“Has something turned up after all this time?” asked Phil.
“You were first on the scene with that unfortunate PC you mentioned,” said Gus. “Let’s start from there. It’s not what we found that concerns us.”
“Headquarters received a call from a member of the public,” said Phil. “A bloke who worked out at the industrial estate at Churchfields. We arrived on Stephenson Road to find him standing several yards away from a parked car. Vehicles drove past in both directions, and parked cars and trucks were on both sides of the road. The nearest car was about forty yards further up the road on the right-hand side. As soon as I got out of the car, I could see where the bloke had puked on the grass verge. He was in shock and just pointed to the Lexus.”
“You did everything by the book as far as we can tell, Phil,” said Gus. “Did anyone go near the car before the forensic team arrived?”
“I got close enough with my PC to see inside the car, Gus. There was blood everywhere. The driver, later identified as Marion Reeves, slumped over the steering wheel. We didn’t touch the car, and there was no point in checking for signs of life. She was gone. I called for more uniformed officers because of the size of the site and the many access points to Stephenson Road. It was lunchtime, and everywhere we looked, there were vehicles on the move and people milling around close to premises on both sides of the road. Somehow, we preserved the immediate area. As soon as I had more people available, we cordoned off the murder scene, plus an exclusion zone that allowed us to evacuate as many people as possible. I had to be on my toes that morning, Gus.”
“So, you’re positive nobody tampered with the Lexus at any point between you arriving on scene and the forensic team taking over and erecting their white tent.”
“Positive,” said Phil. “One hundred percent. Why do you ask?”
“When Billie Wightman showed Theo Reeves a list of the contents of his wife’s handbag retrieved from the Lexus, he confirmed nothing was missing. Her purse, bank cards, keys, and mobile phone were present and correct. But, when Matt Price and Billie did a brief review of the case a couple of years later, there was no sign of the mobile phone in the evidence room.”
“What, someone nicked it from the evidence room?” asked Phil.
“Not according to Matt Price. The phone could have provided vital information, and after tagging and bagging it at the scene, that phone should have been available for the service provider to give a detailed history. Billie Wightman concentrated on the family, work colleagues, and neighbours while waiting for forensic test results to get returned to her. Billie had a bee in her bonnet.”
“The killer had to be a man, either the husband or a lover,” said Phil. “I remember Billie. She was a good detective until her old man cheated on her, then she lost the plot.”
“Agreed, but the clock is always against you on a murder case. Billie and Matt pursued every line of enquiry they could before their superiors dragged them away to another urgent case. Billie had queried why the mobile phone results were still pending, but before she knew it, she had another case file on her hands. When Billie and Matt did the follow-up review, they sent a DC into the evidence room to hunt for the missing phone. He didn’t stay long enough to search every box, but he didn’t have any luck before he got moved to something else.”
“That suggests the mobile phone got mislaid earlier in the piece,” said Phil. “Am I right?”
“We’re assuming after it got tagged and bagged, someone removed it. There are several questions that possibility raises. Who would have wanted to take it? What did they know or suspect on that phone that could prove incriminating?”
“You would know better than me, Gus,” said Phil. “The murder file has a list of every person who entered the tent.”
“We’ve analysed the list, Phil,” said Gus. “Did you spot any suspicious behaviour when you went inside?”
“I was in and out at the very start of the forensic team’s work, Gus. Then again, as things were winding down, Matt Price asked me to remove the external cordon. I doubt I spent two minutes inside the tent, all told. I certainly didn’t touch the car or get close to getting inside it. PC Gupta didn’t even go near the tent. As for anything suspicious, no, I can’t say I noticed that.”
“Did the contents of the car stay inside the tent until the forensic team left?”
“They set up a small table by the door, Gus,” said Phil. “Somewhere to label and pack items after they got removed. They stored things in large plastic boxes under the table. There wasn’t much room inside the tent for people to move around. So, people like Matt and the forensic crew stepped outside often to allow a colleague better access to whatever they were swabbing and photographing.”
“Is it possible someone removed a bagged item from the box under the table and slipped it into their pocket or wandered outside with it beyond the inner cordon?”
“There were times it was chaotic that day, Gus,” said Phil. “If you had asked me that question seven years ago, I would have said, never, but I don’t know now, looking back. Maybe it slipped through the net. Why, though? Do you think the killer was inside the tent? A copper, or someone working with the forensics team?”
“We’ve learned much more about this case since we first discovered the mobile phone was missing,” said Gus. “I can’t say too much, but Marion Reeves had lived another life before she met her second
