‘Come in,’ Janine said. ‘We’ve had a break, he probably wanted to tell you – Ken Stafford’s statement puts one of the builders at the scene early Saturday morning.’
‘Who?’ Millie said, alert.
‘Can’t eliminate either of them yet,’ Janine said.
‘Anything else?’ Millie said.
Was she expecting an apology? Janine felt discomfited but decided that keeping it all professional was the best way forwards. ‘You could issue a statement: new information has given us some positive leads. I’m very hopeful.’
‘That true?’ Millie said.
Was it? Hardly. Janine didn’t dare to be very hopeful any more. Hope was a scarce commodity. ‘No. It feels like I’m smacking my head against a brick wall, actually, but that doesn’t scan so well.’
‘I could dig around a bit, do an archive search?’
Janine accepted the offer. It felt like an olive branch of sorts. ‘Thanks, that’d be great.’
Janine watched her go. She was so pretty, young too, Janine guessed a good ten years younger than Richard and her. And obviously good at her job. And am I not, Janine asked herself. Where had all her confidence gone? All that energy and conviction?
Chapter 23
McEvoy sat beside a duty solicitor and Janine was sure he was still enjoying the attention. He made a show of watching keenly as she loaded the tape and did the preamble to the interview.
‘I’d like to talk to you about your whereabouts on the nineteenth of April, the Saturday,’ Janine said. ‘In your statement you said you arrived for work at approximately nine am.’
‘That’s right,’ McEvoy said.
‘We have a witness who heard work start at Kendal Avenue much earlier,’ Janine told him and watched his face change, the expression of avid interest changing to one of consternation.
‘It can’t have been me. I didn’t get there till nine,’ McEvoy insisted.
‘Were you the first?’ Janine said.
‘Yes,’ said McEvoy
‘When did Joe Breeley show?’ Richard asked.
‘Just after. You think he might have something to do with it?’ McEvoy leant forward, mouth forming a salacious smile.
‘You’re the one in the interview room,’ Richard pointed out.
‘That’s bollocks,’ McEvoy reared back. ‘I went round to sort out the flood on Monday, I was the one reported it. Why would I do that?’ He looked askance.
‘You tell me,’ Richard said.
McEvoy said nothing and for the first time Janine felt he was taking on board the seriousness of the situation.
‘You’re a true crime fan, am I right?’ Richard said.
McEvoy nodded.
‘You’ll know then, that there are some people who attract particular attention in a murder inquiry,’ Richard continued.
McEvoy couldn’t resist showing off. He nodded eagerly, ‘Family and close friends.’
‘Also the last person to see the victim alive, the one who finds the body, anybody showing an excessive interest in the case and a person who returns to the scene of the crime,’ Richard said.
‘That’s three out of four,’ Janine said unsmiling.
‘No way,’ McEvoy shouted. ‘You’ve got it arse over tits. I was working there and I called in the flood. That’s just circumstantial that is.’
‘You’ve been trying to sell your story to the papers. What exactly is your story?’ Janine said.
‘It’s human interest, it’s in the public domain,’ he said. Then he became defensive. ‘I’m entitled-’
‘What vehicle do you use for work?’ Richard said.
‘An old transit,’ McEvoy said.
‘Diesel?’
‘Yeah, why?’
‘Handy that – if you wanted to move something, hide something,’ Richard said
‘I’m not hiding anything,’ McEvoy said hotly.
‘As you know we have a team searching your house. Are we going to find anything there?’ Richard said.
‘No, nothing, nothing at all.’ He wasn’t smiling anymore.
‘Do you know who the child is?’ Janine asked.
‘No! Look, you’ve got it all wrong,’ he said, ‘the papers, and that, I was just trying to help. That’s all.’
He stuck unwaveringly to his account of arriving at work on that day at nine and no earlier. As the interview went on he pleaded with them to believe him. ‘Honest, on my mother’s grave,’ he said more than once.
They let him go with a warning that they might well want to speak to him again.
‘What do you think?’ she said to Richard.
He shrugged, shook his head. ‘Don’t know.’
No, she thought, neither do I.
The Breeleys were both home when Janine and Richard called on them.
‘Hello Joe, Mandy. Can we come in?’ Janine said.
A friendly smile from Joe Breeley but Janine saw his throat ripple as he swallowed. Who really wants the police in the house – unless you’re a victim needing assistance?
‘We wanted to talk to you again about Saturday the nineteenth of April. You got to Kendal Avenue just after nine, how long after?’
‘Maybe quarter past,’ he said.
‘And Donny McEvoy was already there?’ said Janine.
‘That’s right,’ he said.
‘And how did Mr McEvoy seem?’
‘Same as usual,’ Joe Breeley said, ‘why?’ He looked concerned.
You were here at home till then?’ Janine asked.
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘You can confirm that?’ she turned to Mandy.
‘Yes, he was.’ She tried to smile but it was a weak attempt.
‘Are you certain about that?’ Janine said.
‘Yes,’ Mandy replied, ‘it was me had to tell him to get up, he went back to sleep after the alarm.’
‘And you didn’t go to work on the Monday,’ Richard said, ‘why was that?’
‘The rain-’ he began but Mandy cut him off.
‘It’s OK, Joe, we just tell them the truth.’
Janine felt a tightening in her chest. Joe Breeley had been hiding something.
‘It was me,’ Mandy said, ‘I was struggling with the kids, not coping and then the car had broken down and…’ Her mouth trembled as she spoke. ‘I asked him to stay off, help me,’ she sounded close to tears.
Janine could remember those early days, broken nights, the never-ending demands of small children, how hard it was to keep on top of even the basics – feeding, changing, cleaning, shopping. The exhaustion.
‘I didn’t want to tell Donny,’ Joe Breeley looked embarrassed, ‘said my back had gone.’
Janine could well imagine the ribbing the single man would have given Breeley had he known the facts: she got you under her thumb? Not letting you out?
‘Sorry,’ Breeley added.
‘ OK,’ Janine said. She glanced at the clock it was time to go, get herself to Withington Park for the reconstruction.
‘The manhole cover over the sewer, how easy would it be for someone to remove it?’ she said.
‘Easy enough, just jemmy it up,’ Joe Breeley said.
‘Had you or Mr McEvoy any reason to open the cover in the course of the work you were doing?’
‘No, that’d be a plumber’s job. We’re making good the fabric of the place, roof, walls, getting ready for the windows.’
Janine stood up. ‘If anything else occurs to you, please let us know. Doesn’t matter how small, how insignificant it might seem.’
‘Donny,’ Joe Breeley said, frowning, ‘you don’t think, you can’t-’
‘Routine inquiries,’ Richard said,’ we have to pin all the detail down. That’s all.’
‘Right,’ Breeley said, ‘course.’ He smiled again but worry lingered in his eyes.
Chapter 24
The day was grey and blustery as the actors took their places getting ready to re-enact Sammy’s abduction. A throng of press and media waited at a designated spot on the edge of the playground. A police officer was playing the part of Claire and Millie had found the son of a friend of a friend to play Sammy. They were dressed like Claire and Sammy had been on that sunny Saturday, right down to Sammy’s glasses and distinctive red shoes. Janine shivered, the boy would be cold once they took his fleece off, but only for a few minutes. She stood with Claire and Clive and Millie. The couple huddled close together, Clive had his arm around Claire and she was clutching Sammy’s fleece.