Detective Lucy Harwin 01-The Lost Children

by Helen Phifer

  She strained to get closer, trying to spot Lucy’s car. Why was she not here? Still, it was a good thing she wasn’t. She didn’t want to get recognised.

  Suddenly realising she was almost at the front of the crowd, Lizzy began to move back. What was she doing? There were already too many people here who might recognise her.

  Do you want to get caught? Have you had enough, is your façade finally cracking? Is this why you’re here? But your job is finally done. You should go now: leave and never look back.

  But she couldn’t. Not just yet.

  43

  The coffee shop was busy when Lucy arrived. Alice was clearing tables and Ellie was behind the counter, serving. Lucy didn’t know why, but she felt nervous about walking in there on her own. She wished she’d brought Mattie with her, but she hadn’t calmed down enough yet to sit and pretend they were OK in front of Ellie. The last thing she wanted to do was to make things awkward for her. It must have taken a lot of guts for her to ask her mum to come here.

  Ellie caught Lucy’s eye and smiled, mouthing ‘sit down’ to her. Lucy picked a table in the corner furthest away from the front doors, where the other customers were congregating around the comfy sofas. Alice waved at her, then went back behind the counter and whispered something into Ellie’s ear. Lucy pretended she wasn’t looking. She picked up a magazine that someone had left on the chair, and began to leaf through it until she heard Ellie’s voice and looked up to see her placing a large mug on the table in front of her. ‘I’m surprised that you came.’

  Lucy bit her lip. It wasn’t a dig. It was a simple statement, a fact: quite often she didn’t make it to appointments, school plays or parents’ evenings.

  ‘I wouldn’t miss this for the world,’ Lucy told her. ‘You know how much I love my skinny vanilla lattes and my daughter. So to have both of you in the same room at the same time is amazing. It’s like Christmas and my birthday rolled into one.’ She gave her the biggest smile she could muster, and Ellie laughed.

  ‘Enough of the flattery, Mother; I get it. You were lured here by the offer of a free coffee and I don’t mind. Alice has been explaining to me how busy you’ve been and that you’re trying to help her. So it made me realise I shouldn’t be mad at you any more. Alice is pretty cool. Do you think my gran would have been as cool as her?’

  Lucy felt her heart break. She had no doubt that her mum would have been an excellent gran. She looked at her daughter’s happy face and couldn’t help wondering if this was the real Ellie, or if the coffee shop had somehow managed to clone her. Whatever it was, this was nice, and she liked it. It would be so good for the two of them to be friends again instead of arch enemies.

  ‘I really did want to see you,’ Lucy said. ‘Of course, the coffee is a nice bonus, but you are far more important. I’m so sorry about the other day. I shouldn’t have shouted at you like that.’

  ‘Yeah, well, it’s OK. How come Mattie didn’t come? Is he too busy snogging Jane? Of all the women he could go out with, what’s he doing with her? I mean, she’s OK, but she’s miles older than him. She could be his mother.’

  Lucy felt as if she’d just been stabbed through the heart. She desperately tried to keep her cool with Ellie: it wasn’t her fault that she’d just dropped a bombshell on her for the second time that week.

  ‘Jane?’

  ‘Jane Toppan from YOT: the one who summoned you to her office after my little “episode”, as she calls it.’

  Lucy picked up her latte and blew it before taking a sip, taking time to compose herself before she spoke. ‘How do you know he’s seeing her? He’s never mentioned it to me.’ That said, she had wondered who he’d been sneaking around with the last week. If it did turn out to be Jane, this would explain a lot. He would have known exactly how she would feel about him seeing her.

  ‘Because that day you forgot to pick me up and Dad had to come, we were sitting in the car with Dad on his phone when Mattie pulled up in that monster truck. Jane climbed inside and kissed him on the cheek. I was nearly sick there and then. The thought of him and her: well, it’s just plain wrong. I mean, Mattie’s pretty fit, isn’t he? I think he looks like Tom Hardy when he played Reggie Kray in Legend.’

  Lucy was trying her best to keep calm. It was bad enough that Mattie was seeing Jane. Now her daughter had just as good as admitted that she had a crush on him as well. Shit. What was she supposed to do? None of this was right.

  The voice of reason inside her head told her to play it cool. Don’t let her see how flustered you are. It’s not about you, it’s about Ellie.

  ‘I can’t say that I’ve noticed, to be honest. Does he?’ But her cheeks betrayed her. She felt them beginning to heat up.

  ‘Mum, you do think he looks like him, and you fancy him. You’ve gone bright red.’

  ‘I do not fancy him, Ellie,’ Lucy said, firmly. ‘I work with him. I like him very much as a friend, but not like that. Besides he’s a few year younger than me and he drives me mad most of the time.’

  Ellie sat back and giggled, making Lucy laugh as well.

  ‘All right,’ Lucy admitted, ‘he’s not bad to look at; I’ll give him that. There are much uglier blokes I could be stuck with for hours on end.’

  ‘You should ask him out. On a date.’

  ‘I couldn’t do that! I have to work with him.’

  ‘Why not?’ Ellie asked. ‘You could always work with someone else. You definitely should ask him out; I think you and him would make a good couple. Like you said, there are uglier blokes I could have as a stepdad.’

  ‘Jesus Christ, Ellie! I’m not marrying him.’

  Ellie winked at her. ‘Never say never – and why not? It would make Alice happy: she keeps telling me what a lovely couple you two make. Anyway, I’d better get back to work. It’s not fair to leave Alice for too long. She’s such a lovely lady.’

  Lucy smiled as she felt her chest swell with pride for her daughter. Maybe Ellie was finally growing out of that horrible, teenage attitude she seemed to have been wearing like a suit of armour since she was twelve years old.

  ‘You do know that I’m proud of you, don’t you? Well – when you don’t make daft suggestions about me going out with Mattie, I am.’ She winked at Ellie, who actually bent down to give her a quick hug, then pecked her on the cheek.

  ‘Enjoy your coffee,’ Ellie said, ‘and at least think about it. You’re much prettier than Jane, and more Mattie’s age. Tell him he’s going to be stuck with her in a couple of years when she’s incontinent. That should put him off.’

  Lucy laughed, almost spitting coffee all over herself. Ellie went back to work, and Lucy sipped her latte and watched Ellie and Alice work and chat. When she’d finished, she took her empty mug over to the counter.

  ‘Thank you. That was the best coffee I’ve ever tasted.’

  Ellie, who was serving another customer, stuck her thumb up at her. Lucy turned to leave, mouthing ‘thank you’ to Alice, who nodded her head and winked at her. Once she was outside in the fresh air, the pride she’d felt moments ago began to disappear as a gnawing worry filled her chest. What if Mattie had been talking about her to Jane? She could see them now, laughing at her expense. So, not only had Jane probably been poisoning her own daughter against her, she could very well be turning her best friend against her as well.

  She hoped that Ellie had got it wrong. Maybe Mattie and Jane were just friends. But… Does he kiss you on the cheek every time he gets into your car? No.

  Throwing her handbag onto the passenger seat, she noticed the evidence bag containing Lizzy’s childhood photograph. She peeled off the post-it note with the number of the forensic artist on it, and typed the number into her phone. As it rang, she crossed her fingers that there was someone at the university to answer her.

  ‘Dr Chris Corkill speaking.’

  Lucy almost let out a whoop of delight. She explained to him exactly what she needed.

  ‘Well, you’re in luck,’ he said, ‘because it’s my day off.
I was just leaving. I can hang on, though, if you want to bring the photograph down, so I can discuss it with you?’

  Lucy looked at the dashboard clock. It was a twenty-minute drive if she didn’t get stuck behind some Sunday driver, crawling along.. Sod it. She wasn’t doing anything constructive, and if he hassled her about being paid upfront, she’d give him her credit card.

  ‘That would be brilliant,’ she said. ‘I’ll be there as soon as I can. Thank you so much.’

  She hoped that by the time she had spoken to Chris – who had sounded lovely – and had driven back to the station, she might have calmed down enough to confront Mattie about Jane.

  44

  When Lucy finally arrived at the university, she parked outside the main building and rang Dr Corkill. He directed her to the main entrance and told her to wait for him there. She slipped the evidence bag into her handbag, then pulled out her perfume, spritzed herself, and applied a quick smudge of lipstick – just in case Dr Corkill was drop-dead gorgeous, single and available.

  At the main entrance, Lucy sat down on a bench. She couldn’t help feeling like a naughty school kid because she had come here before obtaining Tom’s permission. However, she knew they couldn’t afford to wait any longer. She had no idea who the next victim was, but she was sure there would be one. Lizzy had waited a long time for this, and Lucy didn’t doubt that she wouldn’t stop until she’d finished what she started.

  Lucy wondered if Lizzy was tired. Lucy supposed it would have made her feel younger: after all, so many murderers had said that killing another person was the ultimate power trip. Being able to decide whether someone should live or die was apparently a huge thrill. How on earth they got a thrill from it, Lucy would never understand – and didn’t want to, either. She couldn’t imagine wanting to actually end another person’s life. Although Mattie was walking a fine line at the moment…

  A warm hand touched her shoulder and she jumped so high off the chair that the man jumped as well.

  ‘DCI Harwin?’

  ‘Yes, oh god. I’m so sorry, I was miles away.’

  He held out his hand. ‘You certainly were. I’m Chris Corkill, we spoke on the phone earlier.’

  He was a pleasant-looking man, about in his forties. Lucy took his hand, shaking it firmly. ‘We did, and thank you so much for seeing me at such short notice. I really do appreciate it.’

  ‘It isn’t often I have the honour of a DCI come to visit me,’ Dr Corkill said. ‘Actually, I’ve never had the pleasure. I’ll show you to my office and you can tell me what you need.’

  He led the way through a maze of corridors until he reached his very clean – almost too orderly – office. Lucy wasn’t sure if she should sit down in case she messed the room up.

  Dr Corkill grinned at her, noticing her discomfort. ‘Ah, this is not me. I have a lovely cleaner called Bertha who I think has OCD. I’m almost afraid to come in here myself some days.’

  ‘I think I could do with a Bertha in my life,’ Lucy said. ‘I wonder if she lives far away from me?’ She handed him the bag, deciding honesty was the best policy. ‘Look, I’m sorry, I may have misled you on the phone. I’m not a DCI at all.’

  ‘You are the very well-respected Detective Inspector Lucinda Harwin. Forgive me, but I Googled you. It’s a force of habit. I thought perhaps you might have been recently promoted to DCI, but don’t worry – I understand. If you’re worried about the expenses side of things, then don’t. We can sort that out later.’

  ‘Thank you so much. We – the police – have a huge problem and I’m hoping you can help. This has to be between us for now, though. It’s about to break in the press anyway, but I’d really appreciate it if we could keep this confidential.’

  ‘Of course,’ Dr Corkill said. ‘It will be one hundred per cent confidential. Although, in a couple of months when it’s all blown over, would you allow me to use this as an assignment for my next course?’

  ‘If you can do what I’m hoping you can, then yes, you can do what the bloody hell you want with it,’ Lucy said. ‘Once we’ve caught the killer and the trial is over, that is.’

  Dr Corkill smiled. ‘Go on.’

  Lucy really hoped she could trust the man sitting in front of her, because she was about to disclose delicate information pertaining to a high-profile murder investigation that she hadn’t even discussed with her DCI. If it all went wrong, she would lose her job, her livelihood… everything.

  ‘There have been four brutal murders in as many days,’ she said. ‘I believe the girl on that photograph is the killer. The only problem is that she disappeared years ago. We believe that she has grown up and changed her identity. She is supposed to have died in 1990 – only I don’t believe she did; I think she is very much alive. We have no idea what she might look like now, but obviously if we had some idea it would make identifying her a whole lot easier. We can’t exactly do a “most wanted” appeal with a picture of a nine-year-old girl from 1975. She’s going to be in her early fifties now.’

  ‘Wow, this is amazing,’ Dr Corkill said. ‘I’ve never heard anything like it. In fact, it’s absolutely brilliant – well, obviously not for you and your colleagues, but it is for me. I’ve been waiting to work on something like this for years. I get asked to do a lot of facial imaging and the odd facial reconstruction – but this would be great, to be involved in an actual case.’

  Lucy couldn’t help smiling at his infectious enthusiasm. ‘I don’t know what to say. Thank you, doctor.’

  ‘Please call me Chris; the title is just for my students. I suppose you’ll want a timeframe?’

  ‘Yes,’ Lucy said. ‘It’s really urgent, although I’m sorry to have to rush you. I don’t think this woman will stop killing, so we need to uncover her identity as soon as we can. I have a feeling that she already has her next victim lined up, and I’d like to get to her before she makes her move.’

  He nodded. ‘Well, realistically it could take a couple of days. I have nothing pressing on at the moment though, so if I start working on it now, I should be able to come up with a hand-drawn composite by the morning – maybe even later on tonight. The computer programme would normally be quicker, but we’ve had a few glitches with it so it could take a little longer.’

  ‘That would be amazing,’ Lucy said. ‘I can’t thank you enough.’

  He laughed. ‘I’m going to enjoy this. Write down your contact details and I’ll email you a copy as soon as it’s done.’

  Lucy wrote them down on a scrap of paper that he handed to her. He folded it and tucked it into the pocket of his faded jeans. ‘I’ll be in touch soon.’

  Lucy shook his hand once more. ‘Thank you so much, Chris.’

  She turned to leave. With a bit of luck, she thought, this might just give them the break they needed.

  45

  As Lucy walked back into the office, debating whether or not to tell Tom where she’d been, she spotted Mattie sitting at his desk. His was head bent and he was typing away on his keyboard. As much as Lucy wanted to confront him about Jane, she couldn’t do it in an office full of colleagues. Instead, she made herself a coffee and took it into her office, closing the door behind her. At least, thank god, there was no sign of either Tom or Browning.

  She checked her emails, knowing it was far too soon to expect one from Chris, but still hoping it wouldn’t be long. Just as she was logging off again, her phone began to ring. She answered it to a breathless Catherine.

  ‘Bloody hell, Lucy, I’ve had to run back to my office so I could phone you and let you know the results before that idiot Browning gets back. I hope you appreciate this.’

  Lucy laughed. ‘Thank you. I sincerely do, from the bottom of my heart.’

  ‘Yeah, I hope you do. What the hell is Browning doing with your case, anyway?’

  ‘He’s assisting me, according to Tom.’

  ‘Pfft. So where’ve you been? I wanted you to be present at the PMs, not him. I prioritised them and rescheduled everything else I had o
n.’

  ‘I couldn’t do it,’ Lucy said. ‘I’m sorry; I hadn’t realised that you’d gone to so much bother. I was so mad when Browning turned up at the scene that I stormed off like a true professional.’

  ‘You know that Tom’s only thinking about his own back, don’t you?’ Catherine said. ‘He’ll be worrying about the backlash from the press, with four murders and no one in custody. It’s damage control, that’s all it is. It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t think you can’t do the job, because you bloody well can – and I told him that earlier.’

  ‘Aw, you are such a sweetheart underneath that cool, tough exterior.’

  ‘I know, but don’t you dare tell anyone. So anyway, I’ve sent the DNA off to cross-match with the hair sample and fast-tracked it. These last two murders were brutal. No hesitation at all. Sometimes you get a couple of wounds where the killer made an attempt on the victim’s life, but didn’t have the balls to do it right the first time. Not the case with our killer: they knew what they were doing and went for it. Both of these recent victims were killed by the same person; the wounds are almost identical. There’s nothing to confirm it’s the same killer for all four victims though.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Well, the mechanism of death has been different for each one: transorbital lobotomy, manual strangulation and the cut-throat injuries.’

  ‘They are the same killer, though,’ Lucy said, ‘because of the connections.’

  ‘I’m afraid that’s not for me to say,’ Catherine said. ‘Although between you and me, I’d say it most definitely is. Come on, how many murders do we get around here? A couple a year? Four in four days is an awful lot of killing. The chances of it being two or three different killers – well, it’s not unheard of, but it’s very unlikely. Anyway, I have to go; I’ll let you know if I find out anything else. Take care, Lucy. Don’t let the bastards grind you down.’