next door was Deidree’s with its pop posters and record player. ‘Leave it, son,’ said Frost. ‘Wally wouldn’t have stuck any bent gear in here.’
‘It still wouldn’t hurt to look,’ said Gilmore stubbornly, dragging out the wardrobe so he could see behind it.
‘Whatever turns you on, son,’ said Frost. He ambled over to the window and opened it so he could jettison the cigar. Below was the back yard, a miserable patch of concrete landscaped with oily rain-puddles, a couple of rusty, bottomless buckets, and two treadless car tyres. Car tyres! The blue van! He’d forgotten all about the bloody blue van. That was the next thing to search. He watched the cigar butt nose-dive to its death.
An excited shout from Gilmore had him spinning round.
Gilmore had found a crumpled bundle of blue cloth. He opened it out. A pair of men’s jeans, grubby and thickly spattered with dried blood.
‘Belle!’ roared Frost, his bellow echoing down the stairs.
‘Won’t be a minute.’ She was talking to someone, her voice low and urgent.
‘I want you now!’ he yelled.
‘Coming.’
The front door clicked shut and as it did a bell shrilled a warning deep in his subconscious. From outside, an engine coughed, then roared into life. A van engine.
‘Shit!’ cried Frost, galloping down the stairs two at a time, Gilmore hard on his heels. At the bottom of the stairs was Belle, lumbering up very slowly, deliberately blocking their way. Frost almost pushed her over as they charged for the front door. Outside an empty street. A patch of oil where the van had been standing.
‘Double shit!’ howled Frost.
‘There!’ pointed Gilmore. Something blue disappearing round the corner trailed by a billow of exhaust.
The Cortina shuddered as they hurled themselves in and roared off in pursuit. Round the corner, but no sign of the van. Up to the main road. ‘Which way?’ asked Gilmore.
‘Left,’ said Frost. He had seen something blue jumping the lights. Drumming his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, Gilmore waited for the lights to change. The blue van ahead was getting smaller and smaller in the distance.
What a foul-up, thought Gilmore. The van was there when they arrived, but they’d ignored it. ‘That bloody fat cow,’ he muttered. ‘We ought to run her in for obstruction.’
‘He’s her husband, son,’ said Frost, mildly. ‘Your wife would have done the same to help you.’
Would she? thought Gilmore bitterly. She certainly didn’t help me last night when bloody Mullett phoned. Before he could follow the thought further, the traffic lights flickered. He jammed his foot down, passing car after car after car. The blue van was getting bigger.
‘Control to Mr Frost. Come in, please.’
Gilmore braked abruptly as an estate car shot out of a side turning right in their path.
‘Control to Mr Frost. Come in, please.’ repeated the radio.
‘Shut your bleeding row,’ said Frost to the radio as Gilmore swerved round the estate car. Frost twisted in his seat and jerked two fingers at the driver.
More traffic lights ahead. The blue van had stopped.
‘Control to Mr . . .’
Frost snatched up the handset. ‘Hold on, Control. We are . . . Shit!’
‘Say again?’ said Control.
‘I said, “Tut tut”,’ muttered Frost bitterly and feeling like banging his head against the windscreen. The blue van they had been chasing had the name of a dress shop written on the side and was being driven by a woman. Gilmore glared poison darts at the inspector as if it was all his fault. Frost was philosophical. ‘He’ll turn up. He’s got nowhere to go.’ He was much more used to cock-ups than the sergeant. He raised the handset to his ear. ‘Put out a call to all units. I want Wally Manson brought in. Last seen driving a blue Ford transit van about ten years old . . . I don’t know the registration number, but you should be able to get it from the computer.’
‘Will do,’ said Control. ‘Hold on, please. Sergeant Johnson wants to speak to you urgently.’
A rustling sound, then Johnson took over. ‘Jack. Forensic have matched up the paint on the newspaper. It definitely came from Greenway’s letter-box. Mr Mullett wants you back here right away.’
‘My one aim in life is to gratify Mr Mullett’s every whim,’ replied Frost. ‘We’re on our way.’
Mullett was almost dancing with excitement. He waved the Forensic report at Frost. ‘We’ve got him, Inspector. We’ve got him . . . and we can all take credit. A chance observation on your part, scientific skill and expertise from Forensic plus