‘Well, you can’t have a feckin’ abortion either,’ Quinlan defended.
Kate shushed the two of them, as a woman from a nearby table looked over. ‘Now is not the time to make decisions. In all honesty, I don’t think either of you are ready to fully understand the implications of what you’ve done, but this is the situation we find ourselves in, so we’re going to have to find the best path forward for everyone, and that includes the little life growing inside you, Tara.’
‘I’m going to have it terminated,’ Tara said stubbornly, ‘and there’s nothing either of you can do about it.’
Kate could see Quinlan was about to react, so jumped in first. ‘I think the best thing we can do today is to make a plan of where and when you are going to break this news to your parents, Tara. I know you are worried about how they will react, and I’m sure you’re just as terrified, Olly, but there’s absolutely no way around it. None of us can keep something this big from them; they deserve to know, so they can be supportive. And believe me, Tara, they might be shocked by the news, but they love you and that will never change. I know that if my daughter ever comes to me in your situation, I’ll give the support she needs. And your parents will be the same.’
‘I’ll lose my job,’ Quinlan said.
‘You’re both over the age of consent, so you haven’t done anything illegal. He’ll be upset, of course, but the supe is a consummate professional and he won’t allow this to get in the way of work.’ She paused and checked her watch. ‘Speaking of which, you and I should be heading back, Olly. Tara, how did you get down here?’
‘Caught a bus.’
‘And are you okay getting home, or do you need a lift?’
‘I can catch the bus.’
‘Good. All the secret phone calls and messages between the two of you need to stop. And I think the three of us need to sit down with your parents at the weekend, Tara. I know you’re both scared, but this secrecy ends here.’
Neither Quinlan nor Tara looked up, but both reluctantly nodded.
‘Good,’ Kate said, standing and leaving the café with Quinlan in close pursuit. ‘Olly, we won’t mention this again until we’ve nailed Jackson. But I need your head in the game. Understand?’
He stopped her and fixed her with a stare. ‘I’m sorry you got dragged into all this, but thanks for having my back. I swear I’ll work night and day until we have the evidence we need against Jackson and find Daisy.’
49
Kate clapped her hands together for the attention of the incident room. ‘What’s Humberidge saying at the site? Any updates?’
Patel grabbed a note from his desk. ‘They’ve found a shed packed full of garden equipment: spades, forks, buckets, and a lawnmower covered in rust. More interestingly, they’ve also found a patch of lawn that looks recently turned over.’
Kate didn’t want to ask the next question. ‘How big is the hole?’
Patel tried to allay her fears, spreading his arms wide. ‘Humberidge reckons about a metre deep, and half a metre wide.’
‘Not big enough for a body,’ Laura offered.
‘Not in one piece,’ Kate agreed, but they all understood what she was alluding to. ‘Are they digging?’
Patel frowned. ‘The ground is pretty solid from what Humberidge said, but SSD are down there and will excavate the hole as soon as they can.’
‘Can we get sniffer dogs down there? Maybe they could at least indicate if there’s a scent of blood in the ground?’
‘The dog unit is already at the Mottisfont site, ma’am. To be honest, by the time we’d get them to the house, SSD could already be through the top layer.’
Kate nodded, glancing at the clock. ‘It’s nearly two o’clock, so that gives us nineteen hours until we have to release him; unless of course the supe agrees to extend his custody. But he’ll only extend if he believes we have a genuine opportunity to nail the bastard, and as it stands we only have circumstantial evidence at best. Is Jackson still in with his solicitor?’
Patel nodded. ‘Yeah, they broke for half an hour for Jackson to eat lunch, but reconvened immediately after. I’ve no idea what they’re discussing, but if he’s as innocent as he claims, I don’t see why he’d need to talk for so long.’
Kate sighed, feeling they’d never been closer to confirming what had happened to Petr and Maria, but no closer to finding out why. The psychology of the criminal mind fascinated her, particularly when she came up against someone with a psyche as twisted as Jackson’s.
Kate focused back on the three of them. ‘How are we with progressing why Petr and Maria were picked by Jackson?’
Laura shuffled forward on her chair. ‘I’ve been looking into the financial side of things, ma’am. We know that both Petr and Maria weren’t in professions that would make them a lot of money, but we have witnesses who say that both had either received or were about to receive a windfall, right? Sofia said Maria managed to raise ten grand to pay off her pimp, and Petr’s sister said he was going to put a deposit down on a flat for them to rent together. I’ve been going through Jackson’s recent bank statements, courtesy of what Humberidge has scanned and sent over from the house, and there are multiple ATM withdrawals from his personal account. Not in the region of ten grand, but over time, a couple of grand here, a grand there, it could add up. However, we have yet to lay our hands on his business records. From what I can see, he was taking home a considerable monthly sum from the business, which would suggest the company has been doing well.’
‘Define considerable,’ Kate said.
Laura grabbed the statements from her desk and handed them to Kate. ‘I’ve highlighted the figures in question. This month, the company paid him just under four thousand, the month before, just over that figure, and the month before that well over six thousand.’
‘Where are his business accounts?’
‘Humberidge hasn’t found them at the property yet, but is still searching. I’ve put a call in to his bank to request access and am waiting for a call back.’
Kate narrowed her eyes. ‘But even if we can establish he made significant withdrawals from his business account in order to pay them, what was he paying them for?’
‘Maybe he set up business as a loan shark?’ Quinlan offered.
Kate furrowed her brow. ‘I don’t think it fits.’
‘Drugs then?’ Quinlan countered.
‘No evidence to suggest that Jackson has any involvement in that world.’
‘Well, that only leaves sex, ma’am,’ Quinlan concluded. ‘You reckon he goes both ways?’
Kate considered it. ‘We know that Maria was used to selling her body for money. Could he have offered her the money she needed in return for something sexual? According to Imelda Watkins he had an interest in sadomasochism. But the only evidence we have that Maria received the money is Sofia saying their pimp had released Maria from their contract. The money never touched a bank account.’
‘Maria Alexandrou hadn’t used her account for several years,’ Patel advised.
‘And Petr? What do his accounts say?’
‘In the last six months, his only account transactions were the monthly payments received from the cruise company, which he withdrew in whole almost immediately after. No direct debits or debit card payments on the account. There’s obviously a mattress stuffed full of money somewhere.’
Kate fixed Patel with a look. ‘Have we been through Nowakowski’s accommodation yet?’
He shook his head. ‘Humberidge was supposed to be heading there this morning, but with Jackson’s sudden appearance, it hasn’t happened.’
Kate fired a look at Quinlan, who grabbed his coat. ‘On it, ma’am. What are we looking for?’
Kate joined him at the door. ‘Anything that might tell us how he crossed paths with Jackson: computer, tablet, phone, sexual paraphernalia, anything and everything.’ She glanced back at Laura and Patel. ‘Keep digging. We need something to tie our victims and suspect together. I’m sure we’re missing something obvious; I just can’t work out what.’
* * *