Devil in the Detail by A.J. Cross (love letters to the dead .TXT) 📗

the Lawrences, did he get inside the car because he wanted to talk to them? Lay out his grievance against them?’

‘Whoever he is, he’s risk-happy,’ said Judd, ‘and he was tooled up, on what he regards as a job—’

Watts looked at her, exasperated. ‘Forge Street’s a dump. This city has no rep for execution-style shootings of your middle class.’

‘It’s no good obsessing about what he was thinking or why he did it, Sarge. We might never know until we catch him.’

‘So, exactly how do you propose we do that?’ He watched her frown deepen. ‘Let me know once you’ve got an investigative plan.’ He glanced at Traynor. ‘Meanwhile, both the carjackings and the shootings remain part of this investigation for the simple reason that it makes sense to me until there’s solid evidence which points to there being no connection.’

Traynor sat, his eyes on Watts. ‘There had to be another car involved.’

Watts mustered patience. ‘There’s no forensic evidence to support the presence of another vehicle.’

‘With all that rain,’ said Judd, ‘there’s no proof there wasn’t, but if you don’t like that, how about another possibility?’ She ignored his groan, his hands going to his head. ‘The attacker saw their car approaching and he lay down on the road, pretending to be hurt.’

‘You’re still saying that this was somebody hanging around on the off-chance of them coming along! They were lost. They should never have come along Forge Street.’ Silence settled on the office. ‘Judd, I appreciate your keenness, but this is going nowhere.’ To Traynor, Watts said, ‘I hear what you’re saying, Will, about the carjackings, but for me this is a young thug who’s no stranger to that kind of urban crime, who’s built up his confidence on five of those robberies, and prior to the sixth decided to up his game with a gun. What you said about the shooter being an antisocial type supports it. He might be a gang member, like that Mathison chap talked about. There’s no CCTV evidence that Mike and Molly Lawrence were followed after they left the restaurant, or that they knew their attacker. If this young, armed thug was around Forge Street waiting for somebody, anybody to show up, it just happened to be the Lawrences’ bad luck that it was them. My job is to thoroughly explore and exhaust the most obvious possibility before I look at anything else and that’s what I’m doing.’

‘The CCTV footage I’ve seen is no confirmation that they weren’t followed,’ said Traynor.

Watts gave his face a brisk rub. ‘I’m not dismissing anybody’s theories.’ He watched Judd fold her arms. ‘But so far as I can see, all they do is raise more questions. My theory is uncomplicated. It’s possible he was just there, on the off-chance. OK, it’s possible he saw them leave a pricey restaurant, gave them a quick once-over and said to himself, “Well-dressed couple, she’s got an expensive handbag, they’re driving a reasonable-looking car.” He’s not bothered that they’re a couple. He doesn’t care. He’s got confidence from the gun. So, maybe he does follow them. As for how he got them to stop, we can speculate, try and predict his behaviour all we like, but we’ll probably not know until he tells us if we catch him.’ He jabbed the table with his index finger. ‘Make that “when”.’

‘Molly Lawrence could have some answers,’ said Traynor. ‘How is she?’

‘I checked earlier. She could be discharged at the end of the week, depending on what the doctors say. According to the nurse I spoke to, she’s asking to go home.’ Watts studied Traynor. ‘How about you check with staff? Depending on what they say, go and see her at the hospital today. Introduce yourself.’

Traynor took out his phone. ‘When she does talk, I want the essence of this gunman’s character from his appearance, his verbal behaviour.’

Watts got up, went across the office and switched on the kettle. ‘In the meantime, I can make some suggestions about his “essence”: local to that area, eighteen to twenty-four years old, a previous record for violence, possible drug user, possible gang affiliation. If I’m right, by now he’s spent most of the money he got from robbing the Lawrences on stuff that’s gone up his nose or into his arms.’

He looked across at Traynor who was ending a call. ‘What did they say?’

‘That I should ring later.’

‘I take it they know how urgent this is?’

Traynor nodded. ‘I’m sure they do, but they’ve got their own concerns right now.’ He paced. ‘Ours is to learn what moves this individual, what motivates him, how he thinks. It will have been evident that night in what he said and what he did. Molly Lawrence heard his voice, his words. She saw him. She was in close proximity to him. She has a lot to give us.’

Judd looked across at him, chin on fist. ‘When I saw her very recently, she couldn’t give me even a basic idea of what happened to them. The nurse told me that she doubted Molly had faced up to the events of that night.’

‘That’s a realistic summation of someone who’s been through such a degree of trauma as Molly Lawrence has.’

Judd and Watts exchanged quick glances. If anyone knew about trauma first-hand, it was Traynor.

‘She’s our sole source, our best hope for understanding him, what he did and how they responded inside that vehicle. It’s those kinds of details that will help us create a picture of him.’

‘It’s possible there was no interaction,’ said Watts. ‘He’s in their car, shoots them, takes their stuff and he’s gone.’

‘Shooting them is a form of interaction. Actions don’t occur within a vacuum. The progression of events could tell us a lot about how he relates to others, whether he was confrontational.’

Watts stared at him across the table. ‘He shot them both. How much more confrontational could he get?’

Judd’s eyes widened as Traynor stood, his eyes fixed on Watts, who was also now on his feet. ‘I’m talking antecedents