‘Right, I’m going to be asking you to help me prepare for Monday. First, which one of you was asked to check out the mobile that Amanda Dunn got hold of in the supposed safe house?’
Sara held up her hand, taking out her notebook.
‘I was there yesterday. Everyone denied they had allowed her to use their mobiles but eventually it came down to two possible people. One was the night staff nurse who said that her phone was always locked in her locker and Amanda could not have had access to it.’
Jack pointedly looked at his watch, and Sara flushed as she continued.
‘Sorry, it’s just that I wanted you to know that I had a bit of a run-around. Anyway, the day nurse wasn’t on duty, so I had to go to her home in Surbiton. She denied it but was very nervous, and eventually told me that she had been preparing to leave, and had her coat and bag with her, when Amanda asked about her family. She told me that she opened her bag and showed Amanda photographs of her two toddlers on her phone. She said that she was certain that she had put the phone back in her bag but had been distracted for a few moments as the replacement officer was late...’
‘For Christ’s sake, get to the point, Sara.’
‘Well, when she got home, she realised that she didn’t have her phone and she immediately called the safe house. They told her they searched Amanda’s room and found the phone beneath her bed. This was the evening before she came into the station for her interview.’
‘I hope there’s a point to this story,’ he said through gritted teeth.
‘It does, sir. I retrieved the phone and checked the outgoing calls. The one call made that evening was to another mobile. It was fifteen minutes long and it was to Georgina Bamford.’
‘What?’ That was not what Jack had been expecting.
‘Yes, sir, I didn’t say anything to anyone as I felt it might be important that Ms Bamford was not aware that we knew she had been contacted.’
‘Well, that is very interesting, and good not to tip her off. OK, next on the agenda, I want all the photographs of the victims, as well as the photographs taken from Middleton’s aunt Joyce, the ones from her bedroom wall. We have them all, yes?’
‘Yes, we also have the family album taken from the same property,’ Laura said.
‘Good. I want those photographs grouped together. Please select any photographs from the album that have Middleton as a child, or any with his aunt, father and mother; these all need to be stacked together in the same folder.’
Jack checked his notes before continuing.
‘Next, I want to get our forensics ducks in a row. Contact Daniel Burkett to compare the amount of DNA evidence from inside the basement flat with the DNA evidence from the coal hole. I also need to know which items of Middleton’s clothing had blood on them. I want photographs of the items in a second file. Laura, can you handle that?’
‘Yes. What about the tools?’
‘Photographs of any of them that had Middleton’s DNA on them, and any of the victims’. I think there is a wire brush and also the sharpened screwdriver, along with the saw. Plus, details of the company that sold the chemicals and rat poison in a third file, along with Glenda Bagshot’s CCTV footage. That has to be ready to be shown on the small monitor screen inside the main viewing room.’
Jack glanced up from his notes and nodded to Leon.
‘I need all the medical notes that I recorded and statements from Dr Seymour, Dr Donaldson and Dr Burrows. I also need the statement from Mavis Thornton at the hostel, from the probation officer, and from the firefighter we interviewed... What was his name, Sara?’
‘Er, Brian Hookam.’
‘Good, yes. These are to be added to file number three. OK, now last but not least, I want a trace on Middleton’s birth mother. She left the UK when he was seven years old and returned to Ghana; see if there is anything in passport control that far back.’
‘Sir, I think we did try a trace weeks ago, but it was unsuccessful,’ Sara said.
‘I know, but I want you to have another go. There’s a photograph in the plastic container we removed from the coal hole, so use it to see if anyone remembers her. Also, double-check the previous address for Rodney Middleton, the one before the fire. I also want that photograph to be in file one — it’s very important.’
‘We don’t have much to go on as we never established her correct name,’ Sara said, ‘and they never married...’
‘Well, if you look at the photograph from the coal hole, it’s a young girl in school uniform. The team on the ground bagged it without examining it, but we’ve since discovered that Middleton wrote a message on it which makes me think it’s his mother. It’s in pencil and very faded, but the name looks like Abena Mensah. I did try to trace her but gave up when I found that Mensah is a very common Ghanaian surname. It might be wrong but try your best. Leon, you’re the IT super sleuth, so you take that on as well as the other things I’ve asked you to check out. Start with births, OK?’
Jack repeated everything again to make sure they knew exactly what they were all doing, emphasising that it was important they delivered everything by the end of the day, so he was ready for Monday morning. He left them sitting in rather subdued silence as they each checked over their notes.
Laura pushed her chair back and suggested they get cracking. She had found the meeting rather unnerving as Jack seemed to be on speed. He had been impatient and abrupt and a couple of times she felt that he had deliberately undermined her. When Sara asked her if the files should be in different colours, she had snapped at her: ‘How the hell would I know? Do whatever you want.’
Jack had gone in DCI Clarke’s office to discuss the press coverage. Clarke was fuming, as the phones were ringing non-stop and the press were now gathered outside the station questioning anyone who was entering. Jack smiled and suggested they all say ‘no comment’ but Clarke didn’t find it amusing.
‘I’m about to go to Scotland Yard for a meeting with the superintendent and I need every bit of ammunition you can give me, Jack,’ he said.
‘Well, we have Amanda Dunn arrested and charged, so that’s a plus. By the way, as a matter of interest, sir, we have proof that she called Georgina Bamford on a mobile she swiped from one of the nurses at the safe house. She had a fifteen-minute call with her the night before she came in for her interview.’
‘You’re kidding me.’
‘Interesting, isn’t it? And as yet she doesn’t know that we know. It confirms that they’re in cahoots and is further proof that Miss Dunn is a devious bitch.’
Clarke nodded, but he clearly wasn’t sharing Jack’s confident mood.
‘I see you had the team in a conference this morning?’
‘Yes, sir. Preparing for tomorrow. I don’t want anything falling through the cracks.’
Clarke grunted. ‘Well, I need to get myself over to Scotland Yard. I’ll see you here first thing tomorrow. I’ll have Middleton brought in a van, and make sure his face and head are covered. He will travel with two outriders and drive straight through the back gates. And I want to vet anyone in the viewing area... there were too many in there during the Amanda Dunn interview.’
As they walked out of his office, Jack could feel the DCI’s tension and hoped he would be calmer in the morning. It was another reminder of how much Ridley’s calm presence was missed, making everyone around him feel relaxed.
While the team worked flat out on acquiring all the material he had requested, preparing the files and putting them in the order he wanted, Jack remained available for them until after lunch. He was impressed with the way Laura was overseeing their work with calm efficiency. If she had been disgruntled at the start of the day, she was now working at full steam. She had only one query for Jack and that was about Leon as, due to it being a Sunday, he was having problems making any headway with tracing Abena Mensah. Immigration had not been at all helpful.