by Jay Nadal
“Sit down, little man, or you’re about to find four burly officers sitting on you within seconds,” Scott instructed as his hand hovered over the red dado panic strip attached to the wall. “Your call…”
Freddie glared at Scott before he lowered himself back down.
Abby took over. “So we hear that according to Mistress Claire, you like blood, pain and this notion of being cut. Is that what you did to Hailey and Rebecca? You killed them by cutting them because you got some kind of twisted kick out of it?”
A contemptuous laugh echoed around the room. “Oh look, the monkey talks. Is the organ grinder having a rest?”
Abby pushed on. “Another student has gone missing. Sam Tearl. Do you know her?”
Freddie looked up towards the ceiling in feigned contemplation. He shook his head. “Nah, the name doesn’t ring a bell. Should it?”
Scott took over. “The white substance has been sent away for forensic analysis. We’ve also taken a blood sample from Alexis to identify whether there is any class A in her system. We’ve also taken swabs from her. And we’re fairly confident that we’ll find traces of your DNA on her, and inside her. But for the time being, we’re charging you with the possession of a class A controlled substance, committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence in this case rape, and common assault.”
Scott sat back pleased with the outcome. They had the victim, forensic evidence and witnesses. Freddie wouldn’t be going anywhere for a long time.
47
Scott returned from interviewing and charging Freddie Coltrane to find Berry in an unusually happy and excited mood. “Well done, guys. You’ve been doing an amazing job in very difficult circumstances. If we crack this, the drinks are on me.”
The offer of an alcoholic reward was met with delight from the team, with Mike being the most vocal.
The joviality hushed as Scott and Abby walked up, their faces fixed with inquisitiveness.
“What did we miss?” Scott asked.
“Lots of decent progress for a change, thanks to the team. Three units have been identified that had marine engineering-based businesses in the past. They will need searching. Two are based in Shoreham, one is based in Brighton. We’ve also got a very promising lead from SCAS. Helen has the post-mortem report of victim two, who we can now confirm after DNA analysis is indeed Rebecca Thorne. Helen, do you want to brief the rest of the team on the post-mortem report?” Berry asked.
Helen nodded enthusiastically as she shuffled her papers in order. “There were raised sodium levels, and traces of diazepam found in her blood. She had some evidence of diseased organs as a result of her diabetes. Her insulin levels were life-threatening low, which led to severe dehydration.”
“Any history of her using diazepam or being prescribed it?”
“No, Guv.”
“So we can assume that the diazepam may have been used as some form of sedative.”
Helen nodded once in agreement. “There were cuts and grazes to her body and feet. Soil samples taken from her heels matched those of the soil where she was found. The oily substance also found on her heels was a direct match to that found on Hailey Bratton. Dr Hall also confirmed in her report that an ammonia-based compound was evident on the surface of her skin. In particular, the areas that showed high concentrations of irritation.”
Scott processed the information. “So once again the murderer did their hardest to remove potential traces of DNA. They’re just bloody taunting us.”
“Any sign of sexual assault?” Abby asked.
Helen flicked through her notes. “There were fresh abrasions inside the vaginal canal. There was no bruising inside her inner thighs or forced signs of penetration. But she did confirm that Rebecca Thorne had died from massive blood loss.”
Scott pointed at Mike to speak next.
“I’ve just been covering a few loose ends. I can confirm now that all staff on campus have been vetted and cleared. However, as I was saying to DCI Berry just shortly before you arrived, we’ve had the records back from SCAS on the psychiatrist from Essex.”
“Promising?”
Berry interrupted. “Definitely, they have come up trumps for the team. You’ve done well there, Mike. You just kept pushing with SCAS, and they have turned stuff around really quickly due to your persistence.”
Mike smiled, his red fat cheeks flushed with pride.
Scott ignored Berry’s attempt at winning a few brownie points from the team.
“Yes, Guv. They went through her cases going back several years. They focused on any cases where clients had issues around women or were known to harm or stalk women. They also looked at cases with common mental health issues involving self-harm, depersonalisation, voices in their head and schizophrenia. There were five names that they came back with. I passed them on to Raj so he could cross-reference.” Mike glanced towards Raj and gave him the opportunity to carry on the feedback.
“Thanks, Mike, I took those five names and crossed them against hospitals in the Essex region. Only one of those names popped up. Brian Hopper. He saw Sally Anne Martin for three years. He was prescribed diazepam and lithium carbonate from the mental health unit in Colchester. He was diagnosed with bipolar. Hospital records confirm that he has not renewed his prescription in over four years.”
“So unless he’s getting his meds from somewhere else, he could be unstable?”
Raj nodded. “That’s what the hospital feared, too. This is where it gets more interesting, Guv. Sally Anne reported him to the police for harassment and stalking, but no further action was taken other than a warning. Essex Police didn’t see it as a problem as no harm had come to her.”
The team exchanged discreet glances whilst Berry remained tight-lipped. They all knew that Berry would have known about this incident at the time of her disappearance.
“Anything on his whereabouts?” Scott asked, having decided not to push that point but merely make a mental note.
Raj shook his head. “No fixed abode. He was in Essex but disappeared four years ago. Sally Anne’s notes highlighted the fact she authorised a doubling of his dose on the day she disappeared. Hopper was in her diary for that morning.”
There was a brief silence as the team reflected and absorbed the latest credible information.
Scott stood by the incident board and looked at the young faces. He looked almost apologetically at them, wishing that he’d been able to stop this before anyone had lost their lives. “Raj, get his picture out to the press. Make it an urgent appeal for help with our enquiries. Speak to the press officer so we word it in a way that doesn’t scare him off. The last thing we want is him going underground.”
Scott had one of his gut feelings again. Optimism replaced the sense of gloom that had hung over him like a dark stormy cloud.
48
By midday, the earlier enthusiasm had turned to quiet optimism. Hopper’s image had been released to the online press channels who were quick to start publicising the appeal. However, Berry was unhappy with the rate of progress being made to track down Hopper or indeed where he might be hiding out. Berry wasn’t one of those officers who liked to follow, preferring instead to lead. Scott taking charge of the new line of enquiry ruffled her feathers.
As Scott walked back to his office, Berry was in hot pursuit and very vocal about how she felt. “Scott, we need to draft in a few more officers to speed things up. I’m sure that the team are doing the best they possibly can, but it simply isn’t good enough. Meadows will want concrete action quicker than you can hum the national anthem. If you can’t speed this case up, then I will,” she barked.
“With all due respect, Ma’am, do you not think that my officers are working flat out?” Scott shouted back.
Berry’s voice punctured the air. “It’s not enough, Scott.”
“I think I know my officers a damn sight better than you, Ma’am.”
A stunned silence descended upon the team, unsure how to take the heated discussion taking place
in Scott’s office. Raj commented on how DCI Berry was giving Scott a run for his money, and how DCI Berry had some balls which the guv seemed to lack. His comment was fast rebuked by Mike who sprung to Scott’s defence. This only led to a secondary heated debate between Mike and Raj which Abby had to quell.
Abby hadn’t known the team to ever splinter in this way, which concerned her as she glanced back at the ensuing discussion that raged in Scott’s office.
Scott had closed the door to his office as Berry continued to tear into him. “You need to get answers quickly, Scott, because from where I’m standing you are hardly impressing me as a strong team leader,” she said sternly.
“May I remind you, Ma’am, that before your arrival we were doing absolutely fine.”
“Do you call losing an officer fine? Because from where I’m standing, that’s one almighty fuck up that you were in charge of.”
Scott’s door flew open, as Berry stormed out. Her parting words hung in the air as the team sat in stunned silence exchanging glances that seemed to suggest “What the fuck just happened?”
Abby instructed the rest of the team to crack on with their work whilst she marched into Scott’s office and folded her arms in consternation.
Scott raised his hands in surrender, he looked tired and weary. “If you’re going to have a go, then join the back of the queue. I think I’ve had enough for today.”
“No, I’m not going to have a go at you. You’re coming with me for a cup of coffee, and I won’t take no for an answer.”
Starbucks wasn’t the unusual type of coffee shop that Scott and Abby visited. The coffee was hit-and-miss at the best of times. They had to weave in and out of the many prams and buggies that were dotted around the huddles of mums having their weekly catch-up.
The incessant chatter, and babies screaming only added to Scott’s pounding headache. Abby had grabbed a skinny, caramel latte for herself, and an espresso shot for Scott, in the hope it would spark him awake.
An uneasy silence hung between the pair as Abby stared at Scott, trying to figure out what was wrong. She had known him long enough to know that he was behaving out of character. She had always known him to be strong, assertive and fair, qualities that he had displayed in both his personal and professional life. She cupped her latte in both hands and rested her elbows on the table. “As your friend, what the fuck is up with you? Whatever is bothering you is seriously affecting how you’re behaving. And that worries me.”
Scott slouched down in his chair. He glanced up, his eyes look saddened and lost, much in the way a child would if they were being told off at school. He shook his head in despair.
Abby raised an eyebrow as if to suggest “Is that it? Is that all you’ve got to offer?”
“I’m sorry,” Scott offered weakly.
Abby pulled a disappointed face, as the edges of her mouth turned down. “Don’t apologise to me. If anything, you should apologise to yourself. Listen, I care about you. You’re my friend, as well as my colleague, and for my sins, my boss. If I didn’t give a shit, I wouldn’t be sitting in the middle of a coffee shop listening to kids screaming in stereo. This is off the record…I want to help. I want the old Scott back, the one I admire and the one who is actually a bit of a laugh.”
Scott pulled his head back and stared at the ceiling not knowing where to start. “Off the record?”
“Cross my heart, or you can have all the chocolate in my chocolate drawer at home.”
Scott rubbed his chin and grimaced as a sense of awkwardness rippled through his body. “DCI Berry is blackmailing me.”
Abby’s eyes widened in disbelief. She was unsure if she had heard Scott correctly. She shook her head in bewilderment before she said, “Come again?”
Scott shrugged. “She is blackmailing me.”
“How…er…why?” Abby spluttered as she tried to wrap her head around Scott’s admission.
“Because she’s that type of person. I told you I had fucked up. And now the past is coming back to haunt me. She likes control. She likes getting her own way, and a lot of what she does is to ramp up her own ego.”
“So…what has she done?”
“She basically told me to sleep with her, and if I didn’t, she’d go and tell Meadows that I had been uncooperative in the sharing of this case. If I didn’t play ball she was going to say that I had tried it on with her one night and that she had had to fight me off.”
“No fucking way,” Abby spewed in anger. “You can’t let her get away with this…wait. You didn’t…” Abby paused, letting her words trail off.
Scott shook his head dismissively. “The other day when you burst in on us, she had been suggesting that we mix business with pleasure, and if I didn’t, she’d go to Meadows. And then last night she wanted me to go and see her at the hotel she’s at.” Scott’s eyes stared into the distance and beyond Abby. His mind was lost in a cloudy haze of confusion and desperation.
“Tell me you didn’t go?” Abby pleaded.
“I sat outside the hotel in my car for over thirty minutes. I seriously didn’t know what to do.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” Abby replied, spitting the words out.
“Trust me, I did think about it. But what could I have said? Hi, Abby, I’m just parked outside Berry’s hotel, and I’m trying to decide whether to go in and fuck her or throw away my career.”
Abby nodded. If Scott had called last night and had told her where he was, she wasn’t sure how she would have handled it. “So that would explain the atmosphere between you two this morning.”
Scott didn’t have an answer.
“You have to go and tell Meadows. Explain the situation to him. You can’t let her get away with this.”
“No chance. Meadows is already in Berry’s pocket. He can’t praise her highly enough. He’s even discussed the possibility of her taking Harvey’s post. I’m out of favour with senior management here. And something like this would be their opportunity to seriously question my position and my leadership qualities. It’s perfect ammunition for them to say that I’ve lost the plot. Who are they going to believe? DCI Berry who’s got a spotless record, a high achiever, or a DI, whose actions led to the death of an officer on his watch, and someone who’s never got over the loss of his family? She’s even threatened to tell Cara about our history, and that I tried it on with her.”
Abby sat back in her chair, “So you’re just going to let her walk over you? I thought you are better than that?”
“I am.”
“Scott, show some mettle and fight back. You’ve got me, and Mike at least who would back you to the hilt.”
As much as he appreciated Abby’s words of encouragement and a sharp telling-off, he knew there was only one course of action and the consequences could go either way.
49
“There’s nothing nicer than the female form. And you, my dear, are one of God’s unique creations with your milky white skin, and flame-red hair. You have vibrancy, a fire, and essence that many can’t come close to matching.”
He had gone to great lengths to enjoy this moment with her. Stripped naked and lying beside her on an inflatable mattress, he studied her body. She was lean and taut, just the way he liked it. She had a thinner frame than Rebecca and Hailey to the extent that her ribs protruded, but, he relished the opportunity to explore her body further. He stroked her stomach, the fine downy hair added a warmth to his touch. He leant in and breathed in her scent that still lingered on her skin. A hint of watermelon soothed and calmed him. She always wore the same body spray from Hollister, Crescent Bay Mist.
His fingers trembled as he offered the lightest of touches down one side. He loved the way that he could follow the curve of her body as it tucked into her waist before moving out to her hips. He studied the dense mass of pubic hair that nestled between her legs, a bright, fiery, orange mound that covered the most sacred part of her. His erect penis twitched and jerked as it rested on her thigh. His heart raced. His breath was rapid an
d deep.
He nestled his face in the nape of her neck and licked her skin. He moved in closer and felt the warmth of her flesh across his body. Their torsos, their thighs and their feet connected as one. She groaned. Her semi-consciousness left her defenceless as he took his time to enjoy these few precious moments with her.
Her eyes flickered, her mind desperate to wake her sleepy body. No matter how hard she tried, everything below her shoulders didn’t respond. As each minute passed, her mind slowly stirred into wakefulness but something didn’t seem right. She wanted to move, her mind needed her to move, but her limbs didn’t respond.
She felt a sharp stinging pain in her chest. Her senses were fast waking as her eyes darted around the darkly lit room. Panic gripped her body as her stomach tightened, and her breath caught in her throat. The face of a man loomed into her vision, a twisted smile on his face.
The harder she tried to move, the more paralysed she felt. Nothing moved. In her mind, she fought back, but that’s all it was, her imagination. She was powerless and confused. Her vision sharpened, the fog partially lifted as she fought hard to remember what had just happened to her. Her pupils dilated in fear as she recognised the face. It was him. How? Why?
He lowered his head as he licked the beads of deep red blood that had burst to the surface of the open wound. His lids flickered as her sensual taste whisked him away to a place of deep, dark eroticism. His penis responded as it jerked and released over her thigh.
Guttural screams erupted from her throat; as she thrashed her head violently, powerless to fight him off.
He smiled to himself before saying, “At least you’ve got a bit more spirit than the other two. Sally thinks so, too, that’s why we’ve chosen you. I guess you like me as much as I like you, ey?” He stroked her matted hair away from her face, so he could admire her clean, natural beauty.