Sycamore Gap: A DCI Ryan Mystery(89)

The rest of his team were not so proud and, spotting her in the doorway, abandoned him to fall upon the steaming food like a pack of ravenous lions.

She caught his eye and shrugged.

“I see that no further introductions are necessary,” he mocked. “You’re a disgrace, every last one of you.”

“Always said I liked this one,” Phillips mumbled, waving at her with a slice of corned beef pasty. He flipped the end of his tie over one shoulder, to prevent spillages.

Talk turned back to the investigation and she noticed that MacKenzie was missing from the gathering. The room was full of police staff. She saw Faulkner sitting at a hot desk with a couple of CSIs leaning over his shoulder, while he pored over data on his computer. At another workstation, there was a bunch of other people she didn’t recognise but presumed to be analysts of some kind. Behind her, standing along the back wall of the room like a trio of unruly teenagers, was DCS Gregson, flanked by Jeff Pinter on one side and a man she vaguely recognised as being Paddy Donovan on the other. It was a full house.

“Where’s Denise?” She whispered across to Frank, who couldn’t quite meet her eyes.

“Ah, she’s just checking out a couple of things with Claire Burns’ family,” he said, for the benefit of their wider audience.

Anna was puzzled. Why the shifty looks?

“The word from Traffic is that our suspect has not been sighted from the air,” Ryan was saying. “No stolen vehicles in the area; no car, van or other rentals. There’s been no card or ATM activity whatsoever on any of Colin’s known accounts in the last twelve hours.

“He could have had some cash in the house,” somebody suggested.

“Might have,” Ryan agreed. “More likely, he’s managed to hole up somewhere, or somebody helped to shelter him.”

There were mutters around the room, given the prospect of an accomplice.

“Faulkner? Give us a forensic summary, please.”

The Senior CSI shuffled to the front of the room.

“We have confirmed one of the DNA samples found on Amy Llewellyn’s bracelet as belonging to Colin Hart. A number of suspect items have also been found in Hart’s house, of the same type used to murder Claire Burns, such as a quantity of Lorazepam, which also ties in with the witness evidence that Hart had been stalking her for some time before she died. We spent the entire morning and early afternoon working over the crime scene at Number 32. Some of my team are still there, but I can tell you that the only prints found on the syringe used to kill Geraldine Hart belonged to her son, Colin.”

“That syringe matches the size and shape of the puncture wound I found on Geraldine’s neck,” Pinter chucked in, from the back.

“Thanks, Jeff,” Faulkner nodded, trying to pick up the flow of his speech again. “As I say, with the exception of one unidentified DNA sample on Amy’s bracelet and one unidentified print found inside Colin’s car, all other suspect prints and samples have been accounted for.”

“Unidentified print?” This, from Gregson.

“Yes, sir,” Faulkner sought out Gregson’s bland stare and nodded. “It could be nothing. We wouldn’t think anything of it, except for the fact that the rest of the house bears only two sets of prints: Colin’s and his mother’s. They were obviously a very private family, without visitors, so the existence of a third set was unusual.”

“Nothing flagged on the database?”

Faulkner gave a quick shake of his head.

“Then, it was probably the mechanic who gave the car its MOT,” Gregson jeered.

“How about fibres?” Ryan pointedly ignored the last remark from his commanding officer.

“Well, the results have now come in from the clothing samples found around Amy’s skeleton, but they had deteriorated so much that we haven’t been able to recover any distinct evidence.”

Everyone in the room felt disappointment, with the exception of two people, whose faces betrayed nothing of their relief.

“How about Claire?”

“Interestingly, there was no clothing found on Claire’s body, as you know. There were very few fibres to test, other than the medical tape left around the body, which we’ve already identified as Micropore. In the case of Claire, her killer was a careful person,” Faulkner scratched at his head while he remembered the things he needed to cover.

“Micropore was found inside Number 32, in addition to Lorazepam, syringes and so forth. Throw in the fact of Geraldine’s death and it’s looking very much like Colin is our man.”

As Faulkner stepped away from the front, Ryan gave him a bolstering slap on the arm. He cast his eye to the back row of his makeshift theatre.