Page 62 of The Scene of the Crime
‘You found his car?’
‘Yes, I asked DC Owens to inform you this morning.’ Dawn gave Jessica a look that made it clear he hadn’t.
‘When and where was his car found?’ Michelle asked. Anderson gave her the details and said that the forensic team was still examining the car. ‘And have you found anything to indicate who did this?’ Michelle asked.
‘Not as far as I know.’ He looked at Jessica.
Jessica took a deep breath. ‘Actually, we found a Zippo lighter. It was badly damaged, but after some painstaking work, my colleague, Stephen Jones, identified an engraving on the lighter. It’s a . . .’
‘Why was I not informed?’ Anderson interrupted.
‘The work on the lighter wasn’t completed until late last night. The engraving on it is the crest of the parachute regiment. I delivered photographs to your office this morning and gave them to DC Bingham.’
‘Well, he failed to inform me.’
‘He might have told DI Chapman if he knew you were on your way here.’ Jessica turned to Michelle. ‘Does your husband know anyone who served in the parachute regiment, or who used a Zippo lighter like the one I described?’
‘I don’t think so. He has a wine warehouse in Hackney Wick and hired a couple of men to deliver to the restaurants he supplies. They might be ex-military, but I’ve never met them.’
Jessica nodded. ‘Thank you. I’ve scanned Johan’s fingerprints and can take the cash to the lab for examination. We can also do fingerprint and DNA work on the watch.’
Anderson handed the items to her. As she put them in her bag, she removed her iPad and asked for the suspect’s details. If he had a criminal record, his prints would be on file and Taff could check them against any recovered from the watch and cash. If DNA was recovered, Diane could check the profile on the DNA database. Anderson looked uncomfortable.
‘Unfortunately, we only know from an elderly neighbour that he’s a young white man called Liam. She said he was about twenty-five, five feet eleven inches tall, thin and bald. She didn’t know his current whereabouts or where he worked, so I have also circulated his description across the Met and surrounding county forces. Does his description ring any bells with you, Mrs De Klerk?’
‘Not at present. My mind is all over the place, but I’ll try and think about it later. I hope you find him, DCI Anderson,’ Michelle said, cradling her stomach with both hands as if protecting her baby.
‘I’m confident we will. May I ask how your husband is this morning?’
‘Doctor Babu said his condition is improving. The swelling on his brain has gone down, and he’s hoping they can wake him soon. However, it’s still too early to say if there is any permanent brain damage.’
‘I wish him well and a speedy recovery. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?’ Michelle shook her head, and Anderson closed his briefcase and handed her a card with his mobile number. ‘I need to return to the office and monitor theobservation. I will let you know when our suspect is arrested. I will be interviewing him. Now we have recovered the watch and the cash, the evidence against him is strong.’
Jessica followed Anderson out of the room. As he approached the lift, she asked to speak to him about the search. ‘Make it quick. I have a lot to do.’
‘I was just wondering if any bloodstained clothing or other incriminating forensic evidence was recovered from the suspect’s address.’
‘If there was, I’d have told you. Further searching needs to be done, but I decided to withdraw and set up the observation once I knew no one was on the premises. As they say, good things come to those who wait,’ he added smugly.
‘What will you do if he doesn’t return?’
‘I don’t think he’d disappear leaving an expensive watch and two grand cash behind.’
‘It might be productive to have my team examine the premises once he’s arrested. There may be blood and footprint evidence not visible to the eye, and fingerprints that could identify other people who may have been involved,’ Jessica said.
‘I’ll think about it, but it won’t happen until an arrest is made or I call off the surveillance, which may be some time yet.’
As Anderson got in the lift and the doors closed, Jessica shook her head in disbelief. Anderson tried to blame others for his errors, but when it came to something positive, like finding the watch, it was ‘I did this’ and ‘I did that’. It seemed everything was about him and not the team. Jessica knew that people with imposter syndrome often tried to take credit for things to hide their feelings of unworthiness, not realising it could actually hinder their careers. Michelle De Klerk had let him off lightly.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
John Walsh and Fred Wigg Towers were identical council-owned tower blocks in Montague Road, East London, which backed onto playing fields. Chapman and DS Wood sat in the elderly neighbour’s flat on the fourteenth floor of John Walsh Tower, patiently waiting for ‘Liam’ to return. Wood looked out the window with high-powered binoculars while Chapman spoke to his colleagues on the radio. Four officers were in an unmarked observation van, and two were waiting in the living room of Liam’s flat.
‘Listen up, everyone. I want the observation van officers to let me know if you see someone matching Liam’s description approaching the building. Do not approach him. Let him come up to the fourteenth floor so we can do a pincer movement to arrest him. I will watch for him through the peephole of the neighbour’s flat opposite. Whatever happens, the two of you inside his flat wait for my command so we can cut him off from the fire escape in case he tries to leg it. The four of you in the observation van cover the front and rear doors of the building in pairs when we pounce. Is that understood?’
Everyone answered ‘received’, and Chapman said to maintain silence until a possible suspect was spotted.
‘This could all be a waste of time,’ Wood muttered. ‘If this Liam kid looked out the window and saw all the police carspulling up outside, he could have legged it down the fire escape and gone out the back unnoticed.’
