Your Life or Mine

by Vicki Bradley

  She was alone. Her skin prickled and she realized she hadn’t checked the room before he’d gone. She got up, leaving the open menu on the bed, and walked towards the tall curtains. She looked behind them, but there was no one there, only her own reflection in the dark glass. She looked on edge; her eyes alert and focused.

  She turned to the bathroom. The air con in the room whirred above her. She grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. The small room appeared empty. She pulled the shower curtain back. No one. There was a rap at the door. Her body tightened.

  ‘It’s me,’ Kowalski called.

  She closed her eyes for a second, relief flooding her system. She let him in. He had his suitcase with him. ‘You know it’s only one night, right?’

  ‘It was just quicker to grab the bag.’ He dumped it in the corner and then inspected the minibar. ‘I don’t know about you, but I could really do with a beer right now.’

  ‘You’re paying for half of this, just so you know.’ She took the beer he offered her, and he clinked bottles with her.

  ‘Here’s to Edward Barratt,’ Kowalski said. ‘May he rot in hell.’

  ‘Cheers to that.’ She took a swig from her bottle.

  Chapter 22

  Tuesday 1 February, 10:15

  ‘It looks like a copycat to me.’ Barratt leafed through the notes. He was surrounded by the redacted copies of the file, which he’d spread out all around him. It looked like he’d been obsessing over it all night. ‘Not as good as me, admittedly, but copies never are. Still, I admire his handiwork. Leaving Emma in the police station – inspired, if not a bit obvious. And the note. It’s beautiful.’

  ‘Anything new you can offer?’ Kowalski asked. ‘I mean, something you’ve come up with yourself, and we’ve not just fed you.’

  ‘Your boyfriend’s jealous,’ Edward grinned at Loxton. ‘Should he be? Do we have something going on here?’ He let his eyes travel down her body. She’d picked a high-neck shirt and trouser suit to shield herself, but his gaze still bothered her. She knew he only did it to rattle her.

  ‘We need anything you can tell us today,’ she said. ‘This is serious. I can’t give you what you want if you don’t meet me halfway.’

  ‘Okay, okay.’ Barratt put his hands up in surrender. ‘Is that for me?’

  Loxton nodded. ‘You need to stand at the back of your room and face the wall.’

  Barratt tutted but his eyes lingered on the bag.

  ‘Back wall,’ she said again.

  ‘There’s no trust in the world anymore.’ He did as he was told.

  She shoved the McDonald’s breakfast bag through the hatch and slammed it shut, just as Barratt sprinted towards the hatch, his hand whipping towards her, trying to grab her, but she snatched hers back with plenty of time.

  ‘Thank you for this.’ He took the bag from the hatch and his eyes gleamed at her. She realized she’d just been very lucky.

  ‘Fucking hell, Barratt. What the fuck?’ Kowalski was by her side, pulling her away. Loxton shuddered at her stupidity. She knew better and berated herself for the slip.

  Barratt carried his McDonald’s back to where he’d been sitting earlier in his nest of paperwork, the incident already forgotten for him. Loxton wouldn’t forget so easily, her heart racing at the thought of what he might have done. She glanced at her fingers and then back at Barratt.

  ‘Where’s the profiler gone? I liked her.’ Barratt asked between mouthfuls of a hash brown. ‘There was something about her.’

  ‘She had to get back to London. Sorry to disappoint you,’ Kowalski said.

  ‘Tetchy, Mr Policeman. How many girlfriends have you got?’ He put his hands up as if to placate Kowalski and then carried on tucking into his breakfast. ‘God, this is good. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten anything but prison food. You could have got me something more special than a McDonald’s breakfast, though, Alana.’ He dripped brown sauce onto the papers scattered around him on the floor. ‘Emma raped and murdered, and Sarah and Gabriella missing. They hadn’t worked together for two years, their only time together a few golden years on the murder team where they got lucky and caught me. The MO used to kill Emma Robins is very similar to mine, I’ll give you that. Even a note with the body talking about war and naming Emma and you.’

  Loxton nodded.

  He sipped some coffee from a polystyrene cup. ‘That does sound like something I’d write if I was in a temper. I stored my bodies in the disused train tunnels. Have you checked there?’

  ‘We’re checking. Cadaver and blood dogs are being put though the lines,’ Loxton said. ‘But there’s a lot of work going on in the underground and new lines are being put in. The CCTV is much better too. Someone would have noticed.’

  He bit into his egg muffin. ‘Delicious. You definitely brought this in, didn’t you?’

  Loxton nodded.

  ‘Good. If Turner had got his hands on it, he would have put mouse droppings in it for sure. He’s an animal. Disgusting how he treats other human beings.’

  Loxton tried not to rise to the taunt, but as she watched Barratt, she wasn’t sure he was goading her. He meant it.

  ‘We’re wasting time here,’ Kowalski said to Loxton. ‘He doesn’t have a clue; he’s just fucking with us.’

  ‘Can’t use the train tunnels as it’s too risky, but he needs to replicate me as much possible,’ Edward shifted through the paperwork, ignoring Kowalski. ‘Tried the sewers yet?’

  ‘No.’ Kowalski said. ‘That’s quite a jump.’

  ‘It’s what I’d do.’ Edward shrugged and took another large bite out of his egg muffin. ‘Nearest geographically that you can get and aesthetically similar if he’s trying to capture the atmosphere of my kills. Dark, cold, dripping tunnels. And it may be how he got Emma Robins’s body into the police station.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ she asked.

  ‘Big old public buildings like police stations and hospitals have extra-large sewage access points, because they have a lot more use. Hundreds of people using them daily. Blockages can happen. Easier for maintenance work to take place on public service properties; no private residents refusing access. If he’s using the sewers, then he might have brought her body up through a sewerage access point.’

  ‘But there was no smell,’ Kowalski said.

  ‘And no forensics either?’ Barratt asked.

  Kowalski shook his head reluctantly.

  ‘He would have cleaned her meticulously at the crime scene. And I mean meticulously.’

  ‘He has a point,’ Loxton said, trying to ignore Barratt talking about Emma’s murder like it was a job to be admired. ‘We’ll check that out.’ Loxton thought of the marks on Emma’s body that looked like she’d be bound up with multiple ropes. Maybe they’d been used to lower her into and pull her up from the sewers.

  ‘When do I get my visits reinstated and my letters?’ Barratt asked.

  ‘Not until this is finished,’ Kowalski said. ‘If it’s one of your new friends, we don’t want you giving them ideas.’

  ‘You could be missing a crucial lead keeping me cooped up here with no one to talk to.’ Barratt finished the last piece of muffin and smacked his lips together, satisfied.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Kowalski said. Loxton knew he was keen to get away from Barratt. She was too.

  ‘Any other insights?’ Loxton asked.

  ‘There’s only two women left for him to target, if you’re right that he’s avenging me. How is Jane?’

  ‘You don’t need to worry about that.’ Was he bluffing or did he know something?

  ‘You do though, Alana. You’re on the list.’

  ‘Thank you for reminding me, I’d completely forgotten,’ she said.

  ‘I hope he cuts you up nice. I would love to see that. You were always my favourite, you see. Do you think he knows that? Do you think he’ll leave you until last? Make you watch all the others get butchered first? Each killing’s going to get worse. More depraved, as you’d put it. Just l
ike I did. Until the finale.’ He stood up and moved in front of her, the glass the only thing separating them.

  ‘I didn’t know I was your favourite,’ she said.

  ‘Come, come, Alana, don’t be modest. I’ve never been shy about that. If I were him, I’d leave you until last. You’re the dessert. You know you shouldn’t, it won’t be good for you, but you can’t help yourself anyway. That old sweet tooth gets the better of you.’

  Kowalski stepped forward and slammed his hand against the glass. Barratt didn’t even flinch. Kowalski turned to Loxton. ‘Are we done here? We’ve wasted nearly a whole day on this prick, and all we’ve achieved so far is giving him a McDonald’s breakfast and listened to his malicious bullshit. He doesn’t know anything. Let’s get out of here and leave him in his cage to rot.’

  Loxton was surprised by Kowalski’s outburst in front of Barratt. He was losing his cool. She stared into Barratt’s eyes. She got the feeling he was holding back.

  ‘Is that it, Edward? Is that all you’ve got to share? Is DC Kowalski right and you don’t know anything?’ She waited a moment, not shifting her gaze from his eyes.

  ‘That’s all I’m sharing for now. Try the sewers. You won’t be disappointed.’ He smiled. ‘Oh, and, Dominik, you won’t be able to save her. Don’t beat yourself up about it, okay. It’s too late. He’s coming for her.’

  Kowalski moved towards the hatch and opened it. ‘Feeling brave in there? You’d better hope you get to stay in there, because if you ever set foot outside, I’ll kill you.’

  Loxton grabbed Kowalski’s arm, pulling him away from the hatch.

  Barratt hadn’t moved. ‘Easy to taunt a man locked in a glass cage. Not so easy to catch a killer. I’m glad you’re afraid, Dominik. You should be.’

  ‘You know who this is, don’t you?’ Loxton narrowed her eyes at Barratt.

  He smirked at her. ‘That’s why you’re my favourite. You always were a clever girl. Who do you think tried to get me out of prison?’

  ‘This is pointless.’ Kowalski shook his head. ‘Turner was right. He’s full of bullshit and fucking psychobabble. He’s making it up. DI Meyer said this was a waste of time.’

  ‘You’re not going to tell me, are you?’ she said to Barratt. ‘You’re enjoying this too much.’

  ‘I want him to turn you into a shivering, quaking mess, as you watch your friends die and it’s just you left. I want you to piss yourself in fear as you cower before the first cut. He’s going to slice you up into tiny little pieces for what you’ve done to me. For what you’ve done to both of us.’ He turned away from her. His power game over. He’d shown the cards he’d wanted to, and now he wasn’t playing anymore.

  ‘What do you mean, “both of us”?’ she asked. ‘Who are you talking about?’

  Barratt ignored her, facing the back of his cell.

  ‘Barratt, who the fuck is doing this?’ she shouted, desperate for him to tell her. ‘They’re making you look like an amateur.’ She tried to goad him into saying something, but he stayed resolutely facing the wall. Their audience with him was at an end. He’d told her just enough to make her believe he knew something. Enough to taunt her.

  Loxton and Kowalski sat in the car in the bleak prison car park. There was no other living soul around, and the grey clouds above them seemed to hang lower in the sky than normal.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Loxton asked Kowalski.

  ‘I’m fine, he’s just something else.’ Kowalski’s face was rigid with rage and Loxton reminded herself that Kowalski had been Emma’s lover and Gabriella’s friend. Although he pretended he was okay, he clearly wasn’t.

  ‘Sorry, I should have warned you better. I lost it too.’ She hated to admit that she’d let Barratt get to her. Emotions never helped anything, and she needed to get a hold of it, because if Winter realized how on edge she was, he’d take her off the case. And then she’d be powerless to do anything.

  ‘Let’s get out of here,’ Kowalski said, throwing an uneasy glance around the car park. Loxton had never seen him so anxious.

  ‘Best update Winter first,’ she said and put her mobile on speakerphone. ‘Sir, we didn’t get a lot out of Barratt and it could all be rubbish. But he said that whoever tried to break him out of prison was responsible. He suggested the killer would be using the sewers. And he said the killing was revenge for both of us. I don’t know what he meant by that. There might have been more than one person involved in the Barratt murders.’ She relaxed a little, feeling Barratt’s grip fading.

  ‘We’ll start letting his mail through and monitoring his responses,’ Winter said. ‘I’ll reinstate his calls, but make sure someone’s listening and recording them all. Visiting’s a bit trickier. There’s a waiting list to see him, and from the checks we’ve done so far, no one’s standing out. But there’s still quite a few to get through. Lena’s working on it.’

  ‘This one’s clever,’ Loxton said. ‘He won’t have left a link that obvious behind.’

  ‘I’ve got the team going through every correspondence Barratt’s ever had while he’s been inside, and I’ll get them to look at the prison staff too. He’s had hundreds of letters since he’s been in there. And the guard, Turner, admitted that since he was posted to guard him, he’s been binning most of the letters and not letting Barratt see them.’

  ‘It could just be a game Barratt is playing to waste our time,’ Kowalski said.

  ‘Maybe, but we can’t take that chance,’ Winter sounded tired. ‘We’ll go through the sewer schematics of London, but it’s like a city in its own right. We’ll start at Camberwell. I think he’s right, though, the police station does have one near the outhouse for the bins and it’s not covered by CCTV. And there was an access point at the warehouse Sarah disappeared from.’

  She thought for a moment. ‘When he said “both of us”, maybe he meant that he didn’t work alone on his murders. Maybe there were two of them? We never thought so, but we could have been wrong. During the investigation he came up as a loner. No family or friends.’

  ‘He has his fan base now,’ Kowalski said. ‘Do you think he was referring to one of them?’

  ‘Maybe,’ she said, although it didn’t feel right. Then again, she thought, nothing felt right about this case.

  ‘I’ll let Lena know and tell her to really focus on the fan base, with the hypothesis that it might be a group working together,’ Winter said. ‘If that is the case, it’s going to be hard to identify them. It’s rare, but not impossible, to get psychopaths working together, and thanks to the internet it’s easier for them to find each other than ever before. And we should review Barratt’s associates at the time he was active. Maybe an old friend has decided to get revenge on his behalf. Someone you didn’t identify at the time.’

  ‘But why now?’ Loxton asked.

  ‘Maybe they were in prison themselves,’ Kowalski said. ‘Or lying low after the trial. Let’s get back to London and focus on people he knew who have only just got out.’

  Loxton hated the idea that they’d missed something when they’d been investigating Barratt’s murders. That there could have been another person involved, maybe someone she’d spoken to at the time, but she’d missed the signs and Emma’s life was the price.

  Chapter 23

  Tuesday 1 February, 15:30

  When Loxton and Kowalski got back to the office, they found Lena with stacks of letters around her. She was sorting them into three piles: high-risk, medium-risk and low-risk. Loxton glanced at the high-risk pile; it was already five case files high.

  ‘Are there really that many dangerous people to go through already?’ Kowalski asked.

  Lena looked up. ‘I’m afraid so. Turns out a lot of people wanting to visit a serial killer aren’t as wholesome as you’d think.’

  ‘Good point,’ Kowalski said, sitting next to her and absently leafing through the letters.

  ‘I’ve been going through Barratt’s psych reports from Broadmoor Hospital,’ Lena said. ‘After two years
there are already quite a lot. He told his psychiatrist that Krystian Szyman´ski was his main inspiration.’

  ‘What sort of profile are we looking at here for the current killer?’ Loxton asked.

  ‘Assuming this is a serial killer?’ Lena said. ‘At the moment we only have one murder, so it’s hard to make a profile from that. This is just a preliminary sketch, but from the nature of the attack on Emma Robins and the control the killer showed afterwards, I’d say he’s not an impulsive person. So probably more mature, in his thirties and disgruntled with life. The way the killer stored her body and then managed to deposit it in Camberwell station, avoiding all the CCTV cameras and not leaving any forensics behind, keeping her alive, the brutal rape and strangulation – I’m thinking ex-military. Probably saw significant combat and is suffering from serious PTSD. He’s fallen from grace. Maybe works in some sort of on/off manual labour now and lives alone. He’s had plenty of space and time to plan this killing and carry it out. He must have stored her somewhere secure and secluded and he was hiding her for a few days without detection. A derelict building would be perfect. Perhaps he’s now in construction?’

  ‘Not the sewers like Barratt thought?’ Loxton asked.

  ‘Possibly, but Emma’s body was clean,’ Lena said. ‘And it sounds like Barratt is involved in this in some way. He would try to lead us astray. If the killer works in construction or maintenance of some sort, he would know of some abandoned buildings in London. It would explain how he knew to get past Camberwell Police Station’s CCTV cameras if he knows building schematics. How to break inside without leaving any trace. Maybe he’s even been involved in some work there in the past? Knew the layout? Has there been any new work done?’

  ‘I can find that out about Camberwell,’ Kowalski said. ‘And I’ve briefed POLSA search teams about the sewers. They’re going to take dogs down, but obviously it’s a challenging environment for them, and it’s going to take a long time. It’s a huge area.’

  ‘I’m betting on the sewers,’ Loxton said. ‘I don’t think Barratt could help himself; he wanted us to know that he’s got insider information. His weakness is showing off. Giving us a real lead would confirm his involvement without us being able to do anything about it. As you say, the sewer system is huge.’