Crimesight

by Joy Ellis

  The DCI snatched the picture up and peered at it. ‘My God! It’s not enough to challenge him on, but I’d say you are right!’

  Jon leaned over and took it from her. ‘So that’s who it reminded me of,’ he whispered. ‘The bastard!’ His face snapped up. ‘Guv, I’ve heard that there’s computer software available that could compare the shape and dimensions of the man in that picture. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just as long as part of it is complete; the programme is so sophisticated that it fills in the gaps. All we need is another photo of Cade for comparison, and we could identify him as being involved.’

  ‘And we have that kind of technology?’

  ‘We don’t, but the University does. Ted was telling me they use similar techniques of photo superimposition when they have a photograph of a missing individual and a skull to match it to.’

  Kate frowned and nibbled at the inside of her cheek. ‘We’d be well outside regulations if we did that. And if we do go down that route, I can’t tell you how careful we’d have to be. Can you imagine the furore if it got out? And you could double that if we’ve got it wrong? None of us would have jobs, and that’s just for starters.’

  ‘The words shit and fan do spring to mind, Guv, but we have to know if a senior officer is bent.’ Jon’s brow knit itself into a furrowed mass, then he turned and looked intently at Gary. ‘You’ve worked for him; we all know he’s a slime-ball, but do you believe it’s possible that he’s mixed up in something as sick as this?’

  ‘Yes, Sarge.’ Gary didn’t need to think. ‘I have no proof, he’s too clever by far, but I’d stake my pension on it.’

  ‘So the next question that arises is, just how involved is he? On the outer edge, like getting his rocks off watching some dirty sex, or is he in much deeper?’ Kate looked as though she had been sucking lemons. ‘Although I doubt he had anything to do with the actual abductions. Surely even Cade wouldn’t sink that low?’

  ‘Probably not, but that kind of perverted set up is always bound to attract some-thing much nastier, like a full-blown predator.’ Jon scratched his head. ‘Although you would have thought that the organisers would have been ultra careful about who got invited to their nasty little soirees?’

  Gary thought about Toni Clarkson. ‘Young Toni said that she’d been to these gatherings several times, but the man who took her on to the bogus ‘party’ was a stranger.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘This is just a thought, ma’am, but would Toni recognise Cade as one of the organisers, if we showed her his photo?’

  ‘We can’t do that, Gary,’ interjected Jon. ‘If anyone found out they’d throw the book at us. It would be construed as putting ideas into her head. And she’d recognise him anyway. Don’t forget he’s a friend of her father.’

  ‘But not as much as we originally assumed.’ added Kate. ‘I’m willing to bet that Cade is only pals with Neil Clarkson because of the money he donates to police coffers. Somehow I don’t think they socialize outside Lodge meetings. They couldn’t be more different.’ She gave a humourless little laugh. ‘And you don’t have kids, do you, Jon? Toni will have about as much interest in her father’s friends as she would a copy of the Communist Party Manifesto.’

  ‘So are you suggesting that we show her his photo?’ he asked.

  ‘It’s very risky, and we can’t do it with the parents around, but yes, I think we do.’ She gave an irritated sigh. ‘With all these deaths, we really don’t have time for this, but..,’ she shrugged. ‘…I believe that it has to be done.’

  Gary felt her eyes fall on him.

  ‘This will be totally off the record, and you don’t have to be part of it. Your job could be in jeopardy if you’re caught.’

  Gary took a deep breath and straightened up. ‘I’ll risk it, Guv. There are things that I know, or suspect about Cade that only a man who worked with him would know. I’ll go out on a limb to catch him.’

  ‘If you’re absolutely sure? Toni really liked you. In the hospital she trusted you more than anyone, so you talk to her, and in private, remember?’ She paused. ‘And I don’t think it’s the right time to tell her about Emily, unless she asks. I’ll leave that decision to you.’

  Gary gave a curt nod. ‘I’ll play it by ear, ma’am. But could I say something before I go?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Gary took a deep breath. ‘All this photo stuff is fine. Of course we must follow it up. And I have no doubt that we could prove its Cade.’ He paused, knowing how much Jon would be against this idea. ‘But in the end he’ll wriggle out. God knows how, but he’ll do it. I think we have to catch him red-handed. We need to go back undercover, to another one of those illegal parties, and arrest him in situ.’

  No-one spoke immediately then Kate drew in a long breath. ‘Get the other two in here.’

  ‘But, ma’am..?’ Concern shone in Jon Summerhill’s eyes.

  ‘Get Rosie and Scott. This is a decision for the team to make. Not me, not you Jon, but all of us.’

  It didn’t take long. Maybe fifteen minutes, and in the end, Jon was out-voted. Rosie made a call to her new clubbing buddy Will, and said that she was going out to meet him. ‘He loves his brother, and he’ll be as glad as us to see the drinking club closed down.’ She looked earnestly at Kate. ‘I trust him, he’s a nice kid, and I think he’ll forgive me for lying to him. I’m sure he’ll help us.’

  ‘And I’ll go with Rosie this time.’ said Scott purposefully. ‘It’s against my religion, but as it’s in such a good cause, I’ll slum it too.’

  ‘Then we watch for the texts. It won’t be for a few days, but when we get the message, we’ll go in.’

  ‘And if Cade’s there, we hit the place with every officer we can spare.’ added Jon grimly. ‘And in the meantime, I’ll organise the photo evidence with Ted.’

  ‘This sounds more like the sergeant that we know and love.’ said Kate.

  ‘Frankly, ma’am, in retrospect, if it means we take Cade down; then I’ll dress up in a rah-rah skirt myself and dance on a table.’

  Kate smiled; Jon was really warming to the idea.

  As he closed the door behind him, Gary felt a curious emotion take hold of him. He had never realised before exactly how much he hated Chief Superintendent Cade. The man had been around for so long, he was like a resident evil; something you learned to live with like a disability or a terrible illness. Because of his rank and his ‘popularity’ with the social high flyers, you felt powerless. You think things will never change. And now they had the chance to change everything. With careful planning, the untouchable Cade could be brought down.

  Gary went to his desk and switched on the computer. If he got this right, and he knew exactly how to go about it, he could be instrumental in righting an awful lot of wrongs.

  A determined smile spread across his face. He was very glad he’d come to work with DCI Reynard in Saltfleet.

  Kate prayed that she was doing the right thing. Risking her job was one thing, but allowing others to do the same was different all together. She looked anxiously at Jon. ‘Do you trust Ted Watchman?’

  ‘I do.’ Jon nodded, to add weight to his statement.

  ‘Then go find him. See what is needed for that photo comparison, and tell him we need total caution regarding who works on this. It cannot get back to anyone here or anywhere else, okay?’

  Jon nodded again, murmured a swift thank you, and left the room.

  Kate turned to Scott. ‘Could you get together as many free hands as you can from the other teams? We need to compare this list against missing persons and unsolved cases,’ She handed him the paper given to her by Tommy Thorne. ‘We have clothing, first names and dates of birth, so we need to start identifying the victims as quickly as possible. Tell them I want their findings as soon as they have them. And Scotty, you to concentrate on a teenager called Fleur. We believe she was the first death, maybe twenty years ago, so you can work out the rough time of her disappearance from that.’ She paused for breath. ‘Oh, and ask Clive to c
ontact whoever is on duty at Benedict Broome’s house to find me a sample of Elizabeth Sewell’s handwriting. Now, I have the unenviable task of grovelling to the Super about using a psychologist that Prickles suggested we bring in. And I think she’ll like that idea about as much as an ice-water enema.’

  As Kate walked to the lifts she glanced at her watch. The FMO at Harlan Marsh had promised to ring as soon as it was possible for her to interview Micah Lee, and he hadn’t. Knowing what she now knew, she wondered if the hold up was anything to do with Cade. She still found it hard to get her head around the fact that he would risk so much; a high powered job with untold fringe benefits and a bloody good pension, just to watch a few teenagers groping each other in the dark? It was all too much to take on board, especially when she had a psychopathic killer, thirteen murder victims, and suspects to interview. She felt a shiver of apprehension and stopped short.

  Dear Lord, had she sent Micah Lee to Harlan Marsh, and into the tender care of a man who knew all about him?

  Her mouth dried as she hurried towards the Super’s office. This case was taking them into very dangerous waters indeed, and it was up to her to steer them through to safety. She just prayed that she was up to it.

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  Gary left the Clarkson’s house with a tense smile on his lips. Toni had taken one look at the photo ID sheet, and with no prompting, had picked out Cade from the ten mug shots. They’d chatted for a few minutes, then he had left, but as walked back towards his old Suzuki, he saw another car drawing up.

  ‘Ethan Barley. What brings you to this young lady’s door?’

  Ethan threw open the car door and climbed out grinning broadly. ‘Got it back together with Toni.’

  ‘Yuk!’

  Gary looked across to the passenger seat and saw Nic Barley pulling a face at his brother. ‘And don’t you approve?’ he asked affably.

  ‘Ah, its okay I suppose. Maybe it’ll keep him off my back.’

  Ethan told his brother to stay put, he’d only be a few minutes, then he loped up the path towards the house. Gary took a long look at the younger brother, and decided to take a gamble. ‘Do me a favour, son?’

  Nic looked suspicious.

  ‘It’s okay, honestly. I just wondered if you recognised anyone on this.’ Gary pulled out the sheet of mug shots, and gave it to the boy

  He had been very careful. He had produced a close-up picture of James Cade taken from a police magazine. He had then copied it and cropped out all trace of a uniform. It made him look just like any civilian. Then he had take nine photos of uninvolved individuals from old cases, added them to the Rogue’s Gallery and hey-presto, a bone fide ID sheet.

  ‘Anyone you know?’

  Nic looked closely. ‘Just one. That git there. But he never looked that tidy.’

  Gary’s heart jumped. The boy had fingered Cade!

  Nic Barley handed the paper back. ‘He was often hanging around with the bloke who got me to copy the keys, and he was at the party in the crypt.’

  ‘So how does he dress?’

  ‘Always the same. Greased back hair, glasses, scruffy black chinos, a dark polo shirt and a black nylon sports jacket.’

  Gary felt sick. That was the description that Rosie had given of the man she recognised, but couldn’t place. The young detective had actually seen Cade! Please God, that just as she couldn’t put a name to him, if Cade had noticed the exotic young ‘Petra’, he wouldn’t have known her either.

  ‘Dirty bastard,’ grumbled Nic. ‘Is he the one that spiked Ethan’s bird’s drink?’

  ‘Could be, Nicholas. And maybe he’s done far worse than that.’ Gary paused for a moment, then added, ‘Would you testify?’

  ‘What? Go to court? Fucking hell!’ The boy’s eyes widened.

  ‘It could do you a lot of good, son. Our boss would be extremely pleased with you, and she’s got a lot of influence. And if she’s pleased, I would suggest that she could make things considerably easier with your father.’

  The boy sniffed. Then he shrugged. ‘I dunno. I suppose, well, I could, but...’

  Gary smiled at him. ‘Good lad! I knew you had it in you.’

  As he stood up and made to go to his car, Nic called him back. ‘There was another girl wasn’t there? Emily?’

  ‘I’d rather we kept this to ourselves, Nic. I don’t want Toni hearing about it yet.’ Gary’s face hardened. ‘Emily’s dead.’

  Nicholas’s pasty face turned even whiter. ‘Dead? What murdered?’

  ‘Abducted from one of those parties, Nicholas. Drugged, imprisoned, probably raped, made to suffer terribly, and left to die. I’d say that’s murder, wouldn’t you?’

  Gary thought the boy was going to be sick, then he looked up at Gary, breathed deeply for a minute, then quietly but firmly said. ‘I’ll testify.’

  Jon Summerhill impatiently paced up and down in the foyer. It was after six and the University had rung half an hour ago to say they were couriering Ted Watchman’s requested information to him. Then to his relief, he saw a slim-hipped, leather-clad motorcyclist peeling off his helmet and ringing the bell. Jon met him at the door, signed for the packet and gave him a fiver. He pulled open the large manila envelope and stared inside. He didn’t dare remove them, but he could see the series of face recognition photo printouts. He quickly withdrew the short explanatory note, scanned it, and let out a soft whoop of delight. He’d been pretty certain, but as the hours had passed he had begun to doubt his convictions. Now he held a positive match in his hand.

  A picture swam lazily into his mind. It was Valerie; her chestnut hair sweeping her shoulders, and her hazel eyes laughing at him. Valerie; sitting on a low wall over a stream at the back of his Aunt Hilda’s cottage. It was peaceful and about as pretty as the fenlands could be, with a garden full of flowers and mature old trees, a meandering stream and a plum orchard. They often went there in the early days, in the days before Cade.

  The thought of that name instantly tainted the memory, and it faded. Jon’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the photographs. ‘Your time is up, come in number fifteen,’ he whispered to himself, then gathered the documents together and hurried from the foyer.

  He almost fell into Kate’s office, and placed the envelope on the desk in front of her.

  ‘From that look on your face, I don’t need to ask, do I?’ said Kate slowly.

  ‘No, ma-am. It’s the result we hoped for.’

  Kate slid the report and the photos half-way out, glanced at them, then returned them to the envelope and locked it in her desk drawer. ‘This stays here until we need it.’ She attached the small key onto the fob with her car keys, and pushed them deep into her pocket. ‘Surety. We are going to need every bit of evidence we can get if we want to stick Cade firmly in the doo-doo, where he belongs.’

  Jon nodded, and gave a yawn. ‘It’s half six. But I guess that we’re not finished yet. Shall I send out for some food?’

  Kate nodded. ‘In a while. There are a few things I need to catch up on first. Could you ask Clive if he’s heard from the lab regarding those handwriting comparisons?’

  Jon caught Clive tidying up his desk and shutting down his computer.

  ‘I’m off home, Sarge.’ He handed Jon a sheaf of papers. ‘All these are for the DCI. The phone has been red hot in the last half hour. They are mainly non-urgent, with the exception of the path report on the top.’ Clive switched off his printer and locked his desk drawer. ‘See you in the morning, Sarge.’

  Jon murmured good night, checked that the report was the one that Kate wanted, then went back to her office.

  ‘The handwriting on those cards over the beds is an exact match with the samples taken from Elizabeth Sewell’s annexe, ma’am.’

  Kate opened the report and groaned loudly. ‘This is lunacy! It doesn’t make sense. How can a weak and sensitive woman, someone known to be both physically and mentally delicate, possibly be involved in murder on this scale?’

  ‘She wrote them for her
beloved employer, Benedict Broome. What else could it mean?’ Jon frowned. ‘But whatever it means, we now we have a direct link between her and the scene of the crime, so we are going to have to get her moved to a secure unit, aren’t we?’

  Kate picked up the phone. ‘Damned right we are. I’ll get an order to have her moved from the general hospital to Saltern Hall Psychiatric Hospital pending evaluation. And we need to speak to Benedict Broome again.’

  While Kate arranged for Elizabeth Sewell’s transfer, Jon went out into the main office to fetch them some strong black coffees.

  ‘Sarge, have you got a moment?’ Scotty was lifting a pile of printer paper from his desk. ‘The other teams have been hard at it with these IDs. We have a girl called Hebe Brock, a Scottish traveller who went missing five years ago. Date of birth tallies and she was reported as having the top of one finger amputated in an accident. Our victim had an identical bony injury. Plus there is a fifteen year old serial runaway from Calne in Wiltshire. Her name is Sophie Berry, and she’s been missing for seven years. The date of birth, Christian name and a charm bracelet all match. Another girl is named Tessa Avery. It was assumed that she had run off with her boyfriend to Spain, but her parents never heard from her again. She’s been missing for three years and came from Surrey.’

  ‘Interesting that so far, none of them are high profile cases, or local mispers.’

  ‘Emily was local.’ said Scott. ‘So obviously the killer was getting more confident.’

  ‘Then thank God we found his lair when we did. Good work, Scott.’ Jon gave the young man a friendly slap on the shoulder. ‘Anything more in the pipeline?’

  ‘Everything we have is on the Police National Computer, so they could get some more hits soon.’

  ‘Then maybe you should take the opportunity to get home?’

  ‘I’m working to ID Fleur, Sarge, and I’m not having as much luck as the others, so I’ll hang on for a while longer.’ Scott swiftly typed in another search. ‘Plus I’d quite like to see if the PNC coughs up anything interesting over the next hour or so. We’ve sent out some pretty motivating enquiries.’