Nine Lives

by Anita Waller

  The CCTV had shown that they were on the right track with a car being used to entice the girls, but they hadn’t been able to see if it was a man, woman, or a two-year-old child driving it, although, she thought with a grin, she reckoned they could rule out the child. However, they had a picture of the car and it would be on Look North that evening, asking for the public’s help, but also warning them to be aware of it.

  The on-screen picture would block out the registration plates as it was quite possible the killer had several sets, and swapped them around with each attack – they didn’t want the public confused by thinking the car they could see across the road couldn’t be it because it had different number plates.

  Erica pulled her jacket as low under her bum as she could get it, and sat on a rock. Thinking time.

  Could he have hung on to the car from twenty-fourteen? It certainly hadn’t looked to Erica’s untrained eyes as though it was a newer model – she took out her phone and asked Will Bramwell, who she knew lived and breathed cars.

  ‘Twenty-o-two to eight,’ he said immediately. He didn’t need thinking time.

  ‘Thanks, Will. So he could have been using it the first time around.’

  ‘Definitely. You in the river, boss? The water sounds loud.’

  ‘If I fall off this rock I will be. I’m not in it yet. I’ve come up to Ringinglow for some thinking time, hence my question about the car.’

  ‘I have a question that’s running around my head about it, but I’m not sure my answer lies here.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘I’m probably thinking this because I’m only twenty-four and in my prime…’

  Erica laughed. ‘Love it, and you wish. What’s your thought?’

  ‘If it’s a man, why isn’t he screwing them?’

  Erica remained silent for a few seconds.

  ‘Boss? Sorry if that sounded blunt, but it’s what I’m thinking.’

  ‘It’s what I’ve thought from the beginning. It’s why I struggle to commit to it being a man. These girls, and the girls back in twenty-fourteen, have all been stunning. There’s a certain sexual aspect to it in that they are posed in a way that offers their bodies to the finders, but unless he gets sexual gratification from playing with them, touching their bodies, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.’

  ‘But if it’s a woman, she’d have to be fit.’

  ‘I know. Look, Will, I want you to bring these thoughts up at the briefing, let’s get everybody coming up with theories, because if I know my team, they’ll all be like you and trying to make sense of everything. Call them in for a briefing at four, will you? Then they can get off early, I am aware it’s Halloween.’

  She sat for a further ten minutes then walked down to where she could see the crime scene tape that surrounded where they had found Imogen Newland. Imo, Pete had called her. Imo, the woman he clearly loved.

  The officer left there to guard the scene jumped up. He too had utilised a rock as a seat, but he had had the foresight to bring a small blanket and a flask with him.

  ‘Ma’am? Can I help?’

  She flashed her warrant card at him and he blushed.

  ‘I’m sorry, ma’am, I’m new. I didn’t recognise you.’

  ‘You had any sightseeing visitors?’

  ‘A man and woman with a dog walked over, but that’s all. I took their names just in case…’

  Erica was impressed. ‘Good. Hand them in when you return to the station. I’m heading lower down, so I’ll see you on my way back.’

  He smiled. ‘I’ll remember you next time.’

  The waterfalls that would have been not much more than trickles in the summertime cascaded over, and she took out her phone to snap some pictures, purely for her own pleasure. This really was a lovely river, and she understood now how it came to be a major player in the manufacture of Sheffield’s famous steel. The force of the water was enough to turn any waterwheel, and she knew one day, in the summer, she would come with Frannie and they would make better memories of this stretch of the river, and visit the still-working wheel.

  She sat on another rock for some time, looking, letting her thoughts gather apace; the forefront of her brain held the image of that car. She knew within seconds of Susanna getting into the vehicle, a syringe would have been stabbed into her neck, and she wouldn’t have been awake longer than a few seconds.

  Susie Roebuck was the only one of the victims they could actually pinpoint the time and place of abduction. She obviously was the one on which to concentrate; and yet Erica still felt they knew nothing. Back in twenty-fourteen they had also known nothing – no abduction area because they hadn’t had information on the last sightings of any of the four girls. They didn’t know where either Clare or Imogen had climbed into that car, and yet every single victim had probably known the driver. Nobody gets into a car with a stranger. This mantra was constant in Erica’s mind.

  Nobody gets into a car with a stranger.

  It was a day to be alone, to think. Erica stopped at McDonald’s for a late lunch shortly after two, completed some thoughts in her notebook, and enjoyed her cheeseburger Happy Meal. The minion toy joined all the other McDonald’s toys in her glovebox.

  Her couple of hours by the river had made her restless, and it was with a feeling of unsettlement that she entered the briefing room. She had a car boot seemingly half-filled with Haribo sweets, and a glovebox filled with McDonald’s toys. Was she old enough to be doing this job?

  She stared around at the roomful of people, took a deep breath, and approached the whiteboard.

  ‘Okay, everybody. I know you’ve all been beavering away on various follow-up jobs this morning, and thank God we didn’t have another call-out, but this isn’t so much a briefing as a thought-gathering exercise. When we’ve finished, get off home and wait for the witches and wizards to come visiting.’

  She heard a few groans and smiled. She loved Halloween. ‘Mardy arses. Now, this car. I spoke with Will earlier, because we both feel this car is possibly the same one used in twenty-fourteen. I don’t think it’s on the roads other than to abduct the victims and transport them to wherever he wants them to be posed. Will?’

  ‘That’s right, boss. I reckon it’s kept in a lock-up, and I think that needs to be mentioned when they do the broadcast and show pictures of the vehicle tonight. If we can get everybody watching lock-ups or out-of-the-way garages…’

  ‘The car was made in the early to late-noughties, we can’t be sure of the exact year, and has almost certainly been used to offer lifts to all three of our current victims because of the bad weather. They would accept gratefully, especially if they knew the driver well. I think they did.’

  ‘Are they going to push the serial killer aspect tonight? Make people more aware?’ Flick’s voice came from the back of the room.

  ‘He isn’t a serial killer,’ Erica said, letting her voice carry. ‘If there are three victims or more in any thirty-day period, the killer becomes a spree killer. We need to stop this spree before it becomes a rout.’

  16

  Erica continued with her captive audience, keen to get them on their way home. Most had children, and she recognised the need to be with them at special times in the year.

  ‘So,’ she began, capturing their attention with the one word. ‘I’ve done a lot of thinking today. I’ve spent quite some time up at the river, and I had occasion to ring Will to ask him about the car, what year it was probably made, that sort of thing, and he countered with something he’d clearly been mulling over, sex.’

  There was some laughter, some ribald comments, but she saw a grin on Will’s face and knew he could take it. She held up a hand and silence descended once more. ‘It started because I said “he”, in reference to our killer. Will quite hesitantly queried that statement, because he felt if it was a man why wasn’t he screwing the girls. His words, not mine, I might add. You can see from the photographs on here,’ she pointed behind her, ‘that all of these girls, women, are extremely pretty,
have stunning figures, and yet there’s no evidence of sexual activity. In view of Will’s words, I have asked Ivor Simmonite to double-check if there could be any evidence of even gentle sex. I’ll let you know what comes from that. He did confirm there was no evidence of semen anywhere on the bodies.’

  There was silence. Then Flick spoke, still somewhere at the back of the room.

  ‘It could be a woman? I know we’ve always said we’d keep our minds open on this, but is it more than keeping them open now? Is it a strong possibility that it is a woman?’

  Erica took a deep breath. ‘Right from the start it’s been on my mind that a woman should never get into a car with a stranger. This killer is not a stranger to them, and they would feel reassured that it was a woman. I can’t say this with any definition, as you know, but I think it should be something we’re looking at closely, instead of it’s a man being always at the forefront of our minds, because deep down we don’t want to believe a woman could do this.’

  ‘I couldn’t do it,’ Flick said. ‘I’m simply not strong enough. These bodies up the top end of the river had to be carried some way, and I know I’d give up after a few steps. Could a woman do it?’

  Erica laughed. ‘I’m married to a woman who takes two wheelie bins out at the same time, ours and our neighbours. Some women are strong, maybe you need to go to the gym.’

  There was some laughter and everything settled. ‘There is one other thing. I feel the rain has a lot of bearing on these deaths. I suspect because the rain has been so bad, these three women willingly got into the car, even if it was purely for shelter. Last night the rain eased, and this morning we weren’t all tipped out of our beds to attend another death. The rain’s coming back sometime Sunday afternoon, and it’s going to be as bad as we’ve had it for all these weeks. Let’s hope we’re not called out early Monday morning. There’s no pattern to the victims. Imogen didn’t know Susie and Clare. We can’t warn anybody. I’m not bringing Becky and Katie back, in case I’m wrong, but the link to these girls is different to the L Christian name back in twenty-fourteen. I think the link this time is more random, I think it’s the River Porter.’

  Beth smiled. This was so good, and this was how a boss should be. Erica had her team in the palm of her hand, and the DS concurred with everything Erica had said.

  Beth allowed her thoughts to wander, trying to think how they could possibly have over five miles of river under constant surveillance, and knew they’d need an army platoon to do that. It simply wasn’t going to happen. And if Erica’s theory about the rain was right, how the hell could they cover Sunday night?

  ‘There’s one other thing,’ Erica said, ‘something I need checking. Flick, I’ll leave this in your capable hands as you don’t have enough muscles for heavy lifting. This is computer stuff. I want you to go back to twenty-fourteen and look at the following dates for the weather. I’m giving you dates for the day before the bodies were found, because the murders all seem to happen in the evening, and be found the next day. The dates in question are…’ she glanced up to check Flick was ready. ‘Twenty-seventh of April, seventeenth of May, ninth of July, and twenty-sixth of July. Take your time, make sure the information is accurate for Sheffield, and come and see me as soon as you have the report. It will do tomorrow morning. Thanks, Flick. Okay, that’s all my thoughts from my riverbank walk and my McDonald’s lunch, does anyone have anything they want to add?’

  ‘Did you have a Big Mac?’

  She couldn’t see who had spoken, so glanced over in the general direction of the voice. ‘No, I like the toys so I had a cheeseburger Happy Meal. With banana milkshake. Now go home, enjoy your trick or treating, and let’s have you in early tomorrow morning, please.’

  Beth got them both coffees then followed Erica into her office.

  ‘A thinking day, then?’ she said, as she handed her boss the hot drink.

  ‘I needed it. I met a nice young officer who didn’t know me, and I walked a fair way downstream. I imagine in the summer it’s a beautiful spot, but the water is still really powerful, quite scary. Court go okay?’

  Beth had spent three hours at Crown Court giving evidence in a drug case, and she hadn’t appreciated having to leave a current investigation of such magnitude to go and make sure somebody who was clearly guilty was sent down.

  ‘It went well. They couldn’t argue with our evidence, we’d got him bang to rights, it was something I could have done with not doing at the moment.’

  ‘Everything okay at home?’

  ‘Fine. No phone calls, no knocking on the door, and I made a start on sorting out the DVDs and CDs. He’s only having what’s his, not the whole lot. I went to bed around ten, and slept through till the alarm woke me. It’s like… finding peace. Let’s hope it lasts.’

  ‘Nine nine nine is the number if you ever need it. And don’t hesitate if you do. Sort him once and for all.’

  ‘I know. But to get back to your thoughts today, we’ve got definite proof she got into that car?’

  ‘We have, but that’s all we’ve got. She must have recognised the driver, because I don’t see how she could have known the car. I don’t think the killer would bring it out on the roads other than when he needs to abduct. It doesn’t have genuine number plates, and that’s soon picked up these days.’

  ‘You’re still saying he,’ Beth said. ‘This is bloody annoying not knowing what we’re dealing with.’

  ‘Easier to say he. You bought some sweets for tonight?’

  ‘Had an Asda delivery at the weekend, more sweets in it than vegetables, I can tell you. I emptied the bags, looked at the stuff on my sides in the kitchen and thought, that’s a healthy shop, Beth. I remembered the sweets but forgot the milk.’

  Erica laughed. ‘I can’t wait to see Frannie’s face tonight when I carry in the load that’s currently sitting in the car boot. I don’t understand these miserable sods who say they don’t like it, I love to see the kids all dressed up.’

  ‘Do you dress up?’

  ‘I do. Frannie hides behind the door. I’ve got a Professor McGonagall outfit, so I wear that. We put some lights and stuff in the windows last night so the kids will know we’re not grumpy old tarts, and for a couple of hours tonight I’ll have a fab time and try to stop thinking about this case.’

  ‘Good luck with that. I was sitting in that courtroom today, and all I could think about was what was happening back at work. Does everything feel frustrating to you? Who the hell is doing this? And why? Even the clues about the car are proving to be non-clues. Seven people dead and we know nothing.’

  ‘Whoever it is has possibly a connection with a hospital, might even work in one, because not everybody can lay their hands on Propofol. The only alternative is to buy it from some dodgy website in the States, like the one you showed me. They’re forensic savvy because they leave nothing of themselves. This is why, despite Will saying why isn’t sex involved, I’m still inclined to think it’s probably a man, because he could take photographs of what he’s done and get his pleasure later from looking at the picture. That way he’s not leaving semen at the scene, pubic hairs anywhere, nothing of him.’

  Beth nodded her agreement. ‘And none of that supposition helps. It’s all well and good having feelings about things, but none of it is factual, and we’re actually no further forward than we were in twenty-fourteen.’

  ‘True.’ Erica drained her cup. ‘Let’s go home. Let’s have our night with the witches and wizards, and come back tomorrow refreshed and full of Haribos.’

  They walked slowly down to the car park, and Erica looked at her car covered in mud and grass. ‘Look at that. It’s a mess.’

  ‘You went to the river in your own car? Why didn’t you check out a squad car?’

  ‘Didn’t think. Got the idea and went. I’ll maybe call at the car wash on the way home. See you in the morning, Beth, and enjoy your evening.’

  Frannie was already home when Erica arrived with her sparklingly clean car. She handed E
rica a drink as she walked through the front door, kissed her, and said welcome home.

  ‘Something smells nice.’ Erica wandered through to the kitchen with her glass of wine in her hand.

  ‘Boeuf Bourguignon. Be ready in about half an hour. That okay?’

  ‘It is. We haven’t had any witches or skeletons yet?’

  ‘No, thank goodness. If we ever have any children, Erica, you can do Halloween with them.’

  Erica laughed and dumped her briefcase and cardboard box full of sweets on the kitchen side. ‘I’m knackered. As soon as the door knocks are done with, I’m off to bed. I’ve been at the river for ages today, cold, wet and a miserable place to be. Beautiful spot though.’ She emptied the sweets into the big plastic orange bowl.

  ‘You went on your own?’

  ‘Kind of. I did know we had an officer on duty, so I wasn’t entirely on my own. I needed some thinking time, needed to work things through in my head. Will Bramwell wanted to know why there was no sex. Why did the killer go to the trouble of removing all their clothes, choosing really pretty women, and yet not having sex with them at any point, either pre or post mortem? I didn’t have an answer. The only thing I could offer as something to discuss was that maybe it was a woman.’

  ‘You think?’

  ‘It’s one answer. I think one or two people don’t agree with it, because it would take strength to carry a dead body, so I told them you could manage two wheelie bins at once. They were impressed.’

  Frannie’s laughter echoed around the kitchen. ‘God, I love you, Erica Cheetham. You make me laugh all the time. You want some more wine?’

  The knock at the door was loud, and Erica put her glass down. ‘Maybe fill it up, I have some witches to attend to.’ She grabbed the orange bowl and headed for the door.