Little Boy Blue - [14]

21

‘The victim lived and worked in Portswood. We’re still pinning down the precise details, but it appears that he earnt his living in the sex trade, working out of his flat as a professional dominator. Today we are asking anyone who’s encountered Jake Elder – in whatever capacity – to get in touch and help us with our enquiries.’

Emilia jotted down the details, chuckling at Gardam’s careful euphemism. Everyone present knew what he meant – he was appealing to the spankers to put aside their embarrassment and come forward.

‘Good luck with that,’ Emilia whispered to her neighbour, who raised a jaded eyebrow in response. Gardam was in cloud cuckoo land if he thought anyone in the BDSM community was going to willingly walk into a police station. A lot of them had criminal records, others had wives and families, and none of them would want to run the gauntlet of being judged by the small-minded sergeant on the front desk. Better let a killer walk free than endure that.

As Gardam continued, casually talking over his Media Liaison Officer’s attempt to direct proceedings, Emilia’s mind began to wonder. She already knew what her article would look like – she’d written it in her head on the way over – and there was little that Gardam could offer that she hadn’t already been told. The real question – and the only reason she’d come to this briefing at all – was what role DI Grace would play in proceedings. She was not someone who embraced the fourth estate, preferring to leave that to her superiors, but still her absence from the press conference was intriguing.

Emilia was pretty sure she was the only person present who knew that Helen had used Jake’s services. She had stumbled on their connection during the Ella Matthews investigation and had immediately tried to use it to her advantage, threatening the unfortunate DI with exposure unless she gave her exclusive access to the investigation. Not surprisingly, Grace had fought back, calling her bluff by revealing her knowledge of Emilia’s illegal surveillance techniques. It had ended in a score draw, both relieved to have emerged unscathed, but it still stuck in Emilia’s craw.

She had never been a good loser and perhaps it was payback time. Helen Grace had kept her on a short leash for a while, but the boot was on the other foot now. Had Grace confessed her knowledge of the victim to her team? Was that why she wasn’t present? Or had she kept her secret close? Emilia intended to find out. Journalists always love an exclusive and this story – ‘the copper and the bondage freak’ – was going to be the best scoop she’d ever had.

22

Helen sped through the city streets, pleased to be away from the station. She found the incident room claustrophobic and unnerving – photos of a happy, carefree Jake staring down at her from the murder board – and there was little point being there just now. Charlie was chasing down Jake’s clients, McAndrew was leading the house-to-house calls, and until something concrete turned up she was better used elsewhere.

As she slid past the stationary traffic, Helen felt her mood rise. Perhaps it was the fresh air, or the satisfaction that riding her bike always gave her, or maybe it was just that she was finally doing something. Her interview with Jake’s parents had yielded nothing, so it was good to be on the road at last, taking the lead.

Jim Grieves was still poring over Jake’s body, just as Sanderson, Charlie and the team were trying to climb inside his life. The items used to imprison and kill Jake, however, were only just being examined – Meredith and her team having recently returned from the crime scene – which is why Helen’s first port of call was the Police Laboratory at Woolston.

Meredith ushered Helen into the viewing area. Lying on the table in front of them were the wet sheets, the loose reel of silver duct tape and the leather restraints – their killer’s weapons of choice.

‘Preliminary testing on the victim’s clothing and the bondage items has shown up only one source of DNA – the victim’s. We’ll run them again, but I wouldn’t bank on anything more on that front.’

Helen nodded, disappointed but not surprised.

‘As for the rest of it, there’s nothing particularly unusual about these items. The duct tape can be bought from any hardware store and though the wet sheets and restraints are specialist gear, they’re the standard size, colour and design. They were probably bought off the shelf, rather than custom made.’

‘Had they been used before? Was this gear the perpetrator already owned?’

‘Probably not, given the lack of DNA traces. Plus, look at this.’

Meredith reached forward and picked up the leather straps, holding them up to the light. Intrigued, Helen leant in closer.

‘The hole which the buckle prong penetrated to secure the victim has been punched through cleanly. You can see the light through it.’

‘But the others haven’t,’ Helen replied, running a gloved finger over the sequence of closed holes. ‘Which suggests that last night was the first time these straps had been used.’