Page 30 of Stolen Ones

His face showed no humour as he reached for the other bag.

Woody closed the door behind them. Great, all she needed was a visiting dick with no sense of humour.

She was still going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

‘You want to see the interview tapes so far?’ she asked as they headed down the stairs.

‘Not necessary. The techniques I teach are universal.’

Mistake, her mind screamed, wondering how long the benefit of her doubt was going to last.

Seventeen

‘You’re early. Did he give you the slip?’ Kim asked Bryant, who was sitting at his desk.

Steven Harte had said he’d return at 9a.m., and it wasn’t yet eight.

‘Nah, he’s downstairs. He left early, went to the gym, offered me croissants, which I refused,’ he said, pointedly, to Penn, who shrugged. ‘And then he came here.’ Bryant leaned to the side and looked around her. ‘Want to introduce your new friend?’

‘Guys, please meet Derek Foggarty. Ex-MI5 and here to tell us how to question our witness.’

Kim wheeled a chair to the top of the office, close to the coffee machine. On Stacey’s screen, Kim could see she’d already made a start on searching for any previous incidents of missing girls.

Foggarty stood in front of the door commanding their full attention. ‘Okay, the presentation is broken down into four sections. Should only take about six hours. It’s a slimmed-down version of the whole model.’

Kim said nothing as Derek closed the door so that his computer could project the slides onto the wall. She already knew this was not going to take six hours. They didn’t have that kind of time.

Kim knew that from his seat Penn could see Steven Harte on the monitor and that was where his attention would stay.

‘Let’s start with the first golden rule,’ Derek Foggarty said. ‘The investigator should be unbiased and open-minded and definitely non-confrontational.’

Bryant turned and wagged a finger in her direction.

She crossed her arms and sat back in her seat.

‘There are three main categories to the interrogation process: indirect questioning, direct questioning and a mixture of both. To clarify indirect—’

‘We understand the difference. Please move on.’

In her mind, she’d allowed Derek Foggarty an hour to teach them something new that they could use.

‘The desk between you should be free of clutter and you should establish rapport as soon as possible. Use flattery if necessary, and deceptive tactics are acceptable as long as not outrageous or unlawful.’

‘You’re stuffed, guv,’ Bryant said behind a cough.

‘Change words. Use take instead of steal. Use empathy. Ask various questions in different sequences at different markers. Listen for inconsistencies. Someone who is lying continues lying to cover previous lies. The investigator should always remain cool and good gestures go a long way like buying lunch. One good turn etc.’

Kim considered the thought of presenting Steven Harte with ‘tell me where Grace Lennard is and I’ll buy you a meal deal’ strategy. She wasn’t sure that was gonna fly.

‘The investigator must possess ideational fluency.’

‘Who?’ Penn asked.

‘The ability to shift one’s thinking instantaneously as the situation warrants. Keep the subject in short-term thinking mode; the relief of coming clean. Avoid long-term thinking, like going to prison. Don’t be adversarial. Interview is a dialogue; interrogation is a monologue.’

Foggartypaused to drive that point home. Oh, how she loved a sound bite, she thought as she watched the minutes ticking away on Stacey’s computer screen.

‘Without realising it, deceptive people convey a message in the words they choose to articulate the lie. Interrogation is more about elicitation. It’s a process that is designed to influence or persuade an individual to reveal information that he has reason to want to conceal. I’d like to offer some statements that transition to interrogation mode.