'I apologise to the chair, it won't happen again.'
Leaving Boswell no option but to do the same, after which the discussion moved forward in a more civilised manner.
DI Ann Morrison called her team together,
'Just to bring everyone up to speed on the phone situation, the message to Liz Kingsley's phone came from an unregistered pre-pay handset. This mobile has also been used to send and receive messages from several other phones.'
'By monitoring calls over the last few days we have established a relationship between these users, one of which is none other than Benny Patterson. Two others are Gary McCall and Drew Oldman, who are known associates of Patterson, and another unregistered phone which we have so far been unable to track down. Our plan is to try and round them up at the same time to avoid any one of them tipping off the others. A priority here is to try and ensure that none of them have the opportunity to delete anything on their handsets. Although I'm aware we have the technology to recover most of it. I don't want to give any smart-ass lawyer the opportunity to claim that we've interfered with the evidence.
Ian, I want you to take charge of the team dealing with McCall,' she said, handing him a sheaf of papers,'
'And Brian, you will be dealing with Oldman.'
'OK boss.'
'Kit, you and I will collect Patterson.'
'We have permission to search their homes and their cars, and to examine anything we find, so check and double check the paperwork I've given you, remember what I said, we don't want to give some lawyer a get-out clause. Again, I would remind you of the importance of them not having the opportunity to delete anything, so don't give them any access to their own phones after you arrest them. We should also be keeping an eye out for drugs, particularly Gamma Hydroxybutyrate, which we know was used on the two girls. Any questions?'
Ian raised his hand,
'Are we allowed to tie their dicks to a concrete block, and throw it out of a first floor window?'
'No, and if you try it, you'll be the next one in line, and I'll be the one chucking the concrete block out the window!' she said wagging an admonishing finger at him. He held up his hands in defeat.
'Oh my, you're a hard woman.' he declared.
'Yeah, but you'd never again be able to claim to be a hard man!' she laughed.
In the council offices, Julie was sitting in front of her computer screen in the IT department, going through her usual routine at this time of day, uploading the tedious day-to-day facts and figures of council business. Lord help her if anybody went onto the council's website and couldn't find the latest information on which pharmacy was open late that night, or if the bin collection times had been changed, or next door's plans for an extension had been passed.
But as usual, her mind wasn't really on the job on hand, instead she was thinking of David. The night at the cottage had been fabulous, better even than she had hoped, and she realised now that the stolen moments they had been sharing were never going to be enough for her. She ached for him now, his voice, the touch of his hands, the feel of his body. She wanted to be free to be seen with him in public instead of hiding away in the dark, but that raised the whole question of splitting with Allan, ending her marriage, possibly moving out of her home. And there were her children to worry about. Although they were old enough to understand that relationships didn't always last, and let's face it, they only had to look at many of their friend's parents to see that thing can go wrong, she still didn't know how she could bring herself to tell them that she was leaving their dad.
She knew they loved him, despite the occasional battle over the years. Often she had used the old “wait till your father gets home” ploy to maintain some semblance of discipline, only to see his resolve crumble as they managed to wind him around their little fingers. And even Mandy, who could take sulking to an Olympic standard, had been known to come round from one of her moods with Allan's silly teasing.
The whole prospect filled her with dread, despite the love she felt for David. But what if he didn't feel the same? He told her he loved her, but did he feel the same commitment? He was going through a divorce and was currently living with his sister and her husband, which was the main reason for the furtive romps in the back of his car. Would he really be that keen to get involved in a serious relationship?
As often seemed to happen, thinking of the practicalities of ending her marriage and her uncertainties regarding her future led to a sense of despondency, not helped by the fact that she had seen even less of David recently. She knew he was up to his eyes in work at the moment, but she really, really needed a little bit of reassurance just now. She sighed, and turned her attention back to the computer.
Late afternoon, and North Street police station was a hive of activity. Ann Morrison was seated at her desk preparing to re-interview Benny Patterson. They had struck gold in his house when they found a set of car keys in a kitchen drawer which didn't fit his usual car.
Ann and one of the uniformed cops involved in the arrest had walked up the street outside Patterson's house, pressing the remote control until they got a response. A neglected looking Corolla parked nearly a hundred metres away was a match for the keys, as well as the remote. A search of the boot revealed what appeared to be a substantial amount of cannabis with smaller amounts of what they suspected might be cocaine and perhaps heroin, as well as a bottle containing what they hoped would turn out to be GHB. Under the front passenger seat was a cheap phone which they quickly established was the one used to send the messages to Liz Kingsley.
There was a tap at her door, and Brian Cameron entered, barely waiting for her response.
'Bingo!' He could hardly contain his excitement, as he brandished a handset.
She raised her eyebrows in a silent question,
'Drew Oldman's phone, boss, he's got pictures of the flat, the girls, Patterson, you name it, it's all there!'
'Well, well well, it'll be interesting to see Patterson try to wriggle out of this one, let's have a look.'
She studied the tiny screen, and was able to confirm for herself that, along with the two girls, there were clear images of Patterson and McCall. Oldman was presumably holding the phone to take the pictures, and his presence would need to be established during the interviews if he were to be prosecuted.
Oldman however was low on Ann's list of priorities. It was Patterson she wanted, and there he was, large as life, trying to fondle and kiss Linda Hope who looked very much the worse for wear. In one picture, he appeared to be half-carrying, half-dragging Linda through a doorway, in another she seemed to be throwing up on the floor of the bathroom.
'It looks like she started to be sick, so he dragged her to the toilet,' said Brian, 'But she didn't quite make it. And of course, that's where her body was found, on the bathroom floor, choked on her own vomit.'
'What we still really need,' said Ann thoughtfully, 'Is testimony to the fact that Patterson supplied the drugs so that we're not just depending on the circumstantial evidence of the drugs in the car near his house. That means leaning on these guys, letting them know they're in deep trouble, and the only way out is to implicate Patterson as the drug supplier.'
'Oldman isn't the sharpest tool in the box, I think we could get somewhere with him.'
'None of them seem overly endowed with the old grey matter, but I agree that Oldman seems like the weakest link, definitely worth a try. You never know, we might even hear Darren Hill's name mentioned.'
'I think you might be optimistic there, boss, they might be thick, but they know