DI Sean Corrigan Crime Series: 5-Book Collection: Cold Killing, Redemption of the Dead, The Keeper, The Network and The Toy Taker

‘Rather him than me,’ Donnelly said, thinking of the reams of paperwork Detective Superintendent Featherstone would have to complete before surveillance could begin.

Hellier looked confident. He was with another man who carried a briefcase.

‘I fucking knew he’d bring his brief,’ said Sean.

‘That’ll be one expensive mouthpiece,’ Donnelly replied as they watched Hellier and his solicitor enter the station.

‘We’ll give it a few minutes,’ Sean said. ‘Let them get a bit pissed off. Then we’ll go see them. See if we can’t rattle his cage.’

‘Aye,’ Donnelly agreed.

‘Any luck with criminal records?’

‘No. Nothing on criminal records or the intelligence system. He appears clean.’

‘I find that hard to believe.’

‘Maybe he’s had an identity change,’ Donnelly suggested.

‘Wouldn’t surprise me. A set of his prints will soon answer that.’

‘Shall we dance?’

‘Why not?’ They climbed from their car and headed after Hellier.

Sean and Donnelly sat across the table from Hellier and his solicitor, Jonathon Templeman, in the witness interview room.

Templeman spoke first. ‘Inspector, my client has a right to know why he has been asked to come here today.’

Sean smiled. ‘You make it sound as if Mr Hellier is a suspect.’

‘It feels as if he’s being treated like one. Asked to come to a police station. Of course my client wishes to cooperate, but his rights must be respected. If he is a suspect then he needs to be informed.’

‘Mr Hellier is not a suspect,’ Sean told him. ‘That’s why we’re in the witness room, not an interview room. If Mr Hellier was a suspect, he’d have been arrested by now.’

Sean knew the solicitor didn’t believe a word he was saying. He would have realized the police suspected his client was involved in the murder of Daniel Graydon and he would do all he could to protect Hellier, but he wouldn’t want to force Sean’s hand. Wouldn’t want to precipitate Hellier’s arrest.

‘I don’t know how much your client has told you, Mr …’ Sean looked at the business card the solicitor had handed him ‘… Mr Templeman, but from my initial conversation with Mr Hellier I know he had sexual relations with a young man who was found murdered some days later.’

‘My client’s sexual orientation is not an issue here,’ Templeman intervened. ‘It’s no longer illegal to be gay, Inspector.’ He was being deliberately provocative. He knew the best way to defend a client, whether they were guilty or not, was to be aggressive towards the investigating officers. Show no signs of cooperation. Never be civil. Always attack.

‘Mr Templeman,’ Sean said, ‘I have no interest in Mr Hellier’s sexuality. What I do care about is that a young man has been murdered. Mr Hellier is an important witness. Possibly the best I have. I need a full witness statement and full forensic samples for elimination purposes. And his fingerprints.’

‘A witness statement is out of the question.’ Templeman still spoke for Hellier. ‘The body samples we agree to. We understand the need to eliminate my client from the investigation as quickly as possible.’

Donnelly joined in. ‘This isn’t a shoplifting we’re investigating. This is a murder inquiry. Mr Hellier will give a full written statement and he’ll do it today.’ His voice was calm.

‘My client has not witnessed any offences in relation to the death of Mr Graydon. He can provide no useful information, therefore he will not be providing a witness statement. Such a statement would be of no use to the police, yet it could be both embarrassing and damaging to my client.’

‘Embarrassing?’ Donnelly said. ‘I don’t care how embarrassing it could be. Maybe you would like to meet the boy’s parents. You could explain to them how your client is more concerned about being embarrassed than he is about helping to find their son’s killer.’

‘No statement.’

Sean knew Templeman meant it. ‘I’ll have Mr Hellier summonsed to court to give evidence if necessary.’

‘Then that’s what you’ll have to do, Inspector.’

‘Fine,’ Sean said. There was more than one way to skin a cat, but why wouldn’t Hellier make a statement? Sean didn’t believe the bullshit about public embarrassment. Hellier didn’t want to say anything the police could prove was a lie. Best to keep his mouth shut. Hide behind his expensive solicitor.

‘So, no statement,’ Sean said. ‘Samples, you agree to?’ He was looking directly at Hellier, who remained dumb.

‘I’ve already said we agree to body samples,’ Templeman informed him.

‘And fingerprints. For elimination purposes.’ Sean waited for the answer, hoping he sounded casual enough.

‘Why do you need my client’s fingerprints?’ Templeman asked. ‘I thought Mr Hellier had made it quite clear that he’d never been in the victim’s flat. Unless you found prints on the body, which is most unlikely, I don’t see why you would want my client’s fingerprints for elimination.’

Sean spoke quickly. A delay would have alerted Templeman and probably, maybe more so, Hellier. ‘Not on his body. On some cash we found in his pocket,’ he lied. ‘Your client paid for sex. So unless he used a credit card, the cash could be Mr Hellier’s. It’s already been chemically treated and we’ve been able to recover a number of prints. If the prints aren’t your client’s, then they could be the killer’s.’

‘Very well,’ Templeman said. ‘My client is prepared to provide a set of elimination prints.’

Hellier nodded his agreement to provide his fingerprints.

‘Good.’ Sean called a young detective constable into the room. ‘This is DC Zukov. He’ll take you to the surgeon’s room where a doctor will take your body samples, then he’ll take your prints. Understand?’

Hellier didn’t reply.

‘I need a full set, Paulo,’ Sean told DC Zukov. ‘Palms and fingertips too. And the side of his hands.’

Zukov nodded and looked at Hellier. ‘If you’d like to come this way, sir.’

Templeman and Hellier followed DC Zukov from the room. Donnelly made sure they were out of earshot.

‘That was a bit of a porky-pie, boss. We don’t have any fingerprints on any cash that I know of. Could cause us problems if anyone discovers we tricked our suspect into giving his prints – like the CPS, for example.’

Sean wasn’t concerned. ‘Fuck ’em. I’ll cross that bridge when and if I come to it. Right now, I want his prints in case we get lucky at the scene.’

‘He seems pretty confident he’s never been inside Graydon’s flat,’ Donnelly reminded him.

‘Yeah, but we only need him to have made one mistake, just one mistake and we’ll be able to put him in the flat, and then I’ll have him.’

‘You’re sure it’s him, aren’t you?’

‘I don’t know. The more I see him, the more I’m next to him, the more sure I am he’s hiding something. But it’s almost as if this is a game to him – as if he’s somehow enjoying it. I don’t know, but there’s something …’ Sean didn’t finish his thought.

‘Maybe you just really want it to be him?’ Donnelly argued. ‘Maybe you just don’t like the smug bastard with his expensive brief.’

‘No,’ Sean answered quietly without looking at Donnelly. ‘I can feel his guilt.’