by Alex Clare
‘Good. Now you’re thinking like a sergeant.’ Robyn clapped her hands. ‘Well, get on with it.’
The pair converged around Lorraine’s computer and began a low conversation. Watching the intent on their faces, Robyn wondered about herself. She wanted this case solved, to bring Bartholomew down but she could detach herself from it while Lorraine and Chloe seemed to be taking the attack very personally. She hoped her calm came from longer years of experience and not something inside her that could never understand being a woman.
The urge grew to check her make-up, reinforce herself. As Robyn stepped out into the corridor, Matthew was walking towards her, biting down hard on a chocolate bar. This seemed like a good opportunity to make up for lost time. ‘Hello, Matthew. Have you got a second?’
Chewing, Matthew put his hand over his mouth.
‘Thanks, finish your food, there’s a couple of things. First the bad news. Fell said this morning he’s referring Newman’s death to Professional Standards.’
Matthew’s eyes closed briefly. He crammed the rest of the bar into his mouth.
‘But, there’s also some good news. We got an outline of the post mortem early and Dr Shepherd’s stated, without a doubt, the cause of death was nothing to do with the time in custody or the riot.’ Their eyes met in shared relief as it was likely to limit the scope of any investigation. ‘There’s one other thing.’
Matthew held his thumb up, then down, still chewing.
‘More thumbs down, I’m afraid. I think we’ve got a serial attacker in town.’ Robyn saw lines appear on Matthew’s forehead. ‘I’ve been going through old cases. I don’t think the attacks on women over the last eighteen months are isolated incidents, there are too many and there’s a pattern. Can you brief this out to your team and get them paying extra attention to men hanging around late at night?’
Matthew swallowed. ‘Sure. What’s the description?’
‘He’s white, of medium height, stocky, those are all the things we do know.’ Robyn ticked points off her fingers. ‘He’s careful, keeps his hood up, wears gloves and covers his face with a scarf. One person said he had blue eyes.’
‘Not a lot.’ Matthew shook his head. ‘With the weather so cold at the moment, lots of people are wearing gloves at night. Is there anywhere he operates?’
‘The fringes of the town centre, quiet residential areas. The last two were in New Town and Barton and, after one girl fought back, he’s started using a four-door car. I’m sorry it’s so patchy – I’ve only just started working on it but it looks serious.’
‘We’ll keep an eye out.’ Matthew crumpled up the wrapper and shoved it into his pocket. ‘Just to warn you, regular patrols are down to a minimum for the next couple of days because of all the events and there’s the Loveless birthday parade tomorrow.’ He snorted. ‘All leave is cancelled.’
‘Good luck.’ Robyn searched for a positive. ‘I heard Clyde was out of hospital.’
Matthew gave a small smile. ‘He’ll be off the frontline for six weeks but has already asked for a desk job as, according to him, he’s coming back next week.’
Robyn smiled in return. ‘I’m so glad. Thanks, I’ll get you more details as soon as I can.’
The toilets were at the end of the corridor by the lift. A red bar showed on the lock of the disabled cubicle. At least the ladies’ and gents’ toilets had basin areas where you could stand if everywhere was occupied. For her, there was nowhere to wait except the corridor. As she hesitated outside, the desire for privacy was overridden by a real need to use the toilet. She fidgeted for a moment, feeling the pressure in her bladder increase because now it was all she could think about. Crossing her legs provided only momentary relief. Becoming impatient, she tried the handle, in case the sign was wrong. The door didn’t move.
‘All right. Keep your hair on.’
She recognised Phil’s petulant tones and decided to cut her losses and go down a floor. There was a moment of pure happiness when she found the disabled toilet empty, followed by relief. Looking at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands, Robyn was ashamed. About eighteen months ago was when she had first acknowledged to herself that transition might be both what she needed and wanted to do and it looked like a number of women had suffered in that time because she hadn’t been paying enough attention. Her positive mood faded. Talking to Matthew was just the beginning: she needed to warn people.
As she walked onto the second floor, Graham and Ravi appeared from the lift.
‘Taking the stairs, Guv? Far too keen.’ Graham was being jolly: to Robyn, it sounded forced.
‘Hello. What have you got?’
‘We’ve got plans for a nice cell and we’re going to write “Trudwick” on the door.’ Graham grinned, then held the incident room door open for Robyn with exaggerated courtesy.
20
When Robyn, Graham and Ravi walked into the incident room, Lorraine charged forward. ‘Guv, did you hear the radio?’
‘No, what was it?’
‘Let me find it on catch up.’ Chloe dived for her computer. A familiar jingle filled the room.
This is the three o’clock news on North Kent FM. A prominent Meresbourne businessman has accused the police of racism. We have obtained details of the complaint made by Durbesh Johar, who runs local company Grove Foods. He states the police force behaved unsympathetically after the recent tragedy at the Lady Ann Hotel which has left his niece in a coma. A police spokesman stopped short of an apology. The announcer sounded outraged on the family’s behalf.
We have a duty to investigate when we believe a crime has been committed. We will, of course, investigate Mr Johar’s concerns seriously and do what is needed to resolve them. Khalid sounded his usual measured self.
The Dockers’ new manager has shrugged off crit –. Chloe shut off the sound.
‘He might say the right things, we’ve still only got one point from three games.’ Graham sat down.
‘You …’ Mouth open, Lorraine stared at Graham. ‘Is football all you can think about?’
Robyn heard Graham start to speak but her attention was focused on Ravi. A sheen of sweat glazed his face. As she started up from her chair towards him, he staggered, fingers scraping along the edge of a desk. Catching his arm, Robyn was able to steer him into a chair. ‘You OK?’ Close to, Ravi’s skin was tinged with yellow. ‘Get him some water. And open a window.’
Ravi slumped forward, Robyn managed to get an arm around him and held him in an awkward hug to stop him sliding from the seat. A perverse part of her hoped Ravi really had fainted as he would be embarrassed to find himself so close to her.
‘Is he OK?’ Chloe’s voice was higher than usual.
‘He’s OK.’ The pulse under Robyn’s finger was racing. ‘Just needs a quiet moment.’
‘We should get him on the floor.’ Lorraine’s anger seemed to have evaporated. Taking his other arm, they laid Ravi in the recovery position.
When Robyn stood up, she looked around for Graham, who was sat at his desk, looking unconcerned. ‘What did you do to him?’
Chloe took her place on the floor, fanning Ravi with a file.
‘Me?’ There was a slight shrillness to Graham’s voice. ‘Nothing. Just solved his case for him.’
Ravi moaned and shifted position. After a second, he tried to push himself up, bracing himself against a pedestal unit. He murmured something, eyes flicking around then dropping to the ground.
‘You’ve got nothing to be sorry about.’ Chloe smiled, offering a cup. ‘It’s very hot in here.’
Ravi grimaced as he took a sip. ‘What is this?’
‘Elderflower cordial. Just drink it.’ Chloe refused to accept the cup back.
‘Here, this might help.’ Robyn offered the remainder of the chocolate bar she’d got as part of her meal deal. It had melted, the wrapper covered in dark blobs. Ravi tried to break off a piece and ended up licking it off his fingers.
Chloe offered a tissue.
‘I’
m OK, stop fussing.’ His voice was stronger.
‘Does this mean?’ Lorraine stopped, her fists clenching. ‘Does this mean they won’t be pressing any charges?’
‘It’s because Shazia jumped.’ Ravi brushed Chloe away. ‘Suicide really makes a family look bad. They won’t want that to come out.’
‘Are you able to tell us about the person who spoke to the radio?’ Robyn could feel the warning look from Chloe.
‘My uncle.’
‘Can he decide what happens?’ Lorraine spread her hands wide. ‘Is he Shazia’s father?’
Ignoring Chloe’s protestations, Ravi hauled himself up onto the chair. ‘No, but it doesn’t matter. He’s the eldest brother, head of the family. He thinks they’re all still back in India the way he bosses everyone around.’
‘Was he the one who objected to you joining the police force?’ Settling back into her own chair, Robyn saw Ravi’s tiny nod and felt the implicit appeal. It would have been so easy to say everything was all right and they were close to nailing Shazia’s attacker. ‘And we’re glad you followed your own ideas and joined up.’ It was as much as her conscience would allow.
Ravi seemed to sense the hesitation: he narrowed his eyes, not able to hold her gaze.
‘OK, we’re going to get you home.’ Robyn was glad to change the subject.
‘I’ll take him, Guv.’ Chloe stood up.
‘No. I’m not going. If I can’t help Shazia, I need to help other people.’ Ravi gripped the arms of the chair and pushed himself to his feet. One stagger and he seemed to balance, a hand hovering by the back of the chair.
‘Be sensible, Ravi. We’ve got everything under control here.’ Robyn was trying to sound positive even though she didn’t believe what she was saying. She sat down, to encourage Ravi to do the same.
Graham wheeled over a chair. ‘Sit down, Raver, you’re making the place look untidy.’ He pushed it into the back of Ravi’s legs, who swayed, then sank into the seat. Graham perched on the desk next to him. ‘The excitement of finding a killer, eh Raver? That feeling never goes stale.’
‘Have you made an arrest?’ Robyn felt she was missing something.
Graham grinned. ‘Tell ‘er, Raver.’
Ravi looked around for his satchel, sliding the chair across so he didn’t have to stand and pulled out a notebook. ‘It was something from Newman’s mother gave us the clue. He’d told her he was going to give up the football club, because, now he was a father, he was getting bored with all the laddish things. He was going to break it to the team after the wedding and stop after the groom came back from honeymoon, ‘cos it wasn’t fair to leave the team two players down.’ He looked around, picking the cup off the floor and taking a deep swallow. ‘Yuck.’
‘So then we went to see Trudwick who, like so many young rascals, loves his mother and lives with her in Lower Markham.’ Graham seemed determined to keep himself in the limelight. ‘Ex-council place, pretty run down. No car, just a learner scooter, which is registered to Trudwick.’
‘Yeah. His mother answered the door …’ Ravi turned over a page of his notebook.
‘And didn’t seem too surprised to have a couple of police turn up on her doorstep.’ Graham tapped the side of his nose.
‘She says Trudwick’s still in bed. We waited, watching the back door though and eventually, this bloke comes down in just a t-shirt and boxers.’ Ravi looked up. ‘Being fair, he did look like he’d just got out of bed. He’s very vague about where he went on Saturday night – said as he had the night off anyway for the wedding, he thought he’d make a night of it in London. He visited some clubs, mates on doors got him in for nothing so of course he can’t say where because he’ll get them into trouble. He got back about ten on Sunday morning, worked last night and is still catching up on sleep.’
‘There’s just one problem with this heart-warming little story.’ Graham held up a finger. ‘His moped was caught on the automatic number-plate cameras jumping a red light on the Maidstone Road just after one am on Saturday night. About the time Newman died, Trudwick was heading into Meresbourne.’
‘Good work, both of you. Did you challenge Trudwick?’
‘Nah. Only found out about the image when we called through the plate. Trudwick’s DNA’s on file from the assault, so we thought we’d wait for the forensics, just to make sure it’s a slam-dunk.’ Graham grinned.
‘Slam-dunk?’ Lorraine looked up from her desk. ‘You laugh at me for watching Scandi-crime – sounds like you’ve been watching too much of the American sort.’
‘A breakthrough like this calls for a cup of tea and you can’t get much more British than that.’ Graham grabbed a stained box-lid used as their tray. ‘No point in asking if you want one, Guv, because I know the answer.’ As he passed her desk, Graham looked over at the ordered sheets. ‘What’s all this then?’
‘Something I shouldn’t have missed.’ As the team gathered around her desk, Robyn described what she had done and her conclusions.
Graham whistled. ‘Now you spell it out …’
‘Right.’ Robyn held up a pen to bring everyone’s attention together. ‘We are going to go back over all of these incidents, re-interview all the witnesses and treat it as a single case. Our first priority is a full description because at the moment, Uniform have got almost nothing to go on. Then we try and narrow down locations. Ravi, Chloe – I want you to work on this together.’
Hoping this would give Ravi enough to keep his mind from brooding, Robyn sat down at her desk. Now she had noticed the problem, she searched for anything else she could do to avoid another attack. Digging her phone out from the clutter on her desk, she called Khalid.
‘Robyn. How are you?’
‘Much better thanks. Can we get a media alert out?’
‘Is this to do with the family’s comments about the rape investigation? Because at this stage, the less we say about it, the better.’
‘I heard the report just now. Not ideal.’ She turned away from the team. ‘I thought you sounded really calm, by the way. No, this is something else. What you said about the unsolved attacks. I’ve gone back over them and there’s a pattern. We need to alert the public because there’s someone targeting women in town.’
There was a short pause. ‘So how long has this been going on?’
‘About eighteen months.’ Saying the time reinforced her omission. ‘So can we get a media alert out? Speak to the nightclubs, get some posters up?’
‘Unfortunately it’s not quite so simple.’
‘Why not? I’ve got the evidence here from old cases. We’ve not got much of a description, it’s more about warning women not to walk alone.’
‘If we put such a warning out today, before this panel tonight, Fell will get crucified.’ Khalid sighed. ‘Dr Bergmann will use it to attack him and when we’ve got a town full of angry women, they’ll make every complaint going.’
‘But,’ Robyn nodded thanks to Graham who had just put a cup of tea in front of her, ‘isn’t that what we want? Everyone to be talking about it?’
‘Not if it makes people think the police can’t do their job.’ Another phone sounded in the background. ‘Look, I’ve got to take this. We’ll talk later.’
Robyn put the phone down on the desk and glared at it. ‘Well, if you won’t help us, we’ll have to just catch him ourselves.’
A packet of custard creams appeared in front of her nose. ‘Trouble, Guv?’ Graham shook a couple of biscuits onto the desk.
Scooping up one, Robyn shook her head. ‘No more than usual.’
‘Hey, no snacking. We’re going out in a few minutes.’ Lorraine missed the face Graham pulled at her because her phone rang.
‘Right, Guv.’ Chloe went to put a pile of paper down on Robyn’s desk, then gave up. She moved back to her own desk and fanned out the sheets until she found one. ‘I got the details through from the catering firm of their staff and thought I might as well check them out. A lot of very shiny new visas and no one has a crimi
nal record.’
‘Good Lord, what’s Deany been up to now?’ At Chloe’s desk, Graham was bending over the pile of paper.
‘You what?’ Chloe started back to her desk.
Graham held up a picture of the hotel staff. ‘This is Lee Dean – I put him away about five years ago for drug dealing. Never a major player but good to get rid of him all the same. Why are you looking at his ugly mug?’
‘He’s not called Lee any more, he’s Lawrence and he’s the manager of the Lady Ann hotel.’ Chloe laughed at Graham’s expression.
‘Sneaky little bugger. Well, well.’ Graham stood up, pulling his jacket on. ‘Sounds like it would be worth paying him a visit soon to see that he hasn’t slipped back to his bad old ways.’
‘Ah, talking of drugs.’ Lorraine stood up. ‘Kelly gave me the details of the drugs in Bartholomew’s bathroom. They’re steroids, powerful ones, probably sourced from the internet as they’re not licensed in the UK.’ She stashed the phone in her bag and came to stand beside Robyn. ‘Those pills sound nasty. They’re intended for horses and in humans can cause liver failure, impotence and all sorts.’
‘Aren’t those things illegal?’ Chloe gathered her bag.
‘Not if they’re for private consumption. You can do what you like to yourself and it’s not illegal.’ Graham held the door open for Lorraine and Chloe. ‘Let’s go.’
Ravi’s face crumpled: his hand flailed out as if looking for support. Robyn stepped forward and let his weight lean against her. He took a quick breath though didn’t flinch away.
‘Come on you two.’ Graham looked back from the doorway.
Ravi took a deeper breath. ‘Coming.’
21
The team sat around a table in the pizzeria. Ravi had gobbled his pasta and now sat, taking regular gulps of water, as if timing everyone else.
Graham was on his second beer: he was reading the messages in Lorraine’s big birthday card. ‘Look at this. “To Lorra” – hah! “To Lorra, happy birthday, love K”.’ Is that our Dr Kelly Shepherd by any chance? Sending a lorra, lorra love?’ Graham’s accent was just about recognisable as Liverpool. ‘Blimey. I thought I was the only person who knew everyone in the station. Have you been “networking”?’
