‘He called me. He has a cast-iron alibi. He was in Coventry to meet up with Joshua Richards, but as you know he got arrested. I’ve told Dwayne he’s making a bigger hole for himself by hiding and advised him to come in voluntarily to be interviewed.’
‘What about Eddie Phillips? Did O’Duncie or Dwayne kill him?’
‘I don’t know and that’s not my problem to solve, but no doubt we will meet again soon,’ Stonex said and left.
An angry Bradfield went to the incident room to speak with Jane about her interview with A10. She told him that once they saw the retraction statement by O’Duncie they only asked her a few questions and she confirmed his and DS Gibbs’s version of events. They informed her that no further action would be taken and DS Gibbs would be returned to duty immediately. Bradfield said nothing, he didn’t even smile, but returned stony-faced to his office slamming the door shut behind him, too preoccupied with the case to react to the good news.
It went from bad to worse later that afternoon as the knowledge that O’Duncie’s alibi had been verified quickly spread round the incident room. The Chelsea Hotel manager confirmed that O’Duncie and his girlfriend, who they discovered was seventeen, had been staying there. The initial excitement over O’Duncie’s arrest palled: their killer was still out there.
Bradfield ordered another search of the squat in Ashburn House on the Pembridge Estate by DCs Ashton and Edwards. He wanted to know if there was anyone else now staying there who had known Julie Ann, or had fresh information about her or Eddie Phillips. It was late afternoon when Bradfield and DS Lawrence, who were going over the forensics in Bradfield’s office, were interrupted by a knock at the door and DCs Ashton and Edwards walked in.
‘No one was at the squat, sir, but we found this.’ A sheepish-looking Ashton held up a dirty black bin bag.
‘It definitely wasn’t there when we first searched the place,’ Edwards nervously added and Ashton agreed.
Bradfield and Lawrence looked inside the bag. Amongst potato peelings and dirty used takeaway cartons there was a rucksack.
‘It matches the description of the one Julie Ann Collins had,’ Ashton said.
An angry-looking Bradfield grabbed the bin bag from Ashton and went to the incident room where Jane was sitting at a desk filling out some index cards. Bradfield told her to move and as she got up he cleared a space on the desk. Lawrence laid out some sheets of newspaper, put on some protective gloves and handed a pair to Bradfield who removed the rucksack from the bin bag and began to search through it. First he took out a worn-looking ‘English History’ exercise book, with ‘Julie Ann Collins’ written in large letters on the front, and placed it on the table. Lawrence picked the exercise book up and began to flick through it while Bradfield removed items of clothing from the rucksack and placed them in a pile on the table. Lawrence held the book open for Bradfield and Jane to see. ‘She was a bright girl, and look at her neat and tidy handwriting. I wonder if she was maybe thinking about going back to finish her education.’
Bradfield retrieved a chopstick from the bin bag and used it to lift and separate the clothes. There was a white cotton bra, a few stained lace panties, two pairs of worn leather ballet shoes, the soles coming away from the stitching, and a frilled Biba blouse that was covered in food stains. Jane could still smell the strong patchouli perfume emanating from the clothing.
‘Not much, but she was living rough for some time.’ Lawrence sighed.
‘Anything worth taking was probably nicked by the other kids at the squat.’
Jane just wanted to leave the room: she felt sad seeing all that was left of the dead girl. She pointed at the worn ballet slippers.
‘Her father said she wanted to be a ballet dancer.’
‘Well, she’s never going to dance any more,’ Bradfield remarked.
‘No,’ Jane replied and left him prodding at the clothing with his chopstick. It was obvious to them all there was nothing in the rucksack that would hasten the search for her killer.
Jane was in the ladies’ locker room putting on her raincoat when Kath came in with a sly grin on her face.
‘Spence is back in the office… and I’m gonna pay him back for the Vicks prank. All DCs and detective sergeants, and that includes Gibbs, have to do a first-aid refresher test on resuscitation with the St John’s Ambulance instructor… ’
‘You mean mouth-to-mouth on a dummy?’
‘Yeah, well, it’s half a dummy they bring in, she’s called Resusci Anne. The old battle-axe trainer is havin’ a tea break in the canteen so I’ve only got a few minutes.’
Jane watched, rather confused, as Kath took out a lipstick from her make-up bag.
‘This is called “Crimson Blush” and it’s waterproof.’
‘What are you going to do?’ a curious Jane asked.
Kath was already on her way out of the locker room. ‘Just wait – you’ll find out soon enough.’
