Persecution

by R. C. Bridgestock

  Winnie stood up straight, and continued matter-of-factly. ‘Looks like the whole world knows that Detective Inspector Charley Mann, from Peel Street CID, has once again got her man,’ she said, proudly, ‘and, before you say owt, I’ll have it back on Bobbie’s desk before he arrives.’

  ‘It’s not just me, it’s a team effort,’ Charley reprimanded Winnie. ‘Oh, and it’s the Divisional Commander to you and me, not Bobbie!’ Charley chortled.

  Winnie gave her a cheeky wink. ‘I’ll have you know that he knows that I know that he could have a criminal record had I reported him.’

  Charley’s voice rose several octaves. ‘What! Bobbie Stokes on the wrong side of the law? No way!’

  Winnie nodded. ‘The very same,’ she said in a conspiratorial way.

  Charley was intrigued. ‘Pray, do tell,’ she said.

  Winnie leaned closer. ‘His gran lived next door to me, and as a nipper he pilfered apples from the tree in my garden, every time he visited. I never told her, she’d have been horrified, but he knows I know,’ she said, tapping her nose.

  Chuckling, Charley watched Winnie retreat out of her office with a wiggle of her hips, and a backward glance. Charley turned to her computer and incoming mail.

  Instantly she was motivated by the fact that Forensic had acknowledged receipt of Russell Peters’ clothing, and the samples that had been sent to them the previous afternoon. With the requested priority status, work had begun immediately. She called Eira, but was disappointed when a recorded message was the only response, which suggested to Charley that she was busy. She left her a voicemail requesting a return call when convenient.

  The morning briefing was a short one, and the SIO updated everyone, after which the team dispersed to complete the actions that had been assigned to them.

  Dani Miller was the first victim to be given the opportunity to watch a Video Identification Parade Electronic Recording (VIPER), in which she would see Russell Peters’ moving image, along with eight other people of a similar appearance. Charley hoped she would pick Peters out as the offender who committed the crime against her, from the series of clips of his face at various angles.

  Mike and Annie looked refreshed and motivated, and were happy to continue interviewing Russell Peters. Charley envied them.

  Their first interview was scheduled to work around Peters’ eight hours’ sleep, and breakfast periods.

  ‘Today, I want you to rattle his cage,’ Charley told them. ‘Just like you did yesterday. I don’t wish to teach you to suck eggs, but I would like you to cover the murder of Lincoln Heinz, before moving on to the attempted murder of Cath Crowther.’

  ‘Will you be watching from the office?’ asked Annie.

  ‘Too right I will. I want to see his reactions, and if Forensic get their skates on, we will be able to disclose to his solicitor further evidence, prior to any subsequent interviews you may have with him.’

  It was mid-morning when Charley received news that Dani Miller had made a positive ID of Russell Peters as the man who had been sitting naked on her bed, inside her flat.

  Eira White returned Charley’s call minutes later. ‘Peters’ tracksuit bottoms have revealed a strand of pink hair that is a match for Cordelia Le Beau.’

  Charley took a sharp intake of breath.

  ‘That isn’t all,’ Eira said, with a certain amount of excitement in her voice. ‘Lincoln Heinz’s DNA has been discovered from blood extracted from a black hoodie found at Peters’ home address, and the zipper found near to where Cath Crowther was found dumped and left for dead face-down in a wheelie bin, is a match for the same.’

  Charley was speechless for a moment after she had thanked Eira and put down the phone. A mass of conflicting emotions ran through her, euphoria and relief being the uppermost.

  ‘Charging Russell Peters with two counts of murder, one of attempted murder, burglary with intent to rape, and finally the most recent assault on Nurse Beth Tyler is now a possibility,’ she told her team. ‘Whether Russell Peters speaks to Mike and Annie in the next interview doesn’t really matter now. I’ll get the Custody Sergeant Percy Shaw to prepare the charges.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Peters’ detention clock is rapidly coming to an end. The extended detention we had planned to take advantage of may not now be necessary.’

  Charley felt a tremor run through her body as she focused on the collection and collation of the evidence against Peters.

  ‘I want you to continue to seek evidence,’ she told those researching. ‘I want as many nails in his coffin as we can get to add to the evidence we already have.’

  Wilkie was cynical. ‘That said, even with the overwhelming evidence that’s been put to him in interview, it still doesn’t mean that he’ll plead guilty, does it?’

  Charley was determined. ‘No it doesn’t, but when the case goes to court, the last thing we want is for some barrister having room for manoeuvre, from a chink in our armour, which they could drive a wedge through either. So, the more evidence we have the better, and it makes life easier for the jurors.’

  Over the next hour the disclosure of evidence to Peters’ solicitor was completed, which allowed them to move forwards with what was likely to be the final interview with Russell Peters. However, before Annie and Mike went in to the interview room, Charley spoke to them with passion in her voice.

  ‘We have him bang to rights. You have my permission to let the piece of shit have it with both barrels.’ Her face brightened. ‘Professionally of course,’ she added as an afterthought.

  When Peters’ solicitor had had time to discuss the disclosure with his client, they entered the interview room together.

  Chapter 32

  Once in her office, Charley settled back into her seat and turned the volume on her monitor a little higher, to hear what was being said in the interview room. Mike made the introductions, and each person present in turn said their name, for voice recognition purposes.

  Eagerly Charley watched Mike and Annie, both experienced interviewers, doing what they did best, and suddenly she felt slightly emotional, but above all extremely proud.

  Would he remain silent when the evidence of each incident was laid before him, or would he want his say at this point?

  Charley didn’t have long to wait for the answer, and in that moment something suddenly occurred to her. Russell Peters, on his own admission, didn’t like being controlled, especially by women. It was therefore surprising that, from the beginning, he spoke in Annie’s presence, but what became immediately apparent was that his speech impediment was only noticeable when Annie spoke, and he quite clearly avoided eye contact with her.

  Charley knew that actions speak louder than words, and after half an hour of the forty-five-minute interview, during which he had spoken little, she watched him lean forwards across the table towards the detectives, and make direct eye contact with Mike. ‘The women, they led me on,’ he said, in his defence. ‘Why else would they walk about half-naked, leaving their curtains and windows open, if they didn’t want me to see them?’

  He flicked his head in Annie’s direction. ‘Tell me, what would you do if she walked about naked in front of you?’

  All credit to Mike, he refused to be drawn. ‘You knew these women then?’ Mike asked.

  ‘No,’ Peters admitted, ‘but, they strutted about half-naked at the gym, teasing me, when I was cleaning the windows.’

  ‘Then you followed them home. That’s how you picked your victims is it?’ asked Annie.

  Instead of making eye contact with Annie, he looked up and glared defiantly at the wall above her with wide staring eyes. ‘N… No reply,’ he said, eventually.

  Peters turned to his solicitor. ‘She’s trying to control me, I told you, she’s just like the rest of them. I’m not fucking stupid you know,’ he spat.

  Charley, watching the interview strategy from her office unfold, clenched her fist. ‘That’s my girl Annie!’ she exclaimed. ‘That’s exactly what I’d ’ave said. At last, he’s showing h
is true colours.’

  Inviting Peters to sit down, Mike calmly and strategically changed the line of questioning, sensing the growing animosity in the room.

  ‘What about Lincoln Heinz? What’s your excuse for killing him? Did he tease you as well?’

  Peters slumped back in his chair like a deflated balloon. After a moment or two of considering Mike’s words, Peters started to snigger. ‘He wasn’t just a sex worker, he was also a bloody fool. The pink-haired woman, the town’s bike, she pimped him out and rewarded him with protection. Once she was gone he was a car crash waiting to happen. I gave him a place to stay…’ After a moment or two he started to shake his head, biting his lip, clearly wanting to say more. ‘Then he killed himself.’

  Mike continued. ‘We know that’s not true because he was strangled, no doubt into an unconscious state, which is when you cut his arms in such a way that he would bleed to death, and then you made doubly sure that he wouldn’t survive because you put toilet cleaner, containing hydrochloric acid, into his wounds.’

  Peters raised his eyebrows and proffered a smile. ‘Ingenious of me, don’t you think? It’s surprising what you can learn from the internet.’ Peters shuffled in his seat, and sat upright. ‘Oh, come on, he was never going to survive without the pink-haired witch.’

  Again, Mike refused to be derailed from the agreed questioning strategy. ‘Was your plan always to kill Heinz, in the hope that no one would miss the loner, which would buy you time to move on, using his identity?’

  Peter’s sighed loudly. ‘DNA’s a bastard, isn’t it?’ he said.

  Mike pressed on. ‘You didn’t move on though, did you? You stayed within your old hunting ground to continue your planned killing spree, didn’t you? Did you think that we wouldn’t come looking for you at the university because we’d think you wouldn’t be so stupid as to go back to the scene of some of your crimes?’

  Peters screwed up his eyes. ‘That, my friend, you will never know, but one thing I will share with you. It’s actually the planning that excites me,’ he hissed, ‘so why wouldn’t I carry out my plans to the end?’

  ‘We recovered a rucksack from Flat 22. That rucksack we now know is yours. The items inside were clearly there to incapacitate someone. Had you got someone in mind?’ asked Mike.

  Russell Peters smiled. ‘Your boss, snug-fitting trousers, nice arse,’ he said. ‘I saw her on the news. Tell me, is she the station bike, or maybe she’s a dyke?’ This struck Peters as being funny. But it sent shivers down Charley’s spine to see him look up to the camera in the corner of the interview room, wink and blow a kiss. ‘I know you’re watching,’ he said. ‘You were indeed on my list. I know you… I’ve seen you…’

  He was playing to the audience in an ambiguous way, and surprisingly enough, his speech was not impaired. Was that because he couldn’t see Charley?

  The detectives in the interview room ignored his outburst, and continued with their questioning.

  ‘Would you have us believe that your victims left their windows open at night just for you, as an invitation for you to climb into their flats?’

  Peters remained silent.

  ‘You were hoping to startle them, weren’t you, catch them unawares in their sleep, at which time you knew that you would be in control of them?’ said Mike.

  After a few minutes’ silence in which Peters was given time to reply, Mike continued.

  ‘Why are you not answering me? Is it because what I’m saying is the truth?’

  ‘No. I wanted to show them that they were teasing the wrong bloke.’

  ‘You killed them because they teased you?’ asked Mike.

  ‘I didn’t kill them all, did I? I wanted them to feel what it was like for someone else to be in control.’

  ‘Yet on your own admission you didn’t know these young women, never mind knew what they were thinking. Admit it, all this talk of them enticing you, teasing you, it’s just another fantasy of yours. It’s all in your mind. You targeted the young women purely for sexual gratification, nothing more. Some you killed using extreme violence. Is that what gets you off?’ said Mike.

  ‘No,’ Peters snapped angrily.

  ‘What then?’ asked Mike.

  Once again Peters chose to stay silent.

  ‘You thought you’d killed Cath Crowther when you placed her head down in a wheelie bin, didn’t you?’ said Annie.

  Peters was looking down at the floor between his splayed legs. ‘And she would be dead if you lot hadn’t come along.’

  Annie stared in Peters’ direction, nodding slowly. ‘Yes she would. You bought adhesive, you brought the wheelie bin outside her window the night before collection, you planned her death in advance didn’t you?’

  Peters raised his eyes to look at her, and hesitated. ‘N… N… No reply,’ he said.

  ‘She lived on the ground floor didn’t she? Was this the reason that you targeted Miss Crowther, because you enjoyed planning the disposal of her body?’

  Peters remained silent.

  ‘You videoed her, and stripped her. You asked others in the students’ group on Facebook what you should do next, and we know you got sexually excited during this exchange,’ said Mike, ‘because we found semen-staining on the bed covers which, as you have been informed, has been identified as yours. So all this was about sexual gratification for you, wasn’t it? Otherwise why did you ejaculate?’

  ‘I wanted to know what others thought should be done to punish a dick tease. There’s a lot of them about.’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Annie said. ‘You were warned about being a voyeur, but when that wasn’t enough to satisfy your sexual urges, you needed more to satisfy you, and you didn’t care about anyone else did you?’

  The detectives gave Peters time to respond, but when he didn’t they carried on.

  ‘Moving on,’ said Mike. ‘What about Lincoln Heinz, whom we found dead in your flat? You killed him, and left him there with your university identification card in his back trouser pocket. Hoping that we would think that he was you?’

  ‘I did that when he was dead,’ Peters mumbled. Peters raised his injured arm at Mike. ‘And if it wasn’t for that fucking dog, I wouldn’t have had to have stitches. I wouldn’t be here, and the nurse wouldn’t have got hurt. I should sue you.’

  ‘You resisted arrest, and I don’t know if you are aware, but attacking a police dog is classed as an assault on a police officer.’

  ‘It was self defence for fuck’s sake. That police officer should have called the fucker off as soon as he caught up with me.’

  ‘It’s you who is the control freak. You planned, then killed people for your own self-gratification. You are nothing but an evil sexual predator, and a threat to the public at large.’

  Mike could see the look of concern on Peters’ solicitor’s face as his client’s clenched knuckles turned white on his lap. Despite this, the detective sergeant pushed further.

  ‘Go on, give it to him Mike,’ Charley said, through clenched teeth.

  ‘The nurse treating you didn’t lead you on. She didn’t try to entice you, or tease you, but yet you tried to strangle her. Why?’

  ‘Ah, but you don’t know that. She was leaning over me, speaking softly to me, flirting with me, letting her body brush against mine. Don’t you believe it. I knew perfectly well what she was trying to do. She was trying to get me into more trouble. I had to stop her.’

  ‘If the police officer hadn’t used the taser, would you have killed Nurse Tyler?’

  ‘It would have been her own fault if she had died, not mine, I’ve told you.’

  ‘You mean that you got sexually excited by her close proximity, and that’s why you reacted the way you did towards her.’ Mike could not disguise the disgust in his voice as he continued.

  Once again Peters shuffled forwards to the edge of his chair, but this time the officers and Peters’ solicitor were clearly ready for another outburst.

  ‘Sit!’ said Mike, with authority, and Peters remained seated.r />
  ‘If they make themselves easy pickings, then they deserved to be picked. Truth is that they made themselves available. Anyone could have done what I did.’

  Annie raised her eyebrows. ‘Actually, no, not anyone could’ve scaled the flats like you did for a start.’ She looked puzzled. ‘Are you sexually inadequate. Are your inadequacies the real problem?’

  ‘What? Me, sexually inadequate? How dare you?’ Peters screeched.

  Unconcerned by his latest outburst, Annie carried on regardless. ‘Why did you kill them then?’

  Peters face became contorted. ‘Just because I could. Me. I’m in control. I decide who lives or dies.’

  ‘Do you not feel the least bit sorry for what you did to your victims?’

  Charley could clearly see now what people meant about Peters’ steely eyes.

  ‘Well done guys,’ Charley said on the back of a long breath as the two detectives concluded the interview. When she turned off the monitor and sat back in her chair she closed her eyes, albeit briefly, feeling mentally exhausted. The clock above her door showed her that there was just half an hour left on the prisoner’s detention clock before his custody expired.

  The two detectives took Peters directly to the charge desk, where PS Percy Shaw read out the charges that were ready and waiting for Peters, in the presence of his solicitor.

  Once charged Russell Peters made no comment, but his violent streak was not satisfied until he had lashed out at his solicitor for failing him as he saw it. He struggled with the officers, who were used to dealing with violent individuals and brought him to the floor, then restrained him and carried him in without any problem.

  ‘All I have to do now is let the Divisional Commander know, and Force Control too, for the Chief Constable’s Log. Connie Seabourne at the press office will need to be informed that a twenty-six-year-old local man will be appearing before the Magistrates’ Court tomorrow morning for a remand in custody. After I’ve done that then I’ll see you at the pub,’ she told the buoyant team. ‘Russell Peters will no doubt be examined by psychiatrists, who will come up with all sorts of reasons for his behaviour.’