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

him to stop the engine.’ She moved, raising her hand. ‘He waved the gun.’ She turned to the nearest video camera and gave a faint smile.

‘Come closer.’ She gestured to one of the officers with a camera. ‘He’s now sitting in the middle of the rear seat. Right about here’ – she spoke over her shoulder, eyes fixed on the facsimile – ‘and something was said. He said to be quiet. He demanded valuables; said he wanted my handbag by my feet on the floor of the car.’

Traynor was now listening intently.

‘The valuables went inside it.’ She looked straight to camera.

‘All except my watch and phone. He took the bag and … then he … did something … to me and Mike got angry … and … that’s when he shot Mike … He shot him again. The man leaned forward …’ She lowered her head, lifted it again. ‘There was a flash, a sudden, sharp impact, a burning sensation and … heat flowing down.’

Watts took a quick look around. The officers’ faces were expressionless, most not looking directly at her.

‘It gets hazy here … He had Mike’s phone in his hand.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t know what happened next … but after a while … I managed to call to emergency services.’ She stopped, looked to Traynor.

Judd asked, ‘Is there anything else?’

She shook her head. ‘He was there and then, gone. He ran. Very fast. Away from the car.’ She frowned, her eyes fixed straight ahead.

‘Wait.’ She took a couple of steps forward, her eyes wide. Everyone was now looking at her. ‘He was running …’ She whispered, the video cameras quietly whirring. ‘He ran … I don’t know how far … and suddenly, from nowhere, there were some people there. Two, three of them. Younger than him. Much younger. He high-fived one. I watched, heard whoops and’ – she shook her head, her voice barely a whisper – ‘laughs. They were laughing as … my husband was … quietly drifting away from me …’

Traynor came to her, his voice soft. ‘Molly?’

She looked up at him, dazed. ‘I just remembered. I just remembered how they were. He had just shot both of us … and they were’ – she shook her head – ‘celebrating. How could anybody do that?’

Judd reached out to her, held her arm. ‘You did really well, Molly.’

Getting a nod from Traynor, Watts raised his hand to Miller.

Molly Lawrence looked up at him. ‘I’d like to see the video sometime.’ She turned and walked away with Miller.

They came into the office, each of them looking worn. ‘It wasn’t one person,’ said Judd. ‘Not a lone gunman. It was one man and probably some inner-city kids.’

Watts sat by Traynor. ‘Before the records are searched and I send out all the officers I’ve got, can we trust her memory?’

Traynor was looking preoccupied. ‘I need to view the video. I’m waiting for a phone call from forensics.’

‘What’s Molly like as a person, Will?’ asked Julian. ‘How certain do you think she is about what she’s told us?’

‘I’ve only seen her under extreme duress. I don’t know.’

‘When you worked with her, she wasn’t confident like she mostly was just now?’

‘No.’

The phone rang. Traynor took the call, ended it. ‘We can look at the videos.’

On the forensic floor they watched in silence as first one then the other video, differing only in angle, played out on the huge, high definition screen, Molly Lawrence looking calm, her voice firm in the main, a little hesitant at times. The second video ran its course, Molly smiling and beckoning to its operator. The big screen darkened.

‘She’s given key information we didn’t have,’ said Watts.

Traynor gave an absent nod.

‘What she’s said changes everything,’ said Judd. ‘We need to move on it.’ She stared at Watts. ‘Sarge, we need every available officer in that area, shaking things up—’

‘Let it rest for a bit.’

Frustrated, she leant on her forearms. ‘I just noticed the way she talked about what happened. It sounded weird at times, like she was describing something that had happened to somebody else.’

‘That’s not unusual,’ said Traynor. ‘It probably helped her to stay distanced.’

Watts’ eyes were still on the blank screen. He had to make a decision on when to flood the inner city with as many officers as he could spare to find the kids Molly Lawrence had described. He agreed with Judd that Molly Lawrence had sounded odd. He had a pretty good idea why.

‘I’ve been involved in and seen a lot of reconstructions which I know are different to what we’ve done, but my point is I’ve watched witnesses do and say stuff you wouldn’t believe. Some completely change the accounts they gave, others cry, crack jokes, laugh in odd places, even throw up in one or two cases.’ Judd’s nose wrinkled. ‘You can never anticipate how a person might react, what they might say in that kind of situation, especially if they were both victim and witness. Whatever happened, whatever they saw, they’re convinced that they stared death in the face. Molly Lawrence is your prime example. What do you say, Traynor?’ They waited. ‘Traynor?’

Julian stepped in. ‘My reading of what we’ve just seen is that Molly Lawrence appears to be dissociating from the experience, right Will?’

Traynor nodded. ‘When I saw her previously, she was blocking her recall as a means of self-preservation. Today, dissociation seems to have helped her get through the process by keeping her emotionally distanced from what she was recalling.’

‘Like, she wasn’t there. Wasn’t part of it,’ said Judd.

Watts stood. ‘I have to decide what I do about these young types she described.’

The door opened. An officer came inside. ‘Sarge? Manchester is on the line for Julian.’ He turned to him. ‘You’ve been recalled, Jules.’

Judd absorbed the four words, watched Julian head for the door.

At home, Traynor raised the remote a third time, skipped through Molly Lawrence’s arrival, let it run on, watched her directing the officer with the video camera, holding herself together. What