Kate pressed the phone to her ear as it connected. ‘Laura, what did you manage to find on Brookes?’

‘Honestly, not much that I think will necessarily help you. I spoke to his landlord who reluctantly confirmed the account number he receives monthly rent from. It’s with a national bank, and after some arm-twisting I managed to get hold of copies of his bank statements for the last eighteen months. Money has continued to enter his account on a regular basis, and two direct debits have left the account each month like clockwork, but there have been no cash withdrawals in the last year.’

‘What were the direct debits for?’

‘The first is to the landlord for £700 on the first of every month. Apparently the eighteen-month lease on his flat is about to expire, but the landlord hasn’t received word of whether Brookes wishes to extend.’

‘And the second?’

‘That’s where the plot thickens. It’s to a charitable organisation called the Sisters of St Jerome. I looked them up and they’re a convent who specialise in homing orphans, runaways and former residents of Young Offender Institutions. They offer shelter while they’re trying to place children in new homes. They’re based in the Lake District, but their website looks pretty dated and home-made.’

‘So does Brookes have form? If so, what did he do?’

‘There’s no record of a Wallace Brookes matching our suspect’s age range in the Young Offender register.’

‘Did you manage to speak to the charity to see if Brookes ever stayed with them? Maybe they saved him and he feels he owes them?’

‘I managed to get an administrator on the phone, but she wasn’t willing to cooperate without sight of a warrant. She told me their visitors are entitled to data protection as much as the next person.’

‘How big a donation does he make?’

‘That’s the interesting part: it’s more than £500 per month on, or around, the tenth of each month. I tried asking the administrator if she could tell me anything about one of their significant benefactors, but again, she played the warrant card. I’m not sure how easy that’ll be to get without alerting Armitage to it.’

‘So, a dead end then?’

‘It looks like it for now.’

‘Is he still receiving a regular work income? If he’s working, he shouldn’t be too hard to find.’

‘I was going to ask you what he’d listed as his profession when your team spoke to him in 2015?’

Kate checked her notes. ‘Uh… listed as unemployed. Is he on benefits?’

‘If he is, it isn’t paid into this account. But he does receive a regular income from a company called HLE Records. Their offices are in Fareham, so I called by and got chatting to one of the secretaries there. I showed her the bank statement and explained that we were treating Brookes as a missing person. She didn’t ask for any kind of warrant, and was more than happy to tell me that Brookes is one of their artists.’

Kate couldn’t hide the surprise from her voice. ‘Wait, you’re telling me he was a singer? No, wait, is this something to do with his DJ-ing?’

Laura choked back a laugh. ‘No, this is nothing to do with the radio, and he’s not a singer either, but apparently a composer of some sort. Turns out he used to write jingles for them. You know that one for the nappy company? They still play it on the radio today. You must know the one I mean.’

Kate had no idea. ‘Can’t say I do.’

‘Anyway, he wrote the music and receives royalties every time it gets played. He wrote several other pieces of music used in television commercials too, so, every month HLE Records send him royalty payments ranging from two to three grand over the last eighteen months.’

Kate whistled through her teeth. ‘Ever thought you’re in the wrong profession?’

‘Tell me about it.’

‘So, he receives his royalty, pays his rent on time and makes a regular charitable donation. He sounds like a model citizen. What aren’t you telling me?’

‘As I said, he’s made no withdrawals for the last year. In fact the last withdrawal was on the day DC Spencer died.’

‘You’re kidding me!’

‘Nope. In fact he withdrew £300 every day in the week leading up to her death. I don’t know what he was planning to use two grand to buy, but he’s never withdrawn a single penny since.’

‘Two grand’s not a lot to live on in London, especially for a year.’

‘I also ran a search for his name on HOLMES2 for activity here in the south but his name hasn’t come up in any investigations at all. I even spoke to a contact at the hospital and there is no record of him down here at all.’

‘Can you run a check with the credit agencies to see if he has other accounts we’re not aware of?’

‘I can, but if I do, it’ll flag up with both Armitage and DSI Williams. I thought I should play it safe for now.’

‘Yes, you’re right. Damn!’

‘Where are you now?’

‘Still at the leisure centre where Willow Daniels worked. Their security guard has confirmed Brookes was here the day before Willow died. Apparently, he was servicing the centre’s water boilers. He arrived and left in a van. I’ll text you the plate, can you run it and see what name it comes back in? Also, see if you can call in a favour and speak to the Met’s team who monitor traffic cameras in the capital. They should be able to trace the plate and provide a picture of where it’s been and where it currently is.’

‘Okay, will do. Where are you headed next?’

‘I still need to tie him to Roxie O’Brien’s murder. I’m going to go and visit her flatmate and see if she remembers seeing Brookes hanging around. It’s a long shot, but I’ve got to try.’