The Twisted Web (Detective Hannah Robbins Crime Series book 4)

by Rebecca Bradley

  He could feel the urgency as the headlights grew closer.

  ‘You ready?’ Hannah wanted to get into the garage before the parents arrived. These weren’t victims she needed to spend time with, though they were important and they did need to be cared for, she knew her team was perfectly capable of taking up that task.

  Aaron snapped on the blue forensic gloves. ‘I’m ready.’

  They walked towards the garage. Six sets of eyes followed them as they moved. Two pairs wide and alarmed.

  He liked it in this department, no matter what was beyond this door. And he wanted to stay. He pushed through the heavy feeling that filled his bones and carefully traversed the little silver plates.

  Into the garage.

  36.

  She didn’t look very old.

  The scene was warped like a hall of mirrors at a fairground. I suppose the imagery wasn’t helped by the fact that she was surrounded by actual mirrors of different shapes and sizes and in all different conditions.

  I wondered if we would be able to trace any of them, back to an owner, a previous owner, or a shop. I doubted our killer had made it that easy for us. I also didn’t imagine he had left us any fingerprints on them or fibres of any description, but they would of course be seized and forensically examined.

  Some were full-length, others half-length and propped up on something that was stacked up in the garage so that she could still be seen, or if she could see, then she’d be able to see her reflection. And there were seven of them around her.

  Four were pristine, clear mirrors, three were cracked and broken, dirty and shabby, with pieces missing.

  The imagery stood, regardless of the breaks.

  Maybe the breaks had been made by the killer to make a point, or perhaps these were the only mirrors he could get a hold of.

  Aaron rubbed at his chest.

  I turned to him, worry suddenly eating away at my own chest. ‘Are you okay? Do I need to call an ambulance?’

  He didn’t answer. Didn’t acknowledge me. ‘Aaron!’

  His head snapped around. His face was as pale as I had ever seen it. Other than that day on the office floor.

  ‘Aaron?’ I asked again.

  ‘No. You don’t need to call an ambulance. I don’t have chest pain.’

  I looked to the girl in the mirrors. ‘There is something.’ It wasn’t a question. I knew him. He was keeping his own counsel.

  ‘There is.’

  A screeching broke through the garage as a metal lamp was erected in the corner. Aaron turned to where the sound had come from. His eyes were dark and heavy. The light was switched on.

  The girl in the centre of the mirrors now glowed in her macabre stance.

  ‘You okay to carry on or do you need to go and sit in the car?’ I asked.

  ‘Carry on.’

  I nodded.

  We moved closer. She looked to be about twenty-five. Her red hair had been teased out and sprayed in position. It resembled a haystack. Her face had been made-up but not by her. There was bright red lipstick and dark shadow across her open lids. Blush circles filled her cheeks.

  Something like a broom handle had been strapped to her arm and was holding out it at an angle. Taped in her hand was a phone.

  She was posed taking a selfie.

  I looked at the scene closer. Stuck to each mirror was a Polaroid photograph of her in this position at eye level with her. She was surrounded by herself.

  There was bruising around her throat.

  ‘It’s a different MO. The cause of death, by the look of it,’ said Aaron.

  ‘To Sebastian?’

  ‘Yes. An equally bizarre scene to be left in. I’m thinking we’re looking for the same killer.’

  I let out a breath. ‘I’m with you there. Not that I understand it though. What’s he trying to say?’

  ‘Beats me.’

  ‘Ah, young Hannah.’ The voice boomed from behind me. ‘And Detective Sergeant Stone, I see.’ I could hear the smile in the voice and when I turned to see the Home Office registered forensic pathologist, Jack Kidner, I saw from the twinkle in his eyes above the mask he was wearing, that he was smiling at Aaron.

  ‘It’s so good to see you back with us.’ He walked up to us and slapped Aaron on the arm. ‘Gosh, old boy, you gave everyone a good old scare, you know. Especially this one here. She didn’t half bend my ear, after you were rushed to the hospital.’

  Oh no, he was going to tell him.

  ‘Seems I was one of the handful of doctors she knew, even if I did deal in the dead and we were all dreadfully hoping that wasn’t going to be you.’ He scratched at the top of his head.

  Aaron stared at him. He hadn’t said a word so far.

  Jack continued. ‘So, I was the first person she got in touch with. She followed you to the hospital and as soon as she could bear to leave the waiting room she came to find me. Pushed me hard she did. Wanted to know all about heart attacks, survival rates, what caused them, if–’

  ‘Okay, I think he’s heard enough now, don’t you?’ I had to stop him, Aaron knew I had worried about him, but he didn’t need this much detail. ‘I’m sure you want to have a look at the young lady we have for you here, Jack?’

  ‘Ah, yes, of course.’ He peered over to the circle of mirrors. ‘Ah,’ he said again as he saw what we had been called out to.

  ‘Yes, my thoughts were along those lines,’ I said.

  Aaron looked at me. I shrugged. Not a lot else I could do. Nothing Jack had said had been untrue. It had been a horrifying time when Aaron had collapsed in the office and the paramedics had strapped the equipment to him and announced he had had a heart attack. A heart attack. He had only just saved me from major injury as I’d battled for physical control of a gangster on the staircase and had fallen with my head aiming for the wall. Aaron had pulled me out of the way just in time and only a few hours later he was on the floor and needing emergency medical help.

  He was one of my closest friends. I wasn’t sure what that said about my life, my social life, because I didn’t see him out of work, other than the occasional work-organised night out. But I did class him as a friend. He always had my back; he could always be relied upon. It was more than just because he was paid to. We had a level of understanding that meant the world to me.

  And now Jack made me look not like an adult who knew how to deal with a serious problem, but like a teenager caught off guard with her skirt up.

  He was pulling equipment out of his medical bag. Looking down his nose at what he needed. Then he stared at the mirrors.

  ‘What is all this about?’ He waved his hand around at the circle.

  ‘I really don’t know.’

  ‘Any idea who this is yet?’

  ‘She hasn’t been touched until you got here, Jack. We’ve no idea.’

  ‘Funny business at Market Square the other day.’ He looked at the girl again. ‘Were you back then, Aaron?’

  ‘No, first day back today.’

  Jack stood from his crouched position and turned to Aaron. ‘By Jove, Aaron.’ His tone turned serious. ‘What on earth are you doing here? This late.’ He looked at me. A glimmer of accusation crossed his face.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ I said.

  ‘All those questions you asked at the QMC and you don’t understand?’

  This time it was Aaron’s turn to interrupt. ‘Shall we leave you to it, Jack. I’m sure you need to find time of death and take samples.’

  ‘No, she’s not going anywhere, we can have this conversation.’ I stood my ground with the two of them. Blue strobes from the marked car blinked through the scene as we faced off.

  Jack held up his thermometer. He was ready to work.

  He was also prepared to let me have it. ‘Aaron is recovering but he no longer has complete function of his heart, there has been permanent damage.’ He looked at me. ‘You did good getting him to the hospital quickly. The quicker a patient is treated the less damage is done, but his heart is still
damaged and he will tire more easily because of this. He needs to–’

  ‘Can we not do this here?’ Aaron nodded at the CSI photographing the scene. ‘I’d rather not have my personal information shared openly. I am a private person in case you two, who appear to like to talk about me, failed to notice.’ His own tone was sharp. The sharpest I had heard him. He hadn’t even taken this tone with me when I had shouted at him forcing him into the disclosure that he had Asperger’s.

  ‘I’m sorry, dear chap,’ Jack was conciliatory, his voice quieter. ‘Hannah needs to hear this.’

  ‘She does not need to hear anything other than what the time of death was for our Jane Doe,’ Aaron snapped, before letting out a long breath.

  ‘Aaron, if Jack thinks I need to know this, and it’s about you, then he’s going to say it. You can stay or you can leave, but if it’s to do with you being at this crime scene, then I am finding out.’ My own stance was now combative. The three of us were coming from three different places but were butting heads over something, I wasn’t sure what.

  ‘Jack, please, what is it?’ I asked.

  ‘You really don’t know, Hannah?’

  ‘Jack.’

  ‘At home, he was in recovery mode. Aaron was taking it easy. Having a heart attack takes it out of you, massively.’

  Aaron turned his back to us.

  ‘His first day back, anyone’s first day back in a job after a heart attack, after recuperating, will be tiring. Coming back to this role, to the police, it will be hard. Doing overtime, coming to a crime scene that is hours after the end of a usual working day, well, Aaron is going to be finding this incredibly difficult, he is going to be utterly exhausted and I for one am worried about him.’ He gave me a grave look. ‘And so should you be.’

  With that Aaron walked out of the garage.

  37.

  ‘She’s been dead between one and four hours,’ I said to Aaron as I climbed into the car beside him. He was brooding in the driver’s seat.

  ‘The kids might have just missed the killer then,’ he replied. ‘They were very lucky not to run into him. Who knows what he’s capable of.’

  ‘Looks that way. We need to get a detailed statement from them.’ I looked to where the kids had been standing. ‘Do we know if their parents agreed to let us get the interviews done this evening?’

  Aaron nodded. ‘Pasha and Martin took one of the kids back to the station to do the interview. The other one is booked for the morning. His parents insisted on taking him home. I don’t know if it was because he was in trouble or if they were worried out of their minds. Either way there was no way anyone could talk them out of taking him home tonight.’

  ‘Okay. At least we have the one.’

  I could see Ross talking to Dewan. He could make friends with anyone. Talk to anyone. He was so easy going. Well, he was now, there had been a time when he had spiralled downwards and Detective Superintendent Catherine Walker had wanted to kick him off the unit. I’d fought for him and he’d proved to me that it had been the right decision. He brought himself back from the brink.

  I glanced at Aaron. And here I was again. Though these circumstances were completely different. This was not Aaron’s doing and I would fight tooth and nail for him to stay. Just not at the expense of his health.

  ‘What Jack said…’ I started.

  ‘He’s right.’

  ‘I know he is. Jack is always right.’ I had to have a straight conversation with him. I needed for him to be well. To not put himself at risk this way, plus I needed all the information so I knew what I was dealing with because of the position Baxter had put me in.

  ‘Why are you here tonight, Aaron?’

  ‘Baxter.’

  I clenched my fists. My nails dug into the palms of my hands. Sharp pinpricks, pinching at my skin. I’d thought as much. ‘What about him?’

  ‘Why would I give him a reason to push me out?’

  ‘Going home at the end of a shift is not a reason to be kicked out of the unit, Aaron. We had this conversation earlier. You were confident that you were good to be here. What happened?’

  ‘The day happened. I didn’t realise how exhausting it would be. I thought I could return to work and be the same person I was before I left.’ He rubbed at his chest.

  ‘Aaron?’ I was scared. My own chest tightened with fear, my breath trapped as I waited for him to respond.

  ‘No, it’s fine. I’m just acutely aware of it being there.’ He let out a long sigh. ‘I feel as though I am carrying around a body filled with heavy metal. As though my bones, the stuff running through my veins is iron. Dragging my own body about is not the meaningless thoughtless activity it used to be. Now it takes effort. It’s draining. I can’t believe how much it hurts to just walk about, Hannah. How tired I am by doing paperwork in the office today. I feel like a child that needs to go home to their bed.’

  He turned to me. ‘How do you think Baxter would react to that? Do you think he would support me and encourage me to take it easy until I am back at full strength, because I don’t. I think he will use it as an excuse to get me out. We both know he’s waiting for one.’

  He was right. ‘You could always tell him.’ If he told him about life with Asperger’s, then Baxter would have to be careful in his decisions around Aaron, he would have to make sure every decision was for the right reason and was not a personality clash, which this looked to be.

  Aaron shook his head.

  ‘Think about it?’

  He didn’t answer.

  ‘There’s still a lot of work for us to do tonight, and we’re only making a guess, but it’s an educated one, that this is the same guy.’ I made sure he was listening to me. ‘We’re going back to the station. Jack and the CSIs have this now and Jack is going to supervise removal of the body. And what you’re going to do when we get back is go home. Leave the rest of the inquiries and actions to us for today and we’ll see you again tomorrow.’ I cared more about Aaron and his well-being than anything else right now.

  Aaron scrubbed his face. Talked through his hands. ‘You haven’t read all your emails today, have you? Or the last couple of days for that matter?’

  ‘I might have a few still unread in my inbox. Why, have you requested leave already?’

  ‘Occ Health approved my return to work, but it’s a phased return. I’m only to work three days a week for the first two weeks. I couldn’t get them to shift their stance on this.’

  ‘For fuck’s sake, Aaron.’ I was furious with him now.

  He turned away and looked out of the side window. At the dark sky and houses beyond. At the people being held back way down the street by uniformed cops who had set up a cordon.

  ‘If you had told me this today then I would have known damn well that you were still in recovery mode and wouldn’t have let you come out to this. I would have sent you home. You banked on me not reading it, didn’t you?’

  ‘It’s my job.’

  It was my turn to look out my side window. Ross was zipping his coat further up under his chin. Stamping his feet on the ground. It was cold out there now. I should tell him he could leave and get on with the tasks needed at the station.

  The CSIs ferried back and forth between their van and the garage. Boxes and bags, lights and equipment moved with them. They were steady and methodical. In no rush because speed caused mistakes.

  ‘I know it is.’ I turned back to him. ‘Let’s get you back and we’ll worry about it when you return.’

  Without a word he started the car.

  ‘Let me just have a word with Dewan and Ross.’ I climbed out, thanked Dewan, told Ross we were done here and to make sure that the clothing was seized from both boys before they were released, even the one who would not stay for an interview this evening. The clothing was evidence.

  ‘It’s going to be a late night,’ said Ross.

  ‘It is,’ I answered. ‘It is indeed.’ Wondering how I would deal with tonight’s events with Aaron in relation to Baxter’s d
emand for a continual report on his activity within the job. Surely Occ Health would expect this from him and this fell within the extremely normal category and not in a category that could hurt Aaron in any capacity.

  38.

  Drew kept refreshing his Twitter feed on his phone as he walked. He supposed he should not have left her in such a discreet location. Then again, how would he have been able to stage her and get away without getting caught if he had left her somewhere she could have been found easily and quickly? As it was, breaking into a garage gave him time to get away. It was well away from both the murder scene and away from where he lived which would throw the police. They would have no idea why she was there. They might even presume the killer was local.

  It had been genius to do the crime guy in the middle of the night. No one would expect the body to be real. They would never think a killer would walk in right under their noses.

  Now he had set their noses sniffing. They were aware of him and he had to be more careful.

  He refreshed his feed again.

  There was nothing.

  Not a word.

  Wasn’t this what he wanted? For people not to comment, not to turn the affairs of others into some gruesome trial by social media. Maybe they had found the body after all and his plan had worked. People were so shocked and disgusted that she of all people had been killed they would be silent. After all, it was all too grim. They had turned this girl into what she was and now look.

  That’s what had happened.

  His plan had worked.

  He smiled to himself as he unlocked the front door.

  ‘Hey, Drew.’ His housemate was in the kitchen and shouted through to the front door. ‘Get you a beer, mate?’

  The world was a better place tonight. ‘Yeah, I’ll have a beer if you’re having one.’ He closed the door behind him and locked it. He wouldn’t be going back out this evening. His work was done.

  39.

  Pasha and Martin were still in the interview room with the boy, so we didn’t have full details from him yet. We were currently waiting to see if her fingerprints were in the system so we could ID her and then locate her next of kin and inform them tonight. Two death messages in only a matter of days. I didn’t understand why this was happening.