Page 44

FORTY-THREE

‘Well, as acts of faith go, this one’s pretty . . . major,’ Brigstocke said.

Tanner had emailed the DCI last thing the previous day, so he knew full well why she and Thorne had come knocking on his door before he’d had a chance to take his coat off.

‘You’re suggesting that we take this investigation forward based on the word of a woman whose husband was convicted of rape and sentenced to life in prison. A case based on forensic evidence so solid that the victim herself was not even needed in court.’

‘That’s about the size of it,’ Thorne said. ‘Yeah.’

‘It’s not that she wasn’t needed,’ Tanner said.

‘Siobhan Brady was advised against giving evidence herself in case she talked about the other man who she believed was there while she was being raped.’ She saw Brigstocke raise his hand, but wanted to finish.

‘They were worried she might sound . . . flaky.’

‘I get it,’ Brigstocke said. ‘I get all of it.’ He took a sip of the coffee he’d brought from home in a carry-cup and sat back, fiddling with a lever on his chair and swearing a couple of times until it reclined. ‘So, obvious question. If Peter Brightwell didn’t rape Siobhan Brady, who did?’

‘Tully,’ Thorne said.

‘Based on . . . ?’

Tanner was nodding. ‘It all points to Tully. He was the one Alex Brightwell was after all along. Fine, so he got an appetite for it and widened things out to include Adam Callaghan and the poor bugger who arrested his brother for rape, but Tully’s the one.’

‘Why does Brightwell keep mentioning Tully when he’s talking to his brother about the case?’ Thorne said. ‘Why does he talk about Tully to Peter’s wife?’

‘And to Emily Mead,’ Tanner said.

‘Tully’s name just keeps coming up.’

Brigstocke nodded, accepting it. He thought for a few seconds.

‘Well, obviously Alex Brightwell believed Tully was responsible, which is why we are where we are: why Brightwell killed him, along with three innocent coppers. So why the hell didn’t he just go to the police?

If he had any information that could help exonerate his brother, why didn’t he come to us? ’

‘Because he believed the police were involved in covering it up,’ Thorne said. ‘Protecting the police offer who’d actually committed the rape by putting his brother away for it, and it looks like he was spot on.’

‘We’re the last people he’d have come to,’ Tanner said.

Brigstocke took his glasses off and rubbed at his eyes, the shadows beneath them darker than ever.

He seemed a little reluctant to put them on again, as if seeing clearly was the more painful option.

‘So, why is it Peter Brightwell’s DNA in that rape kit and not Tully’s?

’ Brigstocke saw that Thorne was about to speak, but didn’t give him the chance.

‘If you’re suggesting someone planted it, we’ll need to explain how that someone had any DNA to plant.

Brightwell’s DNA was not taken when he’d been arrested previously. I know that, because I checked.’

Thorne had checked, too. It was something else he’d spoken to Hendricks about the night before.

‘His profile was not on record before all this and he didn’t provide a sample until he was arrested for raping Siobhan Brady, which was several days after her rape kit had been put together.’ Brigstocke stared at them and raised his hands. ‘So how the hell was it done?’

‘Why was Brightwell arrested?’ Tanner asked.

‘Yeah, I mean, just out of interest,’ Thorne said. ‘Siobhan Brady never saw her attacker’s face, so was there some other witness?’ He was certain by now that there could not have been.

‘An anonymous tip, if I remember rightly,’ Brigstocke said.

‘That’s handy,’ Thorne said.

Brigstocke shook his head. ‘Either way, how was it done? The DNA—’

Thorne had not got the first idea, but he wasn’t about to admit that. ‘Look, Russell, we have to at least assume that whoever’s behind this is the same mysterious individual who was present at the rapes of Emily Mead and Siobhan Brady.’

‘And Priya Kulkarni,’ Tanner said. ‘She definitely hints at the same thing in her initial statement.’

‘Right . . . so, if this individual’s in a position to be there during rapes committed by at least three serving police officers, namely Craig Knowles, Adam Callaghan and Christopher Tully, we can presume they’ve also got the capability to interfere somehow with forensic tests.

To do whatever’s necessary to cover for themself and their friends. ’

‘There’s an awful lot of assuming and presuming going on,’ Brigstocke said.

‘What else can we do?’

Brigstocke’s expression, the weary sigh that went with it, suggested that he didn’t see any other option either. ‘OK, then. Next step?’

‘Phil Hendricks rang me this morning,’ Thorne said. ‘He’s got an ex at the Fin-Cel lab and says this bloke’s happy to talk to us.’

‘Fin-Cel?’

‘In St Albans. Seems like a good place to start without making a fuss and alerting the wrong people.’

‘You know that’s not where they ran the tests in the Brightwell case?’

‘I do know that, yeah.’ Having got in early and looked at the file, Thorne had discovered that Siobhan Brady’s rape kit had been processed at a lab in Bracknell; a facility run by a completely different company. ‘It’s where Priya Kulkarni’s rape kit was sent, though.’

‘Where the freezer “malfunctioned”,’ Tanner said.

‘We need to tread carefully,’ Thorne said.

‘At least until we find out where Brightwell’s been getting his information from.

Take one step at a time and, like I said, not make too much noise about it.

Who’s to say that people working in these places don’t talk to each other or hang out together same as everyone else?

All it takes is one stupid WhatsApp message about police turning up at different labs and asking questions. ’

Brigstocke nodded. ‘Sounds like a plan, but . . . ’

Thorne and Tanner waited.

‘I still think we should be putting the majority of the team’s efforts into finding Alex Brightwell. That has to be what we focus on.’

‘Nobody’s arguing with that,’ Thorne said.

‘If Brightwell turns himself in or he’s nicked for speeding or gets spotted by some eagle-eyed member of the public, we’ll all be happy.

Until then, though, surely our best bet is to find out exactly why he’s been doing what he’s doing.

How these people got away with umpteen rapes and who was protecting them. ’

‘It might even tell us who Brightwell’s likely to go after next,’ Tanner said.

Brigstocke thought about that. ‘OK, makes sense . . . but bearing in mind that we’re all agreed we should be concentrating on apprehending our chief suspect, you both want to go down this . . . forensic evidence rabbit hole?’

‘I can’t see it taking up too much of our time,’ Thorne said.

‘My two best DIs.’

Tanner tried not to smile. ‘We won’t tell Dave Holland you said that.’

‘It’s just one visit to one lab, Russell,’ Thorne said. ‘To start with, anyway. We’ll be in and out of there like ninjas—’ He heard the alert from his phone, took it from his pocket and read the message.

i’m in the car park now

He stood up and walked towards the door. ‘I need to meet someone.’

Tanner appeared to be staying where she was for the time being, but the look she gave him made her curiosity clear enough.

‘Go steady, Tom,’ Brigstocke said.

Thorne smiled as he held up the phone before slipping it back into his pocket. ‘OK, you can put a firearms team together if I’m not back in ten minutes, but I really don’t think I’m in any immediate danger.’

‘Generally, I mean . . . ’