But there was also the possibility that he abducted and killed little girls.
‘Okay, Stace, let’s not go pinning a hero badge on him quite yet. He alluded to the fact there may be others like Melody Jones. Start looking into it,’ she said as an alarm sounded on her phone.
Woody had texted her with an instruction to brief him at 7.30 a.m. Without Bryant’s fussing to get there on time, she’d set a reminder. Good job because she’d forgotten all about it, and what she really needed was time to prepare her strategy for 9 a.m. when Steven Harte would return, followed closely by Bryant.
‘Okay, guys, get to it,’ she said, heading out of the office.
As she made her way upstairs, she was betting that the two of them were discussing Steven Harte and the likelihood of him being involved in the crimes. And maybe they were right but, if so, why had he walked into the station in the first place?
It wasn’t even eight o’clock and her head was hurting already.
Kim knocked her boss’s door and entered.
‘Sir, you wanted— Oh, am I early?’
A man who appeared to be in his late sixties sat at Woody’s briefing table, holding a zip-up document folder. Two large bags lay at his feet.
‘No, Stone, for once you’re bang on time.’ He turned his chair towards the man. ‘I’d like you to meet Derek Foggarty. I thought that given the need to interview this witness effectively, you might benefit from some expert help.’
‘Sir, I was thinking the same thing. Is there any way we can get Alison—’
‘Derek here is an ex-MI5 trainer,’ Woody said, ignoring her. ‘He is an expert in the field of interview techniques, and I think he could give you some valuable pointers.’
Kim felt her mouth begin to open before she closed it again. Her last performance appraisal had highlighted her disrespect for visiting experts. She hadn’t denied it but most of them were complete dicks. She liked to choose which dicks got to come in and advise her team, but maybe Woody had pulled a blinder. The mention of MI5 was a showstopper, and any help she could get in extracting the information from Harte was welcome. For the sake of Woody and her next performance appraisal, she would give Derek Foggarty the benefit of the doubt.
He stood and offered his hand. Kim ignored it as she leaned down and took one of his bags.
‘Jesus, what you got in here, a couple of interviewees?’
His face showed no humour as he reached for the other bag.
Woody closed the door behind them. Great, all she needed was a visiting dick with no sense of humour.
She was still going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
‘You want to see the interview tapes so far?’ she asked as they headed down the stairs.
‘Not necessary. The techniques I teach are universal.’
Mistake, her mind screamed, wondering how long the benefit of her doubt was going to last.
Seventeen
‘You’re early. Did he give you the slip?’ Kim asked Bryant, who was sitting at his desk.
Steven Harte had said he’d return at 9 a.m., and it wasn’t yet eight.
‘Nah, he’s downstairs. He left early, went to the gym, offered me croissants, which I refused,’ he said, pointedly, to Penn, who shrugged. ‘And then he came here.’ Bryant leaned to the side and looked around her. ‘Want to introduce your new friend?’
‘Guys, please meet Derek Foggarty. Ex-MI5 and here to tell us how to question our witness.’
Kim wheeled a chair to the top of the office, close to the coffee machine. On Stacey’s screen, Kim could see she’d already made a start on searching for any previous incidents of missing girls.
Foggarty stood in front of the door commanding their full attention. ‘Okay, the presentation is broken down into four sections. Should only take about six hours. It’s a slimmed-down version of the whole model.’
Kim said nothing as Derek closed the door so that his computer could project the slides onto the wall. She already knew this was not going to take six hours. They didn’t have that kind of time.
Kim knew that from his seat Penn could see Steven Harte on the monitor and that was where his attention would stay.
‘Let’s start with the first golden rule,’ Derek Foggarty said. ‘The investigator should be unbiased and open-minded and definitely non-confrontational.’
Bryant turned and wagged a finger in her direction.
She crossed her arms and sat back in her seat.
‘There are three main categories to the interrogation process: indirect questioning, direct questioning and a mixture of both. To clarify indirect—’
‘We understand the difference. Please move on.’
In her mind, she’d allowed Derek Foggarty an hour to teach them something new that they could use.
‘The desk between you should be free of clutter and you should establish rapport as soon as possible. Use flattery if necessary, and deceptive tactics are acceptable as long as not outrageous or unlawful.’
‘You’re stuffed, guv,’ Bryant said behind a cough.
‘Change words. Use take instead of steal. Use empathy. Ask various questions in different sequences at different markers. Listen for inconsistencies. Someone who is lying continues lying to cover previous lies. The investigator should always remain cool and good gestures go a long way like buying lunch. One good turn etc.’
Kim considered the thought of presenting Steven Harte with ‘tell me where Grace Lennard is and I’ll buy you a meal deal’ strategy. She wasn’t sure that was gonna fly.
‘The investigator must possess ideational fluency.’
‘Who?’ Penn asked.
‘The ability to shift one’s thinking instantaneously as the situation warrants. Keep the subject in short-term thinking mode; the relief of coming clean. Avoid long-term thinking, like going to prison. Don’t be adversarial. Interview is a dialogue; interrogation is a monologue.’
Foggarty paused to drive that point home. Oh, how she loved a sound bite, she thought as she watched the minutes ticking away on Stacey’s computer screen.
‘Without realising it, deceptive people convey a message in the words they choose to articulate the lie. Interrogation is more about elicitation. It’s a process that is designed to influence or persuade an individual to reveal information that he has reason to want to conceal. I’d like to offer some statements that transition to interrogation mode.
‘You seem to be thinking about something. Something is clearly on your mind. There is—’
‘Next,’ Kim said. She got the picture. Foggarty moved forward through his presentation by a good five slides. Time saved.
‘It’s been said that a guilty person just wants to be understood. It allows him to feel he’s been forgiven. This is what monologue is intended to accomplish, and when doing so you should slow your rate of speech, lower your voice and offer the illusion of sincerity.’
Kim could see that the rest of her team were multitasking. Bryant was managing to tidy his desk. Penn was keeping an eagle eye on Steven Harte, and Stacey was interrogating Google while still appearing to listen. Yes, it was her team, all right.
‘Tailor your monologue to elicit a confession. Rationalise the action you think they’re guilty of. Project the blame onto someone else, minimise the seriousness, reward for honesty. There are three primary forms of resistance to the monologue: convincing statements, emotions and denials. To counteract, use the person’s first name, articulate a control phrase, hold up your hand.’