“Did you call her from there? While you were away?”
“No…”
“And you came back when?”
“I came home on the thirteenth, a week early. There wasn’t much snow about.”
Tennison sat slightly straighter in her chair. “Did you see her when you got back?”
“No. I went round to her flat yesterday. Miffy said Karen wasn’t at home, they’d presumed she was with me. Then I called her parents’ house. The housekeeper told me Karen hadn’t been home since Christmas, so I rang round a few other friends. When I ran out of places to look for her, I went to the local police station and told them.”
“When was that?”
“Er, first thing this morning. I just said no one had seen her lately.”
“Ah, so we got two separate reports… Now, Michael, her car, the Mini. Have you any idea where it might be?”
“No…” He thought for a moment. “It wasn’t outside the flat.”
All through the interview, Tennison was aware of a lot of coming and going outside. Faces popped up in the small window, but no one knocked. One of them was the Super, but he waved at her not to bother. She found it all distracting, so it was almost a relief when Michael burst into tears and she was able to pace around the room for a few moments.
Eventually Michael blew his nose in his handkerchief. Tennison sat down again.
“So let’s get back to this argument you had with Karen.”
“It wasn’t really an argument, it was just… just that she decided we were getting too involved, she wanted more time to herself. I agreed, but we didn’t argue.”
“But you didn’t like it?”
“No, I wanted to marry her. But she was only… she…” His eyes filled up and he turned away, shrugging his shoulders helplessly as his voice cracked, “She was only twenty-two years old…”
“So, you agreed not to see so much of her. Did you find out if there was someone else?”
“No, she didn’t have anyone else.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I know… She would have told me if there was something… someone else. I’m sorry…”
“So you don’t think she had other boyfriends?”
“She had a lot of acquaintances, men friends, but most of them I knew. She didn’t have anyone else, wasn’t seeing anyone else.”
“But you were in Switzerland, maybe she met someone else while you were away?”
He shook his head and looked at the table. Tears trickled down his face and Lillie felt even more sorry for him. The boy kept looking at Lillie as if he could stop Tennison’s stream of questions.
“Did you and Karen have a good sexual relationship?”
Michael’s voice was a whisper. “Yes.”
“Did she like anything… unusual? Was she a bit kinky?”
“No.”
“Do you know if she took drugs?”
“She didn’t drink and she didn’t take drugs.”
“Do you?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked you if you take drugs, do you use hash or cocaine?”
“I have… but not recently.”
“Did you score it?”
“How do you mean?”
“Did you buy it for yourself? Go out and score from people?”
“No… when I say I’ve used… I was offered some cocaine once, and grass quite a few times, but I’ve never bought any. Do you mean do I go out to a dealer?”
“Yes?” He shook his head.
“Michael, are you sure? We found Karen in an area where a lot of drug dealers hang out. You sure she wasn’t using anything, or maybe going to get some for you?”
“No!”
“Did she pick up men?”
“No! No… Karen would never… Karen…”
He started to sob, hunching his shoulders, and Tennison leaned closer.
“Tell me, Michael, come on. If she was scoring for you it would make sense of where we found her, why we found her!”
Michael stood up, shaking with anger and grief, his face red with frustration. “No! She was a sweet, innocent girl, and you’re making her out to be something dirty, something sick! You disgust me…”
“Sit down, Michael, sit down! Come on, now. You said that on the night of the thirteenth of January you…”
He gritted his teeth. “I was at my parents’ house, I went straight from the airport. We had dinner and I stayed the night. I’ve told you this, I’ve told you this three times!”
Tennison closed her notebook. “Yes, you have, and thank you for being so co-operative. If you’d like to have a wash there’s a gents’ just along the corridor, and then DC Lillie will take you up to the canteen.”
He was slumped in his chair, silent. He didn’t look up. She walked to the door.
“You can go, Michael, and the girls are free to go with you. Thank you…”
Tennison leaned back and lit another cigarette as Michael followed Lillie along the corridor, standing aside to allow Superintendent Kernan to pass. The Super stopped at the door of the interview room.
“Anything?”
Tennison shook her head. “No,” she replied wearily, “her car might give us a clue, if we can find it. None of them know where it is.”
“Sergeant Otley reckons you’ve got enough to charge him.”
She stood up and faced him. “Detective Sergeant Otley is wrong.”
Kernan shut the door. “What do you want to do?”
She pushed her fingers through her hair. “We have to release him, we can’t hold him any longer. In my opinion we don’t have enough to make it stick… Let him go!”
At six-fifteen, Chief Superintendent Kernan left the Commander’s office and spoke briefly to Tennison. He had agreed to the release of George Marlow.
Reluctantly, Tennison went to the interview room and told the men the bad news.
“We will keep at it until we have the evidence to arrest him and keep hold of him.”
Otley, as tired as everyone else, shouted that it was lunacy, Marlow was guilty. Tennison didn’t even attempt to argue, but when Otley stood up in front of everyone, jabbed an aggressive forefinger at her and told her that if Marlow killed again it would be down to her, she snapped. “That’s enough, Sergeant! I’ve taken a lot of flak from you, but I’ve had you right up to here! You start acting like bloody cowboys and this is what happens. This investigation has been a cock-up from the word go. If anyone should be yelling and pointing the finger, it should be me! You all fucked up, so now we take it, we eat it, and start again from scratch. I want us on that bastard night and day. We’ll get him back and we’ll keep him. Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but I need some sleep, so let’s take a break. Tomorrow we’ll reassess everything we’ve got.”
She packed her briefcase and left. Only a few murmured “goodnights” marked her departure, but she was too tired to care.
Burkin and Jones remained at their desks, but the atmosphere in the room was thick with fatigue. Everyone was knackered, but above all, they felt defeated. Marlow had beaten them.
Otley sat for a few moments, devastated. He had been so certain that they had Marlow.
When his phone rang it took him a second to recognize the sound. He answered automatically, then sat bolt upright.
“Yeah, I got that! Thanks, mate, I owe you one!”
He jumped up and ran from the building.
It was drizzling as Tennison unlocked her car. She chucked her case inside and sat for a moment, trying to raise the energy to drive home.
The rain increased to a downpour as she drove slowly out of the car park and past the main entrance to the police station. George Marlow stood there with Upcher, waiting for a taxi. A cab pulled up, and as they stepped from the doorway Marlow spotted Tennison. He ran in front of her car, then to her window. Upcher put out a hand as if to stop him, but he ignored it and tapped on the glass.
“Excuse me… Excuse me, miss!”
She did not want to face him, but there was no way out of it. She lowered the window.