Tennison (12 page)

‘Maybe, just depends how you look at it. Regarding the child Julie Ann was carrying, the foetus was too young to do any reliable blood grouping.’

‘Terrific – we got another dead end,’ Gibbs said.

‘No, we tested her knickers with benzamine, made a slide and examined it with haematoxylin . . . ’

‘You’re beginning to sound like Prof Martin – give it to us straight and simple, please,’ Bradfield instructed him.

‘We found semen and a blood smear on her knickers, and on the vaginal and anal swabs. A person’s ABO blood group can be detected in body fluids, and in this case the blood was all from the same group, but a different one to Julie Ann’s blood group. The scientist obtained Pep A 2 from the stains which is common in Race Code 3 individuals and not found in other races . . . ’

‘For Chrissake, what have we got?’ Bradfield shouted.

‘She’d had anal sex with a black man, but of course it may not have been with consent. In forcing himself on her he could have torn and bled from the small piece of skin that joins the foreskin to the penis, which is called the frenulum. Also the semen could have come from sex some hours before she was murdered, or from the suspect at the scene before he killed her.’

‘So either way our killer could be the black geezer who left the blood and semen in her?’ Bradfield asked.

DS Lawrence nodded and added that the question of exactly where Julie Ann was murdered was still unanswered. Another detective pointed to his groin and asked if they should ask any suspects if they had, figuratively speaking, ‘a sore head’ and get them to drop their trousers for an inspection.

Everyone laughed loudly, even Jane and Kath.

After a brief pause Bradfield flicked through his notes.

‘We got any update concerning the red fibres on Julie Ann’s socks, Paul?’

‘Well, we got a few off her hot pants and blouse as well, but the majority were on her socks and inside her boots. The scientists at the lab were of the opinion they were probably from some sort of cheap carpet, but couldn’t give the exact origin.’

DS Gibbs raised his hand. ‘Just a thought, but Jaguar cars are fitted with carpets, right? Would they be similar?’

Lawrence shrugged his shoulders. ‘Not sure, never dealt with a body in an XJ, or been in one for a ride.’

Bradfield rubbed his chin. ‘We need to start doing a bit more to trace this red Jag Eddie Phillips saw Julie Ann getting into. The punter could have had sex with her in the car, then strangled and dumped her.’

‘Are the seats the same sort of fabric as the carpets in a Jag?’ Detective Edwards asked.

‘I think leather is standard, but she could have had sex in the back of the car, taken her clothes off and they came in contact with the carpet,’ Lawrence replied.

Jane realized that Bradfield hadn’t as yet read the reports about the Jaguar cars she’d left on his desk. She held her hand up but Bradfield ignored her. Kath could see something was troubling Jane.

‘What’s up?’ she whispered and Jane told her he couldn’t have read the reports yet and the flying squad ID parade was at 11 a.m.

‘Don’t worry about that – Eddie Phillips didn’t see the driver,’ Kath replied.

‘He’ll be mad with me if I don’t say anything,’ Jane said anxiously.

Kath stuck her hand in the air. ‘Excuse me, sir, but WPC Tennison has made some enquiries about Jaguar cars and I totally forgot to tell you about a red Jag the flying squad recovered yesterday.’

There was tutting and head-shaking from the male officers in the room, and one even commented that ‘plonks’, a male derogatory term for WPCs, were bloody useless.

‘Kath pointed me in the right direction for the Jag enquiries,’ Jane said, trying to ease the situation.

‘Make that your first and last mistake on my squad, Morgan, or you’ll be directing traffic for the rest of your career. Tell me about the flying squad first,’ Bradfield snapped.

Kath recalled as much as she could from what Jane had told her the previous day.

Jane added that the garage sergeant had told her that roughly eighty-one thousand Jags had been manufactured since 1968.

‘Jesus Christ, eighty-one thousand,’ DS Gibbs exclaimed and there were looks of disbelief round the room.

Jane pointed out that the search could be narrowed down if they started with red and variant-coloured cars registered from 1968 in London, and those that were specially ordered with red carpets. She also mentioned that she had contacted a Jaguar dealer for brochures on the two models concerned. Bradfield told her to get on to the manufacturers and make enquiries after the meeting.

DS Lawrence spoke next. ‘You need to consider the Daimler as well.’

‘Why? We’re looking for a Jag,’ Gibbs said, exasperated.

‘Jaguar own the Daimler brand and the car is essentially, in size and shape, the same as the Jag, but more luxurious. A lot of people mistake one for the other and the only differences, as far as I’m aware, are the shape of the front grille and the badge.’

Bradfield remarked that with the Daimler now being a possibility it could mean another few thousand vehicles and owners to try and trace. He told Kath to help Tennison regarding the car enquiries and to get some Daimler brochures as well.

‘That little junkie, Phillips, could be lying but either way he needs to be found asap and leant on. I want more detail about the car he saw Julie Ann getting in. We can show him the brochures and take him out on the streets to point out a bloody car that looks the same. If he was the lookout when Julie Ann made the phone call then there’s a good chance he knows who this “Paddy” is.’

‘Paddy doesn’t sound like a black person’s name,’ a detective remarked.

‘Neither does Anjali O’Duncie,’ Bradfield fired back.

‘Could Julie Ann have said something else that sounds similar to Paddy?’ Gibbs suggested.

‘For Chrissake, cut all this crap with names. Bloody well get out there and find Eddie – that’s the only way we’ll trace who she called,’ Bradfield shouted, and started to delegate tasks to his team.

He told one of them to go over to Stoke Newington and speak with the flying squad detectives about the Jag they had recovered, and the Italian who had been arrested for robbery. He also wanted the house-to-house enquiries extended to all the blocks of flats on the Pembridge Estate and told Gibbs to organize it.

DS Lawrence asked if there was anything else DCI Bradfield needed him for as he’d like to get back to the lab and have a look at the red XJ6 that the Sweeney lads had sent up, to see if the carpet fibres were a match.

Bradfield concluded the meeting and returned to his office to ring George Collins, the victim’s father, and ask him to come to the station as there were a couple of developments regarding the investigation that he needed to discuss in private with him.

While Bradfield was still on the phone to Mr Collins, Jane took him his coffee. She could see that he had now opened the envelope containing her typed reports and had them laid out in front of him. She was about to turn and leave when he held his hand up, palm facing her, to indicate that she was to stay put. A few seconds later he ended the call with Mr Collins.

‘Good work with the Jaguar enquiries, but I would prefer to be told about this sort of information prior to an office meeting.’

‘Sorry, sir, I thought you wanted me to leave the reports in an envelope for you.’

‘As you can see I am very busy and have a pile of paperwork, case files and envelopes on my desk. If something is important I need you to communicate it to me verbally as well.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Jane said, feeling he was blaming her for not reading the reports himself. She turned to leave.

‘I haven’t finished,’ he said, and held up the report concerning the flying squad arrest of the Italian and the recovery of the Jag. ‘If WPC Morgan forgot to relay this information to me, why did you type up the report?’

Jane paused, unsure how best to answer his question, but Bradfield didn’t wait for an answer and she felt her stomach churn in anticipation of an angry outburst from him.

‘As I thought . . . you both lied. However, loyalty to your colleagues is what the CID is all about, but don’t let it happen again. Now go and get on with your work.’

‘Yes, sir, thank you.’

‘One more thing, come here.’

She hesitated and edged closer to his desk. He sniffed, leaning further towards her.

‘You smell of Dettol.’

‘I’m sorry, sir, I still haven’t got my jacket and skirt dry-cleaned from when I was on the floor at the mortuary and—’

‘All right, all right – go on, get back to work.’

Jane went to the incident room and told Kath what Bradfield had just said to her about them covering for each other. They both smiled cheekily, realizing they had been lucky to get away with it. Kath remarked that maybe he had a lighter side to him, and Jane replied that next time it was just best they told the truth and took the flak for their mistakes.

As they sat going over what they had to do, and who would do what, Sergeant Harris walked in with a smirk of satisfaction on his face. He announced that two of his uniform officers had been doing the murder squad’s job for them while they sat and drank coffee. Kath asked what he meant and Harris replied that Eddie Phillips had been seen wandering aimlessly on the Pembridge Estate, and having been arrested by his officers was now in a cell downstairs.

Kath suggested that Jane go and give Bradfield the good news, but she hesitated.

‘What’s up?’

‘Do I smell of Dettol?’

‘Yeah, I noticed it, why?’

‘I must be getting used to it – my jacket and skirt need dry-cleaning.’

Kath went to her bag, took out a perfume spray, and before Jane could refuse gave her a few squirts. It was an expensive perfume she always wore herself.

‘There you go. It’s called Ambush, Goddess of Fragrance.’

Jane was about to go to Bradfield’s office when DS Gibbs walked in and sniffed.

‘Bloody hell, smells like somebody shat in a pine forest in here.’

‘Piss off,’ Kath mumbled under her breath.

‘What did you say, Morgan?’ Gibbs said with a glare, wondering if she was being insubordinate.

‘It’s off.’

‘What’s off?’

‘The search for Eddie Phillips. He’s been nicked and is in the cells downstairs—’

Gibbs was out of the office to tell Bradfield the good news before she could even finish the sentence.

Jane couldn’t believe how much Kath had pushed her luck, but was pleased not to have to see Bradfield when she was reeking of Kath’s perfume.

As soon as Bradfield heard they had arrested Eddie Phillips, he went down to the cells with DS Gibbs to get him out for an interview. True to his word he took down a bottle of whisky for each of the arresting officers from the crate stashed in his office.

Eddie was asleep on the thin mattress when Bradfield threw open the cell door and kicked his feet to wake him, but he just lay there moaning like a belligerent child who didn’t want to get out of bed. Gibbs grabbed Eddie by the scruff of his neck and dragged him off the mattress. He was like a rag doll and it didn’t take long to realize Eddie was still stoned and could hardly string two words together, never mind stand upright. Bradfield got straight to the point and asked him who Julie Ann had phoned from the doctor’s office while he kept lookout. Eddie mumbled something about the police harassing his grandmother and picking on him. Bradfield told him he hadn’t even started yet and instructed one of the uniform officers who’d arrested Eddie to ply him with coffee for the next two hours in order to wake him up so that he could be interviewed.

Jane ushered a pale-faced George Collins upstairs to Bradfield’s office. He was wearing a dark navy pinstriped suit, and he was so thin that the shoulders appeared to be padded. Underneath the suit jacket was a pristine white shirt, with a tie that had a small crossed golf-club monogram on it.

He was cordial as he shook hands with Bradfield and apologized for not being able to come to the station earlier due to a meeting with the vicar about his daughter’s funeral. Bradfield explained it might be some time before the body was released, but he would speak with the coroner whose decision it would be. He then invited Mr Collins to sit opposite him and offered refreshments. He declined, and still standing reached into his inside jacket pocket and produced a cutting from a newspaper which he unfolded and placed on the table for Bradfield to see.

‘This morning’s paper describes my daughter as a drug addict and prostitute. Why did you tell them that, Mr Bradfield?’ he asked calmly, but with a look of hurt in his eyes.

Bradfield scanned the article. ‘I can assure you, Mr Collins, that I said nothing of the sort to the newspapers.’

Collins took a deep breath. ‘My wife is beside herself. She’s inconsolable and feels ashamed.’

‘I would very much doubt that it was one of my officers who spoke to the press. It’s possible the leak may have come from one of the mortuary staff and I will investigate the matter, Mr Collins.’ He refolded the article and held it up. Collins shook his head, so Bradfield threw the cutting in the bin and asked him to sit down, which he did.

‘Have you charged the man you arrested with the murder of my daughter?’ Collins asked nervously.

‘Not as yet, and it’s looking more likely that he may not be the person responsible.’

‘But he must know something if you arrested him, so why aren’t you—’

‘We are doing everything possible to find Julie Ann’s killer, Mr Collins. I can assure you we are following up on some leads that we hope will be very productive . . . However, there are also a few questions of a delicate nature I need to ask you.’

‘I’ll do whatever I can to help.’

‘Firstly, and regrettably, I have to inform you that Julie Ann was twelve to fourteen weeks pregnant at the time of her death.’

Bradfield paused to let a shocked-looking Mr Collins digest the information. Jane was struck once again by how gentle Bradfield’s manner was, but she felt deeply sorry for Mr Collins, who was struggling to speak.

‘How can you be sure . . .? Could it be some kind of mistake?’