Their Lost Daughters (DI Jackman & DS Evans #2)(6)
‘Drunk?’
‘Not paralytic, but probably tipsy.’ Jackman thought back to the footage Max had shown him. ‘One thing stood out though. From the way she was acting, we are all certain that she knew the man. The image of him is poor, but Max has enhanced it as much as he can, and uniform are taking it out on the streets for us.’
‘Not much to go on.’
‘It’s better than nothing, ma’am. We could get lucky.’
‘Let’s hope. Now, to help out I’ve got you another detective. DC Rosie McElderry from DI Feltham’s team is at a loose end, so for the duration of this enquiry, she’s all yours.’
‘Thank you, ma’am. I like Rosie, she has the makings of a very good detective.’
‘Look closer, she’s already a very good detective.’
Jackman grinned. ‘Point taken.’ He pushed back his chair. ‘I’d better go, ma’am, I need to tell Liz Kelly before the grapevine does it for me.’
Ruth looked at him and he saw sympathy in her eyes. ‘Get her the best family liaison officer that we have, Rowan. I’ll notify them further up the chain and she’ll be offered every help, but . . . that poor woman.’
‘I know. And I can’t say I’m looking forward to this.’
‘I’m sure you’re not. It’s the worst part of this job, and no mistake.’ She gave him a rare smile. ‘But you’ll do it properly, I know that.’
Jackman hoped she was right.
*
It was after two p.m. by the time Jackman gathered the team together for a full briefing. His meeting with Liz Kelly had been extremely harrowing. The sound of the woman’s anguished cry still rang in his ears.
He was under no illusion about the Kenya Black case. He knew he had been handed a poisoned chalice. That case had a reputation, a bad one. It didn’t help that one of the detectives on the original investigation had topped himself over it. Jackman gritted his teeth and swore silently that whatever happened, he’d never let any of his colleagues get to that state, or anywhere near it.
He watched his small team move around the large incident room. They had no idea what he was going to say, but they had picked up on his tension. Jackman knew that this investigation, if successful, could affect all their futures in a big way. The disappearance of Kenya Black was referred to as one of the great unsolved crimes of the decade. To be part of the team that finally brought the truth to light could be a career maker, and even he felt a rush of nervous enthusiasm. But first he had to update them on Shauna Kelly.
‘Before we get down to it, I’d like to welcome DC Rosie McElderry to the team. She’s lending a hand as we will be running two investigations.’ He nodded towards a young fair-haired woman who sat little apart from the others. Rosie had an elfin face with fine-boned features and greenish-blue eyes. She looked much younger than her twenty-four years, but Jackman knew that she had a quick brain and a knack for picking up discrepancies in statements. She was also in possession of an extremely good memory.
The young detective raised a hand and smiled at them. ‘Happy to help.’
Jackman leaned back against the wall. ‘Now, as I just said we are going to be working two cases in tandem. The first, as you will all know by now, is that of the death of Shauna Kelly. Before we can make too much headway with this we will need the forensic reports, and the prelim should be with us by tomorrow morning. If it is foul play, then we have a murder enquiry. To get one step ahead, I want you to keep working on finding the identity of the man that Shauna was seen talking to on the CCTV, and also go back to all of her friends and contemporaries. Someone must know something about Shauna, something that led up to her either going missing, or being abducted.’ He took a breath. ‘And the second case is something that you youngsters will have to do a lot of homework on, because,’ he paused, ‘we are about to take a closer look at the Kenya Black enquiry.’
There was a collective intake of breath.
‘Blimey! That’s a turn up for the books!’ Max’s cockney accent came to the fore.
‘Yes,’ said Jackman. ‘And to be honest, even Marie and I will need to do some in-depth reading on this case, as neither of us were around at the time. So, Marie, where are we at?’
‘Well, I’ve already called the Evidence Storage Facility. They are releasing the evidence containers later this afternoon. I reckon we’ll need a forklift to get all the boxes over here.’
‘I’ll want some items sent directly to the forensic lab. I’ve already alerted Professor Wilkinson about it.’
Rory Wilkinson was usually based in Greenborough, but for the time being he had decided to work at the County Hospital mortuary on the outskirts of Saltern town. He had immediately offered to help. His willingness didn’t surprise Jackman. The entire country had been mesmerized by the search for little Kenya Black.
‘I haven’t had time yet to go over everything, but a swift glance gives me the distinct impression that the last review of this case was something of a balls-up.’ Jackman thumbed through a sheaf of reports.
Marie nodded. ‘Quite possibly, sir. That last review took place at the time when we were being overhauled. Civilians were being brought in for a lot of jobs that some thought should have been done by coppers. Plus, that case has been dragged out of mothballs more times than I’ve had hot dinners. Maybe their hearts weren’t in it.’