by Lee Shepherd
***
It was an anxious wait over the next twenty-four hours as he expected to hear back from Frank Sinclair over the analysis of the evidence, but Taylor was soon elated as he received the phone call stating that they had got a match on the fingerprint, but the hair fibre was unhelpful as it belonged to a bovine animal.
‘The match we have on the fingerprint belongs to a Mr Charles Lee. I hope that can help you in your enquiries and you manage to find the sick bastard behind these murders, Detective. In all my years in forensics, I have never witnessed anything like that of the discovery at Haywood farm.’
Taylor agreed and assured Frank that he would keep him updated on any progress it might lead to, before hanging up and going to his team and quietly asking them to get any details on a Mr Charles Lee that lived or worked in the local area, but to keep it between them at this moment in time as it might not be any use at all.
Got you! One of his staff gave him the details on Mr Charles Lee and continued to tell him that he was a local veterinarian in Carlisle and handed him not only the address of his practice, but his home address also.
***
Meanwhile back at the hotel, Georgie was gathering loads of evidence on the people behind the abuse from the cooperating victim. She had dates, times, places and now names of the people involved after carefully studying the photos over and over again. Georgie could not believe that these so-called “respectable” figures in the community operated at the highest levels inside the network. She was just about to call Taylor and inform him of the in depth of the knowledge she had managed to gain when he actually called her.
Before she could tell him what she had discovered, he excitedly blurted out, ‘I think we’ve fucking got him, Georgie!’
‘Jonathon McMullen? You mean you’ve managed to find him?’ she asked, totally forgetting everything she was about to tell him.
‘Possibly Georgie, except this guy’s name is Charles Lee. He’s a local veterinarian and knows the area, but also, the forensic team managed to pick up a partial fingerprint from Beattie’s door handle and it matched his!’
He then informed her that he needed her to accompany him to go and question Charles Lee immediately, so she would have to leave the woman alone in her hotel room for a few hours. This news didn’t go down too well with the witness when Georgie relayed this information to her, but Georgie reassured her that everything would be fine and that she would be back within a couple of hours.
As Georgie made her way down the foyer and out towards the car park, she was so absorbed in her own thoughts and anxieties about the man she was going to interview with Taylor, that she totally failed to notice Chief Inspector Messenger waiting patiently outside. Unbeknownst to Taylor and Georgie, Chief Inspector Messenger had been running his own investigations ever since the death of James Beattie. Just as Taylor had kept records on Brian Jenkins’ calls and internet activity, Messenger had been monitoring Taylor’s activities and knew exactly what they had been up to. He could not let their evidence become public, and so he’d waited. Finally his opportunity had come; Georgie had left the witness alone and vulnerable. He knew what he had to do.
***
As Taylor and Georgie made their short journey to Charles’ practice, Georgie gave him her theory on it all, stating how it all made perfect sense; Mr Lee was a veterinarian, he would have access to Ketamine, which was found at Amber Thompson’s post mortem. Also he would have an in depth knowledge of the areas in which the murders had taken place. And when Taylor told her that his home address was situated in the Scottish borders, this confirmed things even more, due to the disappearance of Lucy Mitchell from Gretna. The fact that James Beattie was murdered on his own farm only solidified this theory. There were just two things that did not add up. Why the girls? And what of the main suspect Jonathon McMullen?
Charles instantly recognised the detective and his assistant from the news and papers as he caught a glimpse of them from his office window getting out of their car and making their way towards the practice. Sheer panic and a sense of impending dread took control of him as he sat and waited for Linda to show them through. He could not understand how they had managed to find him, as he had been so careful to cover his tracks. He thought about making a run for it, but knew this would only add to his guilt. Instead all he could do was straighten himself up and try to play it cool and just see exactly what they knew.
Linda showed the two of them to Charles’ office and knocked before entering, explaining to her boss how the two had come to ask him a few questions. Charles looked up from where he sat and politely invited them to make their way inside and take a seat. He then thanked Linda and asked her if she wouldn’t mind preparing some coffee for the visitors, immediately putting on the charm offensive, all the while secretly scared to death about what would happen next.
As Linda made her way out of his office, Taylor thanked Charles for the offer of coffee and also for taking the time to speak with them and try and help them with their enquiries. The first thing Georgie noticed was the scar that ran along Charles’ jaw line and she discreetly made Taylor aware of it also, taking them back to their first meeting and her initial profiling of the suspect.
‘So, how may I be of assistance, Detective…?’
‘Taylor, it’s Taylor.’
‘Yes, right, Detective Taylor.’
‘Yes, and this is my partner, Detective Riley.’
Charles instantly picked up on this lie, as he knew exactly who she was, and knew that she wasn’t a detective, but chose to go along with the lie to avoid suspicion.
‘Like I was saying, how may I be of assistance to you?’
‘We were wondering how well you knew one of the recent victims in a murder case we are currently investigating. Mr James Beattie, to be more precise?’
‘Ah yes, Mr Beattie, I heard of his tragic death on the local news. I hope you can find the person responsible, Detectives.’
‘We’re working on it, Mr Lee, I can assure you of that. So did you know the victim at all then, Charles? You don’t mind if I call you Charles do you?’
‘Not at all, Detective Taylor. I prefer it, it makes things a lot less formal.’ Charles did not know how else to respond as he couldn’t be sure how much they knew at this point, if anything at all.
Taylor, sensing his hesitance then added, ‘The thing is, Mr Lee, our team of forensic experts have discovered a fingerprint which belongs to you at the scene of the crime, and we are just looking to find out if there was a reason for this?’
Charles’ hands were clammy at this point. What excuse could he offer as to his print being found? How could this have happened? He’d specifically remembered to put on his surgical gloves before entering. Then all of a sudden he remembered being at the farm a few months before, which immediately started to calm his nerves as he knew this would give him an explanation. He knew he had a record of the visit and a copy of the invoice he sent to Jim to back this up. His nerves instantly started to settle, and he composed himself before explaining to the pair how he had visited Mr Beattie’s farm a few months earlier to tend to one of his cows, and that Mr Beattie had invited him inside of his home and made him coffee and thanked him for his work. He further added that he had not seen the man before that day, or had any further contact with him since. He then confidently pulled out a copy of his records from his filing cabinet, confirming what he had just told them. He went on to state that Mr Beattie was a very welcoming, friendly old man that did not strike him as the kind of man who would have any enemies that would want him dead. Taylor’s elation soon dissipated as what he was told made perfect sense, and with no other concrete evidence to put forward against Charles, he accepted that they had the wrong man at this point and thanked Charles for his time and explained that they may need to speak to him again at some point, but as for now that was all.
‘Just one more thing, Detective…’ Charles said, as his inquisitive narcissistic mind took over as they made their way toward
s the door.
‘What’s that, Charles?’ Taylor replied.
‘It just occurred to me, you said that you discovered a fingerprint that matched mine at the scene. How is this even possible given the fact that I have never been in trouble with the police or broken a law to my knowledge in my entire life?’
‘I believe you are an ex-military man, Charles, is that correct?’
‘Yes, that is correct, Detective. What does that have anything to do with this?’ Charles asked, confused as to where this was leading.
‘I also believe you spent a bit of time in the Glass House before you left?’ Taylor asked him, letting him know in doing so that he had done his homework on him.
‘Ah, now I get it.’ The penny had finally dropped: his time in military prison had caught up with him.
‘Yes Charles, even our minor discrepancies of our youth come back to haunt us at some point.’
Charles could only offer a faint laugh as he replied, ‘Indeed they do, Detective, indeed they do.’
How could he have forgotten that? He mentally kicked himself for being so unusually careless as they left the practice.
***
Taylor’s frustrations were running high as he gave Georgie a lift back to the station, and he became snappy towards her for no other reason than this frustration.
‘That was another fucking waste of time, and we’re still no closer to finding Jonathon McMullen! Please tell me you managed to get something good from our witness for God’s sake?’
‘I did, but I’ll get back to that. In the meantime — and I don’t mean to be rude — but are you totally overlooking the obvious, Taylor?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Did you not see the way in which Charles squirmed when you mentioned the fingerprint at Beattie’s farm? Or his scar? Also, did you not see the way he looked at us? I got the impression he knew exactly who we are, yet chose not to question you when you introduced me as Detective Riley.’
‘We can’t go off your gut feeling though can we, Georgie!’ Taylor said, frustrated. ‘The fact is, that Charles has a valid reason for being at the farm, and there is absolutely no motive at this point that we know of to suggest otherwise.’
This suddenly stirred something in Georgie. ‘You know you said that Mr Lee was previously in the military, which suggests you researched his past?’
‘Yeah, well obviously! And?’
‘Did you look into his childhood also? And did you speak to anybody in his regiment that might shed some light on his character and why he left?’
Taylor sensed she was onto something as he realised he never had any details on Charles before joining the army…very strange.
Taylor and Georgie then went back to the station to ask his team to run a full background check on Mr Charles Lee, and told them to get back on the phone to the people at the deed poll office and see if they could offer anything else on either Jonathon McMullen or Charles Lee. He then told Georgie that he would come back to the hotel with her and get a full written and recorded statement from their witness to have ready to hand into the CPS as soon as the time comes.
***
On the opposite side of the city to where Taylor and Georgie had been questioning Charles, Chief Inspector Messenger had got out of his own personal car and, in plain clothes and pulling on a baseball cap in an effort to disguise his recently high profile face, cautiously approached the entrance of the hotel. He made his way to the second floor bedroom where he had seen Georgie through her window whilst he’d sat anxiously observing from the car park.
‘Room service,’ he said as he knocked on the door.
The woman was slightly alarmed at this; she certainly hadn’t ordered any room service as she didn’t want to abuse Georgie’s hospitality and trust. A second knock rang out and the woman nervously made her way toward the locked door and took a look through the spy hole. She could make out the figure of a man. He had his back to her so she could not be sure if it was genuinely room service or somebody coming to harm her.
‘I’m sorry but you have the wrong room, I didn’t order any room service,’ she called back in an attempt to get the man to turn and face her.
Messenger was getting angry now; he did not want to be out in the corridor any longer and draw attention to himself so turned and faced the door, not realising she was looking right at him from behind it. As she realised just exactly who it was she let out a slight gasp, which immediately informed Messenger that she knew who he was and his reason for being there. With that in mind, and not wanting to give her the time to call for help, he looked both ways to see that nobody was looking, and with one swift kick he booted open the door, which smacked back into the woman’s face.
He immediately recognised her as one of his victims as he made his way inside, closing the door behind him. She desperately tried to scramble to her feet as he approached her, taking out a length of rope from his pocket as he neared.
‘Please, stop!’ she begged, as he silently and purposefully positioned the rope around her neck, then proceeded to pull the ends tightly around her throat, cutting off her air supply in doing so.
He watched as her face reddened and she started to lose consciousness due to her lack of oxygen, and held his stance until she had totally given into it and her body went limp. In that instance he heard voices coming from the corridor; he let the rope slacken and removed it completely, placing it back in his pocket. He then went and looked through the spy hole. Fortunately for him it was just a passing couple making their way back to their room, and as soon as they closed their door behind them, he opened the door to the room he was in and made his way into the corridor, closing the door behind him again, safe in the knowledge that she would never be able to speak out against his crimes ever again.
Chapter 17
As Taylor and Georgie made their way towards the hotel, Taylor instantly spotted Messenger’s Audi as it teared away down the road that led into the carpark entrance, heading in the opposite direction of where they were going. Taylor knew straight away that the woman had possibly been harmed or even killed, and immediately informed Georgie to call an ambulance on the off chance that she might still be alive. He also knew in that moment that Messenger was fully aware of what he and Georgie were trying to accomplish and would without doubt try and do everything in his power to stop himself from being exposed, but also do his utmost to discredit not only Taylor, but Georgie also.
Everything depended on what state they found the witness in, and the two of them ran inside the hotel, pushing past everyone in their way as they did so, in a desperate attempt to try and help the woman. As they nervously opened the door they both looked at each other and thought they were too late, as they was greeted by the sight of her laying on the floor in only a dressing gown to cover her modesty, totally unconscious and foaming at the mouth.
Georgie immediately sprang into action as Taylor got back on the phone to check how long the ambulance would be. Georgie felt enormous guilt, as she felt responsible for being a part of the circumstances that enabled this to happen.
She looked up at Taylor. ‘It doesn’t look good, I can’t find a pulse!’ She was determined to try and keep the woman alive though, and started to administer CPR until the paramedics attended on scene a few minutes later.
Taylor just stood there, feet firmly rooted to the floor as he watched and hoped and prayed that she would pull through — not just for her sake, but so he could bring the bastard, Messenger, to his knees!
The attending paramedics tried relentlessly to resuscitate the woman for what seemed like an eternity as the pair of Taylor and Riley looked on in sheer hope that she would make it. The lead paramedic had given up as his efforts to resuscitate had all failed, and was just about to pronounce the woman dead, when all of a sudden her foot involuntarily moved, forcing him to re-check to see if she was breathing. He could not believe it as he found the slightest trace of a pulse and shouted at his colleague to get the stretcher as he put an
oxygen mask over her face.
Georgie insisted she would stay with the woman on the way to the hospital and until she regained consciousness, if at all, to avoid any further harm coming to her. Taylor, as in any other case, called for forensics and another team of detectives to come and gather evidence.
***
After Taylor handed over the crime scene to his colleagues from CID, he decided to make his way back to the station to face Messenger, knowing full well that he was now probably going to be taken off the case.
‘Still nothing on Jonathon McMullen, sir,’ came a voice from one of his junior staff as he made his way towards the Chief Inspector’s office.
Messenger beckoned him in through the window and Taylor entered the office and slammed the door shut behind him. Messenger immediately started to question his detective on what he had been told from all the names they had interviewed regarding their time at the Beatties’.
‘I know everything, sir!’ he angrily snapped back at Messenger, desperately resisting the urge to beat his boss to a bloody pulp and arrest him in front of all the other officers. However, he knew at this point that without the witness’ statement, he had nothing concrete on Messenger and he would probably walk free if correct procedures didn’t take place.
‘Well you tell me what you think you know, and I will tell you what I know,’ Messenger provokingly asked Taylor.
‘I know that you are a fucking disgusting piece of shit, that has raped and tortured innocent children for the past twenty-five years, and have totally abused your position of trust! I also know that, you and your so-called “respectable” friends have run a secret paedophile ring for all this time, and it is just a matter of time before I expose you all for what you are!’
