Something In The Air

Chapter 9 - Office Space

They took the tube into central London, first the Central Line before changing at Liverpool Street for the Hammersmith & City Line which would take them to Euston Square. From there it would be a short walk to the compact, picturesque grounds of University College London. They'd left the pub in silence, both men lost deep in their own thoughts, but now the discussion was in full flow, toned down to hushed whispers so that they wouldn't be eavesdropped by the other passengers.

"This man in the cap... he must be the guy we're looking for," Leon muttered. "Declan Fry meets a stranger in the pub and a few minutes later he's brutally killed. It's too much of a coincidence not to be."

Maddox nodded in agreement having reached the same conclusion already. "You're right, it does seem suspicious. Who's to say he was a stranger though? Maybe Declan Fry already knew him? Also I don't think we can assume he was the guy who actually killed Fry, at least not directly."

"What do you mean?" Leon asked, staring at him with curiosity.

Maddox leaned across a bit further so that Leon would hear him clearly. "The barmaid said the man left the pub five minutes after Fry did. We saw how quick Fry was in and out of the corner shop – he couldn't have been in there for more than thirty seconds. It's also just across the street from the pub."

"I know that. So what?"

"So Declan Fry should have been way off down the street and out of sight by the time this other guy left. At the very least, he should have got further than the bridge where he was attacked."

"The man ran after him then?"

Maddox pulled a face. "Very unlikely, I'm afraid."

"Why?" Leon huffed, folding his arms.

"To have attacked him on the bridge like that he would have needed the element of surprise, and as we saw from the CCTV in the corner shop Fry was ridiculously on edge after leaving the pub, constantly observing his surroundings and checking his shoulder. If the man who he'd just walked away from was sprinting at him from behind, murder in his eyes, I think he would have noticed and fled himself. As you told me at the casino night, it had also been raining that evening and there were puddles on the ground, so any footsteps would have been amplified."

"Surely that applies to anyone else who might have attacked him though?"

"It does," Maddox nodded, "But as long as Fry didn't view them as a threat, they would've been able to walk right up to him without him doing anything. My bet is that he was so busy checking his back that he didn't notice what was going on in front and that's where the attacker came from."

"So we're looking for two suspects now, not just one?" Leon sighed.

"An attacker and an instigator," Maddox agreed. "The man in the cap was just the instigator, and I've got a couple of other reasons why I'm led to believe this."

"Go ahead, I feel like you're going to tell me anyway," Leon said drily. "Don't let me stop you from feeding your ego."

Maddox smiled; Leon having been absolutely right, of course. "The first reason is simple really: the phone call that he made after Declan Fry had left. He was calling an associate - of that I have no doubt - giving him the order to attack and, most likely, kill Fry. It's not just two suspects we're facing now, I'm afraid, but a pre-meditated murder charge to boot. If the man in the cap had been planning to kill Fry himself, he would have left immediately and not wasted time with the phone call."

"And the next reason?"

"The barmaid didn't give us much of a description of the man in the cap, but she did say he was slight of build. I've found pictures of Declan Fry online and while he was no means a Homer Simpson, he wasn't exactly slender either. To have thrown him over the bridge would have taken some degree of force."