15
Armstrong dropped Irvine off before heading over to the SCDEA HQ in Paisley to see if he could find out anything more about a new face on the scene – either from his colleagues or from street contacts. He said he’d call if he got anything concrete.
Irvine opened the CCTV file from Murphy’s e-mail and settled down for a long afternoon. She started watching, fast forwarding through stretches of film that were clearly of no help.
After more than an hour, she noticed a silver Mercedes saloon that she had seen on the film before. She moved backwards and forwards through the film, following the car as best she could. It went south towards the river and out of sight for about twenty minutes before reappearing heading north.
‘What were you doing down at the river?’ she said aloud.
Dumping Joanna Lewski’s body.
She reviewed the film again until she found a clear shot of the car’s licence plate and wrote it in her notes before calling DVLA. When she got through to the section she needed she explained who she was, gave her warrant card number and asked for confirmation of the registered keeper of the Mercedes.
She wrote down the name that the operator gave her: Russell Hall.
She called Armstrong and told him what she had found – asked if he had heard anything from his colleagues.
‘Nothing so far. Most of the guys here didn’t even know that Hall had left Frank Parker’s organisation. He’s covered his tracks well.’
‘You coming back here today?’
‘Probably not. There’re still some people I can talk to. Maybe hit the streets as well, to find some sources.’
Irvine looked at her watch. It was approaching four in the afternoon.
‘I guess we’ve done what we can today,’ she said. ‘It all starts again tomorrow with the lab results from Hall’s scene.’
‘We’re a step closer than we were. That’s something.’
‘Sure,’ she said, not convinced.
‘You heard from your new best pal yet?’
She didn’t know what he was talking about and said so.
‘Frank Parker.’
Irvine sighed. ‘No. And get over it.’