Kate’s mind wandered back to Daisy. Seven days ago, on the second of February, at quarter past nine, Daisy had left best friend Georgie Barclay’s house after a girlie night in. Her phone had been switched off shortly after she’d left the property and, as yet, no witness had come forward to confirm seeing her anywhere along the short route back to her home. It was as if Daisy had left her friend’s house and vanished into thin air.
News of her disappearance had hit the press first thing on Monday morning, carefully orchestrated by the police Media Relations unit. Daisy’s parents, Barry and Val, had attended the press conference, but neither had found the strength to speak as the cameras had flashed erratically around them. Kate had read a statement on their behalf, begging Daisy to make contact or for any witnesses to come forward. A barrage of false tips and crank calls had followed, but nothing they could use. Statistics indicated that missing children not located within sixty hours of their disappearance rarely returned home alive. But Kate wasn’t prepared to accept that; she wouldn’t give up hope of finding Daisy until a body was located. Even now, as she waited for the results on the foot, her hope burned bright.
‘Penny for them?’
Kate jumped at the sudden sound of Ben’s voice over her shoulder.
‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.’
She hadn’t heard the sound of the lift at the end of the corridor or the lab doors opening. It was as if he had just appeared. ‘What are you doing here, Ben? Shouldn’t you…’ She stifled the yawn. ‘Shouldn’t you be in your lab, or in bed?’
He stepped forward and pulled her into his long arms. ‘I decided to analyse the foot here in the lab as it was closer to the school, and at least someone else is around. The lab at the hospital is quite creepy this late.’
‘And? What did you find?’
‘Nothing conclusive, but the technician was processing the DNA as I came out, so we should know soon enough whether…’ his words trailed off. Although he was used to dealing with the horrors of examining dead bodies, he would never be comfortable with the acts that caused them.
‘Whether or not it’s Daisy,’ Kate finished for him. ‘Did you find anything that might help identify our killer?’
Ben mused for a moment. ‘What I can confirm is an electric or battery-powered saw was used. The haphazard tearing of the flesh is consistent with a small circular saw. I’ve seen severed limbs and appendages before,’ Ben continued, ‘and this was not someone in a rush, and I suspect not somebody who was doing it for the first time.’
‘So, what, we should be looking for a surgeon?’
‘Not necessarily. I think a qualified surgeon wouldn’t have left quite the same mess. A surgeon would have used clamps and ligatures to minimise arterial spray, but our killer wasn’t worried about mess.’
Kate thought for a moment. ‘A butcher?’
‘Possibly. A butcher would have a better idea of where to cut and what sort of equipment would be required. Probably not a bad place to start. I should be able to shed some light on the type of saw you need to look for.’
‘Great. I’ll get one of my team to make those calls first thing,’ Kate replied.
Ben brushed a stray hair from her eyes. ‘You look tired. Why don’t you go home? I don’t mind hanging around here for the results and letting you know.’
‘Thanks, I appreciate it, but I need to be here.’
‘I thought you’d say that,’ he replied. ‘How about I stick around and keep you company? I don’t think we’ll have much longer to wait.’
Kate smiled, gratefully. ‘I’d like that.’
‘I don’t know how you do this,’ he muttered, staring into the distance. ‘It’s just too much at times.’
She was just thinking of how she could possibly reply when the lab doors whooshed open, and a technician in a white coat appeared, brandishing a piece of paper.
She braced herself.
‘I compared the DNA recovered from the foot to the profiles on the national database, and,’ the technician paused, as he turned the piece of paper over for them to see, ‘there wasn’t a match.’
Kate felt winded by the news. ‘Is the foot Daisy’s?’
The technician shook his head as he handed her the piece of paper to study. ‘If you can obtain a sample of her DNA we can do a direct comparison, but other than that, we have no way of tracing exactly who the foot belongs to.’
Kate passed Ben the piece of paper as she moved across to the window and stared out into the dark sky hanging over Southampton. Daisy Emerson was still out there somewhere, but only time would tell whether they would find her alive, or dead.
7
EIGHT DAYS MISSING
Watching the team gathering around the dry-wipe board, Kate was pleased to hear the energy in their chatter; it meant they were switched on and ready for the task ahead of them. It was just after seven, and Inspector Bentley had agreed to half a dozen of his uniformed officers supporting her investigation over the weekend, but she was certain it had been the supe’s word in his ear, rather than her own plea, that had led to his agreement.
‘Morning,’ Kate offered, cutting the chatter instantly. ‘I take it you all managed to get at least a few hours’ sleep last night; we have a busy day ahead of us. As you all know, Patel and I stumbled upon a horrific scene last night at St Bartholomew’s school, where missing teenager Daisy Emerson is a pupil. A human foot was located, and as yet we can’t be sure whether it was left at the scene on purpose or by accident. Given where it was located in the room, it seems likely that our suspect missed it in the clean-up, but you know my motto—’
‘Assume nothing,’ the group bellowed in unison.
Kate smiled. ‘Exactly!’
‘Do we know whose foot it is?’ Laura piped up.
‘SSD have yet to find a match to anyone on the system, which brings us back to our missing teenager. We know the foot belonged to a female victim, under the age of twenty. I have the unenviable task of visiting her parents this morning to obtain a sample of DNA to compare with the foot. There is nothing, so far, to suggest that Daisy returned to the school after she left Georgie’s house on Friday night, but that’s an angle I want thoroughly examined. Georgie’s house is on Abbotts Way in Portswood, which is a mile and a half from St Bartholomew’s.’ Kate pointed to a map she’d stuck on the board behind her. ‘I’ve marked the three most direct routes on foot from Georgie’s house to the school, and I want one of you to walk those routes today, looking for any evidence that Daisy may have headed that way. I also want you to look for security cameras along the three routes.’
The hand of a young officer thrust into the air. ‘I can do that.’
Kate looked at the young PC, and nodded her acknowledgement. ‘It’s PC Barnes, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ he smiled, visibly pleased she’d remembered his name. Kate knew he was due to sit his detective examination in the next couple of months and relished any opportunity to gain valuable experience.
‘Good,’ Kate said, writing his name on the board next to the task. ‘There are also three possible routes that Daisy could have taken walking home from Georgie’s house. I want two officers stationed at key intersections of each route, showing passers-by the picture of Daisy and asking whether they remember seeing her last Friday. I also want another couple going house-to-house and ensuring we’ve managed to speak to every possible resident who might have seen her. I appreciate it’s a long-shot, but it will help rule out the possibility that she was snatched by someone on her way home. If you get no answer, make a note of the address and we’ll try again tomorrow.’
She paused, reaching for her mug of coffee and taking a gulp. ‘Speaking of which, I want two more officers on the university’s Highfield and Avenue campuses. Not all students watch the news or read newspapers, so we need to make sure they’re aware we have a vulnerable missing child out there. Daisy would have crossed Highfield Lane on her journey home, and that is part of the stud
ent route from halls of residence to the clubs and bars in Bevois Valley. We don’t have any reason to believe she would run away, but let’s be clear, until the evidence points us in another direction, we will continue to treat her disappearance as a runaway. So we need to find anyone who can confirm she actually attempted to make the journey home.’
‘I still think there’s more to the parents,’ DS Phil Humberidge interrupted. ‘Nine times out of ten the parents are involved, you know that as well as I do.’
In his mid-fifties, with a full head of white hair, DS Phil Humberidge was counting the days until he could take early retirement and focus on his hobby of painting landscapes.
‘We have no reason to believe that any harm has come to Daisy, and until we do, I will handle her parents.’
Humberidge raised his hands in mock surrender. ‘I was just saying.’
Kate fired him a warning look, knowing that if it was Chloe who’d gone missing, she’d cling to the hope of finding her until the very last moment.
‘Do we know if her bank card has been used since Friday?’ Patel interjected.
DC Ewan Freeborn raised his hand into the air. ‘Nothing yet. The bank has been alerted to look out for any movement on her accounts, and will call us the second they have something.’ Freeborn was the latest recruit to the team. He was slightly built with glasses and a quiff that wouldn’t have been amiss in the fifties, but he had a good head between his shoulders – a natural analyst – and was already proving himself a useful addition to the unit.
‘Good,’ Kate acknowledged. ‘Where are we with her phone and social media activity?’
Freeborn shook his head. ‘As we know, her phone has been switched off since nine twenty the night she went missing, and she hasn’t been active on Facebook, or Twitter since then either.’
‘And do we know what time she last accessed her profiles?’ Kate pushed, hoping it might stretch the timeline of events.
‘Ten minutes past nine,’ Freeborn confirmed. ‘Which ties in with Georgie’s statement that Daisy left the house at quarter past.’
‘I want someone to go over that statement with Georgie Barclay again. Did Daisy give any clue that she might run away? Was anything troubling her at school or in her personal life? We know she had a boyfriend, but was she seeing anyone else on the side? Was she active in any online groups her parents weren’t aware of?’
‘I don’t mind speaking to the Barclay girl,’ Laura offered.
‘Thanks, Laura, try and do it today, if you can? Patel,’ she said, making eye contact with him, ‘I want you to pull in Daisy’s boyfriend for a quiet chat. You don’t need to arrest him, but bring him down to the station so it’s a bit more formal. He’s three years older than Daisy, and while I’m not saying he has anything to hide, I think with gentle persuasion he’ll tell us a lot more than he has to date. Like, for example, what he and Daisy argued about at the ice-cream parlour earlier that afternoon? We have a waitress who witnessed Daisy in tears.’
Patel nodded his understanding.
‘Everyone else is to focus on our new investigation.’ Kate stepped to the far side of the board and pointed at the picture of the foot. ‘All we know so far is this foot was severed using an electric handsaw with a rotating blade, like a pizza cutter. DC Rogers will be speaking with local DIY and hardware stores today to find a list of purchasers. I want the rest of you to split the list of teachers between you. Make contact with each – ideally face-to-face – and establish if they have witnessed anything unusual or anybody acting suspiciously in the vicinity of the school in the past week. I’m going to follow up with the third-party contractors who had reason to be at the school: the groundsman, cleaners, photocopy engineer and building inspector.’ Kate paused. ‘Where’s Olly Quinlan? Has anyone seen him this morning?’
The sea of faces shook their heads.
Kate leaned closer to Patel. ‘Olly was supposed to be on the security-camera footage from the entrance to the school and any nearby businesses. See if you can get hold of him, and find out why he isn’t here.’ She turned back to Laura. ‘How did SSD get on with examining the caretaker’s keypad?’
Laura referred to her notes. ‘Only one set of prints were recovered from the internal and external keypads, and they’ve been confirmed as belonging to Mr Linus, who voluntarily provided a sample for comparison. There were no discernible footprints that could be recovered from the ground surrounding that private gate.’
Any potential lead not panning out was a disappointment, but at least in this case it meant the team could concentrate on the two entrances that were protected by security cameras.
Kate finished her coffee as she watched the group disperse. It was odd that Quinlan hadn’t showed. Watching hours of monotonous security camera footage was one of the worst parts of the job, but it was a vital component in most successful investigations and he hadn’t even reported in to say he’d managed to secure the feeds from the school. When he showed, he’d have to have a good explanation for his absence.
‘Mrs Barclay said she’s taking Georgie to her grandmother’s this morning, but will be back this afternoon,’ Laura said, snapping Kate’s attention back to the office. ‘Do you want some company with Daisy’s parents?’
Kate had been dreading the possibility that the time would come when they needed to request a DNA sample for comparison. She nodded, welcoming Laura’s offer of support.
8
‘Ma’am, you should have turned down there to get to the Emersons’ road,’ Laura interjected.
Keeping her eyes fixed firmly on the road, Kate gently shook her head. ‘We’re not going there yet… I want to see Daisy’s final route again first.’
Kate had walked, driven and jogged this route several times in the last week already, but Laura would understand why she needed to do it again. Heading through the next set of traffic lights towards Portswood, Kate pulled the car hard to the right up Highfield Lane, before turning left onto Abbotts Way, where Georgie Barclay’s house stood. It was such a peaceful road, especially this early on a Saturday morning.
Kate completed a U-turn before pulling up across the road from the Barclay household, but kept the engine running. ‘From Georgie’s statement, we know Daisy headed north out of the door, in the direction of home. But she never made it. Her road is only ten minutes’ walk away, and between here and there, there are plenty of houses with curtain-twitching neighbours, two bus routes, and enough traffic that somebody must have seen what really happened to her. Right?’
Laura nodded. ‘Do you fancy walking the route she was most likely to have taken?’
Kate killed the engine and the two of them stepped out into the light sleet that was now falling. They crossed the road and stopped outside Georgie Barclay’s house.
Kate looked up at the three-bedroom semi-detached. ‘According to Georgie’s statement, Daisy left here at nine fifteen, having told Georgie she was heading straight home. Can you time this?’
Laura pulled out her phone and flicked to the stopwatch app. ‘Okay. Go.’
Kate tried to picture Daisy’s movements a week ago as they headed to the end of the road. It had been a dry and cold night. There were no real signs of activity in any of the properties in the narrow street yet, but the chances are there would have been at least a couple of homes with residents awake when Daisy had passed a week ago. Yet nobody had reported seeing a girl in a purple coat walking alone.
At the end of the road, Kate paused. ‘Do you think she crossed the main road here, or walked to the pedestrian crossing further up?’
Laura considered the question. ‘For me, it would depend on the amount of traffic heading along the main road. If traffic was light, I’d jog across where we are now, but if it was heavy, I’d use the crossing. It’s what – fifty metres away? It all depends how much of a hurry she was in.’
Kate turned and headed to the crossing, waiting for the first car to stop, before making her way to the middle. ‘If you’re a driver who’s
just let Daisy across, would you remember it?’
Laura shrugged. ‘Probably not. Unless she did something unusual, like she was crying, or gave me an angry look, I don’t think I’d remember.’
They continued across the road before Kate spoke again. ‘There are two obvious routes to her home from here. If she heads left up to the church, she can walk up Church Lane, before turning right onto Welbeck Avenue, or she heads right, down to Shaftesbury Avenue, and all the way along until she reaches the opposite end of Welbeck Avenue. There’s probably only a minute’s difference in the routes, so which does she take?’
Laura looked left and then right. ‘According to Georgie they regularly used both routes when walking between their homes.’
‘Of course, there is the third option as well: she could have walked down to Portswood Road, and along until she got to Bowden Lane which joins Welbeck Avenue, but that’s a good five minutes or so longer, so I can’t understand why she’d go that way unless she was stalling.’
‘We have no witnesses that identified her on any of the three routes, ma’am.’
Kate sighed. ‘Let’s head up Church Lane, which is the most direct route. What amazes me, is this route is usually littered with students from the university heading to bars and clubs at that time of night, yet nobody has come forward to say they saw Daisy. Hopefully today’s appeal for witnesses on the campus will solve that.’
*
They arrived at Daisy’s house, a three-bedroom semi set back a few metres from the road, behind a small and unloved lawn.
The front door was opened by Daisy’s father, Barry. Dressed in a sleeveless vest, the tattoos that adorned both arms glowed green beneath the rich tan of his skin. His eyes looked tired and sad.
Cold Heart: Absolutely gripping serial-killer fiction Page 4
