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Johnson reached down to make a grab for it. Luckily his foot came away from the throttle pedal, reducing his speed now that he had his eyes off the road.
He picked up the phone and saw it was a withheld number. Probably the cops. The bastards were on to him.
As his eyes focused on the road again, the bend was suddenly upon him. Although he had spotted a yellow sign at the side of the grass verge, he had no idea what it had said.
He hit the brakes, and the tyres screeched as he spun the steering wheel. He was pretty sure that the van was on two wheels going round the corner.
The van returned to the road surface with a loud bang, and for a fraction of a second, he felt relieved.
Until he saw the trailer full of steel less than ten yards away, and the shocked expressions of the men working at the side of the road.
He had no time to brake or swerve. The last thing he saw was the red and white triangle letting him know that more than one of the lengths of steel overlapped the bed of the trailer.
It was the longest one that crashed through his windscreen, taking his head through the rear window.
Johnson’s foot was still on the throttle pedal as the van was lifted off the ground, leaving the engine to scream and the back wheels to spin out of control.
His head bounced and rolled for at least twenty yards before disappearing into a ditch.
Chapter Forty-four
Williams had been right. They definitely knew a man who would know exactly what had happened four years ago in Bursley Bridge.
Gardener approached Cragg and told him everything that had happened, bringing him up to date on Ronson and the cards.
“Ronson? I thought that old soak was invincible.”
“Seems not,” said Gardener. He then mentioned the reason he was there to see him, about the possible unsolved crime from four years ago.
“Four years ago?” said Cragg, his face wrinkled up.
“Yes, Sergeant Williams seems to think something had happened, and that you may remember.”
Cragg snapped his fingers, and Gardener thought he had the answer, when the desk sergeant suddenly said, “I know what I did forget to tell you. You asked me about it yesterday.”
“What?”
“Sonia Knight. There was something involving her a couple of years ago.”
“Go on.”
“She was a duty nurse at an institute near Harrogate. I
can’t remember the name of the place, but it wouldn’t be that hard to find. She used to care for patients on the night shift. She was relieved of her duties. There was talk of patient neglect at the time, especially after one of them died.”
“Can you remember anything more?”
Cragg rose from his chair and put his empty glass on a small coffee table. “Let’s go downstairs. I know where I can lay my hands on the story.”
The two men left the upstairs quarters. Gardener returned to the incident room, noticing Williams as he entered.
“Did you find Sergeant Cragg?” he asked.
“Yes, he’s in the back room digging out some files. Have you got anything on Graham Johnson yet?”
“No sir, no one’s seen him.”
“Any idea where Sergeant Reilly is?”
