‘Maybe; maybe not. It’s rented, so they have no financial interests in the property. All they have to provide is a place for her to work out of. Instead of paying it themselves from a source that might leave an accounting trail, they let her keep the rent back from the money she earns provided she pays it into her bank and back out again. I’m betting that’s what we’ll find when we check her account.’
Bliss gave it some thought. ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘But if that’s the case, that still leaves us with an unanswered question.’
‘Which is?’
‘How did they know she wasn’t coming back?’
Thirteen
The team exchanged updates ahead of lunch, each throwing something new into the simmering pot that was Operation Phoenix. Bishop related his and Bliss’s experience at the victim’s flat. They discussed the matter of the keys, and how their use left the team struggling for more answers. A connection between the murder and the agency running Rassooli from that flat had to be given serious consideration. Bliss was happy with the outcome, convinced Lewis Drake’s organised crime gang were responsible.
DC Ansari had got as far as discovering the provider of the mobile phone number used on their victim’s independent web page. As anticipated, her request for access to stored data was met with a tepid response. She had subsequently completed and submitted the necessary procedural forms.
Meanwhile, Chandler had chased forensics and also spoken with Nancy Drinkwater about the post mortem. It was scheduled to be her final PM of the day and, as the pair had suspected, DCs Hunt and Gratton were given the unenviable task of attending. The Cambridge crime scene manager, Magda Nowicki, had willingly provided access to the forensic files, details and media. She also gave a verbal report over the phone, which pleased Chandler as the informal terminology made for better understanding. Nowicki had seemed eager to confirm there were no obvious signs of rape, though she wouldn’t entirely rule out the possibility. She was confident the cause of death would prove to be manual strangulation. The lack of prints indicated the killer had worn gloves, and fibres collected from the scene had been sent away for further analysis and testing.
‘Oh, and she also found minute traces of chemicals on our victim’s skin,’ Chandler said, having to consult her notebook before reading them off. ‘Benzyl alkyldimethyl chloride, and something called cocamidopropyl betaine.’
‘Did Magda know what their use was?’ Bliss asked.
‘Cleansing agents. Most likely some form of disinfectant, but less harsh than pure bleach.’
Bliss thought back to the naked body lying still beneath the forensic tent, the victim’s flesh stark and pure. ‘But they would irritate the skin nonetheless, yes?’
‘Very much so. Which would explain the emollients, emulsifiers and aloe vera that were also detected, as were some minor abrasions. Our victim was most likely scrubbed down with the disinfectant and shampooed afterwards.’
‘Sounds thorough.’
Nodding, Chandler said, ‘It does, except you have to wonder why they bothered with the shampoo. Magda is still researching what she found, but it looks obvious that whoever killed our girl was making sure they left no forensics on the body itself.’
‘Did you remember to ask about lividity?’ Bliss said.
‘I didn’t have to; Magda beat me to it. She told me there was insufficient evidence to confirm your theory that our victim was killed elsewhere and dumped at the chalk pits. But she went on to say that she also expects our pathologist to conclude that the body was moved after she was killed.’
‘In other words, our victim was not killed in the exact spot where she was discovered, but could still have been strangled in or around the chalk pits.’
‘That was the gist, yes.’
Bliss felt a little kick of adrenaline. This information might be important, though he wasn’t quite sure how. His thoughts drifted back to the flat in Bretton. Hopefully their own CSI unit would find something to suggest the murder had taken place there, but the clean-up had been thorough. Strangulation was not a messy method of murdering somebody, other than the potential leakage of bodily waste.
He turned back to his partner. Chandler was explaining that she’d brought in DC Ansari to run down the second escort agency while she herself spoke to Fraser and Gooch, the firm whose solicitor had rescued their victim from her ERSOU grilling.
‘They were not particularly forthcoming,’ Chandler admitted. ‘Other than confirming representation of our victim, they offered nothing else. Oh, and they point blank refused to tell me who’d contacted them to request their presence in Bedford that day.’
‘What name did they have for her?’ Bishop asked.
‘Larmina Nuri. The name she gave both ERSOU and the landlord.’
‘Makes sense. Clearly that was the name she stuck with when it came to her agency work and its repercussions.’
‘I’m getting nowhere fast with this second agency,’ Ansari told them. ‘Seems to be a string of them all under one umbrella, but they appear to be based in Armenia. I’m still chasing up a more local contact so that we can at least speak with them – my main problem being that the contact details on their various websites have so far proven to be false.’
Glen Ashton had not yet returned to HQ. According to Chandler, he’d initially attempted to gather his information over the phone, but had eventually relented and driven down to his own offices in Bedford. His absence made it easier to talk more freely.
‘What’s your gut telling you?’ Chandler asked Bliss. ‘Was our victim killed by a punter, or is there more to it than that?’
Bliss felt the pressure of expectation. Ashton being out of the room allowed him to open up without running the risk of having the case taken away due to a lack of evidence connecting the
