Twelve
‘You were right,’ said Noble, picking up a tray of hot drinks. ‘Roland was staring at Daniela’s picture.’
‘He probably has no idea she’s missing,’ said Brook. ‘Must have been quite a shock.’
‘How did you know?’
‘I didn’t. Not for sure. But Daniela started her first year at university the same time as Roland. There was a good chance their paths crossed.’
‘I thought you didn’t operate on hunches,’ said Noble.
‘It wasn’t just that,’ said Brook, checking his watch. ‘You’re not an opera buff, are you?’
‘Do I need to be?’
‘Tell you later,’ said Brook. ‘Cooper?’
‘He’ll knock on the door in ten minutes and hand you a piece of paper.’
‘Good. Better not keep them waiting.’ He reached for the door handle.
‘There’s something else,’ said Noble.
‘What?’
‘The councillor recognised Daniela’s picture as well. I saw him looking.’
Brook considered for a moment before opening the door.
‘So you don’t deny being the father?’ asked Brook.
‘He doesn’t deny he had a sexual relationship with the girl,’ said Davison. ‘Natural and healthy, but whether or not—’
‘Councillor,’ interrupted Brook. ‘Please be quiet.’
‘I beg your pardon.’
‘Your son is old enough to answer for himself,’ explained Brook. ‘We’ve allowed you to sit in as a courtesy—’
‘The boy’s allowed legal representation,’ barked Davison.
‘That’s not what you’re providing,’ said Noble. ‘So either let him answer or leave.’
There was silence while Davison’s hooded eyes burned into Noble’s. A few seconds later his gaze dropped.
‘Go on,’ prompted Noble.
‘We had regular sex,’ said Roland. ‘But do I know for certain I was the father? No.’
Brook considered him. ‘You’re suggesting Caitlin had other sexual partners.’
‘I wouldn’t bet against it,’ replied Roland.
‘But you can’t give us any names,’ said Noble.
‘No.’
‘You stated previously that your relationship ended ten days before Caitlin had the termination,’ said Noble. ‘That would be on or around the eighth of March.’
‘Sounds right.’
‘And when you broke up, that ended all contact between you.’
‘I saw her on campus from time to time but only from a distance.’
‘But you didn’t speak to her.’
‘I thought a clean break was best,’ said Roland, grinning. ‘Didn’t want her under any illusions.’
‘You didn’t speak to her on the phone, for instance?’ said Brook, slipping in the key question without fanfare.
‘Asked and answered.’
Brook looked at him before making a note. ‘The witness answered no,’ he said as he wrote on his pad. Roland looked at him curiously.
‘What about the actual termination?’ said Noble. ‘Did you give Caitlin money towards the cost?’
‘No,’ said Roland firmly.
‘What about your father?’
‘Pardon!’ exclaimed Davison Senior. ‘Are you suggesting I paid her off?’
Brook addressed Roland. ‘Well, did he?’
‘No I bloody didn’t,’ boomed the councillor, his face reddening. ‘And I resent any such implication.’
‘Why?’ asked Brook. ‘It makes perfect sense. You give Roland cash to give to Caitlin for a procedure that everyone wants to happen. The chances are it’s your son’s child, so you go private for the sake of confidentiality and the matter’s closed. Why all the bluster?’
‘Because it didn’t happen,’ said Davison.
Brook contemplated him. ‘Did she at least ask for money?’
‘No, she didn’t,’ said the councillor, his face reddening.
‘You wouldn’t object to us checking your financial statements to be certain?’ said Noble.
‘Yes, I would object,’ said Davison. ‘The law requires you get a warrant. Isn’t that right, son?’
‘Right, Dad,’ agreed Roland.
‘Something to hide?’ chipped in Brook.
‘Neither of us has anything to hide,’ said Roland confidently. ‘But my dad’s finances are private and irrelevant to Caitlin’s disappearance. So if you want to look, get a warrant – if you can.’ Brook smiled quietly as if pleased that Roland was putting up a fight. Roland caught the mood and uncertainty invaded his eyes. He glanced at his father, keen now to be away. ‘Are we done?’
‘No,’ said Brook. ‘When I asked if you’d spoken to Caitlin after your break-up, you said you hadn’t. Yet on March sixteenth, two days before Caitlin’s termination, and four days before her disappearance, you phoned her mobile.’
‘No I didn’t,’ said Roland, his expression scornful.
‘We have her phone records,’ persisted Brook, waiting for Roland to dig himself a bigger hole.
‘I don’t care. I didn’t phone or text the silly bitch after we split.’
Brook glanced at Noble, who pushed a photocopy across the table. ‘For the benefit of the tape, DS Noble is showing the witness a copy of Caitlin Kinnear’s mobile phone records.’ Roland stared at it, then looked at his father. ‘The call was placed from your father’s house to Caitlin’s mobile at ten thirty that night,’ said Brook. ‘It lasted for five minutes and twenty-one seconds. As you can see.’
Roland seemed confused. ‘But I wasn’t even—’
‘You did call her, son,’ interrupted Davison Senior.
‘What?’ said Roland.
‘You did call her,’ said Davison, his eyes burning into his son’s face. ‘I heard you on the phone in the hall. You dropped in to pick up your laundry. Do you remember?’
Roland stared at his father until he’d processed the information, then stared at the ceiling to recollect. ‘That’s right. I did swing by for my laundry and I did call her.’ He looked sheepishly at Brook. ‘Sorry. Forgot.’
‘Why did you ring her?’
‘You said it was before she was going into the clinic,’ said Roland. He looked down at the floor, then up again. ‘I wanted to wish her well.’
‘I see.’ Brook smiled, leaving a pause to relish the shock and awe to come. ‘Let’s move on to your relationship with Daniela Cassetti.’
‘My . . . what? Who?’ Roland exchanged a glance with his father.
‘Daniela Cassetti,’ said Noble, offering Roland a smaller version of the display photograph for the pair to examine and introducing it verbally for the tape. ‘She was a first-year student for two terms, same year you started. She disappeared at Easter and didn’t return for the summer term, same as Caitlin. You had an intimate relationship with her – same as Caitlin. And eventually she was reported missing.’ Noble paused for effect. ‘Same as Caitlin.’
The two detectives waited, allowing the silence to work its magic on Roland and his father. The young man kept his rebuttal simple. ‘I don’t know her,’ he said softly.
‘We have information that not only did you know her, but you had a sexual relationship with her,’ said Brook.
‘If my boy says he doesn’t know her—’
‘What information?’ demanded Roland.
There was a knock at the door and Noble halted the tape after documenting the interruption. DC Cooper handed Brook an A
4
copy of the staff canteen menu from two days ago. ‘Your warrant, Inspector.’
Brook folded the paper and meshed his fingers over it, staring between Roland and the councillor. Noble restarted the tape.
‘Do you like Italian opera, Roland? Verdi, for instance.’ The young man stared back at Brook, the detective’s confidence eating away at his sangfroid. ‘“La donna e mobile”, in particular.’
‘You what?’ scoffed Davison Senior. ‘Are you off your trolley, Brook? Actually, don’t answer that. I already know about your problems, fella.’
‘It’s Italian for
the lady is fickle
,’ said Brook, ignoring the councillor. ‘It’s a song from
Rigoletto
. You had a disc in your apartment. The one I picked up, in fact. But you changed the title to
immobile
. I assume that’s some kind of sniggering undergraduate humour. The Italian lady is immobile. Did you tie Daniela up and film yourself having sex with her?’
‘This has gone far enough,’ said Davison, standing.
Brook turned a cold eye on him. ‘Feel free to leave, Councillor. Your name isn’t on the warrant. Yet.’
‘You cheeky bugger . . .’
Brook tapped the out-of-date menu with a finger. ‘I’ll be searching your son’s apartment . . .’
‘You’ve got no right,’ said Davison.
‘Dad . . .’
‘I have every right,’ said Brook. ‘I have reasonable suspicion that two of the missing girls in our inquiry were filmed by your son in a series of compromising sexual encounters. I suspect money changed hands for their participation in those recordings, though I can’t prove it. Furthermore, I suspect you’re aware of your son’s activities, Councillor, although the extent of your involvement remains as yet unclear . . .’
‘How dare you?’
‘
You
rang Caitlin that evening, Councillor, because she’d asked for money to pay for terminating her pregnancy. Either you knew about the films already, or she told you and gave you a subtle hint that paying for the procedure would prevent damaging and embarrassing revelations.’
‘I’ll have your job—’
‘Dad,’ said Roland. ‘Leave it to me.’ He turned to Brook. ‘You didn’t have a warrant when you picked up that disc in my flat. So your search was illegal.’
‘That’s true if it’s the only film,’ said Brook. ‘But it isn’t, is it?’
‘But you developed your suspicions based on an illegal search,’ said Roland.
‘You invited me into your flat . . .’
‘That doesn’t mean I waived my right to privacy. I didn’t invite you to tamper with my possessions; in fact I expressly forbade it.’
Brook smiled, exuding more confidence than he felt. ‘How sure are you of your legal ground, Roland? By the time we’re arguing the case in front of a judge, it may be too late for your father’s reputation.’ He turned to Davison; the councillor’s expression was uneasy. ‘You know about or have seen these films, haven’t you, Councillor? That’s why you agreed to pay cash to Caitlin Kinnear before her termination.’
‘I don’t—’
‘Look,’ said Brook, banging a fist on the table, making everyone jump, Noble included. ‘We’ve spent enough time on you and your son. If those films involved Roland and his girlfriends having consensual sex, I want to know now. If they have no bearing on the disappearances of Daniela and Caitlin, I’m not interested in wasting any more of my time. The fact that you may have compensated the girls for their efforts is not a matter of record or something that I’m able to prove easily. So if I get full disclosure
right now
, we can all get on with our lives. Roland will lose his collection either way. The camera too, for the time being. But that’s all you’ll lose, because I’ve got better things to do than police consenting adults at play.’
He waited to let his speech sink in, then continued quietly. ‘But if I don’t get full disclosure, I’m going to start thinking those tapes may be significant in the
serious
crimes I’m investigating. And if I find other abductees on those tapes, or you, Councillor, participating, or young women who appear lethargic as the result of being drugged, then charges are going to be laid and people are going to go to prison. So decide now.’
Brook sat back and contemplated father and son, his face set in stone. The pair seemed to have shrunk since the start of the interview, and searched each other’s eyes in silence for the way forward. Eventually they both nodded.
‘What do you want to know?’ said Councillor Davison, barely able to raise a croak.
When Davison and his son had left with DC Cooper and DS Morton to retrieve the tapes, Noble could contain himself no longer. After allowing a few seconds for father and son to disappear out of earshot, he sighed heavily and closed his eyes with satisfaction. ‘Oh my God,’ he panted. ‘That was better than sex.’
Brook was unable to hold back a smile. ‘I’ll take your word for it.’
‘Roland’s face . . .’ began Noble, clenching his fists in ecstasy.
‘I thought he was going to call my bluff,’ confessed Brook.
‘When you asked for permission to remove his discs and camera . . .’ continued Noble. ‘
Why do you need my permission if you’ve got a warrant?
’ Noble shook his head. ‘And you showed him the menu.’
‘I don’t think he was overly impressed by the canteen’s selection.’
‘So what do you think?’ said Noble, laughing. ‘Do we believe them?’
‘I think so,’ said Brook. ‘Obviously we can’t corroborate consent with Caitlin and Daniela, but if the tapes show what Roland says they show, then their only crimes are stupidity and arrogance.’
‘We are looking for a pair of kidnappers, and that’s now two missing girls they know.’
‘We’re not even certain they’re missing, John.’
‘
I’m
certain.’
‘Well, Roland has an alibi and the councillor says he was in the chamber the night Caitlin disappeared,’ said Brook.
‘Easy enough to check.’
‘And assuming he’s telling the truth, that puts them both in the clear,’ said Brook.
‘Think the dirty old sod is in the films?’
‘He’s not stupid enough to lie about something so easy to verify.’
‘He could have had sex with Caitlin or Daniela off camera,’ suggested Noble.
‘We don’t know that,’ said Brook. ‘And if he had, I suspect Caitlin would’ve asked for a lot more than a thousand pounds.’
‘Then why else would he ring her?’
‘To protect his son’s good name,’ suggested Brook. ‘Reputation is everything to people like him.’
‘But what was there to stop her coming back for more?’
‘Once the pregnancy was terminated and the films were destroyed, she would have no way of backing up her claims,’ said Brook. ‘Crisis over.’
‘And cheap at twice the price,’ nodded Noble. ‘So why didn’t Roland destroy the films after you saw the discs?’
‘Arrogance, John. People like that think they’re untouchable.’
‘So we’re back where we started.’
‘Not quite,’ said Brook. ‘Eliminating suspects is always progress.’
Jake opened the door of the flat and hurried inside.
‘Where’ve you been?’ demanded a sulky voice.