Almost an hour passed before things started to happen. First DI Benning came to her with an update that was disappointing but not entirely surprising.
‘Just got word back from the Australian embassy, ma’am,’ he said. ‘They’ve confirmed that Joseph Walsh, formerly Joseph Metcalfe, is indeed resident down under and hasn’t left the country since he moved there four years ago. They’re coming back to me with contact details for him.’
‘Well at least that’s one loose end we’ve tied up,’ Anna said.
Ten minutes later DS Prescott came striding into her office waving a small piece of paper.
‘You’re not going to like this, guv,’ he said. ‘It’s a receipt that was found in one of Roy Slater’s jackets.’
He placed it on the desk in front of Anna. She looked at it and frowned. It was a cash receipt for drinks at a well-known casino in London’s West End. But she couldn’t see why it was significant.
‘Look at the date and time of issue,’ Prescott said. ‘Three-twenty on Monday of last week. That was when Jacob Rossi was taken.’
Anna felt a tight spasm in her chest as she studied the details on the receipt.
‘I just called the casino,’ Prescott added. ‘They still have security footage from that day on their server. I’ve arranged to go straight over there to look at it.’
‘And if Slater makes an appearance, we’ll know that he couldn’t have snatched Jacob.’
Prescott nodded. ‘So either he had nothing to do with it or you’re right to suggest that he did it in collusion with someone else.’
Anna told Prescott to hurry over to the casino and report back ASAP. She then broke the news to the other members of the team before phoning Nash to tell him to postpone or cancel the press conference. He wasn’t happy but agreed that they had no choice.
There were two further developments during the next hour. Anna heard back from the detectives who had gone to re-interview Gavin Pope. He wasn’t at home, and according to a neighbour he and his wife had left their home in Richmond on Sunday morning and hadn’t yet returned. And they weren’t answering their phones, which set off an alarm bell in Anna’s head.
She was still trying to get her mind around what was happening when DC Sweeny approached her with another update.
‘The guy who runs a greasy spoon café near The Falconer’s Arms pub just called me,’ she said. ‘He’s one of the people who told us that a rough sleeper named George regularly bedded down outside the pub until just over a week ago.’
‘Ah yes, any word on him?’ Anna said.
‘Precisely that, ma’am. He’s back in the area apparently and he’s pitched up at one of his usual spots across the road from the café. Do you still want to talk to him?’
‘Too bloody right I do. He’s the only potential witness we have. You and I will go and see him. Tell the café owner not to let him out of his sight before we get there. Or better still get him to offer the guy something to eat and drink and I’ll reimburse him.’
Anna decided that she would make the most of the trip to Camberwell to drop in on Tom at the hospital.
She was stepping out of her office to brief the others on the developments when Prescott phoned her from the casino.
‘I’ve seen the CCTV footage, guv,’ he said. ‘It shows that Roy Slater was here from two p.m. to ten p.m. last Monday. So there is no way he could have abducted Jacob Rossi while the boy was walking home from school.’
*
So I was right to be concerned about winding down the investigation too soon, Anna told herself. Now there were even more questions that needed to be answered.
But as various scenarios unfolded in her mind, she struggled to make sense of any of them.
From the start, the investigation had been less than straightforward, and it had been hampered by the riots at every stage. Somewhere along the line they must have missed something.
But what?
She updated the team before heading over to Camberwell to talk to the rough sleeper. They were all just as confused as she was by the latest turn of events.
‘We’re trying to track down Gavin Pope to question him again about his relationship with Slater,’ she said. ‘But he’s not at home or answering his phone. So I want us to throw everything at trying to find him. Meanwhile, the homeless man we’ve been looking for has finally turned up so DC Sweeny and I are going to Camberwell now to have a chat with him. He’s back on one of his regular plots near The Falconer’s Arms. It might well be a waste of time, but there’s a chance he saw our kidnapper coming and going between Monday and Friday while Jacob was locked up in the pub cellar. If so, he may be able to provide us with a description.’
Anna then asked if a forensics team had visited Roy Slater’s house yet and was told that they hadn’t.
‘I wouldn’t bank on them finding anything else when they eventually do turn up,’ DI Benning said. ‘Me and Detective Prescott searched it thoroughly and the only things we came across were Jacob’s phone and wallet.’
Anna nodded. ‘In that case there are several questions we need to find the answers to. Was Slater looking after those objects for an accomplice? Or did someone who knew he was a suspect plant them there for us to find? And where the hell is Jacob’s rucksack?’