‘Once a week – yes, you said.’ Langton closed the lid. ‘You ever feel one or other to be very heavy? Unusually so?’
‘No.’
‘You ever find anything useful to take home with you?’
‘No.’
They headed back to the reception. Langton tossed his cigarette butt aside. Jonas was smoking his down to the cork tip.
‘You took an order of new carpet for Miss Brooks, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, sir, about a week ago. She was leaving one morning and she asked me to sign for it and take it in as she knew it was being delivered, but wasn’t sure what time.’
‘She give a tip for doing that?’
‘Yes, sir, a tenner because I’d finished up my work and had to hang around waiting for the van, but it arrived at about ten so I didn’t have to wait long.’ Jonas flicked the last remains of the tobacco from the cork and pocketed it.
‘You have keys to the flats?’
‘Yes, sir. I have to have them for emergencies. We had a bath overflow one time a few years back and I had to open up and sort it out. They’d left a tap running – Mr and Mrs Maisell.’
‘But you didn’t deliver the carpet into Miss Brooks’s flat when it arrived; it was left out here in reception, wasn’t it?’
‘That is correct, sir. Reason is I’ve got a bad back and I wasn’t gonna make it worse. It was just here in the reception for when she got home.’
‘So how did she move it?’
‘I don’t know. When I came to work again it had gone. I only work two mornings a week here.’
‘I see. When you were cleaning around the garages, did you meet up with Alan Rawlins at all?’
‘Er, yeah, I did a few times. He was either driving in or out. She kept her car in there, a VW, but sometimes he had one so he would park it directly outside her garage doors or he’d put his car in and hers would be left outside.’
‘How did he seem to you?’
‘He was polite, give me a good tip at Christmas, but I wouldn’t say I ever had a whole conversation with him.’
‘You ever see him with anyone else apart from Miss Brooks?’
‘No.’
‘How about the bloke from flat one, Mr Phillips?’
Jonas shrugged.
‘Don’t like him?’ Langton asked.
‘Well, he’s got a very nice car, a Lotus, and a couple of times he asked me to give it a clean. I don’t have a hose over that way so I’d give it a polish and I got a small battery hoover so I did the inside for him. He only gave me a fiver and he’s not been here as long as the other tenants so I’ve never really had much to do with him. But like I said, I only did the car a couple of times.’
‘Why don’t you like him?’
‘He’d have to pay more in a car wash, and when I done it the second time I said to him that it would cost him a tenner and he was just edgy with me, said he only had a fiver on him and he’d give me the rest when he next saw me. He never did.’
‘Did Mr Phillips seem friendly with Miss Brooks?’
‘I dunno. They leave for work when I’m here or they’ve already left and I don’t do weekends. Then I’m gone by the time they come home. I know he drinks a bit – lot of empty bottles of wine and vodka in his bin.’
‘Ah, so you
‘No, they were left in a carrier bag beside his bin. We’ve got recycling containers that they’re supposed to put glass bottles and plastic into, but they can’t always be bothered.’
‘Single guy, was his bin full then?’
Jonas shrugged and said he couldn’t remember.
Brian shifted his weight, becoming impatient. So far Jonas hadn’t given them anything new and he wondered why Langton was spending so much time questioning him.
‘Come on, Jonas, give it up. You pick through those wheelie bins, don’t you, see if there’s anything worth taking?’
‘Sometimes, yeah – all right, I do. No harm in it ’cos they’re for the rubbish tips and occasionally there’s been something worth taking home.’
‘Carpet? Did you find any sections of carpet in Miss Brooks’s bin?’
‘Yeah, but not worth taking as the piece was so small. I reckon when she lays the new one she’ll give me the old one.’
‘Anything else?’
‘From hers?’
‘Yes, from Miss Brooks’s bin.’
‘There was some clothes once, but I think they was old ’cos they was in a bin bag.’
Langton looked around casually as if the conversation was finished but then he turned back to Jonas.
‘Men’s or women’s clothes?’
‘Don’t know. I didn’t look real close but I know she has a lot of thick sort of bandages she tosses out.’
‘Bandages? How do you mean?’
‘Like wide elastic ones, but they’re covered in gunge and not worth taking.’
‘Gunge? Like blood?’
‘No, green stuff. It smells a bit rancid, but like I said not worth taking.’
‘The time you found the carpet, Jonas, what else was in the bin?’
‘Bleach cartons – empty. The tenants never toss anything worth my while.’
Langton patted him on the shoulder, thanking him. He then asked to be let into Miss Brooks’s flat. Jonas didn’t hesitate but led them straight to the door and unlocked it. Only then did he ask if this was all right and if Miss Brooks had given her permission. Langton said he didn’t need it as they had a search warrant. Jonas asked if he wanted him to stay as he had another block of flats he was due to clean.
‘You go ahead, I’ll lock up after we leave. And Jonas, thank you for your time. I really appreciate it.’
Jonas hurried back to his broom closet and stuffed his brush and dusters inside. He then got into his beaten- up old van and opened the glove compartment. Tucked inside was the touch-screen mobile phone he had found under the piece of carpet in Tina Brooks’s bin. The battery was dead and he had planned to go to the market near him in Portobello Road to get a new SIM card. Now he thought he would just toss it. He reckoned it had been thrown out by mistake but he wasn’t going to admit he’d got it in case he could be accused of stealing. He had no idea that it was actually Alan Rawlins’s additional mobile used for his gay and business contacts.
Langton didn’t say a word as he examined Tina’s lounge. He moved the sofa aside and inspected the patch cut out from the carpet. He eased the sofa back into position and walked into the hallway, pushing open the bathroom door. Although there had been extensive cleaning after the forensic team had left, there was still a residue of their powders.
He glanced at Brian, muttering, ‘Lazy sods not done a good clean-up, have they?’
He opened the bathroom cabinet that contained rows of hair solutions, hair-dye and shampoos. Moisturisers and face creams were lined up alongside soaps and bath oils. There was also a large can of mechanic’s special soap, the only item obviously connected to Alan Rawlins. In the small drawer under the cabinet were bottles of nail varnish, a manicure set and bottles of vitamins and paracetamol tablets. There was only one battery-powered toothbrush and toothpaste, and in a jar were an array of very clean hairbrushes and combs. He knew they had not found any hairbrush or comb belonging to Alan Rawlins.
Brian stood watching as Langton walked back into the hall and checked the measurement scale markers left on the wall by the forensic team.
‘She’s moved back in, right? So she’s not cleaned up either.’
Next he paused in the doorway of the bedroom and then crossed to kneel beside the bed. He had to push it
