Caroline stood in front of her team, ready to lead the first briefing on what would henceforth be known as Operation Cruickshank, the name chosen at random by the police computer.
Each time she chose to take on a major case, she had conflicted emotions. There was the natural excitement and adrenaline rush of chasing a killer and getting justice for a family, but at the same time she felt a rising panic at the thought of having to carry out such a huge investigation with a team so limited by numbers.
They were, as with any police force, heavily reliant on their uniformed colleagues, but major investigations tended to be carried out by huge teams at a regional level. So far, Caroline had managed to exploit the fact that this was merely tradition and recommended practice, and wasn’t set in stone.
She knew, though, that if she didn’t continue to get results despite the odds being stacked against her, she’d face impossible pressure to hand all future cases over to EMSOU, the East Midlands Special Operations Unit.
It wasn’t just her ego that would take a hit. It’d be a huge blow to her colleagues in Rutland CID, who continued to blow her away with their commitment and enthusiasm. She’d developed a loyal right-hand man in DS Dexter Antoine, and had come to regard him as a friend. Likewise, Detective Constables Sara Henshaw and Aidan Chilcott continued to go above and beyond the call of duty, and had been instrumental in solving two huge cases in the past year.
‘Okay, welcome to the first morning briefing on Operation Cruickshank, the investigation into the murder of Martin Forbes, whose body was found below Welland Viaduct. Martin was a businessman from Seaton who ran a design agency in Uppingham. He was married, to Sandra, and they have two sons, who are currently away at university. Martin was known to be a keen runner, and he’d been out running on Monday night, when it’s believed he was murdered. We know from speaking with his wife he owned and wore a fitness watch, which we’ve so far been unable to recover.’
‘Potential mugging gone wrong?’ Aidan asked.
‘Unlikely. Who mugs a runner? It’s not like they’re carrying valuables. And no-one’s that desperate for a Fitbit. The cause of death is yet to be determined, but first inspection of the body in situ revealed trauma to the back of the head, as well as signs of strangulation, probably with a forearm. Again, more detail to come, but there’s a good chance his killer struck him then strangled him in a headlock. Crucially, there’s a very limited amount of blood at the scene, which is unusual with a head wound like this. This leads us onto the possibility that Martin was killed elsewhere, then transported to the viaduct, but that in itself is confusing because we know Martin’s running route passed by the exact spot where he was found. His body wasn’t visible from the road, and was only discovered when a family out walking found him early this morning. Rather annoyingly, there was quite a bit of rainfall yesterday evening, before the temperature dropped. That means crucial evidence — like blood — is likely to have been washed away.’
‘Not from the location where his body was found, though,’ Dexter added.
‘Indeed. Even with the rainfall we had, there’s no way it would’ve washed the walls of the arches free of blood. There’s still a lot we don’t know at this stage, but we visited his business premises and spoke to his Operations and Finance Manager, a woman called Monique Dupont. She mentioned that he was generally a fairly likeable chap, but that he’d recently had an argument in the office with a woman called Amie Tanner, one of their designers. It’s probably nothing, but we’re following it up anyway. Sara, did you have any luck researching Allure Design? Was Martin the sole director?’
Sara Henshaw shook her head. ‘No, his wife is also listed. As I understand it, the company remains active and passes to her.’
‘Alright. Interesting. Pretty much what I expected, though, and doesn’t necessarily mean anything. We’ve also managed to get hold of Allure’s IT manager, Tom Mackintosh, but he’s away in Scotland on holiday. He’s due back late tonight, so he’s going to help us access the company’s emails and systems tomorrow. It’s a tenuous lead at best, so it didn’t seem worth us barging in and seizing the lot, especially as the company’s still operating.
‘Amie Tanner’s currently working from home as she’s got two kids, but her husband’s got the day off today, so she’s agreed to come in for a voluntary interview. Didn’t want us round there with the kids about, which is fine by me. Saves us going out in this weather again. Dex and I will speak to her when she arrives. In the meantime, we need to look further into Martin. There’s a team searching his home as we speak, and another looking for evidence at and near the scene. Fingers crossed the rain was kind to us. Sara, can I leave you in charge of looking into Martin? And Aidan, can you see if there are any houses, business premises or anything anywhere on Martin Forbes’s running route which might have CCTV? I think our best bet’s likely to be the George and Dragon pub in Seaton, but it’d be handy to do a walk round checking residentials as well as anything else we’ve missed on the route.’
‘Yep, got it,’ Aidan said. ‘Anything else?’
‘Just one thing,’ Caroline replied. ‘Take your woolly hat.’