Broken Angel

by Diane M Dickson

  “Sir.”

  She couldn’t punch the air, she couldn’t do a happy dance. There was a woman dead, a woman missing and two families grieving. Inside she couldn’t hold down the fizz of excitement. She had the seal of approval. One more step along the road, it was just a small one, but significant. She had to get this right, for the victims of course, but for herself as well. She squared her shoulders, smiled at the secretary on the way out and strode down the corridor, her brain whirling with the next steps and the ones after that.

  When she arrived back at the office Sue was standing in the doorway talking to Charlie, she blushed when Tanya tapped her on the shoulder.

  “Right well, I’ll get back to it, Charlie.” She turned and walked back to her desk.

  Charlie watched her go.

  “Does she have a problem?” Tanya put her things on the desk and swivelled her chair to face him.

  “No, it’s fine.”

  “She seemed a bit awkward.”

  “Well, I guess she’s just getting used to the idea. Both of us here and that. She was doing a fair bit of the leg work with me, before. I think maybe she’s just a bit disappointed with what’s happened.”

  “If she’s got a problem, Charlie, tell her to come and talk to me, not sneak around behind my back, yeah?”

  He nodded at her, “Okay boss.”

  It was the first time he’d called her that. She would tell him to call her Tanya but just this once, today, she grinned at him. “Come on we’ve got stuff to do. A murdering bastard to find and a woman to rescue.” As she said it she felt the weight of reality. Was it already too late for Millie?

  Chapter 21

  The team were all there, the air smelled of coffee and toast. Everyone turned to where Tanya had taken up what was fast becoming her usual position beside the notice boards. She perched on the corner of the nearest desk. She told them about the discussion with the Chief Inspector, that they had his approval, that he was satisfied that they were doing everything they should. She was paraphrasing, sharing his confidence in her with them. It was the right thing to do, paying it forward. She was aware of the grins, a couple of nods. They were coming over to her side. Sue didn’t look up, she was fiddling with the computer mouse.

  “Right. Let’s have a brainstorming session, shall we?” She turned to look at the white boards. “If you could make sure that any relevant information is added on here, that would be great. We need to record everything. So, how about you kick off, Sue,” she said.

  Sue stood up and opened her notebook, she glanced round, her eyes resting on Charlie who was looking at the notes in his hand – suddenly it was clear. Tanya felt a little fizz of sadness for the girl, she was young after all. But Charlie was married, he was a daddy and they were all professionals. She wondered if he realised.

  Sue had begun to speak, “The dress. So, the shop that it came from – going by the name on the label – is part of a chain but it’s been closed for a few years. They were nationwide at one stage, but they went out of business. It means we can’t ask questions, chase payment or anything like that, I’m afraid, and it’s not possible to get a very accurate time scale because there are hardly any references to them anywhere. I did think that I’d be able to find the style in a catalogue or something, get a year at least, but I’m not having a lot of luck.”

  She flicked through pages of printouts as she spoke, “There’s absolutely no chance of even finding what area it was bought in, because the dresses were imported to order. Girls try on a model in the shop, all the shops carried almost all the models, and then a new one is made for them. I got this from Facebook, excited women giving out clues about style and what have you. It didn’t lead very far. For most of them it was so long ago that they are already putting up baby scans and christening pictures. I suppose our dress must have been stored somewhere, but I guess people do that don’t they? Keep them in cupboards for sentimental reasons and that.”

  “Do they?” Tanya glanced at Paul. “Is that right?”

  “Yeah, well as I say my wife’s is still in the family, so I guess they do. So, this bloke, I suppose we’re assuming the person who abducted her, killed her, aren’t we? Well, has to be.” He looked around the room, there were a couple of nods in response. “Maybe it was his mother’s, his sister’s or of course his wife’s. Though if she was still around, surely she’d notice. It’s not a little thing, all that…” He couldn’t find the word and they laughed as he wagged his hands in the area of his waist.

  “Flounces,” said Kate. “They call them flounces but yes you’re right, it would fill your average Ikea wardrobe, you’d never get the door closed, so maybe a trunk or just in a plastic cover, in an attic.”

  Tanya spoke, “They’ll be going over it with a fine-toothed comb in the lab, but with the bleach…” She shrugged. “Back to the question though. I think we have to assume it’s the same person. Though there is no certainty that he hasn’t got an accomplice, could it be a woman, and this is her dress? It’s something else we should bear in mind. Thanks Paul.”

  Sue took over again, “As I say, because of the history with the shop, his bride, if there was a bride, could be long gone.”

  Kate raised a hand, “What does all this say about Millie, though? We have assumed that this was the same man, the events seemed to be the same. Woman alone, single man. We’ve shown his picture to our witness from the first time and she isn’t sure but wouldn’t rule it out either. But if he did it to poison Sarah and then dress her like this, does that mean he’s got another dress? Why would he have two and if they cost thousands then does that mean he’s wealthy?”

  Charlie moved across the room, “Charity shops.” A couple of the others murmured their agreement. Tanya shook her head, “How do you mean?”

  “Charity shops sell wedding dresses.”

  “What? You mean, second hand?” She couldn’t keep the appalled expression from her face. “People buy their wedding dresses second hand? No, surely not.”

  “Yeah. Not everyone keeps them. My wife didn’t, she gave hers to a mate who was getting married later. But a lot of people give them to the charity shops for brides who can’t afford to spend that sort of money.”

  Charlie grinned at the look on her face. “I’ve seen ‘em, in the windows.”

  Sue spoke out, “So, maybe there never was a bride. Maybe he bought it specially.”

  Tanya shook her head, “Okay, so we need to start visiting these charity shops. I assume mostly it would be women buying wedding dresses, so perhaps a man, if he did buy it himself, would stick in somebody’s memory. We’ve got a fair stretch of the motorway to cover and he might have bought it anywhere. Bigger towns first, it’s going to take a while, I’ll see if we can get help from some of the CIOs. It does at least give us something to work with. Well done everyone. Good thinking. If this guy has been buying wedding dresses, it could be the breakthrough. Find him, we find Millie.”

  She moved a little to the side, pointed to the picture on the second board. “Millie, we need to be concentrating on her disappearance. Sarah is important and tracing the dress, I should think, is vital but let’s keep Millie as a priority. Where are we with her phone? I suppose it’s too much to hope that they’ve been able to trace it.”

  Kate held up a hand, “It left the services and then they lost it. They reckon that probably it was tossed out onto the carriageway. They’ve asked the maintenance people, the traffic officers to be aware and they’ve been great – they sent a team to do the hard shoulder, but if it was thrown the other way, into the traffic there’d be nothing left of it in minutes. They’d have to close the motorway if we sent a team to look for it and frankly, there’s just no point now.”

  Tanya stared for a long minute at the map of the road, the plan of the services where Millie had been. “Okay, Sue, before you go out can you go through the film from the traffic cameras? Find out where they lost the signal for the phone and take the time for about an hour after Millie and her f
riend were dropped off at the café. If the distance includes a junction, you’ll have to do both carriageways. I’ll be honest, I don’t hold out much hope. This man seems camera aware, look at where he parked his car, the way he keeps his face averted. I expect that when he flung the phone he did it in the middle of heavy traffic, probably surrounded by trucks and what have you, but we have to do it. Get on to that now, will you?”

  * * *

  “Do you want coffee, Charlie?” They were back in the office, the clatter of the team gearing up to leave sounded good, it felt as though they were moving on.

  With her mug in her hand, Tanya slid in behind her desk, closed her eyes. Her head was buzzing, she needed to still the clamour in her brain, needed a moment of calm, distance. “How’s your wife?”

  “Not too bad thanks. Some days she’s stronger and doing stuff outside the house, something that’s necessary. I think it helps. She’s out with her sister today.”

  “That’s good. You’ve got a big family.”

  “Yeah and getting bigger all the time.” He smiled. “We have get togethers most weekends, Christmas and all that. Gets a bit noisy but I love it. Sorry I was rattling on there, but my family, we’re all a bit close. Don’t you ever try and keep in touch with yours? Did you say you’ve got a sister?”

  “That’s right. No we don’t speak, not so much, the odd phone call. Nothing between us. It’s nice, you and all your siblings and everything, but it’s not for me. Too much room for disappointment, problems. I like my life simple.”

  Dan knocked on the open door. “We’re all going out now.” He held out a bunch of papers. “There’s dozens of those charity shops. Kate printed them out, divvied them up into areas.” Tanya reached out, took the sheets from his hand, and riffled through them.

  He obviously had something else to say. He coughed. “That Steven Blakely is back on the internet. I made him a contact on Twitter when we started this. He’s Tweeting again, I’m afraid we’re not coming out of it very well.”

  “Damn.” Tanya turned to her laptop, opened the account which she too had bookmarked. She read through some of the posts, the reposts and the responses. The police were coming in for quite a hammering, no names yet but maybe it was just a question of time. In a way, she couldn’t blame him. He was hurting, and he had no-one to lash out at but them. She turned back to Dan. “Some of these shops are for Kate to visit?”

  “Yep. They’ve got names on the tops of the pages.”

  “Right, Charlie and me, we’ll take those.” She glanced up, Charlie reached over to grab his jacket. “I’ll catch you up. Let me just go and speak to Kate.”

  She caught the other woman just about to leave the hallway. “Kate, sorry but I need you to stay here. Steven Blakely is back on Twitter. I need someone to monitor his posts but more importantly, the responses. It could be that the killer will pick up on it, he might feel compelled to speak. Okay?” There was a flash of something across the other woman’s face, disappointment, anger, it was hard to tell.

  She nodded, turned back to the incident room and pulled off her coat. Tanya walked over to the desk, “If there’s anything at all, let us know straight away, yes?” She needed to get a handle on this woman, the team were fitting together well, she didn’t want any outsiders, it always caused trouble. “Thanks.”

  As she reached the door, Kate called across the room. “Can I have a word?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do you know how old I am?”

  “Not exactly, no.”

  “Okay, well, I’m fifty.” As Tanya opened her mouth to speak, the other woman held up her hand.

  “Don’t please. I know I look my age. It’s fine, I’ve never been vain. But, I run three times a week, I swim nearly every night and I have done two triathlons this year and have another one in about six weeks.”

  “Wow.” Tanya was genuinely impressed. “Well, I thought I was fit but, blimey.”

  “The thing is though.” There was a pause, Kate looked down at her hands. “Don’t treat me as if I’m past it. I know I’m the oldest, I know my career is stalled. I’m not going any higher but that’s okay as well because I’ve raised three kids, got a good marriage. I’m happy with the stuff I’ve done. But, you know, don’t write me off.”

  “I haven’t, I wouldn’t do that.” Tanya had turned back into the room, held out a hand, let it drop again.

  “It’s just that, calling me back, asking me to stay behind instead of going out on the road, it feels a bit as though I’m being side-lined. It’s the second time, Charlie did it as well, I don’t want to just be the one in the office, you know.”

  “Right. Right. I see. Okay, the reason I’ve done this, and honestly Kate I wouldn’t lie to you, Dave had just handed me a bunch of papers, collated and organised, dividing up the charity shops into areas and allocating bodies. I was impressed. He told me you’d done it. The monitoring of Steven Blakely’s tweets needs somebody on the ball, somebody who might be able to pick up on anything relevant. I thought of you. I’ve been impressed with your work on the computer, your organisational skills. I want to catch this bastard, I want to save this other girl. To do that I need to utilize everyone’s particular talents. It might seem less ‘sharp end’ than being out on the road, I grant you that, but it’s the best thing for the case, nothing more.” She had meant every word and the smile creeping across Kate’s face told her she’d got it right.

  Tanya stopped as she turned to the door. “Are we okay Kate?”

  Kate nodded. “Yes boss. Thanks.”

  Chapter 22

  It was a long day for all of them. They trawled dozens of charity shops. At the end of it Tanya felt grubby and depressed. As she had expected there had been no image of a phone flung from a car window, though there was plenty of other detritus hurled from the passing traffic. Sue had gone over and over it, and managed to get some help from the civilian investigators. She had zoomed in on every likely looking incident, recorded dozens of events. The maintenance crews had found nothing, and Tanya didn’t see any value in spending more time trying to trace a phone which would, even if it hadn’t gone under the wheels of a juggernaut, be shattered plastic and very little more.

  They didn’t meet back in the office, Tanya had kept in touch with the rest of the team by phone and text and they scheduled a Skype conference for evening.

  She had a long, long shower. Wrapped in her towelling bath robe she strolled into the guest room, newly converted into her dressing room. She didn’t feel guilt, she had worked for this. It was her money after all, but she did feel sad, sad that for some people, some women, finding her cast offs, the things that she had fished from the car boot and left at the Cancer Research shop, finding her throwaways would be thrilling.

  It had all come back, the limp washed up feel of old skirts and dresses, faded by time. The school blouses with frayed cuffs, jeans with ragged hems, and then, the blazer stained by her sister’s leaking fountain pen. That had been the final straw. She was going into a new school, new friends, it was supposed to be a new start. She had cut at it with scissors, thrown the jacket into a skip outside one of the local houses and refused to even discuss the school until she was promised a new uniform. There had been tears and recriminations, it had been a turning point.

  She knew she had been a mistake. The second daughter too soon after the first. She never had anything new, just for herself. It had hurt when she learned to understand. The older she had become the more it had hurt. She was left in no doubt that she had been an unwanted child and felt she had never really caught up, always referred to as Fiona’s sister, always compared to her brilliant sibling and found wanting.

  Until, that is, she finished her degree and joined the police force. On the day of the passing out parade, at last, she had seen the shine of pride in her mother’s eyes that she had looked for all her life. It had come late, her father was gone and her mother already ill and to be dead within the year, but at least they had come to an understand
ing before the end and Tanya didn’t hold a grudge. However, she had vowed that the things she had, the clothes she wore, would be the best that she could buy. She’d worked hard, studied hard, she deserved her stuff, but tonight she didn’t open the wardrobe doors, didn’t feel quite right looking at clothes that she hadn’t even properly unpacked yet. The volunteers, the customers, the endless racks of second hand belongings had depressed her, brought back feelings that had been long buried.

  She went down to the kitchen, poured wine, cooked savoury rice, tried to concentrate on the missing girls, going over what they knew as fact. This wasn’t a time to start thinking about fairness, there was nothing fair about what happened to Sarah Dickinson, what might be happening right now to Millie Roberts. Things were just things, but it was life, opportunity, that was irreplaceable.

  * * *

  The team compared notes, swapped information on the Skype video but at the end of the day it was worrying and disappointing how little they had really accomplished. Paul had been to one shop that told him they sold wedding dresses, bridesmaids outfits, cocktail gowns to the local amateur dramatics groups and so, yes, sometimes men would come in and buy those things. Dan told them that one of the places he visited had a regular contingent of transgender customers and a whole section they kept for fancy dress outfits that included wedding dresses. Generally, they were the ones with thigh high slits or low-cut backs, revealing bodices, but again both men and women bought them.

  It was obvious from the mood of the chat they were all feeling down, what they had thought would be a good lead turned out to be so much less.

  She needed to gee them up a bit, “Okay. At least we have more information. It’s not going to be as easy as we thought, but we know it’s a possibility, a probability, he bought the dress second hand. We’ll regroup tomorrow, can we all manage seven thirty?” They agreed. “Thanks for this today, it feels like a bit of a let-down just now but it’s all useful information and it’s more than we had before.”