‘No, just… the school was coming out, on the brow, they finish at quarter past.’
Janet gave a nod. It was good to get some supporting information on the basic facts, something to corroborate what a witness said. So if they got to trial there would be no chance for the defence to play silly buggers, casting doubt on the timeline and jeopardizing a conviction.
Janet made eye contact. ‘I’d like you to think about turning into the avenue: can you remember seeing anyone there?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said.
‘Any cars moving, anyone fetching kids from school?’
Sean licked his lips, shook his head. ‘Don’t remember.’
‘You get to the front door, what then?’
‘I went in.’
‘You have a key?’
‘Yeah, but – well, the latch is broken, so you can just push the door, if you know.’
Janet leaned forward. ‘Lisa didn’t get it fixed?’
‘She was going to tell the landlord. Don’t know if she did. Take them years to sort it anyway.’
‘How long has it been broken?’ Janet said.
‘Few months.’
Good God.
‘You couldn’t tell, like,’ he went on, ‘’cos the door sticks so it looks shut.’
Janet felt a bit sick. Did this mean that Lisa could have been attacked by an intruder? Who what…? Persuaded her to undress, then got her to put a kimono on before raping and stabbing her? Or had an intruder found her half-undressed and attacked her? The broken latch only seemed to muddy the waters. What it did mean was that Lisa hadn’t necessarily invited her killer in, which is what they’d assumed until now.
He bent forward in his chair, hands on his knees, preparing for what was coming. Janet didn’t want him to get too wound-up. Before walking him through the discovery again, the most traumatic part of his evidence, she reeled back a few hours. ‘Had you and Lisa been in contact during the day?’
‘I rang her just after one. She said she’d be back about half three. That’s how I knew to go round, like.’
Janet gave a nod, reinforcing that what he was telling them was helpful, that he was doing well. ‘Sean, do you still have that call on your phone?’ she asked him.
‘Yeah.’
‘Good,’ Janet said. Physical evidence, even though it wouldn’t necessarily prove Lisa was alive at one o’clock, only that someone had used her phone then. The brighter sparks were catching on to how police used mobile phone data in investigations, and tried sending messages after the victim was dead to mislead the police. ‘We might need to keep that for our records.’
‘My phone?’ he said, a little worried.
