The Untimely Death Box Set
Page 65
Karl asked what happened and the detective told them that apparently Julian had disturbed an intruder and in the ensuing fight he had shouted and the neighbour heard the commotion and raised the alarm. “By the time we arrived the intruder had gone and Mr Osoracsos was stunned and lying on the floor. He’s at Mercy Cuthbert.”
“Can I come inside?” Lily asked but he said no because the place had been messed up and they would have to go over it for DNA and fingerprints. ”I have your phone number. We’ll secure it when we finish.”
Karl kept his head but drove as fast as he could to the hospital while Lily just closed her eyes and prayed that Julian would be fine. She could not bear it if anything happened to him and as the car screeched to a stop outside of the emergency entrance, they left it there and ran inside. She had to take a deep breath to get out the questions to the receptionist and when she was asked if she was related, she said had the presence of mind to say she was his wife. They were directed to the room where Julian had been taken. She slowed down and opened the door. Julian lay against the pillows with his eyes closed, bandages across his face and his normally olive complexion was very pale. “Oh My God.” She said, walked over to the bed and took his hand. Julian opened his eyes and gave a half smile when he saw her there. “They took my phone away so I couldn’t let you know.” He apologised.
“How are you?” Karl asked and Julian said he had got a blow on the head so he had a bit of a headache and he slashed my face with a knife but nothing that won’t get better.” Lily sat down with a jolt beside the bed and Karl said he would go and move the car and come back.
“Thank God it wasn’t worse.” She said and Julian said that he thanked God it was himself and not her that had opened the door. She dropped her head onto his chest and a few tears slipped out. He stroked her hair and said “Shh. We’ll get through it all.” The nurse put her head around the door and said “Five more minutes, Mrs Osoracsos.” Julian looked at her and smiled and she said that she had to say she was related to get in to see him. He lifted her hand and kissed it. Karl came back in with two coffees and sat beside them. “I’ve got a text from Ottie to say that she followed up your connections on the emails and she thinks she has a clue to the blogger.
“You’ll have to go and see to it.” Julian said. “I’ll be fine here and they might let me out later. I’ll demand my phone back.”
She kissed his cheek and said she would be back as she and Karl headed for the car to go back to the office. Ottie and the others were trying to get through on the mobiles but he drove fast and said they would explain when they arrived. Karl headed straight for the coffee machine and the others clustered around to hear what had happened. Lily had got through most of the tale and was explaining how Julian was at the hospital when the detective, Ed Jones, arrived with his partner and a uniformed officer. He looked serious.
Chapter 7
“Ms De Line.” He started. “This has turned into a very serious case and we feel you need a police officer with you at all times. This is Officer Jon Bradley and I am assigning him at the moment. He will stay with you until he is relieved or we catch this man. There are links that suggest he may be someone we are looking for in connection with other crimes.”
“Murder, you mean?” Lily asked and the detective nodded and said it looked a possibility. Ottie broke in at that point and said she was sorry to interrupt. “Lily had started some software off this morning checking if her Twitter feed and the comments on her blog might throw up the same person and we think maybe it does. Well three of them actually but one is a woman so probably not her. Here are the other two.” She handed over the paper that had printed out the details.
“You mean.” Jones asked. ”That we might be able to trace them from details on the web?” Lily nodded and showed him the links. His partner flipped out a smartphone and sent the details straight to the IT department at the station. “Both of these men live in this vicinity and have the same style of blogging.” Ottie continued. Lily took the paper copy and flicked her tablet on. She looked at both of the people that Ottie had spotted and nodded her head. “Both of them hate women as well. I remember both of these two.” She looked at one of them and showed Jones. “This one in particular is very like the one that made the threats. If we go back over his tweets and blogs we will get a clue as to his interests and where he lives.” She passed that to Jones as well and he sent it straight on to his tech department. “I’ll keep on searching.” Lily said.
“Keep in touch.” Jones said. And do not go anywhere without Bradley here. I’m serious. If this is who we think it is, you cannot be too careful.” He and his partner left and Bradley asked if he could watch her do the search. “I would like to know how to do this.” She agreed and offered him the use of the office coffee machine. The place settled back into work mode and Lily got lost in the concentration of the search. Bradley asked the odd question and watched intently. He took the odd note and after a while she rubbed her eyes and said. “Look at this.” She flicked three screens up at the same time. “These are all tweets and comments supposedly made by different people but are almost word for word identical.”
“Can you trace any of them?” Bradley asked and she told him that one of them had no personal stuff at all but the other two both hinted at different times about the area where they lived. She put in a command to find the tweets to do with location and several appeared. She asked for pictures related and up came about six. They looked at the views that appeared. Bradley said. “I know that place. It’s near the recreation woodland.” He rang his boss and passed this on. Jones replied that the tech people seemed to be on the same track and had triangulated it to a certain area.
The door opened and Julian Osoracsos stepped inside. “Oh wonderful.” Lily said and jumped up to give him a hug. “Have a seat.” Ottie urged. “I’ll get you a sandwich and a drink.”
“How do you feel?” Karl asked and Julian told everyone that the hospital had told him was fine and just to take things easily for a few days. He took the offered sandwich and sat down. “This.” Lily said looking at the police officer. “Is Officer Bradley who is instructed to watch over me like a hawk?” Julian held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you.” He said and asked what the situation was.
Bradley said “Call me Jon.” And related what they had found so far. Once Julian was brought up to date and took in the implication of a possible murderer on the loose, he looked at the pictures they had found, he asked if they had a name for these people who tweeted and Jon Bradley brought them up on the tablet. “If we look in the local directories, he might be using his real name.”
“Why the hell did I not think of that?” Bradley said and Ottie was already speeding her fingers across the keyboard. “Yes.” She shouted. “In that area. Same name and the address at a wood yard.” Bradley rang his boss and relayed the information. The police department found that a man and wife and son were registered at that address.
The police department came back with the information that the man lived at home with his parents. They were going to check it out.
Julian said “I suppose there is no chance of the three of us going to watch.” Lily grinned at him and asked if he would recognise his attacker if he saw him. He said “I would know his build and size, even if I didn’t see his face.” They looked hopefully at Bradley who said “Okay but you two do not get out of the car.” They nodded and picked up jackets.
Ottie said. “Keep me in the loop.” And gave Lily a quick hug as she left. ”Could you do me a favour and ring my cousin, Val. Just bring her up to date please?” Jon Bradley did ring in and tell the department what he was doing and where he was going.
The area pinpointed by the police and the telephone directory was out of town and very rural. The wood yard was set apart from other properties and Julian remarked that if you used heavy machinery, it would be as well to not have neighbours. They pulled up behind two police cars already at the property and Jones came out to s
ee them. “As far as we can see this place is deserted. Doesn’t look very lived in. I’ve sent someone to question the nearest neighbours.”
“Can we look?” Lily asked. Jones thought about it and nodded.
“Be careful and stay together. It looks deserted but you never know.” They approached the drive with caution. Everywhere was quiet and still. There certainly did not appear to be any signs of life. The trappings of a wood yard were everywhere around the property with big piles of heavy looking logs. They were felled trees in huge numbers stacked everywhere and the machinery that was used to move them was standing still, rusty and silent. The remains of a big wagon stood lopsided and falling apart. It was eerie and disused.
Lily held Julian’s hand and Bradley walked on the other side of her as they slowly stepped around the outside of the property. The detectives had already been this way and were now checking the outbuildings and heavy machinery. They had knocked and shouted with no response at the house and had no real reason to make a forced entry. The officer who had been to the nearest neighbour came back to say that the man and wife who lived here and ran the business had moved away a year ago and not been back since. “The son stayed here?” Jones queried and the officer agreed and said that the business did not operate any more.
“Looks like the son doesn’t live here either.” Jones observed and then Lily screamed. She held her hand to her mouth and pointed with the other one. “Look. Look.” They followed the direction of her finger and Julian gasped. Bradley saw it at the same time and picked his radio up. “Boss you’d better get back here.” He said and Jones came at a run. Jon Bradley pointed and Jones saw the human hand that could be seen squeezed between the logs in one of the huge heaps. The hand had been there for some time by the look of it and Lily was trying hard not to be sick. ”Take her back to the car.” Jones directed and rang for forensics and someone who could operate timber moving machinery. Then he said “We can force and entry now.” The team entered the property by force once they had shouted a warning and went in back and front at the same time with guns drawn. From the car where Julian sat with his arm around Lily and Jon Bradley stood guard, they saw the team exit the house empty handed. “Nothing.” Jones said “But it must be connected because of the hand.” He bent his head into the car. “We’ve got a lot to see to here and you can’t be any help. You’ll be more useful gong over the internet stuff again. Go back and keep yourselves safe. ”I’ll send someone to relieve Bradley later on.” There was little else to do so Lily rang Ottie, told them to lock up and go home. She and Julian were going to the hotel.
“That seems the safest place for you. I can sit outside the door.” Bradley told them and when Ray comes to relieve me, I’ll introduce you so you know he’s the real deal.”
Julian sent for food for all three of them and Lily went back to looking through old tweets and comments to try and find any more clues. They met Ray and said thanks and good night to Jon and then slipped into bed. Lily clung to Julian and shivered as reaction set in from the shock of discovering a dead body in the wood stack. He wrapped himself around her and held her close. He stroked her hair and kissed her gently until she settled in his arms. She turned towards him and asked. “Make love to me, Julian. I need it.” Julian ran his hands over her arms and kissed her lips. There was nothing fast and furious here. They came together and moved slowly until they reached the top of the hill and gently gave each other what they needed. She pressed her face to his shoulder and as she felt that final fall knew that she loved him. “I’ve waited for this man.” She thought. Julian knew he had fallen for this beautiful woman. She was strong, clever and sassy but even strong women are upset by finding dead bodies and he had needed the comfort himself. They lay in each other’s arms and stayed joined together as they finally drifted into sleep.
The police officer at the door dozed in his seat but the hotel was quiet. In the morning they took him to the breakfast bar with them and said they were going to the office to try again with the old tweets and comments.
At the office everyone wanted to hear the tale of finding a hand amongst the logs. “Ughh.” Ottie shuddered. “I hope they catch this guy soon. It’s not nice to know he’s out there somewhere and free as a bird.” Karl had the television on in the corner and suddenly called out to them. “Listen guys.” He ran the footage back and there was Detective Jones giving a morning press conference. They heard him say that three bodies had been discovered at a wood yard and the murder investigation was ongoing and part of other cases that may be connected but evidence was still being collected. One reporter asked about the victims and he said. “The older two victims, a man and a woman, appeared to be the owners of the wood yard but it was still to be confirmed and the other body is a young woman who has still to be identified.” There were a few more general questions and the press conference ended.
“Oh My God.” Lily breathed. “The owners were murdered and they were already investigating the murders of two young women. That makes four victims altogether.” Julian draped an arm around her shoulders. “You go nowhere alone- even to the bathroom.” She nodded her agreement.
Chapter 8
Lily flicked through her emails and tweets searching for any extra clues and then swivelled her chair to face Ray, the police officer. “What if.” She said. “I offered to take him on at an online game. Could the IT department track where he was?” Ray rang his boss and outlined the offer and Jones said he would check it with the tech people. He rang back fairly quickly and told them it might work and he would send his IT expert around to talk to Lily about setting it up.
Julian asked. “Are you sure you want to do this?” To Ray he asked if it would be safe. Ray said he would wait for the IT man and Karl said “She’ll be here with us and he’ll be on a computer somewhere else so it should be okay.”
“It’s a good idea.” Ottie said. “How would you set it up and Lily said she would resume her blog and tweets and insult him. He won’t be able to resist the chance to beat me.” Julian was still a bit doubtful and really wanted to leave everything to the police. “You cannot let yourself be a target.” He said. “This guy has murdered four people that we know of.”
Ottie left a sheaf of notes on the table and said to Ray. “When you see Detective Inspector Jones will you give him these? I found another address for the parents’. Apparently they had a holiday cottage. There are a few other bits and pieces I found as well. He probably doesn’t need them but you never know what comes in handy.” Ray nodded and took the sheaf of papers. Then for want of something else to do, he typed them onto his tablet and sent them off. The names of the parents were Maggie and Jim McGinty and the son was called Malcolm. “Bit of a difference from his online name of Razor.” He thought.
The tech man arrived and Ray did the introductions. The man looked about as far from a police officer as you could get because he wore red trousers and a lime green shirt, finished off with purple running shoes and a pigtail. He held out a hand to the people there. ”My name is Jez. Let’s hear this idea.” Lily outlined her plan and had already started to resurrect the blog and tweets. With hash tag fembloggirl and hash tag tropehater along with a few other things she knew would catch his eye, she boasted that she had changed her mind, no mindless moron would stop her blogging and she was the best gamer around. Jez laughed. “You’ve got that right. He won’t be able to resist showing what a big man he is. Let’s do it. I’ve brought the software with me if you can give me a computer station.” Karl did the honours and told him to ask for anything he needed and Jez rang Jones and said they were setting it up. “I’ll keep streaming the results to the tech department and you can take it from there. Might take a few hours but Karl here can spell me if I need it. Lily has set up the tweets and blog already so we will wait and see if he bites.” The boss gave the go ahead and Julian said he would go and buy food. Ottie offered to go as well and he took her safe in the knowledge that the place was locked and Lily had protection.
Despite the fact that she knew she was playing against a murderer and that it was only to be kept going to pinpoint the location, Lily could not help but get into the spirit of the game. In truth, even though it was not a game she liked, any game could hook her in and make her competitive. After an hour they were even Stevens and she decided to ease off and let him have the advantage. Jez had streamed a general location to the tech boys back at the precinct and signalled he was very close to knowing exactly where the man was. Lily kept on playing but let him have the advantage and he went on a killing spree in video form. Jez, Karl and Lily were intent on what was going on and Ottie had a phone call. “What’s wrong?” Julian asked her and she said he Mom had been taken to hospital. “I’ll have to go.” She said. “Tell Lily later. Don’t distract her now.” Julian looked at the three IT experts engrossed in their tasks and said he would run Ottie to the hospital. “That would be wonderful.” She said and grabbed her jacket and purse. Julian kissed the back of Lily’s neck and told her he would be back soon. She nodded but went on with the game. He shook his head. He liked a bit of gaming himself but this lot were nuts about it. Jez jumped up and said “Keep playing, Lily. I’m going to the precinct to join the hunt. Karl will keep streaming.” She nodded again but did not stop the game. Karl took over the other station and Ray sat back in a seat and closed his eyes. This guard duty was starting to be a bit of a drag.