Authors: Clare Donoghue
‘Jane,’ he said, his voice hushed, ‘I see where you’re going with this, but what do you want me to say? None of this is going to keep Lebowski in custody. If Mark couldn’t make the case stick six years ago, I don’t see how we’re going to fare any better. And it’s not like we can ask Mark for help now, is it?’
‘Exactly,’ she said, relieved that he had voiced what she had been thinking throughout her run. ‘Think about it, sir. Mark was the DCI on the Reynolds case. He believed Lebowski was guilty. Maggie was taken on Wednesday the sixteenth of April. Mark disappears five days later. That feels like too big a coincidence to me. Maybe Mark found something, some new evidence – I don’t know,’ she said, closing her eyes. ‘But either way it’s pretty convenient for Lebowski that Mark isn’t around. If I hadn’t specifically looked into Whitaker – Lebowski’s all-too-fancy legal-eagle – the connection with the Reynolds case would never have come up. Whitaker was hardly going to tell me, was she?’
‘No. But, Jane . . . ’ Lockyer stopped.
‘When Maggie’s body was discovered, it was all over the news. A young student from Greenwich University murdered. You don’t think Mark would have seen that and called you . . . called me? I’ve spoken to Sue. Mark had nightmares about the Reynolds case. He couldn’t let it go.’
‘Hang on,’ Lockyer said. ‘Are you saying you think Lebowski has something to do with Mark’s disappearance?’
‘I think it’s a possibility, yes,’ she said, pausing, not wanting to say the next words aloud, not wanting them to be true. ‘And if Lebowski was involved, then I’m not sure we’re ever going to find Mark . . . alive.’
‘How are you going to proceed?’ Phil asked.
‘I’m not sure yet. I’d need new evidence on the Hungerford or Reynolds case to bring Lebowski back in. How would you recommend I deal with him?’ Jane asked. Her question was greeted by silence. Phil rocked back on his chair, looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. She recognized the gesture. She would have to wait for genius to strike before he spoke again.
Their discussion so far had been pretty much one-sided. She had laid out as much background as she could, before Phil had dived in. He was particularly interested in the idea that Mark might have fallen victim to Lebowski. The amount of planning and intelligence required was impressive, according to Phil. She didn’t let his attitude bother her. This was just how the guy operated. He must have known Mark for twenty years, yet there was no hint of regret at his ex-colleague’s disappearance. Like Mort, Phil was only interested in what he could decipher and learn from the case. His musings were peppered with his stock phrases, ‘That aspect is very interesting’ or ‘That could be significant’. He was like a textbook: dry and long-winded. He was taking deep breaths through his nose, a high-pitched whistle accompanying his outgoing breath.
‘Well,’ he said finally, tipping back in his chair, his eyes still closed. ‘Amelia Reynolds was murdered six years ago, you said?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do any of the specifics of that case tally with the Hungerford victim?’
‘Both female students at the same uni, similar age.’ She flipped open the folder on her lap and looked down at the notes.
‘Differences?’ Phil asked.
‘Amelia was sexually assaulted. Maggie had sexual intercourse, but we think it was consensual. They were studying different subjects. No link between them, socially speaking. Their families didn’t know each other – nothing like that. Amelia disappeared in the afternoon, whereas Maggie was taken in the early hours of the morning. Found in different locations. On paper they look unrelated,’ she said with a sigh.
‘But this Lebowski character links them,’ he said.
‘A tenuous link, yes,’ she said.
‘Tenuous or not, I think your instincts are good here, Jane,’ he said, opening his eyes and looking at her. ‘However, another more experienced officer has tried and failed to make any charges stick, so it would be foolish to believe you can do any better.’ She resisted the urge to smile. Only Phil could praise in one breath and criticize in the next. ‘That said, you do have a few points in your favour.’
‘And they are?’
‘Well, when Mark tried to get Lebowski six years ago, he only had the Reynolds girl and the Deptford crime scene to work with. Whereas you have three bodies so far . . . ’ He counted them off on his fingers. ‘Amelia Reynolds, Maggie Hungerford and the Jane Doe down in the mortuary suite. And . . . ’ he said, holding out his hands, as if in triumph, ‘you have four crime scenes, if you include Mark’s house. Lebowski – if indeed he is your man – is without doubt highly intelligent and resourceful, but I would have thought the chances that he carried out three or possibly four murders without leaving so much as a hair behind are slim.’
She found herself nodding. ‘You’re right. Thank you, Phil.’ She looked down at her notes.
‘We haven’t discussed your other theory,’ he said, sitting forward and smiling at her.
‘What other theory?’ She had a horrible feeling she knew where this was going.
‘Mort, is it?’ he said, his smile changing into a smirk, one eyebrow raised to accompany it. ‘Mike mentioned it to me, in passing.’
‘Terry Mort is part of my investigation, but I’ve neither ruled out nor confirmed his involvement,’ she said with a shrug of her shoulders. ‘He dated Maggie Hungerford and is . . . ’ She was unsure how to describe Mort without sounding excessive.
‘Nuts?’ Phil offered. ‘That’s what Mike said: that you thought the boy was nuts. Not the most scientific diagnosis, Jane.’
‘True, but as soon as I am confident that Mort is involved, I will of course want to discuss the matter with you. You are the expert, after all.’ She was about to add that, in her opinion, Phil and Mort shared more than a few personality traits, but her phone vibrated in her pocket. ‘Excuse me,’ she said, retrieving her mobile. It was Lockyer. She pushed ‘Answer’. ‘Yes,’ she said. She could feel Phil’s eyes on her as she listened to her boss on the other end of the phone. ‘I’ll be right down.’ She ended the call and stood up. ‘Sorry, Phil, I need to go back down to the office.’ She turned away, unable to meet his eye. ‘If you could let me have your notes regarding the Amelia Reynolds case ASAP, I’d appreciate it.’
‘Shall we book in another time to talk about—’
‘I’ll call you,’ she said, pulling his door closed behind her. She felt as if she was leaving the headmaster’s office. She could kill Lockyer.
1st May – Thursday
‘Okay, let’s have some quiet, please,’ Jane said, waiting for her team to settle. ‘We’ll have our usual briefing tomorrow morning, but I wanted to get everyone up to speed.’ Notepads opened, pens were uncapped.
‘Do you want the screen on, boss?’ Penny asked.
‘No, thanks, Pen. We won’t need it.’ Jane cleared her throat and stood, still waiting for the murmurs to stop. ‘Are we ready?’ she asked, just as Lockyer entered the room. He nodded and took the seat nearest the door. She was tempted to throw her pen at him for talking to Phil about Mort, but that gripe would have to wait. ‘Right. I’ve asked DC Wall to join us,’ she said, gesturing to Chris. ‘He’s on the Mark Leech investigation, but there is a possible overlap that I want that team to look into.’ The murmurs started up again. ‘Can we leave the speculation until the end of the briefing?’ She waited for quiet. ‘As many of you know, Lebowski will be released without charge at eight o’clock this evening.’ She held up her hand as several voices mumbled their disapproval, Penny included. ‘Yes, I know it’s frustrating, but we don’t have enough to hold him for the full forty-eight hours. He has given a “reasonable” explanation for being in Elmstead and, without physical evidence to the contrary, we have nothing concrete linking him to the second burial site. The evidence linking him to the Hungerford case is circumstantial. Franks, Whitemore, have you come up with anything in Lebowski’s background that could assist with keeping him in custody?’ She shifted her body to the right so that she could see them both.
‘No, boss,’ Whitemore said. ‘His educational background is pretty standard. His work history the same. There’s no record of any disagreements with tutors or students. In fact, looking at the complaints records, he’s one of the few tutors with a clean history. The majority have had a complaint filed at one time or another: a student disputing a grade, that kind of thing. Franks went through his DVLA records – nothing there. From the electoral role, it seems he lived with his wife for ten years. They divorced and he’s lived on his own ever since. He pays his child support for the two minors,’ Whitemore looked down at his notepad. ‘Two girls. Poppy and Petra, seven and ten years old respectively. He sees them every other weekend and for a month during the summer holidays, as far as the custody settlement goes. His divorce papers cite “irreconcilable differences”. There’s no mention of a third party being involved.’
‘Okay. You’ve gone back more than the five years we discussed, I take it?’ Jane asked. She wasn’t annoyed. If anything, she was pleased to see Whitemore and Franks using their own initiative.
‘Yes, boss,’ Franks said, taking over from Whitemore. ‘We figured ten years should cover everything.’
‘Good. Penny, you were running the first and second interviews of all the university staff and students, and local residents. Anything there?’
‘Nothing new,’ Penny said. ‘We’ve canvassed her neighbours. No one saw or heard anything unusual on the night Maggie was taken, or before. None of the students had a bad word to say about Lebowski or any of the other tutors. Terry Mort’s name came up a couple of times, due to his previous relationship with the victim, but other than personal opinions there’s nothing concrete there.’
‘Personal opinions?’
‘Same as what you got. No one likes him,’ Penny said. ‘I spoke to three students in one of the study groups he mentors. They’ve nicknamed him “Little Hitler”.’
‘Right,’ Jane said.
‘A couple of students in Maggie’s classes thought she might have been sleeping with Lebowski.’ Penny shrugged her shoulders.
‘Have you spoken to Chrissie O’Reilly again?’
‘Yes. She insists she didn’t know about the relationship,’ Penny said. ‘I believe her. She was very upset when I confirmed that Maggie was seeing someone, behind her back, so to speak.’
‘It still feels strange that she wouldn’t tell her best friend,’ Jane said. ‘How did the other students know about the affair?’
‘None of them knew for certain,’ Penny said. ‘It was just a rumour – a rumour Chrissie wasn’t privy to, I’m guessing. Maggie sometimes stayed behind after class, and sometimes she and Lebowski had coffee together in the cafeteria.’
‘What about the ex-wife?’ Jane asked, glancing down at her watch.
‘I spoke to her on the phone yesterday, but only briefly. I told her I needed to ask her some questions about her ex-husband, in relation to an ongoing inquiry. She sounded upset but helpful; very complimentary about Lebowski, said he was a good father, et cetera. I asked her to come in for a proper interview today. She’s due in about ten minutes. Do you want to sit in?’
‘I will, yes. Thanks, Penny. Did she know Lebowski has been arrested?’
‘I assume so. She wasn’t surprised to hear from me,’ Penny said.
‘Okay. Give me a shout when you’re heading down and I’ll walk with you,’ Jane said. ‘Anything on the financial side of things, Sasha?’ She searched the room for the DC. When she spotted her, she saw Sasha was shaking her head.
‘He’s clean, boss. No debt, other than his mortgage and a credit card that he pays off in full at the end of every month. As Whitemore said, Lebowski pays his child support and a bit extra to his ex-wife every month. She’s comfortable in her own right, so there’s no obvious need for the over-payment.’
‘He’s just a generous guy?’ Jane asked, looking around her at a dozen other sceptical faces.
‘I don’t know,’ Sasha said, her mouth turning down at the corners.
Jane scratched her head. ‘Who spoke to MISPER about the second body that was found?’
An officer she didn’t know held up his hand. ‘I did, Ma’am,’ he said. ‘There aren’t any missing persons relating to the Elmstead area. Without more information on the body recovered, there are too many missing persons listed for the South-East to even attempt a productive search. I said I’d call back when the post-mortem was done, so that I could at least give them sex, age, height, et cetera, to narrow down the parameters. Do you have a date for it yet?’ he asked.
‘Dr Simpson said he should get to it tomorrow. I’ll let you know, Officer . . . ?’
‘Dixon,’ he offered. ‘I came over from DI Ayres’s team.’
‘Great. Well, thank you for that, Sergeant Dixon.’ Jane bit her lip. She had run enough briefings to know what she was doing, but this case was by far the biggest she had ever dealt with. It was the kind of case Lockyer would normally deal with. She would usually be setting up the laptop and assisting him in the briefing, not running it. ‘I’ve already spoken to the Exhibits team and they don’t have any new trace evidence that could help us. So, as I said, Lebowski will be out by this evening.’ Again there were grumbles of protest. ‘I want to make it clear that we are only releasing him until such time as we have more evidence. Our job now is to find that evidence as quickly as possible. Another case has been brought to my attention, which we need to link into our investigation.’
She held up a file.
‘Amelia Reynolds was found murdered by strangulation six years ago in an allotment shed in Deptford. She was a student at Greenwich, studying law. No one has ever been charged with her murder. However, Lebowski was questioned, several times.’ She put the file down and held up both hands as the chatter increased in volume. ‘I’ve asked Penny to make the file available to all of you, and I expect you to have read and digested the information before our briefing tomorrow morning. Lebowski was questioned, as I said, but he was released without charge. However, the DCI in charge of the investigation seemed confident that Lebowski was involved. This belief caused him to be a tad over-zealous. After several interviews and accusations, Lebowski’s lawyer had the file sealed, and the DCI in question was cautioned not to pursue the matter. That means,’ Jane said, waiting until she had everyone’s attention, ‘that means this case is not to be discussed with anyone outside the team. And I mean anyone. There is no new evidence to link Lebowski to the Amelia Reynolds case and, until there is, I don’t want to hear anyone talking about it to the general population.’ There were nods of agreement. ‘The second point is that the DCI in charge was Mark Leech.’ Her words were met with a collection of loud intakes of breath. ‘Chris is handling Mark’s disappearance.’