`About Sasha Blake. And Graeme Scott.'
* * *
Interview with Graeme Scott, conducted at St Aldate's Police Station, Oxford
9 April 2018, 11.52 a.m.
In attendance, DC G. Quinn, DC A. Baxter, Mrs D. Owen (solicitor)
DO: I assume you've had a chance to check my client's alibi by now, so I'm at a loss to know what this is about.GQ: The convenience store on Cherwell Drive has supplied us with their till receipts for the morning of April 1st, so we have confirmed that your client purchased milk at 9.16.DO: Which means he couldn't possibly have committed the assault on Faith Appleford. Have you had the results of the forensic tests on his car?GQ: We have.DO: And? For heaven's sake, Constable, this is like drawing teeth.GQ: There is no trace of either Faith Appleford or Sasha Blake in Mr Scott's vehicle.GS: [slamming his hands on the table]
There `“ what did I tell you `“ I had nothing to do with it `“DO: In that case, perhaps you could explain what on earth we are doing here?GQ: This is in relation to another incident. One that took place some days before Sasha died.GS: I don't know what you're talking about.GQ: Where were you on the morning of Saturday 17th March, Mr Scott, around 10.45?GS: I have no bloody idea.GQ: Are you sure? You don't remember being on Walton Street that morning? That stretch along by the Blavatnik building? Because we have a witness who says you were.* * *
Adam Fawley
9 April 2018
12.17
When I push open the door, Somer is already there, watching on the video screen.
`Sorry, I didn't realize anyone was in here.'
I shouldn't be in here either, as I'm sure Somer knows. She looks as if she's tempted to say something but evidently decides against it. I move closer to the screen and frown a little.
`It's just Quinn and Baxter doing the interview? Didn't Gallagher want to be in on this?'
I glance back at her and realize she's gone very red. `Oh,' she says, `didn't DI Gallagher say?'
`Say what?'
`We ruled Scott out. There was no DNA in his car `“ either from Faith or Sasha. It wasn't him.'
I turn back to the screen so she can't see my face. I know Gallagher didn't do it deliberately but no one likes being made to look like a prat. Not in front of their own team. My team. Not hers; mine. The one I'm going to have to carry on running, long after she's hauled her wretched stack of files back to Major Crimes.
`I'm sure she meant to tell you, sir. It's just, well, things got a bit crazy this morning.'
`It's fine, Somer. Really.' But I don't turn to look at her. And I'm not going to. Not until I feel the heat on my face subside. But then I realize what's quite literally staring me in the face and turn back to her again.
`Sorry, I don't get it. If Gallagher's ruled Scott out, why are you bothering to interview him at all?'
She holds my gaze this time. `DI Gallagher may want to charge him with stalking.'
I frown. `Even though the person he stalked is dead? That's not going to be easy to prove.'
`I know, sir, but she's worried he'll do it again. And given that he's a teacher `“' She shrugs. `DI Gallagher's hoping that what Mrs Parker told us might be enough to persuade the CPS it's worth a try.'
All of which makes sense. But the `us' is still painful. Because I'm not part of it, even though it was me Victoria Parker came to see. It's them and me right now, not `we'.
Somer turns back to the screen and sighs. `But even with a witness it's going to be yet another case of he said/she said.'
I'm still watching the screen.
`Give the Blavatnik a call,' I say slowly. `And ask them about their CCTV.'
* * *
GQ: So, do you remember now, Mr Scott?GS: I suppose I may have been there. I shop in Jericho quite a lot.GQ: Like I said, this was outside the Blavatnik building. You know where I'm talking about, right?GS: Of course I do `“DO: What relevance does this have, Officer?AB: Our witness saw Mr Scott outside the building that morning. He was sitting in his car.DO: There's no law against sitting in your own car. Or was he on a yellow line, is that it? You've run out of other options so you're resorting to minor parking infractions?GQ: According to our witness, Sasha Blake was also on Walton Street that morning. But you already knew that, didn't you, Mr Scott?GS: I told you `“ I go there quite often at the weekends.GQ: Our witness was in a coffee shop opposite the Blavatnik, waiting to meet her daughter. She was at a window seat and she remembers seeing a car just like yours parked on the other side of the road. And let's face it, we're not talking about a bog-standard Ford Mondeo here, are we? Your car is extremely distinctive.DO: But it's not unique `“ was your witness able to identify who was driving? Because I have to tell you, I very much doubt it.GQ: Oh, she can identify him all right. Because she's met him before, more than once. He teaches her daughter.DO: [pause]
All the same `“GQ: So let's try the question again, shall we, Mr Scott? Where were you on the morning of Saturday 17th March?* * *
Adam Fawley
9 April 2018
12.56
`They sent the footage over straight away,' says Somer as she opens the digital file on her laptop and navigates to the right place. `Baxter went seriously gadget-geek when he saw it.'
And I can see why. The images aren't just high-res, they're full colour; you can actually see people's features, the looks on their faces. The camera is angled down over the broad concourse in front of the Blavatnik building and the stretch of Walton Street immediately opposite. There's a time code on the bottom left of the screen; the date is 17:03:18.
Somer presses play and forwards to 10.04. A couple of students are talking animatedly near the Blavatnik doors. On the opposite pavement, an elderly man is pushing a tartan shopping trolley. He's almost bent double, his head twisted to one side so he can see where he's going. And in the coffee shop, Victoria Parker is queueing up for a coffee before taking a seat on the bench in the window. She gets out her phone and starts tapping the screen, glancing up every few seconds to scan the road. At 10.14, a pale blue Morris Traveller pulls in on the opposite side of the street. The driver stops the car, but he doesn't get out. He looks up and down the street then opens a magazine.
`The latest edition of Recreational Stalking, no doubt,' I mutter darkly.
Somer glances up but doesn't say anything.
She fast-forwards the footage again, then stops when we see a girl approaching from the left-hand side.
`It's Sasha,' says Somer. `Looks like she must have come from the centre of town.'
We watch as the girl crosses the road by the coffee shop, hitching her pink satchel over her shoulder as she goes. She's wearing a fringed jacket, a beanie and a pair of black ankle boots. At this distance, and with her hair under the hat, she looks unnervingly like Somer, which judging from her face, isn't lost on Somer either. Victoria Parker looks up, and I know that what she told us was absolutely true: she did see Sasha that day, and she did see Graeme Scott.
We rewind and watch it again, and then again. Staring at Sasha as she dodges the traffic and heads straight into the Blavatnik building, disappearing out of view directly beneath the camera. And each time we run it we can clearly see the man in the car lower his magazine and stare intently at the girl. A few moments later Isabel, Leah and Patsie appear from the same direction as Sasha and stop outside the cafГ©. Victoria Parker gets to her feet and starts to pick up her things.