‘And who is this mystery man?’ The lawyer finally interrupted the flow. ‘Do we have a name? A description? A make and model of the car? A registration number? If I saw a pair of men regularly dumping bodies, I’m pretty sure I would have jotted down a few details.’ She paused. ‘No? Nothing?’
Paula ignored the lawyer and said, ‘How did you get around when you were based at the convent, without a car?’
‘It’s not like I went running around all over the place,’ he said. ‘Mostly, I stayed put. The convent had a couple of cars and if I needed to go somewhere, one of the nuns would run me up to the main road to catch the bus. Or they’d give me a lift.’
‘So you had access to a car?’
‘Theoretically, I suppose. But I can’t drive. So what use would it be to me?’ Keenan ran a hand through his hair. ‘This so-called witness of yours? Is it Jezza Martinu?’
Paula said nothing, staring him out.
‘It is, isn’t it? He’s the only one who could possibly have witnessed anything like what you’ve accused me of. Why are you believing him, not me? He’s the one who dug all the graves for the nuns. If anybody was burying bodies at the Blessed Pearl, it must have been him. Him or somebody he owed a favour to. And I’ll tell you one thing for nothing. I’m the last man walking that Jezza Martinu would do a favour for.’
41
Examining the contradictions between witness statements often tells us where we need to look to find what we need to learn . . .
From Reading Crimes by DR TONY HILL
Rutherford pounced as soon as Paula and Karim left the interview room. ‘I was observing you,’ he said. ‘Nicely done. I’ve told Sophie to set up a ReMIT briefing straight away so we can decide how to progress this new information. Squad room—’ He glanced at his smart watch and tapped the face. ‘Ten minutes.’ He walked briskly away.
‘Barely time for a pee and a coffee, never mind digesting what we’ve just heard,’ Paula grumbled, heading in the opposite direction. Karim hesitated for a moment, then made his way to the squad room. By the time Paula arrived, he was tapping frenziedly at his keyboard. Clearly he wasn’t going to be caught napping with his reports a second time.
By the time Rutherford returned, they were all there. Alvin had scarcely had time to take his jacket off, but the DCI turned to him first, asking for an update from the forensics lab. Alvin flicked through the pages of his notebook, passing on what Chrissie O’Farrelly had said. He spared them no details and was gratified to see a couple of them looked as green around the gills as he’d felt when he got to the bit about the contents of the plastic bag. ‘They’re confident they’ll get DNA for some of the victims,’ he concluded. ‘But that may not in itself lead us to an ID if they’re not on the database.’
‘Which is a pity,’ Paula said. ‘As Tony Hill always says, the more you learn about the victims, the more you know about their killer.’
Rutherford gave her an unfathomable glance. ‘Well, theory is all very well, but we’re dealing in hard facts here, DI McIntyre. Which brings us to DC Chen. What have you got for us?’
Stacey glanced over from behind her barricade of screens. ‘I’ve tracked down all of the nuns from the Bradesden convent. Alvin has already spoken to the ones in York. The Mother Superior was sent to Galway in the first instance and although she doesn’t show up in the convent roster now, she’s on the electoral register and I have an address for her that appears to be very close to the convent. There are four other women registered at that same address, but none of them corresponds to the names on the electoral roll for Bradesden.’
Rutherford nodded. ‘We’re going to have to talk to her sooner rather than later. I’ll task that later today when I have a better sense of who’s doing what. Anything on the second group of victims?’
‘I’ve compiled a list of misper males who fit the rough age guidelines and the timeline we’ve got so far,’ Stacey said. ‘But I don’t have to tell you how partial that’s likely to be when it comes to street people. They’re where they are for all sorts of reasons and a sizeable tranche of them will not have been reported missing. To make it to the list, you have to have come from a place where somebody cares enough to mind that you’re not around.’
A moment’s silence as they all digested that. ‘Pass that list to Sophie,’ Rutherford said. ‘Sophie, spread that out among DCI Fielding’s team. Let’s get as much background running as we can.’
Good luck with that. Paula was relieved she hadn’t been landed with that particular piece of baton-passing. But her turn was coming.
Rutherford took a long swig from his brushed steel water bottle. ‘DI McIntyre. Today’s star turn so far. Time to share your interview product.’
Paula led them through their interview with Father Keenan, step by step, giving her opinion on his demeanour throughout. She gave Karim regular questioning glances, checking that her recollection chimed with his. ‘His denials were, as I’ve said, vehement and apparently sincere. We’ll have to check his assertions about access to a vehicle and lack of driving experience and the absence of a licence, or indeed a driving test. Where it gets interesting, I think, is when he puts two and two together and works out that Martinu is our key witness against him.’
She leaned forward in her chair, elbows on knees, hands clasped. ‘He claims Martinu has made accusations against him because he bears a grudge. Once he’d calmed down a bit, Keenan made a serious allegation against Martinu. He says
