Dead to Me: A serial killer thriller (Detective Kate Matthews Crime Thriller Series Book 1)

by Stephen Edger

  Chloe finally pulled on her T-shirt, and Kate grabbed her hand, pulling her from the flat and out to the car. She was just lifting Chloe inside, when her daughter opened her mouth to speak, but instead, threw up over Kate’s right shoulder.

  ‘Oh,’ she yelped, putting her down quickly and allowing her to finish retching onto the pavement.

  ‘Shhh-sh-h, calm down, darling, we’ll get you cleaned up and changed.’

  Chloe sobbed, and Kate regretted not staying in bed and pulling a sickie herself. Holding her breath, she lifted Chloe away from the car, and carried her back up to the flat.

  She wanted to scream and cry herself, but closed her eyes and counted to ten before stripping the clothes from the trembling girl, and throwing them straight into the washing machine. In the bathroom, there was still no hot water, so Kate did her best to clean Chloe using a towel, and a sink full of kettle water mixed with cold. Chloe continued to cry throughout. Kate felt more and more awful as her attempts to soothe her failed.

  She helped Chloe get dressed again, before hunting in her wardrobe for a fresh blouse and suit for herself. Finding neither, she pulled on jeans and a jumper instead.

  Twenty minutes after unlocking the Audi, they were back outside, and Chloe was strapped into the car seat. Kate crouched down beside the open door. ‘Are you feeling any better?’

  Chloe pouted but offered a slight nod.

  ‘Sometimes, throwing up can be the best thing to do when we don’t feel well. I know it doesn’t feel very nice, but you get rid of whatever was inside making you feel poorly to begin with. Does that make sense?’

  Chloe nodded again.

  Kate stroked her damp hair. ‘Good girl. I know none of this can be easy for you. Try and eat some of the sandwich I made, and we’ll be on our way.’ Kate stood. ‘Oh, one more thing, it’s probably best not to mention the sickness to Mrs Gillespie when we see her. If you feel sick again then tell her, but if not, I wouldn’t bother worrying her. Okay, sweetie?’

  Chloe nodded, and Kate breathed a sigh of relief. The supe had phoned twice more since she’d last checked, and he would want answers about why she hadn’t responded. Kate walked around to the driver’s side about to call him back. Instead, she slammed her hand on the roof in frustration.

  ‘Fuck!’

  Chloe gasped from inside the car, and Kate offered a reassuring wave as she stared down at the tyre: flat as a pancake. She called the supe to apologise that she was going to be even later, but he didn’t give her the chance.

  ‘Matthews? I need you in. We’ve got another body.’

  21

  Kate felt as if she’d already done half a day’s work as she stepped into the station and took the stairs up to the superintendent’s office two at a time. She knocked and waited to be called in, not wishing to antagonise him further. She could hear muffled voices from inside. It was like standing outside the head teacher’s office.

  The door swung open, and she was surprised to see Hendrix gripping the handle. There was a look of calm reassurance on her face, and that couldn’t be a good thing. Kate entered, staring at the supe, trying to determine whether she should apologise off the bat, or wait for the dressing-down first. He was deep in conversation with Underhill, who was leaning across the desk.

  They finished speaking and DSI Williams looked up with a grave expression on his face. ‘Ah, Matthews, finally. Now we can get started.’ He stood and passed each of them a single sheet of paper, raising his eyebrows when he saw Kate’s jeans and jumper.

  She ignored the gesture and focused on the paper as he continued. ‘The body was discovered by the letting agent this morning as he waited for a client to arrive. There was no evidence of a breakin from—’

  Kate raised her hand. ‘I’m sorry, sir, where was the body found?’

  DSI Williams looked from Underhill to Hendrix and then back to her, as if he was about to state the obvious. ‘The recently closed Coach and Horses pub near the Itchen toll bridge. I told you this on the phone.’

  He hadn’t. In fact, he hadn’t said anything other than a body had been found. At this point she wasn’t sure if the victim was male or female, old or young, or how they’d been killed. But she decided not to argue.

  ‘PCSOs were first on the scene,’ he continued, ‘and death was confirmed shortly afterwards. It’s a real mess, by all accounts, and we need to get SOCO and Scientific Services down there pronto. We’ve cordoned off the building and the car park, but there’s a primary school nearby, and the site is drawing concerned glances from parents dropping off their children. The school breaks up for the summer tomorrow, and we don’t want a crowd of onlookers getting in the way.’

  Underhill coughed. ‘Is cause of death known yet, sir?’

  The supe massaged his temple. ‘Not yet…’

  Kate had never seen him looking so disturbed.

  ‘The victim was bound to one of the tables; she’d been there for several hours, and…’ He wiped his face with a handkerchief. ‘And there’s a strong possibility she was tortured before death.’

  Kate studied the paper in her hand and skimmed the details. It didn’t provide a great deal of information, and there was clearly something the supe was holding back on; there had to be a reason he’d invited all three of them to his office. If he was looking for volunteers to lead the investigation, she was sure Hendrix would raise a hand first.

  The superintendent leaned back against his desk. ‘Here’s what’s going to happen. Underhill, ordinarily I’d assign you as SIO for something like this, but I’m aware you’ve got your hands full with identifying our drowned victim from the weekend, and it’ll take too long to hand over that case. So, I want to leave you in place, but I will need to use some of your resources on this.’

  Kate could see Underhill was seething at not being reassigned to a case that was sure to bring him the notoriety he craved. He didn’t have the balls to voice his complaint though.

  ‘Hendrix, given you’re already familiar with the history of Fenton and Watson, I want you to take over from Kate.’

  Kate whipped her head around. Hendrix was grinning from ear to ear.

  ‘DS Patel can run through the detail gathered so far. You know the background, and probably have a persuasive motive in mind already. I know you haven’t led a murder investigation before, but this one should be pretty easy to resolve. I think one of the team has already organised a warrant to search Fenton’s home and businesses for the murder weapon, but if not, that should be your priority. I’ve also called in a favour, and have a diving crew ready to search the immediate vicinity of the docks, in case the weapon was thrown over the side. You have them for eight hours from tomorrow, so don’t waste them.’

  Kate was about to protest, when the supe raised his hand and cut her off. ‘You’ve done a fine job so far, Matthews, but I need you on this new one. You have a nose for cases like this. I know your last case in London didn’t, well… but prior to that you excelled with the logic of matters such as these. That’s who I need taking the lead on this. Whoever is responsible for what has evidently been undertaken, is one disturbed individual. I need the old DI Matthews back in action, please.’

  He returned to his seat. ‘Right, you’ve got your assignments. Let’s crack on and get these put to bed as quickly as possible. There’s a bottle of your choice in it for whoever delivers me a perp in the shortest time. Underhill, your clock started on Sunday, so you’ve got a head start. You two can go. Matthews, stay behind.’

  Kate sighed. She’d just have to tell him the truth about Chloe staying over, and hope it appealed to his paternal instincts.

  Hendrix bumped Kate’s arm as she turned and opened the door, but she didn’t apologise. Underhill followed her out of the room, and closed the door.

  ‘Sir, before you say anything, I’m sorry—’

  DSI Williams was studying the lenses of his glasses as he held them. ‘It’s a bloody nasty business all this. I personally spoke to the PCSO who was first on th
e scene and asked him to describe what he’d seen. I’m not afraid to tell you it turned my stomach. We’re not used to that kind of thing in these parts.’ He wiped his forehead with the handkerchief again.

  ‘I’ll need a team behind me, sir.’

  ‘Of course, of course. First, I want you down at the scene to get the full scope of what we’re looking at, then come and speak to me and I’ll see what we can do.’

  ‘What about the budget review?’

  ‘Let me worry about that. I’ve spoken to the DCSI, and he’s told me to do whatever it takes to stop this case escalating.’

  ‘Escalating, sir?’

  He turned the chair so it faced out of the window. ‘Do you know how many murder cases we tackled in Southampton last year, Matthews?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, sir.’

  ‘Four. That’s all. And even that was an increase on the year before. And then, within a week, we’ve had almost as many. Something is going on, Matthews. You understand me? We need to contain this.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  The superintendent spun around like he’d been struck violently. ‘You’ll understand once you get down there. I know we haven’t seen eye to eye recently, Matthews, but I need you now.’

  He returned to his papers and Kate took the cue to leave.

  ‘Oh, Matthews, you were going to say something before I cut you off?’

  She frowned for a moment before remembering the apology. ‘Nothing important, sir. I’ll leave you to it, and report back as soon as I have an update.’

  22

  Laura parked the squad car on a side street and the two of them walked the short distance to the police cordon. Once their protective overalls were on, they ducked under the tape to where uniformed officers were speaking to the letting agent who’d made the discovery. He must have been over six feet tall. He wore a permanent frown, and stuttered as he spoke.

  Kate paused to listen to the conversation as she passed.

  ‘Can you confirm the number of people who have keys to the site?’ the officer asked.

  ‘Th-th-there’s the th-th-three keys we keep at the office, and the br-br-brewery have the other.’

  ‘And all three keys were present at the office this morning?’

  The keys jangled as he lifted them into the air. ‘W-w-why yes. How else do you think I got in first thing?’

  Kate thought it was an odd reaction from someone who had recently discovered a dead body at one of his company’s properties. Laura had already gone inside, and she followed her in.

  All the windows of the building were boarded up with chipboard to prevent vandals smashing the glass with stones. The board covering the main door had been removed and the door to the pub was being held open by a plant pot. Kate hoped the SOCOs had already examined the area for fibres and prints, or it would already be useless. She stepped through and was immediately dazzled by the flash of cameras capturing every detail of the scene.

  The main bar stretched from one corner of the room to the other, with doors to the kitchen, and toilets at each end. Kate could see her reflection in the long mirror behind the bar, where optics and bottles had once hung. A thick layer of dust on top of the counter looked undisturbed. Towards the rear of the building, tables and chairs had been cleared to the side creating a path to the main spectacle. The air was musty, but as she moved closer to the gathering of protective suits, she started covering her nose against the rancid mix of vomit and death.

  Kate gasped as she approached a round wooden table. ‘Holy shit!’

  ‘That’s one way to describe it,’ Ben Temple nodded.

  Kate crouched down and stared at the woman lying flat on the tabletop with her face to one side. A sleep mask covered her eyes and a nose clip pressed her nostrils tightly closed. The jet-black hair that fell across the lower half of her face was matted with congealed vomit, covering most of her bruised and bloated cheeks. A small puddle of saliva remained on the shiny surface of the wood near her mouth. She couldn’t have been much older than thirty.

  Kate straightened and took in the rest of the body. The victim was dressed in a thin cotton nightie, stained with patches of red and brown at the side closest to them. Her wrists were bound to the table with several loops of thick tape, and there were scratch marks underneath where her fingers lay still.

  ‘What the hell happened here?’

  ‘I’ve not been here long myself, I’m afraid. I’ll know more when I get her back to my lab.’

  ‘Can you estimate how long she’s been here?’

  ‘I’d say she’s not been dead that long. Six hours, at most.’

  ‘And cause of death?’

  ‘Too early to say.’

  ‘Do we have any idea who she was?’

  ‘There was a handbag that SSD have bagged up, but I don’t believe it contained any kind of identification. You’ll have to ask them to be sure.’

  Kate didn’t want to ask the next question, but knew she had to. ‘Is there evidence of—’

  ‘No, no sign of sexual assault that I’ve found so far,’ he said, finishing the sentence for her. ‘I think his focus of attention was definitely the mouth.’ He waved a gloved finger near her cheeks. ‘See this speckling on the skin? These are most likely ruptured blood vessels, caused by the strain of throwing up.’

  ‘What was she throwing up?’

  ‘Porridge. Well, instant oats to be more accurate.’ Kate frowned until he pointed at a transparent sack on the floor behind him. ‘We found a dozen empty boxes of the stuff scattered over the floor. There’s also a kettle on one of the tables where he mixed up the meals.’

  ‘Hold on, someone brought her here, taped her to a table and fed her porridge?’

  ‘Didn’t your DSI inform you?’

  Kate recalled the supe’s reaction in his office. ‘I’m not sure he could bring himself to.’

  ‘Ah, I see, well, I suppose when you’re not familiar with these kinds of things, that’s understandable.’

  Kate didn’t ever want to feel familiar with scenes like this. She found herself craving fresh air.

  ‘I’ll know more when I examine the stomach contents, but that’s where the evidence is pointing.’

  ‘Why—why would someone do this?’

  ‘It’s certainly unusual. The Persians used a similar method: Scaphism, it’s called. Their method involved feeding, and covering the intended victim in milk and honey and, essentially, allowing insects to eat them alive.’

  Kate looked at him with disgust. ‘Back up a second. Whoever had it in for our victim here, rather than killing her in any number of ways, opted to force-feed her porridge until—until… she gave up? That’s insane!’

  ‘Oh I agree with you one hundred per cent, which is why I’m keen to start the post-mortem and look for other, more likely, causes of death. It’s possible she choked on the food. Or,’ he lifted the head slightly so Kate could see the bruising around her throat, ‘he may have throttled her.’

  ‘Tell me, how long would it take to kill someone like this?’

  ‘It’s almost impossible to estimate. There are so many variances. It certainly wouldn’t be quick. In fact, I’d say she was probably in agony in those final few hours.’

  ‘Are we talking about a day? Two days?’

  ‘Depending how empty her stomach was when it started, I would estimate a couple of days, at least. The average human stomach is able to hold about four litres of food before rupturing, but not all at once. The killer would have had to stop feeding her when she vomited or her bowels needed evacuating.’

  Kate glanced around the floor and beneath the table. ‘These patches on her gown suggest she did throw up, but I can’t see any stains on the carpet, or any kind of bucket to catch it in.’

  ‘Oh, there is a bucket, over by the kettle. I wouldn’t recommend you look.’

  ‘I bet it’s pretty full.’

  He shook his head and scrunched up his nose. ‘I can’t say for certain, but there�
�s a chance he mixed it in with what he was feeding her.’

  Kate’s stomach lurched. ‘That’s disgusting.’

  ‘Either that or he took it with him. There is no water in the toilets, and no evidence that he flushed anything away.’

  ‘What about excrement?’

  ‘No trace in the bucket. I’ll examine her bowel in the lab. He may have dosed her with some kind of binding agent to prohibit bowel movements.’

  Kate clenched her teeth together and steadied her breathing.

  ‘As I said, I should know more this afternoon if you want to stop by?’

  Kate was relieved to be moving away. ‘It’s a date, doc,’ she called over her shoulder, screwing up her eyes as soon as the words left her mouth. ‘Sorry, poor choice of words. What I meant was, I’ll see you later on.’

  ‘I knew what you meant. Believe it or not, I wouldn’t want our first date to be at the mortuary. I’d probably take you out to a restaurant. Italian?’

  Kate didn’t want to offend him. ‘I’d rather not discuss food in light of… all this. I’ll see you later, doc. After two, okay?’

  ‘Yes, I should know more by then.’

  Kate spotted Laura talking to one of the SOCOs, and interrupted. ‘What have you found out about how our killer got in here?’

  The SOCO continued examining the carpet fibres.

  ‘The boards over all the windows are intact, and there’s no sign of forced entry at the front. Given the location, it is likely he gained entry from the rear. There is a separate door from the kitchen leading to the far side of the car park where the rubbish bins are stored. Because the door doubles as a fire exit, no chipboard was used to protect it from access. It would also allow the killer to come and go without drawing attention.’

  ‘The letting agent who found her: do we know what he was doing here this morning?’

  ‘Apparently, he had an appointment to meet a new client interested in leasing the site. He was supposed to meet the client here at eight, before showing him around.’

  ‘Let me guess: the client didn’t show?’

  ‘No, and the number he provided has been disconnected.’

  ‘Has he been able to provide a description of this client?’