by Hylton Smith
“Look, due to your tenacity we have two identities all but nailed down in this puzzle. Rory Davenport is definitely one of the victims, and Martha Blake and her son are linked to the case. It’s just too much of a coincidence that she fits the missing person window, age, and description of the headless woman, while her boy has a birth date which exactly matches one of those on the second video. It’s stretching the statistical possibility of happenchance too far to rule either of them out. We have to find any connection either of them have to Davenport or the others. You know Sam, you took a gamble on chasing down one of the ‘less important’ victims via missing persons, what about the other two?” Adams held up his hand.
“It’s funny really. I thought I was asked to follow my gut on this one. Sam, I think you should check out the other two less important victims via missing persons, unless anybody has objections of course.”
“Ok, Ben I get the point. I’ll be in my office if any of you want to hear what I’m doing about Frank.”
*
The officer detailed to tail Friend had followed him to a Mission for the homeless. He had not ventured out very much, and when he did it was purely to link up with others who were in the same predicament. These unfortunate people were of all ages but the one thing they had in common was looking thoroughly downtrodden. P.C. Armstrong decided to return to the Mission and ask the staff about Friend. He was surprised by the hostile reaction until he realised that they thought he was a council spy, checking up on people who no longer fitted comfortably into the expectations of the rest of society. When he explained that he was part of the team who had looked after Friend’s interests while he was helping the police with enquiries, they were placated. He had managed to convey, without actually saying so, that he was not from the police. The manager of the Mission painted a glowing picture of Friend.
“He’s nothing like as pedestrian in the brain department as he appears. He is slow, but thorough in making his choices about everything. He’s also a great help in dealing with troublemakers; some of our guests can get a bit out of hand, but not when he’s around. We’ve missed him while he’s been away.” Armstrong played a gambit.
“He seems to meet up with other friends from different sanctuaries, and he seems to get on well with everyone. Does he have any special friends who visit him here?”
“If you are talking about relationships as we know them he has nobody as far as we can tell. On the odd occasion he’s gone missing for a couple of days, but has no recall of where he’s been or who he’s been with. You can be sure he’ll do this again every so often. Anyway why are you following him now that the police let him go?”
“Just to make sure he had somewhere to sleep and be cared for. It seems there’s nothing to worry about. I was asked to do this by the police because they didn’t think he could look after himself. They are sometimes a little more caring than their image portrays. Well thanks for your help, I’ll let them know that he’s in good hands.”
When he reported this back to Adams the authorisation to tail Friend was extended by another week. Stephanie entered Renton’s office and wasn’t given the usual reminder to knock first. “Ah, you do want to know what I have come up with regarding Frank’s motive, sit down.”
“No Sir, he’s back on the web with Frankenstein.com to post the same pledge he made to you, also asking the new server and the public to respect the notice. He obviously still owns the domain name and has transferred it to another server. I tried to see if I could find who it is registered to, but it’s to a company name which is bogus. So, I didn’t come in to hear your deliberations, just to add to them. Would you like more coffee Sir?”
Chapter 10
During the protracted time P.C. Armstrong took to update Adams and get confirmation of extending his shadowing of Friend, the target had been lost. He didn’t want to speak to the staff again, but Friend had failed to return to the Mission for two consecutive nights. Armstrong became nervous when the manager rang the station and asked to speak to someone. He claimed that Friend could be in trouble because some person claiming to be interested in his welfare had been at the Mission, saying that he had assisted the poor fellow while he was in police custody.
“I didn’t get a good feeling about this conversation but he was very plausible. It may not be connected to Friend’s disappearance but I wanted to let you know.” He was thanked and told they would look into it. Adams was furious that Armstrong had got himself into this mess and set off to quell the anxiety at the Mission. He explained that Armstrong was from the police and shouldn’t have pretended otherwise.
“He is an inexperienced officer and probably didn’t want you to be even more concerned for his safety than we were. You must surely be aware from the news bulletins that Friend was helping with murder enquiries, and we just wanted to ensure we could give him protection without him feeling he was being watched. Now we’re really concerned for his welfare, and you were right to inform us of his disappearance, but it has nothing to do with P.C. Armstrong. We’ll begin a search for him immediately, and it will be very helpful to all concerned that nobody else knows of our conversation. I hope you can see that this is in Friend’s best interests. I apologise for the way this has come about but it does show we were justified in our concern for him. Let’s hope there’s a simple explanation for his wandering off like this.” The manager agreed to forget Armstrong’s well-intended indiscretion, although he was now even more worried about his missing tenant.
Renton was finding it difficult to restrain his anger at this sloppy behaviour, especially as Stephanie was about to depart for a short break in the sun.
“Just when we seemed to have momentum and direction from Sam’s work, we shoot ourselves in the foot. We have to find Friend even if it turns out to be a distraction, and Sam has to follow up his missing persons approach without Steph’s help. I suppose the bad news for you Ben is that I’m going to have to roll up my sleeves and assist you, bloody well serves you right for assigning such a rookie to shadow Friend.” This black humour was appreciated by Adams and he pulled Stephanie’s leg about the inconvenience she was causing during this critical phase.
“The weather’s crap in the Med this weekend, and you’ll be miserable if you’re stuck in some hotel lounge the whole time.”
“You’re wasting your time. A rainy weekend sounds idyllic compared to dredging the shit from this swamp. I’m sure all will be back to normal when I get back. If I was going with my mates the sun would be important, but I’ve had this time off booked for months and I’ll have company suitable for all weather.”
“Hey, hold on. Is this a fella we’re talking about? When did you find the time to indulge in attracting toy-boys?”
“Wrong again Sir, my companion is a professional gentleman way above the I.Q. of the average cop in this office. He’s a little older than me, has similar interests outside of work, and is very good-looking. That’s the entire info dump, so I guess it’s ‘see you Monday’.
They sat around Renton’s desk like the three wise monkeys. In the middle of producing lists of missing persons from which they would prioritise candidates to match the remaining two victims, Adams challenged Sam Gibson.
“You said this brother of Martha Blake had nothing which would help identify her son as the legless corpse.”
“Yes, so why does that bother you now? I told you when I returned and you thought nothing of it.”
“I know, but that was partly because we were excited about that forensic guy giving us some good news on reconstruction comparison with Martha Blake’s son. When he pricked that balloon it didn’t seem important any more. Now I’m not so sure. If we couldn’t get any of the boy’s DNA, what about his mother? We’re assuming she’s the headless corpse, but until we get DNA it remains circumstantial. He told you Robert Blake died not long before Martha, and in between the boy did a runner. What the hell happened to her estate? It may be held up legally if she is still considered as missing rather than dead.
I’m afraid I can’t believe her brother has no access to anything which could give us her DNA. Am I alone here?” Renton nodded his head and agreed it was an oversight. Adams decided to pay a visit to the brother himself.
“Give me the address Sam; and hers if you have it.”
“I have her last known address from the records, but he said she’d moved when the son left home. I think you may be right about this guy, because he told me someone else had rented the old property, and he had no access to the new one. He said he’d taken sides with the boy during this blow-up period and she’d never forgiven him. He also said she had nothing of value that he’d want anyway, as she was close to destitute and owed money all over the city.” Adams left and then there were two.
*
It had taken a long time, but Clive Donoghue had some relatively good news. He always looked for tiny amounts of debris in a corpse because it was often able to be identified with surroundings the victim may have been in prior to, or after termination. He had found a few interesting samples but none matched up to all of the five body components at first. He chose to take them one at a time and thoroughly re-check the remaining four components which didn’t have this control sample, with a new wash and extract technique. This was to collect any microscopic solid pieces suspended in the liquid carrier. This sometimes yielded results when simply magnifying the body parts missed the very smallest trace. Initially he’d found evidence of a particular slip-coating used in plastic wrapping products on the arms of the Frankenstein corpse, but not on the other four body parts. He now had proof of miniscule quantities of the same product on the soles of the feet. He tried to explain that this could easily be misinterpreted.
“There is always the possibility of transfer from one part to another, but if this was valid I would expect to see similar traces on the other components. After all, he was stitching them together and the feet were the most remote from the arms, yet they proved positive and the others negative. I will continue with other debris to see if there is a pattern. One explanation could be that the arms were initially stored at a slightly higher temperature – giving more transfer before freezing, than the feet. If the legs had been wrapped in the same material for less time prior to freezing it would be consistent with my results. The feet and the hips could have had more pressure in the wrapping process as they each represent a turning point, which the rest of the legs do not. I’m going to take samples from the internal connections of the hips, and if the slip-coating is present my theory becomes more valid.” Hearing no questions or comments he turned and walked back to the lab with a puzzled expression on his face. Renton shouted after him. “Great Clive, please keep us up to date.”
The smile returned as Donoghue mused – ‘they didn’t really understand’.
*
Friend was waiting patiently in the dark. It was a house he knew. He also knew it might not be tonight, but he did know what to expect. He would be meeting a new friend for the first time. These were always nervous times as they seemed to search his brain for empathetic signals. The uncertainty for him was just how damaged and therefore unstable his new friend would be. The objective remained the same – to bring calmness to this unknown person through having suffered the same trauma, and received treatment to take away the pain.
A car drew up and the lights were doused quickly. The shadows approaching the front door clearly showed an uneven gait in one of them, which he recognised – it was Man. The other individual was tall and lean, and only when he was safely inside would his problems be revealed. Man was the first individual from the unfortunates who was helped by Frank. He was now the equivalent of first lieutenant, shepherding the latest arrivals through assessment by Frank before allocation to a ‘keeper’. This period would last for long enough to confer confidence to the newcomer to become calm enough for treatment to begin. During this phase Friend would have to provide food for his new pal, and Man would visit on a daily basis to re-stock the refrigerator and make a judgement on the patient’s readiness for the procedure. This was necessary to ensure a smooth flow of unfortunates to their new persona. Now that Friend had been elevated to a keeper, he would no longer have direct contact with Frank.
*
The pandemic of copycat butchery was still in the infection period and more websites were closed down as a result. Many countries introduced legislative demands on the internet which mirrored those for books. Publishers of digital books had for some years reserved the right to refuse what they considered to be inappropriate material. Server providers were swept under this umbrella, allowing the site to be evaluated for content before going live. This was in addition to the normal monitoring process. Apart from this having only a cosmetic effect of the governments appearing to be doing something instead of sitting on their hands, it was almost impossible to implement. The employment of additional staff was reflected in the massive tariff increases. The distillate was anger amongst the public without reduction in the rate of dismemberment. It even spawned joints of meat being dressed to look like human remains. It became just another variant of lawlessness which had its roots in the ‘austerity decade’, courtesy of the unimaginable greed of the banking sector in 2008.
*
When Ben Adams finally ran Clyde Hendricks to ground in London, his unease was reinforced. The evasive nature of Martha Blake’s brother fuelled Adams’ suspicions that Sam Gibson had been treated to a broken-hearted performance of convenience. When asked if he had checked with the police in London about the status of their missing person classification of his sister, following Sam’s hint that she may be dead, he shook his head. His eyes told a different story – they became furtive and he couldn’t look Adams in the face without fiddling with his pen, or checking his phone. After several emotional declarations that he’d told the other detective everything he knew, Ben Adams decided to back off and enlist the help of the District Council to locate her last abode. It was a dead end, which shifted his enquiries back to the property Hendricks claimed she’d left. The story began to unravel when the people living there could only give them the name of the estate agent they had employed, as they knew nothing about the previous occupant. The lady responsible for the transaction which led to the new people moving in was insistent that it came about immediately after the death of the very frail elderly gentleman who had lived there all of his life. Adams asked the obvious question.
“So Martha Blake never lived there with her husband and son?”
“Who is Martha Blake?”
“Just someone I’m trying to trace, a missing person.”
“Well, all I can say is that Mr. Allen, the owner, had a daughter living in Bristol, but she couldn’t spend too much time with him when he fell ill, and he refused to go into care. She eventually convinced him to put the property on the market when the medical prognosis worsened. He was to have treatment in America and he needed the funds. I did several viewings for him and I am certain there was no one else living there.”
“Ok, thanks for your help.”
*
Renton worked much slower than Sam Gibson and yet they managed to cut down the interesting lists to two for the young woman, and three for the corpse without genitalia. He wanted Adams back before despatching Sam on another tour of the country. “I realise this is very important, but we still have to bear in mind that these birth dates we’re working to are provided by Frank, and that in itself is not really evidence of anything other than he gave them to us. The only exception so far is Rory Davenport, so unless we get DNA back-up for others we can only assume that they are genuine birth dates of the victims. You know how it works Sam, we need rock solid evidence.” Gibson looked blank. “What is it?” said Renton.
“Maybe nothing,” he replied, “it’s just the way you phrased the possible connection. Do you think they could be birth dates which represent people he didn’t want to see die?”
“That’s a hell of shout Sam; it may be part of his motive. He always talks about the unfortunate
s. We’ve also struggled to understand Steph’s obsession. You know, that the first two corpses in the second video appeared to be treated differently. Davenport was one of them so that’s a hit whichever way we look at it, but the jury’s still out on Martha Blake and her son. By the way what’s his name?”
“Dermot, according to her brother, but I agree with Adams, we can’t believe anything he told me until he’s been put through the ringer again, this time by Ben himself.”
“Ok, let’s call him now.” Adams told them of the deception and said he was on his way to Hendricks’ property again. “Be careful Ben, I don’t like this, maybe you should ask for back-up from London.”
“I’ll be ok Boss. Don’t worry I’m just going to snoop around at first. If I need to confront him I’ll do as you suggest.”
It was dark as Adams settled down for his stakeout in his car, equipped with a takeaway curry and two beers. The lights never came on even though he stuck it out until just before dawn. Creeping around the rear of the house, he used one of his lock-picking skills to open the back door, making sure that he wore gloves. As expected this set off the alarm, and he retired to his car once more. Neighbours’ lights went on and he waited to see what happened. There was a small gathering in the street and he heard one man say he’d reported it to the police. “Mr. Hendricks told me he was going away for a few days and asked if I’d keep an eye on things. It makes you realise that these damned people are watching you around the clock, just waiting for their chance.” The police car pulled up and two officers were shown around to the rear door, which was still standing open. When they found no evidence of forced entry they began asking questions about the occupant and took down the details for their report. The neighbour had disarmed the system with the code Hendricks had given him and reset it when they left. Adams decided to take a short nap and then call on the neighbour mid-morning to show him his police ID, as if he was investigating the case. He asked about Hendricks’ habits, employment, visitors and any relatives who may be able to contact him. The man provided him with more than he’d hoped. Apparently he kept very irregular hours, travelled around the country a lot and didn’t really have many visitors.
