Dan turned a page on his notebook, just to emphasise to the jurors that he was moving on to the next part, and to allow Chief Inspector Hogg to wonder what was happening next.
Dan straightened. ‘Chief Inspector, what do you know about Mark Roberts’s movements in the months leading up to his death.’
‘I know some of it, but fairly limited, due to his lifestyle.’
‘Lifestyle?’ Dan worried for a moment that there was something he didn’t know, that Barbara had kept back from him. ‘How do you mean?’
‘He was a loner. No one ever came forward that he confided in, and when we spoke to those people who knew him, no one knew what he had been doing with his time. His bank accounts showed that he travelled around a lot, but that might have been to do with his job.’
‘As a journalist and writer?’
‘Yes. And self-employed, so there was no one to keep any records except himself.’
‘What about his laptop, or his phone? Were his appointments on those?’
Hogg narrowed his eyes. Dan knew the answer, and Hogg knew that he couldn’t avoid it. ‘We don’t know if he had a laptop.’
‘A journalist and a writer without a laptop? As the senior officer, the one directing the investigation, didn’t that strike you as unusual?’
Hogg swallowed. ‘All I know is that we didn’t recover a laptop. Either from the scene or where he was staying.’
‘And a phone?’
‘Yes, he had a phone. We got his phone records and he’d last used it at eight thirty, but we don’t know who called him because the number belonged to a pay-as-you-go bought in cash six months earlier. The shop where it was bought didn’t have any CCTV going back that far.’
‘But Mark Roberts had a phone with him?’
‘I just know he made a call at eight thirty.’
‘And the location the call was made from?’
Hogg let out a long breath. He knew where the questioning was going. ‘The cell siting put it close to where he was found the next morning.’
‘And his phone was on a contract?’
‘It was.’
‘What sort of contract?’
‘An iPhone contract.’
Dan allowed himself a smile. This had all been buried in the unused material, not considered relevant by the prosecution, because who Mark Roberts was calling was not relevant when it was a robbery gone wrong.
Dan straightened. ‘How far did you look to see whether his phone had been passed on?’
‘We kept an eye on the online sites.’
‘And no one has been caught trying to sell an iPhone?’
‘That’s correct.’
‘And no one has been caught selling a laptop that could be traced back to Mark Roberts?’
‘No.’
‘If I understand it correctly then, the only item Nick Connor sold on was a couple of contactless debit cards.’
‘You’ll have to ask your client about that.’
‘But you’ve no evidence of Nick Connor selling a laptop?’
‘Well, no.’
‘Or an iPhone?’
He shook his head. ‘No.’
‘The two items that could contain information about whatever Mark Roberts was writing about, or would explain why he was in Highford, were never found?’
‘I’ve just answered that.’
‘And these are much more valuable than a couple of debit cards.’
‘That depends on how much you spend before they get stopped.’
‘How much was spent before they were recovered?’
Hogg had stopped looking towards the jurors and was fixated on Dan now. A bead of sweat ran down his temple. ‘Nothing. They were never used.’
Dan paused to let that sink in, before he asked, ‘As the senior officer, what was your theory about a laptop or phone not being recovered?’
‘I didn’t have one.’
‘You ignored their disappearance?’
‘I follow the evidence.’
‘And the evidence concludes that Mark Roberts had a phone not long before he died you haven’t recovered, and you can’t establish a link between the phone and Nick Connor, right?’
‘Well, yes, I see what you mean.’
Dan widened his eyes and turned to the jury. ‘You ignored it because if the phone or laptop had been taken before Nick Connor chanced upon the scene, he would no longer fit your case?’
Hogg didn’t answer, so Dan turned back to him.
‘That’s the uncomfortable truth, isn’t it, because if the laptop or phone had already been taken, someone other than Nick Connor had already been at the scene?’
There was a fine bead of sweat on Hogg’s top lip as he replied, ‘All I can say is that the items were never found.’
‘There was no laptop or phone found in either Nick Connor’s flat or the cottage Mark Roberts was renting?’
‘No.’
‘Nor in the burnt remains of Nick Connor’s clothes?’
‘No, they were not.’
‘What about footprints at the scene?’
‘Yes. We recovered burnt trainers at the back of the defendant’s home. Nike Air Vapormax, size 10. Very distinctive. They matched the footprints in the blood.’
Dan rummaged in his papers for the crime scene photographs before inviting the jurors to go to their bundles and go to the page he was holding aloft. ‘Those footprints?’
Hogg squinted as he peered forward before answering, ‘Yes.’
‘Pointed towards the body?’
‘They appear to be so.’
‘Perhaps from someone peering in for a closer look as they stumble across someone already dead?’
The judge intervened. ‘You can’t expect the officer to speculate on that, Mr Grant.’
Dan nodded his apology, but the seed had already been planted. He turned back to his notes. ‘But turning to what you might know, Chief Inspector, you said that Mark Roberts had been travelling around. Did that include to somewhere called Brampton?’
Hogg thought about that, and answered, ‘Yes. A small resort on the Yorkshire coast.’
‘Did you find out what he was doing there?’
‘We didn’t pursue that line of inquiry.’
Dan made a show of seeming surprised. ‘Really? A murder victim’s movements in the months leading to his death didn’t seem important?’
Hogg blushed. ‘There was no known connection between Brampton and Nick Connor, and Mark Roberts visited a number of places.’
Dan smiled when he said, ‘Your focus was on the offender again, not the victim, wouldn’t you agree?’
Hogg took a deep breath as he tried to hide his irritation. ‘No, I don’t agree.’
‘How long before he came to Highford was Mark Roberts in Brampton?’
Hogg put his head back as he thought about that. ‘A couple of weeks.’
‘Shortly after visiting Brampton, he was found murdered in Highford?’
‘Yes, that’s what I just said.’
‘Have you heard of someone called Rodney Walker?’
A few seconds pause and then, ‘Is he the man who killed some children years ago.’
‘Two children, to be exact, so the allegation went. It was the Brampton connection that reminded you, wasn’t it?’
‘The Brampton Murders, yes. They’re somewhat infamous.’
‘If I told you that Mark Roberts was in Brampton investigating that case, would you be surprised?’
‘He was a journalist and writer. I can understand that.’
‘And that he was investigating a notion that Rodney Walker was innocent?’
The judge intervened. ‘Do you have evidence of this, Mr Grant? You’re starting to give evidence yourself.’
‘I do, My Lady.’
‘You better make sure you produce it.’ She gestured to Hogg, ‘Continue.’
Dan made a silent prayer that Porter or Rodney would come forward to tell the story, because he dreaded telling Jayne she might have to tell the whole thing herself from the witness box.
Hogg had straightened himself during the brief interruption, trying to regain his composure. ‘I don’t know what the deceased was doing in Brampton.’
‘No, you wouldn’t, Chief Inspector, because you didn’t ask, did you?’
His voice was quieter when he replied, ‘No, we didn’t.’
‘Did you know that my investigator went to Brampton last week to look at what Mark Roberts was investigating?’
He looked confused for a moment, before answering, ‘How would I know what a defence investigator is doing?’
‘It’s agreed evidence that she was assaulted less than twenty-four hours after she began investigating there. Had you heard about that?’
Hogg looked over towards Frank, who was staring at his papers, his focus away from the witness box. ‘No, I haven’t.’
‘Did you hear about what happened to me last week?’
‘I heard that you were assaulted. Is that what you mean?’
‘A night in hospital for me, Chief Inspector. And my office?’
‘Burnt down, I heard. I was sorry to hear that.’
‘If I can summarise it, therefore: Mark Roberts visited Brampton to investigate the Rodney Walker case and was then battered to death in Highford. My investigator visited Brampton to see what Mark Roberts was investigating and she was assaulted, and then in Highford I was assaulted and my office was destroyed by fire. Does that strike you as suspicious?’
‘I’m not a fire investigator.’
‘Knowing a bit more about the Brampton connection, do you wish you’d looked further into it?’
‘Well, obviously it sounds suspicious.’
‘Yes or no, Chief Inspector?’
Hogg gripped the edge of the witness box, and Dan saw in his eyes that he knew that whatever answer he gave, the damage would be done. If he admitted that he wouldn’t have investigated it, his investigation was too blinkered. Admit that he would have done, Nick looked a little less guilty.
Dan could feel the tension of the courtroom as everyone waited for the answer, those jurors making notes pausing with their pens, ready to make sure they didn’t miss it.
Eventually, he said, ‘Yes, with hindsight.’
Dan thanked him for his evidence and sat down. He took a deep breath. He had done what he could. Now, it was down to Rodney and Porter.