Barolli could hardly break into a smile, but he gave a small nod and clapped his hands as if applauding Oates’s effort.
‘Okay, we are going to take you back now and I reckon it’ll be fresh doughnuts and a nice cuppa.’
Oates thanked Barolli, and then he glanced at Kumar.
‘You enjoy yourself, did you?’
Kumar stood up as Oates waited for the interview-room door to open.
‘Mr Oates, you also agreed to further assist the police by directing them to where you buried the victims.’
Oates frowned, then pursed his lips.
‘I never agreed to do that. Isn’t it enough what I’ve been doing here all bloody day?’ He was back to his snarling unpleasant self.
Barolli could have slapped Kumar. This was not the time to discuss the search and he knew that Oates, like himself, had been working all day. He glanced at the two uniformed officers waiting by the open door, then pulled himself together to save the situation.
‘Well I don’t know if that would be on the cards.’
Barolli wasn’t sure if he was saying the right thing. He had been instructed to keep Oates sweet, but now the prisoner looked surly and angry.
‘What do you mean not on the fucking cards?’ Oates snapped.
‘Well we’ve got everything agreed – helicopters and search team, cameras… it’ll be a massive expense and has to be done.’ Barolli was sweating, knowing full well he was on his own as the tape and monitor screens had been turned off.
‘Helicopters?’ Oates asked suspiciously.
‘Right, this is a big operation, Mr Oates, you are big news, and the coverage, let alone the security, will be massive. But if you are against it then they can maybe do it without you.’
Oates interrupted him, raising his hands, and Barolli stepped back, fearing the former boxer was about to lash out at him.
‘I never said I wouldn’t do it, I’m well and truly up for it, and besides, no one else knows but me where the bodies are buried. You tell them they can’t go without me.’ He gestured to Kumar. ‘I want to be on that search. I got a right to be on it, so you make sure it goes ahead, you hearing me?’ He smiled at Barolli. ‘I was only joking just now. Honest, I’m looking forward to the day out.’
‘Good. Well you’ll be informed as soon as we get the green light.’
As Oates was led out of the room Barolli gave a sigh of relief. Kumar clicked opened his briefcase.
‘I will want to be present, officer, so I sincerely hope that I will be privy to when this search is set to happen.’
‘I am sure you will be contacted, Mr Kumar.’
Kumar picked up his cashmere coat and folded it over his arm.
‘You must be creaming yourself.’ Barolli couldn’t stop himself.
‘I beg your pardon!’
‘Well, let’s face it, this is a whopper of a case for you, media’s already all over it like a rash.’
Kumar gave a tight-lipped nod, and asked to be taken to reception. Barolli said he would escort him personally.
‘The monitor and tapes were off and I got to tell you, I was sweating, but I played up how much it was gonna cost, helicopters and all the security we’d need.’ Barolli was lapping up the team’s praise as he repeated the altercation between Oates, Kumar and himself.
‘All right, all right,’ Mike said brusquely, and then with everyone present apart from Langton, he gave them the details. The fact that Anna had coordinated everything was not mentioned. Mike turned to a large new board marked out with maps and aerial photographs of the quarry and all the equipment the search would need.
‘This is a huge operation and we can’t afford any mistakes or screw-ups. We set up the search areas, Oates will be transported in a blacked-out armoured police wagon with armed guards following behind, and to ensure we get as much daylight as possible we leave here at five in the morning. Oates will leave in the wagon at six with motorcycle outriders to stop the traffic so he should be at the quarry by seven.
‘We’ve got to keep this under wraps. We absolutely do not want any media interference so we’re calling this “Operation Pits”- okay, I know that’s not terribly inventive. Now most of you have been working flat out for almost twenty-four hours, so off you go and we’ll see you first thing in the morning.’
As everyone prepared to pack up and leave for the night, Barolli grabbed Mike for a whispered conversation in which he hinted that the leak could have come from Kumar and suggested they leave it until the last moment to inform him when the search was happening.
Anna was one of the last to leave the incident room. Pinned up on the board were the photographs of the victims: Rebekka Jordan, Kelly Mathews, Mary Suffolk, Alicia Jones and Angela Thornton, and as always the faces of the dead seemed to radiate a chilling energy. Beside them the photographs of Justine Marks and Fidelis Julia Flynn were somehow no longer as haunting, maybe because the discovery of their bodies had in some ways brought them a tragic peace.
‘Goodnight,’ Anna said as the night duty officers set to work and the main lights were lowered. In the centre of the board were the enlarged mug shots of Henry Oates, with his wide pale eyes, his flattened nose and thick lips, his face dominated by an evil energy of its own. Only a few more days and if everything went according to plan they would be able to take his photograph down and rip it to shreds.
Chapter Seventeen
In the darkness of the early morning, the preparations were well under way. The forecast was gloomy and heavy rain was expected, so teams of officers were being kitted out in protective overalls and boots. The catering wagon ‘Teapot One’ had already opened up. It was very cold and the caterers would be kept busy all day with so many people to serve. On one side of the quarry there was a vast area of flattened ground, which became the operation’s main base as the vehicles could park up with ease.
Fifty metres from their base was the cavernous quarry pit with many ridges and smaller pits, and a crumbling cliff edge. Officers began to cordon off the area with crime scene tape. Anyone entering the location would have to show identification. The two sniffer dogs and their handlers remained in their van, and the barking of the animals echoed across the vast quarry.
Mike had commandeered a large tent, inside which there were tables and chairs, and a board propped up on two easels with photographs and maps of the area divided into squares. Four of the search teams were already exploring the easiest route down to the deep pit. Abseiling equipment, rope ladders and steel extendable ones were being unloaded. A coach with more officers drew up and twenty men and women alighted to await instructions. The marine support unit van was also on site with two large inflatable dinghies and dredging equipment to search the large water-filled areas at the lower end of the quarry. The divers were busy putting on their wetsuits and testing the breathing apparatus. Mike gave them the go-ahead to start searching the pond area as soon as they were ready.
Anna arrived in her Mini and parked beside the coach. Remembering the state of her shoes after her last visit, she was wearing wellington boots and a thick fleece jacket with a hood. She joined Mike and Barolli for a coffee at the catering wagon just as Mike received a call on his mobile to say that Oates had left the station and was on his way with a large escort. They made their way over to the big tent and Mike pointed to the map of the wood.
‘We get him here and then, as he says he came up to the quarry from the wooded side, we start from there, let him guide us to where he says he tipped the bodies over. He claims he also went down into the main pit. How the hell he got down there and back up he’ll have to show us, but it’s bloody steep.’
Anna looked around.
‘I suppose if he’d parked near here someone might have seen him, so coming in via the woods would have been better cover for what he was up to.’