‘Hello, darling. Am I disturbing you?’ her mother asked.
‘No, Mum. I was just about to call you,’ she said, her cheeks heating at the lie.
‘I just wondered if you might have time to pick Peter up from school this afternoon.’
Jane started to read the document. She looked at her watch again. ‘Well, I’ve got a meeting just after four, so I’d be a bit pushed to get there and back. Why?’
‘It doesn’t matter. I was going to take your father to . . . Never mind, I shouldn’t have called. Not to worry. I’ll do it. What time do you think you’ll be home?’
‘No, no,’ Jane said. ‘I can sort something out. It’s fine.’ She tried to disguise the sigh that accompanied her statement.
‘No, honestly, darling. I’m sorry I bothered you. What time did you say you’d be home?’
‘I don’t know yet,’ she said. ‘I’ll need to check.’ She stopped and stared at the name in front of her. ‘Sorry,’ she said, looking on her desk for Mark’s case file. ‘Listen, can I call you back in a second?’
‘Of course, of course. I’ll speak to you later.’
The line went dead before Jane could answer. She replaced the phone in its cradle, found the file she was looking for and opened it, scanning her notes before turning back to her computer. She had asked Penny to find out more about Lebowski’s lawyer. His choice of legal representation had been bothering Jane ever since Mrs Whitaker had waltzed into the station in her immaculate suit. That kind of representation didn’t come cheap and, according to the desk sergeant, Lebowski had Whitaker’s contact details with him, in his wallet. Jane now knew why. Whitaker was worth every penny. She must have pulled some hefty strings to get the details of Lebowski’s previous dealings with the police sealed. Jane pushed herself away from her desk. She needed to talk to Roger.
Jane stopped running, bent over and took in several deep breaths. She had been circling the block for the past half an hour, sprinting for thirty seconds and then jogging for a couple of minutes. She had passed the gates to the station several times, but she wasn’t ready to go back to the office.
After getting the necessary permissions from Roger, it had only taken her another ten minutes to find the sealed file and read over Lebowski’s previous encounters with Lewisham police. The run was meant to clear her head. She sat down on the wall outside the station and rolled her neck around her shoulders.
‘Hey.’
She looked up and saw Lockyer walking towards her. He sat down next to her.
‘Good run?’ he asked.
‘I hate running around here,’ she said still somewhat breathless. ‘All that effort and I wind up back where I started.’
‘I don’t know why you don’t go to the Soho gym up the road. At least you can watch the TV,’ he said. ‘You wouldn’t be filling your lungs with exhaust fumes and you wouldn’t end up smelling of . . . ’ He leaned across and sniffed. ‘Curry. You smell of curry.’
‘Oh, sod off.’ she said, shoving him away. ‘I bloody hate the gym. You know I hate the gym.’ She punched him in the arm, somewhat harder than she had intended.
‘Okay,’ he said, stretching out the final syllable, rubbing his arm. ‘Might I enquire what’s up with you?’
‘I’ve got more on Lebowski,’ she said, picking a piece of lint off her tracksuit trousers.
‘And that’s a bad thing because . . . ?’
‘It isn’t. It’s just . . . ’ She looked at her watch. Her meeting with Phil wasn’t for another twenty minutes.
‘It’s just what?’
‘Lebowski has a criminal lawyer because he’s been here before,’ she said, pointing at the double doors leading into the station. ‘Do you remember the Amelia Reynolds case?’
Lockyer’s brow creased. ‘The name rings a bell, but I can’t remember the specifics, no.’
‘Amelia Reynolds was a university student murdered by strangulation six years ago. She was twenty-one years old. Her body was found in an allotment shed in Deptford. She had been sexually assaulted. Her killer was never found. Guess where she went to university.’
‘Greenwich,’ Lockyer said, turning to face her.
‘That’s the one,’ she said, running her fingers through her hair.
‘Lebowski taught her?’
‘No. It’s not quite that straightforward. Amelia was studying law, but according to the case file, she had an ethics module that Lebowski sat in on. He had to teach as part of his PhD. His thesis dealt with psychology and ethics apparently, so he opted to assist on a couple of modules for the credit and as part of his research. Anyway he, along with a dozen other tutors, was interviewed in the normal course of the inquiry, but Lebowski was brought back in – more than once in fact.’
‘Why?’ Lockyer asked.
‘The DCI on the case thought Lebowski was involved.’
‘And was he?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘As far as the case file reads, Lebowski had a passing knowledge of the victim. He had no alibi, but no personal relationship, no motive, no physical evidence – nothing to link him to the girl’s murder. I’ve read through the interview transcripts, and Lebowski sounds the same. I mean, he sounds just as sincere and measured as he did when I first met him.’
‘Which makes you think he was lying?’ Lockyer asked.
‘Yes, it does. If Lebowski’s the kind of man I think he is, then I think it’s also possible that Maggie wasn’t his first victim.’
The sun came out from behind a bank of cloud, warming Jane’s face.
‘Why didn’t this come up when Lebowski was first arrested?’ he asked.
‘His involvement in the case was sealed.’
‘How?’
‘Whitaker – Lebowski’s lawyer. She was present at his second interview and all subsequent interviews.’
‘How many were there?’ Lockyer asked.
‘Five,’ Jane said, looking at him. ‘Whitaker made a case that the DCI was heavy-handed, harassing Lebowski without cause. Which, given the information, is fair enough. She got a judge to agree that it could be damaging to his career, if future employers did a CRB or DBS check and found that he had been questioned in a murder investigation.’
Lockyer stood up. ‘Come on, my arse is going to sleep. We can continue this in my office. Have you got the case file?’
‘Yes,’ she said getting up. They walked up to the double doors, into the foyer and over to the lifts. Her brain ached as she tried to push and pull the facts into some semblance of order. She felt chilled as the sweat dried on her skin.
‘I still don’t get how Whitaker managed to wangle a seal on the file, if Lebowski wasn’t charged?’ Lockyer said. ‘His name wouldn’t have come up on any checks, unless he was going for a government job or something that required extra vetting; and even then sealing the file feels like overkill to me.’
‘Me too,’ Jane said, pushing the call button for the lift. ‘But that’s what happened.’ She zipped up her running jacket.
‘Who was the DCI?’ Lockyer asked, walking into the lift as the doors opened.
Jane waited for the doors to close before she said, ‘Mark.’
‘You’re kidding me?’
‘I wish I was.’ The doors opened and they both stepped out. Jane put her hand on Lockyer’s arm. ‘Can I ask you a question?
‘Of course,’ he said.
‘Do you think Lebowski killed Maggie?’
He was nodding before she had finished speaking. ‘I do, yes. If you recall, it was me who had to convince you of that fact,’ he said, smiling.
‘I know,’ she said, unable to return his smile. ‘And you believe Lebowski could have engineered the whole thing: having dinner with Maggie the night she was taken, getting arrested in Elmstead?’
Lockyer looked at her as if she had lost her mind. ‘Er, yes, Jane. I told you that earlier,’ he said. ‘I’m yet to be convinced about Mort’s involvement, but from everything I’ve seen and heard so far, I think Lebo
wski’s been clever enough to cover his arse.’
Jane took a deep breath before she spoke. ‘Mark was convinced Lebowski was involved in the murder of Amelia Reynolds. He just couldn’t prove it. That’s three bodies, Mike. Lebowski is linked to all of them: Reynolds, Maggie and whoever Dave’s got down in the mortuary suite.’
‘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.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
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.’
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