Chapter 10
Kelly peeked her head around the door to Jamie’s room and called the SOCO over.
Back in the day, ordinary coppers did everything.
They secured the scene, reported it, interviewed witnesses, gathered evidence and conducted the investigation.
Now everything was specialised. The SOCOs she worked with had studied their craft at university and gave time to the scene she couldn’t possibly.
This one had been at the Faeryland café yesterday.
‘Spatter on the lower floor is consistent with the height of the atrium. He fell two floors for sure. I’ve sent you the scene in CAD by email.
Our biggest problem is the public nature of the site.
With delegates and staff trampling all over this place, it’s almost impossible to isolate Mr Robbins’ movements. ’
‘Forensics?’
‘In here. They want to talk to you.’
Jamie Robbins’ life was being slowly erased as scientists and experts pored over what was left of it. His last chance to speak would be at the postmortem.
Kelly had dealt with all manner of falls before and they were all horrific.
Survivability depended on lots of things, though, not just height.
She went inside to find a forensic officer and looked around.
Bodies in plastic placed evidence in bags to label and number.
There was a box which was almost full of items. They discussed the possibility of a scuffle both inside and outside Jamie’s room, given the discarded items. The information had been kept under wraps for now.
‘Did you identify the scarf?’ the forensic officer asked.
Kelly shook her head. ‘Sadly, I can’t subpoena everyone’s suitcases, or my life would be so much easier, and we’d all be home by now, wouldn’t we?’ She grinned. ‘Any of the women here could be missing a scarf,’ she added.
‘When we first arrived, what struck us all was the room was pretty tidy for a bloke, I have to say. He might have been the fastidious type; that’s for you to find out. This is the most interesting thing.’
The forensic officer pointed to a laptop.
‘It was easy to unlock; we’ve had a browse and there are three or four emails you might want to look at.
It’ll go to forensic tech for a full review but I’m giving you the heads up, he was being pursued by several lawyers about a case of corporate manslaughter.
A woman in the USA is suing him for damages because she’s saying that one of his products caused her all sorts of medical conditions. ’
Kelly took in the information. ‘Anything else?’
‘A large collection of porn.’
‘Really?’
‘See for yourself.’
She showed her several bags of USBs and photos.
Kelly flicked through the images and it struck her that the grubby nature of the haul didn’t really fit the profile of the deceased in her mind.
The picture she’d been building up of Jamie Robbins was of a thrusting young company director, on the up, making his fortune, and balancing work and life.
There was no suggestion of deviance in his past. She’d read a little bit about FairGro and they paid popstar wages – not that rich people weren’t perverts – it just added another more complex layer to her investigation.
Jamie Robbins, it seemed, lived a double life.
‘Do you know what’s on these?’ she asked, pointing to the USBs.
‘More of the same.’
‘That’s depressing.’
‘It always is.’
‘Where did you find them?’
‘In a suitcase in the wardrobe.’
‘Prints?’
‘Done. We’ll send them all for digital testing too.’
‘Excellent.’
‘Did you get the attachment from the phone with the footage on it?’
‘I’m just about to look at it now.’
She left the room and found a bench along the second-floor corridor to sit on her own to watch the video taken by the podcaster of the aftermath of when Jamie fell to his death.
It was a curious thing to do, to take out your phone when faced with a dying man, covered in his own brains, to film him.
It showed a deep lack of humanity that sat badly with Kelly.
It smacked of a lack of empathy that was fast becoming prevalent in modern crime.
They saw it all the time. Violence was becoming commonplace.
Force was used excessively, and perps seemed to enjoy inflicting suffering, as if the crime itself wasn’t enough.
People had become desperate for kicks found in the worst places.
The young woman who’d filmed the scene had been questioned at length and she’d been threatened with arrest if she’d used the footage online before the police seized it.
She’d assured them she hadn’t, but a search of her X account told them otherwise.
She’d been taken to Penrith for questioning.
She’d broken data protection laws if nothing else.
She’d interfered with an ongoing investigation and solicited clickbait.
But that wasn’t Kelly’s concern. She’d be dealt with by the CPS.
It was peaceful up here, she thought. The corridor was brightly lit and decorated pleasantly. The huge window at the end overlooked the lake and threw in light.
She opened the attachment and found the footage. She pressed play.
People screamed and some ran, while others stood stock still. The footage was shaky but clear. The woman filming walked closer to the person lying on the floor and Kelly saw the amount of blood spreading quickly beneath him. He didn’t stand a chance.
Nobody helped him.
Until Lee Lovett took charge and tried to block the filming with a sheet or tablecloth. But then he slipped and fell on Jamie. It was desperate and extremely distressing.
Jamie was still alive. Even she could see that from the footage.
Then she saw the woman identified as Doctor Sandy Cooper screaming, which was a little excessive for a colleague but Kelly knew that people reacted to shock in different ways. She watched Lee struggle to get up and raise a bloody hand to the camera, and Sandy throw herself over the body.
Then she watched it again with full sound.
She rewound it over and over again, stopping and starting.
Two things stood out.
One was somebody behind the camera talking with an American accent. The other was the bodyguards with drawn weapons.