Street in Strawberry Hills about twenty past three.’
‘Fantastic,’ Ella said. ‘Any traffic cameras around there that’d let us see our bad boy’s face?’
‘We’re on it.’
‘Thanks.’ Ella hung up then peered back into the room to see Dennis standing with his arms around theSheppards as they sobbed.
Ella closed her eyes and thought about a man driving through the city, the cameras everywhere tracking his path and building a route map of images for them to discover.
FOUR
A t 7 am the full meeting room smelled of coffee. Every detective held a cup and most shovelled in pastries as well. Ella’s was as black as tar and even loaded with sugar it tasted foul, but the caffeine zinged into her cells and increased the tingling in her spine until she found it almost impossible to stand still.
When everyone was seated and silent, Dennis told them about the talk withthe Sheppards, the lack of information on Connor’s family, and the discovery of the bloody knife in the hedge. Ella described Aidan’s story and the response of Stewart Bridges to the second round of questions. Hepburn said that a Google search of Bridges’ work had turned up only the kind of portfolio he’d claimed: weddings, portraits and commercial stuff. Not the sinister skulls and bizarre nudesElla had almost hoped for.
‘Canvassers?’ Dennis said.
Steve Mitchell flattened out his notebook. ‘We found two residents in the street who said they saw a small red car driving north at about half past eleven, fifteen minutes before Bridges claims he found the body. One said he thought it was a Honda, the other couldn’t say. The first witness thought he saw one person in the vehicle. The other,again, couldn’t say. Neither noticed the plates. Both said it was speeding, which was why they noticed it.
‘Three residents heard what they believed was a scream at around eleven. One was that woman across the street, who didn’t get up to look. The other two thought it was somebody’s television turned up too loud. Neither of them went to investigate either.
‘People said generally they had noproblem with the Crawfords – didn’t even know them for the most part. Seems to be about standard for the street. A couple of people mentioned seeing the police and ambulance there at the time of that domestic call but none had heard any sounds of fighting.
‘At five houses in the street, including one directly next door to the Crawfords, we got no answer. We’re going back later.’
‘How’d you gowith the description of the man that Bridges gave?’
‘Interesting,’ Detective David Watkins said. ‘Because we only have his word that the man went south, we searched north too but got nothing there at all. Going south, there’s a twenty-four-hour convenience store six hundred metres down the street on the same side as the Crawfords’. The employee was standing on the street having a smoke at midnightwhen a man roughly matching that description came past. He said the man was walking quickly with his head down, and when he glanced up and saw him he veered off and crossed the road. The employee watched him take the next street left and thought no more of it until we turned up. We showed him the photo of Connor but he didn’t think it was him. The CCTV covers an area near the door and we managedto get this off the system.’
He handed around grainy black and white images. Ella inspected hers. The employee stood with his back to the door, one hand in his pocket, and in the top of the picture a man was moving out of frame and stepping off the curb. Dark clothes, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Dark hair. She picked up the photo of Connor but it was impossible to say if it was him.
‘They get many people coming past at that time of night?’ she asked.
‘Nope,’ Watkins said. ‘He said there’d been two half-pissed girls and one old lady on a ride-on scooter in the twenty minutes prior, and nobody at all in the same period
‘Fantastic,’ Ella said. ‘Any traffic cameras around there that’d let us see our bad boy’s face?’
‘We’re on it.’
‘Thanks.’ Ella hung up then peered back into the room to see Dennis standing with his arms around theSheppards as they sobbed.
Ella closed her eyes and thought about a man driving through the city, the cameras everywhere tracking his path and building a route map of images for them to discover.
FOUR
A t 7 am the full meeting room smelled of coffee. Every detective held a cup and most shovelled in pastries as well. Ella’s was as black as tar and even loaded with sugar it tasted foul, but the caffeine zinged into her cells and increased the tingling in her spine until she found it almost impossible to stand still.
When everyone was seated and silent, Dennis told them about the talk withthe Sheppards, the lack of information on Connor’s family, and the discovery of the bloody knife in the hedge. Ella described Aidan’s story and the response of Stewart Bridges to the second round of questions. Hepburn said that a Google search of Bridges’ work had turned up only the kind of portfolio he’d claimed: weddings, portraits and commercial stuff. Not the sinister skulls and bizarre nudesElla had almost hoped for.
‘Canvassers?’ Dennis said.
Steve Mitchell flattened out his notebook. ‘We found two residents in the street who said they saw a small red car driving north at about half past eleven, fifteen minutes before Bridges claims he found the body. One said he thought it was a Honda, the other couldn’t say. The first witness thought he saw one person in the vehicle. The other,again, couldn’t say. Neither noticed the plates. Both said it was speeding, which was why they noticed it.
‘Three residents heard what they believed was a scream at around eleven. One was that woman across the street, who didn’t get up to look. The other two thought it was somebody’s television turned up too loud. Neither of them went to investigate either.
‘People said generally they had noproblem with the Crawfords – didn’t even know them for the most part. Seems to be about standard for the street. A couple of people mentioned seeing the police and ambulance there at the time of that domestic call but none had heard any sounds of fighting.
‘At five houses in the street, including one directly next door to the Crawfords, we got no answer. We’re going back later.’
‘How’d you gowith the description of the man that Bridges gave?’
‘Interesting,’ Detective David Watkins said. ‘Because we only have his word that the man went south, we searched north too but got nothing there at all. Going south, there’s a twenty-four-hour convenience store six hundred metres down the street on the same side as the Crawfords’. The employee was standing on the street having a smoke at midnightwhen a man roughly matching that description came past. He said the man was walking quickly with his head down, and when he glanced up and saw him he veered off and crossed the road. The employee watched him take the next street left and thought no more of it until we turned up. We showed him the photo of Connor but he didn’t think it was him. The CCTV covers an area near the door and we managedto get this off the system.’
He handed around grainy black and white images. Ella inspected hers. The employee stood with his back to the door, one hand in his pocket, and in the top of the picture a man was moving out of frame and stepping off the curb. Dark clothes, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Dark hair. She picked up the photo of Connor but it was impossible to say if it was him.
‘They get many people coming past at that time of night?’ she asked.
‘Nope,’ Watkins said. ‘He said there’d been two half-pissed girls and one old lady on a ride-on scooter in the twenty minutes prior, and nobody at all in the same period
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