by James Raven
On the way to the hospital he got the driver to stop outside a newsagents so he could buy some newspapers.
The headlines screamed at him.
Carnage on the M27.
Rush Hour Murder.
Two drivers shot by motorway sniper.
It was pretty alarming stuff even without the line about the scribbled warning under the bridge. All the reports went into graphic detail with vivid descriptions of what had happened. There were quotes from motorists who had seen the pile-up and from emergency personnel who had to deal with the immediate aftermath.
Temple read through all the stories and there was nothing in them he didn’t already know. Except for a short paragraph that appeared on page two of the Daily Mail.
One woman told our reporter she saw a man acting suspiciously close to where the shootings happened. He was apparently standing on a bridge looking down on the traffic when she drove past.
Temple immediately called the office and asked the detective who answered if he knew about the woman. He didn’t, but he said that was probably because most of the team hadn’t yet got back with their reports.
‘Chase it up then,’ Temple said. ‘If she hasn’t already given us a statement then contact the newspaper. We need to talk to her right away.’
At the hospital Temple was greeted by a different nurse. Her name was Pritchard. Thirtyish, with tied-back dark hair and a small, oval face.
She told him that Angel had had a comfortable night and had spent it in a private room. She’d woken earlier and had responded to questions. A doctor had spoken to her briefly and told her about her injuries.
‘She remembers some of what happened,’ the nurse said. ‘And that’s a good sign. With head trauma cases memories often get lost or fractured.’
‘Is she awake now?’ he said.
‘She is, but maybe not for long. We’ve had to give her another sedative.’
He entered the room nervously. As soon as he saw Angel his heart leapt into his mouth. She was still on her back, rigged up to an array of cables and computers. But her pillows were raised and the oxygen mask had been removed.
The nurse accompanied him to her bedside and then retreated. He looked down at Angel, his body trembling. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Her breathing was shallow but wheezy and sounded painful. The skin beneath her eyes was tinged purple. Her hands were resting on her chest and one was still attached to a slim white continuous pulse monitor. He grasped the other and squeezed it gently.
To his surprise her eyes flickered open. She moved her head slightly to look up at him and a smile touched her lips. He felt the emotion well up inside him and for several moments he couldn’t speak.
‘Where’s my kiss?’ she murmured.
He was overcome by a wave of joy and relief. This was something he hadn’t expected and he could barely believe it. He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the mouth. He tasted the bitter tang of medicine.
‘How are you feeling?’ His throat was dry and the words rasped out.
She swallowed and it seemed to cause her some difficulty.
‘My head hurts,’ she said, her voice low and scratchy.
‘Have you told the nurse?’
‘She gave me something, but it still hurts.’
‘You need to give it time to work,’ he said.
He brushed his fingers across her cheek. Her skin felt smooth and supple.
‘How much do you remember?’ he asked.
She blinked a couple of times and swallowed again.
‘I was driving home,’ she said. ‘Suddenly everything came to a stop and I hit the car in front. Then I remember waking up in the ambulance. That’s all.’
‘Did the doctor tell you about the crash?’
‘No. But I imagine it was a bad one.’
‘You were very lucky.’
‘So what happened?’ she asked.
The question hung in the air for several seconds and she obviously picked up on his hesitation.
‘I’ll find out soon enough,’ she said.
So he told her, holding nothing back. And he watched as her face registered shock and disbelief.
‘I’m in charge of the case for the time being,’ he said. ‘That’s why I wasn’t here most of the night. I knew I’d only be in the way. So I went back to the scene.’
He realized he sounded sheepish and it compounded his sense of guilt.
Angel must have picked up on it because she said, ‘There’s no need to explain. I know how much you hate hanging around hospitals. And I know you’ll be taking this case personally. So have you got any theories yet? Why would anyone do such a thing?’
‘It’s anybody’s guess at this stage,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of speculation, but nothing definite.’
‘The motorway was busy,’ she said. ‘Busier than usual.’
‘That’s almost certainly why the killer chose to strike at that time,’ Temple said. ‘Rush hour. People driving fast because they were eager to get home. And in the dark it would have been virtually impossible to see anything on the embankment.’
Angel started to cough and the pain con torted her features. Temple swallowed and felt his heart flutter.
‘Are you all right?’ he said. ‘Do you want some water?’
She shook her head and clenched her teeth.
‘I’m just really tired.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ he said. ‘You need plenty of rest.’
She took a breath and closed her eyes.
‘I know I’m lucky to be alive,’ she said. ‘But what if I can’t do my job anymore? What happens then?’
‘Don’t be silly. You’ll get better. Injuries to the lungs and ribs are pretty common and easily treated.’
‘But the doctor said they don’t know for certain if the blow to the head has caused any permanent damage.’
‘I’m sure that if it had it would have shown up on the scan. So don’t worry.’
‘I can’t help it,’ she said. ‘I’ve got my heart set on a new career in forensics. If my head’s fucked up then so is my future.’
Temple told her she was worrying unnecessarily and he was confident she would make a full recovery. Then he went on to say that he would take time off work to be with her after she was discharged.
But after a while he realized that he was speaking to himself. Angel was fast asleep.
CHAPTER 11
THE OPEN-PLAN OFFICE of the Major Investigations Team was now being referred to as the incident room. Overnight more phones and computer equipment had been moved in along with TV monitors, fax machines and printers.
It was also packed to the rafters for the morning briefing. Every available detective had been summoned and all leave cancelled.
A smartly dressed DI named Kev Slater introduced himself to Temple. He was the officer dispatched from London by the Anti-Terrorism Command to find out first-hand what was going on. He explained that Hampshire police were still in charge of the investigation, but his team were on standby to take over if necessary.
‘There’ll be no need for us to get involved if this is a one-off crime committed by some lone psychopath,’ he said. ‘But if the evidence starts pointing towards a terrorist, or if there are more attacks, then we’ll have to take over.’
‘Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,’ Temple said.
At 8 a.m. Temple stood at one end of the room next to Chief Superintendent Beresford. The atmosphere was electric despite the fact that everyone was tired. There was also an air of fearful apprehension. Very few officers had got any sleep and some had only just returned from the motorway. They’d all seen the dramatic images and heard the interviews with tearful survivors. Everyone knew that this case was going to dominate their lives for the foreseeable future.
Temple kicked off with an update on Angel. There was spontaneous applause when he said she was conscious and talking. The open display of affection towards her touched him and he felt a lump rise in his throat. He
had to cough to clear it before carrying on.
Then it was down to business. He started by introducing DI Slater and explaining why he had travelled down from London.
‘If and when his lot take over I’ll let you all know,’ he said. ‘In the meantime we’re running the investigation from here and everyone continues to report to me.’
He then referred to the video footage they’d just obtained from the motorway traffic centre. One of its cameras had actually recorded the pile-up. Some of the team had already viewed the sequence, but most hadn’t. The tape rolled and there was silence as a grainy image of the busy motorway appeared on the various TV monitors around the room. But all it showed was a string of tiny lights moving at speed in the dark. Then after a few seconds one of the vehicles lost control and veered across the lanes. Another vehicle then appeared to jack-knife and in the blink of an eye all the lights were bunching up. It was both chilling and surreal.
But there were no helpful details on the tape. The embankments either side of the road were blacked out and the camera was too far away to show up something as small as a muzzle flash.
Temple then went through the headline points. The postmortems would be carried out on all the victims later that day. Their relatives had been informed. So far no connection had emerged between the man and woman who had been shot.
Three of the fifteen people injured were still in a serious but stable condition, including Angel. One man had yet to regain consciousness, but the hospital was hopeful that he would pull through. A section of the motorway was still closed but the traffic from last night had been cleared. Forensic technicians from the Scientific Services Department were still at the scene looking for evidence. So far there was no evidence to suggest any more than two shots had been fired.
Temple mentioned the warning that was spray-painted under the bridge and said he did not want to go public with it just yet.
‘But we have to take it seriously,’ he said. ‘There’s no question it was put there by the sniper and we have to assume it’s not an idle threat.’
He then invited DS Vaughan to provide a report on the evidence gathered at the scene. The detective had been home to put on a new suit and scrub himself up. But he still looked tired and dishevelled.
‘Let’s start with the bullets,’ Vaughan said. ‘We found two shell casings close to the bridge. We also managed to retrieve the shells that killed the two victims. They’re clean of prints, unfortunately. According to ballistics they were fired from the same weapon and they’re .338 Lapua Magnums, which are made for long-range rifles.’
‘Does that mean we’re looking for a professional shooter?’ someone asked.
Vaughan nodded. ‘Most probably. Those shells are used mainly by big game hunters and military snipers, including those serving in the British army.’
‘Our man is no amateur,’ Temple said. ‘I don’t think for one second he just fired into the traffic hoping to hit someone. He got those two drivers in his sight before squeezing the trigger. It would have required a high degree of skill considering they were moving targets and it was dark.’
‘We’ve only found two shells and so far no other bullet holes have turned up on any of the damaged vehicles,’ Vaughan said.
‘Which tells us the guy showed some restraint,’ Temple pointed out. ‘He did just enough to cause a major collision. He didn’t keep shooting just for the sake of it. And he probably took to his heels even before the vehicles came to a stop.’
Vaughan then stepped up to a large whiteboard on which he had prepared a diagram of the crime scene; it showed the motorway and the sniper’s position in front of the bridge. It also reflected their understanding that he’d shot at the cars when they were about a hundred yards from him.
‘He must have picked the cars at random,’ Vaughan said. ‘Two shots in quick succession. He was shielded from the traffic by the bushes.’
‘We need to check gun clubs and the military,’ Temple said. ‘If our guy is a professional marksman then he might be on someone’s radar.’
Vaughan then referred to the paucity of solid evidence. There’d be none of the killer’s DNA on the victims. And there was almost certainly no connection between them and the killer. All they had were a few broken branches and a couple of shoe prints.
‘The shoe prints are a size ten and suggest a guy of average height and weight,’ Vaughan said. ‘We’ll be getting a plaster mould of at least one of them.’
He referred to the message under the bridge. It had been freshly painted using the kind used to spray cars which was widely available across the UK. No cans had been found at the scene.
‘It’s obvious he took his time with the message,’ Vaughan said. ‘It doesn’t look as though he rushed it. The letters and numbers have been carefully sprayed on and each one is about eight inches high and five inches across. We have to assume that he chose to launch his attack from where he did partly because he was able to leave a message like that under the bridge.’
DC Marsh then reported on the wider search and the house to house inquiries.
‘The search teams haven’t found anything of interest,’ she said. ‘Nobody living nearby heard shots or saw anyone running away, but there is one glimmer of hope – a woman who drove across the bridge shortly before the shootings did come forward to report a possible sighting.’
Temple had already been briefed on the woman who’d been mentioned in the newspaper. In fact they’d already been in contact with her by phone and Temple wanted to see her himself later in the morning when he returned to the scene.
The briefing lasted another half-hour and a whole range of issues was discussed. Beresford then said he would liaise with the Chief Constable and the Anti-Terrorism Command to find out how they wanted to play it. He would also talk to the traffic police and Highways Agency to see if anything could be done to improve security along the county’s motorways. Everyone knew, though, that they barely had the resources to monitor what was happening on the roads let alone what was going on either side of them.
Detectives were assigned various tasks from checking out CCTV footage on nearby roads to collating more information on the type of rifle that had been used. Those who’d been up all night were told to go home and get some sleep.
Before the meeting wrapped up, Temple said, ‘What little evidence we have suggests we’re looking for a guy who’s proficient in the use of a high-calibre rifle. We don’t know at this stage if he’s a terrorist working with a group or a lone psychopath who’s decided to embark on a killing spree. What we do know is that he’s caused a lot of damage with very little effort. And he’s told us that he intends to do it again.
‘If he carries out his threat then God help us. I can envisage a situation where people are afraid to use the motorways, leading to major disruption. This may be his objective.
‘So it’s our job to find this bastard before he carries out another shooting. Next time he might decide to fire more than two shots and the death toll could be much higher.’
On that grim note Temple ended the meeting and headed downstairs.
It was time to face the media.
CHAPTER 12
THE PRESS CONFERENCE was by far the largest ever held at the police headquarters in Southampton. There were dozens of reporters, photographers and TV crews.
Temple recognized a couple of the local hacks and a woman who often presented the news on the BBC. He saw from the various microphone hoods that there were representatives from Sky, CNN, AP and ITN.
He sat behind a table alongside Beresford and the constabulary’s media director, a pasty-faced guy named Ron Williams. Beresford dealt with the introductions and announced that DCI Temple would be leading the investigation into what they were treating as five cases of murder. Two of the victims had been shot and three others – a woman and two men – had been killed in the ensuing multi-vehicle collision.
‘This was a premeditated and despicable attack on innocent motorists,’ Beresford said
. ‘Whoever fired those shots chose to do so at the peak of the rush hour on the motorway. Therefore, his objective must have been to harm as many people as possible. As yet we have no idea what his motive is.’
Beresford handed over to Temple who read out a prepared statement containing the basic facts. It included the time the first shot had been fired, based on the traffic camera footage; the names of those who had been killed; the number of vehicles involved in the pile-up and the type of bullets used. He also said they believed the killer to be male. He went on to praise the emergency services for the way they’d responded to the tragedy and said that forty detectives were already involved in the investigation.
He then opened the floor to questions and they came thick and fast.
‘Do you believe this was a terrorist attack?’ asked a fair-haired woman from The Guardian.
‘We don’t know at this early stage,’ Temple said. ‘But I can tell you that no terrorist organization has yet claimed responsibility for it.’
‘But I understand the Anti-Terrorism Command is now involved,’ the Guardian reporter persisted.
Temple nodded. ‘They’re working with us on this. And it should be seen as evidence that we’re taking what’s happened very seriously.’
‘Is it likely that the Command will take over the investigation from Hampshire police?’ she pressed.
‘It depends how things develop,’ Temple said. ‘But that is a possibility. For the time being Southampton MIT will be taking the lead.’
‘Did the sniper fire more than two shots?’ This from a guy holding a CNN microphone.
Temple shook his head. ‘The evidence suggests that only two shots were fired and that the two drivers were picked at random. Their cars were close to each other when they were hit.’
