GILL WAS RILED, summing up for the team: ‘So, we’ve Mr Shit-for-brains to thank for coming over all prudish and ruining our crime scene.’ She turned to Janet, ‘Did he touch anything else?’
‘Says not.’
‘You believe him?’
‘No,’ Janet said.
‘Mitch?’ Gill invited him to chip in. The big lad was ex-army, a gentle giant. He was a good detective – they all were, bar Kevin, but Gill was determined to turn him round. His old boss had claimed Kevin was irredeemable, but Gill loved a challenge. Though she was beginning to wonder if Kevin was a lost cause. He didn’t seem to learn from his mistakes, just repeated them bigger and better. Self-criticism of a woodlouse.
Mitch spoke: ‘Sean Broughton in the system, fine for possession of Class B, cannabis. Oldham magistrates, five months ago.’
‘Not a caution?’ Gill asked, the usual policy for that offence.
‘Already had two.’
‘Naughty step not working for him,’ Gill said. ‘There were signs of Class As at the scene.’
‘Paraphernalia,’ Lee said. ‘No drugs recovered, though.’
‘Word is, both Sean and Lisa were using,’ Mitch added.
‘Supplying?’ Gill said.
‘No, not that I’ve heard.’
‘Did have a couple of call-outs, domestics,’ said Andy, ‘knocking lumps out of each other.’
‘Doncha just love ’em!’ Gill shook her head. ‘And where are we with-’
Rachel spoke up, interrupting her: ‘The brother, Nathan Finn, he died in January, suicide – but he was a junkie too.’
‘A family affair,’ Gill said. ‘Helps us how?’ She stared, unsmiling, put Rachel on the spot. The girl was bright, did she think this contributed to the case?
‘Dunno, background?’ Rachel slumped in her seat, smarting perhaps. Gill didn’t have time for it. ‘Do we fancy Sean?’ she asked the room.
‘Kevin does,’ Pete quipped. Laughter. Kevin gave him the finger.
‘We need more,’ Janet said. ‘I think he’s keeping something back but…’ She shrugged. Lukewarm about Sean being a credible suspect.
Things could change, Gill knew; people cycle through the roles from victim to witness to suspect and back. ‘There’s another reason he delays calling us. Changes his clothes. Ranjeet reckons there would be some blood on the killer’s clothes.’ It was virtually impossible to knife someone and not come away with traces of blood. Especially when you retained the weapon. All they needed was a drop, a smear. Though with Sean, a defence lawyer would argue that he picked up blood traces in the process of covering Lisa up. It made the whole forensics side of it that much messier.
