‘Is it not simply that they, as you say, all disappeared without trace?’
‘Possibly, but I wonder if he had some evidence to suggest that a single individual is responsible.’
‘Was that why Lawler was murdered?’
‘No, sir. He was killed for an entirely separate motive.’
‘And his sister went missing?’
‘Yes, she was a nurse at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.’ That fact suddenly jarred in her head. She couldn’t think why.
In silence, Brown sifted through each of the pictures. He certainly was not instantly dismissive of her theory.
‘And where is your investigation at the moment?’
She flushed and shifted in her seat. How did she explain that it wasn’t actually a case — and certainly not one of her cases? Since the investigation into Terry Lawler’s murder had closed, it was purely a matter of personal interest.
‘Well, sir, it was part of our investigation into Lawler’s killing. At first we thought that he may have been responsible for taking these women, until we discovered that his sister was one of the disappeared.’
‘And now?’
‘No further progress. The individual disappearances around the country are a matter for the relevant local constabularies.’
‘So you’re not actually investigating this?’
She detected a change in his tone, of frustration or impatience..
‘No, sir, not as such. I’ve kept an eye on any developments, but there have been none — until Linda Meredith.’
‘I see.’
‘The picture you’re holding, sir. That girl also comes from Northern Ireland.’
Brown examined the laser-copied photograph of a beautiful girl with long fair hair.
‘Her name is Diane McCartney.’
He jumped from his chair and went to a filing cabinet in the corner, opened the bottom drawer and began searching through folders.
‘I should have at least one file here relating to Diane McCartney. I actually worked on her disappearance at the time.’
A minute later, he removed a thin folder from the drawer and returned to his desk. He pulled out a couple of photographs of the missing girl and passed them to Tara.
‘She was a student at Queen’s University. Last seen leaving the university library one evening. Didn’t make it back to her room in the halls of residence. And that’s all we have, despite numerous appeals and reconstructions. Nothing. Not even a mobile phone, a text, not a thing. Do you not think this Lawler bloke did little more than gather together a bunch of missing persons cases?’
‘It is possible he knew nothing more, but why specifically this group of women? They all disappeared without trace, no bodies, no messages; all were of very similar — slight — build and when we look at the disappearances in chronological order, they are all well spaced out but for two that occurred on the same day, in London. Those two also happened after Lawler had been killed, and there have been more since. But all of these pictures are related to what Lawler had been working on. I haven’t included the cases occurring since his death.’
‘So, we could be talking about more than twenty-nine?’
Tara nodded.
Brown looked rather sympathetically at her and smiled, albeit thinly, for the first time.
‘I’m not saying it isn’t possible, Tara, that one person is responsible for all of these disappearances, but do you have any other leads?’
She had to admit the answer was no, but this morning she felt that something had registered with her and yet she couldn’t grasp what it was. Something had registered in her mind, a spark had ignited. She needed time to think.
‘Have there been any similar cases in Northern Ireland since Diane McCartney?’ she asked.
‘No case that is exactly the same. Not that I know of. Plenty of disappearances that have been solved, some unfortunately became murder investigations when a body was found.’
‘If you follow the timeline of the cases I’ve shown you, they begin with Linda Meredith then Diane McCartney and then move across to England. Firstly to Merseyside then further afield. There is, however, a concentration around the north west, particularly Merseyside.’
‘What you’re suggesting is that the killer began in Belfast and then moved to England?’
‘Yes, I believe so.’
She felt herself flush, not from her conversation with DCI Brown but from a sudden realisation. James Guy, originally from Belfast, had moved to Liverpool. He had snatched her. Had driven her away to a lonely place in his van. Had he done so merely to rape her or had he intended to kill?
And just as quickly the thought from earlier hit her like a blow to the solar plexus, taking the breath from her lungs. Ruth Lawler had worked at the Royal Hospital.
So had James Guy.
Chapter 30
I couldn’t settle myself until I was sure that Tara Grogan was back from Belfast. On top of that I was worried sick about what she was finding out and how it might involve me. Had she gone there to meet with the peelers and to tell them about me, or were they giving her all the details on Millie? Then again, maybe I was panicking over nothing. Maybe it was a different case, or maybe she had gone for personal reasons.
All this stuff was bouncing round my head, while Kirsty was telling me all about the house she’d seen. It was close to her parents, close to a primary school and a park. I was hardly listening, and she knew it. It was enough to dent her enthusiasm, and I was the one to lose out because she was sitting astride me, not a stitch on, ready to do the business. With me not paying attention, she climbed off me and without a word rolled over and went to sleep.
I couldn’t be arsed thinking about a wedding and a baby and a new house when I was worried that I might not be around for any of it. Not if Tara was finding out about me. I could be banged up for life.
In the middle of the night I was struggling to sleep. I got up, poured myself a whiskey and switched on Kirsty’s laptop. I checked the airport website for arrivals from Belfast for the forthcoming day. Hoping that at least she was only staying a couple of days. Maybe she was already home. Anyway, I noted all arrivals from Belfast. I would have to take time off work because I had to be at the airport for most of the day checking to see when — if — she came home.
*
There are four flights from Belfast to Liverpool every day, and I got down there half an hour before the first arrival at 11.20 am. Stood well back from the door; didn’t want her to see me. Needn’t have worried. The same happened at 4.20pm, 6.00pm and 8.35pm. She was still in Belfast.
Before going home I drove to her flat and hung around for a while. Her car wasn’t there, so either it was still parked at the airport or else she was out working or enjoying herself with her mates. That pissed me off. The thought that she might know all about me, be planning to arrest me — and yet she could be out drinking and having a great time with her friends.
Freezing cold, hungry and frustrated, I finally drove home around midnight. Kirsty was sound asleep, and I crawled into bed beside her. She nestled into me, and for a few brief minutes I felt safe and warm. Tomorrow I’d go back to the airport. I could only afford one more day off work.
If Tara didn’t show up I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I really needed to know what she was up to.
Chapter 31
More out of courtesy than anything else, Tara thought, Wallace Brown went through all the known facts concerning the Linda Meredith case. She examined the photographs taken at the post mortem, a body unrecognisable as the pretty girl whose image she’d found among the collection of pictures retrieved from Terry Lawler’s flat.
‘How was she identified?’
‘Some of the inner body had been preserved to a certain degree, by this adipocere stuff.’ He pointed out the extensive areas where the waxy substance had formed. ‘They managed to retrieve DNA and it was a match for Linda Meredith.’
‘Anything on the perpetrator?’
Bro
wn shook his head.
‘Nothing conclusive. She’d been in the water for almost eight years and besides, the killer knew what he was doing. No clothing, jewellery, weapon, not a thing.’
‘And you never had any suspects at the time, when she went missing?’
‘Nothing. We checked out the family first. She had a younger brother, but nothing pointed to him or the father. A close loving family, by all accounts.’
‘Would it be possible for me to meet them?’
Brown hesitated. He didn’t look keen on the idea. Then he glanced at his watch.
‘Give me a few minutes and I’ll see what I can do.’
‘Thank you.’
While Brown was out of the office, Tara made a brief call to Harold Tweedy.
‘I would like to spend another day here, if that’s all right, sir?’
‘Are you making progress?’
‘I’ve spoken with Carly McHugh, and I’m fairly sure she is holding something back. But another matter has arisen.’
‘And what’s that?’
‘Sir, if you recall the list of disappeared girls we came across in connection with the Lawler case?’
‘Yes, I remember. It included Lawler’s sister.’
‘That’s correct, sir. I’ve been speaking with the officer involved in the recent finding of the girl’s body in the Irish Sea. Her name is Linda Meredith, and her photo was among those found in Lawler’s flat.’
‘Do you have a lead?’
‘Not as such, but I may have something by the end of the day, if it is all right to stay another night.’
‘That’s fine, Tara, we’ll speak further when you return.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
Wallace re-entered his office carrying several folders.
‘I’ve arranged for you to meet with the Merediths and also the McCartneys. We are at a loss at the moment in both cases, so anything you uncover will be of help.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
‘DC Marshall will accompany you. She’s been involved in the investigation since the recovery of Linda’s body.’
*
Gina Marshall was of a similar age to Tara, with close-cropped black hair and lively dark eyes. She wore a light grey pinstripe jacket and skirt, and a pair of flat brown brogues. In recent years Tara had developed a habit of looking for a wedding ring when she met someone, particularly someone close to her own age. She was never sure if that habit had evolved from her thinking as a police detective, or arose simply because she was a woman still hoping to be married one day. Gina had no rings on either hand. Thinking about it, in this day and age, the absence of a wedding ring didn’t signify much.
Marshall seemed happy to be going along with Tara. They drove in a marked police car across the Queen Elizabeth Bridge and into the east of the city.
‘So how are you enjoying Belfast, mam?’
‘It’s been fine so far. DS Ferguson showed me around last night.’
The girl glanced to her left with a wry smile.
‘Did he take you for dinner?’
‘He did, actually.’
Marshall grinned.
‘Smooth operator, is our Fergie.’
‘Has a reputation, does he?’
‘Oh yes.’
Tara thought it best to change the subject. She wasn’t about to gossip and feed this girl with details of her encounter with Ferguson, not that she had anything of significance to divulge.
‘And how do you find DCI Brown?’ Tara asked her new companion.
‘One of the best. Likes to think he takes care of us younger ones.’ Tara couldn’t help thinking of how Tweedy was exactly the same.
Tara gave Marshall her reasons for meeting the families of two girls who had disappeared years ago, and within minutes they pulled into a street off the Holywood Road. They stopped outside a terraced house that had square bay windows on the ground floor. A woman in her fifties, with short brown hair flecked with grey and wearing a pink tracksuit, answered the door.
‘Come in, inspector. Mr Brown phoned to say you’d be coming.’
‘Thank you, Mrs Meredith.’
The slight, almost frail woman, slow on her feet and breathing heavily, led them to a front sitting room snugly furnished with a sofa and two armchairs. There were photographs of family on the walls and set into a mahogany wall unit. Nearly all of them featured her daughter Linda.
‘Are you OK, Mrs Meredith?’ asked Marshall.
‘Asthma is playing up today, love.’ She had noticed Tara looking at the pictures. ‘That’s our Linda.’
‘She was a beautiful girl. I’m so sorry for your loss.’
‘At least we got her home in the end. Gave her a decent resting place.’
‘That must have been very difficult after all this time.’
The woman nodded and Tara continued. ‘If you don’t mind, I wanted to ask you some questions about the time Linda disappeared.’
Karen Meredith dropped into an armchair and took a puff on her blue asthma inhaler.
‘Go ahead, love, although I don’t know if I can tell you anything new.’
Tara sat on the sofa, Gina Marshall taking the other armchair, where she could gaze sympathetically at Karen Meredith. Tara began.
‘At the time when Linda disappeared, did she have a boyfriend or did she mention any male admirers?’
‘She had plenty of admirers, but she had no one on the go at the time. She’d finished with her boyfriend a few months earlier.’
‘And what was his name?’
‘Tim Bradshaw. They’d been friends since primary school.’
‘Mam,’ said Marshall. ‘We checked him out at the time. Nothing to suggest any involvement in Linda’s disappearance.’ Tara nodded her acknowledgement.
‘Were you ever contacted by a journalist from Liverpool? His name was Terry Lawler.’
‘Yes, about two years ago, I think, maybe three. He telephoned me, asking about Linda, and a couple of days later he showed up at the door.’
‘Did he tell you anything of what he was doing, what he was investigating?’
‘Didn’t really tell me much. His sister had disappeared in Liverpool, and he was trying to find her. He told me that the circumstances of her disappearance were similar to Linda’s.’
‘Did he mention anyone he thought may have been responsible?’
‘No, love. He had an idea that one man may have taken a whole lot of girls, but he said that he didn’t know who he was.’
‘Did Linda ever mention a man named James Guy?’
Karen Meredith was silent for a moment, and Tara could see the surprise on Marshall’s face at hearing a name she probably had not encountered before in this case. Eventually, the woman shook her head.
‘No, love, never heard her talk about such a man. Do you think it was him?’
‘I’m afraid I can’t say, at the moment.’
‘Who is he? Why did you mention him, then?’
‘I’m sorry, Mrs Meredith, it’s part of another investigation. It may not have any connection with Linda’s murder.’
Tara asked several more questions relating to Linda’s interests, her activities and her job at the time of her disappearance. Karen willingly described her daughter’s happy life at home and with her friends. There wasn’t anything said that gave Tara hope of a lead, or a connection to James Guy. Karen Meredith insisted on making tea, and Tara was soon quizzed about life as a police detective in Liverpool. She left the woman with the promise that she would contact her if ever she made progress in finding Linda’s killer.
Gina Marshall, however, didn’t wait long before tackling Tara over the reference to James Guy. Karen Meredith had just bid them goodbye and closed the door behind them when Marshall spoke.
‘If you don’t mind me asking, mam, what do you know about the man you mentioned to Karen?’
Despite having known the detective constable for little more than hour, Tara felt she could be trusted. She’d liked her instantly
, and she hoped that the girl could be of some help. As they set off for the family home of Diane McCartney she told Gina Marshall all that she knew of James Guy, and of how Terry Lawler had been searching for his missing sister.
‘He served eighteen months for abducting me, and two months after his release I saved his life when he was about to be killed at the hands of two vigilante-style murderers.’
‘Wow! That’s a story and a half, mam.’
‘I don’t think it ends there. I suspect, but can’t be certain, that he has continued to stalk me.’
‘My God. And you think he is the man who killed Linda Meredith and Diane McCartney?’
‘Believe it or not, Gina, it really only hit me this morning, while I was speaking with DCI Brown. And for now it is merely a thought. I would appreciate it if you kept the information to yourself, for the time being. I could be completely wrong about James Guy. I will share whatever I find out with DCI Brown, but for now it is just me thinking aloud. I don’t want Guy tracked down by any police force until I can find real proof that he is a serial killer.’
‘I understand, mam, but how did you realise only this morning?’
‘Two things. Firstly, I was explaining to DCI Brown how, if there is a single killer of all these girls, his killing began in Belfast with Linda Meredith and Diane McCartney before he moved across to England. Most of his killings since then have been centred around the north west although there have been others elsewhere. That fits with the timing of James Guy having moved from Belfast to Liverpool.’
‘And the second?’
‘Again, this only occurred to me this morning. I don’t know why I hadn’t realised this before now. Terry Lawler’s sister was a nurse at the Royal Liverpool Hospital at the time of her disappearance. James Guy was working there at the time I first met him, and right up until he was convicted for abducting me.’
Gina stopped the car on a side road close to the village of Hillsborough, thirteen miles from Belfast. She appeared completely enthralled by Tara’s story.
‘Unless it is a weird coincidence, mam, I reckon you may be on the track of your serial killer.’
Lethal Dose; Lethal Justice; Lethal Mind Page 61