‘Underwear? No they didn’t find any traces of underwear.’
‘An old copper years ago used to say ‘No underwear then its murder’ on the premise that any self-respecting suicide would always put underwear on. He had a point though.’
‘Well yes I suppose that makes sense but in this case they said that it was possible he was wearing underwear but being quite thin material it wouldn’t have lasted long in the water.’
‘So you’re stuck then,’ Mac said.
‘Yes it looks like it and it’s frustrating the hell out of Dan Carter. Jo reckons that there’s a direct correlation between how grumpy Dan gets and how well the case is going. The ‘grumpometer’ she calls it.’
‘He just cares that’s all.’
‘Yes, I know. Anyway we’re doing all we can to establish an identity but until we do…’ Tommy said with shrug by way of a full stop.
‘Yes I’ve had some cases like that. Once we were able to identify the body we generally solved the case fairly quickly. It was usually more than obvious who the murderer was once you knew who the victim was. Unfortunately there were more than a few cases where we couldn’t get any identification at all. I must admit I personally found that really galling, in part I think because it made me feel absolutely helpless and that’s not a feeling I enjoy. I’d guess that’s why Dan’s so grumpy.’
‘So what’s the answer?’ Tommy asked.
‘Just keep going. You have to put the work in whatever happens. When things are looking a bit hopeless I always try to convince myself that the answer will be just around the next corner, the next person you interview, the next evidence report or the next phone call you take. And sometimes it is. Then there are other times when you know you’ve reached a point in a case where there’s no other option than to give up,’ Mac said with a sombre expression. ‘I always hated having to do that.’
In the short silence that followed neither heard the door opening.
‘Talking shop are we?’ Bridget asked with a smile.
‘Guilty as charged,’ Mac quickly replied.
‘Bacon sandwich and coffee?’ Tommy asked as he stood up.
‘Please,’ she replied giving him a grateful glance.
She sat down in the seat that Tommy had vacated.
‘Did you get any sleep?’
‘Yes I did actually,’ Mac replied, ‘and I feel all the better for it too.’
She put her hand over Mac’s and gave it a squeeze.
‘Thanks, dad.’
‘For what exactly? It’s me who should be thanking you. Anyway what exciting plans have you got for the weekend?’
‘Well we desperately need some shopping doing today but apart from that nothing. For once we both have a weekend off together too, can you believe that?’
‘Well don’t spend it all with me. Can’t you get someone in while you and Tommy have a night out?’
‘Not this late and anyway I don’t want just anyone looking after you.’
Mac gave this some thought.
‘Look Tim’s back tomorrow afternoon. I’ll give him a ring and see if he’ll sit with me for a few hours so you and Tommy can at least have one evening out.’
‘Oh dad, that would be great! I’ve been dying to try that new Italian restaurant in town. I’ve heard it’s really good.’
It took Mac quite a while to persuade his daughter to take Tommy with her to do the shopping. He said that he’d be okay by himself for an hour or two. She made him comfortable before she went but she still didn’t look totally convinced as she shut the door behind her. She made sure his phone was switched on and within reach before she left.
In truth Mac was dying to see what was on the memory stick that Peter had brought him. He fired up his laptop and had a look. He was so wrapped up in it that he was more than surprised to hear the front door opening. He thought that Bridget must have forgotten something.
‘Sorry we’ve been so long,’ Bridget said. ‘Have you been okay?’
‘Yes, in fact the time’s flown. I’ve been looking at a file that Peter brought me last night.’
‘Good. Fancy a coffee?’
Tommy arrived with the coffee a few minutes later and he brought one for himself too.
‘Bridget says that you’re working on an old case. Getting anywhere with it?’
‘Yes sit down and I’ll tell you all about it if you like.’
Mac took him through an outline of the case as it stood.
‘So what do you think?’ Mac asked.
Tommy looked uncertain.
‘Well it all seems plausible enough but St. Alban’s? I don’t know, have they ever had anything like that happen there before?’
‘Not quite and that got me thinking. I know that there has to be a first time for everything but I still had some doubts. So I asked one of my old colleagues from London if he could get me a copy of the case file for the original gang murder in North London. It makes interesting reading.’
Mac showed Tommy the photos from the original murder scene.
‘God that’s pretty gruesome, isn’t it?’ Tommy exclaimed as he looked at the laptop.
‘Well I suppose that was the whole point of the murder, it was supposed to send a message out to anyone who was thinking of robbing the gang. Now have a look at scene from the St. Albans case.’
‘Equally gruesome but I can see one major difference straight away, the hand,’ Tommy said pointing to the screen.
‘There are a few others but yes that’s the main one. According to the case file Peter gave me after chopping off his hand the gang had used some stiff wire to fold down all the fingers except for the middle finger which they left straight. They then placed the hand on his chest.’
‘The Americans call it ‘flipping the bird’,’ Tommy explained.
‘Really? I’ve only ever heard the words ‘Up yours’ used with that particular gesture. Anyway, it’s supposed to be a thing with this gang. Apparently one punishment they mete out for more minor offences is to break the middle finger on each hand with hammer. Then if someone transgresses again they snip them off with a pair of chain cutters.’
‘Nice people!’ Tommy said with a grimace.
‘Yes but if it’s such a trademark of theirs why didn’t they wire back Ashley Whyte’s fingers?’
Tommy gave it some thought.
‘Well if I had to guess I’d say that the wiring back of the fingers and the severed hand being placed on the chest were details that weren’t released to the press.’
Mac smiled.
‘Go on.’
‘So I’d guess that this might be a copycat crime, someone dressing it up to make it look like a gang killing.’
‘That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking but what’s puzzling me is why didn’t the investigators spot it?’ Mac said with a puzzled expression. ‘It seems from what I’ve read that they only pursued the drug gang theory.’
‘Who led the investigation?’
‘A DCI Joseph Ibbotson working out of Hatfield.’
Tommy shook his head.
‘No I haven’t come across him before. If it’s Hatfield then Jo might know him, I think she was there for a while on relief. Shall I get her to give you a ring on Monday?’
‘Yes please do. I was going to try and call him on Monday but I’ll wait until I speak to Jo. A bit of background knowledge never hurts.’
Chapter Ten
Apart from the fact that he was stuck in bed the weekend went reasonably well. He liked having Tommy around but the thing he enjoyed most was seeing Bridget being a little more relaxed. She not only had Tommy’s company but his help in looking after Mac.
They both enjoyed their night out at the restaurant but Mac made Tommy promise not to say anything about getting the flat redecorated. He wanted to save it for a surprise. Meanwhile Mac had really enjoyed his night in with Tim. He’d managed to pack a lot into his furniture buying trip and his tales, somewhat embellished no doubt, took some time to tell. A few co
ld cans of Mac’s favourite beer helped the storytelling along nicely.
Even so Mac was glad when Monday morning arrived so he could get on with the Whyte case. Tommy had promised to get Jo to call as early as she could. However Mac was still surprised when his phone rang just before eight thirty.
‘Mac, how are you?’ Jo asked. Without waiting for a response she continued. ‘Tommy says you need some information?’
‘Yes I was just wondering if you’d come across a DCI Joseph Ibbotson?’
Jo was silent for a moment.
‘Yes unfortunately,’ she replied with no enthusiasm in her voice whatsoever.
‘Why unfortunately?’
‘Well I’ll try and put this as delicately as I can, he’s a racist bastard.’
Mac thought this might explain a lot.
‘Really? Tell me.’
‘Well in the old days I used to get a lot of it, the constant innuendo, the so-called jokes, taking the piss out of my accent, oh and the total lack of promotion, you know little things like that. It’s better now but I think it might be safe to say that Joe was one of the old school, a bloody dinosaur if you ask me. Best thing he ever did was retire.’
‘When did he do that?’ Mac asked.
‘Late last year I think it was.’
So the Whyte case might have been his last one.
‘He was lazy as well as being racist from what I heard,’ Jo added.
‘Do you know anything about a DS Grimsson?’
DS Grimsson had signed off a lot of the documents in the file. It had stuck in Mac’s head as it was an unusual name.
‘Yes I met her a few times, strange looking woman. She seemed okay, you could tell she didn’t like working with Joe. I could see a look of disgust on her face whenever he thought he was being at most hilarious.’
‘Jo thanks, you’ve been very helpful indeed.’
‘Have I? Anyway hope you get better soon Mac. I’ll not going to say why but if you’re not up and about by the end of July you’ll have to come to the church on a stretcher.’
‘So it’s really going to happen then? Don’t worry Jo I wouldn’t miss that for the world and give my best to Gerry.’
Mac was thoughtful for a while after the call. Then he rang the station and got DS Kate Grimsson’s mobile number.
‘Hello, DS Grimsson.’
Her voice was light and almost musical.
‘I’m Mac Maguire and I’m helping out the MCU with some cases…’
‘Oh yes of course, a pleasure to speak to you DCS Maguire. I heard that you were giving us a hand. How can I help?’
‘I’m unfortunately a bit tied down today but I’d like to speak to you about the Ashley Whyte case. Could you pop over and see me sometime? I’m in Letchworth.’
‘You’re looking into the Whyte case?’ she asked.
‘Yes, DS Dan Carter’s asked me to have another look at the case, along with a few others.’
There was a slight pause.
‘If you give me your address I can be with you in around forty five minutes.’
Mac did just that. She was obviously surprised that someone was looking into the case and, from what little he could tell from her voice, it didn’t seem to have been unwelcome news to her.
Amrit came in with his breakfast.
‘I heard you were on the phone so I waited a few minutes,’ she explained as she placed the tray on his lap.
There was a beaker full of orange juice, his travel mug from which the rich aroma of coffee wafted and a bowlful of muesli.
‘So the bird seed at last,’ Mac stated with a frown.
‘Well you have been having quite a lot of fatty foods recently. Bridget said that we should be a bit relaxed about what you ate for the first week as that would be the hardest time for you but you need to be careful not to put too much weight on. It won’t help your back much when you get mobile again.’
Mac sighed, he knew that Amrit’s logic was totally unassailable.
‘Actually I love muesli,’ he said with a forced smile.
‘That’s the spirit,’ Amrit replied.
He found that it actually wasn’t that bad, not that Mac would ever admit that to his nurse or his daughter.
Kate Grimsson made it in less than forty minutes. Amrit ushered her into Mac’s bedroom. She didn’t seem at all surprised to see Mac in bed.
As she sat down Mac looked her over. She was a little older than her voice had suggested, around thirty perhaps. Her flame red shoulder length hair was immediately striking and perhaps even more so as her skin was quite pale in colour. Her features were symmetrical and delicate. She wore a charcoal grey trouser suit that was softened by a very feminine pink lace blouse. If Mac had been challenged to guess her profession being a police detective might have been quite low on his list.
‘DCS Maguire, nice to meet you. I heard that you were indisposed after the Barker case,’ she explained.
Mac was intrigued by her use of the word ‘indisposed’. It wasn’t a word you heard used that often nowadays.
‘Yes just under five weeks still to go,’ Mac said a little glumly. ‘Nice to meet you too, Sergeant Grimsson.’
‘Oh please call me Kate.’
‘And you can call me Mac if that’s okay. Thanks for coming to see me so soon. Before we start do you mind if I ask you about your surname? It’s quite unusual.’
She smiled at the question.
‘It’s Icelandic, my father comes from a place called Kopavogur.’
‘Shouldn’t you strictly be called Grimsdottir then?’
‘Very good Mr…sorry, Mac. Not that many people here know about Icelandic surnames. However my father’s name is Einar Grimsson so strictly I should be called Kate Einarsdottir. However, as my father had permanently settled here, he found it simpler to just use his surname.’
‘Thanks Kate. Anyway as you’re aware I asked you here because of the Whyte case…’
She interrupted, ‘I’ll bet you want to ask about the hand and why the fingers weren’t wired back.’
‘Yes, exactly.’
Mac decided to let Kate do all the talking. He could see she had something on her mind.
‘Well I said exactly the same thing but I’m afraid that my boss at the time didn’t agree.’
‘Did he say why?’
She looked up at the ceiling.
‘Yes he said something along the lines of ‘Well she’s black so it must be drugs’ if I remember right. Except he didn’t use the word black if you know what I mean.’
Mac could see the uneasiness in his visitor’s face.
‘Why didn’t you report him?’ Mac asked bluntly.
‘Who, Joe? I suppose I should of, he certainly gave me enough ammunition. Then again he seemed to be well connected in the local force and he was retiring anyway…’
She looked at Mac who said nothing. He wanted her to carry on, he was sure that there was something else. She looked down at the floor and her shoulders slumped.
‘The real reason is that I just didn’t feel strong enough at the time. I’d just moved to the Hertfordshire force from Essex as I was going through quite a messy divorce and I wasn’t exactly brimming with confidence at the time. To be honest no-one else seemed to be rushing to report him either.’
Mac could see that she would have been in a tough position. She was new to the station and it would have been hard enough reporting a senior officer anyway without having the added complications of an ongoing divorce.
‘Okay, we are where we are. Was there anything else about the case that you disagreed with?’
‘Just about everything I think. Every time I made a suggestion it got steamrollered so I stopped making any.’
‘So tell me what you think happened to Ashley Whyte?’
‘I think that drugs might have been involved in some way as she was a user but I think that the hatchet attack was a ruse, someone trying to make us think it was related to the North London gang murder. Besides the hand th
ere were other differences. The assailant was left handed in the Whyte case while the assailant in the North London murder was right handed. There were defence wounds on both Ashley’s arms and that implies that it was likely to have been a lone attacker. In the North London murder there were no defence wounds meaning that the victim was obviously restrained while the killing blows were struck. That would imply that there were at least two and, perhaps more likely, three assailants. Most importantly pictures of the North London killing appeared on a social media site seconds later but there was total silence online after Ashley Whyte’s murder.’
Mac was silent for a moment.
‘I hadn’t been aware of that last fact which is very suggestive in itself. Why go to all the bother of killing someone for stealing from you if you’re not going to advertise the fact?’
‘Obviously the photos weren’t up for long but long enough so anyone who followed the gang would get the point.’
Mac thought about what he’d just learnt. Anyone from the gang or even someone following them on social media would have known about their calling card, the severed hand wired up. The police hadn’t released this fact to the press so he could only conclude that it was indeed a ruse. Of course the press could have found this out for themselves but he guessed that the routine murder of a drug dealer wasn’t felt to be interesting enough for their readers.
‘What are you planning on doing?’ Kate asked.
‘I’m going to advise that the case be re-opened. I’ll have to pass it back to Dan Carter’s team even though they’re currently up their eyes trying to identify a water-logged corpse in Bedford.’
‘Can I have a go at it for a few days first, sir? I’ve not got much on.’
Mac had a feeling that she might say that. Her heart was in the right place and she obviously wanted to make amends for her ex-boss’s shortcomings and possibly her own.
‘I’m sorry but it’s not my decision. However I’ll put a word in for you, I think it might be useful to have someone involved who knows the case well.’
She stood up and shook Mac’s hand.
‘Thank you DCS…sorry Mac. You’ve got my number.’
After Kate left Mac found himself thinking about her, although not in any sort of romantic way. Certain people he met intrigued him for some reason as though they were an interesting puzzle in themselves. Kate Grimsson was definitely one of those.
23 Cold Cases (The Mac Maguire detective mysteries Book 5) Page 7
