The Other Killer

by Noelle Holten

  ‘I’ll let everyone know you’re here.’

  ‘Great.’ Kate began to set up her PowerPoint presentation. She felt calm as the familiar faces started to shuffle their way into the room.

  DI Rutherford stood at the front of the room and did the basic introductions before handing the floor over to Kate and leaving. ‘Thank you, DI Rutherford and welcome all. I’m here to talk to you about geographical profiling. In the simplest of terms, this type of profiling uses the locations of connected crimes to guess where an offender’s anchor point is. Sorry, I know I am using foreign terms, but I’ll try and explain what I mean as I go.’ Kate took a sip of water.

  ‘The anchor point is either the offender’s residence, place of employment or some other relevant connection to the person. Simply put, it’s the place from which the offender leaves to commit a crime, returns to after committing a crime, or both. Geographical profiling is most often used for murder or rape cases, but is not exclusive to this.’ The room was silent as everyone took notes.

  Kate continued with her PowerPoint presentation and talked them through a few familiar patterns. PC Kat Everett raised her hand.

  ‘I don’t mean to sound thick, but don’t we already do this stuff? We use maps, flag up significant places, try and link the patterns.’

  ‘You’re right, Kat – in a way. It’s how you analyse the information. For instance, to create a profile you may need to know how far the offender is willing to travel to commit an offence and whether they had a vehicle, just walked or took a bus. They may want to separate their home life from their criminal life so use their workplace as the point from which they go out and offend.’

  ‘So, if an offender doesn’t have a vehicle, and has to rely on public transportation, the more restricted they will be in terms of where they’ll offend. Is that what you mean?’ Kat queried.

  ‘That’s exactly it. The person isn’t going to travel miles by bus to locate their victim, and what if the body needs to be moved? A level of planning would be involved.’ Kate paused. ‘So, in your current case,’ she looked at Nathan and Maggie, ‘and the body parts.’ She brought up a slide that showed a map of the area, with the dump sites flagged. ‘Because the parts were found some distance apart, I think we can assume the killer has a vehicle and is familiar with many areas in Staffordshire.’ Pulling out a clear acetate sheet, Kate held it up to the map on the screen. She connected the body dump sites and drew a circle in the middle of the map. Everyone leaned forward. ‘This.’ She tapped the screen. ‘Is your anchor point. Do you have any persons of interest who reside or work in this area?’

  Maggie looked at the map. Crinlock Chase. ‘It doesn’t sound familiar. But we’ll have to do some digging and see.’ She wrote the name on her notepad.

  ‘Well …’ Kate noticed DI Rutherford return to the room and clapped her hands together louder than she had intended. She looked down at the last slide she had to deliver. ‘I see we’re nearly out of time so I’ll make sure these arrive in your inboxes as soon as I can. Have a think about the anchor point I’ve identified and come back to me if you have any more questions.’

  DI Rutherford smiled. ‘I’d like to thank you, Dr Moloney, on behalf of my team and the domestic abuse unit. I’m sure you’ve left everyone with a lot of food for thought.’

  ‘Thank you, DI Rutherford. It was my pleasure. Just before I go – I do have a contact within the geographical profiling team – so let me know if I can be of further assistance.’

  Kate caught the glint in Maggie’s eyes and knew that she would probably send her a page full of questions – they were so similar at times, it made her laugh. The more time she spent with Maggie and the murder team, the more she was interested in this aspect of police work. She was beginning to feel that she had offered all she could to the DAHU and with the secondment for her post finishing at the end of the year, a discussion with her boss and DI Rutherford might be on the cards soon.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Maggie’s brain was buzzing as she walked out of the training room. The whole session was something that she planned on putting to use, especially now they had a specific area to focus on. Ahead of her, she noticed PC Kat Everett chatting with some officers.

  ‘Kat! Sorry to just butt in. Do you have a few minutes?’

  ‘Of course. I’ve been meaning to call you but with all the shit going on, I figured you’d be swamped.’

  Maggie smiled. ‘How’s the detective training going?’

  ‘Fuck me, it’s hard – but I’m loving it. I’m on the fast track programme, so I only have a couple of weeks left.’ Kat grinned.

  ‘What happens when you finish?’ Maggie moved to the side of the corridor to let people through.

  ‘If you have a few minutes, we could grab a coffee and have a chat. My mouth is as dry as a fucking bone.’

  ‘Sounds good. I noticed an empty office around the corner.’ Calling past the kitchen to make coffee, the pair entered the room and made themselves comfortable. Maggie updated Kat on the situation at home with her brother.

  ‘That’s great to hear. It looks like you’re a good influence on him.’

  ‘I still have my moments, but I have to trust him. Otherwise I could push him into it, if you know what I mean?’

  ‘Totally get that. Addiction is fucking so hard. How’s it working with Kate again? I’ve been trying to pick her brains on your case, but she’s shtum.’ Maggie was pleased to hear that. With Kate not working officially for the murder team, any leaks to the press would first be attributed to her.

  ‘She’s a big help, but a lot of the stuff she has been doing has been effectively on her own personal time, so we don’t want her to burn out either.’

  ‘Burn out?’ Kat laughed. ‘She’s a fucking machine. In fact, you two are like peas in a pod.’

  ‘Well don’t follow our example, or you’ll burn out before you even start. Have you given any thought to where you want to be when you finish the training?’

  ‘I’m really enjoying the domestic abuse team, but there are rumours that it might be disbanded. With all the cuts, I’ve heard it might merge with the Integrated Offender Management Team (IOM) – they work with the prolific burglars, robbers, and substance misusers. So, I might be placed in a field team until a DC post is available.’

  Maggie looked at her watch.

  ‘Shit. Look, I can’t make any promises, but we might have a vacancy in the team. If you’re up for it, I can put in a good word with my boss.’

  ‘Fucking awesome! Thanks, it’s been great to chat. I’ll just go and see if Kate is ready – I told her I’d drive her back to Markston. Is it me, or does Kate seem a bit off lately?’

  ‘Not sure what you mean. Funny how?’

  Kat shook her head. ‘I’ve probably got it totally wrong and seeing things that aren’t there. I just notice her looking around all the time, and at work, she closes the door to her office now. Who knows? It’s probably nothing.’

  ‘Yeah, probably best to leave it. I’m sure Kate would say if something was bothering her.’ Maggie would speak to her. ‘Anyway, say hi to the rest of the team from me. And keep our conversation under wraps, OK? I don’t want DI Calleja getting his shorts in a twist thinking I am trying to steal his team … even if that’s exactly what I’m doing.’ Maggie winked.

  They gave each other a brief hug and went their separate ways. Maggie smiled to herself. Working with Kat again would be fantastic, and if she could get Kate on board as well – they’d have one hell of a murder team in Staffordshire.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  DI Abigail Rutherford looked up from her computer and noticed Maggie had returned to her desk. Rather than shouting into the office, she picked up her phone and dialled Maggie’s extension, asking her to come into her office once she had a moment.

  Abigail heard a tap on her door. ‘Come in, have a seat. I just wanted to catch up on things. How did the training go? I only caught the end.’

  ‘Actually, I t
hink we’ve always done this sort of work but maybe not in as much detail, if you know what I mean.’

  ‘Explain.’ Abigail pushed her glasses on to the top of her head.

  ‘Well, we already pin the locations of where the victims were discovered on the map. But we also need to include the victim’s address or other details and then try and look for any patterns like a point that links everything together. When Kate did her presentation, she identified Crinlock Chase as the anchor point. She has some specific case examples she’s emailing over with her presentation.’

  ‘Hmmm. Did Kate include the details you mention to get that anchor thing, whatever you call it?’

  ‘I can’t recall. I’d have to look at it again.’ Maggie looked at the ceiling.

  ‘Do you think you’ll be able to map something out with what we have so far?’

  ‘I can do a basic outline. Given it is more analysis than just drawing a line between pins on a map, it might be worth having the profiling unit run their eyes over it.’

  Rutherford nodded. ‘Where are we at with the case? I’ll be meeting with the COMMS Officer to share a release and keep the vultures at bay for a little while.’

  DI Rutherford noticed Maggie clench her hands.

  ‘Christ, why are we even speaking to the press so much and I don’t know if Nathan spoke to you but is DCI Hastings in Raven’s pocket now too?’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘They just twist everything we have and I’m afraid we’re still nowhere near identifying the killer, ma’am.’

  ‘Not that, Hastings. What are you implying?’

  ‘Oh, well he and Raven’s solicitor looked like best buds. The smiles, handshakes, standing by him during the press conference. What the fu …’

  DI Rutherford held up her hand. ‘Stop there. Be careful what you are saying, Maggie. Your mouth might get you in a lot of trouble. DCI Hastings was following orders. That’s all. Showing that we are working together to draw a conclusion to these murders. I’ll not hear anything more from you on that; instead, tell me what you have on people we should be interested in.’

  Maggie cleared her throat. ‘Well, the mysterious man-in-black from the Blackwood Estate and Adrian Harrison are both on our radar. Maybe we’ll get lucky and one of them will have a link to Crinlock Chase. I’m also waiting to hear back from Bethany about that witness – Steven – and as for those drivers she’s identified from the CCTV, they were spoken to, but each had a legitimate reason or tight alibi for being in the area.’

  ‘So, I can tell the COMMS Officer that we have a few persons of interest and that we feel we are coming closer to an arrest?’ DI Rutherford tilted her head.

  ‘Erm. You definitely can say that, but it might be stretching the truth—’

  ‘Let me worry about that. Where are we with the forensics?’

  ‘We have a minute amount of trace evidence from the first crime scene. Cement and dirt collected from Lorraine Rugman’s remains. Dr Blake says that a saw was used to dismember her. But with the second dump site, no trace evidence was found, and Dr Blake believes that both a garden lopper and a saw were used.’

  ‘I’ve read all this in the pathologist’s report, Maggie. I want to hear what you think.’

  ‘Well, I think the victims have been held captive on minimum food and water. The women were virtually skeletons and not because they were decomposing. The recent track marks on the arms found also tells us that they were injected with something. Given all the victims were heroin users, I think that they were supplied the drugs to make them more compliant. Dr Blake is running some tests on the hair samples as it won’t be in their blood system anymore. These women were probably targeted because of their lifestyle, looked on as easy prey. They were known to have previously disappeared for long periods of time, so their families were unlikely to report them missing.’ Maggie took a breath and collected her thoughts. ‘We need to find where they were held captive and also check the Missing Persons reports to see how many other women in the area, who were substance misusers, have gone missing. They all have some connection to Raven. He’s the puppet master in all of this, but I still can’t figure out how. If I could talk to him again, I might be able to trick him into giving something away. You know how arrogant he is, he’s bound to want to talk to us.’

  DI Rutherford stared at Maggie for a long moment, then leaned back in her chair and blew out an exasperated breath. ‘All right, see if Nathan is free. Keep it professional. We’ve had enough complaints for one case. Got it?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am.’

  Rutherford ran her fingers through her hair and went back to her paperwork, leaving Maggie to make her own way out. Abigail knew that real life was not like books – cases weren’t solved in a week or even a month sometimes – but she feared the worst. She trusted Maggie’s instincts and would give her as much leeway as she possibly could – but she wouldn’t let her cross the line. She could only hope that Maggie would find something before the shit hit the fan again.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  The hot shower was exactly what Kate Moloney needed. She was exhausted and achy. Doing additional work for Maggie on the new case in her spare time, along with her regular workload, was really putting the pressure on her and she didn’t want to let anyone down. Though she wasn’t about to admit that out loud. And then there was that creepy note, the one she couldn’t stop thinking about. It had lodged itself in her mind like the memory of a bad dream.

  Kate turned off the shower and grabbed the towel off the heated rack. It hadn’t just been the note, though. She’d been certain that someone had followed her home last night, a dark figure who kept just out of sight at the end of the road. Of course, it could all be just her overthinking things.

  Instead of being pleased about a day off, Kate wished she was going in to work. Her DI insisted she use up her days or she would lose them. Her planned trip to Ireland to see her parents next month was also playing on her mind.

  Towel drying her hair, Kate walked to her bedroom and then stopped dead in her tracks as she heard the postman push open the slot and slip her mail through the door. She looked down the hall at the doormat and her stomach dropped. This was the moment she had been dreading ever since that first letter appeared. Panic rose like an invisible hand gripping her throat.

  Another letter. Black envelope. Gold writing. She shuddered.

  She pulled on a pair of leggings and a black T-shirt and headed out of her room and into the corridor; the wood floor was cold beneath her feet. As she walked towards the front door, she saw it. The black envelope stood out like a beacon among the white envelopes on the doormat.

  Her hands shook as she opened the letter.

  I miss you. I need you in my life. Forever. I’ll make it happen. X

  What the hell does that mean? Kate was of two minds whether or not she needed to speak to the police. What if it was all a joke – she didn’t want to expose herself to ridicule. She put the letter in her side table drawer.

  She heard the familiar patter of padded feet as her overweight black cat Salem came over and squeezed his way in between her legs. ‘You’ve decided to make an appearance then, have you? Do you want out?’ As if he understood, Salem waddled over and sat in front of the big front window, looking up and waiting. ‘All right then. But only for an hour.’ Kate bent over and gave Salem a scratch on his head before she let him out. She took the opportunity to look up and down the street. Nothing out of place. No one lurking in the shadows. Kate closed the window and secured the latch. She’d listen out for Salem; she wasn’t going to leave her window open.

  Kate headed to the kitchen to look for her mobile phone as that was the last place she remembered having it.

  ‘There you are.’ She picked up her phone and opened her contact list. Scrolling through, she found the number she was looking for and hit CONNECT. Straight to answerphone. Damn.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  After closing the window beside her, Maggie s
huffled the papers on her desk, looking for her notebook. A fly buzzed around her head and she swatted it away. Nathan had arranged another interview with Raven today, and she had prepared some questions.

  She paced up and down as she waited for Nathan to finish talking with DI Rutherford. No doubt being instructed on what could or couldn’t be asked. She wiped her clammy hands on her trousers and sat back down. She didn’t know what to do with herself. When Nathan eventually left their boss’s office, Maggie shot out of her chair.

  ‘What’s the rush? Don’t you want to go through things first?’

  ‘What do you mean? I’ve got some notes and questions that I’m hoping we can ask …’ She held out her notebook and watched as Nathan scanned the pages.

  He nodded. ‘Just make sure you don’t add any additional ones, when we’re in there, or DI Rutherford will eat us alive.’

  ‘I’ve learned my lesson on that front.’

  ‘Lead the way then.’ He gestured towards the doorway.

  Maggie walked briskly down the corridor, trying to keep her breathing in check. Bill Raven was being accompanied by a prison guard following another appearance in court. At least the courts were taking their time. Maggie was told that he had arrived with his solicitor fifteen minutes ago and had been escorted to one of the interview rooms. Her palms felt sweaty as they approached the room.

  She slowed down to let Nathan catch up and barely listened to him waffle on about his wife and her desire to have kids. She knew he was trying to distract her and hoped she was smiling in all the right places. Arriving outside the interview room she stopped and took another deep breath.

  ‘You ready?’ Nathan lightly tapped on the door to let Raven and his solicitor know they were there. Someone shouted, ‘Come in’, and Nathan held the door open for her.

  They walked inside. ‘Good morning, Mr Raven, Mr Quinton. Thank you for joining us today. This is my—’