While her team gathered around the whiteboard for the Monday morning briefing, Kay looked at their downcast faces, heard the agitation that seeped through their murmured conversations, and wondered how on earth she would continue to keep them focused and energised.
Squaring her shoulders, she placed the agenda on a spare desk beside her and raised her voice.
‘Let’s make a start. Laura and Barnes – I take it from the reports you filed last night that you’ve managed to find out more about Dale Thorngrove?’
‘We did, guv,’ said Barnes. ‘To keep it short for everyone here, when we interviewed his colleagues at the garage he worked at, they showed us some gun magazines he’d been keeping in his locker, and told us that one of their customers had spoken to Dale about rifles not so long ago.’
‘We’re currently waiting for his boss to give us a list of customers that have used the garage in the past six months so we can cross-check the names against Daniel’s firearms certificate records.’
‘I’ll try to allocate a couple of officers to help,’ said Kay, updating the board. ‘I take it you all heard about Amy Evans?’
‘Can we charge her for wasting our time?’ Debbie asked once a rumble of discontented voices had died away.
‘It’d take more paperwork than it’s worth,’ Kay said. ‘I checked with a contact at the CPS late last night, and he reckons it’d never make it to court. We’ve put a record on the system against her name for future reference though. In the meantime, I’ve spoken to Sharp at headquarters, and unfortunately they’re reducing manpower on this investigation. The ACC is of the view that this is an isolated incident and so our focus now becomes one of finding out which of Thorngrove’s associates killed him. Ian – you said you were following up with Gerry Harlington about an angle on that?’
‘When Laura spoke to Sam, the apprentice, he mentioned that someone had got Thorngrove interested in guns and went so far as to invite him to a shoot a few weeks ago.’
‘That’s definitely worth following up,’ Kay said. ‘Can you chase up Harlington if you don’t get that list of names by early afternoon? I’d like to split them up between the team and start phone interviews as soon as possible.’
Barnes nodded in response.
Exhaling, Kay glanced across at the agenda, then back to her officers at a surprised exclamation from Laura.
‘What’ve you got?’
‘A text message from Hughes downstairs, guv – someone’s just handed in a mobile phone that was found on the roadside half a mile from the White Hart.’
‘Go. Now.’
The detective constable didn’t need telling twice. She dropped her phone and notebook onto her chair and raced from the room.
‘Harriet never found a phone or wallet at the crime scene,’ said Phillip. ‘So maybe it’s Thorngrove’s?’
‘Or his killer’s, if it’s a burner phone.’ Kay paced the thin carpet tiles, unable to keep still. She looked up as Laura returned, slightly out of breath and holding a plastic evidence bag.
‘Here you go, guv.’
‘Okay, take a photo of this and send it to Gerry Harlington. Ask him if he or his employees recognise it as Thorngrove’s. Did Hughes get the details of the person who handed it in?’
‘Yes, a woman by the name of Nancy Allen – she was walking her dog when she found it.’
‘Ian, I want you to call her and find out exactly where she picked this up,’ Kay continued. ‘Take uniform with you and search the area to see if Thorngrove’s wallet was dumped there too.’
‘Onto it.’ Barnes jogged over to his desk, snatching the sticky note Laura held out to him as he passed her.
‘Do you want me to phone Andy Grey over at digital forensics to say we’ll courier this over to him?’ Debbie asked.
Kay shook her head and eyed the evidence bag in her hand. ‘No time, Debs. I’m going over to Northfleet with this now.’