Shortly afterwards they arrived at Blunt's office and assumed their usual seats for meetings. Blunt asked Leibnitz to get water for them all. He asked Flint to take down their notes on the flip charts and to blu-tak them on the walls so that they could all see them. He noted, as did Cushion, that Ahmed got up to help her. Blunt said nothing.
Once Leibnitz had returned Blunt poured himself a glass of water, sipped at it then spoke.
'Ok let us see where we are, what we know, what do not know and where we should go next. I want each of you that were working on separate items to present your findings and then summarise them on the flip charts.
Ahmed you go first. What have you found and what are your views?'
Saeed looked around at his colleagues and then addressed Blunt'
'I haven't got much BUT' and he emphasized the conjunction 'the SOCOS at the Gladstone street fire informed me that the bodies had probably been hand tied. The sick bastard or bastards that started that fire wanted them to suffer, and by all accounts they did! I helped with some of the interviews and not a lot came out of them. Some people thought they had heard a motorbike, some a moped, some a car and some a van. That's my lot.' He then stood up and summarized on the flip chart.
Steve and Debbie what about your interviews with the Russians?
Cushion allowed Flint to do the talking.
'The Russians deny that they killed the girl. They state that they cannot understand why Gruberova had semen in every orifice as she was off-duty and the girl's regularly and religiously douched themselves. Although they have been charged we really need more to go on to be able to make the murder charge stick.'
She paused and then continued,
'Regarding Gladstone Street I go along with what Ahmed said.' she glanced at him 'However, I found that more people mentioned a two wheeled engine as opposed to a four wheeled. Another thing that may be of note or not' she paused for effect 'a couple of people mentioned that Mr Patel's brother had visited them in the last week or so. The Patel's said that he was the brother....'
'Interesting' Blunt interjected 'Go on Debbie'
'Not much else I am afraid apart from one very interesting snippet. This afternoon I received the information that the semen in Gruberova's body came from different men BUT...' she paused for effect like Ahmed, 'It was several days old and there were no signs of recent sexual activity'.
No-one said a word for a few moments whilst the impact of what Flint said began to sink in.
'So what the pathologist seems to be implying is that she had semen injected into her. Fine anything else Debbie?' commented Blunt
'No that's it.'
'Ok get it up onto the flip chart'
When Flint had finished Blunt turned to Leibnitz.
'Melanie your turn'
The young woman coughed and fidgeted with her notes before starting.
'Like Debbie I carried interviews at Gladstone Street. As we did them together I have nothing to add to what she said' she looked at Blunt and continued when he nodded.
'You asked me to find out about the Weybridge incident' she paused whilst she passed photocopies of The Time's article, less than half a column long, to the others.
'As you can see it concerns a high class Russian brothel being discovered in Weybridge. It says that a local shopkeeper had been suspicious of the number of luxury cars going in and out of the secluded house. I rang the Weybridge station and they told me that the shopkeeper's name was Sharif. '
'A Pakistani or British of Pakistani origin' sighed Ahmed
'Pakistani actually' rejoindered Leibnitz
'Anyway, when the local guys and the reporters went round for a fuller statement, other than the one he had made on the phone, the bird had flown the coop. A family bereavement in Pakistan had necessitated his flying out. He still hasn't returned. This would not have even been in the newspaper ordinarily. A constable let the story slip to a reporter friend. He didn't get much space for the story, basically a filler. However, it has alerted us to the fact that there is possibly another case similar to ours. That's it'
'Thank you Melanie get it up on the chart'
Once she had finished documenting her summary Blunt asked her to get ready to do the same for him.
'When Ahmed and I went to Gladstone Street I got the distinct impression that the family seemed uncomfortable about things. I just felt that they had something to hide. Old Mrs Patel has a good grasp of English yet pretends to us that she does not. The young woman displays not one iota of affection, loyalty or affinity with the old woman. In fact she did not know the old woman's age. Furthermore, the old lady hesitated about giving us her son's age and that concerned me. One final thing struck me. When Ahmed and I arrived children from the local secondary school were in the shop. That secondary school is further away from the shop and finishes later than the primary school that the Patel's children attend. Where were the children?'
Blunt paused and turned to Ahmed and Cushion
'Ahmed, Steve, were the children there when you went? You went out of school hours. And if the children were not there how usual is that in a Pakistani family Ahmed?'
'The children were not there when we went and the old lady seemed almost afraid of Patel now that you mention it?'
'That is ok it probably did not strike you as odd because is it not a fact that Pakistani or Muslim households are very male orientated?'
Ahmed nodded in agreement.
'It niggled me and niggled me. That is why I had to leave Gladstone Street. Eventually something clicked and all afternoon I have been chasing up some records. The Mr Patel registered at Gladstone Street is thirty nine and his wife is thirty six. The woman you and I saw Ahmed was certainly not thirty six: late twenties at the most. Now, what about the Patel you two saw?' Blunt looked at Saeed and Cushion again
'Again he looked a lot younger than that' responded Cushion
Blunt continued,
'The young woman came across as very religious. When you were all interviewing did anyone say anything about how religious or otherwise the Patels were?'
'Some said that they went to the mosque but no-one said that they were overly religious'
'Melanie get that all up on the charts'
When everything was up on the charts Blunt spoke looking at each of his team in turn as he did so,
'Any initial thoughts about this mish mash of information?'
They looked at one another in silence before Ahmed volunteered,
'I want to start with the fire. At first glance it appears that the ones with motive are the Russians. They want to get their own back on the Patel's for shopping them. That then leads as to how they found out? Unfortunately the people at Patel's, apart from the old lady, were patently not the Patels. Why were they there?'
'If we take the Weybridge case' Flint interjected, 'then it would appear that something is going down between the Russians and some Pakistanis. These two seem to be fighting over the corpse of Aktion fur Arbeit. However, no-one was killed in the Weybridge case. So why kill the whole family here? What is the difference? Or did a third party torch the house and murder the family?'
'Doesn't it depend on whose bodies are in the house?' threw in Leibnitz
'Good point Melanie' Blunt stated quietly 'The way we go next is dependent on what the pathologist estimates the ages of the bodies to be. Apart from the semen have we got any more news regarding Gruberova?'
Silence ensued
'Ok so at this moment our likeliest suspects are Morski and Pidrik. Therefore, we have to hope that someone is going to come forward with information that will allow us to nail them.'
'Ahmed, I want you to set up the photofit guys to talk you Steve and I so that we can get a picture of the two 'so-called' Patels. Then I want you to get it circulated around the UK Pakistani community, Interpol and get onto the Pakistani police as well. Debbie will help you.'
He turned to Cushion
'Steve I want you to help with setting up a programme to collate all the information from Gladstone Street. I want to know about anything that pops up'
He turned to Leibnitz
'Melanie, I want you to chase the pathologists and the fire brigade investigator. I want them to complain to me that you are making their lives a misery.'. Do you all understand'
When they nodded Blunt finished with
'Then let us go to it!'
Ahmed and Flint hung back as Cushion and Leibnitz filed out
'John can we have a word with you?' enquired Ahmed slightly tremulously
'Certainly' replied Blunt warily. It momentarily crossed his mind that they were about to resign
'When I was in London yesterday I had a visitor'
Blunt narrowed his eyes quizzically
'That visitor was Rafique Khan', Saeed and Flint felt the pure hatred emanating from Blunt as his body perceptibly stiffened. He did not say anything
'He asked me to keep him informed about what the unit was doing...' still Blunt said nothing
'I talked about it with Debbie and we both agreed that I should tell you. I don't like him'
For a moment Blunt occupied a different time and space. For the second time today images of Anjii filled his mind. A playful Anjii laughing and joking. A tearful, sorrowful Anjii saying that their relationship had to end and that they could not see each other outside of the lecture room. Then there was the letter he had received after the Aktion case hit the headlines
'John, John Are you alright' Flint's concerned voice brought him back to the present with a jolt.
'Leave it with me Ahmed I will give it some thought. Then we will decide what to do about Rafique Khan.'