Forgive Me Father. Paul Gitsham

it seemed to be quite a violent encounter. However, that was nearly two months ago; much can change in that time.’

       Chapter 21

      ‘We’ve been trying to figure out what Rodney Shaw might have been doing during the unaccounted for period between him leaving work on the evening of the fire and his car re-appearing on the ANPR cameras eight minutes after he received the call about the fire and headed back to the abbey.’

      Mags Richardson had moved her laptop next to Rachel Pymm’s workstation and there was a substantial pile of printouts on the desk between them.

      ‘I’m promised the records from his mobile phone any minute,’ interjected Pymm.

      ‘In the meantime,’ continued Richardson, ‘we’ve looked at the area within that ANPR dead zone, and for a few streets either side of it. It’s not great news, sir. Even in a small town like Middlesbury, there are a lot of homes and businesses in that vicinity that he could have visited. There are twelve public houses, two restaurants, nine fast-food takeaways and two bookmakers. He could even have been getting his car serviced or picking up some dry cleaning. I imagine if he did visit “Nelly’s Nails” it wasn’t for a manicure.’

      ‘Start canvassing the area if the phone data doesn’t give us any more clues,’ ordered Warren. ‘He lied about his whereabouts in the initial interview, I presume that there was a reason for that, but it doesn’t mean he was doing anything we’re bothered about. Let’s see if anyone can provide an alibi for some of that time so we can discount him.

      ‘Are there any interesting residents in the area that he could have been meeting?’

      ‘Define interesting,’ said Pymm, before answering her own question. ‘Thirty-eight addresses within that zone have occupants with at least one recordable offence on the PNC. That’s a bit above the average for an area of that size in Middlesbury, but it’s hardly a den of criminality.

      ‘The data has its limits, though, as it records addresses at the time of the offence. If we decide to go to town on this, we’ll need to cross-reference the latest electoral roll data with the PNC, and perhaps even benefits and tax records.’

      ‘File the appropriate requests for that information, but hold off on the analysis unless we get nowhere with the phone records. What type of offences are we talking about?’

      ‘Mostly low-level, or historic, but two properties have received multiple call-outs for domestic violence, another person served a six-month term for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and another resident has been convicted twice for possession of class B drugs with intent to supply, the last offence being eighteen months ago.’

      ‘I presume the domestic violence had no link to Mr Shaw?’

      ‘As far as I can tell. I’ve had a look at the reports filed and there’s no mention of a third party involved.’

      ‘Put them on the bottom of the list then. What about the dealer? Could Shaw be using again?’

      ‘Possible, although if she is his supplier, she’s moved up in the world. Both previous convictions were for possessing enough cannabis for several joints. The people she was supplying to were her boyfriend and a couple of friends at university, there was no suggestion that she was earning any money from it, and there’s nothing recent.’

      ‘Put her to one side and see if she comes back into the picture when we get his mobile phone records. What about the assault?’

      ‘A drunken brawl in a bar in Brighton back in 2007; the defendant broke the victim’s jaw and then took a few swings at the bouncers and passers-by, before trying to head butt the arresting officer. Nothing recent or before then.’

      ‘Sounds unlikely, unless Shaw is a friend. What else have you got?’

      ‘I looked at the ANPR records for the cameras surrounding the area for the previous forty-eight hours. Shaw’s car doesn’t appear during the preceding two days. I’ve requested records going back further to see if he made the trip regularly. In terms of the cars that left or entered the area within that time, no car both exits and re-enters.’

      ‘So it’s unlikely that he borrowed someone else’s car to go to the abbey without being seen?’

      ‘Not unless he arranged to leave it somewhere else,’ said Pymm.

      ‘What about other cars exiting or entering – could they have dropped him off, or picked him up from near the abbey?’

      ‘Thirty-two cars exited the area within the unaccounted time period. Since he would probably have needed to have arrived at the abbey at least an hour before the fire was set to drug Father Nolan and get him down to the chapel, and assuming he had no accomplice, then we can immediately trim that to twelve cars that would have given enough time to do what he needed to. Ten of those cars travelled away from the abbey; it would make no sense for him to have got in those cars, unless he was performing some sort of elaborate doubling back exercise to build his alibi.’

      ‘Not impossible,’ commented Warren. ‘But put them to one side. Tell me about the two cars that headed towards the abbey.’

      ‘One could have passed within a half mile of the abbey, the other just over a mile. The cars are registered to residents within that area.’

      ‘Put them on the list, they could have given Shaw a lift. We’ll pull them in for questioning if necessary. What about returning cars?’

      ‘Again, assuming that he needed to leave after we believe the fire was started, and unless he had an accomplice, four cars entered the area in the time before his car exited. None of them came from the direction of the abbey, although it looks as though a minicab may have picked up a fare within a mile of the abbey grounds. I’ve put in a request for their records.’

      ‘What about buses?’

      ‘The 562 has a stop right in the centre of the zone of interest, and another stop four streets over from the abbey’s main entrance. Four buses passed through the area between him driving into the zone and the time of the fire, but there were no return journeys between the fire being set and Shaw’s car re-appearing. I’ve already requested the CCTV from Stagecoach.’

      ‘OK, so no obvious reason for Shaw visiting that area or indications why he may have lied about it. It looks like we need to wait for his mobile phone records then, to see if he called anyone associated with that area or failing that to pinpoint his whereabouts more precisely. Get on with that as soon as the records appear. In the meantime, speak to Hutch about a priority list for door knocking, so we’re ready to hit the ground running as soon as possible.’

      ‘On it,’ responded both women simultaneously.