‘Well, I wish you luck, Superintendent,’ said Gus Bartlett, ‘but I assure you it’s got nothing to do with us.’
‘I do hope not,’ said Banks. ‘And thank you. We’ll need all the luck we can get. Bye, then. Bye, Lisa. Mrs Bartlett. Bye, Jason.’
But Jason didn’t look up or mumble a goodbye in return. He seemed lost in his own world.
When Banks got back to Newhope Cottage after talking to the Bartletts that evening, he found a note from the courier company to the effect that there was a package too large for his letterbox waiting for him round the back. Curious, he walked around to the wooden chest he had been having packages left in for years and found that whatever was in it was so big it wouldn’t shut properly.
He carried the large, well-wrapped box into the front room and started to remove the wrapping. It seemed to take for ever, and he had to fetch a box-cutter from the kitchen drawer, but he knew what it was before he managed to cut off the last strip of cardboard and saw the envelope taped to the case. He opened it up and pulled out the card, which read:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND
HAPPY STRUMMING, DAD!
LOVE,
A guitar. But not just any guitar. When he opened up the case, he saw it was a Martin D-28, just about the best acoustic guitar on the market. He took it out and held it in his hands. Then he strummed it and found, naturally, that it was out of tune. That would be the first job.
There was a care package of extras with it, and Banks found spare strings, plectrums, a cleaning cloth and an electronic gizmo you attached to the neck, which told you the note of each string as you tuned it. He found something else, too: a copy of Bert Weedon’s Play in a Day, the legendary manual used by Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Pete Townshend and John Lennon, among others. Not that Banks imagined he would ever be able to play as well as any of them, but at least he would get the same start.
He had tears in his eyes as he stroked the smooth wood and rested it on his knee. He had been quite resigned to buying his own guitar — and it certainly wouldn’t have been a Martin — but this was a wonderful gesture from his son, and it almost overwhelmed him. It wasn’t even his birthday for another two weeks, but that didn’t matter. No doubt Brian wanted to get it to him before he bought an inferior model for himself.
The guitar put the Hollyfield case quite out of his mind as he tried to work out how to use the gizmo to tune it. He remembered that strings were supposed to be EADGBE, which was a good start, and soon found that if he tightened or loosened each string in turn, the electronic tuner showed him what note he was playing.
He had managed to tune the first three strings when his phone rang. He cursed, but when he saw it was Gerry, he put the guitar aside. He had been expecting her to ring. ‘Yes, Gerry? How did it go?’ he asked.
‘Just as you expected, guv.’
‘Excellent.’
‘You were right. It wasn’t long after you left that Jason Bartlett came out of the house, made a quick call on his mobile and then met up with Chris Myers at the end of his street.’
‘So it’s the kids, not the parents. Well, well. Where did they go? The park’s still taped off and under guard, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. They went to The Oak, sat in the beer garden, had quite a long natter.’
‘Any sign of Lisa or the parents? Granville Myers?’
‘None. Just Chris and Jason. I couldn’t hear what was going on — I didn’t dare get too close for fear they’d notice me — but they seemed to be arguing on the way down there. It looked as if Jason was panicking and Chris was trying to calm him down. There was a bit of arm-waving, and at one point they stopped while Chris held Jason by the shoulders, gave him a good shake and seemed to be trying to make a point. But I couldn’t get any closer, guv. They know who I am. They’d have spotted me.’
‘That’s OK. I think we’d better make our move first thing in the morning, though, don’t you?’ said Banks. ‘Give them both a chance to spend a sleepless night with their consciences, if they have any, then bring them both in. With any luck, we should have some lab results from Jazz by then. Even if we don’t, I can’t risk either of them making a run for it. Or give them time to clean up the car any more than they probably have done already. Let’s put an officer on watching the Myers garage, just in case. We’ll want their computers and mobiles, too. There should at least be evidence of Jason’s racist activities in his Internet browser usage. I think we’ve got enough to get the boys talking if we employ a bit of creativity here and there, push them to the edge. One of them is bound to crack. We’ll need to arrange for duty solicitors to be available if we don’t want any delays, too. OK?’
‘Right you are, guv,’ said Gerry. ‘I’ll get right on it.’
‘And Gerry?’
‘Guv?’
‘Good work. Soon as you’ve got things arranged, get a good night’s sleep. You’ll need it.’
Chapter 15
Naturally, both Jason’s and Chris’s parents made a big fuss when the police came by the following morning to take their sons in for interviews under caution, search their rooms, and impound their computers and Chris’s car for forensic analysis. Both sets of parents trailed down to the station behind their boys and demanded to be present at any interviews. As both suspects were over eighteen, their requests were denied. Jason was placed in interview room one, and Chris in room three, both with their duty solicitors. The outraged parents went back outside the building and threw themselves into slagging off the police to the assembled media crowd, who loved every minute of it.
While Chris and Jason waited in the sterile and stuffy interview rooms, listening to their lawyers brief them, the team went to Banks’s office, where they drank strong coffee, planned strategy and simply let time pass. At one point, Banks sent Gerry over to the lab to find out the status of the tests. It was too soon, but Jazz had determined so far that the blood was human; the DNA test had been underway for a while. There was a good chance she would be ready later in the morning. Banks wasn’t too concerned, as he knew it would work just as well as a threat. Under PACE, they could hold the boys for twenty-four hours, anyway, by which time Jazz would certainly have finished her tests. If Chris or Jason had stabbed Samir, then they would know already that his blood was in the park, and perhaps also that their DNA was on the roaches or chewing gum found there, too. Still, a positive result before or during the interviews would certainly help. And a murder weapon.
‘Let’s take Jason first,’ Banks said. ‘Annie, you come with me. Gerry, stay on top of the lab.’
If Gerry was upset at being excluded from the interviews, she didn’t show it. Banks and Annie marched to interview room one, dismissed the constable standing guard over Jason and sat down. In contrast to Chris Myers’s golden curls, Jason had straight dark hair over his ears and down to his collar. He was also a little overweight. Not obese, exactly, but not as slender and athletic as his friend. He looked as if he would be the last one to be picked for the rugger team at school games.
And Jason was nervous. He had clearly been biting his knuckles and fingernails, though he tried to stop when Banks and Annie entered. It wasn’t long before he was chewing on them again. Sitting beside him was Harriet Lucas, a duty solicitor Banks had worked with before on a number of occasions; he had always found her fair and unflappable.
‘I don’t know what all this is about,’ Jason said, ‘but I’ve got an important exam this afternoon.’