‘Maybe Outi doesn’t exist.’
His eyes gleamed like new coins. ‘If she doesn’t, he’s got about nineteen days to account for.’
‘Nineteen days when he could have been back in England murdering his wife and the other woman. We checked if he flew from St Petersburg to London and drew a blank. We’d better see if he went by way of Helsinki, or any other airport in the region. It’s feasible.’
‘Mightn’t it be quicker to check whether Outi is a real person?’
‘The Finn fatale? Yes, you can do that.’
‘Do I get a trip to Helsinki?’
‘On the budget we’re given? You’re an optimist. A phonecall, Gary. A phonecall to the Helsinki police. Now I must see how Stella’s been getting on with the tree-hugger. First I owe myself a smoke.’
She found Stella at her desk in the incident room and learned that Jake was not co-operating. ‘He’s still in a strop about the helicopter.’
‘At least he’s saying something.’
‘A silent strop.’
‘He’s right to be angry,’ Hen said in a rare tone of regret. ‘I wish I hadn’t used the thing. It was the dogs that found him, not the chopper.’
‘You weren’t to know that, guv.’
‘But, Stell, I’ve got a conscience, too. I care about the world we’re destroying and polluting. I hate to think of the rainforest being chainsawed by loggers. I’ve got my own orangutan I sponsor. And then at the first opportunity of a ride in a bloody helicopter I’m there, causing havoc and destruction in a nature reserve. I should be ashamed and I am.’
‘I don’t suppose you did too much damage.’
‘Where is he now-in the cells?’
‘Interview Room Two.’
‘Well, I’m choked about what happened, but let’s see if I can get one bird to sing again, eh?’
Jake had slumped in the chair and appeared to be asleep when the two detectives went in.
Hen leaned across the table and touched his arm.
His eyes opened, saw her and glowered.
‘If you think I’m going to apologise for this morning,’ she began, and then paused before adding, ‘you’re right. I should have thought about the damage a noisy whirlwind of a machine can do to habitats. My decision, my mistake. Without it we’d have taken longer to pull you in, but that’s the way I should have gone about it. I was out of order and I’m sorry.’
He remained silent, but the expression in his eyes changed from hostility to suspicion to surprise.
‘Like you, I have to work for a living,’ Hen carried on, ‘and I hope you can respect that, just as I respect you for standing up and telling me what a barbarian I am.’ She let that sink in before saying, ‘You know why we arrested you. More questions. But this is another chance for you to get a word in. Or two. Or three.’
He didn’t appreciate the attempt to humour him. She nodded to Stella to start the tape and speak the official preamble.
When it was done, Hen spread her hands and said, ‘We know who you are and by now I reckon you know us, but the stupid tape machine can’t remember squat.’
Still no reaction.
She sat back in her chair and studied his face for some time before saying, ‘It was plucky of your friend Jo to sit in the inflatable wearing your jacket and hood. Comical, too. I was in the helicopter and she fooled me. I felt sure it was you. At the time I was all for taking the chopper down to about thirty feet, churning up the water and tipping it over. Big guy like you wouldn’t be in trouble, I thought. It can’t be deep out there. Good thing the pilot didn’t approve. We don’t know if Jo can swim.’
He still wasn’t tempted to comment, so Hen continued, ‘Another drowning wouldn’t have been good for my reputation. As I was saying, she’s a good ally of yours, that young woman. She didn’t pick you out in the ID the other day, and even today she insisted you weren’t one of the men she saw at Selsey.’
Jake appeared unmoved. Certainly his lips didn’t move.
Hen was not discouraged. ‘But it turns out that you two are friends, close friends, according to her, and now you have a chance to help her out. We’re not going to charge her with wasting police time this morning, but misleading us over the ID parade is a lot more serious. As you know, the parade wasn’t controlled by me, or by CID. By law it had to be overseen by a uniform branch inspector. A word from me to him could result in a serious charge for Miss Jo Stevens.’
The bird was persuaded to sing at last. ‘She didn’t mislead anyone.’
‘But she’s a friend of yours.’
‘She told the truth,’ Jake said. ‘She didn’t see me that morning. I was on the beach, yes, but she didn’t see me.’
‘What were you doing there?’
‘Walking.’
‘And did you see Meredith Sentinel, the woman who was drowned?’
‘No.’
‘You’re certain of that?’
‘I would have told you.’
If nothing else, the responses were coming now. Hen rested her elbows on the table and supported her chin with her cupped hands. ‘I’m going to ask you again, Jake: What were you doing there?’
‘Thought I might meet Jo. I didn’t.’
‘Let me get this right. You knew she was going to be there that morning?’
‘She told me she likes to walk there early on a Sunday.’
‘What was this-a date?’
He shook his head. ‘We weren’t dating.’
Hen glanced towards Stella. ‘Sounds to me as if the possibility crossed the young lady’s mind.’
‘We only met the evening before,’ Jake said.
‘Where?’
‘Chichester Gate.’
She was intrigued to know how. She couldn’t believe he had a chat-up line. But to ask would have brought the interchange to a juddering halt. ‘How did it come about? Were you alone there?’
‘With friends.’
‘Ah.’ This linked up with something she’d learned before. ‘Was this the evening you started with Gemma and ended with Jo?’
‘Er, yes.’ He plucked at an ear lobe. ‘Gemma wasn’t my girlfriend,’ he said, impelled to add something. ‘We went bowling, that’s all, and met up with the others.’
‘Others?’
‘Jo and Rick.’
‘And who’s Rick?’
‘A guy playing bowls with Jo.’
‘Was anyone else in the party?’
‘No.’
‘A foursome, then.’
‘It didn’t start like that.’
‘How did it end, Jake? You teamed up with Jo, right? Did Rick and Gemma pair off as well?’
‘No. Rick and Jo left in a taxi. He wasn’t feeling well, so she made sure he got home.’
‘Was he hammered, then?’
A shake of the head. ‘There wasn’t much drinking done. We saw a film.’
With communication working as well as it was ever likely to, she switched to the matter that interested her most. ‘You first met Gemma at her workplace. Kleentext, the printers, am I right?’
He nodded.
‘Tell me about it, Jake.’
