Page 132 of The Scene of the Crime

‘Because he phoned Cole on the Friday morning before the break-in on Monday.’

‘Now that is interesting,’ Wood said.

‘How did it go at the hospital with Michelle?’ Chapman asked.

‘I think she’s lying about Johan still being unconscious and may know more than she’s letting on.’

‘What makes you think that?’ Wood asked.

‘Just a gut feeling.’ She looked at Chapman. ‘I’ll go into more detail when we talk to Anderson, but I’d like to do it now as he might want to take immediate action.’

‘Let me finish this bacon sarnie and I’ll come with you. Do you want a drink?’ Chapman asked.

‘No, thanks. I’ll meet you in Anderson’s office.’ She gave Wood a nod as she left.

‘Bet you’d love to,’ Wood said in a low voice.

‘Love to what?’

‘Come with her.’

‘Fuck off, Julian, and have some fucking respect. She and her team might have just saved you and me from revealing Stubbings as an informant.’

Jessica knocked on Anderson’s door and Chapman followed her in. ‘I’ve got some new information and forensic results for you,’ Jessica said.

‘Take a seat. I’ll fill Mike in on what happened at the hospital with Michelle first,’ Anderson said. He told Chapman what Michelle had said, and about Jessica spotting the water bottle.

‘Very sharp,’ Chapman grinned.

Anderson picked up his pen and opened his notebook. ‘What have you got for me, Jessica.’ She recounted everything she had discussed with Guy and Taff, then handed him copies of the mobile phone calls and cell site analysis Guy had prepared. She also gave him a copy of Christopher Bishop’s criminal record. ‘This is excellent work by you and your team. It looks like De Klerk is definitely linked to Cole, which makes me wonder if he’s also connected to Wheeler somehow.’

‘There is a tenuous connection between Wheeler and Michelle,’ she said. ‘She was his defence barrister in a GBH case.’

‘Interesting. I don’t wish to sound pushy, but has Diane got any DNA results yet?’ Anderson asked.

‘She was still working on the items when I left the office. I asked her to call me, but I haven’t heard from her yet.’

‘Would you mind calling her? The results might help us determine the best way forward.’

‘Not at all,’ Jessica said, pleased he had used the word ‘us’. She called Diane.

‘You must be telepathic. I’m still in the lab and I was just about to call you with my DNA results,’ Diane said.

‘I’m with DCI Anderson and DI Chapman. I’ll put you on speaker so they can listen. But don’t get too technical,’ she added. Anderson gave her a rueful smile.

‘OK, starting with the diamonds. I found three DNA profiles, which come from Johan De Klerk, John Wheeler and the third from an unknown male. I ran it through the database but didn’t get a hit. However, the unknown DNA matches the saliva DNA I recovered from the water buffalo glass Jessica found in De Klerk’s cinema room. I’m still working on the saliva DNA from the cigar we found in Montague Road, but there are already similarities to the unknown DNA on the diamonds. I’m pretty sure they will match once I get a full profile. Did that make sense to you non-scientists?’

‘It did,’ Anderson said.

‘That’s great work, Diane. It proves that De Klerk and Wheeler handled those diamonds. I think we can all agree the unknown DNA is probably Nathan Cole’s,’ Jessica added.

‘Who’s Nathan Cole?’ Diane asked.

‘Guy will tell you all about him,’ Jessica said.

‘Thanks for all your hard work,’ Anderson said, thinking that was it.

‘I’m not done. I’ve more exciting results for you . . . if you’d like to hear them,’ Diane teased.