‘How can I help you, Sarge?’
She told him about the bank robbery and the discovery of the burnt-out car.
‘It’s possible the Cortina is stolen, and the registration plates were copied from a similar make and model. The chassis plate has burn damage, but I’d appreciate it if you’d have a look at it and see if you can glean any info from it.’
‘No problem.’
He walked over to the car, followed by Jane, and looked in the engine compartment.
‘A bit buckled and charred,’ Turner observed, and rubbed his finger on the plate, removing some of the soot. ‘I’ve got chemicals in the car for cleaning off burn damage. If it’s all right with you I’d like to remove the plate, because the details are stamped in the underside like a mirror image and often less damaged in arson cases.’
Jane could sense his enthusiasm as he spoke.
‘Fine by me, PC Turner. You’re the vehicle expert so do whatever you feel will get the best results.’
‘I’ll go fetch my equipment,’ he said and walked off at a brisk pace.
Having finished updating the exhibits book, Jane decided to speak to Cam Murray and ask how the house-to-house enquiries were going. She could see the uniform sergeant and some of the PCs speaking to people on their doorsteps but there was no sign of Murray. She walked over to the sergeant when he’d finished speaking to the resident.
‘How’s the house-to-house going?’ she asked.
‘No reply at a lot of the flats — so they’re probably residents who work during the day. I’ll arrange for some of the late turn officers to attend the no replies this evening.’
‘Anything of interest so far regarding the owner of garage twenty-nine?’ she asked, hoping to hear something positive.
‘The garage numbers don’t directly relate to a flat number and you pay extra to rent one. My officers have got details of some of the garage owners, but not twenty-nine so far.’
‘Is there not a resident caretaker?’
‘Yes, but he’s on holiday. I spoke to the relief caretaker — he doesn’t know who uses what garage. He also said some of them are vacant and left open all the time to avoid break-in damage.’
‘When will the regular caretaker be back?’
‘Next week. I also spoke to a lady who’s sixty-two and lives at flat 14 Edgar House. She’d been out shopping and got off at the bus stop in Blake Hall Road. From her timing I’d estimate it wasn’t long after the bank robbery occurred. She saw two men walking towards Felstead Road and one was carrying a large black duffle bag in his right hand. They caught her attention because the duffle bag was like the one she bought her grandson at Christmas.’
‘Any description of the men?’
‘Not really, she was on the opposite side of the road and only saw them from behind. She thought they were about five feet eight to five feet ten in height, one was dark-haired, the other lighter colored. Both were smartly dressed in casual clothes and she thinks one of them was smoking a cigar.’
‘Which one?’
‘She didn’t know.’
‘Then what made her think it was a cigar?’
‘I didn’t ask, but I guess from the smell.’
Jane felt he could have gone into more detail about the clothing and the cigar with the witness, but didn’t want to be critical as she knew the woman could be interviewed again.
‘She didn’t say they were acting suspiciously or looked nervous,’ he remarked.
‘Where’s Felstead Road?’ Jane asked, suspecting the men may have been involved and changed clothes.
‘Left out of Edgar House, then first left again.’
‘When you’ve finished at Edgar could you make enquiries in Felstead Road to see if anyone saw two men, or one carrying a black duffle bag?’
The sergeant looked at his watch. ‘Well, my lads are all early shift and off duty at two, but if you’re prepared to authorize some overtime we could...’
‘Three hours max, that’s all — get what you can done and hand the rest over to the late shift.’
‘You’ve also got Selsdon Road, which is off Blake Hall and directly opposite Felstead. The two men could have crossed the road before they got to Felstead—’
‘If you get nothing of use at Felstead then do Selsdon as well. Have you seen ADC Murray?’
‘Last time I saw him he went into the ground floor flat at the far end of the block there.’
‘Can you ask him to come and see me when he reappears?’
‘Will do.’
The sergeant went back to making his enquiries.
Returning to the garages, Jane saw the crew manager helping his colleagues reel in the hoses they had used to put out the fire.
‘Are you off now?’ she asked him.
‘Yes, we’re all done here. I’ll type up my report when I get back to the station and get it delivered to you. Sorry, I forgot your name,’ he said, taking out a pocket notebook and pen.
‘Detective Sergeant Jane Tennison — two n’s and one s.’
‘Do I address the envelope “The Sweeney” or “The Flying Squad”?’ he asked, trying to be funny.
‘Flying Squad, 12 Rigg Approach, which is just off Lea Bridge Road.’
‘I loved that TV series, The Sweeney. I don’t recall any policewomen working on the squad with Regan and Carter — they were right hard nuts who loved giving the villains a slap. Is it like that in real life?’
Jane ignored his remark.
‘Can you tell me if the garage door was locked or unlocked when you got here?’ she asked, recalling what the uniform sergeant had told her.
‘I don’t know, we used some hooks attached to a winch to pull it from the frame. Hang on a minute.’
He walked over to the burnt and buckled garage door, which had been placed up against a high brick wall, and examined the lock.
‘I’d say it was locked—’
‘Are you sure?’ she asked him, realizing the investigative importance of his observation.
‘Reasonably. Then again, it could have been unlocked and ripping it off somehow re-engaged the lock. Either way I can’t be certain and I’ll have to say the same in my report.’
As the crew manager left, Jane checked the garage door for herself but couldn’t tell if it was locked or unlocked as the metal pulley wire that would have been attached to it had been ripped off. She called out to Dabs, who was examining the interior of the car, to join her.
‘Can you remove the lock from the garage door?’ she asked as he approached.
He lifted the door from the wall, so he could see the exterior and interior mechanism of the lock.
‘It’s held in place by rivets that will need to be broken off with a hammer and chisel.’
‘Don’t damage the lock—’
‘I’ll get the traffic officer to help me as he’s got the right tools for the job, but why do you need it?’
‘It might be useful if we arrest a suspect and find a key that fits it.’
Dabs grinned. ‘Bit like Cinderella and the shoe... I have to say, Jane, you’re a good lateral thinker.’
‘Like I said before — Paul Lawrence taught me well.’
‘I doubt that it’s all down to him.’
‘Where’s PC Turner gone?’ she asked, looking around.
‘He’s on his car radio about the chassis plate. He’s really into his work and it’s actually quite interesting how much a chassis plate can tell you. He managed to clean a lot of the burn damage off and used... Actually, ask him to show you how he got the details from the plate — it’s quite simple but ingenious.’
Jane did as Dabs had suggested and Turner held up the chassis plate for her to see.
‘A good rub down with a few chemicals allowed me to record some of the details, then to get the rest I used this.’ He held up a lump of plasticine. ‘Although you can’t read some of the numbers and letters on the top side of the burnt plate, the original stamping leaves marks on the underside. I pressed it into this plasticine and got most of the numbers and letters missing from the top — simple but effective, don’t you think?’