Bradfield told everyone that now the drug squad knew about Eddie’s suspicious death they’d put pressure on known hard-drug users and informants in and around a square mile of where his body was found, in an effort to get more on ‘Josh’ and Dwayne Clark. They had also organized a team to keep surveillance on Dwayne’s flat and Bradfield had agreed that if any drugs were seized when they were arrested the drug squad boys could deal with that after he’d interviewed them.
‘So far we’ve got Jack Shit on this case and I’m getting it in the ear from the DCS to get results. You need to start pulling your fingers out of your backsides and work harder. I want those two black bastards found and banged up in a cell downstairs within the next twenty-four hours. Overtime is not a problem – now get out there and graft.’
As everyone went about their business Bradfield approached Jane.
‘I need you with me this afternoon now that Spence is off to Coventry,’ he said irritably.
‘May I ask where we are we going, sir?’
‘It’s a memorial service for Julie Ann.’
Jane thought he may have made an error. ‘Do you mean funeral, sir?’
‘If I did I’d have said funeral, wouldn’t I, Tennison? Her parents were informed that it’ll be at least eight weeks, maybe more, before the coroner releases the body. So they decided to have a memorial service in the meantime. Get yourself spruced up then meet me in the yard in ten minutes.’
Jane grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and a roll of Sellotape from the desk before hurrying down to the cloakroom. She wrapped a load of tape round her hand so the sticky side was facing out and brushed down the back of her jacket removing the bits of fluff and cotton. Having put the jacket on she did the same with the front and then combed her hair. She was about to retie it back with an elastic band when it suddenly snapped.
‘Shit, shit.’
She didn’t have another one so grabbed her hat from her locker and putting it on pushed her hair up inside it, but strands of it slipped out. Frustrated, she recombed it and tucked it behind her ears before giving her cheeks a pinch and doing up the buttons of her jacket. She did a quick check of her tights, and with her handbag over her shoulder scurried out towards the station yard where Bradfield was waiting impatiently in the driver’s seat of an unmarked red Hillman Hunter. She opened the passenger door.
‘Get in, get in,’ he said tetchily.
She was still shutting the front passenger door as he pulled away at speed.
‘We are just going to make an appearance out of respect, sit at the back, give our condolences and be visible for as long as necessary. Then we get back here – I’ve got a lot to do.’
Bradfield drove in silence and Jane wondered if she should make some polite conversation or if it was best to keep quiet. Eventually Bradfield started talking, not turning towards her but staring directly out of the windscreen.
‘God, I hate these things. Whoever killed Julie Ann and her baby is still out there. If I’d got something to tell them like we’d caught the bastard responsible it might have helped soften their grief. I don’t know – pregnant and a junkie at her age: I’m surprised she didn’t want an abortion.’
There was an awful pause, before Jane decided to say something.
‘Apparently drugs can disrupt menstruation, especially heroin. So even if she missed some periods she might not have connected it to being pregnant. Then there was that phone call Anjali O’Duncie overheard. If Big Daddy was her dealer and the father, maybe she was asking for money for an abort-’
Bradfield turned and stared at her. ‘You think he’d give a shit? He’s got kids littered all over the place by God knows how many women. Why would he bother to help a teenage hooker who was passed round to his cohorts to feed her addiction? All she cared about was the next fix.’
There was another lengthy pause before Jane tried again.
‘Do you think that Eddie was murdered because he’d told you about this Big Daddy character?’
Bradfield sighed and ruffled his hair. ‘I dunno. The toxicology results might show he overdosed on heroin which caused him to accidentally fall into the canal and drown. Who knows – maybe he was so high he thought he’d swim upriver and sneak into London Zoo,’ he said with a hollow laugh.
Jane continued, ‘It’s another no-witness case like Julie Ann. Although it is different because we know he was at the station the day before and if this Big Daddy did kill Eddie then I guess you have a possible motive. Eddie was the last person to see her two weeks before her body was found. Professor Martin said she had bruises from a bad beating prior to her murder, so if we could find out where she was for those two weeks it would really help because-’
He interrupted her. ‘Thank you, WPC Tennison – I’m aware of the time frame and have been doing everything possible to trace her movements and whereabouts during that missing period.’
‘Sorry, sir,’ Jane said, deciding it was best to keep her opinions and thoughts to herself.
