Riddled on the Sands (The Lakeland Murders) Read Online Free Page B

millions of tons of water over this since it happened. The tractor’s only still here now because it’s bogged down in the sands.’
    ‘So you think we should just leave it?’
    ‘Oh aye. The sea will see to it eventually. Like I said, it’s the cleanest place in the world, is this.’
     
    Mann nodded, and walked over to Sam, who was chatting to a couple of the other rescue team. But Mann could tell that Sam had been watching him, and he left the group before Mann reached them. He wanted to talk.
    ‘Bad job, this’ said Mann.
    ‘Aye, the worst. Been years since we had a death like this in the village.’
    ‘What happened, do you reckon?’
    ‘Dunno, but I’ll tell you what it weren’t. He didn’t run out of diesel nor misjudge the tide or anything daft like that. Cleverest bloke I’ve ever known, was Jack, and he knew the fishing job better than any man alive. Careful too, he was, always telling off us younger ones when we were learning the job and got careless.’
    Mann nodded.
    ‘So you were surprised when this happened?’
    ‘Surprised ain’t the word. Bloody gobsmacked.’
    Mann nodded encouragingly, but Sam didn’t say anything else. But something about his body language suggested that he had something on his mind.
    ‘Who else was out that night? On Friday?’
    ‘Not many. It’s a part-time thing for most of us, is the fishing job, so us younger ones usually go out supping on a Friday night instead. So it’s just the old-timers at the weekend, like. Mind you, a grand night it was, Friday. Perfect for the fishing job. Pete was out, but I expect you’ve already spoken to him.’
    Mann unzipped his jacket and found his notebook.
    ‘Pete Capstick, this is?’
    ‘Aye. Old mate of Jack’s. They go back donkey’s years, do those two.’
    ‘Close, were they?’
    ‘Yes and no. You’re close to everyone if you come from a small village, but they were competitors too, like.’
    ‘How do you mean?’
    ‘It’s a funny thing, the fishing job. You rely on each other, and one will always help someone in trouble, but you’re always trying to put one over on the rest at the same time. Get the best catches, like. Especially the shrimp job. An international brand, that’s what Morecambe Bay shrimps are now. Like Champagne.’
    ‘Is that what Jack was after that night? Shrimp?’
    ‘Speaking to people in the village, I’d say so. He had the right gear on his trailer by the sounds of it. Funny thing though.’
    Again Sam stopped. Mann waited, but still Sam said nothing.
    ‘Funny how?’
    ‘No shrimp here. Not now, not last weekend, not ever really. Bugger all here. Rock hard, this sand is. No good for anything except sunbathing on. And you can bet your life that’s not what Jack was doing. It were night time, for a start, and the only bits of any fisherman that are tanned are his face and his hands.’
    ‘So what do you think he was doing here?’
    Sam smiled, and Mann reckoned that he’d asked the right question. But the answer came as a disappointment.
    ‘Not a bloody clue. I can’t work it out, I really can’t.’
    ‘Maybe he was heading further out when something happened.’
    ‘Aye, that’s possible’ said Sam doubtfully. ‘But the tractor’s pointing across the Bay, look.’
    ‘Couldn’t the tide have turned it round, though?’
    Sam shook his head. ‘I can’t be certain, but I think it would have just turned it over if that had happened. Looks to me like it just bogged down where it stopped, like.’
    ‘So you’re saying that you don’t understand what Jack was doing in this spot, and you can’t think of any reason for it?’
    ‘Aye, I suppose I am, aye.’
    ‘And you’d be happy to make a statement to that effect?’
    ‘Aye, I would.’
    Mann nodded.
    ‘Do you think it’s worth us recovering Jack’s tractor for examination?’
    Sam thought for a moment before he replied.
    ‘It would upset Betty, dragging it through the village.’
    ‘What if we covered it