Emma was waiting at Eden House for her boss. She didn’t know where to start, and babbled about facts and figures, texts and timings before Kelly had barely taken a breath.
‘Emma, slow down. Tell me slowly. Start with Jenna. Why were you working anyway? I thought you were with Andy.’
‘He’s with his kids.’
Kelly nodded and they walked towards the offices. She felt adrenalin in her veins. She knew it. She’d known that Jenna had been pushed: pushed over the edge by an invisible hand. But she had to prove whose hand, and whether it amounted to homicide. Being tormented by phone calls, social media or even a drug dealer wouldn’t get the case reopened.
‘He threatened to tell her parents.’
‘And we have that in black and white?’
‘Yes, she kept everything. It’s in an encrypted email that was hidden behind popular movie icons on her phone; that’s how he supplied her. He wanted her to meet him.’
‘What was he going to tell her parents?’
‘He said he had a video of her injecting. As well as some sexual photos.’
‘And we’ve got all these messages?’
Emma nodded. Kelly stopped short. ‘My God. Do we know how they met?’
‘Online. He followed her Instagram page dedicated to her races, then I found some digital messages asking her to meet him, and she said yes.’
‘When was this?’
‘Last year, around December. But that’s not all, guv.’
‘What?’ Kelly stopped walking again. They were at the lifts and there was no one else around. Of course there wasn’t; it was Christmas Day.
‘Danny Stanton followed her too, and I found a photo of them together.’
Kelly put her arm on Emma’s shoulder and smiled. For the first time, she thought they might have a hope of getting some justice for the broken body of Jenna Fraser.
‘Both Luke and Danny closed their Instagram pages after Jenna was found dead.’
‘What about the one we found liking Faith’s stuff?’
‘It was created later. Anyone can do it: you can create pages and make them look as though they go back years. It’s easy to keep closing pages and recreating them. It’s common, apparently, as kids grow bored of old photos and images.’
‘Why don’t they just delete them?’
‘Because that’s traceable.’
‘This is too.’
‘Only by someone scouring their search history for hours. It’s pretty cutting-edge stuff. You really need to know what you’re looking for.’
‘Who did it for you?’
‘I’ve got my own mole.’
‘Same office?’
Emma nodded.
‘God, it’s scary. I’m so glad I don’t have kids.’
‘I agree, guv.’
‘I take it the lawyer is here?’
Emma nodded. They took the stairs to the corridor where the interview rooms were located.
‘Merry Christmas, ma’am,’ the uniform on the door said cheerily.
They went inside and Luke glanced up. He looked unkempt and scared. The lawyer stood and introduced himself. He wore an expensive suit and Kelly wondered how much Mr Miles paid him. Money was always the biggest hurdle to justice. Almost any crime could be negated, argued away, diluted and whittled down to very little if huge sums of money were thrown about. Experts, lawyers, scientists, orators, chemists and doctors could all be bought.
‘Good afternoon, Luke. Merry Christmas,’ Kelly said.
His eyes narrowed and the lawyer sighed.
‘I’ve spoken privately to my client and instructed him to answer none of your questions. We’ll hear the evidence against him now.’
Bollocks. The guy knew what he was doing. Kelly looked at Emma; she was the one who knew the chronology. Emma shuffled her paperwork and got everything in order. Meanwhile, Kelly listed the drugs offences.
‘Possession with intent to supply all classes of drugs.’
‘Denied.’
‘The amount of profit will hike up the sentence to maximum. When Luke turns eighteen next month, he’ll face fourteen years.’
Luke shuffled in his seat and went to object. His eyes were like saucers and Kelly could tell that he was coming down off something. The lawyer reached out to still him.
‘Bullshit. Today he’s seventeen and a minor. What have you got on profit?’
Kelly looked at her notes. They’d found around five hundred quid in the car as well as a further two grand in his bedroom.
‘Christmas presents,’ the lawyer said.
‘When did you start using, Luke?’ Kelly asked the boy.
‘Don’t answer,’ the lawyer said.
‘Why did you threaten Jenna Fraser with telling her parents?’
Luke’s mouth fell open. The lawyer stood up. ‘Hold on, what’s this?’
‘Did you do the same to Faith?’
‘This interview is over.’
‘It’s not an interview. I’m charging you, Luke Miles, with possession and intent to supply. Your father can enquire about bail charges, but for the time being, you’ll be moving to a cell. Do I need to read him his rights?’ she asked the lawyer.
‘I want some time with my client.’
‘Sure, when you’ve heard the other charges. Maybe you need to think about talking, Luke. We know you didn’t organise all of this alone. And we know that both Jenna and Faith knew Danny Stanton. Oh, by the way, your friend Bobby is dead. Knife through the heart, and I don’t think he did it himself. Do you think whoever killed him might come after you next? Any ideas?’
‘Don’t answer!’ the lawyer said.
The sweat on Luke’s forehead ran down into his eyes and he wiped it away. Kelly thought how sad it was for a body so young to be in the grip of such a strong addiction. He was dying right in front of her; maybe not straight away, but it was a statistical inevitability that he’d die prematurely. All his father’s money, all the hope invested from his middle-class roots, all the opportunity bestowed upon him by virtue of being born into his wealthy family: all of it was slowly slipping away.
Kelly received a phone call, spoke briefly, and hung up.
‘Well, merry Christmas. You had MDMA in your bedroom too, Luke, didn’t you? That elevates the charges considerably.’ She turned to the lawyer. ‘For your records, that’s Ecstasy, the one that killed Leah Betts: touchy subject with judges.’
‘I’d like to speak to my client before he’s taken down.’
‘Taken down? What does that mean?’ Luke spoke for the first time, his voice cracked and terrified. As it should be. Kelly felt sorry for him.
‘You’re being incarcerated, Luke. You’ve been formally charged, and until your father can make bail, we’re keeping you here,’ she told him.
Luke stood up, knocking over the chair. ‘No! I can’t!’
The lawyer held him. ‘Get a grip, lad. Calm down.’
Kelly looked at Emma. ‘Detective Hide, be my guest.’
Glancing briefly at her notes, Emma reeled off dates of communications and presented images from Instagram and Facebook. But the clincher was the proof that Luke had encrypted and hidden up to seven accounts, all linking him with Jenna.
‘Did you help Sadie Rawlinson infiltrate Tony Blackman’s computer, Luke? It looks like you’re very gifted in that department. Did you have something against Mr Blackman too?’
Luke looked at his father’s lawyer and back at Kelly.
‘Isn’t it about time you told us what’s going on?’
He slumped forward and held his head in his hands.
‘Is it true that one of your first customers when you became a supplier two years ago was Jake Trent? You threatened him as well, didn’t you, Luke?’
Luke looked up between his fingers.
‘He’s going to kill me,’ he said.
The lawyer stood up, Kelly looked at Emma, and they all waited.
‘Who is going to kill you?’ Kelly asked.