The Reborn

by Lin Anderson

  Magnus allowed himself a smile as he wove his way expertly through the downtown traffic towards the police station. Psychopaths commonly overestimated their own ability and underestimated that of others.

  Bill left Delaney to sweat in the interview room a while longer. A SOCO had been requested to take prints and a DNA sample now that Delaney was officially a suspect, having been at the scene of crime and possessing a motive for killing his star pupil. But that wasn’t enough to charge him. They would need physical evidence that he did meet with Kira that night, that he had been close enough to kill her.

  Ronald Reese-Brandon, and now Frank Delaney. Similar stories, similar motives; love and hate, polar opposites that were never far apart.

  But if it had been either of the men, what had they done with the baby? How had it been spirited away from the crime scene – hidden under a coat, or carried in a bag? Had it been crying, and if so, why had no one reported hearing it?

  He called Roy Hunter and told him he had another mobile he wanted him to take a look at. If Kira’s alleged text instructing Delaney to come to the funfair was still there, he wanted to know when it had arrived and where it had been sent from.

  He retreated to his office and sat down, muttering his thoughts out loud.

  Kira had been close to at least three men: the two he had recently confronted and David Murdoch, who had apparently disappeared off the face of the earth. The longer the teenager stayed off the radar, the more he became a suspect. First on scene, first suspect – it was a cliché because it was so often the case.

  He wondered if David had known about Kira’s affair with her father, or her relationship with Delaney. If David had truly loved her, would he have put up with her behaviour? Maybe Kira had made a point of telling David everything, even the intimate details. That would be how she kept her power over him. And Kira had liked to have power over men.

  Bill knew he’d have to also consider the women linked to the case. He used a pen to stir the remnants of his coffee, before taking a mouthful and starting to scribble notes on the pad on his desk.

  A while later, he called Janice Clark into his office. ‘This woman who’s writing to Coulter . . . ?’ he said.

  ‘Caroline?’

  ‘No, the partner. What do we know about her?’

  Janice, a well-trained cop, rattled the details off from memory. ‘Early twenties. Lives in Partick. No previous convictions. Wasn’t implicated in the death of the infant.’

  ‘Have we visited her since this case opened?’

  DS Clark hesitated. ‘I did see a report from social services.’

  ‘They’re still involved with her?’

  ‘Her last baby died in suspicious circumstances, obviously, and now she’s expecting another.’

  ‘Geri Taylor is pregnant?’ Bill couldn’t hide his surprise.

  DS Clark looked flustered. ‘It appears so, Sir.’

  Coulter had been adamant with Magnus that she wasn’t seeing anyone else.

  ‘Why wasn’t I told this?’

  DS Clark flushed in confusion.

  ‘I’m sorry, Sir. I didn’t realise . . .’

  ‘Do we know yet if Caroline Sweet has been using the PO box to correspond with Coulter?’

  ‘I’m not sure. I’ll check.’

  ‘Do that,’ he snapped.

  He regretted his tone almost immediately. Of course his detective sergeant didn’t realise how important this snippet of information about Geri’s pregnancy was; Magnus’s meetings with Coulter had been kept between him and Bill. He should have checked all Coulter’s connections with the outside himself, not blamed his subordinates for his own failings. He moderated his tone. ‘Can you find out about the PO box for me? Also, I’d like to see the social services file on Geri Taylor.’

  ‘Yes, Sir. Also, Professor Pirie called. He’s on his way in and wants to speak to you.’

  ‘Please show him in as soon as he gets here.’

  A mortified DS Clark left his office. Bill watched as the door closed behind her. What the hell was going on here? Two young women dead, one infant dead in the womb, another missing, presumed dead. A psychopath behind bars still managing to manipulate people. Adultery, incest, teachers sleeping with their pupils, adolescent drug use and orgies.

  No wonder DS Clark couldn’t keep it all in her head. Even McNab would have struggled with this one, although his former DS’s capacity to comprehend man’s inhumanity to man had been legendary.

  He’d thought earlier that he was beginning to see a pattern, but now he was less sure. Nothing fitted.

  So Coulter’s partner was pregnant, but not by him. Not unless conjugal visits had become a feature of life in the State Hospital. Bill wondered if Coulter knew about the pregnancy. Dr Shan had stated that Geri had visited Coulter twice in the last month, so had Geri disguised her condition? Maybe she wasn’t that far along.

  Bill remembered how short Coulter’s temper was. Although the man had said Geri was fine with him writing to other women, he couldn’t imagine Coulter being quite so easy with the idea of Geri having a relationship. He asked Magnus what he thought as soon as he arrived.

  ‘I think Coulter would take that very badly indeed. He was extremely angry when I dared to suggest Geri might have taken another partner since he’d been incarcerated.’ Magnus paused. ‘There’s something else.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Rhona didn’t find anything in the room or in the latest Reborn. She suggested Coulter might have been using Dr Shan’s mobile to contact someone on the outside.’

  ‘You think that’s a possibility?’

  ‘I do, although I wish I’d thought of it sooner.’

  ‘I wish I had too.’

  Bill called the incident room, and when DS Clark answered, she immediately told him that the social services report on Geri Taylor was on its way. Bill cut her short.

  ‘I’d like Dr Shan, Coulter’s psychiatrist, contacted and asked to come down to the station.’ He’d already decided not to mention the mobile, in case she conveniently lost it before she got there. ‘Make it sound like a standard request.’

  He thanked her, hung up and turned to Magnus.

  ‘I’d like you present at the interview, if that’s OK?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  ‘Before Dr Shan arrives, I need to bring you up to date on Delaney and Kira’s father.’ He paused. ‘Both men admit to having a sexual relationship with Kira. She apparently told both of them that the child was probably theirs.’

  Magnus seemed unsurprised.

  ‘Either man could be a suspect,’ he said. ‘Both have motives, particularly if they believed Kira was playing them off against one another,’ he added thoughtfully. ‘But why leave the doll and the mobile for us to find?’

  ‘To convince us that Kira’s killer was psychologically damaged?’

  ‘And why kill Melanie?’

  ‘The two deaths might not be connected.’

  ‘Two pregnant girls, both members of the same gang . . .’

  ‘Melanie’s killer didn’t remove the foetus.’

  Magnus nodded thoughtfully. ‘We’re missing something.’

  That’s why you’re here, thought Bill. Instead, he said, ‘If it is either of those two men, that means Coulter isn’t involved.’

  ‘And yet he believes himself to be,’ said Magnus.

  ‘Is that not in the nature of a psychopath?’

  ‘But Coulter still has information he shouldn’t be priv to.’

  ‘I’m hoping the arrival of Dr Shan might enlighten us on that score,’ replied Bill.

  Magnus regarded Dr Shan with interest as she took a seat in Bill’s office. He wondered if Bill was as aware of her fragrance as he was. It was not particularly strong, but he found it very noticeable. DI Wilson had decided not to have her shown to an interview room, but had her brought here to his office. Magnus had accompanied her from reception, and on the way she had passed through the incident room. He believed from her react
ion that this was her first time in a police station, and a quick glance behind as he opened the door to DI Wilson’s office confirmed that it was certainly the first time the investigating team had seen anyone quite like her; the dropped jaws of the men and the envious looks from the women had been proof of that.

  Now Bill opened the interview with a pleasant smile.

  ‘Dr Shan, thank you for coming in. I’m sorry we couldn’t come to see you at the hospital.’ He indicated the window separating them from the incident room. ‘In the middle of an enquiry it can be difficult to get away.’

  Dr Shan nodded. ‘I quite understand, Detective Inspector.’

  ‘Dr MacLeod has confirmed that she did not find any evidence that your patient was concealing mobile parts either in his workroom or inside the recently completed Reborn he called Melanie. Nevertheless, Mr Coulter is in receipt of information on this case which is not available to the general public.’

  Magnus thought Dr Shan might respond to this, but she pursed her lips and said nothing.

  ‘We believe therefore that you allowed Mr Coulter to use your mobile phone to make contact with someone outside the hospital.’

  She frowned, her composure faltering. ‘That isn’t allowed under hospital rules.’

  ‘Nevertheless, you did so, did you not?’

  She seemed struck dumb.

  Bill’s voice hardened. ‘I repeat, did you allow a patient detained in a State Hospital to make private calls using your personal mobile phone?’

  Magnus was impressed at how little the doctor’s shock showed in her bearing, but he could sense her distress. He watched her eyes flicker as she absorbed the accusation, then rapidly weighed up her response. She seemed to come to a decision.

  ‘I did allow Mr Coulter to call his partner on just two occasions. He was distressed by a letter from her and wanted to speak to her privately.’

  ‘He was alone with your mobile phone on two occasions only?’

  Dr Shan looked uncomfortable. ‘During our meetings, I was sometimes called away.’

  ‘And on those occasions you left your mobile in the room with him?’

  She looked even more uneasy. ‘I may have done.’

  ‘Isn’t that against the rules?’

  ‘Coulter has proved himself to be trustworthy.’

  ‘Did you ever check to see if he made a call?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘But you suspect he might have.’

  ‘It is possible.’

  ‘In light of this, I must ask you to hand over your mobile for examination.’

  ‘But it has all my personal numbers, not only my work.’

  ‘We will respect your privacy, Dr Shan. We’re only interested in calls made by Mr Coulter.’

  Magnus caught a faint, acrid whiff of sweat under her floral scent. Dr Shan, for all her Zen training, was in a dark place at this moment. Having given her trust to someone, she was now faced with the spectre of betrayal. He wondered if she had ever harboured a suspicion that she was wrong about the extent of Coulter’s rehabilitation. Or had Coulter simply fooled her as he had fooled others?

  ‘Please give me your phone,’ said Bill.

  She hesitated, then reached into her bag and passed the mobile across the desk.

  ‘When should I expect it to be returned?’

  DI Wilson’s expression was unreadable. ‘When we’re finished with it.’

  44

  Chrissy had laid out her trophies and was studying them intently: the trap from under the plughole of the bath, the green Dionysos mask and a toothbrush.

  Rhona was particularly intrigued by the last item. Toothbrushes were good sources of DNA, as good as the mouth swabs taken from potential suspects. However, there had only been one toothbrush in Melanie’s bathroom – a pink electric one, which you would assume was hers and therefore contained only her DNA.

  ‘We don’t know that,’ Chrissy said wisely. ‘Someone in that room puked in the bath.’ She indicated the trap, which had been unscrewed to reveal a matting of long, dark brown hair and a mess of gunge that resembled vomit. ‘If I puke, for whatever reason, I always clean my teeth afterwards. I don’t care whose toothbrush I use.’

  Rhona made a mental note to hide her toothbrush whenever Chrissy came round.

  ‘What about the toilet seat?’ she asked.

  ‘He, she or it did not piss before they left.’ Chrissy sounded disappointed. ‘No prints on the seat from being lifted by a man. Nothing on the handle from flushing, either.’

  ‘And the mask?’

  Chrissy grinned. ‘As fertile and entertaining as the god himself. What was his name again?’

  ‘Dionysos, or Bacchus if you prefer Roman lore to Greek.’

  ‘Well, Dionysos has been busy. I found various traces of DNA on our god here, lots of skin flakes and also some semen. Looks like that inviting mouth was used for more than just kissing.’ Chrissy wiggled her eyebrows. ‘What about your body?’

  ‘The taping picked up traces of DNA around Melanie’s mouth and her right arm. I also found something else.’

  ‘What?’

  Rhona beckoned Chrissy over to the high-powered microscope, where she settled herself on the stool and peered through the lens.

  The partial shark skin dentricle had been picked up by the tape from the top Melanie had been wearing. If they were unsure whether the two deaths were linked, this evidence alone was enough to convince them.

  Chrissy turned from the microscope. ‘You think whoever smothered Melanie was planning to cut out the foetus?’

  ‘Why else would they have the knife with them?’

  ‘So what went wrong?’

  ‘They were disturbed before they could operate? That seems the most likely scenario,’ said Rhona.

  ‘No trace of chloroform?’ Chrissy asked.

  ‘None. She was simply smothered, although I’m not sure that the pillow was the murder weapon. From the evidence we have, I think someone may have put a hand over her mouth.’

  ‘The same person who killed Kira?’

  ‘It seems more than likely.’

  ‘We’re getting closer,’ said Chrissy, unable to disguise her delight.

  But not close enough, Rhona thought.

  She’d once worked on a case where skin flakes had been found on the deceased’s hand. The evidence had placed a suspect at the scene, but it hadn’t proved they had killed the victim. The truth turned out to be quite different; the suspect had arrived at the scene and had held the hand of the victim as they died. That small act of compassion had made them a prime suspect, at least for a while. No wonder the general public feared getting involved and so many people reported incidents anonymously.

  Rhona studied the results of the DNA analysis of the traces of foreign skin found on Melanie’s body. Someone had covered her mouth and nose, probably with their hand. The same person had grasped her arm. She suspected, but had yet to confirm, that the vomit Chrissy had discovered in the bath would belong to the same person.

  Forensically, she could place David Murdoch in Melanie’s bedroom. She could prove through trace evidence that he had covered Melanie’s mouth and nose and held her arm.

  According to Owen Hegarty, David had left school early on Friday, which would have given him time to visit Melanie before she died. His stepfather had said David spent Friday evening in his room, then the stepdad had left for work early on Saturday and hadn’t seen or heard from David after that. The teenager had simply disappeared.

  From all accounts, his sexuality notwithstanding, David had been besotted with Kira. She had taken pity on him, scooped him into her bright sphere of existence. Without Kira, David was nothing, in his eyes at least. Why would he kill her, and why would he kill Melanie? Did he know Melanie was carrying his child?

  When Rhona had seen them together in the park, he’d appeared to be comforting an obviously distraught Melanie. He hadn’t looked capable of killing her, or anyone else.

  But Melanie had let someone
into the house, someone she’d known and trusted. Someone like David.

  What had happened in that bedroom?

  If David had been the one to vomit in the bath, had he been shocked by what he’d done, or by what he’d seen?

  Rhona wrote up her report before logging into the software and recording the DNA findings on the Melanie case profile. Then she called Bill.

  Once she’d explained about the skin flakes on Melanie’s mouth and arm, she told him about the shark skin dentricle.

  ‘It came from the same knife?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Melanie’s death is in the evening paper. I issued a photo of David as a missing person, to go with the story.’

  ‘You already suspected he was involved in her death?’

  ‘He disappeared around the time she died. It was too much of a coincidence.’

  ‘And now we can place the knife at both scenes,’ she said.

  ‘Good work,’ said Bill. ‘Also, I spoke to Maria Reese-Brandon. I told her that her husband had fathered Kira’s baby and she went into shock. I don’t think she had any idea what was going on between them. Anyway, he’s lost his alibi for that night, as his wife now says he did go out.’

  ‘You think he went to meet Kira?’

  ‘He admits he did – says Kira texted him and asked him to pick her up, but then never appeared.’

  ‘I found no evidence to place him in the Hall of Mirrors.’

  ‘That doesn’t mean he wasn’t there.’

  There was a moment’s silence before Bill said, ‘And what about David – would he have had enough time to remove the baby and hide it before he called 999?’

  ‘Just about.’

  ‘Maybe David did kill Kira. Maybe he found out about Frank Delaney and Ronald Reese-Brandon and flipped out.’ He paused. ‘But why would he kill Melanie?’

  ‘Because she had reason to suspect him?’

  They would never know the answers to their questions until they found David Murdoch.