The Art of Murder

Chapter 33

Brick Lane, Tuesday 27 January, 7.30 a.m. Pendragon was sitting in silence watching Superintendent Hughes flick through his latest report on the investigation. After a few moments she lifted her head, placed her interlocked fingers over the pile of paper and let out a pained sigh.

'So, we have a potential murderer who's been dead for over fifteen years? Excellent. An arrest should be easy.'

Pendragon met the superintendent's eyes, his face expressionless.

'Theories?' she enquired. 'Anything at all?'

'Oh plenty of theories, Super,' Pendragon responded. 'But they are just that – theories – unsubstantiated by anything like a single fact.'

Hughes looked at him, keeping her silence, forcing Pendragon to talk on.

'There are three possibilities for us to consider. One: there was some mistake with the DNA. But Dr Newman assures me that is not an option. There are so many matching markers that it is a six billion to one chance the DNA does not belong to the deceased Juliette Kinnear. Two: the woman isn't in fact dead. We got on to Riverwell in Essex straight away. They emailed over a single sheet of facts and dates. Turner did some additional checking. Juliette Kinnear drowned during a hospital excursion to Maldon. The incident was witnessed by a Riverwell nurse, Nicolas Compton. The body was found two days later and identified by a family member. The girl was cremated. Full police records are extant.'

'All right,' Hughes said wearily. 'The third option better be good, Jack.'

Pendragon ran one palm over his forehead. 'I wish it were, ma'am,' he said. 'The only conclusion we can draw is that the murderer planted the DNA.'

'Planted it!'

'To throw us off the scent. It wouldn't be the first time it had been done.'

'Yes, Jack, it's been done once before – the Mettlin case in Manchester, right?'

He nodded.

'But that was very different. The planted DNA was from another gangster, an erstwhile "friend" of the real culprit, a living person who might easily have committed the crime if he hadn't been beaten to it by the real killer, Johnny Mettlin. That was also eight years ago when DNA analysis was not so sophisticated.'

'I know the facts, ma'am,' Pendragon responded. 'But the two scenarios are not that different. Hair may easily be preserved.'

'But the owner of this DNA has been dead for fifteen bloody years!'

It was Pendragon's turn to stay silent.

'Okay,' Hughes said after an uncomfortable thirty seconds. 'What does Newman think about this scenario?'

'That it's certainly possible the sample could have been planted.'

'Can she not tell if the hair has been preserved in any way?'

'No. That was the first thing I asked her when the first two options were written off.'

'So, what now?' The superintendent looked exasperated. 'We have three murders in under a week. A possible perp who has been dead a long time. No witnesses to any of them. Little in the way of other forensics. We don't have a lot to go on, Inspector.'

'I've contacted Riverwell. Turner and I have an appointment with the Chief Administrator there, a Professor Martins, at two o'clock. We need to get some more detailed background on Ms Kinnear.'

'What about nearer to home?'

'Inspector Towers and Sergeant Vickers are trying to find out as much as they can about the cherry-picker used in the second murder as well as ascertaining where the murderer set up shop after vacating the warehouse on West India Quay. Grant is following up on the background to the murdered priest. We're particularly interested in trying to find any link at all between him and the first two victims.'

Hughes was looking down at her desk and nodding.

'And I've got Sammy Samson sniffing around.'

She looked up. 'God help us.'

'He led us to the warehouse, and from there to the DNA,' Pendragon reminded her.

'Yes, I suppose we should be thankful for small mercies, shouldn't we?' Hughes said coldly. 'All right. Report to me the moment you get back from Essex.'

Pendragon stood up and walked to the door. As he turned the handle, the super added, 'And, Inspector, come back with some good news, okay?'