Woman in Black (21 page)

‘I’ll let you look for yourself because you know as much as me now,’ he said.

Victor stood offered the seat to Jessica. He clearly didn’t want to watch the footage again, moving across to the bed and starting to make it. Jessica sat as the constable stood behind her. It took her a few moments to get used to how everything worked and the thought crossed her mind that so much of what she’d been working on in the past few weeks revolved in one way or another around cameras.

The shop owner had left the video at the start of the morning’s footage and, using the timestamps at the bottom of the screen, Jessica moved it forward to a little after half past two. She watched it at triple speed but there was only one visitor into the shop, a middle-aged man who didn’t buy anything, before the timer clicked over to three o’clock. Jessica set the camera angle to the one watching the front door. At two minutes past, Jessica saw what she was waiting for. The door opened and a figure in a black cloak walked confidently into the shop. They shut the door behind them and turned into one of the aisles without looking up.

Jessica had to switch to the second camera angle and saw everything happen exactly as Victor said it had. It was chilling to watch the coolness the person moved with. There was no hesitation and not even a trace of anything that could be seen as emotion in the body language. If anything, the shop owner had underestimated the size of the knife. From the footage, Jessica could see it had been concealed in the wide sleeve of the gown and then taken out when they were halfway into the shop. It had a wide fearsome-looking blade and she could see why Victor had almost switched off mentally at the sight of it.

Jessica rewound the recording and watched it three times in a row, each time looking for different things. She tried to see if the gloves the figure was wearing looked like the ones that had been seen in the footage of the person leaving the hands. On the third viewing, she watched the shape of the robe and the way the person moved. The only time she could see the person’s shoes properly was when they stretched across and snatched the cash, then walked away. There were only a few brief frames but they looked very similar to the style of low dark heels from the recordings taken in the city centre.

When she had looked for all she could, Jessica realised Victor wasn’t in the room. She found him at the sink in the kitchen area washing up. ‘Are there any cameras outside, Mr Burnham?’

He replied without turning. ‘Not that belong to me. I’ve never noticed anything else.’

Jessica didn’t know what else she could add. The forensics team would take the video and try to enhance some of the still frames in case there was a clear image of the person’s face. From what she had seen, Jessica didn’t think they would get one. The entire time she had been watching the video, Jessica had been looking for any sign to disassociate the robber from the person leaving the hands. When she had first heard about the robbery and throughout Victor’s description, she had been thinking the person was a copycat.

Now, having watched the footage over and over, she just didn’t know.

NINETEEN

As much as she disliked the morning senior detective briefings, Jessica spent the rest of the weekend waiting for Monday’s. It was largely because she wanted to hear other people’s opinions about the robbery but also because she now felt she had a little invested in the disappearance of Christine Johnson after meeting the woman’s husband.

If there was just one big case on the go, the briefings would usually be a wider affair where jobs would be assigned to other officers. Because of the way the squad had been split, the senior briefings had become a good way of sharing ideas before the respective detectives would talk to their own individual teams. There was plenty of news to exchange but, as before and despite the robbery, Jessica knew her case wasn’t the priority.

A large fan rotated in the back corner of Cole’s office as Reynolds, Cornish and Jessica sat across from the chief inspector. The DI took some printed sheets of paper out of an envelope and passed one copy to each of the people present.

‘Sorry about the printouts,’ Reynolds said. ‘The computer image is a lot better but I don’t have the best printer in my office.’

Jessica squinted at the image and wondered if it was just her who couldn’t see anything other than a red blur. She didn’t want to appear stupid so nodded, doing her best to look as if she knew what she was peering at.

After everyone had looked at the pictures, Reynolds started to speak. ‘An image-enhancement expert spent large parts of the weekend working on these. Considering what he had to work with, he’s done a pretty good job. The one you’re looking at is the final photo out of three we have from the Johnsons’ security camera. We know there was a red van parked outside the gates for between three and four minutes at around the time Christine Johnson went missing. What you’re looking at, we think, is an extremely faded Royal Mail logo.’

Jessica stared at the image and, now it had been pointed out, she could just about make out a crown and couple of the letters. The traditional bright red mail vans had yellow lettering but this one just had two shades of red.

Reynolds continued. ‘We’ve been in contact with a few people over the weekend and, from what we can gather, the mail service sell off vans after a few years of using them. When they do that, they are quite often sold as a lot to local garages or other dealerships. It’s uncommon for Royal Mail to sell directly to the public but not completely unheard of. The guy I spoke to said the yellow lettering is removed either before sale or sometimes by the garage themselves.’

‘Is there anything else to identify it?’ Jessica asked.

‘Not obviously. There’s no number plate we could see which only really gives us the shape. We’ve got someone trying to give us a rough make and model which we can take back to Royal Mail. They should apparently have records of everything that’s sold and who to – but the quality of that information would depend on the various areas of the country. All of that could be our biggest problem – the van could have been sold anywhere across the UK. That’s a lot of vehicles and a lot of checking. Once we’ve got an idea of what model the van is, we’ll get the image out to the media and see if people can help.’

‘Do you think the van is going to be key?’ Jessica asked.

Reynolds glanced at Cornish and they exchanged shrugs. ‘We’re not sure. It could just be workmen asking for directions, or someone else parking for a few moments. There’s less than a three-hour window in between the Johnsons’ maid going to the shops and returning and it was in that time Christine Johnson went missing. The security camera only took one still-shot every minute so there are odd flashes of people walking past the gates but, in the entire period, this is all we have of somebody or something directly outside for anything longer than a few moments.’

He paused and swallowed. It looked to Jessica as if he was thinking how to phrase what he was going to say. He soon continued. ‘The other thing that’s bugging me is if you think about the area and even the way you drive, you wouldn’t usually park blocking someone’s driveway gates. I know the image you have is zoomed in but on the full shot, you can see they are completely in front of the ramp that links the property to the road. Unless you knew the people, or were as bad a driver as DS Daniel here, it’s just not the kind of thing you’d do.’

Reynolds winked at Jessica as he insulted her driving. Jessica pulled a face. ‘This bad driving thing is just a myth and that’s slander.’ She pointed at the DCI and Cornish. ‘You’re my witnesses – I’d get myself a good lawyer if I were you.’

The chief inspector spoke. ‘It’s not slander if it’s true.’

‘You too? This is outrageous. It’s not as if I’ve ever been in an accident.’

Jessica looked to Cornish as if hoping for a bit of fellow female support. ‘I was warned in my first week not to get into a car with you,’ the other woman said.

The other detectives laughed as Jessica did her best to look annoyed. ‘This is harassment and workplace bullying.’ She looked to Cole. ‘Can I put in a formal complaint?’

‘No.’

Reynolds grinned at her. ‘All right, maybe you’re not that bad. Either way, I think we can all agree that you wouldn’t usually park across someone’s driveway like this. You can just about see in the other shots that there is space both in front and behind it too, so it didn’t have to stop where it did. We’re not sure if it means anything specifically but it’s not normal.’

Cornish actually smiled. ‘We don’t have anything else to go on either.’

Jessica hadn’t heard the woman speak flippantly before and, perhaps because they were all surprised by her tone, or because she was a little too close to the truth, all four officers laughed gently.

‘What about the Johnsons’ son? Where is he living?’ Cole asked.

‘Luxembourg. He’s working for the European Parliament. They break for summer recess very soon and he’ll be back over here but, until then, he said he’s struggling to get away. I’ve spoken to him over the phone this weekend and, in all honesty, I’m not sure there’s much he can add. There does seem to be a lot of confusion over the security camera and whether or not his father knew about it.’ He looked at Jessica. ‘You were there, what do you reckon?’

She didn’t know the inspector was going to ask for her opinion but it was clear the other three officers were interested. Cornish would have been updated about things over the past few days but the two women hadn’t spoken in that time and even she looked expectantly at Jessica.

Jessica pursed her lips before speaking. ‘I found him difficult to read – it’s hard to get past the media training he must have had.’ As she spoke she saw Cornish and Reynolds nodding in agreement. ‘On balance, I would probably say he didn’t know about the camera pointing at the gate but I don’t know what that tells us. Maybe his relationship with his wife isn’t as solid as everyone’s been making out? You can understand why he wasn’t at the family home much given his job – but you would’ve thought it’d be something they’d discuss?’ She turned to address Reynolds. ‘Did the son give you a proper reason for his mother wanting it? Was she actually scared of someone or something?’

Reynolds shook his head. ‘No, I went through all of this with him. It’s difficult over the phone but he just said his mum had been talking about security for a little while. The family setup certainly seems a little odd.’ He looked sideways at Cornish. ‘I think we’re of the same opinion as you about George Johnson – he’s very helpful on the surface but ultimately very hard to read.’

Cornish looked to emphasise the point. ‘He’s all about making eye contact and trying to look and sound as sincere as possible and he keeps his body language open. Obviously if you were talking to someone in the interview room, that’s the kind of thing you’d look for but, with him, he’s so used to doing it now, it’s second nature.’

‘Were you watching him when the maid told us about the camera?’ Jessica asked, looking at Reynolds.

The inspector shook his head. ‘No, I think I was looking at her.’

‘There was something in his face, just a moment before he corrected himself. At the time I thought it was surprise but maybe there was a little more there.’

‘Like panic?’

‘Maybe? I don’t know. It was only a fraction of a second he let his guard down. It could have been hope, I suppose. I think I’m just naturally suspicious of everyone.’

Jessica looked back at Reynolds, waiting for him to speak. ‘There’s not much else we’ve got at the moment,’ he said. ‘I’m hoping someone can give us a manufacturer for the van by lunchtime or so. If they do I can get onto the press office and we can get the photo out. Some of it has already leaked because we’ve had a few inquiries.’

‘Can someone really give you a car make and model just from the shape of the roof and windscreen?’ Jessica asked.

Reynolds nodded. ‘Apparently. Who knows what these people spend the rest of their time doing but if it can help us identify the vehicle I’m really not bothered.’

Cole looked to Jessica, raising his eyebrows, indicating it was her turn.

Jessica took a breath, then began. ‘I’m sure you know by now. There was a bit on the news about the robbery but I only received the enhanced images back this morning.’ She took some photos out of an envelope and passed them around. ‘On Saturday at around three, there was a knife robbery at an off-licence on Stockport Road. They got away with a few hundred quid but, as you can see, our thief was wearing something very familiar.’

Jessica went on to explain the facts about the case, including that the laboratories hadn’t found anything at the scene apart from a scuffed footprint in the dust showing the woman had size five feet. She talked about the female voice and similarity in the CCTV footage from the shop to the images they had from whoever was leaving the hands.

‘Are you thinking copycat?’ Reynolds said.

‘I was, maybe still am. I don’t know.’ She indicated the pictures he was holding. ‘If you look at the still frames you’ve got from the shop, they’re a pretty high quality. The ones from the city centre are zoomed in from a distance and not as good so you can’t compare like with like. All you can say is that they look…similar. They’re around the same height and build and wearing the same type of shoes and cloak.’

Reynolds was nodding. ‘It seems strange to go from cutting off hands to robbing shops.’

Jessica nodded. ‘Exactly but then we don’t really know what’s going on with the hands in the first place. Are the victims dead? Is the person leaving them working alone or with someone else and so on? We don’t know the motive, so maybe robbery is a part of it? It would definitely be odd but then so is leaving hands in the centre of a major city.’

‘What are you going to do with it?’ Cornish asked.

‘I’m off to Bradford Park to go through the camera footage with one of the team there,’ Jessica said. ‘I watched it at the shop the other day but we’re going to skim through a week of footage. The woman moves so quickly, it must be because she knew the shop layout. There’s no hesitation about where the counter is, or where the cameras are, because they already know. We’ll look to see if there’s anyone in the past week or so who has been in that seems to be paying particular attention to the layout. If they really know what they’re doing it will be hard to spot but I’m wary of getting all these photos into the media in case it is all unconnected and the robbery stills end up diluting people’s memories for the other case.’