She smirked. “No, sir. But you know how it is. Everyone’s talking and pointing the finger. And it’s no use speaking to her father, Mr Clarke. The man’s just out of prison. Worse than that, he’s a cold-blooded killer. He’s not likely to listen, is he?”
Jake frowned. “Does the incident with the photo have anything to do with Elsa’s disappearance?”
“No, sir.”
“Are you sure? You are Elsa’s best friend. If you know where she is, you should tell us. She won’t get into trouble, and neither will you.”
Calladine turned to the young man. “Mr Clarke, did you tell Donnelly about the photo?” Calladine was thinking that Donnelly would feel bad about not being around for his daughter. He might have tried to get even on her behalf.
“No, I didn’t think I should,” Clarke replied.
“It’s got nowt to do with Gaby. She’ll be with him, that bloke she sees. He likes her a lot. Takes her shopping in Manchester. Buys her stuff. She’ll be back soon enough. Easily bored is Elsa,” Megan said.
Calladine and Ruth looked at each other. “Which bloke? What’s his name?”
“Some bloke she talks about. Friend of her brother, Danny. She really fancies him. Goes on about him all the time.”
“Do you know where he lives?” asked Ruth.
Megan shook her head.
“Is it him she’s always texting?”
Megan explained. “It’s not texting we do, sir. We use a chat room. It’s for students studying the same subjects. If we get stuck in class, we can get help. Go over stuff. Swap ideas, help each other with homework. Elsa used it all the time.”
“A chat room? Is that allowed?” Ruth asked Jake.
“The students do use the internet for research. These days, that often means on their phones. It’s a fact of life.”
Ruth turned to Megan. “This boyfriend of hers, do you know his name?”
“Liam.”
“Liam who? Is he local?”
“Like I said, he knows her brother. Danny will know.”
Ruth handed Megan a card and a pen. “Write down the web address of this chat room for me. You need to check this out, Jake, make sure it’s okay.”
“I’d no idea they were using it.”
“Let them go,” Calladine decided. Megan handed Ruth the card and the students trooped out of the door.
Jake apologised. “They weren’t much use. We still have no idea where she is. That chat room Megan talked about could be real or it could be a load of nonsense. That pair are as thick as thieves. They cover each other’s tracks and get up to all sorts. Elsa is popular only with a small minority in the year group. Most of them give her a wide berth. She’s clever, but trouble.”
“I can second that,” Clarke said emphatically.
Jake continued. “Gaby Donnelly annoys Elsa for some reason. I think jealousy is at the bottom of it. Gaby’s mother is wealthy and Gaby has everything she wants. Elsa, as you’ll know, is from the Hobfield.”
“It will have been a big deal, the photo thing. If someone had done that to me, I’d be pretty cut up. I might want to get even,” Ruth mused.
“Gaby is more level-headed than that. And the entire episode was nipped in the bud.”
One of the pupils had returned, and approached Jake. “Sir?”
“What is it, Rachel?”
“That photo. Elsa did delete it, but first she texted it to Megan.”
“So Megan has the photo on her phone now?”
Rachel nodded, and looked at the detectives. “Megan texted it to all her contacts. That means the entire sixth form and more.”
Calladine groaned. Bloody kids! “Does Gaby know?”
“She must do. I think that’s why she wanted to go home.”
Ruth glared at Jake. “So much for nipping it in the bud! It would have been a good idea to make sure.”
“These are older teenagers. In law they are adults. I can’t take their stuff off them, Ruth. The head and I spoke to the group. We stood and watched as Elsa deleted it. What more was I supposed to do?”
“Be one step ahead! You know what this lot are like. You go on about them often enough at home,” Ruth said.
Calladine wanted her to calm down. “It’s not Jake’s fault, Ruth. That girl who just gave us the information about the photo, what’s her full name?”
“Rachel Hayes. She’s a dark horse. Sometimes she’s okay but she can also be every bit as nasty as the others,” Clarke said.
“Do you know anything about this alleged boyfriend of Elsa’s?” Ruth asked Jake.
“No, but she’s not likely to discuss it with me, is she?”
“You could have overheard something. Girls talk.”
“We’ll ask her mother,” Calladine suggested. Ruth was becoming agitated. She obviously thought Jake was far too lenient with the group.
* * *
Once they were outside and headed back to the car, Calladine reasoned with Ruth. “It’s sixth form, not borstal. Jake is their teacher. I imagine it’s challenging enough getting that lot through the exams. The truth is, he does wonders with them. Leesdon Comp has a good success rate. I think he does a damn good job, given that the majority are from disadvantaged backgrounds.”
“A woman would know what was going on. If it were me in there I’d have my finger on the gossip. I’d know who was seeing who. All that goes right over his head. He needs to keep an eye on Robert Clarke too. He’s not coping. Jake left early this morning to help him with something. I bet those kids make mincemeat of Clarke in the classroom. Does Jake know the truth about that, I wonder?”
Calladine frowned. “This chat room the girls are using is worrying. They could be speaking to anyone. We need to get our hands on Elsa’s computer, if she has one.”
“Back to her mother’s?”
“Okay. Then back to the station. We’re going to have to speak to Gaby Donnelly. I don’t like that particular connection.”
“Neither do I.” Ruth pointed. “The Donnellys live over there, other side of the park.”
“Okay, a detour, a quick chat, then the station.”
Ruth was struggling to keep up. “New thing, this walking everywhere.”
“Part of my new regime. I try to get in as much as I can during the day, then a big walk with Sam once I’ve finished work.”
Ruth was panting as they both came to a full stop outside the Donnellys’ large stone residence. “Big house. Accountancy pays, doesn’t it?
“Car’s in the drive so they’re home.” Calladine knocked on the door.
Leanne Donnelly greeted them. She looked harassed. “Who sent the police? We haven’t made a complaint. I wanted to, but Gaby thought it would only incite more awful behaviour from those girls.”
“Is Gaby in?” Ruth asked.
“Yes. She couldn’t stand being at school any longer. It’s been non-stop. Heaven only knows why they pick on her. I don’t understand it. Come on in.”
The inside of the house was as impressive as the exterior. Gaby was in a sitting room at the back, playing with a small dog.
Ruth began. “We’d like to talk to you about Elsa Ramsden.”
The girl stared at them for a few seconds, then her face crumpled and she burst into tears. “I hate her! She’s a cow!”
“She’s not a nice young woman, that’s for sure,” Leanne Donnelly added.
“I don’t want to talk about her or Megan. You know what they did?” Both detectives nodded. “Not only did they show the entire class, they texted the damn thing to all and sundry! How do you think I feel?”
Ruth tried to reassure her. “We’ll have a word with the school, Gaby, but for now, do you know where Elsa might have gone, or why she’s disappeared?”
“No. But I hope she never comes back!”
Ruth nudged Calladine. “Your phone’s ringing, guv.”
Calladine fished it out of his jacket pocket. “Must be going deaf, as well as everything else.”
It was Rocco.
“We have a body, sir. Under Lane, far end of Park Road, leads down to the canal.”
Calladine’s jaw tightened. “Female?”
The line went quiet, then Rocco said, “Young too. I’m thinking . . .”
“Me and Ruth are on our way. Meet you at the scene.”
* * *
The trees along Park Road had started to lose their leaves. After the recent rain they lay damp and limp on the pavement.
“Winter will be here before we know it.” Calladine shivered. His expression was grim. He had been hoping for a runaway scenario, a touch of the Romeo and Juliets. Not this.
It was gone four, the schools were out and folk were making their way home from work. A crowd had already gathered. At the front, and craning his neck, was Robert Clarke. What was he doing here?
Ruth nodded towards the teacher. “Have you seen him?”
“He’ll have got caught up in the crowd.”
“He got here pretty fast, and listen to the buzz. They know it’s a body. And he knows the girl.”
The pair walked towards the cordoned-off area.
“I don’t like this.” Ruth gave a shudder. White-suited scenes-of-crime officers were swarming all over the area.
“Me neither. If this is Elsa Ramsden, it opens up a whole can of worms.”
“Are you thinking of Gaby’s father?”
“It’s an angle we can’t ignore. Gaby might have told him about the photo. We’re going to have to speak to her again and ask her. He might have decided to get even on her behalf. A grand gesture, to make up for being absent most of her life.”
Doctor Natasha Barrington from the Duggan Centre peeled the mask from her face. “Female, in her teens. The refuse collectors found her in that wheelie bin over there. Gave them a shock and a half! She’s naked, apart from a Leesdon Comp tie around her neck with a name tag stitched onto the back. It reads ‘Elsa Ramsden.’ There is also a note fastened to the tie.”
Calladine looked at Ruth. “Same MO as Annabelle Roper.”
“Craig Donnelly is looking like our best bet then.”
“We’ll see. There were details about Annabelle’s death that were never released. It could be a copycat.”
“Where’s the body now?”
“We’re just doing the recovery,” Natasha Barrington replied. “It isn’t pretty, Inspector. She’s been dead about forty-eight hours, and in the bin for roughly half that time I’d say. I’m afraid the flies have been at her. Plus, there is what’s been done to her hand and mouth. Your DC Rockliffe threw up. He’s over there.”
Calladine had never forgotten Annabelle Roper. If this was the same killer, he knew exactly what would have been done to Elsa. The details had sickened him then and it would be no different now.
“Hand looks like it’s been deep fried, does it?” He hadn’t meant to say that. Deep fried! It was a hand for goodness sake, not a helping of chips!
“Yes, exactly that.” Natasha Barrington looked at him. “You’ve seen something like this before, Inspector?”
“Unfortunately. The victim in the case I’m thinking about had a badly burned hand. It had been deliberately done. That was just for starters.”
“There is very little flesh left. The fingers have been burned down to the bone.”
Ruth was beginning to feel sick.
“Her mouth — is the tongue missing?” asked Calladine.
Natasha nodded. “Cut out far back too. She was alive when it was done. At this point I’d say that she choked on the sheer volume of blood. Her mouth was sealed with black tape. Although it wasn’t pulled tight, the tie around her neck won’t have helped either. The blood will have had nowhere to go. Some will have escaped through her nose. The rest — it would have choked her.”
Calladine cleared his throat. “The note. I’m guessing two words.”
She nodded again. “Yes, Inspector. The note has Dead Meat scrawled across it.”
Calladine exhaled. “In that case, it’s no copycat. Apart from those working on the case at the time, only one other person knew what had been done to Annabelle Roper. Or what the note said.”
“The perpetrator?”
“And he got out of Strangeways recently.”
She held out her hands, as if to say ‘well there you are.’ “We’ll get what we can forensically. If it is your man, his DNA will be on file.”
“We need that computer from Elsa’s home urgently, as well as her mobile phone and any other technology she owns.”
“I can see to that.” Still a little green around the gills, Rocco joined them.
“Okay, I’ll leave that with you. Take Imogen and a uniform with you. Volatile lot the Ramsdens, so tread carefully. You’ve seen the body. Ask to see a photo of Elsa before you launch in and tell them she’s dead.”
“If it’s her, do I tell them the truth, sir?”
“Just that Elsa has been murdered. None of the detail. Arrange for family liaison to go along too. I don’t reckon their chances much, but you never know.”
“We’ve searched the area and haven’t found any of her belongings. Certainly no phone,” Natasha Barrington added.
“Rocco, when you’re speaking to the Ramsdens find out who Elsa’s service provider was. When you’re back at the nick get a list of calls, texts and anything else that phone has been used for.”
Calladine’s face was drawn. He looked at Ruth. “We’d better go have a chat with Craig Donnelly.” He beckoned to a uniformed officer standing nearby. “Get rid of this lot, will you? A bunch of bloody ghouls.”
“That includes Clarke?” Ruth asked.
Calladine ignored the question. “We’ll take a car this time. Donnelly’s staying at St James’s with the vicar. He’s the do-gooder who helped get the bastard released.”
* * *
St James’s church was an early-Victorian monstrosity. Along with the grounds, graveyard, vicarage and the cottage Donnelly lived in, it covered a large area that bounded Leesdon Common. Numerous Leesdon historical worthies rested in the graveyard. The most elaborate stonework, and at least one of the family vaults, belonged to wealthy cotton mill owners who’d lived and worked in the Leesdon area. But these days many of the ornate gravestones had collapsed, battered by the weather. The predominant colour was black, from the days when everyone in Leesdon burned coal in their fireplaces. The word that sprung to Calladine’s mind was ‘grim.’ Of all the churches in Leesdon, this one was the least attractive by far.
The Reverend Michael Livings was not at all pleased to see the two detectives standing in his doorway. “Can’t leave him be, can you? Craig has done his time and paid his penance. He’s a different man now. He deserves some peace and quiet.”
Calladine pocketed his badge. “Ordinarily I’d agree, vicar. But we have a problem.” He watched the man fold his arms and tap his foot irritably against the step. “You recall Annabelle Roper? The young girl that Donnelly was put away for murdering?”
Michael Livings was a very tall man. He towered above Calladine. He stuck his long nose in the air and his dark eyes were pinpoints of rage as he looked down on them.
Calladine ignored the body language. “Our problem is that it’s happened again. And soon after Donnelly was released.”
“This is harassment.”
“This is the law going through due process. Me doing my job. Donnelly’s MO — method of killing, that is, was unique. In all the years I’ve been doing this job, I’ve not seen a case like it. Now we have another.” Calladine met the man’s stare. “You have to agree, it’s an odd coincidence.”
“And that is what it will be, Inspector, coincidence. One dead girl and the first thing you do is beat a path to his door. How is the man supposed to make a fresh start? How does he put the past behind him? Craig knows he did wrong back then, but he is a changed man now. He will not repeat his actions. He has sworn as much to me, on the Holy Bible, Inspector!” He added, “And I believe him!”
Calladine replied evenly, “More fool y
ou. Personally I wouldn’t believe anything the murdering bastard said. But each to his own.” The vicar’s tone was beginning to grate.
“He isn’t here,” continued the vicar. “If you bothered to check you’d know that Craig sees his parole officer on alternate mornings.”
Ruth raised her eyebrows. “That’s pretty frequent. Frightened he’ll do a runner?”
“No, of course not. Craig has every intention of doing the right thing. It is a condition of his licence.”
Calladine was amazed. Michael Livings might be a vicar, doing good and all that, but surely he could see what was staring him in the face? “You really have been duped, haven’t you? A man like you, who is supposed to have a grasp of the human condition! Can’t you see what he is doing? He’s conned you, vicar, he is as guilty as sin. I hope you can live with yourself if it turns out he has killed this girl.”
“He is truly sorry for what happened all those years ago. Craig Donnelly has it in him to be a good man. He simply needs the opportunity. He helps out around the church, and in return I provide him with the small cottage at the back of the vicarage. I have come to know the man and I will not change my opinion on the say-so of some embittered copper who can’t see further than the end of his nose!” With that, the vicar banged the door shut.
Ruth almost smiled. “Well, that told you. He was very helpful.”
“We are going to have to search that cottage, Ruth.”
They made their way back to the car. “I agree, but make sure all the paperwork is watertight first. That vicar is a strange one. He looked a bit odd too. Not like a man of God at all. There was something almost evil about him. He reminded me of that actor that used to be in all those horror films way back when. You know — the tall, thin one.”
But Calladine wasn’t listening. He’d just spotted Craig Donnelly dodging behind a hedge. He pointed. “Go that way so he doesn’t disappear onto the High Street. I’ll follow him.”
Craig Donnelly nipped into the churchyard via a gap in the rear fence. Calladine moved fast and was on his tail in seconds. He grabbed hold of the man’s jacket just in time to stop him disappearing into a side door of the church.
Calladine hauled him back. “Not so fast, mate.”
Dead Nasty Page 4
