Steven Dunne - Deity

‘Shardlow,’ said Brook. ‘And from there?’

‘No idea,’ answered Gadd, walking over to the large map of Derby. ‘But if we assume the cameras on the A6 would have picked up the suspect vehicle, the fact they didn’t must mean the ambulance either turned off into the housing estate around Boulton Moor or, more likely, the B5010 towards Shardlow. Taking that route, our suspect can head for Borrowash, where Tommy McTiernan was found in the river, or on towards Shardlow and the gravel pit where Kirk was found.’

‘He could also have turned off to Weston-on-Trent or Aston-on-Trent,’ offered Morton.

‘Also possible,’ agreed Read. ‘Either way, he has good transport links to a vast uninhabited area east of Derby in which to conceal himself.’

‘You’ve traced the ambulance?’ asked Brook.

DC Smee took over. ‘It was licensed in Birmingham and released from service at Birmingham General in 2007. It was bought at an auction in Lincolnshire, two years ago,’ Smee paused dramatically, ‘by a man called Ozzy Reece. Unfortunately, this being the motor trade, it was a cash deal and the vehicle has been untaxed since that time, so no lead there.’

‘Ozzy Reece,’ repeated Brook for no apparent reason. Everyone turned to watch him shake his head. ‘Ozzy Reece,’ he said again.

‘You’ve logged the number-plate into the Automatic Recognition database,’ said Charlton, looking sideways at Brook.

‘Yes, sir,’ answered Smee. ‘If that ambulance is on the streets with those plates and one of our ANPR cars spots it, the computer will cough out an instant alert and we’ve got him. We’re just waiting for him to show his face.’

‘Excellent,’ said Charlton. He stole another glance at Brook. This time the DI had a huge grin on his face. ‘Something to add, Inspector?’

‘Ozzy Reece,’ he said for the third time. ‘It didn’t strike you as odd?’

‘Odd?’ asked Charlton.

‘Why someone trying to escape detection should choose such a memorable alias — seemed a bit perverse to me.’ Brook walked across to the artist’s impression. ‘Ozzy Reece. May I present Osiris, Ancient Egyptian God of the Afterlife.’

With the Incident Room in darkness DC Cooper prepared to show the two pieces of CCTV film again for the benefit of those who hadn’t seen them. Brook stood at the back with Charlton but was distracted by Noble gesturing to him from the door and slipped out while Charlton, Gadd and DCs Read and Smee watched Wilson Woodrow preparing to jump to his death.

‘Poole wasn’t at his house and his Jag was gone,’ said Noble. ‘But Alice Kennedy rang me. Len arrived ten minutes after we left. She said he got a call on his mobile just as he arrived and he left straight away.’

‘Did Len say where he was going?’

‘No, but I’m guessing Yvette spooked him because Alice said he was coming here to speak to you.’

‘Did she say why?’

Noble shook his head. ‘Maybe he’s going to make a clean breast of things.’

‘That sound like him?’ answered Brook.

‘Not really.’

‘More likely he’s going to try and get ahead of the game, find out what we know about his relationship with Yvette. And if he’s found out he’s not Russell’s father, he’s got a much stronger hand.’

‘Maybe he’ll do a runner.’

‘I don’t think so, John. He’s got a lot to lose. And the way he’s kept Yvette secret all these years, I don’t see him panicking. And if he thinks we know how far they go back, he might even start cutting her loose.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘He might try and turn the tables, John. After all, Yvette’s the one who’s followed Len from place to place. It wouldn’t be hard to characterise her as some kind of stalker, would it?’

‘It would if we started pulling his financials.’

‘He may have been careful,’ suggested Brook. ‘If his late wife was the one with the money, it would have been easier to hide any payments.’

Noble shrugged. ‘Not that easy.’

Brook looked back into the Incident Room. The first film had been shown twice with Cooper pointing out the mystery figure with a camcorder, in the bushes. ‘Let’s not pin our hopes on Len. I know we don’t have a lot to go on, but their relationship is academic at the moment. We don’t even know if it has anything to do with our missing teenagers.’

Cooper started the second piece of film. He froze the image to show the young man on Exeter Bridge walking towards the camera. Here, Brook took up the reins.

‘Early this morning we were called out to the recovery of Wilson Woodrow’s body following the events you’ve just witnessed. Wilson was a Derby College student and a participant in the first Deity website broadcast.’ Brook pointed at the screen. ‘As we recovered Wilson’s body from the river, this unidentified young man was on Exeter Bridge watching and filming us. He’s wearing a G-STAR hoodie, identical to the garment Kyle Kennedy, one of our four missing students, was last seen wearing on the evening of May nineteenth — that’s according to Mrs Kennedy.’

‘So we think that’s Kyle Kennedy,’ said DS Morton, nodding at the screen.

‘We don’t know for sure,’ replied Noble. ‘We showed Alice Kennedy the film and some stills but she didn’t think it was Kyle — too tall. She couldn’t be sure for obvious reasons — his face and eyes are covered, the clothing is very baggy. She could only identify his hoodie. Same story with Russell Thomson’s mother.’

Brook picked up again. ‘The first film you saw shows that Wilson jumped into the Derwent at a quarter to midnight some two hours after he’d assaulted Kyle Kennedy. The figure behind the red dot in the trees is filming Wilson’s last moments and close examination leads us to believe that he appears to be wearing the same hoodie as our young man on the bridge.’

‘So the kid who got gay-bashed is getting his revenge,’ said DC Read. ‘Good motive, Guv.’

Brook was pleased to see Charlton frowning at the back of Read’s head. He’d obviously not been brought up to speed on how to conduct himself. Brook glanced casually across at Noble who acknowledged this with an amused nod.

‘When I restart the second film,’ continued Brook, ‘you’ll see the boy on the bridge using a camcorder to record the retrieval of Wilson’s body.’

‘Wasn’t Russell Thomson the kid with the camcorder?’ asked Gadd.

‘Yes.’

‘So that could also be Russell Thomson, wearing Kyle’s hoodie,’ concluded Gadd.

‘Yes. Or even a third person who’s holding Kyle and Russell hostage and has access to their clothes and possessions,’ replied Brook. ‘Including Russell’s camcorder and Kyle’s mobile phone which was used to text a message to Jake McKenzie at six thirty this morning.’

‘Who’s Jake McKenzie?’ asked DC Smee.

‘A friend of Kyle’s,’ said Noble. ‘He stepped in to stop the assault.’

‘I’m confused,’ said Charlton.

‘I’m not surprised,’ said Brook. Charlton wondered briefly whether to take offence. ‘Messing with our heads,’ explained Brook with a smile.

‘Did we get a trace on the phone?’ asked Charlton.

‘We did though we didn’t need one. The phone was on Exeter Bridge with the unknown male.’

‘How do we know?’

‘Because the operator told us that Kyle’s mobile number was being used at the exact same time and place as the bridge footage.’ Noble looked over at DC Cooper, who moved the film to six twenty-nine that morning. When he restarted the footage, the young man on Exeter Bridge had lowered his camcorder and extracted a mobile phone from a pocket. He began to tap out a text.

‘Hang on. If that’s Kyle, he’s got hold of another phone but put his own SIM card in it,’ said Morton. ‘That doesn’t make any sense. Why not just get a new Pay As You Go? Then we wouldn’t know who’s doing the texting.’