‘And, according to Islington CID, O’Brien’s building was under police surveillance by ten to six, at the request of SO7. No-one emerged after that, and a neighbour who was parking his car opposite at twenty to, and who stopped for a short conversation with a passer-by he knew, didn’t see anyone come out the front either, so the back route looks like his most likely exit.’
‘What was his mistake then, guv?’ asked one of the younger detectives.
‘We think he might have caught the jacket he was wearing on a nail sticking out of the wall as he climbed out the window, leaving a piece of it behind. It might not be his, of course, but it hasn’t been there long, and I can’t see who else’s it would be. I have to tell you, there’s not much left of it, and it’s wet, but it’s a clue and, given how careful he was in every other aspect of the murders, it may well be the best we’re going to get from the actual scene itself. It’s being analysed now and hopefully we’ll get an idea of the type of jacket it came from within the next few days. I’m hurrying things along as fast as I can.
‘And also, if he did go out through the back window, then he still would have had to cross a number of gardens to get back to the road, and he might have been seen. It’s therefore especially important that we talk to everyone in the surrounding streets. A Portakabin’s going up at the scene this morning, and it’s going to be manned by DCs Holby and Birch’ — he pointed at two young officers sitting near the back — ‘and a couple of uniforms, and we’ve also managed to get hold of a further twenty uniforms to conduct house-to-house enquiries. I can’t see the killer hanging around in the flat with the two bodies, so it’s probably safe to assume that he killed Robbie as soon as he arrived back at the building, and made his escape immediately afterwards.’
He paused for a moment before continuing.
‘Which leaves an important question. Why, after he’d killed O’Brien, did the killer choose to exit the building through the back window, which was surely a lot less convenient and potentially more risky than going out the way I believe he came in, i.e. the front door? It’s a question we’re going to need to answer. Was he disturbed? I don’t think so, otherwise we probably would have had a third corpse. Or did he think it was too risky going out the front because the police might be looking for Robbie O’Brien? In other words, did the killer know about the op at the hotel? Because if he did, that means he was somehow connected with it. Which brings me on to motive. Why was O’Brien killed? We didn’t cover the “why” so much in the meeting yesterday because I wanted us to get moving on the basics of what actually happened, but now we need to look at his murder in relation to the events of Wednesday, because I believe it’s in there that we’ll find our solution. Not only is it highly coincidental, Robbie dying like that on the day of Operation Surgical Strike when he’d had so much input in setting it up, but it’s clear that a lot of planning went into his and his grandmother’s murder. O’Brien undoubtedly had a lot of enemies, but I’m not sure how many of them could have organized this.
‘And that’s not all.’
Everyone in the room waited expectantly. Flanagan gave another dramatic pause lasting at least five seconds, and I decided that this was how he’d risen as high as he had. The bloke loved the centre stage, basking in the glow of self-importance. He was an actor, and I bet he could have kissed ass with the best of them when it suited.
However, even I had to admit that what he had to say was dramatic.
‘As you know, we recovered a mobile phone from the body of Robbie O’Brien on which a number of calls had been made to Stegs Jenner’s police mobile. There were also several other unidentified numbers on there, the most recent of which, according to the phone company, was phoned on Wednesday afternoon at three thirty-five p.m.’ His suspicious little eyes scanned the whole room as he paused yet again, before continuing. ‘We’ve just identified that number as the Donmar Hotel. It looks very much like it was Slim Robbie who made the call that got Vokes Vokerman killed.’
Now this was an interesting one, but it was also a revelation that we could all have done without, mainly because it made no sense whatsoever. Why on earth had Robbie made that phone call? Had he had a sudden fit of nerves and made a last-ditch attempt to save himself from the Colombians’ wrath by warning them about what was going to happen? It was possible, but highly unlikely, because at that point, with the police next door, the Colombians were doomed anyway and would hardly have turned round and forgiven him.
For the next ten minutes we debated this apparent paradox, not really getting anywhere. The closest we came to a theory was that Robbie O’Brien had somehow managed to find out about the location of the meeting and had set up the robbery with Tyndall, knowing full well that when the robbery went down Tyndall’s men would be caught. The theory went that he’d done this because he was setting up Tyndall in order to remove him as a potential rival in the north London coke trade. The phone call, then, was a deliberate attempt by O’Brien to ingratiate himself with the Colombians by warning them about what was going to happen and therefore making things even worse for Tyndall, while at the same time hopefully removing all suspicion that it was in fact he, Robbie, who’d been the source of the set-up in the first place.
If so, it was a clever plot. Unfortunately, as a theory, it was also one with a hell of a lot of holes in it. First and foremost, why would Tyndall have got involved in the robbery in the first place? As I’ve said before, he was no fool or short-timer, and would have known that he’d become number one on the Cali cartel’s hitlist as a result of his actions. Why too did Slim Robbie end up dead if he’d masterminded the whole thing, and who’d killed him? And, of course, how had he been so sure of the location of the meeting that he’d made that phone call?
Tina asked this last question, adding in the same breath that Stegs hadn’t been a hundred per cent convincing in explaining away the calls made to his mobile by O’Brien in the days leading up to Operation Surgical Strike — a none-too-subtle hint of the possible involvement of the SO10 man. Thankfully, she didn’t mention Joey Cloud and his disappearing fingers. I think that, on that day at least, it would have been a complication too far. It was hard enough as it was getting our heads round the possibilities on offer for O’Brien’s death and the car park robbery without putting in yet another angle.
Flanagan nodded sombrely to show he was taking WDS Boyd’s comments on board. ‘How did you think Jenner came across last night?’ he asked her, studiously avoiding my gaze.
‘He seemed uptight.’
‘Did you go through all his movements on Wednesday?’
She nodded, opening up her notebook and reeling out what Stegs had told us the previous night. When she’d finished, the room was silent for a few moments.
‘Is Stegs a suspect, sir?’ I asked Flanagan, deciding to get it out into the open. ‘Because I can’t see what he’d be gaining from it.’
‘No, I don’t believe he’s involved,’ he answered, choosing his words carefully, ‘but it is important that he’s fully eliminated from the inquiry. We wouldn’t want doubts to remain.’ He let the last words hang in the air for a couple of seconds, and it made me think that he was more than happy for any doubts to stay put. Poor old Stegs. He really did have enemies.
Finally, Flanagan continued. ‘I am, however, getting the feeling that the solution to this crime is not going to stand up and smack us right in the face. It’s going to take a lot of legwork. What we’ve got to do is keep digging. Keep asking around. See what clues, what physical evidence, we can turn up. If we can get O’Brien’s shooter, then we’re going to be able to crack the whole thing. At the same time, Tina, you have raised an important point, so I want you and John to look into the backgrounds of Stegs and Vokerman and see what, if anything, crops up. As I’ve said, it’s important that everyone involved in Wednesday’s operation is eliminated from the inquiry.’ I noticed he didn’t include himself in this. ‘And the pressure for a result is going to be massive. More intense than any case I can remember for a long, long time.’