‘Well that’s something solid to work on, so what’s the problem?’
‘Would you stop interrupting and listen? That case isn’t my main concern, this one is.’
He flipped open the file and passed a photograph to Anna.
‘That is Rebekka Jordan, aged thirteen, went missing five years ago, and this prick Oates claimed that he also killed her.’
Anna looked at the photograph and in the back of her mind she did vaguely recall the case. Rebekka was exceptionally pretty, with straight blonde hair worn past her shoulders, and she was wearing a white shift dress. Langton took out more photographs, of Rebekka laughing with a pet poodle, standing by a pony, on a horse wearing jodhpurs and a velvet riding helmet and holding a large cup and a rosette. The more photographs Langton passed her, the more Anna began to remember the case, in particular that it still remained unsolved and had been headed up by Langton. Rather than interrupt she decided to act as if she was unaware and let him continue.
‘Rebekka was last seen at four-thirty on March 15th 2007. She walked out of the riding stables in Shepherd’s Bush and headed for the Tube station; her parents lived in Hammersmith. It was only two stops, but no one saw her on the Tube; no one had seen her since that last moment she left the stables, which was caught on CCTV footage. She never returned home.’
He opened the file and removed a stack of photocopied papers.
‘I led the investigation. These are just a few samples of the thousands of statements. It was beyond belief that she seemed to have simply disappeared off the face of the earth, and after a year, one of the most frustrating years of my life, I had no suspect, nothing. Eventually I had no option but to cold-case the enquiry and keep an open-ended investigation. Since then, nothing has surfaced, not even a tip-off, no gossip, no prisoner coughing up to a cellmate… that was, until this guy Henry Oates was picked up.’
Anna watched as he opened a pillbox and took out two tablets, which he swallowed with water before he continued.
‘Henry Oates claimed that Rebekka Jordan was his first victim and Julia the second. He got the time frame right for Rebekka, and if Julia is in fact Fidelis Flynn then he was right there as well.’
‘You said that in interview he told Mike Lewis he had made it all up for a laugh.’
Langton leaned back, closing his eyes. ‘I think the son of a bitch said that because Kumar told him to and he also advised him to say that he knew about Rebekka Jordan because of the press coverage.’
Anna was slightly thrown by Langton’s comment. ‘So are you saying Kumar is aiding and abetting Oates by telling him to lie to the police?’
He opened his eyes and leaned forwards. ‘Not directly, no. Kumar’s not that stupid, but Oates is a bit dense and obviously open to suggestion. Second interview he said that not only had we fitted him up with the Justine Marks murder but we would fit him up with Rebekka Jordan’s as well. Now that stinks of suggestion by Kumar!’
‘Yes I agree, but if that is the case then it also suggests that Kumar thinks Oates may be telling the truth or he simply doesn’t want his client to drop himself further in the shit for crimes he may not have committed.’
‘Whose side are you on?’
‘Yours of course, but without further reliable evidence you know his admission is worthless.’
Langton sifted through a thick dossier and took out a single page. ‘We had used every angle possible: TV reenactments of her last sighting, girl dressed in the identical clothes, et cetera. But we did retain one piece of information – it’s small and it could be inconsequential, but we had thousands of sickos calling up claiming they’d seen her, knew where she was. I don’t have to tell you, you know what it’s like, but you also know they all had to be checked out, so we never revealed the fact that Rebekka was wearing a pink Alice band on the day she disappeared. In the photographs you can see she had that long fine silky hair, but her mother always said Rebekka hated it over her face and she knew that on the day she last saw her, Rebekka wore the Alice band to the stables and would have taken it off to wear her riding hat, then replaced it to go home.’
Langton went on to say that Rebekka’s riding hat was never recovered. She would have been carrying it home with her that day, a fact that was revealed to the public in the hope that it might have been found and so given some indication of where she might have been abducted or dumped. It was obvious his recall of the case was very clear, but what he had not made clear to Anna was why he had wanted to see her. He was very emotional, perhaps due to the fact that his stepdaughter Kitty was around the same age. Anna knew that with Oates as a new suspect the Jordan case should be investigated by the murder squad. She wondered if Langton had just wanted a sympathetic ear, so she remained silent.
‘The name Henry Oates never came up in my investigation. If it wasn’t for my bloody knee and being off sick I’d be having a real session with him right now. Christ, I don’t even know what he looks like.’
‘How old is he?’
‘Late thirties, lives in a shithole property in Hackney that’s due for demolition. Unemployed, mostly living on benefits, but has done some part-time labouring work.’
‘Any history of mental illness?’
‘Don’t know. Police doctor who examined him said he was fit to be interviewed.’
He searched through a file and brought out a loose sheet.
‘This is the Jordans’ address. I’ve kept in touch, but not for the past six months. To be honest I found it harder every time I saw them, that look of expectant hope on their faces cut like a knife. Even after five years it never diminished. I used to feel I had failed them. It’s obvious that I have, in retrospect, but for them to get some kind of closure would give me peace of mind.’
‘And for the parents?’
‘The guilt that on this one occasion they let their daughter travel home by herself and she disappeared out of their lives, the “if only” syndrome, has never left them. The mother feels it the most, but if you could find the evidence to convict Oates and maybe even recover Rebekka’s body that would give them some peace.’
Anna pointed out to Langton that at present, with a new suspect, it was not a review case. Langton firmly reminded her that her remit as DCI on Specialist Casework was to identify and advise on new lines of enquiry in unsolved murders. He then informed Anna that he had already got the Commander’s approval for her to take on the revived investigation into Rebekka Jordan’s disappearance. Langton started to gather up the files. She helped pick up the scattered photographs and papers from the floor beside his bed, handing them to him to stack and replace into the many dog-eared, well-thumbed folders.
‘I’m depending on you, Anna, to see if this Henry Oates is a nutcase or the lead I’ve been waiting for.’
She sighed and shook her head. ‘Don’t put me in a position that will make Mike feel like I’m undermining him – it’s not fair on him or me. This is now his investigation and I don’t think bringing me on board is ethical, or not at this stage anyway.’
‘Bullshit. You don’t run Specialist Casework just because you’re experienced in murder investigation. It’s your attention to detail, lateral thinking and ability to spot new lines of enquiry that got you the post.’
‘Thanks for the compliment but all the same I’d rather-’
‘I don’t want allegations from Kumar that Mike has been subjective and tried to make the crime fit where the Rebekka Jordan investigation is concerned. I need you to carry out an independent review and concentrate on whether or not you can discover any new evidence connecting Oates to Rebekka Jordan’s disappearance and murder.’