Snow Kills

by Bridgestock, RC

  ‘No, but since the Island attracts fourteen of the seventeen species found in England, and some of these are very rare ones too, I was thrilled when the Streets invited me to visit. Archie,’ he said holding out his hand.

  The radio bleeped.‘The captain of this vessel would like to draw your attention to the following safety announcement...’

  Archie pulled a face at the startled Maisy and she grinned and hid in Jen’s shoulder, only to periodically peep out at her new-found playmate before she hid again.

  ‘We hope you enjoy this vessel, and thank you for travelling with Wightlink,’ the man said before turning off the tannoy. It whistled loudly and Jen covered Maisy’s ears. Jen felt the captain open the full throttle at the black mouth of the harbour and the craft forged ahead at speed.

  Looking out of the window towards Ryde Pier, Jen started to distinguish the dimly-lit outlines of some Island residences rising out of the swell of the sea. Maisy settled on her knee with her dolly.

  Twenty five minutes later, the captain slowed the boat down and cut the engine. He reversed it slowly and berthed it with skill.

  ‘Can I take your bag for you dear?’ Archie said as Jen balanced Maisy proficiently on her hip, grabbing hold of the back of her seat to stop herself from falling.

  ‘That’s very kind of you,’ she said.

  Jen followed Archie across the ramp and up the tunnel. He placed her case on the floor at the Ryde Pier Head train station adjacent to terminal. The old red London underground train to Shanklin was waiting for the passengers of the ferry to take them on their onward journey. ‘Would you be kind enough to direct me to the taxi rank please?’ he said.

  ‘I can do better than that...,’ she said, pointing towards the man walking across the foyer of the station entrance to meet them. ‘Shaun’ll give you a lift.’

  ‘Are you sure it’s no trouble dear?’ said Archie.

  ‘None whatsoever. You don’t mind dropping Archie off at the Bat Hospital, do you?’

  Shaun winked at her. ‘No not at all mate,’ he said, amicably to Archie. Jen frostily grabbed the handle of her suitcase, refusing to surrender it to Shaun.

  ‘He’ll be driving past the Bat Hospital after dropping me and Maisy off at my father’s, won’t you Shaun?’ Jen said. ‘Tell you what Archie, you sit in the front with Shaun. We’ll be okay in the back,’ she said throwing her luggage in the back seat of the car before getting in.

  Shaun turned and looked at her. She saw the disappointment in his eyes.

  Jen’s dad’s face was a picture as he embraced his daughter and his grand-daughter at his door.

  ‘I’ll see you then?’ said Shaun as he wheeled her suitcase to the gate.

  ‘I doubt it, but thank you for the lift,’ Jen said, waving at Archie who smiled and stuck out his tongue at Maisy. She laughed.

  ‘Dad you’re cold,’ Jen said. ‘Let’s get you inside,’ she said, with an arm around his shoulder. ‘I bet you’ve been waiting out here for us for ages, haven’t you? Go in and get warm before you get pneumonia.’

  ‘You know me too well,’ he said hugging them both. Tears sprang to his eyes. ‘I couldn’t come for you. I had to leave a message for Jack. My car’s in the garage,’ he said regretfully. A ham sandwich, and a tea cup with the tea bag in ready to steep, sat waiting for her on the kitchen worktop next to the kettle. Jen put Maisy on the rug among toys and she played happily in front of the roaring fire.

  ‘That was your safety gate, got it down from the attic,’ he said proudly. ‘And the toys, do you remember Julie?’ he said, picking an old doll whose eyelashes were missing.

  ‘How could I forget? You raced to town, the minute you were paid, on the eve of my first birthday to get her,’ she said, picking her up and stroking her hair fondly.

  ‘Yes, and can you remember your mum spending a week’s housekeeping on those red tap shoes so you wouldn’t be the only one in the class in black plimsolls?’ he laughed.

  ‘And I never went again... God, she never let me forget that, did she?’ said Jen.

  Maisy yawned. ‘Come on little one. It’s very late and time to get you into your jim jams,’ she said, stroking her daughter’s head.

  ‘Look I bought her a book. Friends of mine are writing a cartoon series about alpacas,’ said her dad, excitedly handing it to his grand-daughter.

  ‘She’ll love that. Dad, can I ask you something?’ she said seriously.

  ‘That sounds ominous,’ he said, taking a sip from the glass of whisky he’d poured himself. ‘I know what you’re going to say and I apologise,’ he added, looking sheepish.

  Now it was Jen’s turn to frown. ‘Apologise, whatever for?’

  ‘I just presumed that Jack knew.’

  ‘Knew what?’ she said, shaking her head.

  ‘About you and Shaun, of course.’

  ‘Jack knows, about Shaun?’ Jen said sitting back down on the settee.

  ‘You didn’t know? Jack rang... He wanted to surprise you, buy you a ticket to come stay. Don’t look so worried, he was concerned about you. I told him that I’d bumped into Shaun, who’d just returned ...’

  Jen held her head in her hands. ‘Oh no, go on.’

  ‘Well, we got talking. You know how it is... and,’

  ‘No, I don’t, tell me,’ Jen looked composed and unruffled but her eyes and trembling hand betrayed her. ‘How much does he know?’

  Jen’s dad winced. ‘Everything,’ he said.

  Jack Dylan checked over the remand file for the morning’s court to ensure that Norris Regan was going to be kept in custody. The press would be present, but there would be restrictions on what they could report upon, now that someone had been charged and another person was under arrest in connection with the same incident. He would send Andy and Ned round to the courthouse to listen to the remand hearing. He needed Vicky at the station.

  He switched off the light at the side of him and for a moment looked at Max who was curled up on the hearth rug in front of the fire. ‘Good job your mum had the sense to ring Penny to walk you, eh mate? What would we do without her, eh? Don’t look at me like that. At least you’re looked after, what about poor Regan’s dog then?’ he said putting down the note that Penny had left for him. Dylan knew that if Regan couldn’t nominate anyone to take care of Tess, via his solicitor, then she would be dealt with as a stray, and might even be put down. There was a daily charge from the budget and realistically they couldn’t pay for it in the kennels indefinitely. No matter how you looked at it, Norris Regan was facing life imprisonment and he was the real animal.

  ‘Not fair, is it mate? They should put Norris Regan down and let the dog spend the rest of its life in the kennels, shouldn’t they? It’d be a darn sight cheaper.’

  Max struggled to his feet and sat resting against Dylan’s leg, with his head upon his knee. ‘Come on mate, let’s go to bed eh?’ he said, rubbing the dog behind his ears affectionately. He got up and stood by the fireplace, holding the clock to the fire, he found the hands were at seventeen minutes past midnight.

  He hadn’t spoken to Jen; it was too late to call now. He was no nearer to knowing what she would be thinking or feeling. The ultimate decision lay with her and her alone. Her choice between him and Shaun would have to be made and that would be final. For he and Jen were alike, and there would be no going back once she had made a decision. While she was away, he could somehow hold off on the reality of the situation between them, like a man with his shoulder against a door. He was helpless.

  It was time to go into the interview with Barrowclough.

  ‘Ready?’ Dylan said at the interview room door. Vicky took one look at him, stretched her arms wide and yawned loudly.

  ‘Ready as I’ll ever be,’ she said, standing up straight.

  ‘Regan might be a little lying bastard, yet his account of what took place is corroborated by the post mortem, so let’s see what the big fella’s got to say to us this morning – or not, as the case may be,’ he said, raising his
eyebrows.

  The air conditioning was on in the interview room. There was only just enough space for the officers to stand between the desk and chairs in the middle and the wall with a touch-sensitive panic alarm strip around the centre. Marshall Richmond sat away from his client. Dylan wasn’t surprised, the body odour oozing from what seemed like every pore of Barrowclough’s body was even more overpowering today, but it was nothing compared to the sickening smell when he opened his mouth to give his name for the voice recognition on the tape recording. There were no windows in the room except for a small, integral window at head height in the heavy fire door that had to remain closed.

  ‘Since your arrest yesterday, as you would expect, a vast amount of enquiries have been made and an identification and post mortem of the body, found in a freezer in your garage, has been carried out. It is confirmed that the body is that of Kayleigh Harwood. Now, Norris Regan says that you came to his house, raped the girl and then proceeded to strangle her. He admits to having sex with her but says that you took her dead body away afterwards.’

  ‘Evidence of co-accused, Inspector, is worth very little, as you are well aware,’ his solicitor said.

  ‘Mr Richmond you are here to advise your client, not answer for him. I am relating to him what the other person present at the time of Kayleigh’s death says took place, which gives Mr Barrowclough an opportunity to comment on this, if he so wishes.’ Dylan turned to the defendant. ‘Mr Barrowclough, do you wish to make comment?’

  ‘No comment,’ he said.

  ‘Yesterday, you told us that you had removed the body after an accident on behalf of a friend. Can you tell us what this accident was?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘Surely if someone had died and you were involving yourself, you would want to know what had happened?’

  ‘No comment,’ said Barrowclough. He yawned. Vicky put her hand over her mouth and retched.

  ‘Keeping you up, are we? Well, if you answer our questions you can go back to your cell for a lie down, how does that sound?’

  No emotion showed on Barrowclough’s face.

  ‘There is apparently evidence of semen both in the girl’s vagina and anus. Did you have sex with her, because DNA will confirm in due course if you did?’

  Barrowclough sat unmoved, staring down at the table in between him and the officers.

  ‘Do you want to make comment?’ asked Dylan.

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘There are bite marks on the breasts of the deceased which were inflicted after her death and it is believed that sex took place also after her death. Since you were in charge of the body, were you having sex with her dead body?’

  Barrowclough looked up to the ceiling and gazed indifferently around the room.

  ‘It’s only a matter of time before we know the truth. This is an opportunity to put your version of events forward, we are simply trying to find out what happened.’

  ‘No comment.’ Barrowclough said. He sighed.

  ‘While it’s your choice to ‘no comment’,’ Dylan said making quote marks in the air. ‘That can sometimes be very unhelpful to you.’

  ‘No comment,’ he said, inhaling deeply.

  ‘Norris Regan is a feeble little disabled man. You’re a lot taller, bigger and stronger than he is, so therefore I put to you that you were the instigator and the physical force behind this murder?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘The truth is he telephoned you, told you a young girl was at his house, didn’t he? And you went round there, attacked, raped and strangled her?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘That suggests to me that it’s perhaps not the first time you have done this?’

  ‘No comment’.

  ‘You can’t control your sexual urges, can you?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘Is it all about sex, or is the killing more important?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘Can you not, or have you never had a normal relationship with a woman? Is that why you have to render women unconscious and then kill them?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘Are the knickers hidden in the sleeping bag under your seat in the wagon Kayleigh’s?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘Of course Forensic will tell us, but this as I said before is your opportunity to explain to us your involvement and actions on these findings.’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘I believe that it’s not the first time you’ve had dead bodies at your home. You knew very well that we would find other human remains, didn’t you? You’ve killed before, haven’t you?’

  ‘Really Inspector, there has been no disclosure about any other remains found at my client’s address. How can he possibly comment as to whatever the remains may be? I would suggest at this moment in time that those findings are irrelevant. My client is here in respect of the discovery of the body of Kayleigh Harwood at his home, so could we focus on that please? My client is not under arrest on suspicion of any other murders,’ said Mr Richmond.

  He was right of course, but Dylan knew his client was going to no reply and he needed to say it, so he went ahead. ‘No, I totally disagree Mr Richmond. They are highly relevant because it shows me that Mr Barrowclough’s story is utter rubbish. He’s killed before and I believe that he keeps the dead bodies to continue to carry out his sexual perversions until he gets another. The pattern of which perhaps has repeated in respect of Kayleigh.’ Dylan turned to Barrowclough.

  ‘Is there any comment you would like to make about this?’

  ‘No comment,’ he muttered once more.

  ‘You Mr Barrowclough are a dangerous sexual predator, who kills for pleasure and Regan’s nothing but your monkey, I suggest. He gets to have sex when the victim is alive, doesn’t he? But not after death, because that’s your turn on, isn’t it? That’s why you keep the body preserved for as long as you can. Otherwise, why would you keep the body in a freezer?’

  ‘No comment.’

  The interview was terminated.

  Dylan leaned back in his chair in the office. The fire doors were open into the yard. It was cold, but Vicky stood relishing the fresh air.

  ‘Do you think he’ll talk to you?’ said Lisa, placing a cup of coffee on his desk as she pulled her cardigan around her tightly. She shivered.

  ‘Doesn’t look like it at the moment, but who knows? He may want to tell us about everything once he knows his hopes of freedom are futile. That would make things a lot easier for us, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘Life’s optimist, he is,’ Vicky said, joining them and taking her cup of coffee from Lisa. ‘I wonder if Regan knows a lot more than he’s saying too?’

  ‘Well, we’ll give him another interview later to give him opportunity to talk to us. In the meantime, I need to get the Chief Supt to extend Barrowclough’s detention for a further twelve hours and we’ll chase Forensic for priority on the swabs. If they show it is indeed his semen, that will destroy his story of just moving a body for a friend and clarify for us who bit her.’

  ‘Yeah, man and van for hire to shift dead bodies, Barrowclough would have us believe, Lisa.’

  ‘Remind me to ask him about his dog.’

  ‘You don’t think he’s been...?’ Lisa said with a gasp.

  ‘Well you never know with perverts like him but no, I meant we need to find out if there is anyone that will give it a home or, like Regan’s dog, Tess, it may find itself receiving the death penalty, instead of the owner.’

  Lisa looked sad. ‘More victims...’ she said. ‘Barrowclough’s dog was in such a state he has had to been put down.’

  Andy and Ned walked in. ‘Put wood in t‘hole lass will you, its bloody freezing in here,’ said Ned.

  ‘Moron. You mean please close the door Vicky,’ she said. ‘You should have been in the interview with Barrowclough, you wouldn’t have been saying that then about good old fresh air,’ she said.

  ‘Regan’s remanded boss, no application for bail,
Mrs Best says she will ring you later today as she has some other matters to bring to your attention about her client and Barrowclough.’

  ‘That’s good. It would be good to have something else to put to Barrowclough in interview, he’s not commenting.’

  ‘Early days though boss eh? It’s not like the telly would have us believe. Criminals don’t just roll over and accept their fate,’ said Andy.

  DS John Benjamin knocked at his open door. ‘The bones at Barrowclough’s, boss, suggest not one but at least two other bodies – and guess what? There are no skulls.’

  ‘There is a message on your desk from the Council offices and a dentist, John,’ said Lisa.

  ‘And look at this – a fax from Jasmine about the jar that was marked gold and silver we found in Barrowclough’s shed. Some interesting items, she says and one of the jewellery items has a name etched upon it.’

  Dylan looked heavenwards. ‘Thank you God,’ he said.

  Chapter 40

  Dylan was standing next to the filing cabinet in his office when his phone rang.

  ‘Yvonne,’ he said.

  ‘I’ve got some information from my client that might be of interest to you,’ she said stiffly.

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘Norris Regan has confessed to me his involvement with Barrowclough that spans back over a number of years and admits to being involved with previous incidents with young girls.’

  ‘Any in particular?’

  ‘One that happened about twenty years ago that I remember well was a girl that went missing on her way back from her work at a mill in Harrowfield. Barrowclough knocked her off her bike with his wagon and took her to Regan at Ivy Cottage.’

  ‘Tina Walker..,’ Dylan said in a whisper as his eyes wandered over to Barry Sharpe’s file.

  ‘Another he brought from over the border... He can’t give me specific names but he says there were others. Look, I’ll fax over a copy of the signed admission. He’s expecting further interviews in due course. I don’t think you’ll have any problems with him, he’s singing like a canary.’