DC Townsend put a fresh whiteboard on an easel and stuck a photograph of the face of the latest murder victim at the top. He took a marker and wrote UNKNOWN in blue capital letters. Then he stuck a map of the Stretford Meadows area below the photograph. The spot where the body had been found was marked with a red X.
It was still early, so there were only a dozen or so people in the MIT room, including three civilians who were inputting data into HOLMES terminals.
There were four male detectives wearing near-identical grey suits drinking coffee by the window, chatting about football, and a much older detective in a tweed jacket and corduroy trousers who was munching on a Danish pastry while reading through his notebook. Two uniformed officers were on the phone and two more were sitting at the back of the room studying CCTV footage. Phil and Lulu were sitting at a table by the door. Conrad was on Lulu’s lap, curled up but with his eyes open.
DI Friar went over to the whiteboard. ‘If you could just give me your attention for a couple of minutes,’ she said, loudly enough to get everyone’s eyes on her. ‘We have a new victim, a middle-aged white man found naked on Stretford Meadows with a noose around his neck, and with a similar knot to our previous two victims. We will be investigating this killing, but at this stage we are not convinced that it is the same perpetrator. Early indications are that it is someone trying to pass the murder off as the work of the killer who we’re looking for. But let’s keep an open mind.’ The detective in the tweed jacket raised his hand. ‘Yes, Ron?’ she said.
‘Why don’t you think it’s the same killer, boss?’
‘There’s a number of things. The body was dumped in a sheet, the noose was loose around the victim’s neck and there are marks that suggest the noose was applied after the victim had been strangled.’
‘So we’re looking for a copycat?’ said one of the young detectives.
DI Friar shook her head. ‘No, we think that the killer of the latest victim added the noose to divert attention elsewhere,’ she said. ‘I am fairly sure this is a one-off. But until we know that for sure, we’ll keep the details on the board here.’
DI Friar’s mobile phone rang and she stepped away to answer it. ‘We have a possible ID on our latest victim,’ she said when she returned. ‘Robert Pearson. His wife reported him missing just after midnight. Thirty-eight years old and his description matches our victim. His wife is on the way to Manchester Royal Infirmary to identify the body. DC Townsend and I will meet her there.’
She put her phone away and headed for the door, with DC Townsend in her wake.
‘Can we come?’ asked Lulu.
‘It’s not our killer. We’re pretty sure of that. I’m not sure that we can justify your involvement in the case.’
Lulu forced a smile. ‘I understand.’
‘I’ll keep you informed, obviously. But I wouldn’t want to jeopardize the case by having you involved before anyone has been charged.’
‘It’s quite okay,’ said Lulu.
DI Friar picked up her handbag and she and DC Townsend left the room.
‘That’s a pity,’ said Phil. ‘I’d have liked to hear what Mrs Pearson had to say.’
‘Me too, but DI Friar’s right: it’s almost certainly not our killer and a good defence lawyer could well make capital out of two outsiders being involved. Our presence could easily taint the investigation.’
‘So what do you want to do today?’ asked Phil.
‘I’m really not sure,’ said Lulu. ‘I’ve been out of the loop for so long that I don’t think I’ll be of much help. You need to be here, obviously, but I think that Conrad and I will just get in the way. I thought we might as well go back to The Lark. I might go and see Jane.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I really don’t think I have anything to offer, not until we know for sure whether Gordon Wallace is our killer. Plus I’ve got work to do on The Lark.’
‘I’ll call you if anything happens,’ said Phil. ‘Oh, by the way, I heard back from my DVLA contact. That white Audi, the one that Jane’s boyfriend is driving, it’s leased.’
‘To him?’
Phil shook his head. ‘To a local company. An IT firm.’
‘Here in Manchester?’ She frowned. ‘That doesn’t make sense, does it?’
‘Well, it makes sense that he wouldn’t own a car here if he spends most of his time in Ireland. But you’d expect him to hire one at the airport.’
‘Does he work for this IT company?’
‘I had a look at their website and he’s not mentioned on it. It’s mainly young techie types. And I checked the listing at Companies House and he’s not listed as a director.’
‘But they’ve given him a car to drive around in? That’s very strange.’
‘There might be a simple explanation,’ said Phil. ‘He could be working as a consultant, or he may be friends with one of the company bosses and they lent it to him as a favour. I’ll keep looking at the company. The bulk of the shares are owned by another IT company in London. Again, Jeremy isn’t listed as a director but there’s a holding company above that, which I’ll check on. It’s like one of those Russian doll things, except that the dolls keep getting bigger.’ He smiled. ‘I suggested this before, but you knocked me back. Why not get me a DNA sample or a fingerprint? Ideally both. Get a glass that he’s drunk out of and I’ll get it to a lab.’
‘That’s a big step, Phil.’
‘You’ve done it before, boss. Remember the time you gave that skinhead a can of Coke? We needed a DNA sample and we needed it quick, and he was already at the “no comment” stage. So you gave him the Coke and a burger and then you had us pull him out for an identity parade. When he got back the can had gone and he knew that the jig was up.’
‘That was a bit different, Phil. We knew for sure he was guilty, we just needed the evidence. The problem with Jeremy is that we don’t know for sure that he’s done anything wrong. We’re on a fishing expedition. And if he ever finds out that we took a sneaky sample . . .’ She grimaced. ‘Well, he’s never going to trust me or Jane again, is he? I feel bad enough doing database searches on him, but running a DNA profile on him would take it to a whole different level. I mean, by doing that, or by running his fingerprints, we’re saying that we think he’s a criminal. We’re doing it because we think his prints and DNA are on file.’
‘That is sort of the point,’ said Phil.
‘If we truly believe that, then we should just tell Jane to run a mile.’
‘But he might be innocent.’
Lulu smiled. ‘Exactly. He might be. And if he is, he’d have every right to be furious at her, and us.’ She sighed. ‘We’re in an impossible position. Damned if we do, damned if we don’t.’
‘We could just do nothing. Just let it play out.’
‘And if he really is a conman planning to take all her money? Or worse?’
‘You know what this reminds me of? Schrödinger’s cat. You know, the cat is both alive and dead until you open the box.’
Conrad meowed on Lulu’s lap and they both laughed.
‘Sounds like Conrad has heard of it,’ said Phil.
‘So you’re saying that Jeremy is both innocent and guilty, but it only becomes clear which it is by us looking at him?’
‘I’m not sure how good an analogy it is. It was just a thought. Shall I see if I can get you a car to run you back?’
‘Oh no, I’ll call an Uber,’ said Lulu.
‘How about we have dinner at the Midland tonight?’
‘On expenses?’
‘Exactly.’