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I’m still staring at Harrison, struggling to take this in.
I haven’t heard the name Daisy Mason in years but it could have been last week, the memory is so vivid. The heat that night, the smell of the barbecue as we got out of the car, Gis loosening his collar as we stood on the doorstep, and me looking round at the patrol cars, the rubberneckers, the house-to-house already underway, and then the door opening and I turn round and –
‘Adam?’
‘Sorry, sir, I was just thinking about the case. I haven’t done that in a very long time.’
‘I’m sure you haven’t. Why would you? You got a conviction.’
‘And they’re absolutely sure the hair is hers? There’s no possibility of a cock-up at the lab?’
Harrison sits back and spreads his hands. ‘That’s what I asked too, but apparently not. They’ve run it three times. It’s her.’
‘But itcan’tbe –’
‘I appreciate you haven’t had as much time as I have to process this.’
‘Process’ – that’s Harrison all over. Bullshit Lingo Bingo is his stock-in-trade. Pity I don’t have the brain space right now to appreciate it.
‘You used to swear by Occam’s razor, didn’t you?’
I smile, despite myself. ‘We called it “Osbourne’s razor”, because my old DI Alastair Osbourne was so fond of quoting it.’
‘Precisely. And he had a point: “The simplest explanation is almost always right”.’
‘The operative word there isalmost, sir. We acted in good faith on the Mason case. The jury decided that we’d proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt.’
‘I know that, Adam. No one is questioning your competence. Or your integrity.’
But. Because sure as hell a ‘But’ is coming.
‘But I’m sure you’ll appreciate that we have no choice but to review the original inquiry. Clearly, based on this new evidence, Daisy Mason wasnotmurdered in 2016, but somehow left Oxford and started a new life elsewhere. A new life that’s taken such a bizarre turn for the worse that she may now be anactualmurder victim. And she’s still only – what? – sixteen?’
He sits back again; I can hear Maureen outside telling a caller he’s not available, and no, she doesn’t know how long it will take.
He’s looking at me rather kindly now – which is terrifying in itself. If Harrison thinks I deserve pity I’m really in the shit. And OK, no investigation is perfect, and if a lot of the evidence was circumstantial that was because circumstantial was all there was –
I tuned out a moment there which was a bad idea because I swear Harrison is now saying something about Kearney emailing me the file.
‘Sorry, sir – you said he’s emailingmethe file? I thought you were just telling me all this out of courtesy –’
Who am I kidding: of course there’s more to this than that.
‘It’s a South Mercia case, sir, surely –’
‘In principle, I agree, but in the circumstances, Kearney believes you would be best placed to handle this new investigation. You have previous knowledge of the Mason case, you have the seniority, it could be just what you need: an opportunity to show your class.’
Yeah, right.Best served coldis the first thing that actually comes to mind. Back in 2018, it was my team who found out what had really happened in the Camilla Rowan case, and uncovered the mistakes Kearney’s original team had made. It’s never comfortable hanging a fellow officer out to dry, even forthe right reasons, and I did my damnedest to play that side of it down, but I knew he’d probably never forgive me. And now, all these years later, he’s been gifted with a fur-lined ocean-going chance to get his own back. Because this isn’t an ‘opportunity’, it’s a hospital pass. It’s revenge.
‘What exactly do you have in mind, sir?’ I’m trying to dial down the sarcasm, but I’m not sure it’s working.
He sits back. ‘Superintendent Kearney has agreed with the South Mercia Chief Constable that you will assume the SIO role at Hescombe, with support from his team. Meanwhile, in tandem, I want you to conduct a full review of the original conviction with your own squad here. DI Gallagher has been informed. She was due to end her stint here in December at all events.’
‘Isn’t that a conflict of interest – me investigating my own case?’
‘We have considered that, of course, and the CC suggests that you report formally to Superintendent Renshaw in Major Crimes on matters relating to the review.’
‘So he’ll be leading it.’