Flint led the way as her and Cushion's leather soled shoes clack clacked on the polished tile floor as they strode towards the interview rooms.
On entering the room the smell emanating from Morski hit them with the force of a punch to the solar plexus. He had obviously not availed himself of any of the washing facilities. Instinctively, she reached for and used an aural spray in her pocket. She hoped its peppermint odour would provide some protection.
Flint wondered how Hewitt, what a strange man, could withstand such a violent nasal battering. She considered the man for a moment. She knew that he held a partnership position within Gribben and Gribben: one of the fastest growing law companies in North London. If Gribben and Gribben could turn a fast buck from some legal work they piled in with the voraciousness of a piranha. Dodgy dealers, shady corporations, known criminals and those suspected of all manner of dark dealings were Gribben and Gribben's stock in trade. Rumours abounded about the purchase of shiny new offices in the West End.
Hewitt acted as an uncomfortable coat hanger for an expensive suit. He really should have worn something that hid, or at least lessened the impact of, his paunch. She put him at about fifty. He had a thin, pinched type of face, strange for a man with such a paunch. The elaborate construction of hair was the most distinguishing feature of the man. He obviously admired and wanted to outdo the American fellow. The way the hair had been grown long at the sides and back, then brought forward in such a way that not just defied but comprehensively defeated gravity amused her.
Once more Cushion went through the motions of switching on the tape machine. When Morski opened his mouth to grunt an answer to Cushion's question of whether he knew why he was there, a most vile and malodorous stench violently assaulted the air in front of him. The man must be rotting from the inside out. Flint applied some more spray before gently leaning towards the Russian seated on the other side of the table.
'Mr Morski the last time you were here with my colleague Sergeant Saied and Sergeant Cushion here you stated that you had no comment regarding these pictures'
Flint laid the pictures on the table
'At the interview before that you stated that you did not know the girl'
Morski sat immobile and just stared at Flint
'Our forensics team have found her hairs in your car and on some of your clothes. A great quantity of her hairs have also been found at Pitt Street and two of the other houses that you and Mr Pidrik provided the money for. So we find it difficult to believe that you didn't know the girl. Can you give us an explanation?
'No comment' Morski malodourously spat out.
'Constable Flint' where are we going with all of this?' enquired Hewitt
'Mr Morski can you explain why you had a bottle of GHB in your room?'
'Medicinal, helps me to sleep'
'Mr Morski, I am sure that you are aware that GHB is a date rape drug. Used by those in the know because after a few hours it is untraceable by the regular tests. However, it remains in the hair of victims for much longer. Traces were found in the hair of the Winterton woman The woman whom you claim that don't know.'
She paused and looked expectantly at the Russian
'No comment'
'That's fine Mr Morski, let's continue. We have it on good authority that you are, or were, a KGB operative.'
The Russian visibly tensed and he averted his gaze from Flint to somewhere on the wall.
Hewett quickly objected, 'detective Constable Flint I must object at this line of questioning.' She ignored him.
'I am told that you were in wet operations. I am told that you and Pidrik used to use GHB to drown so called enemies of the Soviet State. A large enough dose rendered them unconscious. You just gently pushed their head underwater in the bath and hey presto another enemy of the Soviet Union had committed suicide'
Again Hewett butted in, 'Detective Constable Flint this has to stop. It can be construed as intimid.....'
Before he could finish something snapped in Morski. He jumped from his seat, leaned over towards Flint with both his hands on the table,
'I did not kill girl. She disappear. We know not where. Other girl's frightened. We think best say nothing and try sort ourselves'
Cushion jumped up and put his arm in front of Morski to protect Flint.
'Mr Morski is assuming a threatening stance towards officer Flint. I have put my arm between the two to protect Officer Flint. I am asking Mr Morski to sit down again'
Flint smiled
'That was a cheap shot' Hewett intervened with so much indignation that the construction on top of his head wobbled. Flint momentarily deliberated whether gravity could regain the upper hand. The solicitor realised the direction of her gaze, His hand shot to the top of his head to check that the construction remained intact. Having, reassured himself he continued
'You have no proof and it will never hold up in court'
Flint ignored Hewitt.
'Mr Morski I don't believe you. We are still looking for evidence and hope soon to be able to place your car at one of the sites where we consider you and Pidrik put the body of the girl in the sea. Would you like to take us through the sequence of events. Whilst you are at give us her name. Also where is her passport?'
The Russian stayed standing, the veins on his neck bulging, whilst he shouted at the policewoman.
'I tell you we no kill. Not put body in seas. She go missing. Name Seraphim Gruberova, from Latvia. Talk Medvedskaya'
She hated to admit it but what he shouted had a certain ring of truth to it.
Cushion informed Morski that was being charged with murder, prostitution, kidnapping and obstructing the police with their enquiries. He would appear before the Magistrates court the next day and the police would oppose any attempt at bail. Hewitt, feeling that he needed to justify his presence, and no doubt his more than ample fees, retorted that he would fight tooth and nail for bail for all his clients. Their kak handed arrest procedure at the start would be referred to in the court and passed onto the press.
Meanwhile, Saeed and Blunt were setting off for the Patel's shop at Gladstone Street. The junior man questioned why they needed to go to the newsagents again. Blunt, somewhat enigmatically, refused to say anything other than that a hunch had occurred to him in all their deliberations. He needed to check it out and required Saeed's knowledge of and fluency in Pashtun.
Flint and Cushion interviewed Pidrik and Medvedskaya. Hewitt had demanded that he be allowed to spend some time with his clients. When Cushion tried to object the clever sod hit them with a string of sections, sub sections and subsections of subsections concerning various EC directives appertaining to human rights and the rights of EC citizens. The police officers acquiesced even though they knew that a certain degree of collusion and story straightening would occur.
Pidrik and Medvedskaya , no doubt under orders proved to be immeasurably more amenable, as well as infinitely sweeter smelling, than Morski. They even attempted, unsuccessfully, to engage the two police officers in idle chatter.
However, they basically repeated what their colleague had said. Yes the girl worked mainly at Pitt street, yes she had suddenly disappeared. There had been no indication of unhappiness or leaving for pastures new. They believed that when her body had turned up on Winterton beach someone had kidnapped her for sexual purposes. No, they could not explain why she had semen in virtually every orifice of her body. She had not been working at the time she had disappeared. Furthermore, all the girls were kept scrupulously clean. Everyone had the best interests of the clients in mind.
Medvedskaya insisted that Gruberova did not have a passport and had just turned up on the doorstep one day. An incredulous Flint asked her whether she really expected the police to swallow such a story. Medvedskaya coolly stated that Flint and Cushion could believe what they wanted. The truth was the truth and that was it. The pair received the same charges as Morski. Neither Flint nor Cushion believed most of what the Russians. They hoped that Leibnitz's talking with the media would give them the result they needed about the car.
Simultaneous, to the unfolding drama in the interview rooms Saied and Blunt were heading for Gladstone Street. Leibnitz was busy dealing with the media and talking to colleagues in Weybridge.
Her chats with the Times' journalists and the force in Weybridge revealed a number of facts. She felt instinctively that the information she had garnered could potentially have an explosive impact on the case of the Winterton girl and the unit she had just joined. She excitedly awaited the return of Blunt so that she could appraise him of the situation.