expression broke through into a full smile. “Good thing he gave an interview at the super’s retirement do, or I might not have got the connection.”
He couldn’t share her excitement. Aside from the anger that he was still struggling to pack away, he’d seen enough corruption investigations to last a lifetime. They’d damaged both individual officers and the reputation of the force. If it turned out that there was a huge apology to be made for a killer remaining free for thirty years, Jonah did not want to be in the middle of it.
But what he wanted didn’t really feature. There was no question that they needed to interview Mackenzie.
“Did you find out where he is now?”
“Yeah, he’s head of department at a private school in Bristol.”
“Call the school, and tell them we need to speak to him,” he said. “Today.”
He glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost two. Lunchtime had vanished somewhere into the cycle of interviews.
“And can you please apologize to Jojo Magos, and ask if I can see her either this evening or tomorrow? Ben can come with me and talk to this teacher.”
Lightman raised his head and gave an impassive nod. “Are we shelving the briefing, then?” The sergeant unplugged his iPad from his desktop machine and stood.
“Yup, I’m moving it till later. If we’ve got to get to Bristol, I want to go now. I’ll update you on a few things from this morning and let the other two know later on. Oh, and we need to tell Connor Dooley he’s free to go.”
“I’ll do that,” O’Malley offered.
“Good.”
“What shall I do after I’ve talked to the school?” Hanson asked. He could sense her disappointment. She’d been eager to go and interview another suspect. But he generally found it better to pull rank at expensive schools. A DCI and a DS were a good combination.
“Follow up with McCullough on any new forensics, and update us while we’re driving. I want evidence against Connor Dooley if it exists. We’ll talk to Mackenzie and see if that one’s a runner.”
She sat at her desk silently.
“That was good work connecting him to the detective chief super,” he said. It was a slightly clumsy attempt to console her.
She gave a small nod, and focused on her screen.
* * *
—
THE RAIN WAS starting as they left the station, and it had become a real storm before they hit the M3, a wall of water battering the car roof. He’d grabbed a sandwich from the canteen to wolf on the way, but it was hard to control the car and eat, so he gave up and left it till later.
He thought about talking through the case so far with Lightman, but it seemed like a mess at the moment. There were so many inconsistencies between all the statements that he didn’t know where to start.
All they could be certain they had was a group of drugged-up, drunk fifteen-to-eighteen-year-olds and an innocent fourteen-year-old who had gone to sleep at some distance away. Plus one schoolteacher a few miles off and camping with a girlfriend. And a huge stash of Dexedrine.
Aurora may or may not have been drunk. They all may or may not have been high. Some of the drugs had been removed later, maybe by arrangement, and maybe not.
There were many apparently insignificant lies being told. The friends were trying to protect themselves. But they might well be masking the truth of what happened behind their lies. There might be more about Connor, for one. Coralie had waited thirty years to tell them about seeing him by the fire. It all needed breaking down, lie by lie.
At that point, he remembered how Topaz had hidden her meeting with Mackenzie. Together with the failure to investigate him, there were clearly grounds for looking at Mackenzie.
“What do you have on the teacher?” he asked Lightman.
“Juliette sent through Topaz’s original statement. She did mention seeing Andrew Mackenzie,” he said, referring to his iPad as he spoke. “But it was quite briefly mentioned, and she stressed that it had been a lot earlier in the evening. She thought it might be worth checking up on him. She didn’t mention him again during those first few days.”
Jonah tried to dredge up some of his own memories of Mackenzie. The English teacher had joined only a term before Jonah left. He’d been young; Jonah remembered that much. He’d looked barely older than a sixth-former, broad-faced and sporty, in a slightly stocky way. More