Sean was glad to note the lack of a self-important speech about rights, hypothetical questions and fairness. Shed stated her business and it was enough.
Mark, Sean continued, you are still under caution, which means you dont have to say anything unless you wish to do so, but if you fail to mention when questioned something that you later rely on in court it may harm your defence. Do you understand? McKenzie just shrugged.
Ive explained all this to Mr McKenzie, said his solicitor, keen to move on.
And anything you do say can be used in evidence, Sean finished. McKenzie said nothing. Ill assume thats also been explained.
Jackson briefly looked up and over the top of her spectacles. It has, she told him, leaving Sean a little unsure who she disliked most him or McKenzie. Had she already done his job for him and browbeaten McKenzie into making a confession? He decided there wasnt enough excitement in the room for that.
Mark, youve been arrested on suspicion of having abducted a four-year-old boy, George Bridgeman, from his home in Hampstead last night. Is there anything you want to tell me about that?
No comment, McKenzie answered, looking Sean square in the face while his solicitor seemed to raise her eyebrows as she stared down at her increasing notes. Was McKenzie going against her advice? And if so why?
Anything at all?
No comment, McKenzie continued, already beginning to sound irritated.
No comment, McKenzie answered, looking Sean square in the face while his solicitor seemed to raise her eyebrows as she stared down at her increasing notes. Was McKenzie going against her advice? And if so why?
Anything at all?
No comment, McKenzie continued, already beginning to sound irritated.
Im sorry, Sean quickly changed tack, are my questions annoying you in some way? Jackson gave him a warning glance.
No comment.
You live in Kentish Town right?
Whats that got to do with anything?
Pretty close to Hampstead, isnt it?
So what?
The boy went missing from Hampstead, from Courthope Road. Have you ever been to Courthope Road, Mark?
No comment.
Did you go there last night?
No comment.
Did you go there because you knew the boy would be there?
No comment.
Did you take the boy, Mark a simple yes or no?
No comment.
Sean leaned back silently for a few seconds before continuing, trying to read the man in front of him trying to crawl inside his mind and see what he saw, feel what he felt but nothing came to him. Keep asking the questions keep asking until the light begins to spill through a chink in his armour. Funny how you answer some questions no problem, but then when its about the missing boy you answer no comment.
Thats his right, Inspector, Jackson was obliged to interrupt.
Of course, Sean insincerely apologized, just an observation that was all. So youve never been to Courthope Road in Hampstead?
I didnt say that, McKenzie corrected him.
So you have been there before?
I didnt say that either.
Then what are you saying?
Perhaps it would be better if you stuck to answering no comment, Jackson advised him.
And Ill ask you again, Sean kept up, have you ever been to Courthope Road or not?
Like my solicitor says, no comment.
Mark, were investigating the disappearance of a very young boy. If youre involved in it then you really need to start answering my questions.
Disappeared? Sure of that, are you?
What dyou mean? Sean asked, caught slightly off guard by McKenzies question.
I mean, have you searched the house properly yet? I know how you police do things slow and steady, step by step, always afraid of missing something.
Its being done as we speak, Sean told him bluntly. But Im sure the boy is missing.
Then maybe his parents did him in and got rid of the body before they called you lot, knowing youd come after someone like me to blame for it.
Is that how you see yourself as a victim?
McKenzie ignored him and shrugged his shoulders, the thin smile still fixed on his face. Or youre right. Someone went into the house and took him took him away right under your nose.
Right under my nose? Sean asked.
Youre a policeman, arent you? Youre supposed to stop things like this from happening.
Was that McKenzies motivation some kind of twisted intellectual vanity? A misguided sense of needing revenge on the police and justice system for all that had happened to him? Take the boy to prove he could get away with murder? I suppose so, Sean played along, but whoever took the boy was obviously extremely smart. They got in and out without leaving a single piece of evidence. McKenzies smile grew a little wider as his eyes grew narrower. Is that why someone took the boy to show us how clever they are?
Maybe.
And is that someone you?
Ha, McKenzie laughed, youll have to do better than that.
This is not a game, Mark. Do you know what your life will be like if anything happens to the boy? Nowhere will be safe for you ever again.
Is that a threat? McKenzie pushed back, making his solicitor look up like a teacher surveying a class of trouble-makers.
No, Sean answered. Its a warning.
Dont patronize me. I know what its like to survive behind bars once they call you a sex offender. You bastards have put me away before, remember? But I survived all right, and I will again if I have to.
But this time itll be child-abduction, Sean warned him. Youll be the scalp everyones looking to take.
Only if you can prove it, McKenzie mocked, stopping Sean dead for a while.
OK, Sean continued after a few seconds, lets move on to something I can prove, and maybe well come back to the missing boy. Earlier today when you were arrested in your flat there was something on your laptop care to tell me what it was?
You know what it was. But I told you I just bought it second-hand. The stuff you saw was already on it.
Come on, Mark, Sean gently encouraged, weve already had a look at it and its clear the obscene images the obscene images of children, Mark were only downloaded seconds before we entered your flat. And seeing as how you were the only person there, it kind of means you had to be the one who downloaded them doesnt it?
Must have been a glitch, or maybe someone downloaded it remotely from somewhere else.
On to your laptop?
Its possible.
Not with your previous its not, Sean told him. Are you aware of Bad Character Evidence? Have you discussed it with your solicitor? McKenzie shrugged while Jackson briefly looked up to shake her head. It means if you rely on a story like that then we can tell the jury all about your previous convictions for downloading other, similar pornography, not to mention your convictions for sexually assaulting children. I really dont think thats going to help your cause.
You cant prove anything.
By the time the specialists at our computer laboratory have examined that laptop, Ill be able to prove plenty.
If you say so.
Youre going back inside, Mark.
I dont think so.
McKenzies misplaced confidence was beginning to irritate him. Well at least weve established one thing that youre a liar. A liar who, even when faced with the truth, still cant be honest. McKenzie squirmed a little in his chair. Everybody in this room knows you downloaded the child pornography yourself and everybody here knows you took the boy. Sally and Jackson now also shuffled uncomfortably in their chairs.
Like I said, McKenzie goaded him, you cant prove anything and you cant save the boy. Youre too late.
What do you mean? Sean asked, as calmly as he could. What do you mean, Im too late?
Thats for me to know and you to find out.
If you know something, you need to tell me.
McKenzies foot tapped fast and repeatedly as his excitement grew. I dont have to tell you anything.
Seans heart burnt with anger at McKenzie and fear for the missing boy, but he wouldnt play McKenzies game any more it was too easy for him to come up with sound-bite answers that might mean something or nothing. Did it feel good? he began, being alone in the street in the middle of the night? Quiet and cold, nothing but the sound of the leaves in the wind. McKenzie stopped tapping his foot and looked Sean in the eyes for almost the first time. Youre good with locks, but it still must have taken a while to get the door open were you scared someone would hear or see you, kneeling outside by the front door? It must have been difficult, working with gloves on, using those fine, small tools, but you had to wear them, because it was cold that night and you needed to stop your fingers from going numb, didnt you? McKenzie squinted and frowned, his thin smile all but gone. And when you finally stepped inside the house, the warmth hitting you in the face, the smell of the family must have been almost more than you could bear did it make you feel dizzy, like you were having a dream?
I dont know what youre talking about, McKenzie interrupted.
What did it feel like, Mark, climbing those stairs towards the boys room walking past his mothers bedroom while she slept knowing you were going to take her baby? Jackson glanced at him, her face betraying that she had children herself, no matter how grown-up they may be now her mothers instinct stopping her from intervening even when she should. Did it make you feel special, Mark? Special like you never feel in everyday life? Did it make you feel powerful?
Guessing, guessing, guessing, McKenzie hissed. All youre doing is guessing.
But why didnt you touch the mother? Is it because youre a coward? Because you were afraid of her afraid to rape a grown woman in case she fought back?
This is going too far, Inspector, Jackson finally interjected.
Which is why it has to be children for you, doesnt it? Sean ignored her, his voice louder than before. But why not the little girl? Is it only little boys that do it for you, Mark?
I think thats enough, Inspector, Jackson insisted, her voice matching his until McKenzie spoke over the top of both of them.
You think youre so clever the police, he spat at them. Fuck the police. I have the power here no one else. I say what happens. We play by my rules no one elses.
You have the power, Mark? Your rules? You seem to be forgetting something.