‘I would suggest you get the advice of a handwriting expert,’ Magnus said. ‘But in my opinion this is a false confession.’
‘Why?’ Bill said.
‘I’ve watched the taped interview with McNab. The suspect wants to confess to what he remembers happened and by his mannerisms, his voice, the words he chooses, I would say he’s telling the truth. He feels enormous guilt, which of course might also be present if he had killed Leila, but the honest detail he gives convinces me that he didn’t. The relief too, when McNab points out that the hand in the video isn’t his.’
‘So what changed between that interview and the written confession in the cell?’ Bill said.
Magnus indicated the copy before him.
I, Mark Howitt, confess to the killing of Leila Hardy, Shannon Jones and the barman Barry Fraser. I killed Shannon Jones and Barry Fraser because they could identify me as the man who left the pub with Leila that night. No one else will die now.
‘Compared to the examples you have of the suspect’s normal handwriting, this script suggests he’s doing this under duress, like a confession looks when given under torture. And the last sentence: No one else will die now. Who’s saying that? I don’t believe it’s the suspect. It sounds to me like a repeat of something he’s been told.’
Bill nodded his agreement. ‘DS McNab believes Mark met with the man who sent the video, although as you saw he denied this in the interview.’
‘Something was done or said to cause Mark to both confess, then commit suicide.’
‘Mark’s father is a well-respected QC with a terminally ill wife, who isn’t expected to live much longer.’
Magnus contemplated this. ‘So, the psychological pressure on the suspect was even greater than I was aware.’ He paused. ‘Were Mark and his mother close?’
‘Apparently so, although she’d kept the extent of her illness a secret from him. When his father revealed it, Mark wanted to go and see his mother, but his father refused to allow that.’
‘Can I ask why?’
‘Apparently the mother had forbidden her husband to tell Mark how close the end was.’
‘Yet he did?’ Magnus said. ‘May I ask what you plan to do about this?’
‘Make sure that Mark Howitt’s confession and his suicide do not close down this enquiry.’
It was a meeting that had to be faced, yet Bill wasn’t sure it was quite the time to do it. If he revealed he’d been conducting his own private enquiry into the identity of the police officer who’d had sex with Leila Hardy, that search was unlikely to be permitted to progress any further.
Superintendent Sutherland might be persuaded into giving his reasons for keeping the name of the officer under wraps, but Bill didn’t hold out much hope that he would. There could be many reasons for doing so, one of which stood uppermost in Bill’s mind, namely that by making the officer’s identity common knowledge, it might endanger his life.
Having made his decision, Bill knocked on the door and awaited permission to enter.
When that didn’t happen, Bill chose to walk in anyway. He found Sutherland on the phone. When he was shot a warning glance, Bill chose to stand his ground, which essentially meant the phone call had to come to an end.
‘Sorry, sir, I thought I heard a “come in”.’
‘You didn’t, Detective Inspector.’
‘Then would you prefer me to come back later, sir?’
‘No.’
Sutherland didn’t wave him to a seat, so Bill continued standing. He preferred it that way because he got to look down on his superior officer rather than meet him eye to eye.
‘Go on, Inspector. What did you wish to say?’
‘We believe the confession from the suspect Mark Howitt is a false one, made under duress.’
Sutherland was immediately on to that. ‘What duress?’
‘We believe he met with the person blackmailing him about his involvement with the victim and was persuaded to help end the killing by taking responsibility for it.’
‘Why would he do such a thing?’
Bill said what he had expressly come to say. ‘I believe either his father or his mother were threatened, sir, and that tipped him over the edge.’ As he spoke, Bill studied Sutherland’s expression. Always closed, never giving anything away, except perhaps irritation, Bill detected a flicker of surprise in his eyes. Sutherland, he decided, had not seen that one coming.
‘And your evidence for this?’
‘His interview with DS McNab was viewed by criminal psychologist Professor Magnus Pirie. He suggested that when Mark used the words “No one else will die” in his confession, he was repeating the words of his blackmailer.’
Sutherland swung his chair round at this point, blocking Bill’s view of his expression. It was a tactic Bill used himself and he understood the reason for it. He waited quietly for Sutherland to turn to him again.
‘I believe you and Mark Howitt QC are old friends, and that you spoke to him personally about the death of his son,’ Sutherland said.
‘I did, sir.’
‘Did you run this theory past him?’
‘No, sir. I hadn’t formulated it by then.’
‘Did he give any indication that he thought he might be under threat?’
‘No, sir, he did not.’
‘Clearly this will be a distressing time for him. I would like him shielded from the press as much as possible, particularly since his wife’s death seems imminent.’
‘I agree, sir.’
‘And where are we in identifying the Nine?’
It was a question Bill didn’t expect to be asked, so wasn’t sure how to answer. Eventually he went for the truth. ‘No further forward except for the serving officer.’
Sutherland looked slightly taken aback at this. ‘You have identified him, Inspector?’
‘I have a list of possibilities,’ Bill said honestly.
‘Then we should discuss them.’