The Kate Fletcher Series

by Heleyne Hammersley

  ‘Shit,’ he said. ‘Sorry.’

  Kate took a few steps away, eyes fixed on the screen as she pinched in and out of the map that Cooper had sent. She knew where the brickworks had been. The buildings had still been standing when she’d been in junior school and she could place them in relation to the road that ran up one side of the site. The rest of the area had been a quarry, varying in depth from about fifty feet to a shallow depression of no more than twelve feet on the side furthest from the road. Or at least that’s what she remembered. But the memories of a teenager weren’t the most reliable guide and Cooper’s map had her doubting her own recollection of the layout.

  ‘The buildings were here,’ she said, gesturing to an area to their right. ‘Some of them had been knocked down but there was a long, low row of offices still standing. The chimney had been over there near the top which means that the flues ran roughly east-west from over there.’

  She set off again following a faint dusty path through the sun-dried grass. As she trudged across vague depressions and gentle rises she looked again at the map, trying to work out how long the flues would have been. The chimney had been quite tall; she remembered it from pictures that she’d seen of old Thorpe when she’d been at school, so it would have needed huge ventilation shafts.

  ‘Here.’ Hollis managed to side step her this time. He looked around, baffled.

  ‘The chimney would have been about here and the ventilation shafts would have gone out in a rough fan shape in that direction.’ She pointed to the far end of the site marked by a tall fence.

  ‘Come on.’

  She worked out that if they headed west following the rough line of the main shaft they could then cut left and right to get an idea of where the other ones had been as they’d fanned out from the chimney. She continued towards the fence trying to imagine where they were in relation to the pond. Too far south. Another glance at the map showed her that another flue would have run about ten yards to her right and a third about the same distance away to the left. If she turned left and walked about twenty yards she would be, almost, at the pond. And almost directly on the line of another ventilation shaft. It wasn’t very precise but she knew that she could get Cooper to overlay the original map onto an aerial photograph when they got back to Doncaster. It was close enough. There could be a connection.

  ‘What do you think?’ she asked Hollis, who was looking perplexed.

  He shrugged.

  ‘You’d know better than me. Can you actually remember these tunnel things?’

  ‘I remember being warned about the whole area. The air shafts don’t specifically ring a bell though. There were lots of kids who used to play over here but none of my friends.’

  Hollis chuckled. ‘I thought you’d be a goody-goody.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Kate said. ‘Or maybe it was easier to get into different kinds of trouble.’

  Hollis raised his eyebrows in a question.

  ‘Don’t tell me that you used to bunk off school and go shoplifting. Or you used to post dog crap through your neighbours’ letter boxes? No, wait… you used to mug little old ladies for their pension.’

  ‘Yes, yes no and no… in that order,’ Kate said with a grin. ‘Never got caught either.’

  ‘That’s what gives you such great insight into the criminal mind. I thought it was training and experience; didn’t expect it to be empathy.’

  Kate turned and started walking back to the gate. The banter was harmless but it was a distraction she couldn’t really afford. She needed to start making the pieces fit together and her gut was telling her that there was a solution to the puzzle if she could only find the right pattern. The necklace that the killer had left was bugging her. It had to be a message or a statement. Why go to all that trouble and then try to hide it? If it was a message why not leave it somewhere more prominent? Unless it wasn’t a message for the police. It might be something that the killer felt compelled to do, like ticking off items in a list. And then a thought struck her.

  ‘Oh!’

  ‘What’s up?’ Hollis said, nearly running into her again as she stopped suddenly.

  ‘The necklace that Aleah was wearing. It wasn’t a cross. It was a letter T.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘How did I miss that? The girl who drowned was called Tracy. He left Aleah there to link her with Tracy Moore.’

  ‘I’m going to need a bit more convincing,’ Hollis said, looking sceptical.

  ‘It’s a message. In the killer’s mind Aleah represents Tracy in some way. He’s recreating her death and labelling the body. This isn’t a coincidence. We need to find out more about Tracy Moore and the circumstances surrounding her death.’

  ‘Okay,’ Hollis said, drawing the word out to demonstrate his scepticism. ‘But if Aleah represents Tracy, who the hell does Callum Godwin represent?’

  ‘I don’t know. I just think it’s part of a plan, a pattern and I’ve got a feeling that we might be too late. I need to get back to base and talk to Cooper.’

  She was already dialling Cooper’s number to get her to find what she needed.

  There was a buzz around their small team when Kate and Hollis got back to Doncaster HQ. Barratt was standing behind Cooper, looking over her shoulder at her computer screen, his expression intent.

  ‘Did you find it?’ Kate asked, striding across the office space.

  Cooper nodded. ‘Just doing the final overlay. I’ve scaled up the map to match the aerial photograph so they’re a pretty good fit.’ She tapped a key. ‘There. I’ve fixed the two together so you can scroll around if you need to.’

  She stood up and stepped back so Kate could sit down but Kate shook her head.

  ‘This is your thing, Sam. Talk me through it.’

  The DC sat back down and grabbed the mouse.

  ‘Okay. This is the map that I sent you.’ She clicked twice. ‘And this is an aerial photo of the same area. You can see the road in the map so I used that to scale it up to match the photo. I put the two together by making the map file semi-transparent so that you can see the photograph through it. The X on the photograph marks the pond where Aleah’s body was found.’

  Kate stared at the image. Dotted lines marked the ventilation shafts and she could see that where she’d guessed their locations to be was slightly inaccurate. The pond lay about twenty feet away from the most northerly shaft. Close enough, though.

  ‘Do we know where the body of Tracy Moore was found?’ Kate asked.

  Cooper shook her head. ‘None of the newspaper reports mention it. They just say that she was found in a shaft.’

  ‘Family?’ Hollis wanted to know. It was a good question, Kate thought. Was their mystery abductor a family member who was out for revenge?

  ‘Parents and a brother. No names so far but I’ve only checked the local papers. I was going to start digging after I’d done the map.’

  Kate glanced at her watch and shook her head. It was past half past six and they were all exhausted. Sam looked especially tired and there was no point burning her out on a hunch. Better to start fresh in the morning.

  ‘Let’s hear what Barratt has to say about Ken Fowler then call it a day. I’m expecting more from forensics about the tent ropes tomorrow and that might give us a new direction.’

  Barratt dug out his notebook and flipped through the pages.

  ‘Fowler confirms Reese’s alibi. He didn’t see anybody else in the area. I managed to get a look at his Land Rover but the floor in the back isn’t metal. The mat has some ridge patterning on it but I don’t think it matches the marks on Aleah’s back. I’ve PNC’d him and the Landy is the only vehicle he owns. I also had a chat with a couple of his neighbours. They think he’s a “good bloke” but he keeps himself to himself.’

  He tapped his phone a couple of times and passed it round to show the images he’d taken of the inside of the vehicle. Sighs of frustration and a general shaking of heads.

  ‘Send them to me and I’ll get a comparison done but it’
s not looking likely,’ Kate said. ‘Right. Tomorrow we come in refreshed and start early. We need to get more family information on Tracy Moore. I want to try to establish a link between the Reeses and the Goodwins and I want that little boy found. If we need to, we go right back to basics and knock on all the neighbours’ doors ourselves.

  Barratt grinned.

  ‘Oh, I mean it Barratt. Get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy one.’

  Kate scanned her desk to make sure that she hadn’t left anything behind, trying not to look at the door to Raymond’s office. She knew that she should let him know about her theory, but she also knew that he’d laugh her out of the building. He wasn’t a big fan of hunches; he had a Grad grind-like appreciation for facts and hard evidence.

  Sighing heavily, she stuffed her hands into her trouser pockets, strode over to the door and knocked gently as though she hoped that he wouldn’t hear her.

  ‘Come in!’

  Kate opened the door and plastered her most winning smile across her face. Raymond’s expression told her that he wasn’t fooled for a minute.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘I have some new information pertaining to the Aleah Reese case.’

  ‘Go on.’

  Kate stood in front of his desk and outlined her idea about the link between Aleah’s death and the forty-year-old accident. She also pushed the possible link to Callum Goodwin as though this might be the thread that held her entire theory together. Raymond wasn’t convinced.

  ‘Fletcher,’ he said, gesturing to the chair next to his desk. ‘Sit down. Look, I like your tenacity and you’re obviously used to “thinking outside the box” as they say. But this sounds like nothing more than a coincidence.’

  Kate nodded. She’d expected this.

  ‘The necklace that Aleah was wearing. It’s not a cross, it’s a letter T. That’s why it looks a bit strange. We’ve been looking at it wrong.’

  ‘I thought you’d decided that it was an unusual type of Christian cross. That was one of the avenues of investigation, wasn’t it? Some sort of religious link?’

  Kate nodded already regretting the time wasted on a dead end.

  ‘But I just can’t see the relevance. A letter makes more sense. We need to find out more about this girl’s death in 1975. I’m certain there’s a connection between Tracy Moore and Aleah Reese, and probably, Callum Goodwin. If we’re going to find that boy we need to start digging into his family. I think this is rooted in the past.’

  ‘And I think,’ Raymond said, raising his voice slightly. ‘That you’re getting bogged down because of your own past and your own links to this town. You need to get back out there and have a look at the people closest to these two children. You know that random child snatches are a lot less common than the public believe. You need to look closer to home. Check Craig Reese’s alibi for the time of the Goodwin boy’s abduction. And look at Trevor Goodwin. You know how these things usually work.’

  Kate nodded. There was no point in arguing. She knew how her theory sounded. The problem was, she was convinced that she was right.

  ‘Go home, Fletcher. It’s been a long few days. You might think differently in the morning.’

  Kate knew that he was trying to give her the benefit of his wisdom but his advice was just a bit too patronising to be convincing.

  She shook her head in frustration and left.

  Her mood didn’t improve when there was another message from Garry waiting on her answerphone. Why couldn’t he just text like other people? Then she remembered how many times she’d snapped at him for calling when she was at work. He probably thought that a text would get him a good telling-off as well. Poor bugger couldn’t win, she thought with a smile as she tapped play.

  ‘Kate? I just thought I’d ring to tell you that Ben’s been asking about you. He knows you’re in Doncaster and I think he’d like to get in touch.’

  Her heart rate picked up. Was her son finally wanting her back in his life? Garry’s next words were like being doused in icy water.

  ‘He’s struggling a bit, financially, and he thought that you might be able to help out. He’s burned through one of his loans and he can’t seem to find a part-time job. I’ve sent him a few quid but I’m not sure how long that’ll last. He’ll get another loan next term so he’ll be all right in September for a bit. I thought you might want to help out.’ He finished by reciting Ben’s mobile number. It wasn’t the one that Kate had stored in her phone and she wondered why he’d changed it. Hopefully not an expensive upgrade.

  She dug her own phone out of her pocket, navigated to the message app, and typed in the number that Garry had given her. What to say? She hadn’t heard from him in nearly a year but she couldn’t refuse to help him. He was her son and she could never imagine any circumstances where she wouldn’t do her best for him. It was just bloody irritating that the only reason he wanted to get in touch was that he was skint.

  She typed quickly, not allowing herself any more time to think about it.

  ‘Dad says you need some money. Get in touch and I’ll see what I can sort out.’

  A message came back almost immediately. ‘Great. Thx. I’ll give you a buzz in the morning.’

  Kate considered texting back then hit the icon to call instead. She wasn’t going to take his call at work and she knew that he’d just get huffy if she didn’t have time to talk to him. It was one of the things that they’d argued about the most. He hated her job and the amount of time it took her away from her family and he resented her dedication to every case that she’d been involved with. He wouldn’t be inclined to mend fences if she had to brush him off yet again.

  ‘Mum?’

  She could hear voices and music in the background then a door slamming as her son found some quiet and privacy.

  ‘Mum. I said I’d call you tomorrow. I’m with some friends at a party.’ He sounded a bit drunk.

  ‘Sorry to interrupt,’ Kate said. ‘But I’ve got an early start tomorrow and I didn’t want to miss your call. I thought I’d try to catch you tonight.’

  He didn’t respond so she continued.

  ‘Dad says you’ve spent your loan money.’

  ‘I have,’ Ben sighed. ‘And I know you’ll just think I’m irresponsible but I had a job lined up for the summer so I thought I’d be okay.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘It fell through. It was in a restaurant. Waiting on, clearing up, that sort of thing. Minimum wage, but it would have kept me going. The restaurant closed down.’

  ‘In Sheffield?’

  ‘Yep. I don’t want to go back to Dad’s for the summer. I’d feel like such a loser.’

  ‘Any chance of another job?’

  ‘I’m looking but there’s not much about.’

  ‘How much do you think you’ll need to get you through?’

  ‘Dunno. I’ve got rent to pay. I’m sharing a house with some mates next year and we’ve already moved in.’

  Kate wondered whether these were the same mates that she could still hear faintly in the background.

  ‘How much is rent?’

  ‘Two fifty a month.’

  Kate calculated. Three months’ rent plus expenses would be well over a thousand pounds.

  ‘Has your dad given you anything?’

  ‘A bit,’ Ben admitted.

  ‘How big a bit?’

  ‘Five hundred quid.’

  She was impressed. It wasn’t like Garry to be so generous now he had a baby to feed and clothe.

  ‘Okay. So how about I pay your rent for the next academic year? Your dad’s money should get you through the next couple of months if you’re careful and at least your loan will go further if you’ve not got rent to think about.’

  Silence.

  ‘Ben?’

  ‘You’d do that? For a whole year?’

  ‘Of course. But, I’ll pay it directly to your landlord. You’ll have to send me the details. I don’t want you tempted to spend it every month.’
/>   He laughed.

  ‘As if.’

  ‘As if nothing. I know you. At least I’ll know that you’ve got a roof over your head.’

  ‘Mum. I’m sorry I’ve been such a shit these last couple of years. I wanted to get in touch when I got to Sheffield but I didn’t really know what to say.’

  Kate smiled at his drunken sentimentality, knowing that he’d probably regret it in the morning.

  ‘I’ll always be here for you, Ben. You might think you’re an adult, but I never will. It’s my prerogative as your mum. Now get back to your friends. I’ll text you my new email address and you can send me the details of your landlord.’

  And that was that. No ‘I love you’s. No promises to meet. They both just hung up.

  But it was progress.

  2015

  An email pinged in to Kate’s inbox as she was gulping coffee and scanning the BBC News website. Her preparations for the day always involved coffee, news and some sort of food, even if it was just a slice of bread or a bowl of leftovers from the night before. What she read in the email caused her to spray toast crumbs all over the table and her phone.

  ‘Shit!’

  She scrolled to Hollis’s number and dialled.

  ‘Where are you?’ she asked.

  ‘Home. About to head out. Why?’

  ‘Forensics just sent their report. The rope used to tie up Aleah matches the guy ropes from the tent that we found in Craig Reese’s shed. There were two guy ropes missing when they unpacked the tent and the remaining ones are the same type. We need to pick him up.’

  ‘Hang on.’ She heard Hollis put the phone down and then muffled voices in the background.

  ‘I can be there in about half an hour.’ She shook her head even though he couldn’t see the gesture. ‘Barratt and Cooper should be at their desks by now. I’ll send them. It’ll probably be quicker. You can have first crack at him, though.’

  She hung up and dialled Barratt’s desk number.

  ‘Barratt? It’s me. Get yourself and Sam round to Craig Reese’s house and bring him in. If he refuses to come, arrest him on suspicion of murder.’