Never Forget Read Free Page A

didn’t want to think about who else he’d been getting his nuts in with.
    I caught a movement in the corner of my eye and glanced back at the road. ‘There’s a car coming,’ I said. ‘Seems to be slowing, too.’
    A grey Ford Mondeo came to a stop outside the house we were watching. The driver was the only occupant, and he looked our way as he turned the ignition off. He didn’t react to seeing the two of us feet from his front door, but got out of the car, shut the door and began walking up the path. Wingsy and I were both out of our vehicle by the time he’d taken two steps. As we headed towards him, Wingsy said, ‘David Connor? Police.’ He got no further than opening his warrant card when the man we’d come to see headed full pelt up the road in the direction he’d just come from.
    It startled both of us. We were used to people running from us, used to people not opening front doors, used to people lying, but why pull up in front of your home in your car, see two suited people in a vehicle outside your house and then go to walk into it first? Still, if you were going to run from the police, clearly you’d done something wrong; the man had just upgraded himself from witness to suspect.
    Fortunately, Wingsy and I were a bit quicker and fitter than him. He’d made a distance of about fifty metres from his driveway when Wingsy tackled him to the ground. I was a couple of seconds behind, and got there just as Wingsy was pulling his cuffs out from his harness inside his jacket and saying, ‘You’re under arrest for the murder of Amanda Bell. You do not – ’
    He was unable to finish the caution; Connor turned his now scarlet face to the side, saliva falling from his lips, and shouted, ‘What the fuck are you on about? Who the fuck is Amanda Bell? Let me go.’
    I came around to the side of Connor so that he would see me and tried to calm him, while Wingsy cuffed him with his hands behind his back. ‘David Connor, we’ve arrested you on suspicion of a murder and so you’re being handcuffed.’ I knew that this would hardly stop him struggling, but at least it distracted him long enough for Wingsy to finish what he was doing. When he’d got Connor restrained, he looked at me and nodded. I called the DCI. He was on his way before I’d hung up.
     
    By the time Eric Nottingham arrived, along with a van full of uniform PCs to search Connor’s house, we’d got our number one suspect into the back of our Golf and he’d at least stopped foaming at the mouth and swearing. Following a quick search of his pockets in case of weapons or drugs, he’d been fairly compliant and even seemed to be finding the whole thing slightly amusing. ‘A fucking murder,’ he said – well, perhaps he hadn’t totally abandoned the swearing. ‘Who am I supposed to have murdered? I don’t know anyone called Amanda.’
    ‘David,’ I said, ‘you’re under arrest and we’ve cautioned you, so we can’t question you about the offence until we get you back to the nick. We’ve got your house keys from your pocket and, now that the other officers are here, we’re taking you to the custody area and leaving them to search.’
    I took my pocket notebook out and made a note of what he’d said. I planned to ask him to sign it later, as his hands were currently handcuffed behind his back.
    While I was talking to the prisoner, I could see Wingsy updating the DCI. It was a short exchange as we hadn’t much to tell – got to the house, bloke got out of a car, ran off, wenicked him. Then we’d waited for the search team and senior investigating officer to arrive. That was unusual in itself. SIOs were usually in meeting after meeting when something like this happened, so the fact that Nottingham had come out himself at such a crucial point in the investigation was intriguing.
    ‘Nina, I want you to stay here with the search team and call DI Patterson with any updates from the house,’ shouted Nottingham, before taking his phone