Dylan’s phone bleeped. ‘Jane Simpson’s fingerprints have been identified from marks lifted from the mirror in a jewellery box at Kirsty Gallagher’s house,’ he read.
‘What is it?’ Jen asked. ‘Do you need to go?’ her eyes were suddenly full of anxiety.
‘No, no it’s not important,’ he said. ‘You are. Are you okay?’
‘I’m just glad I know you’re not going anywhere tonight.’ she said.
Chapter Thirty-Three
It had been established that Jane Simpson had been at Kirsty Gallagher’s home. How did she know her? Would this turn out to be another case of joint enterprise? Who else was involved? Dylan’s head was spinning as he sat at the breakfast table.
‘What’s going on in that head of yours?’ Jen said.
‘Just trying to understand who murdered who and why?’
‘Jack, I’ve been thinking. Penny can’t be involved with these people. Maybe the new love of her life wasn’t all she thought but... I can’t believe she doesn’t care about us. Me and Penny... we’ve been through too much together. There has to be a reason.’
‘We’ll it’s eluding me. After they’ve interviewed her I hope I’ll have some sort of explanation for you.’
Jen’s face took on a look of torment. ‘At this moment in time I want to rip her head off her shoulders. She was supposed to be my friend. I’ve been used, haven’t?’
‘It’s looking that way.’
‘How can you be so calm about it? Do you think Richard Bryant has been to our house when we were at work.’
Jen sat down next to him and he held her hand.
‘Try not to think about it.’
‘No, I can’t believe that she would do it… not knowingly. He’s basically a stranger to her and we are, were, her friends.’
‘She thinks the sun shines out of his backside. Remember, he is probably just using her to find out what we, the police know about him and his so-called friends. When she finds out about the other women in his life her world is going to implode. I guess that’s when it’ll sink in just what she’s done.’
‘Will she go to prison? Her kids Carly and Toby what will happen to them?
‘Assisting offenders? Maybe. I don’t know.’
‘She had better stay away from me.’
‘I’m sure she won’t come anywhere near. We can’t change anything about what’s happened but it does show how vulnerable you, we can all be. Let’s not let it fester. I’ll keep you updated.’
‘You look very smart,’ she said as she held onto his suit jacket lapels, before kissing him goodbye. ‘Definitely Chief Inspector material,’ she said. Her face was puffy, her eyes looked red and sore.
‘Not very subtle,’ he said, touching her face. He kissed her nose. ‘Vicky’s done with her application and I’ll get round to mine before the due date.’
Jen looked at him with suspicion in her eyes.
‘I promise.’
‘Good. Tell me something. Be honest. Do you think I am naive?’ Jen’s lips turned down at the corners.
‘Sometimes,’ he said quietly.
Jen held onto him a little longer than usual. ‘I’ll try and get some answers for you, Jen.’ He said.
***
Nothing could be as clear and as tranquil as the morning drive into work. There had been a heavy dew, and the grass in the Sibden Valley sparkled with it.
There was an old wives’ tale that a corpse would bleed when the murderer was brought into its presence... how he wished that superstition was true; it would certainly make his job a lot easier.
The police station yard was full of cars and he was thankful for his allocated parking spot. It seemed everyone was in early with as much desire to get the job in the bag as he was.
‘What came out of the chat with Penny last night?’ Dylan asked as soon as he saw Vicky.
‘Well she’s obviously besotted by Richard Bryant. In her own words she said, “I’ve never loved anyone like...” and you can guess the rest. We locked her up on suspicion of theft of documents from the police station, which she was well pissed off at. Her house is about to be searched shortly,’ Vicky said. ‘Oh, she knew about the gun. She was told it was an imitation, she says. How’s Jen taking it?’
‘Not good. Apart from blaming herself one minute, she wants to kill Penny the next.’
***
At the morning briefing Dylan shared with the team the fingerprint information and asked, ‘Do we have any other connections that we know about, between this group?’
There was nothing forthcoming. The room was silent but the atmosphere was brimming with expectation. They awaited updates from Forensic with anticipation.
‘I want an Anacapa Chart creating showing the links we have established between Derek Harper, Jane Simpson, Richard Bryant, Barrington Cook and now Penny Sanderson, the two deceased Kirsty Gallagher and Billy Simpson and also include anyone else who is linked by telephones, vehicles or premises. It may just show us the relationship between these people and others we don’t know about yet,’ he told Ruth who was the person doing the Crime Pattern Analysis. ‘At least then we will have a visual check that is readily available for all, as new evidence and data unfolds.’
Dylan was satisfied he had the people responsible in custody, what he now needed for the Courts was the true interpretation of what had happened and why. He always got impatient, when things were going well. He wanted to sprint to the end, but he knew ‘it would all come out in the wash.’ Jane Simpson would have to be produced from prison and arrested and interviewed in respect of the Kirsty Gallagher murder. Arrangements would have to be made with the Courts and the Prison authorities for her to be remanded to police cells for questioning. This wasn’t simply a couple of telephone calls. It would require written reports incorporating specific details of her detention arrangements. Dylan set Vicky and Paul on with it. ‘Good experience, lots of red tape,’ he told them with a glint in his eye.
That delegation allowed him to look at the advertisement for Chief Inspector and he set about typing up his own application. Using operational incidents he had commanded to emphasise his personal skills and necessary requirements of the next rank. To his amazement on completion, he was quite pleased with it. He didn’t have the luxury of some time to spend re-writing it. However, he was satisfied the content supported his application. But before being sent off to HQ it would have to go to the Divisional Commander for his support and comments. Dylan addressed the envelope that he’d marked Personal and Private to Chief Superintendent Walter Hugo-Watkins’ secretary, Janet. This way at least he knew it would be recorded and be dealt with in accordance with force procedural time constraints. He wished he could see the look on Hugo-Watkins face when he read it. One of shock, perhaps? Hugo-Watkins would already be nurturing his favourite applicants for the next rank. Dylan was already questioning the integrity of the system and he had only completed the first stage of the procedure. But the deed was done as he’d promised Jen it would be. It was double space typed and sent as officially directed. He would pop it to Janet tonight before he left. Back to reality he told himself as he looked at the brown A4 envelope. Who was he kidding, really? Detective Chief Inspector Jack Dylan?
The Incident Room outside his office continued to be industrious.
‘Boss, update from Forensic. We have confirmation that it is human blood in the handle of Bryant’s stiletto knife and not only that they are confident of getting a profile,’ Detective Sergeant Paul Robinson said.
‘Good.’
‘I can go one better, boss, Forensic have put Kirsty Gallagher in Bryant’s van by way of her blood.’ Vicky smiled sweetly at Paul.
‘That’s great news. I knew it. I wonder? What if we produce Harper and Bryant at the same time as Jane Simpson is in? We could cell them up so they could talk to each other, having made sure they know the others are in the cells, of course.’
‘That’s devious, boss,’ Vicky said. ‘So I’m guessing we would listen i
n and record their conversation? They’ll have to be produced from prison to the cells because of the new evidence, to give them an opportunity to make comment if they wish, won’t they?’
‘CPS won’t like it. Will they accept it as evidence if it’s not under caution?’ asked Paul.
‘Probably not,’ said Dylan. ‘But we might glean something from their conversation that we can put to them in interview. They wouldn’t feel so restricted during the night in the police cell would they and they might just try to make contact as they do by shouting to each other.’
Dylan knew that any conversation the prisoners had would be unsolicited so it would be a decision for the trial Judge as to its admissibility in court. It was worth the risk and an opportunity he couldn’t miss. He would write up his decision in his policy book. He took out his pen and opened the policy book at a new page.
‘The suspects charged in connection with the murders of Billy Simpson and Kirsty Gallagher need to be produced from their respective prisons to police cells so that they can be afforded the opportunity to make comment, should they wish to do so, on new evidence in connection with the offence charged and also the one that they are still suspected of. Derek Harper will also require producing from prison to police cells to afford him the opportunity also to comment on new evidence in connection with the offences he is charged with. Whilst it is necessary to question them about the new evidence, out of their presence in one police cell area arises an opportunity to take note of any unsolicited conversations that may arise by the defendants shouting to each other and whilst being unaware of police presence in the cell area corridor.’
Vicky Hardacre rang Dylan from Penny Sanderson’s home. ‘Ned is nearly having a coronary at the sex aids that he is having to seize as exhibits.’
Dylan smiled. ‘Anything else of note?’
‘We have more police documents marked confidential, print outs from our computers, it seems she’s been helping herself.’
‘So we basically have theft of paper to charge her with?’
‘Yes. She’s mortified at being here but I don’t honestly think she knows a lot more than she has already told us according to DC Wormald who has just interviewed her.’
***
‘I’m going to shoot off and see how Jen’s doing,’ Dylan said. He was on his feet when his telephone rang. He hesitated. In his head he could hear Jen’s voice telling him to ‘leave it.’
He strode out of the door. He had his promotion application in his hand and passing Janet’s office he popped it in her in tray. Janet acknowledged Dylan but kept on typing.
Rita was heading towards him down the corridor.
‘And before you say anything, this thing that Ned Granger decided to put in my temporary store, fully blown up I might add,’ she said. ‘This should come with a government warning, not an instruction manual.’ Rita stood a full sized blow-up doll in a full set of lacy white underwear in front of him, from where it had been tucked under her arm. The blonde Marilyn Monroe lookalike appeared nothing like the picture on the booklet. Rita grinned and her smile made her look younger than her fifty years of age. ‘How does that?’ she said pointing to the plastic effigy, ‘look remotely like that?’ she said moving her pointed finger to the image on the manual that was tied to the doll’s wrist by a plastic handcuff. The doll’s short, blonde, curly, nylon wig looked like something only a granny would wear and her puckered red lips that were formed in a perfect ‘O’ were indented with a two inch wide hole. But her eyes that were blue like it said, it was true, were the funniest of all as they stared back at her, cross eyed.
‘Knowing Ned he will have put it there to shock you.’
‘Shock me? He should know I’m too long in the tooth to be shocked by anything I find in my property store, Dylan,’ she said matter-of-factly. Then her face softened. ‘Is Jen okay? What a blow for her, if it’s true what Penny has done.’
‘She’ll be alright. I think the most frightening thing for her is that she trusted Penny to look after the most precious things in her life and although she didn’t hurt Maisy I think she might have indirectly nearly killed Max.’
‘But why would she do such a thing?’
‘I don’t know the full details yet, but the only thing I can think is that she was so infatuated with Richard Bryant that she did everything she could to please him. Including the sex toys and getting information from our works computers for him.’
‘Why did he want that sort of information?’
‘I don’t know. I think we are only just seeing the tip of the iceberg with this gang, Rita and we’re just scratching the surface of that. Goodness knows how big the distribution network is. By the way, that inflatable isn’t that bad looking. Not when you’ve seen what I’ve seen lurking in dark corners in nightclubs around here, believe me,’ he laughed.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Penny had been bailed for six weeks. In interview she admitted taking documents from the police station for Richard Bryant who she said was curious about what the police had on him, and some of his friends. It was, she thought a way of her finding out more about the new man in her life and, ‘The bottom line, boss,’ Vicky said ‘is that she would do just about anything for him.’
HQ had immediately suspended her and she would receive written notice terminating her employment.
Dylan was livid. Penny had been conned by a charmer maybe, but that was no excuse in his book for betraying a friend. He was glad she was away from the cells when Jane Simpson arrived. Although, a confrontation between the two women may have proved interesting.
The timing and production of the three prisoners had to be right. Their respective names and cell numbers, along with time and date would be charted on an A1 size board immediately behind the custody desk so that on their arrival, albeit at different times, they would see that their associates were also present in the cell block. In large letters written in red ink he had instructed it to also read, ‘NO CONTACT’ – that should grab their attention. Jane Simpson would be obviously detained in the female block that ran parallel with the male cells separated by a secure door. Cell area staff would be briefed in detail about further planned interviews and what else was to take place on the relevant date, which would be as early as physically possible.
Paperwork, continuous telephone calls, meetings and the seeking of relevant authorisation meant the Incident Room remained a hive of industry twenty-four/seven. The week passed quickly and at last the day arrived for the operation to take place. The Forensic laboratory and Fingerprints updated the Incident Room as to the position of outstanding exhibits and marks. Dylan wanted to have up-to-date information available and ready to use at the tips of his fingers.
‘Vicky, Paul, are you sure we have the latest from the lab, fingerprints, phones, computers etcetera?’ he asked on entering the office that morning.
‘Yes, boss.’
‘Everybody knows what they are doing?’
‘Yes, boss.’
***
Dylan was doing a lot of pacing around his office, the investigation was gathering momentum. He wanted to know more about this group, if they were part of a larger network, or simply local reprobates and like-minded people seeking each other out?
His telephone rang, ‘DI Dylan,’ he said.
‘It’s Janet the Chief Superintendent’s secretary. He’s asked me to see if you are attending the meeting that is about to start in his office, regarding the scrum down for sergeants who have applied for promotion this time around?’
‘It’s now is it, Janet? I’ll have to get myself a secretary.’ Janet could hear his smile in his voice.
‘Yes, it’s now, Dylan. I did send out a message earlier, after it was decided at the morning meeting.’
‘Tell him I’ve been delayed momentarily due to operational work and I’m hot-footing it up to the top floor right now.’ Of all the bloody days to have this meeting. Why Hugo-Watkins had chosen today, God only knew.
He let the Inc
ident Room staff know where he was going should there be anything urgent needing his attention before taking the stairs to the upper floor. He strode out along the corridor and turned into the door marked: Chief Superintendent Hugo-Watkins.
‘They’re all inside, Inspector, waiting for you,’ Janet said. Dylan pulled a face at her.
‘And, Jack,’ she said ‘something to look forward to. There are some of your favourite chocolate cookies inside, on a plate for you,’ she said with a little smile.
‘You’re an angel,’ Dylan said with a wink as he opened the door and walked in the Chief Superintendent’s office.
‘Ah, he’s here,’ said Hugo-Watkins. ‘Morning, Dylan, I know you’re busy, we all are, but it’s essential we put the right candidates forward. We have four applicants but HQ have asked each Division to limit their support of nominations to their top two, hence this urgent meeting.
Inspector Justin Gaskin was present and Dylan noticed he couldn’t have been more laid-back in his chair if he had been on a sun lounger. A whole chocolate cookie was going in his mouth and he had another in his hand. Dylan snarled. The plate was empty, albeit for a couple of custard creams. Dylan knew Gaskin wouldn’t be doing Vicky any favours after she stopped him entering the Simpson murder scene. Human Resources were represented by Officer Hilary Carter. Hilary was prim and proper with what Dylan called a basin haircut. An attractive slim woman in her fifties she had eventually found her police vocation in her present role. Front line policing was not the strongest part of her skill-base, but nevertheless she was straight talking and he liked her. Inspector Carter saw some good in everyone and he knew she would ensure there was fairness within this procedure as with anything else she was involved in. So this was where the paper sift would start? Dylan had hardly had time to sit down before Justin Gaskin spoke out in his booming loud voice. ‘This shouldn’t take long,’ he said, pulling himself into an upright position and picking up his cup of coffee from the table. ‘There is only one candidate for me and that’s Graham Thornton. Eddie Thornton’s lad. He’s a graduate entry, big lad, he’ll be an Acting Chief Constable one day, just like his father, mark my words.’
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