In Plain Sight

Chapter 3

3

The media often liked to talk about crimewaves, but crime in Mildenheath almost always came in waves. The curious setup of the county’s policing structure meant that Mildenheath CID’s major incident team had a varied workload, which almost always centred on the town itself. Wider county matters and major crimes from outside the town were taken care off at county headquarters at Milton House.

It was an interesting quirk of both geography and local politics that Mildenheath had not only managed to retain its own satellite CID department but also control over handling major incidents occurring in and around the town.

There were plenty of people who sought to upset that particular apple cart and move all power to Milton House, but DCI Jack Culverhouse was certainly not one of them. As long as the structure remained intact until his retirement, he’d be happy.

One downside was that he was almost always listed as the on-call DCI. In his absence, his nemesis Malcolm Pope was usually listed as the on-call commander, and this was one of the reasons why Jack Culverhouse almost never took a day off. The possibility of accidentally handing over control of a major incident to Pope was enough to ensure he picked up all the hours he could and resisted all calls to take a step back.

It had, of course, had an impact both on his health and his personal relationships. It would be impossible for it not to have done. But, in a perverse way, throwing himself into his work had helped enormously and he was grateful to be able to do something truly rewarding.

In recent years, work had provided a welcome distraction from his personal life — ironic since it was his obsession with work which had caused most of his problems in the first place. Things were starting to look up, though. His daughter, Emily, was back living with him after her mother left the family home with her when she was only a few years old. Now when he looked at her, just a couple of months away from her sixteenth birthday, he was proud of the young woman Emily was becoming.

She’d proved to be a challenge, of course. No kid with her background and upbringing wouldn’t. Her mother had battled her own personal demons for years and hadn’t given two thoughts to burdening Emily with them at the same time.

Jack wondered how many of Helen’s traits and issues had passed on to Emily, having noticed cut marks — both old and fresh — on her arms. He’d tried to bring it up with her but had never quite known how. It was an awkward relationship at times. The years they’d had apart meant he found it difficult to raise these sorts of issues with her and often chose to keep the peace instead.

Each call provided him with a mixture of emotions, even after so many years in the job. There was anticipation, excitement and, of course, annoyance at the fact that the call would always come either in the middle of the night or the middle of the supermarket.

This time it wasn’t quite either, but he had been hoping to hit the sack and get some sleep before heading in the next morning for his normal shift.

Unfortunately for him, the ringing of his mobile phone put paid to that idea. Glancing at the screen, he could see it was work.

‘I hope it’s not bad timing,’ the caller said.

‘Not at all. I was sitting by my front door with my shoes on waiting for you to call.’

The caller ignored Culverhouse’s trademark sarcasm and continued. ‘We’ve got multiple armed robberies at petrol stations in and around Mildenheath. Three at present, all under the Gumbert’s brand name.’

‘Right. Any others?’

‘No. Not that we’ve had reports of.’

A few thoughts flashed through Culverhouse’s mind: a grudge, an insurance scam, just plain bad luck.

‘Put all independent petrol stations in the area on high alert, just in case they’re targeting the small guys. Warn all the major chains, too. Who owns the Gumbert’s chain?’

‘A bloke by the name of Ian Gumbert.’

‘Right. Get hold of him and arrange for someone to meet him for questioning. He’s either being targeted specifically or he’s responsible. Either way, we need to speak to him.’