Greed: A DI Scott Baker Novel Read Free Page B

leave it to the forensics bods to catalogue the crime scene.
    “The pathologist has just arrived, Guv. DS Trent and DC Singh are en route to help out and should be here in the next few minutes.”
    “Good stuff, so what have we so far, Mike?”
    “He was found in the silver industrial bin this morning Guv by some workmen who are renovating the West Beach Hotel on the corner. Scared them shitless, from what I can gather. After the preliminaries, SOCO removed his body so they could get a better analysis of the bin and the victim. Uniform are with the workmen inside the hotel now.
    We found a wallet in his suit jacket; usual stuff in there like money, cards, pictures of the deceased with a female, and driver’s license all with the same name. The victim appears to be an Edward Stone. SOCO will do a prints match later to confirm against any prints on file.”
    Scott nodded once while looking around the street.
    “What do we know about him, any next of kin?”
    “Well, I checked on the PNC and if it’s the same guy, he’s the owner of the Phoenix nightclub, just over there sir, and his address is a flat in Fourth Avenue, Hove. He lives there with his girlfriend, Vicky Bright. He’s known to the police, Guv; he’s got previous convictions for assault and fraud.”
    The last piece of information led Scott to raise a brow in reflection.
    As Scott was being updated on the situation, the crime scene manager and senior SOCO Matt Allan, walked over to interrupt Mike and Scott. Matt was in charge of the scientific services team and on complex and more serious cases, one SOCO was never enough, so Matt would be present to oversee the whole crime scene and the allocation of his team’s tasks.
    Scott had worked with Matt on many occasions and they’d enjoyed a good working relationship. Matt was always impeccably dressed. There was never a shirt tail hanging out the back of his trousers, or a loose tie with top button undone or even the slightest trace of a stain on his shirts. That attention to detail seemed to distil down to his work ethic and professional demeanour. He was very precise and to the point in his conversations, his crime scene reports and approach to life.
    “Morning, Scott,” Matt butted in with a smile, looking back and forth a few times between the two officers. Whatever he was expecting from them wasn’t forthcoming as he soon realised, and proceeded to clear his throat.
    “Why is everyone so chirpy and upbeat this morning?” Scott replied. He wasn’t normally so grumpy. Scott was known for his warm social skills and his natural ability to get along with anyone.
    He wasn’t your typical senior officer, he had very few hang ups; didn’t smoke or drink, apart from the odd social drink, but that slipped on a few occasions. He kept fit and enjoyed watching weird programs like “Great Continental Railway Journeys”, or David Attenborough’s latest soothing commentary about the marvels of some exotic wildlife creature. Scott went to great lengths to keep quiet about his TV preferences; he could imagine the stick he’d get from the lads at work.
    He was different to many officers of his rank; he was more than happy mixing and getting along with those in uniform as much as his CID colleagues. Today was different though. The day before had been March 18 th , a calendar date he dreaded. This time of year brought him sorrow and anger, and he was always temperamental and edgy around this time.
    “Oh, a little touchy this morning are we, one too many lemonades last night?” Matt replied with an exaggerated wink.
    “I’ve had better mate, just shattered and a lot on my mind, and everyone’s far too bloody cheery for my liking.”
    Matt smiled, “Well, you’ll be pleased to know that my team has nearly finished, we’ve got some partial footprints in the dried blood inside both tents. The victim had a silver curb necklace with a silver ring hanging off it; inside the ring was the engraving Eddy and Vicky, 4