by Linda Mather
Ivan sat there with this mouth wide open, he couldn’t respond, these guys really thought he had hurt Lizzie, even his solicitor must do because he had not helped him one little bit.
“Interview terminated at” Derek looked at his watch “9 p.m.”
He switched off the tape and both he and John left the room without saying another word.
“We’ll leave him to sweat on that for a bit” John said to Derek as they left the interview room and were out of earshot.
“Let’s go and see what they have turned up at his house, or in his belongings,” and they headed to the evidence room. This would be where anything of interest taken from Ivan’s home, car etc would have been bagged up and stored.
Chapter Twenty
It was ten o’clock when Derek and John knocked on Stephens door, he had been waiting for them to get a run down on their progress before he headed home.
“Come on in lads” he responded “anything to report.”
“Well we’ve left him sweating sir, he’s admitted to having sex with her. I think he’ll crack sir, he’s pretty bloody nervous.” Derek said.
John handed him two evidence bags. Stephen looked at the first one; it contained a small clear glassed bottle containing a yellow liquid.
“What’s this?” he asked “Don’t know sir we’re about to send it to the lab, but thought you should see it first.”
“Erm interesting” he said picking up the second bag.
His heart suddenly went cold; he could feel his face going ten shades whiter than white and his hands beginning to shake. He must stay calm he thought.
In his hands in a clear plastic bag was a business card and written in bold letters was:
Tanya Wright – Psychosexual therapist
John broke into his thoughts, clearly not noticing Stephens’s anxiety,
“We thought we’d take this in and ask him about it, might be something to it, having a sex therapist’s card and this being a potential sex motivated crime”
“Yes, yes,” Stephen answered trying not to sound too interested.
“Let me know what he says, then wrap it up for tonight, let him sleep on things and we will re interview him in the morning. Thanks guys” he said desperately wanting them out of his office before they noticed his distracted and concerned behaviour.
**********
Derek and John re-entered the interview room, re did the tape procedure and Derek put the card in front of him and asked
“You had this card in your belongings, can you tell us who it is and why you have it?”
“No problem, it’s my therapist Tanya, I’ve been seeing her for about two years”
“What for” Derek asked.
“For my problem, my cross dressing”
It was Johns turn now to intervene.
“Two years of therapy for cross dressing?”
“Well not just that, there were other things”
“Like what” John asked.
“Well my sex life things like that”
“Like what?” Derek now piped in.
“Oh bloody hell do I have to go into that”
“It’s important that we know everything Ivan, for all we know this woman may be next on your list” Derek answered “And it could actually help your case, prevent you from being charged” he lied using his I’m your best friend tactic.
“For what I’ve already told you I haven’t done anything” he shouted and then hastily calmed down, knowing that shouting would not go in his favour, not with these bastards they were trying to mess with his head. They were trying to bloody set him up and his solicitor had clearly gone to fucking sleep. He needed to stay focused.
“Okay, okay,” he said containing his anger. “I have a sex problem, an erection problem”
“You didn’t appear to have that problem the night you met Lizzie”
“No I’m okay if I’m not emotionally involved, and we talked about my mother sometimes too” he added keen to get off the subject of his sex life.
“What about your mother”
“She was domineering, suffocated me”
“She suffocated you” John seized upon this and again Derek knew where he was going with it.
“Yes”
“Interesting that”
“What?”
“That she suffocated you” John replied a grin crossing the whole of his face.
“Well she did” Ivan said morosely
“Just like you suffocated Jane and Lizzie” he said.
“Interview terminated at” Derek looked at his watch, “eleven fifteen”
They both left the room, leaving both Ivan and his solicitor dumbfounded.
**********
It was midnight by the time Stephen got in his car to drive home, his thoughts in turmoil.
Tanya, his girlfriend was the suspect’s therapist. They were going to Bill’s party on Saturday night, where most of his team would be. He would have to introduce her; they would then put two and two together.
It would be unethical for him to not say anything and this unnerved him. He liked to keep his private life, private.
As far as he could see he could not pull out of taking her, this would upset her and leave her feeling that he was ashamed of her. He could find an excuse not to go himself or he could be upfront with his team. Both options left him feeling tense.
Stephen was feeling drained. This whole case was getting to him. He decided that he was best to sleep on it, and make a decision in the morning.
**********
Ivan sat in the cells rubbing his forehead, sweat dripping onto the grubby wooden table. It was five o’clock on Friday. They had held him for almost twenty four hours now and a decision had to be made. He had not admitted anything during the interrogation that they could clearly use as a confession. All they had was the DNA and the dental match to Lizzie’s bite mark.
He had admitted having sex with her and to biting her but adamantly denied murdering her.
Stephen and Derek watched him through the two way mirror as he picked his nose and flicked it on the floor.
“What do you think sir” Derek asked, trying not to think about what he had just seen for fear of heaving.
“He’s not gonna crack, sure a tough one this one, especially for a tranny, we’ve got the DNA and the dental match that’s all we need to charge him, he was the last person to see Lizzie alive, so that’s enough for me.” Stephen said. “Charge him Derek and then get yourself home, it’s been a long couple of days.”
His boss left the room and relieved to be going home, Derek went to look for John so that they could nail this bastard do the paperwork and get the hell out of there. It had been a long week.
Stephen left the station still feeling unsettled. He had decided to take Tanya to the party on Saturday and had called his team together to disclose his relationship with the suspect’s therapist. It had been a difficult decision and one that he had spent most of the night tossing and turning over.
However he had always tried to be honest with his team and honesty had been the best policy in this case.
Besides he had listened to his gut and his gut had told him to come clean, and as he always said his gut was always right!
Chapter Twenty-One
Saturday 5 April
Tanya was a psychosexual therapist had been for about ten years now and loved her job immensely.
She had her own private practice and got most of her work through self referral and multi agencies, which sometimes the client paid for and occasionally agencies paid for. She was building up a very reputable reputation and becoming a well respected therapist in not only the Leicester area, but further afield.
She’d even recently had a book published that she had written about sex therapy, the process and the variations in client work. She’d included some of the underlying issues to client’s sex problems, techniques that therapists could use when working with this particular client group and how to manage their own
personal transference that was inevitable when working with sexual issues. She had then finished it off with some theory on transsexual and transgender issues. It was selling well and she was very proud of herself.
Most people believed that it must affect your sex life doing a job like hers but it didn’t, she was able to switch off from the stories that she heard on a daily basis as soon as she shut the door of her upmarket therapy room, each day.
Switched off she was tonight, it was Saturday night and that was her and Stephen’s night. Now was the time to concentrate on her own sex life.
She liked Stephen but didn’t love him, she could never marry she’d known that since she was twenty one years old. It would mean that she would have to share her secret and no way was she going to do that. Not a cat in hells chance, she would carry that to her grave.
Stephen was twenty years older than her, but that didn’t matter to Tanya. Why people worried about age she never knew, it was about two people wanting to be together, that was what was important. She’d always preferred older men, made up for the father she never had she supposed, but hey ho, that was something she would have to work out in her own therapy, if she ever got round to having any.
Tanya was getting ready in her bedroom he would be round soon and she wanted to look good for him, she loved dressing up.
She could do any look really when she put her mind to it. She could dress classy, professional, elegant, stylish, chic and even a tasteful tart if she was in the right mood.
She was just sipping back the dregs of her wine when the news came on the television. They had charged a guy with Jane Smith and Lizzie Benton’s murder; she froze as she saw the killer’s picture come up on to the screen.
“Oh my God” she exclaimed out loud, her thoughts rushing around like ants marching through her head. How can that be?
Ivan Springer, was a client of hers, had been for about two years now. He was a pleasant enough guy, a transvestite who struggled to maintain a serious relationship due to his clandestine life.
He could never manage to keep his need to dress as a woman hidden very long. His yearning was far too frequent for it to be kept concealed.
Ivan had originally engaged in therapy because this was affecting all of his relationships and wanted to be what he perceived to be ‘normal’, however more recently they had been discussing how it was getting more and more difficult for him to maintain an erection unless he was dressed as a woman.
He’d disclosed that he could manage it okay with one night stands, although he had found that on those occasions he had ejaculated too soon, but this didn’t bother him. The problem arose so to speak if he became emotionally involved.
Tanya had discussed with him how it may be more about attachment then his need to dress as a woman.
They had also gone on to process his relationship with his powerful and engulfing mother and the impact that this had on him now in his relationships with women. Ivan was just beginning to come to an awareness of how his history impacted on his present and they were reaching a crucial part of his therapy where the unconscious was becoming more conscious and was likely to facilitate change.
Tanya was dumbfounded. He was such a nice man, a gentle person, not capable of harming a fly, let alone a double murder.
What should she say to Stephen? Should she say anything she wondered?
Then her heart did another triple jump! He probably knew. He’d telephoned her earlier and arranged to pick her up sooner than they had initially planned. Perhaps this is why; perhaps he wanted to talk with her first.
He had sounded a little off she thought or was she just being paranoid?
She poured herself another glass of wine and attempted to calm herself down, this is just wonky thinking, she thought, he might not know and even if he did there was nothing wrong with that. He must know that she couldn’t say anything due to patient/therapist confidentiality.
She looked in the mirror and admired herself, putting her irrational thoughts behind her.
She did look good tonight, she’d wanted to, if she was meeting Stephen’s friends and often when you want to look particularly good, something would go wrong, the make-up or the hair, her stomach would bloat or something. But no, tonight she looked exceptionally good. He would be proud of her.
**********
It was seven fifteen and Stephen was on his way to pick up Tanya, he’d contemplated not saying anything about Ivan Springer, he hadn’t wanted to spoil the night and besides they never discussed each other’s work, but he’d established that he’d had no choice.
Someone was bound to say something tonight, make some comment and then she would be confused and possibly embarrassed and he didn’t want to put her through that.
So, he had rang her and arranged to see her earlier than planned. They could have a glass of wine; he could discuss this new element to his case, put it to bed and enjoy the rest of their night.
He arrived at her door at seven thirty precise, pleased with himself for being on time. He rang the doorbell and took a step back in surprise when she opened the door. She looked absolutely stunning, more striking than he’d ever seen her. She had gone to a lot of trouble tonight and he was pleased.
She handed him a glass of wine and they both sank down into her feather filled sofa looking at each other, admiring the effort that they had both gone to.
Tanya spoke first.
“How’s things?” she asked, feeling nervous at what this might have instigated.
Stephen decided to come straight to the point, get it out of the way.
“We arrested a guy called Ivan, Ivan Springer today” he said watching her face for a reaction, and mildly disappointed that there was not one.
“Did you?” she replied.
“Yes, apparently he is one of your clients”
“Is he?” she again gave a non-committed response.
He hated it when she answered a question with a question. This was something he’d noticed she always did when he asked her anything that may be slightly intruding on her personal life.
“Tanya, you must know who your clients are, he’s been seeing you for two years for goodness sake!” he said not able to contain his irritation.
“And you must know Stephen” she replied calmly “that I can’t even tell you whether this man you have a arrested is a client, let alone anything about him, so it might be a good idea to change the subject don’t you think?”
Another bloody question, he thought. She could be so infuriating at times. But she looked so beautiful tonight; he couldn’t stay angry for long and decided that it was best put to bed.
He’d known she was professional and would not break client confidentiality, and he had just wanted to pre-warn her in case something was said tonight, so no point dragging it out.
“I know, I guess I just wanted to warn you really in case any of the lawyers, defence or prosecution, wanted to speak to you. Anyway” he quickly changed the subject “let’s go and grab something nice to eat then go to this party. I am looking forward to showing you off. You look absolutely stunning tonight Tanya, did I tell you that?”
“No you didn’t” she smiled trying to hide the fear that she was now feeling inside.
**********
It was midnight and Tanya and Stephen had just arrived home from the party. It had been a good night, everyone had struggled to keep their eyes off Tanya, Stephen had noticed, not surprising she looked beautiful. They were probably well jealous that he had such a beautiful woman. She could hold good conversations too, about anything that people talked to her about; she was intellectual and a bloody good listener. He had felt so proud.
He had learned a lot more about Tanya tonight too, seeing her in the company of others and he was very impressed.
I could fall for this woman he thought and quickly discounted that notion as the drink altering his very determined mind that love was not on the cards for him and never would be.
Tanya came into her dimly lit l
iving room then interrupting his thoughts. She was wearing a lilac negligee that clung to her bosom figure, immediately giving him an erection. She was beautiful, and downright sexy he thought as she took his hand and led him into her bedroom
**********
“How do you do that he asked?” as they were lying entwined in each other’s arms having made the most passionate love he had ever experienced.
“Do what?” she asked running her French polished fingernails through his chest hair.
“Enjoy sex as much as you do, when you work with sex all day long?” he asked.
“How do you when you work with murders all day long?” she asked.
Answering another question with a question he thought.
When would she ever show just a little bit of herself?
When would she let him inside her head?
What was she hiding of herself?
They both then fell into a contented sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Saturday 5 April
Paul was spitting nails tonight, ready to kill! It was ten o’clock and he’d just arrived home from Bill’s party.
“If that fucking prick humiliates me again I swear I will deck him” he said aloud, pacing his flat like a demented lunatic.
“Fucking prancing about with his posh tart, like he was someone special, and showing me up yet again!” he raged.
Stephen had introduced his team to Tanya, his girlfriend, who was Paul, had to admit a bit of a stunner, lord knows how that Pratt had managed to pull her.
He had introduced all the other guys in a pleasant way but when he had got to Paul he had said.
“This is Paul aka Cracker, our criminal profiler” he had laughed, and all the lads had burst out laughing in unison.
He had taken the piss out of him again, he constantly undermined his skills, didn’t take anything he said seriously, treated him like the office idiot!
The only one that hadn’t laughed was Vera, she had caught sight of Pauls face and seen the impact those words had on him and had looked away with uneasiness. She had even endeavoured to console him later on in the evening, told him not to take it to heart, but Paul was inconsolable and left early before he did something that he might regret.