Hope to Die

‘In with the boss,’ says Ev as she passes him on her way back from the coffee machine. ‘I just saw him go in.’

‘Ah, right,’ says Hansen, already in retreat. ‘I’ll see if I can find DS Quinn.’

Everett eyes him. ‘Is it important?’

Hansen nods. ‘Yes, I think so.’

‘Then DS Gislingham will want to know. And Fawley will want to know.’ She smiles. ‘And in any case, why shouldn’t you get the credit? You’ve got to learn to blow your own trumpet a bit more, young Hansen.’

She smiles again, then goes on her way. Hansen, left to himself, takes a breath, squares his shoulders a little, then forces himself the few last yards to Fawley’s door.

* * *

Adam Fawley

23 October

10.20

Thomas Hansen looks like he’s been sent to the headmaster for talking in class. I’m all for having an air of authority, but I’d like to think I’m a bit more approachable than that.

‘Sorry to bother you, sir.’

‘That’s fine, Hansen. What is it?’

‘DS Gislingham said you wanted more info on the Swanns. I’ve been doing some digging.’

Gis and I exchange a glance. Promising? He wouldn’t be here otherwise.

‘What’ve you got?’ says Gis.

Hansen looks down at his notebook. ‘Gantry Manor isn’t actually owned by the Swanns – not directly. It belongs to a company called Alder Properties Ltd. Richard Swann is the main shareholder.’

‘OK. So where were the Swanns before?’

‘Ah, that’s where it got interesting. I couldn’t find them.’

Gis frowns. ‘What the hell does that mean?’

‘I couldn’t find any record of them living anywhere else. In fact, I couldn’t find any record of them at all.’

That bell that’s been ringing ever since I saw the Swanns? It’s clanging even louder now.

Thomas looks at Gis and then at me. ‘So I checked with DVLA. I mean, I knew he must have a licence, with that SUV out the front. And that’s when I realized what must have happened – I was staggered there’s no sort of central record of this stuff, but I’ve checked and I’m definitely right –’

‘Spit it out, Hansen,’ says Gis. ‘We haven’t got all day.’

Hansen swallows. ‘They changed their name. The Swanns. By deed poll. I mean, who does that, apart from Mafia?’

Gis gapes at him. ‘They changed their name? When?’

‘Just before they moved here, 2004. Their real name is –’

‘Rowan,’ I say, as it all finally falls into place. ‘Their name is Rowan. Dick and Peggy Rowan. At least, that’s who they used to be.’

Gis is staring at me. ‘Holy fuck,’ he says.

Hansen clearly has no idea what we’re talking about. Then again, the trial was fifteen years ago. He was probably still in short trousers.

Gis glances at him, not unkindly. ‘Google “Camilla Rowan”,’ he says.

Hansen scrabbles for his mobile. A moment later he’s raised his eyes to look at me. He’s gone rather pale.

‘They’re her parents?’

I nod. ‘You wanted to know why they changed their name? Well, there’s your answer. And frankly, who can blame them.’

* * *

Camilla Rowan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Camilla Rowan (born 30 September 1980), a former physiotherapist from Gloucestershire, England, is serving a life sentence for the 1997 murder of her newborn baby. She served the first years of her sentence in HMP Holloway, London, but when that prison closed in 2016 she was transferred to HMP Heathside, an adult female/closed category prison in Esher, Surrey. She was born in Gloucester, England, to Richard (‘Dick’) Rowan, a property developer (born 1944), and his wife, Margaret (known as Peggy), née Cummings (born 1950). The family lived in Shiphampton, and Rowan attended Burghley Abbey, a prestigious private girls’ school. Rowan vehemently denied killing her child at her 2003 Old Bailey murder trial, but the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty, and Justice Sir Jacob Gordon sentenced her to life, with a recommended minimum term of seventeen years.[1] Rowan’s legal team have lodged various appeals against her conviction, and the Criminal Cases Review Commission reassessed the case in 2016,[2] after the journalist John Penrose conducted a re-examination of the evidence as part of the documentary series Infamous, which aired on Netflix in March 2016.[3]

Adam Fawley

23 October

10.29

‘There was a Netflix show about the case, wasn’t there?’ says Gis. ‘Couple of years ago?’

I nod. Alex watched it, but I tuned out most of the time. Too much like hard work. Or actual work. But there are some things I remember, things I hadn’t taken much notice of at the time. Like how mercilessly the Rowans were pursued after the verdict, and not just by the press. The abuse they suffered, the vandalism, and – far more important, given where we are now – the lengths all that finally pushed them to.

I glance up at Gis, and it’s obvious from his face he’s remembering the same thing.

‘So what do you think – could the vic be another journo?’