by J. P. Carter
Nash then announced that the go-ahead had been given to seize Nathan Wolf’s car and to search his properties in London and Somerset.
‘A forensics team is ready to move in and we’ll be liaising with Devon police, who will check out the house in Bridgewater.’
Before handing over to Anna, Nash referred to the news report they had just watched on the TV.
‘It should be obvious to you all by now that we are about to find ourselves at the centre of a febrile media circus,’ he said. ‘The involvement of a Member of Parliament propels this story into the stratosphere. And that’s before all the details of Wolf’s somewhat sleazy relationship with Holly Blake are out there.
‘It’s therefore essential that we play everything by the book and don’t make any mistakes. All aspects of this investigation will be under the media microscope. And the vultures won’t show any mercy when it comes to the victim and her family. Her mother’s life will be subjected to intense scrutiny, including the years she spent with the Met.’
Nash went on to say that a press conference was being scheduled for Sunday morning, and would be held at New Scotland Yard.
That was something Anna wasn’t looking forward to. It was bound to turn into a raucous feeding frenzy. But she knew it had to be done.
When Nash stood to one side, Anna took his place between the whiteboards.
‘Right then, everyone,’ she said. ‘There’s a lot to get through and I’ll start with the attack on Nathan Wolf, whose house I’ve just come from.’
Anna ran through the MP’s description of what had happened and said she was confident that it wouldn’t be long before Robert Gregory was picked up.
‘Holly’s uncle was obviously wound up by her mother, who is convinced that Wolf killed her daughter,’ she said. ‘Gregory’s aim in going to the house appears to have been to get Wolf to confess. And who knows what would have happened if Wolf’s fiancée hadn’t turned up when she did.’
Anna told the team what Jennifer Rothwell had said and how Wolf had got into a strop.
‘I’m beginning to suspect that the man has anger management issues,’ she said. ‘It was the second time I’d seen him lose it. So it’s something we all need to bear in mind. It could be his aggression turns to violence when enough buttons are pushed. If he confronted Holly again on Tuesday night it’s possible her refusal to back down sparked a colossal temper tantrum and he took it too far.’
Anna then turned to her notes to summarise the preliminary findings of the post-mortem. After that she listened to the various updates from her team. The latest from the cyber unit was that they were still sifting through Holly’s online history, her phone records and the hard drive on her computer.
‘She was very active on social media,’ one of the technicians said. ‘Inevitably she attracted some trolls who were critical of her looks and her views on things such as make-up and clothes. But we haven’t come across any remarks that could be deemed actual threats.
‘She sent and received thousands of texts and emails this past year. We’ve got her cloud storage so we’ve accessed everything that’s been deleted. There are scores of text messages between her and Nathan Wolf, and most relate to what a great time they each had the night before. The messages she received from Ross Moore are more interesting, though. He kept pleading with her to take him back, and in several of them he threatened to kill himself if she didn’t.
‘The last message she got from him was on Sunday, two days before she died, begging her to meet him so they could talk. But she messaged back, warning him to stay away from her.’
The technician finished off by saying they were about to go through Rebecca Blake’s online history to see if there was any evidence to suggest that Holly was killed by someone with a grudge against her mother.
DS Prescott then provided an update on the trawl of CCTV cameras.
‘We’ve picked up Wolf’s car close to his house just before one on Wednesday morning,’ he said. ‘There are no cameras in his actual road, which is a bit of a blind spot, but he does appear to be heading home. We’ve also caught sight of Holly on a security camera outside a shop close to where she lived.’
Both clips of CCTV footage were then shown on the monitors. The shot of Wolf’s car was so clear you could read the number plate without having to zoom in. But the shot of Holly was grainy, and she was walking away from the camera. She was wearing jeans and a light-coloured T-shirt and carrying a bag over her shoulder.
‘It’s definitely her,’ Prescott said. ‘I went back to her flats to show it to her landlord and he confirmed it. We’ll have more footage to look through this afternoon.’
‘What about the King’s Head pub?’ Anna asked. ‘We need to know if Theo Blake did go there after he failed to find Holly.’
Prescott shook his head. ‘Turns out the cameras have been out of order for a couple of weeks. The proprietor says he’s waiting for the security system to be repaired. But there is a camera on a building across the road apparently. Uniform are now in the process of getting access to it. If it goes back as far as Tuesday then we might see Theo Blake entering and leaving the pub.’
‘Well, let me know as soon as you hear about that,’ Anna said. ‘Meanwhile have we found out what Holly’s movements were that day?’
DC Niven spoke up. ‘We know she was out for much of it, but we don’t know where she went before going to visit her parents. We’ve spoken to people at her modelling agency and some of the friends listed in her contacts, but none of them saw her or heard from her on that day. It could be she went shopping or met someone who’s not on our radar yet.’
Anna finished by passing back to Nash who gave another short pep talk. As the team drifted back to their desks she was told that Ross Moore was now in the building.
‘We’ll talk to him before we go to Wolf’s house,’ she told Walker. ‘Find out if a forensics team is already en route and if so tell them to wait for us outside. I just need to make a quick call.’
Anna went into her office, took out her mobile, and speed-dialled the man who was eating up her savings.
His name was Jack Keen and he was an ex-copper who had retired from the force twelve years ago. Since then he’d made a living as a private investigator. Anna had employed his services on and off for nine years in her search for Chloe. It was Keen who found out that Matthew had been murdered after returning to the UK three years ago in the guise of James Miller.
‘What took you so long to call?’ he said.
‘I’ve been busy,’ she answered.
‘So I heard. That’s why I didn’t ring you. I thought I would just get on with the job.’
‘I had a text from Anthony Liddle at the Standard,’ Anna said. ‘He told me he’d sent you the details of two people who rang the paper in response to Chloe’s age progression picture.’
‘He did indeed. I’ve already contacted them. One is a guy in Lewisham, but he turned out to be a prankster. He said he phoned the paper as a bet with one of his mates.’
‘What about the other one?’
‘It’s a woman and what she told me sounds more promising. Her kid goes to a school in Bethnal Green. She says the age progression picture bears a striking resemblance to a young girl she’s seen while waiting outside the school gates. And her son, who’s eleven, thinks her name is Alice.’
Anna felt her breath burn in her chest.
‘So what are you doing about it, Jack?’ she asked.
‘The kids don’t return from their summer hols until next week,’ he said. ‘But I’ve left a message with the headmistress to ring me. I’ve also emailed her the picture and asked her if the face and name are familiar to her.’
‘What school is it?’
‘Oakfield Community.’
‘Well, if the head’s not forthcoming for whatever reason let me know and I’ll call her myself.’
‘Will do.’
She then told Keen that the Channel Four documentary team were going to produce a
programme on the search for Chloe.
‘That’s more like it,’ he said. ‘It’ll get national exposure, which is what we need.’
When she came off the phone, Anna picked up the copy of the previous day’s Evening Standard that was lying on her desk. It was folded open at the page that featured the age progression photo of Chloe. As always it caused her heart to miss a beat.
‘I really do hope that’s what you look like now, my darling,’ she said under her breath. ‘Because if so there’s every chance that I’m getting closer to you.’
She kissed the photo and dropped the paper back on the desk before emotion could overwhelm her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
A nervous-looking Ross Moore was waiting in interview room one. He was sitting at the table next to the duty solicitor, his fingers curled around a Styrofoam cup. He was a tall, thin man, his face the same shade of grey as the shirt he was wearing. He had dark blond hair, just long enough to cover the tops of his ears.
Anna introduced herself and Walker as they took their seats. She started the recorder and when the formalities were out of the way, she said, ‘I trust it’s been made clear to you that you haven’t been arrested, Mr Moore. You agreed to come here and be interviewed as part of the investigation into the murder of Holly Blake.’
‘They told me I’m a suspect.’
‘And does that surprise you, given the fact that you’ve been stalking her for months? You even turned up at her flat not long ago and got into an argument with her because she wanted you to leave her alone. The landlord stepped in and told you to leave.’
He shook his head. ‘I loved Holly more than anything and I would never have hurt her.’
‘But she thought differently, didn’t she? You pestered her so much that she made it known to others that she was scared of you.’
‘I just wanted her to know that I was desperate to win her back.’
‘So you decided that the way to do it was to stalk her, beg her to meet you, and even threaten to kill yourself. It must surely have upset her.’
‘That only happened once when I was on a real downer,’ he said. ‘I apologised afterwards and acknowledged that it was over the top.’
Blood was creeping into his cheeks now and tears glistened in his eyes.
‘I understand that you and Holly were together for just over a year,’ she said. ‘Is that correct?’
‘It was fourteen months, one week and two days.’
‘And how long did you share the flat in Eltham?’
‘Ten months. And we were good together. We talked about marriage and kids and buying our own place one day.’
‘So what went wrong?’ Anna asked. ‘Why did she walk out on you?’
He lifted his chin and fixed his eyes on the ceiling, as though concentrating on a problem he couldn’t solve.
After a beat, he said, ‘She dumped me for no reason. She became distant, kept finding fault with what I did and said. And she started accusing me of being possessive and controlling. But I wasn’t. It was all in her head. At one point I said that maybe we should have a break from one another. I suggested that she go back to live with her parents until she got her head together. But she refused to entertain that idea, mainly because of her stepdad.’
‘Did she have a problem with Theo Blake?’ Anna asked.
‘Yes, she did. Soon after we met, she told me he used to ogle her and then once he kissed her when she wasn’t expecting it. It creeped her out. They had a falling out over it and she didn’t like to be around him after that.’
So Holly had relayed the same story to Nathan Wolf and Ross Moore. Did that mean it was true? Anna wondered.
‘Tell me how she ended it then,’ Anna said.
He shrugged. ‘She met this other bloke and he must have turned her against me because I came home one day and she was gone. It took me a while to find out she’d moved to Camden.’
‘And what do you know about this other man who appeared on the scene?’ Walker asked.
Moore dropped his eyes and a rush of anger was evident in his expression.
‘I know now that he’s an MP and that he turned her into a fucking slut.’
‘So you didn’t know who he was before this weekend?’
‘I’d only seen him a few times when he turned up at her flat while I was outside, but he was always careful to obscure his face with a hat or a scarf. I wondered if he was married because of the obvious age difference. I didn’t recognise him as a well-known politician, if that’s what you mean.’
‘Did you ever approach him?’
‘No. I was tempted to once or twice, but I thought it best to stay out of it in the hope that Holly would see sense and leave him, then come back to me.’
‘Have you read what she told the newspaper?’
He took a deep breath. ‘It’s made me feel sick. I didn’t know she was doing all that kinky shit. When she was with me we never got into any of that stuff. I don’t think we even talked about it. Our sex life was normal. And good.’
‘So how do you feel now that you know what she was doing this past year?’
‘I feel crushed,’ he said, his voice laden with emotion. ‘It was bad enough when I heard she was the woman whose body was found on the common. Knowing she’s dead has made me realise that I don’t want to go on living.’
He was trembling now and tears were spilling from his eyes.
‘Holly was murdered on Tuesday night,’ Anna said. ‘It happened at some time after ten-forty-five. We know that because she was seen leaving her flat then. So can you tell us where you were at that time?’
He sucked on his bottom lip and wiped tears from his cheeks with his sleeve.
‘I was at home,’ he said. ‘I’ve been on leave so I’ve made the most of it by going to bed early.’
‘Are there any witnesses who can corroborate that?’
He shook his head. ‘I live by myself, so no, there aren’t any. You’ll just have to take my word for it.’
‘Well, it’s not as easy as that, Mr Moore, because you were reportedly seen outside Holly’s block on Tuesday evening between ten-thirty and eleven.’
‘Well, whoever says they saw me there is mistaken.’
‘It was the landlord. The same man who confronted you that other time. He says you were standing across the street smoking a cigarette.’
‘Then he’s either lying or he imagined it. I wasn’t there so you can’t prove that I was.’
‘What car do you drive?’ Anna said.
‘That’s the thing,’ he replied. ‘I don’t have a car. So how the fuck was I supposed to have taken Holly all the way across London to Barnes Common?’
It was a fair question, and one that Anna didn’t yet have the answer to.
The duty solicitor stepped in there, pointing out that they had no grounds to hold his client because there was no solid evidence linking him to the murder. Anna knew he was right, but that didn’t mean that Moore wasn’t still a suspect.
‘We intend to make further enquiries, Mr Moore,’ she said. ‘We will most definitely want to talk to you again.’
‘Well, you know where to find me,’ he said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Sophie now had another reason to be scared. Her friend Lisa had raised the possibility that the demon from her past had tracked her down. Was that why she had sensed that she was being watched yesterday as she walked along Shoreditch High Street?
Lisa’s theory that her phone was stolen by Michael Taylor so that he could see if she’d been in touch with Sophie sounded all too credible.
‘If Taylor passed it on to his old pal Bruno then there’s a chance he got someone to trace your mobile signal for him.’
It was a terrifying thought and one that Sophie could not ignore because Bruno had managed to find her twice before. The first time was ten years ago in Spain. And the second time was three years ago in Southampton.
The problem was he had friends, contacts and influence, and h
e had always managed to get whatever it was he wanted by using charm, threats, intimidation or bribery.
The biggest mistake Sophie ever made was to get involved with him. But back in 2005 she was twenty-eight and keen to settle down and start a family. And Bruno Perez seemed like a real catch. He was handsome, charismatic and built like a well-toned athlete. The fact that he was half Spanish with a sexy accent added to his appeal. They met at a New Year’s Eve party in Camberwell, South London, close to where Sophie was living and working as a catering assistant at the time.
Lisa was there along with the rest of their group of single friends, including Michael Taylor. It was Taylor who brought Bruno along. The pair were members of the same snooker club, where they’d become drinking buddies.
Bruno’s cheesy chat-up line made her smile, which was a good start.
‘Since you are the most beautiful woman in the room I assume you must be Spanish,’ he said as he sidled up to her while she was sipping her first G and T of the night. ‘And I’m guessing that your name is Isabella or Valentina or Maria.’
‘It’s Sophie,’ she told him. ‘And I’m a native Londoner, born and bred this side of the Thames.’
He raised his bushy brow. ‘Well, I admit I am surprised since you have such smooth black hair and dark, broody eyes. And you clearly ooze panache. In fact you remind me of that lovely actress Penélope Cruz.’
Sophie wasn’t flattered because she didn’t believe a word of it. But nevertheless he had her hooked, and over the course of the evening he reeled her in. At midnight they kissed and at three in the morning they went back to his flat where they made love.
Romance quickly blossomed and in the weeks that followed she found out that he was the same age as her, had been born in Marbella on Spain’s Costa Del Sol, where his family still lived, and was employed as the manager of two large warehouses in South London.
What she didn’t find out until much later was that he dabbled in drugs, his boss – who was also his dad – was a crook, and he had a violent disposition.