Кара Хантер - No Way Out

Now she won't meet my gaze. `I have no idea what you're talking about.'

But she does. I can see, now, that she knows full well. I extract the printouts from my jacket pocket and hand them to her. She glances at them and sets them to one side. Her mouth is set in a hard, irritated little line: she thought the material had been deleted. And she didn't think we'd be smart enough to find it. And that really pisses me off.

`Well?'

She takes a deep breath. `He was merely letting off steam. Venting his frustration. In a controlled environment `“ relatively speaking. If you talk to him again, I'm sure he'll tell you that he realizes now how stupid that was, but that's all it was.'

I file away that `again'. She knows Kuiper's been to see us. She may even have been the one who told him to do it.

`Unfortunately for you, Professor Jordan, Dr Kuiper is unable to prove that's `њall it was`ќ. He began by telling us he was at home with his wife at the time of the fire, but when I told him she would have to corroborate that he rapidly changed his tune. He now says he was out for a drive. In the middle of the night. In the middle of winter.'

Doubt slips across her face and I know that this `“ for the first time in our conversation `“ is news to her.

`But presumably you can check `“ CCTV and so on?'

I nod. `That is exactly what we are attempting to do. But it may not be possible to prove he is telling the truth. Indeed, we may well find that this, too, is not a `њfact`ќ but a lie. And if so `“'

`If so?'

`You might want to dig out that crisis management manual your press office probably has gathering dust somewhere. I'm afraid real life is a great deal messier than Inspector Morse .'

BBC Midlands Today

Sunday 7 January 2018 | Last updated at 10:53

`A terrible tragedy': Boy, 10, dies from injuries sustained in Oxford house fire

A spokeswoman from the John Radcliffe hospital has confirmed that Matty Esmond died in its paediatric Intensive Care Unit earlier this morning. Matty's mother, Samantha, and his younger brother, Zachary, 3, were also the victims of the fatal fire at the family's house last Thursday. The spokeswoman described the death as `a terrible tragedy', and said that staff were providing support to members of the boy's family, who were with him when he died.

Neither Thames Valley Police nor Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue have yet issued a statement about the cause of the fire. Matty's father, Michael Esmond, 40, has still not been located despite a public appeal and what Thames Valley Police describe as `concerted efforts' to find him.

More news on this as we get it.

The atmosphere in the incident room is grim. It doesn't get any shittier than the death of a child. Everett tells us the Giffords are distraught.

`I was there with them when he suddenly took a turn for the worse. You know what that's like `“ alarms going off, nurses all over the place, crash trolleys. It was bloody awful.'

I glance across at Gislingham `“ Billy had to be resuscitated twice when he was in the premature baby unit. They nearly lost him. His face is grey with the memory.

`They had to take the bandages off to give him CPR,' says Everett, `so those poor bloody people saw the state he was in underneath. And now they won't be able to get that out of their minds.' She shakes her head. This job can be a bastard sometimes.

Gislingham forces himself back to the task in hand. `OK,' he says, `this is where we are. We still need to cover off the CCTV in the area round Southey Road to see if we can ID Kuiper in the area. And we need to speak to Lauren Kaminsky, who has `“ as of 10.30 last night `“ returned to Oxford. And just to get everyone up to speed, she's definitely not a suspect in any potential arson, as we've confirmed she was indeed on a flight to JFK on December 21st. Right,' he says, looking around the room. `I'm about to go to see Kaminsky with DC Somer, and Quinn's on the CCTV.'

A couple of half-hearted sarcastic whoops at that. Quinn mouths Yeah, yeah and gives the other DCs the finger when he thinks I'm not looking.

`Have we managed to track down any of Esmond's friends yet?' I ask.

`We've left messages with a few,' begins Gislingham.

`There's the neighbours next door,' interjects Everett. `They weren't at home last time I tried but I can have another go if you like.'

`Yes, do that. They may have seen something. OK, that's it for now. Everyone else gets the weekend to themselves. What's left of it.'

Gislingham goes back to collect his coat, and when he looks up he sees Somer has stopped to talk to Fawley. They're standing close together. She's saying something in a low voice and he's smiling. Gislingham realizes with a start that he can't remember the last time he saw the boss smile.

Interview with Ronald and Marion Young, conducted at 25 Southey Road, Oxford

7 January 2018, 1.16 p.m.

In attendance, DC V. Everett

VE:Thank you for making time to see me, Mr Young. RY:I was going to call you first thing tomorrow anyway. We saw the card you put through the door as soon as we got back. I had no idea there'd been a fire. We're bloody lucky it didn't spread this far. VE:You were away for Christmas? RY:With our daughter, yes. In Barcelona. We left on the 22nd. VE:Did you see the Esmonds before you left? MY:I did. I popped over, just to say we'd be away and would they keep an eye on the house. VE:Did you see both Mr and Mrs Esmond, Mrs Young? MY:Just Samantha. VE:How did she seem? MY:A bit distracted. The little boy was crying, I remember that. She looked tired. But so do most new mums. VE:Zachary was three, wasn't he? She was hardly a new mum. MY:Well, it doesn't get any easier. Not when they're that age. Our Rachel `“ RY:The constable doesn't want to know about all that, Marion. VE:Were you aware if the Esmonds had anyone staying with them over the holidays? Any friends? Relatives? MY:I wasn't aware of anyone. I'm here most of the time so I'd probably have noticed if someone had arrived before we left. VE:No one unusual hanging around in the last few weeks? RY:What do you mean `unusual'? VE:Someone you didn't recognize. MY:No, no one I can think of. VE:Did you get on with the Esmonds `“ as neighbours? RY:She was all right. Bit anaemic. But he's a nasty piece of work. VE:Really? What makes you say that? MY:He was always very pleasant to me `“ RY:[ to his wife ] Pleasant? He killed our bloody dog! MY:You don't know that. Not for certain. RY:[ to Everett ] Back in September we agreed to let them look after the dog while we were away. It was just for one night. The lad `“ Matty `“ he was always wanting to come round and play with her `“ take her for walks `“ MY:Mollie was a lovely dog. RY:We usually put her in kennels, but we thought, it was just the one night, what can possibly happen? And then when we got back the poor bloody dog was dead. MY:She was fourteen, Ron. RY:But she wasn't ill, was she? Hadn't been to the vet in years. Then all of a sudden she dies on the one night the Esmonds are looking after her? I'm sorry `“ I don't believe in coincidences. VE:Neither does my DI. RY:There you are, Marion, the constable agrees with me. VE:I didn't mean by that `“ MY:We couldn't prove anything, Ron. You know we couldn't. VE:What did Mr Esmond say had happened? RY:He didn't. MY:Ron `“ RY:Not really. He said the dog must have had a heart attack or something. He said he'd gone down to feed her in the morning and she was just lying there, dead. Load of bloody rubbish. VE:You didn't have a post-mortem done? RY:Do you know how much that would've cost? MY:I thought it was best to assume it was an accident. Having poor Mollie cut up wasn't going to bring her back, and I didn't want to make things difficult with the Esmonds. They're our neighbours, after all. We still had to live next door to them. VE:I completely understand that, Mrs Young. MY:And Michael did give us some money. He said he was very sorry and gave us £100. RY:[ contemptuous ] A hundred measly quid. MY:The saddest thing about it is that we hardly ever saw Matty after that. He was distraught about Mollie. Poor little boy, I can't get it out of my mind, him dying in such a horrible way. I remember the day they moved in like it was yesterday `“ he was so excited about the garden. I don't think they'd ever had one before. VE:Have you lived here long, Mrs Young? RY:Ten years now. No, twelve. VE:So you knew Mr Esmond's parents? RY:I never got on with Richard but Alice Esmond was a very nice woman. MY:She was completely under his thumb, Ron, and you know it. What do they call it these days? Controlling `“ that's it. He was very controlling. VE:So he could have been like that as a father too? When the boys were growing up? MY:It wouldn't surprise me. Michael was very quiet, certainly. But from what I've seen of him, Philip is quite the opposite. Very lively. Outgoing. I remember seeing him in the garden with Matty last summer. They had the paddling pool out and Philip was trying to teach him to body surf or whatever it's called. There was water everywhere. Even Samantha was laughing. That's how I want to remember them. Laughing in the sunshine. Just a normal happy family.***