"We have both good news and bad news on the investigation front," Robertson informed her.
Charlie sat back in her chair to give them her full attention. She knew she wasn't going to like what he had to say.
"The good news is that we've identified our mystery man who paid off the doctor and hired Jessie Devereaux," Robertson told her.
"Who is he?"
"Sean McQueen, head of security for one of the Rosetta's main businesses."
"Shouldn't identifying him have been quicker than it was since he's so closely associated to the Rosettas?" asked Charlie. She knew the Rosettas and any known associates of theirs were the first people Robertson and Graves looked into.
"He's new in the job, at least publically," Graves said. "We're pretty sure this guy generally works behind the scenes and has only now become more public, which was why it took a little longer to identify him."
"If we now have a connection to the Rosettas, then what's the bad news?" Charlie said.
"We'll start from the beginning," Robertson said. "Once we identified the man in the composite sketch, we went and paid a visit to him in the city and he was quite forthright with his answers."
"Well rehearsed," translated Graves. "He had answers for it all."
"He admits to paying our good Dr Dickhead for medical services rendered to him personally, even had the paperwork and medical record to show this, but he denies asking the doctor to fake a medical report for Miss Scott, denies even knowing a Bianca Scott and he also denies making that rather large contribution to the doctor's bank account. Now, we've had forensic accountants going through Bianca Scott's, Jessie Devereaux's and the doctor's bank accounts, but so far, tracing the large deposits made into those particular accounts, is proving somewhat problematic," Robertson said. "Each deposit came from a different source, most likely shell corporations to mask that they come from the one place, which makes it damn hard, if not impossible, to pin it down to a specific source. The only thing we do know, is that the payments didn't come from any of Angelo's accounts or Sean McQueen's."
"McQueen was even kind enough to hand over all his bank statements, just in case we were in any doubt about his word," Graves said. "We didn't even need a warrant."
Which told Charlie that this McQueen guy was very confident that they wouldn't find anything incriminating.
"What about Angelo's parents' accounts then, since this McQueen guy is their employee?" asked Charlie.
Robertson answered that one. "We've had no luck with warrants on his parents' accounts and won't unless we can get something to tie them to the cover up."
"Doesn't McQueen tie them to it?"
"He is only their employee, whereas we have Angelo's confession that he was the one who dropped Miss Scott off that day and he was the one who then took the car to be fixed," Robertson said. "And he's made no mention of McQueen at all."
"But if McQueen was also the guy who hired the actress to pose as Bianca, then somebody, either Angelo or his parents, had to have been behind it," Charlie said. "Because I doubt this McQueen guy just did it out of the goodness of his heart."
"That's more of the bad news," replied Robertson. "After we identified McQueen, we showed his photo to the doctor and Miss Devereaux's agent. The doctor confirmed that he was the man who he now claims to have only treated for a medical issue, but the agent isn't so sure if he's the same man who hired Miss Devereaux's services or not. Thinks the guy he spoke to had a bigger nose and perhaps blue eyes, not green, or some such nonsense."
"He's obviously lying," Graves said. "Since the composite sketch and accompanying description he identified the guy from earlier, was very close to the photo we showed him today."
"They got to him," muttered Charlie. Then she added, "To them both."
"So it would seem," Robertson said in agreement. "And now it makes it hard to prove that there ever was any cover up at all on the Rosetta's part, besides Angelo getting his car fixed."
"A lawyer could just argue that it was Bianca Scott who arranged for someone to hire Jessie to go to the bank in her stead, because she didn't want to get caught since she was in hiding over the hit and run accident," added Graves.
"Same goes for the fake medical report," Robertson said. "To test a theory, we showed the doctor a photo of Bianca Scott and a photo of Jessie Devereaux and surprise, surprise, the doctor is now claiming that he saw Jessie Devereaux in the guise of Bianca Scott and that she was the woman the medical report belonged too." He shrugged his shoulders. "So now he's denying that there was ever a faked medical file and he's complaining that it's not his fault if she was the one who lied to him about her identity."
"He already made a statement though, that a man paid him to fake the report and that he never actually saw anyone called Bianca Scott," Charlie said.
"According to him, that was a miscommunication with our Kiwi colleagues who had a word to him when he was over there and that wasn't an official statement on his part."
"What about putting pressure on him," suggested Charlie. "There's still going to be an investigation into his professional conduct, isn't there, so use that against him." She knew she was starting to sound desperate and in a way, she was. It felt like the investigation was falling apart.
"The doctor returned to the country late last night with the sole purpose of putting in his notice of resignation and cancelling his medical licence to practice," Robertson said. "So the Medical Board isn't going to waste precious resources and funding on an investigation into a soon to be former doctor, when they've already got the result they wanted; him gone."
"He quit, just like that?"
Graves nodded. "With his already questionable record of misconduct, once he got word of yet another investigation about to take place, he most likely knew the end result would have seen him struck off the medical registry and so he got in first by quitting," she said. "And since his medical career is now over, it really doesn't come as a great shock that he's now so willing to lie to us and it also won't come as any great surprise if he comes into more money a little further down the track. Only this time, I think he'll be a little more careful to keep his payoff hidden, before he probably disappears to somewhere a little further than New Zealand."
"This is just total bullshit," Charlie muttered.
"Of course it is, but it's now become a matter of what we can prove and what defence lawyers could twist their way," Robertson said. "There's strong evidence that shows Bianca Scott was a blackmailer, which makes painting her as someone who would flee the scene of an accident and then use subterfuge and lies to cover it up, a hell of a lot easier. There's also her prints on the steering wheel of Angelo's car which lends some weight to his version of events. And now we have two of our main witnesses contradicting their earlier statements. By doing so, they've effectively discredited themselves as reliable witnesses."
"Yeah, how do we prove which statement they told was the truth and which was the lie," pointed out Graves. "And even if they retracted their latest statements and went back to their original ones, it doesn't really matter, because it's still the same problem," Graves said. "As of now, their credibility as witnesses is all but shot."
"It may have been the intention from the start to have the Doctor and agent to say one thing, then change their mind so as to conveniently cast them as unreliable witnesses or it may just have been that this cover up was done on the run and they've been forced to seek out anyone we speak to and offer them certain incentives to change their recollection of events." Robertson shrugged. "At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, because it's had the same affect. They've probably managed to create enough doubt to be a defence lawyers dream."
"Then the cover up is working," Charlie muttered unhappily. "And now we're not only no closer to getting Angelo on the hit and run, we're also no closer to finding out what happened to Bianca then either, are we?" She caught the glance between Robertson and Graves. "Or are we?"
"Mr McQueen has been so very accommodating to us," Robertson sarcastically said. "First with his bank statements and then with his willingness for us to know his movements since the day of the accident. Even turned over his car to help us with this, since it has a nav tracking system installed for business purposes." He pulled out a map and laid it on Charlie's desk. Charlie saw that it was a map of the city. "It showed that on the day that Angelo left the scene of the accident and fled to the city, McQueen was stationary in this area for at least an hour." He pointed to the map.
"What's there?"
"Nothing really, except for some abandoned warehouses that are waiting to be demolished," Graves said. "Angelo's car doesn't have a tracking system so we can't place him there, but when you look here," she said, pointing to another spot on the map. "It's barely five blocks from the garage where Angelo took his car in for repairs."
"And the timing of McQueen's arrival at these warehouses, fits in with how long it would have taken for Angelo to get there from Summer Bay," Robertson informed her. "This is the place where we believe Angelo's boot suddenly became so spotless."
"So if Bianca is dead, then they likely buried her somewhere there?" Charlie said.
"Possible, but if Miss Scott was killed, then her body could have been dispensed of with anywhere between here and the city," he replied. "However, our current working theory is that if there was a body in Angelo's boot, then McQueen was the one who dispensed of her." He pointed to another area on the map. "After his stop at the warehouse district, he headed straight to here."
"And here is?" asked Charlie.
"McQueen and Son's Crematorium," replied Graves.
"Oh fuck."
"Sean McQueen's family run Crematorium," Robertson added for extra emphasis.
"They cremated Bianca's body?" Charlie said with sickening horror.
"If she was killed, then that's a very likely scenario," said Graves. "I'd say he met up with Angelo, transferred the body to his car, cleaned the blood from Angelo's boot, then Angelo took his car in for repairs, while McQueen took the body to the crematorium."
"None of this can be proven though, can it?" Charlie said, feeling so disheartened by these latest developments.
"We can prove McQueen stopped his car, then went to the crematorium, which is obviously pretty easy for him to explain away since visiting your father at work isn't a crime," Robertson replied. "I daresay that was also why he was so confident in turning over his car to us. He knew where it would lead us, but he also knew that no one at the Crematorium would talk, just like he knew we wouldn't find anything in his car. It was clean. We'll have forensics go over it but I'm doubtful we'll find anything useful. He would have had plenty of time to put protective plastic down before Angelo arrived with the body."
"The guy was smirking the whole time we were talking to him," muttered Graves. "If you think Angelo is a smug prick, he's got nothing on McQueen." Charlie was surprised by the heat and animation in the normally softly spoken young Detective. "That bastard wanted us to know all about the crematorium and what likely happened to Bianca," she said. "It was his way of letting us know that we're just wasting our time, because he knows Bianca won't be found and that we can't prove any of it. We can't even prove that Bianca Scott is dead and if her body is now ashes, then we likely never will."
"Unfortunately, my young colleague is right," Robertson said. "Without a body or some evidence that she met with foul play, then there is nothing to say that Miss Scott didn't just run away and is now in hiding somewhere right at this moment."
"All we have are unreliable witnesses and theories with no real solid proof to back it up," concluded Graves.
"Then Angelo has won," Charlie said and she slumped in her chair. "He really is going to get away with this."
"We're not giving up on this just yet," Robertson assured her, though Charlie noted he didn't seem as confident as he had in the past.
"Unless someone talks or new evidence turns up, then what are the chances of success in this case as things stand now?" asked Charlie.
Angelo zipped up his pants as he gazed at the naked redhead in his bed. After offering to help her with her shopping, it hadn't taken long for him to charm her, then get her into bed. She had been so much better than the whores he'd been forced to endure lately. It was almost like she was a pro herself and he could feel himself getting hard just thinking about what they'd just done together.
He pulled on his uniform shirt. "This has been fun," he said to her.
"Angelo, please don't tell anyone about this," she pleaded with him.
Her faced was etched with regret and guilt, but he didn't care. This was about him, not her and now he had her right where he wanted. He needed to know what was happening and since he knew he'd get nothing directly from the Detectives, he hoped the next best thing was to use this woman to get it for him from that silly young Graves.
"That depends," he said.
"On what?" she asked warily.
"On whether I can see you again or not." He'd get to the other part that he needed from her later, but for now, he wanted her to think it was just about the sex.
"This should never have happened in the first place."
"But it did happen," he said. He sat on the bed and ran his hand over her naked hip. "And even you have to admit the last hour was pretty fucking great."
"I'm seeing someone else though."
"Yeah, I know." He grinned cockily. "Bet you can't tell me that that Graves chick satisfied you as much as I just did."
"I'm not in the habit of comparisons," she said. "But for your information, last night was very satisfying for me."
"Yet here you are, in my bed, flushed and satisfied after climaxing multiple times on my cock."
"This was a mistake," she said.
"Well, too late, it's happened and I'd like for it to happen again."
"I told you, I'm already seeing someone."
"And I have a wife, but that doesn't stop her screwing another woman and it's not like you have some big love or anything with Graves. It's a casual fling before you soon go your separate ways."
"True, but she doesn't like cheating of any sort and I feel bad about deceiving her."
"You've already cheated, so what does it matter if we do it again?"
"True also."
"And no one need know about us."
"Provided I keep seeing you."
He cupped her breast and the nipple stood to attention. He smiled. "Your body has answered for you." He squeezed her breast hard, before grabbing his keys. "Feel free to make use of the place," he told her. "I'll see you later, Shannon." He said those last words more as a command than a farewell.
"This job is actually proving to be even more fun than I expected," she chuckled to the now closed door. Using and manipulating people always gave her a perverse sense of enjoyment, which often translated into even hotter sex or at times, made the sex much more bearable when it came to certain people. She reached for her phone and dialled. "I'm as close as I can get to both sides," she said. "It won't take much longer."