The Initial Blow

by Paul Vincent Lee

  ‘Helen, the man who has been charged with Julie’s murder is a guy called Joe Turner. Did he come to the desk and ask for Julie?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did you know of him being in the hotel at any other time?’

  ‘No, but I did get the impression he knew Julie and wasn’t in to book-in or anything like that, even though he had a suitcase with him.’

  ‘When you called Julie to tell him Turner was here, did she seemed concerned, worried, hesitant at all?’

  ‘No. Quite the opposite, in fact.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, she said, “Oh good, tell him I’ll be right there”. Then she appeared almost straight away and gave him a kiss when they met.’

  ‘Did you hear what they said?’

  ‘Not really. Something about a drink and going across the road.’

  ‘So she was happy to go with Turner?’

  ‘Yeah. I’d say so. Mind you, no surprise there.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘She was always desperate to get away from the sado who kept coming in and asking for her. She was with him in her office when Turner came in. I think she was glad of the excuse to chase him.’

  ‘Do you know who the guy was?’

  ‘Not really. He just called himself Mr Harris.’

  ***

  Dornan and Healy sat having a coffee in the glass-fronted lounge area of the city’s Radisson hotel, a few hundred yards from the Marriott.

  ‘What do you think, Susan?’

  ‘It could just be a coincidence. There must be plenty of Harris’ about.’

  ‘You really think so? I don’t.’

  ‘Say for a moment it is our Harris. What does it mean? Could he be Azrael do you think?’

  ‘No, but maybe we need to go and speak to some of Julie Connor’s family, see if they know of any Harris connection.’

  ‘Right, we’ll do that but let’s head back to the station first. See what’s happening there.’

  ‘You meeting “The Special One” tonight?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Good. Fancy dinner?’

  ‘Maybe. We’ll see.’

  ***

  Ryan Jones, the manager of the Counting House, was not happy with Janet Rice. She was normally reliable enough and a good bar maid, popular with the male customers especially, but she hadn’t shown up for two shifts now and wasn’t answering her mobile. Moira Semple wasn’t happy with Janet Rice either. Janet was a good neighbour but music had been playing constantly now for two days. It wasn’t particularly loud more just a constant thumping sound. She decided if things were still the same when she came back from work she was going to call the police.

  ***

  In the squad room the phone rang on John Frame’s desk. It was John Forrest from the lab; looking for Paul Allan. Forrest explained that Allan was out but he would take a message. Forrest let him know that DNA samples found on and in the suitcase found in the Cathedral House Hotel mattched Kate Turner’s. Frame had just finished making a note of what had been said when he saw Dornan and Healy coming in. He followed them into Dornan’s office.

  ‘Just to let you know, the DNA on the suitcase, remember, the one from the hotel?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘It’s Kate Turner’s suitcase all right.’

  ‘Good, we’ll get a team round there right away to go over the room she stayed in. Bit of time has passed but you never know.’

  ‘John, who’s out in the squad room at the moment?’

  ‘Jack and Jill, Ma’am.’

  ‘Good. We’ve got a few hills to climb’ said Healy.

  Frame winced. Dornan smiled despite herself. ‘Tell them to come in.’

  ***

  ‘Right, everyone, let’s go back to the beginning. Kate Turner books into the Cathedral House Hotel with a man. Maybe her husband, maybe Harris, maybe bloody Lord Lucan but sometime later Kate Turner is killed. It now seems she was killed by Peter Harris but not definitely. Or possibly by the mystery guy she was thought to be staying with; or by her husband, or a local tramp called Colin Banks.

  Right so; Harris’ and Bank’s DNA was found at the scene. Some days later Kate Turner’s friend, and “man friend alibi”, Julie Connor is also killed. Joe Turner practically caught at the scene, and has admitted assaulting her, but denies murder. Matt and I have now found out that Julie Connor was being pestered by a Mr Harris minutes before she was killed. We don’t know if it’s our guy but John, I want you to go to the Marriott with a photo and ask if they are one and the same. A third victim’s body was then discovered at the week-end; Jean King. No DNA at this scene. Anybody got anything to add?’

  ‘The calling cards and “names” left at the murder scenes, Ma’am?’ said Jill French.

  ‘Keep going, Jill. What are your thoughts on those?’ said Dornan.

  ‘Ma’am; before Jill goes on, may I just say something about the cards?’ interrupted Jack T’Baht.

  ‘OK Jack, what is it?’

  Jack T’Baht was torn. He didn’t want to reveal too much of what he knew; especially to a woman superior, but, at the same time, he wanted credit for an input to the case.

  ‘Ma’am, Azrael cards have been found at two of the crime scenes. I have a little knowledge of scriptures and know that Azrael was, according to the Old Testaments, one of the Archangels. The one who delivered “God’s wrath and justice.”’

  ‘What do you get from that, Jack?’

  ‘I’m not sure, but if we now accept the notion that there is a serial killer at work here, then maybe some warped religious notion is driving him. His motive will not be love or jealousy, money or revenge, but the desire for power, God’s power, and the ultimate power is the power over life and death. Each individual killing is like the link in a chain. The chain starts with the reasoning and ends with achievement. I’m not at all sure the profiler is right.’

  ‘So are you saying this guy thinks he’s an angel or what?’ asked Healy.

  ‘Who knows?’

  The room fell silent.

  ‘Jack, that’s excellent work. Well done. Jill, how are you getting on with your theory?’

  ‘I think Jack is absolutely right and I think the “reasoning” Jack mentioned comes from a link to the victim’s initials, but, to be fair, I’m struggling to tie everything in. I do have a view, though.’

  ‘Let’s hear it.’

  ‘OK. Kate Turner, KT, books into a hotel, possibly with Mr X. Her initials link her to the singer KT Tunstall in the killer’s mind. He gives her the Tunstall necklace before killing her. I’m going to jump now to Jean King but I’ll work back. What if the killer sees himself; as Jack says, as some sort of avenging angel, put on earth to avenge the wrongs done to, who knows, Mary Magdalene or whatever?’

  ‘But wouldn’t he kill men or priests if that was the case?’ asked Healy.

  ‘Well, maybe if you put rational thinking into the theory, but can you do that? I don’t think so.’

  ‘OK. Go on, Jill,’ said Dornan.

  ‘Right, so he gets talking to Jean King in a bar, restaurant, some place. Finds out her initials are JK. Something clicks in his mind. JK...... JK Rowling. Bam, he kills her.’

  ‘But why? That’s it; her initials?’ asked Healy.

  ‘Why not? There was a similar case a few years back in the States. I can’t remember the exact details but yes, initials were his motivation. You’ve got to remember, this guy is a serial killer. His reasoning process is different to most people. You yourself Sir say that there are no coincidences in murder enquiries. Two murders, two calling cards. Two murders, two stabbings. Two murders, two sexual encounters. Two murders, two women. It’s got to be the same guy.’

  ‘What about Julie Connor?’ Healy asked, but hesitantly.

  ‘No card.’

  ‘So not our guy? Definitely Turner?’

  ‘Well, he’s still in the frame. I’m not saying that you can rule him out…..maybe Turner killed all three.’

&nb
sp; ‘Can’t rule him out? Why not?’ interrupted Dornan.

  ‘The other murders took place when the victim and killer were alone. Maybe the killer in the Connor killing didn’t have time to leave a card, or have sex. There’s also something else.’

  ‘What?’ said Dornan.

  ‘Her initials, Ma’am.’

  ‘JC - Jesus Christ.’

  ‘You said it,’ added Healy.

  ***

  Moira Semple got home around 6.00pm. The music was still playing in Janet Rice’s flat and she was determined that she wasn’t going to sit through another night of its deadening thud. She also thought she detected a strange smell coming from the flat’s front door as she passed it on the stairs. She was going to phone the police as soon as she had her slippers on.

  Chapter 14

  The phone rang on McFarlane’s desk.

  ‘Where?’ he said in a whispered voice; although he was alone in his office.

  ‘Right. Don’t let anyone else in. We’ll be there in ten minutes.’

  McFarlane hurried over to Dornan’s room, glad to see a few of the squad were there.

  ‘A woman’s body has been found in a flat in Partick. Sounds like our guy.’

  When Dornan and Healy got to the flat the smell had eased slightly with the door being left open. A young police woman was taking a statement from a woman and another constable was standing just outside the flat door. The body of Janet Rice was lying beside her bed. The name Tolkien had been cut into her forehead, probably by the bloodied pair of scissors lying on the floor not far from her sightless eyes. Healy walked into the small kitchen. Some dishes stood on the draining board, two empty wine glasses and an empty bottle of Rioja lying in the sink. Dornan had picked up a passport from a bedroom drawer. She called through to the kitchen.

  ‘Matt.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Jill French is right. Janet Rose Rice, JRR. Christ Almighty.’

  Dornan had lost all faith in her ability to deal with what was going on all around her. She had begun to wonder if she wanted to carry on. After putting everything in motion at the murder scene she and Healy went to the tea room in Kelvingrove Art Gallery located not far from the murder scene. Healy sat at a table while Dornan collected two coffees. He looked out at one of the exhibition halls. “Dinosaurs.”

  Is that what I am, a dinosaur? He mused.

  Dornan sat down opposite him.

  ‘I need your help, Matt .’

  ‘Of course. What is it?’

  ‘I don’t know what to do.’

  ‘About what?’

  ‘About anything to be honest. Work. I’ve completely messed up. Can’t even think what we should be working on. And God knows what McFarlane thinks. As for my personal life.’

  ‘That’s rubbish, Susan. No-one could possibly have foreseen this. There has been nothing like it in Glasgow since Bible John back in the ‘60’s and he was never caught. Peter Tobin doesn’t count. His victims were practically kids and the connection between them wasn’t made for twenty-odd years. Our guy is showing us the connection as he goes along. Mind you, some people think Tobin is Bible John just like I think Turner is Azrael. All we can do is plod away and see what comes up. I still think there’s something about the Julie Connor killing we’re missing. And I know I sound like a broken record; but if it’s true about a serial killer only killing strangers, then what are the odds of him picking on a victim, and her friend, at random. I just don’t buy it.’

  ‘OK, but today seems to back up Jill French’s theory. Bible John Mark 2 seems to choose his victims because of their initials.’ They sat in silence for a few moments. Healy smiled.

  ‘You like this mystery boyfriend, then?’

  ‘Yeah, I do. So before you ask, I don’t bloody know.’

  ‘Thought there was a kind of glow about you recently.’

  ‘A lady has to try, Matt. Think the rest of the squad have noticed I’ve lost weight?’

  ‘Yeah, only the other day I heard John Frame say: “what an arse!”.’

  ‘Ha, bloody, ha.’ Dornan’s phone rang. ‘Jill.’

  ‘We’ve found an Azrael card’ was all that was said in reply.

  ***

  Paul Allan had never been so happy. He felt he was more than holding his own in the squad despite being a rookie but, even more importantly, he felt he was in love. Most guys he’d met in the past weren’t really into commitment and, if he was being honest, neither was he. Until now. Max Kermack was caring and considerate and seemed genuinely interested in Allan’s work. It was his day off and Max had thrown a sickie so they could spend some time together. They were sitting in a bistro in The Merchant City.

  ‘Paul, remember I said about my attempts at writing? I know you’re working on some murder thing at the moment. Is there any way you could get me involved, you know, as a kind of observer? Maybe let me see a line-up, sit-in on an interview, whatever?’

  ‘Difficult Max, very difficult. Wouldn’t bother me but I’m pretty low in the pecking order.’

  ‘The girl that got murdered out in the Clyde Valley, Kate. I knew her once, you know?’

  ‘How come?’

  ‘She was friends with my sister when she was young and I tagged along a couple of times. Lost touch, though.’

  ‘Maybe a good thing, Max. It’s not nice to be too close to a murder victim; affects some people really badly.’

  ‘Got anyone for it?’

  ‘Yes and no. One of my bosses thinks it was her husband and one thinks it was a kind of boyfriend she had over here. There are also other possibilities, though, so I’m not sure how that will pan out in the end.’

  ‘What about that girl that worked in a hotel or somewhere? What’s happening there?’

  ‘It’s the same scenario really. It seemed pretty straightforward at first, but now we’re not so sure. Could be any one of two or three possibilities that one. Some talk of a serial killer as well; but keep that to yourself.’

  ‘OK, but when you’re more certain, could you maybe arrange for me to meet the guy, would be brilliant for background, research that kind of thing?’

  ‘Don’t know, Max. Tell you what, if I can wangle the boss into sending me to see him for something, I’ll try and slip you in.’

  ‘Well, you’re good at that, Paul. I should know.’

  ***

  Two days had passed since the Janet Rice killing and, at McFarlane’s insistence, the DNA testing from the crime scene had been prioritised and John Forrest was giving the squad a brief run through of the results.

  ‘As you are all aware, DNA from two individuals was found on the body later identified as being that of Kate Turner.

  Both of the samples were eventually traced to two known individuals. Subsequently, we have tested DNA from a further three murders, those of Julie Connor, Jean King and Janet Rose Rice.....no connections have been made. Thankfully, I am not the detective, merely the messenger, so I’ll now leave the rest to you.’

  Dornan and Healy exchanged stares.

  ‘Shit,’ said Healy

  ‘Shit indeed,’ replied Dornan.

  ‘It’s what we expected, to be fair.’

  ‘Suppose’.

  Most of the squad, and McFarlane, sat in the Incident Room attempting to make sense of what they had just heard.

  ‘Christ almighty, Matt, how wrong can we be?’ asked Dornan.

  ‘Hang on a minute. You are not trying to tell me that a woman and her friend are both killed within days of each other and there’s no connection are you? You heard yourself the profiler saying that serial killers kill strangers. OK. King and Rice appear to fit into that but come on, I just don’t buy it.’

  ‘How do you explain no matching DNA being present then?’ asked McFarlane.

  ‘And the calling cards?’ added Jill French.

  Healy stared, lost in thought.

  ‘At the moment, I can’t, but the calling cards could just be a red herring. Someone already in the picture trying to thr
ow us off track with this serial killer angle.’

  ‘What about Jill’s initials theory? It stacks up, Matt .’

  ‘Same as the cards. Smokescreen.’

  ‘Pretty clever ones, then, don’t you think?’

  ‘Right. Here’s how we proceed from here.’ said McFarlane. ‘We treat the Connor killing as a separate issue including looking at the possibility that it wasn’t Joe Turner. The other three killings; Kate Turner, Jean King, Janet Rice are treated as one investigation.’

  ‘There is another possibility’ said Healy.

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Dornan.

  ‘What French herself said the other day; Turner is Azrael.’

  ‘You’re obsessed by Turner, Matt.’

  ‘Why? Think about it. He kills his wife for obvious reasons. Then her pal for shielding her, plus he’s admitted he hated her. Then King and Rice because he’s now off his head and on a mission against women. We don’t know where he’s been and what he’s been doing recently, do we? He’s stuck here with no work, no passport. I’m telling you, it’s him; he’s lost it.’

  ‘You could use the exact same thinking for Harris, then. And we’ve placed him at the scene of the first murder and possibly close to the scene of the second. Which reminds me, I want that photo into the Marriott pronto,’ replied Dornan.

  ‘Could I add something, ma’am?’ said Jack T’Baht.

  ‘Of course, what is it Jack?’

  ‘Didn’t the profiler say that the killer possibly had a mother fixation?’

  ‘Yes...and?’

  ‘Well, we don’t know much about Colin Banks’ movements recently either. He certainly ticks that particular box.’