The special relationship.
Their takeaway was that they’d been doing the dirty behind my back for weeks, calling, texting, meeting, screwing. I reiterated that, obviously, I didn’t know anything about it. They asked me why that should be obvious, and I said, “Because if I’d known, I’d have done something about it, wouldn’t I?” Then I realized they were looking at me differently. They said, “Oh yeah? You’d have done something like what?”
SARAH MANNING:
Detective James, the team and I were in close contact. We all agreed that Andrew causing Zoe’s disappearance because he was struggling to end their relationship seemed unlikely, so I think we closed that door early on. But he did have a temper, he could be arrogant and project these feelings of entitlement, and it was looking more and more likely that his girlfriend had been having an affair with his best friend. I think his potential anger at finding that out seemed like a much more compelling motive to us.
ANDREW FLOWERS:
I told them that if I’d known of an affair, I’d have had my ticket out of there, wouldn’t I? It would have solved all my sodding problems.
SARAH MANNING:
Alex Wilson told us an interesting story, about walking in on Andrew and Zoe filming the leaked video. Alex, in my experience, could be quite up and down, but she was obviously incredibly concerned, and I remember struggling to get my colleagues to take her seriously. Once they did, they had to sit up and listen.
She said she’d gotten the sense that Zoe was scared to death of Andrew in the moment when she’d walked in on them. Partners are always high on the list of suspects in cases like these, but I’d say Andrew’s name got underlined as a result of that. I’d say in some police notebooks, it’s still underlined today.
ROBERT NOLAN:
I’d been pressing from the word go, from the minute we first got there. Let’s get on the news, let’s get in the papers, let’s get an appeal going. Let’s put some pressure on the pig who’s got her and keep it up.
SARAH MANNING:
Mr. Nolan was essentially trying to organize a press conference on the first afternoon he arrived, but DI James was able to talk him out of it. Within the first twenty-four hours, we couldn’t be absolutely certain if Zoe even really was missing.
It was clear by the second day, though, that the conference was happening no matter what we said or did, and by that point, it was probably time. We needed to get Zoe’s face out there.
ANDREW FLOWERS:
Initially, I’d tried to defend Jai. We’d parted on bad terms, but I still thought they had him wrong. I was being slowly undone on that front, though. They began reading me these messages that had been going back and forth between them, him and Zoe. I’ve never felt this way before, can’t wait to see you, same time same place, et cetera, et cetera, painting him as some lothario all of a sudden, a dangerous man. I think I said that Jai might have his secrets but that being dangerous wasn’t one of them.
They said, “We hear he’s got a temper, a violent streak.” I was putting them right on that when they interrupted, asked how he’d acquired all those cuts and bruises. I told them about the abuse he’d been receiving, the beating that had followed. I told them that we’d reported it to the police. Surprise, surprise, though. Officer Shitforbrains had never filed a thing. I tried to recover and tell them the fight hadn’t been Jai’s fault, he’d been jumped while taking pictures. They just asked how I could know that for sure. I said, “Why would he lie?” Then they told me that since Zoe’s disappearance, several people had come forward with stories about Jai being a negative presence on campus, being a whip-out man or peeping Tom. I said all that shit was just innuendo, the result of a poison poster campaign that had, in my opinion, originated with the same police officers we’d spoken to following the theft of Zoe’s underwear.
SARAH MANNING:
I heard Andrew repeat this accusation at the time. All I can tell you is that I spoke to the officers involved and can say with some certainty that wasn’t the case. A more disturbing scenario to me is that Zoe’s stalker saw her relationship with Jai and was jealous of it. He took steps to neutralize a threat.
Think about it.
Someone started a campaign to keep Jai off campus. Someone apparently beat him up, apparently broke his camera. If you believe Jai’s version of events, it seems likely he brushed up against the same obsessive mind that Zoe did.
ANDREW FLOWERS:
I said I’d never seen or heard anything violent from Jai myself, so I wasn’t going to speculate. They said, “So you weren’t at Fifth Avenue nightclub on such a date?” I shrugged, told them I didn’t keep a diary but might have been. Then they went into the story of him being dragged out of there, wasted. I said, “So what?” You know, in my mind, we’re all lying in the gutter. It’s just that some of us are facedown in our own sick. But no. Jai had been trying to rape some girl on the dance floor in their version of events. I told them that he wasn’t the type. Then they asked if perhaps his substance abuse might play a role? They asked me if I’d ever seen Jai swallowing pills.
HARRY FOWLES:
Look, everyone knew Jai was selling drugs.
SARAH MANNING:
Upon learning that Jai Mahmood was selling drugs on campus, I made my concerns for Alex Wilson very clear. She seemed vulnerable and had been under the influence the first time that we met. It was easy to imagine someone might be preying on her.
HARRY FOWLES:
I’d seen Jai giving cash to this absolute unit of a guy in the Great Central, over the road from Owens Park, which I told the police. Next thing you know, I’m down the station going through mug shots, trying to pick him out.
ANDREW FLOWERS: