Now, having watched the footage over and over, she just didn’t know.

19

As much as she disliked the morning senior detective briefings, Jessica spent the rest of the weekend waiting for Monday’s. It was largely because she wanted to hear other people’s opinions about the robbery but also because she now felt she had a little invested in the disappearance of Christine Johnson after meeting the woman’s husband.

If there was just one big case on the go, the briefings would usually be a wider affair where jobs would be assigned to other officers. Because of the way the squad had been split, the senior briefings had become a good way of sharing ideas before the respective detectives would talk to their own individual teams. There was plenty of news to exchange but, as before and despite the robbery, Jessica knew her case wasn’t the priority.

A large fan rotated in the back corner of Cole’s office as Reynolds, Cornish and Jessica sat across from the chief inspector. The DI took some printed sheets of paper out of an envelope and passed one copy to each of the people present.

‘Sorry about the printouts,’ Reynolds said. ‘The computer image is a lot better but I don’t have the best printer in my office.’

Jessica squinted at the image and wondered if it was just her who couldn’t see anything other than a red blur. She didn’t want to appear stupid so nodded, doing her best to look as if she knew what she was peering at.

After everyone had looked at the pictures, Reynolds started to speak. ‘An image-enhancement expert spent large parts of the weekend working on these. Considering what he had to work with, he’s done a pretty good job. The one you’re looking at is the final photo out of three we have from the Johnsons’ security camera. We know there was a red van parked outside the gates for between three and four minutes at around the time Christine Johnson went missing. What you’re looking at, we think, is an extremely faded Royal Mail logo.’

Jessica stared at the image and, now it had been pointed out, she could just about make out a crown and couple of the letters. The traditional bright red mail vans had yellow lettering but this one just had two shades of red.

Reynolds continued. ‘We’ve been in contact with a few people over the weekend and, from what we can gather, the mail service sell off vans after a few years of using them. When they do that, they are quite often sold as a lot to local garages or other dealerships. It’s uncommon for Royal Mail to sell directly to the public but not completely unheard of. The guy I spoke to said the yellow lettering is removed either before sale or sometimes by the garage themselves.’

‘Is there anything else to identify it?’ Jessica asked.

‘Not obviously. There’s no number plate we could see, which only really gives us the shape. We’ve got someone trying to give us a rough make and model which we can take back to Royal Mail. They should apparently have records of everything that’s sold and who to – but the quality of that information would depend on the various areas of the country. All of that could be our biggest problem – the van could have been sold anywhere across the UK. That’s a lot of vehicles and a lot of checking. Once we’ve got an idea of what model the van is, we’ll get the image out to the media and see if people can help.’

‘Do you think the van is going to be key?’ Jessica asked.

Reynolds glanced at Cornish and they exchanged shrugs. ‘We’re not sure. It could just be workmen asking for directions, or someone else parking for a few moments. There’s less than a three-hour window in between the Johnsons’ maid going to the shops and returning and it was in that time Christine Johnson went missing. The security camera only took one still-shot every minute so there are odd flashes of people walking past the gates but, in the entire period, this is all we have of somebody or something directly outside for anything longer than a few moments.’

He paused and swallowed. It looked to Jessica as if he was thinking how to phrase what he was going to say. He soon continued. ‘The other thing that’s bugging me is if you think about the area and even the way you drive, you wouldn’t usually park blocking someone’s driveway gates. I know the image you have is zoomed in but on the full shot, you can see they are completely in front of the ramp that links the property to the road. Unless you knew the people, or were as bad a driver as DS Daniel here, it’s just not the kind of thing you’d do.’

Reynolds winked at Jessica as he insulted her driving. Jessica pulled a face. ‘This bad driving thing is just a myth and that’s slander.’ She pointed at the DCI and Cornish. ‘You’re my witnesses – I’d get myself a good lawyer if I were you.’

The chief inspector spoke. ‘It’s not slander if it’s true.’

‘You too? This is outrageous. It’s not as if I’ve ever been in an accident.’

Jessica looked to Cornish as if hoping for a bit of fellow female support. ‘I was warned in my first week not to get into a car with you,’ the other woman said.

The other detectives laughed as Jessica did her best to look annoyed. ‘This is harassment and workplace bullying.’ She looked to Cole. ‘Can I put in a formal com plaint?’

‘No.’

Reynolds grinned at her. ‘All right, maybe you’re not that bad. Either way, I think we can all agree that you wouldn’t usually park across someone’s driveway like this. You can just about see in the other shots that there is space both in front and behind it too, so it didn’t have to stop where it did. We’re not sure if it means anything specifically but it’s not normal.’

Cornish actually smiled. ‘We don’t have anything else to go on either.’

Jessica hadn’t heard the woman speak flippantly before and, perhaps because they were all surprised by her tone, or because she was a little too close to the truth, all four officers laughed gently.

‘What about the Johnsons’ son? Where is he living?’ Cole asked.

‘Luxembourg. He’s working for the European Parliament. They break for summer recess very soon and he’ll be back over here but, until then, he said he’s struggling to get away. I’ve spoken to him over the phone this weekend and, in all honesty, I’m not sure there’s much he can add. There does seem to be a lot of confusion over the security camera and whether or not his father knew about it.’ He looked at Jessica. ‘You were there, what do you reckon?’

She didn’t know the inspector was going to ask for her opinion but it was clear the other three officers were interested. Cornish would have been updated about things over the past few days but the two women hadn’t spoken in that time and even she looked expectantly at Jessica.

Jessica pursed her lips before speaking. ‘I found him difficult to read – it’s hard to get past the media training he must have had.’ As she spoke she saw Cornish and Reynolds nodding in agreement. ‘On balance, I would probably say he didn’t know about the camera pointing at the gate but I don’t know what that tells us. Maybe his relationship with his wife isn’t as solid as everyone’s been making out? You can understand why he wasn’t at the family home much given his job – but you would’ve thought it’d be something they’d discuss?’ She turned to address Reynolds. ‘Did the son give you a proper reason for his mother wanting it? Was she actually scared of someone or something?’

Reynolds shook his head. ‘No, I went through all of this with him. It’s difficult over the phone but he just said his mum had been talking about security for a little while. The family setup certainly seems a little odd.’ He looked sideways at Cornish. ‘I think we’re of the same opinion as you about George Johnson – he’s very helpful on the surface but ultimately very hard to read.’