Before I Wake

by Clare Revell

  “I thought I heard something. Why didn’t he wake me? I’d have helped.”

  “He knew you had to work today. He’s sorry to have missed you.”

  Zander glanced at the clock. “Well as I’m up, would you like a hand with the milking anyway? Think I can just about remember how to do it.”

  Mum smiled. “I wouldn’t say no. Dad said if he isn’t back before you leave, he’ll call you tonight. He really wants to talk to you.”

  “I just wish I could stay longer.” Zander really needed to have this conversation with his father.

  “You have a killer to catch. It’s fine, we understand that.”

  By the time Zander left the farm at a little after six-fifteen, his father still wasn’t back. He sat in the car and texted Isabel.

  Leaving now. Will need coffee when I get back.

  The reply came almost immediately.

  Make your own. Not your slave.

  How rude.

  Yup. Way too early to be polite. How was your trip?

  Really good. Hope to be in work by 8:30 traffic permitting.

  Will tell the Guv you're skiving if you're not here by 9:00.

  Thx partner.

  YW. Drive safe.

  Always.

  Zander put the phone onto charge and slid the handset into the space in front of the gear stick. He set off, making good time until the traffic on the notorious M25 started to slow. It was stop-start for around half an hour, but he decided he’d stay on rather than risk coming off and being caught in the local traffic by going across country. He sighed when the cars finally came to a halt. Of course, it would be just past a junction, now he’d be here for ages.

  Half an hour later, not having moved an inch and with nothing on the radio to suggest why they were stopped, Zander reached out and rang Isabel, taking care to put the call on speaker.

  Isabel answered on the second ring. “Hello, you’re late. It’s gone nine.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “You’re really late. I told the Guv you’d taken a seaside day.”

  He rolled his eyes at the phone. “I wish I had. Can you do me a massive favour? Check the traffic on the M25? I passed junction eight clockwise and haven’t moved since.”

  “One sec.” He could hear her typing. “OK. There’s a five-car pile-up between junctions nine and ten.”

  “Thanks. I’ll come off at junction nine when I can. Haven’t moved in about half an hour. Guess I’ll see you when I see you.”

  She laughed. “Yup. Better go, the Guv is waving at me.”

  Zander chuckled. “Wave back. See you later.” He ended the call just as the first of the emergency services raced past him on the hard shoulder.

  Settling back in the seat, he re-tuned the radio, and began to pray for those caught up in the accident, the first responders, and the medical staff in the hospitals.

  4

  Isabel glanced over at DI Holmes. “Zander just rang. He’s caught up in the tailbacks caused by an MVA on the M25. He just passed the junction eight turn off so can’t do anything unless they reverse the traffic on the carriageway. He has no idea when he’ll be in.”

  “Could be a while then,” DI Holmes grumped.

  “Yup.”

  “OK. Then you and I handle the Barney Terrance interview once you’ve filled me in.” He perched on the desk. “But first, why don’t you drive?”

  She held her breath for a few seconds before replying. “I was assaulted by my driving instructor. After that I never wanted to be alone with a man in a car, never mind learn to drive.”

  “I can understand that. However, I do need you driving. I’ll arrange lessons for you. Do you have a current provisional licence?”

  She shook her head. “No. I cut it up, and I never saw the point in renewing it. I didn’t intend to learn to drive ever again.”

  DI Holmes narrowed his eyes in an obvious sign of displeasure. “You’ll do it today. I can countersign anything that you need a signature on.”

  “I don’t remember what the number was.” Isabel shifted on her chair.

  “Stop making excuses. The DVLA will know that.” His voice now had the irate don’t-mess-with-me tone. “You need to drive. So, you’ll sort your licence.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He inclined his head. “Good. Now, fill me in on Saturday night and Barney Terrance.”

  She picked up a file from her desk. “We went to interview Susan Higgins on Saturday evening after we spoke to Rev. and Mrs. Eke. Apparently, Lexi was meant to be staying the weekend with her, and as Lexi hadn’t been reported missing, we thought it possible that Susan was injured. We got there around midnight—late for a house call, but not for a concern for welfare. Mr. Terrance opened the door, then shut it in our faces. When Susan came to the door, she refused to speak to us, and claimed she didn’t know who Lexi was. It was almost as if she were afraid of something. She shut the door on us. Zander heard her scream, which gave us probable cause. He broke the door down, found Mr. Terrance assaulting her. We arrested him.”

  DI Holmes took the offered file and perused it. “Susan Higgins? Any relative of our friend Dominic?”

  “Older sister. Strange, she insisted she didn’t know Lexi as one of Dominic’s paintings was hanging in Lexi’s front room. Her parents said it was a gift.” Isabel paused. “Well, her father did. Her mother barely said a word.”

  “Not unheard of to react like that. Wait a minute. You went interviewing at midnight?”

  “The Ekes said that Lexi was meant to be at Susan’s. Surmising that perhaps Lexi was snatched from there, and Susan was injured, we decided to check it out. Anyway, we figured it was better than leaving it until morning when she’d hear about the murder on the radio news. We were up anyway. But as I said, she refused to talk to us.”

  “Hmmm.” Her boss closed the file. “Once we’ve spoken to Mr. Terrance, I want you to go to the hospital and speak to Miss Higgins. Find out what’s going on.”

  “Will do. And I’ll check on Will and Mr. McNally at the same time.” One of the team she worked with, and Zander’s grandfather, were in hospital, potentially due to the Slayer, although that was pure speculation at this point. Will and his wife had been involved in a car accident shortly after victim number five had been found. And Lexi had worked for Zander’s grandfather, who was unconscious following a vicious assault in his home.

  “Hopefully, Mr. McNally will be awake now and can tell us who attacked him.” Isabel grabbed her paper pad. She grinned at DI Holmes. “Least I won’t need parking money as I’m catching the bus.”

  He shot her a scathing expression. “That’s not the point. You will have driving lessons. End of debate. Come on, he’ll be waiting.”

  Isabel followed DI Holmes down to the custody suite. The prisoner was already in an interview room, a uniformed officer standing against the wall.

  As they entered the room, Barney Terrance stood. “I can explain this. I never hurt no one. It’s a misunderstanding, pure and simple.”

  DI Holmes pointed to the table. “Sit down.” He eased into the chair, waiting for Isabel and the prisoner to sit before speaking again. He started the tape. “Interview with Barney Terrance. Officers present are DI Holmes, DC York, and PC Watkins.”

  Isabel opened the folder. “You know why you’re here?”

  “Like I said,” Mr. Terrance repeated. “It’s a misunderstanding. After Sue shut the door, she fell. I was helping her up when you and your thug broke down the door and hauled me away. I want him done for assault. And criminal damage.”

  Isabel raised an eyebrow. “You were helping her up, with a knife in your right hand and your left around her throat? Interesting way of doing it. Perhaps you’d like to give me your version of events.”

  Mr. Terrance folded his arms and remained silent.

  “How well do you know Susan Higgins?” Isabel asked.

  “No comment.”

  DI Holmes turned the photos around and laid them on the table.
“Did you cause these injuries?”

  “No comment.”

  “I don’t intend to charge any of my officers with anything until you give me a full statement.”

  “Not with her here.” He scowled at Isabel.

  Isabel didn’t flinch. “You have something against female officers? Or is it just women in general?”

  Mr. Terrance leaned across the table. The uniformed officer moved quickly and pulled Mr. Terrance back into his chair properly. Mr. Terrance leered at Isabel. “No offence, love, but I know a lot of dead women, and I don’t want to jinx you.”

  “Like whom?” she asked.

  “Iona and Ashlyn for a start. Then there’s Esther and Lexi…”

  Isabel’s heart sped up, and her throat tightened as the man listed four of the six victims of the Slayer. “Lexi?” she asked. “How do you know Lexi?”

  “She was my girlfriend. We broke up, and I met Sue on the same day. Sue’s different. Not so uptight and her father isn’t so…controlling.”

  Isabel flicked pages in the folder. “Lexi told me her boyfriend was a cop.”

  Mr. Terrance hunched over. “That’s right.”

  “You’re a cop?” DI Holmes asked.

  Mr. Terrance folded his arms. “Private one on the Deerwood Estate. I know how this works.” He sneered. “Your twenty-four hours are well up. Courts are open now. You either charge me or let me go.”

  Isabel glanced sideways. “Sir, can I have a word?”

  DI Holmes nodded. “Interview terminated.” He looked at PC Watkins. “Take him back to his cell for now. I need to make a few phone calls.”

  “Then I want a lawyer.”

  DI Holmes jerked his head. “That is your right. If you don’t have one, I can have the duty solicitor come over.”

  Isabel left the room and waited in the corridor. As soon as DI Holmes appeared and shut the door, she gazed at him. “Deerwood Estate? We have to charge him.”

  “We can’t even do assault right now without Miss Higgins pressing charges. I’ll get the custody extended for seventy-two hours as you witnessed a violent assault. Get over to the hospital and speak to Miss Higgins. For now, all we have connecting him to the Slayer is that he knows four of our victims.”

  “He also knows Lexi is dead. We arrested him before we’d told anyone bar her parents.”

  “What about Miss Higgins?”

  Isabel shook her head. “Nope. She shut the door on us before we said a word. She also insisted that she didn’t know anyone called Lexi.” Isabel’s phone beeped. She pulled it from her pocket and glanced at the screen. “Zander says he still hasn’t moved. He spoke to the police on site, and they said it could be hours yet, but they’ll see what they can do. Please, can you send the police chopper for him?”

  DI Holmes gave a short laugh. “Tell him no.”

  Isabel grinned and typed quickly. Guv says sorry but no.

  The reply was instant. Bet he's not sorry at all.

  Isabel laughed. “He doesn’t think you’re sorry at all.”

  DI Holmes smiled tightly. “He knows me too well.”

  Isabel turned back to her phone. Not in the slightest. Everyone is very stressed. I'm about to go to talk to SH at HG. Going to check on will and your grandad while I'm there. Try not to get too bored whilst we do all the work.

  She put the phone away. “Guv, about your wife possibly being the next victim of the Slayer. I hope I didn’t overstep the mark with saying anything. I know I was wrong, but…”

  DI Holmes shook his head. “You did the right thing. I’ve sent her and the kids to stay with her parents for now. Dane has done the same with Amy and the girls.”

  “What about school? Term doesn’t finish until the end of July. It’s only June.”

  “It’s sorted. And before you ask, Dane is on a moment’s notice to head off the second the baby comes.” He tilted his head. “Maybe I should send you away as well. After all, you are on the list.”

  “Me and over a hundred other women. And about the list. I’ve been wondering how our killer got hold of it. It took me the threat of a court order. It might be worth the tech blokes checking over the New Wine computers in case our killer hacked them or knows someone who works there. He had to get the information somehow. Especially with the new data protection laws, it’s not supposed to be something easily accessible.”

  DI Holmes nodded. “I’ll send Tony and Frank up there.”

  Isabel nodded. “I’ll be at the hospital, then at the morgue for the autopsy.”

  ~*~

  At the hospital, Isabel sat by Susan Higgins bed, notepad open, pen poised. Not that she was getting much information.

  Susan rubbed a hand over her battered face. “He seemed nice enough. We’ve been going out a few days.”

  “What happened on Saturday night?”

  “I fell. He was helping me up. I guess he hadn’t put the knife down—he’d been cutting lemons in the kitchen to put in our drinks. I was only drinking lemonade, but it does taste better with real lemons in it. Barney was two-thirds of the way down a bottle of something he’d brought with him.”

  Bile rose in Isabel’s throat. She could see herself right there, trying to rationalise the put downs, raised hands, the one time he’d hit her. It was her fault, never his. She’d asked for it. It was an accident. She’d been so stupid. “Susan, we saw him hit you.”

  Susan bit her lip and fidgeted on the bed.

  “We can put him away, so he can’t hurt you, but we can’t do anything without you filing a complaint.” She paused and placed a gentle hand on Susan’s upper arm. “A few weeks ago, I was told the same thing.”

  Susan straightened, then winced, clasping her side. “Really?”

  Isabel nodded. “It wasn’t easy to tell anyone, for me more than most. I’m a cop, right? I should be able to defend myself better. But I told someone, and he got me the help I needed. There are things we can do without formal charges to start with. If you’d like us to.”

  Susan nodded. “Please.”

  “Then I’ll get a uniformed officer to come and speak to you this morning.”

  “Thank you.” Susan leaned back against the pillows. “You were asking about Lexi. I know she’s dead. It was on the news this morning. Is that why you came over on Saturday night?”

  Isabel nodded. “You said you didn’t know her.”

  “Barney told me to say that. Or I’d end up dead like the other six girls.”

  Isabel caught her breath. Six? No one knew about Lexi at that point. “What time did he arrive at your place on Saturday?”

  “About nine-thirty. He looked like he’d been in a fight. His shirt had blood on it. Asked if he could use the washing machine. I had stuff to do anyway, so I threw a load in. It’s probably still in the dryer.”

  “We’ll need that shirt.”

  “You can have it.”

  Once outside the ward, Isabel rang DI Holmes. “Guv, it’s Isabel. I’ve spoken to Susan Higgins. We need to send a uniformed officer over to do a PIN as she wants help but not a formal complaint yet. She said he threatened she’d end up dead like the other six girls if she said anything. At that point, it was only a few of us who knew there were six. We need that extended hold on him.”

  “Will do.”

  “One other thing. When he arrived at Susan’s place, just after nine-thirty, he was covered in blood and asked to borrow her washing machine. She put a load on and then stuck it in the dryer, but I’m hoping there will be enough left to test.”

  “I’ll send Steve and Harry to collect her keys and then get the shirt and start background checks. Frank and Tony are on the way to New Wine. I’ll get the extended hold organised.” He hung up.

  Isabel looked at the phone. The Guv must have been taking lessons from Zander on how to end a phone call. She dropped the handset into her bag and headed along the main corridor to the HDU. Since it wasn’t visiting time, the nurse tried to prevent her access to the ward. She played the officer on duty
card and, within seconds, was by Will’s bedside.

  Will’s smile wasn’t so lopsided today. “Hi, Isabel. How are you?”

  She pulled out the bag of toffees she’d purchased on the way in. “I come bearing gifts. Zander said grapes, but I figured you’d had your fill of them by now.” She lowered her voice as she placed the carrier bag onto the bed. “There’s a sandwich from the shop in there as well. And a bottle of squash.”

  “You’re an angel,” Will said. “I hope to be on a general ward later this afternoon. Then home by the end of the week. How’s work? I see there’s been another murder.”

  “This one is personal.” Isabel filled him in. “I can’t stay any longer. It’s not visiting time and any minute now the nurse will catch on I’m not talking about your accident.”

  He glanced at the desk then back at Isabel. “Red sedan,” he said, telling her the make and model. “Driver had dark hair. I don’t remember anything else.”

  Isabel smiled. “That’s a help. I’ll let the blokes know, and I’ll tell them to get their butts over here and visit tonight. Will you let us know what ward they transfer you to?”

  “Sure. And thanks for this.”

  She grinned. “You’re welcome.” Her phone beeped. “Better go. The post-mortem starts in ten minutes, and I don’t want to be late.”

  “Going alone? That’s brave of you. Even I won’t do that.”

  She nodded. “Not like I have a choice at the minute. Zander’s parked on the M25. ’Sides, I’m a big girl now.” Isabel rose, left the ward, and ran down the corridor to ICU. She asked at the door for an update on Mr. McNally. He was still unconscious even though they’d lightened the sedation. She promised to come back later and strode to the main exit. Fortunately, the building housing the morgue was only a quick walk away, and she made it only a few minutes late. Heading up to the observation room, she hit the intercom button. “Here.”

  Arend Van Houten glanced up. “Good afternoon. No Zander today?”

  “He was parked on the M25 last I heard. What have we got?”

  “Same MO as before. Same pen, duct tape, blue fibres, and white towelling dress. The underwear is also the same. Did you ever track it down?”