NO AGE TO DIE: The release of a dangerous prisoner leads to murder (DCI John Blizzard Book 9)

his hand resting on the handle of the door to the briefing room at Abbey Road Police Station. He gave himself a few moments to compose his thoughts. What he would give to know where Albert Macklin was, he thought; one of the journalists was bound to ask the question. It was the obvious question, the one that everyone was asking, and John Blizzard was acutely conscious that, as things stood, he had little to offer the local community by way of reassurance.
He was about to push his way into the room to begin the press conference when he was approached by a fresh-faced man with wavy brown hair, wearing a smart grey suit. Blizzard felt his hand going up to his loosened tie in the way it always did when confronted by the beautifully-groomed Detective Inspector Graham Ross, the division’s head of forensics. What was it about modern officers that made them so damned smart, thought the inspector as he watched Ross walk along the corridor. The inspector removed his hand from the door handle.
‘It had better be good news, Versace.’ Blizzard did not try to conceal his irritation that Ross was grinning, having noticed the inspector’s tiny gesture with the tie.
‘Good job it is then,’ said Ross. He held up a small plastic bag containing shards of red wood. ‘These are a couple of the wooden fragments recovered from Jamie Holdsworth’s skull by Reynolds. We think that they come from a baseball bat or something similar. One of our lot has gone back with some uniforms to double-check the scene.’
‘Guv,’ came an urgent voice.
Blizzard turned as a forensics officer walked briskly along the corridor, his anorak flecked with the rain that had been falling all morning. He held up a plastic bag of his own. This one contained a crudely painted red and yellow baseball bat; one side of it splintered and spattered with blood.
Ross held up his own bag. ‘Snap,’ he said.
‘That what killed him?’ asked Blizzard. He looked closer at the bat.
‘Could well be,’ said the forensics officer.
‘And how the fuck did we miss it?’ asked the inspector.
‘One of the uniforms found it a long way down the towpath from where Jamie’s body was left,’ said the forensics officer. ‘Well away from the scene and hidden behind a fence. Concealed, not just thrown away.’
‘Well, it certainly fits,’ said Ross. ‘We’ll have to compare the paint but, at first glance, I’d say that they match.’
‘And there’s more.’ The forensics officer turned the bat round to let them read the spidery, black painted letters on its side.
‘Property of St John’s Church,’ said Blizzard. His eyes gleamed. He noticed Colley walking along the corridor towards them. ‘You seen this?’
‘Yeah, and I put a call in to them,’ said Colley. ‘Talked to one of the churchwardens. Apparently, they have a sports equipment store in the hall. It’s used by the Scouts and the youth group. Jamie was in the Scouts.’
‘So, he could have met Macklin there after he was released?’
‘Conceivably,’ said Colley. ‘But Scouts is earlier in the week. However, the store definitely has baseball bats. The Scouts play games on an area of grass behind the church.’
‘And who has access to the cupboard?’ asked Blizzard.
‘Ah, that’s the snag,’ said Colley. ‘Just about everyone does. It’s supposed to be locked but folks are pretty lax about it.’
‘Does the church have security cameras?’
‘I am afraid not. St John’s is run by a bunch of born-again types who believe that cameras would send out the wrong signals. They believe that the Lord will protect the place.’
‘Perhaps he’d also like to fix their broken windows,’ said Ross.
‘Oh, ye of little faith,’ said the sergeant. ‘And while I remember, we’ve been keeping an eye on Bob Lennox’s house but there’s still no one in.’
‘Keep trying,’ said Blizzard. ‘Riot or not, I don’t want the community thinking that they can get away with things like this. The atmosphere is volatile enough in the area as it is.’
He pushed his way into the briefing room and headed for the table at the front, while Colley followed him to take up his customary position leaning against the wall at the back of the room. Blizzard sat down and eyed the gathered journalists and cameras without much enthusiasm. He looked towards the back of the room where Arthur Ronald watched anxiously, as he always did when the inspector met the media. It had always been a fractious relationship between Blizzard and the media but, although the inspector disliked the scrutiny, he was smart enough to realise that the journalists could be useful in cases like this, when the investigators desperately needed witnesses. As he composed his thoughts, he also knew that he needed to reassure the community that the police were in control of the situation.
The first quarter of an hour of the conference was routine then came the question that the inspector had expected.
‘Can you comment on rumours that you would like to talk to Albert Macklin about the death of this young boy?’ asked the local newspaper reporter who had been at the canal the previous evening.
Blizzard hesitated, ordering his thoughts, choosing his words carefully.
‘It would be wrong of me to speculate about one individual in particular,’ he said. ‘However, I am aware that there has been coverage in the media surrounding his release and I can confirm that we would like to talk to him, yes. At this stage, though, it is just one of many lines of inquiry that we are pursuing.’
‘Do you have any comment on the fact that he was released into the custody of St John’s Church?’ asked the reporter.
‘Only that I don’t think “released into the custody” is the right phrase,’ said Blizzard. ‘This was not an official arrangement and, once Albert Macklin left prison, he was a free man