Dying to Meet You

by Patricia Scott

  Plenty. His thoughts were far from innocent as his eyes travelled slowly over the soft curves of her breasts seductively suggested by the lines of her dress. A forkful of lasagne paused on the way to his mouth. ‘First of all I must know whether I can trust you? Can I?’

  She pursed her mouth wryly, took another sip of white wine and said, ‘Can I trust you Farmer?’

  ‘You can ... I need your help. Linda was wearing a pendant when she was found.’ Interest flared in her eyes instantly. ‘She always wore it and it was the astrological sign of Cancer - yes?’

  She nodded. ‘Sure - it was my birthday present to her last year. Why do you ask? You think it’s important?’

  ‘Could be.’ He clicked his fingers to the waiter. ‘Coffee? Irish whisky?’ She nodded. ‘Two coffees with Irish whisky, please.’

  She grinned. ‘A-ah! Now I’ve got it. You want to get me tight so you can challenge my astrological skills? Am I right, DI Farmer?’

  He frowned. ‘Yes - I would like your help in the astrological field if you’ll give it to me.’

  ‘And can I ask you a question now?’

  ‘You can...’

  ‘Am I right in thinking then that all three victims were wearing similar pendants? With the same sign of Cancer the crab, right?’

  He pursed his lips and said, ‘Right.’

  ‘So - tell me exactly how things were with Jude Van Hoet when she was found? I only know that she was killed in the Orchid Club - was she damaged and hurt as badly as Linda?’

  He frowned and said, ‘Much worse. That’s all you and the public need to know for the moment.’ He saw the sceptical look flash into her brown eyes. ‘Okay, all I can tell you now is that she was found cut up in the shower cabinet with the water left running over her.’ He held his cup tightly in his fist. ‘It was a good imitation of Jack the Ripper at his worst - you can make your own mind up on that. But don’t quote this. I trust you don’t want to give your readers nightmares.’

  ‘My editor wouldn’t wear it for a start. And the latest one, the young girl? She was found in the park, wasn’t she? Was she dunked in water too?’

  The tone of her voice was deadly serious now, all teasing vanished.

  He nodded. ‘Yeah she was young, tied to a paddle boat in the boating lake - and I know where you’re coming from now - I think.’

  ‘You do? Okay.’ She nodded slowly. ‘You’ve told me that all three victims were found in water; the natural element of the Cancer the Crab sign.’ She laughed. ‘This is what you wanted me to confirm, isn’t it, Farmer?’

  He pursed his lips together ruefully then grinned. ‘It is. Thanks.’

  ‘There’s more to this chat though, isn’t there?’

  He leaned over towards her. ‘I need you to tell me more if you can. What would make someone plan to murder young women born under that star sign?’

  She was quiet. She drank her coffee thinking hard for a moment. He studied her cautiously. ‘You wouldn’t be one of them by any chance? It’s not your sign too, is it, Cancer?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, not me.’ She chuckled. ‘I’m much too fiery by nature. I’m an Aries, Farmer! Surely you might have guessed that by now.’ Her head on one side she crinkled her nose and smiled back at him mischievously. ‘And I reckon, let me see now... What do I think about you? Ah - I think you’re a brooding sceptical Scorpio with a sting in your tail.’ He scowled at this. ‘Or at least I think you have your Ascendant or Moon in that sign in your Star Chart. Makes you awfully good sexually though.’ She chuckled as his scornful expression changed to a scowl. She grinned. ‘And are you?’

  His dark eyebrows fretted together, he looked uncomfortable for a moment, and she knew she’d made a direct hit with her diagnosis.

  ‘It still doesn’t tell me why the killer is attracted or obsessed with these women born under that sign.’

  She breathed in deeply, nodded and said, ‘If he’s obsessed with the Cancer women you’ve got to discover first how he finds his victims? Does he know them personally or does he go out looking for them especially?

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Someone who came in contact with Linda personally might know her sign, like me or you for instance. Linda was very keen about reading her daily horoscope. You might have known that Jude wore her pendant pretty prominently too. I noticed it myself only the other night when I paid a visit to the Orchid club. So how old was the latest victim? Any idea yet?’ She viewed him quizzically over the rim of her coffee cup. ‘I’ve heard she was very young. Was she?’

  ‘She seems barely out of her teens. Sixteen - seventeen. She’s not been identified so far, poor kid.’

  ‘So how would she have met her killer?’

  ‘Someone she knew already? A date - someone she’d arranged to meet?’

  ‘Could it have been a blind date?’

  He grimaced. ‘Through the internet?’

  ‘No, not on the web. In a dating column in our paper. You’ve probably seen the Heart to Heart column. It’s published daily. Do you buy the local newspaper, Nick?’

  He frowned. ‘Yep, I do - why?’

  ‘Are you likely to have any papers still at home?’

  ‘I keep some of ‘em. I have a cat and I use some of them for his litter tray.’

  She smothered a giggle as quick as it came. ‘Okay - none at all?’

  ‘I’ve got a couple of this week’s still. Unused.’ He grinned back at her.

  ‘Good. Can we take a look at them? I could go to the Observer office but I want to keep this quiet for the moment in case I’m wrong.’

  He chuckled. ‘Run this in front of me again, Mel Goring. You want to come to my place now to look at some old newspapers.’

  She grinned. ‘At least let’s give it a try. Humour me and I bet we’ll get along just fine.’

  Twenty-Five

  ‘A coffee while you’re here? Or a glass of wine?’

  ‘A coffee - please.’

  Mel looked around curiously at his flat. She liked what she saw. It was comfortable, not over furnished. For a man living on his own it was kept in remarkably good order. No soiled shirts or odd socks draped around the living area, beer cans or dirty plates stacked on the table.

  ‘This is great. It’s a small treasure,’ she said gazing at the large collection of china Toby jugs decorating the beams across the room. ‘You were lucky to find it, weren’t you?’

  He chuckled. ‘Let’s just say it found me. It’s ideal for the moment. The owners of the shop below pressed it on me after I helped to get back some stolen valuables for them.’

  ‘Really? Places to rent are at a premium here,’ she said sitting down on the small cosy settee where Squib was curled up tight in a large furry grey ball. ‘Your cat? He’s a big boy, isn’t he?’

  She reached out to stroke him and was rewarded by a rattling purr and a wide friendly yawn as Squib stretched out full length.

  He chuckled. ‘Looks like you’ve scored first time with Squib. He’s generally pretty stand-offish to strangers. Give me a sec or two and I’ll find the papers.’

  He realized that he was feeling on edge. He didn’t want to be seen to be taking advantage of Mel being here alone with him. But she seemed quite at ease in his company and obviously didn’t find him a threat. He didn’t know whether he should be pleased by this or not. Perhaps it said little for his attraction skills.

  ‘More than I thought. Three days,’ he said bringing in the coffee on the tray and putting the papers down on the table. ‘You know what you’re looking for?’

  She opened up the middle pages of the day before and skimmed down the dating adverts. She laughed. ‘Gotcha! Found it - the thing is who might be caught by it next? Take a look at this, Nick.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Look! Here - read what it says. VIRGO MAN LOOKING FOR A CARING YOUNG CANCER WOMAN FOR LOTS OF FUN AND LOVING.’

  He did as she suggested and, stunned momentarily, he stared back at her. ‘You know, you could wel
l be right.’ He grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed it hard. ‘Thanks!’

  ‘Could be! You’re darn right I am, Farmer. That poor kid! She must have thought she was meeting her dream man. I hope you find out who she is soon.’

  ‘So do I. She appeared well cared for. She must have come from a good home. Somebody’s bound to be missing her by now.’

  She snorted, ‘It sounds like you’re talking about a lost pet! I suppose you get hardened to it in your job. You come up against death in all possible situations. I’ll finish this coffee then you can call me a taxi?’ She frowned.

  ‘Let me drive you home.’

  ‘Okay.’ She studied his face seriously. ‘Colin was in the Royal engineers, you know. He probably thought a lot like you about death. He used to say he never got used to it. Said you always thought someone else would get it not you.’

  ‘Your husband?’ he asked, putting the sugar bowl on the tray.

  ‘Yes - he was killed in Northern Ireland when Jack was just turned three.’

  ‘And how old is he, your son? If you don’t mind me asking?’

  ‘Jack’s five and a half now. Just starting school in September. And don’t tempt me to bring out his photos.’ She smiled sweetly. Boy was she pretty when she smiled; it lighted up her face like a sunbeam. ‘Have you any children? You were married, weren’t you, Nick?’

  ‘Once a journalist always a journalist, I guess. I suppose you mugged up on me before this meeting. Linda told you that I was divorced?’ He looked up to smile directly at her. ‘I’ve no children that I can put a name to.’

  ‘She did. I thought that you must have had a bad relationship to make you so sour towards women. I think Linda might also have mentioned me in conversation to you. You knew about Colin already, didn’t you?’

  ‘You caught my interest, Goring. I’ve wanted to know more about you for a good while now. Wondered what drives you too, I guess.’

  ‘The same as you, I think.’ She smiled and sipped her coffee. ‘Determination to succeed. We’re almost bound to clash, I’m afraid. My aim is to be a good investigative journalist. Before you brought up this idea about the Astrology figuring in this I’d noticed the Cancer pendant that Jude Van Hoet was wearing when I met her in the Casino. An expensive gold one decorated with diamonds.’ His eyes showed instant interest. ‘So I also took a look at the dating columns today and that’s why this one interested me,’ she said as they looked it over again. ‘I wanted to see if it had been put in earlier to attract the young girl. I meant to contact you anyway.’ She chuckled as his face showed surprise. ’But you beat me to it. You know what they say - great minds and all that. And this is a far better place than your office for like minds to meet, don’t you think?’

  ‘So you knew about it already.’ He studied her smiling face carefully. ‘And you let me talk on about it ...’

  She smiled. ‘I did. I just wanted to be sure that’s all.’

  She was obviously determined to be let in on the case.

  ‘Thanks. We can do with some leads on this,’ he admitted. ‘You’re a local girl, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes - so?’

  ‘Perhaps you can tell me how he could have got the girl’s body into the park? The main gates are supposed to be closed by ten o’clock.’

  ‘They are’. She grinned. ‘But that’s easy - there are several smaller gates and it’s possible that they aren’t all locked up at night. Don’t forget it’s a big park. And there are two other separate parts of it for the keepers to see to at night. I can show you the side one in Upper Park Road for instance. That’s often left open. I’ve used it as a short cut across the park myself.

  ‘But the killer could have coerced her into the park as a romantic place. I think she was probably rather simple and young for her age.’

  ‘Right. So can you give me an outlook on this Virgo man? A character study if you like. What would make him tick? You are supposed to know about Astrology.’ He grinned. ‘I must warn you though I think it’s utter crap. And I personally don’t believe in any of it.’

  She pursed her lips then said, ‘He could be caring, to the point of obsession. Very fussy, if he is what he professes to be - a Virgo star sign; perhaps to start with he feels that he’s been badly let down by a Cancer woman.’

  ‘Interesting but hardly warrants an excuse to butcher someone like he did. There would have to be more reasons than that surely.’

  ‘Then it’s up to you to discover the real motive, isn’t it?’

  Twenty-Six

  ‘Anything going down?’ Peterson asked as she walked into the incident room early the following morning.

  ‘We’ve had a phone call from a worried teenager, Gordon Cooper, whose sister’s gone missing, ma’am,’ Geoff Trask replied. ‘We think the victim could be her. She fits the description so far.’

  ‘Right. So what did he have to say?’

  ‘Ellie Cooper didn’t come home the night before last. This apparently is not like her. He thought at first she was staying overnight with a friend. Mentioned a girl called Janice, their next door neighbour. He can’t give us anything else. The girl hasn’t any close friends and her place of work, the White Rock hotel, phoned him this morning to ask where she was.

  ‘Apparently her mother Stella has been away in Maidstone for the past week nursing their sick grandmother, that’s how Ellie wasn’t missed at first. The brother sounds worried but a bit gormless. He’s fifteen and doing part time work in a local garage.’

  ‘Ellie Cooper - does her age and appearance check? Can we ask the brother to identify his sister? No, perhaps not. When’s the mother coming back? Does he know when he expects her home? I take it that there’s no father on the scene?’

  Trask checked with notes on his desk. Shook his head. ‘Seems not, their mother is coming back this afternoon post haste by train.’

  ‘Not a good homecoming for her then.’ Peterson shook her head, sighed and walked across the floor to look up at the photos of the three victims displayed on the wall of the incident room.

  ‘We’ve also had a phone call from a launderette on the sea front. They have found a few items of laundered women’s clothing; a dress and underclothes left uncollected. Seems more than likely that they are those taken from Ellie Cooper. Hence no DNA. He leaves nothing to chance, ma-am.’

  Peterson sighed, shook her head. ‘We’ve got to stop it from happening again to another young woman.’ There was a ragged edge to her husky voice and she tried to clear it quickly. ‘Get in touch again immediately with Gordon Cooper. And the hotel where she worked.’

  ‘There could be some connection between the victims, boss. We’ve seen that all three young women were born under the same star sign of Cancer.’

  Peterson’s face lit up as Farmer chipped into the conversation.

  Farmer took the paper advert out of his jacket pocket and showed it to Peterson. ‘There’s this I think. The girl could have answered it and there could be more young women who will do the same.’

  ‘Thanks. Good work, Farmer. Trask go to work on it. See if you can find out from the Observer newspaper office how many answers the Virgo man has received so far.’ She looked round the room at the team. ‘I’m sure I can leave it in your capable hands. We’ll get the guy who has committed these three crimes before he tries for another one.’

  Farmer nodded and smiled. ‘We shall, ma-am.’

  Twenty-Seven

  Stella Cooper came in the same day to identify her young daughter. She looked down and said quietly, ‘Yes - that’s my Ellie, poor kid.’ She bent over to kiss her gently on the forehead. ‘She’s only a baby. Who would want to harm her?’

  When she returned to the Chief Inspector’s office she flung questions quickly at them. ‘What happened to my Ellie, inspector? What was she doing in the park at night? How did he get away with it? That’s what I’d like to know - and how come the park was left open that late? She must have gone out with someone she knew. She was a good girl.’ She star
ed them out with stormy brown eyes ‘And that’s saying something these days. Ellie didn’t let men pick her up in the street like some young girls I know. I drummed that into her often enough. She was a sweet innocent, my Ellie.’

  When shown the silver pendant in the plastic packet she didn’t recognise it. ‘She must have bought it recently. I haven’t seen it before. The Crab, it’s the symbol for her star sign.’ She smiled then gulped back a sob in her throat. ‘She was potty about Astrology and star signs. She was always reading her horoscope.’ She studied the pendant closely. ‘It looks an expensive one too. Ellie could never save her money. Not that it matters now.’ She sniffed back her tears.

  ‘Perhaps someone bought the pendent for her?’

  She nodded. ‘Possible I suppose.’

  ‘Did she mention to you that she would be meeting a blind date from the local newspaper?’

  ‘No. Of course not! I wouldn’t have allowed it. She was just a sweet kid - not long had her seventeenth birthday.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Mrs Cooper. We think Ellie might have known the person she was out with when she met him. And perhaps accepted the pendant from him.’

  ‘And you think he killed these other women too! We’ve got a bloody, depraved monster living amongst us here in Harling.’

  ‘Ellie worked full time at the White Rock hotel your son said.’

  ‘The White Rock - yes. You might have known Ellie.’ She smiled. ‘Ellie mentioned to me earlier on that you were staying there, Superintendent, with your husband.’

  Farmer flashed a quick look at Peterson, who shuffled the files on her desk.

  Peterson nodded. ‘Yes, that’s right.’ She chose to ignore Farmer’s immediate interest. ‘She was a nice young girl, so polite. I remember her now. Rather shy, young in her ways.’

  ‘She was - but she wasn’t backward if that’s what you think. I only wish I’d been there for her. It would never have happened to her if I’d been at home.’

  ‘You don’t know that. Ellie could have managed to keep it from you even then. You can’t blame yourself, Mrs Cooper. ’