Maggie tugged the handle of Kat’s car when it stuck as she tried to open it. Once in, she sat and turned towards Kat. ‘Shit. That totally caught me off-guard.’ Maggie buckled her seatbelt.
‘Your face did give that impression. To be fair, I wasn’t expecting it either. Probation will make the call on whether recall or a warning is appropriate. I think they’d have a strong case.’
‘He’s definitely someone I’d like to see questioned further, though I didn’t see anything inside his flat that set my alarm bells off … well … other than his companion, that is, and that’s only because of McNally’s history of violence.’
‘OK. Next on the list is Harry. Let’s have a chat with him and see what comes up.’ Kat indicated and pulled away from the kerb.
Maggie stared out of the window as Kat drove them to their next destination. She wasn’t feeling very positive about the home visits. Her mobile rang, shaking her out of her thoughts.
It was the station. She answered and listened to the information that was relayed. ‘OK, thanks for letting me know.’ Maggie ended the call and placed her phone back in her pocket. ‘That was Bethany. Seems Harry was found dead in his flat. Overdose it looks like, so that’s one off our list. Who else do we have?’
‘The next two live fairly close to each other so it’s your call. Oscar Reed and Richard Patterson, but Mark advised that the DAHU were going out to speak with Oscar and if they feel anything relevant to our case comes up, he’ll let us know. I suspect they’ll add him to their list of nominals, so really there’s no need for us to waste our time. If I’m honest with you, I don’t think either is your man. If there was a list of what you’re not looking for, these guys would tick all the boxes.’
‘I agree with you and anyway, the MOSOVO team are going to be involved with Richard, but I think we should speak to the hostel staff and check his whereabouts on the relevant dates. Even if he had managed to sneak out, where was he holding the women?’ Maggie was talking more to herself than to Kat and she guessed by the silence that Kat understood.
Kat pulled into the small parking lot just behind the Approved Premises building. ‘Wow. Nice place. Are all APs in old, listed buildings?’
‘No, but it’s surprising how many are.’ Maggie reached into the back seat and pulled the notebook out of her backpack.
They walked up to the door and pressed the buzzer, looking directly into the camera to identify themselves and then waited for the buzz and click that would signal they were free to push the door.
Once inside, they walked to the reception window and showed their ID. The receptionist buzzed them in and directed them to the main office. The woman at the desk smiled at them. ‘Hello. You must be DC Jamieson and DC Everett. I’m Amie Humphrey, the Senior Probation Officer and manager of this AP. I had a call from Sarah Hardy yesterday to let me know you’d be coming. Though I wasn’t expecting you here this early.’
‘Yes, sorry about that. We wanted to make sure we caught Mr Patterson, in case he had something planned for the day.’ Maggie shook Amie’s hand.
‘So how can I help you? I understand you have some concerns about Richie. I came in early and checked his records. He has a bit of an attitude problem, but generally engages with the work here and is looking to move on from AP in the next few months.’
Maggie wondered if they were talking about the same person as that was not the picture painted by Sarah Hardy. She’d leave it though for the moment. Police and Probation didn’t always see eye to eye, and she’d feed her concerns back to Sarah and see what the officer said. ‘What kind of attitude problem are you referring to then?’
‘Like most people who are referred here on release, he didn’t want to come. A lot of offenders feel that it’s just as bad as prison with all the rules and some think they are better off staying inside until the end of their sentence.’
‘Really? Are the rules that strict? I would’ve thought that they’d prefer to be in the community.’ Kat’s eyes widened.
‘Strict enough. It all depends on risk level – but most APs only take the high-risk-of-harm cases. We have Probation staff on site, the hostel is manned twenty-four-seven and they have to attend various groups, get drug or alcohol tested – any breach and they could be recalled back to custody.’
‘I guess we didn’t know as much about hostels as we thought.’ Maggie shrugged.
‘Not many people do. But you didn’t come here for that and I’m sure that you’ve much more pressing matters to deal with.’ Amie pulled up Mr Patterson’s records on her computer. ‘What dates are you interested in? I can tell you what he did that day before you speak to him. It might help form a better picture of whether or not he’s going to be helpful.’
‘We’re keen to know his whereabouts over the last five weeks or so. Also, does he stay anywhere else or have access to the properties of friends or family?’ Maggie was about to take out her notebook to jot the details down when she looked over and saw Kat was doing it.
‘Well, I can answer the second part of your question easily. Richie’s on a curfew from 7pm to 7am Monday to Sunday. He can’t stay anywhere overnight without permission from his Probation Officer and the Home Detention Curfew team at the prison. The governor has to sign that off and there has to be good reason and evidence for that to happen, especially in cases where the person is deemed at high risk of serious harm.’ She took a sip of water before continuing. ‘In his notes, there’s no mention of family or friends, only acquaintances he’s met here or in prison. I assume that they probably stopped contacting him when he was arrested or convicted.’ She scrolled down the notes on her computer. ‘As I suspected, he’s presented every night without fail at his curfew time and there’s no information or evidence to suspect that he left the property afterwards. Not only would his tag go off and notify the tagging company, but we have cameras that are manned by night staff. No one flagged anything of concern relating to his whereabouts.’
‘Hmmm. OK, thanks. Can you think of anything else we need to be aware of before speaking with him?’
‘Yes, there’s one thing. Richie has a massive scar on the left side of his face. He was napalmed in his last prison. He also prefers being called Richie to Richard.’
‘Seriously? Is it bad?’ Maggie cringed at the thought of the pain that must have been. Napalming in prison circles was when a combination of boiling water and sugar were mixed and then thrown on the skin. The mixture sticks to the skin and intensifies burns, one of the principal effects of jelly-like napalm bombs, hence the name.
‘Yes, he suffered some major burn injuries and nearly lost an eye. He is partially sighted in the left eye now because of the injury. He’s very self-conscious of it and may become aggressive if he feels you’re staring. So, if you’re ready, I’ll take you through.’ Amie glanced at her watch. ‘He should be in the group room we set up for you to interview him.’