Their Lost Daughters (DI Jackman & DS Evans #2)(65)

While Jackman arranged for Elizabeth Sewell’s transfer, Marie went out into the main office to fetch them some strong coffee.

Max was lifting a pile of printer paper from his desk. ‘Sarge, have you got a moment? Things are looking good here. The forensic team have done some work on the name card for the oldest body. It’s Fleur. They are still working on the others but they are hopeful they’ll have some more names very soon. And the other CID teams have been hard at it with the IDs. We have a girl called Hebe Brock, a Scottish traveller who went missing five years ago. Date of birth tallies and she was reported as having had the top of one finger amputated in an accident. Our victim had an identical bone injury. Plus there is a fifteen-year-old serial runaway from Calne in Wiltshire. Her name is Sophie Berry, and she’s been missing for seven years. The date of birth, Christian name, a red jacket and a charm bracelet all match. Another girl is named Tessa Avery. It was assumed that she had run off with her boyfriend to Spain, but her parents never heard from her again. She’s been missing for three years and came from Surrey.’

‘Interesting, isn’t it? So far, none of them are high-profile cases or local mispers.’

‘Emily was local,’ said Max. ‘So obviously the killer was getting more confident.’

‘Then, thank God we found his lair when we did. Good work, Max.’ Marie patted him on the shoulder. ‘Anything more in the pipeline?’

‘Well, everything we have is now on the Police National Computer, so they could get more hits at any moment.’

‘Then maybe you should take the opportunity to get home?’

‘I’m trying to find out more about Fleur, our really old skeleton, Sarge, the one with the badly broken ankle. Because of her age I’m certainly not having as much luck as the others, but I’d like to keep at it for a while longer.’ Max typed in another search. ‘Plus I’d quite like to see if the PNC coughs up anything interesting over the next hour or so. We’ve sent out some pretty motivating enquiries.’

‘Okay, but don’t stay all night, kiddo.’

As Marie went to the coffee machine she wondered about Max’s social life. Did he even have one? Despite his striking good looks, Marie got the impression that Max’s ideal night in would consist of a takeaway, a pot of coffee, and fast broadband.

Carefully balancing three hot polystyrene beakers, Marie placed one next to Max, and took the other two back to Jackman’s office.

Jackman was just replacing the phone as she went in. He seemed edgy all of a sudden. ‘Something wrong?’

‘Everything.’ On his face was a mixture of anger and mystification. ‘Elizabeth Sewell is being transferred, but I’ve just been speaking to the FMO out at Harlan Marsh, and told him it’s imperative that we interview Micah Lee. He says the man’s mind is in a state of flux. One minute he’s lucid and reasonable, the next he’s climbing the walls.’ Jackman glowered at the phone. ‘I don’t have the time to go there and sodding well sit around waiting for one of his “reasonable” moments.’

‘Couldn’t an officer from Harlan Marsh do it for you? Someone who is on hand to monitor Lee’s moods?’

‘What, you’d actually trust someone from Cade’s manor, would you?’ Jackman barked.

‘I trust Gary,’ she said quietly. ‘So I’d trust anyone Gary vouched for. They can’t all be bent, can they? One rotten apple won’t have contaminated the whole barrel.’

Jackman put his head in his hands. ‘You’re right. Sorry, Marie. Ask Gary to come in, would you?’ He sat up straight. ‘In fact, get the whole team together in the CID room. We need to talk.’

*

Jackman perched on the edge of a desk in front of one of the white-boards. Down one side of the board was a list of the victims. Full names, photographs and the places where they disappeared were being added minute by minute. Already they had photos of Tessa Avery, Sophie Berry, Hebe Brock, and just a few seconds ago, Annie Crane and Lucy O’Connell had been added.

At the top of the board was the name Windrush, and below that, Benedict Broome, Elizabeth Sewell and Micah Lee.

Jackman stood up and pointed to the name Elizabeth. ‘This woman is a direct link to the Children’s Ward. However, we already know from Rory that some of the dead girls had been seriously assaulted using a great deal of force, and possibly raped, so that means that either she had an accomplice, or her involvement is in some way,’ he shrugged, ‘accidental.’

‘But she is connected to Broome, and to Lee, by virtue of his being employed by Broome.’ Marie pursed her lips. ‘So what if her employer asked her to print out some labels? She’d do it, wouldn’t she? And she’d not necessarily be aware of what they were?’

‘That,’ said Jackman, ‘is what I mean by accidental. And maybe she’d do it for a friend too. We need to talk to her as soon as she’s been assessed at Saltern Hall. Meanwhile, Gary, I need to find a trustworthy senior detective at Harlan Marsh, someone who would interview Lee for us, and preferably without Chief Superintendent Cade knowing. Is there such an officer?’

‘Only one that I know of, sir. DI Jim Salmon.’

‘Jim Salmon? The same guy who used to be our dog handler years back? He’s a detective now?’ Jackman’s eyes widened. ‘Perfect, I’ll ring him as soon as we’ve finished.’