Where There's A Will

Chapter Ten

When he got to work the next morning, following a restless night, Stone was glad to see that Burke was already there and he had the coffee machine going. Before he settled down with a cup to read the forensics report someone had put on his desk he checked in with DC Hicks, who had the night duty – he was relieved to discover that only relatively minor crimes had been committed during the night, crimes that were already being investigated, and no guidance was needed from him.

Only when he had finished his coffee did he pick the report up. There was still a lot of material for the forensics team to process, but they were making progress; he saw that matches had been made on many of the partial fingerprints found in the pavilion – most of those matches were to David Leigh and his family and staff, but some were to people in the criminal database. Every one of them had to be checked out to determine if they were a possible suspect, and he made a note of each name.

A smile lit up Stone's face as he approached the end of the fingerprints section.

"I take it you've got to the bit about Jerry Logan's print," Burke remarked when he saw the smile on his superior's face.

"Yes." Stone nodded. "It's not conclusive, only a partial print, but it's enough to bring him in for questioning, and to make a proper search of the flat." He planned on bringing Ben Logan in for questioning when he brought his brother in, even though they had no evidence against him yet; he could not imagine that one of the Ice-cream Boys would have been involved in a robbery that netted so much money without including his brother.

Stone returned his attention to the report then.

"It's a coincidence, sir, nothing more," Mason said, not in the least happy with the thought of having his investigation taken from him.

"Not according to this, Justin," Collins said, gesturing to the report on his desk. "The forensic analysis shows a ninety-two percent match between the tyre prints found outside the pavilion at the festival and those at the scene of your hit-and-run. That's enough to consider the two investigations linked." He held up a hand to forestall whatever it was that Mason had opened his mouth to say. "It's settled, sergeant; you will continue to investigate the hit-and-run but DI Stone will decide the direction your investigation takes, and you will make no arrests without his approval.

"I understand you've made progress with your case, Nathan." Collins turned to his inspector. "Are you close to an arrest?"

Stone nodded, ignoring the venomous look he was being given by Mason. "Forensics found a partial print at the pavilion that matches what we have on record for Jerry Logan. It's not conclusive, but with the witness statement that mentions the tattoo similar to Jerry's new piece of ink, it's enough to bring him in for questioning. I'm off to do that as soon as we're finished here. I want to bring Ben Logan in as well."

"Have you got any evidence against him?"

Stone shook his head. "Not yet, but there was two people involved in the robbery, and the Logan brothers pretty much always work together. If I can find enough evidence to get a conviction against Jerry, I should have enough to convict Ben as well."

"Be careful when you question Ben Logan," Collins cautioned. "You might be right about him being the second blagger, but without evidence you're just fishing. You don't want a solicitor putting a barrier between you and him that makes it difficult to investigate him."

"That shouldn't be a problem, sir," Stone said. "Both the Logan brothers are out on license, if they don't behave themselves they'll go straight back inside. Their solicitors will know that, and won't want to do anything to cause them problems." He knew that without hard evidence he would have to be careful while questioning his suspects, but not as careful as he would have to be if they weren't on license.

"Do you want armed support when you bring the Logans in?" Collins asked. "If they are your blaggers then they've got sawn-off shotguns - they might not hesitate to use them if they think they're about to go back to jail."

Stone considered the question for a short while before shaking his head. "I'd like them on alert, sir, but I'd rather not have them with me. I doubt Ben and Jerry have the shotguns with them, they won't want them found too easily, but if they do have the shotguns close to hand, the sight of an armed response team might create a situation we'd rather avoid.

"What I would like, is a few uniformed officers. I don't really expect trouble, Ben and Jerry both know that resisting arrest will see them back inside, regardless of anything else, but just in case."

"Police, open up!" Stone yelled loudly, banging on the door of the Logan brothers' flat for a second time.

"What?" Ben snapped the question before he even had the door fully open. "I shoulda known it'd be you," he said when he saw who was on the doorstep. "What d'you and the goon squad want?" He eyed the constable with the ram contemptuously.

"We've got some questions for you and your brother, down at the station," Stone told him. "Are you going to come quietly, or do we need to cuff you?"

Ben looked as if he would like nothing more than to resist arrest, but changed his mind when he saw Stone already had a pair of cuffs out, ready. "I wouldn't want to give you the satisfaction," he said.

Stone smiled. "I knew you'd be reasonable. Now, where's Jerry?" he asked as he entered the flat so he could look for his other suspect. "Where is he, Ben?" he wanted to know, having found the rest of the flat empty.

"No idea," Ben answered innocently. "He could be anywhere; you know what he's like."

"I do. No matter, we'll find him," Stone said indifferently. "By the way, I've got a warrant to search the flat." He put the handcuffs away and took out the search warrant, which he waved in Ben's face. "And the lock-up you've got downstairs."

Ben eyed the warrant for a few seconds, annoyance on his face, and then he grinned. "Knock yourself out, you won't find anything, other than some dirty laundry, and a few rusty tools and an old bike in the lock-up."

"Take him away," Stone directed the constables with him. He watched for a moment as two of the constables led Ben off, in case he was going to resist, and then he, Burke, and the other two constables made a start on searching the flat for anything that would connect the Logans with either the robbery or the hit-and-run.