Child's Play (D.I. Kim Stone #11)(30)

Kim thanked him as Bryant stepped towards the head of the college who, although wearing a polite smile, didn’t seem thrilled they were still there.

‘A phone call was made from this location to Belinda’s phone on the day she died and we need to know who made that call,’ Kim explained.

Felicity stared towards the other door. ‘Given what you’ve told me I’d say that was perfectly obvious.’

‘I don’t think so,’ Kim said. Charles had already confirmed that he’d had no contact with Belinda for over a month and following his honesty on everything else she had no cause to doubt him. His alibi would be checked along with everyone else’s whereabouts. ‘But feel free to give us the data that proves us wrong.’

Only the main number of the college had registered on Belinda’s phone records, but Kim was guessing there were hundreds of extensions that all had access to an outside line.

‘All calls in and out are routed via the computerised switchboard,’ Felicity said, tapping the screen on an empty desk. ‘Any call from these premises will register the main number but there are almost three hundred extensions.’

‘Please tell me you record all calls,’ Kim said, hopefully.

She shook her head. ‘Just a little too invasive, officer. We have call monitoring on the sales extensions and the help lines.’

‘So, is there any way of finding out who made that call?’

‘I didn’t say we don’t monitor at all, Inspector. We do like to know that our staff aren’t spending all day on the phone.’

‘So?…’

‘So, there is a database that logs all information of every phone call out of the premises, time made, duration et cetera.’

‘And the database is searchable?’ Kim asked, hopefully.

‘I think you’ll find that Louise is waiting right now for the number called.’

‘It’s Belinda’s—’

‘We don’t keep staff details in there, data protection.’

Bryant took out his notebook and read the number off to her.

She typed it in and waited for a few seconds while the screen loaded.

‘Here we are,’ Louise said. ‘The number was called from the college on Monday morning at 9.55.’

‘That’s the one,’ Kim said.

‘Call lasted two minutes thirty-three seconds and was made from extension number 27, which is… Oh.’

Louise picked up her phone and pressed the two and seven. She waited a few seconds and then shook her head.

‘It’s an active line but…’

‘But what, Louise?’ Felicity asked, frowning.

This was a woman who did not like surprises.

‘It doesn’t exist. There’s no extension 27 on the list.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Felicity said, coming around to the other side of the desk. ‘There has to be.’

Louise shrugged. ‘It’s not on the list,’ she said, tightly.

Felicity looked over her shoulder. ‘So extension 26 is the Biology office and extension 28 is the Physics lab.’

‘But they were all swapped over and kept when—’

‘Excuse me,’ Kim said to remind them she was there.

‘Follow me. The Science block is one of the oldest parts of the complex,’ Felicity explained, as she headed towards the door through which she’d come. Both she and Bryant followed.

‘Hence the lower extension numbers. Right now, we’re in the process of moving the entire lab to the new block but it’s only part complete.’

Kim followed the woman whose heels were in no way detrimental to her speed. They travelled corridor after corridor, down stairs, upstairs and crossed from one block to another.

‘We’re keeping the extension numbers the same to avoid any confusion, but extension 27 appears to have slipped through the net.’

Felicity pushed open a heavy set of double doors as Kim’s phone signalled the receipt of a text message. She hung back and read it quickly.

She frowned at the text and the sender.

A cryptic text from DI Tom Travis was unlikely to add anything positive to her day. What the hell could he possibly want?

She put the phone away and joined the two of them in the corridor.

Felicity was pointing. ‘That’s the old Biology office and right next door is the Physics lab. There’s no phone in between.’

Kim looked to the door on the opposite side of the corridor.

‘What’s in?…’

‘That’s just a cleaner’s cupboard,’ Felicity said, as Kim opened the door.

She was right, Kim realised, noting the industrial mopping machine, buckets, brushes, shelving, as well as the phone on the wall.

‘Oh my… I had no…’

Kim turned to Bryant. ‘Unlikely we’ll get anything but give Mitch a call to see if there are prints.’

Bryant nodded and turned away.

‘We need this door locked, Ms Astor. No one is to enter this room until scene of crime officers have been in.’

Kim had no idea how many times the phone had been used since, or even if the call had any link to Belinda’s murder, but it was the best lead they had so far.

‘Who has access to this area of the building?’ Kim asked. The list of people couldn’t be endless which would give them somewhere to start.