Chapter 25
The rumoured death of a convicted serial murderer turned innocent until proven guilty defendant had commanded an audience.
Reporters and photographers had turned up early for the press conference that would finally confirm that the woman seen hanging from the pier all over social media was indeed Sian Fox-Carnell.
The queue had been diverted from the main entrance on Lewisham High Street and into Lewisham police station car park.
Mounted police, their horses still but on alert, watched the crowd as they waited for the rear gates to open.
‘We’re going to have to use the room next door as an overflow,’ Pellacia said.
‘It would have made more sense to have the press conference at the Yard,’ Ramouter answered, flicking through the file that contained his case notes.
‘The Yard want to keep this case at arm’s length.
Fox-Carnell is a pariah. You can’t ask people for sympathy for a woman who has already been convicted of multiple murders and attempting to murder a kid.
Much better to have us sitting in front of the cameras appealing for help and making a fool of ourselves and not the assistant commissioner. ’
‘Fox-Carnell is hardly the perfect victim,’ Pellacia continued. ‘And neither is Tabitha Ashcroft. We’ve got two victims who, in the public’s eyes, have got away with murder.’
Ramouter saw a familiar but unwanted face. ‘You have got to be joking, he sighed. ‘I’ll meet you inside, guv.’
‘I am a member of the free and independent press,’ intoned Ben. ‘I have a right to be here and a right to report the news.’
‘And I’ve told you before that you are not on the list. Just because you ordered an ID card with press written on it from the internet doesn’t mean you can just walk in here,’ said the civilian officer at the signing in desk. ‘Now leave voluntarily or I’m going to have you escorted out.’
‘You’re breaching my rights,’ Ben insisted.
‘No one is breaching your rights,’ said Ramouter, taking hold of Ben’s arm and escorting him away.
‘Mate, what are you doing?’ Ben protested as he unwittingly allowed himself to be pulled out of the queue and back into the car park.
‘Stopping you from getting arrested,’ Ramouter replied, opening the gate. ‘You are going to get into a lot of trouble if you keep pushing yourself into uninvited spaces. Do you understand me?’
Ben shook off Ramouter’s hand. ‘Do you know who I am?’ he asked. ‘Do you know how many followers I have.’
‘398,000.’
‘So, you’ve seen my channel then?’ Ben smirked. ‘Impressive, isn’t it?’
‘No, it’s not. It’s dangerous and full of misinformation.’
‘I’m giving the people what they want because you lot are no longer the good guys.’
Ramouter felt a low burning rage swell inside of him as Ben’s words touched a nerve. The battle of showing that the police were for the people was proving much harder to fight these days. He shut the gate.
‘You can’t stop us,’ Ben shouted.
Ramouter turned around and found himself facing DC Copeland, her face flushed as though she’d just run a race.
‘Looks like you had your hands full just then,’ she said, removing her jacket and unclipping her covert police vest.
‘Just a pain in my arse who tried to blag his way into the press conference, that I need to get to actually,’ Ramouter replied.
‘Is this for the Ashcrofts?’ Copeland asked in a tone that suggested to Ramouter that she knew exactly what the press conference was about.
‘And Fox-Carnell,’ he said, pushing the main door open. He checked that the corridor was empty of any reporters before continuing. ‘There are similarities, both forensically and evidentially that suggest the person who attacked the Ashcrofts also killed Fox-Carnell.’
Copeland’s mouth formed a wide O as her eyes brightened. ‘I need to sit in. In the conference I mean.’
‘I think it’s standing room only.’
‘I’ll just come with you and hang out at the back.’
‘Won’t your DCI be wondering where you are?’ Ramouter asked as they turned a corner and saw Pellacia talking with the borough commander, Geraldine Barker.
‘Yeah, you’re right.’ Copeland backed into an alcove in the hallway, out of Pellacia’s view. ‘But you know, why don’t you tell me all about it later. Maybe a drink after work? I should finish my shift by six.’
Ramouter looked across at Pellacia who had raised his arm and was pointing at his watch.
‘Sure, why not,’ he said. ‘The Gypsy Moth in Greenwich good for you?’
‘Perfect,’ Copeland replied.
‘I thought the press conference went well,’ said Barker, who oversaw the police stations and specialist units that operated in South-East London. ‘The questions from the press weren’t too painful.’
‘That’s because we’ve withheld information,’ said Pellacia, loosening his tie and taking a seat on the grey sofa in the corner of the room. ‘The last thing that I or DC Ramouter needed was to mention the scalping … I know,’ he said as Barker wrinkled her nose in disgust.
‘Scalping,’ she said. ‘It’s the stuff you read about in history books or see in Westerns. Makes my blood run cold. Where are you in terms of suspects?’
‘When it comes to Fox-Carnell there’s a long list. From the victims who somehow survived and the family members of the ones who didn’t,’ answered Pellacia. ‘Her stepfather reported incidents of harassment to Henley and Ramouter. There are photographs but no evidence as to who was responsible.’
‘You’ve got your hands full.’
‘Which brings me to why I wanted to see you, ma’am.’
‘You’ll have more luck standing outside waving a tincan on the high street if you’re thinking of asking me for money.’
‘No, I know that would be a fool’s errand,’ said Pellacia. ‘But what I’m asking for is for you to agree to a secondment. I was planning to discuss it with Henley.’
‘And have you?’
‘Not yet. There are a lot of moving parts to this investigation and it’s all hands on deck. I’ll be honest I wasn’t particularly keen on the idea of expanding the team, but I had to have a word with myself when I agreed for Ezra to accompany Henley to Soteria.’
‘You sent a civilian. Someone with no police training out on an investigation and you’re only telling me now?’ Barker exclaimed.
‘Ma’am, as I explained, there’s a lot going on with this case and the computer evidence is an important part of it. Unfortunately, my Red Dead Redemption Xbox skills are of no use here.’
‘DCI Pellacia, please don’t try to avoid the seriousness of what you did with poor humour. You’ll need to give me a full report as to why Ezra accompanied Henley and how his experience is integral to the digital component of this case.’
‘Of course, ma’am, and my apologies.’
Barker sighed. ‘Honestly, as if I don’t have enough on my plate, but back to your secondment proposal. Do you have anyone in mind or would you like HR to distribute a notice to the usual unit heads?’
Pellacia picked up the slim blue folder that was on top of his Fox-Carnell and Ashcroft case notes. ‘In the past three months I’ve received five transfer requests. You’re obviously privy to a lot more information about the applicants than I am, so I would appreciate your input.’
Barker drank her coffee as she flicked through the file. After a moment, she said, ‘DC Xania Copeland. I can’t say that I’m surprised to see her request.’
‘She submitted her request an hour after the Ashcroft case was reallocated to the SCU and then she came to my office at 7.30 this morning and repeated her request in person,’ said Pellacia.
‘She’s keen.’
‘There’s another word for it.’
‘Let’s hope that word is tenacious.’
‘It wasn’t tenacity. It was an attempt to ambush me.’
‘She’s ambitious, which in itself isn’t a bad thing, but she tends to get ahead of herself and not necessarily respect the chain of command. I think her DCI’s exact words were “She walks around like she owns the place”.’
‘She left that out of her transfer request,’ Pellacia said drily.
‘Can hardly blame her. Much better to put “I work well on my own but I’m also a team player” in your request,’ Barker sniggered. ‘A secondment wouldn’t cost you or me a penny.’
‘Are you saying that I should take her on?’
‘No, that’s not what I’m saying but, at first glance, Copeland has a head start on the applicants. She was the SIO on the Ashcroft case before it came to you. Did the secondment idea come from you or her?’
‘It was all her,’ Pellacia confirmed.
‘The problem is that the SCU is no different to any other unit that’s under my command. Some cases can be solved in a matter of days and others remain unsolved for years,’ Barker said, disappointment coating her words. ‘You can’t attach a time limit to these things.’
Pellacia merely nodded.
‘I feel that you would all benefit from the addition of someone clean – and by clean, I mean no associations with Rhimes.’
Pellacia sat straighter in his chair, the muscles in his jaw tensing as he gritted his teeth. He focused on adjusting the cuffs of his suit, to stop himself from saying the wrong thing in defence of himself. ‘It feels as though you’re suggesting that I can’t control my unit,’ he finally said.
‘You know full well that you wouldn’t be sitting here in my office discussing the future of the SCU if I thought that.
Your success is my success.’ Barker stood up, signalling that their meeting was drawing to a close.
‘The SCU is a close-knit team. That obviously has its benefits, but it can also create its own set of complex issues. Hierarchical lines become blurred, and you can become your own fiefdom with your own set of rules like sending civilians out on operations, for example.’
‘Ma’am, again, I apologise for that.’
‘Apology accepted. Look, you’ve gone to hell and back with the SCU, both professionally and personally and that hasn’t gone unnoticed by me, so I’m going to make sure that I have an answer for you about this secondment before the start of the night shift.
’ Pellacia felt as though he could finally breathe as he walked out of Lewisham police station.
It wasn’t until Barker had mentioned blurred lines that he’d realised how much the melding of his professional and personal lives was impacting him.
Pellacia took out his phone and sent a message to Laura Halifax, his on and off again girlfriend.
If he could finally define his relationship with Laura, then maybe he could finally close the door on his relationship with Henley and give 100 per cent to the SCU.