‘Franklin was a pushover about handing the case over to us. I’m wondering whether he knows something we don’t.’

34

By the time their forensics team arrived with the uniformed officers who would see to it no unauthorised feet trampled the car park, Paula was chilled and bad-tempered. There was nothing useful for her to do at the crime scene, but she and Fielding had to stay put to make sure there were no gaps in the preservation of the scene that a defence counsel could later exploit. Fielding had retreated to the car and her mobile, but Paula had chosen to remain with the body. She knew it was pointless, but she felt the need for some sort of gesture. Keeping vigil was the least she could do.

The first of the support vehicles had no sooner appeared in the distance than her phone rang. ‘DS McIntyre.’

‘Hello, Sarge. It’s PC Okeke here.’

‘Hi, John. What can I do for you?’

‘Well, I know the misper’s turned into a murder investigation and your team will be handling things from now on. Just a couple of things. The dad is definitely with his unit in Afghanistan. And after our talk yesterday evening, I got the bus company to release their CCTV footage. I hadn’t finished going through it when I spoke to DCI Fielding this morning, so I thought I might as well complete the job.’

‘Good thinking. That’s one less action for our squad. Appreciate it. Any joy?’

‘A little bit. I ran it through a few times, to make sure I wasn’t imagining what I wanted to see, you know what I mean?’

‘I know exactly what you mean.’ She didn’t want to hurry him but she wished he’d get to the point. ‘So what did you see?’