Page 50 of The Scene of the Crime

‘The Range Rover has been recovered and . . .’

‘Hang on, let me grab a pen and paper to take the location details.’

‘Don’t bother. It’s on its way to the lab on a total lift truck.’

‘It would have been better if we examined it in situ first,’ she said, surprised Chapman hadn’t considered that.

‘It’s a burnt-out shell, and I wasn’t informed until an hour ago. It looks like it was set alight in the early hours of the morning. I’ve been to the dump site and viewed it, or what’s left of it. Anderson said to get it straight up to the lab.’

‘So, where was it found?’

‘In the middle of the eighth fairway by some woodland at Wanstead Flats Golf Club. It was still smouldering when some early-morning golfers came across it at seven a.m. The area isn’t overlooked by any houses or flats, so that’s why a fire wasn’t noticed or the vehicle found earlier.’

‘If the intruder dumped the car, it suggests he knows the area.’

‘I agree, and the location isn’t far from the Green Man Roundabout, where DC Bingham thought it came off the A12.’

‘Looks like he kept it hidden somewhere until now.’

‘Yeah, probably too hot to handle, to coin a phrase.’ Chapman laughed at his pun. ‘The fire brigade attended and hosed it down. The club chairman was nearly in tears at the damage it’s caused, not to mention the fire truck.’

‘You circulated the registration at the time. Why did it take so long for you to be informed?’

‘Local plods were called to the scene first, but the number plates were burnt off. They called out a scene of crime officer who checked the vehicle identification plate at the base of the driver’s side pillar. It was then identified as De Klerk’s car.’

‘What about footmarks near the vehicle?’

‘Hundreds of them, mostly golf spikes. The SOCO had a look, but it’s impossible to know which way the suspect walked off as the area became so churned up from the fire truck.’

‘Did the SOCO say anything about an accelerant?’

‘Only that there was a strong smell of petrol. He took some samples of the interior debris and put them in nylon bags.’

‘We’ll be able to determine the accelerant with GC-MS testing.’

‘Run that by me again?’ Chapman asked, which made her laugh.

‘I keep forgetting you’re not one of us. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.’

‘Sorry, but I’m still none the wiser.’

‘You don’t have to keep saying sorry.’

‘Force of habit, I guess. I’ll bring the debris bags to the lab for your gas thingy testing. Is it OK if I’m present when you examine the car?’

‘If you want to, that’s fine by me, but you might be hanging around for a while.’

‘That’s OK. I can then report back to Anderson if anything useful is found, which I doubt due to the fire damage.’

‘Oh, ye of little faith.’

‘Sorry, I forgot the A-Team was on the job. See you in about an hour.’

After finishing the call with Chapman, Jessica went to the lab rooms and told Diane and Taff about the Range Rover. Theywere pleased to hear it had been recovered, but as they were still examining some of the items seized from the house, Jessica said she’d give them a shout when the Range Rover was in the examination bay. In the meantime, she continued with her research on De Klerk.

* * *

Arriving at the MSCAN office, Chapman had to knock on the door as he didn’t know the numbers for the digital lock. Jessica, who was with Guy, opened it and invited Chapman in. He handed her the nylon exhibit bags containing debris from the car and told her that the Range Rover had been unloaded and was in the examination bay.