After parking the car, Gus took the lift to the first floor. He was the first to arrive.
Gus stood by the whiteboards and went through the details one more time. Where hadn’t they looked? What was it about the picture showing Gerry Hogan lying on the driveway that bugged him? Lydia had asked why the stranger was there in the first place. Luke thought the motive for the killing relied entirely on the news they would get from the Hub later.
How was that going to help? The lift returned to the ground floor.
Alex and Lydia emerged from the lift a minute later.
“Does it make any more sense this morning, guv,” asked Alex. “Looking at it with a clear head?”
“Picture the crime scene photo with Gerry Hogan wearing white gloves,” said Gus. “Does it alter anything that Kirkpatrick and Bennison assumed in the first few hours of their investigation?”
“I can’t see why, guv,” said Lydia. “If the killer were there to do a job, nothing Hogan said or wore made any difference, did it? The killer might think it odd, but we don’t know how long they stood outside, talking or arguing before he shot him.”
“You spoke about motive last night,” said Gus. “What have we eliminated so far?”
“I did not relate to the business,” said Alex.
“We can’t find anyone with an axe to grind, guv,” said Lydia.
The lift descended to the ground floor once more.
Luke and Blessing were next to arrive. They stopped by the whiteboards to see what Gus and the others were studying. The lift moved as soon as the doors closed. Neil was in the building.
“Not the business, no personal grievances with people we know about,” said Gus. “Did the killer shoot Gerry as soon as he stepped outside the front door?”
“No, guv,” said Luke. “Rachel removed her headphones before answering the door. She needed time to put them on again and start exercising to her music before the shot, or she would have heard it.”
Neil Davis strolled into the office.
“Did I miss anything?” he asked.
“Can you remember the police surgeon’s comments in his post-mortem report, Neil?” asked Gus.
“He reminded anyone who read his findings that the primary cause of death at the scene is usually blood loss. If a bullet damages key blood vessels, and there isn’t enough time to stop the bleeding, the victim will bleed to death.”
“How can you recall that word-for-word, Neil?” asked Blessing.
“Peter Morgan was the police surgeon,” said Neil. “Pedantic was his middle name. He added that rider to every report he wrote when there was a head wound that resulted in death.”
“What does it mean in our case?” asked Gus. “Anyone?”
“The mortality rate from untreated gunshot wounds to the head is ninety percent and rapid,” said Neil. “If Gerry Hogan was dead when Rachel Cummins found him at six forty-five, then the gunshot had to have occurred soon after Rachel returned to the gym.”
“To give him time to bleed out,” said Alex. “How does that help us?”
“It tells us that the killer could identify himself,” said Lydia.
“And explain why Gerry had to die, guv,” said Blessing.
“Why did he have to say a word?” asked Neil. “Why not fire as soon as he saw Gerry?”
“You missed something, Neil,” said Gus. “Rachel didn’t hear the shot. The man had asked for Gerry Hogan by name. He knew of Gerry, even if he didn’t know him. Perhaps he gave Gerry the reason for wanting him dead. How long was that gap between Rachel leaving the front door and resuming her exercises, Luke?”
Luke considered the layout of the Trowle Common house. He gauged the distance from the front door, past the kitchen, and to the gym. He imagined Rachel stepping inside, throwing down her towel and putting on the headphones.
“Forty-five seconds at least, guv,”
“The average person speaks at one hundred and twenty words per minute,” said Gus. “They had a conversation of at least ninety words. Gerry asked what the guy wanted. Is it possible for the gunman to explain why Gerry had to die in less than a hundred words?”
“If the reason was simple, guv,” said Alex.
“And Gerry didn’t keep asking questions,” said Lydia.
“How does that help, guv?” asked Neil.
“We’ll know more when we’ve got the data from the Hub,” said Gus. “But it helps build a better picture of our gunman.”
“What has it changed then, guv?” asked Alex.
“We started with a tall, white, casually dressed man of indeterminate age,” said Gus. “That was the description DI Kirkpatrick had to work with. After speaking to Rachel Cummins, Luke and I expanded that to a tall, white, scruffy man dressed in casual clothing in his mid-twenties. Someone from a working-class background. Now we have a few more things to add. He might have a criminal record. How would an innocent man know where to get hold of an unlicenced gun? We know he wasn’t a seasoned killer because he didn’t make basic preparations. He loaded just one bullet into the gun. If he had murder in mind, what would he do if he had a misfire? He removed Gerry’s white gloves to help clean the gun.”
“How would Gerry Hogan have come into contact with a criminal, guv?” asked Lydia.
“When we discover that, Lydia,” said Gus. “We’ll be well on the way to solving this mystery.”
Everyone moved from the whiteboards to their desks. Gus and Blessing had updated their digital files, so Neil, Luke, Alex, and Lydia had plenty of catching up to do. Gus enjoyed the silence as they concentrated on every word that had passed between Gus and Blessing and the victim’s sister and eldest son.
Who else could they speak to while waiting for the Hub to pull their finger out?
Gus flicked through the sheets of paper on his desk. What had he done with that contact number Geoff Mercer sent through for
