walked in with a smirk of satisfaction on his face. He announced that two of his uniform officers had been doing the murder squad’s job for them while they sat and drank coffee. Kath asked what he meant and Harris replied that Eddie Phillips had been seen wandering aimlessly on the Pembridge Estate, and having been arrested by his officers was now in a cell downstairs.
Kath suggested that Jane go and give Bradfield the good news, but she hesitated.
‘What’s up?’
‘Do I smell of Dettol?’
‘Yeah, I noticed it, why?’
‘I must be getting used to it – my jacket and skirt need dry-cleaning.’
Kath went to her bag, took out a perfume spray, and before Jane could refuse gave her a few squirts. It was an expensive perfume she always wore herself.
‘There you go. It’s called Ambush, Goddess of Fragrance.’
Jane was about to go to Bradfield’s office when DS Gibbs walked in and sniffed.
‘Bloody hell, smells like somebody shat in a pine forest in here.’
‘Piss off,’ Kath mumbled under her breath.
‘What did you say, Morgan?’ Gibbs said with a glare, wondering if she was being insubordinate.
‘It’s off.’
‘What’s off?’
‘The search for Eddie Phillips. He’s been nicked and is in the cells downstairs—’
Gibbs was out of the office to tell Bradfield the good news before she could even finish the sentence.
Jane couldn’t believe how much Kath had pushed her luck, but was pleased not to have to see Bradfield when she was reeking of Kath’s perfume.
As soon as Bradfield heard they had arrested Eddie Phillips, he went down to the cells with DS Gibbs to get him out for an interview. True to his word he took down a bottle of whisky for each of the arresting officers from the crate stashed in his office.
Eddie was asleep on the thin mattress when Bradfield threw open the cell door and kicked his feet to wake him, but he just lay there moaning like a belligerent child who didn’t want to get out of bed. Gibbs grabbed Eddie by the scruff of his neck and dragged him off the mattress. He was like a rag doll and it didn’t take long to realize Eddie was still stoned and could hardly string two words together, never mind stand upright. Bradfield got straight to the point and asked him who Julie Ann had phoned from the doctor’s office while he kept lookout. Eddie mumbled something about the police harassing his grandmother and picking on him. Bradfield told him he hadn’t even started yet and instructed one of the uniform officers who’d arrested Eddie to ply him with coffee for the next two hours in order to wake him up so that he could be interviewed.
*
Jane ushered a pale-faced George Collins upstairs to Bradfield’s office. He was wearing a dark navy pinstriped suit, and he was so thin that the shoulders appeared to be padded. Underneath the suit jacket was a pristine white shirt, with a tie that had a small crossed golf-club monogram on it.
He was cordial as he shook hands with Bradfield and apologized for not being able to come to the station earlier due to a meeting with the vicar about his daughter’s funeral. Bradfield explained it might be some time before the body was released, but he would speak with the coroner whose decision it would be. He then invited Mr Collins to sit opposite him and offered refreshments. He declined, and still standing reached into his inside jacket pocket and produced a cutting from a newspaper which he unfolded and placed on the table for Bradfield to see.
‘This morning’s paper describes my daughter as a drug addict and prostitute. Why did you tell them that, Mr Bradfield?’ he asked calmly, but with a look of hurt in his eyes.
Bradfield scanned the article. ‘I can assure you, Mr Collins, that I said nothing of the sort to the newspapers.’ Collins took a deep breath. ‘My wife is beside herself.
She’s inconsolable and feels ashamed.’
‘I would very much doubt that it was one of my officers who spoke to the press. It’s possible the leak may have come from one of the mortuary staff and I will investigate the matter, Mr Collins.’ He refolded the article and held it up. Collins shook his head, so Bradfield threw the cutting in the bin and asked him to sit down, which he did.
‘Have you charged the man you arrested with the murder of my daughter?’ Collins asked nervously.
‘Not as yet, and it’s looking more likely that he may not be the person responsible.’
‘But he must know something if you arrested him, so why aren’t you—’
‘We are doing everything possible to find Julie Ann’s killer, Mr Collins. I can assure you we are following up on some leads that we hope will be very productive . . . However, there are also a few questions of a delicate nature I need to ask you.’
‘I’ll do whatever I can to help.’
‘Firstly, and regrettably, I have to inform you that Julie Ann was twelve to fourteen weeks pregnant at the time of her death.’
Bradfield paused to let a shocked-looking Mr Collins digest the information. Jane was struck once again by how gentle Bradfield’s manner was, but she felt deeply sorry for Mr Collins, who was struggling to speak.
‘How can you be sure . . .? Could it be some kind of mistake?’
‘I won’t go into specifics, but suffice to say the pathologist has confirmed it, Mr Collins, and I am sorry but I have to ask if you and your wife were already privy to this information?’
‘Dear God no. If Julie had told us we would have done everything possible to make her come home.’
‘Did she make contact with you when she was upset or in any kind of trouble?’
‘The first few times she ran away – once or twice. My wife and I begged her to come home, but she’d accuse us of trying to control her life. We just wanted to get her away from the drug dealers and addicts.’
‘That’s totally understandable, and you and Mrs Collins must have been under immense stress. Do you know who any of her dealers or drug-addict friends may have been?’
‘No, but believe you me if I did I’d swing for them.’
It suddenly occurred to Jane that behind Bradfield’s soft tone and calm manner there was an underlying purpose to his line of questioning, but she wasn’t sure exactly what it was.
‘I understand that you cared for your daughter deeply, but may I ask why you stopped reporting her missing?’
‘I have already explained this – she kept running away from home and your lot got fed up with us and Julie, so there was no point in reporting it any more. One officer virtually accused us of being terrible parents who had spoilt our daughter. We loved her and thought she loved us, but it seems she came to
