The Tooth Tattoo(32)

‘She’s away on some course, isn’t she? Can’t reach her. If I could, she’d be the first to know.’

Halliwell grinned.

Energised, Diamond stalked the CID room delegating duties to anyone unlucky enough to catch his eye.

‘Haven’t we heard back from Paul Gilbert? He’s taking his time round the hotels. What’s he doing – testing the beds? You.’

‘Me, sir?’ some hapless DC said.

‘Give Gilbert a call and tell him we need a progress report.’

‘Very good.’

‘It had better be. And why is Ingeborg so silent? She should have got some names out of the colleges by this time.’

Towards the end of the morning, he used the marker pen to list the hotels Gilbert had visited. ‘This is taking too long,’ he said. ‘We need more manpower. I’ll ask for back-up from uniform. The plods are as capable as we are of checking names.’

Ingeborg looked in at lunchtime. ‘It isn’t easy, guv. Some of the private colleges are hopeless at keeping records. They can tell you who joined and when, but there’s no check on day-to-day attendance. As one college secretary said to me, it’s the students’ loss if they don’t put in the hours.’

‘And if one goes missing altogether?’

‘Could be weeks or months before the system picks it up. Most have personal tutors, but the tutors aren’t overly concerned if the students don’t appear. There’s often a valid reason, they say, like a change of course or a transfer to another college, and they aren’t always notified.’

‘Sounds like the perfect set-up for absenteeism. It wasn’t like that when I went through police college.’

Ingeborg was briefly lost for words, struggling, no doubt, with the thought of Diamond as a police cadet. ‘I was told the attendance record for Japanese students is above average.’

He nodded. ‘They’re a law-abiding race. The Japanese police spend most of their time helping people find their way.’

‘Nice work if you can get it,’ Halliwell said.

‘Foreign students come here on visas,’ Diamond said. ‘There must be a record.’

John Leaman, the resident know-it-all, said, ‘That would be with the UK Border Agency.’

‘They decide who gets in, right?’

‘Through a points system. All students from abroad need a valid visa letter to say they’ve been accepted by an approved college. That gets them thirty points. Then they must prove they’ve got several thousand pounds in the bank for twenty-eight days. That gives them the remaining ten points they need.’

‘And you and I know there are loopholes. The money can easily be borrowed.’

‘Right. And the letters have been forged on occasions, but not by the Japanese. Like you said, it would be highly unusual to find them fiddling the system. If our young woman was a student, it’s more than likely she came officially and her name is known.’

‘Along with several thousand others.’

‘I’m not sure of the numbers,’ Leaman said.

‘Let’s assume she’s on the books. Can the Border Agency tell us if she’s dropped out?’

‘They’d rely on the colleges informing them.’

Diamond sighed. He’d found the flaw. ‘Which they don’t.’

Ingeborg said, ‘To be fair, guv, some of them do.’

‘Why would anyone drop out? Anyone from Japan, brought up to do the right thing, work hard and get results?’

‘Can’t keep up with their studies. Loss of face.’

He glanced across at the photos of the victim on the display board. ‘Can’t argue with that.’

No one smiled.

‘If the Border Agency doesn’t have a grip on this, we’re dependent on the colleges,’ Diamond said.

‘This is the problem I’m finding,’ Ingeborg said. ‘The colleges are a law unto themselves.’

‘Or no law at all?’

‘Not much of one, anyway.’

‘Haven’t they given you any names?’

‘Three are being followed up as we speak. It’s a matter of contacting the staff concerned and that takes time because the lecturers aren’t all in college at one time.’

‘Speak to the students. They’ll tell you if one of their mates has gone missing.’

Diamond had put his finger on it, as usual. Students would surely cooperate, especially if it was made clear that a body had been discovered. Going through official channels wasn’t the only option.

‘Thanks, guv. I’ll give it a go.’


By the end of the day all the checking had come to nothing. Everyone had been accounted for, even the three Ingeborg had mentioned. She had tried questioning groups of Japanese students. They were keen to help when they heard what she said and there was a useful grapevine of information between different colleges. They had answered the few queries that had come up.