GUILTY AS SIN an addictive and heart-pounding crime thriller (Detective Mike Nash Murder Mystery Book 16) by BILL KITSON

Author:BILL KITSON [KITSON, BILL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thriller and mystery
Published: 2023-07-24T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Aware of the potential hiatus before progress on the identification of the victims was possible, Nash had an idea he needed to run past DC Pearce. ‘Viv, when the boffins have completed a facial reconstruction, will it be possible to eliminate or reduce the number of candidates by matching their image to ones from MISPER using your computer?’

Pearce looked surprised by the question. ‘Yes, of course it will, Mike. It will be done digitally. Although I should warn you, I don’t think you will get infallible likenesses. However, the software we have should reduce the margin of error considerably.’

‘I suppose that’s the best we can expect. Let’s hope it doesn’t take too long for the boffins to come up with the goods.’

Nash turned to go back into his office, then stopped in his tracks. He glanced sideways and signalled for Mironova to follow him. When they were inside, he told her, ‘I’ve just had a thought. Why I didn’t have it ages ago beats me.’

‘Is this the elusive memory you mentioned?’

‘No, that’s still elusive. This is something else. We tried to talk to the English tutor, but found he’d been murdered. What we didn’t think of was attempting to trace the other students who attended the same classes. They are as likely to tell us something relevant about Demetra and this other Romanian girl as Mr Barrett. In fact, I’d say they probably knew more about them than their tutor. I think we ought to investigate the possibility of tracing those students, because there could be an additional benefit. Once we have the facial recognition results, we could show them a likeness of the one we know comes from Eastern Europe, and maybe get confirmation or otherwise as to whether it’s Demetra’s fellow student.’

‘That’s a really good idea, Mike.’

‘I only have one reservation, or perhaps two. First, will the college have a record of their names after all this time? Second, even if the college comes up trumps, will we be able to trace them?’

‘Do you want me to phone the principal and find out if those records are available, and if they are, to get the ball rolling?’

‘Please do.’ Nash smiled. ‘Although, the number of times you’ve phoned him, he probably thinks you fancy him.’

Half an hour later, Clara reported back. ‘I had to wait until he’d finished a lecture, but it was worth the delay. He told me we’re in luck, because they only started keeping records on their computer a couple of years before Demetra’s disappearance. It will take a while to locate the relevant file, but he’s promised to get his secretary onto it immediately. It’s quite detailed apparently, giving every student’s date and place of birth, nationality, and their home address in the UK at the time. With luck, we should have the information sent by email tomorrow.’

‘Pass it to Viv and Lisa as soon as it arrives, and they can make a start trying to locate as many of the students as possible.’

* * *

On Monday morning a list containing twelve names arrived from the technical college.

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