‘Thank you. Debbie – can you dim the lights, and I’ll take you through the images we’ve got from the cameras.’ He hit a remote switch, and an aerial view of Maidstone appeared on the wall beside him, the projector’s light catching the shoulder of his jacket as he moved to one side. ‘My thanks to our uniformed colleagues who have worked all day to pull this together for us. We’ll start with the crash site and work backwards. As you can see from the image here, we’ve got a lot of area to cover.’
Kay fought down the tiredness, knowing she had to stay focused. Whoever the driver was, she wouldn’t relax until he was convicted and put away for a very long time.
The ambient light in the room dipped and wavered as Sharp switched to the next image.
‘This was taken as the vehicle passed below the bridge under the railway,’ he said, and continued to change the images as he commentated, using a laser pointer to trace the details. ‘The driver left Maidstone via the A229 to join the motorway. Prior to that, we have CCTV placing him here.’
His audience leaned forward as one.
On the screen was a grainy image of the vehicle passing along an empty street, but only the front grille of the car showed.
‘Where’s that, guv?’ said Gavin.
‘Wheeler Street. Runs off Holland Road. Unfortunately, the contractors responsible for maintaining the CCTV cameras along there haven’t been keeping to their schedule, and we’re missing at least twenty minutes.’ He flicked to the next image. ‘At present, we have no idea where the vehicle was between this prior known position here on the A26 to where we’ve spotted it in Wheeler Street.’
‘That’s enough time to kill and hide a body in the car,’ mused Kay.
‘If that’s where he killed her, yes. Part of uniform’s remit tomorrow morning will be to speak to business owners along Wheeler Street and Holland Road to see if anyone’s got some camera footage to help us. If they have, we’ll try to fill in the gaps using the information to hand.’
Despite Sharp’s optimism, Kay could hear the underlying frustration. It was a long and laborious task and in the meantime, they’d be treading water waiting for the results.
‘Moving backwards,’ said Sharp, ‘we have the car pinpointed at a roundabout at Mereworth. He disappears then, again due to lack of camera coverage, and we pick him up here, on the outskirts of Tonbridge – his starting point.’
A darkened street appeared, its kerbs lined with a variety of cars outside tightly packed terraced houses.
‘We’ll have teams of uniformed officers mobilised in the morning to assist with door to door enquiries in Tonbridge,’ said Sharp. ‘The first team will be out early to try to catch as many people as possible before work or school commitments. A second team will set out at six o’clock to go to those houses we get no response from during the morning session. All statements will be entered onto the system by the administrative staff at headquarters as they come in from the teams in the field. Kay, Carys – as soon as we have confirmation from the door to door enquiries which house that vehicle belongs to, I want you to do the formal search at the property. I’ll get the necessary warrants authorised, but it means you’re going to have to join the team in Tonbridge tomorrow morning so you can act immediately. We’ll get Barnes or Gavin to get the search warrant to you. Might be a good idea for you to tag along with uniform, speak to the neighbours to give yourselves a head start.’
‘Guv.’
‘I’ll have Harriet and her team on standby to conduct a forensic search.’
Kay nodded, but didn’t respond. If it transpired the woman had been murdered at the property, the whole place would be locked down immediately while the crime scene investigation unit worked their way through the building.
Sharp switched off the projector, and tossed the laser pointer onto the desk next to him as the lights were switched back on.
‘Right. See you tomorrow, everyone. Don’t be late.’
Chapter Five
Kay emitted a sigh as she extracted herself from the car, the late night and subsequent early morning start finally catching up with her.
Adam, her partner, had parked his four-wheel-drive on the gravel driveway rather than in the garage outside the house he’d inherited from a grateful elderly client, and she had to squeeze between the two vehicles to get to the front door.
She noticed the back of the four-wheel-drive was open, so she changed her mind and sidled down the side of the vehicle until she reached the garage, and then made her way through to the kitchen via an internal door.
Adam was crouched on the floor with his back to her, a boxlike wooden structure on the floor beside him. He glanced over his shoulder as she shut the door behind her.
‘Hi,’ he said. ‘I thought I heard your car on the driveway.’
He straightened, and Kay tilted her face up to his before he kissed her.
She lowered her gaze to the balsa wood structure. ‘What is it this time?’
He grinned. ‘Something you’ll really like. Cute and fluffy.’
He ran a hand through his unruly black hair, his eyes sparkling.
Kay peered around him, and realised the box was in fact a small hutch with an enclosed area at one end, and a wire mesh covering the other half. Adam had spread newspaper out under the open end.
Adam moved to the kitchen bench and rummaged in a plastic carrier bag, before turning back with two ceramic bowls in his hands. He handed one to Kay.
‘Do you want to fill that one up with water? It’s too cold to leave them outside, but they should be okay in here.’
Kay dumped her handbag on the draining board, and ran the cold tap until the bowl was three quarters full, wondering what he’d brought home.
As one of the town’s
