by Carol Wyer
‘They lifted her up,’ Natalie repeated, trying to create a picture in her mind of how the killer had transported Hattie, who was about five foot seven. Had they held the woman up, holding her under her armpits, and waddled forward that way? It seemed a difficult way to carry somebody. Why not cradle her in both arms – one arm under her upper body, the other under her knees?
‘We’re trying to work out the logic of that, unless the perpetrator propped her up so they could shut the car door or something.’ Mike said. That made more sense to Natalie.
‘She’s a good five foot nine in her boots and weighs a fraction over sixty kilos, so you’re looking for somebody quite tall – certainly taller than her. Secondly, we examined the smartphone found in the glove box of Hattie’s car. It’s definitely her mobile, and although there’s apparently nothing suspicious on it with regards to contacts, texts or applications, we checked the websites she’d visited and one stood out. It’s an online adult-only dating website.’
Ian sat up straight and threw a meaningful look at Murray, who deflected it with a casual lift of his eyebrows.
‘What’s the name of the website, Mike?’ asked Natalie.
‘Special Ones dot com,’ he replied.
‘Could be significant. We could do with accessing it. Do you know anyone on the hi-tech crime team who can help out?’
There was some hesitation in his voice. ‘Tricky at the moment. There’s a big child porn investigation going on and they’re up to their eyeballs examining seized machines. We’ve only got limited skills up here. I’ll see if I can beg a favour for you.’
‘I’d appreciate that.’
‘I’ll try Ralph. He’s pretty good at this sort of thing and used to work with the hi-tech boys.’
Mike rang off and Natalie looked thoughtfully ahead. Ian had already swivelled back to his screen and was bringing up details of the website. Could this be a lead or a dead end? She didn’t need to instruct her officers. They were already looking into it.
Ian spoke up. ‘It’s only showing the home screen and a few featured profiles. It won’t allow us complete access unless we sign up.’
Lucy was on her mobile during the activity and said, ‘I’ve downloaded the app and checked the site out. It’s quite a simple process to register.’
‘Do you have to pay a joining fee?’ Natalie asked.
‘No. It’s free.’
‘Well, we’ll create a profile then and see if we can find Hattie on the site.’
Natalie reached for her mobile, which was vibrating in her pocket, expecting it to be Mike. It was David.
‘You’re making this personal, aren’t you?’ he said. His voice sounded peevish and his words slurred. She considered the possible retorts and settled for saying nothing. David continued to babble. ‘I asked you to help clear my name because I’m innocent – you of all people should know that – yet all you’ve done is persecute me. I’ve got embroiled in this shit and I shouldn’t be. I only wanted to earn some money. I only put up a fucking card on the board at the university to try and make a living. And now, I’m some sort of person of interest. I don’t deserve this crap. I don’t deserve it!’ His voice had risen and anger had replaced the irritation.
‘I’m not prepared to discuss this on the phone.’
He sighed, a long dramatic sigh. ‘No surprises there, then. That’s your problem, Natalie. You do everything by the fucking book. Oh… and for your information, yes, there was somebody in the house. She was very charming and delightful and the evening was going well until you showed up. I wish you’d stop fucking up my life!’ He slammed down the phone.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tuesday, 20 November – Early Morning
‘Lennox isn’t at the Walsh home in Shropshire,’ said Murray, rubbing his hands over his head. ‘The housekeeper never normally claps eyes on him until the holidays. I’m stumped.’
Natalie looked at the clock. ‘Try Eastview Avenue one more time. They might be home by now. We can’t ignore the fact the boys aren’t answering their phones, especially given what’s happened to their housemates.’
‘I’ll give their mobiles one last go before I leave.’
Ian was attempting to register on the Special Ones website when Ralph, a moon-faced man in his thirties, with a bald head so shiny it looked like it had been freshly waxed and eyes that were full of merriment, appeared. He carried a black bag of equipment in one hand and a Samsung mobile phone in a plastic bag in the other.
‘I hear you need to get onto a dating website,’ he said. His voice was chirpy and bright.
‘Hi, Ralph. Thanks for coming along to sort this,’ said Natalie, rising to her feet.
Ian moved away from his terminal, allowing Ralph to take his place. ‘Cheers, mate. Saves me uploading all my personal information to gain access. It all takes ages.’
‘And it’d be a waste of time. I doubt the site would be able to find you a match,’ Murray replied, straight-faced.
‘Fuck off, not-so-pretty boy!’ Ian growled.
Ralph set to work, punching in codes at a frightening speed.
‘How do you even work out how to do this?’ Lucy asked.
‘It’s a knack,’ Ralph replied without taking his eyes off the lines of code that covered the screen. He moved to the second screen, and several minutes later, he had gained access to SpecialOnes.com and had the site up on both screens. ‘All done. Who are you looking for?’
‘Hattie Caldwell.’
Ralph punched the name in and pursed his lips. ‘Nothing.’ He tried various other combinations to no avail. ‘I don’t think she’s signed up.’
‘If she wasn’t signed up, why was she looking at the website then?’ asked Ian.
Murray stood up and shoved his mobile into his pocket. ‘Maybe she was looking to see what was available.’
‘That seems a bit weird, though, doesn’t it? There are loads of blokes at university for her to meet.’
‘They’re mostly younger than her,’ Murray replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
‘I didn’t get the impression she was bothered about finding a man in her life. She was into charity work and her degree,’ said Ian.
‘I don’t know then, mate. I can’t see any reason to go on the site unless you’re looking for love or a relationship.’ With that, Murray took his leave.
Natalie was wondering the same thing. Why had Hattie looked at the site several times, not the once? ‘If you don’t register, what access do you have to the site?’
‘Only to the featured profiles.’
‘Then she must have been looking at those. Can we find out?’ Natalie asked Ralph.
‘There is a way. Hang on,’ said Ralph, rummaging in his bag and pulling out a lead, which he attached to the mobile he’d brought in. Within a matter of minutes, he’d found the profile Hattie had been looking at. There was only one: a featured profile of a young woman, Maisie Simpson.
Lucy was first to speak. ‘That looks like Gemma.’
‘That’s definitely Gemma’s photo,’ said Natalie. Even from where she stood, there was no mistaking the girl in the profile picture.
‘Okay, let’s see what we’ve got,’ Lucy said, picking up her chair and placing it next to Ralph’s. Maisie’s details were written in bold font under her photograph. Natalie moved closer and watched as they scrolled down. Lucy read aloud what Gemma, AKA Maisie, had written as her introduction: ‘“Don’t be shy… Ask away and I’ll tell you everything. I’m a genuine, fun-loving girl, hoping to meet a man who enjoys travelling, laughter and good times.” Not very original, is it?’
‘Don’t ask me. I’ve never used a dating app or website. There’s more,’ said Ralph, clicking on a green arrow, and Lucy continued.
‘“My friends say I’m warm, compassionate and very sexy. I’m looking for somebody who doesn’t take life too seriously and who is willing to be adventurous. I’m an independent woman with a small business. I work hard and I like to play hard. What about y
ou? Message me your details and maybe we can hook up and get to know each other better. I’d like that.”’
‘That it?’ asked Ian.
‘That’s all, apart from stats: age, height, hair and eye colour, which match Gemma’s description.’
‘What about location?’
‘Only shows she’s from Staffordshire. Doesn’t mention any towns or villages.’
‘But that’s clearly not Gemma. Somebody is pretending to be her,’ said Natalie.
‘Hattie?’ said Lucy.
‘Possibly, although if it were her, she’d have logged into the site as this Maisie person and she didn’t do that. Hattie only looked at Maisie’s profile as an unregistered user. You’re looking for somebody else who created this profile, and I’m afraid I can’t help you with that. I’d need that person’s computer or smartphone,’ said Ralph, packing away his leads. ‘Sorry, that’s all I can do for the moment. I’ll leave you to it. Ring upstairs if you need anything else.’
‘Thanks, Ralph. We appreciate it,’ said Natalie as the man headed towards the door.
Lucy slipped into the vacated seat and immediately began hunting for Gemma’s matches.
Natalie fell into thought. ‘Why didn’t Hattie tell somebody about this?’
‘She was somehow involved,’ suggested Lucy.
Natalie folded her arms, her eyes screwed in concentration. ‘That’s likely… I can’t get a handle on it. This person – this Maisie – isn’t likely to be Gemma herself, is it? After all, it doesn’t add up to what we know about the girl.’
‘Could be. She might have had an agenda. Usually when people do this sort of thing, they’re catfishing.’
‘I can’t see Gemma doing that, can you?’ said Ian.
Natalie kept quiet. Maybe there was something they didn’t know about Gemma. ‘Get hold of her financial records and we’ll talk to Sasha and see what she has to say.’
‘What about the other students in the house?’ Lucy asked.
Natalie nodded. ‘Definitely ask them about this website. Hattie knew about it and maybe the others did too. Look out for any profiles that look like Fran. Maybe she was on the site too. She checked her watch. It was coming up 3 a.m. and she felt energised and keen to continue.
Lucy shifted out of the way to let Ian use the computer she’d been looking at and joined him to scrutinise Gemma/Maisie’s matches. A hush fell over the office. Lucy jotted down names and headed to the far side of the office to search on the police general database for contact details and information about each of Gemma/Maisie’s potential matches. Ian punched in Fran’s name and finding nothing, began pulling up profile after profile, none of which looked like either Fran or Hattie. Natalie drummed a silent beat on her thigh and puzzled over why Gemma would use an alias yet put up her real photograph. This didn’t marry with what she’d discovered about the girl thus far. She couldn’t believe it of her although she knew people kept secrets – spouses, lovers and children. Even her own daughter had kept secrets from her. If she hadn’t, she’d be alive today. A sharp pain pierced her ribcage at the reminder. She couldn’t discount the possibility Gemma had been up to something, however distasteful that seemed. She hoped for Sasha’s sake that this wasn’t the case.
‘It looks like she had three matches,’ Ian said to Natalie, interrupting her thoughts. Lucy’s checking them out now. There are other men Gemma/Maisie’s connected with on the site, but it doesn’t seem as if they communicated beyond the on-site messaging service. When a “Special One” match is made, a symbol appears by each name involved and indicates the couple have contacted each other via telephone or by private email.’
Natalie understood the way it worked. It allowed people to retain a level of anonymity until they were ready to take the relationship one step further and find out more about the person they’d been chatting to.
‘Do you have access to her online chats with men?’
‘Yes, and there’s nothing weird going on. It’s mainly flirty chitchat.’
‘Does she mention she’s a student at all in them?’
‘Not that I have spotted. She talks about running a small shop in a couple of them.’
‘What sort of shop?’
‘Jewellery. She makes and sells jewellery.’
‘Really? Not clothes?’
Ian scrolled through a series of messages. ‘Definitely jewellery. According to this conversation, she’s into design and crafts and claims to have some sort of qualification from a business school in Cardiff.’
Natalie stared at the wall clock, watching the second hand move silently five times. The internal phone rang, breaking into her thoughts. Murray had found the boys, who were back at the house and safe. He’d grilled them about their whereabouts and also broken the news about Hattie.
‘Where the hell were they?’
‘At a friend’s house. They’re still very drunk. Might even have been smoking a bit of dope too.’
‘And they switched off their phones while they were out?’
‘They weren’t switched off. They put them on silent mode.’
‘You believe them?’
‘Yeah. I think they’re telling the truth. Ryan said they needed to get out of the house after what happened to Gemma and Fran. They’ve been drinking for hours. Smell like they have too.’
Natalie told him what they’d discovered about Maisie. ‘Are they able to answer questions?’
‘I think so. I’ll make them drink water to help them sober up.’
‘Can you establish what they know, if anything, about the website and Maisie?’
‘Will do.’
‘If you have any doubts at all, bring them in.’
‘Defo.’
‘Hang on a sec, Murray.’
She called across to Ian, ‘You mentioned she’d probably had three dates. Who are these guys?’
‘Scott Vidal, Felix Conway and Henry Warburton,’ said Lucy. ‘They all check out as real people not fakes. I’ve got contact details for all three.’
‘You got any photos of them?’
‘Yes.’
‘Murray, you still there?’
‘I am.’
‘We’re emailing you pictures of three men who matched with Maisie online. See if the boys recognise any of them. It’s unlikely, especially if this is a fake profile, but double-check all the same.’
‘Roger that.’
Murray rang off and Ian arranged for the photos to be sent. Natalie was satisfied they were making progress. ‘Let’s go through their conversations on the website and then take a couple of hours off to get some rest before we interview each of them.’
Murray stood in the kitchen at 53 Eastview Avenue with Lennox and Ryan. Both were undeniably subdued, and even stone-faced Ryan was slumped over the table, head in his hands.
‘I don’t understand what is happening,’ he said, his voice flat.
Grey-faced Lennox hadn’t moved from beside the sink since Murray had told them Hattie had been found dead. He’d clawed at the side of the Formica top to steady himself and been unable to move away, in spite of Murray suggesting he sit down.
‘We’ve discovered Gemma might have been using a dating website and an alias, “Maisie”. Do you know anything at all about that, Ryan?’
He rubbed his knuckles against his cheeks. The shock seemed to have sobered him up. ‘Nothing at all. She certainly never mentioned it to me. Why would she do that? She didn’t need to join a dating website.’ He pushed himself back in his seat. ‘That’s crazy. She had blokes eating out of her hands, on campus and at Chancer’s Bar. She wasn’t short of male attention. Why would she go online to find a date?’
Murray had wondered the very same thing, but instead of answering, he turned his attention to a glassy-eyed Lennox, who’d released the kitchen top and had clamped his hands under his armpits.
‘Lennox?’
He shook himself back to reality. His speech was slightly slurred. ‘Erm… no. She never said a word to me
about it.’
‘What about either of the other girls? Did they say anything to you about a dating website?’
‘No.’
‘Does the name Maisie Simpson mean anything to either of you?’
‘No,’ said Ryan. ‘Never heard of her.’
‘Me neither,’ said Lennox.
‘What about strangers? Have there been any visitors to the house or anyone suspicious hanging about outside over the last couple of weeks?’
There were further denials and head shaking.
‘Do you recognise any of these men?’ he asked, pulling out pictures of the three men they thought Gemma/Maisie might have dated.
Ryan lifted each picture slowly and scrutinised them, his eyes covering every detail of each man’s features, but returned them with a shrug. ‘No.’
Lennox was less thorough with his examination but equally sure he hadn’t seen any of the men.
‘I’m going to ask you to remain here. I understand the university is shut temporarily but I’d still like you to stay in the house and leave your phones on.’
‘We’re not in any danger, are we?’ asked Ryan.
Although only girls had been targeted up to this point, Murray couldn’t answer with any certainty. ‘I’d suggest you keep the front door locked and don’t allow strangers to enter.’
Ryan’s jaw jutted. ‘I can handle myself.’
‘It would be wiser to remain inside for now, and if you go out, make sure you are not alone.’
Lennox kept his hands tucked in place. His voice held a tremor as he spoke and Murray realised he was actually frightened. ‘You sure we’re not going to be targeted next?’
‘Keep the doors locked and ring us if you are concerned about anything.’
Back in the office, Lucy had gathered information on the three men who had matched with Gemma/Maisie and met up for a date. Natalie was keen to know if any of them could throw some light on who this person actually was.
