Hawley to do her best to get a result from the items she had brought back from Cornwall.
‘I need an answer on the DNA, Liz, as soon as possible. Do you think you’ll be able to get it off the hairbrush?’
Liz never allowed herself to be pressurised, whether or not a result was urgent. She reported that they had two hairs, both with roots still attached, and she was confident they would be able to get the required DNA – but if not, she had the toothbrush and razor as back-up. She also asked if Anna wanted Toxicology to test the same hairs to see if they could determine what drugs might have been consumed.
‘Concentrate on the DNA match with the blood pooling, Liz, then yes, go ahead and test for drugs. If there’s no match, can you check it against the semen taken from the bedlinen?’
She rang off and said to Paul, ‘They’re confident we might get a DNA result. We just have to wait.’
Paul nodded as he drove into the supermarket car park. It would be a mindblowing piece of luck if they were to also find that the axe purchased by Tina Brooks had been successfully returned and was still on sale.
Brian Stanley was making headway tracing the service provider from the mobile phone number given to Anna by Craig Sumpter. Although the number had not been in recent use, they would still be able to access the account and calls made from the mobile even without the phone itself. It was registered to Alan Rawlins, with an online billing account. Two and a half hours later, the waiting was over. Details began to come into the station listing numerous outgoing phone calls and texts. Brian’s job was now to identify and cross-reference these with the numbers dialled from Alan Rawlins’s other mobile. He divided up the lists with Helen to get the answers ready for Anna’s return.
Anna and Paul were sitting in the manager’s office. He was apologising profusely for the mix-up with the CCTV. They had already discussed the reason they were there, and the supermarket manager said it would not take long for him to confirm when the axe was purchased and returned as they had the dates and times from the CCTV footage. Anna and Paul watched as he used the barcode of an axe identical to the one purchased by Tina Brooks to check on the computer. After a few moments he turned to face them.
‘We only had four on display between the dates you gave me. One was sold, but returned as not being suitable.’
‘So you still have it?’
‘Yes, we still have four on display. If there was no damage and it was never used, we would accept it on return. It was paid for with cash so we would have reimbursed the same amount. Because it was cash and not credit card, we do not have a record of the buyer.’
‘Do you have a record of which axe was purchased?’ Anna asked anxiously.
‘Well, it has to be one of the four on display. Give me a moment and I’ll double-check the barcode again, then get it brought up.’ He turned back to his computer and tapped away for a moment before picking up the phone and asking for the floor manager in Home Improvements.
‘Can you bring up to my office a fourteen-inch steel axe from the section with the electric equipment? It’ll be with the screwdrivers and electric carpentry items. It’s on shelf fourteen and the bar code is A4998652.’ He laughed. ‘No, I’m not unhappy with your work, it’s a police matter.’
He replaced the phone and said to them: ‘Worried I wanted to use it on him. Joke, just a joke.’
It was a long five minutes before the floor manager knocked and entered, during which time Anna was unable to chat; she was so eager to get her hands on the axe. The man carried the bubble-wrapped axe with a plastic cover over the sharp steel head.
‘Was it returned in this condition?’ Anna asked. ‘By that, I mean with the bubble-wrap and plastic shield?’
‘I believe so. It appeared to not have been used, which is why it was replaced onto the shelf.’
The floor manager hovered briefly before he was dismissed. Anna was eager to leave now, and after signing a document that released the axe to them as possible evidence, she and Paul were on their way once more.
Back in the car on the way to see Liz Hawley, Anna held the axe, now in an evidence bag, on her knee, not attempting to unwrap it or even look at it. She wanted it to go directly to Forensics for testing. She couldn’t tell from the wrapping if it had been used. On first inspection it didn’t look as if it had been, but part of the sellotape around the handle appeared to have been lifted open as some of the plastic bubbles were flattened.
In the forensic lab, Liz Hawley took the axe and weighed it in her hand.
‘It’s heavier than you’d think. I’ll get onto this straight away.’
‘Any news from the hair samples yet?’
‘Not yet. We’re working on it.’
‘Soon as possible, Liz.’
‘I know, I know . . . but you can’t hur ry the testing, you know that.’
‘Yes. I’m really pressed though, Liz, so make it a real priority.’
Liz gave a rueful glance. ‘One thing I can tell you straight off – the texture of the hairs you brought in from Cornwall don’t match the single strand from the bed at Rawlins’s flat. It’s a different colour and it’s longer.’
Anna thanked her and returned to Paul waiting outside in the patrol car.
‘Brian’s making headway with the mobile phone,’ he reported. ‘It was registered to Alan Rawlins and he’s got a slew of dialled numbers to check out. It’s a different make to the one we took out of his glove compartment.’
‘Things are moving,’ she said, slamming the car door.
‘You going to make the arrest?’
‘Not yet – just let me get my breath. Maybe it’ll be third time lucky with Tina. She’s walked out so far.’
‘Yeah, but we didn’t have her buying a fucking axe.’
‘Question is, Paul, did she use it?’
The last person Anna wanted to see was Langton. He was in the incident room looking at the CCTV footage, and he turned smiling as Anna and Paul returned.
‘This is what you would call a stroke of luck, to put it mildly.’
‘Yes, we’ve just come from the store. The axe was returned and accepted, and Tina Brooks got a refund, believe it or not. It’s with Forensics. You want to come into my office?’
Langton nodded and asked for coffee and his usual bacon toasted sandwich with no tomatoes to be brought in.
Anna took off her jacket and hung it on the back of her chair.
‘I hate to say I told you so.’ He grinned.
Anna really didn’t want to get into an argument with him as she sat down. She realised her shirt was very creased and her hair hadn’t had a comb through it since she’d left Cornwall.
‘So, tell me – was it worth it?’ he asked, tugging at an immaculate cuff of his pristine shirt.
‘I believe so. As I said, we did instigate the discovery of Sammy Marsh’s body and so we can eliminate him as the victim of the murder in Alan’s flat.’
‘Fill me in on everything you gained from schlepping all the way there, staying two nights, and I hear you caught a flight back?’
Before Anna could make any reply, Helen brought in his coffee and sandwich. As he ate she opened her notebook and as briefly as possible gave him the details from the meetings with the two waiters, both of whom had been Alan’s sexual partners. The last one, she added, had been more than that – a possibly permanent relationship.
Langton listened without interruption, making no notes, but after finishing his sandwich he irritatingly picked the odd crumb off his trousers.
‘Thing is, Anna, you got entangled in this drug-dealer scenario when basically what you are looking at, and even more obviously now, is something close to home. Many cases have gone ahead without recovering a body, and although you are now aware that Alan Rawlins was friendly with Sammy Marsh and the other two gay guys, one his boyfriend, there’s no evidence they were involved in the killing. Even if Alan Rawlins was getting into drug-dealing, it—’
‘He was suddenly earning big money, paying out thousands for the house and then renting it out for three years,’ Anna broke in. ‘It is obvious to me that he was more than dabbling, and it could have proved to be a very strong motive . . .’
Langton stood up, rubbing at his knee.
‘If you prove that Tina Brooks killed Alan, for chrissakes the motive could be money! Could be that she found
