Page 69 of The Scene of the Crime

Anderson would be curious.

‘Who’s he? He’s not on my team . . . is he?’

‘He’s MSCAN’s HOLMES manager. A former military intelligence officer and a digital forensic expert.’

‘So, he has access to the investigation and everything we have.’

‘I guess so, within limits.’

‘He could be the press leak. Who authorised his posting to MSCAN?’

‘I think it was Commander Williams.’

‘She never told me.’

‘Maybe she didn’t feel the need to, sir. If she posted Jenkinson to MSCAN, she must have a lot of faith in him, so I very much doubt he’s the type of person who would leak things to the press. For what it’s worth, I don’t think anyone on her team would leak information.’

‘Do you think it was someone on my team?’

‘I hate to say it, but it could be.’

‘Who do you think it was?’

‘I don’t have a clue. If I did, I’d tell you.’

‘DS Wood clearly doesn’t like me. It could be him.’

‘He might not be your biggest fan, but he wouldn’t do that to you.’

‘Do you think I should speak to Williams about this Jenkinson chap?’ Chapman was surprised Anderson was again asking for his advice.

‘No, she might take it the wrong way. I’d just let professional standards do their job.’

Anderson sighed. ‘It won’t look good if it was someone on the team.’

‘I wouldn’t worry . . . unless it was you,’ Chapman said deadpan, wanting to see his reaction.

He looked stunned. ‘What, no. I would never do such a thing . . .’

Chapman smiled. ‘I was joking, guv.’ Anderson let out a sigh of relief.

‘On the plus side,’ Chapman continued, ‘it resulted in information that led to the recovery of the Rolex, the cash and the arrest of Liam.’

Anderson nodded. ‘I want you to interview Liam with me. I’ve already had a quiet word with the CPS. They feel I’ve enough to charge Liam and if Russell and her team find De Klerk’s blood or other evidence linking Liam to the crime scene, we’ll have him bang to rights.’

Chapman had a nasty feeling Anderson was getting overconfident. ‘That’s a big “if”,’ he said.

* * *

Arriving at John Walsh Tower, Jessica saw Diane and Taff’s crime scene vans parked in the street. She read a text message from Chapman about the cash and Rolex needed for Liam’s interview. He said photographs would do if they were going to examine them at the lab later in the day. Jessica didn’t want to remove them from the evidence bags outside the lab, so she photographed them through the transparent bags and sent them to Chapman.

After putting on a crime scene suit, Jessica got in the lift and went to the fourteenth floor. When the lift door opened, she was surprised to see her colleagues sitting on their crime scene cases, eating cake with squirty cream.

‘You’ve got to try this, it’s delicious,’ Taff said.

‘Have you started on the crime scene yet?’ Jessica asked curtly.

Diane put her plate down. ‘We knew you were coming from the hospital, so we thought we’d wait until you arrived. Iris, the neighbour, offered us some homemade cake.’