‘Well done, Sarge. A poxy two hours’ overtime is hardly worth the effort.’

*

Approaching Edgar House, Jane could see Murray sitting in the squad car. She tapped on the window, but he wafted the radio mike in his hand at her to indicate he was talking to someone. She went around to the passenger side, and as she got in the car she recognised DI Kingston’s voice over the radio.

‘Well done, Cam – the lads have finished taking the statements from the Securicor crew, so we’ll head back to Rigg. Tell Tennison to get the uniform lads to continue with the house-to-house for now and I’ll decide what more needs to be done down there after the office meeting.’

‘Will do, Guv . . . out.’

‘What was that about?’ she asked, wondering why Kingston said she was to speak to the uniformed officers.

‘The woodentop sergeant was getting a bit stroppy with me giving him orders, so the Guv thought it’d be better if you spoke to him.’

‘I just did that, and he said he hasn’t seen you since you went into one of the ground floor flats.’

Cam looked flustered. ‘I spoke to him before that . . . Anyway, I’ve updated the Guv about the owner of garage twenty-nine—’

‘Who said . . . ?’ She was eager to hear what Cam had found out.

‘He was pleased I’d traced the owner and wants us to return to Rigg for an office meeting,’ he said with a smug grin.

‘I meant what did the owner of the garage say.’

‘He wasn’t there – he’s in hospital recovering from a cataract operation. I spoke to his wife, Mrs Helen Clarke, who’s in her late sixties. She said they’ve lived at the flats for six months, but since his eyesight problems Mr Clarke couldn’t drive and she hasn’t got a licence. They stopped using the garage just after they moved in.’

‘Are they renting it out?’

‘No, they’ve given the car to the daughter and son-in-law to use for now. His wife said if the cataract operation is successful he hopes to start driving again and then they’ll carry on using the garage.’

‘Did they keep it locked when they weren’t using it?’

‘I don’t know – I didn’t ask.’

‘Did you ask who owned it before them?’

‘No – I was told to find out who owned garage twenty-nine and that’s what I did.’

‘Sometimes you have to look beyond the end of your nose, Cam. I’ll speak to the wife myself.’

She opened the passenger door to get out.

‘She’s gone to the hospital to see her husband.’

‘Did she say when she’d be back?’

‘No. I’ve got their details recorded on a house-to-house form – there’s a phone number as well.’

‘Put it in here with the others you’ve done,’ she said, opening the folder the uniformed sergeant had given her.