A minute or two passed before she realised that she should ensure Malcolm knew where they were. Dialling him up again, she asked him to wait and then handed the phone to Grace. “Give Malcolm directions,” she said by way of explanation and then she tuned out of the conversation.
It was probably fifteen more minutes before they saw Malcolm’s green car approaching. Relief flooded Isobel. She couldn’t think any more or decide what to do.
Malcolm stopped at the gate and approached them.
“All right, Grace?” he asked.
Grace dismissed his query with a wave of her hand.
He turned to Isobel. “You?”
She nodded.
“In here?”
“Yes.”
Maybe it was police procedure, or maybe he knew that if she started talking about what she’d seen she would cry, but he didn’t ask anything more. He just pulled down the sleeves of his jumper and opened the gate.
Isobel and Grace followed him.
“Show me,” he said, no fuss, no questions, no talk.
Isobel led the way to the place where the van was and showed him where she had placed the stone.
He nodded then said, “Show me the photo of the body.”
Isobel pulled up the image on her phone.
He looked at it for a few seconds. “Let me make some calls.”
He stepped away and Isobel heard him contact at least three different people but was beyond following what he was organising. Grace came and stood beside Isobel and gently placed her arm around her back. They stood there together at the water’s edge, silent and sad, almost in vigil. No prayers came to Isobel’s mind – in fact, it was blank. Grace’s lips moved but Isobel could hear no words.
An indeterminate length of time passed and then Malcolm came back to them. “I’ve let the police know. And I’ve contacted the Marine Policing Unit and they’re on their way – they’ll arrive by boat. Eventually, I managed to get Simon on the phone.”
At this Isobel stirred. “What did he say?”
“He says that they’ve heard from Thomas Banks.”
Shock registered on Isobel’s face. “What?”
“Yes, he’s rung them to say that he’s been waiting for his wife to call to let him know she was on her way. She hasn’t called. It’s getting very late and he thinks that she’s balked at signing the divorce. He’s going to go over to her flat to see what the problem is.”
“What?” said Isobel again. “And where is he saying he has been all of this time? Just waiting for her?”
“According to him, he knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate today and so he didn’t bother going to work. Instead, he went to a shopping centre to pass the time. Simon is allowing him to go to the flat to check for Anne but he’s sending police to keep an eye on the situation discreetly.”
Isobel felt as if she was living in a nightmare. “So now everyone believes him that he was in a shopping centre? He’s getting away with this!” Her voice held disbelief but also the beginnings of rage.
Malcolm looked at her. “No, Isobel, he’s not getting away with this. We just have to find evidence and at the moment we don’t know that it was him here. So you need to stay calm and let everyone do their jobs and see how we can proceed with this.”
Isobel could feel her anger rising to explosive level. “But he moved a dead body and dumped it!”
“Someone moved a body. We can’t at this point be sure it was him. But we now have grounds to really investigate him.”
“It was him!” Isobel snapped.
“Can you prove it?”
“I have the video.”
“Does it show his face?”
“No, but –”
“So this isn’t simple. Be patient and we will find proof.”
Isobel turned in a sharp circle and faced him again.
Malcolm tried again. “All we have to do is retrieve the body and with your photographic evidence we can arrest him.”
Isobel shook her head in disbelief. “I feel as if I’m in a chess game and he’s always one step ahead.”
“We will get him.”
Isobel turned and wandered some distance away. Malcolm got back on the phone, but Isobel had lost interest in all the machinations. She felt hopeless. Grace said nothing but stayed near her, not intruding.
A police car arrived with two officers. Malcolm explained what had happened and had Isobel show the images from her phone. There were more conversations. They hung around like that for nearly an hour before Isobel observed Malcolm looking busily out onto the river.
An inflated boat was making its way towards them with a number of men in it. They pulled in close to the wall further down from where all the action had taken place. Malcolm reached down and helped pull a man up onto the cement dock and they walked over to where Isobel was standing.
“Isobel, this is Pat Smith, who is in charge of the river search. Pat, this is Isobel, the lady who witnessed the body being moved.”
Pat’s handshake was dry and firm but not crushing. Without further preamble he said, “Malcolm has filled me in on the phone about a lot of the story so no need to repeat it but I understand you also have some footage.”
Isobel nodded.
“I’d like to see that, now, please, before we do anything.”
Isobel pulled out her phone and firstly brought up the photograph of the dead woman’s face as she lay in the hole. She saw Malcolm and Pat exchange a look but no one commented.
She then showed the video of the man pulling the garden bag out of the gazebo and around the side of the house. And then the images of him taking the gardening bag out of the van, placing the stones in it, knotting it and then dumping it into the river.
“And the van?” Pat asked Malcolm.
“A forensic team is coming but, with no body, as yet this is not going to be a priority.”
Pat nodded. “But you are preserving the scene.”
“Yes, of course.” Malcolm turned and pointed. “Isobel placed that stone where she thought the man stood to dump the bag.”
Pat nodded, gestured as to whether he could have her phone and rewound and froze the picture. He measured things with his eye. “Isobel, I need you to send me all of these images so I can use them as reference.”
“OK,” Isobel replied.
With Pat’s help that was quickly achieved.
Pat turned then to Isobel. “We’re going to begin our search here. Obviously, it will be systematic and we will search a much bigger area than just the suspected spot if we don’t immediately find the body. There’s a current here so despite those stones the body may have travelled. I’m going to organise another team to go downriver a bit and search. My men can only stay underwater for a certain time. We’ll see what we can find tonight, then review overnight and if need be plan tomorrow. Isobel, there are no guarantees with a river search. We know a lot about the likely currents and paths, but it is a river.”
Isobel was dismayed. She had thought it would be a simple matter of bringing up the body from where she had seen it dumped.
As if sensing her depression, Pat said, “Your photograph shows clearly a dead and decaying body. There is someone there and we’re going to do everything we can to find them.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“You did great to get so much footage. It was very brave of you.”
Isobel acknowledged what he said with a small turn of her head and then he was gone, calling instructions to the waiting men in the boat in a technical language that was foreign to her. As he spoke the men started lifting face masks. Pat got back into the boat and within a few minutes she could see two men being helped into air tanks and another man take his place at the front of the boat with a clipboard and chart. Pat was on a phone speaking vehemently to someone else and giving instructions. Things were well in hand.
With the commencement of the search Isobel felt a measure of relief coming over her. She turned to Malcolm. “What should I do now?”
A muttered phone call followed.
He hung up and turned to her.
“Simon is following up with the police on where Anne is. He has the number of this van and is checking who owns it. He has a lot of information to gather. He’s suggesting that you have something to eat, then make your way to Scotland Yard and give a statement to one of his officers. They’ll be expecting you. Then, after that, hold on until he gets back and we can all have a meeting – he thinks that will be at about half past seven.”
That sounded like a good plan and Isobel was glad to comply. Only now was she realising that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast and, despite all that had happened, she was hungry.
“What about you, Malcolm? What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to hold on here for another while and then grab a quick bite on the way to the meeting. I’ll see you there. Fingers crossed that we’ve found something by then.”
Isobel crossed her fingers to show support then asked, “Does Grace need to make a statement too?”
“Yes, because she was the one who saw the gazebo and alerted you. Simon wants all the statements airtight, showing the development of the case. Then he’ll have a better chance with the legal people of being able to get warrants when he needs them.”
That made sense to Isobel. With a “See you later,” for Malcolm and a wave for Pat, she hooked Grace’s arm and they headed out to the road to retrieve the car.
Chapter 36
It was twenty to eight before the meeting started. At least ten people were gathered in a large conference room with whiteboards on the walls covered in writing. Isobel had rung Patricia earlier and asked her to come to the meeting, which only seemed fair, as it was their combined efforts that had uncovered the new information. Patricia had jumped at the chance. Now, they were sitting at the back of the room with Malcolm beside them.
While they were waiting for things to start, Isobel studied the information on the boards. There was the photograph she had taken of the woman’s body and a picture of the front of Thomas Banks’ house. Earlier, during her statement to a younger female officer called Stella, she had shown all the photos she had acquired during her interviews with the various people. The photograph of Anne and Thomas at the formal event was up on the board too, and one each of them individually. There was also a copy of some of Anne Banks’ injuries that Yvonne Dempsey had supplied and a photograph of Charlotte. Beside that was a written list of questions with names beside each one.
Another whiteboard had photographs of some bones in the earth, also a photograph of an older woman and one of Thomas Banks with question marks beside them. Again there was a list of written questions and names assigned to each one. Spread out like this, Isobel could see the scope of this investigation and also all the areas where the police were pursuing active leads.
Simon stood at the front of the room and called the meeting to order.
“Before we begin, I want to introduce the civilians present. Many of you will know Malcolm. He’s one of our own who just couldn’t stay away.”
There was widespread laughter and a few hecklers.
“How can you get bored playing golf?”
“Glutton for punishment!”
“Long hours, abuse, what’s not to miss?”
Malcolm was clearly well used to the banter and was able to hold his own. “I had to come back to give you the benefit of my experience.”
More laughter and teasing. Simon let it go a few moments and then got back to business.
“The other civilians are Isobel McKenzie and Patricia King who have been instrumental in alerting us to these bodies.”
Everyone turned to look at them and Isobel blushed and shifted uncomfortably. Simon cleared his throat and everyone’s attention turned back to him.
“I realise this is unusual but they’re here because they’ve been active in uncovering information and if there are questions at this stage they can answer them quickly. We have a lot to get through and I don’t want any needless delays. OK. First of all, I’ve just spoken to Pat Smith, the MPU officer leading the search for the remains thrown into the Thames. As yet they haven’t found them. This isn’t good. Their best chance is tomorrow otherwise we may never find this body and with it the identity of the victim.”
Isobel was devastated. They had come relatively soon after the bag was dumped. How could they not have found it already?
Simon continued, “Pat has called in their experts in tidal influences and current impact. Tomorrow they’ll commence the search at daybreak wherever they suggest. Pat will call the minute they find anything.” He paused. “Forensics have had a look at the van. A set of prints overlaying the others was lifted from the steering wheel. No match on file. There is also some liquid on the floor of the van. It’s being analysed at the moment. It may be that some fluid leaked from the bag, maybe something from the body. That would be a break. We could identify the victim. We’re waiting to find out what it is. If it’s human, we can compare the DNA with that of Claire Graham, Anne Banks’ sister. Jeff already has a sample.” Another pause and Simon skipped to a new line of enquiry. “The van was a hire van. It was rented out to a Charlie Ellis. He’s a handyman. Paul, where are you with that?”
A lanky officer with touselled brown hair made his way to the front of the room.
“Since no body has yet been found to tie the van to anything bigger, we’ve been taking the line that the van was abandoned at the Deptford wharf. One of the employees from the hire firm identified Charlie Ellis as the man who came in and hired the van. He signed for it and he paid with his bank card. We’ve questioned Charlie Ellis about hiring the van and he says that Thomas Banks phoned him and asked him to hire it and leave it at the Commercial Shopping Centre. Charlie Ellis is cooperating. He freely gave us his phone and there was a call at the time he said. That call was from a burner phone, not from Thomas Banks’ phone. When we asked Charlie about this he said that Thomas explained that he had a problem with his own phone and had borrowed someone else’s.” Paul looked up to check that they were all keeping up and then continued. “We’ve pulled the CCTV coverage from the shopping-centre car park. Charlie Ellis does drive up in the van, place the car key behind the right front tyre and walk away in the direction of the shopping centre. Sometime later a man who has the same size and build as Charlie, with the same jeans, lumberjack shirt and boots, comes out with a cap and gloves on and carrying a B&Q bag. He takes the key and drives off in the van. Thomas Banks’ car also shows up in this car park but in a completely different area. He arrives after the van and doesn’t leave until around the time he phoned you, Simon. In fact he phones from the car park. We’ve pulled the CCTV from the centre and we’re going through it to see if we can trace his movements for those hours. Also, tomorrow we’re going to B&Q to see if they can tell us what was purchased.”
Simon said, “Good. I want detailed accounts of both men’s movements in the shopping centre. I’m not going to talk to Thomas Banks about this until I know the answers to most of the questions I will be asking him. What else does Charlie Ellis say?”
Paul flicked through the pages of his notebook. “Charlie Ellis says that Thomas Banks promised him a thousand pounds and told him to take the rest of the day off, which he says he did. He claims he went home and watched Sky Sports and had a few beers.”
Simon asked, “How did he get home?”
“Tube, he says.”
“Are you following that up?”
“Yes, we’re collecting footage from the Tube stations that he says he used.”
Simon said, “Thomas Banks called Peter the solicitor at half past two claiming that his soon-to-be-ex-wife had not rung to say she was on her way and that he no longer thought that she was going to come and sign papers. There is evidence in the form of a statement by Anne Banks’ sister, and also DNA e
vidence that this woman was a doppelganger. Thomas Banks is of course claiming her as his wife. He says he was worried and called to Anne’s flat but got no answer. Who followed up there?”
“I did, sir.”
“OK, Frank, let’s hear it.”
“After we observed Thomas Banks leave his wife’s flat, where he didn’t gain entry, we checked with the shops below and nearby to see if anyone had seen her. We used the photo that you sent us, and we got something. The lady in the dress shop underneath saw Anne Banks putting a case into a taxi. Because the shop owner had ordered some dresses for Anne, thinking she might need them if she was going away, she followed her out. Mrs Banks said she didn’t need the clothing that weekend and that she would call another time. The shop owner felt she was getting the brush off and she lingered and heard Anne Banks tell the taxi driver to take her to Euston Station.”
There were murmurs around the room.
“And?” Simon prompted.
“We’ve been to Euston and have tracked Anne Banks going into the station and getting on the train to Manchester. I’ve been on to Manchester train station and they’re sending me all the footage of the train arriving in Manchester. That information just arrived before the meeting so we haven’t looked at it yet.”
“What time did this all happen?” Simon asked.
“Between ten and eleven o’clock this morning.”
Simon looked pensive. “So she wasn’t delayed at the hairdresser’s. She did a runner. How did she know to run? What made them suspect we were on to them? Thomas Banks is going to say his wife panicked but he was buying time.” Looking at Frank, he said, “If we can prove his duplicity we would be in a stronger position, especially if we don’t get the body. We really need to find that woman and establish who she is and show at least that he was colluding with her.”
“I’ll find her, sir.”
Simon grinned. “Make sure you do.”
He turned and looked at the whiteboard with the photographs of the bones. “Now to the corpse found in 42 Sycamore Street, which we have yet to confirm is part of this investigation. Ning?”
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