As The Crow Flies (The DI Nick Dixon Crime Series) by Damien Boyd Page A

it booked in, please? There’s a telescopic golf ball retriever in my office too.’
    ‘Yes, Sir.’
    ‘I’ve got his laptop in the drawer of my desk. We need to get it over to High Tech. And don’t forget his iPhone. Jane?’
    ‘No problem. Any specific instructions?’
    ‘We’ll come onto that in a minute. Right, let’s have a look at the players themselves.’
    Dixon turned to the whiteboard and pointed to the photo of Jake Fayter.
    ‘This is Jake Fayter. The victim.’
    Jake was smiling at the camera. His blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail. He wore a white Bruce Springsteen t-shirt and there was a sea cliff visible in the background. Probably Pembroke, Dixon thought. Jake was in his element.
    ‘We know that he was supplying ecstacy and he was the prime suspect for the supply of the fatal dose of PMA to Jenna Williams. Steve, perhaps you can fill us in on that?’
    ‘We had a clear statement from Conrad Benton with a positive ID of Fayter and the Williams girl in an alley outside Rococo’s just before she was found dead. It was fairly straightforward, to be honest, although Benton is not the most reliable of witnesses, perhaps.’
    ‘Why the delay in arresting Fayter?’ asked Dixon.
    ‘We were looking for other evidence to corroborate Benton’s statement and I didn’t want to let Fayter know we were onto him. Simple as that, really.’
    ‘Well, we can come back to that later.’
    ‘You’d have done it differently, I suppose?’
    ‘Seeing as you have asked, Steve, yes I would. I’d have brought him straight in and let him know I was onto him. Let him sweat. But it was your investigation, your decision and you made it.’
    ‘I did.’
    Dixon ignored him.
    ‘What I’m not clear about is whether Fayter knew he was pushing PMA on the night in question?’
    ‘We never interviewed him so I don’t know. Is it relevant?’ replied Gorman.
    ‘Probably not but I’m pretty sure it was Benton who supplied it to him. Jane, dig out everything we have on Benton, will you? When this is over I’m going to be crawling in and out of every one of that tosser’s orifices until his eyes bulge.’
    ‘It’ll be a pleasure, Sir,’ said Jane.
    ‘We know Jake was also stealing peregrine falcon eggs and selling them in the Middle East. His partner in this enterprise was Dan Hunter.’ Dixon stuck a photograph of Hunter on the whiteboard and drew an arrow between the two.
    ‘Is there any evidence that Hunter was also involved in the dealing?’ asked Jane.
    ‘No. But the birds’ eggs is where the real money is. We need to bring Hunter in straightaway. I met him at Jake’s funeral on Friday and he’s agreed to help in any way he can. We’ll see what that means. At the very least, he’s looking at two years for offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act but he doesn’t know that we know about that yet and I’d like to keep it that way until I interview him.’
    ‘Two years?’
    ‘Yes, Mark. It’s a serious business. Thirty months someone got at Warwick Crown Court only a couple of years ago.’
    ‘Shit.’
    ‘I’m convinced that Hunter holds the key to Jake’s murder. Someone was setting up these deals and it’s that person we need to find. Hunter can lead us to him.’
    ‘What went wrong with the second deal, Sir?’ asked Jane.
    ‘I don’t know yet. That’s another question for Hunter. Jake collected the eggs, possibly with Hunter, and then didn’t go to Dubai to see it through. We need access to Jake’s bank accounts. See if he got his cut of the second deal. Mark?’
    ‘I’ll see to it, Sir.’
    ‘Let’s get Hunter in straightaway. Steve, can you make that your priority? I’ll conduct the interview.’
    ‘Ok.’
    ‘We’ll need to have a look at his computer and phone too. Mark, can you give him a hand with that?’
    ‘Will do, Sir.’
    ‘Which brings me back to Jake’s computer, Jane. We need the High Tech Unit to have a look at it for any evidence of contact with person