‘Look, I’m taking the money, okay?’ Matt says, his voice rising. ‘It’s my job to protect this family.’
‘Oh my God, seriously?’ Milla spits out. ‘Did I miss our U-turn back to nineteenth-century patriarchy?’
‘You’re happy to use my physical stature when it’s about scaring Jess!’
The doorbell goes, but instead of feeling saved by it, my heart catapults into my mouth. I push my chair back, praying it’s just a delivery. I watch Matt slip the bag of money into the drawer of our dresser with fake nonchalance, then go to find out.
‘DI Finnemore,’ I announce as I pull the door open. The high volume is mainly to warn the rest of my family, but it’s also an escape route for the scream surging up from my lungs. ‘How can I help?’
His expression is hard to read. ‘Could I come in for a moment?’
‘Of course,’ I say, smiling brightly to distract him from my rising pitch. Then I gesture to the living area – away from the kitchen – and sit down in the sofa opposite him. I don’t trust my voice, so I wait silently for him to explain why he’s come.
‘They’re dismantling the crime scene today,’ he starts. ‘So I went up to take a last look round. Make sure it’s ready to be returned to the public. Not that I don’t trust my team of course …’
As his voice trails off, I think about the bluebells crushed by a dead body and dozens of heavy black boots. The blood-smeared foliage. I push my lips together and nod.
‘And as I was passing,’ he continues, ‘I thought I would drop in. We found a couple of hairs on Amber’s clothing, and I’d like to check if they’re yours, for elimination purposes. The hair is broken, which means we can’t extract DNA, but I was wondering if I could ask for a sample of yours for visual analysis?’
‘Um, yes, that’s fine,’ I mumble. He’s taken me off guard, and as I pull out my scrunchy, my mind careers through what this could mean. Of course it will be my hair. At my age, I moult like a dog. I curl a couple of hairs around my finger and feel a sharp sting as I yank them away from my scalp. Yes, Lucy’s hair is similar, but it’s not the same as mine; the police will see that. I wait for the detective to open an evidence bag, then with shaking hands, I drop the few strands inside.
‘Thank you,’ he says, sealing the bag. But he doesn’t move to get up. I wait, every muscle taut. ‘I also wondered if Lucy could spare me five minutes,’ he goes on.
‘Oh?’
‘There’s just something on her statement that I wanted to clarify; nothing to worry about. Is she in?’
I pause, smile, wonder if my heart is going to gallop right out of my chest. ‘Sorry, no. Lucy’s at a friend’s house for tea. I was with her during her interview though, so perhaps I can help with whatever you need clarifying?’
He stays silent for a moment, nodding gently. ‘Lucy told DC Bzowski that she went out last Friday night,’ he finally says.
‘Yes, that’s right,’ I whisper. My mind races. Have they cleaned up the CCTV footage DC Bzowski mentioned? Do they now know for certain that it was Lucy on Keens Lane, forty-five minutes earlier than she claimed to be out?
‘And I wonder if you could confirm her timings for me again.’
I bite the inside of my cheek, taste blood. Should I admit to this one lie to keep the detective from uncovering any more, or is it like Jenga, with each lie dependent upon the others? I hold my breath for a moment, then slowly exhale. ‘She said she left home about ten forty-five,’ I whisper.
‘She said?’ he picks up, lifting the words into a question.
‘I was out for supper,’ I explain. ‘A curry, at the Indian, with some girlfriends. I got back soon after that, and Lucy wasn’t in her room. She’d left a note saying she couldn’t sleep and had gone for a walk to clear her head. But she’d left her phone at home, so the only option was to go out and look for her. And that also might mean she got her timings a bit out.’
The detective frowns. ‘How so?’
‘Lucy’s phone was out of battery,’ I lie. ‘That’s why she didn’t take it with her. But it’s also her only source of telling the time. Lucy doesn’t wear a watch, you see. So she told DC Bzowski that she went out at ten forty-five, but it could only have been a guess.’ DI Finnemore has already told me that he’s got teenage children, so I try to give him my ‘we’re in this together’ smile.
‘And do you remember what time you found Lucy?’ he asks, his tone suggesting my efforts haven’t worked.
I think about my frantic journey up Church Road followed by my relieved one back down with my daughter in tow. I stayed on the opposite side of the road to the shops on my way there. Can I risk assuming the cameras didn’t pick me up? Or is continuing to lie pointless now? If they can put Lucy on Keens Lane before 10 p.m., then theoretically she’d have time to kill Amber anyway. ‘Lucy was in the churchyard,’ I say nervously. ‘I don’t know the exact time I found her, but it was around eleven fifteen, or a bit later. We stayed for a while, chatting, before heading home. It’s hard to be certain how long we were there.’
DI Finnemore nods. ‘Of course, I understand.’ He lifts out of the sofa.
‘So that’s everything you need?’ I ask, mirroring his movement.
‘For now, yes. We might need to talk to Lucy again, but it can wait until next week. I’ll let you know.’ He smiles and I return it. Surely he wouldn’t be this nice if he thought Lucy was a killer?
‘How’s the investigation going in general?’ I ask, trying to sound like I’m just making conversation.
‘There’s been some progress,’ he says sagely. ‘I’m doing a press conference in an hour actually, so there’ll be an update on the local news this evening.’
‘Oh?’ I think about Steve’s account of the young mechanic getting hauled off by the police, and Colleen mentioning a boyfriend. ‘Does that mean you have a suspect?’
He looks at me quizzically, and I worry that I’ve gone too far. But then his expression softens. ‘We have somebody in custody, but it’s early days. Now, I must go, otherwise I’ll be late for my own TV show.’
‘Well, good luck,’ I mumble. He nods, then walks through the door and pulls it behind him. I take a long breath.
‘They’ve arrested someone then,’ Matt says, appearing from the kitchen. ‘That’s good news.’
‘Yes,’ I say in a quiet voice, forcing myself to block out the detective’s interest in Lucy and focus on the positive. ‘Do you think we should call tonight off? If they’ve got someone in custody, and are willing to tell the press, they must be pretty confident he did it. And then there would be nothing for Jess to blackmail Lucy over.’ I watch Matt consider my question in his usual way, pitting the pros and cons against each other.
‘No,’ he finally says. ‘Let the girl have her money. Then tomorrow it will all be over.’
Email from DI Finnemore (SIO) to DCI Bishop
Subject: Friday 10th May update
Sir,
You must be all conferenced out by now. Hope you enjoy your few days’ break in Copenhagen with the missus.
We are building a case against Caden Carter – a 17-year-old trainee mechanic from Towersey with a historical conviction for serious assault (at 14 years old). We believe he was the victim’s boyfriend at the time of her murder. We initially picked him up on Tuesday – the kid even had scratch marks on his face – and interviewed him under a caution plus three. He was predictably uncommunicative but did admit to knowing Amber. We got a warrant to search his home, which took place on Wednesday. We found two lip balm tins in his drawer – one with ecstasy pills, and another with hash parcels wrapped in clingfilm. He has no history of either possession or supply, so our working theory is that he stole these from the victim. We also took a number of personal items from his room. I fast-tracked the samples for analysis and the results arrived yesterday.
It gave us all the relevant forensic evidence we needed to arrest him – which took place today – and we’re hopeful the CPS will allow us to proceed to charge. Carter’s DNA was already on NDNAD from his earlier conviction. Both the saliva around the victim’s mouth and the skin cells under her fingernails are a match. Blood found on Carter’s jumper is a DNA match for Amber. Fibres from the jumper were also found at the scene. Carter’s car was picked up passing the railway station car park CCTV camera driving up Hill Road at 22.20. No more cameras past that point, but it is the obvious route to access the nature reserve car park via Hill Top Lane. His car was then picked up making the return journey at 23.31 – plenty of time to commit murder.
Mud in his trainer treads matched that collected from the scene. As Carter also has a history of violence (and in my opinion was lucky to get off with a youth rehabilitation order for his earlier offence), we believe there’s a strong case against him.
BUT forensic report also brought up a few anomalies. Most of the blood on the victim’s clothing was her own, but there were two additional samples found, neither of which are a match for Carter. Forensics extracted a full DNA profile from one – no match found on NDNAD – but only a partial from the other. There is a new test that should give us the full profile, but it’s pricey. I’d like to proceed (Carter’s defence team could have a field day if we can’t explain it) – and am attaching the quote for your sign-off. Also, victim’s blood found on Carter’s clothing was relatively minimal – nowhere close to what we’d expect from major head trauma. Blood spatter team are currently assessing whether this could be explained by him wearing a jacket over (that he later disposed of – although nothing found). Still no sign of the murder weapon. Final pathology report says it’s something with an even narrower circumference than a baseball bat – possibly rounders bat, bicycle pump, iron bar, even tree branch – although no wood splinters or metal fragments found.
Duty solicitor present at Carter’s interview. He began talking when forensic evidence was presented to him. He admitted to having started seeing Amber in the weeks preceding her death – said he believed her to be 16 but no sign of sexual assault anyway – and (eventually) to being with her at the nature reserve on Friday night. He claimed that she’d ignored him earlier in the evening, but then suddenly messaged asking him to meet her at the scene. He explained to us that he’d tried and failed to gate-crash the 18th birthday party in the village, then tried and failed to get served at The Crown, so had nothing better to do. They made out, then had an argument (during which Amber sliced his cheek with her fingernails) and he left. According to Carter, victim was alive and well at that point (approx. 23.10 according to him, which does fit with CCTV). Usual excuses for not revealing all this in his first interview – not trusting corrupt police, etc. etc.
However, I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that he’s still our number-one suspect. We have him in custody for another day, so will go again tomorrow.
One other development – CCTV picked up Lucy Rose (bullying victim) twice on Friday night. Following some technical wizardry, she’s been identified as the girl who walked past the post office eight minutes after the victim was spotted there – at 21.55 – carrying a plastic bag that looks like it contained a bottle of vodka from its shape – plus another object that COULD be the shape of the murder weapon (stretching here though). Then at 23.49 she was seen with her mother outside the parade of shops on Church Road. That’s nearly two hours unaccounted for. Also, Lucy initially told Bzowski that she went out around 22.45 for thirty minutes – so why did she lie? And Lucy has very similar hair to the strands we found on the body (although so does her mother, Ms Salter, who found the body – sample currently with CSI).
However, this evening Ms Salter gave me a relatively plausible explanation for the discrepancy in Lucy’s timings. And if Carter is to be believed, the victim was alive at the crime scene at 23.10 – and even though it’s logistically possible, it’s hard to believe that Lucy could have killed her, and be back in Chinnor, walking along with her mum, in less than forty minutes. To be honest, she is so far removed from the profile of a murderer that I just can’t see it anyway. But she may know more than she’s currently letting on. Am planning to talk to her again next week.
But for now, Carter is our priority.
