Good to know.
She sent a silent thank you to the cranky pathologist who only ever took the side of the victim. Without that call last night, she would now be on her way to let Steven Harte go.
She took the piece of paper from the printer. ‘Bryant, you ready to…?’
‘Take someone else, guv,’ he said, without taking his eyes from the keyboard. ‘There’s something here I want to check out.’
‘Okay,’ she said, nodding towards Stacey, ‘Come on, hero of the hour – you’re with me.’
Forty-Nine
Kim and Stacey headed down to the interview suite in silence. Never far from Kim’s mind was the image of Grace Lennard. They were approaching forty-eight hours and Kim had to wonder about the girl’s access to food, water and fresh air. She ignored the voice that said there was a chance these needs were no longer a problem for the little girl.
She pushed the thoughts away as she entered interview room one.
Harte and his lawyer appeared to be sitting in silence.
Stacey closed the door behind them.
Kim took a seat, switched on the tape and introduced herself.
‘And with me is Detective Constable Stacey Wood.’
She paused.
‘Mr Harte, we have received notification that the remains found at Hawne Park do not belong to Melody Jones. On that note, you are no longer being held in connection with the abduction and murder of Melody Jones.’
A faint look of triumph passed over the face of Kate Swift, but Harte’s expression showed no surprise.
‘We have identified the body as six-year-old Lexi Walters, who was abducted from Leasowes Park on the seventeenth of August 1998. I am therefore now arresting you for the kidnap and murder of Lexi Walters. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
She paused and took a second of pleasure in the surprise that he quickly tried to hide.
There was no doubt that he’d expected them to find the body, but she suspected he hadn’t thought they would identify her so soon.
Both of them waited for her to say more.
She pushed back her chair. ‘I’m sure that gives you two more to talk about, so we’ll give you some time.’
Now she had to go and inform Lexi’s parents that they could finally bring their little girl home.
Fifty
Kim left Woody’s office and headed back to the squad room. She had taken the opportunity to update her boss after her conversation with Harte and his lawyer.
‘And Keats just happened to ring you to tell you that there was a delay in sending you the email confirming that the remains didn’t belong to Melody Jones?’ Woody had asked.
‘Absolutely.’
‘But he didn’t tell you what the report said?’
‘Absolutely not.’
‘So when did you start looking for alternative victims?’
‘First thing this morning, sir. Just a gut thing but I can assure you that no rules were broken, and Steven Harte and his lawyer were informed of the findings within minutes of the email coming through.’
‘By which time you happened to have correctly identified the remains?’
‘Yes, sir.’
He raised an eyebrow.
‘Police work happens in mysterious ways, sir.’
Assured that nothing improper had occurred, Woody had commenced writing a report on the timeline of events which would be entered into evidence and would cover her back and other parts of her anatomy.
‘Good work, guys,’ Kim said, walking back into the room.
A pensive silence met her arrival.
‘Who died?’ she asked, looking around.
‘No one, but Bryant has found something you’re not going to like.’
How had Bryant uncovered anything? He’d been given the job of background checking the builder.
‘It’s Jenson Butler, guv,’ he said, turning to his computer. ‘The man was questioned back in ’96 in connection with the disappearance of Melody Jones.’
Every positive feeling deserted her.
Was there really a chance they had just arrested the wrong man?
Fifty-One
‘You don’t think we should have gone to see Gum first?’ Bryant said as they headed towards Mucklow Hill.
The knowledge that Inspector Wrigley had spoken to the building company owner twenty-five years ago was still spinning around her head. She wanted to speak to both men as a matter of urgency, but one other visit came first.
‘Nope, I think this family has waited long enough, don’t you?’
‘Fair point,’ he said.
‘So, you wanna do a bit more data mining instead of being out…?’
‘Hell, no,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I can barely find my way around a squirty keyboard with two fingers…’
‘Qwerty,’ she corrected.
‘See, what the hell kind of word is that?’
‘Oh, Bryant, shut up and drive.’
‘Well, it’s not like we had far to go,’ he said, taking the first right after the B&Q Island.
The houses were a mixture of detached and semi-detached properties that were built in the mid-nineties. The new red brick used on every property showed some signs of weathering, but the buildings still looked like members of the same family.
Bryant parked in front of one of the detached properties with an immaculate garden.
As they stepped onto the path, an attractive woman in her mid-fifties stepped out of the box porch, holding a cup of coffee. She was clearly headed for a bench in the corner that was bathed in the morning sun.
‘Mrs Walters?’ Kim asked.
The woman nodded and waited.
Kim introduced them both as they showed their IDs.
She chose her next words carefully. She didn’t want this woman to feel any false hope for even a minute, and any sentence that began with ‘we’ve found Lexi’ could give the wrong impression.
‘Mrs Walters, would you like to take a seat?’
She shook her head and waited.
‘Mrs Walters, the remains of a young girl have been found at Hawne Park.’
‘Is it Lexi?’ she whispered.
Kim nodded. ‘Confirmed by dental records.’
The mug slipped from her grip and smashed on the ground.
Not one of them looked at it.
‘Let’s go inside,’ Kim advised, touching the woman on the elbow.
She turned as though in a dream, and the two of them followed.
Kim was surprised when they walked directly into the kitchen on the front of the house.
‘It’s why we bought it,’ Mrs Walters said, filling the kettle.
‘No, thank you,’ they both answered.
‘Please, have tea,’ she said, with her back turned.
‘Okay, thank you,’ Kim said, understanding that she needed a minute to allow the news to sink in. One of the hardest things to deal with was the hope. It had kept her company for twenty-three years and now she had to let it go.
‘You’re sure it’s Lexi?’ she asked.