Warren had been too excited to sleep properly. In the end, unwilling to disturb Susan who relished her Saturday morning lie-in, he’d moved to the spare bedroom. Eventually he’d given up entirely and gone in to work to prepare for the morning’s briefing.
Word had got around that the there was a major shift in the investigation, and the room buzzed with anticipation, and so as soon as the team were assembled, Warren put them out of their misery.
‘We are now pursuing the theory that it was an inside job, that the two sisters running the massage parlour that day were either responsible for, or complicit in, the murder.’
After the murmurs had died down, Warren filled everyone in on his insight the previous night.
‘The murder took place on a chilly November day. According to the two women present at the time, the killer came through the window, attacking Stevie Cullen where he lay. The room has a sash window that makes an absolute racket as it’s slid open. Even if the bolt securing it was undone, I can’t believe it was open on such a cold day. So, how did the killer open the window without alerting our victim?’
Warren let the team digest that for a moment.
‘Not only that, the window is covered in thick, blackout curtains. How did the killer know that Biljana had left the room and Stevie was alone? For that matter, how did the killer even know that he was going to be there? His appointments were infrequent. Only the two sisters and their aunt were likely to know that he had decided to come in.’
Martinez raised a hand. ‘He could have been followed. His killer could have been waiting and just guessed at when he was alone. Or they could have been listening at the window.’
‘That still doesn’t explain how the killer surprised Cullen,’ countered Rachel Pymm. ‘Biljana has stated repeatedly that the killer attacked him whilst he was lying down.’
‘Biljana could have killed him as he lay helpless,’ said Ruskin, ‘and Malina came through and helped her tidy up and concoct a story. That would account for the time between the CCTV showing Malina running back and the 999 call when they said the attack had only just happened.’
‘Malina could even have been involved in the killing,’ pointed out Hutchinson.
‘Even if the two sisters weren’t responsible for the actual killing, they could have opened the back door and let the killer in – and then helped him escape,’ said Grimshaw. ‘The whole business about coming through the window could have been staged.’
‘And the CCTV cameras are broken out the back,’ said Richardson.
‘Which suggests premeditation,’ said Pymm.
‘Exactly my thoughts,’ said Warren, pleased that his team hadn’t found any major holes in his reasoning.
‘The two sisters have been upgraded from witnesses to suspects, and Rachel’s team have finally got hold of their phone records; that’s a priority.’
Taking her cue, Pymm took over, drawing the team’s attention to a wheeled whiteboard divided into columns and covered in different-coloured Post-it Notes and pen marks. Seated in front of it, she used her walking stick to highlight her findings.
‘The left column is a timeline from when the parlour opened that morning until late afternoon. The next column is what we observe on the CCTV cameras in the reception area and the time that it took place. Besides that, we have the call logs from the two masseuses – pink Post-its for Biljana, yellow for Malina. Then we have the timings from the girls’ statements.’
In seconds the assembled team started to spot the discrepancies.
‘I definitely reckon the murder happened at 13.10,’ said Pymm. ‘Biljana’s been out the back with Cullen for ten minutes and suddenly her sister runs back there. She makes no mention of that in her statement. In fact, she claims not to have left the front desk in all that time.’
‘In which case Biljana lied about finishing the massage and heading upstairs at half-past, with the murder taking place roughly five minutes later,’ said Hutchinson.
Ruskin pointed at a yellow Post-it Note. ‘According to the call log, Malina phoned an unlisted number at twelve minutes past one for twelve minutes. Who the hell was she calling and what were they talking about for that long?’
‘I’ll bet that whatever they were talking about had something to do with whatever Malina was doing to the reception computer, since she calls that number again for two minutes whilst she’s using it,’ chipped in Richardson.
‘The same time that Biljana supposedly heard Cullen scream and saw him being murdered,’ said Ruskin.
‘Could they claim that they were just a bit confused over the timings?’ asked Martinez.
‘They can try, but I looked at the video again; after she finished using the computer she goes back off-screen again,’ said Pymm. ‘Malina’s defence might claim that was when she heard her sister call out and she went back to investigate.’
‘I listened to the 999 call at 13.40,’ said Ruskin. ‘Malina clearly tells the operator that the murder only just happened. The operator tells her to stay on the line, but she hangs up.’
‘Can we identify the owner of the mobile phone Malina called?’ asked Warren.
‘It’s an unregistered pay-as-you-go,’ said Pymm. ‘I’ve asked for its logs, to see if that gives us a clue. Fortunately, the carrier is one of the major UK networks, so we should get them quicker than the sisters’.’
‘Why don’t we just ask her about it?’ said Ruskin.
‘My thoughts exactly,’ said Warren. ‘Time to bring them both in.’