‘But he knew something that could get him killed.’
‘If the information’s not in his laptop it has to have been in his head.’
‘And he never has sex?’
‘I didn’t say that. He brought a woman back here eight days ago.’
‘How do you know that?’
Banbury had lifted something from the top of a pillow. ‘Here’s your long blond hair. I’ve got another one.’ He held up a clear plastic pouch. ‘The laundry hamper holds a pile of identical T-shirts, his working uniform. This was between the bottom shirt and the one immediately above it. To my eye it matches the one from the bed. We need to get them under a microscope, and get a sample from Sabira Kasavian. And find out her whereabouts the Monday before last.’ Banbury grinned. ‘I worked back through the number of shirts. You see? The old-fashioned methods are still the best.’
‘You don’t think he followed the girl because she reminded him of his daughter, do you?’
‘Interesting idea. People sometimes do things they don’t understand. Ask someone to explain their actions and they usually find a justification, but often I think they make it up to cover for the fact that they don’t know themselves. If Waters was just randomly following girls around it would throw everything out of order, and I wouldn’t like that. I’m a very orderly person.’
‘I bet you keep a special stick for stirring paint with,’ said Renfield. ‘The unit must drive you nuts.’
‘Mr Bryant lives in a whirlwind of filth and chaos,’ muttered Banbury. ‘If anyone murdered him in his office we’d never find out who did it, that’s for sure.’
16
WATCHING
MEANWHILE, JOHN MAY was briefing the remaining assembled staff in the common room. ‘We need to find the girl,’ he said. ‘We have to build this case solidly, step by step. Otherwise we can’t connect Waters’s death to Sabira Kasavian. We have CCTV shots of the children in Salisbury Court. We can match the footage against the entrance camera in Coram’s Fields. That gives us two co-ordinates. Waters spent half of his last day in Belsize Park, so there’s a chance the girl lives in that area.’
Bryant dug through a stack of ragged notes. ‘Janice, did you talk to the chap on the gate at Coram’s Fields?’
‘He saw Waters and the girl enter and assumed they were father and daughter. He thinks Waters was holding her hand but admits he wasn’t paying attention. A big crowd of Chinese children was coming in, and he was checking to make sure they were supervised. Kasavian called back. We’ve definitely got the O’Connor investigation. They’re sending the files over right now.’
Bryant rubbed his hands together. ‘Good, I thought he’d drag his feet. Where’s Raymond?’
‘He had to go home,’ said Longbright. ‘Bad news, apparently. He wouldn’t tell me what was wrong.’
‘Right, you two.’ Bryant turned to his PCs, Colin Bimsley and Meera Mangeshkar.
‘No bins,’ said Meera. ‘I’m not doing rubbish duty.’
‘No, you’ll like this one: warm weather, a leafy square. I want you and Colin to stake out the courtyard and surrounding alleyways tomorrow morning, starting before the offices start filling up, so you’d better be there by seven. You’re on the lookout for someone who knows this little girl.’ He handed them an enlarged still taken from the courtyard camera. ‘There are no schools in the area. You hardly ever see kids around that neck of the woods, so she and the boy must have been with someone, probably waiting for a parent.’
‘It shouldn’t take long to check all the offices in the square and find out if anyone brings children to work from Belsize Park,’ said Bimsley.
‘Don’t you want to wait for Dan to match the footage from Coram’s Fields?’ asked May.
Bryant shook his head. ‘We wasted time before and a man died.’
‘Wait, does this mean we’re going on to shifts, because I’m supposed to be going out tonight,’ said Colin.
‘Where are you going?’
‘I’ve got tickets for Coldplay at the Emirates Stadium. They’re on at half nine.’
‘I assume that’s something to do with young people singing?’
Meera snorted. ‘No, they’re really old and rubbish.’
‘Well, I’m sorry to disturb your plans for a musical evening, Colin, but this is rather more important. And get Dan back. And find out what the hell’s going on with Raymond. Then call the Cedar Tree to check on Mrs Kasavian. And somebody make me some bloody tea!’ Bryant stormed from the common room.