of Brandon's notes on his interview with Terry Harding. The ACC had only had five hours' sleep, but the prospect of movement on the enquiry had given him a new energy, betrayed only by the heavy shadows around his deep-set eyes.
"To recap, then," Brandon said.
"At about quarter past seven the night Damien Connolly was killed, a man drove out of his garage in some kind of big four-wheel drive jeep, dark in colour. He got out of the jeep to close the garage door, and that's when our witness got his best look at him. The description we've got is white, five ten to six feet, aged between twenty and forty-five, possibly with his hair tied back in a ponytail. Wearing white trainers, jeans and a long waxed coat. Overnight, the HOLMES team have been going through the vehicles clocked in Temple Fields that fit the description. Most of these drivers have already been interviewed, but they're all going to be followed up and questioned more thoroughly now we've got Terry Harding's evidence. Bob, I want you to take charge of that, and I want alibis checking too."
"Right, boss," Stansfield said, flicking the ash off his cigarette with a determined motion.
"Oh, and Bob? Can you get someone to check that Harding really has been in Japan all week on a business trip? I want to make sure we cover all the bases on this one." Stansfield nodded.
"I'm sending a car round for Harding at eleven o'clock," Brandon went on, checking the list he'd made in the kitchen at seven.
"Carol, I want you to do the interview. Check what taxi firm Harding used to take him to the airport; let's see if we can get that time narrowed down a bit more. Tony, I'd like you to sit in on it. Maybe you can help us with strategies to improve his recollection, see if we can get any firm description of what this character looks like."
"I'll do my best," he said.
"At least I can probably distinguish between what he really remembers and what he thinks he remembers."
Brandon gave him an odd look, but carried on regardless. "Kevin, I want you to organize a team to hit the car showrooms, get as many brochures and posters as you can of four-wheel drive jeeps, so we can show them to Mr Harding and see if he can give us a positive ID."
"Will do, sir. Do you want us to go back to the neighbours in the earlier cases, see if anyone noticed the same vehicle there?" Kevin asked eagerly.
Brandon considered for a moment.
"Let's see how we go on today," he said after a few moments.
"It'll take a lot of bodies and time to go over the old ground again, and we might not need it. It's probably worth having a word with the rest of the neighbours in Connolly's street, though. Now we've got something positive to hit them with.
Good idea, Kevin. Now, Dave. What can you do for us? "
Woolcott outlined the actions the HOLMES team were already carrying out.
"With it being Sunday, I'm holding back on contacting Swansea until we've tried to get the vehicle narrowed down. The more information we can give them, the fewer possibilities we'll have to deal with. If this Harding bloke can give us make, model and year, or at least eliminate some models, we can ask DVLC to let us have a list of all the matches throughout the UK. Then we can start interviewing registered keepers, starting with Bradfield and moving out from there. It's a helluva big job, but we should get there in the end."
Brandon nodded his acknowledgement.
"Anybody got anything else?"
Tony lifted a hand.
"If you're questioning neighbours anyway, it might be worth extending the enquiries slightly."
All eyes were on him, but he was only aware of Carol's. What had happened between them had sharpened his desire to be instrumental in capturing Handy Andy.
"This guy is a stalker, I don't think anyone would dispute that now. I think he'd been watching Damien Connolly for a while. Given that we're in the middle of winter and it's not the ideal weather for standing around in the open, chances are he did the bulk of his spying from his car. He probably didn't park up in the close itself, since he'd be too noticeable in such a short street. I'd guess he parked on the street that runs along the bottom, somewhere that he had the house in his line of sight. Maybe someone there