“Monday, hairdressers, Tuesday, lunch with Cherie; she’s my BFF. Wednesday, spa treatment, Thursday, tanning session…”
It was such a whirlwind of activity that Annette didn’t know where to start.
“Did you see Mr Warner on those days?”
“Of course. Nelson lives here with me.” She realised that he didn’t anymore and gave a little sob, turning to Liam for comfort. “Not any more. Poor Nelson.”
Poor Nelson indeed if she’d managed to attend her tanning session on Thursday unperturbed by his death the evening before. It didn’t hint at a meaningful relationship. Annette returned to her point.
“Did you see Mr Warner on Wednesday, the evening he died?”
Another sob emerged but Annette stared it down. McDonald sniffed at the cruelty of the world then spoke slowly to Annette as if she was speaking to a child. “I wasn’t here on Wednesday, was I? I was in Newcastle, at the spa in The Slieve Donard with my friend Zaz.” She sniffed again, more haughtily this time. “You can check with the hotel.”
“I will. Thank you.” Annette glanced at Liam to see if he wanted to pick up on anything. His leer said that he did, but it wasn’t the questioning. Annette continued. “Can you outline your movements on Thursday for me please?”
“Well, we were at the hotel till lunchtime then we came back to Belfast and had a tanning session before we came home.”
“Your friend Zaz came home with you?” Annette swallowed hard, trying not to laugh at the name. She wondered who Zaz’s version of Nelson Warner was.
“Yes, Zaz always stays over on Thursday nights. We have a dance class. Wednesday and Thursday are my nights to do things without Nelson.”
She launched into another sob, probably at the thought of how her next spa session would be paid for now that her meal ticket was dead. Annette closed her notebook; Nelson Warner had known his mistress wouldn’t be home on Wednesday night and he’d deliberately chosen then to kill himself. The Dolly Parton wannabee sitting opposite was off the hook.
Annette stood up decisively waiting for Liam to do the same, but Liam didn’t move. His eyes were fixed so firmly on Isabella McDonald’s ample breasts that Annette thought he’d been hypnotised. She reached for his arm and dragged him to his feet, exiting the flat so fast that Liam barely managed a backwards glance.
“Here, what was that for? I hadn’t finished questioning her.”
“You never started! Honestly Liam, next time I see Danni, I’m telling her what you’re like at work.”
“She already knows. That’s how we met.”
Annette gawped at him and yanked open the car door. “You never told me that.”
“It never came up. Danni was a witness at a road traffic collision and I took her statement and asked her out the next day.”
Annette laughed. “That’s abuse of police privilege.”
“In a job where the only people you meet are either dead or perps, it’s the only way you’re ever going to get a date!”
***
Craig was sitting in the I.C.U. watching John’s machines bleep when Natalie wandered in.
“Hi, Marc. How’s his lordship?”
She saw the oxygen mask over John’s mouth and a look of panic covered her face.
“What happened? Why does he need oxygen?”
John grinned through his oxygen mask and pulled it off, gasping slightly. “Don’t panic, Nat. The physio was pummelling my chest for half an hour and it left me out of breath. I asked Marc to put it on for me.”
Craig smiled. Natalie was like a mother hen around John. Worse. A mother hen with a medical degree – a lethal combination. He rose to give her his chair and after five more minutes he turned to go. John waved him back.
“Marc. How far have you got with the case?”
Craig made a face then filled them in on the mystery of the numbers and the online game. John’s eyes lit up and Natalie shook her head.
“Before you ask, no John, you can’t work on it from here. You nearly died yesterday.”
“I’m going to die of boredom if I don’t have something to think about. Besides, I’m getting better. The sister said they’re moving me down to a ward after dinner.”
Natalie sprang to her feet with a look of indignation on her face. “I’ll see about that.”
As soon as she left, John beckoned Craig to sit down again.
“Are you really moving to a ward this soon?”
“Yes. I told you I was Superman. Now, before she comes back, tell me more about this game and then bring me in something to play it on.”
***
The C.C.U. 4 p.m.
“OK. Let’s start. I want to get through this as quickly as we can. Liam and Annette, what have you got?”
Annette jumped in before Liam opened his mouth. “Erica Warner, Nelson Warner’s wife, knew nothing about the Rogan boy, but she didn’t seem surprised. We’re going to see Warner’s other wife tomorrow.”
“Other wife?”
“Well, whatever you want to call the woman in Antrim who heads up his other family.” She smiled at Liam with a gleam in her eye. “We went to Warner’s apartment at St John’s Harbour and met the mistress, Isabella McDonald. Wednesday was her regular evening out with friends, so she wasn’t there when Warner died.”
Craig interrupted. “So Warner chose that night to kill himself, knowing that she wouldn’t be there.”
“Yes. She was at a spa in Newcastle. I’ll check it out but I think she was telling the truth. She didn’t look as if she had the brains to lie.”
Liam cut in. “Here. That’s not on. Just because she was gifted in other directions doesn’t mean that she was thick.”
“She looked like a blow-up doll, Liam!” Annette turned to Nicky for female understanding. “Honestly, she was like a playboy bunny, all blonde hair and…”
Craig laughed and raised a hand, quieting her. “We get the picture, Annette, including how Liam was probably struck dumb during the interview.”
He glanced at Liam for confirmation but he was too busy squinting at Annette to reply.
“OK, so Ms McDonald’s probably off our list but check her alibi anyway. And rule out the other wife tomorrow please. OK, Jake?”
Craig’s tone of voice changed fractionally as he said Jake’s name. It was so slight that only Nicky and Annette picked it up. They exchanged a look that said Jake was going to get a lecture from Craig soon that he wouldn’t like. Better from him than Liam. Craig would be kind with it, whereas Liam would just give Jake a boot up the ass.
Jake missed the undertone completely and started to report. “We’ve got the names and addresses of everyone who played the game twenty years ago, so I’m following those up, but there are no females in the list. The same with the lists from ten years ago and nowadays.”
Liam interrupted. “Maybe the account was opened in a parent’s name, if they were just a kid when they started playing?”
Jake nodded eagerly. “That’s what I thought, but I’ll find out for sure when I check them out.” He screwed up his face, puzzled. “When we get to the current players it’s basically the same ones with the few new ones I told you about before.”
Davy asked the question first. “But?”
“But one of the players from here hasn’t been online today and they haven’t missed a day in years. In fact they’re usually online several times a day.”
Davy interjected. “That could mean anything. Holidays, illness, even death. Maybe they’re busy at w…work or they’re bored with it.”
Jake’s voice took on an irritated tone. “I’d already thought of all that. I was hoping for something new from you since you’re supposed to be so bloody brilliant!”
There was complete silence in the group as people stared at either Davy or Jake, their faces wearing very different expressions. As the atmosphere thickened Jake realised what he’d said and a look of panic crossed his face. He stared pleadingly at Annette for support, but she shook her head. Craig gl
anced at Davy. He’d dropped his face and was hiding behind his hair, looking just like the shy young man who’d joined the team two years before. When Craig spoke his voice was cold.
“See me in my office after the briefing, Jake.” Jake went to speak but Craig cut him off. “Not another word, Sergeant McLean.” He turned to Davy and said his name in a gentler tone. “Davy, would you carry on please.”
Davy started to report, keeping his head down so that his hair was hiding his face. “I’ve been r…running the numbers through every programme w…we have and w…we, the boss and I, came to the conclusion that they m…might be nothing to do with the individual v…victims.”
Craig listened as Davy’s stutter worsened to include letters that were normally fine. He wanted to hit Jake there and then but instead he willed Davy on.
“Then w…we thought, how did they k…know to kill themselves? I m…mean, w…what gave them the reasons to k…kill themselves? That’s w…when we decided that there m…must have been another f…file on the USBs. N…Nicky had the idea.”
Liam stepped in kindly, ignoring Jake’s reddening face. “So you’re saying that each of the USB’s contained a file that gave them the reason to kill themselves but those files have disappeared?”
Davy nodded vigorously and pushed his hair back from his face. He was flushed but looking a bit happier than when Jake spoke. “Yes. I think the n…numbers we found w…will turn out to be a case or account number.” He turned to Craig. “I’ve f…found out what the d…disappearing files on the USBs w…were, chief. They were P…PDFs. I found a file echo on each memory s…stick in that f…format. There was a p…programme on the USBs that was s…set to destroy any PDF files that w…were opened, as soon as they were closed down again.”
Craig grinned. “Davy you’re brilliant! That means each USB contained two things. A Word file containing the number that we now think might be part of a longer number, and a copy of the suicide note that they had to copy out in their own handwriting. And a PDF file, instructing them to kill themselves and presumably telling them exactly what would happen if they didn’t, plus instructions for everything. They opened the PDFs and read them, then once they went to close them down the PDF was wiped leaving no trail.” Craig slumped back in his seat and raked his hair. “My God, that’s clever.”
Davy leaned forward eagerly, more confident now. “Yes, and it w…would take someone very s…skilled at I.T. to do it.”
“Like someone who’d been into computers since they were in their teens.”
Liam whistled and rubbed his chin. “Even if one of the Vics had brought their USB to the cops they couldn’t have proved the PDF ever existed once it had been read and closed down. And no-one would ever have taken the trouble to look this deep.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “But what did they have in their lives that they would kill themselves to conceal, boss? Our searches haven’t turned up anything major so far.”
Craig shook his head. “It could have been different for each of them and we might never find out what the reasons were. My money’s still on their families being threatened, at least for people like Diana Rogan. People like McCafferty and Warner might have had other skeletons in their closets.”
Annette cut in “But what would have convinced them that the threat to their families was genuine?”
Craig shook his head. “The only way I would believe someone would carry out a threat to kill would be if there was proof that they’d already done it before…”
His voice tailed away and he stared at Liam as the realisation hit them both. Their killer had killed before and got away with it and they’d provided evidence of that murder to their four victims in the PDFs. Evidence that the victims could easily have checked. He turned to Davy and Jake.
“Both of you: first thing tomorrow I want the search history from all our victims’ computers. If that PDF contained proof that our killer had murdered before then the likeliest source of verification would have been on a website they’d provided a link to in the PDF. Find it for me. Davy, you have the lead on this.”
Davy shook his head and Craig stared at him quizzically.
“It didn’t n…need to be a w…weblink chief. I think t…that w…would be too clumsy for s…someone this skilled in IT. All they h…had to do was embed a v…video file in the PDFs s…showing the murder and information on it. It w…would have been destroyed along with the f…files.”
Craig said nothing for a moment. His gut said that Davy was right; they might never get their perp for the earlier murder, whoever they’d killed, and searching for it now could waste valuable time. They would have to work with what they had at the moment. He glanced at the clock. Ten past five; time to go home.
“OK. Excellent work all of you. You all know what you’re doing tomorrow. I’m seeing the Chief Constable to bring him up to speed so I won’t be in until eleven.”
Craig turned on his heel, signalling Jake to follow. He closed his office door firmly behind them as the others filtered off the floor. Liam deliberately dragged his heels and so did Annette. She’d thought that Liam was being too hard on Jake earlier, but after the way he’d just spoken to Davy she wanted to hear him get what he deserved. They could have been in the car-park ten floors below and still heard it.
It was clear from Jake’s shadow against Craig’s office door that the stripping down was happening on their feet. Craig’s words were crystal clear and his voice was hard and cold.
“You arrogant, rude, insulting… who the hell do you think you are?”
“But…”
“Be quiet! I’ll tell you when you’re allowed to speak. You were invited to join this team six months ago because you were bright and good at your work. You still are, but since your probationary period ended and you’ve had some security here you’ve shown a side of you that’s very unattractive, Sergeant McLean. You’ve been competitive with your team mates, arrogant and high-handed and taken unnecessary risks. And for what? To look better? To progress faster up the ranks?”
Jake stared at the floor with his jaw set and Craig’s voice grew louder. Annette winced and Liam grinned. Good man. Craig was reasonable and easy-going to a fault, but when it was really necessary he’d kick someone right in the balls. Craig’s next words were a shout.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you, Sergeant!”
Jake lifted his eyes and what he saw in Craig’s shocked him. It was a fury that he’d never seen before and he wondered how hard Craig normally had to fight to conceal it.
Craig’s voice grew harder by the word. “I write the personal reports on all of you and if you think you can progress in the force without good reports, you’re very mistaken. Do you think that back-biting, point scoring and being rude to your team mates, or driving like a bat out of hell to Enniskillen and back just to get a warrant quickly, impresses me? Because if you do then you’re mistaken.”
Jake remained stubbornly silent and Craig could feel the urge to punch him grow. He turned quickly and sat down behind his desk, leaving Jake on his feet.
“You have a great deal of potential, Sergeant, but if you want to remain on my team there are a few things you need to learn in a hurry. This is more than a team. Behind all the banter people here actually like each other, and they trust each other out on the street. Jockeying for position and trying to compete with other people will get you absolutely nowhere. It doesn’t impress me, everyone can see it and I want it to stop. Now! Do you understand?”
Jake’s face glowed red and he muttered something under his breath.
“What? I didn’t hear that.” Craig repeated the question exaggeratedly. “Do…you…understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now I want you to go home and think hard about whether you really want to be on my team under these conditions. If you do then tomorrow morning you will apologise to Davy in front of everyone, including me. If you do that then this incident will not be written down and it will be forgotten, but if you don�
��t then I’ll replace you within a week. Take it or leave it.”
Jake bit his lip hard, so as not to say the words he really wanted to. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”
“Good, now you’re dismissed, Sergeant. Go home.”
Liam and Annette hid quickly behind Annette’s cubicle partition, holding their breath. When they heard Jake’s footsteps enter the lift they emerged and walked straight into Craig’s room. He shook his head, half-smiling.
“You just couldn’t resist listening, could you?”
Liam sniffed and drew himself up to his full height. “I think you went easy on him, myself. He deserved a good smack.”
“And I need an assault charge like a hole in the head. What do you think, Annette?”
Annette nodded. “I think you got it about right, sir, although I could have killed him when he upset Davy. His stutter got far worse.”
Craig nodded sadly. “I know. I’ll drop round to see him on my way home. There’s no excuse for what Jake said, but I suppose he doesn’t know how shy Davy was when he joined us.”
“Personally, I don’t give a monkey’s if he stays. There’s a good candidate in drugs who wants to come over.”
“Sergeant?”
“No, a constable. Wee girl called Delia Anderson. Karl Rimmins rates her highly.”
“If she’s a constable we might take her anyway. I’d like another junior on the team and another female officer could be a real asset. What do you think, Annette?”
Annette nodded eagerly. The squad was a bit of a boy’s club and she felt isolated at times.
“OK, that’s settled then. Speak to Karl and Delia after the case is over and let me know what you think. Then I’ll take a look at the budget.”
Liam tutted exaggeratedly. “It’s always about the money isn’t it?” His face broke into a grin. “Speaking of money, I think you owe us both a drink.”
***
Friday, 7 a.m.
Being woken up by a knock on the door was the last thing that Craig needed, especially not by one that sounded like the tank corps was responsible. He woke at the first thud and was out of bed and at the front door by the third, just in case thud number four was a metal enforcer knocking it down.
The Coercion Key Page 18