The solicitor, a confident Asian woman with sincere eyes magnified by thick glasses sat beside him, an open notepad in front of her.
Rob watched from the viewing room. As SIO, his job was to study and analyse. Lawrence would go mental if he conducted the interview.
There were two screens in front of him. One monitored the suspect head-on, the other afforded a side view. The interrogation room was small and functional. It contained a table and four chairs, nothing else, and the suspect’s chair was nailed to the floor.
“Brian–Can I call you Brian?” Mallory asked.
The suspect shrugged.
“Could you explain why you bought these tickets? For the record, I’m showing the suspect two one-way Eurostar tickets in the names of Brian Wells and Katie Wells for Friday 16th of August.”
“We were going on a trip.”
His solicitor had obviously primed him. Being seen to cooperate with the police was the best strategy in this case. Guilty people tend to clam up or take the ‘no comment’ approach, but that often harmed their defence when they got to court.
Brian hadn’t got off to a great start by jumping out of the window and high-tailing it up the road. The evidence was also pretty damning, but Rob would reserve judgement on that one.
“Was Katie’s mother, Lisa, aware of this proposed trip?” asked Mallory
Brian hung his head, but his solicitor nudged him.
“No.” His voice was barely a whisper.
“Were you planning on informing her?”
He shook his head.
“For the record, Brian Wells is shaking his head to indicate no,” Jenny clarified.
“Why not?”
“She wouldn’t have let us go. I only get to see my little girl once every two weeks. It’s not enough.”
His voice cracked. From behind the screen, Rob narrowed his gaze.
“Where were you taking her?” asked Mallory
“To the seaside, for a holiday.”
“Your tickets were to Paris.”
“I was going to hire a car and drive to the coast.”
“Did you have anywhere booked?”
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
“Why the one-way ticket? Was it because you weren’t planning on coming back?”
His head popped up. “No. I swear, we were coming back. I just wanted to spend some time with her, that’s all.”
Rob wasn’t convinced.
“Brian, do you acknowledge writing this note?” Mallory slid the piece of paper they’d found in the book across the table. It was in a plastic sheath and the harsh, fluorescent light bounced off it with an accusatory gleam. “For the record, I’m showing the suspect a handwritten note that was found in his daughter’s bedroom.”
Brian stared at it for a long time.
“Brian?”
He nodded.
Jenny stated that he’d responded with a nod.
“What did you mean by it?”
“Nothing.” His gaze flickered and then he glanced away, back at his lap.
Rob leaned back in his chair. There was something he wasn’t saying.
“I think you meant that you’d be taking her away soon, without her mother knowing.” Mallory’s tone changed. Harsher.
“No.”
“Where is she, Brian?”
A pause.
“The suspect failed to respond,” said Jenny.
Brian shifted position. Beads of perspiration appeared on his brow. Mallory pushed on with the line of questioning, applying pressure.
“Did you take her, Brian? Did you lure her into the nature reserve, dump her backpack in the pond and hide her somewhere, making it look like she’d been kidnapped?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? Because I think you planned to keep her hidden away for a few weeks until things had settled down and then you’d quietly leave and take her to France where it would be just the two of you.”
“No!”
“Detective, do you have any actual evidence that my client kidnapped his daughter?” This from the smooth-talking solicitor.
Rob shook his head. They didn’t. That was the problem. The note and the tickets were circumstantial, at best.
“We know he was thinking about taking her to France.” Mallory didn’t take his eyes off Brian Wells.
“Thinking isn’t doing, detective, as well you know.”
Still, they could hold Brian in custody for twenty-four hours and have another crack at him later, once he’d had time to ponder his predicament.
Or they could let him go and hope he led them to Katie.
Mallory tried one more time. “If you know where she is, Brian, tell us now. She’s probably alone and frightened. You don’t want her to suffer, do you?”
Brian’s gaze darkened. “I don’t know where she is. If I did, I’d tell you.”
Mallory sighed. “I’m going to speak to the custody sergeant and recommend we hold you for the full twenty-four hours. I urge you to think very strongly about telling us where your daughter is, because you won’t be able to see her for a while.”
Brian swallowed, but didn’t reply.
“Is there anything you want to add?” Mallory asked.
“The suspect hasn’t responded,” noted Jenny.
“My client has already stated he did not kidnap his daughter.”
Rob watched as a surly-faced Brian was led from the interrogation room. He’d be put in a holding cell overnight.
“Let’s leave him to sweat.” Rob paced up and down the squad room. “Perhaps then he’ll tell us where he’s hidden her.”
“If he’s hidden her,” pointed out Mallory. “I’m not sure about him.”
Rob acknowledged the truth of that statement with an annoyed nod. “It won’t do him any harm to sit in the holding cells for a few hours. If he hasn’t said anything by midnight, we’ll release him. But let’s put a tail on him, make sure we know where he is at all times.”
Mallory nodded. He knew the drill.
“Hell of a coincidence that he has those tickets booked for two weeks after Katie disappears.”
Mallory grunted. “Doesn’t mean he did it, though. Could just be lousy timing.”
Rob shot him a look that said, Really?
Mallory shrugged and sauntered off to his desk.
Rob’s phone beeped as a text came in.
He glanced at the screen and a surge of adrenalin shot through him. “The dog unit have picked up Katie’s scent.”
A pause hung over the squad room.
Rob called the officer in charge. The team hung onto his every word.
“Yeah, great. Okay, thanks. I’m on my way.”
Finally, some good
