The Borgia Ring by Michael White Read Free Book Online

by Bridgeport Construction.’ He tapped a photograph of the man, a passport picture from a few years back, copied and enlarged. Next to this were photographs of the crime scene, the body sprawled on a concrete floor, one side of the face a mass of black and red. ‘Karim was struck twice, once to the throat and then to the skull. Both blows came from a heavy, blunt object, probably a piece of metal pipe.’ He indicated the injuries on the photograph as he spoke. ‘His body was dumped in a ventilation duct. Time of death between one-thirty and two-thirty this morning.
    ‘Sergeant Turner and I have just returned from the crime scene. Karim was involved in a struggle on a building site a short distance from the club. He was killed on the roof there, his body dumped in the duct. He’d been on night duty as a security guard at the site.’
    Inspector Grant’s hand went up. ‘Any idea of motive, guv? Anything valuable taken from the site?’
    ‘I was just coming to that. Dr Newman’s team have found a human bone close to where they think Karim was originally attacked.’
    ‘A bone?’
    ‘A finger bone, apparently. Very old.’
    ‘But that could be a coincidence, couldn’t it?’ Sergeant Mackleby asked. She was taller than half the men in the room, thin, with long auburn hair pulled back in a tight bun. Her pencil skirt and crisp white blouse accentuated her slender figure and also gave an impression of severity.
    ‘Fair question,’ Pendragon replied. ‘There’s a massive hole there, at least ten metres deep. Never know what might get dug up when you go that far down, but it’s nothing so simple in this case. We had a word with the site manager, Tony Ketteridge. Turns out they unearthed a skeleton there last night. That’s why Karim was keeping watch.’
    There was a stunned silence. Superintendent Hughes walked round the desks to where Pendragon was standing. ‘And all that’s left of it is this finger bone?’ She gave him an incredulous stare.
    ‘It would seem so,’ Pendragon replied, and handed her the photos Ketteridge had given him. ‘When the skeleton was dug up, one of the architects for the project was there, a …’ he glanced at a notebook in his hand ‘… Tim Middleton of Rainer and Partner. He took these pictures with his phone.’
    She studied them without a word, turning them round inher hands before passing them on to Jimmy Thatcher who was closest to her. ‘And they didn’t report it?’ she said.
    ‘No.’
    ‘So you think this guy Karim was killed because of the skeleton?’ It was Jimmy Thatcher who was talking. He had just passed the photos on to Mackleby. Terry Vickers was leaning over her shoulder to get a look.
    ‘I didn’t say that,’ Pendragon retorted. ‘Far too early to jump to conclusions.’
    ‘But it’s an odd coincidence,’ Hughes said, walking over to take a close look at the photograph of the security guard’s body. ‘Did this Tony Ketteridge give a valid reason for not reporting the find immediately? Does he realise he’s broken the law?’
    Pendragon shrugged. ‘Said he’d tried and failed to contact his boss. Thought it best to sleep on it first.’
    ‘Terrific!’
    ‘He kept reiterating the point that the skeleton was really old, ma’am,’ Turner interjected.
    ‘Oh, so that excuses him,’ Hughes said, rather louder than she had intended. Jimmy Thatcher straightened involuntarily. Grant coughed and crossed his arms over his chest.
    ‘Well, whatever his reasons, it was a bloody silly thing to do. Puts him right in the frame,’ she added.
    ‘Yes, but there’s no evidence. We can bring him in on a technicality, but I think the man would be more useful to us if we let his oversight go; played it softly with him. At least at first,’ said Pendragon.
    ‘And what’s this?’ Mackleby had the pictures again and was pointing at the ring on the skeleton’s hand.
    ‘It’s what it looks like. A ring,’ the DCI replied.
    ‘So, a motive then?’ Terry