What could be done? She looked around her. The office was quiet, with most of its usual occupants out on a case. Just one other officer remained behind, sitting on the other side of the open-plan office. He seemed absorbed in his task, so Lydia sat thinking for a while, then slipped out of the room. She took out her mobile phone and made a phone call about jazz festivals in the area. She’d recently met a rather handsome young musician who she knew helped on several committees. She wanted an excuse to see him again so this would kill the proverbial two birds.
* * *
Rae was looking at a list of the items on Sarah Sheldon’s laptop. She cross-checked these on the machine itself, which now sat on the desk in front of her. There were numerous photos, mostly of Sarah and friends enjoying themselves at parties and social events. Rae recognised the face of the dead man, Paul Derek, in several of them.
The laptop also contained a folder of letters — a CV and several job applications, including the one for her most recent post. There were recipes — jams, cakes, some simple meals. Then Rae found three digital images. The first showed Sarah sitting on a man’s knee. The photo was centred on Sarah, and no details of the man were visible other than his neck, his jacketed left arm encircling her chest and his deeply-tanned neck. There was a small, heart-shaped tattoo on his wrist. The most arresting aspect of the image, however, was what Sarah was wearing: an ornate corset, deep red in colour, with attached, sheer black stockings and matching knickers. Sarah’s face was heavily made-up with thick black eyeliner and mascara. The second image showed Sarah posing alone for the camera, wearing the same outfit. This time the shot was full-length, and showed black and red shoes with stiletto heels. The third shot was totally different. Sarah was wearing a cream, full-length wedding dress and holding a bouquet of pastel-pink flowers. Her make-up, though, looked identical to that in the earlier shots. Rae closed down the photos and looked at the dates. They all bore the date 11 June, two years earlier. Rae was aware that this was not conclusive proof of when they’d been taken; it could be the date on which they’d been copied to the laptop, but it was interesting nonetheless. She went to Sophie’s office and told her about the three “glamour” shots.
Sophie looked at the images in silence. ‘And there are no more?’ she asked finally.
‘No. I’ve finished checking every file on the machine. This is it, ma’am. These three are the only ones that look out of place. All the other files are pretty mundane, even the other photos. I’m just wondering, ma’am, whether computer forensics did a deep check on the hard drive? I think they’ve just listed the files that are there now. What if others have been deleted?’
‘Maybe we didn’t make it clear enough that we wanted the full works. These three photos make it all the more important to get a full scan.’
‘I could drive up with it if you want me to, ma’am. It’ll mean they get it this afternoon and can make a start. Then maybe we’ll get it back before the weekend.’
Sophie frowned. ‘Okay, you take it and I’ll phone through so that they know what to do once you arrive. Bloody hell, why on earth didn’t they do the full job when they had it? I thought it came back rather too quickly.’
‘But it does mean that Jimmy’s been able to start on the email checks, ma’am.’
‘Okay, you’ve calmed me down. Jimmy’s only just started on Derek’s laptop, so wait until he’s ready and take them both together. While you’re waiting can you check round and see if anyone’s got any further with tracing Brian Shapiro? I can’t believe we haven’t managed to find out anything about him yet. If nothing’s happened by tomorrow, I’m going to have to rethink how we go about finding him.’
Sophie walked over to speak to Marsh.
‘What check did we expect on Sarah’s laptop, Barry?’
‘Just a quick one, ma’am. We didn’t think it would be of much significance. Why?’
‘I thought we’d requested a detailed examination.’
‘That’s probably my fault. You left the decision with me, and I went for speed. We could send it back for a more detailed check if you’re suspicious.’
‘Rae’s just about to set out with it. There were three odd photos but no other images at all. And they were in a folder labelled recipes, stored along with exactly that. Why would that be? Here, take a look.’
Sophie plugged the flash drive into Barry’s computer and they looked at the images.
‘Does that wedding dress picture look like a genuine wedding?’ asked Marsh.
‘Difficult to say,’ Sophie replied. ‘It’s a very plain background, so she could just have been modelling the outfit. But it’s the kind of picture often taken before the ceremony. Look at the filename: SarahWedding1. That number could suggest that there are other wedding photos of her, taken later. But why aren’t the others anywhere on her laptop?’
‘Maybe they were emailed to her, just these three.’ Marsh looked at the other two photos. ‘Phew. These are quite something. Not your average wedding photos, are they?’
‘They tie in with what we’ve learned about her, though, don’t they? Rae spotted that the date is the same on all three. If there has been no touching up or re-saving then they were taken on the same day. The wedding dress shot was taken in the early afternoon and the other two in the evening. And the times do make sense, don’t you think? She’s sitting on a man’s lap in this photo, but there’s not enough of him for us to even hazard a guess about who he was.’
‘It can’t be Derek, ma’am. Even though the height would be about right, Derek didn’t have a tattoo on his wrist. Whoever it is, he’s been in the sun a lot. And these two glamour shots are totally unwedding-like. How do they fit in?’
‘Barry, you’re too much of an innocent. The corset would be covered up by the wedding dress. And many women do wear very sexy lingerie for their wedding nights. Trust me, I know. She’s put on black stockings and different shoes, but the rest is perfectly feasible.’ She looked at the photo again. ‘In fact the dress is so long it would hide her legs and shoes, so she could be wearing the same stockings and shoes underneath. So the key question is whether the scene is genuine or not. Was she just modelling a wedding dress or was she acting out some type of fantasy? Rosemary hasn’t mentioned anything like this.’
‘I don’t think Rosemary knew the real Sarah Sheldon at all. I think Sarah only gave her a very few details. She seems to have led a very complicated life.’ Marsh paused. ‘I’m sorry if I made the wrong call on the laptop check, ma’am.’
‘Don’t worry. We haven’t really lost any time. But I’m still puzzled about why these photos are stored in her recipes folder.’
‘Probably just a mistake, ma’am. Imagine if someone had just sent her a recipe and then these photos arrived in the next message. If she was in a hurry she might just have clicked on save. So they’ve ended up in the same folder as the attachments from the previous message.’
‘That’s why I decided on a full hard-drive scan. I want to see if there’s a lot of stuff that might have been wiped, particularly photos. Her pictures folder was empty, which is a bit suspicious, and there was nothing on her work machine.’ She looked at her watch. ‘I’ve got to phone Pamela Derek and arrange a time to collect her and her sons and take them to Dorchester for the identification. Do you want to be there? It could be useful. The two boys might open up to a man where they wouldn’t to a woman.’
He nodded. ‘By the way, Peter Shakespeare, Sarah’s son by Hugh, should be arriving from the States late this evening. His dad is collecting him and will call me to confirm his arrival. If he’s agreeable, shall we arrange the formal identification for tomorrow?’
‘Absolutely. We’ll pencil in tomorrow late morning, and we’ll take him for a quick lunch afterwards and pick his brains.’
‘The father wants to be there as well.’
‘That’s understandable. I think I’d feel the same.’ Sophie took the flash drive out of the computer. ‘Show these three images to Jimmy. It might h
elp him see what he’s looking for.’
* * *
Lydia picked up her bag, collected her coat and made her way out into the fresh air. She walked over to a bench and sat down facing the river, its grey surface rippled by the chilly breeze. The swans ruffled their feathers when a small child ran towards them but settled as he threw some pieces of bread in their direction. Someone sat down on the bench beside Lydia. She jumped, then turned and smiled at the tall young man.
‘Hello, Ian. I’m so glad you could make it. Where shall we go for lunch?’
They set off along the riverside walkway, and she slipped her arm through his. She was already feeling more cheerful. Their lunch in a local café was full of animated talk. It was followed by a slow walk back along the river to the area where they both worked. Lydia gave Ian a hug and a peck on the cheek as they parted.
‘Can we do this again? she asked. ‘Maybe without the work discussion? I’ve really enjoyed it.’
The young man gave her a shy smile. ‘That would be great. Or why not an evening?’
Lydia gave him another hug. Then she ran up the steps to her office. Life was suddenly looking a whole lot better. Her office was still quiet, so she sat down at her desk and logged on to her computer. She spent several minutes composing an email to Sophie, outlining some of the ideas Ian had suggested. When the unit leader returned in the mid-afternoon, Lydia was deep in cross-checking some financial records.
‘Boss? I think I’ve uncovered something interesting.’ It was the first time in several weeks she’d shown such enthusiasm.
* * *
Jimmy Melsom was examining the first batch of documents belonging to Paul Derek. Nothing had come to light on the company network, but they’d reported some relevant emails and images on his work laptop and Jimmy was inspecting these. Although some were relevant to the case, they threw no new light on events or motives. The emails consisted of mild flirtations between Derek and Sarah, and the photos showed the two of them at various pubs and clubs. None bore any resemblance to the three racy photos that had turned up on Sarah’s laptop. Melsom switched his attention to Derek’s home laptop. Sophie had decided that one of her team should give it a quick examination before it was sent away for full forensic examination. This would gain time if any useful files were found. Jimmy spent half an hour digging through the folders and then hit gold. Hidden deep within a documents folder called “Us” were a number of photos and short videos. Jimmy opened the first image. It was a shot of the couple naked on a bed, having sex. The other fourteen images were similar, all showing Sarah and Paul in various stages of undress and arousal.
Jimmy was glad his bosses had left the incident room. It was one thing having a laugh over lewd photos with his male colleagues, but he knew he’d feel awkward and embarrassed showing them to Sophie or even Rae. This way he could just copy them onto a flash drive, report his findings and hand it over. He looked at the video clips and his eyes widened. The five film sequences were between five and fifteen minutes long, and showed the couple having sex on the same bed as in the photos. Sarah was very much taking the lead. Jimmy looked carefully at the room in the films. It matched the forensic photos of the bedroom in her flat. The video clips showed clearly that Sarah had been the one making all the running in the relationship. Derek appeared to be going along with her in a slightly bemused way, although he obviously enjoyed what she was initiating.
Jimmy switched off the laptop, sealed it in a labelled forensic bag and took off his latex gloves. He took the equipment across to Rae’s desk and added it to the pile.
Chapter 13: Obsessed
Thursday morning
‘Where are we with the search for Brian Shapiro?’
Not long after eight that morning the team were seated in the incident room. Sophie stood beside the incident board. It now contained plenty of information about the two victims, Sarah Sheldon and Paul Derek, and about the two main witnesses, Rosemary Corrigan and Ed Wilton, but the area around the name Brian Shapiro was noticeably bare. She looked at her team of detectives and uniformed officers.
‘He’s our prime suspect. We have detailed descriptions of him from Rosemary and Ed. There are statements from other witnesses who saw him on Friday evening. We know what he looks like, we know what he was wearing, we even know something about his personality. We know how he talks, how he walks, how he drums his fingers on the table when he’s irritated. But not only can we not find him, we are not making any progress in finding anything about what he’s been doing for the past four years. I find that strange. He’s become even more important following the post-mortem on Paul Derek. It showed that, at the time of his death Derek was drugged with a strong sedative. This means we’re thinking murder rather than suicide or an accidental fall. It’s imperative that we find Shapiro. I’ve asked Rae to summarise what we’ve discovered so far. Please go ahead, Rae.’
Rae stood up. ‘I managed to speak to all of you at some time yesterday, and I’ve put together what little we know. So here goes. We think he’s in his early fifties, is a little shorter than average, has blue eyes and mousey-coloured hair. He was a uniformed constable in Southampton but he left under a cloud. Apparently there were rumours about him abusing vulnerable women. It came to a head in Portsmouth and he was sacked four years ago. There hasn’t been much trace of him since, although there are some reports of him being seen on the fringes of the underworld. We think he was divorced about eight years ago and we’re trying to trace his ex-wife. But we can’t find a woman in either Portsmouth or Southampton with an age and a name that corresponds. That might indicate that she’s married again. There’s a large family of Shapiros who run a couple of Italian restaurants in Southampton, but they say he’s not one of them. Are they being truthful or have they cut all ties because of his behaviour? It’s impossible to say at the moment, but I think it needs further investigation, ma’am. The other Brian Shapiros that we’ve traced don’t seem to correspond to our man. There are two in Bournemouth, one in Poole and a few others spread across the Southampton area. There was one in Weymouth until two months ago, and that led us astray for a while because he was the right age. But yesterday Jen discovered that he died in a car crash two months ago. So it’s back to square one. Can I give you my hunch, ma’am?’
‘Yes, go ahead,’ Sophie replied.
‘I think he’s one of the Southampton restaurant Shapiros, even though they say he’s not. I phoned a couple of them. I spoke to two different people from each of the branches of the family since they run two separate restaurants. They gave answers that were almost identical, practically word for word. I suppose it could have been coincidence, but it made me suspect that they’d talked to each other and agreed on what to say. I know that would be a normal thing to do — they were brothers — but it went beyond what I’d expect just from a chat. That’s all I have, ma’am.’
Sophie nodded. ‘Very interesting, Rae. Thanks. Good stuff.’
Rae sat down. She was conscious of the others all looking at her. How had she done? It was the first time she’d had to talk to a large group, and she was aware that her voice might betray her masculine origins. She looked at them but the others had already transferred their attention back to Sophie. Only Barry Marsh was still looking at her, and he nodded and smiled. Jen Allbright looked at the floor, frowning, and then back at Rae. Had she guessed? Well, so what if she had? Rae thought. She was who she was, and they would all have to accept it. All she could do was work hard, do all that was expected of her and trust in the judgement of her two superiors. She took some deep breaths and tried to concentrate on what the boss was saying.
‘I think we’ll go with Rae’s instinct and dig a bit deeper into the Shapiro family. Rae, you take charge of it. Jimmy can help you once he’s finished with the computers. But you must be tactful with the Shapiros. They’re not criminals and shouldn’t be treated as such, not unless we find they really have been hiding something from us. Even then, check with me before you confront them. Use
any type of record you think might be useful to cross-check them, but it has to be legitimate. And if you do find something, try to get it verified. The other angle that we’re trying to follow up is John Renton, the man who went missing from the hotel. That’s reached an impasse as well. Apparently he’s serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan, so it can’t have been him at the hotel. Yet the booking was made from his credit card. Someone might be masquerading as him. His photofit hasn’t helped much. There’s been some vaguely positive responses from people in the pubs, but nothing definite. Please keep an open mind and if anything does crop up, let one of us know.’ She looked at Jen Allbright. ‘Jen, you spend a bit more time summarising the information we have on John Renton. But don’t waste time on it. Once you’ve joined up all the dots, and if nothing else occurs to you, give up on it and lend Rae a hand. Barry and I are going to see Sarah Sheldon’s son so we’ll be out for most of the morning. He’s flown in from the States and is due to formally identify his mother’s body. Then this afternoon we’ve got Paul Derek’s eldest son identifying his body. Jen, later this morning could you collect the Derek family from their home in Portsmouth and drive them across to Dorchester for the identification? Barry and I can take over then, since we’ll already be there. You can give me a rundown on any progress that’s been made. I may be paying another visit to Bath tomorrow. Lydia’s contacted me with a list of the hotels that the jazz festival promoters included in the information pack sent out to people who’ve booked into recent festivals. It seems a good idea to check them out, but that’s for tomorrow. There is one further bit of news, but I don’t think it helps the investigation much. The roadie who had the argument with Shapiro and Derek in the pub on Friday night claimed he’d seen Shapiro before somewhere. He had, but it was a couple of years ago at the Bath jazz festival. We already know that Shapiro was there, from Brenda Plant’s evidence. Nevertheless, it’s useful corroboration.’ She looked around. ‘Everyone clear on what to do today? Let’s get busy.’
SECRET CRIMES a gripping crime thriller full of suspense Page 14