Condemned, R.C. Bridgestock [most romantic novels TXT] 📗

‘Do you expect us to believe that?’

Dixon shrugged his shoulders. ‘That’s up to you. I don’t really care, but that’s what happened.’

‘What happened next?’ asked Mike.

‘Thomas started screaming, and shouting at Raggy, telling him he’s killed him and that he didn’t want anything to do with it.’

‘What then? I presume that you checked to see if the man was alive?’

‘I didn’t need to. He had a bloody great hole in his head. Britt took over. She slapped Raggy round the face to bring him out of his stupor. Amazing how quick he recovered. But it took us into the early hours to get his body into the hole behind that fucking great fireplace that Raggy knew about. Britt drove his car to his office, and I stood and watched Raggy clear out his safe. We agreed to take the dead man’s gun. Then me and Britt, we left, taking the dead man’s car with us. The least Raggy could do was pay us for our silence.’ Dixon’s eyes flashed wide. ‘Then would you believe it. We found out that the fucking gun that the guy had on him was an imitation!’

‘Where is the vehicle now?’ asked Mike.

‘Sold it to some car ringers who I know, but I won’t name ’em. Got a few quid, and with Raggy’s payout, we bought the motorhome and fucked off out of the country till we’d spent up.’

‘How much did Raglan pay you?’ Annie asked.

‘Not enough.’

‘Where’s Faisal’s gun?’ Mike probed.

‘At the bottom of the deep blue sea,’ Dixon replied, in a smug way.

‘How’s that?’ said Mike.

Dixon grinned. ‘It sort of fell off over the side of the ferry.’

‘Why did you do that when you could have sold it?’

‘I told you, it was imitation, and we didn’t want someone finding it and linking it to us.’

‘Really? I don’t believe you. Faisal Hussain is known for carrying a real firearm, and let’s face it, he’s not going to come after an armed robber with an imitation weapon, is he?’ pushed Mike.

Dixon’s stare was threatening. ‘Prove otherwise,’ he said.

‘Have you spoken to either Raglan or Thomas since you’ve been back in the country?’ Mike continued, in the hope he would carry on talking.

Dixon shook his head. ‘No, why would I?’

‘Tell me, I’d be interested to know why you didn’t dump the gun we found under the bonnet of the motorhome in the sea, too?’

Brad looked puzzled. ‘Because it’s mine,’ he said.

‘Just one last question,’ Mike said. ‘Why now? Why tell us now after all the denials?’

‘Me and Brit were better off on our own. We should have known not to get involved with anyone else. Your boss reminds me of her. She were fucking bossy, too. You were right, when you said before that Brittany would have wanted me to sort it, she would have, and I have now.’

‘What he’s told us is plausible,’ said Mike, over his shoulder to Annie who was following him down the corridor to the Incident Room, where Charley was waiting for them.

Charley was smiling. ‘Well done,’ she said. ‘It’ll be interesting to hear what Raglan and Thomas say now,’ she said. ‘Seems to me that Thomas’s drug dealing, and Raglan’s drug habit involved them in a pointless murder, and it has now secured their downfall. Dixon was right about one thing, the Dixons were better when they worked alone.’

‘I think Raglan’s ancestors will be turning in their graves if they could see what happened to their business in the hands of their successor. If you think about it, an estate agency is not a bad guise for a money-laundering operation though, is it?’ said Annie. ‘With the price of houses, who’d question large amounts of money going in and out of the accounts?’

‘So, now let’s focus on James Thomas and Jonathon Raglan’s arrest strategy…’

Chapter 38

The confirmation that Brad Dixon’s DNA was the only DNA on the Baikal gun didn’t help the credibility of the story he had told in the final interview. Charley felt a little disappointed, she had been hoping for a connection to Raglan, but after all, it didn’t mean conclusively that Raglan hadn’t touched it.

She scratched her head, her frustrations were palpable to the team. ‘We have evidence to arrest Raglan, but we don’t have any evidence to charge him.’

‘No, I guess the word of a convicted criminal who is trying to get out of a murder charge doesn’t quite—’ said Annie.

Charley threw her hands in the air, ‘It doesn’t make sense that Dixon has practically rolled over for everything we put to him, and yet not the murder itself. Don’t you think if he’d have done it, he would have confessed? What has he got to lose?’

‘Raglan’s drug addiction has got him involved with the wrong kind, no doubt about it, and they’ve used and abused him by getting him to launder the money perhaps; maybe it’s payback for something else that we don’t know about?’ said Annie.

‘What?’ said Mike. ‘Having interviewed Dixon, we both know he’s going away for a long time, but he’s not that fucked up that he doesn’t know if he fired a gun and killed Hussain or not. He doesn’t say he was injecting or had been snorting drugs, so we presume he was quite normal, whatever normal is.’

‘He’s admitted being involved in the murder of Faisal Hussain, and our objective is to put those responsible for Hussain’s murder before the courts to be dealt with. I want Dixon charged with murder,’ said Charley. ‘Even if his story is true, he still assisted an offender by concealment of the body, and the disposal of evidence, and he can still be tried and indicted as a principal. Crown Prosecution might go for a joint enterprise charge, if we’re lucky. Whether he co-operates with the National Crime Agency about the drugs, or not, is up to him, and not of any concern to our investigation.’

There was no mistaking Brad Dixon’s screams and struggles as he was dragged out of his