by steve higgs
Heading back down the bypass to the motorway, I asked Patience if she was doing okay.
‘Not really. I think I should go for a lie-down.' She replied.
‘Patience this isn’t really voodoo. It’s just clever tricks and some luck. He is relying on people’s superstition to make it seem real.’
‘Girl, you got cursed with spiders and snakes and now they are everywhere and trying to kill you. Those other girls got cursed with ugly and their hair fell out. It all seems pretty friggin' real to me. When your hip or shoulder or back starts hurting later – that's going to be him sticking pins in a voodoo doll. Patience has had enough. Patience wants to go home.'
‘I thought you were going to help me catch the Magdalene King and get the biggest bust ever.’
‘Not if it gets me cursed, I’m not.’
‘How about if I prove how he is doing it? I am taking you back to Kimberly’s house, so we can check something there.’
‘What?’ she asked.
‘Her toiletries. Bartholomew is a chemist. He got a double first at Oxford and his parents are both chemists. If I wanted to make a person’s hair fall out, how would I achieve that?’
‘Cast a voodoo spell?’ she hazarded.
‘Or perhaps just put something into her shampoo that would make it fall out all by itself. Same thing with her teeth and gums and the same thing with her skin. I need to get all the toiletries from her house and get the crime scene guys to check them for me.’
Kimberly's House. Tuesday, November 1st 1257hrs
Patience was tired from her shift and wanted me to drop her at her house on my way to Kimberly's. It was not much of a detour. Once I had done so, I called Big Ben.
‘Hotstuff.’ He answered.
‘Benjamin.’ I replied, resignation in my voice because he was going to keep calling me Hotstuff or toots or something until I gave up and accepted it. ‘Are you available tonight? I need you for a stakeout in a bar.’
‘What time and will there be girls there? Forget I asked. If I go there, girls will arrive shortly afterward.'
I rolled my eyes. ‘Actually, Patience is going. We are tailing the voodoo guy and he knows what I look like so I cannot go. Patience was a little reluctant but the two of you will just look like you‘re on a date. It is in the George.'
‘Patience, huh. Still trying to get a second bite at the cherry.’
‘Well, she will be clocking hours for the business the same as you so don’t worry about it. She will be there to work.’
‘How do you know he will be there?’ Fair question.
‘He has a date with Jane.' At the other end of the phone, I heard spluttering.
‘You made me choke on my tea. For a second I thought you meant Tempest’s assistant.’
‘I do. Jane set herself up on a dating website and now has a date with him tonight.’
‘Is she planning to use hand signals? She looks convincing but there is no disguising her voice.’
‘Yeah, I’m a little worried about that myself. She might have to pretend she is mute or something.’
‘Well, it is going to be entertaining if nothing else. I’m in.’
‘Jane is meeting him there at eight o’clock and we are meeting at mine at seven to go through planning and emergency escape if necessary.’
‘Seven at yours. See you then.’
We disconnected just as I was pulling up outside Kimberly's place. I looked around to see if Terrance and Trevor were anywhere in sight. They were not, and I was in a different car, so I hoped I would be able to get in and out without another showdown.
I had taken a key from Kimberly last night just I case I needed it for anything and to make sure that she was not tempted to go back there for anything she might decide she could not do without.
Walking up the path to her building, I saw that a window was open in what I judged would be her bedroom. She must have forgotten to shut it. I let myself in through her front door then froze. I could hear movement coming from somewhere inside the flat.
I crept forward into the central living area. It was open-plan like mine but there was no sign of life. Then a man in a balaclava walked out of her bathroom. There was a half second when we just stared at each other, then my phone rang in my bag and like it was a starting gun, we both burst into action simultaneously. More from habit than anything else I yelled a Police instruction to stop. Pretty much like everyone else that heard the instruction to stop, he just kept on going. He hurdled the couch, bolting for the bedroom and was out the window before I got anywhere near him. He was slick and fast. I followed him out the same window, dropped to the dirt and ran in the direction I had seen him disappear. The Magdalene Estate was a rabbit warren of pathways and alleyways that he knew better than me. I lost him no sooner than I attempted to give chase.
Out of breath from the sudden adrenalin and exertion, I staggered back to Kimberly's flat. I had left the door open, which I now shut, and had thrown my handbag somewhere when I rushed after Bartholomew. I needed my phone so that I could call this in. I could not identify the man, but I was certain it was Bartholomew.
My bag had skidded under a coffee table and was not visible which gave rise to a brief flutter of panic when I could not find it and worried it had been stolen. The missed call was from the forensics lab, I called him back.
It was Steve that answered. ‘Forensics.’
‘Steve, it’s Amanda. I have a missed call from the lab.’
‘Oh, Hi, Amanda. We have finished with your car. It is still outside your house.’
‘Oh, good. I have another job for you though. I am at a client’s house. I think the same man that put a snake in my car also broke in here. I need you to test the chemical composition of some toiletries. Can you do that?’
‘Can we? Well, yes. It is what we do. But we are rather backed up currently. How soon do you need results?’
‘This evening?’ I asked hopefully.
‘Ha!’ he scoffed. ‘Look, Amanda, if you can bring the things you want me to check, I will do what I can, but if you need us to come to you, I will lose more time.’
I thought about it. I really wanted to have this place swept for prints. ‘Will you be able to lift prints from shampoo bottles and that sort of thing?’
‘Probably yes.’
‘Okay then. I will be with you in half an hour.’
‘Super. By then I should have your fingerprints from this morning checked. If they are in the database, we will be able to ID them.’
I went through to Kimberly's bedroom to shut the window before I forgot to do so, then went around the house making sure everything was secure. I was not carrying any evidence bags but in her kitchen drawers, I found a roll of freezer bags. Using sausage tongs from another drawer I carefully took all her toiletries and packed each one into a different bag. I had twenty-six bags when I was done.
I put them all into two carrier bags I found stuffed into a box in a utility cupboard then locked up once more as I left.
Had I seen Bartholomew King? Was he the Magdalene King? Maybe. I needed to speak with CI Quinn.
Maidstone Police Station. Tuesday, November 1st 1412hrs
True to his word, Simon had the fingerprints analysed by the time I got there. Unfortunately, they were all mine.
‘Most of the prints we lifted were partials and from the driver's side. Around the door handle and places where one might expect to get a print, they were mostly smudged.'
‘Like you would get if the person last using the door handle was wearing gloves.'
‘Exactly.’
Simon wandered over to join us. ‘What’s in the bags?’ he asked.
I held them up. ‘Twenty-six different toiletry products that I believe may have been tampered with.’ I explained about the case I was investigating and my theory about Bartholomew putting something in her shampoo to make her hair fall out and something in her toothpaste to make her gums bleed.
They both nodded then Simon held out his hands
to take the bags from me.
‘The lady wants answers today.’ Steve pointed out.
‘Ha!’ scoffed Simon. ‘Fat chance of that.’
‘Can you just do a fingerprint check on one bottle for me?' Simon's expression was pained. He wanted to say no, but I could see he was wrestling with saying yes. ‘Please.' I added with a lot of sugar on it.
‘Dammit.’ He swore. ‘Okay, but just because it is you. Which bottle?’
I had taken some from inside her shower as those would be the ones in current use. I had then emptied all other toiletries from the cabinets above and below the sink for good measure. I looked through the bag until I spotted the right one, it was a cheap supermarket brand and mostly empty. The bottle had been dry to the touch though because Kimberly had not used it in more than a day. If the intruder had touched it, his fingerprints would still be on it.
‘Well, it won’t take me a moment to just check this one.’ Simon admitted. The old dusting for prints method was long gone in the modern lab. Now they pass a scanner over the object and it reads the prints off instantly. Of course, I have no idea how it works, and everyone still says they are dusting for prints when they perform the task.
Less than a minute later the three of us were crowded around a screen watching the symbol on it rotate while it spooled information. It was comparing the fingerprints it had found to the National database. It was instantaneous in theory, but it still had millions of records to check.
The computer beeped and there was Bartholomew. His record from the alleged stalking case meant his prints were forever in the system.
‘Harper, what are you doing here again?' CI Quinn's terse voice cut through the quiet air of the lab and ruined my moment. ‘Why is she here?' he then asked Simon and Steve, essentially dismissing me.
‘Well…’
CI Quinn cut Simon off the second he started speaking. ‘Have you completed the work on the Hopkin’s murder yet?’ He was utterly calm as always. Annoyingly so.
‘I did say that it would take a lot of hours to get through all the…’
Ci Quinn cut him off again. ‘Then why are you wasting time with Miss Harper.' He hit the Miss extra hard to make sure I noticed. In his eyes, I was already a civilian. I could hardly argue against his point, but he didn't need to be such a dick about it.
I was starting to feel bad about sweet-talking the guys into helping me. When Quinn next opened his mouth, I cut him off. If I was a Miss now, he had no further rank or power over me.
‘What I want you both to d…’
‘Hey, Quinn. Shut up for a second.’ He looked stunned. Like I had slapped him. ‘If you give these chaps a little leverage, they may just deliver you the Magdalene King.’
He had been about to shout something back at me when I said the name I knew he would pay attention to. CI Quinn was all about career. He wanted the big busts, he wanted the limelight and went after it at the expense of lesser cases where the victims got no justice. He had been after the Magdalene King for years. No one could prove he existed, but someone was peddling drugs in the area and everyone that ever got busted said they worked for the Magdalene King and then never said another word.
It could all just be a legend, but CI Quinn did not think so. I had his attention. ‘My latest client has been targeted by a man that has been referred to by others as the Magdalene King. The voodoo link is there, I have witnessed it for myself. He has a large following and he is a chemist, so the drug connection is also present. I need more time to gather evidence, but this is a great lead.'
‘A great lead.’ He repeated slowly. ‘How would you know to define such a thing?’ and there was the old CI Quinn back. ‘Show me what you have.’ He demanded.
I went into a deeper description of what I knew. However, as I was talking, I realised how thin my case against Bartholomew was. Not only that, all the evidence that pointed towards him being the Magdalene King was highly circumstantial.
‘This is the man?' Quinn asked, pushing between Simon and me to look at the screen. ‘Huh.' He snorted. ‘Harper the Magdalene King case was opened almost thirty years ago. This man looks barely twenty.'
‘Is it not possible that the title has been handed down or even that what started out as a legend has become real because someone, Bartholomew, assumed the role.’
He stood back and put some space between himself and the rest of us. He was rubbing his forehead in a bored or disappointed manner. ‘Harper, I want you to listen to what I have to say and to believe that I am saying it for your own good. You were never any good as a Police Officer. When you decided it was time to move, I was pleased for you because you were never going to succeed in uniform, but the role you have moved to is worse. Working for that charlatan Tempest Michaels with his ridiculous paranormal cases. You have no investigative skills with which to solve his cases, but no doubt he hired you for your looks rather than any other attribute.'
‘Are you quite finished?’ I asked between gritted teeth.
‘No, Harper, I haven’t. You need to leave the detective work to those with some ability for it. Recognise that you are wasting your time chasing around after criminals or, in your case, fake ghosts, and find something that you can actually do.’
‘Such as?’ I really wanted to hear what he had to say next.
‘Have you thought about the retail sector?' I was seriously considering kicking him in the nuts. ‘I can see that I am not getting through to you, so I will make it easier for us all. You’re banned from the station. I do not expect to see you here again unless you’re handing over your ID card and uniform. As for you two.' He addressed Steve and Simon. ‘If I catch you processing her rubbish, I will have your wages docked.'
I was raging inside, but I was trying to emulate his calm exterior, the one that never got ruffled. ‘Are you going to ignore my leads on the Magdalene King case?’
This time he laughed. ‘Harper you have no leads. Have you not heard a word I was saying? You don’t know what you are doing. Now get out and give up this foolish game.’ Then he turned and went, only he didn’t go at all. He merely went to the door to hold it open for me.
I glanced at Steve and Simon, whispered an apology for dropping them in it and I left. I couldn’t think of anything else I could do. But I wasn’t leaving it there. Not on your life. I was going to solve this case and the next one and the next one and even though I knew that CI Quinn would never acknowledge my success, I would know that he had always been wrong. Caring about his opinion was beneath me, that was what I was telling myself as he had one of my former colleagues escort me out of the station.
Arresting Bartholomew. Monday, November 1st 1541hrs
With Bartholomew's fingerprints on the shampoo bottle, I had probable cause for arrest. I could place him in the victim's house. He had worn a balaclava, so I could not identify him as the man that had fled but I was going to arrest him anyway. To hell with CI Quinn, let's see how Bartholomew holds up under some questioning.
I called Patience. ‘Hey what's up, girl?' At least she was awake.
‘I need you to come with me to arrest someone. I can place Bartholomew King in Kimberly's house. I have his fingerprints on her shampoo bottle. I think he was tampering with it.' What I most needed was to have the lab guys work out what was in the shampoo or toothpaste, so I could prove my hunch was right. That avenue was closed off to me now though so later I would need to rescue Kimberly's toiletries and take them somewhere else for analysis. Unfortunately, that would cost money, but it felt necessary.
‘Amanda, I don’t want to mess with no voodoo priest. What if he curses me?’
‘Patience it is not voodoo. There are no curses being levied. He is just a clever man using trickery to fool people. His only weapon is superstition, he uses it against people. Like you. I am going to drop the loan car off, get my car from my place and will pick you up in half an hour. Put your uniform on.' It was best when dealing with Patience to give her no option.
‘Aren't you all Miss
Business today. What if I don't want to? What if Patience has other things to do with her Tuesday afternoon?'
‘If you do this, I will make sure that Big Ben breaks his once only rule for you.’ I had no idea how to make him do such a thing, but I also knew that I had her now.
‘Dammit, girl. Why didn’t you just start with that? I’ll see you in thirty.’ She hung up.
Thirty minutes later I was pulling up outside her building. Her mechanic had been just as lecherous the second time, grinning and chewing gum while not even trying to make contact with my eyes. I threw the keys at him and power-walked back to my place. I debated going inside to change into my uniform, but it seemed just as easy to change at Patience's place. I had never thought I would put it on again, but here I was carrying it into her place.
Patience opened the door as I got to it. ‘I saw you coming. Does your car smell like snake?’
‘What does a snake smell of?’ I asked as I laid out the uniform and started getting undressed. Patience was already in her gear.
‘Huh. Good question.'
‘The car looks the same as always, but I do want to get it valeted none the less.’ As I tied the laces on my boots, Patience asked what we were doing.
‘We are going to his house in Bearsted to speak with his parents. If we get lucky, he will be there, and we can just arrest him. If he is not, I intend to have his parents tell me where he is. Once he is in custody, and away from the security of his friends, I expect he will stop his ridiculous pretence and answer my questions. Maybe he will even admit to spiking Kimberly's toiletries. The aim is to stop him from stalking her, but if I can provide proof that he has caused her harm she can pursue a civil case against him and seek compensation. The family certainly have the money and I think she deserves it.’
‘Okay.’ Patience replied as I stood up and checked everything was in place. ‘But if I see one voodoo doll, you’re on your own.’
The drive to Bearsted took nineteen minutes from Patience's place. Traffic was slow due to school-run mums clogging the roads. I parked right in front of the house again, but this time, through the fence I could see the same flash Japanese car that had been outside Mason's house yesterday. On the way, I had called Brad Hardacre, confirmed he was out in a squad car and had him come to our location.
