This was news to Carol. But it didn’t surprise her. ‘And if there’s an inconvenient camera, you just black out the lens,’ she said wearily.
His tricorn smile was wicked. ‘That’s for amateurs.’
‘And you didn’t see anyone with Lyle?’
A puff of vapour enveloped his head. ‘No. Lyle was on his own, feeling sorry for himself. And I was on my way home to finish packing. And I didn’t notice anyone else hanging around apart from the usual wastrels. And none of them could make Lyle disappear.’
‘I’m going to need you to give us a sworn affidavit about your encounter with Lyle.’
‘What? You want me to help get his killer off the hook? You’ve got to be joking.’
‘No, I want you to help me nail the real killer. Saul Neilson didn’t kill Lyle Tate. There’s new evidence that proves that.’ Well, almost. ‘And I think we can replace Saul Neilson behind bars with the bastard who actually did kill Lyle. Are you up for that?’
He cocked his head to one side, considering. ‘It goes against the grain to help the police, Carol Jordan. But I suppose you’re not really police.’ He leapt up and crossed to the mural. ‘You see that one there?’ He pointed to a capering figure in a canary yellow shirt. ‘That’s Sugar Lyle in his Bradfield Vics top. He never wore it when he was working. He kept it for Lyle time. I so don’t get football. Too much mud and violence. But Lyle loved the Vics. And I did like Sugar Lyle. So, OK. I’ll help you.’ That tricorn smile again. ‘And if it gets my name in the papers, it’s bound to drum up some work. Which, frankly, I could use right now.’
59
When we enter somebody’s home, we immediately make judgements about them based on their level of cleanliness, their taste, the contents of their kitchen cupboards (if we get that far). So when we gain access to the home of someone suspected of serial offences, we tend to look at that environment as if it’s a kind of primer that will elucidate them to us. But sometimes, we are dealing with a highly sophisticated mind; a mind that creates a stage set that its creator believes will hide rather than reveal. It’s up to us to look behind that veil to what lies out of sight.
From Reading Crimes by DR TONY HILL
Everyone in the ReMIT squad room had stopped what they were doing. Even Stacey had come out from behind her screen to join the huddle round Alvin’s desk. Rutherford had already ejected him from his chair so he could be front and centre in front of Alvin’s computer. The sound quality from its speakers was tinny but the audio file that Sergeant McInerny had pinged across the Irish Sea to Alvin was as crisp as a radio broadcast.
When they reached the revelations about Mark Conway, Sophie gasped and Steve muttered, ‘Fuck me. Nailed by a nun.’ Rutherford shushed them and leaned in closer to make sure he missed nothing.
At the end, Karim muttered, ‘That Paula, she is pure class,’ to Alvin, who grunted in agreement.
Rutherford pushed back in the chair, almost running over Karim’s foot. He stood up, chest out and shoulders back. ‘This is what we’ve been waiting for. Sophie, assign some bodies from Fielding’s crew to make up the numbers. Alvin, Steve, Karim – get over to Mark Conway’s house and bring him in. Arrest him if need be. Chen – get a warrant in place for a search of his house and vehicles.’
‘What about his office?’
‘Yes, that too, if you can manage it.’
The look Stacey gave him could have sliced granite. ‘I’ll see what I can do, sir.’
‘Shouldn’t we wait for Paula? She cracked this, it should be her collar,’ Alvin rumbled.
‘We haven’t got time to sit on our hands. Besides, this a team. We don’t chase individual glory here, Alvin. I’ll speak to the Crime Scene Manager, make sure we’ve got a full forensics team on board. Alvin, arrange transport to the scene. Chen, why are you still standing here?’
Stacey didn’t react. She simply leaned across Alvin’s keyboard and copied the interview across to her system then walked calmly to her chair and started typing. Target of warrant, reasons justifying the issuing of a warrant, locations to be covered by the warrant. She checked the list of duty magistrates and chose one she knew they’d worked with in the past. If she’d done a good job of pitching their reasons, he’d issue the warrant electronically. If not, he’d come back to her on Skype and she’d have to be persuasive. It wasn’t a skill that came naturally to her face to face.
Meanwhile, Alvin lined up his search team. He’d use the officers from Fielding’s team to secure the property and the outbuildings. The house search he’d leave to the three of them because they knew best what they were looking for. Once he’d arranged for transport and confirmed the forensics team was on standby, he ambled over to Stacey’s desk, hands stuffed in his trouser pockets. ‘How’s it looking?’
She shrugged. ‘This mag usually comes back pretty quickly if he’s happy. My guess is he’s running it past somebody else. We just have to wait and see. When’s Paula due back, do you know?’
‘Her flight gets in around six. I’ll try and stall the start of the interview till she gets back. But I don’t think the boss will go for that.’
‘Me neither.’ Stacey sounded glum. ‘It’s not just that this is Paula’s work product . . . ’ She
