Fever of the Bone (47 page)

Again, Paula just sat out the storm. She knew Scott wanted this to end but she wanted the reason to be Paula. And Paula was determined to give the lawyer no excuse. ‘Why would he do that?’ she said once Diane was composed again.

‘He did a bad thing. I don’t know what it was. He couldn’t tell me. It was something to do with a client’s data. He did something and somebody died.’ She seemed to be looking inward, as if reliving some scene in her memory. ‘And something inside him seemed to come loose.’ She met Paula’s steady gaze. ‘I know that sounds weird, but that’s what it was like. He kept talking about carrying evil inside him like a virus. And he said my Jodie couldn’t live to carry his virus to the next generation. He was crying when he did it.’ She put her hand to her mouth and began rocking again.

Paula had been prepared for Diane to blame it all on her partner, particularly since he’d slipped through the net and wasn’t there to present his version of events. She’d started from a position of scepticism, but as the interview proceeded her doubts were shrinking. There was something horribly convincing about Diane Patrick’s narrative. And she was certainly in a state. It was hard to imagine how she could be faking this come-apart. ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ she said. ‘But here’s where you’re losing me. How did he go from killing his own child to murdering these teenagers?’

Diane Patrick’s face registered naked astonishment. It was so blatant that it cast doubt over the rest of what Paula had seen. ‘Because they were his children too. You didn’t know?’

‘How could we know?’ Paula said. ‘We knew they were connected by the same sperm donor, but we had no way of finding out it was Warren. Nobody gets access to that information. Not even police officers with a warrant.’

Diane stared at her, apparently lost for words.

Paula smiled. ‘Which kind of begs the question. How did Warren find out who they were?’

There was a long silence. Paula would have bet Diane was weighing up whether a lie was going to be caught out. At last, she spoke. Slowly, as if feeling her way. ‘He forced me into it. He threatened to kill me.’

‘I got that, yes. He killed your baby then he threatened you. It didn’t occur to you that you could escape?’

Diane gave a bitter little laugh. ‘It’s obvious you know nothing about the way the modern world works. When it comes to cyberspace, Warren is one of the masters of the universe. I could maybe run, but I could never hide. He’d have found a way to get me.’

‘You’re talking now,’ Paula pointed out.

‘Yes. But you’re going to catch him and keep him away from me,’ Diane said, completely calm for the first time in their interview.

‘So where is he? Where are we going to find him?’

‘I don’t know. He hasn’t spent the night at home since the first murder.’

‘You told my colleague he was in Malta.’

Diane looked at her lawyer. ‘I was afraid,’ she said.

‘You heard my client,’ Scott said. ‘She has been in fear of her life. Her actions have been the product of duress.’

‘Duress isn’t a defence to murder,’ Paula said.

‘And so far, nobody is suggesting my client has committed murder or attempted murder or treason, which are the only exceptions to the defence of duress,’ Scott retorted, the steel of her tones matching her expression.

‘I want to back up a little,’ Paula said, looking directly at Diane, who had been apparently ignoring their exchange. ‘How did Warren find out the names of the children he’d fathered?’

Diane couldn’t hold Paula’s stare. She picked at the edge of the table with her thumbnail and watched her hand intently. ‘The HFEA employ a data security firm to hold their back-ups. We’re a small community. Everybody knows everybody else. Warren found out who does the HFEA and basically bribed them. He said we’d do the back-up and hand it over to them and we’d pay them the same as the HFEA. So they’d get double their money for no work.’

‘And they didn’t wonder why you wanted to get your hands on the data? They weren’t worried about compromising their security?’

‘It’s not compromising your security when you’re dealing with one of your own.’

Paula thought that was bullshit and made a note to come back to it another time. ‘So Warren went into the HFEA and backed up their database?’

She chewed the skin round her thumbnail. ‘It was me. He thought they’d be less suspicious of a woman.’

‘So you helped yourself to the data that would identify who got Warren’s sperm?’

‘I didn’t have any choice,’ she said, stubborn now.

‘We all have a choice,’ Paula said. ‘You chose not to exercise yours and four children are dead.’

‘Five,’ Diane said. ‘You think I don’t know that?’ Scott leaned over and whispered something in Diane’s ear. She nodded.

‘Did you know what Warren intended when you stole that data?’ Paula asked.

‘I wasn’t thinking straight about anything at that point. I was half-mad with grief.’

‘We need to find Warren, Diane. Frankly, at this point you need to be thinking about yourself. Under the principle of joint enterprise, which I’m sure Ms Scott will be happy to explain to you, you’re looking at four murder charges. I can’t make any promises because we don’t have the power to do deals like they do on the telly. But if you help us now, we’ll help you down the line. Where is he, Diane?’

She blinked back more tears. ‘I don’t know. I swear to God. We’ve been together for seven years and he’s never gone off anywhere like this. He’s only ever away when it’s business, and then I know what hotel he’s in. He’s never hidden from me before.’

‘What was the plan tonight? Was he supposed to come over to kill Ewan?’

‘He should have been there before I picked Ewan up. He told me he’d be back in plenty of time. When it came time to collect Ewan, I didn’t know whether to go or not. But I was scared of what he’d do if I screwed up. So I went and got him.’ She almost smiled. Paula detected triumph. ‘He won’t show up now you lot are there.’

‘He won’t see us,’ Paula said.

‘That’s what you think. He’ll be able to watch everything you did this afternoon. He’s got remote access to all the cameras. He’ll have known as soon as you drove up to the gate. He knew all about the big black cop who came on Sunday even before I emailed him. Wherever he is, he’s one step ahead of you.’

‘You sound pleased about that,’ Paula said.

‘If that’s what you think then there’s something wrong with your hearing.’

It was the first sign of combative spirit Diane had shown and it intrigued Paula. ‘What about family? Parents, siblings? Friends?’

‘We kept ourselves to ourselves,’ she said. ‘He doesn’t get on with his parents. He’s not in touch with them.’

‘You’re not doing yourself any favours here, Diane,’ Paula said. ‘We’ve got your computers now. You said Warren was a master of the universe with computers. Well, I’ve got a colleague who’s even better than that. She’ll be all over your contacts book by now.’

‘I don’t think so,’ Diane said. ‘We’re security specialists. If she tries to get in, the data will all rewrite itself as gobbledygook. ‘

Paula chuckled. ‘I wouldn’t bet on that.’ She pushed her chair back. ‘If you’re not in the mood to be helpful, I don’t want to waste my time. We’ve got you bang to rights on abduction, false imprisonment and attempted murder.’

‘Then charge my client or release her. You’ve got nothing. The boy went with her willingly. He passed out. My client cannot be held responsible for whatever her partner left lying around on their kitchen table.’ Scott was working up a head of indignation but Paula cut her off.

‘Tell it to the magistrates tomorrow morning. I’m done for now. We will have further questions later, so it would be helpful if you could keep yourself available, Ms Scott.’

Tony took his hands out of his pockets and folded his arms. ‘She’s good. She’s very good. She’s only lying when she has to, so you don’t really notice the lies. She doesn’t have a tell either.’

He swung round as Paula walked in. She leaned against the wall, looking exhausted. ‘She’s a tough cookie,’ she said.

‘Well spotted,’ Tony said. ‘She’s the best kind of liar. One of those who convince themselves they’re telling the truth.’

‘What did you make of her?’ Carol asked Paula.

‘At first, I was completely with her. I bought it all. I thought she’d truly been terrorised. Then there was one moment - I think it was when I asked the question that made it seem like we didn’t know that Warren was the father of the victims. Her reaction was so nakedly genuine that it reset the benchmark and I realised she wasn’t nearly as candid as she wants us to think.’ Paula pushed her hair back from her forehead. ‘I got nothing from her. Nothing worth a damn.’

‘I wouldn’t say that,’ Tony said. ‘We know a lot more than we did before. The picture’s starting to become clearer.’

‘But we’ve got to find Warren,’ Carol said. ‘I’ve got Stacey covering his credit card, all his known email addresses, his driving licence and his passport. His photo is going out on the news tonight.’

‘He’ll be long gone,’ Paula said.

‘Tony thinks not. Tony thinks he’s got a mission to finish, don’t you?’

Lost in his own reverie, Tony frowned at her. ‘What?’

‘A mission. He’s got a mission to complete.’

He scratched his head. ‘That’s what I said, yes. But you’re not going to find him, Carol.’ He grabbed his jacket from the chair where he’d tossed it. ‘I need to go and talk to somebody.’ He made for the door.

‘Talk to who? About what?’ Carol demanded. But she was talking to a closing door.

Stacey wasn’t the only one who could take advantage of the information age. These days, once you’d got a warrant, things could move at amazing speed. Take the phone companies. As soon as they’d returned to the MIT squad room, Kevin had been detailed to acquire phone records for DPS and Diane Patrick. He’d managed to track down a magistrate to sign the warrant within the hour, then he’d scanned it and served it electronically. The mobile and landline companies had been just as quick off the mark for once.

He was surprised by how little phone traffic there had been from the numbers and said as much to Stacey. ‘Do you think she’s been using a phone we don’t know about? A throw-away? ‘

‘Maybe,’ Stacey said. ‘But most people in the ICT community prefer to use email or IMing. You can encrypt it much more easily. Phones are hideously insecure.’ And then she’d given him access to a bit of software that acted as a reverse directory. At the touch of a key, the names and addresses associated with the numbers spooled out on the screen before him.

He looked down the list and saw it was mainly companies. He suspected they were probably all DPS clients, but he’d have to work his way through them and make sure. There were a couple of calls to Carr’s Garage. Kevin thought that was the cousin who took in DPS’s parcels, but he made a note to check with Ambrose.

One number stood out from the crowd - the direct line for the county council’s environmental disposal unit. Diane Patrick had called them on Thursday morning. The call had lasted for eight minutes. On impulse, Kevin promoted it to number one on his call list and dialled it. It led to an inevitable automatic menu. It took three levels of options before he got a human being. He introduced himself and said, ‘I’m interested in a call made to your unit on Thursday morning. It might involve evidence in a murder inquiry.’ He’d found over the years that the word ‘murder’ provoked remarkable brisk-ness among bureaucrats.

‘Murder?’ the woman on the other end of the phone exclaimed. ‘We wouldn’t know anything about murder.’

‘I’m sure you wouldn’t.’ Kevin adopted his most placatory manner. ‘I need you to consult your records. I believe a murder suspect called you on Thursday and arranged for something to be picked up from their home. I need to know if I’m right and if so, what it was.’

‘I don’t know if I’m allowed to do that,’ she said dubiously. ‘It’s the Data Protection Act, you see.’ Kevin almost groaned. The Data Protection Act had become the knee-jerk shield of every jobsworth in the country. ‘Besides,’ she continued, ‘how do I know you’re a policeman?’

‘Why don’t I give you the details and you can consult your supervisor and then you can call me back either way at Bradfield Police HQ? I really don’t want to have to waste time getting a warrant for this, but if your manager insists, I will. How does that sound to you?’

‘I suppose,’ she said reluctantly. Kevin gave her Diane Patrick’s details and the main switchboard number and repeated his name and rank. As he replaced the phone, he made a bet with himself that, since it was already almost half past four, he wouldn’t hear another word from the council till the morning. He might as well start on the private sector.

He was on his second call to a DPS client when Sam waved at him. ‘I’ve got someone from environmental disposal for you,’ he called. ‘Something about a freezer?’

Kevin ended his call and picked up the other line. ‘DS Matthews. Thanks for getting back to me.’

‘This is James Meldrum, head of section at environmental disposal,’ a precise voice told him. ‘You spoke to one of my staff earlier.’

‘That’s right. About a phone call from Diane Patrick or DPS.’

‘I’ve consulted my guidelines and I believe I can provide you with the information you requested.’ He paused, as if for applause.

‘Thank you. I appreciate that,’ Kevin said, belatedly realising something was expected of him.

‘A Diane Patrick asked us to collect a chest freezer from her premises. We did so yesterday morning.’

‘A chest freezer?’ Kevin felt a burst of excitement. ‘Was it empty?’

‘If it had not been, our operatives would not have uplifted it.’

‘Do you know where it is now?’

‘We have a dedicated area for pre-disposal storage of fridges and freezers. We are obliged to take special disposal precautions according to the law. So this item will have been taken there.’ Meldrum clearly took pleasure in the detail of his work. Not to mention his grammar.

‘And it will still be there? It won’t have been disposed of?’