CHAPTER 19
An hour later, when Geraldine Hart’s body had been transported to the mortuary and into Pinter’s artisan hands, Ryan yielded to the proper chain of command. He paid his next visit to the Detective Chief Superintendent, which he recognised was long overdue.
“Well, well,” Gregson spared no time on small talk. “I’m honoured.”
Ryan’s heard the sarcasm, but stood firm.
“I apologise if I have not been as communicative as I should have been, sir.”
“On the basis that you did, in fact, attend the scheduled session with Doctor Donovan and that you have, by all accounts, made progress on Operation Hadrian, I’m willing to let it slide.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Gregson grunted and, with a cheerful two-fingers to the ample signage declaring the building a ‘NO SMOKING’ zone, he lit a fat cigar.
The thick smoke oozed, filling the air with its pungent aroma. Ryan presumed that the Chief had disabled the standard smoke detector fixed on the ceiling above his desk.
“Report,” came the order.
“Sir, pathology and forensics reports are now very near completion as regards the bodies of Amy Llewellyn and Claire Burns.”
“Give me the main bullet points,” Gregson demanded.
“Three DNA samples were found on Amy Llewellyn’s bracelet, but none remaining on her skeleton. Sampling of the fibres of her clothes is taking much longer and is nearly done, but in the meantime we’ve only been able to look at those on the bracelet. One sample belongs to Amy herself, another has now been confirmed as belonging to Colin Hart and a third remains unidentified.”
“That looks damning,” Gregson commented. “Doesn’t it?”
“The samples are LCN DNA, sir. They’re subject to argument, given the tiny sample sizes. There have been unsuccessful prosecutions on the basis of that evidence alone.”
Gregson grunted a second time, signalling for him to continue.
“The bracelet was purchased from a shop we have identified in Newcastle, which is the only shop to stock that particular bracelet given the fact that the owner’s son is the silversmith who produces them exclusively. The owner states categorically that Keir Edwards purchased ten such bracelets in cash, around the time period Amy went missing.”
“Intriguing. But Edwards’ DNA doesn’t account for the third sample on the bracelet?”
“No, sir, it doesn’t.”
“Even more intriguing,” Gregson mused. “Could be any number of people, though. Maybe a friend tried it on, before the girl died.”
“Yes, sir,” but Ryan wasn’t convinced.
“Carry on.”
Ryan shifted his feet but didn’t take the chair that Gregson offered him. He preferred to remain standing for the next part.
“Following an interview conducted with Keir Edwards yesterday –”
“Come again?” Gregson spoke through a cloud of smoke. “I thought I heard you say that you had compromised the integrity of your investigation by conducting an interview with a man against whom you have clear personal bias, without seeking prior authorisation from me.”
Ryan looked at his Chief with growing animosity.
“I made clear from the start that my intention was to arrange an interview with Edwards, using all appropriate channels. Phillips duly arranged this, giving Edwards ample time to seek legal representation. Phillips conducted the first stages of the interview, until Edwards made it abundantly clear that he would speak to nobody but me. Everything was recorded and above board.”
“You actually believed that it was worthwhile to put yourself in that situation? You think the man gave you any truthful answers?”
“I was willing to put myself in an uncomfortable situation,” Ryan nearly laughed at the understatement, “because I felt it would be for the greater good. If we are able to find anything useful in the answers he gave us, which leads us to find the answer to who killed those two girls, my time was well spent.”
Gregson studied Ryan and thought, not for the first time, that it was a crying shame they couldn’t see eye-to-eye in more areas than simple police work. The man was gutsy; he had conviction and he was like an immoveable rock when the situation called for it. It was a bolt from the blue to realise that he would have liked him for a son.
He shook himself and focussed instead on the here-and-now. The answer to the next question he posed could be a game-changer for them all.
“Was there anything useful in what he said?”
“Edwards confirmed that he had a sexual relationship with Amy Llewellyn in the months before she died, but seemed to suggest that he ‘gave her up’ – in his own words – somehow bowing to another man he claimed to respect. I inferred from that a mentor of some kind, a man he looked up to.”