€œOkay,” Alford said, knowing he’d been dismissed. “I’ll see you later. Thanks.”
    And with that he reached for the door handle.
    As Tommy Vickers’s Merc pulled away, Drew Alford fingered the notes in his pocket and did some maths. He’d originally thought of giving twenty quid each to Skank, Tyler and Rizza, leaving himself with forty. But now that he had the money, he couldn’t see any reason not to make it a sixty-forty split – after all, the others wouldn’t have got anything without him setting it up.
    Nah, sod it, he decided, they could fight it out between themselves how they split forty quid three ways. They were lucky to be getting that.

7.
    SCENE OF CRIME
CADOGAN ESTATE
10:40 HRS
    â€œD’you know what happened then?”
    Holly had watched the girl approaching, checking out the lie of the land, chewing gum. She was quite open about her curiosity, as if she had every right to look.
    â€œThere was a serious incident here last night,” Holly said – the standard reply.
    â€œYeah, I know
that
,” the girl said, snapping her gum. “I mean, you know who
done
it?”
    â€œWe’re still making enquiries,” Holly said.
    â€œSo you don’t.”
    Holly looked the girl over. At a guess she was about fourteen, though she could probably