the tension between Paul and Brian.
Brian Stanley had a habit of lifting his forefinger into the air to attract attention.
‘These body-builders at the gym he frequented . . . were they gay?’
‘Didn’t seem so to me, far from it,’ Anna replied, glancing at Paul.
‘What about this guy who lives in flat one – did he come over as a shirt-lifter?’
Anna gave Brian a disapproving glare. Paul was tight-lipped with anger, but still he remained silent.
‘No, he did not. You can see from our investigation that he’s had quite a chequered career. Lost his life savings in that Icelandic bank crash and now works for the company listed. Apparently his sister is married to one of the chief executives so she might have had a hand in giving him work. He’s a very good-looking young man, by the way.’
‘At no time has anyone from the block of flats seen these two together – Tina Brooks and Mr Handsome?’ Stanley asked.
‘No, they have not.’
‘We get anything from the phones? Have they been calling each other?’
‘No. We’ve checked out both landlines, although Phillips hardly uses his. Tina’s mobile has been checked but we are still waiting on Mr Phillips’s, so we don’t yet know if he contacted her – maybe at the salon’s a possibility, but it will take a long time to scroll through the hundreds of calls there.’
‘You got Alan Rawlins’s mobile from the glove compartment in his Merc at the garage, correct?’
‘Yes, it’s on the board,’ Paul said briskly.
‘Just wondering why it’s taken so long to check out his calls.’
‘I have checked them and there was nothing untoward.’ Paul looked over to Anna and again she interjected.
‘We have only just found out we have a possible murder case. Now unless there is anything else, Brian, we need to move on.’
Brian took out a black-covered notebook and muttered that he would get onto the mobile companies ASAP. It was now the turn of DC Helen Bridges. In her mid-thirties, she was a quiet woman with a pleasant manner, wearing glasses.
‘Was Tina Brooks ever unhelpful?’ she wanted to know.
‘No, but she was always very edgy, especially when we went to the salon,’ Anna told her.
Brian Stanley put up his index finger again.
‘Have we obtained any CCTV from Asda or verified that the bleach she bought was on special offer? And did she also buy the salon bleach from a different company?’
‘She admitted to buying it as she said they use it to wash the floors in the hair salon.’
‘But there was a semi-full one in the flat when you did the search?’ Helen said, reading up the case-file notes.
‘Yes.’
‘That means if she bought four large containers, three and a half have been used up?’
‘Correct, Helen.’
Brian now did his finger in the air again.
‘That has to mean she was involved in the cleaning up of the bloodstains. If she wasn’t, surely she would have noticed that there was a lot of the bleach missing, and said something about it?’
‘Yes, that is correct,’ Anna said, watching Brian make a laborious note in his book, again muttering that he would check that out and contact Asda. Helen half-rose from her chair then sat back down again.
‘Do we have any photographs of Tina Brooks?’ she asked, flicking through the file. Anna sighed.
‘No, we don’t, but we have that surfing picture of Alan Rawlins.’
There was a guffaw from Brian Stanley and he suggested that they get a decent head shot of him ASAP.
Anna brought the session to a close by outlining what the team would be working on the following morning. She suggested that the new detectives continue to familiarise themselves with the case-file to date before leaving for the night.
She had just returned to her office when Paul knocked and walked in.
‘That bastard with the eyebrows gets on my nerves. At least he should have them plucked.’
‘Just let them settle in before you allow him to get under your skin.’
‘He’s already under it, the homophobic prick.’
‘Paul, that’s enough. It’s been a long day and I don’t know about you, but I’d like to get home and recharge my batteries.’
‘Yeah, okay. What about the interview with Rawlins’s parents? You said you wanted to talk with the mother.’
‘We wait for the second blood-test results.’
‘Fine. See you tomorrow then.’
‘Goodnight, Paul.’
Anna waited until he had gone before she sat back in her chair. From her desk she could look into the incident room via the semi-closed blinds on her window. Helen and Brian were standing by the incident-room board, conferring. Mr ‘Eyebrows’ might be a pain in the butt, but he was very experienced, and from the way the case was opening up she knew she would need all the help she could get.
The next morning, Anna learned that there was a further delay in using the Luminol. The forensic team were waiting until the extensive search of the flat was finished, to avoid damaging anything the fingerprint team might still uncover. Liz Hawley had also contacted Anna to say that she was still doing more work on Mr Rawlins’s blood, and asked if a further sample had been taken from Mrs Rawlins. Anna rang the Rawlinses’ home, but the carer answered to say that Mr Rawlins was at work. Anna tried the courts where Edward Rawlins worked as an usher, but had to leave a message as his mobile was turned off.
Impatient to get on with the day, she had another delay when Langton came into the station. She could see him conferring with Brian Stanley and waited for him to come into her office.
When he eventually left Stanley and walked over to her office, he cocked his head to one side.
‘Well, well. This is getting more interesting, isn’t it?’ he said.
She nodded.
‘You know until you get that blood matched with Alan Rawlins’s, there’s not a lot you can do.’
‘I am aware of that, but do you know the problem?’
‘Yes,’ Langton said. ‘I’ve looked over the board.’
Langton was wearing a very smart suit and his usual pristine shirt, but she noticed a stain on his blue tie. It amused her, because he was very obviously unaware of it. She knew how much he prided himself on always being well turned out. He sat down opposite her, popping some nicotine gum in his mouth.
‘If you prove it is Alan Rawlins and get further proof that his body could have been dismembered, it’s putting a heavy slant on the investigation. Alternatively, if it is
‘Going with the scenario that it’s not Alan’s blood, it would make sense why he did a disappearing act,’ Anna said.
‘Ditto if it was him cut up, but to date there has been no discovery of weapons. I think you should go ahead with the Luminol test as soon as possible, because if it is proven that there was a bloodbath in that bathroom, it really ups the ante on your enquiry.’
‘You are not telling me anything I don’t know.’
‘Suspects? You still have Tina Brooks in the frame?’ he enquired.
‘Yes, but with reservations. It’s possible that after she left Alan at home and went to work, someone else came to their flat and either killed Alan or some other person, and had the evidence cleared up by the time she returned from work.’
Langton chewed hard on his gum.
‘I don’t buy that,’ he said. ‘There’s no sign of forced entry. Then there’s the bleach, the new order of carpet and the squares cut out of the old. I think she
‘We have no proof that she was,’ Anna said quietly.
‘I know that.’
