planted it.’
Dawn looked around at the intense faces of her new team. “This could overturn the conviction against Daniel Weaver for Lucy’s murder. If those notes are the real thing, and had been part of the original prosecution file then I am not convinced he would ever have gone to trial, in fact they would have opened up the entire investigation into Lucy’s disappearance. It would have been nice if Jeffery Howson had left a note to explain all this, but I’m guessing that he didn’t leave one because he was fully intending to explain everything to Barry when they met. And as we all know he was murdered before he could make that meeting. So, now, in the absence of any other information, we are left to speculate why they were never submitted. Their discovery certainly supports the comment he made to Barry in his telephone call on Saturday night that the wrong person was convicted and he knew who murdered Lucy.”
She glanced at the incident board, where earlier that morning she had scribbled notes in red ink.
“There are only three people who can provide the answers to the validity of those notes. One is Jeffery Howson, who is now dead, the second is retired Detective Chief Inspector Alan Darbyshire and the third person is Daniel Weaver, who is currently serving life for Lucy’s murder. Hunter has already told us that on the original file he found that the contemporaneous notes outlining Weaver’s admission were not signed. The ones we have recovered from Jeffery Howson’s safe are timed and dated, exactly the same as Weaver’s admission interview notes. Only one of those sets can be the original notes and I know which ones I am inclined to go with.”
Dawn studied the faces of the detectives.
“I don’t want to even mention the unmentionable here, that two police officers perjured themselves to convict an innocent man of murder, but if the notes from Howson’s safe are the originals of Daniel Weaver’s final interview, then that is what we are looking at. And if that is the case, we have to ask ourselves why did Howson hold onto them? Why not destroy them? Because they clearly incriminate him and Alan Darbyshire. Were they some kind of insurance policy? Again, I am speculating. There are a lot of unanswered questions at the moment. But one thing is for sure– someone found out about the existence of those notes and wanted desperately to get their hands on them, even if it meant killing Jeffery Howson. And I guess that is also the reason why he swallowed his safe key to protect the evidence. Without doubt, the finding of this piece of evidence has opened up Pandora’s box, and for now we need to keep a lid on it. The last thing we want is an out of control media frenzy interfering with our enquiry which is still at its early stages. If anyone gets a whiff that the press is onto, this, they report back to me immediately okay?”
She returned her gaze to her handwritten comments on the dry-wipe board.
“Okay everyone, new set of actions.”
Turning to DC Bullars, she said, “Tony I want you to talk to Howson’s ex-wife. I want to know everything about his life. Who his friends and associates were during his CID days. I especially want you to see what you can learn about him during nineteen-eighty-three, when he was involved in the Lucy Blake-Hall case. We know from Katherine, his daughter, that he was separated and divorced a year later, so something had gone wrong in his marriage during this time. I want to know what that was.”
She switched her look. “Hunter and Grace, I want you two to find out where retired DCI Alan Darbyshire is living now, and go and talk to him about his CID days, particularly his partnership with Howson. I do not want him to know he is under scrutiny at this stage and I especially don’t want him to know about the discovery of the interview notes. See if you can sneak in about the Lucy Blake-Hall case without throwing up suspicions. I know that will be hard because he
Dawn looked around at the intense faces of her new team. “This could overturn the conviction against Daniel Weaver for Lucy’s murder. If those notes are the real thing, and had been part of the original prosecution file then I am not convinced he would ever have gone to trial, in fact they would have opened up the entire investigation into Lucy’s disappearance. It would have been nice if Jeffery Howson had left a note to explain all this, but I’m guessing that he didn’t leave one because he was fully intending to explain everything to Barry when they met. And as we all know he was murdered before he could make that meeting. So, now, in the absence of any other information, we are left to speculate why they were never submitted. Their discovery certainly supports the comment he made to Barry in his telephone call on Saturday night that the wrong person was convicted and he knew who murdered Lucy.”
She glanced at the incident board, where earlier that morning she had scribbled notes in red ink.
“There are only three people who can provide the answers to the validity of those notes. One is Jeffery Howson, who is now dead, the second is retired Detective Chief Inspector Alan Darbyshire and the third person is Daniel Weaver, who is currently serving life for Lucy’s murder. Hunter has already told us that on the original file he found that the contemporaneous notes outlining Weaver’s admission were not signed. The ones we have recovered from Jeffery Howson’s safe are timed and dated, exactly the same as Weaver’s admission interview notes. Only one of those sets can be the original notes and I know which ones I am inclined to go with.”
Dawn studied the faces of the detectives.
“I don’t want to even mention the unmentionable here, that two police officers perjured themselves to convict an innocent man of murder, but if the notes from Howson’s safe are the originals of Daniel Weaver’s final interview, then that is what we are looking at. And if that is the case, we have to ask ourselves why did Howson hold onto them? Why not destroy them? Because they clearly incriminate him and Alan Darbyshire. Were they some kind of insurance policy? Again, I am speculating. There are a lot of unanswered questions at the moment. But one thing is for sure– someone found out about the existence of those notes and wanted desperately to get their hands on them, even if it meant killing Jeffery Howson. And I guess that is also the reason why he swallowed his safe key to protect the evidence. Without doubt, the finding of this piece of evidence has opened up Pandora’s box, and for now we need to keep a lid on it. The last thing we want is an out of control media frenzy interfering with our enquiry which is still at its early stages. If anyone gets a whiff that the press is onto, this, they report back to me immediately okay?”
She returned her gaze to her handwritten comments on the dry-wipe board.
“Okay everyone, new set of actions.”
Turning to DC Bullars, she said, “Tony I want you to talk to Howson’s ex-wife. I want to know everything about his life. Who his friends and associates were during his CID days. I especially want you to see what you can learn about him during nineteen-eighty-three, when he was involved in the Lucy Blake-Hall case. We know from Katherine, his daughter, that he was separated and divorced a year later, so something had gone wrong in his marriage during this time. I want to know what that was.”
She switched her look. “Hunter and Grace, I want you two to find out where retired DCI Alan Darbyshire is living now, and go and talk to him about his CID days, particularly his partnership with Howson. I do not want him to know he is under scrutiny at this stage and I especially don’t want him to know about the discovery of the interview notes. See if you can sneak in about the Lucy Blake-Hall case without throwing up suspicions. I know that will be hard because he
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