by M A Comley
“I didn’t have time to do anything with them. They’re down a lane. Hopefully, no one will find them for a while. We’d better get our skates on. Do you have everything?”
“I think so.”
“What about the bathroom, anything left in there?”
“I checked earlier. Oh gosh, my mind is reeling. You’d better see for yourself.”
She gripped Kathryn’s shoulders firmly. “You have to act normally, love. Don’t go freaking out on me, not now.”
“Okay, I’ll try. But those two men are dead.”
“You need to get past it. Think of what we’ve had to contend with over the last couple of days, although I’d rather you didn’t. It won’t do you any good dwelling on things. We’ll be free of this life soon, I promise you.”
“I hope so. I love you so much, Claire. I’m not sure what I would have done if you’d left home years ago.”
“Nonsense. You’re my little sister. It’s my duty to look after you. I’m just sorry we’ve had to suffer the way we have over the years.”
Their father’s voice thundered through the door. “My patience is wearing thin, and you know what happens when it does. Get a frigging move on. I want to get on the road.”
“Come on. I know it’s difficult, but try and put all this behind you during the journey.” Claire was aware how much her sister tended to dwell on the terrible things that had blighted her life in the past, whereas she had the ability to shut the horrors out until nightfall descended and the nightmares began.
“I’ll try.”
They left the bedroom and were confronted by their angry father.
“Get in the car. You two are a bloody waste of space.”
Except when we’re shagging your friends! You’ll get yours, old man, one day!
Chapter 11
Lorne travelled into work feeling utterly dejected. The previous couple of days had consisted of her and her team chasing their tails, not only around the office but through every computer system available to the police, and still they were left scratching their heads. Which was making Lorne doubt if they were pursuing the right angle to this case. Were they looking for a paedophile gang? All the signs were there. But they were sketchy. Nothing prominent sticking out as yet. There was still one man on the list, a Dave Dixon, who Lorne hadn’t managed to track down to speak to yet, as he’d recently left the flat where he’d been living after his divorce had come through.
Katy was walking across the car park to the station’s entrance when she arrived. Lorne tooted her horn, almost scaring the crap out of Katy who was intently studying her mobile phone.
“Bloody hell, Lorne. It’s a bit early in the day to attempt to cause me a heart attack,” Katy said sternly as she caught up with her.
“Oops, sorry. It brightened my dull day to see you nearly drop your phone. What’s so interesting anyway?” She grabbed the iPhone out of Katy’s hand and flicked through the messages. “Aww…AJ sending you little love poems? I wonder how long that will last. Mind you, he hasn’t put a ring on your finger yet.”
Katy glared and snatched the phone back. “He does not! If you must know, he sent me this.” She angled the phone for Lorne to see. On the screen was a picture of her gorgeous daughter, Georgina, smiling whilst eating her breakfast.
“That’s so sweet. Sorry for winding you up.”
Katy had tears in her eyes. “I should be at home with her, watching these kinds of images in the flesh, not learning about them via a damn text message.”
Lorne slung an arm around her shoulders and hugged her tight. “I appreciate how difficult this is and what lies ahead for you when I retire in a few days. I’m sorry for dropping you in it and making your life so damned miserable, love.”
Katy turned and smiled at her. “You haven’t. Please don’t think I’m having a go at you because I’m not. I guess it’s hard on all working mothers missing out on their children growing up. How did you cope, back in the day when Charlie was a toddler?”
They strode through the main door and up the stairs. “I just did. My problem, although I didn’t see it as an issue at the time, was that I didn’t have a maternal bone in my body. Therefore, I was super keen for Tom to do all the child-rearing. At times, over the years, I’ve regretted that decision so much. I have to give Tom the credit he deserves for the way Charlie has turned out. I know we had to go through a rough patch with her in her teens, but she pulled through that and came out the other side, with the intervention of the damned Unicorn, of course.” She shuddered as the vile criminal’s face entered her mind.
“Sorry, Lorne. I didn’t mean to summon up the old memories for you. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Truth be told, I’m feeling a little down about the investigation anyway. It’s been a trying couple of days. Can’t say I slept very well last night either. Still, it’s Friday, and we have a weekend ahead of us to look forward to.”
“If things don’t kick off. Aren’t those men due back from their fishing trip today?”
“Yep, another reason why I couldn’t sleep. I don’t suppose they’ll show up until late afternoon, though. That means we’re in for a very long day, again.”
“It will be, if you don’t alter your attitude. It’s a shame the police up north didn’t put extra effort in to help us try and locate the men.”
“It was an impossible task for them, given the amount of rental properties on the websites in that area. Anyway, if a job’s worth doing, we tend to do it ourselves, don’t we?”
“That’s because we’re the A-Team.” Katy chuckled.
“For now. I hope I’m not leaving you in the lurch.”
“You’re not. No one deserves their retirement more than you do, Lorne. I’ll survive; as a team, we’ll survive. Don’t be surprised if the phone in your office is red-hot to your home in Norfolk when you leave.”
“I’ll be upset if you don’t ring me when you need some advice, love, although you’re more than capable of running the team as well as I do. You’ve done it in the past.”
“Yeah, and I seem to remember hating every damn minute of it. What the fuck am I doing?” She pulled her hair at the roots.
“Don’t make me feel guiltier than I am already, please.” Lorne laughed.
Once the morning rituals were out of the way, the rest of the day dragged past until Lorne received a disturbing call which came in at around three.
“DI Warner. How can I help?”
“This is DI Trent from the Cumbria Constabulary.”
“Hello, DI Trent, what can I do for you? Oh, wait, don’t say you’ve managed to locate the people we were enquiring about?”
“You could say that. A gentleman was walking his dog in a well-known hiking area, and he stumbled across a naked man. He’d been murdered.”
“Shit! This man, did he have any ID on him or near him?”
“Yes, a Wayne Jethrum.”
“Crap, yes, that’s the man we were hoping to speak to regarding our ongoing investigation. Was he alone?”
“Funny you should ask that. The man who found him also stumbled across a car. We’ve since learnt that car is registered to a Don Barton.”
“The other man we were interested in speaking to. Don’t tell me he was found dead as well?”
“He was. Umm…minus his penis, although I’m guessing the stab wounds to his chest were the likely cause of death. Poor bugger, either way.”
“Okay, well, the MO sounds similar to what we’re dealing with in our investigation. I don’t suppose this man saw another vehicle in the vicinity or any other walkers acting suspiciously, did he?”
“Nope, nothing. And we have no CCTV cameras around there. I’ve instructed my team to conduct house-to-house enquiries in the immediate area, and we’ve contacted the petrol station up the road to see if their CCTV has picked up the car. That’ll take time to come through, sorry. Anything else you need from me?”
“No, nothing that I can think of at this stage. I’ll let th
e families know. I take it that’s why you’re really ringing me?”
“Yes, it’ll save me a trip down there. I prefer to stay away from the Big Smoke. I value my lungs too much.”
Lorne sniggered. “It’s not that bad. I’ll visit the families right away. Thanks for the call.”
“All in a day’s work, Inspector. Can’t say I’m that happy to have a couple of murders on our patch. I enjoy the quiet life in the country. This has put paid to that.”
“Oh dear, we all have our crosses to bear.” Lorne ended the call and took her notebook into the incident room where she relayed the information she’d been given to her team.
“Graham, it’s a long shot, but can you try and track the other vehicle that we’re interested in? See if you can pick it up on the ANPR cameras.”
Katy cleared her throat. “Why? You think the Frost family is behind the murders?”
Lorne shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. You know how much I hate coincidences.” Her arms flew out to the sides and dropped to slap against her thighs. “Crikey, we don’t even know if they were heading in the same direction at the end of the day.”
“Well, both cars were caught on the cameras heading up that way,” Graham reminded them.
“Then we have to come to that conclusion, don’t we? Katy, you and I have to go out and inform the families.”
“How come we get to do all the crummy jobs?” Katy complained, slipping the jacket off the back of her chair and putting it on.
“Senior officers get all the perks, you should know that by now. I’ll just get my jacket.”
“Some perks are worth foregoing in my eyes.”
Lorne smiled and shouted over her shoulder, “I hear ya, sister.”
They decided to call at Wayne Jethrum’s house first. Sandra opened the door and seemed surprised to see them again.
“Hello, Sandra. Would it be all right if we came in and spoke to you for a moment or two?”
“Of course. You’re a little early. Wayne rang me just after breakfast this morning, told me they were going to take their time driving back. I suppose they’ll be here around five or six. Who knows with those two?”
She led them into the lounge and gestured for them to take a seat.
Lorne perched on the edge of the sofa next to Katy and inhaled a large breath. “I’m sorry to have to tell you, Sandra, that we believe your husband has been murdered.”
“What? What do you mean? He’s on a fishing trip with Don, how could that be?”
“We’ve had a call from an officer with the Cumbria Constabulary to say that your husband and Don were both found murdered a few hours ago.”
“No! I don’t believe you. Let me ring him? This must be some kind of mistake.”
Lorne left her seat and crossed the room. She sat on the arm of the chair Sandra was sitting in and rested an arm around her shoulders. “It’s true. I’m sorry.”
The devastated woman shook her head in disbelief. “But why? Who would want to kill him?”
“We’ve yet to find that out, Sandra. I’m not sure if you remember me telling you, when we visited a couple of days ago wanting to question Wayne, about an ongoing investigation?”
“Yes, you said two men had lost their lives. Oh, no, you’re not telling me there’s a connection, are you?”
“It would appear so, yes. Something to do with that list I mentioned we have in our possession. When I questioned your husband regarding the list over the phone, he told me it was to do with a bridge club. Obviously, after what has happened, we believe your husband probably lied to us. Any idea why he would do that?”
“No, not in the slightest. Murdered? Oh my. I can’t believe it. Why Wayne? And Don for that matter? What were the names of these other men? Did you mention that last time? I can’t remember.” She placed a hand to her cheek which had drained of all colour. Shock was setting in.
“Denis Tallon and Larry Small. Did you know them?”
Sandra focussed on a patch of carpet in front of her. “No,” she whispered.
“I’m so sorry to break such tragic news to you, Sandra. Is there someone we can call for you?”
“I think I need my sister here. It’s just sinking in that I’ll never see him again.” Tears spilled down her cheeks. She wiped her nose on a tissue she’d plucked from a box sitting on the table beside her chair.
“Do you have your sister’s number? Katy will give her a call for you.”
Sandra grabbed her mobile, punched in a number and handed it to Katy who made the call in the hallway. Lorne tried to comfort Sandra, but the woman’s sobs drowned out Lorne’s words. Katy returned to the room and placed the mobile beside Sandra again.
“Your sister will be here within ten minutes.”
“Thank you. Oh my God, how am I going to tell Wayne’s parents? They’re both fragile and riddled with dementia. He was their only child.”
“Maybe your sister can go with you. Perhaps the doctor in charge of their welfare will advise you not to tell them if they’re that bad. I haven’t had to deal with dementia in the past so I’m not really sure what to suggest for the best.”
“I’ll have a word with the doctor, that’s a good idea.”
They sat there in relative silence until the doorbell rang. Katy opened the door to let a chubby woman with blonde highlights running through her hair into the house. The sisters hugged each other tightly.
“Oh, Bridget, what am I going to do without him?”
“Hush now, love. We’ll sort everything out, don’t you fret. I’m so sorry this has happened, to you of all people. Poor Wayne.” She turned to face Lorne. “Have you caught the person who is responsible for this yet?”
“No, not yet. Our colleagues up in Cumbria are dealing with the investigation at their end. We’re dealing with a similar case here.”
“Another murder?”
“Two. Two men who were acquainted with Wayne and his friend, Don, who also died today.”
“Are we talking about a serial killer being on the loose?” Bridget asked, perplexed.
“Too early to say. Something isn’t sitting right with us, though. Are you going to be all right, Sandra, now that your sister is here? Only we have to go and break the news to Don’s wife now.”
“I’ll be fine. Will you pass on a message for me?”
“Of course, what’s that?”
“Will you pass on that I’m thinking of her and if she wants to give me a call at any time, to feel free to do so?”
“I’ll do that. Again, I’m sorry for your loss. I’ll keep you up to date on how the investigation is going.”
“Thank you.”
Lorne and Katy left the house and drove to the next address. The atmosphere in the car was palpable, each of them wrapped up in their own thoughts.
“I’m not looking forward to telling Cathy Barton.” Lorne parked up outside the bungalow they’d visited a few days before and they’d received a frosty reception. She could only imagine how the woman was going to react once she’d heard the news of her husband’s death.
“No, neither am I. I hope she doesn’t lash out. Before we go in, one thing is bugging me.”
“What’s that?”
“You spoke to Wayne the other day, and he was distracted whilst driving so was pretty abrupt with you, right?”
“Yep, that’s true. What are you getting at?”
“Didn’t the Cumbria police tell you they had traced Don’s registration number when they found a car in the lane?”
“That’s right. What’s your point?”
“Would the two men have taken two cars? Logically, I don’t think they would have. So why lie?”
“Hmm…I see what you’re getting at now. Let’s ask Mrs Barton if Wayne left his car here before they set off. I’m not sure what significance it will make to the case, but yes, if it turns out that Wayne was lying, we have to ask why.”
They exited the car. Lorne felt a thousand butterflies—or were they the ugly m
oths she’d hated so much as a child?—take off in her stomach. “Are you ready for the onslaught?” she said out of the corner of her mouth.
“I’ll get my cuffs ready, just in case she kicks off. Oh, the joys of being a London police off—”
The door was flung open, cutting Katy off mid-sentence.
“You! What do you pair want?” Cathy Barton slung at them with venom, closing the door a few inches.
“We’re here on official business. May we come in, Mrs Barton?”
“No. Not without a warrant. Say what you have to say and get the hell off my property.”
Lorne sighed and did just that. “It is with regret that I have to tell you that your husband was murdered this morning.”
The woman tipped her head back and roared. “What a comedienne you are. I thought that the minute I laid eyes on you.”
“It’s true. Do you really want to continue this conversation outside on the doorstep or would you like us to come inside?”
Barton threw open the door. The handle bashed against the hall wall, knocking a coat off the rack behind the door. She marched ahead of Lorne and Katy and disappeared into the lounge, not uttering a word.
Lorne picked up the coat and threw it onto the rack and chased after her. Katy shut the front door behind her. They found Mrs Barton lighting up a cigarette, her hands shaking as she held the lighter.
“Just tell me where and get out of my house.”
“Really? Is that how you want to play this, Mrs Barton?”
“I asked you a damn question. Either you answer it or I’ll bloody report you to your superiors.”
Lorne shrugged. “Up in Cumbria.”
“Now get out.”
“We’re not going anywhere until we’ve asked a few questions. I’m getting the impression you’re not totally surprised by your husband’s demise. May I ask why?”
“No particular reason. You can go now.”
“I have a few questions first, and then we’ll leave.”
“I ain’t saying anything without a solicitor being present. I know how your lot like to bend the bloody truth when it suits you.”
“We don’t, but that’s beside the point. Why all the aggression? Does it have something to do with the book we found at another victim’s house?”