Ridley pushed the mug shot towards Jack and waited. The young man in the photo had collar-length hair, blonder than Jag’s, but he had similar features. Jack hesitated... then rushed out into the squad room.
Jack hurried to the whiteboard that still had numerous still-unidentified photographs pinned up. He turned to Laura and clicked his fingers.
‘Don’t you click your fingers at me, Jack Warr!’
‘Sorry, sorry, this is important. The photographs we had pinned up on the board — ones of Avril’s early years and the unidentified boy, not her brother or the Dutch guy, the blond kid.’ Laura could feel Jack’s impatience as she crossed to the banks of files already being logged and listed.
Jack hurried back into Ridley’s office with two small black-and-white photographs. ‘I might be wrong about this, but we never got to identify this kid.’ Jack jabbed his finger down on the image of the small blond boy. ‘Adam Border said that Avril had met someone in Leeds when she went back for a funeral, and he was the one she brought into the house...’
Ridley put his hand up to interrupt Jack, who hadn’t noticed that he was on the phone. Jack placed the two small photographs down beside the mug shot and waited. Ridley thanked the caller and replaced the receiver. ‘The Jaguar with the black-tinted windows was bought from their new dealership, posh showrooms by that big Costco store. The buyer had it customised and paid in cash nine months ago. We ran his name and address but it’s a dead end. However, we have a pretty good description of him, and to me it could be that big bruiser we’re holding — Dave with the tattoos. So, we’ll get a warrant to search his house.’
‘These bastards are too savvy,’ Jack said, shaking his head. ‘The Jag will be wiped clean.’
Ridley clenched his fist. ‘I’m sick of hearing no comment, no comment, no bloody comment!’
Jack glanced down at the innocent face of the small blond boy. How does a child like that grow into Mahoney? ‘After what Mahoney did, when he cracked open Avril’s skull, they’re scared, sir. They’re all too scared.’
Ridley knew Jack was right. They needed to bring Mahoney down before the men under arrest would start talking. Ridley drew the photographs towards him. It was a real possibility that the boy from Avril’s past was Mahoney. But time was ticking.
‘Christ, I hope we get the footage from Adam Border, because I’ve already set the wheels in motion to transfer Mahoney across from Staines. In the meantime, figure out how on earth we can trap him without the videos.’
Within seconds of Jack settling to his desk, Laura had perched next to his keyboard. ‘You look tense. Is that because Ireland wasn’t as relaxing as you’d hoped, or because you just arrived in a car that looks like a peeled kiwi? The fruit, not the bird.’
‘Both.’
‘And, whilst you were over there, I don’t suppose you stumbled across the elusive Adam Border, did you?’
Jack smiled and said that Adam Border’s day would come, and much sooner than he imagined, but, for now, they’d just found evidence that Michael Mahoney was the man who struck the first blow in Avril Jenkins’ murder.
‘What evidence? Where from?’
Jack started accessing Mahoney’s arrest record. ‘He’s being transferred for interview as we speak, Laura. Let me prep, OK. I’ll explain everything when I’ve got more head space.’
Laura slinked away, whilst Jack tried to work out how he was going to break a fearless man with a mob of high-powered lawyers in his back pocket and a queue of people willing to lie for him, without the film footage from Adam.
Jack stared at his computer screen and the details from Mahoney’s one and only arrest. From the date, he calculated that Mahoney would have been twenty-one years old, so younger than Avril by about ten years. He kept looking at the photographs he had taken from Ridley’s office. Laura was leaning over his shoulder. When she saw the comparison Jack was making, she immediately saw the likeness too. ‘Oh my God, the young blond kid is Mahoney!’
‘He and Avril were kids together,’ Jack said. Laura perched on his desk and asked how that information helped them. Jack sighed and shook his head. ‘I don’t know. Leverage? We’re grasping at straws.’ Jack glanced at the clock on the wall. The 24-hour head start was ticking down, and they’d soon know if Adam Border was an honourable thief.
The cavalcade bringing in Mahoney entered the building an hour before Jack and Ridley were allowed anywhere near him, because he was consulting with his banks of solicitors. Steve Lewis had insisted on being the one to escort him across and, whilst they waited, he insisted on giving Ridley a few tips.
‘This is a man who preps his defence months in advance, Simon. He’s got alibis coming out of his arse, for dates I’ve not even asked him about yet. He’s fearless. If you want my advice...’
‘Steve...’ Ridley rubbed his brow, where he could feel the pressure building, ‘just let me focus. In silence preferably.’
Steve quickly pointed out that he could insist on sitting in on the interview. Ridley had had enough.
‘You won’t, though, Steve, will you? Because you haven’t got the intuition or the stamina to interview a murder suspect for several hours. Starting slow and gaining their trust. Giving them the time and space to back themselves into a corner before you pull the rug and hit them with the facts that contradict every word they just said on tape. You won’t sit in on the interview because you have the patience of a small child. Would you like to report me and lose this murderer, or would you like to shut the fuck up?’
Ridley then dropped into a chair with his back to the room. If there were any consequences from his outburst, he’d tackle them after they’d secured their murder conviction.
Jack had a brief meeting with Ridley before Ridley went into the interview room, armed with the photographs and some notes made by Jack. Ridley had made the decision to lead. Jack was disappointed, but his priority had to be getting the video footage from Adam
As Ridley entered the interview room, Jack entered the observation room where he could watch live through the two-way mirror, as well as watch either of the two cameras currently filming Mahoney.
Mahoney looked confident. He’d been allowed to shave and put on a change of clothes, choosing a grey cashmere sweater and cord trousers.
Two male officers joined Jack in the observation room — they had been assigned to be in the interview room with Ridley, but he’d requested that they step out. Jack stared at Mahoney. It was definitely him! The man who had swung the poker with such enthusiasm down onto Avril Jenkins’ skull. He was calm, expressionless and confident that they had nothing on him.
Jack watched Ridley as he laced his fingers on top of the file in front of him. ‘Go on, sir,’ Jack whispered. ‘Get the bastard.’
After a lengthy pause, Ridley read Mahoney his rights and then got straight down to the questions, omitting any formalities of explaining that Mahoney could ask for a break or refreshments at regular intervals and could refrain from answering any questions if he so wished. Mahoney was an old hand at this, so didn’t need telling. And besides, Ridley had already been given a statement from Mahoney’s solicitor, Nathaniel Barker, that his response would be ‘no comment’ to all questions.
‘When did you first meet Avril Jenkins?’ Ridley asked, opening the file on the table in front of him. ‘In your interviews over in Staines, your solicitor, Mr Barker, read out a statement claiming that you don’t know Avril Jenkins, nor have you ever been to 27 Woodridge Place in Kingston.’ Ridley paused. ‘What about Avril Summers? When did you meet her?’