No Second Chances: A British police dog-handler mystery (Daniel Whelan #4)(11)

A call to Fred Bowden’s son, Tom, produced information relating to a number of minor offences both proven and suspected, but nothing of great note. The surname Driscoll cropped up more than most and Daniel gathered that the Driscolls were one of the leading Traveller families in the area. On Shane Brennan himself, there was nothing beyond a caution for causing an obstruction on the public highway, the result, apparently, of an impromptu trotting race.

‘What are you mixed up in now?’ Tom asked. ‘Because whatever it is, if it involves the Driscoll family, I’d strongly advise you to leave well alone.’

‘Daughter of a friend; boyfriend trouble. As far as I know, it’s got nothing to do with the Driscolls, but I’ll bear it in mind.’

‘In my experience they’re pretty much all related,’ Tom grunted. ‘But keep me in the loop, OK?’

When he’d spoken to Lorna earlier in the day, there had been no word from Harvey and she was clearly very stressed. ‘If I don’t hear from him tonight, I’m going to ring his work,’ she told Daniel. ‘He won’t like it, but that’s tough!’

Daniel refrained from saying that Harvey’s feelings should be the least of her worries, merely repeating his instructions that she was to contact him if she needed anything.

‘You’ve obviously been there before, so how do you normally get to Ottersmoor?’ he asked now, as Zoe settled into the passenger seat of his ageing Mercedes. On this occasion, her oversized jumper partnered a long ethnic-inspired skirt. The lacy mitts were again in evidence and big hooped earrings swung under the curtain of silky hair.

‘There’s a school bus,’ she replied. ‘Some of the kids from the site get it, but mostly Shane would pick me up on his bike.’

‘Motorbike?’ Daniel asked, feeling ever more in sympathy with Lorna’s views on the suitability of her daughter’s boyfriend.

Zoe nodded.

‘If he’s got a motorbike, couldn’t he have sold that to fund this horse he wants?’

‘No, cos he needs it to get to work,’ she said. ‘And anyway, it’s seriously old. Shane says it’s not worth more than a couple of hundred quid.’

‘Where does he work?’

‘For his uncle, at the greyhound kennels in Barnsworthy.’

‘Billy Driscoll?’ The name had come up several times in the course of Daniel’s Googling and he remembered a connection with greyhounds.

‘Yes!’ Zoe was clearly surprised. ‘Do you know him?’

‘Of him. I’ve been doing my homework. The Driscolls are pretty well known in the area, it seems.’

‘Well, Johnny Driscoll is, like, the head of the family – of the whole site, really, if that makes sense?’

‘Yeah, I know roughly how it is with these Travelling communities,’ Daniel said. ‘So Billy is what – his brother? His son?’

‘Brother,’ Zoe confirmed. ‘Johnny owns the kennels, Billy runs it for him. And there’s another brother called Davy who’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic. I’ve only met him once but he’s a bit creepy.’

‘That’s right. Wasn’t there something about him finding a Saxon ring on the property?’ Daniel recalled an archived newspaper article with a picture of Billy Driscoll proudly showing it off.

‘I don’t know. Shane’s never said anything about that. He doesn’t like it there very much,’ she confided. ‘It’s not the job; he likes the dogs, he just doesn’t get on with Billy. He says he’s a bully and doesn’t care about the dogs. Shane rescued one a few months ago. It was his favourite but Billy was going to get rid of it. It was only three.’

‘So if he’s so unhappy, why doesn’t he leave?’

‘He would but it’s, like, impossible to get a job round here once people find out you’re a Traveller. It’s seriously unfair!’

‘And you want to marry into that world?’ Daniel quizzed mildly.

‘It’s not Shane’s fault. He’s not like that!’ she retorted hotly. ‘And anyway it’s racist to discriminate against them.’

‘So it may be, but it happens and that’s a fact. You’d better get used to it.’

‘Well, I won’t let it stop me being with the man I love,’ Zoe declared, and Daniel decided to let it go for the present. He had a feeling that the idea of being a star-crossed lover might very well be part of the allure for Lorna’s daughter and any perceived opposition would merely harden her resolve.

‘Good for you,’ he murmured, and was rewarded by a sidelong glance bristling with suspicion.

Slowing down as they reached Ottersmoor, Daniel saw the long stretch of white-painted stone wall that enclosed the Travellers’ settlement. He glanced at Zoe and caught her looking a little apprehensive, now that the moment had arrived. He could understand that. In spite of her avowed confidence that Shane wouldn’t have played her false, she must have considered the possibility, if only in secret, and now she might be on the verge of discovering the truth.

Daniel swung the car between the concrete gateposts and into the central avenue from which side roads branched off in pairs on a grid pattern. He slowed down.

‘Where now?’

‘It’s the last road on the left,’ Zoe replied. ‘And then the third van on the right.’