Кара Хантер - All the Rage

I sense someone come up behind me now and turn to see Gislingham at my shoulder.

`˜Good news,' he says. `˜Someone called in `“ looks like we've found Sasha's handbag. It was up near the Vicky Arms. Quinn's on his way to the lab to take a look.'

I stare at him. `˜Where was it `“ where exactly ?'

He goes up to the map and points. `˜About there, I think `“ in a ditch on the corner of Mill Lane.'

Halfway between where Sasha died and Patsie lives. This isn't just a hunch any more. This is evidence; this is a case. And for the first time since this all began, I'm staring at the photos of Sasha with a picture in my head of who did that to her. The body head-down in the water, the bound wrists, the jagged lacerations. The white and broken face.

`˜Something else occurred to me as well, boss,' says Gislingham quietly. `˜What you were saying about Patsie Webb `“ no one saw anything on her clothes when she got home, did they? Perhaps that's why she used that plastic bag. Something to keep her clothes clean and tidy while she beat poor bloody Sasha's head in.'

Gallagher looks across at him. `˜I suspect you're right, Sergeant. But I don't think that was the only reason. She didn't want to look at her. She couldn't bear to see her face.'

* * *

Interview with Patsie Webb, conducted at St Aldate's Police Station, Oxford

9 April 2018, 6.45 p.m.

In attendance, DC V. Everett, DC E. Somer, Mrs D. Webb, J. Beck (solicitor)

ES: Interview resumed at 18.45. Patsie has been given time to consult with a lawyer, and Mr Jason Beck is now present.DW: I can't believe you arrested her `“ you can't seriously think `“ES: We don't `˜think' anything, Mrs Webb. We just want the truth. Which is why I'd like Patsie to tell us what happened that night one more time.PW: What again ?ES: Yes, again. You say you left Leah in Summertown at about 9.45, when the three of you got on the bus.PW: I told you that `“ Iz gave you her bloody ticket, didn't she?ES: Yes, that's right, she did.VE: And then you got off on the Marston Ferry Road, and Sasha stayed on till Cherwell Drive, and the last time Isabel saw her she was standing at the bus stop, waiting for someone?PW: Right.VE: And Isabel stayed on the bus till Headington.PW: Right.VE: And she spoke to the bus driver. To ask him the time.ES: You see, that's always struck me as odd. I mean, that she spoke to him at all.PW: Don't see why.ES: Young people like you `“ you don't bother with watches any more. You check the time on your phones. Why did she need to ask the driver?PW: Dunno. Perhaps her phone was off.VE: Good guess. You're right, it was. We checked. In fact, we've now established that all your phones were off between 9.00 and just after 10.30. Yours and Leah's and Isabel's. And that's odd too.PW: [ shrugs ]ES: So we started asking ourselves why. Could it be, perhaps, that Isabel wanted an excuse to talk to that bus driver `“ that she wanted him to remember her? After all, she looks pretty distinctive, doesn't she, with that bright-pink dip-dye of hers? He wasn't likely to forget that.VE: When did she dye it, Patsie?PW: [ shrugs ]

Can't remember.VE: It must have been pretty recent because she didn't have it when she met her mother on Walton Street.PW: Whatever.ES: And that was just a coincidence, was it? That she happened to dye it just before what happened to your friend?PW: I don't know what you're getting at. Look `“ what difference does it make? We were on that bus, you know that. Iz gave you her ticket.ES: Precisely. We know Isabel was on the bus. There's proof of that. But what about you, Patsie? Where's your ticket? Or don't you have one?* * *

`˜What have we got?' asks Quinn.

The contents of the evidence bag are spread out on the lab table. A satchel. Soft leather, deep pink, with dark discoloured patches where it's been out in the open and the wet for days. A pen with a bedraggled feather attached to the end. A purse. A make-up bag. A tampon wrapped in orange plastic. A packet of mints.

`˜It's definitely Sasha's bag,' says Nina Mukerjee, opening the purse and taking out a series of plastic identity cards. She's wearing thick latex gloves. `˜These are all hers.'

Most people use the same passport picture for everything, but not Sasha. A slightly different her stares out from each card. More and less of a smile, more and less of a playfulness.

`˜There was definitely no phone?' asks Quinn.

`˜Sorry. No notebook either.'

`˜What about a bus ticket?'

`˜Not that I could find.'

`˜So do you think we'll get any forensics?'

Nina nods. `˜There may still be some prints on the outside, and there are at least two here,' she says, opening the bag out to reveal the inside. `˜This area under the flap was protected from the rain. We got lucky.'

`˜But they're most likely Sasha's, though, surely?'

She shakes her head. `˜Actually, I don't think so. Not these, anyway. I think there are traces of blood here as well. And if that's the case, the prints are almost certainly not hers.'

Quinn frowns. `˜Because `“?'

`˜Because the person who made these prints had Sasha's blood on their hands.'

* * *

ES: Of course, there is another explanation. For why all your phones were off that night.PW: No comment.

[ turning to Mr Beck ]

You said I could say that, right?ES: You knew we'd be able to use them to track where you were. You knew the only way to be sure you couldn't be traced would be to turn them all off.DW: Where are you getting all this from? My daughter is not a criminal `“ES: And as far as I can see, there's no good reason why you'd want to do that, Patsie. Only a very, very bad one. * * *

The news has got round before we get to the incident room. One look at their faces tells me that. Quinn is at the front, an unusual flush to his face; and believe me, Quinn doesn't get that excited very often.

`˜So the bag was definitely Sasha's?' asks Gallagher.

He nods. `˜No question. And there's at least two fingerprints on the underside of the flap.' He pauses; he knows how to work an audience. `˜The prints were in blood. And we all know what that means.' He looks round the room. `˜Forensics are running them against Patsie Webb's right now. Mukerjee said she'd call me within the hour.'

Gallagher turns to me. The blood, the bag, the prints. Her face says it all.

We've got her.

* * *

VE: Interview resumed at 19.25.ES: Why were you so keen to make us suspect Mr Scott, Patsie? You went to a lot of trouble to direct our attention his way.PW: Because he's a pervert `“ because he was following her `“ES: But he didn't kill her, did he? You knew that, and yet you went out of your way to make us think so. Why was that?PW: What are you talking about? How the fuck would I know what he did? I wasn't there `“VE: I think you were, Patsie. I think you know exactly what happened. So why don't you tell us. Tell us the truth about how Sasha died `“PW: What are you talking about `“ Mum `“ they can't accuse me of stuff like this, can they?JB: What actual evidence do you have to support this outrageous theory, Officer?

[ DS Gislingham enters the room, confers with DC Somer ]PW: [ breaking down in tears ]

I didn't do it, Mum, I didn't do it `“ Sasha was my best friend `“DW: I know you didn't, darling, I know you didn't. You couldn't do something like that, not in a million years.* * *

No one's quite opening champagne but the incident room feels like a surprise party awaiting the arrival of the guest of honour. There's some laughter, a sense of release; some of the blokes have loosened their ties.