IMPOSTURE: Hunters become the hunted in this gripping murder mystery Ray Clark (lightest ebook reader TXT) 📖

Gardener nodded. He knew they were right, and he may now need further operational support officers to help with the legwork. What he’d really like was Anderson and Thornton back with him.

“I feel like we’re back at square one,” said Reilly. “Like we’re in one of those bastard computer games where if you make a mistake you’re transported back to level one so you have to start all over again.”

Chapter Fourteen

“Anthony Palmer?” said Roger Hunter. “Yes, I know of him. Why has he sprung up?”

Gardener and Reilly had taken the opportunity to leave the office for a while. Their first stop in Burley was a three-bedroom detached bungalow in Manor Park, the home of Anthony Palmer. There was no answer, as expected. But his house wasn’t totally empty from what they could see through the windows. The garage was closed and locked so he couldn’t check on a car. Gardener wondered why his place had not been cleared.

After a scout around the building they dropped in on Roger Hunter to see if he knew the man who lived so close, and who appeared to be involved in the death of his brother.

Gardener explained to Roger Hunter what he had been told.

Roger Hunter stood up. “Please, let me make you a drink and I’ll explain something that might help you considerably.”

Roger returned with mugs of tea, placed them on a small table in a sparsely decorated living room and took his seat.

“I can’t believe what’s happening here. How does he come to be involved in the hit and run? He’s family, for God’s sake.”

“Family?” repeated Reilly.

Gardener was suddenly reminded of the rule of thumb with a murder inquiry; any suspicious deaths and you always start with the family.

“My brother and his wife were Anthony’s only real family. He was Ann Marie’s nephew. Anthony’s parents died when he was in his late teens. He has no brothers or sisters.

“Prior to their death, his parents were music hall entertainers. They travelled all over the UK with a variety of theatre companies. They died tragically when their car was in a collision with a coach on the M62 returning to Leeds from Liverpool.”

“When was that?” asked Reilly.

“About fifteen years ago, I think, in December. Anthony was originally born in Leeds but until the time he was six, the family moved around: two years in Bristol, and another two in Milton Keynes before a stint in Liverpool. They moved back to Leeds and found a house in Wellington Hill when Anthony was nine.”

“So you think he was late teens when his parents died. Can you remember how old?” asked Gardener.

“Possibly sixteen, maybe a little older.”

“At that age, did he really need anyone to look after him?” asked Reilly.

“Because of all the moving around, his parents were the only people he had ever been close to. Anthony prefers his own company. Having said that, although he’s a bit of a loner, he will adapt and fit in if needed. But the only people he relied on were his parents and after they had died, he had no one, until Ann Marie stepped in. This is what beats me. Why and how has he come to be mixed up in all this crap?”

“We will get an answer for you, Mr Hunter,” said Gardener. “Trust me.”

“Can you tell us anything more about him, Roger?” Reilly asked.

“I can but it’s all second-hand. I only met him once or twice, so anything I tell you is what my brother told me.”

“We’ll settle for that for now,” said Reilly, notebook at the ready.

“It was David who told me that Anthony is a real oddball,” continued Roger. “Everything in his life has to be in order. He has a routine and does not like to deviate from it. He wakes up at the same time every day, eats at the same time, exercises and showers at the same time. Nothing is left to chance. He does not like chance.

“All holidays are planned to the last second: when he will go, what he is going to do whilst there, when he will return, and what he will do on his return. Anthony is not a people person. If the circumstances require it, he’ll talk the hind leg off a donkey. But according to David – not Ann Marie – Anthony has a dark side to him.”

“We can see that,” said Gardener.

“He has little or no compassion,” said Roger. “He will ruin anyone financially without turning a hair; an attitude that seemed to develop following the death of his parents. But I certainly wouldn’t have thought he would bite the hand that feeds him.”

“Something must have happened between them all,” said Reilly.

“But what could be so bad that it would cause this?” asked Roger Hunter.

“You said just now, that he will ruin anyone financially without turning a hair,” said Gardener, “do you have any evidence to back that up?”

“I don’t have anything specific I can quote. All I can tell you is that he was very good with computers, but I suspect you know that already. In fact, David reckoned Anthony was better than anyone he had ever seen.”

Gardener could see now why they were in the dark about the DPA’s activities. If Anthony Palmer – not to mention the rest of them – were as good as they were claiming, Gardener’s team would have a mountain to climb.

Roger sipped his tea before continuing, all the while with the expression of a haunted man, as if he should have seen what was coming, and the results of Anthony’s actions were a legacy he would rather not face.

“Anthony’s long-standing ambition had been to start up his own IT company. The death of his parents not only devastated him, it left