Trial by Execution

by T. M. E. Walsh

  Didn’t he? Maybe he was trying to trap her. Maybe he was growing impatient.

  That unnerved Skye. Her situation was precarious at best.

  She tapped in her mother’s number and prayed she answered.

  She did on the fifth ring.

  ‘Mum?’ Skye said. She let her mother tell her how lovely it was to hear from her, that it felt like ages since she’d seen her and Danny.

  Then Skye covered her arse.

  ‘Mum, how about we come to yours for dinner next week? If Dan asks, just say you arranged it… he always says I shouldn’t put you out by asking you myself. He says it’s nice to be invited first, but it’s been ages since we’ve seen you…’

  CHAPTER 34

  It was late afternoon when family liaison officer Sarah Pacey finally came through with the breakthrough they needed. After searching Tilly’s bedroom again and coming up with little to show for it, Sarah had decided to reach out to some of Tilly’s closest friends in the hope they had remembered something more.

  One of them, Tilly’s co-worker Jenna Crowe, had finally broken down and confessed the real truth about Tilly Hartley, the version of herself she had tried her best to hide from the world.

  ‘Tilly was obsessed with Raymond Knox,’ Sarah said. She was in the incident room addressing the entire team. ‘She had notebooks filled with articles on Knox. Jenna showed me the websites Tilly visited on the internet. All pro-Knox.’

  ‘She was a fan?’

  ‘Worse. Jenna said Tilly thought she was in love with Knox. She wrote to him in prison, used Jenna’s home as the return address. All the letters were sent back, though. Knox never replied to any of them.’

  ‘Where are these letters now?’ Claire said.

  ‘Jenna said she had stored some at her house for Tilly but burned them when she heard Knox had been killed. She said Tilly herself had kept some of them – it’s anyone’s guess where they could be right now… She also confirmed that Tilly had a secret Twitter account.’

  ‘Crazy4 Knox was Tilly?’

  Sarah nodded. ‘Jenna gave us the password for the account. It was in Tilly’s scrapbook.’

  ‘I need to see the messages they exchanged,’ Claire said.

  Sarah nodded. ‘You’ll have them by end of the shift… Jenna’s also handed in her laptop. Tilly used it sometimes to access this account, although Jenna says Tilly definitely used her smartphone to access the Twitter app to tweet from this account, too.’

  ‘There wasn’t anything like that on her mobile,’ Stefan said.

  ‘Tilly could’ve had another phone,’ said Claire. ‘Jenna Crowe needs to come in and make a formal statement. Why not tell us this in the first place?’

  Sarah shrugged. ‘Said she didn’t want to sully Tilly’s name.’

  ‘Does her mother know?’

  ‘Not yet. She’ll be devastated.’

  The room fell silent.

  ‘Stupid girl,’ DC Jane Cleaver muttered.

  ‘People like Knox always have a fan base,’ Claire said. ‘Look at Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper. He had marriage proposals. It’s not uncommon. We know Knox got fan mail but never replied to any of them. Same as visits. In fifteen years, other than his father, he never saw anyone else. He blatantly refused to. He wouldn’t have had any prior knowledge of Tilly.’

  ‘Not unless she contacted him once he was out?’ Stefan offered.

  ‘I think we need to consider the fact that the side to Tilly everyone else saw was a lie, a cover-up persona. She wasn’t as juvenile as she led everyone to believe she was…The killer’s after fans of Raymond Knox,’ Claire said. ‘I’m sure of it.’

  Stefan had been scrolling on his phone. ‘You think there will be more victims?’

  Claire looked worried. Gave a slight nod.

  ‘If that’s the case, how the hell are we going to find who’s next?’ Elias said.

  ‘There’s no shortage of female fans on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter... @crazykillergirl91,’ Stefan said, eyebrows raised at the name. ‘She tweeted the week before he was due out, offering support for him, for instance.’

  Elias expelled a long breath in frustration. ‘Serial-killer groupies. That’s fantastic.’

  ‘All young girls, too, a lot of them. Some of them had barely reached double figures in age when Knox started his crime spree,’ Stefan said, visibly disgusted.

  ‘It’s romanticising the killer,’ Claire said. ‘Studies have found that women – usually older, admittedly – have this strange notion that they’ll be the one. The one to change the criminal from what they truly are.’

  Claire paused, a thought coming to her.

  ‘What’s that word?’ she said.

  ‘Guv?’ Jane said. ‘Bit more specific, please?’ A few people laughed.

  Claire remained focused. ‘Tilly and Helena,’ she said. ‘If they did have what most people would call an unnatural sexual desire, and obsession, to be with Knox, there’s a word for that behaviour.’

  ‘Stupidity?’ Jane offered, chewing on the end of her biro.

  ‘An officially recognised name for it,’ Claire pressed.

  ‘Hybristophilia.’

  The room went silent, all eyes on Stefan.

  ‘That’s the name for it,’ he said. ‘It’s a paraphilia.’

  Elias rolled his eyes. ‘In layman’s terms…’

  ‘It’s a condition that’s characterised by weird – abnormal – sexual desires that can be dangerous, extreme.’

  ‘Like having the sexual desire that’s triggered by a potential partner having committed a violent crime,’ Claire said.

  Stefan nodded. ‘Yes, but it’s not limited to that. Factors like cheating and lying, even a violent robbery, can strike a chord in those who have the condition, but Knox is a prime candidate for being the object of desire for people with hybristophilia. His crimes were motivated by violence and sex.’

  Everyone remained silent, letting the potential implications sink in.

  ‘I think Jane had it covered when she said stupidity,’ Elias said.

  ‘It’s not limited to just women, Crest,’ Stefan said. ‘Men can be susceptible to it, too.’

  Claire pointed at him. ‘We need to explore that angle. Maybe Tilly and Helena were trying to re-enact what Knox did with someone else and it’s got them killed.’

  ‘Knox’s crimes were triggered by the pornographic re-enactment of the murder of Elizabeth Short,’ Elias said. ‘Is this the link, the reason behind all this?’

  Claire nodded. ‘I think we may be on to something with that. Can we try and get hold of Tilly and Helena’s medical records? See if they were ever treated for depression or other mental health issues. Talk to Tilly’s mother again, and see if we can’t pin down Helena’s aunt. She may be able to give us an insight into Helena’s childhood. It might throw up some more clues.’

  Jane’s brow furrowed. ‘That fetish – that disease – is treatable?’

  ‘Hybristophilia can be treated if it poses a very real threat to the individual’s everyday life,’ Stefan said. ‘I’m looking it up now.’ He scrolled through his phone. ‘Recommended treatments include cognitive behavioural therapy, orgasmic reconditioning,’ he said, eyebrows raising at what that might entail. ‘Also certain varieties of psychotherapy and, as we’ve said, the mental health of the patient is explored. So, any history of sleep disorders, of adult ADHD, bipolar disorder is explored…’ He trailed off, looking at Claire.

  She appeared more hopeful of some kind of breakthrough. ‘Can you look at that, Fletch?’

  ‘Yes, Guv.’

  Claire allocated various tasks to the team before finishing up. She glanced at her watch. ‘I’m going to see DCI Forrester again, see if he can shed any more light on the cold cases. He met the victims, tried to help them. He may have additional information that we can use.’

  She looked at Stefan as the rest dispersed back to their desks.

 
‘The moment you get anything on Tilly and Helena, you tell me, okay? This could be what we’ve been waiting for.’

  CHAPTER 35

  Claire was sitting on the sofa while Simon flipped through the names and information he’d collected for his own personal file.

  She waited with bated breath as he stood looking down on her until he finally handed them to her.

  She smiled as she went to take them, but he moved them back out of her grasp at the last minute.

  ‘I don’t see why you need these,’ he said. ‘You’ll have the cold case files at the station.’

  Claire shot him a dark look.

  ‘You know,’ he said, before she could speak, ‘I never did like that side of you.’

  She frowned. ‘What side?’

  ‘I can read you like an open book. Things don’t go your way and you kick off. Look at your face.’

  ‘You went to give me the sodding file then took it back,’ she said. ‘How do you want me to react?’

  ‘You don’t need this.’ He waved the file in front of her face. She swiped at it, but grabbed nothing but air. A low chuckle sounded in his throat.

  ‘Don’t be juvenile. What are we, five?’

  Simon’s smirk vanished, his expression turning serious. ‘Just what are you hoping to find here, that won’t be in the original case files? I’m not hiding anything. I did what I could.’

  Claire got up from the sofa. ‘I’m not trying to find fault, pick apart your investigation, or whatever else you think I’m trying to do. We’re starting to make headway on the reasons why Tilly and Helena were targets. There might be something in the private conversations you had with those other women.’

  He scoffed and slung the file on the coffee table. ‘Whatever you say.’ He folded his arms tight across his chest. ‘There’s nothing in there that’s going to help. Trust me, I’ve been over it and over it. Every detail until my head hurt. I found nothing then, and you’ll find nothing now.’

  Claire took it from the coffee table before he could snatch it back again. ‘You’re just being bloody-minded because this has come full circle.’

  He paused, watching her flick through the file. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

  ‘Knox,’ she said, looking at him. ‘What he did, his legacy or infamy, whatever you want to call it. It started with you…’ Her face was serious, hard. ‘It will end with me.’

  He paused, considered her words. ‘It’s not a competition.’

  ‘No?’ She arched an eyebrow. ‘Then why are you on the defensive?’

  He looked bemused. ‘I’m not.’

  ‘You’re starting to doubt yourself, how you handled your investigation at the time.’

  ‘Bollocks.’

  ‘It’s true.’ She pointed the file at him. ‘If I manage to solve all this, and prove Knox had victims before The Three, you wouldn’t be able to stand it.’

  He smiled and headed into the kitchen.

  ‘Gone to lick your wounds?’ she called after him. ‘Let’s face it, you wouldn’t be able to stomach it if I managed to do what you couldn’t.’

  He came back into the room then, and she could’ve sworn she could see the hurt he still felt, etched into every line of his face.

  He gestured towards the hallway. ‘Let yourself out when you’re done with that,’ he said, pointing to the file.

  ‘Stop being an idiot,’ she said.

  ‘Claire, we’re done here.’

  ‘No,’ she said stepping closer to him. ‘We’ll be done when I say so.’

  Simon was feeling two different emotions right now. Anger and regret.

  Anger was winning out. His voice exploded in the small room. ‘What more do you want from me? You got what you came for, now leave.’

  ‘Hybristophilia,’ she said.

  He looked at her, curious. ‘What?’

  ‘Hyb-’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ he said. ‘I heard what you said… I meant, what do you mention it for?’

  Claire told him her theory about Tilly and Helena.

  ‘I just need to understand something,’ she said. ‘You knew Knox. Surely, if he got letters, sexual letters, propositions and women declaring their love and support for him, surely he’d have replied? Wouldn’t he have basked in all that attention? Wouldn’t he have wanted to write back, lure them in?’

  Simon just stared at her.

  ‘Knox knew he was likely to be released from prison at some point, whether it be after fifteen years or thirty. Wouldn’t he want all that attention, all those possibilities just there waiting for him when got out?’

  Simon let the silence draw out until she couldn’t stand it any longer. She grabbed her things and stormed towards the hall. ‘Fuck you, Simon.’

  That stung him. He sighed, running his hands back through his hair.

  When he heard her open the front door, he rushed to the hallway. ‘Knox never replied to any of these women?’ he said.

  Claire was standing just on the threshold. She slowly turned to look at him. ‘No. He never replied to anyone other than his father.’

  ‘No visitors?’

  Claire shook her head. ‘Just his father.’

  ‘If you were Knox,’ he said, his stance serious, ‘what would you have done?’

  ‘I don’t have time for games, Simon.’

  ‘This isn’t a game. It’s a serious question.’ He gripped the door frame, hands either side of the doorway. ‘Think about it. You’re Knox. You know you’re going to be away for a long time.’

  Claire’s eyes narrowed at his words, not sure what sort of time-delaying tactic he was playing, but she guessed he was determined not to make anything easy for her.

  She focused on his mouth. He was still talking to her. Her eyes met his.

  ‘You also know,’ he said, ‘that getting an early release, as soon as possible after the minimum tariff given by the judge, all depends on certain factors, especially your behaviour as a whole since you’ve been incarcerated.’

  He leaned in closer.

  ‘You’d want to be a model prisoner.’

  Claire thought about what he was saying. ‘You think Knox would’ve replied to these women but he was giving himself the best chance of getting out to reoffend by playing those who were in charge of him?’

  Simon smiled.

  ‘Got it in one. Raymond Knox must have had a daily struggle with himself to rein in all that pent-up – fucked-up – sexual desire of his. That would’ve taken almighty strength, to go against his primal instinct to inflict pain and suffering; it was what he got off on.’

  He shook his head, face solemn. ‘Someone like that released back into society… it was only a matter of time before something truly horrible happened. Either to him or to others.’

  Claire felt a sadness creep inside her then.

  She thought about how all this could have been prevented had the decision to release Knox been postponed, reviewed, a foolish decision overturned.

  ‘Do what you must,’ Simon was saying to her. ‘But you need to be careful. Whoever killed Knox, whoever killed Tilly and Helena, if it’s for the reasons you suspect, they won’t stop until they are caught. Don’t get in their firing line.’

  CHAPTER 36

  21st April

  Sixx was sniffing around Sean’s feet in the living room as he watched the news. Knox, Tilly Hartley and the latest body to have been found were the main story on just about every news channel.

  Sean looked down at a copy of the Heart of Haverbridge newspaper, the one with Raja’s story in it.

  Her voice and those words of the other two, still sitting on the coffee table as if to openly mock him.

  Raja mocking him.

  Fucking bitches, he thought, as he drank from his glass.

  The paper was dated weeks ago yet still sat there, not thrown out or even hidden from him.

  This was deliberate.

  Sean hadn’t been awak
e when Raja got home after her shift at the kennels. He’d been too tired, and it wasn’t just work that had taken it all out of him.

  He brushed dark thoughts from his mind.

  Just as he had done last night.

  Angry at himself, he had meant to confront Raja about the article again, hopefully continue where he’d left off before, but when he’d woken this morning, she wasn’t beside him.

  Her side of the bed had been cold.

  He’d checked the closet under the stairs and seen that her trainers were gone. He looked inside her wardrobe and saw the clothes she usually wore when she went to the gym or out jogging, as she regularly did, were also missing.

  Sean had called the office, said he’d be working from home today, but what he’d really meant was that he would be drowning his sorrows at the bottom of a bottle.

  It was understandable, after what he’d been through these last few weeks. His wife had spoken to the press, despite his forbidding her to do so. She’d abided by his rule all these years, only to betray his trust now.

  A voice inside his head spoke then. Betrayal. A word he knew and understood more than anyone. Especially now.

  He looked at his mobile, at the text he’d received.

  He hit delete.

  The timing seemed to be perfect, because then he heard the key in the front door.

  It was early still; he’d given Diana the day off, told her last night. He said Raja needed a little down time, what with all the media furore over Knox and journalists constantly ringing – after all, if they could speak to one journalist, they could speak to another, according to their logic. Raja had been spending as much time as she could at the kennels, to avoid the media as much as to avoid him.

  But there was no avoiding him now. Not like last time.

  Footsteps in the hall.

  His wife was coming.

  He flicked the channel over to some DIY show on a home-improvement station.

  ‘Raja?’ he said.

  Sixx jumped up and bounded towards her when she entered the living room. She ruffled his ears as he jumped up at her, licking her face. ‘Down,’ she said, her hand reaching for her face when she realised her cover-up make-up might have been ruined.