‘Thank you,’ Ben said.
‘Now a description, do you think you could do that for us?’
‘Yeah, I can.’
‘That’s good. We’ll leave it there,’ said Ramouter. ‘Interview concluded at 10.46 a.m..’
‘Do you believe him, that he saw one of the suspects?’ Henley asked. She stopped outside the entrance of Croydon police station custody suite and looked through the sliding doors. Laurence Durant was sitting on the bench, his face pinched in deep concentration.
‘He wasn’t putting it on,’ said Ramouter on the other end of the phone. ‘He broke down crying towards the end. He’s adamant he saw what he saw. We’re just waiting for the police sketch artist to arrive.’
Henley could hear it. The hesitancy in Ramouter’s voice. Shecould safely place a bet that if she was in the room with Ramouter, she would have seen him rubbing his ear. A sure sign of a temper on the rise.
‘What happened in the interview?’ Henley asked. ‘What did Copeland do?’
Ramouter huffed. ‘She went in too hard. Like a two-footed tackle. I had to intervene more than once. I know that she’s more senior than—’
‘Ramouter, it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference how senior she is, she should know how to read the room. When it’s time to treat a detainee as a witness and not a suspect. If you go in too hard, you undermine your position. I told you that on day one. This isn’t a game.’
‘Aye. I know.’
‘I’m sorry, I’m not having a go at you. Tell me, what do you want to do with Ben?’
‘RUI him with strict conditions not to post anything about this investigation on social media.’
‘That sounds good to me. Keep me updated,’ said Henley. She ended the call and stepped into the custody suite. ‘Just give me one sec,’ she said to Laurence as she spoke to the custody officer at the desk who pointed to Interview Room Three on his left and informed her that Laurence had declined legal representation.
‘Are you going somewhere?’ she asked as Laurence picked up the large duffle bag that had been resting on the seat next to him. She’d authorised his release under investigation thinking that showing a bit of empathy and allowing him to return home, would bring Laurence to his senses.
‘I thought I should get some things together,’ Laurence said quietly as though resigned to some unknown fate.
‘You’re not being charged,’ Henley replied, realising thatLaurence believed he would be charged and remanded in custody. She motioned for him to follow her into the interview room.
‘But I thought—’
‘That doesn’t mean the investigation against you is closed. I’ve got some questions for you, and I need to do that under caution,’ Henley explained as she entered her details on the monitor. ‘Just like last time I’m going to do my little speech and ask you to introduce yourself. Are you good with that?’
‘Yeah,’ Laurence replied, fiddling with his wedding band.
‘So, I need to talk about the vigilante group known as Shadow or Iron Shadow,’ Henley said after she’d made the standard introductions, cautioned and reminded Laurence about his right to a lawyer.
‘I don’t know anything about any groups.’
Henley sighed and placed a stack of printouts on the table. ‘A judge gave us permission to access your phone. In front of you are copies of your WhatsApp messages and chats from the Discord app. So, I’m going to ask you again, Laurence, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t lie to me. Tell me about the groups.’
Laurence sniffed and slid his ring off his finger. ‘There was a time when I couldn’t take the bloody thing off,’ he said, holding it aloft. ‘I was about a stone and a half heavier eighteen months ago and then Sherri was killed, and I couldn’t eat. People kept bringing me food.’
‘The groups Laurence.’
‘I’m getting there. The point is that I needed help. To manage, not just the grief, but also the court process. You think that it would be straightforward. Someone kills your wife, that person gets arrested, convicted and then they go prison.’
‘Unfortunately, it’s not always that straightforward.’
‘No, it’s not. The victim support people at court referred me to a group for people affected by crime. I didn’t want to go but my sister thought it would be a good idea.’
‘Is this the group at the Starlight Community Centre?’
‘Yeah. I started going and a couple of us would go to the pub afterwards and one of the guys started talking about justice and how to get it.’
