“Do you always do what the adults in your life want?”
Harley nodded. “Dad says adults always know best. You should always listen to an adult and follow their directions. Can I go now?”
Bex took a moment to digest his words, while Quinn and Idris escorted Harley and Dr. Chaudri from the interview room.
“What did you make of what Harley said?” Isla asked.
She settled a contemplative stare on Bex as though anticipating a power struggle, but Bex decided not to fall into that trap. She answered honestly.
“What I make of it is that if Harley always does what the adults in his life want him to do, then he has very little free will. That might be alright if the adults around him want what’s best for him, but what if they prey on his vulnerabilities instead?”
“You mean like his father abusing him?”
“I believe Keith Carroll had been grooming Harley for years so that he did his bidding without question. But Keith Carroll’s not the only one who abused Harley’s trust. Harley and his mother put their faith in William Downer as a therapist. Downer developed an ongoing relationship with Harley and used it to pry out his secrets. The question is, are his session recordings enough to convict Downer of conspiracy to murder? If we can’t prove that in a court of law, Downer will walk free, leaving Harley to face the music.”
Chapter 28
Wednesday 20 December
“I’ve checked the timing for Downer’s sessions with Harley. They all go for the full hour except the last four sessions, right before the murders. These fall short of an hour by ten or twelve minutes,” Idris said to Bex.
Bex nodded acknowledgement, appreciative of the minutiae that Idris was adept at sifting through.
“So, either Downer finished his sessions early and Harley went home or…”
“Or he used the time to speak off the record with Harley. Which means he didn’t want what he said to be recorded for posterity,” Bex finished his sentence. “Which leads to a lot of speculation about how far he went in coaxing Harley to commit murder.
“Reuben, did you have any luck with Keith’s computer? If Harley videotaped his sexual exploits he might have kept copies.”
“There are no hard copies of anything inappropriate on his hard drive. I did wonder if he filmed the sessions for live streaming. There are plenty of pedophile chat groups out there who broadcast live, inviting others to join in to watch and comment, or skulk anonymously around the edges of these live sessions. That could’ve been what Harley was doing. Do we know if Skylar spent a lot of time online? Keith might have been stalking her that way as well. I can’t see any apps on his hard drive, but I know there are programs out there that hide inappropriate apps. I’ll get IT to scan his hard drive to see what turns up.”
“Do that, Reuben. I want everyone else to go back to the Kids Commando group and start questioning all the kids and leaders thoroughly. If Keith made a habit of turning the group into his hunting ground, there must be other victims. Someone must have noticed something about his behavior. Find out who Wolfbane is in reality and start there because he seems to have been the latest victim. We need evidence to support what we believe Keith Carroll was capable of.”
In the quiet of the briefing room after her team had gone, Bex re-examined the evidence they had from the Carroll murders. The lack of blood on Harley’s clothes reinforced the premise that he had changed after the murders. But where had he dumped his original clothes? The soles of his brand-name sneakers had blood on them and they had been matched to several footprints in the hallway. Other bloody footprints had been matched to the victims and the neighboring family who had discovered the bodies.
The murder weapon had Harley’s fingerprints and DNA. She checked the report again. No other fingerprints had been pulled off the knife, which meant it had been wiped clean before Harley used it. Why had he taken the precaution of wiping it clean only to leave his fingerprints on it? Or was the explanation simply that the knife had been washed and put away, removing any residue, before Harley picked it out of its resting place in the wooden knife block?
She flipped through the crime scene photos that showed condoms strewn over the scene, including Keith’s detached condom-covered penis. There was a close up of Andrea’s hand with a scrap of latex clutched between her fingers. What did that mean? Had she been wrestling the penis from Harley’s grip? But the report stated the latex wasn’t from that particular condom. Had she been tidying away the condoms?
Her phone chirruped and she glanced at the message. Ruth had arrived safely in New York. She texted back.
Love you mom. Say hello to dad. Stay warm. xxx
Another message beeped. Her eyes skimmed the text. Her order for replica weapons was ready and waiting at a store in Lambeth she had found online. She had to pick them up in person so they could validate her ID.
Bex stacked up the crime scene photos and the reports. They had told her nothing new. She dialed Helen Mitchell’s number and the call went to voicemail.
“Ms. Mitchell, we’re having trouble locating your ex-husband, Liam Mitchell. Could you please call me back. You may have other personal details that will help us track him down, such as a photo.”
After she left her message, she returned to her office to grab her coat. She could call in at the Met’s forensic services unit on her way to claim the replica weapons, she decided. She had some questions that she hoped they could answer.
* * *
Bex forced out a smile to disarm Ellyse Watkins’s snake-like head weaving used to emphasize her rejection.
“Really, you should have called ahead, DCI Wynter,” she reproved, with an impersonal stare at Bex. “I can’t drop everything to go over a forensic report that’s more than a year old.”
Ellyse Watkins was listed as the Laboratory Assistant Forensic Practitioner who had conducted the requested tests in the Carrolls’ murder.
“Besides, wasn’t it an open and shut case? The evidence supported the confessed murderer.”
Bex’s smile widened as Ellyse disclosed she did remember the case.
“That’s the thing. We’re reopening the investigation. We don’t want to send the wrong person to jail, after all, do we?”
Ellyse’s face betrayed concern. Nobody wanted to be caught up in finger-pointing as to blame if wrong-doing was being proved. No one wanted to be the fall guy if civil suits were going to be leveled over wrongful arrests and imprisonments. Elleyse’s gloved fingers played with the mask bunched around her neck. She had dislodged it when she exited her lab to talk to Bex.
“I just have a couple of questions to clarify. It will only take a few minutes of your time,” Bex urged.
“I’ll need more time to get the exhibits. They’re in storage,” Ellyse hedged.
“But you do have digital access to the photos and reports that you can pull up on your computer, don’t you?”
With an annoyed toss of her head, Ellyse turned abruptly and Bex followed her blue-smocked form inside a room filled with state of the art equipment. Two blue-gowned and masked individuals sat at one end, hunched over microscopes and testing equipment. Ellyse led Bex to a back wall where a bank of computers rested.
Stripping off her latex gloves, Ellyse tapped with angry precision at the keyboard. Before long, a series of photos streamed into view.
“Well?” Ellyse snapped the word icily, not even looking in Bex’s direction.
“The report says that the footprints identified belonged to Harley Carroll, his father Keith Carroll and his mother Andrea Carroll. Four other sets of prints were matched with the Holbrook family who found the bodies. Were there any other foot prints?”
Ellyse consulted some notes.
“Some partial prints were taken near the door that had no traces of blood. They were never identified.” She threw a defensive look in Bex’s direction.
“Male or female?”
“Male. Actually it’s quite a distinctive print mark.”
“Ca
n you tell the size?”
Ellyse keyed several strokes. “I’m running the footprints now. Results should come through in about an hour.”
“My other question involves the amount of latex at the scene. There were dozens of condoms so I wondered if Andrea Carroll was holding a piece of one of the condoms on the scene?”
“I did a comparison with the condom on the penis and there was no match.”
“I know. I read the report. Does the latex in her hand relate to any of the other condoms?”
Ellyse blew a little puff of air from between pursed lips. “I’ll have to pull up the original analysis report.”
She tapped busily for a moment.
“Alright, here it is. The analysis shows the latex between her fingers was a synthetic rubber, whereas all the condoms on the scene were composed of natural latex. The latex between her fingers matches no other evidence pulled from the scene.”
Bex closed her eyes. It was a small point, and it was impossible to know if it had any significance. The officers involved in the original investigation should have followed through, but it seemed their attention had been focused on Harley. Crime was like fishing, it was a game of patience and perseverance. Not everyone had the right temperament.
“So if it didn’t come from the scene, what type of item could it have come from?”
Ellyse’s complexion paled. “No one asked me to–”
“I know,” Bex cut off her excuses. “But now we’re here, could you fill me in on the type of object she might have grabbed just before she was killed?”
Ellyse’s body was fairly vibrating with tension. “Any number of items can be made from rubber. Balloons. Balls. Swim caps. Stethoscope tubing. Gloves. Raincoats. Hot water bottles. Carpet underlay.”
Ellyse fired off the everyday objects so rapidly Bex found difficulty registering them all, but the conclusion was the same: Andrea could have been holding anything. The question was, where was the rest of it? Was it something that Harley had grabbed from her or vice versa? And if so had he disposed of it at the same time he got rid of the clothes he was wearing?
“Is that all?”
“Thank you, Ellyse.”
“Has it helped?”
“I’m not sure. I need time and some room to think.”
Chapter 29
Wednesday 20 December
The gun shop selling the replica weapons looked seedy and rundown. Bars crisscrossed the glass doorway and roll up shutters lodged at the top of the windows on either side, ready to fortress it at the end of the workday. The street it was on held a range of stores from a bakery and dry cleaners to a disreputable-looking pawnbrokers. Above the stores were accommodations for the store-owners. A group of scruffy boys loitered on the corner, practicing their menacing stares on her.
Just as she pushed open the door, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out to see a message from Helen Mitchell.
Sorry I should have clarified. My ex-husband’s name isn’t Mitchell, that’s my maiden name which I’ve kept. His full name is William Downer, although I’ve always called him Liam for short. The only photo I have of him is a selfie Skylar took at their last Halloween together. Hope this info helps.
Bex felt her stomach dip and had to lean back into the door. She could see how white her knuckles were on the fist clenched around her phone. The facts she thought she knew were already changing shape inside her mind. William Downer was Skylar Mitchell’s father! That was the motive they had been searching high and low for—Downer had been avenging his abused daughter! Harley had admitted that he’d given Downer a detailed account of Keith Carroll’s relationship with Skylar. Eli Morgan had lived through a similar situation only a few months ago and Bex knew first hand the damage that emotional turmoil could wreck on a father.
“You need a hand?” the store clerk interrupted her train of thought.
Bex pulled herself together. A few more minutes purchasing what she’d come for wasn’t going to make any difference to the case.
“I put an order in online. Rebecca Wynter. I’ve come to bring in my ID and pick it up,” she answered, moving towards the counter.
She flicked her eyes back to the phone in her hand to the photo Helen had sent through. She stared into William Downer’s laughing brown eyes. He was dressed in a skeleton outfit, holding a mask in one hand, his other arm wrapped around Skylar in an identical costume. She recalled Helen’s words: Liam and Skylar had a tradition of doing trick or treating together every Halloween. They’d spend weeks working on their costumes, sticking things together, making masks.
Keith Carroll had been murdered on October 31. Had Downer chosen the date deliberately? Her pulse quickened and she took a closer look at the mask in his hand. It was made of rubber. Like the rubber in Andrea Carroll’s hand? Had Downer got Harley dressed in a Halloween costume because it was Skylar’s favorite time of year? Was that the reason that Harley’s clothes weren’t blood splattered because he’d changed into normal street wear afterward? The costume could have been dumped anywhere and nobody would have paid any notice at that time of year, even if it had been covered in blood!
The clerk placed a cardboard box filled with two replica pistols and a selection of small and large fake knives on the counter.
“I’ve checked the items against your order and everything’s packed. I just need to see some ID.”
Bex hauled her wallet out of her purse and flipped it open while the clerk made a note of the relevant details. Tucking the box under her arm, she made her way out of the store, dialing Quinn’s number before her feet hit the sidewalk. Briefly she explained what she had learned from Helen.
“Now we have a motive to pin on Downer, his actions make more sense. What a sodding bastard to use a kid to do his dirty work for him!” Quinn growled. “Harley trusted his therapist with his darkest secrets and the scumbag turned it to his advantage by planting the idea for murder in his mind while he was under hypnosis.”
“Quinn, I need you to arrange a search warrant for William Downer’s residence. Harley said he told Downer about Keith’s relationship with Skylar after he’d seen her photo in Downer’s rooms. The fact that Harley recognized her photo must have rung alarm bells for Downer as he began to uncover Keith’s child molesting tendencies. That’s probably when he started probing Harley for details and hatched the plot to plant the idea of murder in Harley’s head.”
“I’ll get Eli and the rest of the lads onto the search warrant straight away while I visit Downer’s office for a quiet word.”
“No, Quinn! I want to have any evidence from the search on hand before we make a move.”
“Bloody hell, Wynter, what are you waiting for? We have enough to charge him with conspiracy to commit murder. If we wait, he’ll scarper. He’s proved he’s a cowardly bastard who doesn’t want to get his own hands dirty. I’m going to hold him to account for exploiting that poor neglected kid the way he did! If you’re so worried, come with me!”
Bex chewed her lip. Was this Quinn’s idea of being a team player? She had a feeling that if she didn’t agree Quinn would take matters into his own hands. In a state of anger and a search for justice, how far would Quinn go? She remembered Isla once telling her that Vincent Titus was convinced one day Quinn would cut one corner too many in his quest to get results. That was a path that was going to lead him to dismissal and possible prosecution. That was one way to get rid of Quinn, but she wasn’t ready to risk the team’s reputation to see him on the wrong side of the law.
“Okay, Quinn, we’ll go together.”
“I’m on my way. I’ll meet you in Downer’s office.”
The line went dead in her ear.
Looking down at the blank screen in her hand she swore under her breath. Was today the day Quinn was going to snap and take justice into his own hands?
Juggling her package, she opened the car door and slid behind the wheel.
Chapter 30
Wednesday 20 December
Qu
inn stormed through the lobby of the Mental Wellness Clinic.
“You can’t go in there! Dr. Downer’s with a patient.” The blonde with the messy topknot valiantly stood her ground.
“I don’t give a rat’s arse if he’s got the bloody queen with him.” Quinn flashed his warrant card.
The reception room was bursting at the seams. All the nut jobs needing reassurance before facing Christmas, Quinn thought churlishly. He didn’t give a damn if they knew he was a police officer about to haul William Downer back to the station. As far as he was concerned, if his presence ruined Downer’s reputation that was a bonus.
The receptionist moved away from her desk to block the corridor with her body, arms outstretched and eyelashes blinking in furious rhythm.
“Step out of the way or I’ll arrest you for obstructing justice,” Quinn said, his voice a surly hiss. He flicked out his handcuffs to make his point and she reluctantly moved aside, watching as Quinn shouldered open the door.
“I need to speak with you, Dr. Downer, so I suggest your patient leave the room.”
“This is outrageous!” Downer thrust himself upright to face Quinn, knocking back his easy chair in his haste.
A woman cowered in the leather sofa, her eyes soft around the edges with unshed tears. Quinn kicked the door closed on a sea of agog faces.
“Why are you here?” The words came out of Downer’s mouth in a panicked rush.
“I’ve come to give you a chance to confess to conspiring to entice Harley Carroll to murder Keith and Andrea Carroll. There’s nowhere left to hide, Dr. Downer. We know what Harley told you about your daughter’s relationship with Keith Carroll. You thought Harley would do time for the crime, but I’ve got news for you. If you’re convicted of conspiracy to murder you’ll get exactly the same sentence as Harley Carroll.”
A look of pure terror broke out on Downer’s face.
Quinn jerked his head at the woman shrinking back against the sofa cushions even as his fingers bunched into fists.
Courting Death Page 16