He looked back to the floor. A silent agreement without incriminating himself. Then he was looking at her again. ‘I told you, she didn’t have kids.’
How could she believe a violent killer? Claudia pushed him down the single step and he stumbled, righting himself and scowling at her. ‘I didn’t kill your cop. That’s far too much heat coming down on me.’
They were nearly at the marked police vehicle now. A couple of uniformed cops stood by the side of it waiting to transport Tyler to the police station.
Claudia handed him over. He hadn’t given her the answers she wanted. There was a block of stone sitting in the pit of her stomach.
‘I didn’t do this,’ he hissed as one of the cops pushed him into the rear seat with a little too much force.
* * *
Claudia’s involvement was over. As agreed, she left the scene to be searched by the other officers in attendance and climbed into her own car and drove steadily back to the station. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts. The last three days replayed in varying snippets. She lost focus and ran a red light causing an angry motorist to press his hand to his horn for an inordinate amount of time. Guilt flooded through her but she couldn’t correct her error. She continued on.
Once in her office she closed the door to the world and sat silently, looking at her computer occasionally as though she might be prepared to do some work, but she never moved.
A few hours later there was a knock at her door and Sharpe pushed her way in.
‘Good God, Claudia, open a window, would you.’
Claudia blinked. How long had she been sitting in here? ‘Ma’am.’ She rose and unlatched the window, cracking it open, feeling the breeze float across her skin.
Sharpe took the chair across from Claudia’s. ‘The search team from Tyler’s address have updated me.’
Claudia waited.
‘They’ve found several phones they believe to belong to the victims. A couple have blood on. We expect DNA testing to identify it as belonging to the victims. Fingerprints have already been done and Tyler’s prints are on them so he can’t claim they were placed there by someone else. And by fingerprints I mean his right hand. Did you notice his burnt-up left hand?’
Claudia couldn’t remember if she’d seen it. If she had wouldn’t it be something that would stick in her mind? ‘I’m not sure . . .’
‘Dominic said it was something to do with him cooking alone when he was a child. His whole left hand is stripped of flesh and is just angry scar tissue. Anyway, there are even prints from those fingers, which though they can’t be identified the same way as typical fingerprints they add to the weight of the evidence against him. He might have been careful at crime scenes, but I don’t think he expected us to come through his door. He also had a couple of brand-new House of Maven lipsticks in Velvet Berry. He wasn’t planning on stopping. This was a good collar, Claudia.’ She paused. ‘You’ve worked hard. We asked a lot of you. I think you need to take a little time off along with your father—’
Claudia opened her mouth to object.
Sharpe held up a well-manicured hand. ‘At least for a few days. You need it.’
‘Has he gone into interview yet?’ Claudia asked.
Sharpe shook her head. ‘He’s about to. They were waiting to see what the search yielded. It doesn’t matter what he says, they have him sown up. He’s going down for a very long time. Now forget about Tyler. Go and spend some time with your father. It’s not every day we ask you to arrest a parent for murder. We accept this hasn’t been ideal, but we are grateful for the hard work you’ve done.’
Claudia was exhausted. They’d been through so much and now she had to say goodbye to Ruth.
* * *
Two weeks later they gathered for Ruth’s memorial.
She couldn’t be buried yet as Tyler was fighting the charge of murder for Ruth. He was entitled to a second post-mortem on her body.
The space was heaving with cops in dress uniform. So many people attended that there was standing room outside. She had been a popular officer and friend within the service. Claudia was proud to have known and loved her. Tears welled up in her eyes and she fought to retain a level of professional dignity even though there was nothing undignified about giving in to grief. She wanted to hold it together for her dad who had been a tower of strength these past two weeks. Now he walked up to the front to give his speech.
Dominic stood tall and proud and looked out at the hundreds of mourners that had turned out for his wife. He pushed his shoulders back.
‘Thank you all for coming today. Ruth would have loved to have seen you all. I’m sorry she has to miss you.’
A tear slipped down Claudia’s cheek.
‘I know many of you loved Ruth. She was that kind of woman. She was kind and generous and funny and she gave everything to the job and, when she came home in the evening, she gave everything to me. She didn’t do anything by halves. It’s why I fell for her. She was a whirlwind and she scooped me up and never put me down again. Now the whirlwind is gone and I’m not sure where I’m going to land. I’m lost without her.’ His voice cracked and he paused to gather himself.
Claudia swallowed. It was difficult to watch her father struggle this way. She looked down at her feet in an attempt to stop herself falling apart. He needed her now. He didn’t need her to be the one going under as he was.
Dominic looked to the photograph of Ruth that stood at the front with him instead of a casket. ‘She was taken from us far too soon. She will have put up a fight, she will not have gone willingly. She had too much to live for. Too many people she loved and who loved her in return. Now it’s our turn to fight for her. This will not go unpunished. Our love will rise up and we will finish this for her.’ His voice dropped. ‘I love you, baby.’
Claudia didn’t think it was the right place to talk about the killer. This was Ruth’s time, but her dad was so caught up in it all she had to let him say what he needed to.
He wiped at his face before he walked over to Claudia. She smiled at him quietly telling him he did good and he sat beside her as the service continued and people paid their respects to his wife.
Chapter 55
Dominic
The night of Ruth’s attack
It didn’t take long to get home. Ruth’s car was on the drive. He couldn’t remember whether she had driven to work or if she had been picked up by a colleague that morning. He was hard pressed to recall who had left first that day because the mornings were all so alike they blended into each other. It was just a matter of getting ready for work. The usual family morning stuff.
Dominic entered the house — Ruth was home, she’d finished before him. The argument started practically straight away, she’d had enough, she wasn’t going to be taken for a fool any longer. This time she had evidence that he’d been seeing that slut Hayley from the office.
His blood froze as she said this. He thought they’d kept it well hidden. They’d been careful. Ruth laughed in his face. Showed him a photograph on her phone of him kissing Hayley in a car park one night before he’d come home to her. She’d followed him. Had enough of his lies. She talked about divorce, about the fact she should have known he would do it again. He’d cheated on his first wife with her. Why on earth wouldn’t he do it again?
This time though there would be no happy ending. This time she would shame him for his behaviour. It wasn’t a one off. It wasn’t a love conquers all. He was a disgrace and all his work colleagues would know. His bosses. His friends and co-workers.
As a woman, Hayley would come out of this worse. She’d be the force slut. Women are never given an easy ride when they slept with men on the job. Her life would be hell. And Ruth laughed.
Dominic refused to engage with her and walked away and closed the curtains, blocking the outside world away.
The fury built up inside him. Like a monster waking from a deep sleep, it rumbled and unfurled as he paced around the house. The words of the argument going around and
around in his head, each sentence, each phrase winding him up more and more until he could bear it no longer. Who was she to talk to him this way? How could she do this to him with all he was going through. He’d given his all, he was tired and she was about to tear his world apart.
He entered the kitchen again. Standing behind her as she stood at the sink washing some glasses. He waited quietly, the monster within him watching. Then he heard it.
She exhaled.
He exhaled. It was time. The argument over Hayley had been the last straw. He wouldn’t have her divorce him and take him for everything he had, his home, his police pension and with it his reputation. She had her own fucking pension, there was no way she was taking his as well. He wouldn’t be made to look like a fool as she wiped him out. And he treasured his reputation. She would destroy it. He couldn’t allow that.
She spun around with the glass still in her hand.
She had a weapon in her hands. She wouldn’t go down quietly, but he had a plan. He’d been building on the plan for weeks as his relationship with Hayley had blossomed. He hadn’t realised that was what he’d been doing, but now it came down to it he realised it was perfect for him. It would sort out all his problems and no one would even look at him. No matter what happened with Hayley he couldn’t live with the fact that Ruth had found out.
His face was impassive.
He took a step towards her, his hand outstretched and open, she turned to her right and ran, a scream about to leave her lips as his hand closed on her hair at the back of her head, jerking her back, pulling her feet up from under her. The glass in her hand flying up into the air as she landed with a thud on the floor at his feet. The glass shattered at the side of her head, shards splintering off and embedding themselves into her arm and face.
His hand was tight in her hair. He twisted, increasing his grip, the strands digging into his skin. She cried out, a low complaint in the circumstances. He turned his body so he was bent over her, straddling her. Face to face. There was no coming back from this. If he let her go there would be a nasty domestic assault charge. How could he deal with that in his position?
It was as though she knew.
She reared up, fists and feet flying. She caught him between his legs. He sank down onto her. Knees buckling, a small grunt of air leaving his mouth as the pain in his groin caught him off guard and made his eyes water.
She punched out again and pulled her knees up with as much force as she could muster. Her breath coming strong and ragged. He leaned down close onto her to protect and gather himself. She continued to punch out and kick and squirm.
And then he did it.
A blinding blow to the side of her head from a fist she didn’t see coming.
‘Stop fighting,’ he grunted.
His weight was on her.
He raised himself up above her, pushing his elbow into her shoulder. ‘Stop fighting,’ he growled again.
‘Never,’ she breathed out.
He punched her hard again and her eyes fluttered in her head until they were still and she was silent.
He had to put his plan into action. He had to make it look like this was the Sheffield Strangler. If he killed her here and left the blood in the garage he risked being arrested, but once her body was found he would be exonerated. No one would expect him to kill and leave the blood in his own house. It would be easier to leave the blood than try to clear it up because everyone knew the CSU could find the smallest amount and he would never be able to clear up every single drop. Better to leave it all and claim someone is setting you up than try to hide it and be made to look like a liar at a later date. He’d never get out of that one.
She’d made this easier the minute she’d come home and told him the team thought they had connected with the Sheffield Strangler on the app. The killer took it slow on the app, really got to know the women and reeled them in. Gave him time for this plan to percolate in his head. Not that he thought it would ever come to fruition, but if he needed it then it was there.
He dragged her to the garage looking at her face as he did so, regret fleetingly passing through him. He’d loved her once. She was his wife. He’d left his first wife for her. But it seemed that he was not meant for a life with only one woman. Now she had figured it out she said she would take him for everything. She already knew which divorce lawyer she would speak with. He would be left with nothing by the time she was finished with him, she’d said, and he couldn’t allow that to happen. Not after he’d worked all these years and been put through one divorce already. A second one that was messy and brutal would destroy him. No, he would never let that happen.
She should have known better and walked away quietly.
In the garage he copied the slash mark he’d seen so many other times over the past six months. Her eyes flew open and her arms punched out as he made the initial incision, but he’d expected it and he was swift. He didn’t want her to suffer for all he wanted her gone. The life ebbed out of her as her heart pumped the life blood through her neck. Soon she was a lifeless corpse and he just had to bury her and copy the MO of the Sheffield Strangler, making sure she was in a place she’d be found easily enough. He didn’t want to be on trial for her murder. The husband, after all, is always suspected at first.
He laid a sheet of plastic in the boot of his car and drove to the location he’d decided on, burying her in a shallow grave by the moonlight that shone from above.
Then he went home, cleared up the glass on the kitchen floor, looked in the garage at the blood and decided to leave it. He called Ruth’s phone again as a worried husband would do and then he showered quickly, paying particular attention to his hands, fingernails and hair and then used Ruth’s hairdryer so when the cops came round they didn’t note damp hair and wonder why he’d had time to shower before calling the cops out on his missing wife.
It was time to call the police. Dominic took a deep breath. He was going to have to act the next period of his life like he’d never acted before. If he managed to get through it he would be free and clear to live the rest of his life the way he wanted to. He’d made a huge mistake marrying her. She should have remained a fling. The fact that he’d been distracted with Hayley the way he had, proved this to him.
The dial tone in his ear made his stomach twist. He wouldn’t need to put on a show. He would be genuinely anxious.
The call was answered. He stumbled over his words, ‘Hello . . . hi . . . I’m DS Dominic Harrison. I want to report my wife’s not here, she’s . . . I think she’s missing. I mean, she hasn’t come home.’ Perspiration slipped down the side of his face and he wiped it away with the back of his hand. ‘She’s also a cop. She’d know better than to let me worry this way.’
‘What is your wife’s name, Sergeant?’ There was tapping down the line as the call-taker input the details Dominic was passing him.
‘She’s Ruth Harrison. My wife is Ruth Harrison. Please help us. Please send someone round and get an investigation started.’
Chapter 56
Claudia
Three weeks after Ruth’s memorial
Claudia knocked on Sharpe’s closed door and waited to hear her call to enter. From inside there was the sound of hushed conversation. She hadn’t expected that. She’d been called to Sharpe’s office and thought it was a one-on-one talk but there was definitely someone else in there.
‘Come.’ Sharpe’s voice was clipped and to the point.
Claudia entered the room and was surprised to see her father sitting in one of the chairs opposite Sharpe. He looked up at Claudia and appeared just as surprised to see her.
‘Morning.’ She gave a general greeting to the room.
‘Claudia.’ Her father welcomed her.
‘Sit, sit.’ Sharpe waved at the empty chair next to Dominic.
This was the first time Dominic had been in the police station, that Claudia was aware of, since Ruth’s death. He’d told her he was returning to work today. It had been three weeks. He’d had extended
leave due to the circumstances surrounding her death. No one blamed him. In fact they were surprised he was returning so soon.
Sharpe waved to the chair again, a tut forming on her lips.
Claudia sat next to her father and smiled at him, trying for encouraging, then turned to Sharpe who as always looked immaculate.
‘You’ll both be wondering why I’ve brought you here,’ she said leaning back in her chair.
Claudia and Dominic looked from each other to Sharpe.
‘It had crossed my mind,’ admitted Claudia.
‘First things first I wanted to update you both on the outcome of the Samuel Tyler arrest. I’m aware you were updated on the charging decision, that he’s been charged with all murders—’ she looked to Dominic — ‘including Ruth’s.’
Dominic inclined his head but stayed silent. Claudia wrapped her hands together to keep herself quiet.
‘I wanted to let you know how the interviews had panned out,’ Sharpe continued.
They both waited her out.
‘While he forcefully denied Ruth’s murder—’ her voice was unusually quiet — ‘there was enough evidence to charge him anyway. But he fully admitted the other murders. I’m under the impression he probably thinks sentencing will be worse if there is a cop involved.’ She leaned forward in her chair. ‘Believe me when I say the evidence is there. He will not get away with this.’
They knew this. Claudia didn’t understand why they had been brought together for this meeting.
Sharpe took a beat and leaned back a little. ‘Like I said, I wanted to let you know how the interviews went. What he said. Why he did what he did.’
This was interesting.
‘You may have noticed his left hand was scarred. It was caused when his mother went out and left him alone in the house. He had an accident frying something in a pan. Bacon, I believe.’
Dominic nodded as though he was aware of this fact.
‘His mother had left him to go on a date. Samuel never forgave her for the pain caused that evening. From what I can gather, burns are one of the most painful experiences you can go through. The pain was seared into his brain and he carried it with him. When his mother returned she smothered his face in kisses apologising for abandoning him and the lipstick she was wearing stuck to his face, which he saw when glanced his reflection in a mirror. That lipstick was, as you can now imagine, Velvet Berry by House of Maven. And that’s why he selected older women with children, because they reflected his own mother who was of a similar age when she had him. She was a very neglectful mother who caused him much pain and the scarring from the accident with the hot oil, all his mother’s fault in his eyes.’
BLOOD STAINED an unputdownable crime thriller with a breathtaking twist (Detective Claudia Nunn Book 1) Page 28