Design for Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

his attitude. I reported it. We were suspicious of him. I discussed it with the team and it was then decided we should seek a warrant to search his premises.’
    ‘For the scalpel.’
    Paula Gray’s eyes were suddenly watchful. ‘Not specifically, no. Of course not. We had no idea what we might find. As it happened—’
    Sharon held up an imperious hand, stopping her from continuing. ‘One moment. I’m puzzled. Without having any specific reasons for suspecting the accused in the first instance, other than that he was an artist who frequented the area, visited pubs, talked to local women, and was thought by locals to be a bit odd , you were instructed to deliberately make an attempt to speak with him, make his acquaintance … but then found that his conversations were upsetting, but essentially innocent.’
    ‘I didn’t say—’
    ‘The tapes of your conversations weren’t considered useful to the investigation! So one can only presume they would have been nothing more than friendly, innocent banter, perhaps – a man chatting up an attractive woman! Yet on the basis that he failed to think or talk seriously aboutthe murders in the area, a search warrant was obtained to turn over his flat, find something that might link him to the murder of these women?’
    ‘There were other pointers! He stood out in the area, he was always hanging around there, and he fitted the forensic profile information we had! Single, artistic, a loner. We felt there was something odd about Conroy, a coldness, a sort of indifference, something that made us believe he might be the man we were looking for!’
    ‘So a search warrant was obtained, on such flimsy suspicions?’ Sharon shook her head in mock despair. ‘But now tell me, exactly when was the search warrant sought?’
    ‘I’m not sure what you—’
    ‘When was the warrant applied for, in relation to your meetings with the accused? To be more precise, how long after you had personally visited Conroy’s apartment, Detective Constable Gray?’
    There was a brief silence. Paula Gray’s eyes widened. ‘I don’t know what you mean!’
    ‘Surely you know exactly what I mean! What was the lapse of time between your first visit to Conroy’s apartment and the issue of the search warrant?’ Sharon paused, then leaned forward, speaking carefully and clearly. ‘Let me put to you exactly what occurred. Under instructions from your senior officers you, a junior member of the team but perhaps the most attractive one, made the acquaintance of Raymond Conroy casually, in a pub. You met a second time, and struck up a closer friendship. When he later suggested that you go to his flat with him, you agreed. He’s a handsome, unattached man; you’re a good-looking, single woman. This was nothing more than a honey trap!’
    ‘It was nothing of the sort!’
    ‘He did not know you were a police officer. He wasattracted to you. He invited you to his flat. And you agreed, because you had been instructed to find out as much about him as you possibly could. And if you could find out what was wanted, it would mean a success for you, a movement to the detective squad, maybe later promotion, a feather in your cap. And when he made the perhaps inevitable approaches to you, at the apartment, in the call of duty,’ Sharon asserted scornfully, ‘you did not resist.’
    ‘This is rubbish!’ the witness expostulated, but there was fear in her eyes.
    ‘I put it to you, Detective Constable Gray, that in your eagerness to find out more about this man, you got carried away, you succumbed to his advances, you slept with him, not once but several times, and in the course of using his apartment you had occasion to see where and how he worked. You saw that he used a scalpel when working in oils, and when you reported this fact back to your superior officers the decision was made to take out a search warrant. Perhaps, as you suggest, it was to find incriminating evidence in general terms, but also,