The Doll's House

O’Connor still hadn’t fully worked out why he’d asked Kate out for a drink, almost regretting it the moment the question had popped out of his mouth. He had no doubt what was keeping him awake at night. Sharing it with Kate, no matter how bloody understanding she might be, wasn’t going to help matters, and he’d no intention of discussing it with anyone in the force, irrespective of what support mechanisms were in place. He’d made his bed, and now he had better learn to lie in it.

Lynch, who’d been checking the CCTV footage when O’Connor arrived, seemed intent on spending the tail end of the afternoon constantly rewinding the tapes. Rubbing his hands down his face, in an effort to rejuvenate his thoughts, O’Connor was the first to break the silence. ‘Lynch, tell me there’s a good reason for you constantly rewinding that fucker.’

‘I’m looking at the sightings in Hatch Street and at a late-night shop. The quality is suspect in places, but the second sighting is bothering me. It looks like more than a casual conversation to me.’

O’Connor stood behind him.

‘Look here.’ Lynch stopped the tape as Jenkins exited the shop. ‘When Jenkins steps out, he stands there alone, opening the packet of cigarettes he’s just purchased. Watch him. He looks up and down the street before lighting the cigarette, almost as if he’s expecting someone. It’s only when he’s about to walk away that the other man appears.’

O’Connor leaned in closer, looking again at the stranger walking out of the shadows. At first the male seemed to be walking in the direction of the shop, but another few rewinds of the tape confirmed he had come at Jenkins from behind, out from a laneway to the right of the shop.

‘It’s at this point, sir, that they exchange words.’

‘How long are they talking? What does the tape say?’

‘Four point six five seconds.’

‘It could be simple pleasantries, Lynch.’

‘Maybe – but look here. Both men stand facing each other. Then Keith Jenkins either stands back or is forced back. It’s hard to tell with the split-second gaps in the footage. The second man lights his cigarette, his back to the CCTV camera, while Jenkins is facing it. They’re both standing further back than before, as if they’ve stepped in from the road for more privacy. Do complete strangers stop to have a cigarette together in the shadows? Maybe – but not for as long as it looks here. Look what happens next, when Jenkins walks away, leaving the other guy behind him.’

O’Connor kept looking at the footage. ‘The other guy stays put.’

‘Only long enough to let Jenkins think he isn’t being followed.’ Lynch moves the tape on. ‘Five seconds later he leaves in the same direction.’

‘What are you thinking, Lynch?’

‘The interaction is too intimate for complete strangers. Jenkins doesn’t look like he was forced back into the shadows, but he certainly went there.’

O’Connor looked at the tape again. ‘If this turns out to be the last sighting of the victim, this other guy is critical. Right, Lynch, let’s get agreement from the chief super to put the entire footage out there. I want it on every news bulletin going. We may not be able to make out who the mystery man is, but perhaps someone else will.’

‘Okay.’

‘Also, hassle Morrison on the weapon, and the distance the attacker would have been from the victim when the initial assault happened. If the killer and Keith Jenkins’s cigarette companion are one and the same, the killer could have used the earlier incident as a means of getting Jenkins to engage with him again.’

‘Sure.’

‘Did we get any more on Jenkins’s business associates?’

‘Mr Jenkins didn’t just like upsetting his studio guests.’

‘I’m listening.’

‘He had his finger in a number of shady dealings, not least of which was a property investment in Portugal. You know the kind of stuff, golf clubs, health spas, designer apartments and villas.’

‘So what’s shady about it?’

‘He didn’t put his own lolly in. He managed to convince other investors to put theirs in instead. He used a company set up a number of years back under the name of Hamilton Holdings.’

‘It has a nice ring to it, but you still haven’t told me why it’s shady.’ O’Connor sat back behind his desk.

‘When the shit fell out of everything here and in Portugal, numbers began plummeting. Some of the regular investors got nervous, especially when their accountants began hitting brick walls on percentage shareholdings and who they were in bed with on the deal. There were rumours about dirty money in there. Either way, Jenkins was playing hardball. It was only a matter of time before the money lawyers started asking awkward questions.’

‘Have we the list of the legitimate players?’