“Erica,” they said in unison, before taking a seat on either side of her.
Cooper was sceptical. “Gentlemen,” she said with a rising inflection. “What can I do for you?”
“Two things,” Sutherland said. “Firstly, Caroline said she’d love to come to Tina’s party.”
“Excellent. It’ll be lovely to see you all.”
“Sue asks what we should bring.”
Cooper itched the back of her head as she thought. “We’re just ordering food in but something with a percentage would go down a treat. What’s the second thing?”
“We thought you’d want to know the latest from the Gallagher autopsy,” said Sutherland.
“Margot’s finished already?”
“She put a rush on it. Put it to the top of the queue, given all the press.”
“And why are you coming to me with this?”
Fuller shrugged. “Because you’re Erica Cooper, and whether Nixon approves or not, you’ll find out one way or another.”
She tried not to smirk. “Well?” she asked. “What did Margot find?”
“The glucose levels in the DB’s urine and blood were perfectly normal.”
“Meaning wherever Macey was, she had access to insulin?”
“No. Meaning, whoever washed up on Marsden Beach, isn’t Macey Gallagher.”
Cooper leant back in her chair and folded her arms. “What? You’re shitting me?”
“I shit not,” said Fuller. “The visual ID from the parents was negative as well. Macey has a large scar on her right thigh from being burnt as a toddler. Add to that, the DB is an inch too short and had clear braces. Macey’s dentist sent over her latest x-rays. They don’t match and she wasn’t undergoing orthodontic treatment.”
Cooper didn’t know what to think. There was a chance Macey was still alive and that gave her hope. But who the hell was this other girl? Why did they look so similar? Questions raced through her mind so quickly she hardly knew where to begin.
“Holy Shit. Where’s Macey? Who’s the DB?”
“We don’t know,” Fuller said. “Missing persons are trying to find a match. Her braces have a serial number. They’re in touch with the manufacturers. They should be able to match the brace to the victim.”
“She looked so similar to Macey. Do you think this is somehow connected?”
“Who knows?” Sutherland yawned. “Margot’s doing what she can. We have fingerprints from the body, so between those and the dental work we should be able to get an ID sooner rather than later.”
“I’m completely blindsided.” Cooper shook her head. She didn’t know what to think. “Speaking of Margot, I noticed the massive rock she was sporting on her ring finger. Congratulations.”
Fuller shared a look with Sutherland before getting to his feet and walking towards the window.
“Something I said?” Cooper asked Sutherland.
Sutherland picked at his lip and gave Cooper a meaningful look and slightly shook his head as if to say, it’s a sore subject.
When Fuller turned around, his eyes had a slight sheen to them. “I didn’t put that ring there,” he said. “Some other bloke did that. I was traded in for a younger model.”
“Jesus,” said Cooper, more out of shock than pity. “Well, that sucks. Sorry to hear that, Neil.”
“It was so out of the blue,” he sniffed. “One minute we’re in love, the next minute she’s telling me it’s over and she doesn’t see a future for us anymore. Within days I heard she was seeing some twenty-something, tanned, steroid muncher with a waxed chest. Apparently, he’s besotted with her. Proposed within a month. Dumb fuck.”
The saying what goes around comes around flashed in Cooper’s mind’s eye. Part of her felt sorry for the man, it just wasn’t a very large part. No wonder he’d latched onto Sutherland. Fuller was craving a father figure in his time of crisis and Sutherland was always capable of playing that role.
“I told him to keep his head down, get stuck in at work and keep his mind busy. The pain will pass, but until then he might as well direct his energy into something productive.”
She shot a sideways look at Fuller and lowered her eyelids halfway. “Wait,” she said. “Is that why Nixon put you on the Gallagher case? Because he wanted to keep you busy?”
“No,” he said, stretching the vowel sound out for several seconds. He looked deeply insulted. “I don’t talk to Nixon about my love life, for goodness sake.”
“Okay, okay, I just wondered.” Cooper held up her hands.
“I don’t. Whatever reason he had for the reshuffling, it’s as much a mystery to me as it is to you.”
Sutherland interjected, “I think Nixon’s just trying to utilise his resources appropriately. My case was cut and dry, Fuller didn’t have much on, and this Gallagher case was always going to end in tears. Nixon probably thought it made sense to free you up. You’re his golden girl.”
Cooper blew out a raspberry. “Golden girl indeed. You wouldn’t be saying that if you heard the bollocking he gave me yesterday.”
Fuller placed his hands on his hips. “Yeah,” he said, “I heard you were down at Marsden.”
Cooper gave a guilty shrug but didn’t apologise.
“I also heard that forensic investigator of yours gave Nixon a piece of his mind.” The left corner of his mouth curled up and he raised one bushy eyebrow into a dramatic arch. “Quite the set of balls he must have. Don’t think anyone’s spoken to Nixon like that since he was in a nappy.”
“To be fair, the whole thing was my fault,” conceded Cooper. “So where does your investigation go now? Did the SOCOs uncover anything of use?”
“We haven’t heard yet but the lads who were playing pub golf on the night of Macey’s disappearance have come forward.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. The night out was organised by Northumbria University’s Student Union. They were all first years. Bussed in from the dorms on Coach Lane and all bussed back out again at the end of the night. All present and accounted for. No one was missing according to the student union rep. We chatted to a few of them. Barely anyone can remember much from that stage in the evening. There was one lad who wasn’t drinking, a Damien Blethens. He remembers seeing Macey take her shoes off to rub her feet before putting them back on. He said she seemed tipsy but otherwise fine. She complained about being really hot and some of the blokes made a joke about her being, well, hot in the other sense of the word. Blethens went to the toilet and when he came back she’d gone. He assumed she’d headed off with her own group.”
“Did you follow up with the men who called her hot?”
“Of course we did.” Fuller’s tone was tetchy and if Cooper wanted to continue receiving information on the case she had to be careful. Handle him with kid gloves.
“Sorry,” she said. “Of course you did. You really don’t have much to go on though, do you?” asked Cooper. “It’s like she vanished into thin air.”
Sutherland let out a small sigh and Fuller shook his head. “I’m hoping the lab turns up some evidence on the baseball bat we found in the boyfriend’s flat. Quinn claims he only has it for self-defence. Says the student flats are always targeted by thieves and he wanted the bat in case anyone who broke in was armed.”
Cooper knew student flats were a hot target for criminals. Four to a flat often meant four laptops, four mobiles, four televisions and sometimes, four games consoles.
“What really got our attention,” Sutherland started before being interrupted by his belly that was loudly rumbling. He rubbed his palm over it as if to soothe it. “Was Quinn’s flatmate coming to see us. I don’t know if he and Quinn fell out or what, but he told us Aaron Quinn and Macey Gallagher regularly had blazing rows. He also said he passed out on the sofa at around quarter past one in the morning so he couldn’t vouch for Quinn’s whereabouts when Macey went missing at three.
“Sounds like he’s your guy,” Cooper said.
Sutherland’s shoulders lifted and fell.
“Might well be. You know as well as I do that the most logical explanation is usually the right one. It’s almost always the partner or ex-partner. Time will tell. How about you? Your case progressing nicely?”
“Getting there. I have a theory but I need a warrant before I can go any further… and I need a bit more evidence if I’m going to get the warrant.”
* * *
It was a half-hour later when Cooper arrived at Denewood in the village of Forest Hall. Denewood branched into several cul-de-sacs like bronchi branching into bronchioles. Detached new builds with spacious gardens and off-road parking made Cooper crave more space at home. Her home in Tynemouth wasn’t small but it was a terrace and the backyard wasn’t suitable for much more than hanging out laundry. Sure, she was close to the sea, but a house like one of these would give Tina her own bathroom and space to study outdoors. She considered as she watched a young boy whiz past on a scooter, that she might not be able to afford it on her own, but she and Atkinson together certainly would. Not that they were ready to move in together. He couldn’t handle the idea of her getting a tattoo and still resented Kenny’s presence in her life. Kenny had acted like an idiot during the first twelve years of Tina’s life; in total denial of the fact he had a daughter, but Cooper had to admit it, now Kenny was back and had got his act together, he had made things a lot easier for her. He did the school run when she couldn’t, even stocked the fridge when he knew she wouldn’t have time. And the little gifts were sweet too. She smiled at the thought of the Metallica poster hanging in her bedroom with its bizarre pin button frame. Atkinson would have to deal with his feelings towards Kenny before they could even contemplate living together full time.
Cooper pressed the doorbell on a midnight blue front door. Beyond the door, she could hear the sound of children playing and a radio broadcasting the weather forecast. It took a while, but eventually, a woman with poker straight, red hair cut into a stylish bob, answered the door and looked quizzically at Cooper.
“Georgina Hibbert?”
“Yes,” she answered, her eyes looking beyond Cooper, into the street and the afternoon sun.
“I’m DCI Cooper. Northumbria CID. I know you must be very busy but I'd like a minute of your time.”
Georgina’s body stiffened and she manoeuvred herself so that the door was half closed between her and Cooper. “What’s this about?” she asked.
“It’s about James Blake.”
“Bloody hell,” she exclaimed. “I haven’t heard that name in forever.” She manoeuvred herself again, this time moving towards Cooper and partly closing the door behind her so that it was only open an inch.
“You were his girlfriend? Back in 2009?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“And you were with him the day he was arrested at St. James’ Park?”
Her cheeks coloured a rosy pink and she cast a glance back over her shoulder before turning back to Cooper. “Yes, that was me, but I don’t understand why you’re here now, ten years later.”
“I’m investigating a crime where a man was restrained by a dog collar of sorts. He was stabbed several times with a pair of scissors. The only other incident I can find of a crime taking place involving scissors and a collar is the one involving James and yourself. I was hoping you could talk to me about it. Tell me the significance of the collar and leash.”
Georgina blew out her cheeks very slowly and quietly clicked the door into place. In a hushed voice, she said, “My husband, he doesn’t know about that and he doesn’t like hearing about ex-boyfriends. He gets jealous, you know, and he really wouldn’t want to hear about how James treated me.”
Cooper lowered her voice to match Georgina’s. “How did he treat you?”
“Great at first. We were both in the goth scene. He was more traditional: leather trench coat, pale face, black eyeliner. I used to like the gothic Lolita look.” She laughed at herself and ran her fingers through her hair. “God, we thought we were so cool. A few couples in our group used to do the collar and leash thing. I thought it was just a fashion thing when James first suggested it but there’s much more to it than that. It’s a symbol of commitment and trust. Like a wedding ring, I guess. If you’re collared, you’re taken.”
“Owned?”
Georgina shook her head. “That’s more the BDSM community. It wasn’t an owner-slave relationship. More an I trust you not to tug on this leash too hard and not to lead me anywhere I don’t want to go sort of thing.” She sucked in her lower lip and looked at the floor.
“But?” asked Cooper, suspecting Jamie Blake hadn’t maintained Georgina’s trust.
She sighed. “But… he did lead me places I didn’t want to go. He liked taking me to non-goth places just to… I don’t know, be stared at, ruffle feathers.”
“Like St. James’ Park?”
“Exactly. The pub, the library, anywhere for shock value. He said all football fans were saddos whose weekly happiness depended on the success of eleven over-paid jocks, and if we turned up to a Newcastle game in our best goth attire, we’d blow their narrow, little minds.”
“You didn’t get the chance though. Security stopped you from entering the stadium.”
Georgina nodded. “I’d say it was probably for the best, but you know how it ended up. Actually, I broke up with James after that, so it was for the best, in the end.” She looked down and to the right as if recalling a memory.
“Would you say he made you uncomfortable, Georgina?”
“More than uncomfortable. I didn’t trust him at all in the end but I was too weak to say anything until he was arrested. If I broke up with James I’d be cast out of our circle and that meant losing my friends too. I was scared of being alone and I think that’s why I let him…” She wrapped her arms around her chest and hugged her hands into her armpits.
“You can tell me,” Cooper said. “I just want to get a feel for James. Work out what he’s like.”
“He had a violent streak. Most of us were meek and quietly spoken but he was like our leader. He had an aura about him and he… he slapped me a few times. He had fetishes, too. God I don’t think I can…I’m not like that anymore, you see. I’ve moved on.” She checked that the door was still closed behind her before whispering. “He made me bark, you know, during sex. Like a dog.”
* * *
When Cooper turned into the Freeman Hospital in Heaton, her mind was somewhere between gay bars, BDSM and the possibility that Omar went with Blake voluntarily as his submissive. He had been naked after all. Only, something must have gone wrong, they fought and he lost. Badly. It didn’t really make sense, she told herself as she directed the Mazda towards a multi-storey carpark at the rear of the hospital. Missing work was out of character, and why was he at Weetslade? Neither Omar nor Blake lived anywhere near Weetslade Colliery. Either way, she needed to have a chat with Blake. She’d call Keaton when she was done here and have her find out what sort of car Blake drove. She wanted to know where his car was when Omar disappeared and the night he was attacked.
Cooper turned off the engine when she found a space on the roof of the carpark and sat quietly for a moment. Her hands had left sweaty prints on the steering wheel so she wiped them on her trousers before exiting the car and approaching the lift.
“Out of order? Unbelievable.” She growled and slammed her palm into the metal doors. She was on the sixth floor and her heart rate was fast enough as it was.
She gripped the railing as she walked down over ninety stairs, crossed the road and entered the sliding glass doors to the Northern Centre for Cancer Care.
- Chapter 21 -
“We’re going to die.”
“We’re not going to die. Don’t say that.” Macey Gallagher tried to soothe Nina, the girl to her left. She spoke quietly, fearing their keeper was just on the other side of the door. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
She didn’t believe her own words. How could she believe them? She didn’t have a bloody clue if they were going to be okay.
She thought of her family, wishing she’d never left Dublin and had stayed at home to study. What were her mother and father doing now? Did they know she was missing? She ached to be back home with them. It was the simple things she missed, like watching her mother hang laundry on a windy day, laughing as her father got too invested in a game of Gaelic football, and braiding Kate’s hair while they watched a film. She made fists to stop her hands from shaking as she wondered if she’d ever see them again.
“They killed Elin,” Nina whispered.
“Elin tried to escape.”
Elin had nibbled at the cable ties all through the night, slowly weakening them until they snapped. She removed her blindfold but kept her hood on so their keeper wouldn’t suspect anything when he brought them their breakfasts. When he was bent over, laying the paper plates of unbuttered bread on the floor, Elin had made a run for it. She’d made it to the door only to be dragged back into the room. Unable to cover their ears, Macey and the other girls had to listen as Elin was kicked to death less than two metres from where they sat. They’d heard her last breath. He didn’t have to kill Elin. He’d done it to set an example. This is what you get if you mess with us.
“Listen, Nina, as long as we do what we’re told and we don’t piss them off, we’ll be fine.” Her words were forced and laced with artificial positivity because Macey was worried she’d be next. Kicked to death for asking for insulin one too many times? The irony being, that if she didn’t ask for it, she’d be dead regardless.
Macey fought back tears. Last night, she’d heard their keeper on the phone when he thought they were sleeping. She hadn’t heard everything, but she had an idea of what their intentions were and a small voice at the back of her mind kept calling out, You know, death might be the better option.
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