Roxanne, p.18
Roxanne, page 18
‘To be clear then, Brian. You drove into Walton on that Saturday morning, Saturday the 6th. You had a business lunch with one of your regular clients, and then you drove back to Marborough in the early afternoon. As far as you are aware, you had your phone with you when you got back home but you don’t remember using it to make a call and you don’t remember receiving a call or sending texts to anyone. Is that right?’
Yes, he agreed with that as a summary of what he had told them. Serena asked when he had noticed the mobile was missing. Riley said, ‘Sunday morning. I had a game of golf arranged here in Lake, at the West Heath club. I went to call one of the people I was playing with and realised my phone was missing.’
Sterling said, ‘So what did you do then?’
Brian Riley looked at her as if the question was a slightly stupid one, and then said, ‘I went and played golf.’
‘Did you look for the phone? My daughter is always losing hers. We regularly turn the house upside down. Is that what you did?’
‘No.’
Sterling opened the file that lay on the table in front of her, checked a detail and closed it again. She said, ‘It’s an expensive phone, Brian. You weren’t concerned?’
He would be relatively easy to irritate, she thought, and he was already losing some of the phoney willingness to help the police with their inquiries. He was twitchy now, couldn’t keep his hands in one place for long.
He said, ‘Not especially concerned. I thought it would turn up and apparently it has. I suppose I must have left it in the pub in Walton. When can I have it back?’
Sterling ignored the question and said to him, ‘While you were at home on the Saturday, after you got back from Walton, did you have any visitors, Brian? Could someone have picked up your phone? By accident, I mean. It happens often enough.’
One can learn this process and it is taught in training, but like every other skill in this life, some people begin with an advantage. Some people have a talent for asking questions. Step by step, Detective Sergeant Sterling was closing down the escape routes that Riley might try to use when they began the serious business of disclosure.
He said, ‘No, I did not. And I get the feeling I’m being played here. I agreed to come in good faith and identify my phone. It hasn’t been shown to me yet, and I’d like to know why.’
The two women looked at each other as if events had now taken an unfortunate turn, but they said nothing more. It was Riley who spoke again.
‘I see. If you have no more questions I shall leave now, and you’ll be hearing from my solicitor.’
When he stood up, he pushed with his hands against the desk and there were traces of sweat where his fingers had been. In another case they could have used those for prints, but Sterling knew they wouldn’t need them. She said, ‘Sit down, Brian. We do have another question.’
He complied, but he was angry now and vulnerable. Sterling nodded to Serena, who said, ‘Do you know someone called Roxanne Prescott?’
Four pairs of eyes were watching him closely – two in the interview room, two on the monitor in the observation suite. It’s the moment when the dealer turns over the first of the cards but nobody saw anything change in Brian Riley’s face. He said, ‘No,’ and then, after three or four seconds, ‘Who is she? Did she have my phone?’
‘Sort of…’
He looked at the younger of the two women once more. It was hard to believe this was the same girl who had been so pleasant in the back of the car that brought him here. Was she smiling at him? A contemptuous smile, a sneer? Riley felt himself colouring up. They were making a fool of him. The older woman said in a reasonable voice, ‘Brian, I’m sorry about this. We have to do things in a set order. Just like buying and selling property, you know? The protocols?’
He said, ‘In order to achieve what, for God’s sake? What is this about?’
Sterling opened the file again, as if she needed to remind herself of some detail she’d forgotten in all the excitement. Then she said, ‘OK. Brian, have you ever had any dealings with the Elite Escorts agency? It’s just off Nelson Road, here in Kings Lake.’
Riley was silent for a long time, and then he said, ‘I’m not answering that.’
Sterling said, ‘Can you tell me why you are refusing to answer? It’s a straightforward question.’
He was pushing the chair away from the desk, getting ready to stand up again.
‘No, it is not. I believe I’ve been brought here under false pretences. As I’ve already said, speak to my solicitor from now on.’
The detective sergeant seemed distracted for a second or two, as if she hadn’t expected such a firm response from him – she was looking at him but appeared to be listening to something else. Then she said, ‘Brian, you are entitled to legal representation and advice at any stage in this process.’
‘What “process”? What’s going on?’
Sterling said then, ‘You have told us you do not know a young woman called Roxanne Prescott. I’m asking you now whether you know a young woman called Annaliese.’
A hit. A very palpable hit.
Riley was back on his feet now. The temper had gone and he said in a different voice, ‘I am not under arrest. I have the right to leave.’
Sterling said, ‘Yes, you do. Would you like me to arrest you, Mr Riley?’
He said, ‘This is absurd!’
‘No, you’d be surprised,’ Sterling said, as if she was making the point around a dinner table, ‘some people would, the ones who know how the system works.’
Riley had taken enough steps to reach the door of the interview room. He said to them, ‘I have no idea why you imagine I am such a person.’
Detective Sergeant Sterling seemed disappointed in him. She said, ‘There’s a uniformed officer on the other side of the door. He isn’t going to let you leave.’
Riley said, ‘You cannot do that. You have not…’
He fell silent because she too was on her feet now.
‘Brian Riley. I am arresting you in connection with the death of Roxanne Prescott. You do not have to-’
‘Whose death? I don’t-’
‘You do not have to say anything, but anything you do say may…’
Chapter Nineteen
Freeman looked at her watch and said, ‘We arrested him at 13.21, forty-two minutes ago. You know my thoughts when we get to this point – not a second to be wasted. Who has he called?’
Greene said, ‘Fraser and Metcalfe. Do we know them?’
The question was to any of the regular Kings Lake team. Officers get to know their local solicitors well; there are faces they are happy to see waiting for them in interview rooms, and some that they are not. Serena answered the detective inspector’s question.
‘We do. If she’s available, they’ll send Christine Archer.’
Freeman said, ‘The woman who acted for Oliver Salmon?’
John Murray nodded and said ‘If anyone in Norfolk can get Riley out of holding cell two, it’s probably her, ma’am.’
The squad was back in the main office. Freeman looked around at them and said, ‘So we need to be on the top of our game. I’m fine with that. Where is this outfit based?’
Murray told her, and then she turned to Greene and said, ‘We’re not having them using up three of our twenty-four hours with any time-wasting. Give them a call as soon as we’re done here – if they mess us about we’re going ahead with the duty solicitor.
‘Denise and Serena did a good job. I really thought he was warming to you at the end, so you two are going back in. Denise – impressions so far?’
Sterling said, ‘He was doing the outraged citizen pretty well until you told me the name, ma’am. But he gave it away when I asked about Annaliese, and he knows he did.’
Freeman was brisk in exchanges like these and could seem abrupt but they were all past the point of misreading her like that. She said to Sterling, ‘Are you all right working with the earpiece? Not everybody likes it.’
‘Yes, ma’am. Not a problem.’
‘Good. Chris, I can see the DI has something for us. Before that, you were the other pair of eyes in the observation room. Your thoughts, please.’
Waters had made notes but he didn’t need them. He said, ‘I don’t think he recognised her real name. He didn’t know her as Roxanne, which suggests he first knew her while she was working for the agency as Annaliese. She kept the name after she went on her own. So that might be the case for any other clients she took with her, and even for any new ones she’s acquired.’
Freeman said, ‘Fair point. What else?’
‘One thing, ma’am. If Riley has known Roxanne for a while, and assuming it was a sexual relationship, where does the ketamine come into it? We know it as a date-rape drug but I can’t see how that applies here.’
This was a new thought for some if not all of the detectives in the room. Freeman accepted it and said, ‘That’s a bridge we’ll need to cross at some point, but not now. Tom?’
The inspector waved a piece of paper and said, ‘They’re on each other’s phones. Neither of them has put the other into a contacts list but there is recent activity between them.’
Now there were looks exchanged, a mingling of surprise, relief and excitement; whatever explanation Brian Riley offered, it now had to include the fact that he knew the deceased. It was a moment of considerable significance.
Freeman said, ‘How recent?’
Greene said, ‘Thursday the 4th of this month. Riley called her in the evening. They spoke for around two minutes, and then again briefly on the 5th. Looking back, it seems the traffic is mostly one-way, it’s usually him calling her. There are also texts but the content is deleted. Riley sent a lot of texts late last year but got very few in return. We haven’t found any texts since January.’
Freeman gave another of those quick glances around the group, as if checking everyone was paying attention, and said, ‘Thursday the 4th and Friday the 5th. A day or two before we believe she died. Arranging to meet at the weekend? Tom, we need a list with every call: dates and times and durations. Let’s see if there’s a pattern.’
Behind the detective chief inspector, Priti Hussain sat at a table, scribbling furiously, noting every move made by the senior investigating officer. Kings Lake hadn’t worked this way before, but Waters knew it was becoming common practice in other forces. It didn’t seem to be hindering Freeman in any way. She continued, ‘So that you all know – yes, we’ve taken a chance arresting Riley this early. Before the interview, I said to Denise that it was her call. I said she was to use her judgement depending on how it was going.’
Eyes went to the detective sergeant in question, and then Freeman said, ‘And I’m backing her decision, one hundred per cent. I would have done the same if he’d walked to the door at that point.’
Waters saw that being written down as well. So there were positives here – that was on the record. Freeman had just protected her sergeant against accusations she had acted precipitously in arresting a prominent local businessman, a member of the exclusive West Heath Golf Club, no less.
Freeman said, ‘It gave us twenty-four hours, one of which has almost gone. Feel free to shut me up so we can get moving on this, but one more thing. We can now search his home, his car and his devices, and we’re going to. We’re short-handed for the moment – no, not true, we’ve been short-handed since the start – and I’m going to pull a couple of people over from DI Terek’s teams. Who?’
When Freeman told you she wanted everyone actively involved, not waiting around to be told what to do, she wasn’t kidding. Adding new people to an established team was not an insignificant step, and consulting the existing team was probably unheard of.
Serena said, ‘Richard Ford, ma’am’ and immediately got back, ‘He’s inexperienced.’
That was not a dismissal but an invitation to make your case.
Serena said, ‘We all were once, ma’am. Fordy is a quick learner. And he was DC’s last recommendation out of uniform.’
Freeman couldn’t help herself, and said, ‘Oh well, in that case…’
She looked around but saw no disagreement.
‘All right – Richard Ford. One more.’
Murray said, ‘John Wilson, ma’am.’
Serena said, ‘He’s too experienced,’ and there was some laughter. Even Freeman managed a half-smile before she said, ‘He didn’t exactly throw himself overboard to help us with Neville Murfitt, did he?’
Murray said, ‘No, ma’am. But he is capable, he’ll get the job done. And if he’s seen helping this squad out, it’ll take some heat out of the situation.’
All knew what ‘the situation’ was – the ill-feeling that had arisen with the creation of the murder team, the idea that Kings Lake Central now had a two-tier criminal investigation department. Murray was entirely apolitical but Freeman must have seen the sense in his argument for including Wilson. She turned to Greene and said, ‘OK, those two. I’ll inform DI Terek. Brief them and then they can lead the search of Riley’s property and any vehicles there. And let’s get him DNA’d, printed and photographed before his representation turns up and starts interfering. He has no previous, does he? We’ve double-checked?’
That question too was to Greene, the most methodical of detectives, for whom double-checking was a philosophy, a way of life. No, he said – as far as the criminal law was concerned, Brian Riley had lived a blameless life until now. Or at least until Saturday the 6th of April. The date seemed to jog something in the DCI’s memory. She turned to Priti and said, ‘Remind me in a few minutes – I need to cancel an appointment for tonight.’ Priti asked if it was something she could do, and Freeman said, ‘No, thank you. Personal stuff. Tom, another thing. We need to know where that Mini went on the 6th. Goldthorpe’s analyst contact? When can she give us something?’
Waters had seen the look between Serena and Denise at the mention of “personal stuff”. Speculation about Freeman’s private life continued unabated, it seemed. The DCI might not have been sending a message to the rest of them when she asked Priti to remind her to cancel something, but nevertheless they would all be sending texts or making calls to let loved ones, partners and friends know that tonight would now be a late one. Nobody would be leaving the building at five o’clock.
A few minutes after his own text to Miriam, he received a cryptic reply – As long as you’re not avoiding me… To which, of course, he had to respond with Why would I do such a thing?
Because she was using dictation, Miriam’s replies could arrive unexpectedly quickly. Waters had barely looked back at the phone data Greene had given him to examine before his phone bleeped again – I was just wondering whether there is something you ought to be telling me.
Obviously, there was. But how could she have found out about the situation with Maya? How could she know he had been unofficially suspended for a day? Nobody outside the building knew anything about it, and Miriam had no contact with anyone inside it but himself. She could not know. And yet there was nothing else – he searched through his conscience for some other sin of commission or omission, found himself innocent and yet still felt guilty. If she had found out before he had found the nerve to tell her, he would have some explaining to do. He wrote back to her, saying he would be late but he would still come to her place if she wanted him to, and the message that came back was Yes, I’ll wait up for you.
Waters had been told he would be watching the next interview live in the observation room with Freeman, as he had the previous one, and he was therefore present when Freeman met Christine Archer. The two women were of similar height and build, and when they shook hands their eyes were locked as they took each other’s measure. Yet the worlds of prosecution and defence are small ones and strangely symbiotic – you literally cannot have one without the other if you live in a democracy.
Freeman held all the cards in the opening hand, and he wondered how she would decide to play them. She could give Riley’s representative virtually nothing and make life awkward for her but the consequences of that might be more time wasted as the arrested man and his solicitor consulted, as they must be allowed to do. Freeman could avoid that by handing over some or all of what they had already established, but that gives a clever lawyer openings which might be used against you.
After the introductions, the four of them went to Freeman’s office and Waters’ questions were soon answered. Christine Archer said, ‘To be clear, then – I am speaking to the senior investigating officer?’
Freeman said, ‘Yes, that’s me. Detective Sergeant Waters is actively involved in this investigation, and Mrs Hussain is keeping the record.’
The solicitor looked at the two of them, nodded and said to Freeman, ‘As I understand it, Mr Riley came willingly to the station to help with inquiries. You then arrested him during an interview. Why?’
There was to be no beating about the bush, then. Freeman said, ‘We’re investigating the death of a young woman, Roxanne Prescott. The evidence we have gathered so far suggests that Mr Riley knew her well. We believe they met the weekend she died, quite possibly on the same day. We have a number of questions we wish to ask him about this.’
Christine Archer gave the answer due consideration before she said, ‘My question was, why did you arrest him?’
Waters could see Freeman recalibrating, trying to get her opponent’s range.
‘Because he tried to leave the room before we could ask those questions.’
‘I see. The fact that you would like to ask Mr Riley some more questions is not of itself grounds for detaining him. Therefore, I have to assume you have something more.’
Only a statement, of course, but Archer’s eyes never left the DCI’s face. He thought, no, don’t give her the phone, not now, but he need not have worried. This time, Freeman said nothing.
‘For how long was Mr Riley interviewed before you arrested him?’
Freeman looked at Waters and said, ‘About twenty minutes?’
He nodded and then Christine Archer said, ‘I’d like to see the tape.’
