then either. It’s immaculate; the paintwork is pristine. It must be worth a bit, that. I wonder why he’s keeping it here and not at home. I’m amazed it hasn’t been stolen.’
Morgan phoned Ben, who answered on the first ring. ‘There’s an MG sports car in here, from the seventies.’ She peered inside the windows at it. ‘Al’s doing a PNC now.’
They all paused as the control room operator gave the results.
‘Registered keeper since new is Gregory Barker of Paradise, Rydal Falls.’
‘Control, when was it registered new?’
‘January 1975; it’s been SORN off-road since August ’75.’
Morgan asked Ben, ‘Did you hear that? The O’Briens were murdered in August, and on the reports a black MG sports car was seen leaving the scene but never traced. This has to be it.’
‘Don’t touch the car. I want a full forensic lift. Everything else is fair game.’
‘Roger.’
She ended the call and began the job of searching every box, drawer, nook and cranny to find anything that might help put Barker away for life.
Fifty-Four
Amy and Ben were leaning against the side of the white Ford Focus. Ben was fiddling with his body armour.
‘I forgot how uncomfortable these are, I can’t bloody breathe.’
She smiled. ‘Here, loosen the Velcro side tabs.’ Walking over, she began ripping the side tabs off then pressing them down, letting them out enough so he could breathe.
‘Thanks, that’s better. I thought I was suffocating.’
The acrid smell of smoke filtered through the air to where they were standing. ‘Where’s that coming from?’
One of the Taser officers came running towards them. ‘He’s lit a fire in one of those fancy pits.’
‘Shit, he might be burning evidence. Go, go, go.’
The two officers dressed in black took off, Amy and Ben following behind. He hadn’t realised how unfit he was until he began to lag behind at an embarrassing pace. He had a stitch and clutched his side, bending over, taking deep breaths. Amy was way ahead and behind the two officers. He heard shouting. Dragging himself forwards, he rounded the side of the house in time to see Barker standing next to a roaring fire. There was a smell of burning rubber; he was clutching a cardboard folder in one hand. Ben could see what he was going to do before he did it. Amy was running for the hosepipe which was attached to an outside tap. He couldn’t let him burn that folder; it might have vital evidence inside.
He shouted over to Amy, ‘Get that folder off him.’ Then watched as Barker threw it towards the fire. Ben sprinted faster than he ever thought was possible grabbing it just as it landed on the burning pile of wood and coal. The bottom of the folder caught alight, sending a searing pain across his left hand along with the smell of burning flesh. He threw the folder onto the ground and stamped on it, an intense pain in his hand began to make it throb. The bottom of the folder was smoking and singed, but the rest of it was intact.
The two Taser officers ran at Barker. He was knocked to the ground and cuffed within seconds. Amy began to spray the water from the hose into the fire pit. As the flames extinguished, steam rose from it and they waited to see what it was that he’d thrown into it. They could see the remnants of a rubber mask and an exceptionally large butcher’s knife. Barker didn’t say a word.
Amy turned and read him his rights for the second time in two days. This time he wouldn’t be bluffing his way out of interview. The two officers marched him down to the van. When he was out of sight, Ben began to shake his hand.
‘Ouch, my hand, it’s on fire. Spray that hose on it.’
He held it under the spray while she soaked it. ‘Oh, that looks bad. Your skin is peeling and blistered. We’d better get an ambulance, boss.’
‘We’d better not, you can drive me to the hospital, but not until we have a scene guard and a search team here.’
The pain was almost unbearable, but there was no way he was giving Barker the satisfaction of seeing him like this. He reached out for the spray gun, taking it from Amy and holding his injured hand underneath it, the cold water soothing it.
‘Can you do the honours, get everyone here who needs to be,’ he said through gritted teeth, and she nodded. She gave a list of instructions to the control room.