He did an excellent job too. He was calm, articulate, and exuded confidence. Cooper had authorised the appeal, but he had no idea that Sharma would come across so well in front of the cameras. No doubt senior command officers would be watching this already.
When he left his office, Cooper discovered that Dev Sharma had also brought a youth into custody at West Street. A skinny teenager who sat in an interview room in the custody suite with a solicitor and a woman Cooper recognised as a Social Services caseworker.
‘Who is that in the interview room, Dev?’ he asked in the CID room. ‘He only looks about sixteen.’
‘Not even that,’ said Sharma. ‘He’s a couple of months away from that age.’
‘But who is he?’
Sharma looked at Cooper with a solemn expression. ‘Troy Curtis. He’s Shane Curtis’s brother.’
‘And?’
‘He was the other arsonist.’
‘Damn.’
‘His mother is very upset.’
‘I can imagine.’
Cooper looked at Sharma to see how he was dealing with it. ‘This sort of case can be the hardest. Are you okay with it?’
‘I’m fine.’
‘It’s perhaps worse when you have your own children.’
Sharma nodded. ‘I haven’t told you yet. Asha is expecting our first child. He’s due next April.’
‘Congratulations,’ said Cooper. ‘That’s wonderful.’
‘Thank you.’
‘You said “he”?’
‘Yes, I always knew it would be a boy first.’
Cooper laughed. ‘A lot of fathers say that.’
‘We’ll have more than one, of course. But the first one changes everything, doesn’t it?’
‘I suppose so.’
If his marriage to Liz had gone ahead, Cooper might have been the one announcing his first child by now. In fact, it could have been months ago. He could be a father by now. And it would have changed everything. Yet it wasn’t to be. And everything had changed in an entirely different way.
Cooper swallowed. He hoped it didn’t look rude, but it might be time to end the conversation.
‘Well done with the media appeal by the way,’ he said, watching Sharma’s rare smile break through.
Then Cooper turned away.
‘Gavin,’ he said, ‘we need to get Lacey Bower down here from Sheffield. Preferably today. I want to take her into Lathkill Dale and see what she can remember.’
‘I’ll get on to it.’
‘Is that the daughter?’ said Hurst, overhearing.
‘Yes.’
‘Well, if I understand it, her mother disappeared ten years ago and her father was charged with murder. Now her father has gone missing too, and it looks as though he’s the victim of a violent crime?’
‘Yes, you’ve got it, Becky. Why?’
‘We should be treating her with extra care, shouldn’t we? She’s only eighteen. She’s vulnerable.’
‘Everyone’s “vulnerable” these days,’ said Murfin. ‘I once heard some do-gooder say that criminals who get prison sentences are “vulnerable to committing more offences”. What rubbish.’
‘Your opinions were always so old-fashioned,’ said Hurst.
Murfin sniffed. ‘What you call old-fashioned, I call common sense.’
‘We’ll treat her with care,’ promised Cooper.
‘Perhaps I should go with Gavin.’
‘Only if you have the time, Becky. I know you have a lot on. We all do.’
Cooper turned back to Dev Sharma.
‘Pass my congratulations on to Asha,’ he said. ‘I’ll leave you to your suspect for now and I’ll be in my office for a while, but then I’m going out.’
Sharma raised one eyebrow as he turned to watch Cooper go.
Cooper could hardly bear to read through all the day’s memos. For a moment he thought of deleting them from his inbox unread. But there was always a chance that one of them was important and actually related to his own job and once he started reading, it was easy to relax and become absorbed in the minutiae of everyday life in Derbyshire Constabulary.
An amount of money retrieved through the Proceeds of Crime Act had been used to cover the cost of new radio equipment for the ShopWatch scheme in Edendale. The equipment allowed retailers to communicate with each other and police to share information about thefts or suspicious behaviour.
Shoplifting was a problem that not only affected retailers but had an impact on shoppers and people visiting the town. The POCA cash had come in after an application to the courts for criminals’ assets to be seized and sold. Some of the money generated also went to pay compensation to the victims.
In a recent joint operation with other agencies, more than seventy vehicles had been stopped across Derbyshire as part of a crackdown on rogue traders who preyed on vulnerable people, trying to con them into paying for unnecessary or overpriced work on their homes. The day of action had been co-ordinated by the intelligence unit as part of a week-long campaign.
CID hadn’t been involved in the operation, but there were countywide alerts to respond to reports of suspicious activities, especially in the villages, where dodgy traders targeted the elderly and housebound. That might actually have an impact on his team.
Cooper had hardly made any progress through his inbox when the door of his office opened. Carol Villiers again.
‘What’s going on, Ben?’ she said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Don’t forget I’ve known you for a very long time. We grew up together and we were in the same class at school. You were never able to keep a secret back then. It was always written all over your face.’
Cooper laughed. ‘I thought I was better at it now.’
‘Yes, you are. You’ve had a lot of experience,’ she said. ‘And it probably convinces most people. But I know you better than that, Ben. So what’s going on with this inquiry? Why are we giving so much attention to Reece Bower? At the end of the day it’s just a missing person case.’
‘You’re right, Carol.’
‘Of course I am. So?’
‘We’re pursuing lines of inquiry which were overlooked ten years ago.’
‘Overlooked?’
‘Well, that’s not the right word. Interrupted.’
‘You mean interrupted by the witness who claims to have seen Annette alive?’
‘Yes.’
‘So we’re picking up where Detective Superintendent Branagh left off.’
‘You know she was SIO at the time?’
‘It’s in all the files,’ said Villiers.
‘She was DCI Branagh then. I was just a divisional DC. I only saw Hazel Branagh from a distance. But everyone knew how frustrated she was when the CPS pulled the plug. She felt so strongly she couldn’t hide that.’
‘I imagine the whole team felt the same,’ said Villiers. ‘It was a major inquiry by the sound of it. A lot of effort went in to putting the case together against Reece Bower.’
‘And to finding Annette’s body. They were thwarted on both counts. All that time and effort went to waste. No one likes that.’
‘So Superintendent Branagh is bringing in a fresh pair of eyes,’ observed Villiers. ‘I understand that. But why were you so keen to pick up an old case?’
Cooper thought about his answer for a moment. He couldn’t have explained the reason for it at the time. During his conversation with Hazel Branagh, it had just felt the right thing to do. Otherwise, he would have been disappointing her.
‘Because I know that frustration,’ he said finally. ‘You’re right, Carol, it affects everyone, even when you aren’t directly involved. The Annette Bower case is one of the first major inquiries I can remember in Edendale. There’s a great sense of satisfaction when you’re part of a team which brings an inquiry to a successful conclusion. But you share the despair and disappointment when it all comes to nothing. I feel exactly the same way that Superintendent Branagh does. I’m glad she asked me to do this. I wouldn’t have wanted her to pass it to someone else. I owe an obligation to Hazel Branagh. She’s been very good to me over the years.’