The Art of Murder

Chapter 21

Brick Lane, Saturday 24 January, 6.30 a.m. The station was quiet. It usually was at this time of the weekend, a relatively mellow stretch between the chaos of late-Friday night and early-Saturday morning, when the holding cells were emptied and the drunks booted out. Jack Pendragon nodded to the duty sergeant at the front desk and paced down the corridor towards his office. Glancing into the Ops Room, he saw Turner sitting at a terminal. The sergeant looked up, bleary-eyed.

'You look awful,' Pendragon said, stepping into the room.

Jez yawned loudly, placing a hand over his mouth. 'Thanks, guv. But at least I don't look as bad as some of this lot.' And he pointed to the screen.

'What is it?' Pendragon came round the desk and leaned on Turner's chair.

'It's Jackson Price's film of the knees-up on Tuesday night. Some right old characters.'

'Have you seen anything interesting?'

'No. I've been through the whole thing. Just about the most boring two hours I've spent in my life. On my second run-through now.'

Pendragon pulled up a chair and studied the images on the screen. The film was shot in fashionable Gonzo-style. The cameraman, Michael Spillman, passed through the room casually interviewing people. Sometimes he would merely ask how they were; at others he was more mannered, offering faux-philosophical questions. 'Do you think the creator of a work has a controlling stake in the outcome?' he asked one guest. The reply was inaudible and he moved on to a tall woman in dungarees. 'If there's an afterlife,' he posited, 'what would be God's commission?'

'I've done some Google searches on a few of the characters on the guest list and matched them up with the video,' Turner said. Then he pointed to the screen. 'There's Berrick.'

A solidly built man came into view holding a champagne flute. In his mid-fifties, he was jowly, hair dyed black, with a confident, proprietorial air about him. 'The woman he's talking to is Meg Lancaster the actress.' Pendragon nodded. 'And there's Noel Thursk,' Turner added, tapping the screen. A slightly built, white-haired man appeared from the right-hand edge of the monitor. He was wearing a black suit, a collarless white shirt and grey waistcoat.

'Who's the woman there?' Pendragon asked, pointing to a tall brunette in a stylish black evening dress. She looked to be in her mid-thirties, with a stunning figure that could only have come from a combination of great genes and hours spent in the gym. The strapless dress clung to her like a second skin. Her hair was styled in a dramatic bob with a straight, high fringe. She was smiling sexily over her glass at two men who appeared to be fawning over her.

Turner consulted his notes. 'That's Gemma Locke. She's an artist, apparently. Never heard of her, but she ain't bad-looking, is she, guv?'

Pendragon stared at the screen. 'That's Gemma Locke?' the DCI said, fascinated. 'I've seen her work. Who're the two men she's talking to?'

'No idea,' Turner replied. 'Couldn't find anything on 'em.'

'So how far through the tape is this?'

The sergeant consulted the timer. 'About twenty minutes in.'

'Rewind it. I want to watch the whole thing.'

Turner's face dropped.

'It's all right, Sergeant. I'm not that cruel. Get hold of Inspector Grant. He was following up on any CCTV from around St Dunstan's on the morning of Thursk's murder. See what he's turned up… if anything. And when you've done that, go through the files and try to find a picture of Juliette Kinnear.'

'Who?'

'Remember? I told you – the girl who was the subject of Noel Thursk's book… the young artist.'

'Ah, yeah.'

Pendragon took off his coat, folded it over the back of a chair and dropped into Turner's seat. He faced the screen and pushed the Play button. Turner was right, it was incredibly boring. It reminded him of his student days watching one of Andy Warhol's movies, Empire or perhaps Sleep. Either way it had been interminable, and he had only managed to sit through it because he was interested in the girl who had dragged him to the cinema. In a similar way to the Warhol movie, this film had a soporific effect and he had to force himself to stay alert. But after two hours spent watching people chatting and wandering around the gallery with only the brief distraction of Francis Arcade's rather lame attempt to crash the party after one hour and seventeen minutes, he felt utterly bored and disappointed. Pushing the Stop button, Pendragon stood up, stretched and leaned forward, his palms on the desktop.

Turner popped his head around the door and then came in. He was waving a print in front of his face. 'Juliette Kinnear,' he said, coming over. 'Took some searching out.'

It was a professionally taken, posed photograph and showed a girl of about seventeen wearing a floral dress. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, parted to one side, a round, chubby face and thin lips. She was a plain girl. Her best feature was a pair of deep blue eyes, but even the effect of these was nullified by thick brows. At first glance she looked quite prim. It was only when he looked closer that Pendragon noticed the tattoo of a rose on one side of her neck, close to her shoulder. 'Strange,' he said.

'What? The tat?'

'Yes. Completely incongruous. She looks every bit the rather plain daughter of a wealthy businessman posing for a family portrait, except for that tattoo.'

'Yeah, but knowing what we do about young Juliette, it's not that weird, is it, sir? She obviously had a rebellious streak. I bet there was a right barney over her wearing a dress that exposed the rose tattoo!' Turner concluded with a laugh.

'Yes,' Pendragon replied quietly, still staring at the photograph. 'Maybe.' Then he looked up. 'Anything from the CCTV?'

'Yep,' Turner replied, suddenly remembering. 'Grant's found something.' He withdrew a DVD from his pocket, slid it into the machine and pulled over a chair beside Pendragon's.

The screen lit up with a frosty pre-dawn grey sky. At the top ran a line of trees. A narrow tarmac path wound through them and then followed a vertical line down the centre of the image.

'That's the park close to the church,' Pendragon said. 'What's a camera doing there?'

'It's a Parks Department camera. They've just finished some maintenance work and put the CCTV up to deter vandals.' As he finished explaining, a green vehicle appeared among the trees and drove towards the camera through the gloom. Its lights were off, and in the semi-darkness it merged with the landscape, taking shape only gradually. It was a boxy machine perched on four small wheels: a cherry-picker. Dominating the front of the vehicle was a rectangular metal cage attached to a concertinaed steel arm that was folded up tightly. Inside the cage lay a cylindrical grey object. At the rear of the vehicle was a small, low-roofed cabin. They could just see someone seated inside it, guiding the cherry-picker along. But in the dark, it was impossible to make out any further details.

'Can you enhance that?' Pendragon asked.

'I'll try,' Turner replied, and ran his fingers over a control panel to one side of the desk. The picture vanished for a second. When it reappeared it was clearer.

'Good. Close in on the figure in the cabin.'

Turner let the film run for a few seconds then rewound it, finally settling on the best frame. He pushed Pause again and turned a dial on the control panel. The image of the cabin grew larger, but as it did so it lost clarity. Turner fiddled with other controls and the image cleared a little. He zoomed in some more.

'That's about the best I can do,' he said after a moment.

The image was indistinct. They could still see a figure in the cabin but it was completely featureless, little more than a grey blob.

Pendragon's mobile rang. 'Dr Jones,' he said. 'Yes. When would be a good time? Excellent. See you then.' He stood up and pulled his overcoat from the chair back. 'Come on,' he said to Turner.

'Where're we going?'

'The Forensics Lab in Lambeth. Jones and Newman have put their heads together and apparently have some interesting news for us.'