‘What? It was him all along?’ Barratt sounded almost disappointed. Kate knew that he’d been pushing for Fowler to be their main suspect but the case against him just wasn’t stacking up. She’d compared the photographs that Barratt had taken of Fowler’s Land Rover and the mat in the back didn’t match up with the marks on Aleah’s body. It was a dead end. Hopefully this would re-energise him. She briefly considered giving him the interview but she knew that Hollis was much more skilled in that department. She’d turn Reese over to Hollis and Cooper while she watched on video link.
As she showered and threw on a pair of tailored trousers and a light blouse, she considered what to tell Raymond. He’d instantly go into gloating mode and she didn’t really want to have to deal with his ‘I told you so’ face this early. But if she didn’t notify him he’d be pissed off when he did find out. She opted for a quick text informing him that Reese was once more ‘of interest’ and was being brought in for questioning. She also mentioned that they might be needing a warrant to search the Reeses’ house. Raymond had plenty of other cases on his plate so that might hold him for a few hours until Reese’s guilt could be established… or not.
Kate’s gut was telling her that this was wrong. Reese just didn’t strike her as being organised enough to abduct his own stepdaughter and make it look like a kidnapping. She also didn’t feel convinced that he had it in him to kill a child. He’d struck her as too lethargic and set in his routines to go to any trouble. And what did he gain? He seemed to be in a stable relationship with a woman who was supporting him, however begrudgingly. If he’d not wanted to be saddled with a kid, why marry Jackie? There was only the evidence of the tent that seemed to point to him and that just wasn’t compelling enough.
‘We’ll just have to see what he says,’ she said to herself as she pulled the door to the flat closed behind herself.
She grabbed her second coffee of the day on the way up to the observation room. Hollis had texted to say that Reese was in Interview Three and he’d been left to kick his heels for a few minutes. He hadn’t come willingly though, so Barratt had read him his rights and he was currently under arrest for murder which meant that they initially had twenty-four hours, minus rest breaks, before they had to charge him or let him walk.
She glanced at the monitor on the desk in front of her, trying to establish Craig Reese’s demeanour. He was leaning with both elbows on the table in front of him, chewing on his fingernails. He looked dishevelled, as though he’d not had time to straighten his hair or choose any suitable clothes before he’d been bundled into the back of the police car. His grey tracksuit bottoms and navy hoody looked almost like an afterthought.
Kate continued to watch on the monitor as Hollis and Cooper entered the room. Hollis was holding two cardboard cups from the canteen and he passed one to Reese. Cooper had her own. They were settling in for a long session. Hollis explained the tape and the camera and reminded Reese why he was there. Reese looked up at the camera for a second and Kate almost had to look away as his haunted eyes made contact with her own. Even though he had no idea that she was there it was uncomfortable to read his expression; she could see the despair and hopelessness even through the camera and monitor.
‘Right, Craig,’ Hollis began. ‘I’ve explained to you why you’re here, you’ve been read your rights, you’ve waived the right to have a lawyer present but I need to remind you that you are under arrest.’
Reese winced as though he’d just been slapped with the final word.
‘We’re trying to establish the facts around Aleah’s disappearance and you’ve already lied to us once. Is that correct?’
Kate held her breath. This was the key moment. If he said, ‘No comment’ then their day would be wasted. He’d just string them along until he was allowed a break and eventually they’d have to apply for more time. Raymond would go ballistic at the cost and effort and they’d be no further forward.
Reese nodded.
‘Please answer yes or no,’ Hollis reminded him gently.
‘Yes.’
From the angle of the camera Kate could see his right leg crossed over his left under the table. His right foot was jiggling uncontrollably. He was nervous. Good.
‘Okay, Craig,’ Hollis leaned forward slightly. ‘We need to ask you a few questions about the day that Aleah went missing. We know now that she was at the bookies with you and not on the street as you first claimed.’
Reese nodded then whispered, ‘Yes.’
‘We’ve established a timeline using the CCTV from the shop and this supports your statement.’
Hollis was being gentle, reeling the other man in, gaining his confidence. It was why she’d put Hollis on the interview even though Barratt had been champing at the bit. Hollis was sensitive and had good instincts around suspects. She knew that, if anybody could get the truth out of Craig Reese, then Hollis was the man.
‘You also told us that you were on the old quarry site around 9.30pm the same day looking for Aleah but you also went to your father’s house?’
Another nod. This time Hollis didn’t ask him to confirm. Instead, he stated that Reese had nodded.
‘So where were you after that? Where did you go between looking for your father and going home?’
Reese looked confused.
‘Nowhere. I went up to my dad’s and then went home.’
‘What time did you get back?’
Reese thought for a minute.
‘Must’ve been about half ten or eleven.’
‘And can anybody confirm this. Your wife, perhaps?’
Reese shook his head. ‘Jackie was out for the count. The doctor gave her something to help her sleep. I didn’t want to bother her so I slept on the sofa in the living room.’
Considerate, Kate thought, and very convenient.
‘And you didn’t go out after that?’ Hollis checked.
‘No. I went out the next morning but just to the shed for a quick fag before Jackie woke up.’
He’d given Hollis an excellent opening to steer the interview and Hollis pounced on it immediately. Kate felt like clapping as he deftly manoeuvred Reese into talking about the real area of interest.
‘Do you spend a lot of time in your shed, Craig?’ he asked.
Reese shrugged.
‘In an average week, say. How often do you go into the shed?’
‘Every time I want a cigarette. If it’s cold or wet. Not so much in the summer. I just stand outside.’
‘But you didn’t stand outside yesterday, or the day before. You went into the shed to smoke?’
‘Suppose so.’
‘Had it been raining? Is that why you didn’t stand outside?’
‘On and off. I probably didn’t want to get caught in a shower. I don’t know why. I just went to the shed. Force of habit maybe.’
‘Is it your shed, Craig? Your man-cave?’ Hollis leaned in further. ‘A place where you can get away from Jackie and have a smoke and a think? I know I like to have a potter in mine. Gives me time to think away from distractions.’
Kate smiled. As far as she knew, Hollis lived in a second-floor flat.
Reese leaned back as though sensing Hollis’s lie.
‘It’s just a shed. I smoke out there and keep all the garden stuff in it. I don’t need to get away from Jackie and Aleah. Don’t want to either.’
‘Is all the “stuff” in there yours, Craig? None of it was there when you moved in?’
Reese frowned. ‘I don’t know. It’s ours. We don’t keep track of who bought the bloody lawn mower and who paid for the garden chairs.’
He was getting annoyed. Hollis needed to change tack.
‘Ask him about the tent,’ Kate said out loud.
As though he could hear her Hollis glanced down at the small pile of papers in front of him as though checking some piece of information then looked up at Reese with no sign of his former friendly smile.
‘What about the tent? Is that yours?’
Reese l
ooked baffled. ‘We bought it last summer. It belongs to the family, it’s not mine.’
Hollis nodded and looked back down at his papers.
‘When did you last use it?’
‘Easter. We went to Flamborough for a few days. It pissed down.’
‘Did you put the tent away when you got back?’
‘I did. What’s this got to do with Aleah?’
‘All in good time,’ Kate murmured, watching as Hollis sifted through the papers, ignoring Reese’s question.
‘So, you put the tent away after your Easter holiday and it hasn’t been used since?’ Hollis produced a photograph from his pile of papers and Kate could see that it was the one he’d taken of the tent, still in the cupboard, bursting out of its bag.
‘For the tape, I’m now showing Craig Reese image 03/08/15AZ. A bit sloppy, weren’t you, Craig?’
Reese took the picture and studied it.
‘I didn’t leave it like that. I hung it on the line to dry properly and then rolled it up. It’ll perish if it’s left in a lump like that.’
Reese nodded.
‘Who else has access to the shed?’
‘Nobody. Me and Jackie and Aleah, I suppose.’
‘But nobody else would go in your shed on a regular basis?’
‘No.’
‘Craig. When Aleah was found her hands were tied. The ropes used match the guy lines of your tent.’
Reese’s mouth dropped open.
‘How… when… hang on, it’s not an uncommon brand of tent. That rope wasn’t forced to be from the one in my shed. I bought it online from GO Outdoors. They must sell hundreds.’
Hollis nodded as though he could see exactly where Craig was coming from.
‘But, when we took your tent away, the guy ropes were missing. Are you sure that you put them away with the tent?’
Reese looked panic-stricken as he tried to work out what the best answer might be and Kate was almost convinced that he had nothing to do with Aleah’s murder. His shock was too convincing. He looked like he’d been slapped by somebody that he couldn’t see or hear. If he was guilty, Kate thought, he’d try to stall. She held her breath as he opened his mouth to speak.
‘I put everything back in the bag. Tent, pegs, ropes, awning. It was all there.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘Aleah helped me. I gave her a list so that she could tick everything off.’
‘Where’s this list?’
Reese eyes searched the room wildly as he tried to either remember or come up with a convincing answer. ‘Threw it away when we’d finished.’
He was either telling the truth or a bloody good actor, Kate thought. He couldn’t have just made up that fact about Aleah on the spot: he wasn’t clever enough. Raymond was wrong. She knew in her gut that Craig Reese didn’t kill his stepdaughter. He hadn’t mentioned that the shed wasn’t kept locked, which would have shifted suspicion to anybody who lived nearby, or who had access to the Reeses’ garden. Which, literally, could be anybody. It would have been the perfect fact to draw attention away from himself but he hadn’t even thought about it.
A tap at the door drew her attention from the monitor.
‘Kate?’ It was Barratt, holding a piece of A4 paper.
‘We’ve got a sighting of Aleah on the day she was snatched. Some old bloke saw her picture on the evening news last night – they’re giving the murder top billing. He recognised her.’
Kate sighed. Too little too late.
‘Shame he didn’t remember earlier. She might have been found sooner.’ She didn’t say ‘alive’, didn’t need to; she could see that Barratt shared her frustration.
‘He’s a bit confused. I think he might, you know,’ Barratt made a ‘drinking’ gesture with his thumb and little finger extended next to his mouth.
‘Oh great. Another bloody drunk witness. Just what we need. Give it here.’
He passed the sheet of paper over and fixed his eyes on the monitor.
‘How’s he doing?’
Kate glanced at the image of the interview room.
‘Reese or Hollis?’
‘Both. Either. I just wondered if Hollis had cracked him yet.’
Kate shook her head. ‘I’m not sure there’s anything to crack. He hasn’t denied that the tent was his and that he was the last one to put it away. It’s not enough to charge him.’
Barratt nodded soberly.
‘I’m not sure this statement’ll help. But it does put Aleah somewhere other than on Main Street on the day she was taken.’
Kate scanned the statement looking for key pieces of information. It was a straightforward sighting of a child fitting Aleah’s description and wearing similar clothes to those that Aleah had been wearing on the day she disappeared. The person making the statement couldn’t be sure of the exact time but he knew that it had been before midday as he’d been heading to one of the pubs in the village and it didn’t open until twelve.
And then she saw why Barratt was so interested.
I saw the girl walking down the hill towards the main road. Instead of staying with the road, she descended the steps to follow the shortcut route of the old road.
Aleah hadn’t been snatched from Main Street. She’d been on a little-used track which was only overlooked by the backs of a few terraced houses. Once there nobody would have noticed her until she emerged at the main road. Kate tried to picture the lane. It crossed a brook at the bottom of the hill and then opened out into a parking area just before the main road. If the abductor had snatched her from there it would have been a matter of seconds to bundle her into a waiting car or van.
But why had she left the shops? Where was she going?
The obvious answer was home but she’d just been sent out to the shops by Craig Reese. Why not go back to the bookies and wait for him to take her home?
Kate glanced at the monitor again. Hollis was just winding up the interview. She could tell from his posture that he hadn’t got what he wanted. Reese hadn’t admitted to anything and there seemed little point in continuing – for now. But what might this new information do to him?
‘Barratt. Get Hollis out of there. I want him to show Craig Reese this. See what he has to say.’
The DC left while Kate scanned the statement again.
‘Why were you going home, Aleah?’ she whispered. ‘What happened to you to stop you going back for your stepdad?’
2015
Hollis burst into the room with Barratt close on his heels.
‘You wanted to see me? Is there a problem?’
‘Not a problem. You handled him really well. What’s your gut telling you?’
Hollis took a deep breath as he considered his reaction to the interview.
‘I’m getting nothing from him. There’s nothing calculated about his answers. I don’t think it’s him.’
Kate smiled.
‘Fancy telling Raymond that?’
‘Not a chance. You get paid more than me – you tell him.’
She passed Hollis the new witness statement and watched his face as he read it slowly.
‘Shit!’ he exclaimed. ‘What does this mean?’
‘Aleah wasn’t taken from Main Street, which is why nobody remembers seeing anything unusual. This back lane is isolated but easily accessible. I think this is the snatch site.’
‘Hang on. We know that Reese was in the bookies and that he left to look for Aleah. Does the timeline fit? Could he have walked her home the back way and strangled her?’
Kate shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. Not according to the time stamp on the bookies CCTV. And, even if he did, where did he put her? He didn’t just dump her straight in the pond.’ She glanced at the screen which showed Craig Reese sitting alone at the table with his head in his hands. A uniformed officer observed impassively.
‘Ask him, will you?’
She grabbed her phone and dialled Raymond’s number. He answered on the first ring, obviously irritated that he’d been in
terrupted. Kate gave him a quick outline of the new statement and then asked the question that she knew Raymond would be dreading.
‘Can we send a forensics team? We need to examine that lane and the car park at the bottom.’
Raymond huffed and puffed but Kate could tell that it was all for show. There was no denying the need to have the area closely examined. Raymond promised to make the call as soon as Kate hung up – a full forensics team plus uniform back-up to help with a fingertip search.
Kate grinned to herself, feeling like she’d won a minor victory and turned back to the monitor watching as Barratt and Hollis entered the room. Reese looked round as if expecting somebody else. Perhaps he was hoping that Cooper, as a woman, was a calming influence. Without her there he had to face two aggressive-looking men who obviously wanted a confession.
Hollis resumed the interview, adding Barratt’s name to the tape and then practically threw the statement onto the table.
‘More lies, Craig,’ Hollis snapped.
Reese glanced at the paper on the table then back at Hollis, the fear in his face looked genuine to Kate.
‘I haven’t–’ he began.
‘Haven’t what? Haven’t been straight with us?’
Reese shook his head vehemently.
‘I’ve told you everything. I don’t know what happened to Aleah.’
‘Ok.’ Hollis took a deep breath. ‘Let’s start again. You sent her out of the bookies to get some sweets. When she didn’t come back you went to look for her. But it was all an act, wasn’t it, Craig? You told her to go home and then you met her on the way. She trusted you – it’s not like you had to kidnap her. And then what? Where did you put her?’
Reese just stared at him, mouth open.
‘We’ve got a witness who says he saw her heading down the back lane next to the road up to the village. She was going home. Why would she do that, Craig, unless you’d told her to?’
Reese sat back in his seat and looked from Hollis to Barratt and back again, his face completely disbelieving.
‘Where did you go after you left the bookies, Craig?’
‘I went to look for Aleah. I already told you.’ He was tensing up and Kate could sense that he was getting ready to withdraw his co-operation. Whether out of guilt or self-preservation she couldn’t be one hundred percent certain, but her gut was telling her that Craig Reese wasn’t capable of this.
The Kate Fletcher Series Page 14
