Echoes of Guilt

by Rob Sinclair

  ‘You checked both sides?’ Dani asked as her eyes darted across the brown surface.

  ‘I… I’d have to check.’

  ‘No need,’ Dani said. She could already see the answer. ‘You got any tweezers?’

  Tariq did. And they were fine enough to allow Dani to delicately pick off the tiny speck of blue plastic caught in one of the prongs of the mat.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ Easton said when Dani held the find up.

  ‘Intruder, gloves already on, breaks in silently,’ Dani says. ‘Puts on blue plastic shoe covers while on the mat. Kind of like we did, except ours are much better quality. The intruder’s were cheap, the type you get at your local swimming pool. Easily snagged. He, or she, turns the mat over for good measure. Then the attack takes place.’

  ‘There’s really very little evidence of an attack though,’ Easton said. ‘Other than the bruising which may or may not have occurred after death.’

  It was true, but Dani wasn’t finished yet. ‘Intruder subdues Clara, one way or another. Puts her in the bath. Drugs her. Drowns her. Wait… no, that doesn’t work.’

  ‘Really?’ Easton said. ‘You almost had me then.’

  ‘Her phone, laptop, everything was still here, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Tariq said. ‘We bagged it all. The computer forensics team are just waiting on the word before they start processing and searching.’

  ‘That’s it,’ Dani said.

  ‘It is?’ Easton said.

  ‘That could explain the bruises. The intruder was looking for something. Clara was held down. Threatened. Not so forcibly as to cause serious injury, but enough to bruise. Maybe she had a knife to her throat. A gun even. She gave the attacker what they wanted.’

  ‘Which was what?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ She thought back to the cupboard upstairs. The pictures of Liam Dunne and Nicolae Popescu. ‘But they killed her anyway. Then they were disturbed. They had to leave before they were finished. That’s why nothing was cleaned down even. The partial prints were a mistake. Which means…’

  Dani couldn’t quite finish the sentence.

  ‘Which means what?’ Easton said.

  ‘Which means as far as I’m concerned, this is now officially a murder investigation. Not only was Clara Dunne killed in her own home, but I believe the reason she was killed was right here, in this house, all along. Now we need to find it.’

  Chapter 13

  More than two hours later Dani and Easton were still at the scene as Tariq and his FSIs performed an even more deep dive search of the house and its paltry grounds than they had two days previously. They weren’t taking any chances this time. Yes, this work could have been covered first time around, but at that point it really had been a matter of conjecture as to what had happened to Clara. As much as Dani would love to have FSIs combing over every inch of every crime scene, that simply wasn’t possible, especially in the case of an unexplained death – which is what this scene had been on Monday morning – as opposed to an obvious homicide.

  Not any more, though. Dani had already relayed to McNair the initial forensic and post-mortem findings and explained her theory, and the DCI had agreed that it was now prudent to consider Clara’s death a murder, and to ensure that as much scene-of-crime evidence was preserved as was possible. No one was to blame for not having taken that step sooner, though Dani was left to think about whether the delay would come back to bite them.

  ‘What are you thinking?’ Easton asked.

  Dani jumped at the sound of his voice. She spun around and stared out of the bedroom cupboard at her colleague, standing on the other side of Clara Dunne’s now stripped bed.

  ‘I didn’t hear you come in,’ she said.

  ‘You were too engrossed. Literally standing watching a blank wall.’

  ‘Very funny.’

  ‘What’s on your mind then?’

  ‘Clara was targeted.’ Dani faced back to the wall which two days ago had been covered in photos of Clara’s brother and Nicolae Popescu. Now the wall was bare, just faint grimy outlines left where the pictures had previously been. ‘This wasn’t some random break-in followed by a struggle.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  ‘Her murder took some planning. Someone who knew how to pick a lock, who had a semblance of understanding of crime scene analysis. Who was able to subdue Clara and get her into that bath, barely leaving a mark.’

  ‘Except for those bruises.’

  ‘Which may or may not have been caused by the police. But in any case it was hardly a vicious assault, was it?’

  ‘No,’ Easton said, coming around the bed towards Dani.

  ‘It was intricate and well-executed. Without Bianca Neita’s intervention, the homicide team may never even have got the call.’

  ‘Where are you going with this then?’

  ‘This feels to me as though Clara was silenced. A murder dressed up to look like suicide. Only the attacker got caught in the act and had to flee.’

  ‘You think it has to do with what we found in here?’

  ‘Makes sense, doesn’t it?’

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘You agree Clara was probably trying to find her brother?’

  Easton didn’t look convinced. ‘It’s possible. But he’s been missing for five years. Why now? And why all the underhandedness, false IDs and everything?’

  ‘Because she was in danger. She knew that. What if she got too close to the truth? And she was killed because of it?’

  ‘The truth being what? I feel like you’re about to come out with some sort of government conspiracy.’

  ‘Well, it is a conspiracy, isn’t it? Even if we don’t yet know what it’s about. But we do have one suspect.’

  ‘Nicolae Popescu?’

  Dani nodded, and edged past Easton back into the bedroom and towards the door.

  ‘You mean Nicolae Popescu who was extradited from the UK in 2013?’ Easton said as he followed her out and down the stairs. ‘Which was two years before Liam Dunne even went missing.’

  ‘Apparently.’

  ‘Which part.’

  ‘Popescu was apparently extradited in 2013,’ Dani said. ‘Which is why we need to focus on figuring out where he is now, and where he’s been for the past seven years.’

  Dani stopped in the hallway. In the lounge she could see an FSI on her knees, running a comb over the carpet, picking up various samples of dirt and hair and whatever else.

  ‘I think Clara was on to something,’ Dani said. ‘About her brother’s disappearance. We need to get the computer forensics team to search her electronic equipment. That wall in her room can’t have been her only research, so what was her killer trying to find before they killer her?’

  ‘Maybe they found it? Maybe they took it.’

  Dani didn’t think so. Otherwise the killer would have taken everything they could – the pictures on the wall in the locked cupboard included – in order to leave no clues behind. Though the fact Clara was already dead when the killer was disturbed did perhaps suggest the killer thought they’d got enough out of her.

  So had she simply explained where the information was, and the killer was planning on going back and gathering it and destroying it before they were interrupted by Bianca?

  Easton looked at his watch. ‘Come on, we need to get going, don’t we?’

  Dani took one last look around, down the hall to the bathroom. She really hoped she’d not have to come back to this wretched place again. ‘Yeah. We do.’

  * * *

  The windowless interview room at HQ was warm enough temperature-wise, but there was nothing that could be done to remove the coldness of a place like this: plain floor, plain walls, the only furniture was the plain desk with four plain chairs. One wall was taken up by a large one-way mirror, decoration of a sort, though Dani knew no one was looking in on the other side for this interview.

  ‘Mrs Neita,’ Dani said, once Easton and their interviewee had settled themselves into their seats, ‘
thank you for coming in to speak to us today.’

  Bianca Neita nodded in response. She looked petrified and was unable to hold Dani’s gaze for more than a second.

  ‘Before we start I’d like to clarify that you are speaking to us voluntarily today,’ Dani said. ‘You are not under arrest, this interview is not being carried out under caution, and you are free to leave at any time.’

  Bianca nodded feebly, looking even more concerned now following Dani’s formal words.

  ‘We’re not recording this interview on video or audio, though we will be taking notes of what is said today. You were informed that you had the right to bring a companion to this interview, whether friend, family member or lawyer, but you’ve chosen to come here alone. Is that correct?’

  ‘Y-yes.’

  ‘Please, just relax, we’re not trying to trick you here. We only ask that you give us full and honest answers. OK?’

  ‘OK.’

  Dani nodded to Easton.

  ‘Please can you describe your relationship with Clara Doyle,’ he said. ‘By that I mean how and when did you meet. How often did you see each other, socialise together, etc.’

  A nice and easy opener for Bianca. And the conversation carried on in that manner for a good twenty minutes as Dani and Easton asked straightforward and not at all probing questions. Largely they were covering old ground, as Bianca had already given a statement to a PC on Monday, but with a witness as jittery as this one, it was absolutely necessary to make her as relaxed as possible before they went too deep.

  Dani felt Bianca was finally starting to warm up and relax just as they got to talking about Monday morning – when Bianca had found her friend lying dead in a bathtub. It only took a couple of simple questions about that before pressure and anguish were seeping back into Bianca’s demeanour, and Dani took the decision to move things on before they lost their hard work altogether.

  ‘Bianca,’ Dani said. ‘You’ll recall on Monday that, as part of our searches, we found a series of photos in Clara’s bedroom, in particular of two males.’ Easton pulled a selection of photos from the papers he was holding and arranged them on the desk, facing Bianca. ‘We understand this man here is Liam Dunne, Clara’s brother.’

  Bianca showed no reaction as she stared at the picture.

  ‘Do you know him at all?’ Dani asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘You never met him?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Clara didn’t ever talk about her brother?’ Easton asked.

  ‘I didn’t even know she had one.’

  ‘And this man, do you know him?’ Dani asked, pointing to Nicolae Popescu now.

  ‘No,’ Bianca said, though it wasn’t nearly as convincing as before.

  ‘His name is Nicolae Popescu,’ Easton said. ‘He’s a Romanian national, but he lived in the area for a few years. We think he left the UK in 2013.’

  Bianca said nothing.

  ‘He spent three years in jail for grievous bodily harm and attempted murder. It might have been something you heard about in the local news, even?’

  Bianca looked seriously worried again, much like she had when she’d first walked into the room.

  ‘What aren’t you telling us?’ Easton said, his tone noticeably harder now. ‘It’s clear to me that you know this man. Or at least know of him.’

  Silence from Bianca.

  ‘Did Clara ever mention him?’ Dani asked.

  ‘No, she didn’t.’

  ‘You have no idea why she’d have pictures of him?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘But you do know who he is?’ Easton said. ‘I know you do.’

  ‘OK! Look, I don’t know him,’ Bianca said, fixing a hard glare on Easton. ‘I know of him. That’s not a crime, is it?’

  ‘No,’ Easton said. ‘But withholding potentially relevant information from a murder inquiry is.’

  Bianca flicked her gaze from Easton to Dani now. Dani said nothing. She knew the silence, and the insinuation in Easton’s words, would become unbearable for Bianca soon enough.

  ‘I don’t know him. I swear,’ Bianca said, close to tears.

  ‘Then how do you know of him?’ Dani asked.

  ‘You know how it is?’

  ‘Do we?’

  ‘It’s not a big town. I’m not saying I know every face, but… I don’t even know how to explain, but everyone’s always us versus them these days.’

  ‘Who’s us, and who’s them?’ Easton asked.

  ‘Us. English people. Them, you know? Immigrants.’

  She had a hard time saying the last word, as if the word itself was a slur and she was ashamed to be thinking that way.

  ‘Could you be more clear?’ Easton asked.

  ‘Romanians, Poles, they’re everywhere these days and… I’m not saying this is what I think, and I know not all of them are bad. But some are.’

  ‘So do you or do you not know Nicolae Popescu?’ Easton said.

  ‘I already said I know of him.’ She was talking with fight now.

  ‘But you haven’t really explained how.’

  ‘He’s someone who’s got a reputation. A local thug. At least he was. People talked about him. I’ve heard stories. What do you call it? Ext… Ext…?’

  ‘Extortion?’

  ‘Yeah. And there’s always young girls hanging around them.’

  ‘Them?’

  ‘The Romanians. So I’ve heard anyway. They bring them in on vans and… this is just what you hear. It could all be crap.’

  ‘But it’s not just what you hear, is it?’ Easton said. ‘Because you recognised his face too. So it’s not just stories about immigrant gangs. You knew his face.’

  Bianca shrugged but she looked panicked once more. She knew she was on the spot but was struggling to explain. Was it really so hard, or was it only hard because she was trying desperately to deflect?

  ‘I just know,’ she said. ‘I saw him before. I’ve heard the name. And recently people are talking about this sort of thing more and more, aren’t they?’

  ‘Are they?’

  ‘Immigrants. It’s all anyone ever talks about now.’ She laughed, though Dani could tell she was in no way amused by whatever had caused the reaction. ‘In a way, it’s nice not to be the target of those racist pricks so much any more. We used to get it in the neck because we’re Jamaican. Now we’re almost accepted as being British too. Muslims and Eastern Europeans are the enemy now, thanks to Brexit and all that.’

  ‘Brexit?’ Dani said. ‘That wasn’t even a thing in 2013.’

  ‘I never said it was.’

  ‘Are you saying Nicolae Popescu is still in the area now?’

  ‘Now? Like today?’

  ‘Bianca, think very carefully here. When did you last see or hear about him? Are we talking days, weeks, months? Or years?’

  She took time to think about that one.

  ‘I can’t be exact, but it’s certainly recently, not years. How’m I supposed to remember that far back? Probably weeks, or something.’

  ‘Weeks? You’ve seen Nicolae Popescu as recently as the last few weeks?’

  She shrugged. ‘Yeah. I think so.’

  ‘Do you have any information on where he lives? Other people he knows.’

  Bianca looked perplexed. ‘No, nothing like that.’

  ‘Now’s the time to tell us,’ Easton said.

  ‘I said I don’t know!’

  ‘But you also said two days ago that you didn’t know anything about him at all. So how do we know you’re not lying again?’

  She hung her head. ‘Please. I just…’

  ‘It’s OK,’ Dani said. ‘Just tell us everything you can, you won’t be in any trouble with us if you do that.’

  ‘I have told you everything. Honestly. I really don’t know anything more.’

  Dani waited a few moments, hoping Bianca would add something extra. She didn’t.

  ‘OK, I think that’s all we need for now,’ Dani said.

  * * *
r />   Easton showed Bianca out while Dani waited by the lifts for him to return. She still hadn’t finished sifting through emails and messages on her phone, and was attempting to listen to a voicemail, when she spotted him heading over.

  ‘What do we do with this then?’ he said to her, as she pulled the phone from her ear, the voice message unplayed.

  ‘We need to find Popescu, don’t we?’ she said.

  ‘Do we call off the search in Romania then?’

  ‘Definitely not. We need to look everywhere we can. You said yourself there’s a social media profile supposedly showing Popescu in Romania. So if he’s not there at all then who’s responsible for the subterfuge? Let’s try to track his movements both here and over there.’

  ‘You don’t think it was him you saw yesterday morning, do you? In that car?’

  Dani had asked herself the same question more than once.

  ‘I really don’t think so. Not unless his appearance has changed these last few years. But we do need to find those men too.’

  Dani pressed the button for the lift and they were soon inside heading up.

  ‘So we’re going down the route of Romanian gangs,’ Easton said.

  ‘Are we?’

  ‘Extortion, people trafficking. Sounds like that was what Bianca was referring to. And it would explain why Clara was targeted if she was digging into them.’

  ‘That’s one explanation,’ Dani said. ‘Though it doesn’t explain anything about Liam Dunne, or why he went missing, does it?’

  ‘Maybe not. Why don’t I tap up the Org Crime team? See what they know about Black Country Romanians.’

  ‘It’s worth a try,’ Dani said with a sigh, though she felt the explanation for what was happening wasn’t going to be quite as simple as that.

  The lift doors opened and they moved through into the open plan space of the homicide team. The area was buzzing with activity. Dani hadn’t made it to her desk before McNair stomped out of her office.

  ‘Stephens, in here.’

  Dani glanced to Easton who shrugged apologetically. She followed her boss into the office then shut the door behind her.

  ‘Is there a problem?’ Dani said, already a bit perturbed at how het up McNair clearly was. What had Dani done wrong?