Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
Gina stood at the head of the incident room next to the boards.
O’Connor tucked into a croissant and Wyre crunched on a pear.
Gina’s mouth watered. Wyre pulled out another pear from her bag and handed it to her.
‘Thanks,’ Gina said with a slight smile, the most she could muster given the desperate circumstance they were in.
‘You’re welcome, guv. I had my suspicions that you wouldn’t leave the station last night.’
Bernard rushed in carrying a notebook and he held a folder under his arm.
‘Glad you managed to join us.’ Gina bit into the pear while Bernard got comfortable in a seat.
‘I don’t have long, unfortunately.’
‘Would you like to go first?’ Gina asked. Brodie stood beside her, his aftershave tantalising her nostrils again. That dream had done something to her and she couldn’t let the feeling go.
‘Thank you. Yes, please.’ Bernard removed his scarf and placed it over the back of his chair.
‘Can you talk us through what you got from the scene at Maura Pickering’s house and anything relevant from Tina Wild’s drive?’
‘Of course. I can confirm what we suspected at the time. Kain Pickering was attacked in his bed. There was a slight trail of blood leading to the bathroom and a bloody mark on one of the tiles. The height of this blood and the way that it had spattered shows it was likely from his head making contact with the tiles. There was also a wound hidden by his hair that would back this up. We know that the blood in the bathroom is a match for the blood in the bedroom. The knock on the head may have made it easier for the perp to get Kain into the bath. A bar of soap had also slipped into the bath, the same soapy water that had filled the victim’s lungs so we can confirm that’s where he died.
Also, the perp was forensically aware. Not one print, speck of bodily fluid or hair found anywhere.
The best we have is the disposable vape from the other scene.
We managed to find some DNA and partial prints but the previous owner of that vape is not on the database. ’
Gina had hoped for more but their perp was a ghost and it was possible that the vape belonged to someone who was unrelated to the incident.
‘Okay, let’s move on to the hoodie that was left at Maura’s house, the one that looked to have been used to break the back-door glass in order to gain entry.
’ Gina turned to the rest of the room. ‘We found the hoodie, Justine Crawford’s business card and a red hair.
This led us to the Crawfords and we have confirmed that the hoodie belonged to Craig Crawford who is now on the run. ’ Gina checked her watch. ‘Wyre?’
‘Yes?’
‘Can you check with DI Kempsey at Kidderminster, see if you can get any more information from him. I’ve checked the system for updates but he may know more or may not have updated yet. Share what we have and see what they have.’
‘Will do.’ Wyre smiled.
Brodie interjected. ‘I did ask if he could attend our meeting but he had something big but unrelated come in during the night. They’re short-staffed over there but hopefully some more detectives will be deployed from another constabulary soon.
Also, their uniformed officers are still conducting door-to-doors and following up witness leads.
They have spoken to Zavier’s wife and the family are said to be processing the news.
He did say that they have alibis and aren’t persons-of-interest so we can rule them out. ’
‘Jacob and Kapoor have looked into Sheena May’s partner, Fabien Stone. He has become another person of interest. That doesn’t mean we can let up on finding Craig Crawford. We need them both to come in. Jacob?’ Gina said.
‘Yes.’ He stopped scrolling.
Gina frowned, wondering what he’d been reading.
She addressed the room. ‘We need to head to Sheena’s next and bring Fabien in.
Jacob found an Instagram account that belonged to him.
Fabien wrote, “A man can’t call himself a man unless he can protect his wife and then his children.
A real man will do anything it takes. Are you a real man?
” We know he’s a debt collector. His brother drowned in his care when they were children.
He has been brought in twice for fighting but nothing has resulted in a conviction.
Kain went over to Sheena’s place. He caused a scene and upset her.
This could have triggered Fabien to attack Kain.
We need to look into him. See if he has any association with Craig or Zavier.
He might have known Lindy as Lindy is Sheena’s ex sister-in-law. No link to Craig so far.’
‘Guv?’ Jacob held up his phone. ‘Craig and Fabien follow each other on Instagram. There is a post that goes back almost two years. They both completed the same triathlon and took a selfie together.’
‘Bring him in.’
Bernard cleared his throat and checked his watch. ‘Sorry, I have to get back but there is one more thing.’
‘I am so sorry. I should have let you finish.’ Gina had let the briefing go off on a tangent knowing that Bernard couldn’t stay long.
‘The killer has slipped up.’
‘How?’
‘The forensics team found a tiny trace of blood under the cat’s claws. It isn’t a match for Craig’s. We have the DNA of someone else who was at the scene.’
‘And we know the cat had been trapped in the bedroom. Is there a match on our database?’ Gina felt her heartbeat ramping up.
‘No, but the DNA from the cat’s claws did match that on the disposable vape.’
‘Well, that is a breakthrough and links the two scenes nicely.’ Gina paused and turned to Jacob as he’d been looking into Fabien that morning. ‘What do we know about Fabien?’
Jacob popped his pen on the table and cleared his throat. ‘Fabien was never convicted. His DNA is probably not in the database. Back then it probably would have been taken and then destroyed. As for Craig, he’s never been arrested.’
‘Is Fabien Instagramming at the moment?’ Gina asked.
‘Yes.’ Jacob scrolled. ‘It looks likely that he’s at his office, although he could be posting from another location.
He’s just this moment tagged Fab Stone Collection Services Ltd.
Looking at the name of the business, he is the owner.
I’m not sure if it’s just him as he doesn’t mention any other staff. ’
‘We have to go. Lindy has been gone since yesterday evening. I can’t let myself believe that it’s too late for her,’ Gina said.
PC Smith ambled in.
Gina glanced across the room. ‘We have to find Craig. Keep all units on alert.’
PC Smith nodded.
‘And we need uniform to assist us. We’re heading to Fab Stone to bring Fabien Stone in.’
‘I’ll get onto that now, guv,’ PC Smith said as he turned around and left the room.
Brodie exhaled. ‘I’ll get on with the press release. We have a team of journalists waiting for yet another update. This case is getting hotter by the minute and the national press are here now. We have decided to put Craig’s face out there.’
‘But what if he has Lindy, and gets desperate and kills her?’
‘We have looked into this and we believe she doesn’t have much time either way. We need to find her and our last hope is that the public come forward to help.’
Gina swallowed. This was a risky strategy but he had made the decision. She only hoped they could get to Craig and Fabien first. ‘Can you wait until we have Fabien? Please, just give us that.’
He looked at his watch. ‘You have sixty minutes until we go public with Craig.’
Sixty minutes seemed like mere seconds. She grabbed her coat and nodded to Jacob to follow. She flung the last bit of pear into the bin. ‘Kapoor?’
‘Yes, guv.’
‘I’m worried about Justine and her son, Danny.
Get a family liaison officer over to be with them.
She’s at her mother’s. The address is on file.
’ She mulled over the friendship group. Pia, Lindy and Justine.
Justine was a concern with her being Craig’s wife.
Lindy had been taken and Pia had been having an affair with Craig.
‘I also want someone to check on Pia. These three women are all connected to this case in some way and I don’t want anything to happen to them. ’
Gina glanced at her watch. Fifty-seven minutes.
The clock was ticking. ‘The race is on. PC Smith is arranging backup. Given Fabien’s link to Craig, Sheena and Kain, we need to investigate him further and having a business premises might provide the perfect place to hide and hurt Lindy.
We also can’t risk that Fabien will warn Craig if they are in this together.
On a normal day, we could have brought him in for questioning but a life is in imminent danger. Let’s arrest Fabien and bring him in.’