first and then scour the rest of the place.’
Searches are heavy on manpower. Officers have to be diverted from other duties, but a murder enquiry takes priority over most things. Hen had promised everyone it wouldn’t take long. In theory she was right, except that the consent of the owners had to be sought at each location, and nothing is quick when members of the public are involved. ‘If the ACC should ask what this is about,’ she told Stella, who was back at the ranch running things, ‘you’d better tell him we’re looking for a stolen Picasso. That should silence him.’
The same morning, Jo stirred about six-thirty. In her drowsy state she became aware she wasn’t wearing the XXL T-shirt she always slept in. From there her brain reminded her why. He’d been a marvellous lover, discovering what turned her on, treating her gently when she wanted it, and bringing them both to amazing climaxes. She’d felt appreciated, a giver and sharer of passion better than anything she’d ever experienced before.
But had it really happened? She had a worrying suspicion she was alone in the bed and she was scared to turn over and see if he was there. The potential for disappointment was huge. Could she feel the warmth of another body, or was it simply her own? She listened for breathing and couldn’t hear any. Then there was a sound from the kitchen, the purring of the kettle. He was out there making coffee.
Modesty took over. She hopped out of bed and snatched some things from the drawer, got under the duvet again and pulled them on just before he entered with two mugs. He was fully dressed.
‘I woke you,’ he said. ‘Sorry.’
‘It’s all right. I’m not used to getting coffee made for me.’
‘You see, I know it’s Sunday, but I have to get to work.’
‘I’ll drive you in.’ Oops, she thought. That would be against his principles. ‘If I had a bike, you could borrow it, but I don’t.’
‘I can get the bus.’
‘If I drive you, we’ll have time for breakfast. And don’t you dare say you never eat it.’ Oh, hell, she thought, that sounded awfully like nagging.
But cooking for him and driving him to Pagham were important, as if to demonstrate that last night hadn’t just been about the sex. If she had remained in bed and let him go out of the door, the whole thing would have seemed like just another one night stand.
In the car he said, ‘I’m not used to this.’
‘Being driven?’ Jo said, knowing he meant something else.
‘Sleeping with someone.’
‘It didn’t show. I mean, it was… really special. I’m not promiscuous either, by the way.’
‘Nice slogan for a T-shirt.’
‘We should get two made. Ah, but imagine what Rick and Gemma would make of it. They’d never let it rest.’
‘I expect they spent the night together.’
‘I’m not sure. The last time I mentioned it to Gemma she said they hadn’t. I think if they had, she’d be only too keen to crow about it.’
‘Can’t she keep a secret?’
‘Gemma?’ She laughed at the notion. ‘Only when it amuses her to keep people dangling, like they did about her boss and what happened to him.’
‘That’s just talk,’ he said. ‘They don’t know anything.’
He said this with such certainty that momentarily it crossed Jo’s mind that Jake knew the truth about Mr Cartwright’s disappearance. But how could he? She dismissed the idea.
A silver Xsara Picasso was found shortly after midday in a field on the west side of the Chidham peninsula. A grey cover was over it. The plates and road fund licence had been removed, but no one had much doubt that it was Fiona’s.
‘I want this area taped off and nobody else touching the thing until forensics have been by,’ Hen said. She’d been confident, but it was still a relief to have found the car.
The searchers who had made the find had folded back the cover from the bonnet to check the make and registration. It’s a truism among crime scene investigators that everyone visiting a crime scene brings something to it and takes something away. Fortunately there was a good chance of recovering some DNA from the interior and perhaps from the cover as well.
She called the incident room and asked for Stella. Instead she got Sergeant Murphy. He reminded her that Stella was out at Apuldram searching Cartwright’s house.
‘Who else is with you?’
‘It’s Sunday morning, guv. We’re down to three.’
She got on to Emsworth and asked for some of that cross-border co-operation. They agreed to send a car to the Millpond to arrest Francisco on suspicion of stealing a vehicle. They would deliver him to Chichester for questioning.
‘What’s my thinking here?’ she asked Gary to see how he was shaping up as a member of CID.
‘We let Francisco get the idea it’s only the car theft we’re interested in and catch him off guard?’
‘You can do better than that.’
‘We can get a sample of his DNA?’
‘We’ll do that, yes, but it isn’t what I’m driving at.’
He scratched his head. ‘I’m not at my sharpest today, guv. I got to bed quite late.’
‘Blaming me, are you? Didn’t you ever read PACE when you were in uniform? When you arrest someone for a serious offence you can enter and search his house without a warrant.’
‘Oh, I knew that.’
‘But you didn’t say, did you? Get with it, Gary.’
Leaving two uniformed officers to remain with the car until the forensic unit turned up, she drove back to Chichester and had a canteen breakfast.
Francisco was already slumped in a chair in Interview Room Two looking as if he needed an Alka Seltzer. Hen and Gary sat opposite. After the preliminaries were spoken, Hen said, ‘You know what you’re here for?’
‘No.’ He was trying to stare her out.
‘It was explained to you when you were arrested. You’re under suspicion of stealing a vehicle. Where did you go last evening?’
‘Jongleurs.’
‘Come again?’
Gary said, ‘It’s that nightclub in Portsmouth, guv, Gun Wharf Quay.’
‘You’re telling us you were in Portsmouth?’ she asked Francisco, making clear her disbelief.
‘My job, isn’t it? Security.’
‘We know about that. What hours do you work?’
‘Eight till two-thirty.’
‘You were never in Portsmouth at eight last night.’
He shrugged. ‘I may have gone in later.’
‘Cut the crap, Francisco. You were driving round the lanes of Chidham between nine and ten. We were following you.’
Trying to appear cool, he leaned back in the chair with his hands behind his neck. ‘What for?’
‘Let’s spell it out, then. We found Fiona’s car in the field at Chidham this morning. You led us there. Forensics are testing for traces of DNA and prints. When we compare them with the samples you’ve given and checked the tyreprints of your Land Rover, I fully expect to be charging you. I wouldn’t try bluffing if I were you. Science has overtaken all that. Follow me now?’
‘No.’
‘Come on, Francisco. You stole her Xsara Picasso and left it under a cover in a field after removing the plates and licence. You’re her neighbour and she trusted you with a key to her house. You let yourself in and took away the paperwork, all evidence that she ever possessed the car. I’m sure your plan was to wait a few weeks and then
