Glimpse

by Stephen B King

  “Yes,” they both replied in unison.

  “Good, you have a choice. I will free Amy, but I have to have Julie in her place.”

  Chapter 20: Face to Face with the Devil Incarnate

  Patricia Holmes, felt a mixture of anger, and frustration, in equal proportions. By the time she had been delivered back home, the person she was most angry at, was Rick. Why can’t he see I’m right, and how can he call me heartless?

  Tom, was in the kitchen, preparing a meal. She briefly filled him in and told him she would fix herself something to eat later, she was determined to work. “The answer is in the files, I know it is, and I’m going to find it. I made copies of the Carly Biddle witness statements and brought them home.”

  He nodded, morosely, almost ignoring her. They hadn’t spoken since the argument a few nights before. Pat went to the rack and took out a bottle of wine and a glass from the shelf above and disappeared back into her study.

  Sitting behind her desk, sipping from the glass she had filled, she went back over everything she thought she knew about the man they were hunting. Small man, thin, intelligent, egotistical, arrogant. She sat up straight, and put her glass down, she had had a thought. Pat rummaged through the papers until she found what she was looking for: the phone number for Detective Inspector Barlow. She dialed the number and was pleased when she heard his voice answer hello.

  “Hello sir, it’s Patricia Holmes, I’m terribly sorry to call you so late in the evening, but there has been a serious development here in Perth, and I thought I would take a chance and try to get hold of you.”

  “Ah, Mrs. Holmes, no I don’t mind you phoning me at all, what’s happened there?”

  She ran him through the events surrounding Amy’s disappearance.

  “You really think it’s the same man?”

  “Yes sir, though I’m having a tough job getting Rick to listen to me. But, he is so upset over his daughter; I can’t blame him for not being able to see the wood for the trees. Have you had a chance to think about the witnesses and if so, did anyone jump out at you as being overly confident, if not cocky?”

  “As it happens I did have a think, and someone has come to mind. I didn’t like the little pipsqueak one little bit at the time, but there was no evidence against him. His story checked out, but, back then I wanted it to be him, if that makes sense. He just didn’t feel right, and after you saying he would act condescending, well, this guy did in spades. He didn’t have an alibi, but there was nothing whatsoever to suggest he had done it.”

  She felt a tremor run though her body, and she leaned forward at her desk. “Go on, sir, please.”

  “He was small as you said, but I wouldn’t say effeminate; he didn’t give the vibe that he was gay. He was just, well, weedy, for want of a better description. One of the earlier interviewees had said that this guy had the hots for Carly, but was such a coward, he would never find the nerve to talk to her.”

  “Go on please, sir, this is fitting in very well with my profile.”

  “I remember fronting him with the accusation that he had harmed her, and he just stared at me. Usually, when you accuse a suspect, they can’t help themselves but talk and talk and talk to convince you they were innocent, but this prick? Well, he just stared back at me, insolently. Then when I called him a smart arse, he said he felt sorry for her parents and that every staff member fancied Carly and if we focused on him we would miss the real killer. I didn’t think of it at the time, but the thing was that every other staff member didn’t fancy her. By all accounts she was very plain looking and was stand offish to all the men, some even thought she was a lesbian. Our guy, she just ignored like he was a dog turd. Is that what you were looking for?”

  “Oh yes, sir, that’s perfect. What was his name?”

  “Rankin, Paul Rankin.”

  ****

  After she hung up the phone she sat back in her chair, and despite knowing Rick’s anguish, realized she was enjoying the thrill of the chase. She wrote the name Paul Rankin on a sheet of handy paper, and ran several circles around it, almost going through the paper with her enthusiasm. But, she had to admit it was only Detective Barlow’s intuition; there was nothing else to suggest that Paul Rankin was the killer. His name did not come up in any of the witness statements for the Lake Monger Murders or the suspected gay killing of Gordon Bridges. Of course, she had known it wouldn’t come up in that case, unless they got the list of his Public Trustee clients. Was Paul Rankin’s name there? She would bet her house that it was, but for now there was no corroboration.

  Was it a coincidence that Paul started with a P, and the killer wanted to be known as PPP? There was certainly no other P’s in his name, but she felt that that was right, it was more likely to have come from a nickname, than his real one. He was far too intelligent to use his own initials, but it must have meant something to him. Everything had a reason or a purpose. What else was there? She wondered, as she took another sip from her glass of wine.

  She spluttered and dribbled as she experienced a blinding epiphany. The woman seen talking to Amy. A woman!

  Wait, wait, wait; hold the damned phone, let’s think this through. She rummaged on her desk and found a pencil, then flipped the nearest sheet of paper over and began to write, but such was her excitement she snapped the lead off. “Fuck!” she exclaimed, then yanked open her drawer to find a writing implement that she wouldn’t break.

  1. Small build and height

  2. Known to have used disguises to avoid suspicion.

  3. Sexually abused as a child, probably by a male family member, step-father or in foster care.

  4. Gordon Bridges was killed at a park frequented by gays and was himself bi-sexual—theory: he had sexually abused the young PPP from a position of authority—most likely a client as Public Trustee.

  5. Abducts women, not men, often from shopping centers—theory: his mother abandoned him causing him to hate women in general. He has sex with the women he abducts to prove to himself his masculinity.

  6. If he has gay tendencies, could this have been exacerbated by being either forced, or could he have willingly, dressed as a woman/girl in his formative years?

  She threw the biro down. Amy was abducted by PPP dressed up as a woman.

  It made sense; it all fitted together, but where was the proof? She shook her head; it was the police’s job to find the proof; hers was to come up with a profile of the killer. She picked up the phone and almost dialed Rick’s number, but paused. He was going through hell, and in effect had been removed from the case. She checked her notes, jotted his name and number on the same sheet of paper, and dialed.

  “Hello?”

  “Inspector, it’s Patricia Holmes, sorry to trouble you at night, can I talk to you please?”

  “Yeah, hang on let me walk outside, there is a bit of background noise here. Funnily enough I almost thought of calling you to see if you wanted to come and check out a murder scene. At first, by the carnage, I thought it was PPP that had struck again; multiple stab and slash wounds. But, it would appear this killer is a woman.”

  “What? Please tell me everything, it’s vital. I now believe PPP dresses up as a woman. In fact, the reason for my call was to tell you I believe strongly it is PPP who has taken Amy McCoy, and he did it while wearing woman’s clothes, and make up, to avoid suspicion.”

  “Jesus Christ. Let me send a car to pick you up and bring you here, I’d like you to see his handiwork first hand if you’re up to it. It’s in the city, a bar called Solos on Hay Street, the East end.”

  “It will be quicker if I drive, I’m on my way.”

  She hung up the phone and gathered up the case files in her arms. Such was her haste; she didn’t think to tell her husband she was leaving.

  ****

  She could see the ocean of flashing blue and red lights in the distance, and the traffic was congested because of it. Eventually she got to within a hundred meters and swung the car to the left and parked illegally. Fuck it; if I g
et a parking fine I do.

  She got out, locked her car, and walked quickly toward the festive looking lights.

  There was a crowd of people milling around the cordoned-off area and she fought her way through to the front. “Officer,” she called out to the uniformed man. “I’m Patricia Holmes, here to see Detective Chief Inspector Harris.”

  “Yes Ma’am, step through.” He lifted the blue and white tape which had been strung between the building and signpost and she ducked under it.

  All the interior bar lights had been turned on, but it was still dim. There were several patrons and staff who were sitting, waiting, or being interviewed in the far corner, with two detectives. They were using two tables, books open taking notes as they questioned them in turn. She saw the DCI behind the bar alongside Tyler, who was beckoning for her to approach.

  “Thanks for coming so quickly Mrs. Holmes,” the DCI began. “The body is out the back, untouched except for the ME. I’ve ordered it to be left so you can see firsthand this mad man’s work, if you choose to. First though, tell me your story, because I’ve got some CCTV, and while the picture quality is crap, we think it is a woman who stabbed this man to death. She and the victim spent close to an hour talking, before they went out to the back alley.”

  “Hi, sir, Tyler.”

  Tyler nodded, but he didn’t speak. He looked serious to the point of moroseness, which Pat attributed to his partner losing his daughter.

  “I got Tyler to come here because he interviewed Collette Ravensthorpe. On questioning her though, we cannot really confirm that she saw Amy with a woman.”

  “Yes, about that. Look, in my opinion, when a child tells you what they saw, and an authority figure questions it, it is normal for that kid to back pedal.”

  “I was very non-threatening. I hope you are not suggesting I made her change her story?” Tyler jumped in, defensively.

  “No, no, Tyler, not at all. I’m sure you would have been very gentle. But you are still a policeman, and a child fears and respects you. She would have been frightened she would mislead you and would be more likely to recant than make something up. Especially as you were the second officer to interview her in such a short space of time. Her stress levels would be sky high. It would have been better if a child psychologist questioned her, but that’s not a criticism everyone was trying to do the right thing by Rick. So, I suggest, we go back to her original statement, which is likely to be the truth. That was that she thought she heard a woman call Amy over, and that she saw her squatting down, partially obscured, talking to her. Now, if she couldn’t see the person, how would she think it was a woman? By the clothes she wore.”

  “Okay, that makes sense, but we still don’t have a concrete description we can use.”

  “No, but do you have a description of the clothes she wore? When most men dress up like a woman, they tend to go over the top, try to be more feminine. Frills, colors, overly sexual underwear, that kind of thing. You say you have CCTV of this murderer, Amy was kidnapped this afternoon, this killer struck tonight. Ask Collette if this woman on CCTV is wearing the same clothes.”

  Tyler snapped his fingers. Firstly, he raised his eyes, and looked happier, yet at the same time he shook his head admonishingly. “You’re right, Jesus Christ, why didn’t I think of it? The description of what the woman was wearing does pretty much fit the CCTV. I’m sorry I missed that, sir, I’m a bloody idiot.”

  “But—” the DCI said turning his attention from Tyler back to Pat. “—Surely he wouldn’t have dressed up, took Amy, drop her off somewhere, and then come into town and go to a bar for dinner and a few glasses of wine? That doesn’t make any kind of sense.”

  She shook her head, feeling exasperated with them. “Sir, you’ve got to stop thinking conventionally with this man. Everything he does is planned, he had a reason for coming to town, just like he has a reason for everything he does. I would suggest a likely scenario is that he had two things to do, and they were some time apart, he came to the bar to kill time between performing those two things. If that’s the case, this murder was coincidental, or done for fun.” Suddenly, she snapped her fingers, as Tyler had done. “Correct me if I’m wrong. The man that was murdered, I bet he is married? Wait, let me go one better, he was killed in the same manner as Gordon Bridges, and Bridget Schaeffer, and he is wearing a wedding ring?”

  “Yes, he was married. All three killings were mirror images of each other, overkill you might call it. But Bridget Schaeffer wasn’t married.”

  “No, she wasn’t, but that was a set-up. She was killed to discredit Rick. PPP wouldn’t have realized he had killed her in the same way as he killed Gordon Bridges; he just wanted it to appear different to the victims you already knew about to muddy the waters. Our man, hates people who are unfaithful, I think that’s because as a child his mother left him with his sadistic father when she went to the shops and never came back. That is why the man in this bar was killed in the same way as Gordon Bridges, they were both being unfaithful to their wives; PPP killed them because of the infidelity.”

  “Ok, I can go along with that theory, but why dress up like a woman?”

  “You mean other than make you, and especially Rick, look stupid when you are searching for a man, when all the while he looks like a woman? Well, there is no doubt in my mind, PPP has been abused sexually from a young age. Now if you go along with me that far, then let’s think about the kind of man that would do that to a young, possibly effeminate looking boy. I think he made him dress up like a girl, and over time, that became habit, almost normal behavior if you like. The icing on the cake for him is, as I’ve said, while you are questioning people trying to find a man, he gets to laugh his head off because you can’t find any witnesses to describe him.”

  “Okay, I get it, but how does it help us find him?”

  She paused and bit her lower lip. “Sir, did you get the Court order for Gordon Bridges’ clients?”

  “Yes, we can pick them up tomorrow morning. Other events overtook it, with Amy being snatched. The Trustee’s office will hand the files over at nine thirty.”

  “Yes.” She wrung her hands together, sensing victory was close. “Tomorrow morning, we can compare the list of names with the witness list in the Carly Biddle case and we will know the killer, I am convinced of that. Detective Inspector Barlow gave me the name of someone he felt at the time wasn’t quite right, but his story checked out and he had nothing else to go on. If that same name appears in the trustee files, tomorrow you will be able to arrest him. Can you can get a hold of them tonight? If not, I think it will be in time to save Amy, he won’t rush that, though it is unfortunately too late for June Daniels.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Sir, if she was still alive, he would not have taken Amy yet. He moved to the next stage of his plan against Rick, because she died, or he killed her so he could escalate things after Rick insulted him. That stupid reporter put my involvement in the paper, which made him even angrier, and he brought his plan forward to take Amy.”

  Tyler looked troubled. “Umm, I’m not sure I should tell you this Pat, because, well, it’s private. But, you mentioned PPP’s hatred of unfaithfulness. Rick had an affair with a woman, who told Juliet when Rick tried to break it off. During the suitcase investigation, they were separated. They did make up, she forgave him, and he turned his life around ever since. These days he won’t even go to the pub with the boys.”

  “Oh, my God. Now it all fits into place. Rick and PPP met years ago, and something, occurred, for which PPP never forgave him. He became a serial killer, and his crowning glory was ‘The Body in the Suitcase.’ Then who should he see on TV conducting re-enactments? Rick. So, he follows him, probably out of interest at first, though some form of revenge would have been on his mind, most likely to murder him. He would have been dressed up as a woman, so avoided being recognized, and that was when he realized what Rick had done. The person he hates more than anyone else in the world had done the very th
ing he detests with a passion. So, his hatred for Rick intensified even more. Now he didn’t just want to kill Rick, he wanted to make him suffer as an adulterer. In a way, I feel so much better now.”

  “Why? He has Amy.”

  “He won’t kill her, not yet anyway. He wants to make Rick suffer so he will string this out. Amy is a child, and while PPP is a sociopathic narcissist, and will kill anyone without any qualms, he will identify with her being a child and blameless, as he was blameless when he was young. She is safe for now, I’m quite sure of that. I do think we should tell Rick, it will put his mind to rest.”

  “With respect, Pat, I don’t think we should,” Tyler said. “I’ve worked with him for years, and the old saying ‘still waters run deep’ is very true of Rick. If we told him, I know what he is like; he will go and break into the Trustees office to get at those files tonight and get himself in all sorts of trouble.”

  Colin Harris nodded his agreement. “If you’re sure she will be safe overnight, let’s leave off telling him. I’m going to try to get someone to release the files to us tonight. I’m doubtful that will be successful, being a government department. No one will be there this time of night; but it’s worth a try. Yes, he and Juliet are suffering, but they are together. First thing in the morning, or earlier if I can get them, you and I will go to the Public Trustee and get those files. Then we will find out who he is, get a search and arrest warrant, and send in the Tactical Response Group to save Amy. Now, did you want to see the body?”

  “No, that’s one nightmare I can do without, thanks.”

  ****

  Her mind raced, as she drove out of the city toward her home. She ran through a mental checklist to make sure she hadn’t got anything wrong. She worried that they had not told Rick her suspicions but counterbalanced it with the logical arguments put forward by Tyler. She thought that PPP would want Rick to suffer and would be in no hurry for any confrontation. Still, it bothered her, she liked Rick, in more ways than one, and knew he was going through hell, but, she reasoned, would he be any better off if she told him her thoughts? He had already accused her of being heartless. She agonized that she got something wrong, but eventually felt satisfied that she hadn’t.