Violent Exposure by Katherine Howell Page B

after.’
    ‘He notice blood on his clothes?’
    Watkins shook his head.
    ‘Six hundred metres in fifteen minutes,’ Ella said.
    ‘I know, it’s slow,’ Watkins said.‘It should only have taken him about eight to ten.’
    ‘If it was even the guy Bridges claims he spoke to,’ Daniel Farley said.
    Dennis said, ‘Search the gardens and drains and so on in that six hundred in case he was delayed by hiding something. And see if you can find where he went from there.’
    ‘Okay,’ Watkins said.
    Ella nodded at Detective Katzen to go next.
    Jen told the group about the Crawfords’car being snapped by a red-light camera. ‘That was at twenty past three. The RTA’s checking the other cameras in the area. They said they should be able to give us images of the front of the car in enough detail that we can look at the driver.’
    ‘Great,’ Ella said. ‘Laurel? Daniel?’
    ‘We interviewed Katie Notts, the friend Bridges mentioned,’ Laurel Macy said. ‘Katie said she’d remembered herpartner, Peta Davies, telling her that Suzanne had made it clear a couple of times over the past year or so that the relationship wasn’t all roses. Peta had said that Suzanne had told her Connor had a secret, and when Peta asked if she thought he was having an affair, she said it was nothing like that but wouldn’t be drawn further. Peta is currently on a flight back from a business trip in the UKand lands this morning.’
    ‘We then spoke to the other friends,’ Daniel Farley said.
    ‘They’d all figured out that Connor might be in the frame but swore he’d never do such a thing. Lucy Cavasini and Dan Kennedy-Jones had been working till midnight in their restaurant in Waverley and hadn’t seen or heard from Connor since a birthday dinner held there for Peta last week.
    ‘Scott Barnley said hemet Connor yesterday afternoon in a pub at about two. They watched some horse races and had a few beers. He said Connor had been fine, cheerful. Connor had told him that Suzanne was meeting an old schoolfriend for lunch. He said Connor was talking about their plans for the nursery. They went their separate ways at about four. Ben Morton, Scott’s partner, wasn’t there. They were home together lastnight and said they’ve had no contact with Connor.’
    Laurel Macy said, ‘None of them had been taken into confidence by Suzanne, or suspected anything was wrong. They all said that when they’d last seen Suzanne and Connor together, at the party last week, they’d seemed happy together. Perfectly normal, they said.’
    Ella fought not to bounce from foot to foot. Perfectly normal on the outside. Buton the inside, a secret.
    Glorious.
    By the end of the meeting, Dennis’s lopsided capitals covered the whiteboard and people were shifting in their chairs. If they didn’t get out soon, Ella was going to have to pace and maybe scream as well. Meetings were necessary but she’d always, always , rather be out doing something – talking to possible witnesses or suspects, following leads, checking CCTV,even sitting on the most boring surveillance – than sitting about in here.
    ‘Round two,’ Dennis said. ‘Mitchell, take your team back for the rest of the canvassing. Watkins and Hastings, follow up on Bridges’ mystery man. Katzen and Murphy, get onto the phone records for the Crawfords’ home and business and their mobiles too, and also keep checking about the car. Hepburn, get the photo of Connorand the CCTV image from the convenience store to the media with the usual story that we want to speak to these men as possible witnesses, not suspects. Ella and I have the post-mortem this morning, then we’ll visit the Crawfords’ nursery, and we’re still looking into Connor’s next of kin as well. Call if you need to, otherwise back here at one.’
    Stewart Bridges had moved his chair to the cornerof the interview room and was resting his head against the walls. His eyes were red and his face pale behind his dark stubble.
    ‘I want