All Saints- Murder on the Mersey

by Brian L. Porter

  “Did Mark ever become involved with the orphanage's weekend shopping trips into town?”

  “Oh, you know about those?” Melanie sounded surprised. “No, he didn't. He was a teacher at the school, and the activities of the orphanage were organised and run by the care staff. Most of them are what Mark laughingly called 'civilians' though there are still couple of nuns teaching there. Once upon a time they were all priests and nuns you know, both the teachers and orphanage staff.”

  “Yes, until the place came under Council control,” Gable replied.

  “And was Mark particularly close to any of the other teachers, any of them special friends, maybe came round to dinner or you went to their homes?”

  “No, I'm sorry, nothing like that. He just went to work and came home after school.”

  Another bout of crying took over at that point and Drake signalled with a sweep of her hand to Gable to bring things to an end.

  “Well, I think that's all for now, Melanie. You've been really helpful, thank you.”

  The woman was clearly close to the verge of cracking up at that point and the two detectives where grateful when a knock on the front door heralded the arrival of the Families Liaison Officer promised by Andy Ross.

  Police Constable Sally Akeroyd quickly introduced herself to the two detectives and Melanie Proctor. Sally seemed to form an immediate bond with Melanie and Drake thought how well suited she was to the role of Families Liaison Officer. The time was appropriate to take their leave and Izzie informed Melanie they would send someone at ten the following morning to collect her and take her to perform the official identification of Mark's body, and bring her home afterwards. Just as Izzie and Sam were about to leave, Melanie made a final comment that brought them up short.

  “It's so unfair,” she said. “Mark spent almost his whole life at Speke Hill, first as a child and then as a teacher. They'll miss him almost as much as I will.”

  “What do you mean, child and teacher, Melanie?” Drake asked her. “Are you telling us Mark was a resident of the orphanage when he was a boy?”

  “Yes, didn't you know that?”

  Drake shook her head.

  “He told me all about it. His Mum died when he was young. His Dad, an American soldier, was sent back to the States when he was nothing but a baby. Don't ask me why his Mum didn't go with him. I've no idea. I do know that Mark never knew him or his name. Proctor was his Mum's name. Mark was sent to the orphanage because his Mum had no relatives that could or would take a baby into their homes.”

  Drake knew there and then that they'd found the connection between the two victims. Both had been orphans at Speke Hill, and from their ages, almost certainly at the same time. She knew they had to get back to headquarters as soon as possible to report the information to Ross.

  Placing a comforting hand on Melanie Proctor's arm, she thanked the still gently sobbing woman and called to Sally Akeroyd.

  “Take good care of her, Constable,” she said.

  “I will, Sergeant Drake, don't worry. I've done this for two years. She'll be fine with me.”

  Drake and Gable were soon motoring back across the city towards headquarters. From the passenger seat, Sam Gable turned and spoke to Drake.

  “Bloody hell, Sarge. That was a real turn up, finding out about Proctor's childhood like that.”

  “Wasn't it just?” Drake agreed. “The way it just came out like that. We knew he was a teacher there. We'd never have thought to ask if he'd been an orphan in the home as well. The boss will be bloody gobsmacked. We've definitely found the link between the two dead men. You did well in there as well, Sam. I wouldn't have known what questions to ask about the way things worked at the school or kids home or whatever they want to call the damn place.”

  “Thanks, Sarge, I appreciate that.”

  A few minutes later, Izzie pulled into the car park at headquarters and she and Sam Gable almost ran from the car, into the building, and up the stairs, ignoring the lifts as they rushed to inform Ross of the latest development. Things were moving at last. Perhaps now they could begin to find a reason for the appalling murders in the churchyards, and if they had a reason, they might just have a chance of identifying and tracking down the killers.

  A few minutes later, the two breathless women burst into Ross's office, as he sat talking with Christine Bland.

  “Sir, we need to talk, right now!” Drake gasped as she almost collapsed into a visitor chair beside the profiler, and Gable stood panting against the office door.

  “Er, sit down, Sergeant, why don't you?” Ross laughed. “Come on then. What's so important? Out with it, Izzie. I know that look, like the cat that got the cream. You've got something, I know you too well.”

  So she told him everything she and Sam Gable had learned from Melanie Proctor.

  Chapter 17

  Profile

  Following the report from Izzie Drake and Sam Gable, revealing that Matthew Remington and Mark Proctor had attended Speke Hill Orphanage and School at what they believed to be the same time, Andy Ross knew they had the connection they were seeking. Now, he felt that if they could just 'join up the dots' of how the two men were connected together by their pasts, he'd be well on the way to solving the gruesome murders. Christine Bland also felt the new information would be helpful to her in producing at least a preliminary profile of the killers once she'd read the case files, which she'd taken back to her hotel room the previous night to study. Word had gone out for all officers to be on the lookout for Mark Proctor's silver Subaru. If they could locate the car, it might give them a clue as to where Proctor had been abducted, unless the killers had moved it from the abduction site and dumped it miles away. It would certainly give them the opportunity for locating any forensic trace evidence the killers may have left behind.

  Now, as the early morning sun shone through the plate glass window of the murder room, highlighting Paul Ferris's murder board as well as illuminating rows of dust motes floating in streams across the room, Ross felt as if the case was about to witness a new beginning.

  After a brief up-date from each of the team, with the only significant information being a report from 'Tony' Curtis that included the news that Remington had been to all intents and purposes a model prisoner during his incarceration for the rape of Claire Morris, but despite being kept on the isolation wing for his own safety, had nonetheless been the victim of two serious assaults during his time in prison.

  “Maybe he was so weird even the other nonces couldn't stand him,” said Derek McLennan.

  “The impression I got from the governor was that Remington had something of a reputation on the wing for talking about what he called 'fantasies' though he wasn't able to tell me exactly what those fantasises were,” Curtis went on.

  “Hmm, wasn't or wouldn't maybe?” Drake interjected.

  “But why would the governor stand up for a fucker like Remington?” asked Curtis.

  “I don't know,” Drake replied. “But you know what some of these modern prison governors can be like, glorified social workers who think it's their job to rehabilitate the offenders in their jails rather than punish them, so if he had no proof of Remington's fantasies actually taking place, he'd rather keep them quiet instead of telling us about them and sullying the dead man's reputation even more than it already has been.”

  “Are you serious, Sarge?” asked Curtis.

  “Yep, she is,” Ross spoke up. “You've a lot to learn yet, Tony.”

  “Fucking hell,” said Curtis, not too loudly.

  “Maybe we need to speak to the governor at Walton again,” Ross added, ignoring Curtis's profanity. “We'll come back to that later. First, for those who didn't meet her yesterday, this is Doctor Christine Bland, a profiler from the Home Office, sent to try and help us identify the type of people we should be looking for if we're to stop these murders.”

  A murmur of greetings rippled through the assembled officers.

  “Doctor Bland has formulated a preliminary profile
overnight and she'd like to share it with us. It's all yours, Doc,” he said, handing over to the profiler, dressed this morning in an immaculate grey pantsuit, with low heeled patent leather black shoes, her hair still tied in the same style as the previous day, obviously her working style, Ross decided.

  Bland stood and faced the team, smiling as she did so.

  “Good morning, everyone,” she began. “I met some of you yesterday, and hope to get the chance to talk to you all individually later. I'm here to help and together, hopefully, we'll bring these vicious killers to justice. Please don't stand on ceremony with me. My name is Christine, forget the Doctor Bland bit. We're all on the same team, and now, if I may, I'll give you what I've got so far. I spent yesterday afternoon with Inspector Ross, visiting Melanie Proctor, then was present in his office when Sergeant Drake and D.C, Gable came back to tell us that Mark Proctor and Matthew Remington were both orphans and lived at Speke Hill Orphanage at the same time.”

  A general murmuring encompassed the room at this latest information. Derek McLennan spoke up.

  “Er, Christine?” I'm D.C. Derek McLennan. “So you're telling us that as well as living and obviously studying there as a boy, he then went on to become a teacher there?”

  “Exactly. Looks like his whole life, apart from a few years spent studying was tied up with Speke Hill. That place is going to bear some very close scrutiny in the next few days. I'm sure Inspector Ross will have more to say about that when I've finished.”

  She turned towards the desk behind her for a moment and picked up one of the case files, holding it up as she turned back to address the team.

  “I spent last night going through every word of these files. From these, added to what Sergeant Drake and D.C. Gable learned yesterday and the minimal forensic evidence at the murder scenes, my immediate thoughts are as follows. We're looking for a team, a man and a woman working together who have implicit trust in one another. It's likely that the woman is older than the man by quite some years, as it's unlikely a younger female would have built up the type of rage we're seeing displayed here. Dr. Nugent has carried out a minute study of the wound patterns on both bodies and it's probable that the woman was responsible for most if not all of the shallower stab and slash wounds found on both victims. As to the man, he's younger, fit and strong enough to subdue the victims and carry out the actual killings. The grass behind the angel memorial at St. Mark's was quite long, so ascertaining his shoe size from the prints found in the grass is an approximation only, as many of the indentations came from the time he was obviously leaning back and pulling the body of Mark Proctor upward to harness him to the angel, so those prints are not perfect as they show greater heel indentations and less of the tread from normal walking. It's Doctor Nugent's belief that the man wears size 9 to 11 shoes and the tread marks at the scene indicated some kind of heavy-duty boots, perhaps hiking boots. Forget the woman's shoe size as the prints in the blood on the marble slab of the grave stone were so blurred as to be useless, but they were narrow enough to indicate a woman's foot. Any questions so far?”

  She paused and D.C. Curtis raised a hand.

  “Yes, detective?”

  “Curtis, Tony, ma'am.”

  “Please, not ma'am, D.C. Curtis. Christine will do.”

  “Yeah, right, well, Christine, why can't they possibly be the same age? A younger woman might also be capable of making those shallow wounds, right?”

  “It's possible, yes. Profiling isn't an exact science, but from previous experience of similar recorded partnerships, one side of the killing team is usually older than the other. You usually find that one of them will be the dominant side and the other more of a submissive partner. In this case it's not yet clear who the dominant one is, but my money at this point would be on the male.”

  “Why's that?” Curtis asked.

  “The sheer savagery of these attacks indicates a hugely narcissistic personality, someone who has total belief in his own ability to carry out these killings, without showing any sign of mercy to his victims. The fact that there were no hesitation marks on the victims, and I'm talking about the major wounds now, indicates a confident and well ordered mind. He knew what he was doing and he wanted to do it. This indicates a leader rather than a follower.”

  Moving on to the sexual mutilation, there are a couple of ways to look at this. One, the killer may be exacting revenge for an incident related to the victims' own sexual activity, either against his partner or some other perceived victim or, it may be connected with killer's own sexuality. Believe me, as gruesome as it seems, I've seen similar mutilations in the past in cases of homosexual killings.”

  Various comments swept the room as the gathered detectives speculated on the fact they now had to consider other motives for the murders.

  Derek McLennan raised a hand.

  “Go ahead, please,” said Christine.

  “Okay, if we accept what you're saying, why do you think the woman is involved with this man? Could she be a relative, his wife, or what?”

  “I said there's trust between them so it is possible they are related, or, as seems likely, the large age difference, if I'm right in my estimation, means this case is probably rooted in something that happened a long time ago. The woman may herself have been involved in whatever has been allowed to lie dormant for years. How and why the younger man came to be involved, it's too early for me to hazard a guess, but there will be something that connects them.”

  “Thanks,” said McLennan. “So, you think Speke Hill is connected to the killings?”

  “No, I didn't say that exactly. What I did say is there is something at Speke Hill, or an event at Speke Hill that connects the victims. That's not quite the same thing.”

  “Er, right, thanks,” said Derek, still a little unsure of exactly what Bland was inferring.

  “Finally,” said Bland, “it's likely that the male drives a car. He'd need to be mobile in order to track and locate his victims. Mark Proctor had a car and it's missing. Our man could have arranged an accident or immobilised Proctor's car and then ferried him to the murder scene in his own vehicle, which might turn out to be a treasure trove of forensic and trace evidence if we can locate it.”

  Ross took control of the meeting again.

  “Right you lot. You've heard what Doctor Bland has had to say. It may not be much at this point but it does give us some pointers to be going on with. Last chance for final questions, anyone?”

  “Sir, one for the doctor, erm, Christine,” said Sam Gable.

  “Go ahead, Sam.”

  “Well, Christine says we're looking for a younger man and an older woman, but my question is, just how young is the man supposed to be? Are we looking for a teenager, a man in his twenties, thirties or what?”

  Christine Bland was quick to reply.

  “These murders have been carried out in a cold and clinical manner, which suggests a high level of sophistication and intelligence. They were obviously well planned and executed, so my belief is that we're looking for someone in his early to late thirties, physically fit, his partner probably being in her later forties or fifties. It wouldn't surprise me if she has some degree of influence over him, in that he perhaps sees her as either a mother figure or maybe even a surrogate for someone who has undergone a trauma that he associates with these men. We have to consider the fact that the woman may herself be a victim of an experience connected to the two victims.”

  “Thank you,” said Gable.

  Derek McLennan now added another question.

  “Yes, Derek?” Ross said, becoming a little impatient to be moving on.

  “Do you think the killers are finished? I mean, are the two victims so far the extent of their 'mission', as they see it?”

  This time, Ross provided the answer.

  “Doctor Bland and I discussed this at length yesterday. It's hard to anticipate what they intend from now on. It may be that Remington and Proctor were the only targets, or, they may be lying low, waiting to st
rike again. If one or both of them have any ideas of the way the police work, they'll know we usually scale down an investigation after a period of time if we have nothing to show for our efforts. They may be waiting for that moment to arrive, after which they could crawl out of the woodwork and strike again. Right, anything else?”

  “Just one thing, sir,” said Paul Ferris, who went on to say, “I was wondering if there might be some significance in the fact that Matthew Remington was killed in St. Matthew's churchyard and Mark Proctor in St. Mark's?”

  “May I answer that one, Inspector?” Bland asked.

  Ross nodded.

  “We don't know, D.C. Ferris. It might be planned, it could be coincidence. I hate to say it, but unless we get another murder, there just isn't enough at this point to indicate anything other than the fact the churches concerned may have simply been convenient for the killers. Or, they're using the names to throw us a red herring, something to make us look for a connection that doesn't exist.”

  “Now that's bloody clever,” said Ferris.

  “That's what I meant about sophistication,” Bland replied.

  “Right you are, everyone,” Ross said, bring the meeting to a close. “We've got work to do. Derek, I want you and Sam on Remington. I know we've checked him out already, but we need more, and concentrate on his early life. Let's look for some connection or cross-over with Mark Proctor. I'm going to Speke Hill with Izzie and Doctor Bland. Sam, you'll need to postpone taking Christine to talk to Dr. Nugent until later.”

  Sam Gable nodded, as did Christine Bland, both in agreement with Ross.

  “ Everything we've learned so far tells us that Mark Proctor was Mr. Squeaky Clean, little orphan boy made good. Well, it's plain to see that someone thought otherwise. While we're gone, let's hope his car turns up. Tony,” he said, turning to D.C Curtis, “get on to Traffic Division. Make them understand I want a priority on locating that Subaru.”

  “Okay sir,” Curtis replied.