The Other Killer

by Noelle Holten

  Maggie waited patiently for the details to arrive in her inbox. If the name matched another of Raven’s victims, then Maggie would have a stronger argument for stopping his chance of bail.

  The investigation would be much more difficult if Raven was released. Maggie was aware that a suspect can be tried again for the same offence only if there is ‘new, compelling, reliable and substantial evidence’ which had not been previously available.

  When Maggie had discussed his appeal with the prosecution, they advised that there was every possibility that Raven could be let out on bail while his appeal was being heard. Time was not on their side.

  Maggie’s computer pinged, and she opened the email from DI Rutherford with the subject heading: ‘Pathology Report 2’.

  Yes! She smacked her desk and smiled to herself.

  The second victim had been identified as Yvonne Green, a sex worker with class A dependency. Raven had named her as one of his victims. She scrolled through the documents on Raven’s conviction to try and get to the bottom of his relationship with Ms Greene.

  ‘What are you looking at now?’ Nathan tapped her shoulder and Maggie jumped.

  ‘Shit!’ She noticed the grin on his face.

  ‘You’ve been awfully jumpy lately. I’ll try to behave in future. Anyway, what’s that you’re looking at?’

  ‘Haven’t you checked your emails?’

  ‘Nope. Just been speaking to the COMMS team. What’s got you all excited?’

  ‘Forensics are finally back. The second victim has been named as Yvonne Greene.’

  ‘What? Isn’t that the second person Raven named?’

  ‘There’s no way this is a coincidence. No friggin’ way.’

  What was left of the day was spent cross-referencing the details. When she looked up and noticed how dark it had got outside, she shut down her computer and called it a day.

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  Back at home, Maggie looked at the cat flap and willed Scrappy to burst through and curb the worry that had been shrouding her since he went missing. She still held out hope that he would soon get bored and decide to return. As she looked out into the garden, she noticed the open back gate.

  What the hell? Not again.

  She pulled on a pair of boots, grabbed her flashlight and headed down the makeshift pathway. The latch was up but not broken. She pushed the gate, looking left and right. She thought about Raven and how he had seemed to know so much about her. She made a note to buy a padlock when she was next in town.

  ‘What are you doing down there?’ Her brother called out from the back door.

  ‘The gate was open again; did you forget to close it?’

  ‘I haven’t been out that way in ages.’ He raised his palms. ‘It wasn’t me.’

  Maggie’s forehead creased.

  ‘Sorry, I meant to put a padlock on it but completely forgot. I’ll make sure to do it this time.’ He looked around and noticed one of the neighbours walking out into their garden. ‘’Scuse me,’ he called. ‘Don’t s’pose you’ve seen anyone in our garden? The gate’s open.’

  The neighbour popped her head up over the fence. ‘Did they leave the gate open? I told them to make sure they closed it once they were done.’

  Maggie tilted her head, confused.

  ‘Oh sorry, I thought you knew, they usually leave a card through the letterbox. Some fella came round to read the gas meter.’ The lady pointed at the white box fixed to the house.

  ‘What did he look like?’ Maggie tried to keep her voice even.

  ‘Had one of those caps on. Couldn’t really see the face. He was quite stocky. Has something happened?’

  Maggie laughed but it sounded forced. ‘No. Everything’s fine, thanks so much for letting me know.’ The head dipped down and disappeared behind the fence as quickly as it had appeared. Maggie could hear her neighbour muttering to herself as she pottered about.

  Andy went back inside now that the mystery of the open gate had been solved. But Maggie stayed outside and took a few deep breaths, the uneasy feeling in her stomach lingering. She made her way to the gas box and had a look around. The cobwebs on the box remain untouched – so no one had been to check the meter after all.

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  Maggie had spent her weekend engrossed in the case and getting very little sleep. With little overtime on offer, she had popped into the office to check details but mainly worked from her couch.

  She hated Mondays and had just about made it into the office on time, but her colleagues didn’t comment as she raced to her desk and set about organizing her tasks for the day.

  ‘Hey Nathan, have the most recent crime scene photos come through? And have there been any updates from the freight cars?’ Maggie sat down and looked over at the DS.

  Nathan nodded. ‘Emailing the photos to you now, but nothing back from the cars yet. Might be a few more days.’ He walked over to her desk. Maggie opened her email and tapped her pen on her desk. When she heard the ping, she opened up the email. The first picture was a shot of the area where the various body parts had been located. Next, a severed arm. Yvonne Greene was just dumped like rubbish in the streets.

  Nathan was standing beside her now, and looking over her shoulder he pointed at the screen. ‘OK, Yvonne, another known drug user/sex worker, disappeared just shortly after Lorraine Rugman. Raven confessed to killing them both.’

  ‘Fuck sake, Nathan. This can’t be a coincidence.’ She had wanted to say more but bit her lip. Everything was pointing to Raven but they didn’t have one solid piece of forensic data to corroborate a link to him.

  ‘For the time being, I’m just following the evidence and leaving my thoughts open.’

  Maggie glared at him. She wanted to scream. ‘What the hell, Nathan? Are you seriously on the fence here? Do you think I pushed Raven into confessing?’

  ‘When did I say that? Don’t put words into my mouth. Can we just focus on the crime scenes? Tell me what you see.’

  Maggie shook her fists in frustration at how quickly Nathan had dismissed her just then, but she would choose her battles and, for now, Nathan was right – they needed to focus on the current victim.

  ‘We have fresh track marks on the arms again, which means she was probably held somewhere before she was murdered. There are no defence wounds on the hand and pathology confirms there wasn’t any grit under her nails, so little trace evidence to tell us anything. The report also highlights some sores on the back of the arm, just below the elbow and suggests these are from long periods of lying on her back. And look at those marks on the wrist. According to this, they match the ones that were found on Lorraine.’ Maggie moved on to the next photo.

  She stared at the screen and could feel Nathan’s breath on her neck. She pushed him back with her hand. ‘I can’t think with you literally breathing down my neck.’

  He pulled up a chair and sat down beside her. ‘Better?’

  She gave him a smug smile and nodded. ‘Why would they be drugged? So they didn’t fight back? I mean, being tied down would stop them from escaping, so why the drugs? Or could it be because the person who took them is afraid they might overpower him? I presume that there would be bedsores all over the body, like the one found on Yvonne’s arm, but without the torso, this would only be conjecture.’

  Nathan nodded. ‘Makes sense. The lack of defence wounds would definitely suggest something along those lines. Like you say, without the rest of the body, anything else is just supposition. Do you think the killer might have taken out his anger on her torso or head? Maybe that’s why those haven’t been found.’ Nathan flicked his eyes from Maggie to the screen.

  ‘Hmmm. My gut tells me that the killer is just giving us enough to identify the victim but not enough to let the families get any peace. These women mean nothing to the killer.’ Maggie scrolled through the next few pictures. There was little more than random body parts and the area where they had been left. Just as she was wishing for a different perspective, an email from K
ate arrived in her inbox.

  ‘What do we have here?’ Maggie opened the email as Nathan moved closer to see. ‘Shall I fill you in on a few things that Kate and I have been mulling over?’ She laughed as Nathan’s eyebrows lifted in a what-do-you-think? look.

  ‘OK, well you need to keep an open mind. I talked to Kate about what the review commission were insinuating …’

  ‘Is this about the false confession or is there something you’ve been keeping from me?’ Nathan’s eyes widened.

  ‘I wouldn’t keep anything from you. It is about the possibility that I may have elicited what they are calling an internalized false confession.’ Maggie crossed her arms waiting for Nathan to answer.

  Nathan pushed his chair back. ‘Internalized? What are you talking about? I don’t think anyone has ever said you forced anything …’

  ‘Thanks. They think that because of how I interrogated him, he may actually have believed that what he was telling me is true. After my initial fury, I thought it was important for me to reflect back on the possibility. It would kill me, Nathan, if I believed for one second that I put an innocent individual behind bars.’

  He touched her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze. ‘Why don’t we get everyone together? That will save you repeating yourself. I’ll gather the troops and meet you in the briefing room in fifteen minutes.’

  ‘Sounds good.’ Maggie tapped her desk with the pen. She stared at the computer screen and scrolled through the information that Kate had emailed over … and there it was.

  Bingo! Dr Moloney, you are a genius.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  Maggie was tired but dragged herself to the office printer. She hoped to shake the feeling of defeat that had been hanging over her like a cloud. Her interviews with Bill Raven so far made her even more convinced that he had been playing a deadly game of cat and mouse. What he failed to consider was that Maggie hated to lose, and Dr Moloney had just provided her with some hope.

  The corridor was busy, and Maggie squeezed her way through the collection of bodies, down the hall to the briefing room. Nathan called her over and pointed to a chair at the front of the room. Maggie hated having all eyes on her, but she sat and hooked her feet around the chair legs as she waited for the remainder of her colleagues to take a seat.

  Nathan did a brief run-down on everything they had so far in relation to the two victims, though Maggie could tell from the look on her colleagues’ faces that they had all this memorized. ‘Can we just take a bit of time now to listen to what Maggie is going to share with you all. Over to you.’ Nathan took his seat.

  ‘Thanks, boss.’ Maggie stood up and went to the front of the room. ‘I’ve been speaking with Dr Kate Moloney about this case after DI Rutherford and myself felt we needed a stronger profile on the killer. With Raven’s bail hearing now imminent, we’re running out of time.’ Everyone in the room was nodding, while DI Rutherford stood in the back, staring out the door with a look of embarrassment.

  ‘The review commission insinuated that I had elicited a false confession from Raven.’ Maggie hoped she had hidden her feelings of disgust at the allegation. ‘Kate and I watched the video interview repeatedly and took notes at the various points where the review commission has suggested that Raven’s responses to my questions shows his incapacity.’

  You could have heard a pin drop. ‘Kate looked up some case examples of false confessions that showed how the interviewer repeatedly questioned people to try and draw out their true behaviour. The findings indicated that a person would not be able to keep track of all their symptoms and maybe even grow a bit weary of the whole thing, thereby letting their guard down.’ As she was speaking, Maggie was visualizing her interview with Raven in her head, trying to pinpoint places where this could be put to the test.

  ‘What the offender does after an interview should also be considered. Fakers might pretend to be confused throughout an interview, like Raven, but then have normal conversations with cell mates.’

  Bethany jumped in with a question ‘How would we know how Raven behaved after your interviews with him a few years ago?’

  ‘Well, we wouldn’t – because it wasn’t something we had even considered back then. But as we interview him now, we need to catch him out on things from the past interviews. For instance, he has already changed his pig story on two or more occasions.’

  ‘Have we asked the prison officers to monitor his behaviour?’ Bethany leaned forward.

  ‘Yes. Interestingly, from what I’ve been told, and what I’ve seen when visiting Raven myself, the prison guards are very wary of him. They seem to do the bare minimum to ensure he gets from point A to point B, for instance. But there was also something else Kate said that piqued my interest. The crime itself.’ Maggie paused. ‘You see, no matter how delusional a person pretends to be, the crime scene must fit the hallucination they describe. Conveniently mixing delusions with reality is another red flag. As you will see, most of the behaviours described are so obvious in hindsight.’

  Maggie took out a DVD and popped it into the combi-television. ‘What we were looking for when we reviewed the interviews was inconsistencies in the symptoms and a tell-tale signal of sorts. Were there specific things that Raven did when we suspected he was lying?’ She hit play on the tape and pointed out how Raven’s behaviour changed as he moved from delusion to reality; how one minute he was fine but the next his eyes were rolling as he muttered about blood and animals.

  As his delusion intensified, he rocked back and forth, shouted and screamed. Until eventually the guard stood up to let a nurse into the room to help calm Raven down. ‘Here, look at this.’ Maggie paused the shot and zoomed in on Raven’s face. He had turned away from Maggie and the guard and was looking at the wall, an unmistakeable smirk of triumph across his face. It was the look of a man who knew exactly what he was doing – a man who knew that he had won.

  There was a sharp intake of breath around the room. Maggie knew this had lit a fire under her colleagues and she was excited to carry on. That is, until she saw the DI’s face.

  ‘How can a psychologist tell whether someone is genuinely mentally unstable or faking it then?’ DI Rutherford made her way to the front of the room and pointed at the frozen image. ‘We all understand why you would want to pursue this line of enquiry, but how does that fit into the evidence we have here? And the J-man, the man from the Blackwood Estate or even Harrison, if we indulge you on that one?’

  Maggie stiffened. ‘Kate said that most techniques rely on experience and observation. This is why we felt it was important to review the video interviews.’ She pressed a button on her laptop, brought up Raven’s case file on the projector and began to share the findings.

  ‘First, we reviewed Raven’s history. Had he been previously hospitalized or treated before for similar symptoms? We know he was a prolific substance misuser. But as you see here,’ she pointed to a section of the report, ‘prior to the recent diagnosis of schizophrenia, there’s no evidence to say he has any untreated mental health issues. Although it has been suggested that he probably has a personality disorder.’

  Maggie noticed the look of confusion on her colleagues’ faces and realized she would have to expand on her last point. ‘I’m not saying it’s not a recognized mental illness, but there are plenty of people with personality disorders who live normal, law-abiding lives.

  ‘We then reviewed the original crime scene, and this is key …’ Maggie reopened the video again and pressed play. She waited as her colleagues watched Raven’s responses to her questions about the crime scene and what he did to get rid of the evidence. She paused the video to point out Raven’s mannerisms. Every time he mentioned the way he got rid of evidence, his eyes would move a fraction to the left. Maggie killed the tape. ‘We all know the basic interview tests and we all know that eye movement to the left is a clear sign that he is lying.’

  ‘Finally, Kate has confirmed that if an individual has hidden the weapon, washed/cleaned up the crime
scene or taken any other steps to elude the police and avoid capture, this is a clear sign of thinking about what needs to be done, not something that someone with a genuine mental illness would do at the time.’ More murmurs around the room could be heard. Maggie was enjoying this. ‘Raven’s flat was cleaned, using an oxidised bleaching agent, so the Luminol would be affected, a clear sign of taking steps to clean up and to avoid capture.’

  The muttering got louder until Rutherford stepped forward and raised her hand. ‘Enough with the dramatics. Are you saying that Raven faked his mental illness and is working with someone else? An accomplice who then carried out the killings in an effort to free Bill, so he could live out some sick fantasy? Seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it?’ DI Rutherford placed her hands on her hips and glared at Maggie.

  ‘That’s pretty much what I’m saying in a nutshell. What I’ve been saying since this ridiculous appeal was lodged. I’m not saying that Raven doesn’t have mental health issues; they could have been drug induced and now he’s suffering the aftermath. Kate and I would like to speak to the psychiatrist at the secure unit where Raven was hospitalized. This is where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia after his conviction and conveniently just before his appeal, but there’s nothing in the paperwork to say what work was done to treat this or what medication Raven is currently on. Seems a bit odd.’

  Bethany grimaced. ‘I thought we weren’t investigating Raven? Isn’t this a waste of our time?’

  ‘We’re looking at everything …’ Rutherford took a deep breath and turned to Maggie. ‘You’ve raised a few good points and at this stage, if … and I use the term sparingly … if we get it wrong, and Raven is somehow involved in these murders, we need to make sure he doesn’t get out of prison.’

  Maggie mouthed a grateful thanks. ‘Does that mean Dr Moloney and I can make arrangements to meet with the psychiatrist?’

  Raising her hands, DI Rutherford nodded. ‘Yes, but you’ll only have one opportunity, so make sure you get all the information you need.’