Vigilante (21 page)

Something John Mills’ girlfriend said had stuck with Jessica.

Because of the seriousness of the incident, the Scene of Crime officers had taken the evidence from the location. Once they had analysed everything, most, if not all, of the items would be released back to the investigating force to be kept in evidence storage, in the anticipation of a trial. Items could be kept locked away for a long time in case a suspect was found many years down the line. The first thing the SOCO team would do was list everything they had taken and pass it back to the police force – that way officers could start to work on certain aspects of the case even while items were still being examined by forensics.

Jessica wondered if Adam was one of the staff members who had been called in. Someone had already filed a list of evidence recovered and Jessica skimmed through it. As the girlfriend had said, Carrie’s abandoned shoes were on the list, as was her bag and a few other objects. They had been picked up from her own pathway, while her body had been found on Mills’ driveway half-a-dozen doors down. There was no knife or other type of murder weapon listed and Jessica closed the file.

‘She wasn’t wearing shoes?’ Rowlands said.

‘Seems not.’

A new thought entered Jessica’s head though and she quickly reopened the file, checking through the list of items again. ‘No phone,’ she said.

‘Sorry?’

‘Her phone isn’t on this list. She definitely had it in the pub.’

‘Yeah, she was texting all the time.’

‘She obviously didn’t go into her house else she wouldn’t have left her bag and shoes on her pathway. You saw her dress, it’s not as if it could be hidden away in a pocket, so if it wasn’t found in her bag then where is it?’

Rowlands stepped away from the chair to let Jessica push it back and stand up. ‘I’ll phone the officers left at the scene to see if they can see it anywhere, then get onto the taxi company to make sure she didn’t drop it,’ he said.

‘Okay, good. I’ll be in my office, come let me know.’

Jessica didn’t know if it would be significant or not but Carrie had certainly been agitated leaving the quiz the previous evening. She said she was feeling a bit ill but had her phone in her hand as she departed and Jessica felt at the time there was something she wasn’t letting on. If someone had called her, the phone’s logs could be crucial. Without the device, they could apply to the phone company to release certain records but she couldn’t do that without permission from Farraday and probably even the superintendent.

She walked back through the halls of the station towards her office. All of the day-shift workers were now in and the news about Carrie’s death had spread, the atmosphere of defiance and anger rising. Jessica had those feelings herself but was trying to bury them and focus on seeing it as a death she should be investigating, not the death of a close friend and colleague.

She walked into her office and Reynolds spun around in his seat. ‘Jess,’ he said sadly. ‘I only heard a few minutes ago. I didn’t know if you were in or at the hospital or the scene. I was going to call but didn’t want to interrupt anything.’

Jessica hadn’t heard what he was saying, staring towards the opposite half of the room where her desk was. ‘What’s happened in here?’ she said, trying not to sound angry but with a clear edge to her voice.

Reynolds was clearly confused. ‘Sorry?’

‘My things have been moved around.’ She walked over towards her side of the room and started picking up papers from the floor, before flicking through a separate pile on her desk.

‘Um, I don’t know. I mean you’re always a bit messy, it looks the same to me.’

‘You’ve not gone through any of this?’

‘What? No, I only just got in here ten minutes ago or so. Farraday was walking out and said something about wondering where you were.’

TWENTY-FIVE

Jessica looked across the room at her colleague. ‘You actually saw him in here?’

Reynolds seemed a bit confused but pointed over his shoulder towards their office door. ‘Sort of, he had just come out of the door as I walked into the corridor. I asked him if he had been talking to you in here but he just mumbled something and walked off. I didn’t really catch it but assumed he was looking for you when I saw you weren’t around.’

Jessica tried to calm herself and not show Reynolds there was any obvious problem. She wasn’t ready to share her ideas with anyone else just yet and still feared she was being paranoid. ‘I did tell him I was going to be in my office. Maybe he just knocked something over by accident? It’s fine.’

Reynolds looked at her with his head tilted at the angle she hated as it indicated someone was about to ask if she was all right. Before he could speak, she started walking back towards the door. ‘I’ll check with him now.’

Jessica again didn’t know what to think. Her side of the office was always a mess but she knew where everything was and could tell someone had gone through her things. What could Farraday have been looking for?

She headed for reception and then up the stairs. On the first floor, aside from the chief inspector’s office, there were only storage areas and miscellaneous rooms for officers from other districts who were working with them temporarily. If ever the superintendent was at their station for a day he would be given one of the spare rooms to work from. The floor was a lot quieter than the rest of the station and, apart from the DCI himself, very few people spent much time upstairs.

Farraday’s office had glass that ran all around it and Jessica could see instantly he wasn’t there. She hadn’t even known what she was going to say to him but, given Jason had said he was looking for her, it would at least be a start. She stopped and motioned to turn back towards the stairs but then had a thought. Jessica walked towards the door of the office and pushed the handle down. The office would usually be locked overnight but the grip allowed her to open it. She paused at the door knowing she shouldn’t go in but the theories in the back of her mind urged her forwards.

She didn’t know what she was looking for as she stepped carefully behind his desk. Jessica realised she was on tiptoes even though she had no reason to be creeping; it wasn’t as if someone downstairs would hear her. At first she fingered through some papers on the desk and then looked on top of the filing cabinets behind her. There was nothing of any significance but she turned back to the desk and tried the drawers.

The top one was full of pens, rubber bands and paper clips, and she closed it quietly before opening the middle one. There were a few documents inside and Jessica looked through their contents. They related to a separate case that was being worked on but there was nothing untoward in him having them.

Finally, she pulled out the bottom drawer. There was an A4 writing pad on top with two more files underneath. She thumbed through the first one, which had some financial figures relating to their budget, and then picked up the final cardboard wallet at the bottom of the drawer. She opened the front cover and blinked furiously at the top sheet of paper.

It was Detective Constable Carrie Jones’ personnel file.

Jessica found it hard to believe what she was holding. She skimmed through the contents and could see all of her friend’s personal details. Her full name, date of birth, place of birth, current address and contact numbers were on the top sheet. There were details relating to her parents and education plus underneath were the test results from when she had joined the force. The sheets that had been filled in when she was interviewed were included and so were the results of her physical exams. There was a hard copy of her Criminal Records Bureau check, showing she didn’t even have a driving conviction.

She didn’t read the contents word for word but everything you could have wanted to know about the constable was present.

Jessica’s heart was racing as she returned the contents of the drawer and walked out of the office, closing the door behind her. The personnel department were based on the floor below and, while everyone’s records were also stored digitally on the computer system, there were hard copies too. All of the information was supposed to be private and Jessica had no idea how the DCI would have managed to take the file, let alone why he would do so.

Having the file could well be a disciplinary offence but Jessica knew she had to tread carefully. Perhaps he had taken the file after the killing because he was looking for a lead himself? Without talking to Cole or her it would be an odd thing to do but it was possible.

Jessica quickly made her way down the stairs and went to see if Cole had arrived. Despite what she had just seen, she was desperate to act as normal as possible. The whole team would be waiting for the morning briefing and, suspicions or not, she and Cole were going to have to meet with the DCI at some point to get all the details together.

As she was walking towards the offices, Rowlands was coming towards her. ‘There you are. Reynolds said you had gone to look for the DCI.’ Jessica didn’t want to say anything so simply looked at him, asking him with her eyes what he wanted. He took the hint and continued talking. ‘I’ve spoken to one of the officers at the scene and they say there are still Scene of Crime officers at Carrie’s house.’

‘Did they find her phone?’

‘The guy said they’d found her footprints leading towards Mills’ house so they know she walked across her neighbour’s garden to get there. According to the person he spoke to they didn’t find a phone.’

‘What about the taxi?’

‘It took a few calls but I found the company that operate from the rank by the pub. They checked the records and found the journey from last night. They checked with the driver but he says there was nothing left in the back of his cab. It was his last journey of the night too so it’s not as if anyone else could have picked it up.’

Jessica took her phone out of her jacket pocket and pressed a few buttons. ‘May as well try it,’ she said. The number she called didn’t even connect, instead going straight to voicemail. Jessica felt sick as she heard the cheery Welsh voice at the other end.

‘Hey, it’s Carrie. I’m busy or something, leave a message.’

Jessica hung up, trying to keep her composure. ‘It’s off.’

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Half an hour later, Jessica was sitting back in Farraday’s office. She nervously looked at the desk she had searched through not too long ago but, if she had left anything out of place, it hadn’t been mentioned. Cole was sitting next to her as Reynolds stood. The chief inspector was drumming his fingers.

‘Before we start, I was given some news this morning to pass on to you, Daniel. Graham Hancock has been bailed. You know he pleaded not guilty to wasting our time and had been kept in but some soft-arse magistrates let him out on appeal this morning. Christ knows when he’ll be on trial but until then that sicko’s free to walk around.’

With everything that had happened during the morning, Jessica had forgotten about the man who had confessed. She didn’t feel in danger from him but the idea he could be back on the streets was certainly not what she expected. He had initially been remanded but, because he could only get six months in jail as a maximum punishment, the magistrates had decided he should be let out.

DCI Farraday looked at her but she couldn’t read his face. There might have been concern but it could just be annoyance. ‘Are you going to be okay with that?’ he asked.

‘Yes, Sir. It’s fine.’

He looked back towards the centre of the room, trying to talk to the three of them at once, without singling any of them out. ‘We’re all senior detectives here and it’s us who have to set the example today. Jones was a colleague to us all and I know you must be feeling angry but we have a job to do.’

Jessica knew he was right but hearing her friend called ‘Jones’ sounded cold.

‘Do I think this is linked to the other deaths? I don’t know. We need to start by finding out if this is somehow connected to them and, of course, McKenna. That’s going to take time through the labs but, in the meantime, let’s start with Mills. Someone needs to go back to talk to the girlfriend and someone else needs to get digging. Talk to the other neighbours too. We know what his record is like but let’s really nail him.’

‘What about Carrie?’ Jessica asked, deliberately using her first name.

The DCI turned around to focus solely on her, his eyes narrowing. ‘We all want to push on and find out what happened but we’re going to have to wait for the results.’

‘Do you know her phone is missing?’ Jessica’s question brought an abrupt silence and she could feel the three men looking at her. ‘I checked the records,’ she continued. ‘It wasn’t found at the scene, it’s not on the body and she didn’t lose it in the taxi on the way home.’

Cole and Reynolds turned back to Farraday, who was staring at Jessica. ‘Assuming it wasn’t accidentally left off the Scene of Crime team’s list, she probably dropped it, or it’s in her house. I don’t see why this matters,’ he said.

Jessica met his eyes. ‘I think we should talk to the superintendent about asking the phone company to release her call and text records. Maybe the fact it’s missing is important.’

Farraday hadn’t stopped staring at her, his eyes thin and fixed. ‘I’ve seen that list too, Daniel and, given the fact her purse wasn’t taken, I think we can rule out theft as a motive. Her phone isn’t a priority and there are too many legal hoops to jump through to get those records released that will take people away from focusing on the real work.’

‘If it takes time, surely that’s why we should start the process now?’

The chief inspector stopped tapping his fingers on the desk and the room was silent. ‘Are you questioning my judgement?’

Jessica was prevented from saying something instinctive as Cole cut in. ‘I think we’ve all had a long night and are feeling a little emotional.’

She said nothing but refused to look away from her boss, daring him to take his eyes away first and wanting him to feel uncomfortable and know she was onto him.

Cole spoke again, trying to defuse the tension. ‘What are we going to do about the media?’

It was a question that couldn’t be ignored and Farraday finally stopped eyeing Jessica and turned to the inspector. ‘The press office have started putting together a statement. At the moment we’re going to avoid linking it to the previous cases until the lab results come back. If they put two and two together, there’s not much we can do. The office have said that if anyone wants to make a personal tribute or something similar to Jones, then they are compiling a few before putting out a separate statement later.’

He asked if anyone else had any questions but the three detectives stayed silent and the DCI sent them on their way, saying the four of them would give a briefing to the rest of the team in fifteen minutes. On their way down the stairs, Cole said something about staying calm but Jessica wasn’t listening. She walked straight out of the station, getting into her car, and calling Garry Ashford.

The journalist answered immediately.

Jessica knew she could have given a statement to the press office that would have been distributed with everyone else’s but she wanted to talk to someone she trusted. Garry had already heard about the killing and she told him she couldn’t pass on too many specifics about the crime scene. The truth was she didn’t trust herself to keep her suspicions about Farraday private. Instead she spoke about how highly she thought of the dead constable. She didn’t really know what she was trying to achieve. In one way it was a slight rebellion against the chief inspector by bypassing the press office but it also felt good to talk about Carrie’s best qualities. After speaking for ten minutes, she knew she had to be back at the main meeting and told Garry he could call her later if he wanted to.

The team briefing went well. The chief inspector formally told the officers what had happened the night before and said that, for now, they weren’t officially linking it to the other deaths at least until the lab results came back. DI Cole let everyone know where they were up to with the investigation, which wasn’t far, and handed out the jobs for the day.

Regardless of how she was feeling, Jessica knew Farraday had been right about them setting an example and when it was her turn to talk, she took a deep breath and spoke as calmly as she could manage.

‘I know a lot of you are angry and upset and want to get out there and find who did this but we have to work as the trained professionals we are. We need to be calm and level-headed and not make mistakes. If you’ve been given a job to do, you need to be able to do it to the best of your abilities.’

She paused for a moment to stop her voice from cracking. ‘There’s no shame in being upset and none of us have a problem if any of you need to speak to the counselling staff. But we need to be able to work on this like any other case and, instead of being consumed by our anger, we must use it to drive us and get things done. We all lost a friend this morning – now let’s show everyone what a fantastic team of people Carrie had around her.’

There was complete silence in the room as she finished talking. She felt a lump in her own throat and could see that a few of the officers in front of her seemingly had something in their eyes that needed wiping away.

Farraday dismissed everyone and Jessica returned to her office with Reynolds. With the door shut behind them, he opened his arms and hugged her tight. At first, she didn’t know whether to reciprocate but, despite them being two officers on duty, the moment felt right. After letting her go, he said he had been moved by the way she had talked to the room. It was nice of him to say but didn’t help with Jessica’s own feelings of anger. She had told the rest of the officers they could speak to the counselling staff if they wanted but knew she needed to above anyone. They were just a phone call away but she couldn’t bring herself to dial the number.