Random Targets (21 page)

T
EMPLE KNEW HE
had no choice but to think the unthinkable. What he had learned in the last hour cast doubt on all the assumptions that had been made.

First there were the specks of blood on the stairs and landing in Megan Trent’s house. Samuels had been right to bring it to his attention and raise the question as to how it had got there. Was it really possible that someone else had been in the house when Renner was shot?

Then there was the Rohypnol found in Renner’s system. It simply didn’t make sense that Renner would dose himself up with a drug that would turn him into a zombie and give him
bouts of amnesia. To have carried out four attacks over four evenings would have required him to be sharp and alert. He’d have had to get to the locations, set himself up on the embankments, then fire the rifle with pin-point accuracy. Surely that wouldn’t have been possible with booze and Rohypnol sloshing around inside him.

Finally there was the evidence of the shoe prints. He remembered when they were pointed out to him on the embankment above the M27. Right next to where the spent shell casings were found. Three clear impressions – two in the grass and one in a patch of damp earth. Left there by a man’s size ten shoes. But Cole Renner wore size eight shoes. So unless he’d put on a pair that were two sizes too big it could not have been him on the embankment. And if that were the case, then who the hell was it?

He posed the question to the team back at the incident room after briefing them on what he had learned. They all stared at him in stunned disbelief, including Beresford who immediately expressed concern about how it would look when it was made public.

‘Maybe he had an accomplice all along,’ DS Vaughan said. ‘They could have been working as a pair – while one of them shot at cars, the other could have kept a lookout.’

Temple shook his head. ‘That doesn’t tally with what we saw on the CCTV footage from the industrial estate. One man drove to the M27 in a stolen car and walked towards the motorway with a rucksack on his back. There was no one with him.’

‘Then perhaps Cole Renner didn’t carry out the attacks,’ DC Marsh said. ‘What if his accomplice did? A man who wears size ten shoes.’

‘That doesn’t really explain Renner’s fingerprints on the drinks can in the stolen car or the fact that his motorbike turned up next to the M4.’

‘The idea of an accomplice does lend weight to the theory that someone was with him when he killed himself,’ Vaughan said. ‘And that person could have escaped from the house through the loft into the neighbouring property. He would have
been able to walk out later in all the commotion without being noticed.’

‘Well, if we think there was someone else in the house then we can’t rule out the possibility that Renner did not take his own life,’ Temple said. ‘Perhaps he was murdered by someone who wanted it to look like suicide. It’d explain the blood on the stairs and landing.’

‘But not the Rohypnol in his body,’ Vaughan said. ‘That’s the bit I can’t get my head around. It doesn’t make any sense.’

‘None of it makes sense to me,’ Temple said. ‘And that’s why we need to do a full review of all the evidence and talk again to everyone we’ve interviewed. We’ll start with Renner senior. Bring him in for questioning and see if he knows anything about Rohypnol. And check his shoe size while you’re at it.’

‘What about Megan Trent?’ DC Marsh asked. ‘She might be able to shed some light on things. If Renner was heavily into drugs and booze she’d probably know about it.’

Temple turned to DC Royce, the detective who had taken her formal statement. He asked him if she’d mentioned drink and drugs.

‘She mentioned nothing about that,’ he said. ‘She said Renner spent most of his time locked in his room and had no visitors while he was there. And she’s adamant that when she left the house yesterday he was the only person inside.’

‘So what do we know about her?’ Temple said. ‘Have you run a background check?’

‘I did,’ Royce said. ‘She’s three months pregnant with her first child. She’s aged thirty-two and she’s a bit brassy if you know what I mean. She has form for shoplifting and benefit fraud. She’s also known to social services. She was the victim of serious domestic abuse three years ago: a violent husband who badly beat her up. He’s in prison and she’s divorced from him.’

‘So who’s the father of her baby?’ Temple said.

‘A boyfriend who dumped her a few months ago. She’s now single.’

‘How long has she been renting out the flat?’

‘Four years,’ Royce said. ‘Her husband was a builder and he
converted it into a self-contained flat because they were struggling to pay the mortgage. She says she’s still struggling because she’s out of work.’

‘I think I’d better have another word with her,’ Temple said. ‘Did you put her up in a local hotel?’

‘The Grand Harbour, guv,’ Royce said. ‘You told me to pick one of the better ones.’

Temple spent the next half hour asking for ideas and assigning tasks. Royce was told to go back to Purbeck Road.

‘Get SOCOs to check out the house next door,’ he said. ‘See if they can find any evidence to back up the theory that someone dropped in there via the loft.’

He told DS Vaughan to go back over all the evidence and send a team to bring Renner’s father in for further questioning.

‘And round up all the photographs and video footage taken in Purbeck Road immediately after we went in,’ Temple said. ‘We might get lucky and spot someone who shouldn’t have been there.’

T
EMPLE ARRANGED FOR
Megan Trent to be brought back to the station. He explained that they were hoping she could help them clarify some issues that had cropped up.

She was still wearing her black leggings and yellow T-shirt and she looked pale and anxious.

He decided to have an informal chat with her in his office rather than subject her to a formal interview in one of the rooms downstairs.

‘How’s the hotel?’ he asked, when she was seated across the desk from him.

A hesitant smile. ‘It’s nice. Not something I’m used to.’

‘Well, try to make the most of your time there. It’s on us.’

‘I’d rather be in my own home,’ she said.

Temple nodded. ‘I can understand that. Hopefully you’ll be able to return in a few days. We’ll finish our work there and clean the place up for you.’

‘Thanks.’

Temple shuffled some papers on his desk and said, ‘There are some questions I need to ask as a result of our investigation.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘What sort of questions?’

‘Well, we now believe there was someone in your house with Renner when he shot himself. Have you any idea who it could have been?’

‘I don’t understand,’ she said. ‘I was told he was by himself.’

‘He was when we entered the house,’ Temple said. ‘But we’ve come across evidence that indicates there was someone with him just minutes before. We believe whoever it was climbed into the loft space and gained access to the neighbouring property.’

Megan’s body seemed to stiffen and she shifted her weight on the chair.

After a couple of beats, she said, ‘How is that possible?’

‘There’s no partition wall between your loft and the one next door on the left,’ Temple said. ‘Did you not know that?’

She gave a small shake of the head. ‘I’ve never been up there.’

He had no reason to doubt her. In all the years he’d been married to Erin she never once ventured into the loft, partly because she was terrified of the spiders that lived up there.

‘You said Renner was in his flat when you came into town,’ Temple said.

‘That’s right. I heard him snoring.’

‘And can you be absolutely sure that there was nobody in the flat with him? Maybe a woman.’

She thought about it for a second and shrugged. ‘I suppose it’s possible, but I think I would have known. To my knowledge he never brought anyone back.’

Temple pursed his lips as if he was about to whistle.

‘What about Renner himself?’ he said. ‘We found drugs in his body and in his flat. They would have turned him into a virtual zombie for a lot of the time.’

Megan bit on her bottom lip and swallowed. ‘He often looked
drowsy when I saw him and I put it down to booze because I knew he was a heavy drinker. But to be honest I didn’t see much of him.’

‘So on the few occasions you spoke to him he never mentioned that he was taking a drug known as Rohypnol?’

A frown tightened her forehead. ‘Are you talking about the date-rape drug?’

‘I am.’

‘Then no he didn’t. But why the hell would he take that?’

‘That’s what we’re trying to find out, Megan. And we will. It’s just a matter of time.’

Her eyes left his face and looked down at her hands which were curled one into the other in her lap. She appeared uncomfortable suddenly, beads of perspiration glistening above her top lip.

Temple leaned forward across his desk, keeping his face blandly genial. ‘Are you sure you’re telling me everything, Megan? It’s just that I find it strange that Cole Renner was living under your roof as your tenant and yet you know so very little about him.’

She lifted her head, met his gaze. ‘I don’t see what’s strange about it. Like I told you before, he kept to himself. Sometimes I wouldn’t see him for days and when I did he was never keen to stop and chat. It was like he was shy or had too much on his mind.’

She held his gaze for a moment and he saw tears welling up in her eyes.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked her.

‘Of course I’m not all right,’ she said sharply, wiping at her eyes with a finger. ‘I feel awful. A man was shot dead in my house and I’ve had to move out. Now you’re accusing me of withholding information even though I was the one who tipped you off about him.’

‘I’m not accusing you of anything, Megan.’

‘Well, it sounds like it to me. I’ve told you all I know. I can’t help it if it’s not what you want to hear.’

‘Look at it from our viewpoint, Megan,’ he said. ‘Cole Renner
was a tenant in your house while he was carrying out a series of attacks on motorways. After each attack he went back to his flat. So it’s hard for us to believe that he didn’t make some kind of impression or have contact with anyone else. And then on the day he died we were led to believe he was alone in the house, but now it turns out that he probably wasn’t. So it’s a mystery we need to solve. And for obvious reasons you’re best placed to help us.’

‘That’s what I’ve been trying to do,’ she said.

‘And I appreciate it, Megan. I really do. So if I’ve upset you then I’m sorry.’

She took a tissue from her bag and blew her nose. Then she said, ‘Can I go now?’

‘In just a moment,’ Temple said. ‘I’ve only got a couple more questions and I’ll keep them short. The first is about the keys to your house. Can you tell me who has them apart from you and Renner?’

‘Nobody.’

‘What about your ex-boyfriend? He lived with you, didn’t he?’

‘Not permanently. He had his own place and when he buggered off I got the key back?’

Temple picked up his pen.

‘I think I’d better talk to him anyway. What’s his address?’

‘I don’t know. When he was with me he was renting a flat in Winchester, but I never went there. He told me he was moving to London.’

‘What about a phone number?’

‘I don’t have one. He changed his phone so I couldn’t claim money off him for the baby.’

‘What about his old number?’

‘I deleted it.’

Temple supressed his mounting irritation and asked what her boyfriend’s name was.

‘Michael Corley,’ Megan said after a moment’s hesitation. ‘He’s a labourer.’

‘Do you know if he has a criminal record?’

‘I don’t think so, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he had.’

Temple paused for a beat and said, ‘The officer who took your statement told me about your ex-husband. I gather he’s still in prison.’

She nodded. ‘He is for now. But he’s due out in four months. I expect he’ll come back here looking for trouble.’

‘So why don’t you move away?’

‘I don’t see why I should,’ she said. ‘And even if I wanted to I don’t have the money.’

‘You will have when the reward comes through.’

‘I’m trying not to build my hopes up. Knowing my luck it won’t happen.’

‘There shouldn’t be a problem,’ he said. ‘The money was offered up in good faith and no one else has come forward to claim it.’

‘I’ve been thinking that I might not get it because I have form,’ she said. ‘I’m sure you know about my previous convictions.’

Temple grinned. ‘Of course I do. But they won’t be taken into account. I can’t see any reason why you won’t get the money.’

Temple arranged for Megan to get a lift back to the hotel. Then he went to the incident room and asked DS Vaughan to try to track down her ex-boyfriend.

‘All she’s given me is his name,’ he said. ‘It’s Michael Corley and he’s a labourer. Maybe he’s living in London. I’d like to speak to him.’

‘Any particular reason, guv?’

Temple shrugged. ‘I’ve got this feeling in my blood that Megan Trent isn’t being entirely open with us. She might be holding something back.’

‘Such as?’

‘I’m not sure. Maybe she had her suspicions about Renner and is now reluctant to say so for fear it’ll jeopardize the reward money.’

‘And what do you think you’ll get from her ex?’

Temple shrugged again. ‘I don’t know, but he might provide us with some useful background information.’

Temple knew he was clutching at straws, but he also knew he
didn’t have much choice. Every lead, however tenuous, needed to be followed through.

He spent the next couple of hours interviewing Martin Renner again. The guy had been brought to the station under protest because he’d been dragged away from an interview with a newspaper reporter who was paying him a five figure sum.

Renner senior offered up nothing new and Temple was convinced he had nothing to do with the shootings. The man seemed genuinely shocked to be told that his son might not have been the sniper after all.

‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ he said. ‘Who the bloody hell else could it be?’

Temple couldn’t tell him because he had no idea.