Adrian was already at his desk when Imogen arrived at work. He’d been awake for hours anyway and so he sneaked away before she woke, leaving a coffee and clingfilmed marmite sandwich on the bedside table. He wanted to find out as much as possible about Corrigan and he didn’t need Imogen there second-guessing his motivations all the time. Had he told her too much about his past? Was she reading into things? Seeing things that weren’t there. Would things be different if they weren’t together?
She was waiting for him to snap, he could see that. It made him feel like she had no faith in him and what bothered him the most was that she was right. Being level-headed was admittedly not one of his strengths. Occasionally, he let his emotions get in the way of critical thinking. Yes, he was determined to stop Corrigan from hurting his wife, but that was literally their job – it wasn’t him going off half-cocked on some personal vendetta. It’s what he was paid to do.
The fact that he was going to enjoy nailing this shithead was neither here nor there. He had found the information on the man who sued Corrigan Construction and he’d also contacted dispatch to find out if there had, indeed, been a call received from Angela Corrigan.
‘What time did you get here?’ Imogen asked as she put her bag in the bottom drawer of her desk.
‘A couple of hours ago; just wanted to get ahead of this. I’ve got a name and address for the disgruntled employee.’
‘Is he local?’
‘Yep – ten minutes’ drive, tops. Lives in one of those nice flats by the river.’
‘We should check in with the DCI before we go. Give her a heads-up of what we’re doing.’
‘Why not wait until we actually have some information?’
‘Remember what I said yesterday. By the book. Adrian, we can’t take any risks with this case. There is too much at stake.’
‘Fine. But I’d appreciate it if you stopped treating me like I’m overreacting and taking it all personally.’
‘That’s not what I meant. We’ve been burned before by not following the rules. It always comes back to bite us on the arse. I just want to make sure that we are both protected from any repercussions and that when we put this fucker away, he stays away and doesn’t get off on some technicality because we fucked up.’
‘OK,’ Adrian conceded. ‘Sorry I snapped. I am not trying to dodge the rules, I just want to get this done as quickly as possible, she can’t stay there much longer.’
‘Then let’s work together and get it done. I want him put away, too. We keep the DCI informed every step of the way and that way, we are covered if it all goes Pete Tong.’
‘You’re right.’
‘Always. Remember that.’
Imogen walked over to the DCI’s office and knocked on the door. Adrian followed.
He noticed that DCI Kapoor looked braced for bad news. As though that’s all they ever seemed to deliver.
‘We’ve identified our Jane Doe,’ Imogen said.
‘How? Who is it?’
‘Simon Glover and Leon Quick’s former boss, Reece Corrigan – it’s his wife, Angela,’ Imogen said.
‘We went to see Corrigan and she was there, like nothing had happened. Made a point of not acknowledging the fact that we had met before, either. It was very strange. She’s got to be half his age, easily. They live in some million-pound house over the Blackdown Hills.’
‘Well, tread carefully. We need to understand her situation fully before we wade in there,’ DCI Kapoor said.
‘We are about to go and see Rajesh Baqri, a man who sued Corrigan Construction in the year 2017. So far, no one is willing to tell us any specifics on what is so bad about the company, but given the way Leon Quick reacted to the questions we put to him, we think it’s something we need to get a clearer picture of. At least we know Corrigan is at the centre of whatever this is now,’ Imogen said.
DCI Kapoor nodded then said, ‘DI Walsh spoke to Jimmy Chilton again, but he said he kept his resolve. If he knows something then he isn’t talking. Hopefully, you can get something out of this Baqri man.’
‘Also, we hung around the Corrigan house last night and waited for Reece to leave. When he was gone, we spoke to Angela, but she is too scared to turn against her husband. She thinks he is some kind of all-powerful being who can get to her anywhere, get to anyone. She pretty much admitted that he did it, but right now there is no way she will testify.’
‘Well, at the moment it’s all on her and without physical evidence, it’s possible he won’t get sentenced. She’s possibly right to be concerned. Let’s get some independent evidence to support a testimony if you can eventually convince her to give one.’
‘There’s plenty of physical evidence. She is the physical evidence,’ Adrian said.
‘I mean without witnesses. A man with his means could get off. It happens. They could argue she is after a payout and that she injured herself. They could argue that someone else did it. As frustrating as it is, we can’t just go on what we believe happened. There needs to be some kind of corroboration. At the moment, it’s he said, she said. Are you willing to take that risk? Her life could depend on it.’
‘Maybe Rajesh can give us something, then,’ Imogen said.
‘Bloody well hope so. So far, apart from some names, we really don’t have anything,’ Adrian said.
‘We have a suspect,’ Imogen said.
‘I spoke to Gary this morning, as well, to see what public information he can dig up on Corrigan Construction,’ Adrian continued. ‘Maybe we can get him on something else. My main concern right now is making sure Angela doesn’t get hurt any more than she has been.’
‘That’s what we all want, DS Miles,’ Kapoor said. ‘Continue to keep Corrigan in the dark about us connecting Angela to our Jane Doe. If he is a danger to her, we don’t want to put her at further risk. Some good news is I have heard that the Quicks decided against legal action, so you’re in the clear there. They acted out of grief. I think we can all appreciate how hard it must have been for them. Now, go on. Let’s nail this bastard.’
‘Thank you, Ma’am,’ Adrian said as he left the room, annoyed yet again that they wouldn’t be getting Angela out of there.
He had forgotten about the Quicks’ threats to press charges. All he could think about was protecting Angela Corrigan. He just didn’t feel like they were doing enough, he didn’t feel like he was doing enough. What pained him most was that maybe Imogen was right and he was spiralling. He couldn’t think about that right now, though. All he could think about was helping Angela.