Maggie shivered; it felt like the temperature in the room had inexplicably dropped. She was swinging between excitement at being involved in what could now be an even bigger case and a sense of foreboding that they were barking up the wrong tree and about to make massive fools of themselves if it turned out Jade had gone off with someone else.
Walker turned to Martos.
‘I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave now. In the light of this –’ he gestured at the photographs of the chewing-gum wrappers – ‘the email makes you a witness.’
Martos nodded solemnly.
‘I understand. You have my number if you wish to ask me further questions.’
Walker shook his hand.
‘We’ll be in touch.’
Martos left without saying goodbye to the others. Maggie was relieved to see him go.
‘Right, let’s go over everything again, from the top,’ said Walker, once it was the four of them. ‘Maggie, is Mason sure the man who spoke to him had a British accent?’
‘As sure as he could be. The man was drunk and slurring his words.’ She took a deep breath, not quite believing how events were gathering pace. ‘There’s something else. I ran into Philip Pope near the hotel where Jade’s family is waiting for news. He’s now disputing Declan’s statement about what he was doing when Katy went missing off the beach.’
There was a collective intake of breath as Maggie parroted what Philip had told her.
‘Even though the obvious explanation is that Declan didn’t fully submerge himself in the sea and that’s why his hair was still dry, Philip is now adamant he would’ve noticed him paddling in the surf,’ she finished.
‘The alibi that the Popes gave Declan Morris is what ruled him out as a suspect,’ said Paulson. ‘Does Philip get what he’s saying now?’
‘I don’t know,’ Maggie answered honestly. ‘He’s very het up at the moment – with reason – and it may be clouding his judgement. I don’t doubt that he believes he’s now remembering correctly, but his mind could be playing tricks on him, if that makes sense.’ She turned to Shah. ‘On what grounds was Declan considered a suspect, other than the fact he was Katy’s boyfriend?’
‘The savings pot she had. It was money left to her when her granny died and not an inconsiderable sum. The police here thought he was after the money.’
‘How much was it?’
‘Twenty-five thousand,’ said Walker. ‘It was a lot of money for a girl her age but killing her wouldn’t have made it any easier for Morris to get his hands on it – it wasn’t like they were married and he’d automatically inherit it, or that she’d written a will naming him, plus Patricia had put it in a trust fund until Katy was older. I think the Spanish police fixated on the money because they hadn’t done enough to establish other credible leads; making Declan the prime suspect because she had some money tucked away was lazy and convenient.’
‘Which leaves us with Johnnie Hickman-Ferguson’s theory that Katy was going to leave Declan because he was controlling,’ said Paulson. ‘Good enough reason to kill her?’
‘Even if he did, I don’t believe he would’ve disposed of her body the way it was,’ said Shah. ‘The way she was carved up and dumped was ritualistic and designed to grab attention. Murders that are crimes of passion are usually sloppy and the body left at the scene where it was committed. Our killer kept Katy hidden for a week then dumped her with fanfare. It was the work of a psychopath and Morris doesn’t fit the profile.’
‘I still want him looked at again, especially if his alibi is bollocks now,’ said Walker.
‘How much do we want to trust Johnnie’s word that Katy was going to dump him though?’ asked Maggie. ‘Him suddenly coming forward after all this time doesn’t sit right with me. It’s like he’s trying to force our attention back onto Declan.’
‘I agree: me and Amit have gone back over everything and Johnnie doesn’t get so much as a PS anywhere in the case file,’ said Paulson. ‘If you knew something that damning about someone you didn’t like, you’d have said something at the time. So why didn’t Johnnie?’
‘I’ve an idea – why don’t I talk to Katy’s brother to see if he’ll corroborate or deny what Johnnie’s saying,’ said Maggie. ‘He was best friends with Declan and close to his sister – if anyone’s going to have an idea of the state of their relationship, it’ll be him.’
‘Good idea,’ said Walker approvingly. ‘While you’re doing that, I haven’t given up wanting a chat with Hickson-Ferguson myself.’
‘He’s still dodging our attempts to speak to him,’ said Paulson.
‘I’ll go down to his boat again after this and wait until he sodding well turns up,’ said Walker. ‘We can’t threaten him with arrest for not talking to us, but we can make it clear it’s in his best interests to cooperate.’
Maggie thought for a moment. ‘Johnnie said he’d gone to stay at his parents’ place in Ibiza while the Popes were using their villa in Saros. It might be worth us checking out if that’s true. He said he was with his girlfriend at the time. Her name was Camila.’
‘Amit, find out what you can about his family’s place in Ibiza and see if you can track down the girlfriend.’
Shah nodded. ‘By the way, the alibis for the two known sex offenders check out,’ he added. ‘The Spanish police at least got that right. But here’s something interesting – one of them is now living in Palma only two streets away from the jeweller you tracked down, boss.’
Mention of the jeweller reminded Maggie of what Lyndsey had said about George. Should she mention the incident to Walker? She hesitated for a moment, then decided no; she’d ask him herself about it first.
‘Which one?’ Walker was asking Shah.
‘Araya, the one who was done for raping a minor.’
‘Have we got a picture of him?’ Walker asked.
Shah nodded.
‘Good. I’ll go to Palma tomorrow to show it to the owner. I know you said his alibi still checked out, but it’s worth a punt to see if he was the person asking about Katy’s ring. We’ve always assumed her murder was the work of one person, but maybe Araya was involved somehow.’
‘Boss, we agreed with Jasso that I would brief him after talking to Jade’s parents,’ said Maggie. ‘Do I tell him what Mason said about the chewing gum?’
‘We can’t withhold evidence,’ said Walker. ‘Tell him everything Mason said and mention that we are aware similar chewing-gum wrappers were found near the ponds at Orquídea. It’s up to him to join the rest of the dots.’ Walker looked pensive as he appraised his team. ‘I don’t need to tell you how carefully we need to tread. Jasso’s telling the world that Jade’s waltzed off of her own accord, and if word gets out we’re looking into the opposite, it’s going to cause a shit storm. So if anyone has a problem with what we’re doing, now is the time to speak up.’
Paulson was resolute. ‘I’m in. Jade’s life might depend on it. If it is the same killer and he sticks to the script again, we’ve only got a week to find her.’
‘Amit?’
‘Yep, I’m in.’
‘Maggie?’
All eyes were on her as doubt clawed at her throat, robbing her of what to say. This could be career-ending if it backfired. But what would happen to Jade if they left it to Jasso to find her? If he stuck to the line of inquiry that she’d gone off willingly with someone, it could be a fatal error. Maggie swallowed the doubt down.
‘Whatever you need me to do, boss.’