No Middle Ground by Jack Slater

Author:Jack Slater [Slater, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery
Published: 2018-11-04T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

‘If we can track Steven Southam by his mobile, why can’t we do the same for Jonas Hanson?’ Pete asked.

‘Because he hasn’t got one,’ Ben replied. ‘I checked. He took his computer with him. No doubt uses free wi-fi wherever he happens to be. But he hasn’t got a mobile phone anymore. Got rid of it when he retired from work. He never liked them anyway, as I recall. Don’t know why.’

‘And we’ve had no further sightings of him?’

‘Not that I know of. Anyone else?’ He looked around the cluster of tables but received no response. He shrugged. ‘Just a matter of waiting, I suppose. In the meantime, what about those pictures?’

Pete had finished photographing them, uploading them to his computer and sending them on to the rest of the team. He had replaced the packet in its evidence bag and called forensics to come and collect it. His gloves were off and binned, and he’d split the screen on his computer into two side-by side windows, one of them containing the first of the new set of pictures. ‘We need to compare them to everything we’ve got so far. The pictures from the loft, the misper files – all of it.’

‘That’s a hell of a job,’ Dick said.

‘Not the most pleasant, I’ll grant you. But if we split them up, ten at a time each, it shouldn’t take too long.’

It had turned out that there were seventy-nine pictures in their latest find and no two of them were of the same subject.

‘Identification of the victims is the key,’ Pete reminded them. ‘If we can do that, we can find out when and where they were last seen and compare that to Jonas Hanson’s whereabouts at the time. It might be circumstantial, but the weight of circumstantial evidence is evidence in itself: just ask any statistician.’

‘Yeah, you know what they say about statistics, boss,’ Dave said.

‘Lies, damned lies and…’ Ben started.

‘You can prove any bloody thing you want with them,’ Dick put in. ‘And I’m damn sure Hanson’s brief will use that in court.’

‘Maybe, but it doesn’t let us off this particular hook,’ Pete said.

‘I’m not saying it does, boss. Or that it should. I’m just saying we shouldn’t rely on it.’

‘And we’re not going to. We’re detectives, not Cluedo players. Let’s get this done and we can move on to something less unpleasant like tracing his history.’

‘Who’s to say that’s less unpleasant, given what we think he’s been up to?’ asked Jill.

Dave snapped his fingers and pointed at her. ‘What she said.’

‘Nothing, but at least it won’t be so in-your-face.’

Dave tilted his head. ‘Fair point,’ he said as Jane came back into the squad room and headed straight for her chair.

‘Better?’ asked Pete.

‘Huge relief, thanks. And I gather Mark Bridgman’s off out with his team and twelve extras.’

Pete pursed his lips. He wasn’t going to commend her for ignoring what he’d said, but at the same time, he couldn’t complain. She was only doing what she thought was best in the circumstances.

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