Paul Gitsham - The Last Straw

Gary Hastings took over. “Who put the website up?”

Jones wrote ‘Website Author’, before answering the question. “It was hosted by a cheap, offshore web provider. We’re trying to track down who paid for it.

“Next question — did Severino act alone? What other people had a motive to kill him?”

Sutton sighed. “If we’re going down that route, who didn’t have a motive? It seems as though there wasn’t anybody who didn’t dislike the man for one reason or another.”

“Well, let’s just keep it simple for the time being. Who do we know about?”

Sutton started ticking them off on his fingers. “The main suspects would have to be Tom Spencer, Clara Hemmingway, Mark Crawley and Professor Tompkinson.”

Karen Hardwick spoke up first. “I think we can rule out Professor Tompkinson. He’s ill with Parkinson’s disease and has an alibi for the Friday night. He’s due to retire and it just wouldn’t make sense for him to get involved with something like this. He’s looking forward to spending his last few healthy years with the grandkids on a decent pension.”

There were general nods of agreement around the table; it seemed too far-fetched. Jones put a cross next to the man’s name.

“Mark Crawley?”

Gary Hastings replied this time. “He’s a complicated one. He has certainly got the motive, despite what he says. He needs the money that he’d get with any pay-rise that would come if the university promoted him to group leader. He is also the best-placed person to benefit from any research coming out of the group — if the lab has made any breakthroughs then he could take them through to commercialisation. From what we’ve heard, others in the field wouldn’t necessarily be suspicious if he announced a major discovery in the next couple of years.”

Hardwick disagreed. “All of that is true but he has a pretty solid alibi for that night. He was looking after a group of kids at a birthday party. There’s no way he could have got from the ten-pin-bowling alley to the university and back without his absence being noticed.”

Sutton shook hi head “All that means is he didn’t do the deed. It’s quite possible that he and Severino worked together on this. Crawley could be the brains behind it and Severino the hit man. We know that they were fairly tight. Crawley smoothed over the incident with Tunbridge’s car and negotiated paid leave for Severino whilst he looked for a new job. I could definitely see them working together. And if Crawley does become head of the research group, then what’s to stop him rehiring his old friend Severino?”

There were mutters of agreement around the table. Warren put a large question mark next to Crawley’s name. “Tom Spencer.”

Karen Hardwick offered her opinion first. “He certainly has motive. Tunbridge has all but destroyed his future career. He’s been treated as badly as Severino, but again he has a good alibi. He was working in the PCR room whilst the murder took place. If he was involved as an accomplice, why would he be in the building at the same time? If I was him I wouldn’t want to be seen anywhere near the murder scene. Ideally I’d get myself a nice alibi. Even if he was waiting outside for Severino, I can’t see him deliberately getting himself noticed by getting logged into the building and then finding Tunbridge.”

“Maybe he wanted to find the body? He was covered in Tunbridge’s blood and the forensics do show some inconsistencies with the blood patterns and his claims that he found Tunbridge dead and for some reason checked his pulse in his throat,” Hastings suggested tentatively.

Sutton was dismissive “The inconsistencies are weak and circumstantial. And what benefit was there in finding the body? The time between him leaving the PCR room and calling 999 isn’t enough for him to substantially alter the scene. Severino would be better off doing that.” He turned expectantly to Jones at the whiteboard, who was deep in thought.

“If he was involved, then his motive would have to be more than revenge.” He pointed back to Crawley’s name with the question mark beside it. “If he was in a three-person conspiracy with Severino and Crawley then his motive could have been for Crawley to sign off on his PhD. If Crawley takes over Tunbridge’s group, then presumably he would also take over his responsibilities. From what Professor Tompkinson was saying, it was really only Tunbridge who was standing in the way of him submitting his PhD.

“Crawley might be in a position to rehire Severino and ensure that Spencer gets his degree.” Warren thought a few seconds more. “No, I think that Spencer has to remain a possible.” And with that he drew a question mark next to the man’s name. Sutton grunted and crossed his arms, his scowl lending a silent voice to his disagreement.

Ignoring him, Warren moved on. “That leaves Hemmingway.”

“She’s got a solid alibi,” said Hastings.

“That’s true,” allowed Jones, “but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t be involved. She certainly has a motive. Tunbridge treated her like trash — it could just be revenge, pure and simple. The question, though, is who was she working with? Severino? And what would her role be?”

Karen shook her head, dubiously. “I don’t see it, sir. She had her affair with him back in November through until about March. Why would she suddenly, out of the blue, decide to murder him? And what does she gain? By all accounts, she is moving on with her life.”

Warren nodded in agreement. “I see what you are saying, Karen. I don’t know what her motive would be, beyond revenge. And again, who would she be working with? Severino again? Why and how did they hook up? She only visited the lab a few times back in November when she was writing her essay. Her affair with Tunbridge lasted until March but they kept it under the radar. I doubt that she was turning up at the lab to share her sandwiches with him at lunchtime. Why would she suddenly hook up with Severino seven or eight months later to plot his murder?”

Taking a deep breath, Warren put a question mark beside her name.

Hastings raised a hand. “Um, guv, shouldn’t that be a cross?”

“Maybe, maybe not. What if we are going about this the wrong way? What if Severino is right and he was set up?”

“What?” The explosion predictably came from Sutton, his face reddening.

Warren raised a calming hand. “Listen to me. What do we have on Severino?”

Sutton answered immediately. “CCTV images, swipe-card logs, his clothes covered in Tunbridge’s blood, latex gloves, plastic overshoes and the blood-encrusted murder weapon stuffed down his drain. Not to mention, no alibi, a massive fucking motive and previous form.” He shook his head. “What else would you like? A confession signed in blood?”

“Well, that would be nice,” snapped Warren, “but we aren’t going to get one of those.” He took a couple of calming breaths before continuing. He counted the points off on his fingers.

“First, the CCTV images. None of them have a clear shot of the suspect’s face. We can match the clothes to Severino’s and the calculated height and build cannot exclude Severino but, it’s like his lawyer said, he’s right in the middle of the bell-curve. It would never stand up in court as a positive ID.

“Second, the swipe-card logs only show that his card was used — it doesn’t prove that he used it. Third, we’ve established that they are his clothes, so the presence of his DNA is not unexpected. However, neither his DNA or fingerprints have been found on the gloves, the overshoes or the murder weapon. Furthermore, no traces of Tunbridge’s blood were found on his body.”

Sutton interjected forcefully, “All that means is he watches CSI . The guy worked with DNA for a living — I’m sure he could figure out how to take off a pair of latex gloves without leaving his own trace evidence. He probably wore two pairs. And I’m sure he thought to shower after he got home.”