The Secrets of the Shadows (The Annie Graham series - Book 2)

by Helen Phifer

  Chapter 29

  Grace Marshall had spent the last three days solid working on a profile good enough to present to Will and his team; she wanted to prove to him just how good she was. Two women found on graves inside the same church grounds and one man found dead in the presbytery adjacent. It wasn’t rocket science that the church was the key thing; St Mary’s was a catholic church run by a priest named John Trelmain. It was his nephew who was found dead inside the house. Will had run him through the system and there was nothing, no records for him at all. The priest had lived a quiet life of servitude with no major scandals so it was highly unlikely he was the killer. But Grace did think he was the link, he had to be, she just had to find out how. She was on a train which gave her time to think. She was too tired to drive and needed to be able to concentrate on what she was doing. She hadn’t told Will she was definitely coming but she wanted to go and visit St Mary’s first thing in the morning and put all the information into the software programme she used, called RIGEL, which would work out the parameters using a computer algorithm, which in turn would work out the distance of decay; which meant in a nutshell that many offenders do things that bit closer to home and it could hopefully bring up the area in which the offender was likely to live. It would at least give them something to work from, which would be better than the nothing that they had right now. She went through the reports again. The footprint sat heavy on her heart as if it was pressing down directly onto her chest. The same footprint was found at both crime scenes and yes it was a Magnum boot and she knew they were the footwear of choice for most of the coppers and PCSOs but why was that the only one found? Shouldn’t there have been several footprints if that was the case? Of all the officers and technicians who’d visited the scene, the same one stood out. It was more than a coincidence, she was sure of it.

  ***

  Will had slept in his old bedroom on the king-size luxury bed that moulded to your body shape. That and the beer had given him the best night’s sleep since Annie had left. He woke up bright and early, showered and got dressed and went downstairs to the sound of the hoover and the smell of bacon frying. Lily was busy hoovering the hall and Will pecked her on the cheek as he passed. That was one of the reasons that he loved her and although she would never take his mum’s place, she was a pretty good stand in. She insisted on doing her own cleaning even though they could afford to hire someone to come in and do it, she never pretended to be anything other than herself. He walked on down the hall to the kitchen where his dad was doing the cooking; he passed Will a huge bacon and sausage bun.

  ‘Here, I’ll be eating sausages until Christmas, I bought far too many, at least it will set you up for the morning. Did you sleep well?’

  ‘Yes thanks but I need to get going soon. Still got a madman killing people and I have no idea who he is.’

  Will bit into the bun and felt brown sauce dribble down his chin; his dad passed him a paper towel.

  ‘Scary stuff that son, you take it easy out there.’

  Will nodded, he gave his dad a hug then made his way to the front door and past Lily who paused to say goodbye. As he was getting into his car his dad came running out of the front door after him.

  ‘Will, I’ve been thinking about the Annie situation. I think that my son the born-again bachelor who was never going to settle down has fallen in love. Stop me if I’m wrong. Do you want to spend the rest of your life with her?’

  ‘I wasn’t sure if I could, you know, commit to her in that way but now that she’s gone yes, yes I do. I want to come home to hear her singing along to the radio out of tune, I want to walk in to the smell of freshly baked cakes even if they are burnt around the edges. I want to kiss her goodnight and sleep with her in my arms every single night and it hurts so much that I’ve thrown everything that I ever wanted away.’

  ‘I get the feeling that she still feels exactly the same about you but you have hurt her pride and that Will is never a good thing to do to a woman.’

  Tom pulled a small black velvet ring box from his trouser pocket and handed it to Will. ‘That was your mother’s engagement ring and it was my mother’s before that. Your poor grandad worked for three years solid to pay for that ring but he said that your gran was worth every single penny. Maybe it’s time to put it to some good use again; your mum would love that and she would want to see you settled down and happy. The only person who can make that change happen is you.’

  Will pocketed the box, he remembered his mum wearing the ring every single day. It was a big diamond which was flat but in the shape of a flower with smaller diamonds around it like petals and Annie would love it. He smiled at his dad and then hugged him before turning and getting into his car, silent tears falling down his cheeks for his mum who had died too young, for Annie, Laura and himself.

  ***

  Annie had showered and was back in her car ready for another day at work. She hoped that Cathy wouldn’t be in today, it was too early to have to begin grovelling. The way she had been sinking them back last night made Annie thing that she would either be off or on a late shift. Annie’s sole purpose today was to find out who Sean was, she thought about the times she’d seen the girl and wondered where she was buried. The church grounds might be a good place to look if she could remember which grave it was she had disappeared behind. She wasn’t even going to go out in her uniform because she didn’t want to get stopped for a photo opportunity every five minutes. The small station was quiet, not one person in sight, which was good for her, it meant she didn’t have to explain what she was up to. She turned her radio on and clipped it to her shirt and left to go and have a mooch around the churchyard. She didn’t know if Father John was back up here or still in Barrow and she felt a bit guilty that she hadn’t bothered to check up on him but she was busy, this afternoon she would pay him a visit and see how he was.

  She reached the church and walked along the uneven rows of graves, searching the headstones for a girl called Sophie Wood. She had just about given up when she turned a corner by the side of the church and let out a squeal. She’d forgot about the lifesize monument of the angel and had thought it was another dead body. Stepping closer to take a look it was a beautiful grave, the angel was lying on her side, her wings tucked neatly behind her and she looked fast asleep. There was an inscription which ran around the stone plinth it was resting on, it read;

  Sophie Wood aged 9 years 6/5/1975 – 28/6/1984

  Elizabeth Wood aged 34 years 1/1/1950 – 30/6/1984

  Mother and daughter reunited, safe in God’s arms

  Annie felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle; it was true, Sophie did exist and if she did then so must her brother. Annie needed to check the parish records and the registrar’s office to see what she could find out. She didn’t know if there would be any information on the police computer but she’d check that as well. She should really tell Will and let him or one of his officers do it but she still had her doubts in the back of her mind. She knew that he would believe her and not question her motives but she didn’t want him to get a hard time because of her message from the other side. Coppers were relentless with the piss taking. She also needed to speak to Father John. Although he was only covering for the usual priest he might be able to help her.

  ***

  Will arrived at work and made his way to his office, where he was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by Grace Marshall who was sitting behind his desk, her laptop open, typing furiously.

  She looked up, ‘Morning Will, don’t ask I had to come. Do you want to get cracking or is there something you need to do first?’

  He looked around at his team who were all busy on the phone or the computer. ‘Am I glad to see you, let’s get cracking.’

  ‘Good, I was hoping you’d say that. Is there somewhere we can talk in private?’

  He raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t say anything; instead he turned and left the office with Grace close behind, carrying her notebook and laptop under her arm. He didn’t
speak until they had climbed three flights of stairs and were sitting in one of the third floor empty offices as far from anyone as possible.

  She shut the door behind her. ‘I’m sorry about the drama but you need to hear what I’ve got to say, think about it and then decide what we are going to do, without an audience listening in.’

  ‘Go on then, I have to admit you have me intrigued.’

  ‘Well I’ve been through everything that you sent me twice over, I’ve studied it in great detail and every time it comes back to the same thing.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘The boot print, it has me stumped. I’ve thought about every single scenario and it just doesn’t fit. Why of all the people to attend a crime scene is there the same Magnum print at both scenes?’

  ‘I would have thought it was pretty obvious Grace; you of all people must know that most police officers wear them so it will belong to one of us.’

  ‘Okay and yes I do know that. Let’s try this then, how many people other than officers wear size 12 magnums and would have a legitimate excuse to be at a crime scene?’

  Will thought about it, ‘Erm nobody. Well maybe the CSI but I’m pretty sure Debs who attended both scenes isn’t a size 12. Why.’

  ‘I know this is a scary thought Will but it’s almost as if it was planted there, staged. Look at me; I left my boot print by mistake because I was one of the first on scene which makes it obvious that I’m not the killer.’

  She watched his face as realisation began to take over. ‘Shit, no fucking way. Are you telling me that the killer is a police officer and he left it there on purpose so we wouldn’t think anything of it if we found any trace evidence which pointed back to the owner of the shoe?’

  Grace nodded, ‘I’m sorry but yes, I think the killer is a police officer or someone who has legitimate access to the crime scene. I think he is very organised, a meticulous planner and will have planned everything down to the last detail. These killings are not sexually motivated; they are more about revenge or anger. I’m interested in why he chooses suffocation as a means of death, it could be because he doesn’t want to ruin their faces but I’m still working on that one. I also think he is just a normal guy, not too loud or brash. He will get on well with most of his colleagues but he doesn’t have any close friends or a girlfriend, he’s a loner. In my opinion he’s a narcissistic sociopath which means he kills because he wants to and not because of some primal urge or compulsion. From the detail and the time he’s taken to stage his victims it appears he is quite the perfectionist.’

  ‘But Ryan Trelmain wasn’t staged; he was killed and left there.’

  ‘That’s because Ryan wasn’t a part of his plan, he was in the way and stopping him from getting to who he really wanted – Laura. He went for a swift kill because he needed him out of the equation. He’s clever; he knew that you would automatically discount the footprints because you would never in a million years believe that the killer would be one of the good guys. We need to go through the logs and scene logs and list every male officer or member or staff male and female who have size 12 feet and attended, and then you need to cross-reference it with the other two crime scenes to see if they were on duty or in attendance. As organised as he is - and we’ll assume it’s a him because of the shoe size and the fact that most serial killers are male - he can’t keep away and is getting a massive kick out of being at work when the bodies are discovered. If there isn’t one person is at all three crime scenes then we need to check the duties and see how many of the same officers or staff have been on duty each time a body was discovered. Oh and Will, you can’t let this out of the bag because I have a feeling that if he finds out you are onto him he will flip and go out in a blaze of glory if needs must. It could get messy, we know that he has no conscience and I don’t doubt for a minute he will kill as many people as possible, including himself if he’s faced with that option. If I’m right then he doesn’t have anyone waiting for him each day when he finishes work and no reason not to finish on a high. Please Will we can’t give him the chance because he will take it personally once he realises that you are onto him and he may come after you and what’s yours, which includes Annie.’

  Will, who had been sitting bolt upright listening to her speak for the last five minutes, slumped forward; putting his elbows on the desk he buried his head in his hands and sat like that for a couple of minutes and then peered at her through his fingers. ‘What the hell are we going to do Grace?’

  ‘Who can you trust, or more importantly who doesn’t have size 12 feet?’

  ‘Up to now that’s me, I don’t think anyone in my office does but I couldn’t really say for sure. What if they just borrowed someone’s size 12 boots and they are really a size 9?

  Grace chewed her thumbnail for a few seconds. ‘Then my friend we are fucked.’ She went through the pictures she had tucked away in the back of her notebook until she found the one of the footprint and studied it. After a while she smiled and then held it towards Will. ‘Nope, they have to be his boots; you see where it’s worn a bit on the heel and the pattern is not as distinct. If the boot was too big it wouldn’t have made that impression in the soil. That was where the full weight of the body pressed down into it.’

  ‘Phew, thank Christ for that. So if I go and print off the duties and the logs and photocopy the scene logs we can go through them together. We won’t mention it to anyone if he’s as much of a ticking time bomb as you think. Why is he picking blonde-haired women?’

  ‘I would say because he has a grudge against someone from when he was younger, they must have blonde hair and be pretty because I would bet that whoever pissed him off once upon a time looked very similar to both victims. It could have been a mother who left him or a sister he was extremely jealous of. It could even have been a previous girlfriend who left him.’

  ‘Do you want to go down and get your stuff and I’ll drive you to my house?’ He looked at her long blonde hair which was piled into a loose bun on the top of her head and her delicate features. She fit the victim profile so he couldn’t risk her being in the station and he wondered if she’d worked that one out as well.

  ‘If that’s what you want to do, oh and Will, we need to speak to the priest. He is the key to all of this even if he doesn’t know it.’

  They left the room and stepped into the deserted corridor, walking along until they passed the staff room which was empty. Will felt on edge and couldn’t get his head around the fact that one of the good guys had turned out to be not so good after all and that it could go from bad to worse in the blink of an eye. He waited in the corridor while Grace went back into his office to collect her things off his desk. When she came out he walked her to where he had parked his car down a little back street. ‘Wait here and I’ll go and print the stuff off that we need, then we can go back to my house and see what we can find. The fewer people we tell the better, although I’m tempted to tell Jake and Annie but I’m scared of dragging them into it. I know for a fact that it won’t be Jake even though he does have size 12 feet, he’s definitely one of us and Alex would be the first to ring me or Annie if he thought that Jake was cracking up. The killer must live alone or have access to somewhere that no-one else does because the first body dump wasn’t the primary scene and we still have no idea where the first murder took place. We only found the second one because we were searching for the man who Laura left the pub with. The first victim’s house has been searched several times by CSI and Task Force and it was clean.’

  ‘Did I read that Tracy Hale phoned up because she thought someone had been inside her home?’

  ‘Yes you did, but the only reason she thought that was because the Sky remote had been moved.’

  ‘Can you tell me if it was taken away and checked for prints after her body was discovered?’

  ‘I don’t think so, shit. I didn’t even think of that and I doubt anyone else has, we need that control. If the killer stalked her then he could have been in her house and touched
the control, his prints could be on them. It’s a long shot but what have we got to lose?’

  Grace nodded, ‘I’d say so, anything at this point is worth a try. The quicker we can identify the killer the less chance there is of anyone else being hurt.’

  Will slammed the car door shut and jogged back to the station, adrenalin making his hands shake a little; a fine sheen of sweat broke out on his forehead, which he wiped with the sleeve of his jacket. Now wasn’t the time to screw up, people’s lives depended upon him. He rushed into the station and back to his desk. He couldn’t even look into the parade room, he was so on edge and frightened he might give something away. CID staff didn’t wear work boots so he was pretty sure it wasn’t any of his team, but that didn’t mean they didn’t still have a pair tucked away at home or in the locker room. Every one of them had begun life as a response officer. The office was busy, his team had all been allocated tasks at the morning meeting to be following up on. He sat down at his desk and logged back on to his computer where he set about printing out the duty rotas for the days the victims were found. He then took the crime scene logs and went to the photocopier. If anyone wondered what he was doing, they didn’t comment, in fact they didn’t even give him a second glance. and fifteen minutes later he had everything that he needed. Without saying a word he gathered his papers and left the office.

  Kav came through the back door just as Will was about to leave. ‘How’s it going?’