Page 61 of The Scene of the Crime (Jessica Russell #1)

‘Coincidentally, this is also my first case since I joined the Greater London Forensic Pathology team,’ Nicki said. ‘I was based in Manchester but jumped at the opportunity when I was offered a job down here.’

‘Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you,’ Jessica said.

‘You too,’ Nicki said.

They got out of the lift, and Jessica called out to Taff and Diane, who were inside Wheeler’s flat.

They came out and she introduced them to Doctor Giorgini.

She noticed the glint of appreciation in Taff’s eyes, and so did Diane, who frowned at him.

Taff said that he’d used a handheld fingerprint scanner on the right index finger of the body and could confirm from the criminal database that it was John Wheeler.

Diane added that Guy had taken Wheeler’s phone and laptop to the lab for examination.

‘Great, you carry on, and we’ll catch up after I’ve briefed Doctor Giorgini about the investigation.’ She then gave Nicki a brief outline of the De Klerk case and explained how Wheeler fitted in.

As Nicki was putting on protective clothing, Chapman and Anderson arrived. When they were introduced to Nicki, Jessica saw Chapman had the same look in his eye as Taff. While they were all suiting up, Jessica nudged him.

‘You looked a bit smitten there.’

‘I was surprised to see a female pathologist, that’s all. She’s not really my type.’ He looked at Jessica, and she found herself blushing.

When they were all suited and gloved, Jessica asked Taff and Diane to join them on the landing. ‘Have you found anything of interest?’ she asked.

‘I recovered footprints using ESLA in the hallway, and a few were on either side of the armchair,’ Taff said.

‘They could be the suspect’s prints, but I’ll need to eliminate them against yours, DI Chapman’s and the uniform officers.

I looked at the trainers Wheeler was wearing.

I’m confident the footmarks at De Klerk’s house and Palmer’s flat came from them.

Same with the Sealskinz gloves on the coffee table.

The rucksack in the hallway had these items in it.

’ Taff showed them photographs of a small crowbar, a battery-operated hydraulic door breacher and lock pick on his iPad.

‘It would seem Wheeler was a professional burglar,’ Anderson remarked.

‘I’m willing to bet when I do striation mark tests, we’ll find these tools were used at De Klerk’s house and the lock pick tool to gain entry to Palmer’s flat.’

‘Good work, Taff. How’d you get on, Diane?’ Jessica asked.

She got out her iPhone. ‘I’ve done a lot of DNA swabs.

I can test them back at the lab, but I also searched the bedroom.

There’s a photo album with pictures of Wheeler as a paratrooper.

There’s one where he’s lighting a cigarette with a Zippo lighter.

I photographed and enlarged it. If you look closely, you can just make out the paratrooper crest.’ Diane handed her phone to Taff to show them while she nipped into the flat, quickly returning holding a clear exhibit bag.

‘I also found this neck support travel pillow,’ she said, holding it up.

Anderson didn’t look impressed. ‘He was about to fly to Dubai, so . . . ?’

‘It’s got a zip opening. You can put small items of clothing or other stuff in it too . . .’

‘My wife has one, so I know how it works, thank you,’ Anderson said dismissively. ‘If that’s all, I’d like to see the body now.’

Diane pretended she hadn’t heard him. ‘Curiosity got the better of me, and I thought I’d see what he’d stuffed it with.

’ She took her phone from Taff and showed them a picture.

‘It was full of socks stuffed with cash. I only counted the amount in one sock. It was forty thousand pounds. There were six socks, so I’ll let you do the math.

’ Anderson looked embarrassed. ‘I’ll fingerprint the cash at the lab.

A lockbox on the living room floor had been cut open with a small angle grinder we found on the coffee table.

I did a swab test for drugs and got a positive for cocaine on the outside of the lockbox and on the coffee table where there were also some visible white powder remnants. ’

‘Maybe whoever killed Wheeler forced the lockbox open and took the contents but missed the cash because they didn’t think to look inside the travel pillow,’ Chapman suggested. Jessica asked Taff to examine the inside of the lockbox for fingerprints and Diane to check for DNA.

‘How long will it take to get a result?’ Anderson asked.

‘I can do rapid DNA testing on it and hopefully have a result by tomorrow morning, but it’s expensive,’ Diane said. Jessica looked at Anderson enquiringly.

‘We’re up against the clock,’ he said. ‘Whoever’s involved with Wheeler might flee the country as well. I need answers, and quickly, so go ahead.’

‘I think Wheeler may have a girlfriend or paid for a prostitute to visit him,’ Diane said.

‘What makes you think that?’ Anderson asked with a puzzled look.

‘I found five empty Durex sachets in his bedroom bin. There were no used sheathes, so he probably flushed them down the toilet.’

‘I’ll take a DNA swab from his penis while I’m here. Vaginal fluid might help you to identify who she is,’ Nicki remarked. ‘Can I look at the body now?’ Jessica led her to Wheeler’s body, followed by Anderson and Chapman. Taff and Diane waited outside.

‘Your jaw nearly hit the floor when you met Nicki,’ Diane remarked.

‘Well, she is quite attractive . . . for a pathologist.’

‘She’s probably a lot older than she looks,’ Diane retorted.

‘Meow! A bit like you then,’ Taff replied.

Diane punched his arm. ‘Just remember it’s rude to stare.’

Inside the flat, Chapman noted that the smell of decomposition was worse than when they’d first arrived. Nicki suggested it might be because the central heating had come on. Anderson removed a Vicks nasal stick from his pocket and took a deep sniff in each nostril.

‘That doesn’t actually help, you know,’ Nicki told him.

‘Well, I can’t smell the body now,’ Anderson replied.

‘You will, and a lot better in a minute or so. Vicks clears your nasal passages, allowing you to smell things better,’ she smiled.

Nicki photographed Wheeler’s body before using an infrared ear thermometer to check his body temperature.

She then looked closely at the bruises on his face.

‘I’d say from the colouring, some of these injuries are a day or two old and some maybe three.

The most recent one is to his nose, which looks broken and probably occurred at or around the time of death.

Considering the early stages of decomposition and the rigor and livor mortis, I’d estimate he died two days ago between six p.m. and midnight. ’

‘He must have booked the flight on Tuesday. If we can find out what time he did that, it will help narrow down his time of death,’ Anderson said.

‘Guy is already working on Wheeler’s phone and laptop, so that might give us some answers,’ Jessica said.

‘Have we made any enquiries with his neighbours?’ Anderson asked Chapman.

‘Not yet, but I’ve asked Andy Bingham to organise it.’

‘Where’s DS Wood? As a supervising officer, he should organise it.’

‘He’s following up on a lead. Probably be a dead end, but I thought he should check it out.’

Nicki was looking at Wheeler’s hands. ‘It looks like he was restrained. There are rope marks on his wrists and traces of sticky tape around his mouth and nose. This looks interesting,’ Nicki said, looking closely at the back of Wheeler’s head before removing some plastic tweezers from her bag.

‘What is it?’ Anderson asked.

‘A small piece of black masking tape. It must have come loose when the tape was removed from his mouth.’ Nicki carefully removed it from Wheeler’s hair before placing it in a small plastic container.

‘Taff might get a fingerprint off it. And it might be useful for a mechanical fit if we can find the roll of tape it came from,’ Jessica observed. Nicki undid Wheeler’s shirt buttons, revealing some round red marks on the upper centre of his chest.

‘Cigarette burns?’ Anderson asked.

‘From the circumference, I’d say they’re from something bigger, like a cigar.’

Jessica looked in the ashtray on the table. ‘There’s a lump of ash that’s bigger than a cigarette.’

‘That’s definitely cigar ash. My grandad used to smoke them. Whoever did this taped Wheeler’s mouth while they were torturing him,’ Chapman said.

‘But when they removed the tape, he still didn’t tell them where the cash was,’ Anderson said.

‘He may have died before he was able to,’ Nicki said. ‘He’s got some heavy bruising to the upper left side of the abdomen, which I’d say is at least three days old.’

‘What do you think caused it?’ Anderson asked.

‘Could be a kick, or he was hit hard with a blunt instrument like a baseball bat or a lump of wood. However, I don’t think his external injuries would have killed him. He may have serious internal injuries or had a heart attack, but I won’t know until I open him up in the mortuary.’

‘Could he have choked on his vomit if his mouth was taped?’ Anderson asked.

‘It’s possible, but I didn’t see any vomit inside his mouth. That’s not to say some may not have got stuck in his throat. A full postmortem should tell us more. I can do it at the new East London Forensic Centre when we finish here. Is that OK for you all?’ Everyone nodded.

‘I’ll just be two ticks. I want to ask Di and Taff to search the stairwell, foyer, and outside for any discarded cigars,’ Jessica said.

‘I was just thinking the same thing. I can get some uniform officers to assist,’ Anderson said. Chapman glanced at Jessica and shook his head, knowing it had never crossed Anderson’s mind.

Outside the flat, Jessica’s phone rang, and she answered a call from Guy. He said he had carried out a cursory examination of Wheeler’s phone and the laptop. She returned inside to put him on speakerphone so the others could hear.

‘Just before eight p.m., Tuesday night, Wheeler used the laptop to book an Emirates Airways flight to Dubai, which cost two thousand eight hundred pounds. He paid with a credit card in the same name as the passport. Around the same time, he ordered an Uber for midnight to take him to Heathrow. I contacted the company, who said the driver turned up, waited outside for five minutes and tried calling him but got no answer and left.’

‘Looks like he might have been killed between eight p.m. and midnight then?’ Chapman suggested to Nicki, who nodded.

‘I know you’re busy, but I’ve also got some info from the service provider on the missing burner phone if you want it,’ Guy said.

‘Yes, please. DCI Anderson and DI Chapman are with me,’ Jessica said.

‘You might recall I said it was last used in Birmingham. Well, whoever contacted Wheeler on it was staying at the Bloc Hotel, Caroline Street.’

‘Do you know that for certain?’ Anderson asked.

‘Yes, because they made the mistake of using WhatsApp on the free Wi-Fi provided by the hotel. Unfortunately, I can’t give you a name or a room number.’

‘I’ll get someone to make enquiries with the hotel. Great work,’ Anderson said.

‘Something about the hotel’s location might also interest you. It’s in the heart of Birmingham’s jewellery quarter, with over a hundred retailers, diamond dealers and workshops.’

Chapman nodded to himself. ‘When the burner phones went live, the first cell tower to pick them up was in Leather Lane, Holborn, last Wednesday evening. Leather Lane is the next street down from Hatton Garden, London’s jewellery quarter and the centre of the UK diamond trade.’

‘It seems likely the lockbox contained jewellery, then,’ Anderson suggested. ‘I need to ask Michelle De Klerk about it.’

‘When I first met Michelle, she told me she didn’t know what Johan kept in the safe in his study, but she thought it might be some cash. They had jewellery in a bedroom safe, which wasn’t broken into,’ Jessica reminded him.

‘Be interesting to see where they bought their jewellery. A dodgy dealer would have their details and might get someone like Wheeler to steal it,’ Chapman said.

‘Would you like me to examine De Klerk’s laptop to see if there’s anything relating to recent jewellery purchases?’ Guy asked over the speakerphone.

‘Good idea,’ Anderson said, ‘but let me apply for a warrant first.’

Diane came into the living room. ‘Found this on the road just down from the flats. Might have been discarded when someone was getting in a car,’ she said, holding up an exhibit bag with a cigar inside.

‘I thought we might find one. You can fast-track it for DNA. Fingers crossed we get a hit on the database and can make a quick arrest,’ Anderson said, looking pleased.

‘We may as well call for the undertaker’s van now. We can do the fingernail work, DNA swabs and fibre tapings here, which will take about twenty minutes, and then he’s good to go,’ Jessica said.

‘That sounds good to me, Jessica,’ Nicki replied.

Jessica looked at Diane. ‘How long do you reckon it will be before you finish here?’

‘About an hour or two, less if we had extra help.’

‘If it’s all right with you, sir, I’d like to send Diane and Taff back to the lab so they can start examining what we’ve recovered here,’ Jessica asked Anderson. ‘I’ll ask for some local SOCO’s to attend and take over. I’ll brief them on what’s required, then meet you at the mortuary.’

‘Fine by me,’ Anderson replied.

‘I’ll start taking the DNA swabs and other samples from Wheeler for Diane to take back to the lab and work on,’ Nicki said as she unzipped Wheeler’s trousers, then pulled down his underpants to take the penis swab.

An embarrassed Anderson quickly asked Chapman to take him back to the station so he could brief the team and organise the urgent enquiries.

They both hurried out of the room. Nicki shook her head. ‘What is it about men and penises?’

‘Probably worried they would feel inadequate if they saw Wheeler’s,’ Jessica replied, and they both laughed.