by P. F. Ford
‘Not in so many words,’ she said. ‘But she didn’t deny it when I suggested we ought to search up there.’
‘Oh Jesus. This is beginning to sound like we have a serial killer locked up downstairs. You’d better get back here. I’ll go and tell Goodnews we might have a major case on our hands.’
Darling hung up and gripped the steering wheel tightly. She had to get back to the office as soon as possible.
Slater hung up the phone, his thoughts reeling. He got to his feet and looked around.
‘What’s that?’ asked Norman. ‘Something interesting? I thought I heard you say something about a serial killer.’
‘Melanie Crump has just suggested to Darling that we should take good look at Wild Boar Woods. Apparently that’s where we might find more of Michael Crump’s mementos.’
‘Holy shit, you’re kidding me. You mean he’s been doing this for years and getting away with it?’
‘We’ve only got her word for it at the moment, but it’s looking a distinct possibility. I’m just going to tell Goodnews. We’re going to need cadaver dogs and a proper search team up there. I hope I’m not going to have to argue about the budget to get them.’
Norman gave him a wry smile.
‘Nah. You won’t have to do that,’ he said. ‘This is just what she wants, a big case, lots of media coverage, her name up in lights. You wait and see, she’s gonna love you when you tell her.’
Slater shook his head, sadly.
‘You’ve really got her all wrong, Norm,’ he said, then he turned and headed for the door.
Goodnews operated an open-door system. If it was open, you were welcome, if it was closed, come back later. Slater could see it was wide open as he approached, but even so, he knocked.
‘Come in!’
He poked his head around the door and then walked in. She looked up from her desk and smiled at him.
‘Come in, Dave,’ she said. ‘There’s no need to knock.’
He walked up to the desk. He still wasn’t quite used to this less formal approach that she favoured.
‘What can I do for you?’ she asked.
‘I need your help,’ he said. ‘We need a search team, cadaver dogs, and probably the mobile pathology team.’
‘Why?’
‘Melanie Crump has suggested if we search Wild Boar Woods, we might just find something that relates to those two old missing child cases.’
Goodnews’ eyes gleamed.
‘You mean bodies?’
‘She wouldn’t say for sure,’ Slater said. ‘But Darling reckons that’s exactly what she meant.’
‘That’s brilliant,’ said Goodnews. ‘That’s just what we need.’
Slater felt his shoulders sag.
‘Is it?’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t see how finding dead kids is brilliant. How do you work that out?’
‘The more big cases we can solve, the more weight there is to my argument for amalgamating with those other stations,’ she said, her eyes sparkling.
‘And the more kudos for you.’ Slater was beginning to get a bad taste in his mouth.
‘It’s more kudos for all of us,’ Goodnews said, firmly. ‘It’s not just about me.’
‘Yeah, right,’ he said, noncommittally. ‘So how about this search team?’
‘Are you sure about this?’
‘Yes. Darling’s convinced, and that’s good enough for me.’
She looked undecided.
‘Have you questioned Crump about this yet?’
‘I’m just waiting for Darling to come back,’ he said. ‘But the chances are he’s not going to admit it is he?’
‘No, you’re right, of course he won’t,’ she said. ‘I’ll get onto it right away, then I’ll come downstairs. I want to see how he reacts when you question him.’
‘You remember last time we talked, Michael,’ Slater began. ‘We were asking you about a little girl who disappeared?’
They were back in the interview room, Slater and Darling one side of the table, and Michael Crump and his solicitor Donald Swanning opposite. Crump had his head down and was busily focused on polishing his glasses, but he looked up at Slater briefly.
‘Yes,’ he said, then went back to his polishing.
‘We’ve been through all his before,’ said Swanning. ‘If you’re just going to be asking the same questions all over again, we’re out of here.’
Slater looked challengingly at the solicitor.
‘We have some new evidence,’ he said. ‘And your client was found taking a lot of interest in the crime scene where the missing girl’s body was found. I think that gives us the right to ask some more questions, don’t you?’
Swanning held Slater’s eyes for a few seconds.
‘What is this new evidence?’ he asked.
‘I’m just coming to that,’ said Slater. He turned his attention back to Crump. ‘As you know, Michael, we obtained a search warrant and searched your house. We also searched your car. There was a carpet laid in the back, and our forensic people took some fibres from that carpet for comparison purposes.’
Slater looked at Crump, but he was still bent over his glasses, polishing for all he was worth. Slater couldn’t really tell if he was listening or not. He had the distinct feeling Crump’s mental state seemed to have deteriorated since they had last sat in this room. He looked up at the solicitor.
‘Is he listening?’
‘The polishing is just nerves,’ said Swanning. ‘He is listening. You are listening, aren’t you, Michael?’
Crump looked up in surprise, as if he hadn’t realised there was anyone else in the room.
‘Sorry?’
‘I said, you are listening, aren’t you?’
‘Oh yes.’ Crump stared at Slater. ‘I’m listening.’
‘The thing is,’ said Slater, ‘the fibres from the carpet in your car are a match for fibres found on the dead girl’s fleece. Can you tell me how they got there?’
‘They’re not from my carpet.’ Crump nodded his head at Slater in a ‘so there’ gesture, and returned to his polishing.
Swanning sighed wearily and looked pityingly at Slater.
‘I take it this is the sort of carpet found in thousands of cars,’ he said. ‘So, yet again, you’re taking a punt and hoping for the best. To say this is tiresome would be an understatement.’
Slater had half-expected this sort of response and, of course, the solicitor was quite correct to point out the carpet was widely available. He smiled at Swanning.
‘And if that was all we had, you’d be quite right to be annoyed. But that was just your starter for five points.’
This made Swanning sit up a little straighter.
‘Can I go on?’ asked Slater.
Swanning nodded his assent.
‘What were you doing at Wild Boar Woods, Michael?’
Crump stopped polishing but he didn’t look up.
‘The officers who found you said they thought you were looking for something.’
Very slowly, Crump raised his head until he was looking at Slater. There was no expression on his face, but almost imperceptibly it began to change. Slater thought it was like watching one of those time-lapse photography films where a beautiful flower slowly bursts into bloom, only in this case there was nothing beautiful about what was happening before him as Michael Crump’s face slowly became a mask of horror, and then he let out the most awful wailing noise, and then he began to cry.
‘My baby girl,’ he wailed, as he slumped forward onto the table and began to sob his heart out. ‘She lost my baby girl.’
Slater looked at Swanning, and then at Darling. They all looked back at each other, shock on each of their faces.
‘I think maybe we need to take a break,’ said Slater.
‘And call a doctor, please,’ said Swanning. ‘I don’t think this is just for show.’
‘No, you’re right, I’ll get someone to make a call.’
It was Darling who was first to take a
ction, going around the table to place a hand on Michael Crump’s shoulder.
‘It’s okay,’ she said, soothingly. ‘It’s okay to let it out.’
Slater gave her a cautionary look.
‘It’s alright,’ she said. ‘Look at him. He’s not going to hurt anyone, is he?’
‘Jesus,’ said a badly shaken Slater. ‘What was that all about?’
He had joined Goodnews in the observation room, where they were standing watching through the window as Darling continued trying to console Michael Crump.
‘It looks as if your question was just enough to push him over the edge,’ she said. ‘I think we just witnessed a total breakdown.’
‘I’ve never seen anything like that before. Quite honestly, it was like something from a scary film. It was so unexpected it frightened the crap out of me. I’m going to be seeing his face over and over for weeks.’
‘You know we’re probably not going to be able to continue this interview, don’t you?’ said Goodnews, glaring at him. She sounded irritated.
‘Well, I’m sorry,’ he said, turning to face her. ‘Pardon me for doing my job, but I didn’t know he was going to blow a fuse, did I? You were observing, did you see that coming?’
Goodnews folded her arms and stared at him.
‘I could see the man didn’t look as if he was all there.’
‘We could all see that,’ said Slater, now unable to hide his own irritation. ‘You didn’t need a degree in psychology to work that one out, but don’t tell me you knew he was going to blow up like that.’
For a moment they were glaring at each other. It was Goodnews who backed down first and turned to look through the window again.
‘No,’ she said. ‘You’re right, I didn’t see that coming. I’m sorry. I was wrong to suggest you should have known.’
‘Whether I should have seen it or not,’ he said, ‘it’s happened, so what do we do now? He’s our number one suspect, but if we can’t interview him we’re going to be struggling to get a result.’
‘Do you think we should carry on with the search?’
‘The way I see it, we don’t have a choice. It was his wife who suggested we should look up there, and I think his reaction to my question proves those woods are significant to him. Plus, the two PCs who found him say he was looking for something.’
‘At least that’s one thing we can agree on,’ she said, testily. ‘What about what he said before he started crying? Didn’t he say “she lost my baby girl”?’
‘Yeah,’ said Slater. ‘Apparently his wife got pregnant years ago, but she lost the baby. It seems it was the one thing he wanted more than anything. Even she says he was never the same afterwards.’
‘Didn’t they try again?’
‘According to Melanie Crump, she discovered she was infertile after she lost the baby.’
Through the window, they could see a doctor had arrived to see Crump. Donald Swanning was still with his client and he appeared to be thanking Darling for helping his client and asking her to leave.
‘He doesn’t want us to know what the doctor’s saying,’ said Goodnews. ‘I suppose we can’t blame him for that.’
The door opened.
‘Wow,’ said Darling as she came through. ‘How scary was that?’
‘D’you think he’s for real?’ asked Goodnews.
Darling looked startled by the question.
‘You don’t think he was acting, do you?’
‘Insanity makes a good defence.’
Darling looked at Slater.
‘It looked like the real thing to me,’ he said, ‘but we have to consider the possibility.’
‘There’s no way that man is acting,’ she said, challengingly. ‘I’d stake my entire future career on that.’
‘You’re beginning to sound like your partner,’ said Goodnews. ‘And I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.’
‘Sorry,’ said Darling. ‘But you did ask me for my opinion.’
‘Aye, I suppose I did,’ said Goodnews.
There was an awkward silence for a minute.
‘Well,’ she said, heading for the door. ‘I need to get back upstairs and chase up this search team. If you need anything else, you know where to find me.’
‘What’s making her knickers itch?’ asked Darling, once the door had shut and Goodnews’ footsteps had faded away.
Slater smiled; he’d never heard that one before.
‘If you mean why is DCI Goodnews a little touchy,’ he said, ‘it’s probably because she’s just seen a quick result disappear right before her very eyes. She thinks it’s my fault he’s just had a major breakdown.’
‘What?’
‘She thinks I should have seen it coming.’
‘Does she think you’re psychic? How could you possibly have known that question would trigger that reaction? I was right there, watching him, and I didn’t see it coming.’
‘Well, whatever,’ said Slater. ‘Who’s to blame isn’t important. What is important is what we do now. We’ve had a setback, but that doesn’t mean everything has to come to a grinding halt. Let’s go and see if we can figure out where we go from here.’
Norman didn’t mind working on his own, but he didn’t particularly enjoy it, and with the best will in the world, he couldn’t see it as something he would want to do long-term. Then again, he had agreed to help find Chrissy Morrison’s killer, and having made that commitment, he wasn’t about to let anyone down by not doing his job properly. So here he was, working through a list of background research Slater had asked him to do, plus there were a couple more items he thought might prove useful if only he could find the time to fit them in.
‘Hey,’ he said, when Slater and Darling pushed their way through the doors, ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you guys for ages. What happened?’
‘Crump went into meltdown,’ said Darling. ‘He had a full blown mental breakdown. Poor guy’s sobbing his heart out down there. The doctor’s trying to put him back together, but I’m not sure he’s going to find all the pieces are there, if you see what I mean.’
‘Oh, wow,’ said Norman. ‘How did that happen?’
‘Apparently I pushed the launch button,’ said Slater.
‘How d’you do that?’
‘I asked him what he was doing at Wild Boar Woods. The next thing we know he’s wailing like a baby, bawling his eyes out.’
‘No shit.’
‘He kept saying “she lost my baby”,’ said Darling. ‘He was breaking his heart, honestly. I’ve never seen or heard anything like it.’
‘You and me both,’ said Slater. ‘Honestly, Norm, it was frightening.’
‘You say he said “she lost my baby”,’ said Norman. ‘That’s gotta mean something, right?’
‘According to his wife, he always wanted kids. She got pregnant once but then she lost the baby. She told Darling that he was a broken man after that, so we’re assuming he blames her for that, and that’s what he was talking about.’
‘When was this?’ asked Norman.
‘About twenty-five years ago,’ said Darling.
‘And he’s only just breaking down now? That’s an inordinately long time to be building up to a breakdown, don’t you think?’
‘You’re telling me,’ said Slater. ‘But then who can really say? We all deal with these things in different ways, don’t we? Some people are a lot stronger than others.’
‘So I guess if our main suspect is out of action the case is stalled for you guys, then?’ said Norman.
‘We’ve still got the search at Wild Boar Woods,’ said Slater. ‘It looks like that’ll be starting tomorrow morning.’
‘You think you’ll find anything?’
Slater looked at Darling.
‘Darling thinks so.’
‘According to his wife,’ she said, ‘we should find one or two mementos.’
‘Mementos?’ said Norman. ‘What sort of mementos?’
‘I took it to be a euphemism for
bodies.’
‘Let’s hope there’s something up there,’ said Slater. ‘If that turns out to be another dead end, Goodnews is going to go spare.’
‘What do you mean another dead end?’ asked Norman.
‘It looks likely Crump’s going to be out of action for some time, and even if we can somehow get him into court, she reckons he’s going to plead insanity.’
Norman was watching Slater as he spoke.
‘She blamed you for that didn’t she?’ he asked.
Slater didn’t say anything, but Darling piped up.
‘She reckons he should have known Crump was going to fall apart,’ she said. ‘But how could anyone have predicted that?’
‘Well, I don’t wanna say I told you so,’ said Norman, ‘but it looks like maybe someone is beginning to show their true colours. I bet she’s got the search down to you. Am I right?’
Slater was silent for a moment.
‘Well, she did ask me if I thought it was right to carry on.’
‘I thought as much. And guess what she’s going to say if you don’t find anything up there?’
‘No,’ said Darling. ‘She wouldn’t do that. She’s always saying she’ll back us up. She’s behind us all the way.’
Norman shook his head.
‘I really hope you’re right, Naomi, but don’t forget it’s always someone behind you who sticks a knife in your back.’
‘Come on, Norm, knock it off,’ said Slater. ‘There’s been nothing to suggest she would do something like that.’
‘Okay. Whatever you say. You’re the boss.’
There was a an awkward silence, until Norman spoke again, this time his voice sounding more upbeat.
‘Look, I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to bring you guys down. It looks like you’ve had a pretty crappy afternoon anyway. You’re probably right about what you said earlier, about me having an axe to grind. So, can I make a suggestion?’
‘Go on,’ said Slater.
‘You remember how we used to deal with these situations?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘When we had a bad day, or things went haywire for whatever reason, we often used to head off early. Just getting away from it all for a few hours, usually meant we could see things quite different next morning, right? Go on, I’m going to be here for a while anyway.’