‘It’s okay,’ Dominic said, in an attempt to calm her. ‘I’m sure she’s fine. There are lots of reasons people don’t turn up for work. It might be that she got involved with someone last night and has lost track of time? Is she married or single?’ His stomach lurched when he asked this question. A single woman fitted the profile.
‘You don’t understand — nothing would stop her turning up for work. Our business is our life, we adore it. We’ve grown it from nothing and it’s thriving. It’s our baby. Something is really wrong for her to not turn up even if she did spend the night with someone. And yes, she’s single.’
A cold chill swept through Dominic. ‘Can I ask how old Victoria is?’
‘She’s forty-two.’ Tears bubbled up in her eyes and burst their banks sliding down her cheeks. ‘Please tell me it’s not her.’
Dominic didn’t know if he could do this for her. She was adamant that Vicky would turn up for work. This was unusual behaviour and she fitted the age range they had as a profile. He hoped it wasn’t but she had to be someone’s loved one. Someone would be grieving for her today. Someone would be stripped of everything they ever thought they knew of life. ‘Do you have a photograph of Victoria?’
Kalisha looked scared. She shrank down in her chair. The answer to her question now imminent and she wasn’t ready for it. ‘I have one on my phone.’ She picked up her bag and fished around inside pulling out a worn looking mobile. Her fingers shook as she tried to access the app that would show Dominic what he needed.
‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘Take your time.’
She looked at him. Her bottom lip quivering. ‘You think it’s her.’ It was a statement rather than a question.
‘I think she’s probably slept in at someone’s house and her battery has died and you’ll be hugging the life out of her later today.’ And he was sure of his answer. It was the most likely reality. Phones ran out of charge all the time. God knows he’d let his run down time and again and had been given enough of an ear bashing for it by Ruth to try to keep it charged.
Kalisha’s finger tapped her way through the phone until she got to a photo she was happy with. She wiped her tears away and turned the phone around. ‘This is Vicky. Tell me this isn’t the woman you found this morning.’
Dominic stared at the image on the phone. The woman smiling. Full of life. She was holding a bunch of flowers out to the camera, beautiful colours that brought out the blue in her eyes. Eyes that were sparkling, filled with fun and mischief.
He couldn’t.
Chapter 43
Dominic
Kalisha broke in front of him. Dominic picked up his chair and carried it around to sit beside her. He held her hand and tried to comfort her but there was no comforting someone after a violent loss like this.
‘We’ll need to take a statement,’ he said.
Snot and tears were falling from her face. A bunched-up tissue she had found at the bottom of her handbag, now screwed up in her hand, dabbed randomly at her face. ‘Who would do something like this to her?’
‘We’re hoping to get as much information about Victoria from you as we can. It’ll help us build up a picture of her. Of her life, her activities. And hopefully lead us in the right direction to find out.’ His voice was quiet. The emotional energy this job took from him was immense.
As he sat there comforting Kalisha and talking to her he realised he needed to take stock himself and attempt to get himself on a more even keel. He was being sucked into the case more emotionally than usual. But then again, the cases never usually dragged on this way.
Kalisha sobbed and sobbed. Her heart was breaking. Her best friend was gone, and gone in the most brutal way possible.
‘Do you know where she was last night?’ Dominic asked.
Kalisha dabbed at her face some more but the tears she soaked up were quickly replaced by new ones. The tissue she clung to was disintegrating in her grasp. ‘She mentioned something about a new guy. She hadn’t had much luck in the love department, not since she and her ex split. She has a daughter.’ She started to sob harder. ‘Oh my God.’ Her hand went up to her mouth. ‘Amelia. If Victoria went out last night Amelia will have stopped at a friend’s house. She’ll be at school and will have no idea.’ She sobbed hard. ‘That poor . . .’ More sobs wracked through her body. ‘G-girl.’
Dominic’s stomach twisted. This bastard definitely had a type. Women in their forties with children. What a sick twisted fuck. Someone was going to have to get this girl out of school and tell her the world as she knew it was over.
He desperately wanted to help this woman but felt helpless. Then he remembered a secret weapon he might be able to use. ‘I have someone you might be able to talk to if you think you’d find it useful?’ he said quietly. ‘I think it’s usually a resource for family members but the guy is someone I know so I can ask him to get in touch with you if you’d like?’
Kalisha blinked. ‘I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say here . . .’
Dominic reached out and patted her hand. ‘Take your time. I’ll give you my contact details and if you decide you want to talk about this then give me a call. Samuel is a decent guy and has supported a lot of people. He’ll be a good person to talk to.’
She blinked at the tears that filled her eyes. ‘Thank you.’
He hoped Samuel would be okay with him offering his services. After all, Dominic had no idea how busy the man actually was. But he’d been positive about supporting the loved ones of those the Strangler had murdered.
Now Dominic needed to get the conversation turned back around to some investigative questions. ‘How did she find the man she was dating?’ he asked.
Kalisha swiped at her cheeks. Dominic could see she was physically trying to pull herself together, trying desperately to help. If this had happened to her friend then she would do everything she could to support the police in their effort to find her killer.
‘She was on the Close to Me dating app.’
‘And did you see the guy she was dating or get his name or any of his details?’
‘He called himself Nathan Ward, said he was forty-six and was divorced.’ She wiped away more tears as she remembered the man who may have been the last person to see her friend alive. ‘They chatted for a bit on the app and then they agreed to go out and I think that was last night.’
‘Did you see a photograph of him? Can you describe him?’ Dominic had made a note of his name. This was his man, he was sure. He needed a better description of him though. Someone who had actually seen a decent photograph of him.
‘I can do one better than that,’ she said. ‘I took a photograph of the photo Vicky showed me—’ she looked up from her phone to Dominic — ‘in case something happened to her.’ More tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘You say that, don’t you, never usually expecting it to be the case that something happens and you need it.’
Excitement built up in Dominic. ‘You have a photograph of him?’
‘Yes.’ She flicked through her phone again. ‘It’s not very clear though.’
‘Anything is better than nothing,’ Dominic reassured her. He leaned forward in his seat.
Kalisha spun the phone around towards him. He had the image of the Sheffield Strangler.
Chapter 44
Dominic
It was as everyone had previously described. The sun was behind his back and was blazing into the camera. You could clearly see what he was wearing, jeans and a pale blue shirt, open at the neck and tucked into his jeans, you could tell his hair was dark, but his face was completely obscured.
It was no help whatsoever.
It could be Alex Chapman. His hair was dark.
‘Do you mind if I take a copy of this?’ Dominic asked.
‘Of course not, if you think it’ll be helpful.’ She handed Dominic the phone.
‘It’s not that we can make out who he is from this,’ he said. ‘But it’s the first time we’ve seen this image and if
we disseminate it we can at least prevent other women from going on dates with him.’
‘Oh God, yes. Of course.’
Dominic thought about the best way to get the image from her phone. ‘If you email it to me, I think that might be easiest. Then we can work from my email within the police systems.’ He handed the phone back and reeled off his work email address as she thumbed the details into the phone.
‘I’ll get someone to come down and get a statement from you.’ He rose from his chair. ‘I’m so sorry for your loss, Kalisha.’
‘And Amelia?’ Tears started again.
‘We’ll get someone to pick her up, alert Social Care, and go from there. Does she have any family she can stay with?’
‘There’s her grandmother but she lives in Leicester. It’s a huge upheaval for her. She can stay with me if she wants to. Vicky wouldn’t have minded that.’
‘How old is Amelia? Social Care will be involved in sorting that side of things. It’s not our area, I’m afraid.’
Kalisha dropped the now soggy tissue in her bag and started fishing around for another, frustration obviously building inside her as it became clear there were no more.
‘I’ll get whoever comes down to take your statement to bring some tissues with them.’
‘Thank you.’
He left her wiping her nose on her sleeve as she continued to sob for her lost friend.
Dominic’s earlier despondent mood felt slightly lessened by the fact that they could potentially prevent further deaths by releasing the image he now had his hands on. What had started as a bad day had been lifted by this turn of events.
The incident room was buzzing with activity. Dominic went straight to his desk and turned on his computer. As he waited for it to wake he turned to Krish. ‘Can you go and take the statement from the woman downstairs, please, Krish. You’ll need tissues, she’s devastated. They were best friends and ran a business together. A florists they started a couple of years ago that seemed to be doing well from what I can gather. Apparently our victim had a knack for it.’
Krish picked up statement paper and his pen. ‘Absolutely.’ He strode across the room and out the door.
The computer monitor was awake and Dominic went straight to his emails. The one from Kalisha was there. He opened it up and the image of the Sheffield Strangler was staring back at him. ‘I’ve got the photograph of our killer,’ he told the room. Silence fell and all eyes turned to him. ‘I’ve also got an ID on the victim, she’s Victoria Ryan aged forty-two. Picked up on the same dating app as the others. Only this time her best friend Kalisha Abebe took a photograph of the image he put on the app in case something happened to her friend.’
‘Shit,’ Hayley blurted out.
‘Exactly,’ he agreed.
‘Any good?’ asked Paul excited.
‘Not for identifying him, but we can use it to warn other women off him. We’ll get it out to the press immediately. We may be able to save someone’s life this way. I’ve got the image on my email. I’ll forward it on to our press department and they can disseminate it. I’ll also forward it to the digital crime department, to see if they can clear the image any.’
‘Is it the one with the sun glaring behind him that’s been described to us?’ Hayley asked.
‘That’s the one. Once he’s aware the image is out there he could change it. But if he’s currently charming someone using this photograph and we save one life because that woman sees it, then it’s worth doing.’
Rhys shook his head. ‘Clever bastard.’
‘We’re further ahead than we were this morning.’ Dominic was determined they would look on the bright side of this. Their spirits needed lifting. His certainly did and he could only imagine his team’s did as well.
‘Saving a life is better than a kick in the teeth,’ admitted Hayley.
‘Now we need to catch the nasty little fucker,’ muttered Paul.
Dominic stood. ‘I need to go and tell Kapoor what we have. That this is going straight out to the press. He needs to be kept up to date.’
‘This feels positive,’ said Hayley. ‘Even if we can’t work from it, we’re scuppering him and I like that.’
He placed a hand on her shoulder as he passed and squeezed. He was pretty buzzed himself.
Chapter 45
Claudia
Twenty-four hours since Ruth’s attack
Claudia rubbed at her eyes. ‘Talking of press conferences, I think I’m going to do one this evening.’
‘Saying what?’ Dominic asked.
‘I’m going to appeal to the killer and ask him to release Ruth. I’m going to appeal to his better side and see if he’ll let us have her back.’
Dominic scoffed. ‘You think that’ll work?’
‘You think it’ll hurt?’ she countered.
He went quiet.
‘No, I didn’t think so. Why would you suggest we don’t do it?’
Dominic stared at the floor. His mouth moved as if to speak but nothing came out.
‘What is it?’ Claudia asked. ‘Why are you against a press conference?’
At last his mouth worked again. ‘I’m not, it’s just we have no evidence it’s him, other than my gut feeling. Isn’t putting it into the public domain, the fact that he’s brave enough to take a cop, going to—’ he waved a hand in the air as if trying to grab for a reason — ‘upset the public. They won’t feel safe at all.’
‘Have you forgotten already that we have the lipstick from your garage he left behind? Though I do think it’s odd he left it at the scene of the abduction rather than where he dumps the body.’ Claudia clamped her mouth shut as she said the last sentence, gutted she herself was classing Ruth as a body rather than someone they were searching for as a missing person. Ruth was an attractive, vibrant, intelligent woman. They’d only been out for drinks the night before last. Ruth had been pushing Claudia to put in for her exams, to go for promotion again and Claudia was fighting her, telling her she was happy where she was for now. That she had plenty of time to progress. And here they now were, classing Ruth as a body, just two days later. Where was Ruth’s time? Where was her opportunity to do what she wanted in the force and with her life? Claudia pushed her hair behind her ears.
‘It’s okay,’ Dominic said. ‘I know the facts of the case better than anyone on your team, I know how he works. No need to feel bad for talking facts with me. I’m clinging on to hope that she’s still alive. We don’t have a body so in my book she’s still alive.’
Claudia brought herself back to the here and now and the job she was doing, pulled herself away from the night with Ruth. ‘But the lipstick goes to show he’s likely got her. It’s enough to come to that conclusion, wouldn’t you say?’ Why was he so against this? Why was she having to encourage him that it was the right way to go?
‘Not that I want to admit this, but you’re right.’ Dominic slouched down in his seat. ‘But do you want to frighten the public this way?’
‘You shouldn’t be worrying about that. You should focus on Ruth and let us consider how we’re going to play this. I’ll obviously run it up the flagpole and speak to Sharpe, but I can’t see her having an issue with an appeal. She’s as concerned as the rest of us.’ Why wasn’t he? What was the issue?
‘I’m sorry, it’s a natural part of me, the job just kicks in.’ His voice was quiet. ‘But if you think it’ll help get Ruth back I’m all for it.’
‘Even if we don’t reach him someone might’ve seen Ruth. They might have seen her being lifted into a vehicle or carried somewhere. It’s as much about searching for witnesses as it is about reaching out to him.’
‘You don’t need to keep selling it, Claudia. You have me on side.’
It hadn’t felt like it. She smiled at him. ‘We’ll find her, Dad. No matter what it takes, you have the full might of the force behind you on this. She’s not alone. Wherever she is she’ll know she has several thousand cops on her side who won’t back down.’ And that thought alone
was something that had kept Claudia going all day. Knowing her colleagues were doing everything in their power, following every lead, every sign, turning everything upside down to search for her.
Dominic looked broken.
Claudia stood. ‘I’m going to put you back in your cell while I sort this other stuff out. You okay with that? Keeping you here a little longer while I sort out the briefing?’
‘If it’ll help then yes, of course I am. I’ve only ever wanted to help find her, Claudia. It’s been hard being locked up in here not able to get involved in anything.’
‘You couldn’t have anyway. There was no way anyone was going to allow you access to their incident room.’
He smiled at her.
‘And that includes me.’ She turned to Kane. ‘Take him to his cell, will you, please, Russ?’
Kane stood and Dominic rose from his seat.
‘Thank you for making this as easy as you could, Claudia.’
She dipped her head in acknowledgement and left the interview room.
An hour later the press had assembled. It was the quickest she had ever been able to get them gathered at headquarters. There was a lot of noise from them as they tried to figure out what the urgent matter involved. Most of them decided the Sheffield Strangler had struck again. After six months of dealing with the case they were getting a little immune to the story. Awful as each murder was, each case was the same and they wanted something different to say.
‘You’re sure about this?’ Sharpe flicked ash onto the floor of the smoking hut as she stood outside with Claudia before the press briefing. It was getting dusky. It had been a long day and it was far from over. ‘Dominic was right when he said it’s possibly going to frighten the public that a police officer has been taken by this sicko. They’re scared as it is and if the police can’t protect themselves then how are the public meant to do so?’ She blew a smoke ring up in the air, blush-coloured lips pursing into a perfect circle.
BLOOD STAINED an unputdownable crime thriller with a breathtaking twist (Detective Claudia Nunn Book 1) Page 22