Page 73 of The Scene of the Crime

Jessica was returning to the MSCAN office when she received a call from Chapman. ‘Hi, did DS Wood tell you about the stuff we found at Liam’s flat and the clothing in the bin?’ she asked.

‘Yes, that’s fantastic work by you all, and all useful stuff to question him about in his interview. Sounds like you’re in your car.’

‘I’m just on my way back to our office.’

‘Do you mind coming to the station first?’

‘We’ve got a lot of examination work to do. Things are starting to pile up, and I’m nearly at Lambeth.’

‘I need to speak to you about Liam.’

‘Why? What about him?’

‘I’d rather speak to you in person.’

‘For God’s sake, Mike, just tell me what this is about!’ she said, becoming frustrated.

‘Liam is short for William.’ He paused, knowing how she was going to react to what he was about to say.

‘Tell me something I don’t know,’ she said impatiently.

He took a deep breath. ‘The person we arrested earlier is the William John Palmer who assaulted you ten years ago.’

Jessica was stunned. For a few moments she couldn’t speak. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’

‘I didn’t recognise him when we arrested him because of his alopecia and the injuries to his face. I would have told youstraightaway if I’d known it was him. I only discovered Liam’s identity when his fingerprints were taken ten minutes ago. The detective who took his prints said he’d enter the details on HOLMES and inform your team that Palmer’s fingerprints and DNA were on file . . .’

‘You could have told me first! Who did he call?’

‘I don’t know, but probably Guy, as he’s your HOLMES manager. It would have looked odd if I had told the officer to delay sending them. I called you as soon as I could.’

Jessica knew he was right but that didn’t make the situation any better. ‘This could raise all sorts of problems. My involvement could be seen as a conflict of interest. I could be asked to withdraw from the investigation.’

‘It might not come to that.’

‘What did Anderson say about it?’

‘I haven’t told him yet. I wanted to speak to you first. For now, I think we shouldn’t tell anyone.’

‘Are you serious? It will just make matters worse in the end if we don’t.’

‘Please come to the station, and we can discuss the best way forward.’

She let out a huge sigh as she turned the car around. ‘All right, I’m on my way.’

Driving to Barking, Jessica became increasingly concerned about other people finding out her connection to Palmer. She knew she would have to tell Anderson and feared he would want her off the case. She contemplated calling Commander Williams first but decided to wait until she had spoken to Chapman.

As she approached Chapman’s office, she passed a couple of people in the corridor and felt as if they were staring at her. She unconsciously pulled at her hair, making strands come loose to cover more of her face, until the band holding it in place snapped. She entered Chapman’s office without knocking.

‘That was quick,’ he said, with a look of surprise at her wildlooking hair.

‘Do you have an elastic band?’ she snapped.

‘It suits you. Just hang on a moment.’ He rifled through his desk drawer and brought out several elastic bands. She chose one, scooped up her hair with one hand and quickly wound it into a tight topknot.

She stood by his desk. ‘I’ve thought about things on the way here. We need to declare our previous involvement with William Palmer and withdraw from the investigation. If we don’t, it could lead to misconduct allegations and disciplinary action.’

Chapman could see from the moment she came into his office that she wasn’t her usual calm and collected self. He thought her decision was wrong and impulsive. ‘Can we discuss it first?’ he said, pointing to the chair beside his desk.