by Linda Mather
He had received a print out of the backgrounds on all his staff earlier today and this had left him feeling shocked. He had requested this a week or so ago after seeing Paul down Jason’s, he couldn’t be seen to be singling out Paul, so had requested background information for them all.
There was suspicion that Paul as a teenager had been involved in petty crime, but the police could never get enough evidence together to make an arrest or press charges, his name had come up repeatedly in other investigations.
However what had shocked him the most was Vera’s past, although nothing criminal she had experienced a difficult childhood, and some of her relatives had been quite dodgy.
That was his motive for putting Paul and Vera together tonight, so neither of them would go off on their own.
He had been tempted to park somewhere outside the club to keep an eye on them both but it was too risky, if he was seen by them or the killer, if it wasn’t anything to do with them it could blow the whole operation.
Stephen had been feeling that it was an inside job for some while now, he couldn’t fathom out any other reason for the killer to be taunting him. The killer knew him and was trying to hurt him in some way.
He knew Paul’s feelings towards him were negative and he had also noticed Vera’s face on the night they were at Bill’s party when he had made a joke about Paul.
Also Vera had took the scent off the killer being a woman saying that a woman would not carry a date rape drug, could she be their killer. A woman would let her in late at night, a female police officer.
God, he thought I’m getting paranoid, suspecting my own team members.
He had gone through every arrest he had made over the years in the police force and had come up with nothing substantial and nothing that he felt would lead someone to taunt him.
He couldn’t help thinking that this murder spree was ‘pay back’ to him, he just couldn’t work out why and he wished he could remember where he had seen or heard that quote before.
“God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it into the nest”
He knew he had, felt sure that he had seen it written on something but could not for the life of him think where. If he could then this might lead to a suspect, or some intelligence on who this killer might be.
“God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it into the nest” he repeated.
It was there, he knew it was lying in his unconscious, but couldn’t raise it up.
He started his car engine and began to move back into the traffic, still trying to rack his brains.
**********
Paul was scouring the room, still feeling resentful that he was put on babysitting duties of Vera when he saw something, something very strange indeed.
It had taken him a while to recognise this person with the wig and the uncharacteristic clothes.
There was something about the suspect that he recognised, something familiar, and then it had hit him like a ton of bricks.
“What the hell!” he thought, and chewed over, what he could remember about his profile of the murderer.
It could be a match he thought.
Then he saw the scratch, about six inches long down the side of his suspects smooth cheek.
“Well, I’ll be fucking damned” he said out loud forgetting that Vera was in earshot.
“What?” Vera asked trying to match her vision with Paul’s vision to see what he was looking at.
“Nothing” he replied “just someone I thought I knew”
That had got to be more than a coincidence he thought, and everything else could match his profile.
Fuck, fuck, fuck he thought, if he was right this would be a bloody mess, it would also be karma in a big way.
Paul saw no point in telling the others, they would think he was mad, lost the plot or revengeful. He knew where their loyalty lay and that in itself would affect their judgment.
He would just hover and watch, but he was not taking any risks, he was not letting this suspect out of his sight.
And he didn’t, trying not to alert Vera he kept his suspect under surveillance for the rest of the night.
He didn’t even consider anyone else in the room, and at one point grabbed Vera for a pretend snog when he thought that the perpetrator was looking in his direction.
Vera wondered what the hell he was playing at and thought that he was coming on to her, but he had to keep up the pretence because……………
He had a hunch and he was following it.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sophie pushed Victoria into the taxi cab, before she could kiss anymore strangers goodnight and tell them that she loved them.
She was horrendously drunk, semi unconscious and weighed a ton. But she was thankful that the night was over and that she could keep her wayward sister safe, for tonight at least.
She’d had to prevent her from going off with different blokes to ‘parties’ where there would be plenty more booze they had said. It had been a nightmare evening and Sophie would be glad to get home.
Sophie decided that she would talk to Victoria tomorrow over coffee about how concerned she was at how much she put herself at risk. There was no point talking to her now, not while she was drunk.
**********
Paul managed to lose Vera; he made the excuse that he was going to the toilet and slipped away, keeping a close eye on his suspect.
He knew that if he had got this wrong he was in big trouble, he’d possibly be up on a disciplinary and there is no way he could say what he thought and why he’d left his team and not communicated with anyone. But he knew he was right, there were too many coincidences, he couldn’t be wrong.
The anxiety still chewed away at him, no matter how many times that he tried to convince himself that he was right, his hunches were spot on; there was still this wrench in his stomach that he might be wrong and if he was, he was going to be in big trouble.
He saw his suspect leave the building and he hesitated, what if he was wrong?
Then with minutes already lost, he thought ‘fuck it, if I’m wrong then maybe this isn’t the right job for me anyway. If I’m wrong than I’ll resign’, and he dashed out of the club in pursuit of his suspect, leaving Vera to fend for herself.
**********
“Do you come here often love?” Vera sidled up to John, who was standing at the bar.
“Only in the mating season” he replied and they both laughed.
“Where’s Paul?” he asked concerned that she was on her own.
“Don’t know he went to the loo and then disappeared, so thought I’d come and look for a real man to take care of me” she laughed.
“He’s probably outside having a spliff” Derek interrupted having walked up and overheard their conversation.
“What Paul smokes dope?” Vera asked.
“It’s pretty bloody obvious don’t you think” Derek answered, “anyway the nights almost over, you two spot anything?”
“No not really, gave a few descriptions to the boys in blue, like you and the others, but can’t say I’m overly convinced we’ve got the right man” John answered feeling disappointed in the night. “Come on let’s call it a night, not a lot we can do now and I don’t know about anyone else but I’m whacked.”
John gave the nod to the other detectives and then left the club with Vera, hanging on to his arm.
“These bloody shoes are killing me” she said.
**********
Sophie had managed to get her sister into the house and up the stairs to bed,
“I…Love you sis” she slurred, as Sophie put the bed covers over her still fully clothed body.
“You too” she said but Victoria was completely out of it as soon as her head had hit the pillow.
She turned off the light and went downstairs to make her bed up on the sofa.
**********
Paul had followed his suspect by car for twenty minutes, when the car that he was in pursuit of, pulled up outsi
de a dingy cottage on the outskirts of a council estate.
He watched as its occupant sat for a while and then got out and knocked on the door of the cottage. Whoever answered the door spoke for a while and then let his suspect in.
His heart was pounding as he got out of his car and snuck around the back of the building. The bushes surrounding the cottage were high and he had to climb up and over them cutting his legs in the process from the prickly twigs.
Once over the hedge there was a tree in the garden he was able to hide behind which gave him a reasonably good view of the kitchen diner, through its patio doors.
Both his suspect and a pretty looking woman in her early thirties were sat at the kitchen table, the woman having just brought two cups to the table, and a teapot which she began pouring from.
His suspect and the woman appeared to know each other, and the woman appeared to be consoling his potential predator.
His anxiety returned, his heart was thumping, and his stomach was churning.
‘What if I’ve got this wrong,’ he thought ‘I have left Vera in potential danger, and abandoned the operation, I will be slaughtered for this.’
He watched the woman get up from the table and walk out of his view, but as she did this his suspect leaned over and tampered with the woman’s teacup.
Pauls mind was working overtime was this innocent or was the woman’s drink being spiked. He was too far away to be able to see for certain and it was too risky to attempt to move further up the garden.
He watched as the two people sat drinking their tea, it appeared like an innocent interaction between two people late at night, and seemed to go on ceaselessly, although perhaps only minutes ticked by. Paul didn’t know he had no sense of time just fear.
Fear that he may have got it all wrong and the trouble he would be in, combined with the fear that he might have got it right and that he was in an impending dangerous situation on his own with no back up.
The woman then got up; she appeared to be wobbling from head to foot as she put her hand to her head.
The suspect stood up too as the woman began to stagger out of view. The suspect moved forward quick, as if the woman had perhaps stumbled and the suspect was going to catch her.
That was it; they were both out of Pauls view.
He waited to see if they came back into view, he waited for what seemed like an eternity, nothing!
He needed to do it now; he needed to make a decision to intervene because if this was not an innocent transaction between two friends late at night he could be too late.
Decision made, his adrenalin was off the scale now and the hairs on the back of his head were stood up. Now or never he thought.
Paul ran like a battering ram towards the patio doors and smashed through them, luckily they were wooden and the wood was relatively old, they splintered and broke quite easily.
He landed on the floor of the kitchen, dazed, then having a clear view to the living room he met his suspect’s eyes just as she was putting the pillow over the woman’s face.
Paul jumped to his feet, quickly removing his cuffs from his belt ran towards her and managed to grab both her arms and cuff them before she had time to think.
As he did this a small card fell to the floor, the writing face up:
He, who laughs last, laughs longest!
“Tanya Wright I am arresting you for the murders of Jane Smith, Lizzie Benton and Fiona Stafford anything you say will be taken down in evidence and……………………………………”
“What the fuck is going on here and who are you?”
Victoria had woken up, came down the stairs and walked into the chaos that was evolving in her living room, with her sister laying on the floor groaning as she was coming out of unconsciousness.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Saturday 3 May
The homicide room was buzzing, it was seven thirty and all the staff had been notified of Paul’s arrest in the early hours of the morning, although not who it was.
Curiosity taking a hold of them they had all gone in early to learn who it was that had impacted on their weekends over the last couple of months and all wanting a glimpse of a serial killer that they had mercifully never encountered before in their careers.
All except Stephen, it appeared that he was not as excited as the rest of them. Rumour went round the team that he was probably pissed off that it was Paul that had made the capture; it was common knowledge between them that Paul was not exactly Stephens favourite amongst them.
They were all astounded when they learned that the killer they had been chasing for the last couple of months was Stephen’s girlfriend, and all were making assumptions on how he might react. As much as they had been eager to learn who the perpetrator was, they were even more keyed up at seeing Stephens face when he learned this information.
Paul of course was getting plenty of pats on the back and congratulations from his team and his superiors, he was so glad this had turned out the way it had, and was fully aware of the repercussions if it hadn’t. He still had to have his meeting and explain why he had left his team and dealt with this alone, but he was sure they would understand once he explained things.
It was eight thirty when Stephen had arrived, shoulders back, head high and a huge grin on his face, anticipating the praise that he was sure to get for this excellent piece of police work that he had been the lead in.
**********
Stephen had walked through the main room and was surprised at the lack of excitement in the main office, he was not a stupid man, he noticed straight away that some members of his team were unable to give him eye contact, and others nodded then looked away.
‘What the hell is going on here’ he thought as he then noticed Michael stood in his office doorway.
In the seconds it took for him to walk to his door, greet Michael, sit at his desk and watch Michael close his door, a number of thoughts ran through his head. He couldn’t quite fathom out what this was all about, but he knew one thing for sure something had gone drastically wrong!
Michael sat in the chair opposite Stephen and took a deep breath.
“Stephen” he said obviously struggling with what he was about to say. “This is not easy, but I’m just going to get straight to the point”
Stephen’s heart was pounding now, he almost felt the urge to cry because he knew, sensed that what he was going to hear was something he wasn’t going to like.
“Stephen” Michael said again almost as an avoidance of breaking this awful news to his colleague and friend.
“The serial killer was caught last night as you know, what you don’t know is that it was Tanya, Tanya Wright”
It took several seconds for the information to sink in but when it did Stephen’s anger was visible.
“That is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard, so is that it, that arsehole has arrested the wrong person,” he stood up and banged his fist on the table “my fucking girlfriend, where is she, and where is he? He’ll be disciplined for this”
He stopped suddenly noticing Michael’s face, he believes this crap, he thought. Michael thinks that Tanya is the serial killer, he felt like he was living in a parallel universe, or on candid camera.
“Surely you…….”
“Stephen” Michael interrupted aware of his colleague’s feelings. “Sit down” to which Stephen did as he was told.
“Stephen” he repeated “Tanya was arrested red handed attempting to kill another girl. She had another message in her hand at the time of the arrest. The lads have been early this morning to her flat and they have found the card that the messages were sent on with identical matches cut out to the cards we have, they have found personal information about these girls addresses, ages, marital status etc and plenty of names and addresses that may have been her future victims” He paused watching Stephen age twenty years in five minutes. He continued.
“We found ‘cups’ belonging to the murdered girls that are at the lab now looking
for traces of evidence and we are awaiting DNA results to match to the cells found in Fiona’s finger nails, but even without those we have enough evidence to charge her.”
Stephens head dropped to his desk, Michael aware that eyes were all on him through the glass panes to his office; he walked to the internal windows and shut the vertical blinds.
“When can I see her” Stephen asked.
“Not a good idea Stephen” Michael replied.
“I have to see her Michael, to get some closure”
Michael understood, thought about it for a minute or so and then said.
“You can’t see her now Stephen you know that. She is still being questioned and has not yet been charged, we cannot have this case jeopardised.”
“I know that but…..”
“Let me finish Stephen. Once she has been charged and is ready to be transferred you can have ten minutes with her max. Both John and I will be watching through the three way, and if there is any sign of aggression Stephen we will be in to pull you out, have you got that?”
“Sir” Stephen saluted.
“Right, naturally you are off the case, I have put John in charge and he has instructed Derek and Paul to do the interviewing…….”
“But…… Paul?” Stephen asked.
“Stephen you are off the case” Michael replied “Go get some fresh air, a cup of coffee, clear your head and be back here for four thirty, I am hoping it will be all cleared up by then. Okay”
“Okay” Stephen replied.
Stephen grabbed his coat and left the office conscious that all eyes were on him. He never said a word and they never spoke to him.
**********
Derek was visibly shaking when he came into the main office after interviewing Tanya Wright with Paul.
“She’s a fecking freak” he said grabbing everyone’s attention. “One minute she was talking to us normally and telling us how she got the women to let her in the house, by playing on their empathy, saying she had been chased and needed help. The next minute she went into a trance like state and mimicked me all through the interview, my body language and everything I said. It was weird”