‘I heard. She wants undercover cops flashing gold watches acting as bait. I’ve been selected along with—’
She pulled at his arm. ‘It’s not that. I just saw Morrison and another detective in a meeting with DCI Clarke. You always know when something is up because he closes his blinds. He didn’t see me, but I just thought—’
‘No, Laura, you thought nothing.’ Jack moved up in the queue, hoping Laura would take the hint, which she did.
Jack got his lasagne and sticky toffee pudding and was eating at the same table as Nala and Kwame, discussing the array of weapons coming into the station, when Armani walked in, pausing in the doorway before heading towards his table.
‘DS Warr, you are wanted in the DCI’s office. Sorry to disturb your meal.’ Jack took a last mouthful of his lasagne before getting up and sliding his sticky toffee pudding across to the probationers to fight over. Passing Laura at her desk, she gave him a covert glance, but he ignored it and continued to DCI Clarke’s office. He knocked and waited a moment before he was ushered in.
Mark Morrison was sitting in front of Clarke’s desk, with Collingwood standing to one side. On the desk was a bulging file containing photographs and statements. Clarke made the introductions.
‘I don’t know if you are aware,’ he said, ‘but DCI Morrison has been leading the investigation into the now murder of an unidentified man discovered at a framer’s shop in Portobello Road.’ He hesitated, looking uncomfortable. ‘Jack, new evidence has emerged in the form of some CCTV footage.’
Morrison interjected. ‘You have some explaining to do, Detective Warr.’
Jack shrugged. ‘I’m happy help in any way I can...’
‘We have been reviewing CCTV footage from a camera opposite the framer’s shop,’ Morrison continued. ‘Can you explain why, on three different occasions, you were caught on camera entering the shop?’
Morrison spread out some printouts of the CCTV images and indicated Jack’s presence with his pencil. Jack leaned forward, looking intently at each picture with a date and time printed at the bottom.
‘Is that where the victim was discovered?’ he asked casually.
‘You know the answer to that,’ Morrison snapped. ‘As you can see from this photograph, you’re standing behind the crime scene tape.’
Jack hesitated a moment before asking if he could borrow Morrison’s pencil. He handed it to him with a frown.
‘The first time I was near the frame shop, I was with my wife Maggie and we were shopping for furniture for our loft extension. She can confirm that. There was a stall directly outside the framer’s, and I was looking at a Victorian doll for my daughter. Again, my wife will be able to confirm this.’
Morrison nodded. ‘We’ve talked to the stall owner.’
Jack then pointed to the second photograph. ‘I did go into the shop then because I was looking for an old-style frame. My son’s being christened soon and I wanted to frame a picture of him for my mum. She already has one of me at his age in an old frame and I wanted a matching one of Charlie. I spoke to a man who said he ran the shop; I didn’t get his name. But as I didn’t have the measurements, he suggested I come back when I had them, then he ushered me out. He was very abrasive, almost threatening.’
‘Yeah, Norman O’Reilly. We brought him in and he identified you,’ Morrison confirmed.
Jack leaned closer to the CCTV stills. He tapped the third one. ‘That’s when I came back with the measurements. I found a suitable gilt frame, and the same man asked ten pounds for it. I said it was not worth more than a fiver, and he snatched the frame from me. I obviously didn’t want a full-blown confrontation, so I left.’
‘Did you see a life-size cross in the shop?’ Morrison asked bluntly.
‘Yes. It looked like maybe two RSJs bolted together. I asked if it was a theatrical prop from Jesus Christ Superstar.’
‘And you didn’t think it was significant?’
‘It wasn’t mentioned in the news coverage and I’m not familiar with the case so...’
Morrison pursed his lips. ‘So, talk me through the last photograph, Detective Warr. There you are, clearly standing with other spectators behind the police tape, watching the police and SOCO going in and out of the shop.’
‘I had no idea what had happened. I was with my builder Marius that Saturday morning. We bought a carpet, more than likely from the same shop that you have the CCTV footage from. Marius and I were carrying the carpet back to his van — I expect that’ll be on CCTV too — when he called my attention to the police cordon and the patrol cars. I assumed whatever had happened was connected to the man who ran the place. I can give you Marius’s contact details.’
Jack could feel the sweat dripping from his armpits, but he remained calm and helpful as the tension in the room built. By now, Morrison was furiously gathering the photographs and shoving them into the file before snatching back his pencil.
He spat out his next words. ‘You expect us to believe that your presence at the murder site, on several occasions, was just a coincidence?’ Morrison glanced at Collingwood before continuing. ‘I also have information that you were present at St Thomas’s ICU unit, in the victim observation room with some of my officers, which was against my orders as we had not yet identified the victim.’
Jack glanced at Collingwood, who gave a tiny, almost apologetic shrug of his shoulders.
Morrison continued. ‘Detective Warr, you gained access to the ICU where the victim was being cared for and asked numerous questions regarding his identity.’
Again, Jack glanced at Collingwood and, this time, Morrison slapped the desk with his hand. ‘Don’t look at him! Look at me! There is hospital CCTV supporting everything I’ve just said. Collingwood had no option but to identify you.’
Jack took a moment to think. Morrison smirked, sure he had Jack in a corner. ‘DI Armani can confirm my reason for being at the ICU,’ Jack started. Morrison’s smirk vanished as he sensed Jack was about to slip out of this too. ‘I was checking on Maria Barras in connection with a domestic. Mrs Barras was undergoing an emergency operation, so I could not take a statement from her. I waited in the private visitors’ section for a considerable length of time before looking for the toilet. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the ICU building, but the layout is very confusing. After using the toilet, I mistakenly went down the wrong corridor on the way back to the visitors’ section.’
Jack raised a hand apologetically towards Collingwood before continuing.
‘I don’t want to get anyone into trouble but, in the corridor, I bumped into an officer named Ralph Jordan, with whom I had been on a training course a few years back. He asked if I wanted a coffee and invited me into the ICU victim viewing room. I accepted. I was told why your team were there. Up until that point, I had no knowledge of the victim’s location or the nature of his injuries. After finishing my coffee, I was asked to leave. I returned to the waiting room, where I waited another hour and a half before I was informed that Mrs Barras’s surgery was complete, but that I still could not speak to her.’
Morrison took out another file and removed a stack of photographs. As he laid them on the desk, Jack held his breath as he tried to guess what Morrison was going to throw at him next. Many of these new CCTV images were blurred, but he could see they were customers entering and leaving the framer’s shop. Inside, Jack started to panic.
‘We have a number of photographs of this man.’ Morrison tapped away at the images with his pencil. ‘He is seen entering the framer’s shop, then carrying out a number of frames.’
The first image showed Adam Border with his baseball hat pulled down low over his face, which was turned away as though he knew where the shop cameras were located. The second had him with the same baseball cap, sunglasses and again carrying two frames. Jack took his time, looking at the two photographs, then sat back.