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Jennie shakes her head. She’s not especially close to any of the team, but she considers Zuri a friend as well as a colleague. In addition to their film dates, they’ve had dinner from time to time when one of them needed a sympathetic listener. Zuri had been really kind when Jennie’s mum died. So telling the DCI about the photo feels like a betrayal, even though Jennie knows that Zuri was just doing her job as DS. ‘I thought we were friends. If you had a problem, you should have talked to me first.’
Zuri stays silent. She takes a turn off the A5 onto the road that will take them all the way back to White Cross.
‘If you have a problem, tell me about it, okay?’ says Jennie, frustrated.
‘Fine,’ says Zuri. ‘I don’t have a problem with you personally, Jennie, but I’m sorry, I do have a problem with you leading this case. You clearly knew the victim and it’s having an impact. It’s a conflict of interest.’
‘Yes, I did know her. I was at the same school, in the same year. The DCI knew that, and I told you all in the initial briefing,’ says Jennie, trying to get Zuri back on-side. She hates feeling estranged from her. She hates it even more that she has to be so economical with the truth.
Zuri glances at her. There’s frustration on her face but concern too. ‘You’ve not been yourself since we started this investigation.’
‘I’m just a bit tired from trying to sort out my mum’s place,’ counters Jennie.
‘No, it’s more than that. Your focus is off and it’s screwing up the case. You’re hell-bent on Paul Jennings or Duncan Edwards being the killer when there are far more discrepancies in the statements made by Hannah’s mates. I don’t get why you’re acting so blinkered. It’s like I care way more than you do.’
No you don’t.
Jennie looks away, staring out of the window at the fields flashing past as she struggles to hold back the emotion that’s threatening to overwhelm her. In her mind’s eye she sees Hannah’s remains half-buried in the mud in the school basement, Rob’s body swinging from the rope in White Cross woods, then Hannah twirling in the same woodland clearing, alive and happy with everything to live for.
Zuri’s got great instincts, but she’s wrong about one thing. She doesn’t care more than her about this case. Not by a long way.
Not about Hannah.
Chapter 29
‘No!’ Voice raised, Duncan Edwards thumps his fist down onto the Formica table in interview room one. ‘I told you I never touched Hannah, and I’ve never harassed Angela.’
His solicitor, a neatly groomed man in a black suit and glasses, leans towards Duncan and tells him something that Jennie can’t hear but assumes is along the lines of ‘keep it together’. Jennie waits to see what Edwards says next.
‘For the last thirty years I’ve been misunderstood and unfairly maligned.’ Duncan Edwards looks at Jennie, his eyes pleading. ‘I never stalked Angela.’
So that’s the way it’s going to be.
‘Your browsing history tells a different story.’ She pushes the printed sheets of paper towards him one by one. ‘The yellow highlighter shows all the times in the last three months you visited Angela Totley’s Facebook page; the green highlighter shows your visits to her school’s staff page on their website; and the pink highlighter shows the attempts you’ve made to view and contact her other social media accounts.’
Edwards shakes his head. He glances towards the high window above Jennie’s head as if he’s sizing it up as a means of escape. ‘I didn’t … you can’t prove that—’
‘This is proof, Mr Edwards. And if you give us a little bit longer, we can go further back through the years. The techs tell me this is just the tip of the iceberg.’ Jennie puts another page on top of the rest. ‘As well as the social media stuff I’ve mentioned, these are the emails you’ve sent to Angela Totley’s email address during the last three months. As you can see, there are more than fifty of them. I have printouts of each individual email if you’d like me to—’
‘No, don’t,’ says Edwards, holding up his hands. ‘I get it, but I wasn’t stalking her.’
‘Under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the offence of stalking includes contacting, or attempting to contact, a person, and monitoring a person’s use of the internet including email,’ says Zuri, firmly. ‘Angela Totley described multiple attempts made by you to contact her. Attempts which caused her to take action to block your number and social media accounts and to change her own.’
‘I was just looking out for her,’ says Edwards, shaking his head. ‘You’ve got this all wrong.’
‘Look at all the times you’ve attempted to contact her, or viewed her social media in the past few months,’ says Jennie, pushing the highlighted sheets closer to him. ‘Do you not think that looks obsessive?’
‘I wasn’t stalking or harassing her. Honestly, I just wanted to feel close to her,’ says Edwards, dropping his head into his hands. ‘I love Angela.’
‘Like you loved Hannah?’ asks Jennie.
Edwards head snaps up. ‘I never said I loved Hannah. She was just a student. A young girl.’
‘She was,’ says Jennie. She takes out another batch of printouts detailing Edwards’ browsing history from the folder and pushes them across the table. ‘Like all the young girls on these sites that you’ve visited.’
Edwards’ face falls. He looks from Jennie and Zuri to his brief. The solicitor leans closer to him and whispers something. Edwards shakes his head vigorously.
Jennie knows she needs to push him harder. She needs to get Edwards on the ropes, to make him admit his relationship with Hannah. She reads from the printout. ‘There seems to be a theme here – www.mysugardaddy.com, www.fuckmyteen.com, www.youngnsweet.com. Shall I go on?’
