DETECTIVE SERGEANT ROBSON had the floor. He was well into his stride, leaning against a desk at the front of the briefing room, feet crossed at the ankles, summarizing the investigation into Sophie Kent’s disappearance. On the face of it, East Yorkshire force had done a good job. For months, they had worked the case intensively, pouring huge resources, both human and financial, into finding the girl. Thousands of actions had been raised and logged on to the HOLMES computer system, the intelligence collected, checked and rechecked several times.
‘Eventually the leads dried up,’ Robson said. ‘Lisa spoke to the SIO.’
Kate’s eyes found Carmichael. ‘What you got for me, Lisa?’
‘Kent was questioned at length. He married young. Pregnant girlfriend. Shotgun wedding forced upon the couple by her father, who died within the year. When Sophie was quite young, her mother became terminally ill. She left the family, quote “didn’t want to be tied down by a kid she never wanted” unquote. As far as she was concerned, her life was over before it began.’
‘Nice,’ Maxwell said.
For once Carmichael agreed with him. ‘She’d never make mum of the year—’
‘Unless she was protecting the girl,’ Jo suggested. ‘I mean, making it easy for her. Can’t be pleasant watching your mum fade away and die when you’re eight years old.’
It was fair comment, Carmichael and Maxwell concurred.
‘Anyway,’ Carmichael said. ‘That was the first place they looked, in case Sophie had run off to be with her mum. When investigators found Mrs Kent she was living in a hospice in Staithes, too ill to look after herself, let alone take care of a kid.’
As her young DC carried on talking, Kate glanced to her left. Jo was listening intently and scribbling on a pad. Grateful she’d remained on the case, Kate looked over her shoulder at what was written there, some of it underlined.
Three girls: 10, 15 & 20.
Five year gap.
All missing: February.
DNA switch: mistaken or deliberate?
Unwanted child?
Bill Kent: single parent.
It was nice to know they were thinking along the same lines.
Fairly certain in her own mind that the body in the morgue was Sophie Kent, Kate didn’t intend sharing her suspicions with anyone outside of Jo and her immediate team. Not until she had hard evidence to back up her claim. Besides, she didn’t want to upset her friend, Emily McCann. The poor woman had convinced herself that Fearon was behind her daughter’s disappearance. To be perfectly honest, it suited the DCI to let her believe it for a little while longer, even though she suspected it wasn’t.
Carmichael was still talking . . .
‘Stamp was eliminated fairly quickly by the woman he was with.’
Jo’s expression said: I-told-you-so. ‘What about Officer Cohen?’
‘Locked down in the prison when the girl went missing with umpteen witnesses.’ Carmichael checked her own notes. ‘Walker and Kent were both off duty, but therein lies the problem: it would appear that they spent most of the day together but gave conflicting statements when questioned. Timings were out by an hour or so. The SIO didn’t have a lot of time for either man.’
‘And Harrison?’
‘Playing golf. His tee-off time confirms that. He was seen at the clubhouse afterwards by several fellow members of the Beverley and East Riding Golf Club.’
‘Who was he playing with?’ Kate asked.
Carmichael made a face.
Robson whistled. ‘So Billy-No-Mates-Harrison hits a ball into the trees, disappears to look for it, goes walkabout for three hours, grabs the girl, then rejoins the course on the fifteenth so everyone sees him walking down the fairway for a pint the steward has already pulled. Very suspicious.’
‘Exactly!’ Carmichael said. ‘My money’s on the golfer . . . or Walker, who also happens to be the girl’s godfather.’
‘Emily never mentioned that to me,’ Kate said.
‘Maybe she didn’t know,’ Carmichael countered. ‘Apparently, he was more gutted than Kent when Sophie disappeared. Walker called her his little princess.’
Jo sat up straight, on high alert.
Kate could almost see the cogs turning. But before she had a chance to open her mouth, the penny dropped. Bamburgh was a fairytale castle far from home. Fit for a little princess.
Her mobile bleeped twice.
It was a text from Hank that she opened right away:
URGENT INTEL FROM AILSA. STAMP’S ALIBI UNSOUND. CORROBORATING WITNESS – HOOKER FROM HULL – GAVE SIMILAR ALIBI FOR SOMEONE ELSE IN EXCHANGE FOR CASH. SHE WENT DOWN FOR P THE C OF J. NEEDS LOOKING INTO. END OF MESSAGE.
Daniels looked at the others. Perverting the course of justice, eh?
There were still four in the mix.