Backlash

Chapter Three

Anna had spent most of Sunday night in bed reading the dense file on Rebekka Jordan, eventually falling asleep at around 3 a.m. A number of items were jumbled and she had carefully taken her own notes, marking down dates, times, interviews and witnesses, and read some of the hundreds of statements covering over twelve months. Langton’s scrawled writing was over many of the pages; some details were underlined or highlighted. There were also lots of photographs of Rebekka, her parents and siblings, and a thick dossier of press cuttings. There were DVD recordings of the CCTV footage and the television reconstruction, plus home videos from Rebekka’s family, which she had yet to watch.

After the prison visit Lewis dropped Paul Barolli off at the station and told him to write up the Henry Oates interview report while he went to the pathology lab to collect the interim post mortem report on Justine Marks and get an update from the forensic department as well. He wondered whether he should phone Langton to tell him about the interview with Oates but decided that rather than keep calling him while he was off sick he would read the post mortem report and speak with the forensic scientist first so he could give as full an update as possible. He knew however that Langton’s main concern would be any developments in the Jordan case.

On arrival at the lab Mike decided to go to the forensic department first to speak to Pete Jenkins, the lead scientist who was overseeing the Justine Marks case. He had examined her high-heeled leather boots, confirming that the direction of the scuffmarks was consistent with her being dragged backwards along the pavement. Justine’s silk skirt, torn blouse, tights and knickers were all stained with her blood, and they had found traces of Oates’s semen on the vaginal swabs. Strands of her hair were on the larger end of the heavy-duty spanner, along with Oates’s palm print on the shaft. The fact that there was no blood on that end of the spanner suggested he had only struck her once with it, but the extent of the man’s depravity was revealed when, sickeningly, the scientist said that on the other end of the spanner they had found vaginal discharge, skin tissue and blood matching Justine’s DNA. As Mike listened to the scientist’s findings his growing contempt for Henry Oates boiled within him as it became even clearer how evil and calculating a liar he was.

After visiting the forensic lab Mike went to the pathology department and collected the interim report on Justine Mark’s post mortem. He had not eaten since breakfast and decided to browse through the report while he grabbed some lunch at the lab canteen and look for any links to Pete Jenkins’ forensic results. As Mike knew, Justine Marks had a severe head wound at the back of her skull and the indentation had a half-moon appearance. The pathologist had now looked at the heavy-duty spanner recovered from the back of Oates’s van, and observed that Justine’s head injury was indeed consistent in shape and size with the larger end of it and he confirmed that the blow would most certainly have rendered her unconscious. She had a perforated right eardrum and there was blood in her nostrils and mouth. Mike, having seen Justine’s body at the mortuary and discussed the external injuries with the pathologist, flicked through the report to the internal examination details. As expected, the pathologist had found injuries consistent with Justine being violently sexually assaulted with one end of the spanner. Also of interest was that dissection of the neck had revealed that the muscle tissue around her throat was bruised and the hyoid bone fractured, indicating she had been strangled, possibly by use of her bra, which was found around her neck. The concluding paragraph gave the cause of death, pending further tests on her brain, as asphyxiation by ligature. Although they had no witnesses to Justine Marks’ abduction and murder, it was clear from the pathology and forensic evidence that Oates had intentionally murdered Justine. Even to a hardened and experienced detective like Mike Lewis it was horrific to contemplate that Fidelis Julia Flynn and the thirteen-year-old Rebekka Jordan could have suffered the same terrifying death as Justine Marks had at the hands of Henry Oates.

Anna woke early, had a quick shower and then, still in her dressing gown, began to sift through the numerous DVDs and videos from Rebekka Jordan’s file. She watched the CCTV footage three times before slotting in the television reconstruction, followed by the numerous interviews to the press by Rebekka’s parents. Lastly, Anna watched a home video of the victim. There were various scenes that had been edited together, which showed the pretty girl from around the age of eight, at birthday parties, or on a trampoline with her blonde hair loose as she jumped up and down laughing, demonstrating her prowess as she performed a variety of tumbles and somersaults. She was magical to watch. There was extensive footage of Rebekka riding in gymkhanas, again proving her athletic ability as she flew over jumps with ease. Then came a poignant clip of the girl having her hair brushed by her mother and showing the loss of her milk teeth, giving a funny gapped smile to the camera. Next she was holding up some small figurines to the camera and calling them by various names. Finally, there she was singing, in an ivory white angel dress for a Nativity play. Then the screen went blank.

Anna was about to press rewind when another image of Rebekka dancing with her mother appeared on the screen. This was obviously where Rebekka got her looks from, as her mother was blonde, attractive and elegant as they waltzed together. It was a very touching moment when the mother twirled her around and the little girl’s dress billowed out, but something else caught Anna’s attention. Pausing the action, she stared at the screen, certain that the doll’s house behind them was the same one she had seen in Langton’s flat. Although Anna had still not read up on all the statements and enquiry results for Rebekka Jordan, she felt, having read Langton’s investigation report, that she knew enough to begin her enquiry. She arrived at the station just after nine and went straight to the incident room on the second floor. Joan Falkland was carrying a coffee and buttered teacake to her desk as Anna took off her coat.

‘Hello, Joan. Where can I park myself?’ she asked as she put her briefcase and the large box containing the Jordan files on the floor.

Joan looked at her with surprise, and at the same time gestured over to an empty desk. ‘We’re short of space in here but DCI Lewis is trying to get us moved to a bigger office.’

‘Is Mike in?’

‘He’s gone to Wandsworth Prison with Paul Barolli so he may be some time yet. I can let him know you called in.’

‘That’s okay, I’m not in a rush.’

Joan began to mark up notes on the incident board, assuming Anna had popped in to speak with Mike Lewis.

‘You going to introduce me?’ Anna asked.

‘Oh sorry, ma’am, yes of course. Everyone, this is DCI Anna Travis.’

Joan introduced her to two clerical staff and three DCs attached to the case, adding that DC Barbara Maddox was having breakfast. Anna had worked with Joan, Barbara and Paul on four previous cases. With Mike heading up the investigation she wondered how the team would react to her taking over the Rebekka Jordan investigation.

‘What’s the canteen like?’

‘Good. You want a coffee?’

‘If you’re having one, yes thank you.’

‘Want anything with it, teacake, toast?’

‘Nope, just coffee.’

In the canteen Barbara was gossiping with a colleague as Joan joined them.

‘You are not going to believe it. DCI Travis is upstairs in the incident room.’

‘What’s she want?’ Barbara said as she squirted tomato ketchup over her poached eggs and tomato.

‘Come to see Mike Lewis, didn’t say why.’

‘Langton was on the phone earlier, kept going on and on about his knee surgery. He left a message for Mike to contact him, but didn’t mention Travis. She’s in charge of that specialist unit so it must have come from him, you know how friendly those two were.’

Joan nodded in agreement. ‘She looks well. It was terrible what happened to her. I often think about it, you know. One minute you’re congratulating her on getting engaged and then the next minute he’s been murdered.’

‘She’s worked a couple of cases since then,’ Barbara pointed out.

‘I know, I know, I was just saying how it affected me, and she was straight back to work. I wouldn’t have been able to cope at all. Langton had to tell her, you know, he got the call at the station. I will never forget that day. You okay for coffee? I’m taking one up to her.’

Barbara gave a sarcastic cooing sound and then leaned close to whisper, ‘Bringing her in over Mike’s head is going to cause problems, believe me – he’s anxious enough as it is.’

‘It’s rare but I have worked with two DCIs on the same case before. And let’s face it, we’ve no further details about the other two cases we’ve now got to work on.’

‘Well I’m just saying her presence isn’t going to help matters.’

‘I’ll get her coffee then we’d better get back up there. You know what she’s like, God forbid we start off on the wrong foot with her.’

‘I haven’t finished my breakfast,’ Barbara said.

‘I’m sure that’s all you’re worried about, Barbara, you just want to stir it up. I’ve always got along with her and I know why you haven’t.’

‘What?’

‘You were always jealous of her relationship with Langton. How often have you run to the canteen for his chicken toastie, picking out the tomatoes because he hates them?’

Barbara refused to rise to the bait, sliding her unfinished plate to one side and walking off with a foul expression on her face. Sometimes Joan really pushed it with her.

Anna was studying the mug shots of Henry Oates. Langton had said that he had no idea what Oates looked like. The man had a very unpleasant expression. His hair was a dirty blond, very thick and wiry. He had wide-set pale blue eyes and a boxer’s face; the bridge of his nose in profile was very flat and saddle-shaped, but turned up at the end with pig-like nostrils. His mouth was very narrow and turned downwards, and, like a petulant child, he glared into the camera lens.

‘Unpleasant-looking, isn’t he?’ Anna said, as Barbara and Joan walked into the office.

‘He’s even nastier in the flesh; his skin’s very pale – redhead’s skin with freckles,’ Barbara replied as Anna turned and glared at her.

‘No offence, ma’am. You’ve got red hair, but you don’t have that coloured skin.’

Anna chose to ignore Barbara’s acerbic comment. ‘Is he fit? You can’t tell from the mug shots,’ Anna asked as Joan handed over her coffee.

‘Wiry, with big shovel-like hands. Barolli said he stinks like a skunk and lived in squalor like an animal,’ Joan replied as she moved along the board to point out the photographs taken from Oates’s basement flat.

‘So you joining the team, are you?’ Barbara asked.

‘I don’t think that’s a matter that concerns you, DC Maddox.’

Barbara, having been put in her place, trudged over to her desk as Joan told Anna how well she looked.

‘Thank you. How’s your mother?’

Joan pulled a face. ‘Same as usual, nothing is ever good enough for her. She’s got me waiting on her hand and foot, but she’s got meals on wheels delivering her lunches. She doesn’t really go out any more, her focus in life is the TV, and I got Sky for her so she’s got enough channels to keep her happy.’

Anna asked if the HOLMES computer in Mike Lewis’s office was live and linked to their case, and on being informed that it was she picked up the Jordan files along with her briefcase and said that she had some work to catch up on while she waited for Mike’s return from Wandsworth. She had contemplated revealing that she would now be heading up the Rebekka Jordan investigation but felt it would be rude not to speak with Mike personally before informing the team together.

Anna was looking at Henry Oates’s details on the computer and noting that there was little known about him other than his age, date of birth, current address and that he was divorced with an ex-wife and two kids who now all lived in Scotland. She did not see DCI Mike Lewis enter the main office, but Barbara did, and from her desk she watched his reaction as he opened his office door.

‘Travis.’

Anna looked up and smiled. ‘Hi, Mike. How’s it going?’

‘I’m fine. How’s things with you?’

‘Great, thanks. I hope you don’t mind me using your desk. I needed computer access to your investigation so I could get up to speed.’

Mike was wrong-footed, but made no reference to the fact he was surprised to see her, and even more surprised when she had implied she was on the team. Tight-lipped, he hung up his coat and drew the blinds down as his office window looked out into the incident room.

‘What’s going on?’ he asked in a brusque manner.

Anna immediately realised that Langton had not, as he had promised, spoken to Lewis.

‘I got a call from Langton about the Rebekka Jordan investigation.’

‘Yes, and…?’

‘He said he’d ring you.’

‘About what exactly?’ Mike asked as he pulled up a chair and sat opposite her. Anna could clearly see that he was upset.

‘First off, Mike, let me make it clear that I’ve been put in an awkward situation here. Langton had already spoken to the Commander about me coming on board so my hands were tied…’

‘Can you get to the point, please, Anna?’ Mike asked.

‘As you know, Langton dealt with the original investigation and in his usual obsessive way wants a result. Some closure for the Jordan family, and I agreed to reinvestigate only if you were happy about it.’

‘Well this is all news to me and, to be honest, it’s sort of pulled the rug from under me slightly. If he was unhappy about the way I’ve been conducting my investigation-’

Anna, wanting to diffuse the situation, interrupted him. ‘Mike, he’s not. He feels that you have too much on your plate running all three investigations together. To ease your workload he wants me to look at the Jordan case and you to deal with Fidelis Flynn and see what similarities we find that may link Oates to their disappearance and murder.’

Mike mulled Anna’s comments over in his mind before replying. ‘Oates thinks I will try and fit him up so independent investigations would help counter that type of allegation,’ he conceded.

‘Mike, you are the senior DCI and it’s your team so I understand if you are uncomfortable with me being here. I want to assist you in any way I can and will do whatever is necessary so that we can work together rather than in any competitive manner.’

‘As you can see my office is tiny with just the one computer terminal.’

‘I know that. I’m quite happy to work in the team office.’

He shrugged, and again she waited for his response.

‘Okay by me, but so far we have been unable to get any admission from Oates that what he said in his original statement about killing two other girls was the truth. He claims he made it up or we are trying to fit him up with murder. I interviewed him this morning at the prison and the reality is I’m no further forward.’

‘Kumar’s representing him, isn’t he?’

‘Yeah, and straight up I can’t stand him. I think he’s schooling Oates but I can’t see why as he’s bang to rights for the murder of Justine Marks.’

‘Which he has admitted to?’

‘Well he’s lying, trying to say it was an accident. I went to the pathology and forensic labs after the prison visit and there’s a load of evidence against him for murder.’

‘Do you think Kumar might go for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility?’

‘There’s no medical history to show Oates is mentally unstable and Kumar hasn’t asked for pre-trial psychiatric reports.’

‘It’s early days, Mike. If you have evidence against Oates only for Justine Marks then Kumar knows there’s a good chance the CPS may accept a manslaughter plea on diminished.’

‘That’s Kumar and the court’s problem, but if that situation arises…’

Anna pursed her lips and put up her hand to interrupt.

‘What was he like during the interviews?’ she asked. ‘His moods changed. At the station he went from calm to belligerent then visibly anxious, chewing his lip and tapping his foot.’

‘What about at the prison?’

‘He seemed depressed and avoided eye contact until I confronted him about how he knew Fidelis Julia Flynn was an exchange student.’

‘He may not have killed her. He could have met her legitimately and be frightened to say so as he thinks it would implicate him in her disappearance.’

‘You really know how to brighten up my day, Anna.’

‘Sorry, Mike, just being devil’s advocate. If Oates did kill Rebekka and Fidelis then he had to dispose of the bodies somehow, somewhere. If it wasn’t for the uniform officers stopping Oates Justine Marks could have been just another “Misper” statistic.’

‘We know he’s done some work on building sites but where and when is proving difficult to find out. He’s been virtually unemployed for ten years and claiming benefits, so anything extra was probably cash in hand.’

‘Well he can clearly drive so maybe he disposes of his victims locally.’

‘I know that, Anna, but with the length of time since both girls went missing and no confirmed locations it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. I had a search unit check Hackney Marshes but they found nothing.’

‘Not much to go on then?’

‘You said it.’

Anna stood and picked up her empty coffee cup.

‘You know what Langton always asks me, or used to ask me? He would always want to know what my gut feeling was. What’s yours?’

Mike leaned back in his chair and swivelled from side to side. ‘Well he’s obviously lied about how Justine died. As for Rebekka and Fidelis, why confess to a crime you didn’t commit?’

‘Attention, notoriety maybe?’

‘Then why retract the confession?’

Anna sighed and Mike raised his hands in a submissive gesture.

‘So in answer to your question, my gut feeling is uncertain. If you want to know what I really think about Henry Oates then read the post mortem report and let me know your gut feelings.’

Mike handed the report to Anna as he got up from his chair and went over to the blinds to open them.

‘I will let the team know that you are investigating the Rebekka Jordan case while we concentrate on Fidelis Julia Flynn.’

Mike opened the blinds and noticed that Barbara, Joan and Barolli were huddled together whispering to each other.

‘Do you want to do it together?’ Anna asked.

‘I don’t think there will be any need. These walls are paper-thin and by the looks of it that lot have been eavesdropping our conversation.’

‘Some things never change,’ Anna said with a smile.

‘Bet you’ll be glad of a bit of extra help from Travis,’ Barolli said as Mike entered the main office.

‘It’s DCI Travis, or ma’am, and that goes for you all and yes she will be heading up the Jordan investigation and you will give her your full cooperation as and when she asks for it.’

As Mike Lewis briefed the team Anna went through the post mortem report and murder scene and mortuary photographs. What she saw made her stomach turn as she began to fully understand exactly how Mike felt about Henry Oates. He was a loathsome individual with no shred of humanity, who needed to be locked away for life. In wondering what drove men like Oates to such depravity she realized how little she or indeed Mike and the team actually knew about him.

Anna went into the main office, put her files and briefcase on an empty desk and asked Joan to track down Henry Oates’s ex-wife in Scotland. She then turned to Barbara.

‘Get as much background as you can on Oates. I want you to go back five years. Start with his social security and National Insurance records – any child support, divorce, births; he’s got two children so there has to be something.’

Barbara gave a hooded look to Joan over her computer but Anna was onto it fast.

‘That a problem for you, Barbara?’

‘No, it’s fine by me. In fact Mike had already asked for as much data as possible.’

‘Good. Paul, have you got a full list of all the items removed from Oates’s squat?’

‘Not yet. You want me to get on to the crime scene guys?’

‘Yes. Apart from it being a pigsty, from the photographs it looks to me as if he was a hoarder, maybe kept tokens from his victims, so they need to weed out women’s clothing, jewellery, anything that could link him to the two new cases.’

‘I’ll give them a push to get cracking.’

‘Is Pete Jenkins still at the lab?’

‘Yeah, in fact he’s dealing with our case. You want to talk to him?’

‘Ask him if he could make it a priority for his staff to list and check everything that was taken in. Say I’ll talk to him later today.’

Anna began sorting through the Jordan family statements, thumbing backwards and forwards. Although five years had passed they were, at the time, obviously well off; they had a large three-storey detached house with a Filipino live-in domestic helper, a gardener, and a cleaner that came in twice a week. Mrs Emily Jordan did not work, but had been an interior designer before her marriage to Stephen Jordan, a graphic designer. He had offices in Canary Wharf and often worked from home, using the loft conversion as an extended office. Rebekka, their only daughter, was a day pupil at a private school in Knightsbridge. Her two older brothers had been at boarding school and were not at home when she went missing.

As Anna was wondering how much their family life and relationships had changed since the disappearance of Rebekka, Joan approached her, excitedly waving a piece of paper.

‘I have a contact number and address for Henry Oates’s ex-wife. She is working at a dry-cleaner’s in Glasgow. As for his two daughters, the eldest, aged eighteen, is in drug rehab and the other, only sixteen, is six months pregnant.’

‘That was fast. Good work.’

‘I spoke with the Department for Work and Pensions and they put me in touch with the Glasgow housing association. Mrs Eileen Oates has a criminal record here in London for prostitution and drug abuse. It appears she’s now drug-free with no arrests or convictions for nine years.’

‘Thanks, Joan. Did you speak to her personally?’

‘No.’

‘Okay, I’ll do that and in the meantime can you get me a contact number for a DCI on the Glasgow murder squad?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

Mike Lewis drew up the blinds from his office window and tapped to indicate he wanted to talk to Anna. It irritated her slightly that he couldn’t walk the few steps from his office to ask her, but crooked a finger instead; it reminded her of the way Langton often did it.

‘You wanted to see me,’ she said, entering Mike’s office without knocking.

He held up the phone, covering the mouthpiece with his hand. ‘It’s Langton, he wants to talk to you.’

‘Oh thank you.’

Mike walked out, closing the door. She sat behind the desk and waited a moment before she spoke into the phone.

‘DCI Travis.’

‘Listen, I’ve just had a lengthy talk to Mike. My feelings are these: it’s a no-brainer the fact they have Oates bang to rights for the murder of Justine Marks.

‘Mike told me about his latest interview with Oates and my take on the bastard is this: the more visits he gets and the more attention we give him, the more he’s going to string us along. I don’t think he’s mentally unstable and anyway Mike tells me Kumar hasn’t raised the issue of pre-trial psychiatric reports.’

‘I think it’s only a matter of time, though, and it would be in his client’s best interests,’ Anna replied.

‘This is what I want the team to concentrate on. We need hard evidence that ties Oates into the two other murders he claimed to have committed.’

‘It’s hard without him giving us more details.’

Langton snapped and raised his voice. ‘If he killed them he’s dumped the bodies, so he will have left evidence. Find it, find them, it’ll surface. When you have the evidence apply for a break in police custody from the prison, bring him in and scare the living daylights out of him.’

‘What about a BIA to help with the interview strategy?’

‘A BI what…?’

‘Behavioural Investigative Adviser – they provide support and advice that links the academic basis of behavioural science to the investigation of serious crime.’

‘You mean a profiler. No fucking way.’

‘They are now police-accredited psychologists and might help us to understand Oates’s way of thinking. We often recommend them on case reviews.’

‘If you need a shrink to tell you how to interview a suspect then I suggest you go back to your desk at Specialist Casework. If Oates wants to play at being crazy you find the evidence to show he’s a devious bastard who knew exactly what he was doing. Remind him what happened to Peter Sutcliffe the Yorkshire Ripper – the judge rejected diminished responsibility and the expert testimonies of four psychiatrists who all thought he was a paranoid schizo.’

‘That was thirty years ago, things have changed and-’

‘Yeah and thirty years later he’s still in Broadmoor, so if Oates or Kumar think they can pull one over on us then they’re both mistaken. You been to see the Jordans yet?’

‘I’m still reading the case file. I need-’

‘Get it done and go and see them.’

He hung up and Anna was left infuriated with the phone in her hand. Langton’s pent-up anger was fuelled by alcohol or his medication, she thought. She had just replaced the handset when Mike returned.

He cocked his head to one side. ‘You look as if you got a similar tirade. If you ask me he needs a psychological assessment.’

Anna didn’t mention that she too had concerns about Langton. Mike took off his jacket and started to roll up the cuffs of his shirtsleeves.

‘I suggested bringing in a BIA.’

‘I can guess what his reply was. He thinks they’re full of crap.’

‘I told him it might help us to understand Oates…’

‘Well that’s between you and Langton, but for now we should do what he suggests. See if there is any evidence we can track down, and in the meantime we let Oates stew. As we agreed, you take Rebekka Jordan and I’ll concentrate on Fidelis Julia Flynn. We can compare what we uncover for any similarities or links in their disappearance as the investigation progresses.’

‘Whatever you say, Mike.’

‘It’s not me, but Langton, and whatever I think about him right now, he’s still got more years of experience than either of us. You know what I really find unnerving…?’

She shook her head, nonplussed.

‘He’s never met Oates, right? Yet he seems to have more of an angle on him than I have.’

Mike informed the team that he and Barolli would concentrate on Fidelis Julia Flynn with the assistance of half the team while Anna concentrated on the Jordan case with the other half. Barbara and Joan were to receive all the incoming information from both teams, update the HOLMES computer, mark up the incident board and identify any similarities in the girls’ disappearance or connections to Oates which could then be raised and discussed in a full team meeting.

Adan Kumar had contacted Mike to say that Henry Oates would not, at the present time, be fit for further interview. Mike immediately thought the solicitor had asked for a psychiatric assessment but it transpired that Oates was currently in the prison hospital recovering from an assault in the shower room which had left him with severe bruising and concussion. Oates, naive about prison life, was unaware that even remand sex offenders are marked men and had made the mistake of boasting to other inmates that not only was he awaiting trial for murder and rape but was also suspected of the abduction and murder of a teenage girl. Mike felt no sympathy for Oates’s predicament but was inwardly pleased that the incident would give him breathing space to continue his investigation whilst keeping Kumar, who now wanted to vent his anger on the prison service, off his back.

Anna, like Mike, felt no sympathy for Oates. She looked again at the information about his ex-wife who had left London eight years ago. She was trying to determine whether or not it would be worth it to travel to Glasgow for an interview. She decided that she’d first have the meeting with Rebekka Jordan’s family, as she wanted to find out if, by any chance, Henry Oates had worked for them, perhaps done odd jobs around their home, anything that could be a direct link to him. She knew that she would have to tell the Jordans about Oates’s arrest and the possibility he might be involved in their daughter’s disappearance. She was not looking forward to the visit as she knew that she would be reawakening the most terrible memories for the Jordans and the last thing she wanted to do was give them false hope that Rebekka’s body might at last be found. Anna decided that she would not divulge the details of what happened to Justine Marks, but just say that Oates was awaiting trial for her murder.