Chapter 45
Ramouter enlarged the image on Henley’s phone. ‘Who’s that?’ he asked. ‘She reminds me of Ethan’s teaching assistant.’
‘Apparently that is the woman who was leading the vigilante group in Manchester and has now moved down here,’ said Henley. ‘According to Eastwood and Stanford she and her partner were the ones who picked the victims.’
‘Do we have names for them?’ Ramouter asked.
‘Mika and Elliot. Even though the sketch is good I’m not too keen on stamping it with a Crimestoppers logo and releasing it to the public until I’ve got something a little bit more solid in terms of identification.’
‘Maybe Kaiden Longley will be able to enlighten us.’
‘It’s gone past eleven and he hasn’t shown up yet. Copeland called and confirmed that he’s not at home,’ said Henley as Ramouter pushed open the door to Ezra’s room. ‘His wife is in a panic and convinced for some inexplicable reason that we’re responsible for his disappearance.’
‘Ez, have you heard from Kaiden?’ asked Ramouter.
‘Nope,’ Ezra replied as Henley passed him a brown bag containing his breakfast. ‘First the big boss insists on dropping me home and picking me up and now you’re bringing me sustenance. I should get approached by criminals more often.’
‘Don’t even joke about it,’ said Henley, handing out coffees. ‘So, what did Kaiden send you?’
‘I’ll tell you one thing; this guy is paranoid. He encrypted everything he sent me last night which I had to spend most of the morning, well, decrypting,’ said Ezra, carefully unwrapping his bagel.
‘So did you get in?’ Henley asked.
‘Of course I did,’ Ezra said his mouth full.
‘Ezra, we ain’t got all day,’ Henley said.
‘Look up at the big screen, it will be easier than you watching over my shoulder.’ Ezra typed and brought up a list of files. ‘This first batch are case files. I checked and they’re all London court cases.’
Ramouter and Henley approached the screen.
‘Our victims are on here,’ said Ramouter. ‘Nathan Hall, Sian Fox-Carnell, Tabitha Ashcroft.’
‘Ezra, open the Nathan Hall file,’ Henley ordered.
‘Bloody hell, everything is here,’ said Ramouter. ‘Section 51 letter from the CPS to Hall’s solicitors, full case papers. Ezra, open the file named CC, please.’
‘These are downloads from the Crown Court digital case system,’ said Henley. ‘Certificate of trial readiness, witness list for the prosecution and defence. Hall’s bail application, trial forms completed by the judge.’
‘How the hell did Kaiden Longley get hold of this?’ asked Ramouter. ‘The court wouldn’t send Soteria copies of witness statements or a completed plea and trial preparation form. All they would need is the defendant’s personal details and bail address.’
‘Ezra, is there any way of finding out where these documents originated from? They don’t look like scans,’ said Henley.
‘They’re not. They were downloaded straight from the system,’ Ezra answered.
‘We need to check how many of these cases are active,’ said Ramouter. ‘The case files of our four victims are here. There are … how many are there, Ezra?’
‘In that batch fifteen, but I still haven’t gone through everything,’ Ezra said as Henley’s phone rang.
‘It’s Stanford,’ Henley said, stepping out into the corridor. ‘Hey, you. What’s going on?’
‘What isn’t going on?’ said Stanford. ‘Eastie worked her magic and convinced Karim Messenger to see us.’
‘What did he tell you?’
‘That he thinks the man who he knew as Elliot worked for the court. He just can’t tell us which one.
He met him once with Mika in a park and he said that he could see a purple lanyard around his neck.
He could only see the top of it, but he said that he could see the letters HMC before this Elliot pulled up his collar. ’
‘Just missing the letters T and S at the end. Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service,’ said Henley.
‘We were thinking of attempting to talk to the court staff but we’re looking at a minimum of four courts if we include the magistrates, Manchester Crown Court and Manchester Minshull Street Court.
I’m not sure how far we’ll get without getting permission from the resident judge to talk to the court staff. ’
‘No, leave it,’ said Henley. ‘Whoever this Elliot is he must have transferred to a London court. I’ll ask Pellacia to speak to whoever is responsible for the court staff at the Ministry of Justice.’
‘We’ve got a viable list,’ said Copeland, turning away from her screen.
‘Ezra found nineteen defendant cases in the material that Kaiden Longley sent him. Fox-Carnell, Ashcroft and Hall were on that list. Nine cases have been adjourned to next year for trial and three have changed their plea to guilty and have been remanded in custody pending sentence. Three of the remaining four are currently in the middle of trials. Bartholomew Gardner, Mason and Paige Jones and Catlin Ferguson. The fourth, Primrose Welch, her trial is due to start on Monday.’
‘Bartholomew Gardner,’ said Pellacia. ‘I’ve heard of him. Owns a chain of discount sport shops.’
‘On trial for human trafficking at Southwark,’ said Ramouter. ‘I’ve just come off the phone with the list office. The time estimate for the trial is nine weeks and they’re only on week four.’
‘And the others?’ asked Henley.
‘The jury are out deliberating on Ferguson’s case at Wood Green Crown Court. She’s on trial for a Section 18 on her sister. Acid attack.’
‘She’s looking at a possible fifteen-year stretch if convicted,’ said Copeland. ‘That leaves the Jones trial at Woolwich. The jury is out deliberating.’
‘Mason and Paige Jones have been in the news,’ said Ramouter. ‘Husband and wife own a wellness company in Shoreditch. A couple of women allege they were drugged and sexually assaulted on their manifesting yoga retreats.’
‘Any one of those are targets for our vigilantes,’ said Copeland.
‘But it all depends on the verdict,’ said Pellacia. ‘We can’t just sit here waiting for them to make a decision before we act.’
Henley stood up and paced the room. She felt as though she was a beginner in a chess match against a grandmaster. Every move she wanted to make had already been anticipated by her opponent.
‘Henley,’ Pellacia called. ‘What do you want to do?’
Henley turned around and faced the remainder of her team. ‘Let’s get the public involved,’ she said. ‘British Transport Police, City of London and our people are already on the lookout for Kaiden Longley but let’s release his image and the composite image of the man known as Don.’
‘What about the sketch that Gareth Humphreys drew?’ asked Copeland. ‘I don’t mean to be funny, it’s good, but that woman could be anybody. A fantasy of his imagination.’
‘It could be, but Eastwood showed it to Karim Messenger, and he said that the woman was Mika,’ said Henley. ‘I know it’s not an official composite sketch but right now, with multiple potential victims at risk we can’t be wasting any more time.’
‘I’ll get onto the press office and also chase up the MOJ with the court staff transfer request. Where are Stanford and Eastwood now?’ asked Pellacia.
‘They were at Cambridge services an hour ago,’ said Henley. ‘They should be here by four, give or take.’
‘Hopefully we’ll have some answers by then.’