by BL Pearce
Rob introduced himself and asked for particulars. The second body could be some ancient burial site or another pet dog. He had to be sure.
“It appears to be the corpse of a young girl,” Wilson said, putting paid to any of his theories that it wasn’t related. “She’s got long hair and looks to be wearing a school uniform of some sort. I can’t tell much more than that, the bottom half is still underground.”
His heart beat faster.
“Is she covered by anything? A sheet, for example?”
“Yes, sir. It looks like a thin piece of material but it’s badly damaged and falling apart.”
“Thank you, Wilson. Have you called SOCO yet?”
“They’re on their way, sir.”
He nodded to himself. Wilson seemed an astute and capable officer. Intuitive too, to take the dogs back to the crime scene. Rare, in his world. “Okay, and you’ve cordoned off the site, have you?”
“Yes, sir. We’ve called the local police who’ve set up a perimeter.”
“Good work, sergeant. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Er, sir, there’s one more thing.” The hollow wail of the wind down the line made Rob’s hair stand on end.
“What’s that?”
“The dogs are going berserk. I think we may have found more possible gravesites.”
Rob was shocked into silence.
When he recovered, he said, “Do you mean to tell me there may be more than one body?”
“Yes, sir. Judging by the dogs’ behaviour, I suspect there might be multiple bodies in this particular section of the common.”
Holy shit.
His voice was croaky when he replied, “Keep going, then. I’m leaving now.”
Bisley Common was more sombre now the clouds had gathered. Rain threatened, Rob could smell the dampness in the air. Shadows flickered across the heath, causing them to pull their jackets tighter around them.
They parked where they had before and marched towards the dense wood where Arina’s body had been discovered. This next burial site was less than twenty metres from Arina, in a small clearing. Above, the murmuring leaves provided a restless and unnerving commentary.
By the time they got there, the entire clearing had been cordoned off, a circle of police tape wound around the first line of trees. Rob was pleased to see the local cops were preventing walkers from stopping and were taking down the details of anyone who crossed the line.
Rob and Mallory showed their warrant cards and ducked under the cordon.
“What have we got?” he asked Liz, who was on her knees beside the freshly dug grave. A mound of dirt lay to one side. A crime scene technician painstakingly took samples of the soil around the body.
There were four other spots highlighted by police markers. At first glance, Rob wouldn’t have known there was anything buried there. The ground coverage looked completely normal. Leaves, twigs, small weeds. Then, he noticed the texture. The soil was coarser, lumpier, and the weeds were thicker than elsewhere in the clearing.
“Young, early teens, no obvious cause of death,” she barked, glancing up at Rob. No hellos this time.
Rob walked around her and stared into the shallow pit. A weathered face with ghostly hair stared back at him. She could have been fourteen or forty, it was impossible to tell. Liz was still gently removing dirt from her face.
He averted his gaze. “Can you say how long she’s been there?”
Liz sighed. “It would be a guess at best, but I’d say maybe two years. Not as long as the other one. This body is in better condition, her clothing more intact.”
Rob nodded. So, up until two years ago, this guy was still active. If it was a guy. He couldn’t see a woman doing this. Women serial killers were rare. His mate, Tony had told him that.
“She was posed the same way as before. Hands over chest.” She nodded to a plastic bag on the side of the grave. “Those were in her hair.”
Rob picked up the packet and studied the two blue hair clips identical to the ones Arina was wearing. His breath quickened.
“Same killer.”
She nodded. “I’d say so.”
Rob exhaled slowly. The investigation may have started with Katie Wells, but Arina and this child were certainly linked. Clear as day. He studied the other markers.
“That where the other bodies are?” he asked Liz.
She inclined her head. “So I’m reliably informed. Those are the locations the dogs pointed out.”
“Did you see them?” Rob looked around for Sergeant Wilson and the K-9 unit, but they were nowhere to be seen.
“Yep, when I got here there were four dogs lying on those exact spots, good as gold, waiting for their masters. So well trained. My Abigail would have been off like a shot at the first hint of a hare or a field mouse.”
Trigger too.
“Where is DS Wilson now?” Rob asked.
Liz raised her brows. “They decided to widen the search area. Didn’t he tell you?”
Rob felt like he’d been punched in the gut.
“Not more bodies?” Mallory gasped.
She shrugged again. “Who knows. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Whoever this person is, this is the spot where he disposes of his bodies. This is his burial ground.”
A chill passed over him, and he thought he saw Mallory shiver.
Rob pointed to the other markers. “How are we going to get through all this? Are there more forensic teams available?”
“Just mine, I’m afraid.” At his incredulous look, she added, “Resources outside of London are stretched thin. We don’t often have so many corpses at one time. But, my two lab assistants are on their way. They can do a lot of the preliminary work, uncovering the bodies and taking soil and tissue samples. This’ll be a good learning exercise for them. Once we have all the victims back at the mortuary, I can perform the post-mortems and maybe we can get an idea who these lasses are.”
They’d be here all day and almost certainly most of the night, if not into tomorrow as well.
“Right, let’s set up shop.” He turned to Mallory. “Get catering out here, and let’s make sure there’s enough grub to last twenty-four hours.” As SIO he had the magical ability to summon coffee, sandwiches, portable toilets, anything the forensic team might require. “Does that sound about right?”
Liz nodded wearily. “That’d be great, thanks Rob.”
“Anything else, you let me know.”
He and Mallory walked to the edge of the clearing, out of earshot. “It’s going to be a long day,” Mallory remarked. “We going to stick around?”
“No, we’ll be of more use back at the station,” he replied. “There’s a lot of groundwork to cover. Besides, we’d just be in the way. Let’s let them get on with it and we can come back later, once they’ve unearthed the other bodies.”
Mallory glanced at the other police markers. “Four more, excluding this one. That’s one more than we accounted for.”
A beam of sunlight broke through the trees and illuminated the markers before they fell back into shadow. A blackbird cried disdainfully overhead. He was right. Apart from Arina, they had identified four other missing girls. There were five graves here. Potentially five additional victims of the same killer.
The hairs on his neck stood up. “Possibly more, if the dog squad finds anything else.”
Mallory fell silent. The enormity of what they’d discovered was hitting home.
“We’d better go further back than five years.” Rob said. “We stopped there because that’s when Payne was released from prison. But he’s no longer a suspect.”
“Shit, the murders could go back years.” Mallory stared at Rob. “Maybe even twenty years.”
Serial killers don’t stick to jurisdictions.
“Could be the tip of the iceberg.” He thought of Jo’s sister, Rachel. How many others? “The killer could have left a trail of buried victims across the country; we just haven’t found them yet.”
“Manchest
er?” Mallory whispered as if saying it any louder would make it more plausible.
Rob swallowed over the lump in his throat. “At this point, anything’s possible.”
36
“How many?” bellowed the Chief Superintendent as Rob stood facing him in his office.
“At least five, sir. Maybe more. We don’t know for sure yet. We’re still waiting to hear back from the K-9 unit, and Dr Liz Kramer, who’s onsite with her team.”
Before he’d come into this meeting, Liz had called to say they’d started work on one of the other graves and it appeared to be the same scenario. A young girl, early teens, posed, clips in her hair.
“Fucking hell.” Lawrence sank down into one of the armchairs usually reserved for the Police Commissioner’s visit. He stared at Rob with haunted eyes. “So we have a bona fide serial killer on our hands?”
“It looks that way, sir.” Rob cringed inwardly, waiting for the explosion that never came.
Instead, Lawrence leaned back and closed his eyes. “All young girls, Rob. For fuck’s sake, what kind of demented person does that?”
Rob knew he was thinking about his own daughters, both of whom were grown up now and at university.
“A very disturbed person, sir.”
“Do we know who they are yet?”
Rob shook his head. “Not yet. We won’t know until Liz does the post-mortems, provided the victims are on file.”
Lawrence nodded. He knew how it worked. If the children hadn’t been reported missing or there were no dental or medical records available, they wouldn’t be able to identify them.
“Keep me posted. As soon as you know how many, I’ll update the Commissioner.”
“It probably won’t be before tomorrow,” Rob said. “I’m heading back out there this evening to see how they’re getting on.”
Lawrence grunted. “I don’t suppose we have any more resources to throw at it?”
“No, sir. We’ve already gone way over budget and Dr Kramer said her unit is stretched to capacity.”
“Very well. We’ll just have to wait, then,” he huffed.
“Sir, I suggest we put together a task force to work on this. Once we know who the girls are, we can put together a pattern of his movements. We may even have to go back further. There’s no saying how long this guy’s been active?”
“Jesus,” groaned Lawrence.
“There might be more girls that we don’t know about. Different counties. Spanning a number of years.”
“You mean like Manchester?” He glanced up shrewdly.
“It’s not impossible, sir.”
He scowled. “Wouldn't that make the killer very old?”
“Not especially. If Rachel – that’s Jo’s sister – was his first, or one of his first victims and he was in his early twenties, that would put him in his mid-forties now.”
“Yes, of course.” He sighed heavily. “Okay, Rob. Pick your task force and let’s get going on this. I can’t believe it’s happened – again – but now it has, we have to be beyond reproach. This is the biggest case this department has ever seen. All eyes will be on us and the powers that be won’t hesitate to send in Serious Crimes or even the NCA if they think we can’t handle it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“That means meticulous records. Everything documented. Any fuckups and it’s both our heads on a block.”
“Is this grounds to get Jo over here? We could use her insight and she has the original case files on her sister’s disappearance.”
He shook his head. “I’ve already spoken to Pearson. He wants her there. I’ve got no sway over how he runs his people.”
Rob gave a curt nod. Jo would find a way, she always did. There was no way she’d sit this one out.
He hadn’t told her about the multiple graves yet. He’d call her tonight, when he knew more. At the moment, they had two definites and three more in the ground. Once they knew for sure they were all linked, all victims of the same child killer, he’d fill her in.
Right now, there was work to do.
The official task force consisted of Rob as SIO and Mallory as his deputy. DS Bird and DS Freemont, the two most experienced sergeants in the department would handle the main investigation into the missing girls, aided by DS Burns, the soft-spoken American who’d impressed Rob with his astuteness and attention to detail, as well as DS Malhotra who had built a rapport with the public over the course of the Katie Wells disappearance.
DC Jeff Clarke and DC Mike Manner would provide assistance where needed, mostly analysing CCTV footage and witness statements, and do most of the groundwork.
“You’ve landed a big one, Rob,” remarked DI Galbraith, his ruddy complexion more beetroot than bronzed.
“How was Tenerife?” asked Rob.
“Magnificent. You should try it sometime. It’s called a holiday.”
The gregarious Scot split his time between Richmond and the bigger, busier police hub in Hounslow. That ought to have been his job, but Yvette’s breakdown and the additional time he’d taken off work in the first half of the year meant he’d let that opportunity pass. There’d be others.
“Let us know if you need a hand,” Galbraith said. “I’ve got additional resources in Hounslow, if needs be.”
“Thanks Clive.” Rob shook his hand. “I’ve already stolen a couple of your boys.”
He gave a wide grin. “I noticed. They’re good lads. Make sure you put them to good use.”
Galbraith was an extremely competent SIO and ran his teams by the book. He’d trained Evan and Harry well, and Rob could see the effects of that in his own investigation.
“Will do.”
Rob moved his task force into Incident Room 3. It was more spacious than the other two, with a twelve-seater boardroom table in the middle. From now on, his unit would work here on their laptops, accumulating, analysing and documenting evidence as they progressed with the investigation.
Mallory was already wheeling in the whiteboard from Incident Room 2 containing the background information on Rosie, Elise, Chrissy and Angie, the four girls who’d gone missing in the last five years.
As he waited for everyone to get set up – underneath the table was an alarming web of wires, power points and USB hubs – Rob removed the photographs and details pertaining to Katie from the board until it was only Arina’s wide-eyed gaze that looked down at them.
“Right, everyone. We have officially two linked deaths and potentially three more, not counting Arina. That’s six bodies found at Bisley Common. I suspect they’ll all be posed in the same way, covered with a shroud and clips in their hair. Celeste–” The young DC raised her brows. “Keep in constant contact with Dr Liz Kramer at the crime scene. As soon as she has an update on the other bodies, let us know.”
“Yes, guv.”
“Also, I want you to attend the post-mortems and give us a full report as and when they’re completed, in case there’s anything else we need to know. That includes the identity of the victims, and any DNA or other evidence found on the bodies.”
“Got it.” She gave a firm nod, her cheeks flushed. This was her biggest role yet, but she was more than capable. Rob wanted to give her more responsibility, she’d make a good sergeant.
“Jenny and Will, look into our missing girls and see if you can find a link between them. We don’t know for sure if they’re the ones found at Bisley yet, Celeste will keep us updated, but until we have an ID for our bodies, keep digging. He’s targeting them somehow, and we need to find out how. Jeff, Mike, talk to their friends and family, revisit witness statements, that sort of thing. Jenny and Will will advise you, so take your instruction from them.”
All four team members nodded. Having worked with Rob on the revenge killings earlier in the year, they knew what was at stake. Finding that connection was vital. It was what would lead them to the killer. If they could decipher his pattern, locate his hunting ground, they’d be a lot closer to catching him.
“Evan and Harry, I think
we need to go back further than five years. There might be more missing kids we don’t know about. There’s no telling how long this guy’s been active. It could potentially be as far back as twenty years. Expand the search nationwide and look at those that have never been found as well as bodies that were discovered. Try to find similarities with our victims, staging, covered, hair clips, that sort of thing. Flag anything that could possibly be related.”
“Yes, boss,” said Evan.
“Gotcha.” Harry beamed. He was enjoying this.
Things were happening fast now that the bodies were being uncovered and there was a sense of excitement in the incident room.
“Obviously, not a word about this to anyone. Not your better halves, not friends, and definitely not the media. We need to keep this under wraps for as long as possible. It won’t be long before the press discover the multiple gravesites, and then we’re going to be issuing press releases and updates every few days. Harry, get ready for that.”
The good-looking DS nodded and brushed an imaginary speck of dust from his shoulder. Celeste giggled, while Evan shook his head and grinned good naturedly.
They were a great team, he was lucky to have them.
“Let’s get to work.”
“They’ve pulled up the third body,” Celeste said, going to the white board. She wrote: Body 3 down the left-hand side underneath Body 1 and Body 2. As of yet, they had no idea who the victims were.
“Also posed?” Rob asked.
“Yes, just like the others.”
“Clips?”
She nodded. “Two blue ones.”
“Age of the body?”
“Not sure yet. Dr Kramer thinks possibly two or three years old, but it’s also a teenage girl.”
The muscles in his jaw tensed. “Okay, thanks Celeste.”
“Also, sir. Dr Kramer said to let you know the press has arrived.”
“Shit.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I knew they’d get wind of it soon.” A cordoned off area in the middle of Bisley Woods was bound to attract attention. Not that there was anything to tell. Nobody knew who the victims were, and camping out beyond the cordon, they wouldn’t have a clear line of sight.
