Page 74 of Too Close To Home

“Aye.” Calder didn’t bother hiding the note of satisfaction in his voice.

Harrison held his gaze for a moment, then set the vehicle list back on the desk. “Well, I’d say that’s a connection.” He shrugged his coat back on. “Let’s pay him a visit. Calder, you’re with me.”

Calder straightened immediately. “Yes, sir.”

Harrison had two reasons for taking him.

First, Calder knew the town. The history. The people involved. If Andy Mitchell had crossed paths with Robyn Whitton before she disappeared, Harrison needed the full story. What happened, why Jake Whitton had been so certain of his guilt, and how that certainty had ended with a prison sentence.

He needed those facts.

And he needed them now.

Second, Harrison didn’t want to spook their potential witness. Calder had arrested Jake for the attack on Mitchell and knew the original investigation first-hand. More importantly, Mitchell knew Calder as the officer who’d dealt with him as the victim rather than the suspect Jake had decided he was. Familiarity would work in their favour. Mitchell might be more inclined to open the door. More inclined to talk.

Harrison was well aware of the blatant animosity Calder carried towards Jake Whitton. But that, too, had its uses. Because the quickest way to find the truth was to listen carefully to the version of events people were most eager to believe.

“Where we heading?” Harrison slipped his coat back on.

“He’ll be at work this time of day, no doubt.” Calder turned off his computer, tucking his chair under the desk. “Probably head there.”

“Alright. Where’s he work?”

“The steelworks.”

“The steelworks?”

“Lancaster Industrial Estate now. Old steelworks.” Calder shrugged into his jacket. “Still runs, but nowt how it used to. Fabrication mostly. Prefab steel, bits going out on lorries instead of furnaces burning day and night. Half the site’s shut up.”

“And he works where in all that?”

“Forklift driver. Yard operative. In and out of storage, loading bays, wherever they need him.” Calder paused, glancing back. “Means he’ll have access to more than most. Old buildings, restricted areas. Plenty of places no one checks unless they have to.”

Harrison filed that. “And Emily’s father also works at the site.” He knew that from the files and from his brief chat with him yesterday. “Coincidence?”

“Not really. It’s a huge employer round here.” Calder gave a short huff. “Used to be the place, didn’t it? Generations in and out those gates. Still enough left that half the town’s got some tie to it. Family, mates, contracts.”

Harrison glanced over to the young DC in the corner who’d given him the list. “Can you cross reference every car on this list with those registered as employees of the steelworks?”

“Yes, sir.” Off he went.

Harrison and Calder left the station. They got in the pool car and as Calder slid into the passenger seat, he reached for his Airwave radio to let control know they were heading out. Harrison then pulled onto the road, following where Calder pointed him, vehicle list folded neatly on the dashboard between them.

Once they got moving, he glanced across to Calder. “Tell me about Andy Mitchell.”

Calder held onto the handle above his head. “Local lad. Always has been.”

“That tells me very little.”

“Aye, well.” Calder scratched at his jaw. “Bit of a loner growing up. Hung about the edges of things. Didn’t have many mates. Wasn’t the worst sort, mind. Be he were… odd.”

“And his connection to Robyn Whitton?”

Calder glanced out the window as the town slipped past them. “He followed her about a bit.”

“Followed?”

“Aye.”