‘Didn’t Dyer say the boyfriend had a theory about that?’ says Parnell.
‘Who, the convicted burglar who took three days to report his girlfriend missing?’ Steele’s face could turn milk sour. ‘Can’t say I’m wildly interested in his theories, Lu. Although I am interested in speaking to him again. Spencer Shaw will be getting a visit very soon, that’s for sure.’
‘Already on it,’ hollers Swaines from behind his row of PCs. ‘Haven’t found him yet.’
‘Did he give an alibi at the time?’ I ask.
‘For all it was worth,’ Steele fires back. ‘He was with another girl – “a friend” – the day Holly vanished and the couple of days after. But like Dyer said, it didn’t really matter after Serena Bailey’s ID.’
Nothing mattered after Serena Bailey’s ID.
‘Talking of Dyer, where is she?’ I look around, as though she might be hiding somewhere. ‘Shouldn’t she be here?’
After yesterday, I’m full of good feels for Tessa Dyer. She was so kind about Dad, driving me to the station, physically putting me on the train because she thought I looked woozy, filling my angst-ravaged head with all the minor things it could be: ‘My mum cut the tip of her finger off, chopping a parsnip on Christmas Day.’
‘No, she shouldn’t be here. Like Pete said – a bit bloody loud, I might add – Dyer’ll be covering her arse right now. I’m not saying she put a foot wrong, or that I’d have done anything different, but having one of your old cases looked into is a royal slap in the face, so it’s natural she’ll be in defensive mode, and we, m’dears, are very much on the offensive. We’ll keep her in the loop, of course. I’ve let her know these latest developments. But the point is, this is our case now.’
She pauses, batting Emily’s stapler between her hands; mouth twisted, as though she’s unsure of the wisdom of what she’s about to say.
Steele is always sure. This feels big.
‘There’s something else too,’ she says, finally. ‘And this isn’t fact, it’s opinion, just so that’s clear. But I think it needs saying, so . . .’ I lean across my desk, intrigued. Parnell’s stroking his chin. Swaines is practically on Steele’s lap. ‘Tess Dyer is a first-class officer. She came up the ranks quickly but thoroughly, and she has the blessing of the best boss I ever worked for.’ But? ‘But “The Roommate” case would have been stressful for any DCI, never mind a newly appointed one – it was only her second case as an SIO.’ Senior Investigating Officer. Basically, the buck stops with you. The glory or the public flogging is all yours to own. ‘And it was a real “camp beds in the office” case. Folk getting their heads down in half-hour snatches, caffeine and Red Bull on a drip. And then there was the other issue . . .’ The real source of her discomfort, judging by her face. ‘Dyer’s husband was seriously ill at the time. I don’t know the details – some sort of heart issue.’ Parnell’s nodding, he remembers. ‘And I hate even bringing it up, but what I’ve heard from a few people since is that she massively underplayed it. Only Olly Cairns knew the extent of what she was going through, but he backed her to get the job done anyway. That’s what he was like. He’d put his faith in you, and in return, you’d give him everything.’
My respect for Dyer grows even bigger, a satellite orbiting the Earth. But I sense where Steele’s going with this.
Parnell does too. ‘That’s a lot of pressure to be under. A lot of plates to be spinning. Mistakes could get made.’
‘They could, Lu.’ Steele nods her agreement, her thanks to him for pointing out what it pained her to do. ‘A high-profile case, the stress of her husband, two young kids . . . it could have affected her performance. So now with the cause of death, the Caxton site, we have to at least consider the possibility she might have got Holly wrong, neglected other lines of inquiry.’
We sit with this, briefly. A minute’s silence for the career of a bloody good officer.
‘But Serena Bailey, the witness?’ I say, the first to break the quiet.
Steele shuffles right back into Emily’s chair, her feet only just grazing the ground. ‘Look, we’re going to go through this methodically like we would any other case. First proposition – on the balance of probability, Christopher Masters killed Holly. Serena Bailey’s rock-solid ID makes it almost impossible to see how anyone else was responsible, and he admitted or implied it on several occasions. So we do exactly as Blake said – we link him to a gun, or to Cambridgeshire, or to both, preferably. Seth and Emily should be arriving in Newcastle any time now, so let’s see what the ex-wife says. What else?’
‘Masters’ bank records,’ I say. ‘We need a petrol station, a pub, anything that puts him near Caxton around the time Holly disappeared.’
‘You OK to get that rushed through, Benny-boy?’ Steele bats her lashes at Swaines, MIT4’s official blue-eyed dreamboat and unofficial data-whore. He also rarely leaves the office, which makes him an obvious teacher’s pet – Steele’s faithful little pup; lovely to look at and always by her side.
‘Rushed through?’ I’m confused. ‘They’re not on file already?’
‘No.’ Steele shrugs, more bemused than bothered. ‘I’d have probably requested them, but then it’s fine saying that with the benefit of hindsight. Like Lu said, they were spinning a lot of plates and Masters admitted being at the house that day, where an eyewitness placed him, so it wouldn’t have been high priority. I’d say the focus was on getting him charged for the other three – the bodies they did have – before he changed his mind about pleading guilty.’
And somewhere along the way, Holly Kemp falls through the cracks.
Swaines is back at his desk, hand on the phone. ‘Boss, just so you know, I’m running a bit low on “rushed through” favours. HSBC, NatWest, Barclays, they’ve all got backlogs.’
Not surprising. London murders have been off the charts this year and we’re only halfway through. Which means a six-year-old case, where the probable killer is already dead, really won’t get any hearts pumping.
Steele points at me. ‘Kinsella, you try. See if you can sweet-talk them. God knows you need the practice.’ To think, I was almost touched then. ‘So, anyway, moving on to evidence of gun use, or even just an interest in guns. Emily and Seth can check with the ex-wife, but who else was Masters close to? I know the media did the whole “loner” thing, but it’s usually a cliché. He didn’t run a hardware store and pick up handyman work without some sort of social skills.’
‘Jacob Pope didn’t paint him as a loner,’ I say. ‘Said he was always mouthing off, giving his opinion on things.’
‘There’s the lad he employed at his store,’ says Cooke. ‘Poor bastard, eh? Fancy working alongside a monster like that and not realising.’
‘What about his poor ex-wife?’ I say. Because seriously, how do you reconcile the man who made you breakfast, made you laugh, who played ‘This Little Piggy’ on your newborn baby’s toes, with the devil who tortured and murdered three women? Four women, if we’re sticking tight to Steele’s first proposition. ‘Dyer said it was her engagement that might have sparked him off. Imagine that on your conscience.’