Oates took hold of the poster and traced his finger along the information on it and his demeanour began to change. Kumar leaned over to look.
‘Look as much as you like, the word “exchange” is not there.’
‘I read it somewhere – it must have been on another poster about her.’
‘No. All the posters, large or small, were the same. One of my staff confirmed it with her parents this morning. Julia was, as you rightly said, an exchange student from Dublin University.’
‘Someone told me but I can’t remember who.’ Oates then sat upright and looked Mike in the eyes.
‘You’ve never seen the poster until now. You knew about her because you met her, didn’t you?’
‘I think you said to me, DCI Lewis, that she was an exchange student.’
‘How could I tell you something I didn’t know, Mr Kumar?’
‘I made it up,’ Oates said and then asked to be taken to his cell. Kumar insisted that he needed to speak with him but Oates just stood up and walked towards the door, hurriedly followed by the solicitor.
‘What a good guess, Mr Oates. I will keep digging and finding more evidence against you and each time I do I will come back and interview you again. Interview terminated 10.45 a.m.’
Mike turned on the ignition as Barolli got into the car beside him.
‘That bastard Kumar schooled him about Fidelis Julia Flynn. I wondered where on earth you were going with the interview but you really fucked him with her being an exchange student.’
‘Not as much as I hoped – it’s circumstantial and doesn’t take us much further,’ Mike pointed out, shifting into gear.
‘Do you think Kumar will prime him to say that he did meet Julia but didn’t kill her?’ asked Paul.
‘Kumar makes me want to puke. He knows Oates is lying but won’t encourage him to give it up. We need to find some direct evidence so we can get him out of prison and back in police custody for a few days. Then we can really put the pressure on him.’
Mike knew it was going to be hard to report the outcome of their interview with Oates to Langton as they were no farther forwards with the Rebekka Jordan case. It was clear to both officers that Oates had met Fidelis Julia Flynn but they both knew that, without a witness, that fact alone, even if Oates admitted it, would never be enough to charge him with her abduction or murder.
Chapter Three
Anna had spent most of Sunday night in bed reading the dense file on Rebekka Jordan, eventually falling asleep at around 3 a.m. A number of items were jumbled and she had carefully taken her own notes, marking down dates, times, interviews and witnesses, and read some of the hundreds of statements covering over twelve months. Langton’s scrawled writing was over many of the pages; some details were underlined or highlighted. There were also lots of photographs of Rebekka, her parents and siblings, and a thick dossier of press cuttings. There were DVD recordings of the CCTV footage and the television reconstruction, plus home videos from Rebekka’s family, which she had yet to watch.
After the prison visit Lewis dropped Paul Barolli off at the station and told him to write up the Henry Oates interview report while he went to the pathology lab to collect the interim post mortem report on Justine Marks and get an update from the forensic department as well. He wondered whether he should phone Langton to tell him about the interview with Oates but decided that rather than keep calling him while he was off sick he would read the post mortem report and speak with the forensic scientist first so he could give as full an update as possible. He knew however that Langton’s main concern would be any developments in the Jordan case.
On arrival at the lab Mike decided to go to the forensic department first to speak to Pete Jenkins, the lead scientist who was overseeing the Justine Marks case. He had examined her high-heeled leather boots, confirming that the direction of the scuffmarks was consistent with her being dragged backwards along the pavement. Justine’s silk skirt, torn blouse, tights and knickers were all stained with her blood, and they had found traces of Oates’s semen on the vaginal swabs. Strands of her hair were on the larger end of the heavy-duty spanner, along with Oates’s palm print on the shaft. The fact that there was no blood on that end of the spanner suggested he had only struck her once with it, but the extent of the man’s depravity was revealed when, sickeningly, the scientist said that on the other end of the spanner they had found vaginal discharge, skin tissue and blood matching Justine’s DNA. As Mike listened to the scientist’s findings his growing contempt for Henry Oates boiled within him as it became even clearer how evil and calculating a liar he was.
After visiting the forensic lab Mike went to the pathology department and collected the interim report on Justine Mark’s post mortem. He had not eaten since breakfast and decided to browse through the report while he grabbed some lunch at the lab canteen and look for any links to Pete Jenkins’ forensic results. As Mike knew, Justine Marks had a severe head wound at the back of her skull and the indentation had a half-moon appearance. The pathologist had now looked at the heavy-duty spanner recovered from the back of Oates’s van, and observed that Justine’s head injury was indeed consistent in shape and size with the larger end of it and he confirmed that the blow would most certainly have rendered her unconscious. She had a perforated right eardrum and there was blood in her nostrils and mouth. Mike, having seen Justine’s body at the mortuary and discussed the external injuries with the pathologist, flicked through the report to the internal examination details. As expected, the pathologist had found injuries consistent with Justine being violently sexually assaulted with one end of the spanner. Also of interest was that dissection of the neck had revealed that the muscle tissue around her throat was bruised and the hyoid bone fractured, indicating she had been strangled, possibly by use of her bra, which was found around her neck. The concluding paragraph gave the cause of death, pending further tests on her brain, as asphyxiation by ligature. Although they had no witnesses to Justine Marks’ abduction and murder, it was clear from the pathology and forensic evidence that Oates had intentionally murdered Justine. Even to a hardened and experienced detective like Mike Lewis it was horrific to contemplate that Fidelis Julia Flynn and the thirteen-year-old Rebekka Jordan could have suffered the same terrifying death as Justine Marks had at the hands of Henry Oates.
Anna woke early, had a quick shower and then, still in her dressing gown, began to sift through the numerous DVDs and videos from Rebekka Jordan’s file. She watched the CCTV footage three times before slotting in the television reconstruction, followed by the numerous interviews to the press by Rebekka’s parents. Lastly, Anna watched a home video of the victim. There were various scenes that had been edited together, which showed the pretty girl from around the age of eight, at birthday parties, or on a trampoline with her blonde hair loose as she jumped up and down laughing, demonstrating her prowess as she performed a variety of tumbles and somersaults. She was magical to watch. There was extensive footage of Rebekka riding in gymkhanas, again proving her athletic ability as she flew over jumps with ease. Then came a poignant clip of the girl having her hair brushed by her mother and showing the loss of her milk teeth, giving a funny gapped smile to the camera. Next she was holding up some small figurines to the camera and calling them by various names. Finally, there she was singing, in an ivory white angel dress for a Nativity play. Then the screen went blank.
Anna was about to press rewind when another image of Rebekka dancing with her mother appeared on the screen. This was obviously where Rebekka got her looks from, as her mother was blonde, attractive and elegant as they waltzed together. It was a very touching moment when the mother twirled her around and the little girl’s dress billowed out, but something else caught Anna’s attention. Pausing the action, she stared at the screen, certain that the doll’s house behind them was the same one she had seen in Langton’s flat. Although Anna had still not read up on all the statements and enquiry results for Rebekka Jordan, she felt, having read Langton’s investigation report, that she knew enough to begin her enquiry. She arrived at the station just after nine and went straight to the incident room on the second floor. Joan Falkland was carrying a coffee and buttered teacake to her desk as Anna took off her coat.