Nine Lives

by Anita Waller

  ‘Perfect.’

  ‘You need to work?’

  ‘It depends on whether that receptionist at the gym has pulled out all the stops and done what I asked of her. If she hasn’t, I might watch TV.’

  Frannie laughed. ‘Let’s watch TV. Have some time for us. What could be better than poached eggs on a tray in front of the telly, and the two of us.’

  ‘You’re right. I’ll put up with the guilt tomorrow.’

  Frannie felt better as she climbed into bed, and she knew it was all down to Erica lifting her spirits. They had watched QI and laughed for the entire show, opened a bottle of wine, although only having one glass each, and talked. Generally a good night all round. Maybe she could get through this without having to seek help for the stress related melancholy she was beginning to recognise, maybe Erica was all the medication she needed.

  Erica remained downstairs reading. Her nap earlier in the evening had helped with the tiredness, and she suspected it would be a restless night. It was better if Fran dropped off to sleep before she joined her, then hopefully one of them would get a good sleep.

  She opened her Kindle, then closed it again and rang the hospital. No change, the nurse told her. Erica thanked her and said she would be at the hospital the following day.

  She dragged a fleece blanket over her and settled into the furry cushions. She read a few pages and within ten minutes was asleep.

  Erica was at the hospital by eight o’clock and sat silently by her friend’s side, holding her hand.

  ‘There’s no change yet,’ the nurse said gently, ‘but don’t give up on her. She’s young, I don’t doubt she’ll fight to live. It was a brutal attack, but we have the best surgeons…’

  ‘There’s been nothing?’

  The nurse shook her head. ‘No, and her parents have been here most of the time, talking to her, but no response at all. It’s early days, give it time.’

  Erica leaned towards the silent Beth. ‘Wake up. I need you.’ She kissed the back of Beth’s hand. ‘We got him, Beth. He’s going down for a long time. Come back to us soon.’

  She looked up at the nurse. ‘I have to go, it may be Saturday but I need to go in to work.’

  The nurse smiled. ‘You and me both.’

  ‘If there’s any change…’

  ‘I’ll ring.’

  The briefing room seemed full. Apparently there wasn’t only her who felt the need to work. There was a chorus of ‘Morning, boss’ from around the room, and she acknowledged them with a wave.

  Entering her own office she started her computer and pulled up her emails. There was one from the Starlite Gym.

  The receptionist had sent two documents: the membership list and one headed ‘atendances over the last three months’. Erica smiled at the misspelling.

  She opened up the attendance document first, deciding to print it off so she could write notes and thoughts that might occur to her. She wandered into the main office to pick up her printout, and banged on a desk.

  Everybody stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her. She gave them a brief update on Beth’s condition, and heard one or two groans as they digested how serious her injuries were.

  ‘Why are you all in?’

  ‘Following up on stuff,’ Ian Thomas said. ‘And it’s not raining. Thought a couple of us might go down to the river…’

  ‘Don’t forget your waders,’ she said with a smile. ‘And don’t drown. Has this overtime been agreed?’

  ‘Erm… we didn’t ask.’

  She gave a slight nod. ‘Leave it with me. Thank you, everybody. Ian, can I speak with you for a minute?’

  Ian followed Erica into her office. ‘Boss?’

  ‘You think we’ve missed something?’

  He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Something’s nagging at me, but I’m damned if I know what it is. I mentioned it to a couple of the others last night, and they said they’d come in this morning and we could go down en masse, so to speak. Honest, boss, I don’t know what it is, but I do know it’s four beautiful young lasses who’ve lost their lives, and it’s not the river that’s to blame, it’s the bastard who strangled them. Maybe the river can tell us more, maybe it can’t, but we won’t know unless we look.’

  ‘There’s another link. I mean apart from the Porter. I’ll be filling everybody in on Monday morning, but it seems all four girls had a membership at the Starlite Gym. Susie wasn’t there on the night she was taken. Clare was on the way to the gym when she disappeared, and Imogen and Tanya were leaving the gym when they were abducted.’ She waved her printout. ‘These are attendees, dates, times, etc., for the last three months, and I have a full membership list to work through, so can you make sure we have a seven o’clock start time on Monday, full briefing then.’

  ‘I can, boss. Flick’s in if you need her to help with the lists.’

  ‘No, I want to take my time, make sure we don’t miss anything. It’ll be hectic next week, we’ll have a lot of these names to interview.’

  Ian went to leave but turned back. ‘You’re doing a cracking job, boss, and we’re all gutted about Beth. You’ll tell her when she comes round?’

  Erica nodded. ‘But it’s if, Ian, not when.’

  Erica stuck to drinking water. Memories of the previous evening’s headache were in the forefront of her mind, and she guessed it had been caused by a surfeit of caffeine. Today would be a day for a clear head and gallons of water, she reckoned.

  She had sheets spread around her desk with different headings, and arrows pointing to links that were obvious. Things were further split into male and female, and she quickly realised the scale of the task.

  ‘Do all gyms have this amount of members?’ she grumbled.

  Five of them went down to the river, gathering initially in the pocket park. Ian took his list out of his pocket.

  ‘Sam and Kev, take your car and go up to the source. Waders on, and if it’s safe get into the water and look, initially. Make a note of anything you see, even if it’s not relevant. It might be. Easiest to use the voice recorder on your phones. Then get up onto the banksides, basically look everywhere. A couple of hours should do it, but if you see anything that’s likely to help, ring me and we’ll all get up there to meet you. Mike and Will, we’ll start here and work upwards towards the source. Any questions?’

  They all said no, and Sam and Kev headed back to the car park to drive up to Ringinglow.

  The crime scene tape was still around the pocket park, and a man and woman walked up to it. As the three officers struggled into their waders, the woman called down to ask if they wanted a hand.

  ‘No thanks, love,’ Ian called back to her. ‘You’re frightening us.’

  She laughed. ‘Can you tell us when we can use this place again?’

  Ian walked towards them. ‘You use this place a lot?’

  ‘We do. Most lunchtimes to get away from the office when we have a sandwich, and sometimes when we’re in town in the evening we come here. It’s lovely during the summer. We came here… you know… that night when the girl died.’

  Ian stopped securing his waders and looked at them. ‘Did you see anything?’

  She shrugged. ‘The river was too bad. We couldn’t sit down anywhere, it was way over the top of that bottom stretch. We only stayed a couple of minutes and then went home. It was pissing it down and we were soaked.’

  Ian felt disappointment. ‘Can I have your name and address? My boss might want to talk to you. I know you didn’t see anything, but we like to build a picture.’

  ‘Yeah, sure,’ she said, and the man wrote on, then held out, a card.

  ‘That’s where we live,’ he said, ‘but we both work here.’ He indicated the building behind him.

  Ian nodded his thanks. ‘And there was nothing to see? What time was this?’

  ‘Tennish,’ the man said. ‘We didn’t see anything here, but there was a car in the car park.’

  ‘What sort?’ Ian held his breath.

  ‘
A small black one, oldish, maybe a Fiesta,’ the man said. ‘I only took notice of it because the driver took her top off over her head. She must have been wet through.’

  ‘Woman? You’re sure?’

  ‘You don’t get boobs like that, and in a black lacy bra, on a man, believe me.’

  21

  Erica listened to the excited intonation in Ian’s voice, and swiftly wrote down the name and address he passed on to her.

  ‘Are they still with you?’

  ‘No, boss. But they’ll be available whenever you want to speak to them.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll give them a ring, maybe get them in, although that could be a waste of time at this point. When we get a suspect, they’ll be brought in then to see if it’s the same woman.’

  ‘You’re not surprised, are you?’

  ‘That it’s a woman? No, I’m not. Don’t take this the wrong way, Ian, but when it’s a man there’s always evidence of either a condom or semen. We’ve seen nothing of that, in eight murders. This is the first glimmer of a breakthrough in all that time. Well done for talking to them.’

  He laughed. ‘They spoke to us. The woman offered to help us put on our waders. Right, I’m going in the water now, and I’ll leave our couple to you.’

  It was cold as Ian dropped down into the fast-flowing river, and he stumbled. This wasn’t going to be a load of laughs, he realised, unless one of the others fell flat on their face.

  Mike and Will had already moved ahead, and had claimed bankside positions. He tried to keep a central line, his head swivelling, looking, seeking anything that looked out of place. They moved inexorably forward and an hour and half later saw Kev and Sam in the distance.

  They clambered out when they eventually met up, and neither team had anything at all to report.

  ‘Dead loss really, wasn’t it,’ Sam said, a look of disappointment written on his face.

  ‘No. I’ve something to tell all of you, but let’s find somewhere to have a cup of tea, and I’ll fill you in. And it’s been confirmation there’s nothing here to find, so we can discount the river and concentrate elsewhere. It needed doing, and we’ve done it. Well done, lads.’

  The café was warm and welcoming, despite their attire. Ian had shown his warrant card, and the café owner had set them up on a corner table, giving them some privacy. It was next to a radiator, and slowly they thawed.

  Ian waited until they had bacon sandwiches and two pots of tea in front of them before telling them about the young couple he had encountered purely by accident at the pocket park.

  ‘A woman?’ Sam looked shocked. ‘A woman?’

  Ian nodded. ‘Seems so. Unless this woman had been for a quick dip in the river fully clothed and she’s nothing to do with the murders, then it’s a woman. The car fits. They had no registration for it, but it seems the one she uses doesn’t belong to the car anyway, and that probably means she has several sets of plates. But it was definitely a black car and the man said probably a Fiesta. I’ve passed the info on to the boss, she’s going to do the follow-up. She wasn’t surprised. She’d always felt it wasn’t a man, despite us all saying he.’

  They digested what Ian was saying, along with their bacon sandwiches, and remained quiet while the café owner removed their empty teapots and replaced them with fresh ones.

  ‘So are we finished with the river?’ Sam asked.

  ‘We are unless there’s more young lasses taken and killed,’ Ian said. ‘But no, we won’t be back here, I think we’ve covered every bit of it now. She’s a canny one, whoever she is. She’s leaving nothing that could take us to her, and it’s only chance that brought that young couple to us this morning. I wonder if she, the killer, knew they’d seen her. Bet she didn’t, ’cos I reckon they’d both be dead now. Thanks, everybody, for coming here with me this morning.’ He raised his cup of tea in salute to them.

  ‘No problem,’ Kev said. ‘I think it’s knocked us all for six, this last week. Four cracking young women all dead. And we’ve still no idea why. Is being a psychopath enough reason to start a career as a serial killer? You think it’s a case of she simply can’t help it?’

  Will joined in. ‘I’m sure she can’t help it. There’s not even a real link between them other than this blessed river, is there.’

  ‘There is,’ Ian said. ‘I’m not sure of any details yet, and there’s a briefing at seven on Monday morning to go into this in more depth, but it seems they all have a link to one of the gyms. Star something. Stardust? Stargazing? Something like that. The boss told me as we were leaving, but that’s as much as I know.’

  ‘Starlite?’ Sam said.

  ‘That’s it! You know it?’

  ‘My ex used to go there, probably does still for all I know. I’ve picked her up a couple of times after she’d finished a session. Big gym, large membership so I understand.’

  Ian looked around at his colleagues. ‘Keep it to yourselves until after the boss has had chance to investigate more into the gym, and told everybody what she’s found. Thought I’d give you a heads-up. We nearly ready? We’ve a fair trek back to the cars. I’ll get these.’

  He walked to the counter and waited while the bill was printed, then placed his card over the card machine. He heard the familiar beep and put his card away before picking up the receipt.

  They headed for the door and waved at the owner, who clapped.

  ‘Think she guessed where we’ve been and why?’ Sam said before the two groups separated to collect their cars.

  Ian pulled at his waders and laughed. ‘I think she probably had a pretty good idea. Nice lady.’

  They arrived back at the police station within five minutes of each other, and removed their wet outer garments before heading up to the office. Ian could see that Erica was still in her room, so popped his head around the door.

  She smiled as she saw his face. ‘Ian, come in. Good morning’s work from all of you. I’ve agreed the overtime, so tell the others, will you? Did you find anything at all?’

  ‘Nothing, boss. This is the card that chap gave me.’ He handed over the visiting card. ‘And I’ll ask Flick to email everybody and get them in for seven on Monday.’

  She thanked him and placed the card in her in tray. ‘You have any expenses from this morning?’

  ‘No, I treated them to tea and bacon sandwiches after we’d done, but that’s okay.’

  ‘Give me the receipt,’ she said. ‘You did get a receipt?’

  ‘I did,’ he said, and went into his wallet. He handed it to Erica.

  She looked at it, and frowned. ‘You paid a penny for four pots of tea and five bacon sandwiches?’

  He took it back and read it for the first time.

  ‘Blimey,’ he said. ‘She clapped us as we left, so we guessed she’d realised who we were and what we were doing in our waders. I didn’t even look at the price, simply waved my card over the machine.’

  Erica laughed. ‘Then screw it up, I’m definitely not claiming 1p on expenses.’

  Erica smiled as the door closed. She liked Ian. Older than most of her team, he had taken on the role of leader almost by default, and she knew he would have no trouble being promoted to sergeant when he felt the time was right. He merely needed a little persuasion to take that next step, and she would make it her mission once this damned case was out of the way.

  She returned to the lists she had in front of her, and continued with the cross-referencing task she had set herself. Nothing so far had rung alarm bells, but it did briefly occur to her that if ever all their membership turned up at one time for a session, the building would explode. Even the people who had turned up on individual nights must have made the place seem really busy. So far as she could tell, there were no quiet nights, simply busy nights and busier nights.

  She’d never felt the inclination to join a gym, despite Frannie’s enthusiasm for enjoying a workout. It all sounded like hard work to her, and life was much too short to waste it on exercise.

  Erica was deep in con
centration when Flick brought in a coffee.

  ‘You’re not drinking enough,’ Flick said.

  Erica grinned. ‘You’re right, didn’t want to get up and interrupt the flow of my thoughts. You must have read my mind.’

  ‘It’s not good to sit here all day. I’m heading off home now. Do you need anything before I go?’

  ‘No, I’m leaving the membership lists until Monday, and taking tomorrow off. I’ll finish off the work I’m doing on the attendance lists, then go home. It’s been a good day – we now know it’s a woman, so it means we can cut the lists by half.’

  ‘You’re sure it’s a woman?’

  ‘I am. It’s the first slip-up she’s made, but I’m sure it’s the killer. The car fits, the time fits, and she was taking off clothes which were probably wet. And she thought she was unobserved. In my mind it’s a massive breakthrough.’

  ‘So, motive?’

  ‘No idea, but one day I’ll bloody ask her.’

  Flick paused for a moment, then nodded, and left Erica to her thoughts and lists.

  Frannie was mashing potatoes when Erica walked in. ‘I’m in the kitchen,’ Frannie called, and tipped a small pile of chopped spring onions into the mash. ‘You hungry?’

  ‘Starving,’ she called back, as she hung up her coat.

  She walked along the hallway and into the kitchen, picking up the glass of wine Frannie had poured while waiting for her. ‘Bloody long day. Is it chicken?’

  ‘Is it Saturday?’ Frannie countered. ‘You want a shower before I serve?’

  ‘Give me ten minutes. I need my PJs. I need to not be DI Cheetham.’

  She ran upstairs still clutching her glass of wine and Frannie shook her head in amusement. Not to be DI Cheetham? That was a good one. She was always DI Cheetham.

  Taking the pâté out of the fridge, she made them a small starter and placed the plates on the table ready for Erica returning, then lifted the chicken onto the side. She enjoyed cooking, and during the years they had been together she had developed into the one who sorted the meals, sometimes with a degree of reluctance when she felt too tired – it was simpler that way with the irregular hours that came with Erica’s job.