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Chapter 32
Thursday 4th March
Cheltenham Central Police Station
‘How was Mary this morning?’ asks Steph.
‘She was surprisingly OK, I’d say, considering what she’s agreed to do. Pretty calm really,’ replies Jess.
Steph nods and turns back to the monitor in front of her, clicking on the link which will connect them to the online briefing session and tutting when the screen freezes and she has to refresh the page. Jess watches her, thinking that for once it’s actually the normally imperturbable Steph who looks a tad less than calm today. Her dark-brown bob, always so sleek, looks a little ruffled, as if she forgot to brush it this morning, and the fine lines around her eyes are deeper than usual, faint dark circles making her skin look bruised.
Feeling the pressure, Jess thinks.And I’m not surprised – it’s a hell of a position to be in, heading up an investigation like this, with the clock ticking …
‘Good morning, everyone!’
DCI Bryn Lewis’s rich baritone booms through the speakers, making her jump, and she stops staring at Steph and turns to look at the big screen, where the by now familiar faces are lined up, ready to hear the latest from Cardiff. As she suspected when she sat down, it doesn’t take long.
‘Absolutely nothing new to report,’ says Bryn, and sighs heavily. ‘We’ve now gone through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage from the night of David Howells’s murder, and there’s no sign of any suspicious late-night runners or any sodding other thing of any use either. Yet again, whoever’s doing this seems to be able to slip in and out of the area of the crime without leaving a trace. Forensically aware, careful to avoid being captured on camera – our worst nightmare. So, DCI Warden, I’m afraid I can offer you nothing to help you as D-Day approaches in your neck of the woods, unfortunately.’
Steph sighs too, and shrugs.
‘As I suspected,’ she says.
‘Did you speak to his ex? What was his name, Darren?’ asks DCI Priya Thomson, from the window on the screen marked ‘Birmingham’.
‘We did,’ says Bryn. ‘Darren Edge. Nice bloke. He and David dated for about two years and the relationship was pretty serious for a while – they even talked about marriage apparently. But it all went wrong a year or so ago. Darren was a bit younger, late thirties, and David was forty-five at the time, and Darren told us he wanted to start a family, as in, having kids. David wasn’t interested in being a dad; he said he was too old and he liked his life as it was, etcetera, etcetera. Anyway, long story short, they decided to go their separate ways, but they were able to remain on good terms and still used to meet up for dinner every few weeks. Darren actually met someone else about six months ago and the new partner also got on well with David. So no animosity there. Darren is pretty cut up about what’s happened. He says David was one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet, and he can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt him, which is pretty much the same thingeveryonewe’ve spoken to has said. No obvious motive at all. And solid alibis all round too.’
‘Same old, same old,’ says DCI Linda Lake quietly. Then she adds, ‘Any more trouble from the newspapers? I haven’t seen any follow-up stories?’
Bryn shakes his head.
‘No, thank Christ. I’m hoping we’ll get a clear run now until the 1st of April with no press interference, fingers crossed. We shall see. How are preparations, DCI … Steph?’
‘Work in progress,’ she replies. ‘I’d rather wait until everything’s finalised before I go into any details. But I’ll talk it through with you all before the day. Now, if there’s nothing else, can we leave it there for now? I have rather a lot on my plate.’
She smiles, but Jess is close enough to see that it doesn’t reach her eyes.
‘Sure,’ says Bryn. ‘Thanks all. Take care, OK? We’ll catch up again soon.’
Steph clicks her mouse a couple of times to exit the meeting, then turns to Jess.
‘I feel like the walls are closing in on me. I’m going to take a quick stroll round the block. And then we need to get the team together and start thrashing out some plans. Does that sound all right?’
Jess nods.
‘I’ll come for a walk with you. I could do with some air too. And then we’ll get our heads together. Don’t worry, Steph, we’ve got this, OK?’
Steph raises her eyebrows.
‘I bloody hope so,’ she says.
