Dana nodded. ‘We’re supposed to change the code every now and then, but it’s been the same for as long as I’ve been here, and the regulars like it that way. It’s a pain for them to keep asking for the code, and it makes more work for the staff, you know?’
‘We need to trace someone who’s logged on to your network here several times,’ Kelly said. ‘They’re wanted in connection with a very serious crime.’
Dana’s eyes widened. ‘Should we be worried?’
‘I don’t think you’re in any danger here, but it’s vital we track them down as soon as we can. I noticed on our way in you have CCTV – could we have a look at it?’
‘Sure thing. It’s in the manager’s office, through here.’ They followed her to a door on the other side of the room, where she pressed rapid numbers on the keypad fixed to the frame. She welcomed them into a room a little bigger than a broom cupboard, which housed a desk with a computer, a dusty printer, and an in-tray filled with invoices and delivery slips. On a shelf above the computer was a black-and-white screen showing a flickering CCTV image. Kelly recognised the counter they had seen upstairs, and the gleaming coffee machine.
‘How many cameras do you have?’ Kelly said. ‘Can we take a look at the other angles?’
‘It’s just that one, you know?’ Dana said.
As they watched, Kelly could see Jase, the lad Dana had handed over to, put a steaming latte on a black tray. It was just about possible to see a side view of his customer, before they turned away. ‘The only camera is pointing at the till?’ Kelly clarified.
Dana looked abashed. ‘The owner thinks we’re all on the take. It’s the same for the whole chain. We had a problem with antisocial behaviour last year and moved the camera to point at the front door. The boss went apeshit. Now we leave it be. Sleeping dogs, yeah?’
Nick and Kelly exchanged grim glances.
‘I’m going to have to seize whatever footage you’ve got from the last month,’ Kelly said. She turned to the DI. ‘Surveillance?’ He nodded.
‘We’re investigating a very serious offence,’ Nick told Dana, ‘and it may be we need to put in additional cameras for a few weeks. If that happens, it’s imperative your customers don’t know about it, which means,’ he gave Dana a serious look, ‘the fewer staff who know, the better.’
Dana looked terrified. ‘I won’t tell anyone.’
‘Thank you – you’ve been really helpful,’ Kelly said, although her heart was sinking. Every time she thought they had a strong lead on the offender behind the website, it collapsed into nothing. They could look at the CCTV footage at the times the offender used the WiFi connection to transfer his customers’ money, but with 90 per cent of the camera screen taken up with the staff and the till, their chances of getting a positive ID were tiny.
As they left the café, Kelly’s mobile beeped. ‘It’s from Zoe Walker,’ she said, reading the text. ‘She’s working from home for the foreseeable; just wanted to let me know she wouldn’t be on her office number.’
Nick shot her a warning look. ‘If she asks, there are no significant developments, okay?’
Kelly took a deep breath and tried to answer calmly. ‘I told Zoe how to access the website because I thought she had a right to see her own commute listed.’
Nick strode off towards the car, delivering his parting shot over his shoulder. ‘You think too much, PC Swift.’
Back in Balfour Street Kelly took the disk with Espress Oh!’s CCTV footage to the exhibits’ officer. Tony Broadstairs had more than twenty-five years as a detective on CID and MIT, and was fond of giving Kelly advice she neither wanted nor needed. Today he took it upon himself to outline the importance of the chain of evidence.
‘So you have to sign to say you’re passing this exhibit to me,’ he said, his pen drawing a circle in the air above the relevant section on the exhibit tag, ‘and I sign to say I’ve received it from you.’
‘Got it,’ nodded Kelly, who had been seizing and signing for exhibits for the last nine years. ‘Thanks.’
‘Because if one of those signatures is missing, you can kiss goodbye to your case at court. You can have the guiltiest man in the land, but once the defence get wind of a procedural cock-up, it’ll collapse faster than a soufflé taken out of the oven too early.’
‘Kelly.’
Turning round, Kelly saw DCI Digby walking towards them, still wearing his overcoat.
‘I didn’t realise you were in, sir,’ Tony said. ‘I thought you were still using up all that leave you’ve accrued. Didn’t fancy golf today, then?’