The Dog Collar Murders Read Online Free PDF Page A

crowd obligingly eased back but craned their heads to look at the injured man’s face as the stretcher was whisked past them.
    As soon as the ambulance had driven away, Angel addressed the crowd, which had increased to around thirty by then, and said, ‘I am a police officer. I believe a man was shot here a few minutes ago. Did anybody here see what happened? Did anybody here see a priest? A vicar? A man wearing a dog collar? Did anybody see which way he went? Did anybody see anything at all unusual?’
    Nobody said a word.
    ‘If anybody saw anything, please come forward. Let’s try and catch the man with the gun who shot that young man.’
    Still silence.
    ‘If you saw nothing and
can’t
assist the police, then please move on. There’s nothing more to see here. Thank you very much.’
    Angel watched them, but nobody made a move to leave. Everybody looked as if they’d been planted where they stood.Passers by coming out of the bus station stopped, looked at the crowd, saw the police uniforms and stood around adding to the numbers. An ice-cream van pulled up. Its siren played a few discordant notes and a glass window opened for business.
    Angel turned, grabbed hold of Ahmed’s cuff, and quietly said, ‘Start taking their names and addresses. That’s a sure-fire way of getting them to leave.’
    Ahmed nodded and reached into his pocket for his notebook and ballpoint.
    At that moment, two marked police Range Rovers arrived, sirens blaring and lights flashing.
    Angel’s face went scarlet. His eyes flashed. He rushed out to the front to meet them. ‘Switch that racket off! This isn’t a ruddy funfair. Your blue flashers are more than enough. I’m trying to get rid of a crowd, not drum one up.’
    ‘Sorry, sir. Sorry, sir.’
    ‘Get rid of these people and that ice-cream van, tape round and then check with DS Taylor. He should be here any second. When he arrives, I’m off.’
    He turned away. SOCO’s van arrived. He stopped, turned back and quickly briefed DS Taylor. Then DC Edward Scrivens arrived.
    ‘What can I do, sir?’
    ‘Find Ahmed and send him to me, then somewhere around is the stationmaster. Take him to the nick. Put him in an interview room. Give him a cup of tea and make him as comfortable as you can.’
    ‘Right, sir.’
    Angel went back into the ticket office. Zoe Costello saw him and eased herself off the stool.
    ‘Right, Miss Costello. My car’s outside. Let’s go.’
    Interview room one. Police Station, Bromersley, South Yorkshire, UK. 5 p.m., Monday, 11 January 2010
    ‘Yes, I’d love a cup of tea, Inspector,’ Zoe Costello said.
    Angel looked up at Ahmed. ‘Two teas, lad. And see if you can find those pot cups and saucers we used to use before they put that machine in that makes everything taste of cardboard.’
    Ahmed’s eyes narrowed. He had a feeling that that china had gone upstairs to the chief constable’s suite. ‘I’ll do what I can, sir.’
    ‘And will you let me have a laptop and the disc with the new videos of our rogues’ gallery?’
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    He went out.
    ‘Now then, Miss Costello,’ Angel said, ‘please tell me everything that happened from when you arrived at the station this afternoon. What time did you get there?’
    ‘I got there at three o’clock. I was going to catch the 3.05 to Meadowhall. Do a quick bit of shopping and then dash back home. I went up to the window for a ticket, and bought a day return. The clerk would have been the lovely young man who was shot.’
    ‘What do you remember about him? What was he like?’
    ‘I’ve been trying to think back, but there was nothing special about him. He had fair hair, I think … and he wasn’t very old. That’s about all I remember. The business of getting a ticket took only a few seconds. You see, I had the right money …’
    ‘Was there a queue? Did you see who was in front of you, or behind you?’
    ‘No. There was no queue, Inspector. It wasn’t busy at all when I went there.’
    ‘So