Lynda La Plante - Backlash

‘I know, I spoke to him last night.’

‘So you have the update on what we’re doing.’

‘I do, but not from you. How did you find the Jordans?’

‘Painful, heartbreaking and they didn’t recognize the photograph or the name Henry Oates.’

‘Too much to hope for, I guess.’

‘Yes, but I’m checking into an extension they had built by local builders just in case they used part-time labourers when they were digging up the ground.’

‘We did that, but then we didn’t have a suspect.’

Anna unwound the telephone extension cord as she got out of bed and reached for her dressing gown.

‘You going to interview this creep’s ex-wife?’

‘I’m thinking about it, but I’ll have to go to Glasgow.’

She switched the phone from one hand to the other as she put on her robe.

‘I’m in agony. This bloody cage round my knee is torture.’

Anna listened as he moaned and groaned about how long it was going to take before he could get out of the flat. Eventually she said that she needed to make herself a coffee and take a shower.

‘You okay?’

She sighed and said that she was just fine.

‘You got very upset when you left the Jordans, you were crying.’

She was stunned. Emily or Stephen must have been watching from the house.

‘Yes. As I said, I found it very emotional and they are a really nice couple. It made me feel inadequate as I didn’t really know what to say to them or how to help them.’

‘Tell me about it. Five years, Anna, five years they’ve waited.’

‘They said you were a great comfort.’

‘Yeah, yeah, not good enough though, is it?’

She repeated that she needed to get going and eventually he hung up. Langton was really something else, and even though she knew his frustration must be almost as agonizing as the surgery on his knee, she was irritated by his call. Not until she had made some toast and a fresh mug of coffee did she realize that in some ways he must have been concerned about her. She actually felt better and less emotional than she had the previous evening.

Before she left for the station, she looked into the Jordan files where Langton’s team had questioned the builders that had built their extension. They had given the names and contacts of all the men who had worked for them, and they had all been checked out. It was, for the Langton enquiry, another dead end, but Anna would double-check and now show the photograph of Henry Oates.

At the station Anna made straight for Barolli to let him know that he had not given a clear instruction to the forensic team about what evidence to look for. He was rather petulant and explained that he had specified any items that could possibly have been kept as tokens from the two victims. She told him about the Alice band and he said that as he hadn’t been informed about any pink Alice band he hadn’t listed it as a priority.

Anna discovered a Post-it note from Joan on her desk informing her that a DCI Alex McBride was waiting for her to call him. When she was put through to him she had difficulty following what he was saying as he had a very thick Glaswegian accent. Anna told McBride about Oates’s arrest and that she wanted to come to Glasgow to interview Eileen Oates as part of her investigation. McBride told Anna that Eileen had two daughters and lived on a council estate. Although she had a previous record for prostitution in London, they had nothing on file, but her elder daughter had been busted for drugs numerous times and was also arrested for streetwalking. The younger girl was pregnant by a sixteen-year-old Jamaican living on the same estate, and they were due to be married before the birth.

‘The ex-husband Henry Oates is not known to us up here, and it appears he’s not been a part of their lives for a long time. In fact Eileen Oates has been involved with a man we interviewed on suspicion of an armed robbery and murder. The reason why we’re so up to date on her is due to her relationship with this man. Eileen Oates gave the suspect an alibi, stating that he was with her at the relevant time. A security guard was shot and died from his injuries and we believe she’s lying to protect her boyfriend.’

Anna decided that she would make the trip to Glasgow and McBride promised he would arrange for Eileen to be brought into their station for further questioning on his case, and if she agreed, Anna could interview her there.

Anna next arranged to meet the building contractors who had worked on the Jordans’ extension. Owned and run by two brothers, Bill and Norman Henderson, the company was based in Barnes, not far from Hammersmith. It took Anna over an hour to cross London from Hackney due to rush-hour traffic as it was four in the afternoon. Henderson Building Contractors operated from a small yard at the back of a row of shops on Barnes High Street. Anna parked up in the yard beside an open-backed lorry that was being stacked with wood planks. Two white vans and an old Land Rover were also in the yard.

Bill Henderson was waiting for Anna. He was much older than she had anticipated; white-haired and with a ruddy complexion. He introduced himself and as they headed into the office he told her the yard had once been a stable and outhouses, and they had converted the stable into their business area. As he ushered her inside she thought the office was hardly a good advert for their work, as it was cramped and untidy with an old mahogany desk and walls lined haphazardly with designs and architect plans for various builds. The filing cabinets were bulging with documents and there were stacks of files and folders left on every available surface around the desk. This had a computer, telephone, fax machine and jars of pens and pencils on it. A worn leather desk chair and two equally worn armchairs were the only other furnishings.

‘Sit down, please, my brother will be here any minute, he’s just making sure the truck gets out with a delivery.’

He seemed like a lovely man in his old knitted sweater and baggy trousers tucked into wellington boots. He asked if Anna would like a coffee or tea as he could rustle one up from a small annexe of a kitchen.

‘No, I’m fine, thank you.’

He sat behind his desk and opened a drawer, taking out a dog-eared folder.

‘I got this ready for you. It’s all the team that worked on the Jordans’ extension. We had the same hardcore group back then that we still use on an almost permanent basis and we hire in extra when needed.’

He placed the file down on his desk, turning it towards Anna.

‘We still haven’t got over that missing little soul. She was a sweetheart, made us all feel helpless. What it must have done to her parents. I’ve got grandchildren her age and Norman has grandsons the same age as the Jordans’ two boys.’

Anna nodded and opened the file. She had taken out her notebook to check the lists from the original enquiry.

‘Do these men still work for you?’

‘Yes, apart from Don, he died a couple of years ago of cancer. He was our electrician, good solid hard worker with a lot of experience.’

The door burst open and Norman Henderson walked in. He had the same thick unruly white hair as his brother, but was taller and thinner. He wore a yellow workman’s jacket with their company name printed on the back and he carried a white hard hat, tossing it onto the top of the filing cabinet before shaking Anna’s hand in his big gnarled fist.

Anna waited until Norman had settled, taking off his jacket and sitting on the edge of the desk.

‘I have a photograph of a man I’d like you both to look at,’ she began.

‘I’d like to get whoever took her by the throat. She was such a lovely child and so well behaved,’ Norman burst out.

Anna first passed the photograph of Oates to Bill, who put on a pair of spectacles. He studied it with his lips pursed before passing it over to his brother. Norman scrutinized the picture, then looked to Bill.