The questions were piling up inside Anna’s head as she and Benning walked out of Gavin Pope’s house.
Was Mark Rossi really a womaniser? How many affairs had he actually had? And was it possible that a wronged husband had kidnapped Rossi’s son as a form of retribution?
It was a well-documented fact that husbands who found out their wives had cheated on them were notoriously unpredictable. The annals of crime were full of cases where heartbroken spouses had punished their unfaithful wives or the men they had got involved with.
Anna herself had brought to justice two men who had gone down that road. One had stabbed his wife to death in a fit of rage. The other had exacted revenge on his wife’s lover by first killing his pet dog, and then subjecting him to seven months of extreme harassment during which he ransacked the man’s home while he was away and threatened to harm his children.
It was therefore something that Anna would have to consider with both Gavin Pope and Roy Slater. Had either man thought it was a good idea to snatch Jacob Rossi so that his father would suffer?
She mentioned this to Benning when they were back in the car and his response surprised her.
‘I feel bad because I didn’t extract this information from Pope and his wife when I first interviewed them,’ he said. ‘I obviously didn’t push them hard enough, and I should have.’
‘The situation is very different now,’ Anna pointed out. ‘Jacob had only just gone missing. Now he’s dead and they’re having to answer some tough questions.’
‘Even so time has been wasted. And there’s another suspect in the frame.’
‘And the sooner we can speak to him the better,’ Anna said.
She took out her mobile and called DI Walker on speakerphone. Pope had given them Slater’s address in Rotherhithe and she had passed it on to Walker with instructions to send someone straight to his home.
She then briefed Walker on what Pope and his wife had told them. ‘Let’s not mess about,’ she said. ‘Just have Slater brought in to be questioned and find out whatever you can about the guy in the meantime. Pope claimed he’s a compulsive gambler and if that’s true then maybe he thought that kidnapping Jacob would be a way to solve any money worries he might have. That would be plenty motive.’
She went on to say that Pope had provided them with a DNA cell swab, which would be compared with any forensic evidence found in the cellar and on Jacob.
‘On the subject of forensics we managed to pull some strings,’ Walker said. ‘The team have finished up at the pub in Camberwell and a couple of the CSIs are going straight over to Neville Quinlan’s flat. DS Prescott will arrive ahead of them with a warrant so it shouldn’t be a problem.’
‘That’s great, Max. Anything else that I should know?’
‘Well we have come up with one other person of interest,’ Walker said. ‘It’s a woman by the name of Michelle Gerrard who has been particularly savage about Mark Rossi on social media. She posts more abuse on platforms than anyone else and seems to really have it in for him.’
‘We need to check her out then,’ Anna said.
‘The wheels are in motion, guv. We’re trying to get an address. The only thing we know about her right now is her name. But she does stand out from the other trolls who regularly slag Rossi off. I’ll let you know when we’ve got more.’
‘Good. We’ll have another case conference when I’m back. I’m guessing that by then the media will be chasing the story so we’ll have to think of drafting a press release and maybe even organise a presser. It might be a way to generate some leads.’
‘That’s assuming we can get more than a snippet of airtime on the news,’ Walker said. ‘The coverage of the riots is like nothing I’ve ever seen and the death toll is rising by the minute. And you should see the stuff that’s appearing on social media. There are dozens of gruesome videos shot on phones, and all manner of hashtags are trending. I’ve seen riots2019, taketothestreets, clobberthecops and letslootlondon. It’s fucking unbelievable.’
With the call on speaker, Benning heard every word, and as Anna hung up he was already checking online through his phone.
‘I see what he means,’ Benning said. ‘Take a look at this.’
It was footage from a mobile phone that had been uploaded to YouTube. It showed a group of masked youths pulling a police officer from a squad car and beating him up in the road.
Anna’s eyes filled with a dark fury as she watched it and she felt her chest contract with every breath.
‘There are lots more clips like that,’ Benning said.
Anna couldn’t resist checking some of them out before heading back to Wandsworth. The images were uncensored and shocking in the extreme.
The inside of a department store where rioters were stuffing goods such as jewellery and boxes of perfume into carrier bags.
A residential street where it appeared that every car parked outside the homes was on fire.
Two men in hoodies dancing on the roof of an abandoned ambulance.
A young black woman kicking and screaming as three white youths dragged her into an alley while a crowd looked on and cheered.
The moment a petrol bomb landed on the ground beneath a police horse and engulfed the animal in flames. The officer dismounted and tried to put the fire out with his hands, but was forced back as the horse went wild.
The last clip ended abruptly before Anna learned the fate of the officer and his horse.
She handed the phone back to Benning. ‘That’s enough. If I watch any more I’ll probably be sick.’
Her hands were shaking as she switched on the engine and engaged first gear.
‘This is worse than I imagined it could ever get,’ Benning said. ‘Those people are like packs of wild animals.’
‘All London needed to explode was a spark,’ Anna said as she started driving. ‘That spark was the fatal shooting of a pregnant woman during a police raid. It’s exposed just how much bitterness and resentment has been bubbling away beneath the surface. Hatred of the police in deprived areas, friction between whites and blacks, a growing distrust of those in authority, and a belief that the future is looking increasingly bleak. Seems to me that as a society we fucked up big time by not learning the lessons from 2011.’
‘But even before then we had the mass riots in Brixton during 1981 and 1995,’ Benning said. ‘And yet nothing has really changed since then and now. That’s the shame of it.’
Yet again Anna had to force herself to stop thinking about the riots. She was reminded of how hard she struggled to focus on the job during all those years Chloe was missing. Her daughter never really left her thoughts, and as a consequence her performance during investigations was often below par.
This was different, of course. It was less about the pain of emotional involvement and more about trying to ignore, and avoid, the shocking events that were taking place all around her. But she had to. She owed it to Jacob Rossi’s parents to stay focused so that she could bring to justice those responsible for his death.
‘I’ve not had time to go through your case notes,’ she said to Benning. ‘You told me there was nothing suspicious on Neville Quinlan’s phone and computer. What about Pope? Did you check his phone and digital footprint?’
‘I’m sure I asked one of the team to sort it,’ Benning said.
Anna threw him a glance. ‘Are you saying you’re not certain?’
He looked embarrassed. ‘I’m saying that I haven’t been able to keep track of things since coming over to Camberwell. And when I went back to Bromley I didn’t hang around long enough to get updates on all the action points.’
‘What about Mark Rossi’s phone?’
‘What about it?’
‘Did you examine his call list?’
‘I didn’t see the point. We didn’t suspect him of kidnapping his own son.’
If it had been anyone else Anna would have given them a mouthful. But because of what she knew about Benning she chose not to pursue what she regarded as shortcomings in the investigation. Instead, she reached over and switched on the radio.
But Benning immediately switched it off again.
‘Look, I don’t want you to think that I’m a shit detective, ma’am,’ he said. ‘But there’s a reason I’m not firing on all cylinders and perhaps that’s why we weren’t as far forward with the case as we should have been.’
‘You’ve already told me that the riots caused logistical problems,’ she said. ‘And I know that to be true because those problems are still with us.’
‘Well actually there’s more to it than that.’
When Anna failed to respond after several seconds, Benning said, ‘The fact that you seem to be showing a remarkable lack of curiosity leads me to believe that you already know about my situation. Am I right, ma’am?’
Anna saw no point in lying. ‘Your boss thought we should know,’ she said.
‘Did he call you?’
‘He spoke to Nash, and Nash told me on the understanding that I didn’t mention it to anyone, and I haven’t.’
‘So what exactly did he tell you?’
Anna kept her eyes on the road, and said, ‘That you were recently diagnosed with early onset dementia and that this could well be your last case.’
Benning expelled a long breath. ‘Well I suppose it’s only right that you’re across it. But I want you to know that I’m a long way from losing my marbles so you don’t have to worry about me not being up to the job. I’ve been told that the decline of cognitive functions will be gradual.’
‘I’m not worried about that,’ Anna said. ‘I know these things can be slow to progress.’
‘Exactly. And please don’t offer me your sympathy or treat me any different to anyone else on the team.’
Anna allowed herself a slight smile. ‘Message received loud and clear, Detective Benning. I see no reason why your unfortunate situation should be an issue during the investigation. Or why anybody else should become privy to it. Agreed?’
‘Agreed. Thank you, ma’am.’