Written In Blood

by Alex R Carver

  “You’re certain of that?”

  Melissa nodded while trying to read the look on her superior’s face. “Yes, sir, very certain,” she said. “At the time we received the call in which we heard someone – we still haven’t been able to confirm that it was Emily, though I can’t see that it could have been anyone else – being attacked, Mr Wild was on the phone to his daughter. We’ve confirmed that both with his ex-wife and through his phone records, and before that his agent was at the house. If Emily was the one we heard being attacked, I don’t see how Mr Wild could have been responsible, it’s all but impossible.

  “There’s more, sir; Sergeant Mitchell has been so obsessed with proving that Mr Wild’s the murderer that he hasn’t even considered that it might be someone else. Oliver Ryder gave us reason to make Kieran Wright a suspect, but Sergeant Mitchell hasn’t considered the possibility at all; he never properly checked whether Kieran saw Georgina the night she disappeared, he never checked his car or anything, he just took his word for it that he hadn’t seen Georgina.” Melissa saw that Stevens was about to say something and hurried on, “I also think Mitchell may have been involved in the two attempts on Mr Wild’s life…”

  Stevens’ face darkened and he leaned forwards angrily. “Are you really trying to suggest that Lewis Mitchell, a man I have known for almost as long as you have lived, would have had anything to do with attempted murder? I’ll give you one chance to withdraw that claim, Melissa, before it has serious repercussions for your career. I know you are ambitious, as ambitious as anyone, but a claim like this could put an end to your career.”

  “I realise that, sir,” Melissa said. She went pale at the mention of serious repercussions for her career, but didn’t back down; now that she had made the decision to tell Stevens her suspicions, and what had led her to them, she was not prepared to back away from them just because they might harm her career. “But I have good reason for what I’ve said, and I believe it can be proved if you want to check it. In fact, there’s worse even than him being involved with the two attempts on Mr Wild’s life…” She hesitated for a long moment and then plunged on. “Last night at the hospital, I witnessed Sergeant Mitchell try to kill Mr Wild. After we left the Wrights, we went down to speak to Mr Wild; Sergeant Mitchell got very angry, and ended up with his hands around his throat, trying to strangle him. It took me and a nurse to pull him off, and I needed a security guard to help me get him out of the room. If the nurse hadn’t arrived, I don’t think I would have been able to stop him killing Mr Wild.”

  A lengthy silence fell over the living room as Stevens considered what he had been told. Without tears, he could not have looked more unhappy. “Why are you here, Constance?” he asked to give himself time to think. “This has nothing to do with you,” he said, his words harsher than he intended them to be.

  “I’m here to support Melissa,” Constance said. “And to make sure you listen to what she has to say.” She had no illusions about her lack of authority over Stevens, she could not compel him to do as she wished, but she did have a position of respect in the village that made it more likely that he would listen to Melissa if it was clear she supported her. “I think you should read the file Melissa has put together; she makes a good case for all she says.”

  With a degree of reluctance, Stevens reached out to take the file. It took him some time to get through the pages, which were more detailed than anything he had been told or shown by Mitchell, and by the time he was finished he was far from happy. He was unhappy with his friend for claiming to have solved the case, when it appeared that he had actually made it worse, and he was unhappy with Melissa for making him aware of the situation.

  “You heard Glen Wright threaten to harm Mr Wild if Lewis didn’t deal with him and find his daughter; and then, when he was forced to release Mr Wild because of a lack of evidence, you heard Lewis on the phone to Glen Wright, telling him not to do what he was thinking of doing.” When Melissa nodded, Stevens sighed heavily. “Yet he hasn’t arrested him.”

  “No, sir,” Melissa said with a shake of her head. “Mr Wild hasn’t filed an official complaint yet, either, but I think that’s probably just a matter of time.”

  “If the attack was as serious as you say, I’d have to agree.” Stevens shuffled the papers together. “Okay, you’ll get what you want, I’ll call the chief inspector and request a detective to take over the case and look into your allegations. You’d better hope he or she agrees that Lewis has a case to answer to, though; if the detective we get disagrees with you, I think you’ll have to give serious thought to finding a new career.”

  43

  Melissa was asleep, having been sent home to try and catch up on some of the rest that grief and circumstances had denied her during the night, when her phone rang, vibrating noisily on the bedside cabinet. She woke with a start and groped for the phone without opening her eyes.

  “Hello,” she croaked once she had the phone to her ear. She stayed with her face half-buried in the pillow, hoping the phone call was going to be a quick one so she could go back to sleep – she could not remember when she had ever felt as tired as she did then.

  “Mel, it’s Paul,” Pritchard identified himself. “You’re needed at the station.”

  “What for?” Melissa hoped she sounded more with it than she felt. With the greatest of reluctance, she pushed herself up until she was sitting on the edge of the bed; looking down she saw that she was still dressed in her uniform. She must have been really tired if she had gone straight to bed without getting undressed, she thought.

  “The case has been handed over to a detective inspector, he’s here now, and he wants to see you,” Pritchard told her.

  Blinking, Melissa sought out the radio alarm clock so she could see what the time was. It surprised her to see that it was not quite half past ten; she had thought it would take longer for Stevens to explain everything to the chief inspector and convince him to give them a detective – she hadn’t expected them to get a detective inspector – let alone for one to be found who could be spared, and for that detective to get to the village.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Melissa hung up before Pritchard could say anything more. She didn’t really want to go anywhere but back to sleep, for about twelve hours if she could manage it, but she could hardly ignore a summons from a detective inspector, especially when she was the reason for him being there, so she tiredly got to her feet.

  A little over half an hour after being woken, Melissa walked into the station, dressed in a fresh uniform.

  “Where’s the DI?” she asked as she screwed up the wrapper from the chocolate bar she had eaten on the way there and threw it in the bin. The chocolate had given her a bit of energy, but she still felt as though she needed about a gallon of coffee if she was going to make it through what remained of the morning, let alone the rest of the day.

  “He’s in Mitchell’s office,” Pritchard said. “He’s been waiting for you.”

  “Thanks. What’s he like?” Melissa asked. It was because of her the inspector was there, but she couldn’t help feeling a significant amount of nerves, which slowed her pace to a crawl as she headed down the passage.

  Pritchard shrugged. “He seems alright. I’ve barely met him, though; he’s been in the office practically since he got here. He’s spoken to the inspector and to Mitchell, and he’s been reading the case file; mostly, though, I think he’s been waiting for you. Asking for you was just about the first thing he did after speaking to the inspector.”

  Melissa’s nerves didn’t diminish with that news, if anything it made them worse. “I guess I’d better go see what he wants,” she said, relieved that her voice betrayed nothing of what she was feeling.

  “Come in,” an unfamiliar voice called out from behind the closed door of Sergeant Mitchell’s office when she knocked.

  Melissa stopped the moment she was through the door. “Constable Turner, reporting as ordered, sir,” she told the man seated behind her superior�
�s desk. He appeared nice enough, as Pritchard had said, but she was beginning to appreciate just how deceptive appearances could be; someone she knew was a murderer, and a brutal one, yet there was nothing about any of them that made it easy to pick him out.

  “Good morning, constable, I’m Detective Inspector Harrison, I’m now in charge of the investigation into the murders you’ve had here in Oakhurst,” he said.

  Melissa studied the DI for a moment, he was a fair bit taller than her at just about dead on six feet in height and slender, almost skinny, with close-cropped brown hair, hazel eyes and the remains of a tan. None of what she saw, including the dark, casual-smart suit he wore, told her what she really wanted to know - whether he was a good detective who would solve the murders and deal with the question of whether Sergeant Mitchell was connected with or guilty of the attempts on Zack’s life.

  “I understand from your Inspector Stevens that you’re responsible for this,” Harrison held up the wad of papers Stevens had given him. “Is that true?”

  Melissa nodded nervously. There was no point in her denying authorship of the file when he clearly knew she had written it. “Yes, sir.”

  DI Harrison smiled briefly. “It’s very detailed, more so than the official file,” he remarked. “How accurate is it?”

  Melissa opened her mouth to protest the suggestion that what she had written might be wrong, but quickly shut it again. “As accurate as I could make it, sir,” she said. “I’ve probably missed a few things out, or not put in all of the details of something, but for the most part it’s everything that’s happened since Georgina went missing.”

  “Good, this is likely to save me a lot of time,” Harrison said with a second smile that disappeared as quickly as the first. “Now, on the basis of this,” he held up the report again. “I have requested that your inspector assign you to me to help with my investigation – I could get more help from my own station, but I’d rather use you, you know the case and the people involved, which will help – and he has agreed on the condition that you also agree to the assignment, he seemed to think you might have reasons for declining.”

  She definitely had reasons, Melissa thought. “I’m related to one of the – one of the victims,” she said. “Daisy Hawkins is my cousin. And I’m a witness to Sergeant Mitchell’s attack on Mr Wild.”

  “Ordinarily, those things would keep you from being a part of this case, but I’ve discussed the situation with your inspector, and he agrees with me that if you’re okay with assisting me to investigate your cousin’s murder, there shouldn’t be any problem with it,” Harrison told her. “As for the assault on Mr Wild by your Sergeant Mitchell – I will be investigating it and your other allegation against the sergeant, just not yet, the murders are my priority. Once that case has been resolved, I’ll look into the rest of it, though, truth be told, I don’t think it will take long to deal with your allegations.”

  Melissa was relieved to hear that she was being taken seriously, even if it was going to take a while for anything to come of what she had reported. “As long as you’re sure there won’t be any complications with me being involved, sir, I’ll help you.” It was tempting to use the excuse she had available and leave the investigation into the murders to other people; that would leave her unaware of how the investigation was proceeding, however, and she preferred to know.

  “I’m pleased to hear that. Our first stop,” Harrison flipped open the covers on the files that detailed Georgina’s disappearance, and the murders that had taken place in the village, “is to get the post-mortem report on your cousin; I’ve phoned the morgue, and it should be ready by the time we get to town. I know that the murders of Georgina Ryder and Lucy Goulding have been linked through the preliminary tests that have been run, now we need to be certain that your cousin’s murder is linked to the other two – if it is, we’ll know that the attack on Emily Wright is also linked. I realise you’re already pretty certain they’re all connected,” he said when he saw that the constable who would be partnering him was about to say something, “but we need to be certain of that.”

  It only took Melissa a moment to realise he was right; as confident as she was that the murders were connected, there was a chance she was wrong. She didn’t want to stay fixed on an idea that might not be right, not when that was what had prompted her to go to Inspector Stevens about Sergeant Mitchell; her thinking continued along that line until it made her say, “Sir, can I ask…” she hesitated for a moment and then went on with her question. “Do you think Mr Wild is the killer?”

  Harrison didn’t answer straightaway, instead he allowed himself a brief period in which to consider the question. “Based on what we have right now,” he said finally, “I’d have to say it’s unlikely. With the exception of Mr Wild’s blood-type, which isn’t rare enough to be conclusive, all of the evidence against him is circumstantial; not only that but the same witness reported last sightings of two of the girls in the company of Mr Wild. That could be coincidental, and is certainly more likely out here than it would be in town, but I find it suspicious, especially when that witness is someone you’ve identified as a possible suspect.” He frowned. “This would be easier if I had been brought in right at the start; at this point the water’s been muddied a little too much for my liking.” After a quick sigh of regret, he shook himself off. “Come on, let’s go get that post-mortem report, we can discuss the case on the way.”

  “The only thing we know for certain right now, if I’ve read your report right,” Harrison said as he drove them towards town, “Is that all four of the girls we believe are victims of our killer were either at the Wright Farm or on the road that leads to it when they were attacked.”

  “But we don’t know where Daisy was when she was attacked,” Melissa said, determined not to get caught in the trap of believing something was certain until it was proven. “We know she left home just before five, and that she should have been on her way to the Wright Farm, but we don’t know that that’s where she was actually heading, and we haven’t been able to find anyone in the village who saw her between the end of the road she lives on and the farm.”

  “That’s true,” Harrison agreed. “But the fact that she was found in a farmhouse off the road we’re talking about does suggest that the attack on her fits with the others. It gives us somewhere to start, and that’s important. The map you included in your file indicates that the road to the Wright Farm runs for about a mile from the church to the farm; we can probably discount about half of that distance, the area from the church to the three houses you marked, as being where the attacks took place – the odds of three girls being snatched along that stretch, where there’s most likely to be a witness, are too low.

  “I think it far more likely the killer would have grabbed them on the latter stretch of the road, where there was less chance of him being spotted.”

  “I guess so, the only place where we know for sure that one of the attacks happened, other than the attack on Emily, which happened in her bedroom, is the field belonging to the Wright Farm, that’s almost parallel with the houses, but the actual spot where the attack happened isn’t easy to see from them.” Melissa grimaced. “That doesn’t really help us, though, does it.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. If there were no houses along that stretch of road I’d be inclined to agree with you, but with them there it means the killer is almost certainly either Zack Wild or Kieran Wright. The attacks occurred on at least three separate occasions – if someone who had no reason for being there was seen on the days the attacks happened it would have been noted by one of Zack Wild’s neighbours, who I’m sure are aware of everyone who goes up and down the road; it’s doubtful, however, that they would take much note of the comings and goings of either Zack Wild or Kieran Wright.

  “Since Wild has an alibi for when one of the attacks appears to have taken place, we need to focus our attention on either proving that Wright is responsible for the murders, or on finding the evidence that proves he can’t be
.”

  “We’ve got DNA from Georgina and Lucy,” Melissa said. “That should prove who the killer is.”

  “It will certainly prove whether Mr Wild is the killer or not,” Harrison said. “We can get a DNA sample from Mr Wild no problem; we can’t with Kieran Wright, he would have to volunteer, and I can’t see him doing that. I do have a tentative idea for how we can get a sample from him without arousing his suspicions, however. The problem we have is that they are our only two suspects, if the DNA eliminates both of them, we’re left with no idea who the killer is, and nothing to point us to him unless Emily Wright wakes up.”

  44

  Zack waited until his former sister-in-law was off the phone to ask about the conversation he had overheard.

  “What did you mean, you don’t know when you’ll be back at work? I’m being released today, so there’s no need for you to take any more time off, especially if it’s going to put your job at risk.”

  “My job’s not at risk,” Sophie assured him. “I might wonder why Crandall made me assistant manager, and he certainly blusters and moans a lot, but he’s not going to sack me, not when I’m the one that keeps that business afloat. I’ll pick up some paperwork and do it from home, your home that is, that’ll keep him quiet. I’m not going back to work ‘til you’re no longer in danger of going to jail for murder.” She held up a hand when she saw that Zack was about to say something. “I’m not having a debate about this; you’re in trouble because that Sergeant Mitchell is a prejudiced idiot who either isn’t capable or isn’t willing to conduct a proper investigation, and you have no-one who can alibi you. Since that’s the case, I’m going to stick around and shadow you until the real killer is caught, so the next time they try to arrest you for something, you’ll have someone who can vouch for where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing.”