Chapter 30

Chapter 30

‘He was shagging a pupil and he lied about it,’ says Jennie, looking around the team, and the DCI, who are gathered in the incident room listening to her briefing on the Edwards interview. ‘In my opinion, Duncan Edwards is a liar, and he’s still holding on to a lot of anger about what happened. We know he saw Hannah on the day she disappeared, and we know she refused to quash the rumours. He had motive, and as a teacher, he had access to the school basement.’

‘But he has an alibi and Angela Totley doesn’t have cause to lie for him,’ says Zuri.

‘She lied for him in the first investigation,’ counters Jennie.

‘Yes, but they had a relationship then; they don’t now,’ says Zuri, flicking through her notes. ‘Also, he saw Hannah much earlier in the afternoon. We have multiple witnesses who saw her after that time.’

Martin’s frowning. ‘Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything, Edwards could have sought Hannah out later, desperate to get her to keep schtum about the affair.’

‘Good point, Martin. We need to check that out,’ replies Jennie. It seems a reach for Duncan Edwards and Angela Totley to be in on Hannah’s murder together, but she doesn’t want to rule it out. ‘So where are we with everything else?’

Martin clears his throat. He looks rather put out. ‘The forensics are back. There isn’t much, given the age and condition of the samples sent, but they did find a high concentration of hydrochloric acid on the remnants of the victim’s shirt.’

‘It’s likely she got the acid on her when she was developing pictures, isn’t it?’ says Zuri. ‘It’s used as part of the process.’

The rest of the team nod, agreeing with Zuri. Jennie stays silent as Naomi writes the forensics on the whiteboard. They used hydrochloric acid, and a bunch of other chemicals, in their photograph development processes in the basement darkroom, but it was only really she and Elliott who processed their own film. The others mainly just hung out, especially Hannah. She was always in front of the camera, not behind it. There’s no reason for acid to have been on her shirt.

When she’s finished writing, Naomi turns to Jennie. ‘I looked into the other school clubs that used the basement area. There were three of them – chess club, darts club and, on occasion, the drama club when they needed extra rehearsal space. They all used the bigger room between the darkroom and the boiler room, but none were given their own key.’

‘Okay,’ says Jennie. She hadn’t even realised White Cross Academy had a darts club.

‘I also followed up on Rob Marwood’s alibi,’ continues Naomi. ‘ Four Weddings and a Funeral was scheduled to play at the White Cross Cinema that day, but their records show there was a problem with the projector in the main screening room. All the showings had to be cancelled while the engineers figured out the problem. They didn’t reopen until the following afternoon.’

‘So Marwood’s alibi was false?’ says Zuri.

‘Looks that way,’ replies Naomi.

Jennie feels a burst of triumph that her hunch had been right, followed by the crushing realisation that one of her old friends had lied about his whereabouts. She frowns. ‘That potentially puts Rob Marwood’s suicide in a different light.’

Zuri nods. ‘He lied about where he was. It’s possible he’s our killer.’

Jennie knows her DS is right. It’s possible Rob did have something to do with Hannah’s death; she can’t discount it. ‘What else do we have?’

‘I spoke to the headmistress,’ says Steve, reading from his notes. ‘Sheila Heseltine retired over ten years ago and now lives in Australia. She confirmed the school secretary’s story about the drainage guys not having access to the basement until one of the school staff unlocked it to let them in. She also confirmed that Duncan Edwards was pushed out after Hannah went missing. He was told that a disciplinary investigation was about to be started into his conduct, and apparently he jumped before he was fired. Mrs Heseltine said she’d told the police in the first investigation about her suspicions that he’d been having a relationship with Hannah.’

‘Okay, that’s helpful corroboration,’ says Jennie, waiting for Naomi to finish writing up the notes. ‘So let’s look at each of our suspects and discount or identify them as needing more investigation.’ She moves across to the whiteboard and reads from the suspect list in order. ‘Hannah’s dad, Paul Jennings – thoughts?’

‘He doesn’t have an alibi after he was fired from his job and forced to leave early, and we have witness sightings of him arguing at home and on the street outside with Hannah, and later finding her in the school basement,’ says Naomi.

Paul Jennings might have turned his life around since Hannah disappeared, but there’s no denying he was an angry, violent man back then, and he showed them a few glimpses of his old self during the last interview. She suspects he inflicted the injuries Hannah had sustained, and doesn’t doubt that if she hadn’t left the house that night, he would have done more damage. But Jennie’s not sure about the basement sighting. ‘Do we believe Elliott Naylor? He didn’t tell the police about Hannah or her dad during the original investigation. Something seems off to me.’

‘Agreed,’ says Zuri, nodding. ‘I think Naylor’s hiding something.’

‘So Paul Jennings is still a possible, but looking less likely as our killer,’ says Jennie. She turns back to the whiteboard. ‘Next is the janitor, Tom Blake?’

‘Blake has an alibi,’ says Martin, sitting up a little in his chair. ‘I spoke to him, and checked out what he told me. He was playing football, a local league thing, that night. There’s a write-up in the local paper that mentions the two goals he scored and has his picture as part of the winning team. Several of his teammates, and the owner of the local pub where the team celebrated after the game, have confirmed his whereabouts.’

‘Okay, so the janitor is in the clear,’ says Jennie, as Naomi puts a line through Tom Blake’s name. ‘The drainage guys are next. They’ve already alibied out and we have multiple people confirming they didn’t have a key to access the basement out of hours, so they’re also clear.’

Naomi crosses out their names.

‘Next, we have the photographer from the modelling gig Hannah had booked.’ says Jennie.

‘He alibied out,’ says Steve.

Naomi crosses the photographer’s name from the list.

‘Duncan Edwards?’ asks Jennie.

‘He had motive and access to the basement,’ says Naomi.

‘But also an alibi,’ says Steve.

‘He’s guilty of being a seedy, repugnant liar of a man,’ says Zuri, her dislike for Edwards obvious in her expression. ‘But there’s no concrete evidence suggesting he murdered Hannah.’

‘I’m with Naomi on this,’ says Jennie, putting a question mark beside Duncan Edwards. ‘Yes, Angela Totley gave him an alibi, but I don’t trust either of them. They both withheld information in the original investigation and Edwards clearly has a thing for teenage girls. I don’t want to drop him as a suspect just yet.’

At the back of the room, DCI Campbell nods. ‘Agreed. Keep Edwards and Totley in the frame for now, we can circle back to them if needs be.’

‘Will do, sir,’ says Jennie, deferentially, knowing she needs to keep the DCI onside. She looks at the next name on the list. Feels her stomach flip. ‘So, what do we think about Lottie Varney?’

Martin mutters something Jennie doesn’t quite catch. ‘What’s that Martin?’

He shakes his head. ‘Nothing, boss. She just seems high maintenance, that’s all.’

‘Yeah,’ says Jennie. Bloody Lottie telling Zuri she was the person who took the photo. ‘Any other thoughts?’

‘She seemed deeply insecure,’ says Zuri, thoughtfully. ‘And although she put a lot of effort into painting herself as the loyal best friend, it was clear she and Hannah were arguing a lot around the time that Hannah went missing. But there’s no evidence she was involved.’

Jennie wishes she could tell the team that she knows Lottie’s alibi is bullshit, but if she does, she’ll have to admit why she knows that for sure. ‘So she’s no longer a suspect, okay.’ Not officially, anyway. ‘Next up is Elliott Naylor.’

Naomi draws a line through Lottie’s name.

‘Like I said earlier, he’s hiding something,’ says Zuri, consulting her notebook. ‘If his sighting of Hannah in the basement is true then he’s one of the last people to see her alive.’

Steve raises his hand. ‘The hydrochloric acid found on the shirt puts Hannah in the darkroom that day.’

‘It puts her in the darkroom at some point, but not necessarily that day,’ says Zuri. ‘She could have worn the shirt in the darkroom before and spilt acid on it, but not washed it yet.’

‘Is that really likely?’ says Martin, raising his eyebrows. ‘I mean, if you get a load of acid on your shirt, you’re going wash it quickly, aren’t you?’

‘We can’t be sure either way,’ says Jennie. ‘But we know that when we interviewed Elliott Naylor, he changed his story from what he told the first investigation back in 1994.’

‘I think he should stay on the list,’ says Zuri. ‘He’s hiding something.’

Martin shakes his head.

Much as Jennie hates to think that Elliott could have had something to do with Hannah’s death, she’s inclined to agree with Zuri. She glances to the back of the room at the DCI. He nods. ‘Okay, let’s keep him on the list for now, and see if we can find out what he’s hiding. We also need to push him on the money he’s been paying Simon Ackhurst all these years. It seems weird to me. Speaking of Simon Ackhurst, we need to talk to him as a matter of urgency.’

‘We’ve got his address, boss,’ says Martin. ‘He lives in a houseboat on a permanent mooring on the canal.’

‘Great; we’ll visit him as our next priority.’ She looks at the last name on the list. ‘Rob Marwood?’

‘Well, he’s dead obviously,’ says Martin, smirking as he plays for laughs.

Jennie shakes her head. She knows that dark humour is part of the deal in the police, but Rob’s death still feels raw. He’d been a friend once.

The DCI grimaces. No one says anything. The mood in the room remains serious.

Martin looks unusually self-conscious. ‘Sorry, it’s too soon, I guess.’

‘Anyone else, thoughts?’ asks Jennie. ‘We know his alibi was faked, and he was in a highly anxious state of mind before he died. What else?’

‘The note,’ says Zuri, her tone determined. ‘I still believe it was a confession to killing Hannah.’

At the back of the room, DCI Campbell is running his hand across his jaw. Jennie gets the impression her boss might be swaying more towards Zuri’s theory that Rob is their murderer.

Personally she’s not so sure. ‘If he killed Hannah, where did it happen? Elliott has said he was in the darkroom all along. If Rob and Hannah had been there, he would have seen them.’

Zuri nods, thoughtfully. ‘True. I think we should have another go at questioning Naylor. He knows more than he’s letting on, I’m sure of it.’

‘Agreed. Can you set that up?’ asks Jennie. Jennie looks at her DCs. ‘Naomi, Steve, follow up with all Duncan Edwards’ employers since he left White Cross. Find out if there’s been any complaints about his conduct with students or female colleagues. He might not be our prime suspect any more, but we need to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s on him.’

‘On it,’ says Naomi, making a note of the actions on the white board.

‘Fine,’ says Steve, looking up at the clock on the end wall.

Jennie glances at her watch. It’s almost six, but she isn’t ready to call it a day yet. At the moment, they have more questions than answers. Frustrated, she rubs her temples, trying to ease the tension headache that’s brewing behind her eyes. She needs a clear mind, has to be at her best.

It’s time to be reunited with the final surviving member of the darkroom crew.