A Killer's Calling: Incite to Murder 1

by John Stuart Owen

  ‘They are beautiful, thank you Katrina; and thank you Matt.’

  Matt nodded as he reached for his wallet. ‘Visa OK?’

  Once outside the shop, Orla questioned his actions. ‘Why didn’t you ask about Ana? We’ve got nothing from her! What’s going on? Why did you want to leave so quickly?’

  He smiled. ‘Stay out of sight . . . as soon as someone goes in, I want you to phone the shop.’

  ‘Why me?’

  ‘Because you’ll be a good mimic. As soon as the sister picks up the phone, say quickly and firmly, Ana come down to the shop, Now! But try to copy Katrina's voice. If you say it quickly over the phone, she won’t know it’s not her. Look, there’s a chap going in now!’

  ‘Hold these!’ and Orla thrust the bouquet into Matt’s hands. Reading the number off the shop door, she dialled it into her phone. ‘Here goes. . . It’s ringing!’ Katrina was busy with the customer and ignored the phone.

  Orla waited . . . ‘Garland Florists, can I help you?’

  ‘Ana I need you in the shop, Now!’ Not waiting for a response, Orla ended the call.

  ‘OK . . . let’s see if anything is happening.’ Still trying to keep out of sight, Matt carefully peered around the door. Katrina was facing the door, walking the customer out. She looked straight at him, now conspicuous with the roses in his hand.

  ‘Is there something wrong?’ Katrina began to walk towards him, a concerned frown on her brow. Before Matt could speak, a nearby door opened and a small blond woman appeared. She had beautiful features, high cheek bones and large bright eyes. But Matt’s eyes weren’t taking in her beauty; he was staring at her damaged face.

  Seeing Matt in the shop, she immediately shied away. ‘What is it Katrina? What do you want?’

  Matt walked between them. ‘Hello Ana! We’ve been looking for you.’ A smile spread across his face. ‘And now we’ve found you.’

  Chapter 32

  Ana stepped back, her hands raised with open palms covering her face. ‘Who are you? What do you want? How do you know my name?’

  Orla pushed past Matt, producing her warrant card as she did so. ‘We are detectives Ana . . . Graham and Black.’ She motioned an introduction with her hand, producing the three photos of the murder victims as she did so. ‘We need to ask you some questions; do you recognise any of these people? Orla thrust the snapshots into her hand. Ana looked quickly at Katrina. . . .‘The photos Ana!’

  Ana flipped through the pictures and handed them back. Now over her initial shock, she measured her response. ‘No I don’t think so.’ She looked into Orla’s eyes and held a gaze without blinking.

  ‘Have a look at this one Ana; it’s a nice one of you!’ Orla placed the photo from the Bistro in front of her. ‘Who is the guy with his arm around you? Ah, here he is!’

  And she pulled the picture of Jeremy Powell from Ana’s hand. Ana again looked across at Katrina; her eyes appealing for help.

  ‘You can see you are upsetting her; why can’t you leave her alone? She has told you she doesn’t know these people. . . Please I must ask you to go.’ Katrina stepped forward and gathered Ana in her arms, placing herself as a barrier between them.

  Matt had stood aside leaving Orla to fire the questions. Now that Katrina had intervened, a new more urgent approach was required.

  ‘Ladies, we can do this in one of two ways. We can close the shop and take both of you down to the station where we can question you at length, or we can start again, here . . . but no more lies. You have been deliberately evasive about your knowledge of these people, and I have to ask myself . . .why! What is it about them that makes you feel the need to distance yourself from them?’

  Katrina sprang to Ana’s defence. ‘Can’t you see what he has done to her . . . He almost killed her. If she hadn’t run away, he would have!’

  ‘Can we take a step back, and please Ana, I need you to do the talking. I don’t want this information second hand, and who was it that almost killed you?’

  With her lip trembling, she began to speak. ‘I know this man . . . and this man.’ She separated the photographs and handed the pictures of Jeremy Powell and Roger Taylor to Matt. ‘This man I do not know.’ And she passed him the picture of Dennis Parker.

  ‘What can you tell me about them?’

  ‘They used to come to the Bistro and I began to see them for drinks in the evening when I wasn’t working.’

  ‘You mean you had sex with them!’ Matt’s aggressive response had Ana in immediate retreat.

  ‘No . . .No . . .we just met for drinks!’ The look on Matt’s face had Ana rethink the question. . . what does he know?. . .’Well . . .sometimes . . . maybe!’

  ‘Did you charge them for it?’

  ‘No! . . . It wasn’t like that. My husband was away during the week and I got very lonely and . . . well, these men were very nice and I used to see them . . . this one on a Tuesday . . . and this one, on a Thursday.’

  ‘So what happened to mess up this wonderful arrangement?’

  ‘My husband had stayed away overnight every Tuesday and Thursday for over two years, but one day he came home early and I wasn’t there. He found my diary and he caught me with this man, and she pointed out Jeremy. I waited in my car; I think he hurt him; then when we got home, he did this to me.’ She was tearful now as she delicately stroked her damaged face.

  Orla stepped up the pressure. ‘This isn't going to go away Ana. We need to know everything that went on. We already know plenty so if you make any attempt to leave something out, we will know that you are lying. So what happened next?’

  Ana continued with her spiel. ‘I was too hurt to do anything and I stayed in my room. Then on the Thursday he said he was going to meet my other friend, Roger and teach him a lesson. I was very worried because my husband can be a very violent man; he said to me don’t think of leaving because I’ll find you! But there was nothing I could do. I had no money. He had my medicine and my phone; and he locked the house phone in the cupboard and anyway, I couldn’t even speak properly with my mouth like this.’ She gently touched the corner of her mouth with her fingertips. Katrina followed suit, fondly caressing her friend’s cheek as she did so. She eased Ana’s head towards her breast and held her close, muttering soft unintelligible words into her ear as she did so.

  Orla annoyed at the theatrics continued to push. ‘What did he say when he returned?’

  ‘He just said that the man was very sorry and didn’t realise I was married. And that was it really. Then he sat in the chair and got drunk!’

  Matt listened intently. How much is she leaving out?

  Ana continued with her account, ‘I went to the bedroom and sat in the dark. I stayed there for about an hour. When I came out he was asleep; he was lying slumped in the chair and,’. . . she drew her hands up to her face, openly reliving the moment . . . ‘he was holding a gun on his lap. I was so scared . . . I went back to my bed. I made my mind up there and then that I had to leave because I was sure he was going to kill me. I packed a couple of suitcases and hid them under the bed. I knew I could hide at Katrina’s but I couldn’t do anything until the morning. I lay awake for most of the night waiting for him to come to bed; but in the morning I heard him running a bath. I waited for a while then crept out to see where he was. He was still in the bathroom and I could hear him snoring. I noticed that the cordless phone was on the table, so I quickly took it into the bedroom and phoned Katrina to come and pick me up and that is how I came to be here.’ She looked up, a quizzical expression on her face. ‘Why is it that you wanted to find me? Did my husband report me missing . . . or what?’

  Matt cast a glance at Orla, his eyes expressing his disbelief. She hasn’t an idea what’s gone on! ‘Do either of you read the papers, or watch the television?’

  Orla steadied herself, let’s cut to the chase. ‘Ana . . . your husband systematically tortured and murdered both of your lovers. After inflicting dreadful harm on them, he burnt them alive in their cars.’

&nb
sp; There was a moment of silence. . . . Ana looked at everyone in turn, her eyes were staring, her mouth wide open but no sound issued forth.

  Orla studied her reaction, watching carefully for any feigning of emotion. She continued. ‘It would appear that your husband, on discovering that you had left him . . . shot himself. He was found dead in the bath, about a week later.’

  Ana collapsed in tears; she wailed as Katrina struggled to hold her. Matt grabbed a chair and they lowered her onto it. She quickly regained some composure, but sat head in hands, an occasional sob escaping from behind her hands that were masking her face.

  ‘Do you expect us to believe that you knew nothing of these deaths?’ Matt’s question lacked any emotion. ‘I think that your husband was dead before you left the flat that morning.’

  Ana’s meek composure took an immediate turn. Whatever tears were present disappeared in a flash. ‘When I left, he was snoring in the bath. Why would I lie about such a thing?’

  ‘Perhaps you had a hand in his death. Perhaps both of you know more about this apparent suicide than you are letting on.’

  Katrina recoiled; she lurched across the shop, her face stopping inches from

  Matt’s. ‘How dare you!’ She turned away and placed her hands on Ana’s shoulders; Ana responded by placing her own hands onto Katrina's, their fingers at once intertwining.

  Matt, having caused the distress that now prevailed, suddenly changed his tack. ‘But whether you were involved or not in your husband’s death, does not unduly bother me. That we have located you will no doubt be of interest to Detective Dillon who conducted the investigation into your husband’s apparent suicide, and we will of course inform him of our findings. Our concerns were finding out who murdered your two boyfriends and that clearly was your husband. I showed you a picture of a third man. You said that you did not know him. Is that still the case? Are you sure you have never seen him before?’ Matt reached over and took the photo of Dennis Parker from Orla’s hand. ‘Have another look!’ And he placed the picture before her.

  ‘No . . . I don’t know this man. I have never seen him before; why do you ask?’

  Matt continued. ‘This man was murdered in exactly the same way as your two lovers. There is no way your husband could have done it because he had been dead for more than five months. Which begs the question; who else would have been privy to these details? Who could have committed what we call a “copycat” murder?

  And as things stand we have a very short list of one, and that person is you.’

  ‘What are you saying? You are a crazy man to even think that I would have done this terrible thing. I did not even know this man.’ She was angry now; the tears had gone and she was all fired up. ‘How do you say it . . . you are barking in the wrong tree.’

  Matt hadn’t finished. ‘For all we know, you might have been an accomplice in the first two murders, assisting your husband, and then you disposed of him in an apparent suicide. Things went along quite smoothly for a while until Mr Parker outlived his use.’ And he waved the picture in front of her. ‘You then dispatched him in a manner that would link his death to the other two; very clever!’

  Ana turned away and lifted her head in a haughty fashion; she had heard enough. ‘You have been reading too many comics detective. You should spend your time doing something more productive.’ She knew that Matt’s rant was nothing but bluster for she alone knew that none of his accusations were true.

  Orla had listened as Matt laid into Ana, not really believing what she was hearing. She was hoping for a response that would throw some light on his reasoning, but the first words came from Ana.

  ‘So what now detective? What happens now? I am the victim here and you are making me out to be a criminal. Are you taking me off to jail?’ She put her hands out inviting him to place her in handcuffs. A cheeky defiant look was etched on her damaged face. ‘Of course you’re not!’ And she withdrew her hands and moved slowly behind the protective presence of her friend. Matt felt he was losing the initiative; he needed to take it back.

  ‘What I am going to do Ana, is insist you remain at this address until further notice. We will return in a few days to take you to the station where you will be required to make a formal statement. A detective from the Yardley Road station will no doubt contact you on matters relating to your husband’s death. If you try to hide from these responsibilities we will issue a warrant for your arrest: is that clear?’

  A subdued Ana responded. ‘Of course it’s clear; where would I go anyway!’

  ‘I’ll make certain that she remains here with me detective but Ana is a delicate soul, she needs this nightmare to stop.’

  ‘We will leave it at that for now then. Good day ladies; we will be in touch.’ Matt motioned to Orla and with a departing nod, they left the shop.

  Chapter 33

  ‘Well you certainly told her. What the hell was that all about?’ Orla was completely flummoxed by Matt’s verbal assault on Ana. ‘Where on earth were you coming from?’

  A smirk appeared on Matt’s face as he looked across at his breathless colleague. He laughed out loud. ‘It sounds like I caught you up in my subterfuge!’

  Orla was suddenly grinning, her cussed feelings overshadowed for the moment by the success they had achieved. Her mood was euphoric . . . she was babbling now. ‘I can’t believe we have actually solved the murders of those two poor guys. You were absolutely right in thinking that a woman had to be involved!’

  ‘It was your “Cat in the Window” that put us on the right track. Without that we would still have been chasing shadows. I know how difficult it can be working with someone like me, a “bloody know all”. I've called Janet Warley many things in the past, none of them very charming, but her pairing you with me on this case was a master-stroke. I have to believe that it was more by luck than judgement, but I digress; mentioning her brings us back to why I let off at Ana Banovich.’

  ‘You don’t believe she was involved with Dennis Parker’s death . . . do you?’

  ‘No I don’t, but we now need to put our minds to solving that case.’

  ‘You mentioned to Ana that Dennis Parker’s death was a copycat killing, and she was the number one suspect! Why did you say that?’

  ‘I've got to put a report together and if I state that Ana was not involved in Dennis Parker’s murder, it will become obvious that someone with insider knowledge . . . one of our investigative team, was. We need to keep that information to ourselves. I still want Janet Warley and others to think that we believe that all three murders were committed by the same person or persons. I need a scapegoat and Ana will be just that.

  We need them to believe that we are trying to connect her to all three murders.

  After assisting Viktor Maric in getting rid of the first two victims, Viktor fell out of favour and became the next in line; at least, that’s the plan. If we tell Janet Warley anything else, I’m worried that Kevin Crystal will know about it within the hour. They’ve got something going; she thinks we don’t know . . . and she can use our information to further her own interests. But there’s something that is even more troublesome, if we suspect a fellow officer of being implicated in a crime, we have to hand it over to the hierarchy. Let them take over the reins and leave them to it and do you know what will happen? . . . stuff all! I don’t know yet how we are going to start investigating this case without drawing unwanted attention, but I’m working on it.’

  Orla’s mind drifted back to the scene they had just left. ‘So poor Ana! . . . How do you do it?’

  ‘Do what?’

  ‘Lie with such a straight face. That poor woman, who really is a victim, has now got to worry that she might be charged for murder!’

  ‘I had to think on my feet Orla. If you can come up with an alternative approach, I’m all ears. She knows we could never make it stick: she’ll get over it.’

  ‘I still think it’s a pretty callous way to treat her.’

  ‘Do you know what Orla, I completely
agree, but we need to nail down Mr. Crystal.’

  ‘You still think it’s him then?’

  ‘Never been more certain. I didn’t tell you, but when he came up to me as he was leaving, you know. . . “the last supper”, well he told me that the last murder was definitely linked to the other two. Why would he say that?. . .Why would he put such emphasis on Dennis Parker’s death? It was bloody obvious from the evidence that it was a carbon copy of the others. All he achieved by that remark was to draw attention to himself; he’s a fuckin’ idiot. He’s guilty, I’m sure of that. He’s the only one that has anything approaching a motive . . . but proving it! . . . That’s not going to be easy.’

  Chapter 34

  Janet Warley sat quietly as Matt talked her through the events of their day, the expression on her face changing to suit each incident as he recanted the tale. His continuing references to Orla’s input gave her a satisfied feeling; she had made the right decision in putting them together.

  ‘So you still have some work to do in tying her to the latest incident?’

  ‘Yes, but’ . . . Matt looked straight at Orla.

  You’re on your own here Matt!

  He turned his attention back to his boss . . . ‘If you are putting out any press releases, it probably wouldn’t be prudent to give out too much detail.’

  ‘Matt you worry about gathering your evidence; let me worry about what the papers need to know. If you can complete your report as soon as possible . . . like today . . . that would be a great help.’ She cast a smile at Orla, ‘Detective Graham, what I’ve heard today makes me very proud to think that someone so young, coming up through the ranks, and can succeed in this way, goes a long way to proving that we are doing things right. Your contribution on this case has been significant. . . Well done! I’ll see to it that your record is suitably noted. A commendation could well be forthcoming.’

  ‘Thank you Ma’am, but I was only doing my job!’