Anna decided she would crack on with the briefing at ten p.m. sharp even if DI Benning hadn’t arrived by then. It gave her forty minutes to go online to read and view the news stories relating to Jacob Rossi’s disappearance.
They didn’t add much to what she already knew, but it was interesting to hear his teachers paying tribute to him, and the interviews with some of his school friends. He came across as a pleasant, level-headed boy who was well liked. He had a passion for football and was described as mature for his age.
Anna also watched footage of police searching woodland between the school and Jacob’s home, and a press conference fronted by Benning late on Tuesday morning when the story dominated the news agenda – before the riots began.
Anna then googled Jacob’s father’s name and got thousands of hits, which included photographs and video clips of the TV programmes he’d presented.
He had his own page on Wikipedia, detailing his private life and career, and Facebook and Twitter accounts on which he had large followings.
Anna learned that Mark Rossi was aged forty-five and had been married to Clare for fourteen years. He was born in Dulwich, South London, the son of Nigel and Emily Kennedy. But his father died when he was just ten, and his mother married again four years later to Isaac Rossi, who was at the time a backroom journalist in television.
Emily took on the Rossi name and so did Mark. His stepfather then became a big influence in his life, and encouraged him to follow in his own footsteps and embark on a career in journalism. It started with a media studies course at university, and then a job as a reporter/presenter on a local TV news programme.
At the age of twenty-six, Mark was picked up by an agent who found him work on other types of programmes. About then his stepdad moved into documentary film making and gained an impressive reputation as a director/producer before setting up his own production company a decade ago.
The company made a string of programmes and Mark was one of their main on-screen assets. But the company, Glory Entertainment, folded three years ago, a year before Isaac Rossi died. It left behind significant debts and a bunch of very disgruntled former employees.
However, for Mark Rossi it proved to be only a minor setback since he did not have any money tied up in the business and had separate lucrative contracts with the BBC, ITV and Channel Four.
Both before and since his stepfather’s death, Mark had led a charmed life. The family had homes in Cornwall and Spain, as well as Bromley. Mark was forever posting photos on Facebook of family holidays around the world and events he attended where he met film stars, pop stars and other famous people.
Only three months ago he posted a dozen photos of Jacob’s tenth birthday party, which took place on a friend’s yacht moored in a marina near their Spanish villa.
Anna wasn’t at all surprised that by sharing the images of his privileged lifestyle online he had attracted a fair amount of criticism and abuse. He was called a show-off, a flash bastard, and a man who liked to make other people jealous.
But for every negative comment there were twenty positive remarks. He had an army of fans who adored him and enjoyed being invited to see what he got up to off camera.
*
DI Benning arrived at ten minutes to ten, so Anna was able to have a quick word with him before she started the briefing. She got him to tell her what he’d brought with him and asked if he was prepared to work through the night, which he was.
She decided not to let him know that his boss had passed on confidential information about him to DCS Nash. She feared it would undermine his ability to do a good job, especially if he learned that she had also been made aware of it.
As she listened to him talk about the contents of the case file, it struck her that he didn’t sound or act like a man who was keeping a shocking secret. His demeanour was self-assured and business-like, and there was no hint of the weight he was carrying on his shoulders.
He handed Anna photos of the suspects, Neville Quinlan and Gavin Pope, and said, ‘These can go up on the evidence board, ma’am. I’ve got a hard copy of Quinlan’s criminal record, but Pope doesn’t have one. The threats he made against Mark Rossi only got him a caution. Plus, there are statements made by the people who saw Jacob before he walked out of school on Monday afternoon.’
Minutes later Anna introduced Benning to the others and noted that she had never seen her team looking so tense and sombre.
‘Let me begin by stating what must be pretty obvious to you all,’ she said. ‘This investigation is going to present us with a real challenge. We’re working with far fewer people than we normally have, and we’ve got to do our jobs while out there London is literally burning.
‘In addition, you’ll know by now that this is no longer a misper case. Jacob Rossi died from smoke inhalation while chained to a wall in the cellar of a derelict pub that used to be called The Falconer’s Arms. We have not one, but two objectives: we need to find who put him in that place, and who set fire to the building, causing him to die.
‘To start with we’ll concentrate our efforts on who abducted Jacob and held him captive between Monday afternoon and today. The only way we’ll get to the rioter who threw the petrol bomb into the pub is if someone comes forward with a name or names. Unfortunately we don’t have CCTV of the incident and all that local witnesses saw was a mob of mostly masked youths descending on the building. It’s also worth pointing out that whoever did start the fire almost certainly doesn’t know that someone died in it because it hasn’t yet been made public. And the same goes for whoever left him down there. They might not yet know about the blaze.’
‘So there’s a chance they’ll return to the building at some point to check on the boy,’ DC Niven said from a seat at the front.
Anna gestured for Walker to respond and he pointed out that DC Sweeny and a uniformed officer would be spending the night in an unmarked car across the road from the building.
‘Tomorrow we’ll see if we can set up a surveillance operation in one of the houses opposite the entrance,’ Walker said. ‘But it won’t be of any use if those responsible turned up earlier today and saw the fire for themselves, or if they learn about it once the news breaks about how and where Jacob died.’
Anna then described the scene inside the pub cellar, using a pen to point to the photos on the whiteboard.
‘Evidence recovery will be problematic because of fire and water damage,’ she said. ‘But forensics have Jacob’s clothes and shoes in their possession, along with the chain and manacles used to secure him to the wall. We should know soon if they’ve found any prints or DNA traces on them. When Jacob disappeared he had his mobile and wallet with him, but they haven’t yet been recovered. The phone’s signal was lost soon after he vanished.’
She relayed the observations of the forensic pathologist who attended the scene and then handed over to Benning to present the details of the missing person’s investigation. He drew attention to the photos of Neville Quinlan and Gavin Pope and explained why they were suspects.
‘Quinlan is still our prime suspect,’ he said. ‘Since his release from prison two years ago he’s been living in a flat just over a mile away from Jacob’s school. DCI Tate and I were there a short time ago and he’s still insisting that he knows nothing about the abduction. We’re not convinced he’s telling the truth, though. As you’ll hear shortly the riots hampered our investigation, so we need to catch up on inquiries that haven’t yet been made, including having a closer look at his alibi, finding out who he mixes with, and arranging for CSIs to sweep his flat and car. Before leaving my office to come here I put in another call to forensics, but they need chasing.’
Benning then told the team that Gavin Pope had been questioned about Jacob’s disappearance because Mark Rossi had brought his name up. ‘Pope used to work for a TV production company run by Rossi’s stepdad,’ Benning said. ‘But it went belly-up and his colleagues lost their jobs and their pensions. They resented the fact that Mark’s career continued to thrive while they struggled. Pope also reckoned that Rossi didn’t do enough to help them even though he was in a position to do so, and confronted Rossi about it at an awards event two months ago. He was drunk and told Rossi that he and the others would eventually get their own back on him.
‘Pope denies involvement in the abduction, but there’s nobody to corroborate his alibi that he was at home by himself on Monday. He’s given us the names of the other eleven people who he claims have it in for Rossi. I’m afraid we didn’t get around to talking to them.’
‘But they aren’t the only ones who Mark Rossi has upset,’ Anna said. ‘It seems he’s pissed off a lot of people by boasting online about his luxury life. I had a quick look at his Facebook and Twitter pages and he’s been bombarded with abusive comments. These will have to be looked at and a view taken as to whether any of them constitute a serious threat to him and his family. We can’t rule out the possibility that a complete stranger developed a hatred for Rossi online and decided to punish him by kidnapping his only son. And since the boy was held captive for so long it might be that a ransom demand was going to follow.’
Anna ran through the various scenarios in respect of the possible motives and opened it all up for discussion. Once she was convinced that all the officers were briefed and ready to go, she assigned tasks, starting with detectives Khan and Mortimer, who she sent to Camberwell to assist with the door-to-door inquiries.
‘Try to find out if anyone saw activity on the premises during the past few weeks,’ she said. ‘The perp’s car or van must have been parked round the back of the building where there’s a high wall between the pub car park and the side of a block of flats. And there’s only one open gate in and out of the forecourt, so the chances are a vehicle would have been seen arriving and leaving.’
She asked DS Prescott to check the names on the list that Rossi had provided and to find out where each of them was on Monday, then decide who needed to be questioned.
‘While you do that, DI Benning and I will visit Pope. He lives in Richmond so hopefully we won’t have to drive through any riot areas.’
The rest of the team were given jobs to do that included chasing down CCTV footage in Camberwell, digging up more information on Neville Quinlan, and finding out when forensics would be able to visit his flat.
‘I’m mindful of the fact that the riots are placing an unbearable burden on the Met’s resources,’ she said. ‘There’s a limit to what can be done and I’m sure we’ve gone way beyond that already. So we can expect every step of the way to be a struggle. And, be warned, the pressure will only build once the media gets wind of it. The story ties into the riots so they’ll be all over it, and us.’
Anna then looked at her watch before inviting more questions, of which there were many. After another fifteen minutes she drew the meeting to a close and asked one of the admin staff to type up a list of the action points for circulation.
She then told Benning they would drive to Richmond in a pool car.
‘There’s something I have to do first,’ she said, and went to her office to get her coat and thumb out a text to Tom.
Things are really hectic, hon, so I won’t call in case you’re both in bed. I hope all is well and thank you again for taking care of my baby. It’s so good to know that I don’t have to worry about her.