by David Blake
None of them seemed to know who the people inside the car were, or if they had a direct involvement in the investigation, so even though they continued to film and take pictures, the officers were saved from having to fend off any questions.
With Jenny hurrying in his wake, Tanner headed straight for Barrington’s office. As he did so, Burgess, who was up near the white board at the far end of the room, caught his eye and gave him a self-satisfied smirk.
I’ve got no idea what you’re smiling about, thought Tanner, as he knocked on Barrington’s door.
At the invitation to enter, he turned to Jenny. ‘You’d probably be best off waiting out here.’
‘No problem at all!’ she said, adding, ‘Good luck!’ before turning to head back to her desk.
He stepped inside, sneaking a glance over at Burgess as he did.
Closing the door behind him, he said, ‘Sorry to barge in, sir, but I heard the news that DI Burgess has arrested Simon Richardson.’
‘He has, yes,’ confirmed Barrington, staring absently at his computer monitor.
‘Don’t you think that was a little premature, sir?’
‘His alibi didn’t check out.’
‘But we still need some sort of physical evidence to link him to the murder before we can charge him.’
Glancing up at Tanner, with the same look of smug self-satisfaction that Burgess had earlier, Barrington said, ‘Burgess got that as well. We had a positive match on the semen found inside the victim. According to forensics, it belongs to Simon Richardson!’
Tanner stopped. He’d completely forgotten about the sample they’d recovered from Jane Richardson’s body, and a match with her husband would be the physical evidence they needed to begin legal proceedings against him. However, despite that, he still felt it was too soon. As far as Tanner was concerned, it would have been prudent to have built a watertight case before having placed him under arrest.
But there was something else as well, something that didn’t feel right, and it took him only a second to realise what that was. The forensics medical examiner had said that the victim had been sexually abused after she’d been murdered. The idea of having sex with someone who was already dead was such a disturbing thing, even by rapist standards, and Tanner couldn’t think of any reason for Richardson to have done it. On top of that, he must have known that in doing so he’d be leaving physical evidence at the scene which would link him directly to the murder.
Keeping that to himself for now, Tanner said, ‘I still feel it’s too soon to arrest him, sir. In my experience, cases like this are rarely so clear cut.’
‘Well, I think we can count our blessings that in this case, it is, especially as more media arrived shortly after you left, followed soon after by a call from Head Office.’
‘But we’ve yet to go through her emails and social media accounts. There could easily be another man in her life. And did anyone check the CCTV footage?’
‘I appreciate your concern, Tanner, but CCTV cameras were checked, and they clearly showed her leaving the Bittern pub at the stated time, with nobody following her.’
‘And what about Richardson’s alibi – has that been thoroughly gone over?’
‘DI Burgess phoned them himself. As it turned out, not only wasn’t he a member of the golf club, but he hadn’t even signed on as a guest, and his name didn’t appear in the tournament’s results.’
‘What about the hotel he said he was staying at?’
‘What about it?’
‘Did Burgess check with them?’
‘I’ve no idea, but the bottom line is that not only has he lied about taking part in a golf tournament, his semen was found inside the victim! I’m not sure how much more evidence you’d need!’
‘I appreciate that, sir, but the medical examiner said that the victim was sexually assaulted post-mortem. Why would he have wanted to have sex with his own wife after he’d killed her, knowing that in doing so he’d be leaving behind the one piece of evidence that would tie him to her murder?’
‘Clearly the man has some serious mental issues, which shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise really; after all, he had just strangled the poor girl to death.’
There was a knock at the door, and a young PC poked his head in.
‘Sorry to disturb you, sir, but there’s a call for DI Tanner. It’s John Lambert.’
‘He must have heard the news,’ observed Tanner.
Concerned that his new DI might be tempted to voice his doubts over the arrest, especially to the suspect’s father-in-law, Barrington instructed, ‘Put the call through to my line. DI Tanner will take it in here.’
Whilst they waited for the call to come through, Barrington said, ‘Now listen, Tanner, I appreciate your concerns, but now’s not the time to raise them with Mr Lambert, is that understood?’
As Barrington’s desk phone began to ring, Tanner said, ‘Of course, sir.’
Barrington paused for a moment before pushing the phone towards him, but before letting go of it, he said, ‘I’d better put it on speakerphone,’ and pushed the relevant button.
Leaning in towards it, Tanner said, ‘Detective Inspector Tanner speaking.’
‘It’s John Lambert. I just heard the news.’
Tanner decided that even though he wasn’t allowed to voice his doubts over the arrest of the man’s son-in-law, he could at least do his best to play it down, so he said, ‘We’ve brought Simon Richardson in for questioning, yes.’
‘The news said that you’d arrested him for the murder of my daughter!’
Seeing Barrington nod over at him, Tanner replied, ‘I can confirm that we have.’
‘I see,’ came Lambert’s reply. ‘I must admit that I wasn’t expecting that to have happened so soon. Are you sure it’s him?’
With Barrington glaring over at him, Tanner took a moment to work out his answer.
‘Evidence has been found that does implicate him directly.’ He decided to include a caveat. ‘But I should mention that I’m not the one leading the investigation.’
Barrington scowled over at him, but Tanner ignored his obvious objection by adding, ‘Detective Inspector Burgess is taking the lead on this one.’
Lambert said, ‘That sounds like you don’t agree with him?’
Noticing that Barrington’s fists had clenched on top of his desk, and that his scowl had turned into more of a snarl, Tanner thought it best to avoid the question by saying, ‘DI Burgess has been working for Norfolk Constabulary for a number of years, whereas I’ve only recently joined.’
‘That doesn’t answer my question!’
Knowing it would have repercussions, Tanner bit the bullet and said, ‘Personally, I’d have waited a little longer to check through the evidence before making an arrest.’
Barrington shoved his seat away from his desk, stood up and began pacing up and down behind it. If Tanner had been on the phone to anyone else, he’d have interrupted the conversation, but as nobody had told Lambert that his conversation wasn’t being held in private, he felt unable to do that.
Aware that he was disobeying a direct order, Tanner added, ‘I’d only have done that so we could have had the chance to dot the I’s and cross the T’s, and maybe to discover more in the process. But saying that, what we’ve found already is substantial.’
‘But is it enough to convict him?’
Speaking more to Barrington that Lambert, Tanner replied, ‘It’s not about whether or not we can convict him, Mr Lambert, it’s about making sure we have the right man!’
‘Of course,’ conceded Lambert, ‘and for that reason I sincerely hope you have! Out of respect to my daughter’s memory, and the health of my wife, I don’t want this attracting any more media attention than it already has. And if you’ve gone and charged the wrong person, on behalf of my son-in-law, I’ll be filing a lawsuit for both wrongful arrest and character defamation. So for the sake of your Detective Chief Inspector Barrington, I sincerely hope this Burgess character you
mentioned has got the right man!’
Without saying goodbye, Lambert ended the call.
In the silence that followed, Barrington slunk over to the window and peered out through the horizontal blinds towards the car park behind which the journalists seemed to be lying in wait. His rage at Tanner for telling Lambert that they’d acted prematurely had been replaced with the grave concern that he may well be right.
When Burgess had told him that not only had Richardson’s alibi failed to check out, but also that his DNA matched the semen found inside the victim, Barrington had jumped at the chance for them to make an early arrest. The hope had been that doing so would extinguish media interest, as they rarely had an eye for good news, only bad. He also thought it would earn him praise from Head Office. However, if they were to discover that they’d got the wrong man, instead of extinguishing media interest it would ignite it, and Head Office would be more likely to demote him than offer him a promotion. Worse still, if his actions led to a lawsuit being filed against Norfolk Constabulary, then it was likely that his job, possibly his entire career, would be on the line.
There was another knock at the door, closely followed by the head of Detective Inspector Burgess, wearing what now seemed like a misplaced expression of smug contempt.
‘Excuse me, sir. I just thought I’d let you know that Simon Richardson’s solicitor has arrived, so DI Cooper and myself are about to go down to begin the interview.’
Heading back to his desk, Barrington said, ‘About that, Burgess. Come in for a sec, will you?’
As any trace of a smile fell from Burgess’s face, he stepped inside, closed the door, and with a venomous glare directed at Tanner, said, ‘Of course, sir.’
‘We’ve just had the suspect’s father-in-law on the phone,’ began Barrington.
‘You mean, Mr Lambert?’ Until that moment, he’d always thought of John Lambert as being the murder victim’s father, not their prime suspect’s father-in-law.
‘He was expressing his surprise that we’d made an arrest so soon.’
‘Well, yes, sir, but as we agreed –’
‘And Tanner here is suggesting that it may have been prudent to have waited, at least until we could build a stronger case against him.’
After once again glaring at Tanner, Burgess continued with what he’d been about to say.
‘But as we agreed, sir, the combination of him not playing golf as he claimed he was, and that his semen was found inside the victim, is enough to not only arrest him, but to charge him as well!’
Barrington blurted out, ‘You haven’t gone and charged him, have you?’
‘Well, no, sir, but for the life of me I can’t see why we shouldn’t!’
Entering the discussion, with diplomatic tact, Tanner said, ‘And I’d have to agree with you, if it wasn’t for the semen.’
Staring over at him, Burgess said, ‘But that is the main evidence we have against him!’
‘Perhaps, but I suspect it could also be what proves him to be innocent.’
‘But…’ began Burgess, before turning to Barrington and saying, ‘I’m sorry, sir, but he’s not making any sense!’
‘I’m merely suggesting,’ continued Tanner, ‘that it does strike me as being a little odd that he’d set out to deliberately kill his wife, and once he’d done so, by not only hitting her over the head, but by strangling her as well, he’d then decide to claim his conjugal rights, so leaving behind the one piece of evidence that would guarantee his conviction!’
Burgess was stunned into silence, leaving Barrington to clarify what Tanner had said. ‘The suggestion is that he wouldn’t have wanted to have sex with her after she was dead.’
‘It would be unusual, sir,’ confirmed Tanner.
‘Unusual maybe,’ agreed Burgess, ‘but hardly impossible, especially for someone who’d just murdered his wife with his bare hands! Maybe that’s what turns him on - having sex with dead people! For all we know, maybe she’d been refusing to have sex with him, and that was how he’d decided to get his own back, by screwing her when she was dead!’
‘If that was the case,’ interjected Tanner, ‘then I’d have thought it more likely he’d have done so whilst she was still alive, so she’d see him doing it.’
‘Yes, but you’re not him though, are you?’
‘And with respect, neither are you!’
With Burgess looking as if he was about to launch himself at Tanner, and with Tanner seeming to be happy to defend himself against such an attack, Barrington said, ‘All right you two, that’s enough!’
But Tanner still had one more thing to say, and turning to Barrington, added, ‘And a jury only needs a seed of doubt to overturn a conviction, sir.’
As Burgess stared at him in some desperation, Barrington thought for a moment before answering. ‘I’m afraid Tanner’s right. We’re going to need more if we’re going to charge him.’ Glancing down at his watch, he added, ‘And we have less than twenty-three hours. After that, we’ll need to apply for an extension if we’re going to keep hold of him, which may not be granted. Even if it is, it would only serve to drag this out for another two days, which is something we simply can’t afford to do!’
As Barrington considered his two DIs, he asked, ‘What else have we got, apart from his dodgy alibi and the semen?’
‘We’ve checked the CCTV footage,’ said Burgess, ‘but there was nothing there. It just showed the victim leaving the pub on her own. I’ve also spoken to most of the pub staff, but they only confirmed what the CCTV footage showed.’
‘What sort of relationship did she have with them?’
‘Well, she was the manager, so probably as you’d expect. I think a number of them resented her, thinking that she’d only got the job because her dad owned the pub, but nothing more than that.’
‘Anything else?’
Silence followed, during which Burgess looked as if he was struggling to think of something to add. Eventually he said, ‘The bar manager did appear to become very defensive when we questioned him about his relationship with the victim, certainly more so than anyone else did. At first I thought it was because something had been going on between them.’
‘You think this bar manager may have been having an affair with Jane Richardson?’
‘At the time I did, yes, sir. But DI Cooper was under the impression that Jane Richardson wouldn’t be his type.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘He thinks the bar manager is gay, sir.’
‘Gay?’ repeated Barrington, as if he’d never heard the word spoken out loud before.
‘Yes, sir. He had a very distinctive haircut, along with a tear-drop tattoo. And although I didn’t notice it at first, he was also wearing eye-liner.’
‘And that makes him gay, does it?’
‘When combined with his general demeanour, I’d say it does, yes.’
‘Right. And is any of this relevant?’
‘Only in that we didn’t think he’d have a personal interest in Jane Richardson, despite the way he became defensive when being asked about her.’
‘So, not really then?’
‘Well…’
Before Burgess had a chance to say anything else that Barrington considered to be a complete waste of his time, he interrupted him. ‘So, what’s next?’
Looking as if he was unsure as to his meaning, Burgess said, ‘We need to interview the suspect, sir.’
‘I was thinking more along the lines of what we can do to shore up the case we have against him?’
Once again, silence followed.
Assuming that Burgess didn’t have any more ideas as to how to go about doing that, Tanner re-entered the discussion.
‘I think it would be a good idea to find out what Mr Richardson was wearing the night she was killed, sir. Shoes as well. We could then get forensics to check them over for signs of blood, or soil from under the railway bridge. I suggest we should also go through the victim’s text messages, emails and social media accou
nts, to see if there’s any mention in there about them having argued recently. It would then be a good idea to follow that up by speaking to her friends. Maybe she’d told one of them something in confidence. We also need to take a look at her Will, sir,’ he continued, ‘and to find out how much she was worth. When I spoke to her parents, there was the suggestion that she had a substantial estate that Richardson would be due to inherit.’
Tanner glanced over at Burgess, who was staring at the wall behind Barrington’s desk with tightly pursed lips. For the second time in as many days, Tanner realised he’d probably managed to make his contemporary look as if he didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing. But this time around, it hadn’t been his intention, and he couldn’t help but feel guilty for having done so.
From Barrington’s perspective, it was becoming increasingly obvious that Burgess simply wasn’t up to the task of leading such a high-profile investigation. However, he knew making Tanner the lead now would only serve as humiliation, which would probably force Burgess to put in for a transfer. He had no experience of investigating murder, but he was a good DI nonetheless, and a difficult one to replace. Consequently, Barrington knew they were going to have to continue as they were, with Burgess leading and Tanner supporting.
Making a point of glancing down at his watch, Barrington said, ‘OK, Burgess, I suggest you begin interviewing the suspect, but before you do, get DS Gilbert to arrange for forensics to head down to his house. We need his clothes and shoes.’
‘It may be useful for them to have a look for the murder weapon as well, sir,’ suggested Tanner.
‘He’s most likely to have ditched it,’ said Barrington, ‘but it’s worth a look, I suppose. Maybe you and Jenny could join forensics and have a look for yourselves?’
‘I was hoping she would be able to start going through Jane Richardson’s personal data, sir.’
‘OK, well, fair enough.’
‘And I was hoping to be able to sit in on the interview with Mr Richardson.’
