Flawed Beauty

by Ernesto Lee

  Before she can say anything else, Mr. Singh abruptly releases his daughter’s hand and asks, “Why do you have that card? Have you been—?”

  Praneeta cuts him off and shakes her head. “No, papa, I haven’t. Shreya gave me the card. Her agent was offering her a small commission for any girls she could get to sign up.”

  Her father looks unconvinced, and Praneeta retakes his hand. “I swear to you, papa. Modeling is not something I would ever consider. I just had the card in my purse.”

  Embarrassed for doubting her, Mr. Singh apologizes to Praneeta and then says to Erin, “I’m sorry for the interruption, Chief Inspector Blake. Please continue.”

  DS Bolton has been listening quietly but now asks Erin if he can say something. She indicates for him to proceed and Tony asks, “Do you know what kind of entertainment and talent services Derek Bannister was offering to Shreya?”

  “I’m sorry,” Praneeta replies. “I’m not sure what you mean?”

  “His services,” Tony repeats. “Was he just offering to get her fashion modeling work or was it something else?”

  His insinuation is obvious and Praneeta flushes with embarrassment. “No, Shreya wasn’t like that. It was just fashion modeling. I would have known if it was anything mo—”

  “So, no topless or nude work?” Tony interrupts. “Or adult video work maybe?”

  Only realizing now what DS Bolton is referring to, Mr. Singh sits bolt upright in his chair and snaps, “No, this is my niece you are talking about. She was a good girl. She would never do anything like that.”

  Unperturbed by the outburst, Tony calmly makes a note in his pocketbook before saying, “With respect, Mr. Singh, I don’t think any of us ever really know our loved ones as much as we think we do.”

  Heartbroken to think that his niece may have been involved in something so unsavory, Jagdeep Singh appeals to his daughter. “Please, tell them it’s not true. Shreya was a good girl.”

  With absolute sincerity, she shakes her head and tells DS Bolton, “She was my best friend and we told each other everything. I would have known if she had got herself involved in anything like that.”

  “Okay,” Tony says. “Do you know if she was asked, though?”

  “Not to my knowledge,” Praneeta replies, shaking her head.

  Looking doubtful, Tony asks again, “Are you sure about that? For a girl like Shreya with big aspirations, it could have been a tempting way to get her foot in the door.”

  Although surprised by his line of questioning, Blake and Marchetti know that what Bolton is suggesting is perfectly possible and they don’t intervene.

  Praneeta remains adamant and affirms again, “No, absolutely not. She would have told me if anyone had asked her to do anything like that. And if anyone had asked her, I would have told her not to do it.”

  Seemingly satisfied, Tony closes his pocketbook and nods. “Okay, thank you, and I’m sorry if I upset you. I’m sure you understand why it was necessary to ask, though.”

  He passes the floor back to DCI Blake, who smiles at Praneeta and asks, “Did you ever meet Derek Bannister yourself?”

  “Just the once,” Praneeta confirms. “I picked Shreya up from his office after her first meeting. I was waiting in the reception when he came out with her.”

  “And how did he come across to you?” Erin asks. “What kind of a man is he?”

  Tutting to her, Praneeta says, “He was exactly how you would imagine a modeling agent to be. Well-groomed, completely full of himself and a bit of a sleaze.”

  “A sleaze in what way?” Terri asks.

  “You know, just very touchy-feely and acting like God’s gift to women.”

  “Inappropriate?” Erin suggests.

  “Not so much inappropriate,” Praneeta replies. “Just embarrassing that he thinks girls our age would be interested in him. He’s not even that good-looking.”

  Although unintentional, the last comment has lightened the mood slightly and Praneeta seems now to be a little more relaxed. She asks if Derek Bannister could be involved somehow.

  “We’ll be speaking to Mr. Bannister, but it’s unlikely,” Erin replies. “Anyway, let’s move on from him. Tell me about your cousin. What kind of a girl was she?”

  “Where do I start?” Praneeta smiles fondly. “She was an amazing girl and didn’t have an enemy in the world. She was kind, caring and thoughtful.”

  “She had a big circle of friends?” Terri asks.

  “Not huge, but big enough,” Praneeta says.

  “And you knew all of her friends?” Erin says.

  “Yes, I think so. Her friends were my friends. We grew up and worked together, so it’s not really that surprising.”

  “But there could have been friends that you didn’t know or know about?” Erin suggests.

  Praneeta nods. “Yeah, I guess so. We were best friends, but we didn’t live in each other’s pockets.”

  “What about boys?” Erin asks. “You said earlier that Shreya hadn’t had a boyfriend since your school days. How is that possible for such a beautiful girl? For lack of a better phrase, wouldn’t she have been fighting them off with the proverbial shitty stick?”

  Ordinarily, such a comment might be considered amusing, but Praneeta remains pensive until prompted again by Terri. “Were there any boyfriends that you knew of?”

  “No one serious. Sure, she had plenty of boys coming on to her, but she never seemed to be that interested. She was always more into her studies and the fashion industry. I think she thought that boys were a bit of a distraction for girls our age.”

  “She sounds like a girl wise beyond her years,” Erin says with a small laugh. “So, she wasn’t seeing anyone that you knew of?”

  “No, I would have known,” Praneeta replies confidently. Then suddenly sounding less sure of herself, she adds, “She would have told me. I’m sure of it.”

  Picking up on the vibe, Terri asks, “Is there something troubling you? You look a little unsure of yourself. You think Shreya could have been seeing someone without you knowing about it?”

  “Well, it’s just… well, recently we were hanging around together a lot less than we used to, and she seemed to be going out a lot on her own. I asked a few times if she was seeing someone, but she always laughed it off.”

  Suddenly alert again, DS Bolton leans across the table, “What did she say she was doing during these times on her own?”

  “Mainly that she was going on modeling jobs,” Praneeta replies. “I never believed her, though. She was always dressed up to go out somewhere, and I never saw any of the pictures from these jobs she was doing.” Frowning, she adds, “And she was always skint.”

  “Skint?” Erin asks.

  “Well, not exactly skint,” Praneeta replies. “But not exactly rolling in it either. What I mean is, for someone supposedly doing all these photoshoots, she didn’t seem to be any more flush with cash than normal. I didn’t push it, though. She seemed happy enough, and I figured she would tell me eventually if she was seeing someone.”

  After conferring quietly with Terri for a moment, Erin is about to speak when she is interrupted by the sound of a cell phone ringing. All eyes turn quickly toward DS Bolton as he scrabbles in his jacket pocket to silence the ringtone. The call is followed a couple of seconds later by the sound of an incoming message, which Tony quickly reads, then flushed with embarrassment, he turns off the phone and apologizes to Erin.

  Masking her annoyance, she brushes off the interruption, “That’s okay. I was going to say that I think we have enough to be going on for now anyway. If we all agree, I think we should end this interview for today?”

  DI Marchetti and DS Bolton both nod their agreement, and Erin duly ends the interview. “Interview terminated with Ms. Praneeta Singh at 2.07 pm.”

  She turns off the video tape and thanks Praneeta and her father for coming in. “I know how distressing this must be for you, but this really has been very helpful. We may, of course, need to speak to you again, Pra
neeta, but for now, DS Bolton will take you back to the reception and arrange for a car to take you home.”

  They all stand up, and Mr. Singh offers his hand to Erin. “Please promise me that you’ll find the man that killed my niece, Chief Inspector.”

  Nodding, but with very little to go on at this stage, the best that Erin can offer him is, “You have my word that we’ll do our very best, Mr. Singh.”

  Forcing a smile, Shreya’s uncle thanks her for her assurance. “That’s good enough then, and thank you for your understanding.”

  DI Bolton leaves with the Singhs, and Erin takes a deep breath. “What did you think of that, Terri?”

  “Not much we didn’t already know, boss. Apart from the sleazeball agent and a possible boyfriend. You want me to pull the sleazeball in?”

  Erin shakes her head. “No. Let’s first regroup with the team later as planned to see what they’ve turned up.” She then tells Terri about the press conference.

  “I’m going to get it set up for tomorrow morning. Straight after that, we can pay Mr. Bannister a surprise visit at his place of work. I’m interested to see first-hand exactly what kind of services he offers his clients.”

  . . . . . . . .

  After two hours of sifting through the updates on her desk with DI Marchetti and DS Bolton, it’s clear that the first day of investigation has thus far yielded very little of any great significance. With the possible exception of one item.

  Erin holds up the blurry images pulled from the CCTV opposite the taxi stand on Bootle High Street and another set taken from the traffic cams close to the scene of the crime.

  “Are these the best quality we can get?” she asks.

  “We’ve asked the tech boys to take a look at the footage to see if they can be enhanced,” Tony replies. “But these are the best we have for now.”

  In the first images, Shreya can be seen leaving the kebab shop and passing the taxi stand. In the next image, she has turned and is now facing back towards the taxi stand.

  Erin taps this picture and asks, “Why did she turn around? What made her do that? And who is this?”

  Erin is now pointing to a figure in jogging pants and a hoodie gesturing towards the people waiting at the taxi stand.

  “Looks like a pisshead or a dosser having a bit of a rant,” Tony suggests. The same guy also appears later in some of the images taken from the traffic cams on Cresswell Street. On each occasion, it’s around thirty seconds after Shreya passes the same cameras.”

  Erin spreads the pictures out on the table in front of her, but, frustratingly, none give a clear image of the subject’s face. All are either out of focus or the angle is such that the face is completely obscured by his hoodie.

  “He’s deliberately hiding his face,” Erin says to herself.

  Her colleagues both nod, and Tony says, “You’re right, boss. And judging from the times on these pictures, it looks like he could have been following our victim.”

  Hopeful that they are onto something, Erin allows herself a smile and nods, “It certainly looks that way. Okay, guys, make some copies of the best images and then gather the troops. We have work to do.”

  . . . . . . . .

  At just after 8.00 pm, Erin joins her team in the briefing room and the first thing she notices is the conspicuous absence of DS Bolton from his expected place in the front row.

  To her side, Terri shrugs and whispers from the side of her mouth, “He said something about a family emergency. He didn’t say exactly what, but I’m guessing it’s to do with his ex. Sorry, boss. I thought he might have called to let you know.”

  Slightly annoyed but not overly concerned, Erin shrugs off his absence and turns to her audience. Although firm leads are thin on the ground, she is keen not to downplay progress or demoralize her team on day one of the investigation. With this in mind, she starts with some words of encouragement.

  “Okay, guys, we’ve been through your updates and, overall, it’s been a fairly good day. From today’s interviews and investigation, we now have three strong lines of inquiry.”

  She asks Terri to hand round the photographs and then points to the clearest image pinned to the ops board. “Our primary suspect is this guy. He was in the area of The Starry Plough and the kebab shop at the same time as Shreya, and we have reason to believe that he may have said something that caused her to turn and possibly confront him.

  “In the later images, you can see that he takes the same route as Shreya but is careful to remain some distance behind. The last image we have of him was taken at the top of Cresswell Street around thirty seconds after Shreya Singh was captured by the same camera.

  “For those of you that are not familiar with the area, the top of Cresswell Street is less than three hundred yards from the crime scene in Rushcroft Lane.”

  She lets her last comment sink in before continuing. “The tech team are working on enhancing the footage, but for now, these are the best we have. We estimate him to be between five-nine and five-ten tall. Medium to heavy build, dressed in a dark-colored hoodie and sweats. Possibly homeless or alcoholic.”

  She then turns to DC Potter. “Would you agree with that assessment, Mike?”

  Potter nods and stands up. “Yes, ma’am, I would.”

  “Anything else you would like to add?” Erin asks.

  “Yes, ma’am. We continued to review the footage after providing the first images and noticed that this suspect was initially holding what looks like a bottle of spirits.”

  He hands Erin a fresh picture and points to the pavement. “It’s not very clear, ma’am, but in this picture, he’s dropped the bottle and it appears to have smashed.”

  Knowing exactly where this is leading, Erin’s pulse quickens as she senses an opportunity for a quick identification and early arrest. “Oh God, please tell me that you managed to recover the pieces, DC Potter?”

  “Yes, we did,” Potter replies enthusiastically. Then quickly tempering his enthusiasm, he says, “Unfortunately, we haven’t managed to lift any prints as of now, ma’am.”

  “That’s not possible,” Terri says. She checks the photographs and then adds, “He’s not wearing gloves. Unless…”

  She hesitates, and Erin asks her what she was going to say.

  “Unless he was wearing transparent disposable gloves. The type you might get in a home tinting kit, for example. We wouldn’t be able to see those in these images.”

  “If that is the case, then this has to be our man,” Erin says. “Why else would he go to such great lengths to ensure no prints on the bottle and to hide his face from the cameras?”

  She turns to the ops board and double-underlines the words Primary Suspect. “From here on, finding this man is our number one priority. Until I advise otherwise, our main efforts to identify this suspect should be focused on the area in and around The Starry Plough pub, the kebab shop and the taxi rank.”

  Erin continues by briefing the team on the findings from the earlier interview with Praneeta Singh. Specifically, she mentions the surprise visit to Derek Bannister planned for after the next day’s press conference and the suspicion that there might have been a boyfriend.

  “Okay, team, so as of now, our mystery man in the photographs is our primary line of inquiry. The model agent and the possible boyfriend are lines of inquiry numbers two and three.

  “DC Thorne, tomorrow morning, I want you and your team to focus your efforts on Bootle High Street. Speak to anyone and everyone who might recognize or might have seen our primary suspect either before or on the night of the murder. If he is homeless or an alcoholic, then he might be a regular in the area.

  “DC Potter, I want you to continue to work on the CCTV study and enhancement of these images. In parallel, though, I want you to check out the boyfriend angle. If there is, or was a recent boyfriend, I want to know who he is and where he is now.

  “DI Marchetti, along with DS Bolton and I, will take the lead with Derek Bannister tomorrow. Everyone else should continue wi
th the interviews.”

  Concluding her own update, she takes a seat and invites DI Gladwell to take the floor to advise of his findings. He carefully pins a selection of digitally enhanced and enlarged photographs to the ops board and then puts on a pair of wire-rimmed reading glasses before referring to his meticulously prepared notes.

  Obviously uncomfortable talking in front of such a large audience, it is clear when he starts to speak that he is reading word for word from his notes.

  “Point one, cause of death. At 3.17 pm on Monday the 18th of March 2019, along with the force pathologist, Dr. Ruth Taylor, I carried out a preliminary examination of the deceased and cause of death was jointly determined as a blunt-force trauma to the right temple as was initially suspected.

  “The indentation pattern to the deceased’s temple and trace amounts of forged steel detected within the wound area are a clear indication that a hammer was used to kill this young lady.”

  “You’re absolutely sure of that?” Erin asks.

  “One hundred percent,” Gladwell replies. “I’m also certain that it was a claw hammer, DCI Blake.”

  Referring to Shreya’s disfigurement, he adds, “Dr. Taylor and I believe that these injuries were inflicted in the same way that a claw hammer might be used to remove a nail from a piece of wood.”

  To illustrate his point, he mimics the motion of a claw hammer being jerked backwards and down to remove an invisible nail. Some in the room are clearly disturbed by the image conjured up by his demonstration, but Gladwell doesn’t appear to notice and continues quite unaware of his colleagues’ discomfort.

  “To confirm our theory, samples of tissue were taken from the remains of the nasal passage, the mouth and the upper lip. Matching trace elements of forged steel were detected in all three samples.”

  With no questions or comments forthcoming, Gladwell quickly moves on to his next point and refers to another of the photographs. “Point two, unidentified dark-grey fiber samples detected on the deceased’s clothing and not yet matched to the victim or anyone directly connected to the victim.”