‘Jason had lasting power of attorney and was dealing with all her affairs, so it was easier for him to be registered as the owner and deal with the sale of the property.’
‘Excuse my ignorance,’ Jane said, ‘but what does lasting power of attorney mean exactly?’
‘Essentially it gave Jason the legal authority to make financial decisions on Helena Lanark’s behalf.’
Jane thanked Mr Hadley again for his assistance, then asked him to repeat the timings for her, particularly regarding when the last tenant had left the property. She also asked if Mr Forgham had retained the keys after the tenants had left. Mr Hadley was unable to confirm if he had returned the keys, but he said he would fax Mr Thorpe with any further queries Jane had.
By the end of the call with Mr Hadley, Jane was certain that she was right. She needed to have a conversation with Rachit Agarwaclass="underline" according to the incident board he was one of the last tenants to remain at the property.
Jane put on her coat, which still held the faint smell of the shelter, and made a mental note to have it dry-cleaned.
As she went into the main incident room, she could see that a lot of new information had been added to the board and decided to ask DCI Carter for a full team briefing as soon as she returned from meeting with Mr Agarwal.
She was just passing through the station reception when DS Derek Hunt gestured to her. ‘Could I have a quick word?’ Although Jane knew who he was she had only had a brief conversation with him since her arrival. Derek was an ‘old school’ copper, square-jawed with pockmarked skin, and a First World War haircut. Even though he was approaching retirement, he looked fit and had a strong presence about him.
‘I’m just heading out, Derek, but I need to ask DCI Carter for a full team briefing. I shouldn’t be more than an hour.’
She was surprised when Hunt took her elbow.
‘Do you mind if I have a few words in your shell — like now, love? It’s just that, we all know you’re new here, but if you’ll excuse me giving you a bit of advice, you need to get to know your team. Some of them have done a hell of a lot of leg work tracing some of the tenants, going through all the misper files to try and identify the victim. And there’s been no encouragement from you. As the DI on the team, you need to have your finger on the pulse and speak with the team regularly, so we all know what everyone’s doing.’
Jane was taken aback but instantly knew he was right. ‘Thank you for the advice,’ she said, her cheeks flushing. ‘You can be sure I’ll act on it as soon as I get back to the station.’
It took Jane ten minutes to get to Rachit Agarwal’s small grocery shop on a corner of Stockwell High Street. He and his wife were at the counter, and as soon as Jane introduced herself he became agitated, explaining that he had already been spoken to by a uniformed officer regarding when he had been a tenant at the Stockwell property.
‘If it’s about the rent owing, I don’t know if you are aware, madam, but we were left with no central heating and then they cut off the electricity. I have four children, and to find replacement accommodation was exceedingly difficult.’
‘This is not about the rent,’ Jane quickly explained. ‘Is there somewhere private we can talk? I just have a few questions but it’s nothing to worry about.’
Rachit instantly relaxed, leading Jane to the back room of the shop. ‘We had many problems at this property,’ he began explaining. ‘Mr Forgham could at times be very rude, and aggressive. Of course, I was greatly saddened by what happened to him, but he was really quite unpleasant at times.’
Jane took out her notebook and asked if Rachit could clarify the exact dates he and his family left the property. He said it was very clear in his mind because he had left a week before Mr Forgham was murdered. He was also able to tell Jane that Mr Forgham used to drive a small white Ford Transit van, and he repeated what he had said in his first statement, that no tenant had been allowed down in the basement. As far as he knew there was only one other couple still living at the house when he left.
When asked if he had ever met Jason Thorpe, Rachit said he had met him on a few occasions, as he had visited the house with various builders. He had been told that he was the owner but was instructed that any problems they had concerning their rent should be addressed to Mr Forgham, as Mr Thorpe lived in Australia.
‘If you want my honest opinion, madam, they just wanted to let the house deteriorate and sell it to the highest bidder. You see, it’s a corner property with a large acreage of garden.’
‘But you were never allowed to use the garden?’
Rachit shook his head. ‘There was no gate from the garden to the road, and the access to the garden from the basement was always locked. From our bedroom window it looked like an overgrown mess of weeds and rotting trees. The company had erected a high corrugated-iron fence around the perimeter, so even if you wanted to, nobody could ever get in.’
Jane thanked him for his time and hurried back to the station. She did not even have a moment to unbutton her coat or go into her office as DCI Carter was standing next to the incident board holding up the photograph of Samantha Forgham.
‘Everyone, our victim has been identified. She was the twenty-two-year-old daughter of Brian Forgham.’
Jane folded her coat over her arm and stood at the back of the room. Carter glanced over at her, and was clearly enjoying the fact that he had stolen her thunder, explaining how they had identified their victim through her dental records. He then added, gesturing towards Jane, that with no witness, they could only speculate on what had occurred.
‘We are waiting for a toxicology report on the hair from the victim. This will confirm if she was, as her mother has stated, a heroin addict. As Samantha disappeared on the night of her father’s death, we have to assume that Mr Forgham intended to protect his daughter from her drug dealer boyfriend by holding her captive in the shelter.’
There was a murmur around the room as he finished with a grin, saying that a lot had been accomplished in a very short time and thanking them for all their hard work.
‘We just need to find the last tenant who had occupied the property, inform Brian Forgham’s widow, and then I think it’ll be “case closed”.’
DS Hunt raised his hand. ‘Guv, what are we doing about the second body in the shelter — the little baby? We’re getting our ears burned from all the calls coming in from the demolition company, wanting clearance so they can get on and finish their job.’
Carter shrugged. ‘I’ll have a conversation with forensic, but I think we can give the green light for the demolition work to start up again.’
He hesitated a moment before gesturing to the incident board and the photographs of the mummified baby.
‘We’re at a standstill with this until we have information from the pathologist, but he’s already estimated that the mummified baby is twenty-five to thirty-five years old. So, in all honesty, I doubt that we will be able to spare a full team working on that.’
Jane took a deep breath, trying not to show her humiliation on her face. She’d hardly begun her new job, but already Carter had made her position untenable. She kept her coat over her arm and walked out of the station.
Chapter Five
Arriving home, Jane was about to put her key into the lock when the door opened.
‘Hi, I was just leaving, but I’m glad to be able to have a chat as we’ve made a lot of progress today.’
Eddie stepped aside for her to come in. Jane could see that the floorboards were in place again, but the carpet was still rolled back.
‘You actually have pretty good floorboards,’ Eddie went on, ‘and your carpet is worn and stained. You might think about having the floorboards in the hallway sanded as it would give a much more modern feel and make it look a bit larger, especially if you continue it into the kitchen.’