Roxanne, page 20
Freeman actually grinned, and then said, ‘Wilson’s having quite a day! Well, it’s good to know we’ve got that if we need it, isn’t it? Denise, new plan, two minutes.’
As soon as the interview recommenced, it was clear Christine Archer had also made good use of the break. Riley was composed again, his voice level, ready to give those short, straight answers once more. Denise Sterling said to him, ‘Brian, you’ve told us you last met Annaliese sometime in the third week in March. We’re going to need the exact date at some point but for now, let’s move on. When did you last contact her? A text message or a phone call, maybe.’
Continuing with Roxanne’s professional name had been Serena’s idea – she’d said Riley seemed unsettled every time they mentioned someone called Roxanne. Freeman had agreed because it had been made clear to him already that Annaliese and Roxanne were one and the same person.
He answered the question with, ‘I think it was the 4th of April, a Thursday.’
He had not simply remembered that date, hadn’t been able to pull it out of the air. Freeman glanced at Waters and shook her head – the solicitor had been as busy as the detectives during those few minutes.
Sterling said, ‘Was this a phone call, Brian?’
He said it was and then she asked him where he’d been when he made it. He said, ‘At home in Marborough.’
‘You used your mobile phone – the one you subsequently lost?’
‘Yes. The one which I presume you have in your possession somewhere.’
This was the first time Riley had pushed back at all. Waters received another glance from the SIO, another quick frown, and then she moved the microphone again, just an inch or two towards herself. He could feel it too – something had changed.
Denise Sterling said, ‘OK. You spoke on the phone to Annaliese on Thursday the 4th of April. What was the call about?’
Riley said, ‘We arranged to meet at the weekend, on the coming Saturday.’
Sterling looked down at her notes before she said, ‘That would be on the 6th, then. But from what you’ve already told us, the meeting you arranged for Saturday the 6th of April never took place. You told us you haven’t seen her since the third week in March.’
Freeman said, ‘Look at the solicitor. She isn’t writing this down. She’s been through this with him already.’ And it was true – Archer was watching the interviewing detective, not her client.
Riley said, ‘That’s right.’
‘So, you’re saying Annaliese didn’t come to your house in Marborough on Saturday the 6th even though you had arranged for her to do so?’
‘No, she didn’t.’
Waters wasn’t surprised that Serena was the next to speak in the interview room. She said to Riley, ‘So if Annaliese didn’t show up to a meeting you’d arranged, what did you do? Did you call her to find out why?’
From Riley then, a momentary hesitation because he knew what he was going to say, and he knew it would sound a little odd.
‘No. I didn’t call her.’
Serena looked at the other two women in the room, making a show of her surprise, and then said, ‘Really? That’s what anyone would usually do, isn’t it? Someone is late for a date, you call them to see what’s going on. To see if they’re OK?’
Christine Archer said to Riley, ‘You don’t have to answer questions like that.’
Waters looked intently, expecting to see ice crystals forming in the air between his detective constable and the solicitor. Sterling said, ‘Brian. After the Saturday, did you make any subsequent attempt to contact Annaliese, to find out why she missed the date you’d made?’
He said, ‘Yes, I did.’
‘Can you tell me about that, please?’
Riley looked at the solicitor, who nodded – this must be a line of questioning for which she had not prepared him. He said, ‘On the following Monday, I was in Kings Lake and I bought a replacement phone. As soon as I’d set it up, I called her.’
Sterling said, ‘Just the once?’
‘No, several times since then. She hasn’t answered me. I assumed-’
‘My client has handed over to you the mobile he used to make those calls to Annaliese. It is a straightforward matter for you to examine it and see that he has told you the truth.’
Freeman said, ‘Hmm. She’s pretty good. We’d all like to know what Brian had “assumed”, wouldn’t we?’
Sterling had not been deterred by the solicitor’s interruption. She said, ‘Brian, why did you think Annaliese wasn’t answering your calls?’
He looked at Archer and then said, ‘I didn’t know why, and that’s the truth.’
Freeman said to Waters, ‘Time for some truth from us?’ and he nodded. Then she pressed the switch on the microphone and said, ‘Denise, it’s time to disclose. Tell Mr Riley the grim details of why Annaliese didn’t make their date or answer his calls. Don’t include where we found his mobile yet.’
Christine Archer had asked for another break, and Denise Sterling agreed – but in her right ear a voice was saying ‘All right, give him a moment but don’t leave the interview room.’ In that way, the camera and audio could remain switched on, and Freeman wanted all this on the record. When he was told how the young woman had died, Brian Riley’s first reaction had been a quizzical half-smile, as if he’d been told something plainly ludicrous. Then he looked at the solicitor, perhaps to see if she had already been told such a thing, as if she was in on this. And then, as it became real, his face went pale with the apparent shock of it.
Sterling said nothing – both the detectives watched the man in front of them as if they were jaded theatre critics at a first night in a provincial playhouse. The silence became an oppressive one. Eventually, Riley had ended the break himself, and said simply, ‘No.’
Sterling said, ‘No, Brian? What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘I don’t believe this is true. That she just died in her car like that.’
‘I assure you it is. We see enough misery in our job without making more of it up.’
Riley said, ‘No…’ again but in a changed voice, and then Serena spoke – ‘We have pictures from the post mortem if that will help.’
Freeman cursed and Waters saw the surprise on Priti’s face. He smiled and shook his head at the scribe, as if to say I wouldn’t write that down, but he understood Freeman’s annoyance, and sure enough, Christine Archer seized the opportunity.
‘That is an inappropriate and unnecessary comment under these circumstances. My client has just been given some shocking news. I ask that he be given some time to come to terms with it.’
Sterling had looked up at the camera then, and Freeman said into the microphone, ‘Tell her you’re pausing the interview yet again for her client’s benefit, but stay in the room. See how she reacts to that.’
Archer’s reaction had been to talk quietly and comfortingly to Brian Riley, telling him to take a moment and saying he didn’t have to continue at this point if he didn’t feel he was able. Freeman said to Waters, ‘Is this over the top? She was an escort, not his bloody girlfriend.’
Again, the lack of objectivity, and again his surprise at it. He said, ‘I don’t know to be honest, ma’am. It’s not the sort of relationship I’ve ever had. I suppose, after ten months he might have some feelings for her, other than the obvious.’
She said with an edge in her voice, ‘You don’t fancy him for it?’
‘I’m not saying that. I’m-’
‘Because you’ve been around long enough not to be fooled by a performance in the interview room, sergeant.’
Professionally, this was as harsh as anything Freeman had ever said to him. Waters took a moment very deliberately before saying, ‘I’d like to hear how he accounts for his phone being in the car before I start coming to any conclusions, ma’am.’
He could see Serena’s mistake had annoyed her but that could not account for the DCI’s attitude towards the man in the interview room, nor her attitude to anyone who was simply inclined to reserve their judgement for a little while longer. Freeman wasn’t looking at him either, doubtless aware again of the presence of Priti Hussain, which she might momentarily have forgotten. And Waters wondered exactly how conversations like the one they had just had were being written down.
Freeman clicked the mike and said, ‘OK, Denise. Ask if he’s ready to go on. If Ms A objects, pull the plug again. And whatever happens, write something down and show it to your partner. Tell her to be more effing careful.’
They watched as this took place. Serena looked at the video lens and made the merest suggestion of a sorry face, but as far as Waters could see, this was another mistake; Freeman’s expression was a mask now. But to everyone’s surprise, Brian Riley said he was prepared to continue. Denise Sterling looked down at the file, a signal to the SIO, and heard in her earpiece, ‘Fair enough. Move towards disclosing the whereabouts of his mobile. And get ready with the best supporting actor award…’
It was not a secret earpiece. It was discreet but not invisible. The solicitor would have guessed it was being used and with whom she was dealing in the more critical moments of the interview. She would also have realised the police must have something to make them believe Riley was implicated in the death of the young woman. In view of the number of questions asked about it, she would naturally have thought it might be his missing mobile phone. Under the circumstances, the detectives might have conceded another break and another opportunity for her to question her client privately; on the other hand, in her view he was creating a good impression and this was being video-taped. It’s simplistic, of course, but every time an interviewee and their legal representative go into a huddle, jurors are inclined to wonder what they’re cooking up this time.
So Christine Archer did not ask for another recess. When she judged Mr Riley was ready, she wrote down a line or two on her notepad and showed it to him. He nodded, and she wrote another line, repeating the exercise. This time she handed her pen to him, and he wrote a response of maybe a dozen words. She read it, underlined something, wrote some sort of squiggle which Waters later guessed was simply a question mark, showed it to Riley again, and he nodded.
This was all somewhat unusual but there is nothing in the rules to say legal consultations must be spoken ones. As Archer made another note, this time for herself, Freeman said to Sterling, ‘When they feel up to it, hit them with the mobile.’
There had been no shock this time, no more drama, and Waters thought the solicitor had put two and two together and made a very solid four. She had guessed right about the phone – perhaps not the exact location but she had warned her client accurately enough what the police were likely to disclose next.
When asked, Riley said, ‘I have no idea how my phone ended up in her car.’
With so many cards now face up on the table, Denise Sterling changed the play.
‘Annaliese did come to see you on Saturday the 6th of April, didn’t she, Brian?’
‘No.’
‘She came to see you as arranged. Something went terribly wrong and you panicked. It was an accident, wasn’t it?’
‘I never saw her on that Saturday.’
Sterling said, ‘Brian, we know she came to your house. We’ve been there today. We’ve found proof that she did visit you on the 6th.’
Before he could respond, the solicitor put her hand on his arm and said, ‘If you have evidence not yet disclosed, please disclose it now.’
Freeman clicked the mike and said, ‘No. Hold back on the security video, Denise. They can sweat on it and we need time to think about this. Someone other than Ford and Wilson needs to have seen it.’
When no further disclosure was forthcoming, Archer said, ‘My client has been open and honest throughout. I don’t understand why the police cannot reciprocate,’ and then she glanced up to her right at the camera mounted on the wall of the interview room. For a moment the two women, Freeman and Archer, seemed to lock eyes through the pixels and reassembled molecules, and then Freeman said to Waters in a friendlier voice, ‘I can see why your old boss and she got on so well.’
Then to Sterling, ‘Push him again. Keep pushing until something gives.’
Sterling said to Riley, ‘We know drugs were involved. Drugs are unpredictable, accidents happen. Tell us what happened to Annaliese, Brian. If only for her family’s sake.’
Riley said, ‘I have no idea why you are talking about drugs, and I don’t know what happened to her. She never arrived.’
‘All right. So she never arrived. Tell me what you did that night instead. You were all keyed up, looking forward to seeing Annaliese, and then she doesn’t show up. What did you do?’
Hesitation. A look at Christine Archer, who returned an almost imperceptible nod. Waters leaned a little closer to the screen. They’ve already been through this – Archer has already asked him this question. Has she given him a standard response? Is she telling him to tell us what he told her?
Sterling pushed again, under orders. ‘Let me guess, Brian. You made a cup of tea and got cosy on the couch with Netflix. Or you logged on to the web and looked at-’
‘I said Annaliese never showed up. I didn’t say I was on my own.’
Silence is merely an absence, an abstract idea, and yet it can be a little stunned sometimes. Freeman stared at the screen, and Waters stared at Freeman, waiting. Denise Sterling said, with commendable calm, ‘OK… So you had another visitor that night? Who was it?’
Archer said, ‘Not another visitor, detective sergeant, just the one. Go on, Mr Riley.’
He swallowed and steadied himself before he did as the solicitor had told him.
‘I was with another girl that night.’
Sterling said, ‘At your home in Marborough?’
‘Yes.’
‘And this girl has a name, presumably? Who was she, Brian?’
He said with some reluctance, ‘Celeste. Her name is Celeste.’
Waters had no idea at that moment what others were thinking, but there was something so improbable about the name Riley had just given them that it had to be true. Freeman still hadn’t taken her eyes from the video screen.
Sterling said, ‘Right. Brian, did this girl just turn up? How do you know “Celeste”?’
‘Yes,’ Riley said, ‘she did turn up unexpectedly. I first knew her through the agency.’
‘Elite Escorts?’
‘Yes.’
Sterling was looking at the video camera now but Freeman had got ahead of her. The DCI snapped her fingers towards Waters and said, ‘Get Murray on the phone. Tell him to open the files you got from them today. Look for a Celeste. Can’t be a girl’s real name, not in Kings bloody Lake. Check the working names, the profiles online.’
Then into the mike, Freeman said, ‘Keep him talking about this girl, Denise. Ask him her shoe size or something.’
Waters waited on the line to Murray. He could hear keys being tapped but nothing else – the squad’s office had fallen silent. If you don’t have an instinct for a development taking place, you’re in the wrong job.
Murray came back after less than a minute.
‘Yes. There’s a Celeste, still on their books. Opening up her online profile now…’
And then from John Murray, ‘Surprise, surprise. She looks familiar.’
Waters said, ‘Don’t disclose anything that might be personally embarrassing, John. Who is she?’
‘Just going back into another file, just want to be sure, boss.’
Nothing could hurry this particular detective constable and Waters saw no point in trying. He looked up at Freeman, and beyond her, at Priti Hussain, who was also caught up in it now. Denise was still asking questions in the background but his focus was entirely on what Murray would say next, and then it came.
‘Thought so. We’ve already met Celeste. She’s Melanie Haines.’
Chapter Twenty-one
Freeman said, ‘Chief Superintendent Allen will be joining us shortly but we’ll make a start. John, you took the notes. Remind us what Melanie Haines said when you and Chris spoke to the two of them on Friday.’
Murray summarised the conversation. They had been told Roxanne had a date on Saturday the 6th, and left the house at seven in the evening or a little after. She didn’t come home that night but this wasn’t that unusual. When they hadn’t heard from her by Sunday afternoon, they tried calling her. They sent texts as well but didn’t think these had been read by Roxanne. On the Monday morning, they unlocked Roxanne’s room and then they came into Central and reported her as missing.
The squad were seated in the main office, roughly in a semi-circle facing Freeman. When the door behind her opened, all eyes went there and saw Detective Chief Superintendent Allen. As he closed the door, he said, ‘I see you’ve started without me.’
If this was a shot in Freeman’s direction, it appeared to miss. She looked back at Murray and said, ‘And the two of them, Melanie Haines and Trudi Mercer, said they’d stayed home that Saturday night.’
Murray nodded.
Freeman glanced down at her own notes before continuing – ‘But now we have Brian Riley saying that Melanie Haines arrived unexpectedly at his place in Marborough that evening. He’d been expecting Roxanne – and the contact between them in the previous week makes that credible – but Melanie showed up instead. He admits to knowing Melanie as a client in the past. When Denise pushed him on this, he said there was “a sexual encounter” with her on the Saturday night. Personally, I’m very grateful to Denise for not asking for the details but we might have to in the end. Anyway, we’re going to interview these two ladies again now. DS Wilson and Richard Ford have just arrived with them. If Melanie sticks to her story, it’s her word against Riley’s, except that she also has Trudi Mercer backing up what she said previously – that she didn’t go out that night. Thoughts?’
With Allen in the room, the first response took a little longer than usual these days. Eventually it was Serena who spoke.
‘If Melanie didn’t go to Riley’s place, he’s taking a hell of a chance saying she did. If he’s just pulled that out of the air, she could have been anywhere. With a client, down the pub, visiting her grandma… She could have been in all sorts of places that would give her a solid alibi for being somewhere else.’
