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Susan laughed, and Karen laughed back, glad that Susan was reacting normally.
‘So,’ Karen continued, but this time in her sensible, organized voice, ‘I’m going to ask Geraldine to squeeze me in at the end of her day. I might be late home. So I’ll give you a ring when I’m finished and we can decide then what to do with our evening. OK?’
‘OK. Love you.’
‘Love you more!’ Karen had replied, slipping into a cherished teenage game.
‘Love you much more!’
‘Love you the mostest!’ Karen replied, terminating the conversation.
It was 8.31 a.m. when Lawson and Fox walked into Holden’s office, Fox carrying two steaming polystyrene cups, and Lawson some cardboard folders. Holden looked at her watch. ‘We’ll wait for Wilson. He’s just checking something out for me. In fact, since we’re not quite ready, how about getting a coffee for him, and for me too. And tell him to get a move on, while you’re about it.’
At 8.36 a.m., or near as damn it, the two of them returned with two more white cups and Wilson in tow.
‘Sorry if I held you up!’ Wilson said. Apologizing wasn’t so much second nature to Detective Constable Wilson as hard-wired into his reflex system. Holden raised her head and looked at him. His skin was red and scarred by a ceaseless adolescent battle against acne, and his ears protruded too much. He would look a lot better if he grew his hair a bit, she thought, or if he used gel on it to provide a distraction. But she looked on him in the way that she imagined mothers looked on their gawky sons – the ones who were never going to make the football team or get the straight As – with a fierce and protective pride.
‘You haven’t held us up,’ she said, gesturing towards a chair. She waited until they had all settled. Even now, she wasn’t quite sure where to start. ‘I need your help.’ She paused. It was a ridiculously personal way to open the session. She should have gone straight to the detail of the case. ‘Point one!’ But she felt alone and exposed, and the anxieties of the night had begun to bubble up to the surface again. ‘We aren’t making fast enough progress on the case. Three dead bodies, and God knows how many more to follow if we don’t pull our fingers out. So I want us all to start with a blank sheet of paper. Discard all your assumptions and look afresh at everything. OK?’
She stopped and looked around. Three heads nodded in acknowledgement. ‘So let’s start with Maria Tull’s phone.’ This startled Fox and Lawson. Simple observation told her that, and she felt glad. Whatever else, she had their full attention now. Wilson, of course, knew about her interest in Maria’s mobile. He looked pleased.
‘Fox, you were there yesterday when we interviewed Geraldine Payne. She told us she tried to phone Maria.’
‘Sure. She said she tried to ring Maria on the night of her death. A bit after six, I think she said. She wanted to know when her lectures on Venetian art were starting. But Maria didn’t answer, so she left a message asking her to ring back.’
‘Accurate, but only in so far as it goes.’ She spoke without malice, but the words were bound to hurt. Fox looked back at her, giving no sign. ‘Wilson has been taking another look at this for me,’ she continued, and turned towards her constable.
‘She did ring. At 6.21 that evening. And she left a message. As Sergeant Fox said, she asked about—’
Holden cut in. There were no favours this morning, not even for Wilson. ‘Let’s have it verbatim, Wilson.’
Wilson looked down at his notes. His face was even redder that normal. He began to read. ‘Hi, Maria. Geraldine here. How’s tricks? I’m sure your famous lectures are about to start any day. Do remind me of the details. I completed failed to make a note of it. Byeee!’
‘Thank you Wilson.’ Holden took a sip of coffee. She looked around the semi-circle of faces ag
ain. She had got their attention all right.
‘So why didn’t Maria ring her back?’
‘She never heard the message,’ Wilson said. ‘I was checking back in my notes. I went through the mobile in the normal way. Incoming calls, outgoing-calls, missed calls, text messages, and voice messages. This was the only unread voice message. I did write it in my notes, but—’
‘We should have followed it up,’ Holden said firmly. She believed in taking responsibility.
‘We were distracted by the photo of Jack Smith,’ Lawson said. The blame had to be shared. ‘All of us were.’
‘One missed phone call,’ Fox joined in. ‘It’s not like it was a big deal.’
‘Unless, of course, it turns out that it is a big deal.’ Holden knew that now with absolute certainty. It was the biggest deal. Maybe the key, even. ‘Maria didn’t get the message and she didn’t ring back. But she had the mobile on her. We know that because we found it in her coat pocket.’
‘Maybe she had just turned it off,’ Lawson suggested. ‘She was starting a series of lectures. Maybe she didn’t want to be bothered by anyone. I mean, she would definitely have turned it off before the lecture—’
‘But it wasn’t turned off when Geraldine rang her.’ Fox had caught up now, and knew exactly where the Guv was going with this. No wonder she’d been so bloody sharp with him. ‘Geraldine told us the phone rang several times before it went into the answering service.’
‘Six times,’ Holden said quietly.
‘So it must have been turned on then,’ Fox concluded. ‘Or it would have gone straight into the messaging service.’
‘If I can play devil’s advocate for a minute?’ This was Lawson’s insurance, in case she was shot down in flames. ‘Perhaps she was in the car, driving. That would explain why she didn’t pick up at the time. And then, when she got there, she was too rushed or preoccupied to listen to it and ring back.’
