The Darkness Around Her

by The Darkness Around Her (retail) (epub)

  Francesca made as if to look through her papers, although it was only for effect, to let the images sink in, before she asked, ‘When did you first hear of Peter Box?’

  ‘Once we’d learned that there was blood on the victim’s shoe, we surmised that she had injured her attacker. When we asked around the local hospitals, we discovered that Peter Box had received treatment for a head wound from Highford Royal Infirmary. When we went to his house, we saw what appeared to be stitches to his temple.’

  ‘What did you do?’

  ‘I asked him how he’d got his injury. He wouldn’t tell me. I asked him where he’d been on New Year’s Eve. He wouldn’t tell me, so I arrested him.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘We took him into custody. Took DNA samples from him and interviewed him.’

  ‘What did he say in his interview?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  Francesca faked surprise. ‘At all?’

  ‘Not a thing. He wouldn’t even give his name. We went through five interviews and he didn’t utter a single word.’

  ‘Was he legally represented?’

  ‘He was.’ Murdoch pointed towards Dan. ‘Mr Grant was there throughout.’

  Every one of the jurors seemed to be sitting more upright than before, some of them looking at Dan. There were murmurs from the public gallery, silenced by a glance from the judge. Dan knew what they were all thinking, that he’d shielded a murderer. He’d turned into the bad guy.

  Francesca paused so that her words could settle, before she said, ‘Thank you,’ and sat down to allow Dan to ask the questions.

  Dan was slow getting to his feet. It risked making him look hesitant, but he knew it would make Murdoch nervous. He was right. Murdoch shifted her weight and put her hands on the edge of the witness box. It was subconscious, but it looked as if she was waiting to be hit.

  ‘Until you heard about the hospital visit,’ Dan said, ‘Peter Box had not featured in your investigation at all, had he?’

  Murdoch turned towards the jury to give her firm response in the affirmative. It was a delaying tactic. It made her look assertive, but it slowed the questions down too.

  ‘You searched Peter Box’s home. Correct?’

  ‘Of course we did. We investigate cases like this thoroughly.’

  ‘Please tell the jurors what evidence you found in his home, during this thorough investigation, that corroborated the fact that he was on the canal bank.’

  Murdoch’s lips pursed for a second, before she complied. ‘His computers and phone were inconclusive.’

  ‘Isn’t the correct answer that there was no evidence?’

  She clenched her jaw before replying, ‘Yes.’

  ‘Have you investigated the life of the deceased thoroughly?’

  ‘I have. I insist on it, for the sake of the victim and her family.’

  ‘Spare us the press conference speech, Inspector. In your thorough investigation of Lizzie Barnsley’s life, does Peter Box appear anywhere?’

  Murdoch glanced towards Francesca. ‘No, he does not.’

  ‘In summary, therefore, there was no prior connection between Peter Box and Lizzie Barnsley?’

  ‘That’s right, none. We treated it as a random attack.’

  ‘What about Peter Box and the police?’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Has he ever come to the attention of the police before?’

  ‘No, he hasn’t.’

  ‘Is there any evidence that he was out on the streets that night?’

  ‘Yes, his blood was on the victim’s shoe.’

  Dan threw his papers on to the desk. ‘Don’t be facetious, Inspector. Did you check any CCTV from the town-centre pubs or on the streets, to look for him?’

  ‘We did.’

  ‘And the cameras close to the location of the attack?’

  ‘We always do that.’

  ‘And does Peter Box appear anywhere on any piece of footage?’

  ‘No, but there’s a way through the estate on the other side of the canal.’

  ‘The answer is no, I believe. Is that right?’

  ‘Well, yes.’

  ‘And how many hospitals did you visit once you discovered Peter Box?’

  Murdoch was about to answer but faltered.

  ‘Inspector, you’re allowed to say the word. It’s none, isn’t it?’

  ‘I get where you’re coming from, Mr Grant, but I lose either way. I say I stopped looking and you say that I’m blinkered. I say I carried on looking and you say that I didn’t really suspect Peter Box.’

  ‘Stick to giving the answers, Inspector, not making excuses.’ Dan’s tone had become angry, making the judge look up from his notes. ‘You found Peter Box and didn’t look any further.’

  Murdoch looked to the judge and then back to Dan. ‘That’s correct.’

  ‘And a man who had sought treatment for a wound had a wound?’

  Murdoch nodded but added, ‘And his blood was on her shoe.’

  ‘Tell the court about Meladox.’

  Murdoch’s eyelids flickered.

  ‘Inspector?’

  ‘That’s the name of the lab we use for blood analysis.’

  ‘Still?’

  Murdoch looked to Francesca but there was no help there. Francesca was looking through her notes, feigning disinterest, hoping that the jurors would think that if she wasn’t concerned, neither should they be.

  ‘I don’t know who we use at the moment.’

  Dan leaned forward. ‘But not Meladox anymore. Is that right?’

  Murdoch’s cheeks flushed. ‘No, not at the moment.’

  ‘Why is that?’

  ‘They’re being investigated for irregularities, but only in relation to alcohol and drug analysis.’

  Dan held up his hand. ‘Your force has stopped using Meladox for alleged irregularities in their testing. Is that right, inspector?’

  Murdoch pursed her lips before nodding in agreement.

  Dan slammed his hand on to the desk, making everyone jump. ‘Is that a yes, inspector?’

  Her voice was quiet when she replied, ‘You know it is.’

  Dan closed his eyes for a moment. Now was the time.

  He looked at the jury. Some of them had furrowed brows, tilted heads, as if looking at the case differently. He’d alleviated some of the negative effects of Peter’s blood being found on Lizzie’s shoe by throwing in the possibility of a mistake, but he had no way of knowing whether he’d done enough. There was Peter’s injury as well, along with the biggest problem of all: his silence.

  He had no option. Dan had to ask Murdoch about the other canal murders.

  Thirty-six

  Jayne peered over the top of the five-foot fence that separated Claire Watkins’s old street from the canal. The towpath was directly below her. A high brick wall bordered the other side of the canal, with a small factory or workshop beyond it.

  Jayne knocked on the door of the house next to the fence. A woman close to thirty answered the door.

  ‘Mandy Rogers?’

  She looked uncertain. ‘Who’s asking?’

  Jayne introduced herself. ‘I want to ask you about Claire Watkins, and Sean Martin.’

  Mandy’s eyes widened. ‘Whoah! Where has this come from?’

  ‘I know, I’m sorry that I’m digging it all up, but I was told that you were a good friend of Claire’s.’

  ‘Why do you want to know?’

  ‘It’s connected to a case I’m working on. It might help me find out what happened to Claire.’

  Mandy thought for a moment and then stepped out of the house. As she let the door close, she pulled a packet of cigarettes out of her shirt pocket. She offered one to Jayne, who declined, before lighting one herself.

  ‘Yes, I’m Mandy, and Claire was my best friend.’ She took a long pull and waved her hand as if to correct herself. ‘I have to hope she’s still alive somewhere, but’ – she shrugged – ‘I’m guessing not.’

  �
�Did Claire ever mention Sean Martin?’

  ‘The guy who went to prison for killing his stepdaughter? Not really. Why should she? She knew who he was, we all did, but we didn’t bother with him, or his girlfriend. We were different from them.’

  ‘Different? How?’

  ‘Just normal, if you know what I mean. We had normal jobs and liked the same stuff as everyone else: clubbing, shopping, having fun. Sean Martin? He thought he was better because he was being so “alternative”.’ She sneered when she said the word, making speech marks with her fingers. ‘Do you know what makes me laugh? People who try to be different always end up looking just exactly the same as everybody else who tries to be different, but they still act like they’re better somehow.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘He acted like he was some undiscovered genius. He had a guitar, would walk round with it on his back, but I never saw him in a band. The same with his writing. He was always saying how he was working on some book or other, but I never saw it in a bookshop. It was as if he lived in this bubble, and in it he was this great mind, but to ask anyone to give an opinion might pop it, so he hid away. He didn’t want to be told that he wasn’t good enough to be in a band, or that carrying books around with him didn’t make him a writer.’

  ‘Did he tell you all of this?’

  ‘Of course he did, because to him we were just silly young women, even though he was only about ten years older, if that. He’d stop and talk, but only ever about himself, as if he was chatting us up, trying to impress us. He was like that even when his girlfriend was there.’

  ‘Trudy? What was she like?’

  ‘Quiet, I suppose. She’d just stand back and let him talk, but she was always watching, a real hard stare.’ Mandy pointed to the canal. ‘He left his boat here a lot, thought it made him so clever, living some way-out lifestyle, but he used it like a pleasure cruiser.’

  ‘And you can get to Trudy’s house from the canal?’

  ‘Through that ginnel there.’ She pointed to a gap that ran between the houses opposite. Mandy frowned. ‘This is a lot of talk about Sean Martin and not much about Claire. Are they connected in some way?’

  ‘That’s what we’re looking into.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘It’s for a trial this week.’

  ‘Who is it?’

  ‘A man called Peter Box.’

  Mandy raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh I know him, all right.’

  Jayne felt a tremor. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘He had the hots for Claire big-time. He thought he had a shot with her, because he used to hang round with Sean Martin. Whenever we bumped into them, Peter would stare at Claire, as if he wanted to chat her up but didn’t have the nerve. A bit creepy, really.’

  ‘Hang on,’ Jayne said, incredulous. ‘You’re saying that Peter Box and Sean Martin knew each other?’

  ‘There was some connection with Peter’s girlfriend and Trudy. Sisters, I think.’

  ‘What’s she called, Trudy’s sister?’

  Mandy looked away as she thought about that, until she said, ‘Emily. I see her around sometimes. Works at a clothes shop in town. The one opposite that new cafe in the middle of the market square.’

  ‘I need to go.’ Jayne pulled her phone out of her pocket.

  ‘What is it? What have I said?’

  Jayne was already halfway up the street, texting Dan. They needed to speak, urgently.

  * * *

  Murdoch shifted weight again. She knew what was coming. Dan felt hyperaware of everyone else in the courtroom.

  During most cross-examinations, he didn’t think of anyone else. It was Dan and the witness, no one else there, the questions following a pattern but going their own route, one answer sometimes taking the case on a different path. But he was about to take a riskier line, and there was a whole courtroom waiting for him to make a mistake.

  Dan cleared his throat. ‘Inspector, did you look into whether Lizzie’s murder could be linked to other cases?’

  Murdoch seemed to have regained her poise, her hands clasped together, turning to the jury when answering, ‘If there was a forensic link, the system would have flagged it up on the database.’

  ‘What about a non-forensic search?’

  ‘Do you mean the cases you gave to me earlier?’

  ‘Thank you for raising them, Inspector. Earlier this morning, I gave my learned friend a list of cases involving missing women. Let me take you through them.’

  Murdoch reached down and picked up the folder she’d placed on the floor by her seat as she came into the witness box.

  ‘I’ll start with Annie Yates,’ Dan said. ‘Do you have the details of her case?’

  Murdoch reached into the folder and pulled out some sheets of paper. ‘I’ve got the crime report.’

  Dan knew he was in dangerous territory. The first rule of the courtroom is never to ask a question to which you don’t know the answer. He was about to break it, and not for the first time, because sometimes you’ve got to take a gamble and hope the truth swings your way.

  ‘What does it say?’

  Murdoch raised it to read from it. ‘Annie was a young mother who went for a walk, heading towards a park in Gargrave with her dog.’

  ‘For the benefit of the jury, Gargrave is a small village by the Yorkshire Dales National Park. That’s right, isn’t it?’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘And it’s further along the same canal that runs through Highford? Am I right?’

  ‘You are.’

  ‘The same canal where Lizzie Barnsley was murdered?’

  ‘You know it is.’

  ‘Carry on. About Annie Yates.’

  ‘She was going for her usual walk along the canal, and she simply disappeared.’

  ‘Come on now, Inspector, people don’t simply disappear. You mean she was either abducted or ran away of her own accord?’

  ‘Well, yes, those are the two possibilities.’

  ‘Or murdered and her body concealed? Another feasible reason why she hasn’t been seen since?’

  ‘Yes. Along with an accident.’

  ‘There were no concerns that Annie might have met someone else and run away?’

  Murdoch raised the piece of paper. ‘I don’t know enough about the case to give an in-depth analysis.’

  ‘What about a suspect? I’m guessing you spoke to the senior detective on the case while readying yourself.’

  ‘There were no suspects. Her husband had an alibi and there were no eyewitnesses to confirm an abduction.’

  ‘Did the dog go missing, too?’

  Murdoch frowned. ‘No, it made its own way home. The senior investigating officer commented on that. It seemed unusual.’

  ‘And Peter Box?’ Dan gestured towards the dock, where Peter stared blankly ahead. ‘Does he appear anywhere in the investigation?’

  ‘No, he doesn’t.’

  ‘Not a suspect at any point?’

  ‘No.’

  Dan turned towards the jurors as he asked his next question. He had their attention. ‘Annie Yates’s case wasn’t the only one you were asked to look into, was it?’

  ‘No, it wasn’t. You came up with all of this earlier today.’ Murdoch raised the folder in the air. ‘A bit of a rabbit out of a hat, you could say, Mr Grant.’

  The judge intervened. ‘Inspector, we could do without the argument. Just answer the questions.’

  ‘Sharon Coates was the next one,’ Dan said, ignoring the interruption. ‘She disappeared a year after Annie Yates.’

  Murdoch compared the two dates. ‘Just over a year.’

  ‘And what happened?’

  ‘She went out to work and was never seen again. Her case was different though.’

  ‘Because she wasn’t a young mother?’

  Murdoch looked through the paperwork she’d assembled. ‘She was a young mother. She had a daughter, three years old.’

  ‘What’s the difference then?’

  ‘S
he was a prostitute.’

  Dan’s eyes went to the jury, to see how they registered her answer, because Murdoch had made it sound as if she was worthless somehow.

  ‘Any press appeals? Televised reconstructions?’

  ‘Not in the notes. The disappearance wouldn’t have been publicised in the same way as Annie Yates’s murder.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because prostitutes often lead chaotic lifestyles, and a disappearance doesn’t necessarily mean foul play. She might have gone to work in a different city.’

  ‘And left her daughter behind?’

  Murdoch had no answer to that.

  ‘How far from Gargrave was the last sighting of Sharon Coates?’

  ‘Five or six miles.’

  ‘Along the same stretch of canal?’

  Murdoch glanced at Francesca. ‘Yes.’

  ‘And did Peter Box appear anywhere in that case?’

  ‘No, Mr Grant, he didn’t.’

  ‘Was anyone ever arrested in that case?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Dan glanced upwards quickly. He was thrown by the answer. He looked towards the judge, who had raised an eyebrow and allowed a half-smile on to his lips.

  ‘Sorry, I’ll rephrase the question.’

  The judge shook his head. ‘No, you won’t, Mr Grant. You asked a specific question. The inspector should be allowed to answer.’

  Dan didn’t hide his frustration when he sought clarification from Murdoch, who answered, ‘The punter who’d picked her up.’

  ‘But he wasn’t charged?’

  ‘No, he wasn’t.’

  He wondered whether he dare ask the obvious question, but then realised that he had no choice. If the question was an obvious one, the jurors would think of the same one and make up their own answer. He’d started down the route of hoping for the best. He had to keep going and hope that Francesca had been honest with him.

  ‘Does it say in your papers why he wasn’t charged?’

  Murdoch rummaged through until she found what she had been looking for. ‘There was footage of his car leaving the area, and there was only one person in the car.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  ‘That they went to a deserted spot and she wouldn’t do what he wanted, because he didn’t want to use a condom. She got out of the car and set off walking.’