The Hanging Time

by Bilinda P Sheehan

  “I’ve got to go,” he called up the stairs and without waiting for a response he pulled the door open and stepped out into the crisp morning air.

  He could tell Harriet later, once he had something more substantial to tell her.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “Chris, if you were to sit a patient down and confront them the way you’ve suggested in your report, all you’d end up with for your trouble is a blank wall. People don’t want to feel like you’re against them. They want to know that no matter what they say to you, you cannot be shocked. You’re their confidante, their sounding board. You listen and offer insights that they might otherwise overlook themselves. It’s not your job to judge their behaviour.”

  “But how can I not? If I’ve got someone who comes to me and tells me they’ve killed a bunch of people, then surely you don’t expect me to just sit there and nod at them.”

  Harriet smiled and dropped her gaze back down to the sheaf of papers in front of her. This wasn’t exactly how she’d planned on spending her morning but it wasn’t as though she had a choice in it.

  “No,” she said, struggling to keep her tone patient. If this was the best they had to offer when it came to the future of psychology, then Harriet wasn’t entirely sure the world was on the right track. “I don’t expect you to just sit there and nod at them. But the moment you let them know that you’re no longer on their side is the moment they view you as a threat.”

  Chris rolled his eyes. “I’m sure I could take them.”

  “With that kind of arrogant attitude, I’m sure you wouldn’t last very long,” she snapped.

  He stared at her in shock. “You can’t say that to me.”

  “Why not? It’s the truth. If you’re arrogant enough to believe that if you came face to face with someone truly dangerous that you could as you so aptly put it, ‘take them,’ then I’d be remiss in my duty not to point out the error of your way.”

  “Yeah, but you didn’t need to be mean about it.” There was a petulance to his voice that brought Harriet’s exasperation to the surface. How was she supposed to get through to people like this?

  The phone on her desk began to shrill and she jumped. Raising her hand in Chris’ direction as he climbed from his chair, she picked the phone up.

  “Dr Quinn,” she said, keeping her voice light.

  “Harriet, it’s DI Haskell, I tried calling your mobile but it kept sending me to voicemail.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that. I’ve been in meetings all morning. What’s up?”

  “Is it all right if I call in and have a chat?”

  “Sure. I was going to break up for lunch anyway.”

  “Great.” The line went dead and she stared at the phone in surprise for a moment.

  “Chris, I want you to work on your attitude. If you’re serious about this.”

  He shrugged as he pulled open the door to her office and stepped out into the main reception. Harriet hurried after him and was surprised to see Drew waiting for her on the chairs outside.

  “I didn’t know you were actually here,” she said.

  He shrugged. “We’ve had a bit of a breakthrough...” he trailed off and glanced over at Martha’s desk. “Can we speak in your office?”

  “Do you mind if we walk and talk?” Harriet said, pulling her coat off the rack inside her door. “I’ve only got thirty minutes to eat before my lecture this afternoon.”

  Drew nodded and Harriet retrieved her bag and the pile of notes she’d locked in her desk drawer. When she returned a moment later, she smiled at him and gestured to the door.

  “After you.”

  Drew shot her a lopsided smile as he moved out into the hall. The place was heaving with students and it took a few minutes before they were free of the main throng.

  “So, what was it you wanted to discuss with me?”

  “The phone call this morning. It was the coroner.”

  Harriet felt her heartbeat stutter in her chest. It wouldn’t take much to kill their fledgling investigation before it had even really gone anywhere.

  “He’s taken a second look at Sian and he’s willing to back us and say that her death was the result of foul play. He found traces of a benzodiazepine in her body during the initial toxicology report.”

  “And this didn’t raise a red flag why?” Harriet asked.

  “Because Sian had been taking benzos according to her own doctor to treat some anxiety she’d begun experiencing.”

  Harriet’s fingers tightened around the strap of her handbag but she kept silent.

  “Because I asked him to, he ran a follow up on the samples and found traces of flunitrazepam in her body.”

  “Rohypnol…” Harriet felt her stomach clench. “This is excellent news,” Harriet said and then caught the look of discomfort that flashed on Drew’s face. “It is great news, right? I mean it’s the proof you were looking for.”

  “It’s good insofar as it confirms what I’ve been saying all along. However, once the press get hold of this, they’re going to have a field day with it.”

  Harriet grimaced. She’d had her fair share of run ins with the press herself and she definitely wasn’t a fan. Their desire for larger readerships left them blind to common decency.

  “Are you going to exhume the first two victims?”

  Drew shook his head. “Dr Jackson thinks any traces of the drug in the body will be long gone by now. And he says he has enough tissue and hair samples to test for traces of the drug anyway.”

  Harriet felt the tension in her shoulders relax. The thought of having to approach the families for something like an exhumation order left her cold.

  “So, what are you going to do?”

  He shrugged. “Gregson wants to keep everything as quiet as he can but that’s not going to last long. Especially now that we’ve had to release Sian’s step-father pending further investigation. He’s already threatened legal action against us for slandering his good name.

  “I wanted to talk to you about that,” she said. “After you fell asleep last night—"

  “Listen, about that. I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have imposed on you like that.”

  Harriet shook her head. “It’s fine, honestly I didn’t mind. You saved me a raging headache by finishing off the wine.” She smiled up at him and had the sudden urge to reach out and touch his arm. Harriet pulled herself up short before she could, everything was far too complicated between them without further muddying the waters. Once he figured out the truth, he wouldn’t want anything more to do with her, of that she was certain.

  “Well, if you’re sure?”

  “I’m positive. But while you were asleep last night, I had a chance to review Sian’s diary. Well a little of her diary anyway.”

  “Anything we can nail that bastard down with?”

  “Not so far. Sian hints at things but part of me wonders if maybe her reticence to put her true feelings down in print is that she’s worried he’ll find the diary?”

  Drew nodded. “It’s possible. She definitely had it hidden well enough in her room, but I don’t see why he couldn’t have gone in there and dug it out.”

  “That’s what I was thinking too. It might even explain why there was some pages torn out too. After a section in the diary that has been removed, Sian grows increasingly cryptic in her entries.”

  “We’re never going to catch a break, are we?”

  “Well, that’s the thing. Sian does mention a group that both she and Aidan were members of online.”

  “What kind of a group?”

  “From her diary, I have the impression that it’s a message board of sorts for teens to share their thoughts. Probably akin to Reddit or one of those places. If we could get access to it, I reckon we would have all the proof we needed to find out what was truly going on in Sian’s life.”

  Drew scrubbed his hand over his jaw and Harriet couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t yet shaved. His morning had obviously been as active as her own.


  “You don’t think their killer could have used this board to track them down, do you?”

  Harriet nodded. “It’s possible. Some of the diary entries make mention of a Jumpsuit67 and a LifeisHELL333 and some private chats she was having with them.”

  “It’s worth chasing down,” Drew said as she paused outside one of the smaller campus coffee shops. “And now that Jackson is on board, I think it’ll be easier to get Gregson to release some more manpower to throw at it.”

  “Do you want a coffee?” Harriet asked as she slipped her purse from her handbag.

  “Nah, I owe you for this morning. Let me get this. What do you want?”

  “Large black coffee,” she said with a smile.

  She watched him head inside before she grabbed a small table beneath the shelter of the coffee shops striped awning. Despite the sun beaming down on the pavement, there was a nip in the air that spoke of winter’s claws insidiously sinking into autumn’s hide.

  Harriet pulled the notes from her bag and began to read some more of the diary entries. Mostly it was typical teenage stuff, how unfair her parents were, how much she loved Aidan and more recently how concerned she was about upcoming exams.

  The diary entries ended abruptly after the date of Aidan’s death which Harriet found both intriguing and worrying. Surely after the death of her boyfriend, Sian would have more to say, not less.

  Drew returned a couple of moments later and set a large coffee cup down in front of her.

  “I don’t know how you can drink that black,” he said, eyeing her suspiciously. “You know, I read somewhere that people who prefer to drink black coffee are secretly psychopaths.”

  Harriet didn’t bother to hide her smile as she popped the lid on her cup in an attempt to let it cool down faster.

  “Whoever told you that clearly doesn’t know how to appreciate a good coffee.”

  “So, you really think Sian might have been in contact with her killer beforehand?”

  Harriet dropped back against the aluminium chair and folded her legs, giving herself time to think before answering.

  “Her killer knew her somehow.”

  “Yeah, but couldn’t he have just stalked her?”

  She shrugged. “He could but it’s not like Sian was someone famous. I know teens these days have a propensity for posting every little aspect of their lives online but there’s still a limit to the amount of knowledge you could gather that way.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that Sian’s killer knew her and the others well enough to make their death’s look like a suicide. Now either he lured them outside at nighttime, which seems far too risky for our guy—he’s careful, methodical almost—or he was in their houses with them and subdued his victims until everyone was asleep.” She sighed. “In both scenarios, our killer is going to need a working knowledge of the houses, and the victims in order to carry out his plan undetected.”

  “So he scouted them out ahead of time.”

  Harriet nodded. “Now, I would have expected him to take trophies from their houses. Little souvenirs to tide him over until it was time.”

  “Sian’s mother said she used to wear a locket around her neck with a picture of Aidan inside all of the time.”

  Harriet nodded. “And we know it’s gone. But I think our guy would take things before the murders even, maybe even move things about. But our teens aren’t going to tell their parents about it because they already feel somewhat isolated from them. They maybe even assumed that the missing or moved items were done by their parents.”

  “Maybe that’s why Sian ripped the pages out of her journal and taped it up under her locker.”

  “Unfortunately, the only three people who could have told us that are dead.”

  “I’ll get the tech guys onto the computer stuff immediately. If our killer was in contact with them then we’ll find him.”

  Harriet stared down into her coffee cup and watched the black liquid swirl around. She wanted to believe that DI Haskell was correct that it would be as easy as he suggested but she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that no matter how much she wanted it to be true, their guy wouldn’t be so easily caught.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Adelaide Davis watched as her granddaughter hugged her mother one last time and smiled. She looked so much like Tom that it was uncanny. But seeing her granddaughter was always one of those bitter-sweet moments and as much as Adelaide cherished them, they never ceased to cause her pain too.

  “I love you,” Bianca said, squeezing Tilly close.

  “Mommy, you’ll squeeze the air out of me,” Tilly said, breathlessly her words tumbled over one another in her haste to get them out.

  “I’d never do that,” Bianca released her daughter with a grin.

  Tilly turned to Adelaide, her expression utterly serious. “I can’t bring Gruff with me today.”

  “Oh, why not?” Adelaide asked. After Tom’s death she’d had a momentary lapse in judgement and hadn’t wanted anything to do with Tilly. It was stupid and selfish but a part of her had almost blamed the little girl for her loss. She had come along and her son had left, as though he’d made way for his daughter.

  It was a stupid thought and Adelaide had regretted them ever since. Now though she would make it up to Tilly.

  Even if she had to spend the rest of her life making it up to the granddaughter who painfully reminded her of everything she had lost she would do it.

  “Because Gruff has gone missing,” Tilly said, and her lower lip wobbled.

  “Of dear, perhaps he had teddy bear business to attend to,” Adelaide said making her voice as equally serious as her granddaughters.

  “Like what?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I’ve never been a teddy bear. But I’d imagine it’s very important.”

  Tilly regarded her for a moment, her large brown eyes the mirror image of Tom’s.

  “I suppose so,” she said, thoughtfully. She turned to her mother. “Do you think Gruff is doing teddy bear business?”

  Bianca nodded. “I think Nana is right.”

  The confirmation seemed to be just what Tilly needed and she smiled up at them both. “I hope he comes home soon though and tells me all about it.”

  “I’m sure he will, love,” Bianca said. “Now you be good for Nana Adelaide and Grandpa.”

  Tilly grinned. “Can I see Freddie?”

  Adelaide returned her granddaughter’s smile with a warm one of her own. “Of course you can, Freddie is waiting for you to take him on his walk this evening. Now you go and hop in the back seat and I’ll be there in a minute to strap you in.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I just need a quick word with your mommy.”

  Tilly shrugged and skipped across the path to the station wagon parked on the drive.

  Adelaide turned to her daughter in law and noted the dark circles beneath her eyes.

  “Is there anything I should know?”

  Bianca shook her head. “She doesn’t have swimming or piano tomorrow so you can bring her straight back here after school.”

  Adelaide nodded abruptly. “I suppose you’re still going on that date on Saturday?”

  Bianca actually had the good grace to look uncomfortable and Adelaide couldn’t stop a small thrill of satisfaction from spreading through her. It was perverse. Tom was barely cold in the ground and his wife was already looking to replace him. Simply thinking about it was enough to cause a lump to form in the back of her throat.

  “I am.” She looked awkwardly at the ground. “I know you don’t approve,” she said. “But I need to do this for both of us.”

  “Well, I don’t know how you could,” Adelaide felt her temper rising and tried to suppress it. Trevor had told her that starting an argument with Bianca was pointless and he was right. But that didn’t take the sting out of it all.

  “Look, I didn’t tell you so you could berate me over it,” Bianca said sudd
enly.

  “Then why did you tell me?”

  “Because I care about you and Trevor,” she lowered her voice as she cast a glance toward the car where Tilly was sitting. “I love Tom and if you were honest about it you know it’s true.”

  “Well, you have a funny way of showing it. How could you go out and dishonour him like that? He was always so faithful to you and then you—"

  “He’s not coming back,” Bianca said, her voice hoarse. “I have to think of Tilly and my future; our future.”

  “Don’t you dare!”

  “It’s the truth. He wouldn’t want us to live like this. He’d want me to be happy and you know it. He loved me, loved Tilly and he’d want us to move forward—”

  “Not like this he wouldn’t.” Adelaide harrumphed and tossed a glance back over her shoulder at Tilly. “I’ll concede he’d want you to be happy but—"

  “Would he want me to be alone?” There was such pain in Bianca’s voice that it took Adelaide by surprise and she snapped her attention back to her daughter-in-law’s face. What she saw there cut her to the core, but Adelaide’s pain was such that she’d long since left behind the ability to fully empathise with anyone else. Part of her longed to reach out and comfort Bianca, to tell her that it was all right, that what she was doing was okay. But as she stood there on the front step, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

  “Loneliness is the price you pay for loving someone,” Adelaide said, inwardly cringing at the harsh severity in her tone. “It’s the risk you take, the risk we all take.”

  “That’s not what Tom would—"

  “How do you think I feel?” Adelaide cut in, leaning in toward Bianca so as not to raise her voice. “He was my only son. I can’t run out and replace him.”

  “It’s different,” she said. “I can’t imagine how painful it is for you but, he was my partner and now I have no-one. You still have Trevor.”

  Adelaide shook her head. “That’s not how it works. When you love someone that doesn’t just go away and you can’t just run out and get yourself another model.”