by Carol Wyer
‘Morning, William. Everything okay?’
‘Hi, Kate. I’m afraid not. I’ve been informed a woman’s body has been uncovered in an industrial bin, at the public car park on Newbury Avenue. Looks like another violent rape attack. I’d like you to check out the scene.’
‘Do we know who the woman is?’
‘Not yet.’
Kate was familiar with the road and area. She’d been there on a few occasions to visit Trentham House where several Civilian Investigation Officers, trained in the techniques of criminal prosecution, worked alongside police officers to assist on numerous low-level cases. ‘I’ll be there in fifteen to twenty minutes.’
‘Turn on the blue lights. I want you there as soon as possible.’
Emma and Morgan were waiting by their squad car, already in protective clothing. Kate joined them and pulled out a white suit, slipping it over her running gear.
‘What have we got?’ she asked.
‘Bad news. The victim’s been identified,’ said Emma. ‘It’s Heather Gault.’
‘Oh, shit . . . shit!’ Heather was bright, dedicated and easy to get on with. Kate had worked with her on several operations in her time and had nothing but respect for the CIO.
‘Her car’s in the car park. She must have been at work yesterday. I’ll double-check and see what time she left,’ said Morgan.
‘If this is linked to Laura’s death, we’ll have to up our game. She’s one of our own. We’re going to have everyone at Trentham House on our backs.’
Emma mumbled, ‘Uh-huh. Exactly what we need right now. Extra pressure.’
‘It’s all part of the job. We can handle it.’ Kate snapped on a pair of plastic gloves. ‘Who found her?’
‘A couple hunting for somewhere to dump a busted sofa, spotted the container and tried their luck here.’
‘Not really their lucky day. Must have been a bit of a shock. At least they had the decency to ring the police and admit what they were doing. Got their names and address?’
‘Yeah, we’ll talk to them later,’ said Emma.
‘Why was the skip here in the first place?’ Kate asked.
‘There’s some renovation work going on at the building overlooking the car park. There isn’t a front drive so the container got placed as close to it as possible.’
‘Were the workmen here yesterday?’
‘Don’t know but we’ll look into it.’
‘Good. Okay. Let’s go.’
Kate struggled to see beyond Heather’s swollen face and remember how she’d looked before this senseless attack: flawless skin, neat nose, wide, brown eyes and perfect, bow-shaped lips, now invisible behind a mask of dried blood. Kate searched for signs to remind her of who Heather had been but could not associate this broken body, in a torn blouse, with the woman who prided herself as much on her appearance as her talent. Her eyes rested on manicured lilac nails and the silver bracelet she always wore. Her hands were delicate, unblemished and small, like a young girl’s. Like Laura, thirty-one-year-old Heather was of slight build and, with her youthful looks, could have easily passed for a woman in her early-to-mid-twenties. The odds this was the work of the same attacker were beginning to stack up.
Ervin let out a noisy sigh. ‘Oh, can you believe this? Heather of all people! This shouldn’t have happened.’
Kate glanced up, took in the heavily creased forehead. Ervin was gregarious and, if he took a liking to you, adopted you as a friend for life. She wondered how close he had been to Heather. She didn’t need to ask. He cleared his throat then said, ‘I didn’t have a lot of dealings with her, but I liked her. And, not long ago, she sent me a bottle of my favourite brandy as a thank you. Very thoughtful of her.’
‘Yes,’ said Kate, remembering the neatly written card Heather had sent her after Chris’s death, expressing sorrow and offering her condolences. ‘She was what I’d call a genuine person and very driven. I enjoyed working with her. I’m sure many others felt the same way. Shit, Ervin. She was always so groomed. What a horrible, undignified ending to her life, half-naked like this, discarded among rubbish. This is definitely the same MO, isn’t it?’ Kate asked.
‘Sadly so. He’s left his calling card. Give me a hand, Morgan,’ said Ervin. Together they turned the body over slightly to reveal the bloodstain on the back of her blouse, under her right shoulder, and Ervin lifted the material sufficiently for Kate to see the letters, etched into her skin and smeared with blood – MINE.
Morgan sucked in a sharp breath. ‘The sick, twisted bastard. Poor Heather. She didn’t deserve this.’
‘How could he leave her in this state? Look at her face!’ Emma turned away, her hand over her mouth.
‘You okay?’ asked Kate.
‘Give me a minute.’
Kate gave the nod for Ervin to lay Heather down again. She couldn’t imagine what terror Heather had experienced. One thing was certain, she would have fought for her life and, in so doing, undoubtedly prolonged the suffering. She had an urge to cover her up, so her colleagues couldn’t see her nakedness. ‘Did he throw her clothes in the skip, like he did Laura’s?’
‘No. And once again, it looks like there’s no handbag or phone.’
Morgan got to his feet and put a hand on Emma’s arm. She turned back with a nod. Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. She cleared her throat. ‘Do you suppose this sicko took them as trophies?’
‘At this stage, I’m ruling nothing out,’ Kate replied.
Ervin pointed out the abrasions on her neck. ‘The markings here are much like those we found on Laura.’
Kate dropped onto her haunches and examined the dark bruising. ‘Emma, what do you make of this?’
Emma joined her and considered the circular bruise to the left-hand side of Heather’s throat. ‘Yes, probably caused by a vagus strike, although I’d like Harvey’s opinion.’
‘He should be here soon,’ said Ervin. ‘He was in the lab when I spoke to him and said he’d get here as soon as possible. So, she was most likely rendered unconscious and then attacked somewhere. The question is where? There are no obvious signs of a struggle having taken place here in this car park.’
‘But surely she was jumped in this car park? Her vehicle’s over there,’ said Emma, pointing out a blue Audi TT.
‘She obviously had a whack on the nose during the altercation and quite a nosebleed, yet there’s no sign of blood droplets, not from that or from the letters carved into her. There’d be some staining on the ground if the attack had happened here. I’ve extended the search between here and Trentham House.’
Kate wandered across to Heather’s car, cupped her hands and peered through the driver’s window. She couldn’t spot a handbag or phone and the doors were locked. She turned at the sound of a voice. One of Ervin’s team was calling him.
‘Boss! We’ve found something outside the dentist’s surgery.’ Ervin set off along Newbury Avenue, pursued by Kate, Morgan and Emma. The tree-lined road of imposing Victorian houses had once been inhabited by wealthy individuals. Today, those same houses were occupied by businesses – a children’s nursery, various medical practices, financial consultants and an estate agency – but they came to a halt outside one embellished with an octagonal tower and covered with a steep roof: a dentist’s surgery. The officer beckoned them towards a rectangular piece of lawn and a fountain, a grey stone basin inside which stood a large stone ball.
‘We’ve found blood stains on this,’ he said.
‘Stay here,’ said Ervin, crossing the grass and stooping to examine the reddish-brown staining.
‘I take it those patches of scuffed earth weren’t caused by rabbits,’ said Morgan. The lawn looked as if somebody had tried to rip out handfuls of grass. While an animal might have created the mess, Kate was sure the damage occurred when Heather had tried to escape her attacker. She followed the gouges towards the fountain. Ervin met her eyes.
‘It looks like she might have either fallen or been pushed against this fountain base
and hit her face here.’
Kate imagined the woman, struggling to free herself from her assailant, reaching out, clawing at grass. Had she broken free only to slip on dewy grass and collide with the basin?
Another voice interrupted her musings. ‘Boss, we’ve found some clothing.’
The speaker held thick-leaved branches aside to reveal a black court shoe, lying on its side next to a pair of lace knickers.
Emma let out a soft ‘Oh, shit.’
Morgan gave her a sad smile. ‘We can’t do any more than our job, Emma. We have to treat her the same as any other victim.’
‘But she wasn’t any other victim. She was one of our own. She was one of our colleagues,’ she repeated.
Morgan squeezed her shoulder. ‘We’ll catch him, Emma.’
Kate made no comment. The fact she hadn’t known Heather that well was by the by. She felt as strongly as her team about tracking down the perpetrator.
Ervin called out, ‘Sorry, Kate. We need to get on. I’ll be in touch as soon as we have anything for you.’
‘Thanks, Ervin. Let me know if you find her mobile and bag. She’ll have had them on her.’ The trio traipsed back to their vehicles.
Morgan yanked off the blue overshoes. ‘Why did he leave her clothing under a bush? Why not dump it in the container, along with her body, or leave it and her here?’
Kate already had a theory. ‘He wanted to dump her body. Just like he dumped Laura’s. It’s his way of showing us he had no respect for these women. As for the clothes, I don’t know. I guess he didn’t care about them.’
‘Fucker,’ said Emma, under her breath.
‘He might have been in a hurry, or concerned somebody would spot him if he returned to collect the clothing,’ said Morgan.
‘True,’ said Kate. ‘I think we can assume he took her phone and handbag. Just as he kept Laura’s house keys and mobile.’
‘Yeah. Bastard was trying to make it harder for us by removing anything that might identify the victims.’ Morgan gave a nod in the direction of the car park. ‘Heads up! DCI Chase is here.’
William, dressed in official uniform, spotted Kate and walked towards her. His face wore the expression of a seasoned detective who had seen the worst and yet was still harrowed by the cruelty in the world. For the briefest of moments, Kate felt a familiar sense of affection for the man who’d supported her throughout her career, a man who would soon be taking retirement and would spend his days with his cats and his bees. The sensation evaporated as quickly as it had surfaced.
‘Heather Gault. Who’d have believed it? This is a very sad day indeed. Kate, are we dealing with the same person who attacked and killed Laura?’
‘Yes. There’s no doubt.’
His eyes burrowed into hers but try as she might, she couldn’t find any of the usual warmth in their depths. She assumed he was extremely upset about Heather as it was unlikely he’d got wind of her private investigation into Chris’s death. However, she didn’t need to conjure up Chris’s voice to remind her that somebody had known about it. And that somebody had made sure Cooper couldn’t talk to her.
William gave a curt nod. ‘That’s all I needed to hear. Find whoever did this.’
Kate attached the photograph of Heather, looking wistful, in a soft, pale pink jumper that complemented her skin tone, to the whiteboard. It was important to remember these victims were people who’d had families, ambitions, loves and hopes. Not only had Laura and Heather lost their lives, but they’d also suffered a terrifying ordeal prior to being murdered. If there’d been any doubt that Laura’s death had been the result of accidental force, finding Heather had proven otherwise. Kate was certain their attacker had intended killing them. She would have spoken to Heather’s parents but they lived on Guernsey, and officers on the island had been dispatched to give them the bad news. It was up to Kate and her team to track down the perpetrator and bring them to justice.
Faced with endless lists of friends, family and colleagues who needed contacting, everyone was working to full capacity. Keyboards clicked, voices filled the room reminiscent of a telemarketing bureau, as each of them pulled their weight. Kate requested the technical team sift through footage of CCTV cameras in the vicinity of Newbury Avenue, in the hope they might throw up something, although at the moment, everything they did seemed to be little more than shooting in the dark. Phone call after phone call was terminated with a quiet sigh and stabbing of buttons as yet another was made. Heather’s death had increased the urgency of the investigation.
Emma put down her phone, scribbled something on a notepad and shook her head at Kate. ‘Heather was working with Deepa Singh all day yesterday, and she doesn’t recall seeing anybody outside when she left at around six.’
‘Was she parked in the car park too?’
‘No. Her husband collected her. He didn’t spot anyone either.’
Jamie stopped typing and spoke loudly. ‘What I don’t get is how the attacker would know Heather was going to be the last to leave. What if Deepa was the intended victim?’
Kate scratched thoughtfully at an eyebrow. Had the assailant intended on attacking Deepa and been put off by the arrival of her husband? She considered the possibility of somebody observing Trentham House all day, waiting for either woman to emerge. It didn’t add up. Especially when she looked at the victims. It was difficult to ignore the similarities between them and she couldn’t shake off the feeling their attacker had deliberately selected them.
‘I can’t explain it either,’ she replied. ‘At the moment, I’m working on a hunch that the killer is a calculating bastard and knew Heather was at Trentham House and, also, what time she’d be clocking off.’
‘But how would he know?’ Jamie sounded like a persistent toddler.
Kate didn’t explain she always trusted her instinct. ‘He knew his victims’ habits. He might even have been known to both women.’ Another thought struck her – the victims’ phones. She stabbed her notebook with a pencil and said in a commanding voice, ‘Have we heard back from either woman’s mobile provider yet?’
Morgan answered. ‘Nothing yet.’
‘Nothing! Why haven’t you pushed them harder? Don’t they know we’re dealing with a double murder investigation?’
Jamie held up both hands. ‘My bad. That was my job, but I got involved in other stuff and didn’t chase them up.’
‘Get hold of them now. Tell them it’s imperative we have that information today. The answer might lie in their phone logs or text messages.’
‘Will do.’
‘I don’t need to remind you how crucial this has become and not only because Heather was one of our own. Two deaths in two days. If I’m honest, I’m concerned he’ll rape and kill again, very soon.’
Jamie spoke again. ‘I’ve been trying to establish connections between both women, and there’s one that stands out – they both worked in Stafford. Not only did they work in the same town, but Laura was at Tomkins Solicitors, which is only three streets away from Newbury Avenue. They might have known each other, drunk at the same coffee houses, visited the same shops . . . I don’t know. I’m only chucking it out there as a possibility. I’ve looked at their social media accounts and can’t see any common connections there, but they could have bumped into each other.’
Kate folded her arms and considered his theory. There was another possibility, especially given the assailant was most likely a follower of martial arts. ‘Was Heather a member of any gyms or did she attend regular exercise classes? If so, check to see if Laura was a member at any point too.’
‘Good call, guv,’ said Jamie, noting it down.
Emma heaved a sigh. ‘I can’t get my head around her being killed this way. I liked her a lot. Remember when she worked on that big fraud case? She was so attentive during meetings, like a kid at school, eager to learn.’
‘Yeah. I remember that. She was really energetic, like a mini tornado, whirling around the office. If you asked her to do something, she was of
f, getting the information before you’d finished your sentence. Nice woman. Great officer. Hey! What about cases she was working on? Maybe she ran into Laura that way,’ Morgan offered.
Emma opened her mouth then shut it again with a shake of her head.
‘Go on,’ Kate urged.
‘I was going to suggest she might have been looking into claims that Kevin was stalking Laura, but then realised Laura didn’t report him.’
‘Take a look at her open cases,’ said Kate. ‘We can’t leave any stone unturned. I think we’re dealing with somebody who was familiar with these women’s routines or had been stalking them. This man studies their habits, and waits for an opportunity to strike. I think that tells us we’re dealing with somebody known to both these women. As for Kevin, see if there’s anything to connect him to Heather. We haven’t discounted him as a possible suspect.’
‘What about Laura’s ex-boyfriend?’ said Emma. ‘We haven’t identified him. He might have known both victims.’
‘I don’t see how that would work,’ said Jamie, screwing up his face. ‘He was going out with Laura, then dumped her cos he was jealous over some stupid Facebook posts and then, a few months later, attacked her. Nah.’
Kate was going to agree but Morgan leant across his desk, pointing a pen at Jamie. ‘Hang on a sec. The guy could be unstable. If he was so freaking jealous over a bloke liking Laura’s Facebook posts that he dumped her, he could also be unstable enough to attack her. And what about the message he cut into her – MINE. The guy’s possessive. You can’t dismiss the suggestion.’
Kate gave a half-nod. ‘Okay, but what about Heather? He’d have to know her too.’
‘Maybe he did,’ offered Emma. ‘If Laura was dating somebody from work, it would explain why she wouldn’t tell anyone who the man was, and also why she chucked in her job soon after the relationship ended. Heather might have had contact with that same person.’
