Buried Secrets: The Freeman Files Series: Book 11 by Ted Tayler (that summer book TXT) 📕

“That’s fine by me,” said Gus. “All things being equal, I’ll arrive home by half-past five. If something crops up to change that, I’ll call you.”

Suzie blew Gus a kiss and got in her car, He followed her Golf through the gateway, and they travelled into Devizes in convoy. When Suzie turned into the London Road HQ, Gus spotted Vera Butler walking to work from her cottage. He waved, but Vera was studying the pavement.

Thirty minutes later, Gus eased the Focus between Blessing Umeh’s Micra and Luke Sherman’s motor. He was the last to arrive.

When Gus entered the office, Blessing stood up and brought a folder to his desk.

“I imagine this is the fruit of your labours, Blessing,” said Gus.

“It’s the fruit of Divya’s labours with a little help from me,” said Blessing.

“Okay, everyone,” said Gus. “Blessing’s ready to give her report.”

“Me, guv?” asked Blessing.

“DC Umeh, if you wish to become a DS one day, you need to be prepared to present your work in front of senior officers, and convince them you are ready for promotion. Practice makes perfect, DC Umeh. Carry on.”

Blessing posted copies of the nine photographs they were interested in on a whiteboard.

“The same device took these photographs,” said Blessing. “A Nikon D1; the first fully integrated digital SLR camera. It had a 2.7-megapixel sensor and provided 4.5 frames per second shooting—a respectable speed even today. These photos haven’t changed since the day they got taken. Nobody Photoshopped them.”

“When did that camera come on the market?” asked Neil.

“Six months before that first photograph in Egypt,” said Blessing.

“How can you be certain that they came from the same device?” asked Lydia.

“A small chip contained within all digital cameras tracks the metadata of that device,” said Blessing. “They’re known as Charge-Coupled Device chips. CCD chips are light-sensitive circuits that come with minor factory flaws unique to the individual CCD chip.”

“What did Divya include in your report?” asked Alex.

“There should be plenty to satisfy what we need in this case review,” said Blessing. “If we find our killer and need additional detail when the case gets to court, we only have to shout. Divya’s given us camera settings, such as ISO speed, shutter speed, focal length, aperture, white balance, and lens type. We know the make and model of the camera. We now have the date and time relevant for each photograph. In eight out of nine cases, the location was obvious. The last photo was the one that could prove to be the most significant. We’ve identified the location. Alan Duncan took this photograph at the Moscow Zoo in the Presnensky District on Saturday the eleventh of May in 2004.”

“Do we know the exact date that Alan Duncan left the Royal Navy?” asked Gus.

“The thirtieth of June, guv,” said Alex.

“Duncan must have known he was leaving the service in seven weeks,” said Alex. “How much notice do you have to give?”

“Twelve months,” said Luke. “I checked last night. The Navy can make you stay the full term if they wish. We would need to check with them whether they let Alan Duncan go earlier.”

“It’s safe to assume that Alan Duncan took that picture,” said Blessing. “The time in the Exif file recorded it at two-fifteen in the afternoon, which gels with the St Basil’s picture of Alan Duncan himself. The camera settings were the same, and the time recorded that photograph at eleven forty-five in the morning that day.”

“Duncan and our mystery man visited several of the typical tourist attractions in the Russian capital,” said Gus. “Where were his submariner friends?”

“Could Divya identify Alan Duncan’s companion?” asked Lydia.

“Yuri Kovalev,” said Blessing. “He was twenty-seven at the time of that photo. Divya found his profile on the usual social media sites, but it proved impossible to discover his current or past occupations. He was born in Moscow in 1977 and left University in 1998. Yuri is an only child whose parents died in a car crash in 2007. His hobbies are learning foreign languages and running.”

“That sounds manufactured,” said Neil.

“Like ninety percent of social media profiles,” said Lydia.

“How did they meet?” asked Gus. “Don’t bother, Blessing. We can’t expect you to know.”

“I don’t think Bob and Elizabeth Duncan will know either, guv,” said Alex. “The running could be a clue. Perhaps they bumped into one another.”

“That’s not as daft as it sounds,” said Luke. “The district where the Zoo is based straddles the Moskva river. According to Trip Advisor, there are several great runs on both sides of the river. As Gus said though, where were Smudger, Taff and the others? Did Alan Duncan visit Moscow alone? If so, why? We need to talk to the submariners in these photographs.”

“Can Bob Duncan tell us which of Alan’s mates were in that missing photograph from Happy Valley?” asked Lydia. “We need to get him to pick them out from the photos we have.”

“That might be a stretch,” said Gus. “Let’s try something else first. Blessing, take us through the photographs in date order, please?”

“The first one was from December 1999 in the Valley of the Kings,” she said. “The men present with Alan Duncan were Taff, Smudger, Andy, and Gooner.”

“Taff, or Max Hughes, should be our first contact, Luke. I think he appeared in every photo,” said Gus. “If Bob can’t help with the names from Happy Valley, then Max Hughes will.”

“Max should be able to tell us who took the photo too,” said Alex.

“Got it,” said Luke.

“The gang visited Sydney in August of the following year,” said Blessing. “This picture under the Harbour Bridge got taken on the ninth. The only change is that Lofty replaced Gooner.”

“Perhaps they took it in turns to take the photos,” said Lydia.

“It could be as simple as that, guv,” said Neil.