Dead To Me - [11]

‘Lisa Finn,’ the DCI said, ‘seventeen years old, looked-after child until this April. Lisa is known to our Community colleagues for drug abuse and shoplifting. Cautions. Boyfriend Sean rang us at five past four to report the death, found Lisa on the living-room floor at the flat. Last saw her around ten the same morning, Monday thirteenth December. Cause of death is haemorrhage due to a stab wound to the chest. Defensive mark on the left wrist. Slight abrasions at the back of the neck. Not fingerprints, according to Ranjeet, something thin. The skin wasn’t broken, so it may not have any significance.’

‘A necklace?’ Janet said, peering at the mark in the photographs.

‘Possibly. Though it might simply be localized irritation – she was wearing something that rubbed at her neck, or she was slightly allergic.’ Gill now looked to Lee. ‘Was there a necklace at the scene?’ Lee would be the exhibits officer, responsible for ensuring the chain of custody for the whole case.

‘Some jewellery in the bedroom drawer, nothing in the living room,’ he said.

‘We also have a drop of blood here’ – she indicated the ground plan of the flat – ‘halfway to the kitchen, and another just inside the kitchen door.’

‘The killer moved into the kitchen holding the knife – and what, washed it?’ said Janet.

‘No traces in the sink,’ Gill replied. ‘Post-mortem shows signs of recent sexual activity, a forensic test found traces of lubricant from a condom.’

‘Rape?’ asked Janet.

‘We don’t know. Some bruising, could just be rough sex. No condom at the scene.’

So he flushed it or took it. Either way, it made things harder. Rachel knew that from Sex Crimes.

‘DNA swabs from the body are with the lab.’

‘In that case we can all go home till Christmas,’ Pete said, and everyone laughed. The lab took a while to process stuff. Fingerprints could be done with fingerprint-recognition software by the officers themselves. And blood groups were pretty quick to get a label on, but all the other biological gubbins took a day or two at best.

‘I know.’ Gill pointed at Pete. ‘Pain in the arse.’

Rachel watched as Kevin drew eyes, a little Hitler moustache, and breasts on his paper cup with a board marker. What a twat. Perhaps he had some relative in high command and Her Maj owed them a favour.

‘Kevin – with Andy on house-to-house. Mitch – friends and acquaintances. See what her fellow druggies can tell us.’

‘Was she on the game?’ Rachel asked. It went with the territory, one of the few ways to get money to buy the drugs.

‘Not to our knowledge. Janet and Rachel, get a full witness statement from Sean Broughton. Janet in the chair, Rachel – look and learn. He made an initial statement last night but we need to flesh it out.’

‘Here or at his?’ Rachel asked.

‘Do it here, make him comfy.’

‘I’ll talk, you write,’ Janet said to Rachel.

‘I’ve got tier two,’ Rachel said. Trained to know the definition of the offence and to prove each point in interviewing suspects.

Janet looked at her. ‘You heard Gill.’ The DCI had specifically asked Janet to run the witness statement from Sean Broughton. Did she really think Janet would just roll over and give her the task because she’d asked for it?

Rachel shrugged. ‘Fine,’ she said ungraciously.

The boy’s eyes were dark brown, the whites bloodshot, and he had a slack look to him that made Janet suspect he was high, weed maybe, not twitchy enough for coke or crack. He wore an old Adidas trackie top and a Man City T-shirt that had seen better days, jeans, trainers, hi-tops. He had not shaved and there was a dusting of dark brown hair around his chin and upper lip. His hair was shortish and dyed the colour of hay, black roots showing. Perhaps he and Lisa had bleached their hair together? He had the coffee-coloured skin of a mixed race kid but Janet couldn’t tell what the mix was. Could have been part Indian, or African-Caribbean or something else. No clue in his name either.

‘Thank you for coming in, Sean. What we’re going to do,’ Janet explained once they settled into the easy chairs in the visitors’ room slash soft interview space, ‘is get a detailed witness statement from you. Now we have this camera in the corner running – nothing for you to worry about. It can feel a bit weird at first,’ she smiled, ‘but most people soon forget it’s there. There are certain things I have to go through with you as a matter of procedure. I have to tell you that you are not,’ she stressed the word, ‘under arrest, and you are free to leave at any time. I must also tell you that you don’t have to answer anything that you don’t want to answer but if we go to court, anything you say here can be used. And you can ask to speak to a solicitor or to have a solicitor present. Do you understand?’

‘Yes.’

They were sitting in easy chairs, a few feet apart, nothing between them, no desk, no barriers. ‘If you need a break at any time, that’s fine, we can stop. We might be here for quite a while – we don’t want to rush things and it’s important we take the time to get everything down as you remember. Is there anything you want to ask me before we start?’