‘Was she on her own?’ Kate asked.
‘I don’t know. She might have been with somebody but like I said, it was really busy.’
‘So what makes you think she might have been with somebody?’
Harrington stared at her for a second, obviously trying to make sense of his memories. ‘She was standing in a corner talking to somebody for most of the time that she was there. I couldn’t see who it was, but I got the impression that whoever she was talking to was taller than her. She kept looking up and laughing.’
Kate got a sudden urge to leap across the table and grab him by the throat. Either his story was just a ploy to deflect the attention away from himself of it was their best chance yet of finding Chloe’s killer.
‘But you said she didn’t leave with anybody?’
Harrington leaned towards her. ‘I didn’t see her leave with anybody but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t follow her. Or he might have gone to the bog and met up with her later in X-Ray. It was raining when I left, she wouldn’t have wanted to hang around outside waiting for somebody so maybe she went on to the club and he met up with her again there.’
It made sense, but it was also extremely convenient. Kate wasn’t convinced.
‘But she left X-Ray on her own.’
Harrington shrugged. ‘Maybe he did the same thing again so he wouldn’t be seen with her. Told her he was going to the toilet and he’d catch her up. Or maybe the date didn’t go well so she left and he caught up with her later.’
‘And you don’t remember seeing Chloe with anyone inside the club?’
‘No. There are two floors inside and I was on the top one. The bottom floor’s a bit more techno-rave. Not really my thing but Chloe always liked it down there. I don’t remember seeing her in the club but like I said I was really out of it.’
‘I’m not buying it, Josh. You want us to believe that Chloe was out with some mystery man who hasn’t shown up on the CCTV footage yet we have clear images of you following her – which you’ve admitted – and there’s the small matter of two hours that you can’t account for.’
‘I don’t—’ he began, but Kate continued.
‘It doesn’t make sense. I’m sticking with the most likely scenario that you saw Chloe out having a good time and you couldn’t stand it anymore so you waited until she’d left the club and you killed her.’
‘No!’
‘So where were you, Josh? Where were you between leaving X-Ray at 1am and getting home at around 3am?’
Harrington stared at her, opened his mouth as though he was going to speak and then obviously changed his mind.
‘You said earlier that you can’t remember but you also said that you couldn’t remember being in Madrigal’s or X-Ray. Funny how your memory seems to have come back, but only selectively.’
Harrington gave his solicitor a pleading look. He obviously had something to say but something was holding him back. Kate decided to give him some time to think. She paused the interview and left the room with Hollis.
Chapter 25
‘What do you think?’ Kate asked, slumping against the corridor wall. ‘Do you believe him?’
Hollis leaned next to her. ‘I don’t know. It’s all plausible but there’s the two hours that he either can’t or won’t account for. If he did kill Chloe how did he get her out to the industrial estate? He could hardly take her in a taxi.’
‘Unless she was still alive,’ Kate said. ‘And he killed her there. Kailisa thinks she was killed where she was found or somewhere close so he could have got her out there on some pretence or other. If they walked from X-Ray it’d only take about twenty minutes.’
‘But you spoke to Siobhan. They were both careful when it came to meeting men. It doesn’t make sense that Chloe would go somewhere like that with a stranger.’
Kate could see his point. Why would somebody as cautious as Chloe Welsh walk in the opposite direction from her flat with a man unless it was somebody that she knew or trusted? Which brought them back to Josh Harrington.
‘So, what about this mystery man? You’re not convinced?’
‘I’m keeping an open mind,’ Hollis said with a smile. It was his code for ‘I haven’t a bloody clue.’
Kate smiled back. ‘Me too. But if Chloe was with somebody then we need to find out who. I’m going to ask Raymond for the budget to get uniforms canvassing the bar and the club – see if anybody remembers anything. And I’ll get Sam to have a closer look at the CCTV footage – if this bloke did follow Chloe out of Madrigal’s, he’ll be on there somewhere.’
Kate’s phone rang. Raymond.
‘More news from the PM,’ the DCI said without preamble. ‘Chloe’s blood tested positive for alcohol but not excessive. Maybe she’d been pacing herself all night. That’s not the headline though. There was also some sort of benzodiazepine in her blood. Most likely Rohypnol.’
Kate hung up, trying to make sense of the information. Chloe had been cautious then. She wasn’t drinking heavily or she’d put the brakes on later in the evening, but she’d had her drink spiked. That changed everything. If she was under the influence of Rohypnol her cognitive abilities would have been impaired and her judgement flawed. She might have gone anywhere with anybody.
‘Bad news?’ Hollis asked.
Kate gave him a brief summary of the blood work.
‘Shit. That means she could have been wandering around in a right state. Anybody could have walked her over to Trafford Lane and she wouldn’t have had a clue where she was going. If he said he was walking her home she’d have probably believed him.’
‘And it means he could be anybody – not necessarily somebody she knew and trusted. Let’s keep this to ourselves. It’s not something that Harrington needs to know yet.’
She pushed off from the wall and set off back down the corridor to the interview room.
‘Hang on,’ Hollis said after her. ‘Can I ask you something?’
She turned and saw that his face was flushed.
‘What?’
He scratched his nose and looked down at his feet. ‘Is there a reason why you’ve not let me ask Harrington anything? When I was going to jump in you stopped me. Is this about Melissa Buckley’s family and the way I stuffed up?’
Kate took a deep breath. She didn’t have time for this. ‘I wanted to lead on this, Dan,’ she said. ‘And, to be honest, you seem to have lost your touch a bit lately. I know you’ve got a lot on your mind and it’s not that I don’t trust you, I’d just rather you took a back seat and observed. You’ll see things that I won’t if you’re just listening.’
His colour deepened – Kate could tell that he wasn’t convinced but she was being as honest as she could. She didn’t want Hollis jumping in feet first and, normally, she would have trusted him not to, but he seemed to be so off his game that she needed to take control. If that bruised his ego then she’d have to live with the consequences. This case was more important than her relationship with her DC.
Hollis followed her back into the interview room where Harrington was still deep in conversation with his solicitor. She restarted the recording and began again.
‘So? Have you changed your mind about telling us where you were?’ Kate asked as she sat down. She wasn’t especially hopeful but Harrington had obviously been discussing something with Pine.
‘My client is willing to co-operate fully,’ Pine said, leaning forwards and tucking her hair behind her ears. ‘However, he is asking for confidentiality regarding the information he is about to divulge. I believe what he has to tell you will eliminate him from your enquiries as soon as you have established the veracity of his account.’
Very formal, Kate thought, completely unimpressed. She’d met solicitors of all shapes and sizes and was way beyond being intimidated by legal jargon. Harrington, on the other hand, looked smug as though he’d just scored a minor victory. Kate smiled, about to wipe that look from his face. ‘I can’t guarantee anything of the sort,’ she said. ‘After we
receive Mr Harrington’s full statement and verify what he’s told us then we may be able to look upon his co-operation with some sympathy. However, that is entirely dependent on the information and its relevance to this enquiry.’
As she’d expected Harrington’s face changed from complacency to panic as he took in the full implication of her words.
‘But,’ she continued. ‘If he has information which he isn’t willing to divulge it’s likely that we will arrest him for the murder of Chloe Welsh, pending further investigation.’
Pine looked at Harrington and raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrows, suggesting that it was his call.
‘Let’s just get on with it,’ Harrington said on a sigh. ‘If I don’t tell them, I’ll be arrested and, if I do, I’ll probably be beaten up. I think I’ll take my chances with a beating.’
Intrigued Kate said, ‘You think you’re at risk if you tell us where you were, Josh?’
‘I know I am,’ Harrington said. ‘It’s not just where I was, it’s who I was with. When I left X-Ray I wondered around for a bit. I didn’t want to go home and I was feeling low after seeing Chloe again. I suppose I was coming down as well but I’d left my weed at home. The sensible thing would have been to go back to the flat, have another smoke and crash out but I’d had too much to drink to be sensible.’
Kate nodded, trying to encourage him to keep talking. This was the first time he’d shown any sign of self-awareness and she didn’t want him to lose focus.
‘I rang Jill. Jill Ogden, from work. You can check my call history if you want. It was probably about half one, if that. Might have been earlier. She was still up and she said I could go round to her house. She lives in one of the terraces on Dalton Street behind the market.’
‘And she’ll confirm this?’ Kate asked.
Harrington didn’t look happy about providing an alibi. ‘We’ve been seeing each other off and on for about six months. Just casual, like.’
Kate didn’t understand. It was such a simple way to put himself in the clear. And then it dawned on her. ‘Jill’s married?’
‘Her husband works away a lot. We’ve been spending a bit of time together. Trouble is, if he found out, he’d give me a right pasting. He’s got a vicious temper.’
Sherry Pine gave Kate a self-satisfied smile. ‘I’m sure it’s a simple matter to verify Mr Harrington’s alibi. And after that I assume he’ll be free to leave.’
Kate thought about it. She could still hold Harrington for possession but what would that achieve? If his alibi put him in the clear for Chloe’s murder then they’d just be harassing him for the sake of it and she didn’t want to play games.
‘Can you ring her soon, though?’ Harrington asked. ‘Don’t ring her when she gets home in case he’s there.’
She wanted to ignore Harrington’s plea just to get him into trouble for wasting so much of their time but she couldn’t bring herself to be so unprofessional. She knew that Hollis would be tempted as well.
‘Ten minutes,’ she said, standing up. ‘I need to make the call.’
Five minutes later she was back in the interview room having confirmed that Josh Harrington had indeed been with Jill Ogden from around 1.20am until nearly 3am on Saturday morning. The woman hadn’t been the least bit embarrassed to admit that they’d had a drink and then had sex. Josh couldn’t have killed Chloe Welsh, seen Jill and got back to his flat at around 3.15. The timing didn’t fit.
‘Phone,’ she said as soon as she sat back down. She stretched her hand across the table and Harrington unlocked his iPhone and passed it across the table without protest. Kate tapped on his calls list and saw a number of calls to Jill Ogden – crucially, one at 1.13am on Saturday morning. She showed the phone to Hollis who terminated the interview and stopped the recording.
‘What a sodding waste of time,’ Kate hissed as Harrington and Pines left.
‘Where does this leave us?’ Hollis asked, leaning back in his chair with a heavy sigh.
‘Back where we were,’ she said. ‘Nowhere.’
Chapter 26
As Kate had expected, Raymond looked furious. He’d been outside the interview room waiting to pounce.
‘My office, Fletcher. Now!’
She’d anticipated his anger but his flushed face and aggressive stance seemed a little over done. She knew better than to argue though and noted that he’d gone back to calling her by her surname. She was in trouble. She gave Hollis instructions to pass on to Cooper regarding the CCTV and then followed the DCI upstairs, grateful that none of her colleagues were at their desks as she slunk through the team area like a naughty schoolgirl approaching the head teacher’s office.
‘Sir, I—’ she began as soon as she’d closed the door behind her.
‘I don’t want to hear it,’ Raymond snapped.
Kate didn’t even try to make excuses. He was right. She should have done better. But she was puzzled by the strength of her boss’s wrath. She’d messed up but it hadn’t harmed the investigation; it had cost them some time but it wasn’t as if they’d had any other leads to follow.
‘Sit!’ Raymond instructed, throwing himself into his chair and pointing to the one on the opposite side of his huge desk. In her most uncharitable moments Kate speculated that the huge bulk of the desk may have been an attempt to compensate for a lack of size in other areas but now she was glad of the distance it provided from Raymond’s anger.
‘Sir,’ she tried again. ‘You’re right, I know I cocked that interview up but it was a promising lead based on sound evidence.’
‘I saw the end of the interview, Fletcher. He made you look like a fool,’ Raymond said, his tone ominous. ‘And I don’t like anybody making my team look foolish. It reflects badly on me.’
Kate was puzzled. Was this about Raymond’s reputation on the force then? Was he worried that his last investigation was going to make him look incompetent? That might explain his extreme reaction. She saw him look over her shoulder to where she knew he could see into the team office. He scowled, obviously unhappy with whatever he could see beyond his door.
‘We’ve got a leak,’ he said, flicking his eyes back to hers. ‘Somebody’s been talking to the press.’ He reached down and opened one of his desk drawers, removing a couple of national red-tops and throwing them across to her.
Kate looked down at the headline.
SECOND MURDER VICTIM FOUND
She wasn’t surprised. The press were always quick to jump on cases of violent death. They wouldn’t have been able to keep Chloe’s murder quiet for very long and it was probably time for Raymond to hold a press conference.
‘I don’t—’
‘Read it!’ Raymond snapped.
Kate followed his instructions and there it was in the second paragraph: mutilated body.
She read on, heart racing, as the reporter described – in graphic detail – the injuries to a body found on Town Field nearly two weeks ago and then went on to speculate that a body found on Trafford Lane industrial estate on Saturday had similar injuries. The article stopped short of using the term ‘serial killer’ but the insinuation was there.
‘How did they get hold of this?’ Kate asked.
‘That’s what I’d like to know. Who knows about the injuries apart from your team?’
Kate thought about it. Was Raymond suggesting the leak had come from one of their own? ‘What about the pathologist’s office? They know the details as well. How do we know it’s not come from there?’
‘We don’t, and I’ll be making enquiries but, for the moment, I need to focus on damage limitation. I’m going to hold a press conference in the morning and, by then, I want to know who’s blabbed. And, if it’s not come directly from one of your team, then who told their girlfriend or boyfriend or husband or wife?’
Kate shook her head. ‘They wouldn’t. They all know the consequences of talking to the press and they know that the rules extend to family and friends.’
She was sure of her team. They all kne
w that any details about ongoing investigations stayed at the office. Nothing went home, not even a word or a hint. She remembered how careful she’d been when speaking to Nick about how difficult it might be to perform a caesarean section and she trusted the others to be just as careful, just as discreet.
‘I just can’t see it,’ she said. ‘They know they’d be kicked off the team, demoted, if they gave away any details of an active investigation. It wouldn’t be worth it for any of us.’
‘Unless there was a big sum of money involved,’ Raymond suggested. ‘They’re only human and it takes a lot to resist a big pay-out. Especially for somebody who might be a bit strapped for cash or in debt. Anybody in your team in need of extra money?’
Hollis. He’d said something about his birth mother wanting money for a flat. But he earned plenty on his detective constable’s salary. It shouldn’t be that difficult for him to find a couple of grand, especially as he didn’t have a family to support. Cooper was planning a wedding and that wouldn’t be cheap but her partner had a decent job so they should be able to manage between them. Barratt was too straight, too much of a rule follower – he’d probably turn himself in if he ever did anything even remotely unorthodox. Which left O’Connor. Kate hadn’t really got to know her DS very well. If she was honest with herself, she found him a little unpleasant and arrogant. But he got results and Raymond had a lot of faith in him. With his contacts, O’Connor would easily be able to raise a few grand if he needed money, Kate had no doubt about that.
‘Not that I know of,’ Kate said, reluctant to even speculate with the DCI. If there was an issue in her team, she wanted to be the one to deal with it and she wanted the leaker to look her in the eye and explain themselves.
‘Well, find out. And fast.’ Raymond swung his chair round slightly so that he wasn’t directly facing her and picked up his phone. Kate knew she was being dismissed.
Bad Seed: a gripping serial killer thriller (DI Kate Fletcher Book 3) Page 18
