Nine Lives

by Anita Waller

  ‘Thanks, Sam. And thank you, everybody. Sterling effort completing that list. Not given us much to go on, but it had to be done. It’s ticked off now, and I’m going into my office and starting work on the membership list. And we have temporary congratulations for Flick because I’ve made her acting DS until Beth is well enough to return to us. This may be for some time, Flick, but thank you for agreeing. Flick, as you all know, is soon to take her sergeant’s exam anyway. Maybe others amongst you, Ian,’ Erica said pointedly, ‘might like to consider this brave move.’

  Ian laughed. ‘Good on you, Flick! Not for me, though, boss. Not yet, anyway.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ Erica said, half joking and half serious. ‘Okay, I need two of you to go out to visit our hidden girls, Becky and Katie, show them that car, see if they know it. Decide who’s doing that, and I’ll need the report first thing tomorrow. Check up on their general welfare, and tell them we’re close to finding the killer. That will keep their spirits up.’

  ‘Are we?’ Ian asked. ‘Close to finding her?’

  Erica looked around the room, then spoke slowly. ‘I think we are. I think one tiny piece of evidence is all we need. God knows what that is, but I promise all of you, this will not be a repeat of twenty-fourteen, and she’ll pay for all eight of these girls.’

  Flick waited until Ian had organised Sam and Kev to go and see the girls, then popped her head around Erica’s door. ‘You okay, boss?’

  ‘Feeling a bit overwhelmed,’ she said with a smile. ‘My worry for Beth has been immense, and to see her and hear her has made my day. They seemed to take it well, your temp posting.’

  ‘They did, but they all knew I was going for sergeant anyway, and I’m just waiting for the exam date. They’re a good bunch, don’t think there’s anybody I don’t get on with. Kev can be quiet but he takes everything in. I know this is changing the subject, but it’s Bonfire Night tomorrow.’

  ‘I know. I’m starting to become slightly paranoid about it. You don’t like it either?’

  ‘No, not at all, but even more so this year. Everybody knows our emergency services are all on full alert on that night more than any other time in the year, and we’ve got a serial killer wandering the streets of Sheffield possibly looking for victim number nine. If I was that serial killer, I’d take full advantage of that situation.’

  ‘My thoughts exactly. The worst part of it is that I’ve no idea what to do about it. So… let’s assume you’re the killer. What would you do?’

  ‘Go to one of the civic bonfires, and pick somebody up there. You could easily latch on to somebody who’s on their own, suggest going to the pub, and she only needs to get them into her car. She’s proved that.’

  Erica gave a slight nod. ‘Okay, so how can we negate this a little?’

  Flick thought for a moment, then smiled. ‘I see where you’re heading. We need to get it out there that the killer is a woman, probably comes across as really nice and helpful, and we need to tell them on this evening’s news programmes. There may even be bonfires tonight that she could visit.’

  Erica stood. ‘Come on, we need to speak to somebody higher up who will deal with this. Count this as part of your training, acting DS Ardern.’

  A look of concern flashed across Flick’s face, and Erica laughed. ‘Don’t worry, not all supers are like they are in fictional stories. Ours is okay, usually amenable, although a bit touchy on this one. He’ll think of this as a positive step forward. We’ll get the information about the car and that we believe it to be a woman we are looking for out in the general arena, and see where we go from there. Let’s hope lots of people watch the news.’

  Quarter of an hour later they were in the canteen enjoying a coffee.

  ‘Told you he’d be okay,’ Erica said.

  ‘Okay, I’m a fan. You have to report everything to him?’

  ‘I make a point of doing so. I send an email every day, keeping him informed of what we’re doing, and of any progress we’ve made. We had a different Super in twenty-fourteen, so all that side of it has been fairly new to this one. To be fair, he’s read up on the cold case, knows as much as we do about it.’

  ‘And he’s good in front of a camera. A presence. Let’s hope it has some effect, we can’t have another body, boss. We simply can’t.’

  24

  November the fifth arrived without rain. It wasn’t exactly sunny, but it was bright and when Erica woke at seven it was to a feeling of relief that it was her alarm that had pealed out its tune, and not a call on her mobile phone.

  Frannie got up at the same time, and they shared breakfast and news of their intended day.

  Erica was all too aware of the hard day in front of Frannie. Social Services were removing three children from the dubious care of their parents, albeit temporarily, but it had to be done. The parents needed help and possibly counselling; they needed to be taught how to look after their own children, and a short sharp shock was usually a good place to start.

  They talked it over, and then moved on to Erica’s day, where she confessed to a feeling of relief that no early-morning call had woken her.

  ‘Flick and I had a conversation yesterday about the possibility of a further killing because it’s bonfire time, so at the moment no dog walker has found anything untoward.’

  ‘Maybe it’s helped putting out that warning on the news.’

  ‘I hope so. It’s also helped the killer though. She’s now aware we know it’s a woman.’

  ‘Lucky for you that couple saw the car in the car park.’

  ‘More than lucky. We’d still be at the he/she stage without them. Good day yesterday though. The team interviewed everybody who attended the gym on the nights all four girls were killed. Big job, but they saw everybody except one, and Kev went off last night to speak with the final one. I can’t imagine he got anything from it or he would have rung me. But it’s cleared up that line of enquiry.’

  ‘You still think the gym is the answer?’ Frannie leaned forward, her marmalade knife in her hand and a quizzical, thoughtful look on her face.

  ‘God knows, but that’s police work, isn’t it. I can’t barge in and accuse all and sundry, we have to eliminate. The gym was definitely a link between the four girls, but the gym is almost next door to the university so does that give us another possibility?’

  ‘A student? Maybe a mature student in view of the fact that this case is linked with your twenty-fourteen one? Shall I shut up?’

  Erica laughed. ‘Don’t be daft. Any input is welcome, and you know almost as much about this case as I do, as all I seem to do is rabbit on about it. It’s become personal, as you probably realise. Eight beautiful young women, never going to reach their potential in life, and you’ve been designated chief sounding board.’

  Frannie reached across the kitchen table and squeezed Erica’s hand. ‘Always here for you, talk all you want, you know it goes no further. Expect me when you see me tonight, I have no idea how today is going to play, but I’ll be thinking of you.’

  ‘And you take care. Bit of a thug, isn’t he, the dad?’

  ‘He is, but we take police protection. I’ll be careful, don’t worry. And I can handle myself, anyway, I’m the one who can move two wheelie bins at the same time, remember?’

  Flick placed a coffee in front of Erica, and sat down.

  ‘You here to talk?’ Erica asked.

  ‘Yes, is this the way a DS would do it, or is it insubordination again? I’m good at getting things wrong.’

  Erica closed her computer and waited.

  ‘I’m not sleeping,’ Flick stated, ‘and I’m not sleeping because of this case. I’ve realised that this second case has thrown up things that should have been done in the first case, and I also think this bloody rain may be a link between the two but it’s not a planned link, it’s a link that she uses when it occurs. Get me?’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘Okay, the link in the cold case is the letter L, but how did she do that? Where did she get
girls with the initial L? Surely she didn’t know them all? I couldn’t name four female acquaintances all with the letter L – or at least I could, but they’d all be Lisa, and that’s not what she wanted – but if she, killerwoman, belonged to some sort of group that was for women, it would probably give her the choices she needed. And let’s not forget there was a time lapse between each L killing, so the last couple may have been new members.’

  Erica frowned. ‘What sort of group? You’ve ruled out a gym, so what would a group of twenty-plus-age women attend?’

  ‘I had no idea on that one when I fell asleep at five. What I’m really getting at is I think L isn’t the real link. That was a little foible. I think we’ve no idea what the link is yet, but I think we need to go and talk to boyfriends and parents of the L girls, dig deeper into their lives instead of thinking there’s no DNA, or nobody has spotted anything, or this killer’s too freakin’ careful. At the most we’ll have eight interviews or so, and who knows where that might lead us?’

  Erica sipped at her drink. ‘I completely agree. I’ve been trying to work with both cases concurrently, but all the time it’s showing the only link between the two is the same killer. We need more than that. Well done, Flick. Now we need a starting point. We need a list of parents, husbands, boyfriends, even their dogs and cats if they’re relevant. When you’ve done the list, let me have it and I’ll set up appointments for tomorrow. We can’t drop in on them, I want it to be more formal than that so that they realise we’ve never let this case go. I think most of them assumed we had. Okay, making guesses time. At what sort of gatherings could this bitch have met them?’

  Flick shrugged. ‘Pilates? Art classes? IT classes? There’s all sorts run at any moment in time, so I guess we need to be asking that sort of question tomorrow. The WEA – Workers’ Educational Association – have been running classes for years, so maybe we could ask them for membership lists for that particular period when the girls were killed, if all else fails.’

  ‘If she’s a student or a tutor her name will be on the list, and possibly also on the membership list of the gym. I’ve had to ask for a new list from the gym, much to the receptionist’s disgust. I’ve asked her for two separate lists, male and female, because I was coming across too many names that could be either. I didn’t want to miss an Ashley because I assumed it was a man, but there was a Hilary, a Lindsey – so I took the best way and asked for it to be broken down.’

  ‘So the gym membership list hasn’t been checked yet?’

  ‘No, only the attendance one, and we could have halved that job if we’d known she was a woman earlier. Although in all fairness, only one man was visited, the rest were women. It appears men prefer not to visit the gym in the rain.’

  ‘Okay.’ Flick stood. ‘I’m on it now. I feel as if we’re finally making headway, but I’ll be glad when tonight’s over with the bloody bonfires. You going to one, boss?’

  ‘No, I want to be at home when Frannie gets there. She’s got a big case today and is likely to be home late, exhausted and emotional. That comes before any bonfire.’

  Flick gave a brief nod and left Erica to her thoughts and her sleeping computer.

  Erica looked up the number of the WEA and spoke to a secretary, who went into meltdown at the mere request of a student list, so she asked to be put through to someone who could organise it without the need for a court order, but one could be arranged if it was necessary.

  Within five minutes it had been sorted, and although he couldn’t promise a speedy response he said he would prioritise it. The issue, he said, was it was five-year-old information she was requesting, but he would start from a month either side of her dates and get the information she needed.

  She thanked him, said she would cancel the court order, and put down the phone. She put a tick against the action on her to-do list. Result.

  Beth stared around the room, and her father smiled at her.

  ‘Hi,’ he said. ‘Your mum’s gone to get us a coffee and a sandwich. She’ll only be a couple of minutes.’

  ‘What…?’

  ‘You’re in hospital, sweetheart. Welcome back to the world. You’ve been asleep for five days, but you’re on the mend now.’

  ‘Evan?’ Beth croaked.

  ‘He’s where he belongs, Beth. Erica saw to that. She was the one who alerted everybody to you needing help. She couldn’t raise you on the phone, so asked your colleagues to drive past and check on you. You’re safe now, love.’

  He stood as Norma entered the room, bum first, trying to carry two coffees and two sandwiches, with two packets of crisps dangling from her mouth and her purse tucked underneath her arm.

  ‘She’s awake,’ he said, and Norma dropped the crisps.

  And so bonfire afternoon melded into Bonfire Night. The council had organised four different fires around the city, but many households had taken advantage of the rain being non-existent and had built one of their own. It was a good way of getting rid of unwanted furniture, chopped-down trees, and anything else grateful neighbours handed over to be added to the pyre.

  Erica was home by five, knowing that once all the lists started arriving in her inbox the next day, she would be working until she could work no further. The broadcast from the previous evening was repeated on Look North, and Erica watched it over the rim of a glass of fruit juice. She’d decided no alcohol was her best course of action, so scrambled egg on toast and orange juice had been her evening meal.

  She walked to the window and stood mesmerised by fireworks lighting up the night sky, many colours, flashes and bangs that sounded like bombs. She might hate the whole concept, but the show was spectacular.

  She couldn’t settle. She tried reading, decided to put in a load of laundry, changed the bedding, wiped down the interior of the fridge, placed a couple of pieces in the jigsaw they’d been doing for six months at least, but still her mind wouldn’t rest.

  Frannie arrived home shortly after ten, kissed her and held her tightly. ‘Shitty day,’ she murmured into Erica’s hair, ‘very shitty day.’

  ‘The children are safe?’ Erica remained still, enjoying the feel of arms around her. ‘You stink of cigarette smoke.’

  ‘The whole bloody family smokes. I could have snatched one from them at one point, I was so stressed. It’s frickin’ hard being an ex-smoker. I’ll jump in the shower in a minute, I promise. I just need to hold you at the moment. Anyway, the children are safe, and with no trouble from the dad. The mum, however, flew into a screaming rage. Maybe she simply didn’t believe we would do it, perhaps she thought we were all talk, but she knows different now. I’ve spent a long time with her explaining what she has to do to get the children back, the work she has to put in to give them a good home environment and not the crap they have been living in, so let’s hope she took everything on board. I’ve made arrangements to return next week, and see how she’s doing, and organise her seeing the children, but supervised. Sometimes, Erica, I wish I had your job instead of mine. I’m sure chasing killers up hill and down dale isn’t as stressful as the stuff I’ve experienced today. I got your text about Beth, and I’m so chuffed. Come on, let’s sit down and collapse. We don’t need our jobs right at this minute, we need each other.’

  25

  There was a pall of smoke hanging over Sheffield. Three people had been taken overnight to Accident and Emergency with burns, two from firework explosions and one from falling on the bonfire severely inebriated.

  There was a mist of rain, not heavy drops that would add to the River Porter flow, but a wet damp haze, nevertheless. Winston Leonards stared at his dark brown face in the mirror and grinned. The dark brown knitted hat he’d pulled on merged his visage into one dark brown blob with a slash of shiny white teeth breaking up the ebony effect.

  ‘Max!’ he called to the little black and white Jack Russell he’d adopted when his friend had gone back home to Jamaica to live. ‘Pee time.’

  The dog gave a small woof of pleasure, and waited patientl
y for Winston to attach the lead. It was only half past five, but as always Winston had an early start at work; Max had to be sorted before he could open up the shop. Running a newsagent’s was interesting and he met lots of nice people, but early mornings were imperative.

  Winston slipped on a warm jacket, zipped his mobile phone into the inside pocket and opened his front door, conveniently situated at the side of the shop he had managed for the last four years. A brisk half-hour walk, and he and Max would open the shutters and start work for the day.

  They reached the kerb and Max obediently sat, waiting for the gentle tug on the lead that indicated they could cross the road safely. Next stop would be the fields and the freedom of being off the lead for twenty minutes, before their return to the shop.

  Winston was wet within the first five minutes; the mist was all-encompassing, and combined with the somewhat acrid smell of still smouldering fires it wasn’t quite the pleasant walk he was used to, even during the past couple of weeks of more torrential rain. He bent and slipped the lead for the first time in over a week, watching Max race off in the direction of the Porter. Winston knew he would return on command. During the investigations by the police, he had kept Max on the lead, but the area seemed to be a police-free zone so Max could enjoy his freedom.

  And then the little dog was gone. Winston called his name. Since the river had been in full flood, Max had seemed to recognise the danger and had stayed back on the bank, but now he wasn’t even in sight.

  Winston gave a piercing whistle, and heard a small bark. ‘Max! Here boy,’ he called and heard a more prolonged two or three barks. He swerved and followed the sound, while glancing at his watch. ‘Don’t prat about, Max,’ he said under his breath, ‘we open up in quarter of an hour.’