by L M Krier
‘a chilling cold-blooded killer’
Wild Thing
Ted Darling crime series
L M Krier
© L.M.K. Tither 2018
Cover design DMR Creative
WILD THING
All rights reserved.
The right of L.M.K. Tither to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Condition of sale.
This ebook is licensed for the enjoyment of the purchaser only. To share this ebook you must purchase an additional copy per recipient. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Fisherman’s Friend is a registered trade mark of the Lofthouse of Fleetwood Ltd Company of Lancashire
Shewee is a registered trade mark of Dales Distribution Ltd
This book is also published as a printed book
To Emma,
Small, Medium and Large
Thanks for all the help
Table of Contents
Title Page
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Epilogue
About the Author
Contact Details
Discover the DI Ted Darling series
Acknowledgements
Thanks to all those who helped with this book in the DI Ted Darling series.
Beta readers Jill Pennington (Alpha) Emma Heath, Kate Pill, Alison Sabedoria, Christopher Nolan, Jill Evans.
Thanks, as ever, to the people of the Stockport Memories group on Facebook for reminders about the town in which I grew up.
Chapter One
'Cold cases, Chief Inspector,' Superintendent Debra Caldwell, universally known as the Ice Queen, began formally, as she put two fresh coffees on her desk, one for herself and one for Detective Chief Inspector Ted Darling.
'Now, I know you already have a lot on your hands with the new mobile unit. But since you've had a promotion and associated pay rise, the powers that be want to get even more for their money out of you. Speaking of hands, how is yours now?'
Ted lifted his scarred left hand and moved the fingers over an imaginary keyboard. The thumb still showed some reluctance to join in.
'Almost as good as new. I could be a concert pianist, except I can't play a note.'
'Excellent, I'm glad it's improving. So, back to cold cases. Your clean-up rate is outstanding to date. We want to profit from that, and from your newly expanded team, to start mopping up anything still on the books, even from some time ago. Is there anything recent still outstanding?'
Ted took a gulp of his coffee before replying. The high-quality ground coffee she served was the best part of his meetings with the Ice Queen, although her attitude towards him had thawed somewhat since he'd been promoted to just one rung below her on the rank ladder. They even occasionally lapsed into first name terms, but it didn't come naturally to either of them. They had spent too much of their early time together walking on eggshells.
'There's still the stabbing in Hallam's Passage, from a couple of years ago now. We've never abandoned it, it's just stalled and we've not made much progress.'
Seeing her look of surprise, he hastened to add, 'Nothing to do with our DS Mike Hallam. It's the name of a ginnel that connects the A6 at Heaviley to Bramhall Lane and Cale Green. I think most of the reports at the time said the attack happened on Bramhall Lane, but it was actually in the passage.'
The killing had taken place before the Ice Queen had transferred to Stockport, replacing Ted's former boss and great friend, DCI Jim Baker, now a Detective Superintendent in another division. Ted summed up the broad outline of the case for her, although she'd doubtless read about it in the press at the time and, knowing her, had studied all the files on it when she took over the division.
A black teenager, Luke Martin, just seventeen, had been walking home through Hallam's Passage, on his way back from a music lesson. A talented musician, tipped for an easy scholarship to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, once he'd finished his sixth form studies. He was attacked whilst walking through the ginnel, a single, deep stab wound to the abdomen. Nothing was taken, apart from some loose change from his pockets. His mobile phone, a cheap, older model, was broken but left. The only item of any value, the violin which he was carrying, had been pulled from its case and smashed to pieces.
Despite his injury, he had managed to crawl to a nearby street looking for help. A couple later admitted having seen him, lying in the road and vomiting, but had assumed he was drunk and had not gone nearer to check on him. It was dark and they were too far away to see that he was actually vomiting blood from the stab wound which cost him his life shortly afterwards.
No witnesses to the attack had ever been found and there was no CCTV anywhere close to where it happened. Despite countless hours of house-to-house enquiries, as well as appeals via the local papers, radio and television, there was still no suspect and the case was listed as open and ongoing.
Superintendent Caldwell knew that it was not for want of trying on the part of Ted and the team. He was one of the most diligent officers she knew. He was also a rarity in that he never had to be chased for paperwork and his enquiries were almost always scrupulously run by the rule book, so it was rare for any of them to collapse in court.
'A tragic case,' she responded. 'Always devastating to lose one so young, but to lose talent like that …'
'Talking of teens, how is Justin?' Ted asked.
The Super's elder teenage son had recently given his family a scare after falling into a coma from trying a so-called legal high at a party. Two of Ted's team, DCs Maurice Brown and Dennis 'Virgil' Tibbs had been doing the rounds, putting out the word that legal or not, such products were not welcome on their patch. Anyone found selling them, especially to youngsters, could find themselves in for an uncomfortable time.
'Better, but still grounded until hell freezes over, according to his father,' she smiled, suddenly showing a glimpse of the human side of her which was mother to two teenage boys. Then she became her serious and formidable work-self again in an instant.
'Keep on with that case. I know you're already doing everything possible, but let's see if we can finally get some justice for that young man and his family.
Despite appearances to the contrary, Maurice Brown was a kind and sensitive man who could help anyone through a crisis with complete discretion. A lot of officers in the station had experienced him in 'daddy hen' mode, dispensing comfort, compassion and hot chocolate, in equal measure. It had been him Ted had sent to the hospital to be with the Ice Queen when her son was in a coma and her husband was away from home.
'You have two computer experts now, plus a very expensive piece of kit for your CFI, so let's make good use of them. With all the advances lately in forensic science, especially with DNA, we're in a good position to get ourselves some extra Brownie points by wrapping up some files from the past. From a purely PR point of view, ask DC Brown to begin with any cases where the prime suspect at the time is still alive and could still be brought to court.'
'Océane and Steve are currently busy helping Sal on the Sabden House file. We're still trying to make a watertight case against our dodgy councillor friend. I could leave Océane on that, as some of it is more within her area of technical expertise than Steve's, but he can certainly work with Maurice on cold cases.'
'Good,' she responded brusquely, with an air of finality.
Ted half expected her to follow it up with 'Make it so,' from the second Star Trek series, but suspected her taste in television was not quite the same as his. He took his cue and drained his coffee.
As he rose to leave, she added, 'Of course serious and serial crimes remain your personal priority, and that takes precedence over anything else. But any down-time at all, for you or your team, please use it for clearing up some cold cases. I look forward to some early results.'
Ted decided to look in on his opposite number in uniform before he went back upstairs. The two men had a good working relationship, which in no small measure accounted for the high clean-up rate in the division. Ted tapped briefly at the office door before he went in.
Inspector Kevin Turner was desk-bound behind piles of paperwork but looked up, snapped an ironic salute and greeted Ted with a 'Morning, guv'nor.' He enjoyed teasing Ted about his recent promotion to one rank above him.
'Idiot,' Ted smiled good-naturedly, taking a seat. 'So, what's the word on the street? Anything going on I should know about?'
'Usual Monday morning in Stockport. We've spent the weekend locking up the dangerously drunk and those who've been busy knocking seven bells out of one another after a few too many bevvies. Oh, and something I hope is going to turn out to be nothing at all, but we've got a small kiddy gone missing from his back garden this morning, first thing. His mam let him out to play, got distracted by a phone call, then when she looked again, the garden gate was open and there was no sign of him.
'I've got every available officer out there now looking. He probably just trotted off to find a friend to play with, but we've not got him yet. He's four so he could have toddled off quite a way already, or he might be hiding somewhere in a neighbouring garden, thinking it's all a huge joke. The mother's distraught, though, says it's not like him. He's a quiet little lad, always getting teased about his carroty hair, she says, so he tends to keep to himself.'
Ted nodded.
'Keep me posted, won't you? Too early to think of dogs yet?'
'Oh, I think so, at this stage. It's barely been a couple of hours, although I don't like to leave anything to chance, not with a little 'un. I know how frantic me and the missus always used to get if we lost sight of either of our two lasses for even a few moments. Sad that we need to feel like that these days, eh?'
'If there's anything we can do to help, Kev, just shout. Meanwhile, we're on cold cases in a big way now. And another big push on the Luke Martin case. I know we've been down every avenue we can think of to date but if any of your team can come up with any angle we haven't covered, do let me know.'
Ted had already briefed his team for the day, before going to see the Ice Queen. Several were out of the office on assigned tasks, but the ones he really needed to talk to were still in. DI Jo Rodriguez and DC Megan Jennings were additions to the team since the Luke Martin killing, so they could bring fresh eyes to the case. DS Mike Hallam and DC Jezza Vine also joined after the murder, but had been following the case so far. Ted and the older team members had been over and over it, but sometimes, even after all their work, someone could still pick up on something they'd overlooked. He hoped so. It disturbed him that they had so far made no progress on the case.
He outlined for them what he needed them to do. Mike Hallam, who shared an office with Jo Rodriguez, was out, so he, Ted and Megan could shut themselves away in there to concentrate. Once Ted had set them on their task, he went to find Maurice Brown.
'Cold cases, Maurice. Finish whatever you've just started then confine yourself to those until further notice. The top brass want to raise the clean-up rate from the past. They're especially after serious cases where the prime suspect is still in the land of the living and could be publicly hung out to dry, if we can crack the case with newer technology.'
Maurice groaned.
'Does that mean I've done something wrong, boss? This is my punishment for some dire sin I've committed and can't even remember?'
Ted grinned at him.
'It's a special present for you from the Super. She asked for you by name. You've clearly made a big impression on her. Do a good job for her and she might bake you a chocolate cup cake, with her own fair hands.'
Ted had been on the receiving end of the Super's grateful thanks in the form of an attempt at home baking. She was a highly skilled officer in many areas including, like Ted himself, being a former firearms expert. A contender for Masterchef she was not and her efforts, although kindly meant, had proved to be inedible, even when Ted was trying to be polite.
'If that's a present, I hope I never get to see what she'd give me as a punishment,' Maurice grumbled, shuffling papers around on his desk, though his tone was good-natured enough.
'Oh, and Steve,' Ted looked across to where Acting DC Steve Ellis was sitting as close as was decently possible to their recently-recruited civilian Computer Forensic Investigator, Océane, and her expensive all-singing, all-dancing new computer. 'You're with Maurice on this. Anything he needs, you get it for him. I want you to find me a case we can sink our teeth into, preferably by end of play today, so I have something to report back to the Super. The idea is that this is something the team can get on with when next I have to go chasing off to another far-flung corner of our little empire.'
He didn't miss the way Steve's face fell at the prospect of being parted from the new colleague he clearly held in high regard, and not just for her computer skills.
Ted went back to his office, put on his reading glasses and pulled up his own notes on the Luke Martin case. There had to be something they were all missing. It was just possible that they were looking at a random, motiveless killer, the hardest of all to track down. But Ted was still optimistic that fresh eyes on the case would finally turn up the link they had so far overlooked.
He spent much of the day going over old ground. He was starting to know some of it word for word by now, but he stayed optimistic. He had to. If there was a needle anywhere in the haystack, he was determined to find it.
It was the middle of the afternoon when his desk phone rang and it was Kevin Turner. His voice was solemn.
'Just to update you, Ted. Two of my team have just found the little lad, after we got a phone call. Well, found his body, anyway. I
n the river.'
'Very sorry to hear that,' Ted said sincerely. Despite all his time in the force, he still felt deeply the loss of any life, especially a young one. 'Accidental drowning?'
'We won't know for sure until the post-mortem, but there's a possibility that this is one for you and your team. From what we know so far, we're treating it as a suspicious death. SOCO and a pathologist are on their way, and I imagine you'll want to go yourself, as soon as possible.
'He was …' There was a catch in his voice and he had to take a moment. Kevin may have been a good, seasoned copper, but he was also a father and soon to be a grandfather. 'Ted, his trousers and underpants were missing. We might just be looking at a murder with a sexual connection.'
Chapter Two
It wasn't the first time that Ted had been called to view a body on this river bank, though not in the same place. The last time had been the mutilated corpse of a young woman. This time it was possibly every copper's worst nightmare – the body of a child.
Ted tried not to jump to any conclusions on the short drive over. There may have been a simple explanation for the missing clothing and he fervently prayed that was the case. The possibility of another paedophile case on his patch held no appeal.
He'd pulled Jo off the Luke Martin files to go with him, together with newly-promoted DS Rob O'Connell. Jo, a father of six, was unusually quiet and sombre. The death of a child was always hard for any police officer. For one who was a parent, Ted couldn't begin to imagine how difficult it would be. He carefully checked his pockets to make sure his Fisherman's Friend lozenges were there to offer what comfort they could when he arrived on the scene.
Uniformed officers were already taping off access to the river bank when they got there. For form's sake, Ted held up his warrant card, although every officer in the station knew and respected him. The three men ducked under the tape and followed the constable's directions, through the trees and down a slight slope to the riverbank.