The Fourth Cart Page 15

  Chapter Fifteen

  A waitress hovered next to the table Magee was sitting at and scowled. ‘Are you going to eat that, dear? You've been toying with it for nearly half an hour. It’ll be cold by now.’

  ‘Sorry, I’ve lost my appetite,’ Magee replied. He sat back allowing the waitress to clear away his unwanted breakfast of bacon and eggs. He stared despondently around the hotel’s dining room. He felt awful, having not slept a wink, being on his feet all night. To make matters worse, he’d received a roasting from the Home Secretary, not just for the night’s fiasco but also for disturbing him at six-thirty in the morning to break the news. And now he felt an overburdening sense of guilt; if only he’d done more.

  Melissa waved a hand in front of Magee in an attempt to catch his attention. ‘Come on, sir. Cheer up. It really wasn’t your fault.’

  ‘You think not? I’m not so sure.’ Magee looked across the table at Paul Mansell. ‘If only I’d been a little bit more trusting of you, Paul, then we might not be in this mess.’

  ‘My fault is it? Thanks a bunch!’

  ‘No. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s nothing personal. It’s just a question of resources. I didn’t have enough confidence in your story to demand more officers. That was my call. So, you see, Robert Harrison’s death was my fault.’

  ‘You’re being too hard on yourself, sir,’ Melissa replied. ‘Our murderer might well have got away for now, but we’ve got his car registration number. And he left in such a hurry this time, SOCO are bound to pick something up.’

  Magee’s head sunk even lower, along with his mood. ‘That doesn’t cheer me up, Melissa. There are three officers in hospital. Then there’s the walking wounded; Mrs Harrison, two security guards. The lorry driver is really shook up. Not forgetting the dog, of course. By the way, has it woken up yet?’

  ‘Yes it has, actually,’ Melissa responded with a warm smile.

  ‘Shame it can’t talk,’ Paul threw in. ‘It would have quite a story.’

  ‘Hah!’ Magee scoffed. ‘Speak for yourself! You’ve a story to tell as well, but for some reason you’re holding out. Rather like the dog.’

  ‘Bollocks!’ Paul retorted. ‘I’ve told you everything already. I swear I’m not holding back on anything.’

  Magee had a malicious look in his eye. ‘I beg to differ there.’

  Melissa put her hand up in an attempt to stop the bickering. ‘Look, sir, maybe Paul just doesn’t know what he’s holding back.’

  ‘What?’ asked Paul.

  ‘This case seems to involve the past, Paul,’ Melissa responded kindly. ‘Maybe it involves something from your past, but you just don’t know it.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  Melissa continued, ‘Because you would have been too young.’

  ‘Explain, please,’ Magee interjected.

  ‘Well, sir. If these murders are being committed for revenge, as seems likely, and it concerns something that happened eighteen years ago in Thailand, then Paul would have been what, six, seven years old? It seems unlikely that he would know much about it.’

  Paul Mansell’s mouth fell open in astonishment. ‘Eighteen years ago, in Thailand? What are you talking about?’

  ‘That was highly confidential information,’ Magee muttered in Melissa’s direction. He turned to Paul Mansell and said, ‘You will not repeat that to anyone.’

  ‘But my brother John was in Thailand eighteen years ago. So were Nick and Sean.’

  ‘Sean?’

  ‘Sean Fitzpatrick.’

  Magee rubbed his chin. ‘Should that name mean something?’

  ‘He was at school with Nick. They were friends. They worked together for years.’

  ‘I think I remember that name from way back. Something on file about him, I’m sure. I’ll look into it later.’ Magee rubbed his eyes. ‘Anyway, what’s this about your brother?’

  ‘I haven’t seen John since he was eighteen. He left home when I was three. I never saw him again.’

  ‘Nick knew him?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Where is John now?’

  ‘In Thailand, possibly, but I really don’t know. Nick said he was really close to John once, but even Nick doesn’t know where John is now. They just drifted apart. Lost contact I suppose, like you do.’

  Magee looked at Paul thoughtfully.

  A waitress approached their table. ‘There’s a call for you, sir. The telephone’s over there by the door.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Magee replied, getting up and crossing the dining room. He picked up the phone and said, ‘DCI Magee speaking.’

  ‘Morning, sir,’ a voice said. ‘We've got a trace on a Renault car for you. It was hired by a Mr Somchai Polgeowit of Flat 4C Sussex Gardens in Kemp Town. The car-hire firm took the details from his driving license. I'll spell out that name for you, sir . . .’

  Magee scribbled down the details. ‘Great! Thank you very much. I'll take it from here.’

  Magee let out a sigh of relief as he walked back to the table. ‘We’ve got him now! Come on, Melissa, let’s get back to Lewes. We need to get a search warrant issued quickly.’