Flynn gasped. That car was just what he was looking for. The paint job was faultless, a deep green colour. He walked round it entranced. He touched the wood, finding it smooth. The windows were sound and didn’t rattle. The back doors opened without so much as a creak. He crawled on the floor to look under the car and from what he could see the chassis was sound. Flynn slipped into the driver’s seat and was immediately enveloped by the car as it wrapped its way around Flynn’s psyche as well as his body. The smell of leather was intoxicating, and it creaked satisfyingly as Flynn settled himself in.

  ‘Nice car,’ Jerome said, sliding into the passenger seat.

  ‘More than nice, Jerome, this is what you can truly call a classic car.’

  ‘Looks like it’s been beautifully restored, if you like that kind of thing.’

  ‘As it happens, I do. Great British engineering preserved for future generations. You know, I had one just like this…’

  But Jerome had already left the car and Flynn was talking to himself.

  Dragging himself out of the Morris, Flynn asked, ‘Did you find any logbooks in the house?’

  ‘No, ‘fraid not.’

  ‘I wonder where they are?’ said Flynn. ‘We’re missing logbooks for two cars now. This one and the Volvo. What on earth is going on?’

  ‘No idea, Flynn, that’s your problem, not mine. Now if you’ll stop interrupting me, I can get this car processed.’

  Flynn watched with dismay as Jerome covered the car in black fingerprint powder. Unable to watch anymore he left the barn, determined to redouble his efforts to find out what on earth had happened to the Gains. Had they been murdered? And if so, why?

  Chapter 13

  Up in the CID office the next morning, Flynn looked at the various items taken from the Gains’ house, spread across the table, in evidence bags, neatly labelled by Jerome. He’d gone through each item, but there was still no car registration books, no service history, no handbooks. A big fat nothing.

  There was only one thing to do, Flynn decided. And that was to go back to the Gains’ house, in case they’d missed anything. Calling for Baxter, he clipped on the dog’s lead and led the way to the police car.

  As they pulled up at the house there was a loud shrieking and cawing. Looking up, Flynn saw seagulls on the roof. It seemed they were calling out a warning. But who to? About what?

  Flynn and Baxter entered the house and Flynn closed the door on the noise the gulls were making. It never ceased to amaze him how far the gulls penetrated inland. You’d think they’d stay by the sea, but it seemed not. They were encroaching further and further into the countryside.

  Flynn and Baxter moved upstairs as there was nothing of interest downstairs. Jerome had cleared out the little house and most of it was now in the CID office. Baxter bounded up the stairs ahead of Flynn and went into the largest bedroom. He immediately started sniffing around, clearly tracking something, but what? What was it the little dog could smell?

  Another dog? As far as Flynn knew the Gains hadn’t kept a dog. A cat maybe? But there had been no evidence of a cat in the house either. No food, no litter tray, no toys, so Flynn quickly dismissed that thought.

  Baxter’s sniffing kept drawing him towards the empty fireplace.

  ‘What is it boy?’ Flynn asked, getting down to Baxter’s level. As Baxter walked around the yawning hole of an old Victorian fireplace, the cries from the gulls became frantic.

  What on earth, thought Flynn? He best get Baxter out of there, just in case they came tumbling down. But it was too late. With a rumble that turned into a thump, a load of soot was dumped into the fireplace, together with what looked like the remains of a nest. And it had landed all over Baxter. Despite shaking himself, he was now coal black from the enormous amount of soot that was all over the place. Some had even landed onto Flynn himself.

  Ineffectually brushing down his jacket he went to collect Baxter from the fireplace, but the little dog wasn’t having any of it and danced away from Flynn’s hands. Instead of grabbing Baxter, Flynn’s hands grasped nothing more than thin air and he only just managed to stop himself falling into the opening as well. Then he felt something under his hands. What the hell? Flynn picked up a what appeared to be a box. Blowing the soot off it, he realised it wasn’t a box, but a well wrapped package.

  ‘Nice one, Baxter,’ said Flynn. ‘It looks like you’ve found the hidden treasure.’

  Chapter 14

  Whilst waiting for Jerome to come and inspect the other chimneys, Flynn grabbed the package and took it through to the kitchen. Carefully unwrapping it with gloves on and taking pictures at every stage, he found several logbooks for what appeared to be the same car, but with different number plates. The Morris Traveller that was in the barn.

  Flynn was interrupted by the slamming of car doors and Jerome arrived in the kitchen, kitted out in his forensic garb. ‘So, why am I here?’ he demanded. ‘Your message said to come at once, so here I am. I hope it’s not a false alarm.’

  ‘It’s absolutely not a false alarm,’ retorted Flynn, affronted that Jerome could think such a thing. ‘I found logbooks in the chimney in an upstairs bedroom. I need for you to inspect the other chimneys.’

  ‘Did you say logbooks? Plural?’

  Flynn nodded. ‘There’s six of them. All for the Morris Traveller but with different number plates.’

  Jerome thought for a moment. ‘So, you think there may be more?’

  ‘Yes. Possibly for the Volvo.’

  ‘Right, I best get on then.’

  While Jerome went to work, Flynn strolled outside and sat with Baxter for a while, talking to the little white dog as if he were a colleague. Asking questions, but of course getting no reply. Baxter was still rather black from the soot in the chimney and would need a bath when they got home. Flynn was trying to remember if he had any dog shampoo, when Jerome shouted to him from the door of the cottage.

  Scrambling out of the car, Flynn ran to the kitchen to see Jerome opening a similar package.

  ‘Looks like more logbooks,’ said Jerome.

  Flynn nodded. Not daring to speak.

  As the package was slowly unwrapped, there they were. Logbooks for the Volvo. The same car, but with different number plates.

  As Jerome was taking photographs of them, Flynn did the same on his phone, then hurried to the car. He needed to get back to the office and to speak to the DVLA.

  On checking with the DVLA, Flynn found the cars in the logbooks were all SORN, i.e. taken off the road, no tax payable. Well, that was all very well, but he needed to speak to someone about logbook fraud. After waiting an inordinate length of time, he was eventually connected to someone who introduced himself as Kevin Leith.

  Flynn explained his dilemma of two cars, each with six logbooks. ‘So have you any idea what might be going on?’ he asked Mr Leith.

  There was silence on the other end of the line.

  ‘Mr Leith?’ Flynn prompted.

  ‘Sorry, I was just gathering my thoughts. Ok, let’s start at the beginning,’ Leith said in a hard voice that broke no interruptions. ‘Your car’s registration document, or V5C, is a summary of its details and history along with its owners. It’s a print-out of what information is held on your car at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). The V5C is one of the most important documents when buying or selling a car, but it logs only who is the registered keeper – and they may be different from the legal owner. So, when buying a car, the registered keeper should be the person you are buying from, and the VIN, or chassis number, should be the same as the one on the car, as the V5C is a summary of the car’s details on the DVLA database.

  At a pause Flynn said, ‘I’m following you so far, but what about scams? That’s what I really want to know about.’

  ‘Well, there are a few scams that can catch you out when buying a car. You could be fooled by a forged V5C. If you’ve never seen a V5C before, you might struggle to tell the difference between a genuine document and a forgery.’

  ‘So, what is the difference?’

  ‘A V5C is one A3 sheet of paper folded in half to give four A4 sides. As such it is not difficult to photocopy a genuine document, amend it then reprint it using a decent home printer on regular paper. However, the official paper is watermarked with lines of large text from top to bottom, repeating the letters ‘DVLA’ throughout. If there’s no sign of this watermarking, the registration document is a fake.’

  ‘What else could a buyer check?’

  ‘Well, there’s various online checks that you can do. At the very least it is worth cross-referencing this information with what’s on any V5C that’s presented to you when buying a used car. If there are any discrepancies, the chances are that the V5C is a forgery. Follow these basic rules and you should be able to avoid being taken in by a forged or stolen V5C.’

  ‘Thanks for your help, but unfortunately it doesn’t tell me much about why my dead couple had so many V5C’s.’

  Chapter 15

  Flynn was still gnawing away at the problem of so many logbooks, when he got a phone call at the station. It was from a member of the public who wouldn’t leave his name.

  ‘I saw the news about a dead young couple at a car show,’ the caller said.

  ‘Yes?’ said Flynn hoping this wasn’t going to be a waste of his rather valuable time.

  ‘Well, I think I’ve got some information for you.’

  ‘Yes?’ Flynn prompted, wishing the man would get on with it.

  ‘I bought a car from them.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Flynn perking up. The call was beginning to get interesting.

  ‘They brought it up for me on a trailer. I paid them cash and they drove away.’

  So far nothing new, thought Flynn.

  ‘It was then stolen a month later.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘And I’ve got it all on video. The theft.’

  That made Flynn sit up and take notice.

  ‘I was going to report them but then they died before I could.’

  ‘Crickey.’ Flynn couldn’t help himself.

  ‘Do you want a copy?’

  ‘Of the video?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right.’

  ‘Yes, please. But how come you’ve got it all recorded?’

  ‘My security system. I collect cars and you can’t be too careful these days. I’ll email it to you if you give me your details.’

  At the end of the conversation, Flynn replaced the receiver, deep in thought. Well, that would prove his theory correct that there was something illegal going on and was a bonus. But, it wouldn’t tell him if one of the people who had been scammed had killed the couple. But, for the moment, it looked like Flynn’s suspect pool was increasing by the day!

  Chapter 16

  Mabel was at the checkout desk, when she heard a conversation behind her. There was no one else in the library, so the voices were quite clear, and the two women seemed oblivious to the fact that they could be overheard. It appeared they were talking about the car club, Wheels, so Mabel pretended to look at a book, whilst paying close attention.

  ‘But he couldn’t have done anything.’

  Who? Done what? Very intriguing, thought Mabel.

  ‘Yes, that’s what everyone thinks. But we know better.’

  ‘We do?’ asked the second woman.

  ‘He’s kept it quiet, but he was scammed by them too.’

  ‘He was?’

  Mabel was as incredulous as the second woman.

  ‘Yes, with that Volvo they were found in.’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘My goodness! Do the police know?’

  ‘No idea.’

  ‘Shouldn’t you tell them?

  Mabel gasped and put her hand to her mouth. Who on earth was talking? And more to the point, who were they talking about?

  ‘Ah, there you are, Mabel,’ Mayor Carter’s widow pushed in through the doors and walked up to her. ‘I wanted to talk to you about this book,’ and she rummaged in her bag. ‘I’m not sure about the ending at all, have you read it?’ and she shoved a copy under Mabel’s nose.

  Reluctantly Mabel had to switch her attention to her friend. But in the back of her mind she was wondering who she’d been listening to. By the time she hurried to the check-out desk, whoever it was had gone. Quickly checking the computer, it looked like there had been no books checked out in the past 10 minutes, nor any returned. Mabel was stymied. She racked her brains trying to identify the voices, without much success, but they must be closely connected to the car club.

  Fishing her mobile out of her pocket she rang Flynn.

  ‘Have you got a copy of the list of the car club members?’ she asked him.

  ‘Yes, why?’

  ‘I’ll pop over in my lunch hour to look at it. I’ll tell you then.’

  And with that, Mabel terminated the call and turned her attention back to the customers in the library. She would keep on trying to place the two voices and she hoped that going through the list of the Wheels members would help. It sounded suspiciously like someone had been scammed by Kim and Dale Gains. But what sort of scam, Mabel couldn’t imagine.

  Chapter 17

  Alone in the CID office, Flynn was examining the possible CCTV evidence. It certainly looked as though it could be Kim Gains, the body outline seemed to suggest it. But there was no shot of her face. The car had been stolen, possibly using the correct key. It had been reported stolen and the insurance company had paid out the claim with no problem.

  But what if they’ve done it to other people? What were the possible scenarios? And how did it tie in with all the ‘for sale’ cards Mabel had found in the library? Dale and Kim Gains had advertised two cars; a classic Volvo and a Morris Traveller.

  Needing input from the DVLA once again, Flynn rang Mr Leith and told him of his problem.

  ‘Is there anything that you could suggest they were doing?’ he asked. ‘Anything illegal.’

  ‘It could be something like the common practice of Churning.’

  ‘Pulling faces?’ Flynn was extremely confused now.

  ‘Not Gurning, Churning!’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘The practice of selling the same car multiple times, is known as “churning”. It’s a surprisingly common practice in the USA, where the dealers have sold one vehicle three or more times. These dealerships, which finance their own deals rather than using outside lenders, sell cars to low-income people with damaged credit who can’t qualify for a loan elsewhere. Buy Here Pay Here dealers can charge interest rates topping 30%. The dealers collect large down payments and then repossess quickly when customers default so that the vehicles can be offered for sale again.’

  ‘So, it is possible the Gains were trying a form of this, but stealing the cars and then selling them again and again.’

  ‘It’s a very well-known cliché,’ continued Mr Leith, ‘but the most simple and effective advice when it comes to buying a used car is that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.'

  ‘So,’ said Flynn, ‘a possible scenario could be that they sell cars, pretending they have restored them personally. Then a month or so later they steal them back. Change number plates and sell them again.’

  ‘That sounds feasible to me,’ said Mr Leith. ‘They could use fake V5Cs and hope that most people don’t check that the VIN number on the car corresponds with the VIN number on the V5C.’

  ‘Isn’t it difficult to get different number plates?’ asked Flynn.

  ‘Difficult, but not impossible. There’s always someone who can be persuaded to make number plates without the correct paperwork, or with fraudulent paperwork.’

  ‘Thank you very much, Mr Leith. You’ve been very helpful.’

  Flynn had an inkling who the Gains could have used to make up the number plates so they could change the car registration. They no doubt paid him well. Either that or they had something on him that they could blackmail him with and would make him break the law.

  Flynn paced the office as he thought. One car could have made them thousands. People came from all over the country to buy classic cars. Taking the theft theory further, Gains or his wife would go up by train and steal the car back using the spare key they always kept. Flynn was on a roll now, trying to put himself in the Gains’ shoes. Thinking the way a scammer would think. As the unsuspecting buyers were all over the UK and the customers used different insurance companies, it was clear no one had noticed the scam. They could have pulled this fraud around once a month, first one car and then the next month the other. The Morris and the Volvo. Gains was becoming known in the area as a great restorer of the cars, but in truth he probably never so much as changed a spark plug. Flynn reckoned he was using the tame mechanic to do the restoration. Either that or he was buying cars that didn’t need restoring. It was easy to be a conman in a community such as Muddlebay. Generally, the inhabitants were open and friendly and took people at face value. No one would ever suspect that such a scam was happening in their own back yard.

  So, if that was what the Gains were up to, who had figured that out?

  Had someone they’d scammed finally taken their revenge?

  Was the local car club anything to do with it? Or was that just muddying the waters?

  Flynn needed everyone who had bought a car from the Gains interviewed. Those they knew about anyway. They could contact each person and interview them first by phone and then by a visit from their local police.

  Flynn turned to the paperwork, trying to find the details of the unsuspecting purchasers. Then he’d have to put in a call to Mr Leith again and get any information the DVLA had in their huge computer servers.

  Chapter 18

  Mabel huffed her way up the stairs to the CID office and was greeted by Baxter attempting to jump into her arms and lick her face. Sternly telling Baxter to sit, she went to the conference table and sat herself. Flynn succinctly told her about his recent telephone conversation with Mr Leith and their conclusions, or rather Flynn’s conclusions from information received. Mabel was stunned. Things like that just didn’t happen in Muddlebay!

 

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