“You’d have to be,” said Longstaff, “with marks like they had.”
Shona Pearson nodded. “Although they were aware of each other, they didn’t socialise. Apparently they moved in different circles.”
“Well, something brought them all together,” said Reilly.
Gardener pinned the photos onto the whiteboard. “So what we need to find out is, how and when did they all meet up outside of university?”
“And what set them on the road to breaking the law?” asked Colin Sharp.
“And whatever that something was,” said Gates, “did it happen to all four of them as a team, or just one of them?”
“Good point,” said Reilly. “Did one of them recruit the others after something had happened?”
Gardener shook his head. “I can’t imagine David Hunter willingly having anything to do with this… event, or whatever it was. He didn’t seem the type from what we’ve heard.”
“But that’s just it, boss,” said Reilly, “we don’t really know him, not yet. Maybe something did happen way back in the past, and either one or all of them has never forgiven him.”
“We certainly need to find out,” said Gardener. “There’s no telling where this will end.”
“We’ve also emailed the photos over to the station,” said Pearson. “We thought maybe you could print off some copies for your own use.”
“Thank you,” said Gardener, his mind whirring.
Before he could actually issue any tasks, Shona Pearson produced more paper from the folder.
“What we also have here from David Hunter’s phone is Anthony Palmer’s mobile number.”
“Have you tried it?”
“Yes, straight to voicemail,” said Pearson. “From that we managed to get numbers for the other three.”
An air of excitement prevailed.
“Don’t suppose any of them answered?” asked Reilly.
“No, but they are still active numbers, because they all go to voicemail.”
“I suspect you’ve already tried to trace them?” Gardener asked.
Shona Pearson smiled. “Yes, but they’re not stupid. All of their phones are switched off most of the time. And when I say most, I mean probably twenty-three and a half hours a day.”
“Meaning they only switch them on to collect messages and then switch them straight off again
,” said Gates.
“People as clever as these won’t allow anyone to trace them through their phones,” said Longstaff. “What about the mobile providers, can they give us anything?”
“Well that’s the strange one,” said Pearson, “we can’t actually find out who they are at the moment. Everything seems to re-route all over the place. When we try to put a trace on we just get blocked.”
“They must have a provider,” offered Gardener.
“Unless they’ve figured out how to get all their calls for free,” said Reilly.
Gardener nodded. “Probably have.” He glanced at Gates and Longstaff. “Would you ladies like to have a go at that one?”
They agreed in unison.
“Okay,” said Gardener, “we have no idea where this lot is; are they still here in the UK, or abroad somewhere? Let’s have copies of the photos and the rest of you back at the airports with digital ID. Run everything they have through photo recognition, especially the new passport system in customs, and double-check everything through CCTV. One of them must have made a mistake somewhere. No one can be that good.”