Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

‘DS McIntyre.’
    ‘Hello, Sarge. It’s PC Okeke here.’
    ‘Hi, John. What can I do for you?’
    ‘Well, I know the misper’s turned into a murder investigation and your team will be handling things from now on. Just a couple of things. The dad is definitely with his unit in Afghanistan. And after our talk yesterday evening, I got the bus company to release their CCTV footage. I hadn’t finished going through it when I spoke to DCI Fielding this morning, so I thought I might as well complete the job.’
    ‘Good thinking. That’s one less action for our squad. Appreciate it. Any joy?’
    ‘A little bit. I ran it through a few times, to make sure I wasn’t imagining what I wanted to see, you know what I mean?’
    ‘I know exactly what you mean.’ She didn’t want to hurry him but she wished he’d get to the point. ‘So what did you see?’
    ‘I think Ms McAndrew must have parked a row over from the outside of the car park. It looks to me like her car is just out of shot. As the bus drives by, I saw her walking up the space between the rows of cars, then she moves off to the side and out of shot. I’d say she’s walking quite fast. She’s got her head down because it’s raining. Next thing is, a few seconds later, another figure comes up the same way. I’d guess it’s a man, but it’s hard to be sure. He’s wearing a waterproof jacket with the hood up. You can’t see his face at all, except a bit of light glinting off glasses. He was carrying a case. Looked like it was made of aluminium, like photographers have. About the size of a pilot’s case. And he carried it like it was quite heavy. Anyway, he goes the same way as Ms McAndrew, only he speeds up as he gets closer. Almost running. You’d have to say he was following her. And then he disappears out of shot, right where she did. It’s not a lot of video. Only about fifteen seconds.’
    ‘You did well to get that, John. Now, how would you describe this figure? Was he tall, short? Build?’
    ‘Not tall. Medium height, I’d say. Not more than five feet ten. He was slim to medium build. It was difficult to tell. I couldn’t be sure how thick his jacket was. And like I said, he’s got his hood obscuring his face. The only distinctive thing is I think he might have a bit of a limp. It’s hard to be sure. The quality isn’t great and the weather doesn’t help.’
    It was a tiny shred of corroboration, but Paula’s heart leapt at Okeke’s words. ‘That’s very interesting, John. Can you say which leg he’s limping with?’
    He paused for a moment. She could hear him breathing. ‘I’d want to look again, to be certain. But I think the weakness was in his left leg.’
    Bingo. Not that it was exactly a break in the case. But it would help if it came to issuing an appeal for witnesses. Unless the killer was smart enough to fake a limp to throw them off. They already knew he was forensically careful. If he suspected there was any chance of being picked up on camera, he may have deliberately chosen to create a false image. ‘I’m going to need you to make a formal report of this, John. File it with the incident room team, but send a copy directly to me and to DCI Fielding. I don’t want this to get lost in the white noise.’
    ‘Will do. You’ll have it within the hour.’
    Smart lad, she thought, readying herself to brief the forensic team. Once they were here, they could move the body. The way Bev was lying, it was impossible to see either the scar on her ankle or the tattoo on her shoulder. Those identifying marks would enable them to formally identify the body without having to wait for DNA. And then it would be time to break the news to Torin. Paula thought her chances of dodging that bullet were nil.
    She walked across to the roadway and lit a cigarette while she waited for the specialists to suit up. Fielding got out of the car and Paula took the opportunity to bring her up to speed on what Okeke had discovered. ‘There’s no doubt about it,’ Fielding said. ‘We’ve got a single perp and two victims that we know of. Chances are he’s got a record for violent offences, which means as soon as we do get some forensic evidence, he should show up on one of the databases.’
    ‘Let’s hope so.’
    ‘Once we get her turned and we confirm the tattoo and the scar, I want you to talk to the son. You know him, it’ll be better coming from you than a stranger. Presumably you know where he goes to school?’
    Paula nodded.