Nasty Bitch

by K Leitch

  Nora had asked if she would be able to pick up a few essentials for her as she was being discharged tomorrow, so with a sleeping baby in the back Tracy was driving into Redbank to do just that. Redbank town centre had a particularly irritating one-way system, which took you all the way round the town, so effectively if the shop you needed was on this road, you had to drive past it without stopping, park half a mile away and walk back.

  It drove Tracy mad; plus of course she’d chosen the worst time to come out, just after the afternoon school run and the traffic was barely moving, and the chemist that she needed to fill Nora’s prescription was half way round that system. Tracy was swearing under her breath as she inched round past the shops, when she thought she spotted a familiar face in one of the little cafés on the route it was Rosie…Carla’s Rosie.

  She wound her window down, ‘COOEEE… ROSIE,’ she called, Rosie turned to see who was shouting at her, Tracy waved like mad until she spotted her.

  ‘Oh…hi Auntie Tracy,’ she called back with a forced smile, she was obviously seriously embarrassed to have been spotted by Tracy. ‘Hmm she must have some friends with her,’ Tracy shrugged, ‘or maybe a boy…Tracy stared at the table where Rosie was sitting, there was definitely someone else there, but she couldn’t make out who it was. Just then Rosie’s companion stood to leave and Tracy got a glimpse of the back of her. A very tall girl it seemed with jet black hair, wearing a long black coat and black boots…she seemed a bit older than Rosie, but then at her age girls came in all shapes and sizes; Tracy had always been the shortest in her class even though she was one of the eldest. Her attention was called back to the road then as the traffic started to move and Tracy moved away from the café and Rosie.

  There had been something strangely familiar about the girl Rosie had been talking to though, she couldn’t think what…maybe it was the way she had moved or the turn of her head, but Tracy was sure she had seen her before. In all probability she had been at the school Tracy had worked in, she was always bumping into old school children that had grown into stroppy teenage girls, or six foot hunks, some with full beards.

  By now Tracy had arrived at the car park and after spending the next fifteen minutes circling round and round to find a space, she rushed to get Tilly into her buggy and had practically run back down the road to the chemist, passing the café as she did so. The table was empty now; the two girls had obviously made a run for it before dotty old Auntie Tracy could embarrass them anymore.

  Tracy smiled to herself…when had she become old enough to be embarrassing to teenagers? She must remember to tell Carla about it when she next saw her, and ask her who the mystery friend was.

  She remembered later, once she was back home, so she dialled Carla’s number. She had been meaning to talk to her anyway about Thomas and the nurse incident, she had no idea what to do about that little problem…there was no answer so she left a message asking Carla to get in touch with her ASAP.

  CHAPTER 40 – CARLA

  Frank drove carefully round the packed car park that surrounded the huge rambling hospital buildings. Mayday Hospital had been built in the early 1900’s but it had been added to so many times over the years, that it had been transformed into a rabbit warren covering a few square miles of the grey metropolis that was Croydon.

  ‘Fucking hell how the bloody hell are you meant to park in this fucking place?’ grumbled Frank after they started on their third circuit round the buildings.

  ‘There’s one,’ shouted Carla pointing to a space right in the corner against the wall.

  ‘It may be small but I’m getting in there if it kills me…’ said Frank with a mad gleam in his eyes, ‘right let’s see if I can manoeuvre this great hulking beast into the teeny tiny space shall I?’

  ‘Well just let me get out first!’ said Carla jumping out, ‘I’ll guide you in.’

  But before she had time to check out the space Frank had done a speedy reverse with inches to spare.

  He jumped out and gave Carla a teeth grittingly smug look, ‘Easy peezy,’ he said.

  Carla ignored him, ‘Right we are looking for…Woodcote ward,’ she said consulting her notes. ‘I think I saw a sign for the reception over on that block of signs over there,’ she said walking off. It took them another twenty minutes to find the right ward which was in one of the many outbuildings contained within the hospital enclosure and had definitely seen better days.

  Dr Ranush had a kind face and a big smile; he welcomed Carla and Frank into his office, a small room, more like a cupboard than an office, and filled with clutter. Dr Ranush hastily cleared a couple of chairs for them and then sat down behind his desk.

  ‘Dr Ranush,’ Carla began, ‘you said that you thought you recognised the photo fit image that was shown on Crime Watch the other evening is that right?’

  Dr Ranush nodded enthusiastically, ‘I am pretty certain it’s Kerry…Kerry Webb. She was a patient at the hospital I was working at…Watlingham Park, oh I’d say about eight, nine years ago.’

  Carla and Frank looked at each other. ’A patient?’ asked Frank. ‘What was she in for?’

  ‘Well as to that I can’t tell you I’m afraid,’ the doctor said regretfully, ‘patient confidentiality… but also I was not her doctor that would have been Dr Haliday. I can tell you that she was on a secure ward though, so she had been sectioned under the mental health act.’

  ‘You seem pretty certain that you recognise her sir, did you have much to do with the patients in that ward?’ asked Carla.

  ‘Not an awful lot if I’m honest…but everyone that worked in that part of the hospital was aware of Kerry, you couldn’t help but be aware of her,’ said the doctor with a wry smile. ‘She was one of those patients that liked to keep us on our toes, some patients keep very much to themselves, they don’t speak to anybody they keep away from their fellow patients. Some of them are on very high doses of medication which can make them quite dozy if you know what I mean; it suppresses their symptoms and calms them down. Kerry made herself heard from the minute she was admitted until the day she left…she fought everything and everybody, quite violently, using her teeth and nails if she couldn’t find anything else. She had to be restrained to be medicated…she refused to eat…she refused to clean up after herself…in fact sometimes she would mess herself just so that the staff would have to clean up after her. She was one of those patients that everyone dreaded being sent to their section, and if I’m honest we were glad to see the back of her when she was finally released.’

  ‘But surely when she was released she would have been back to normal wouldn’t she?’ said Frank, ‘Otherwise she shouldn’t have been released should she?’

  ‘We can only do so much with medication you know,’ said Dr Ranush defensively. ‘Patients are usually sectioned if they are a danger to themselves or others…by the time a patient is released usually they can function reasonably well in society, but sometimes the underlying problems are still there and those are the ones that we see coming back time and time again…’

  ‘Was Kerry one of those patients…how many times had she been admitted to the hospital?’

  ‘I really can’t say,’ said the doctor shaking his head. ‘I think she was there a couple of times when I worked there but as I said, Dr Haliday should be able to give you a bit more information.’

  Carla and Frank both got up, ‘Well thank you Doctor,’ said Carla shaking his hand. ‘Can I leave you my card if you think of anything else that may be relevant please do give me a call…oh one more thing Doctor, how old would you say Kerry was when you knew her in the hospital?’

  ‘Um…I would think late thirties, something like that,’ said Doctor Ranush walking them to the door.

  ‘And did she have anyone that visited her…a husband, family members?’ asked Frank.

  ‘Oh yes…her father visited her now and again…’ said the Doctor after thinking for a while. ‘Awful man, his visits did more harm than good, she was obviously terrified of the man. It seem
ed to trigger off all her worst behaviour after he left…one time she nearly blinded another patient with a plastic fork in a fit of fury just after one of his visits. Dr Haliday had to ask him not to come after that, it was obviously too upsetting for her…he died though I seem to recall, fell off a ladder or something like that.’

  ‘No one else?’ asked Frank again.

  ‘No I can’t think of anyone…she obviously had a boyfriend at one time, because she had a son…can’t remember his name though sorry. Poor little chap was in and out of care every time she was admitted of course…I wonder what ever happened to him?’ Dr Ranush said with a sigh.

  ‘Does Dr Haliday still work at Watlingham Park Doctor, will we be able to contact him there?’ asked Carla.

  ‘Oh no I should have mentioned, Watlingham Park was closed down…oh a good five years ago now, cut backs…care in the community,’ he added with raised eyebrows. ‘You asked Sergeant why these people are released even if they are not cured, there’s your answer…bloody care in the community! Anyway I can give you Doctor Haliday’s address, he lives not far from here actually, in Purley.’

  Frank and Carla thanked Dr Ranush again and made their way back to the car.

  ‘57 Highly Drive…’ said Frank as Carla keyed the address into the sat nav. ‘According to this it’s only about ten minutes away…once we get out of this bloody car park of course!’

  It actually took them more like half an hour to find Dr Haliday’s house. Carla had tried to phone on route to make sure he was home but so far had only got his answer phone. Soon however they were pulling up in front of a pretty detached house on a quiet leafy road…which seemed like a million miles away from the tower blocks and sprawling ugliness of Croydon town centre.

  Unfortunately the good Doctor was away for the week at a conference according to his wife, but they could get hold of him on his mobile.

  After a few more attempts and being diverted to voicemail each time Carla left a message for the Doctor to get in touch with her as soon as he received the message, and they headed back to Kenley to update the team.

  ‘Kerry Webb,’ said Carla a couple of hours later pointing to the photo fit image which had been pinned onto the white board.

  ‘She was sectioned and sent to Watlingham Park psychiatric hospital about nine years ago according to Dr Ranush, who is pretty certain she is our woman. Right now we have a name to follow up on…Mandy find out everything you can about this woman, she apparently spent a lot of time at the hospital so they must have some records relating to her, also social services, they dealt with her son each time she had to be admitted. As yet we have no address so that’s our starting point…I want to know where she has been living over the last ten years.

  Midge and Sam, you carry on finding everything you can about our latest victim…um Warren James, and also find out where Keith Mowbray would have taken a date, you know any particular restaurants he frequented…his daughter will know. Jay I am just waiting on the warrants so that we can start looking at who befriended these men on Facebook and then that is what I what you to do. I know, I know it’s not the best job but we are running out of time before this evil bitch kills again…for all we know she may have already got her sights on her next victim…Frank we need to find out how she is getting her hands on the drug that she uses on these men. Rohypnal, as I understand it is used during surgical procedures, could it be that our girl is now a nurse of some kind…check out the local hospitals can you, see if they’ve had any of the drug reported missing. Take the photo fit with you see if anybody recognises her…yes I know,’ she said laughing at Frank’s indignant face, ‘don’t teach my granny to suck eggs…but…’

  Constable Sheila Atkins popped her head round the door at that point.

  ‘Sorry Carla, but there’s a Dr Haliday on the phone for you…he says he’s been trying to get through on your mobile for ages and it’s extremely important that he speaks to you today.’

  ‘Oh yes…thanks Sheila, I’ll take it now, can you put it through to my office…thanks. Right the rest of you carry on with what we discussed yesterday…CCTV cameras, passersby…someone must have seen these two arrive or leave the restaurant.’ She hurried out of the briefing room and down the corridor to her office, where on the desk her phone was flashing.

  ‘Dr Haliday, thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly,’ began Carla.

  ‘Well as soon as I heard who you were enquiring about I tried to call you, but as I said to the young lady, you weren’t picking up, so I thought it best to ring the station in the hope that you might be there.’

  ‘Yes well thank you again sir. I didn’t want to go into much detail in the message I left you, but needless to say we need to find out as much as we can about this woman, as we believe she may be able to help us in a particularly nasty murder enquiry.’ Carla went on to explain in a little bit more detail the nature of the attacks.

  ‘Oh dear…oh how awful…murder you say, oh dear,’ muttered Dr Haliday. ‘Well of course I have only seen the image that you sent me on my phone, but it certainly looks like Kerry…a bit older than when I saw her last of course…’

  ‘And when was that sir?’ asked Carla.

  ‘Oh I haven’t seen her for about nine years I would say…she was released just before I left the hospital. I have heard of her of course, there was always something…some drama with Kerry. The last I heard she had moved to America…met some chap apparently, I had no idea she had returned to this country.’

  Carla’s ears pricked up. ‘When was that doctor, when she went to the States…can you remember?’

  ‘Oh well that was more recently actually…maybe three years ago? I met one of my old colleagues, he’d had dealings with Kerry as well, anyway he had found her a job…some graphics company run by a friend of his needed a girl Friday…you know office dogsbody, and he had suggested Kerry for the job. She worked there for about a year until, rather unfortunately, the company folded…that’s when she decided to go to America apparently.’

  ‘Dr Haliday…can you tell me about Kerry’s illness, what she was being treated for?’ said Carla taking the bull by the horns.

  Doctor Haliday didn’t answer for a while, until Carla thought that maybe he’d been cut off…then he said, ‘Detective Right…if Kerry had been diagnosed a couple of hundred years ago it would have been said that she was possessed of the devil. She is one of the few patients that I have come across in my career in which I could see no good…not even a glimmer. She was in fact diagnosed, and treated for, Paranoid Schizophrenia with very strong sociopathic tendencies, but there was much more going on inside that woman. She had a darkness to her that she hid most of the time, but when it was roused…well you didn’t want to be around her when that happened believe me.’

  ‘So why was she allowed to leave the hospital Doctor if she was so deranged?’ said Carla shaking her head in disbelief.

  ‘Oh I didn’t say she was deranged my dear…no Kerry was, for the most part, an intelligent charming woman, able to fit into any society. That is the strength of the sociopath or psychopath; they can fool people into thinking that they are the same as them, when in fact they have absolutely no empathy for anyone around them, not even their closest relatives or friends. They are completely self serving and ruthless and will not let anything or anyone get in their way and worst of all they have absolutely no conscience. They would always be able to justify anything they did, no matter what it was.

  I can’t stress enough Detective Right how dangerous this woman is. I don’t understand what could have started her, if indeed it is her, on this deadly spree but I can tell you this, she will not stop until she is caught. These murders and torturings are providing her with some sort of satisfaction…maybe sexual, maybe the thrill of feeling powerful, who knows…but they have obviously become important to her and as I said, to her that will be all that matters. She will almost certainly be working up to her next killing already…the preliminaries and the preparation are goin
g to be just as important as the killings themselves…’

  ‘Doctor we need an address for her, Dr Ranush couldn’t help us with that but he said you might be able to,’ Carla interrupted him.

  Dr Haliday tutted. ‘I have my old files on her at my house…there will be an address in there but it is an old one…from when she still lived with her father, if you phone my wife she will be able to give you that…somewhere to start I suppose. The psychiatric unit at Watlingham Park closed a few years ago so I don’t know where all the old hospital files are kept anymore, but I will try phoning a couple of colleagues, see if I can find anything.’

  ‘Thank you Doctor that would be a great help…um…the men that have been targeted have all received similar forms of torture, they were all drugged, but that we feel was just to make them easier to manage, but then they have all been beaten with something. Our forensic doctor thinks it is some sort of leather strap with metal spikes pushed through it…the damage it caused to the bodies was really terrible and then, and this is what I really wanted to ask you about…before they died they all had their genitals removed…’ Carla heard the doctor’s sharp intake of breath, ‘is this something that you’ve encountered before doctor?’

  ‘Not me specifically no,’ said Dr Haliday. ‘I have heard of torture of this kind before of course, although I must say that most of my dealings with deliberate emasculation have been of the self inflicted kind. I have to say I am not altogether surprised at what you have told me Detective. We put Kerry into a deep state of hypnosis once I remember…it was thought at that time that regressive hypnotherapy could help with Paranoid Schizophrenia, try to identify the root causes so to speak. Anyway as I say we put Kerry into a deep hypnosis, and I can only tell you that it was one of the most disturbing things I have seen in my time dealing with mental health. She has a rage inside her…a rage against men. She was seething with it, spewing out her hatred using awful foul language describing the terrible things that she wanted to do. I don’t mind telling you it was a scary sight…she looked almost feral, it was as though she had changed into some sort of demon in front of us…like I said Detective…possessed of the devil.’