Roxanne, p.22
Roxanne, page 22
Melanie Haines crossed her long legs again and shifted in her seat, but not uneasily; she wasn’t afraid and there was something in this process she was probably enjoying. The attention? All these eyes on her?
‘OK. Did I know he was seeing Roxy? No. Am I surprised if he was? No. Some clients like to sample all the goods in the shop. Brian was a regular at Elite. If a new girl came onto the books, he’d be interested. For a while.’
The voice in his ear spoke for the second time.
‘Chris? Pause it and come outside. I’ll meet you there. We’ve got a development back in the office. We’ll leave the camera running and see what she does. Tell Murray it’s for his own protection.’
Chapter Twenty-two
Freeman was waiting a little way along the corridor, with Priti in tow. As soon as she saw Waters, she walked further on until they had rounded the first corner away from the interview suite. Then she said, ‘I know what I think – tell me what you think first.’
He summarised his impressions: Melanie Haines wasn’t being entirely honest but it was difficult to say to what extent she was lying, or whether she was telling the truth but not the whole truth. She was not intimidated by being interviewed. She probably didn’t like men very much.
Freeman said, ‘When you mentioned Riley’s name for the first time, there was no surprise, was there? I couldn’t see it on the screen if there was.’
He answered, ‘I’d agree with that. We could read it as her expecting to be asked, which she would be if she had been there on the 6th. But it’s very thin. We need something solid before we can go back at her on that, or she’ll just carry on as she is. What about the footage from Riley’s security camera?’
All this was going into Priti’s notepad, and Waters thought he’d like to see the final result, the account that would be filed with the papers for the investigation. But Freeman was already answering his question.
‘… no use. It’s the Mini plain as you like but it’s impossible to make out the driver. If it was Roxanne, and if she left the house at about seven pm by some other means, she could have returned, gone straight to her car and driven to Riley’s place. Putting aside for a minute the fact that on this particular night she also left her phone behind, she could have become unconscious, died in Marborough, he panics and leaves her in the car in the wood. Then he has to get back to Marborough… You don’t look convinced, and neither am I. Go on.’
Waters said, ‘If she left her mobile behind at seven pm, and things happened as you just said, how did the phone end up in her handbag? We can ping her phone in South Wood up to 21.43. The next location is well east of Lake, on the way to the Walmsley estate. If Roxy called at the house and picked up her phone after 21.43, she either managed that without Melanie or Trudi noticing, or they’ve decided not to tell us she did. But then we have another problem; we’re out of the window Robinson has given us for when Roxanne probably took the ketamine. If she was on her feet and collecting her mobile at around ten pm, she hadn’t taken it yet. It’s too tight. And why would she have taken it anyway, alone in her car? In a wood?’
He wasn’t saying anything Freeman hadn’t already been through, probably with DI Greene, but she wanted another mind on it – independent verification. The squad’s first investigation into the murder of Neville Murfitt had had some complexities but nothing like this.
Freeman said, ‘And if she went alone, what was Riley’s phone doing in her car? Don’t bother with that. Of course she wasn’t alone. Someone else drove the Mini there, and she was probably already dead when they did so. All we need to do is find out who that was, isn’t it?’
Waters said, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ for Priti’s benefit, and she returned his smile over Freeman’s right shoulder. Smith always said that the most important people in the building, if you want to succeed, are the maintenance man, followed by the IT technician and then, at Kings Lake Central, probably Olive Markham. You cannot win a battle without the poor bloody infantry on your side.
Freeman said, ‘OK, let’s crack on,’ and made a point that, this time, Waters himself had already considered. ‘Melanie’s phone might tell us where she was on the 6th. We could ask for it. If she says no, doesn’t mean she’s guilty of anything but she might then walk, and we don’t have grounds to arrest her and seize it.’
Waters followed on with, ‘And we then find that her phone has disappeared when and if we do have grounds, as they tend to do. Best not ask for it yet.’
Freeman said, ‘Agreed. So go back in and ease off. Ask her if she knows anything about when Roxanne got the Mini. This is what I wanted to tell you, but we’ve gone around the houses. Tom is looking through her bank account, to see if we can tie payments to clients. There is nothing linked to buying the car. It seems to have appeared out of thin air. As it was brand new, we can find out where it was first registered and sold, which is what the DI is doing now. It’s one of those things that bug him. See if Melanie knows anything to put him out of his misery, and then start the interview with Trudi Mercer. I can tell you she isn’t looking forward to it.’
Waters said, ‘Ma’am?’
‘We called in on her just now, on the way down.’
So much for the senior investigating officer staying out of the evidence chain. Freeman must have seen something of that thought on his face. She said, ‘The welfare of witnesses is my responsibility.’
When he didn’t respond, Freeman added, ‘And I wanted to look at least one of them in the face, just to see. Trudi is a very different kettle of fish to Melanie Haines.’
Fish again – it seemed they were destined to play a part in the figurative landscape of this investigation. He said, ‘How do you want us to leave things with Melanie, ma’am?’
The detective chief inspector shrugged as if that didn’t matter but Waters knew better. She said, ‘She’s free to go, or she can wait around for her friend. I’ll bet next month’s wages she does the latter.’
Waters said, ‘DC would have risked a fiver on that, ma’am.’
‘Last thing, Chris. I’ve got Madam Archer breathing down my neck about releasing Brian Riley tonight. She accepted our need to question the person named by her client as his alibi, but if that doesn’t produce anything definite, we’ll have to release him. We can’t hold him when it’s just his word against hers. I thought you should know that before you interview Trudi.’
She wasn’t putting the pressure on him to find something against Riley, not intentionally, but the effect was as if she had. Waters responded with a nod that said he understood, but then, unexpectedly, Freeman said, ‘You really don’t fancy him for it, do you?’
Good SIOs have to be able to read everyone involved in an investigation – not just the suspects and the witnesses. And good detective sergeants, Waters, have to be able to manage up as well as manage down. He had learned that the only way to work with Freeman was to be absolutely honest when she asked you questions like that one.
He said, ‘Not strongly, ma’am.’
‘Go on.’
‘It’s nothing to do with him being an otherwise upstanding citizen. He’s obviously been involved with the escort thing for years. But as I said earlier, why tell us Melanie’ – Celeste still sounded absurd – ‘came to his place if she didn’t? Gambling that someone he used to pay for sex would give him a phoney alibi? I don’t believe that. He’s too smart. He’s a businessman who can weigh up the odds better than that. Also, I got the impression he genuinely liked Roxanne.’
His last words had something like the effect he’d expected. Freeman stared up at him as if surprised and said, ‘Right. Make me see Brian Riley in a whole new light.’
Waters said, ‘He showed some distress when he realised what had happened to her in the interview, which, I know, anyone can fake. But Murray has examined the records from Elite. Roxanne was the only girl he’d booked with them since last September, once, sometimes twice a week. Since January, when she went into the business on her own, he hasn’t made a single booking with them. Melanie told us he often booked any new girl that appeared but he hasn’t actually done that for several months. At least, not as far as we can tell.’
Freeman thought it over before she said, ‘All right. You say “genuinely liked” – we could also read the intelligence Murray has found as suggesting he was obsessed with her, couldn’t we? And people who become obsessed with others in that way are inclined to do irrational and dangerous things, aren’t they?’
After a pause, Waters said, ‘Fair point, ma’am.’
She said, ‘I mean, if the girl…’
And then her voice tailed away as she realised what she had previously said. She looked down at her shoes and said, ‘I only take a four but that doesn’t stop me putting my foot in it sometimes. My apologies, Chris. I wasn’t intentionally dragging your own recent encounters into this.’
For once, Priti had stopped taking notes – she was looking from one to the other, waiting for instruction. Freeman said, ‘Just write “SIO puts foot into it”, Priti. You’ll probably want to create your own shorthand for that, to save time in future.’
Waters said, ‘I’ve had much worse at the hands of colleagues, ma’am. And I take a size 12. When I put my foot in it, everyone knows. Anything else before we interview Trudi Mercer?’
At a few minutes after six that same evening, the squad was back around the table in the main office. They sat in silence for another few seconds before Freeman said, ‘Thanks, Chris. Good summary.’
Melanie Haines, Trudi Mercer and Brian Riley had all gone home. The stories told by the two young women and the middle-aged man had conflicted in fundamental ways but there was nothing solid with which to divine which of their accounts was the most dishonest. As DI Greene had put it, ‘It might not be a case of who is telling the truth. It might be a case of who is telling the fewest lies, ma’am.’
Freeman had thanked him and said that was very helpful, to general amusement; even Tom Greene managed a smile. Then she turned to Waters and said, ‘Recordings and screens are all very well but you two were in the room. Is Trudi Mercer frightened of Melanie Haines?’
‘Yes, she is, ma’am.’
‘With good reason?’
A different sort of question. Waters began to think, but Freeman had said “you two were in the room” and it was John Murray who said, ‘If Melanie got in touch with me and wanted to talk again, I’d make sure it was in a public space with CCTV, ma’am.’
Freeman nodded, hearing nothing that surprised her, and then Denise Sterling said, ‘With respect to everyone concerned, ma’am, would it be better if when we interview them next time – and there’ll be a next time – me and Serena have a go?’
Freeman said, ‘Your thinking being?’
‘These girls, ma’am… It’s how they earn their living, playing men. I know our boys are something special, but at the end of the day, they’re blokes, aren’t they? They can’t…’
But the point disappeared into laughter and amused relief – relief after an ultimately disappointing end to the day. Freeman let it run its course and looked to Denise again.
‘I’m just saying, Miss Haines won’t get anywhere with me with those big, blue eyes. I don’t know about Serena, but…’
More laughter and a playful push from the afore-mentioned detective constable.
Freeman said, ‘You’re correct in one thing, Denise – we’ll be interviewing them again. First, we need to get as deep as we can into all the phone data, the satnav data, the files from the agency, Roxanne’s bank stuff. Something will be buried in it, something we can use. What about Melanie’s previous? Has anyone examined that thoroughly? Rhetorical – don’t answer. Tom, anything on the Mini? Why are you interested in it?’
Greene said, ‘I know who sold it – the sales manager at Wretham Motors near Norwich. He wasn’t in today, taking his mother to hospital, so I didn’t call him, but his office has passed on a message. I’ll speak to him in the morning. What’s interesting is that the car went into Roxanne’s name but there’s no trace of it in her bank statements. Twenty-seven thousand pounds isn’t a transaction I could have missed. That amount of cash handed over for a car would be odd, to say the least. And Roxanne’s account tells me she was a saver, regular deposits of what she was earning. We know why – she was a girl with a plan for the future. So how did she pay for the car?’
The detective inspector looked around the group, and when he reached Waters, he stopped for some reason. Then Waters said, ‘Perhaps she didn’t.’
Clive Betts said, ‘She nicked it!’ but Waters saw the nod that Greene gave him.
Freeman said, ‘Well, we were expecting a late one, and now it isn’t. I needn’t have cancelled my appointment, and you can all go and surprise your loved ones. I hope that doesn’t have unfortunate consequences. By the way, I’m calling in on Roxanne’s parents. They’ve been in touch, asking for news.’
Freeman and Smith were different in many ways, but not that one. Waters saw the looks of sympathy around the table – this is not the best part of being the senior investigating officer. The DCI said, ‘So, if there’s anything we’ve forgotten to ask them, or if something’s come up in the light of our investigations that you think merits mentioning to them, let me know. We’ll re-group in the morning, eight-thirty, and-’
And a mobile began to ring. Greene said, ‘Excuse me, ma’am,’ got up and went across to his desk. After looking at the number, he took the call. Waters watched him as the other detectives around the table made ready to leave. If a hundred people had been stopped in the street, introduced to the detective inspector and asked to guess what he did for a living, not one would have got the right answer. Greene was nondescript. He might be in retail, a departmental manager in a supermarket, or he might be a middle-ranking official in local government. Second in charge of a murder squad? Not in a million years! It was impossible to say quite what a police detective looked like, of course, in the abstract, but the best of those with whom Waters had worked didn’t look like one.
Denise and Serena were at the door when Greene said, ‘Ma’am?’
Freeman looked across and saw him pointing to his mobile, which meant this was something. Greene sat at his desk and said, ‘Yes, Mr Lapsley, that’s right. Thank you for getting back to me so quickly.’
Then Greene covered the mobile for a moment and said, ‘Wretham Motors.’
Mr Lapsley was doing most of the talking – his office must have given him a full account of what the detective inspector wanted to know. Greene checked the registration plate with him and was clearly told they were talking about the same car. Greene said, ‘I’ve no doubt you sell a lot of cars, Mr Lapsley, and this was a while ago. But this is very helpful. We’d like to trace the gentleman concerned, so that we can elimi…’
Tom Greene’s voice tailed off. The office was now so quiet everyone could hear the voice on the other end, not the words but a distant buzzing, like a fly trapped inside a tin can. Greene glanced up at Cara Freeman with an expression impossible to read and said into the mobile, ‘You recognised him, Mr Lapsley?’
A single buzz for yes.
Greene said, ‘How was it that you recognised him, if you don’t mind me asking, sir? In what context did you…’
Greene was writing at the same time. He repeated back what the sales manager was telling him for the benefit of the squad – ‘I see. Your daughter-in-law works there. And this gentleman…’
Mr Lapsley was talking again, the buzzing seemed louder, but Greene had stopped writing in the middle of a line. He stared at Freeman this time, let the man finish and then said, ‘Could you just repeat that for me, Mr Lapsley. I didn’t quite catch the name.’
Mr Lapsley obliged, and Greene said, ‘If you don’t mind, sir, I’m just going to put you on hold for a moment. Is that all right?’
The detective inspector finished his note then, and Waters thought, he isn’t playing this, he isn’t milking it, as DC might have said – he’s giving himself time to get his head around it. What on earth…
Greene said then in his usual, desk-manager’s voice, ‘Ma’am. The sales manager remembers selling the Mini, and he has all the details of the transaction to hand. It so happens that he recognised the man who was with the young lady, and who paid for the car.’
It was impossible to say quite how much Freeman had deduced from one side of the telephone conversation, but she’d got something, because there was a note of trepidation in her voice when she said, ‘Go on.’
Then Waters saw John Murray’s face. He remembered their conversation about Allen, and Murray saying it wasn’t really funny because he wasn’t really joking. It was plain that Murray had remembered it too.
Greene said, ‘It might be a delicate matter, ma’am.’
Freeman said, ‘Wasted on me, then. Who was it?’
‘Jonathan Walmsley. Lord Walmsley, ma’am.’
Chapter Twenty-three
It was after ten o’clock that evening before Waters arrived at the house. True to her word, Miriam had waited up for him, and she went into the kitchen to make him a drink of hot chocolate, something that had already become a quaint domestic ritual between them. Equally predictably, she said nothing more about whatever it was he ought to have shared with her, leaving it to Waters to wonder whether he should mention it now or hope it might have been forgotten. Some hope, of course…
He watched as she found first the top of the little side-table, and then the coaster. She located the centre of the coaster by spreading the thumb and forefinger of her left hand across it, placing the mug exactly in the centre. Then she moved around to the other end of the sofa and sat with him, but not yet touching him, which was a sign, and yet she didn’t look displeased. Ben came in from the kitchen and took up his customary position, sitting on the carpet and leaning back on the edge of the sofa so both could reach his head should they feel the need.
Waters said, ‘As you can see’ – they were long past the apologies for idiom – ‘I’m not avoiding you.’
