Saffina Desforges' ROSE RED Crime Thriller Boxed Set

by Saffina Desforges

  Red suppressed a smile as Barry’s words played over in her mind. Being first on site like this, actually seeing the blood and everything, not just the holiday snaps back in the briefing room. I think it helps to get inside the killer’s mind. You can tell so much from being there. She snuck a glance at him. His normally ruddy features had drained of blood. The gerbil cheeks looked sallow. A tremor showed in his hands.

  Red thought, You big girl’s blouse. She said, “I’ll drop you at home. The last thing you need is to be breathing in all that filthy air on the tube. Besides, I need your trousers for forensics.”

  Taylor nodded his thanks. No smart-ass come-back about Red helping him take them off. He definitely was not feeling well. Red elected not to take advantage. Or to tell the others back at the station.

  Poor Barry.

  She waited outside while Taylor went in and changed. He brought the trousers out in a Disney carrier bag. “Tangled?”

  “My niece,” Taylor explained. “My sister’s been staying over a few days. Handkerchief’s in there too.”

  No ‘Guv’, Red thought. The toothy grin was nowhere to be seen. “You sure you’re okay, Barry?”

  “I’ll be fine in the morning. Thanks for the lift.” Taylor turned for his home. Red watched him go, then slowly pulled away.

  Poor Barry.

  Chapter 119.

  Harris looked around the briefing room. “Where’s Bazza, then, Guv? I thought he was working with you.”

  “He’s following up something with Thewliss,” Red lied. The truth would have been more fun, but with promotion to DCI came responsibility and duty to one’s team, she reminded herself. Even the awkward squad.

  “Doing what, Guv?” Harris persisted.

  “Never mind what, Jez. Isn’t a third murder enough for you to be worrying about?”

  “I bet the Super’s not happy.”

  “That’s the understatement of the year, Anna He’s at the scene now.”

  “Blake?” Harris sneered. “At a crime scene? He’s just an office boy.”

  “Colin Blake started out just like you guys. At the bottom.” Red paused, wondering why she was defending Blake. She thought of the Huntsman. Tahlia. Deimante’s missing sister. If she could defend Taylor she could defend Blake. She pressed ahead. “The Super got where he is today by being a bloody good copper. And right this minute he’s there handling the media for me, so we can focus on our bit. Nailing the killer.”

  “Well said, Guv,” Pete Metcalf chimed in. “I worked under Colin when I first started out. He’s one of the best. I’d trust him with my life.”

  I wouldn’t go that far, Red thought. She said, “Take notice of that, everyone. I’ll be an office girl one day. I hope you’ll remember me for something, too.”

  “No-one here will forget you, Guv,” Terri grinned.

  Red thought, I shan’t be forgetting your backside in a hurry, either. She said, “Now, I’ve just this minute got back, as you know, so there’s nothing for the board yet. SOCO will be emailing you the crime scene images shortly. Be warned, it’s not a pretty sight.”

  Anna asked, “How did Barry handle it, Guv? It can’t be easy for a bloke to see something like that first hand.”

  “Barry was fine,” Red assured her, thankful for the beep of her Blackberry. “Excuse me.” She scanned the message. “Okay, SOCO confirm the victim is believed to be one Karl W. Green, IC3 male. They also confirm the victim had no ID on him. Nothing at all. No wallet. No cards. No cash.”

  “How do we know his name then, if there was no ID on him?” Harris asked.

  “That’s where it gets interesting,” Red said. “He paid by credit card.”

  “But you said he didn’t have any on him.”

  “Exactly. Which means we have change in MO. Nothing was taken from the previous victims.”

  “Might have been taken by whoever found him,” Roberts suggested.

  Red shook her head. “I saw the cleaner who found the vic. Totally traumatized. There’s no way she went anywhere near the body.”

  “Could be a trophy, Guv, if this is an escalation,” Anna Hargreaves said. “He might have started collecting.”

  “You’ve been reading too much Patricia Cornwell,” Metcalf said.

  “You can never read too much Cornwell,” Red put in. She thought, Well, Barry can. She said, “You guys should try her. You might learn something. Jim, can you chase up any CCTV footage?”

  Mackenzie’s fingers paused above his laptop keyboard. “Sorry, Guv?”

  “CCTV footage? From the street-cams outside the hotel?”

  Mackenzie nodded, his eyes never leaving the screen. “You got it.”

  “Which reminds me,” Red continued. “Just before the call came in this morning Barry was going through the footage from the previous murder scene. He found the girl we wanted to view. I’ll get it you all shortly. Anna and Jez, I want you to follow up with the victim’s nearest and dearest, as soon as the identity is confirmed.”

  “On it, Guv.”

  “Pete and Lee, you two follow up with the night staff at the hotel. They were all off duty by the time I go there.”

  “We’ll give them the good cop, bad cop treatment,” Roberts said. “Right Pete?”

  Metcalf groaned. “They’re potential witnesses, Lee, not suspects.”

  “Terri,” Red concluded, “as our afternoon schedule has been ripped up I suggest you tag along with Jim. Don’t want our DI getting lonely without Barry.”

  “After Barry Taylor, Guv, Terri ‘s company will be an unadulterated pleasure.” Mackenzie pushed back in his seat. “I’ve got something specific to follow up that Terri can help with. I think I see a pattern emerging.”

  “Jim?”

  “Karl Green, you said, right? IC3?”

  Red nodded.

  “Medium height? Very well built? Body builder, I mean?”

  “Hard to be sure when he was laid out on a bed covered in blood, but yes. Certainly had some muscle on him.”

  Mackenzie hit a key and a police mug shot of a black male came up on the white wall. “Karl Winston Green. I put him away ten years ago. Armed robbery. Served four of five.”

  “Okay,” Red said slowly. “But the first two weren’t in the system.”

  “Says who?”

  “They were?”

  Mackenzie hit another key. Stuart Walker’s mug-shots appeared on screen.

  Red stared. “How did we miss that?”

  “It’s actually in the forensics report, Guv. Obviously his fingerprints were found at the scene of the crime. But we all just skipped over it.”

  “What did he do?”

  “Just a teen rap. Got two years for assorted small-time crimes. Car theft, burglaries, the usual. Clean ever since. But here’s the rub. At one stage Stuart Walker and Karl Green were inside at the same time.”

  “Same nick?”

  “I can find out. It’s the nearest thing we’ve got to a lead at the moment.”

  “Or a total coincidence,” Red said. “David Carter was clean, wasn’t he?”

  “As a whistle, Guv.”

  Red shrugged. “It’s a straw to clutch at, Jim. And God knows, we need straws at the moment.”

  Chapter 120.

  “Mrs Green?”

  “I’m her sister, Laura. Can I help you?”

  “Metropolitan Police,” Anna said. “I’m DS Hargreaves. This is DC Harris.”

  Harris nodded a curt greeting.

  “May we come in?”

  “Of course.” Laura stepped aside, allowing them into the hallway. “I’m afraid Lisa is rather upset. We’ve just come from identifying the body.”

  “I quite understand, but we really do need to ask her some questions.”

  “Would you wait here a moment?” Laura asked. “I’ll see if she is up to seeing you.”

  Anna grimaced at Harris as Laura left them alone. “I hate this part of the job.”

  “At least it’s not a couple of fags. I might
be able to sit in the same room as these two without feeling on edge.”

  Laura’s head appeared around an adjoining door. “Would you like to come through?”Lisa Green looked up at them through partially closed eyes. The skin was raw and puffy.

  “Mrs. Green.” Anna approached the widow slowly. “I’m sorry, but we need to ask you a few questions. About Karl.”

  Lisa looked across at her sister, raw eyes wide like a frightened child.

  “It’s okay. I’m here.”

  Lisa grabbed her sister’s hand, gulping in huge lungfuls of air. Her eyes darted manically from Anna to Harris.

  “Mrs. Green, are you aware of circumstances in which Karl was found?”

  “I… Yes.”

  “And it’s been explained to you how he died?”

  “Yes.” Lisa squeezed fresh tears over flushed cheeks. Laura passed a new box of tissues.

  “Do you know anyone would want to hurt your husband, Mrs. Green? Had he received any threats? Was anything troubling him.”

  Lisa Green shook her head. “I—”

  The loud bellows of the Laughing Policeman cut short her response. All eyes turned on Harris as he fumbled in his jacket pocket. He looked at the mobile, feigning surprise. “Sorry.” To Anna, “It’s Nikki.”

  “Take it outside, Jez,” Anna said curtly. “And be quick.”

  “Yes, Sarge.”

  Anna shot an apologetic smile at the two women. “Sorry, where were we?”

  “You asked if anyone wanted to hurt Karl,” Laura said. She looked at her sister. “Lisa?”

  “Karl knew a lot of dodgy characters,” she said between sobs. “Obviously you know his past.”

  Anna nodded. “Could we talk about that briefly?”

  “It was before I met him. But he was totally honest with me about it. Showed me the newspaper cuttings, everything.”

  “Do you know which prison he was in?”

  Lisa shrugged. “All I know is, he used to make road signs.”

  “Did he have any friends from his time inside? Other ex-convicts?”

  A slow nod. “He said friendships built behind bars were unbreakable.”

  “Names?”

  “Only ever nicknames. Honey Monster. Speedy. Brains. High Street. Mouse. Names they knew each other by in prison.”

  Anna made notes. “Did you meet these friends at all?”

  “Only High Street. The others were just silly names, so far as I was concerned.”

  “Do you have a contact numbers for any of these friends of Karl’s?”

  “On his mobile. Karl had one of those fancy phones that did everything except make coffee. He would have had it with him, when he was...” The tears flooded again.

  “Nothing was found at the scene.” Anna leaned in, hoping Harris wouldn’t choose that moment to return. “This is a rather delicate question, Mrs. Green, but did your husband have any homosexual tendencies?”

  The sister’s hand flew to her mouth, stifling a laugh. “Karl? Gay? I don’t think so.”

  Lisa managed a watery smile. “Karl hated gays. He told me he lost his remission queer-bashing.”

  Chapter 121.

  “Coldingley, Anna. Surrey,” Mackenzie said. “That’s where they make road-signs. Both Walker and Green were there at the same time. Terri’s been in contact with the Prison Service this afternoon. They confirmed.”

  “According to the wife Karl Green kept in touch with several ex-cons from his time inside.”

  “Names?” Red asked.

  “Just silly nicknames.” Anna referred to her notepad. “Honey Monster, Speedy. Mouse. Brains. High Street.”

  “Kensington,” said Mackenzie.

  Anna shrugged. “Could be anywhere.”

  “No, Kensington,” Mackenzie repeated. “He was one of Karl Green’s little firm. Kensington Williams. Alias High Street. As in Kensington High Street. Don’t even try to rationalize it, Terri. It’s a London thing.” Mackenzie stretched out in his chair. “Small world. I was only talking to High Street the other day.”

  “You know him?”

  “Put him away along with Green and two more of the crew. One’s dead now and the other’s living it up on the Costas, like a proper villain should. High Street and Karl Green were the reasonable ones. I’ll sound out High Street about what happened to Green. He may know something.”

  “Sounds like you and this High Street character are good buddies, Jim.”

  “Old school villains, Guv. Getting caught is an occupational hazard for people like High Street.”

  Red turned her attention to Metcalf and Roberts. “Lee, you’ve been quietly sitting there looking very smug all this time. What have you got for us?”

  Roberts sat forward, shrugging his jacket up. A smirk on his face. “Well, first me and Pete went and gave the night staff at the hotel a good seeing to. Found out Green went there pretty regularly, Always paid by card. Always with a white bird. Different one each time. Apparently Green used a code. The bird would give three short sharp taps on the buzzer at the main door and reception would unlock for her to come in. No-one ever paid much attention, but someone did spot her going up the stairs last night. Or rather, at two this morning. Not much of a description. Only saw her from the back. Long red dress. Brunette. Quite tall.”

  “No-one else with her?”

  “Not according to the night staff.”

  “We checked the fire escape and back door,” Metcalf added. “All secure. All alarmed. Whoever killed Green went in and out through the front door.”

  Anna shot an apologetic glance at Metcalf and Roberts. “We know there were girls going in and out. There’s nothing to say it was the same girl on both occasions.”

  “We haven’t finished yet,” Metcalf said. “Lee, run the footage.”

  Roberts made a show of lining up his laptop and the whiteboard, hitting keys with a flourish. He brought up a split-screen, left and right. Hit a key. The left screen danced into life. The taxi rank outside the hotel where Stuart Walker was found.

  “Okay, this is the footage Barry got us, from the previous murder. The bird reported leaving the hotel in the early hours.” Roberts hit fast forward and ran the scene through. He slowed the video as a young woman emerged from the hotel doors, glanced across the road towards the taxi, then walked off. He hit pause. “That’s about as good as it gets. Dark hair. Brunette, maybe a redhead. Hard to tell. A handbag, obviously. A distinctive dress. Nice pair of legs, I’ll give her that.”

  “No better face shot?” Red asked.

  “We’ve sent it to forensics for enhancement.”

  “All this shows is that a woman left the hotel in the early hours.” Harris looked to Anna for support. “Doesn’t mean she did anything.”

  “Not on its own,” Roberts agreed. “But watch.” He hit the keys. The second screen came to life.

  “This was 0130 hours this morning,” Metcalf said. “Suspect going in”

  They watched in silence as a young woman appeared, walking towards the hotel. A different dress. Almost certainly the same handbag. They watched her press the buzzer three times, then push the door open. She disappeared inside.

  “There’s more,” Metcalf said.

  Roberts hit the keys and a second recording started to play. The same woman leaving the hotel.

  “0215 hours. The face is still obscure,” Roberts said, “but look at the way she walks. Real sexy. Almost like a catwalk model. Now watch this.” He hit a key and the first screen started to play again. The girl from the previous hotel. He hit play on the second. Both the girl from the first hotel and the girl from the second were shown on the street. “Is that the same walk, or is that the same walk?”

  A murmur of agreement ran around the room.

  Anna looked at Red. “That’s got to make her prime suspect.”

  Red nodded hesitantly. “It does look that way. Okay. Excellent work, all of you. A very productive day. I suggest we take this evening out to let this all sink in. Tomorrow, Ji
m, you and Barry can chase up this High Street friend of yours. Pete and Lee, take these recordings to the escort agencies and see if anyone can identify this girl. We need to talk to her. Urgently. Terri, I’ll need you here at the Station first thing. We need to update the Super.”

  “What about us, Guv?” asked Harris.

  “Anna and Jez, you need to go back to the Stuart Walker file. We need to know about his time inside.”

  Harris scowled. “That means Timothy Preston.”

  “Is that a problem. Jez?” Red asked.

  “No, Guv.”

  Chapter 122.

  Red fumbled for the phone on her bedside table, anxious not to wake Pippa. Taylor’s name flashed up beneath the time. 01:10.

  “Barry?”

  “Guv, it’s me. Taylor.”

  “Another body?” Red whispered.

  “No. Nothing like that. I just needed to talk.”

  Red rubbed an eye. “Talk?”

  Taylor paused. “Can we meet? I’ll buy you coffee at the all-night diner round the corner from the nick.”

  “It’s ten past one. I don’t need coffee. I need sleep.”

  “Please, Guv. I had a drink with Pete and Lee earlier.”

  “I thought you were sick.”

  “I feel sick right now, Guv, I’m telling you. We need to talk.”

  “And it can’t wait until the morning, at the Station?”

  “No, Guv.”

  Chapter 123.

  “This had better be good, Barry. I woke up Ruby clattering around.”

  The diner was almost empty, but Taylor leaned forward and lowered his voice anyway. No mean feat for Barry Taylor.

  “I did something I shouldn’t have this morning, Guv.”

  “Oh Christ. You dragged me out in the middle of the night for a bloody confessional?”

  “I wish. Look, I was trying to impress you earlier. I wanted to find something before the SOCO boys got there.”

  “Get to the point, Barry.”

  Taylor slowly met Red’s eyes. “I found something.”