‘No, Mack, you can’t do that.’ Trish bit her lip and looked down at her empty plate. She was furious with herself as Mack sat back in his seat releasing hold on her hands.
‘What do you mean, Trish? What can’t I do?’ He was unsure how to take her sudden brusqueness.
‘Sorry, Mack, I didn’t mean to sound cross. What I meant was, you can’t just go there for a few days because she will need you for longer than that. I know your sister has to go to America next week so why don’t you bring your mother back here to convalesce.’
‘I did think about it, but I won’t be able to look after her by myself so I thought it would be best for her to remain at home where I can get help for her.’
‘Mack, for goodness sake, what’s wrong with me? Don’t you think I’m up to it? Between us we can care for your mother.’
He took hold of her hands again and squeezed them. ‘Trish, nothing would make me happier. Do you mean it?’
‘Of course I do, but there is one condition and that is you get back here as soon as you can.’
‘Agreed. I couldn’t be away from you for too long anyway. I promise I’ll phone.’
‘You’d better. What’s happening about the pub, have you got a relief?’
‘I had to drag an old friend of mine out of retirement. He’s not over pleased, but that’s what friends are for and he owes me a big favour anyway.’
‘Have you packed?’
‘Not yet.’
‘Come on, let me give you a hand.’
Trish’s heart was beating fast. Still angry about her selfish outburst, but even more anxious about the following day. How was she going to get through it without serious problems? Her belief in herself at being able to cope was failing fast.
Please, God, help me. I must do it. She caressed the cross on the chain around her neck as she silently prayed.
‘Are you alright, Trish,’ asked Mack as he escorted her back home.
‘Yes, fine,’ she lied, ‘I’m going to miss you so much, Mack, even though you are only away for a day or two. As soon as we get ourselves together we are forced apart.’
‘I know exactly how you feel; I wish I didn’t have to go.’
‘Come on, it’s for your mother and she’s more important than anyone at the moment so give me a kiss and get yourself on the road.’ She reached out, took hold of Mack’s hands and drew him close. Their first kiss in private and neither wished it to end, especially Trish. But it was Trish who found the strength.
‘Mack, we’ll take this further when you get back,’ she whispered in his ear
‘You bet we will.’
Trish continued to wave long after Mack’s car had disappeared from view.
Chapter 12
Deckman rolled over on to his back, undecided as to whether he should get up before the alarm issued its usual crescendo of waves crashing over rocks. He looked towards the window, but saw nothing. It was still dark and he thought it might be raining. Turning on to his side he decided his best option was to give sleep another shot as darkness and rain were not at the top of his list of reasons for getting up earlier than necessary. Sleep didn’t come, too much on his mind, including his apparent failure with regards to the Victoria Campbell murder. It was ever present and the more he thought about it the more convinced he was he had made a serious error. He was struggling with his conscience and knew, if he wasn’t careful, he could drop into a deeper depression. There was also the fatal stabbing of an unknown woman three months ago; he had no leads and his superiors were getting anxious. He reached over and switched off the alarm; he didn’t want to disturb Jens. She was not the best of people early in the morning. Purrington, the cat, was living up to its name on the special bed squeezed between the end of the wardrobe and the corner of the bedroom. As soon as he heard even the slightest of movements he started purring, loudly, and it went on for an age.
Deckman sat on the edge of the bed juggling with his slippers when the mobile rang. He forgot the slippers, grabbed the phone and closed the bedroom door behind him.
‘Morning, Guv, it’s Colin, hope I didn’t wake the boys? Sorry to get you out of bed so early, but you know me, if I’m up then everyone else should be. What do you want first, the good news or the bad?’
‘I’m a bad news first person, but it had better be bad to justify getting me up at this time.’
‘Couldn’t be worse, Guv, I’m afraid. Got ourselves another dead woman. Another stabbing. We are over at the Pullens Park Industrial Estate, outside Quick Skips. Think you’d better come over.’
‘And the good news?’
‘It’s just stopped raining so you won’t need your raincoat.’
‘Nice one, Colin, makes me feel a lot better. Be with you in twenty minutes.’
Deckman woke his wife. ‘Sorry, Jens, you’ll need to get breakfast sorted this morning, Colin has just phoned and I need to go. It’s only six so you can have another hour. I’ve reset the alarm. Bye darling.’ She didn’t respond, already back to sleep with her gentle snore matching the cats purring for volume.
It took Deckman fifteen minutes to get to Quick Skips. An ambulance had pulled up as close as it could to the bin storage area where Fraser was standing.
‘Right, Colin, what have we got?’
‘Body of a white woman found by a member of the refuse collection crew making their first pick up of the day. Poor chap is a bit choked, he’s with the medics at the moment. Got the call at 5. 33am. The police surgeon, it’s Ken Janes this morning, is with her now. We might well have another unidentifiable to contend with. Mid-late twenties, blonde, attractive and well dressed. Not expensively so, but smart. Nothing else. No jewellery, no handbag. Nothing.’
‘You said she was stabbed?’
‘Yes, Guv, looks like a single knife wound to the heart. Reckon we’ve got ourselves a copy of the last one.’
There can’t be many worse places to meet a violent death, thought Deckman as he looked down at the body of the woman lying on her back with head and shoulders between two, overfull, refuse containers. Her head had rolled to the left and her eyes and mouth wide open. A grotesque expression of surprise and fear made Deckman shake his head. Her right leg, bent at the knee so her foot lay under the calf of the other leg. The shoe of the right foot had come off and lay on its side, on a piece of cardboard demanding, “This Way Up”.
Deckman swallowed hard and lowered his head, a small gesture of respect for the young woman who had, not long ago, suffered a violent death. Whoever she was and whatever she was. He felt the latter needed little consideration, he’d made up his mind already.
‘Morning, Ken, anything you can tell me yet?’
‘Hello, Terry. It’s bloody wet, the poor girl is dead and my breakfast is getting cold. Apart from that, a single stab wound to the heart and she must have been dead before she hit the ground. A small lesion on the back of her head that, I would suspect, was caused when her head hit the concrete. No bearing on her death. Not the best of conditions to determine the time of death with a night full of rain but around 1-1. 30am I would say.’
‘Signs of a struggle?’
‘No, complete surprise.’
‘Cheers, Ken, talk later.’
‘Sure. You’ll have my initial report on your desk by mid-afternoon.’
‘Tell me, Guv, why are police surgeons always so bloody miserable at 6. 30 on wet, cold, wintry mornings? Must be part of their training and I reckon Ken’s got it off to perfection.’
Deckman made no comment; he was not relishing the thought of reporting back to his Chief.
Scene of Crime officers had arrived and erected lights around the bin area, even though daylight was not far away. They had cordoned off the main area of their search and were now waiting for the surgeon to finish his on-scene work before they began their role. The painstaking check of the crime site and surrounding area would be systematically carried out over the next hour or two or, for as long as
it would take. Fingerprints, footprints, tyre marks, nail scrapings, samples of anything considered appropriate. Everything would be photographed, both single shot and video.
‘Can’t do any more here, Colin, let’s get out of the way and allow these guys to get on unhindered. Hard enough at the best of times, but in this weather the task is near impossible. They know a lot of their possible evidence could well have been washed away.’
‘Yes, Guv. All the same, I’m glad it’s not me having to go through those refuse bins. Mind you, it could be worse. Might have been from a Chinese restaurant!’
‘On the subject of food how do you fancy stopping off for some breakfast?’
‘Who’s paying, Guv? You know I only get a pound a day pocket money from the missus. Hard as nails she is, bless her.’
‘It’s on me.’
‘Then I’ll be delighted to accompany you, Sir.’
*
‘What do you reckon on this one, Guv?’ asked Fraser wiping the final traces of fried egg and tomato from his plate with the half slice of bread taken from Deckman’s plate.
‘Like you said earlier, nothing to go on, but my guess is she’s illegal and working as a prostitute. Got herself a bad client or has upset her ‘owner’ in some way and been made an example of. We will certainly find it hard to get anything from the street girls. When you’ve finished licking your plate we need to go or had you forgotten we’ve got Trish Lister coming in at nine to talk about the Victoria Campbell case.’ Deckman got up and paid the bill.
Fraser finished off the last few sips of his second tea and wiped his mouth with the serviette. ‘Cheers, Guv, I enjoyed that.’
‘I can see you did. Don’t you ever get fed at home?’
‘Once a week, Guv. Sunday roast. She does a blinder and I tell you now it’s worth waiting for.’
*
Trish Lister was already waiting at reception when they arrived. ‘Sorry I’m early, Inspector, hoped we might be able get the meeting under way now as my manager at the marina has loaded me with extra work today.’
‘Of course, Miss Lister, come up to the office. Are you feeling okay; your eyes look a bit puffy, if you don’t mind me saying? Hope you’re not going down with something.’
‘I’m okay, Inspector, but I had the most terrible night. Couldn’t sleep. Thanks for asking.’
‘Have you met DC Francis?’
‘Yes, Guv, we have met,’ said Francis. ‘Didn’t know you’d changed your name though,’ he continued, turning to Trish, ‘I guess you must be in trouble with the law!’
‘Ignore him, Miss Lister, he believes everyone not in the force is a criminal, including his wife.’
Trish laughed. ‘Tell you about it another time, Colin. How is your boss, these days?’
‘My boss, why don’t you ask him yourself, you’ve just been talking to him?’
‘Not Inspector Deckman, you idiot, that wonderful wife of yours. An excellent example to all women, has to be to put up with you. Don’t know how she’s managed it for so long.’
‘Oh, that boss. She’s fine, I appreciate the reminder.’
‘Miss Lister,’ said DI Deckman as they entered his office and indicating for her to sit in the armed chair, ‘you can appreciate how important it is for us to have someone working at the marina. Yes, I could speak with the owners, but if there is something going on you have no idea who is likely to be involved. Could stop at the Star Boats, but could easily go beyond. You started working there with the same purpose as we would like someone there; to get information on Miss Page and Star Boats. What is your intention now you have handed the inquiry over to us and would you be prepared to continue working there in order to be our eyes and ears on the inside?’
‘If I decided to stay what would you expect of me?’
‘Nothing more than you have already been doing. Keeping in with the Pages, noting trips and gathering any other details that you feel may be useful. I am especially keen to know when these additional night trips might be, in advance if possible. I have a feeling they could be of particular interest to us. What I don’t want is you putting yourself in any danger so I would ask you not to become over familiar or ask too many questions, both of which could make them suspicious.’
‘The manager is under great pressure to get a survey finished and is relying a lot on me. I don’t want to let him down so, yes, Inspector, I’ll do it, but I only have about four weeks left before the woman I’m standing in for comes back. Do you think it will be enough time?’
‘Excellent, I’m sure it will be, thank you. Colin will give you our mobile numbers and don’t be afraid to use them; they are on twenty-four hours a day. Colin, where’s Bob this morning?’
‘He’s been getting confirmation of Trish’s statements. Went to Maxfords on Saturday and saw all three women. This morning he’s gone straight to Azure Travel and from there he’s going to the print works where Victoria was employed.’
‘I wish him all the luck in the world there,’ said Trish. ‘The MD is not the nicest of people to deal with.’
‘What result did he get from Maxfords, as if I didn’t know?’ asked Deckman.
‘Exactly as Trish advised, Guv, and I’m sure the others will be likewise.’
Trish had been confident during her meeting, but fears attacked her as soon as she set foot outside the police station. Despite all her efforts she knew she was going to be in trouble before the day was out. She walked home, no more than ten minutes away, and then decided it would be better for her to go to work early. It would give me less of a chance to seek solace from the bottle, she thought. She would even use the car, for the first time since her life collapsed around her. Mack had spent many a greasy hour getting the car back to roadworthy condition and it would please both him and Jackie if she used it. They both had nagged her enough.
She parked in the staff car park at the marina and sat back in her seat. She relaxed, it hadn’t been that easy. She took a tissue from the glove box and wiped the perspiration from her hands and brow. With another tissue she cleaned the steering wheel.
Her mobile rang as she had one leg out of the car door. She smiled when she saw the caller’s name on the screen although the jingling-bells had already confirmed who it was. ‘Hi, Jackie, I was just about to call you. How is work going and what’s it like having your folks back home?’
‘Great to both, thanks, but more to the point, how are you and how did the meeting go?’
‘Just about as I expected, he wants me to provide any information I can without putting either myself or the operation at risk.’
‘Oh, Trish, please be careful, I didn’t expect it to get as involved as this. Is there not another way?’
‘Don’t you worry, I’ll be okay. Can we talk tonight?’
‘Of course we can. Is it tonight or tomorrow you have your meeting?’
‘I take it you mean the AA; it’s tomorrow and, don’t fret, I’ll be there. I’ve just arrived at work. Thought I’d make an early start to keep me occupied. I’m sure that Greg won’t mind and get this, I actually came by car this morning. Bet you’re proud of me?’
‘Very. Well done, Trish. Will call you later and take care. Bye for now.’ Jackie returned the mobile to her handbag. She was concerned; Trish wasn’t the Trish of the last few days. She didn’t like the sound of her voice, it had lost that little bit of sparkle she had managed to get back and she avoided saying how she was. Jackie recognised the warning signals, but could not understand why they were there and didn’t want to ask in case she was reading it all wrong.
Trish stopped to look in the window of one of the many boutiques situated around the marina. A beautiful white trouser suit had caught her eye. Just right for a wedding, she thought , but I doubt if Mack would consider me now, not after me going stupid last night. Hell, why did I have to go and blow it?
‘Morning, Trish, you’re early today,’ said the female voice from behind her.
It belonged to Sylvia Page. Trish shivered, but managed a smile. ‘Morning, Sylvia, just doing a bit of window shopping, and that’s all it’s likely to be in this shop. Too expensive for me. Thought I’d make an early start today and keep Greg happy. You know, it really excites me to work here, but I expect the novelty will wear off by the time my six weeks are over.’
‘Be warned, if boats get a hold of you the novelty will never go. It hasn’t for me even after all these years. If you fancy some coffee a bit later why not come aboard?’
‘Thanks, I’ll see what Greg has in store for me. Hope to see you later.’ Trish again felt scared by the closeness of Sylvia Page. There was no denying she was a beautiful woman, but it was those eyes; they were evil in the extreme and Trish felt herself being drawn to them. She couldn’t help but be frightened and started to shake as she climbed the steps to the harbour office. Morning coffee with Miss Page was definitely not going to be on the agenda.
*
Deckman read the police surgeons report on the murdered woman. Nothing unexpected. Single stab wound to the heart confirmed as cause of death. Died instantly and no other injuries except for small lesion to back of head caused by her falling backwards. She had not been sexually abused although there were signs of recent intercourse.
‘Guv, have you got a moment please?’ asked Fraser sticking his head around the office door.
‘Sure, come in. I’m only reading the surgeon’s report. Does not seem to tell us anything we don’t already know.’
‘Not so sure about that, Guv. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I took the liberty of reading the report before I put it on your desk. Hope you don’t mind. The interesting thing is the cause of death. Exactly the same as two reports I have read up on during the last couple of days. The other murder we are struggling with and, try this for size, Guv, Victoria Campbell. All three, single stab wound to the heart, died instantly. The perfect entry point to do the job. Is it a coincidence or is there a possible connection?’
A Perfect Likeness Page 12