Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Once he’s off the phone with Professional Standards, the DCI calls Jennie and Zuri into the incident room. As they follow him inside, Jennie senses that something important is afoot. She’s relieved she was able to persuade him to let her stay at work rather than go off on sick leave, even if it’s not good HR procedure. A few painkillers have sorted her headache, and the nausea seems to have abated. It’s the road-rash on her face and lacerations to her arm that are the most distracting.

They gather around the whiteboard. Jennie stares at the pictures of Hannah, Paul Jennings, Duncan Edwards, and the rest of the darkroom crew staring down at them.

‘I’m not going to sugar coat this,’ says the DCI. ‘I’m being put under a hell of a lot of pressure to get this case closed. The media frenzy shows no signs of stopping, I’m being bombarded with endless press questions and the community is becoming more angry every day that goes by without an arrest.’

‘But it’s only been five days,’ says Zuri. ‘Surely the brass can give us longer?’

Campbell blows out hard. ‘They can, but they’d prefer not to. We already had accusations of institutional misogyny being bandied about after the mishandled abduction case, but with what’s come to light today – the attack on Jennie, the suspension of DS Wright and the prolonged campaign of misogyny and deeply disturbing misconduct by him and several others within our ranks – we’re going to see some really ugly press headlines once the media catch wind of it. I know you all want to do right by the victim and so do I. And we sure as hell need a win for the community and a good news story for us. So, what do you think, do we have our killer?’

Jennie grimaces. Hannah deserves better than a bodged job of a misper investigation and a murder case cut short. ‘We have several possible suspects, but we’re not done yet.’

‘Several? Who’s top of your list?’ asks the DCI.

Jennie looks at Zuri. The frustrated expression on her DS’s face mirrors how Jennie feels. Still, she nods. ‘Okay. We narrowed our suspects down to Hannah’s father, the teacher Duncan Edwards, and Hannah’s four childhood friends, including the boyfriend.’ Moving closer to the board, Jennie taps her finger on Edwards’ picture. ‘The teacher was our top suspect, but we’ve been unable to break his alibi. Edwards and his ex-fiancée alibied each other. Naomi and Steven have spoken to a few of their ex-colleagues and neighbours, but so far their story holds up. The ex-fiancée had motive too; I think they could have colluded to murder Hannah together, but we’re still looking for evidence to prove it. We had a good look at Hannah’s father, but although he was violent towards her and was a shitty dad, we don’t think he’s in the frame for her death.’

‘So Rob Marwood is our prime suspect,’ says Zuri, gesturing to Rob’s image on the board. ‘He and Hannah had a history of doing drugs together and experimentation in oxygen deprivation, and we know he lied about his alibi – he wasn’t watching the film he claimed at the cinema the night Hannah died, because the projector was broken and the cinema couldn’t open. We can’t ask him why he lied, but it’s a reasonable supposition that Hannah’s body being found and years of crippling guilt about her death, combined with the stress of the medical malpractice case against him, is what pushed him to take his own life. As I’ve said before, I believe the note he wrote was his confession to killing his friend.’

The DCI nods thoughtfully.

‘Rob supplied Hannah with drugs regularly,’ says Jennie, continuing from where Zuri left off. ‘And he’d taken her to A&E a month before her death when she accidentally overdosed. They found marks on her neck which we’ve determined were consistent with erotic asphyxiation. One hypothesis is that Hannah’s death was an experiment into “higher consciousness” that went wrong.’

‘The tox report on Robert Marwood shows he had high levels of fentanyl and alcohol in his system at the time he died,’ says Zuri. ‘Further digging into his financials has turned up payments to two exclusive and highly confidential rehab clinics in the past year and a number of other occasions dating back twenty years, but it seems the rehab never stuck. He was clearly deeply troubled by something that happened in his past.’

‘I’m inclined to agree,’ says Campbell. He gestures to the remaining three members of the darkroom crew. ‘What about the other friends and the boyfriend?’

‘Nothing concrete,’ says Zuri.

‘But we do have some suspicions,’ Jennie adds. ‘If we can have a few more days to—’

‘I’m sorry,’ says the DCI. ‘But given what you’ve told me I think we’ve got our killer. Robert Marwood basically confessed to the murder of Hannah Jennings in his suicide note. We might not know exactly what happened, or whether it was intentional, but as he lied about his alibi, the drug-taking and the erotic asphyxiation, I think we have enough to conclude he was responsible for Hannah’s death.’

‘I agree,’ says Zuri. She looks at Jennie apologetically. ‘I also agree that in an ideal world we’d have been able to put the charge to Robert Marwood, and dig deeper into his faked alibi and what happened that night. But we can’t.’

Jennie lets out a heavy breath. She’s knows even if she fights this she won’t win, but she’s far from convinced they’re making the right call. And so, although she nods along as the DCI tells them to officially close the case and prepare a press statement, she’s already planning her next move.

Back at her desk, Jennie finds a Post-it note from Naomi stuck on her keyboard. As she reads the two updates on the note, adrenaline floods her body. Whatever the DCI thinks, now Jennie knows she’s right. There is more to uncover. The case isn’t over.

Suddenly she feels exhilarated, vindicated, the exhaustion of a few moments ago forgotten.

Simon Ackhurst’s alibi was fake, just as she’d suspected. He didn’t show up for work on the night Hannah disappeared and had been docked wages for his absence.

Why did he lie?

According to the school’s historical records, Elliott, on behalf of the photography club, had signed for a delivery of supplies, which included a bottle of hydrochloric acid, on the day Hannah disappeared. The next order for a bottle of hydrochloric acid was made two days later.

As everything starts to slot together in her mind, Jennie pulls out her battered phone and sends three texts. Grabbing her coat, she takes the developed photographs from last night out of the buff folder on her desk and leaves the office. The case might be closed, but it isn’t over for her. Not yet. Not until she knows the whole truth and is sure she’s got justice for Hannah.

There’s no time to lose.