It was a fairly simple matter to test for blood traces – Luminol glows blue when it comes into contact with blood – so Gill soon got word that none of Sean’s clothing at his house gave a positive result. It was a disappointment. But the news wasn’t all bad. Lee came to her, eager to talk about an item recovered from Sean’s house: a small gold-plated chain with a chunky cross on. The chain was broken.
‘Something else he nicked from Lisa?’ Gill ventured. ‘Remember the abrasions on her neck?’
‘Could be.’
‘We’ll ask the mother if she recognizes it. I need to meet her, anyway,’ Gill said. It was expected practice for the SIO in a murder inquiry to meet the next of kin in the early days of an investigation. The family needed to know who was ultimately in charge of their fate and the hunt for the truth, to see that someone with authority was dedicated to their case.
Gill phoned the FLO and asked him to set up a meeting with Denise Finn at a place of her choice. And told him to inform her about the arrest. He came back on and said that Denise wanted to see her at the police station. That was preferable from Gill’s point of view; it meant she could talk to Denise first, then have one of her DCs ask her about the cross and chain.
A sense of anticlimax spread through the room as Gill passed on the news that the team at Sean’s house had not found either bloodstained clothing or the murder weapon. She needed to get them thinking where this took them. ‘Did Sean Broughton go somewhere else before he called us? Dispose of the murder weapon and his clothes?’ she put it to them. ‘Perhaps he had spare clothes at Lisa’s that he could change into. Andy, have we got cameras in the area?’
‘Traffic lights on Oldham Road are nearest; four hundred metres away from the junction with Garrigan Street, heading out of town. Next camera is at the petrol station on Oldham Road, about three hundred metres towards the city centre.’
Gill nodded. ‘Can we do a trawl of those, between one and four p.m. on Monday, specifically for any sign of Sean on foot, or of Kasim’s cab leaving.’
‘If he went back to base after dropping Lisa,’ Mitch said, ‘he’d pass the petrol station.’
‘Good – Kevin, see what you can find.’
‘Can’t Rachel do it?’ he objected. ‘Keep her off the streets – road safety,’ he sniggered.
‘I’m asking you,’ Gill said brusquely.
She reminded them of the progress they had already made, aiming to keep them keen. ‘I’m very pleased,’ she announced. ‘We’ve made substantial headway and Sean Broughton is giving us more each time we talk to him. We’ve still a lot of ground to cover, but we should have help from DNA before very long. So let’s get on with it.’
