Cold as Ice

by Lee Weeks

  ‘Robbo?’

  He opened his eyes; the smell of apple shampoo surrounded him and he saw Jeanie frowning at him, standing next to him at his desk. The next thing he heard was the almighty clamour of coffee beans being ground. He shot forward in his chair. Carter sniggered.

  ‘I told Jeanie not to creep up on you.’

  ‘Bastard.’

  Robbo rubbed his face, picked up a handful of Haribo sweets and fed them into his mouth.

  ‘I saw your update about the ring,’ Carter said.

  ‘Yeah, the main thing we learn from that is that he wants to carve his name in history, have them include him in the book of serial killers. He’s making sure we know it’s him. He’s got a massive ego. He thinks he’s better than anyone else. He may have a string of short-term relationships but he can’t stay with someone long. He’s easily bored.’ Robbo slid his chair along the length of the desk and then stopped dead as he began furiously tapping on the keyboard. ‘Plus, he has a massively inflated idea of his self-worth; he’s callous, manipulative. These women he killed meant nothing to him as human beings, they were just vehicles towards his notoriety. He’s also irresponsible, impulsive. But he wanted us to find the rings.’

  Jeanie picked up the chain and looked at the rings on the end. ‘The chain just doesn’t look right,’ she said.

  ‘He had no choice but to put them on a chain,’ Carter said as he made coffee. ‘They would have fallen off when the fingers were lost to pond life.’

  ‘Why didn’t he just put plastic bags over the hands like he did with the head?’ asked Jeanie.

  Carter shook his head. ‘If her wrist was already opened by a wound, which it was, then it would have been got at quickly by feeders and she may have just lost her whole hand somewhere in the bottom of the canal, plus these rings were not hers, they probably didn’t fit her hand.’

  ‘So he had to put them on a chain. Any old chain?’

  ‘It’s never any old anything with him, is it? He takes months to kill, he’s not going to be rushed into anything, the smallest details matter to him,’ Robbo answered.

  ‘Then he chose a chain that doesn’t match the rings. It doesn’t look feminine,’ Jeanie said.

  ‘From another victim?’ asked Carter. ‘Or from him then?’ Carter had stopped making coffee and was focused on Jeanie. ‘Something which was his?’ Robbo was nodding.

  Carter looked at his watch. ‘I have to go and meet Ebony. She’s making her way to my house.’

  Jeanie’s eyes stayed on Carter as he got up to put his coat on. He looked her way and waited.

  ‘The more we find out about Hawk, the more nervous I become about Ebony undercover,’ Jeanie said eventually, looking from Carter to Robbo.

  Carter put on his coat and stood for a few seconds in the middle of the office. He gave a small nod of the head.

  ‘That’s why we need her to succeed more than ever.’ He looked over at Robbo.

  Robbo was swinging the chain from the ends of his fingers. He had a smile on his face.

  ‘Maybe we have a little piece of him here. Maybe this is his first mistake.’

  Chapter 35

  Carter met Ebony outside his house.

  ‘I would have stayed longer but I think he needs a change,’ she said.

  Carter shook his head with mock disapproval. ‘I showed you how to do it.’

  ‘Yeah, but I know how fussy you are about things. I couldn’t risk getting it wrong.’

  Archie woke up and grinned sleepily at his dad.

  ‘Hello, little man – handsome little devil.’ He turned to Ebony. ‘Hope you got a lot of compliments.’

  ‘Yeah – I did. They all thought he was the spitting image of me.’

  Carter shook his head in disbelief.

  He turned his key in the front door and then came back for the buggy. He unstrapped Archie and handed him to Ebony to hold as he folded the buggy and in one move lifted it and took it inside the house. He stacked it in a purpose-built cupboard behind the front door. She followed him into the house, trying not to look like she was holding Archie at arm’s length even though she was – he smelt. Archie was wriggling to see his dad. Carter took him from her and went to change him. He brought him back in a new stripy suit and held him on one hip as he called Ebony into the kitchen.

  ‘Come and talk to me while I get him some food.’ He put Archie into his high chair whilst he began banging about in the kitchen. ‘Tell me, what did you find out?’

  ‘Emily Styles was known to the group I’ve enrolled in.’

  ‘She and Danielle Foster were both at the college – we know that,’ Carter said as he searched for Archie’s bowl in the dishwasher. ‘Robbo said that they crossed over in a couple of their subjects.’

  ‘It’s a friendly group,’ said Ebony as she perched on a kitchen stool and played with Archie who was getting impatient for food and banging his hand on the table of the high chair. ‘They do a fair bit of socializing. I think it will be easy to get inside it. I have a couple of numbers; the women seemed really friendly. I’ll be meeting one of them tomorrow – she’s going to help me prepare for the course, catch up.’

  ‘Any men on the course?’

  ‘There’s one I’ve met so far – another single parent, Christian Goddard. He seems to be everyone’s answer to Brad Pitt, has the pick of the women. He’s a good-looking, natural dad type. He told me to look him up on Facebook. I think he probably scores with most of the new women. Robbo’s still working on a Facebook profile for me now. I don’t want to risk getting it wrong.’

  ‘Yep. No problem. Robbo left some stuff here for you. Plus he wants me to take some photos of you and Archie.’ He stopped stirring Archie’s food for a moment, went into the lounge and came back with a buggy. ‘You take this buggy – it’s an older version of Archie’s. And we got you a realistic doll.’ Carter unwrapped the doll and held it in his arms as if he were burping it. ‘It’s one of those realistic feeding, pooping ones that they give to teenagers to put them off having kids.’

  ‘Actually that’s not bad.’ She smiled. It was a mixed-race doll with black hair. ‘As long as no one wants to talk to it.’

  ‘You’re just going to have the best behaved but permanently wrapped-up baby there is.’

  She looked across at Carter, who had put the doll on the worktop. ‘How’s Tracy coping? What’s happening with the investigation?’

  ‘We confirmed that it’s Danielle’s voice in the background when Hawk called Tracy. The phone call came from a mile radius of Tracy’s house. We can’t narrow it down any further. The phone is a pay-as-you-go mobile, bought in Swindon. We’re talking to colleagues down there just in case they’ve had missing women who might fit the bill. We might get lucky. They might have a suspect for us.’

  ‘What’s that you’re feeding Archie?’ Ebony screwed up her face. ‘Looks like puke.’

  ‘Sweet potato, sweetcorn and cod. I freeze it in batches. He loves it.’

  ‘Yuck.’

  ‘Ebb – you okay with this UC work?’

  ‘I think so, Guv.’

  ‘We’ll be with you every step of the way.’ She nodded. ‘And you have good friends on The Dark Side. You know that don’t you, Ebb? We care for you.’ She looked puzzled. ‘Not just Tina. I care. You know that?’ She nodded. She wasn’t sure where that came from.

  ‘Has Tina got a tattoo?’ Ebony was used to Carter’s random thought process.

  ‘You thinking about the Norse saying, the one on Emily Styles?’ He nodded.

  ‘Tina’s always threatening to get one but then she remembers there’s pain involved. She’s a big pussy when it comes to pain.’

  ‘What would she have – a shamrock?’

  Ebony laughed. ‘How did you guess? She was talking about a four-leaf clover.’

  Carter laughed. ‘Better put it on her bum, might bring her luck – she might get laid.’

  ‘Oy! Don’t be mean.’ Ebony looked away and was trying not to smile. ‘Beside
s, Tina is never short of male attention in the canteen.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s because men are greedy bastards and she’s dishing out the food. Ah, she’s a lovely girl, so she is.’ Carter tried an Irish accent. ‘I know I couldn’t manage if Tina didn’t help me out looking after Archie sometimes.’

  ‘She adores Archie,’ said Ebony. ‘She goes on about him when she’s been with him. She’s always disappointed if he doesn’t wake up.’

  ‘You and Tina are like chalk and cheese. You’re great friends though, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes. It’s funny how it just works.’

  ‘I reckon she mothers you.’

  ‘Yeah, she tries. She has an inbuilt maternal mechanism she can’t switch off. I don’t mind – most of the time. The rest of the time I pretend I haven’t heard it when she tells me to remember my hat and scarf as I’m going out the door – it’s a bit annoying.’

  He sighed as he finished washing up Archie’s tea things and went across to the high chair to wipe Archie’s face with a wet flannel. Archie was instantly furious.

  ‘Who’d have thought this time last year that things would have so changed for me, Ebb?’ He ruffled Archie’s hair.

  ‘Cabrina would have been a fool not to come back to you, Guv. You so missed her. You drove me mad talking about her all the time.’

  He chuckled, embarrassed. ‘It took a lot though, didn’t it, Ebb? I put it down to her being pregnant at the time: hormones and shit. Now we have Archie and Cabrina is back and everything’s changed.’ He swivelled on his heels and looked around the kitchen that had been transformed from a bachelor’s pad to a baby’s nursery. ‘To think I worked so hard to get all this?’ Carter kissed Archie’s head. ‘Don’t mean it, do I, little man? I wouldn’t change this for the world. Now I just have my poor dad to worry about. Poor bugger, I can see how scared he is. He starts another round of chemo this week. It’s going to be a difficult Christmas, him watching us eat. But if we don’t go it will be worse. But . . . if it is to be his last Christmas I intend to make it a good one. What are you doing? Are you going to see your mother?’

  ‘They don’t allow visitors on Christmas Day. I’ll see her in the week after.’

  ‘Would you go if you could?’

  Ebony looked down at her lap; she had clenched hands without realizing as soon as he began asking about her mother. ‘I would go because I’d feel it was my duty but I wouldn’t want to.’

  ‘So you’ll be spending Christmas here?’

  ‘Yes.’ She breathed out; her hands relaxed; she lifted her head again and smiled across at Carter. ‘With Tina and her brother Dermot who’s coming over. He’s supposed to be a really wealthy, self-made millionaire car dealer, but for some reason he wants her to buy his ticket over. That doesn’t seem right to me, but . . .’ She shrugged. ‘It’s not my business. I’m really looking forward to it anyway. Does Cabrina mind going to your family for Christmas?’ She looked across at his profile. He shrugged.

  ‘She’s happy not to have to do anything. Working full-time and doing the lion’s share of looking after Archie is really hard on her but what can I do? I can’t help my hours. I can’t ever be a nine-to-five and week-ends-off type of guy. Now that I’m an inspector there’s more pressure than ever.’

  ‘She knows what you are. She accepted it when she came back to you.’

  ‘Yeah – you’re right’ He winked at Ebony. ‘I am ninety-nine per cent perfect – got to make allowances for the one per cent.’ She laughed, rolled her eyes. ‘Ebb – how is the flat they got you?’

  ‘I haven’t been there yet. I’ll go there in a minute. It doesn’t matter what it’s like. Hopefully it’ll be warm. But I’ll manage whatever.’

  ‘Of course. You won’t be in there for long. But, just in case, I dug these out for you and Jeanie contributed.’ Carter handed her a sleeping bag. ‘And a ground mat for putting on the floor. This will do for tonight. Buy what you need tomorrow and expenses will cover it.’ She nodded. ‘The buggy is to have a camera and microphone attached. Here . . .’ Carter opened a packet and pulled out a toy puppy. ‘The camera’s hidden inside along with a microphone. You need to leave this attached to the rain cover at the top of the buggy and have it pointing forwards; leave the microphone on at all times. When you don’t have the buggy with you, you can clip this camera to your bag or your coat. You have your GPS?’

  ‘Yeah.’ She touched the pendant around her neck. ‘Robbo had the guys in PTU make me this piece.’ She held it up to show him the Tiger’s eye stone set in onyx.

  Carter studied it for a few seconds.

  ‘That’s really clever. Is it a transmitter?’

  ‘Yes. But not the only one. I have one in my shoe, one on the phone. I have a radio in there but basically you’re going to hear whatever I say from almost every angle.’

  ‘Good. Here’s a mobile phone Robbo asked me to give you to use undercover – give out this number.’ He handed her a phone.

  She looked at it. Her eyes lit up. ‘Can I keep it afterwards?’

  ‘No. You can’t. Get yourself a smartphone for Christmas, Ebb. Give out this number and we’ll monitor it. Get in with Danielle’s peer group as fast as you can now and let’s get this man out into the open. Get across to the flat. Take this laptop from work – Robbo’s waiting on the other end. I want you to keep in constant contact with me if you can but at least phone in to me at frequent intervals during the day. The flat’s going to be a safe place to phone from. Now, you ready?’ He handed Archie to her and took out his phone to take some photos. ‘Smile.’

  Chapter 36

  Ebony caught a minicab back to her flat. She couldn’t be seen to be using a car and she certainly didn’t feel ready to manage a bus with all her things plus a buggy and pretend baby. Ebony didn’t have a car anyway. When she drove she borrowed a police vehicle. She’d never had much call to drive a lot: she’d lived in London all of her adult life and the only time she left it as a child was when she was sent to foster homes or children’s homes outside London. When she lived with her mother they had lived in and on the outskirts of the city.

  Ebony got out of the minicab inside the courtyard. It was five o’clock and already looking like night-time. Her eyes scanned her surroundings as she unloaded her things from the minicab. The wind hit her as it found a channel between the tower blocks and rubbish gathered and swarmed, catching on the buggy’s wheels. When she was a kid she’d moved around with her mum and some of the places had been high-rise. The place took on a sound, a light, an atmosphere all of its own. This was one of the older estates.

  ‘Do you need me to help you?’ The kindly Somalian driver had a face that belied his kind nature; it was so harshly scarred that one side didn’t match the other.

  ‘No. I’ll be okay thanks.’ She gathered her things together as he drove away.

  Ebony knew that the block in front of her was the right one. She had the slip of paper with the address and the keys from the housing association in an envelope in her pocket. She stood for a few seconds gathering her bags and her thoughts then headed towards the main door of the apartment block. The lift was out of order. She began dragging the buggy up six flights of stairs. She bounced it up the first two flights of stairs and then carried it up the remaining four. The pretend Archie doll was safely wrapped away inside her backpack. If anybody had noticed her arrival and the empty buggy she intended to use the ‘aunt’ Carter had suggested, who helped with child-care and who would be bringing Archie later.

  Above her was the echo of footsteps on concrete. The noise brought back memories as she climbed upwards. She remembered the sound of kids shouting to one another, running along the walkways that joined the buildings. She hadn’t reckoned on feeling a mixture of uncomfortable nostalgia. She was used to arriving with Carter or another detective to an estate. It was so different on her own. She had to remember this wasn’t her life, this was work, just like it was at other times. Only now she was working alone. She walked along the s
ixth-floor landing, reading the numbers on the doors. She slipped the key in the lock, turned it and stepped into darkness lit only by the orange light from the landing outside. Her phone went. Someone had jammed leaflets under her door; it wouldn’t open fully.

  She walked through the lounge and stood at the window, overlooking other tower blocks and the trails of car lights as rush hour continued. She was grateful for the fact that the housing association had been in and her boiler was working. She had heat in the flat. She phoned Tina as she put the kettle on.

  ‘I’m working away for a bit, Teen. You can leave me a message on this phone and I’ll be in contact when I can.’

  ‘Will I see you in work?’

  ‘No. I don’t think so. Not for a little while anyway. I’m doing a Family Liaison Course out on the North Circular. I’m staying in a motel there.’

  ‘Is it nice?’

  Ebony looked around her. ‘No expense spared. But I’ll be back as soon as I can.’

  ‘Okay, but I can tell what you’re really saying and it sounds like it’s pants. Well if you need me, Ebb, you call, and stay safe. Wrap up warm. By the way – I think I’ve got a date for Saturday.’

  ‘Who with?’

  ‘The one I told you about. That good-looking inspector that’s in MIT 15.’

  ‘I know the one – you said he always has hot chocolate?’

  ‘That’s the one. Looks like the Hoff.’

  ‘He’s married, Teen.’

  ‘No way.’

  ‘Zoe told me. He tells everyone he’s separated; everyone except his wife.’

  ‘Oh God,’ moaned Tina. ‘I knew it was too good to be true. Dan Carter asked me to babysit. I may as well then if my hot date just went up in smoke.’

  ‘I have to go. Speak later.’