‘Me too.’
‘I even remember the days before you had a skull and crossbones on the front of every packet. Before the brand name got so small you couldn’t read the blooming thing.’ Gogarty grinned in recognition: a generational sharing.
‘We used to -’ said Gogarty, but then Sanders cleared his throat, loudly, and Gogarty was silent.
They waited.
And, as they waited for the return of Gina, Dougie tapped his fingers on the desk.
Randomly at first. Then in a strict 4/4 rhythm.
Tap tap.
Tap tap.
Tap tap tap tap.
The air reeked of incense and the aircon was recycling it back with added narcotics. The click click click of the aircon syncopated with the four-beat rhythms of Dougie’s finger-tapping.
‘You’re entitled to a break in one hour forty five minutes,’ said Sanders to Gogarty.
Dougie looked annoyed. He glanced at his watch.
Gogarty nodded. He settled into silence. He frowned to himself. This had the effect of darkening his wrinkles still further, turning them into gashes carved in white flesh. He had no eyebrows, which gave him a scalped look. His teeth were small and perfect and pointy. His hands were thin, surprisingly so: surgeon’s hands on the body of an aged Celtic warrior.
Dougie tapped. Tap-tap-tap-tap.
Click click click.
Tap-tap. Tap-tap.
He waited.
Gogarty coughed.
Sanders sniffed. Still sucking on his incense stick.
Click click click.
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap.
Cough.
Sniff.
Small talk was out of the question. Interrogation was suspended. All that was left was tap-tap-tap-tap click-click-click cough sigh sniff.
Dougie cleared his throat. Then he smiled, as if remembering a funny story. Gogarty noticed.
Dougie stifled his smile.
‘What?’ said Gogarty curiously.
‘Nothing,’ said Dougie.
‘Go on,’ said Gogarty curiously.
‘I was just remembering –’
‘Yeah?’
‘A case once.’ Dougie smiled again at the memory. ‘We raided a brothel. People trafficking case you know. In the event – well, that’s another story. But we had a man undercover, miked up. And he gave us the signal and in we went. The signal was “Go go go”.’
‘Yeah I know about that,’ said Gogarty. ‘I’ve heard that phrase on TV cop shows.’ He spoke as if he were an authority on all such programmes.
‘So we smashed in the door,’ Dougie said with relish, ‘and went in mob-handed. My DS then was a girl called Sharon, a right tasty bint, racked, you know what I’m saying? Can’t remember her surname. And she charged up the stairs and our undercover man was there. On the job. He hadn’t in fact given the signal. He was just –’
Gogarty was grinning. ‘I can imagine,’ he said, imagining.
‘So our undercover man came to his senses and – withdrew.’
Gogarty laughed.
‘And he turned to face DS Sharon Whatever-her-name-was. And she said –’
‘Is that a pistol or are you just glad to see me?’ Gogarty quipped.
Dougie burst out laughing. ‘Not quite. She said - she said –’ He started laughing again and couldn’t stop.
‘Your DS is taking an awfully long time,’ said Sanders scornfully.
Dougie snapped back to attention. ‘DI, not DS.’ He looked at his watch. He exuded annoyance.
‘Useless twat,’ he muttered under his breath, but of course Gogarty heard.
‘Have you - ?’ asked Gogarty, and Dougie knew what he meant.
‘I haven’t, but I wouldn’t mind,’ Dougie said slyly.
Gogarty grinned. ‘I’d take it if it was offered, hmm?’
‘I’m with you on that,’ Dougie concurred.
‘I’d fuck her,’ said Gogarty, and his eyes were full of lust. ‘I’d fuck her with a knife to her throat, that’s how I’d fuck her.’
‘Knife to her throat,’ echoed Dougie.
‘See the fear in her eyes.’
‘Fear.’
‘And then I’d gut her like –’
‘Gogarty for Christ’s sake, shut up!’ Sanders yelled, clearly astonished at this new turn in the conversation.
‘You suck the organs out of the body, don’t you?’ said Dougie to Gogarty. ‘Before you embalm them, hmm? I bet you like to hold the heart in your palm, with blood dripping out of it, what a buzz that is, eh?’
‘Oh yes.’ Gogarty was lost in blissful memories. ‘The feel of it. The smell of it.’
‘Blood and fear and shit?’
‘Stop talking, stop talking now!’ Sanders’ tone was almost hysterical. But Gogarty was lost to him now.
‘Is that what you did to Sarah Penhall?’ Dougie asked.
‘It was,’ Gogarty conceded. ‘The knife, the heart. I fucked her first though. Then when she was embalmed, I fucked her again. I can do that. I have phenomenal sexual stamina.’
‘With a condom.’
‘Of course.’
‘You flushed the condom down the toilet, I’m sure.’
‘No, I burned it. I always burn everything, after every time.’
‘And her sister Julia. What happened to her sister?’
‘That was different.’
‘She got away.’
Gogarty nodded.
‘She wouldn’t strip,’ Gogarty explained, irritably. ‘She wasn’t afraid of me. I showed her the knife and she wasn’t afraid. She said she – she wouldn’t give me that satisfaction. So I dropped the knife on the floor and tried to kill her with my hands. And she – she got free. Took a running jump and threw herself through the bloody window. Well, then I was screwed. So I legged it. But I was safe. The warehouse flat isn’t in my name, you see. I use a variety of identities, it’s easier than you think. No trail leading back to me. So I escaped, but I didn’t get to kill her, and I didn’t get to embalm her, and I didn’t even get to –’
Gogarty broke off.
‘Fuck her?’ prompted Dougie.
‘No,’ said Gogarty regretfully.
Dougie stifled an urge to beat this man to death.
He put his game face back on.
Sanders stood up, and banged the table. It was a glass table, so it didn’t bang very well. His face was flushed. ‘This is outrageous. You’ve entrapped my client, I refuse to allow –’
‘Sit down,’ said Gogarty.
‘You imbecile Gogarty,’ Sanders began, then Gogarty too stood up. Sanders was an inch or so taller; but Gogarty was broad, and bull-necked, and clearly terrifyingly strong. For a few tense moments Gogarty dominated his slender and sophisticated lawyer, like an evil witch binding her cowering cat.
Sanders shut up. He sat down. Gogarty also sat down.
‘I won’t repeat any of that, of course,’ said Gogarty smiling. ‘Not when the cameras are rolling. I’ll deny it all. And so will he.’
‘I have to –’ Sanders began.
‘You’ll say what I pay you to say,’ said Gogarty. And there was a tell-tale flash of fear in Sanders’ eyes.
Gogarty caught the fear, and Dougie could almost smell his arousal.
‘Everything I have heard my client say,’ said Sanders to Dougie, with choked breath, putting it swiftly together in his head, ‘is governed by lawyer-client confidentiality. I will repeat nothing, precisely nothing about what we all just heard. It will just be your word against Mr Gogarty’s. And you of course -’ Sanders was smirking now. ‘– are a police officer and we know what juries think of your kind.’
Dougie pretended to flinch: savouring his impending utter victory.
‘And I won’t repeat anything I said either,’ said Gogarty, tauntingly. ‘Not when the camera’s running.’
Dougie nodded. And then he nodded again.
And then he smiled. Just very faintly. Enough to mar Gogarty’s cockiness.
&nbs
p; ‘The camera’s running now,’ said Dougie mildly.
There was a stiff pause.
Sanders looked merely confused, but Gogarty was downright anxious.
‘The camera is off, you turned it off!’ Sanders protested.
‘I pressed this button,’ said Dougie, touching the button marked CAMERA - OFF, and slipped in another smile. ‘But it’s got nothing to do with the actual camera.’
‘But you suspended the interview!’ protested Sanders.
Dougie shook his head with deadly finality. He’d never done any such thing. Sanders added it up: words not spoken = elephant trap.
The door opened and Gina stepped back in. Her top was buttoned to the throat now. Her arse did not wiggle when she walked. She sat down beside Dougie and spread out a fan of photographs of the glass desk. Images of death and eerie embalmment.
‘Okay Brian,’ said Dougie calmly. ‘Let’s talk about Melissa Anderson, Tony Leeson, Anthony McGinty, Debra Johnson, Davos Pamballis, Robert Jenkins, Ali Ahmadi, Matthew Baker, Sarah Penhall and Julia Penhall.’
He pushed the photographs of the ten victims across the table. ‘Talk me through it, moment by moment.’
‘I’m saying nothing.’ Gogarty was a mountain of stubbornness now.
‘We’ve got your confession on camera,’ Dougie said sternly. ‘That’s all it takes, these days, to sway a jury. You can’t walk away from this, Brian. So you may as well enjoy your moment in the sun.’
Dougie revealed his warmest, most inviting smile. ‘Tell me about your murders, Brian. I want to know it all.’
Chapter 19
Transcript of interview between Detective Superintendent Douglas Randall and Brian Gogarty, Whitechapel Police Station, 13/7/2023. Transcript electronically generated from the CCTV footage. Also present DI Gina Henderson and Max Sanders, solicitor for Mr Gogarty.
GOGARTY: Okay I’ll talk you, you – you fucking devious bastard you. Is that what you fucking want? Is it?
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: Yes it is Brian.
GOGARTY: Brian. Don’t fucking ‘Brian’ me.
SILENCE: 20 SECONDS.
I can see through your stupid fucking tricks. Trying to be pally with me. Brian-ing me. Fuck you. That bullshit thing with the camera!
GOGARTY LAUGHS: 7 SECONDS.
The gag of it it’s we’re so much alike, you and me. Yeah?
SILENCE: 13 SECONDS.
Yeah. It’s all about power for us, isn’t it?
SILENCE: 10 SECONDS.
Ah fuck you.
SILENCE: 12 SECONDS.
I saw the way you’ve been looking at her. You I’m talking to you, love, yes you. Your guvnor’s been staring at you, did you know that? Eyeing you up. Did you know he fancies you? He lusts after you. He doesn’t take you seriously though, you’re just a plonk with big tits to him, you –
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: Tell me about Melissa Anderson, Brian. Her Facebook site. That first message you –
GOGARTY: I’m saying nothing. I’m saying – You’ve fucked her haven’t you? This DI of yours. This DI Gina Henderson has been well and truly had hasn’t she? You’ve had her. Ha! I can see it in your eyes. You’ve fucked her – oh no oh no, I’m wrong, you haven’t! Intercourse has not occurred! But you want to fuck her don’t you? That’s what’s in your eyes. But she’s not getting it from you. I wonder why. Maybe she doesn’t fancy you? Or maybe she does? Maybe she loves you?
GOGARTY LAUGHS: 3 SECONDS.
SILENCE: 3 MINUTES 61 SECONDS.
You’re good Gina. You’re very good. I can’t read you at all. Him, he’s easy. But you’re a closed book to me. Would you like to be my girlfriend Gina?
DI HENDERSON: No I would not.
GOGARTY: You’re no fun. Why don’t you just fuck off and let the grown ups get on with this interrogation?
SILENCE: 2 MINUTES 2 SECONDS.
I gather that’s not going to happen.
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: That’s not going to happen.
GOGARTY: Fair enough. No more games then. You want a confession eh? Then have your fucking confession. Here it is. I killed them all. All the people on that fucking list of yours. I am the legendary Embalmer. And I am the Sniper too. And the Butcher of Clerkenwell, that’s me too. I am, let’s face it, the worst serial killer you have ever met.
GOGARTY LAUGHS: 15 SECONDS.
SILENCE: 1 MINUTE 11 SECONDS.
I liked Sarah. I kept her longer than the others. You noticed that did you?
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: Yes.
GOGARTY: And then she killed herself. Slashed her own throat the bitch. But that means it’s not really murder is it? She killed herself. You can’t call that murder.
SILENCE: 5 SECONDS.
Answer me you cunt.
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: We’ll charge you with kidnap but not murder in the case of Sarah Penhall.
GOGARTY: That’s more like it. It’s a deal. Eight murders plus two suicides, counting Julia Penhall also as a self-inflicted death.
SILENCE: 6 SECONDS.
I liked Sarah, as I say. Did I actually say that? Well I meant to.
SILENCE: 9 SECONDS.
Didn’t like Debra though, she was a bitch. Matthew was nice though, even though he was so gorgeous and I normally hate good looking boys. We used to play cards together. Me and Matthew I mean. Chase the Lady, though it’s hard with just two.
SILENCE: 6 SECONDS.
Melissa was my first, she was very beautiful, and she thought I was going to rape her but I didn’t. I didn’t rape any of them you know. I lied about that. Not until they were dead that is. Then it’s not really rape is it?
SILENCE: 15 SECONDS.
Answer me you cunt. It’s not really rape is it?
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: You’re right Brian, it’s not really rape, it’s necrophilia. You won’t be charged with rape. Just the eight murders, two abductions, and a manslaughter, that’s Julia Penhall. We’re calling that manslaughter not suicide.
GOGARTY: Well that’s decent of you. But it doesn’t really matter does it? I’ll still get life for the abductions won’t I? And life for all the murders. Nine life sentences, plus whatever I get for the manslaughter and the necrophilia. Plus all the other murders. I’ll die in jail won’t I?
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: That depends on what the court –
GOGARTY: Ah fuck off. I’ll die in jail. That’s what you’re hoping for isn’t it?
SILENCE: 10 SECONDS.
I don’t care, to be honest. I live a lonely life at the best of times. That’s why I do it you know. For company.
SILENCE: 20 SECONDS.
For company. How sad is that?
SILENCE: 30 SECONDS.
Answer me, you cunt.
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: It’s extremely sad Brian.
GOGARTY: You got that right.
SILENCE: 10 SECONDS.
You hate me and my kind don’t you? Us lot. The serial killers I mean. The nutjobs. You don’t mind your ordinary decent criminals, but the evil ones like me scare the fuck out of you. Because we’re human, we’re flesh and blood and we all have souls and yet we’re still evil. As evil as the demons if not more so.
SILENCE: 7 SECONDS.
Ah, I see that flicker in your eye again. You’ve lost someone you love to those bastard demons. And so you hate them. And yet you hate me even more, because I should know better. (SHOUTING) I should know better. (WHISPERING) I should know better.
SILENCE: 41 SECONDS.
I am your worst nightmare. The most prolific serial killer in history. Or at least, in living memory.
SILENCE: 11 MINUTES 3 SECONDS.
Do you want me to tell you about them? The other murders? The Butcher of Clerkenwell killings? The Sniper killings?
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: Yes I do.
GOGARTY: I thought you would.
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: You thought right Brian. I do.
GOGARTY: What do you call them these days? In the Major Incident Room, I mean? You’ve already guessed there’s just on
e killer, and just one motive. The Love Chain Murders, isn’t that what you call them? Who thought of that then eh?
SILENCE: 5 SECONDS.
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: How did you know we use that phrase? There’s nothing in the press about it.
GOGARTY: Doesn’t matter. Your theory is right. They’re all me. I’m the Butcher of Clerkenwell. I’m the Balham Strangler. I’m the Canary Wharf Stalker. And I’m the Oxford Street Sniper. Ninety-three murders in ten years, all me.
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: It’s not that many.
GOGARTY: Oh yes it is. That’s the real total. There’s some you don’t know about you see, because you never found the bodies. That’s because I buried them. Twenty seven of them, or is it twenty eight? I killed them and then I sat ’em in a chair and let the bodies decompose for a couple of months. And during that time, I made friends with them. I cooked them dinner. I cut one woman’s skull open and served a trifle in it. My Ed Gein hommage. You know who Ed Gein was, Dougie?
DET. SUPT. RANDALL: I know who Ed Gein was.
GOGARTY: He was the one. The progenitor. He did every sick thing you could think of. He made masks of human skin. A belt made of nipples. Think Psycho, think Silence of the Lambs. Think Texas Chain Saw Massacre. They all take their inspiration from the shit-for-brains banjo strumming Eddie Gein. And Art Schley. You know who Art Schley was?
Hell on Earth Page 20