by Rashad Salim
The conference started with Hargreaves welcoming everyone in attendance and introducing all the members of the panel.
“I don’t need to tell you all just how much of a tragedy the murders of Rishi Malhotra and Ravinder Singh are but I am going to say that together we will get through this very difficult time.
“The purpose of today’s conference is to let you all know that the authorities are working as hard as they can, as fast as they can and as best as they can to solve these crimes. The police department and all the schools are working together to make Binford safer for everyone.
“There will be a chance to ask the members of the panel questions at the end so I would be very grateful if you could wait until all panel members have finished making their statements.
Hargreaves let Stein take over from there. He introduced himself and thanked everyone for attending.
“First I’d just like to clear up any misconceptions and give some background on the two crimes.” He explained the details of the two cases – giving dates and locations of where the boys were last seen, when they were reported missing and when their corpses were found. He mentioned the locations of the body dumping sites but refrained from giving away any information about causes of death or any other confidential details we hadn’t divulged to either the press or anyone else.
“As Mrs Hargreaves explained earlier, we are workin’ around the clock on this and rest assured we will do everythin’ in our power to get to the bottom of this.
“Now I’d like to stress the importance of community co-operation in regards to these incidents. I understand these are difficult times but please leave the handlin’ of these cases with the police. We are aware that certain groups within the community are takin’ the law into their own hands by makin’ unlawful allegations but these are totally irresponsible and we can’t have that.
“If anyone knows anythin’ or has learnt anythin’ over the last week that might be able to help us solve these crimes, we appeal to you right now and request that you come forward as soon as possible. Thank you.”
Hargreaves took over again and talked about how Mayor Mullen had a few things to say.
Mullen talked about how he had the public’s best interest as a priority and how his heart went out to the community, especially the parents of the victims who were present.
Hargreaves then gave the two school headmasters the opportunity to say something.
They both gave a tribute to the victims and told everyone how the boys were sorely missed. Hargreaves then took over and allowed the audience to ask the panel questions.
Dozens of audience members shot their arms into the air, which alarmed me. I had assumed they’d be quite reluctant.
“Have the police found any suspects yet?” asked an Asian man I assumed had secondary school aged children.
“We’re currently evaluatin’ all the evidence and findin’s we’ve been collectin’ since the start of these cases. Obviously for various reasons I cannot release what is sensitive information. But rest assured all potential suspects are being looked at as we speak.”
I thought about Lawrence Wilson – the cleaner with previous sex offence convictions, Neil Roberts – the local hermit and Karim Zaib – the potential dirty old man. We had a few suspects alright but no evidence to link any of them in yet.
“Are these murders acts of racism?” another Asian man asked.
“There’s no evidence to indicate they may race crimes,” Stein said.
“Both the boys were Asian!” someone called out from the back rows.
“I understand that,” Stein said, “but we don’t know the motives for the murders yet.”
There were jeers from the audience but Stein ignored them.
“Are we gonna get more police officers walkin’ the beat now?” An Asian man in his twenties asked. “The police have been practically invisible so far and only show up after the murders.”
Other audience members spoke out in agreement to this sentiment.
“We are workin’ flat out, doin’ what we can with what we have,” Stein said. “And yes, we are increasing the number of officers on patrol.”
I wondered if Stein would be questioned about expanding the investigation team. He told us earlier that day that Scotland Yard wouldn’t be allocating us any additional experienced officers joining the team in the foreseeable future. It was just us six for now.
From what I gathered, DI Richardson had worked plenty of murder cases in the past but no serial murders. Whereas DI Clark had worked as the senior officer leading investigations in two separate sets of murders a few years earlier.
As for me, this was still my first case of a serial killer.
“Is there some kind of profile you can give us in relation to what ‘The Binford Snatcher’ looks like?” asked a young Asian man with muscular arms.
There were murmurs among the audience. Stein waited for the noise to die down. Looking at the young man who asked the question, I spotted Asim Patel sitting next to him. I assumed they were brothers.
“Let me just make this clear, we’re not goin’ to refer to the perpetrator of these crimes by any nicknames the media has come up with and we’d appreciate it if the public didn’t either. Now as for a profile, we haven’t had any witnesses come forward yet with a description.”
I thought about the white man in the white van Asim Patel told us about.
“Certainly, no one we have evidence to strongly suggest is the perpetrator.” Stein leaned back into his seat and then, as if sensing the restlessness in the audience’s reaction to his statement, he leaned back into the microphone to speak again. “That’s not to say we don’t have suspects. We do. This is an ongoin’ investigation and all suspects will be looked at.”
There were a few more questions before the conference and everyone got up to leave.
“Wasn’t a total disaster after all,” Richardson said and looked at me.
“Let’s just hope somethin’ comes out of it.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.”
38
Asim
I thought about approaching Ravinder’s parents at the end of the conference but I didn’t the balls to go through with it. I didn’t know what I could say to them or how either they or I would react to seeing each other. The last thing I wanted was to add to their suffering so when the conference ended, I left right away with my brother and dad.
I spent the rest of the day doing homework and watching Coming To America but throughout it I never stopped thinking about the murders and The Binford Snatcher.
The next evening I went with my dad and brother to the mosque for a monthly event. There were easily over two hundred people in attendance – and since males and females were in separate halls that figure was all male.
One of the guest speakers talked about life and death. He talked about how death was always just around the corner and you never knew when it was going tap you on the shoulder.
I had heard hundreds of sermons about that before but this was the first time I felt the threat and had to think about my own mortality.
39
DC Cole
I was at home, in front of the TV on Sunday afternoon when the telephone rang. I was watching the football and didn’t want to be disturbed so I tried to ignore the phone. It was my first day off since I had transferred to Binford – I had worked almost two weeks straight, at all hours, without a break and the last thing I wanted was to be bothered. But the telephone wouldn’t stop ringing.
Eventually I stood up and walked over to the telephone and answered it.
“Cole?” It was Richardson.
“Yeah?”
“Get ready if you ain’t already. Enfield’s on his way to pick you up.”
I groaned. “No, no, no. Not today, mate. I just need a bit of rest... I’m trying to watch the footy.”
“I can appreciate that, Cole, but get your arse outside in five minutes. We’ve got somethin’!”
&
nbsp; That perked me up. I asked him what it was.
“Forensics sent the prints back to us with an ID confirmation in Rishi Malhotra’s murder. We’ve got a match. A fuckin’ match! And you’ll never guess who.”
“Who?” Lawrence Wilson, Neil Roberts and Karim Zaib all flashed in my mind.
“Neil Roberts.”
That fucking hermit. A part of me thought it had been obvious. He was a huge man easily able to overpower any schoolboy and kill him with his bare hands.
“How did you get this?”
“Roberts had previous convictions of theft and fraud from a while back.”
I had expected a more violent past from Roberts. “He been arrested yet?”
“Not yet. I’m gonna nick him myself and you’re comin’ with me. Now get a move on, sunshine.”
I got ready as fast as I could and waited outside. Enfield soon arrived with another uniformed officer and we were parked near Roberts’ address in no time.
The lights were on. Roberts spent most of his evenings at home. I guessed the hermit was in there now.
While we waited for Richardson, we kept watch of Roberts’ house just in case he left before Richardson’s arrival.
Richardson arrived within five minutes of us and parked his car outside Roberts’ house. He got out and we joined him. Richardson and I walked up to Robert’s front door. Enfield and the other officer jumped a few fences and went around the back just in case Roberts made a run for it.
Richardson knocked on the door a few times. There was no answer.
“Police!” Richardson said. “Open up now, Roberts! We know you’re in there!”
The door opened a few seconds later. Roberts held the door ajar. He looked pissed off and made me wonder if he knew the reason for our presence.
“Yes?” he asked. “What can I do for you this time?”
“You can come with us to the station,” Richardson said. “That’s what.”
Roberts frowned. “For what?”
“For your own sake,” Richardson said. “We’ve got a lot to talk to you about.”
“We can talk here.” Roberts still held the door ajar with no intention of letting us in.
“Not this time,” I said. “We need you to come with us right away.”
“Or what?” Roberts snorted.
“Or we’re gonna have to arrest you for failin’ to co-operate in a major investigation.”
“You can’t do that.”
Richardson stepped closer to him. “I can do whatever the fuck I want, you creepy bastard!” Richardson spat the words out at Roberts.
For a second I thought Roberts was going to grab Richardson.
Roberts said nothing.
Richardson took a deep breath. “Am I gonna have to come back here and turn your whole fuckin’ house upside down?”
“Come with us, Mr Roberts,” I said as calmly as possible.
Roberts turned his attention away from Richardson and looked at me.
“...If you know what’s best for you,” I added.
I could see Roberts was about to crack and give in.
Richardson pushed the door wide open and told Roberts to get out of his house right in that moment.
Roberts hesitated for a second before coming out. Richardson shut the door behind him and nudged Roberts from behind to get him moving faster.
“You better have a good reason for this,” Roberts said.
“Don’t you worry,” Richardson said and looked at me. “All will be revealed soon.”
40
Asim
The guest speaker at the mosque was talking about how death never discriminated between the young and the old and how you were never too young to die.
Clearly, the mosque committee and the imam hadn’t decided to tone down the life and death talk in consideration to recent events in Binford.
At the end of the event – right before everyone would be served with traditional Asian food in the hall above us – the imam caught me by surprise.
“I would like to give a message to the young boys in attendance today in regards to the recent murders in Binford,” he said.
He had everyone’s attention. Nobody moved. Not even those who usually skipped the final stages of events so they could be the first to eat.
“Please take all precautions in making sure of your safety and safety of others. Look after yourselves and neighbours. Pray for the families of the victims and for the safety of everyone. The local community has never had a problem like this before and must work together to get through this. I ask that all the boys here today listen to their elders and do as they’re told when it comes to safety.
“Do not go out late at night or anywhere where you could be at risk. Please stay away from the bad influences around you and forbidden activities that may lead you into trouble.” He ended the announcement with a recitation of some holy verses in Arabic.
Everyone then went upstairs to eat. I was making my way up there when I overheard some chatter to the side that caught my attention. Some boys my age were discussing the murders. They weren’t students from my school but I knew them from mosque classes. One of the boys, Tariq, attended the same school as Rishi Malhotra.
I approached the boys and greeted them. I listened quietly to the boys discussing in hushed tones what they knew about the cases. They were aware I was the one who discovered Rishi’s dead body. We sat down to eat together and I made sure to sit beside Tariq. The discussion quietened down when the food arrived and we were careful not to let anyone overhear what we were talking about.
Tariq asked me what it was like to find Rishi’s corpse.
I asked him what it was like at his school after I found Rishi.
He told me he had been in the same class as Rishi since they started secondary school, much like Ravinder and me.
On the ride back home from the mosque, I thought about everything that had happened over the weekend – the town hall meeting, the imam’s little speech on the murders and what Tariq had told me about the effect of Rishi’s death on the rest of his class.
As soon as my dad, Rizwan and I entered my house I heard my mum call out to me.
“Your friend’s mum phoned.”
I groaned and wondered if Omar had done something stupid again.
“That fat-”
“Not his mum,” she said. “Maqsood’s.”
I was confused. I couldn’t think of why Max’s mum wanted to talk to me. “What did she say?”
My mum looked at me and my father, who now stood beside me.
“What happened?” my dad asked.
“She wanted to know if Asim had heard from him.”
“I haven’t seen him since Friday at school.”
My mum gave me a stern look. “You better not be lying.”
“Why?” I asked. “What’s he done?”
“He’s run away from home.”
41
DC Cole
We kept Roberts waiting in the interrogation room for half an hour while we discussed the evidence against him.
The fingerprints we got from the Rishi Malhotra crime scene consisted of Neil Roberts’ prints on the plastic sheet Malhotra was wrapped around in when he was dumped in the canal.
Richardson and I sat in our office while Clark went through some of the paperwork about the evidence. “Who wants to take a shot at him?” Clark asked us.
I looked at them both. “I’ll have a go. Who’s goin’ in with me?”
Clark looked at Richardson. “You want to take lead?”
Richardson got up and took the evidence files from Clark. We then walked out while Clark stayed behind.
“How are we gonna play this?” I asked while we walked down the corridor to the interrogation room. “The evidence seems solid. But there’s a lot missin’.”
“Like what?” he asked. “No fingerprints on the body?”
“Exactly.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’ll get around to that. After we have a crack at
him.”
We reached the tiny room where Roberts had been waiting and entered.
Roberts sat at the table with his arms folded across his chest and a sour expression.
“This is bang out of order!” he said, when he saw us coming in.
“Calm down,” Richardson said. “We can start now.”
“What’s this about? You still haven’t told me!”
“What do you think it could be about, Neil?” Richardson asked. “Parkin’ tickets?”
Roberts glared at him.
“You remember we came around the other day and asked you about that recent murder? That lad Ravinder Singh? You were spotted at the crime scene before his body was discovered.”
Roberts’ eyes widened. His bravado evaporated in an instant.
“You do remember that, don’t you?” I asked him.
“...Yes ...Yes, I do.”
“Well, guess what?” Richardson said. “It turns out that you got somethin’ in common with another crime scene, which just so happens to be the murder of a boy as well.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No? Let me make it clear to you.” Richardson banged the stack of the files on Rishi Malhotra down on the table. Roberts’ jaw dropped and he stared at us. “...We found your fingerprints right in the middle of the crime scene! Explain that shit!”
Roberts tried to say something but he was too flustered.
“What the fuck were you doin’ there?” Richardson asked.
“I wasn’t!” Roberts pleaded. “I swear. I never went there. You gotta believe me.” He looked at me for sympathy but he wasn’t going to get it.
“You sure?” Richardson asked him. “Because if I find out you’re lyin’, you can fuckin’ forget about your freedom. I’ll have you sent down for this!”
“We know you often walk around the canal area,” I said. “Isn’t that right?” I asked softly.
