Lynda La Plante: Backlash

‘Are we playing roulette, officer?’

‘Oates decides if he wants to play, Mr Kumar, not you!’

‘Well I am advising him to make no further comment.’

‘It’s a simple yes or no, Oates. Did you kill Rebekka Jordan?’

Oates said nothing but arrogantly turned and nodded to Kumar.

‘Looks like Henry wants to take my advice, DCI Lewis.’

As Mike stormed out of the room he barked at Barolli to close the interview and then meet him in the office.

Mike was still seething by the time he had climbed the two flights of stairs to the allocated murder squad office, where he found Joan and Barbara were inputting data into the HOLMES computers and preparing the incident board. It was immediately obvious to everyone present that DCI Lewis was in a foul mood.

‘Joan, request a copy of the Rebekka Jordan cold case file from archives and check with the national missing persons bureau for a Dublin girl by the name of Julia. Get them to search back over the last five years.’

‘A few more details would be helpful, sir. I thought we were dealing with the Justine Marks case?’

‘And maybe a whole lot more by the looks of it, so just do as I ask. Where are we with next of kin?’

Joan informed him that Justine’s husband was Simon Marks, a stockbroker in the City, and arrangements had been made for a detective to take him to the mortuary at 1 p.m. to formally identify the body of his wife.

Mike sat in his office, fully aware that there was a lot to do and little time in which to do it. He wondered what Oates was up to and if his tentative admissions to two other murders were even true. It didn’t make sense that Oates should be lying about Rebekka and the unknown Irish girl Julia, however Mike knew both cases would have to be fully investigated and Oates’s involvement proved or disproved. The burning question was when, if at all, should he inform DCS Langton, as he was currently on sick leave recovering from a knee operation and DCS Hedges was in temporary charge of the murder squads. Mike Lewis made up his mind and asked Barbara to get everyone gathered for an office meeting in thirty minutes.

With the team all there Mike gave them a rundown of the interview with Oates, unaware that Paul Barolli had already filled them in on why he was in such a bad mood. Mike had decided that the Justine Marks murder would be the initial priority and he himself would attend the mortuary for the identification by Simon Marks. He told Barbara to contact the Eagle pub and see if they had any CCTV and to arrange interviews with Justine’s work colleagues. Joan informed Mike that she had asked ‘Mispers’ to run an enquiry on any Irish girls with the name Julia but it could be some time before they got back with any results on such limited details for a five-year span.

Joan also said that the owner of the van that Oates had borrowed was indeed a James Hully, who had a history of petty crimes and had, he insisted, been sick in bed when Oates had borrowed his van. His wife maintained that her husband had not left their flat for two days and that on the night of the 11th of October he had had a very high temperature and was in bed very ill. Hully lived on the estate close to the pub and had access to a lockup garage where he kept his van. He claimed that it was not insured or licensed because of poor business and he was planning on selling it. Oates had told him he was interested in buying the vehicle and wanted to test drive it so he let him try it out while he was ill as long as he did a few party deliveries for him. Hully alleged that he did not know Oates very well, but had met him occasionally at a local pub. He said they had played darts together and during a game he had mentioned to Oates that he was selling his van and quitting his job as a children’s entertainer. Apart from that, he knew nothing more about Oates or where he lived.

Before finishing the meeting Mike Lewis raised a couple of actions that he felt needed urgent attention.

‘Joan, I need you to prepare a full file on Oates. I want to know everything about him since the day he was born. Paul, contact the Crime Scene Manager and organize a full forensic search of the squat address Oates gave us.’

Mike then thanked them all for their hard work so far but continued that as there was still a lot to do he would have to cancel all weekend leave for the team. There were a few sighs around the room as they got up from their chairs to go home.

‘Hold it. I haven’t finished yet,’ Mike said and they all sat down again.

‘The fact that we are looking at Oates for other possible murders is to stay within these four walls and there will be serious repercussions if there’s any press leaks. DCS Hedges or I will decide as and when DCS Langton should be informed of any developments concerning the Jordan case.’

Simon Marks was devastated and needed to be helped from the mortuary viewing room. He told them that Justine was twenty-seven years old and was a bank clerk at a Hackney branch of the NatWest Bank. She’d been joining some of her co-workers for a baby shower party after work on the 11th of October. She had not taken her car into work as she knew they would be drinking and the girls had ordered taxis to take them home. Justine told him not to wait up for her as she would be late, and when he discovered she had not returned the following morning he had not been that concerned as he thought she might have stayed over with one of her friends. Simon only became worried later that morning when he called her work to be told that she had not come in. He had started to ring round various friends when the police arrived to give him the terrible news.

Whilst at the mortuary Mike, anxious to know the cause of death, spoke with the pathologist, who was at the time still completing the external examination of the body, photographing, measuring and detailing all the injuries. He said that he would not be able to give an exact cause of death until he had completed a full internal examination as well, but Mike pressed him for his opinion on his initial observations. It was immediately clear that Oates had been lying about Justine’s death.

When the body first arrived at the mortuary the pathologist had carefully cut open the bin liners to preserve them for fingerprints. He had noted that Justine’s bra had been pulled up around her neck and twisted so tightly that the hook and eyes of the strap had left puncture marks in the nape of her neck. Her tights and knickers, although still on her, were both torn and ripped. Her leather zip-up boots had scuffmarks on both heels, which implied she might have been dragged backwards along the pavement and into the back of the van. Justine had also suffered a heavy blow to the back of her head with a blunt instrument, which had caused a depressed fracture and an indentation mark in the shape of a half-moon. The pathologist was of the opinion that the head injury probably didn’t kill her but it would certainly have knocked her unconscious. From the severe bruising and scratch marks to her thighs and vagina, it appeared that she might have been raped whilst unable to struggle or defend herself.

All her clothing, swabs and toxicology samples had already been taken to the forensic lab for examination. Because of the head injury and the possibility Justine might have been strangled or suffocated to death the brain would have to be left in formaldehyde for two weeks and then sent to an expert in forensic neuropathology for examination, which would further delay the pathologist’s final report and his finding on the actual cause of death.

Mike Lewis asked if a balloon pump handle could have caused the head injury but the pathologist doubted that it would be heavy enough or leave the half-moon impression. Mike put in a quick call to the lab and asked for details of items that had been recovered from the back of the van. Amongst them was a nine-inch heavy-duty spanner which the pathologist said could leave the type of head injury that Justine had suffered. Mike asked the lab to make the spanner a priority.