Kissing a Killer

by David Carter

  ‘If it’s not too much trouble.’

  ‘No, of course not,’ and she showed them into a neat square rear sitting room that overlooked a neat square rear garden. ‘Take a seat, I won’t be a minute.’

  Walter and Karen shared a look and glanced around. Pictures on the wall, but no photos, no dead husbands on display like trophies, forever staring down over a former wife who didn’t love them that much. Corla came back almost straight away; the kettle must have been on the go all along, anticipating thirsty police officers. She carefully carried an old wooden tray and on the tray were primrose patterned china cups, and saucers, something that were rarely seen. She set them gently on the coffee table and poured from a matching yellow teapot. Karen rarely touched tea, but it was too late to refuse. Steam wafted away, and the tea looked good and strong, just as Walter liked it.

  Walter checked Corla out. She was a neat woman, tall and slender with a pinched waist, long dark skirt way below the knee, plain white blouse finished off with a flourish by a red silk scarf knotted around her neck. Pity about the warts, but none of us are perfect. The heavily dyed and shiny blonde hair that bounced on her shoulders didn’t do anything for her, he thought, making her a hard woman to date. There was something vaguely hippy-ish about her, and the house too come to that, though whether she had any direct connection to the sixties, it was hard to tell.

  ‘So,’ said Walter, cradling the hot tea. ‘My colleague at the station tells me that you might have seen something in Berryland Avenue.’

  Corla sat in the matching armchair opposite and smiled and said, ‘That’s right. I did.’

  ‘Would you like to tell us what you saw?’

  Corla nodded and began. ‘Before I tell you all about that, just to be clear, I understand there is a reward on offer in this case.’

  Oh, here we go, thought Walter, his worst fears re-emerging.

  ‘There is, if your information results in the killer being apprehended, and successfully prosecuted.’

  ‘Good,’ she said, happy to see Karen taking notes. ‘Just so long as that is understood.’

  Walter prompted again. ‘What did you see?’

  ‘I saw a tall young man coming out of Belinda’s house.’

  ‘You knew Belinda?’

  ‘No, not to speak to, but it was her house all right.’

  ‘How young was the young man?’

  ‘Thirty, maybe thirty-five.’

  ‘Can you describe him?’

  ‘Tall, fit, dark haired, a good head of hair.’

  Just like David Baker, thought Karen, but then again, just like Ronald Speight, Miro, Gareth Williams, Michael Flanagan, Iain Donaldson, and Derek Nesbitt, to name but seven.’

  ‘What time was this?’

  ‘Around a quarter to one in the morning.’

  ‘Where were you?’

  ‘I was sitting on a garden wall on the other side of the road, four or five houses down.’

  ‘What were you doing there?’

  ‘I’d been out. I always go out that night, there’s a group of us go together, socialising, it’s a regular thing, you know, have a nice time, a few drinks, maybe something to eat. I had been walking home when I suddenly felt like a sit down, you know how it is, and, naughty I know, but I needed a ciggie too. I was going to wait till I got home, but I thought, to hell with it, I’ll sit and have a quiet fag. The rain had just stopped, of course everything was sopping wet, and I ruined my coat when I sat down, but you don’t think, do you?’

  ‘You were by yourself?’

  ‘Oh yes.’

  ‘Tell me exactly what happened.’

  ‘He came out of Belinda’s house. I noticed him particularly because he stood there for a second on the pavement and glanced around. I thought he’d see me, but he didn’t. He hunched into his jacket and walked smartly away from the house, and away from me. The streetlights were popping out, one by one, almost as he went past them, I thought that weird.’

  ‘What was he wearing?’

  ‘Dark trousers, they could have been black jeans, though I couldn’t be sure, and a casual jacket, and gloves, I noticed that too, dark gloves.’

  ‘No hat?’

  ‘No hat.’

  ‘He was a white man?’

  ‘Oh yes, as white as me.’

  ‘And he didn’t have a car?’

  ‘Nope, not that I saw.’

  ‘Was he carrying anything?’

  She shook her head and again said, ‘Nope.’

  ‘How tall was he?’

  ‘Six foot, maybe more. He looked like a man who could look after himself, and a man who could look after other people too, if necessary, a man’s man, as they used to say.’

  ‘What about his feet?’

  ‘His feet?’

  ‘Yes, trainers, boots, shoes, what?’

  She shook her head and thought hard. ‘Dark shoes, I’d say, I think I would have noticed if he had worn boots, or flashy trainers.’

  ‘What happened next?’

  ‘I finished my ciggie.’

  ‘And you didn’t see anyone else?’

  ‘Nope, not a soul. It was very quiet.’

  ‘What did you do then?’

  ‘I got up and noticed my dirty coat and brushed it down, and ambled home.’

  ‘So you walked right past Belinda’s house?’

  ‘I did. There were no lights on in the house, and I....’

  ‘You what?’

  She shook her head and grimaced and continued. ‘I know I shouldn’t have, but right there, I thought naughty thoughts.’

  ‘What kind of naughty thoughts?’

  Corla nodded and continued. ‘You’ll think me crazy, but I imagined he was a lady’s younger lover, and he’d been paying her a night-time visit, passionate like, and they’d had a lovely time, and now she was peacefully sleeping. I was just a little jealous, I guess, and she was perfectly content, and he had a spring in his step, but in truth she wasn’t content at all, was she?’

  ‘No, she wasn’t. She was dead.’

  ‘Dreadful business. It beggars belief. Why are so many men so bloody awful?’

  ‘I can’t explain that,’ said Walter, glancing at Karen.

  She said, ‘Women kill too. I don’t suppose you would be able to recognise him if you saw him again.’

  Corla smiled.

  ‘Of course I could, that’s why I rang. I may be getting on a little, but my vision is perfect, 20/20, I have never worn glasses in my life. I saw him as clear as day, he paused under the light, just for a second, and he looked my way down the road, I saw his face, I’d recognise him again for sure, especially now we all know what he’s done. The filthy git, he needs to be put behind bars. I’d string him up if I had my way.... But you don’t want to know that.’

  ‘Just to be clear,’ said Walter. ‘We don’t yet know the man you saw was the killer.’

  ‘Well, who else would he be?’

  ‘Do you think you might be able to pick him out of an ID parade?’

  ‘What? Men lined up in front of me, you mean?’

  ‘Yes, but you could be hidden behind a glass screen if you prefer, they couldn’t see you. You’d be quite safe with us.’

  ‘I think that would be better.’

  ‘Could you do that tomorrow, say late afternoon, if we could arrange it? We’d send a car for you.’

  ‘Yes, I’d do that, be happy to, just so long as I received my just rewards.’

  ‘You would, on completion of a successful prosecution.’

  Corla nodded and said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’

  ‘One thing I don’t understand?’ said Walter.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Why has it taken you until now to tell us what you saw?’

  ‘That’s the funny thing. I didn’t put two and two together until I heard it on the news today, about the murder being in Berryland Avenue. To tell you the truth I’d forgotten all about it. You know what it’s like when one goes out and has a few drin
ks. I’d forgotten even seeing him, but then I have special powers, and it all came tumbling back. I can see his face in my mind now. If only you could see that too.’

  ‘Special powers?’

  ‘Yes, didn’t I say? I’m a medium, a spiritualist, I do fortune telling as well, and sometimes I receive ESP moments.’

  ‘ESP?’

  ‘Yes, extra sensory percep....’

  ‘I know what it is, I’m just not sure I believe in it, and I know that a court would never do so.’

  ‘What I have told you is not an ESP moment, Inspector, it’s the truth, fact, and when you put me in front of a line-up, I will point the killer out to you, just so long as he is there, of course. I am not in this for the money, I can assure you of that, though I’ll admit anything would be gratefully received.’

  ‘We’ll organise something.’

  Corla nodded and said, ‘I know you think I am a stupid woman, but I am not. I have gifts. I could tell you a lot about yourself, you’d be surprised. After this is all over you should consider booking an appointment and come for a consultation. Would you like my card?’

  Walter grinned and glanced at Karen. She was grinning too.

  ‘I’ll tell you what I’ll do,’ he said. ‘I’ll take your card if you take mine,’ and he pulled one from his top pocket.

  ‘Deal,’ she said, swopping cards.

  ‘So what could you tell me about myself?’ he said, reaching out and setting the empty cup on the tray.

  ‘Loads, Walter. Your current girlfriend,’ and she stroked her lightly pinkened lips and shook her head. ‘That won’t last five minutes.’

  ‘Nothing new there,’ grinned Karen.

  Walter looked glum and regretted asking.

  ‘Anything else you can tell us?’

  ‘Not yet, but there could be.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Information is re-materialising all the time.’

  Walter pulled a doubting face.

  ‘But everything you have told us so far are true actual facts, not conjecture, or imaginings, or dreams of any kind.’

  ‘I don’t do dreams!’ she said coldly. ‘Dreams are for ordinary people. Dreams are the devil’s work.’

  Walter glanced at Karen as if to say, anything else, have I forgotten anything? She nodded and stood up and said, ‘We’ll be in touch, Mrs Revelation.’

  ‘Please do, and it’s “Miss” actually.’

  Five minutes later and they were outside in the BMW.

  ‘Well?’ she said.

  ‘I thought it was going great until all that nonsense popped out about ESP, and spiritualism, and mediumship, and fortune telling, for God’s sake, and all that ragbag rubbish, it all kind of went downhill after that.’

  ‘You don’t believe in it?’

  Walter breathed out heavy and hard and said, ‘All I believe in are checkable facts. I thought beforehand she might have been in it just for the money, and I still think that could be the case. Let’s hope she’s not a total fruitcake.’

  ‘I know it’s borderline weird Guv, but I thought she sounded quite convincing.’

  ‘You would.’

  ‘Was she right about your current girlfriend?’

  ‘Maybe, but you don’t need to be an expert to see that.’

  ‘And how did she know you lived alone?’

  ‘Lucky guess maybe, or perhaps she could tell from my clothing and body language or haircut, how would I know?’

  ‘That’s the thing, Guv; she’s a clever woman. Insightful.’

  ‘Yes, up to a point. It wouldn’t surprise me if she had claimed rewards before, fiddling the facts to fit the case. If she’s doing that, in the end it won’t stand up. In fact, when we get back to the station see what we have on her; see if she’s claimed rewards before. If she’s taking us for silly Charlies she’s in for a big surprise. We’ll charge her with wasting police time.’

  ‘I think she’s kosher.’

  ‘I don’t know what to think, but hopefully we’re a little further forward than we were this morning.’

  ‘Back to the station, Guv?’

  Walter nodded, still thinking about something.

  ‘I’ll take a bet now that she’s made any number of claims against insurance companies, I’ll bet she knows every trick going, anything to make a quick buck, and if we think that and can see that, imagine what a smart-arsed defending barrister would do. They’d rip her a new one. Jeez, that doesn’t bear thinking about. Makes me shiver, just the thought of it.’

  ‘A tenner,’ she said, starting the car.

  ‘A tenner what?’

  ‘A tenner says she hasn’t claimed a reward before.’

  ‘You’re on, and don’t forget.’

  Thirty-Two

  Back in the office, Mrs West was missing. She had some kind of quarterly update meeting with the local city councillors, something that Walter would do anything to avoid. Walter glanced at Karen and said, ‘Let’s have a chat in private; there’s an interview room free, there’s something I want to talk to you about.’

  Karen stiffened and glanced at him. He didn’t notice for he was looking away toward the interview room door. They went across the office and into the room and closed the door and sat down.

  Karen jumped in first, fearing the worst.

  ‘What do you want to talk about?’

  ‘The ID parade.’

  ‘What about it?’

  ‘I’m thinking of doing something a bit off the wall.’

  You and me both, thought Karen, though she didn’t say. Instead she found herself saying, ‘I presume it’s Ronald Speight you want to put up?’

  ‘That’s just the thing,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to have to do eight or nine bloody ID parades.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So, I thought I’d just do the one, have them all in the same line-up.’

  ‘But you can’t do that!’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Oh come on, Guv. You know why. For a start, if you tried to use the result in a court of law any judge would almost certainly throw it out, and for two, surely it’s against the rules.’

  ‘At this stage I don’t want to use the result as evidence, I just want to get a positive ID on the killer. And as for rules, if by bending one a little it saved another woman from being murdered, I’d say it was worth bending, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Of course,’ she said, thinking of her own rule bending.

  ‘If we know who it is, we can concentrate all our resources on nailing the bastard.’

  ‘I’m all for that, but it’s a risky strategy.’

  ‘Okay, your objection is noted, DS Greenwood, that will be in my report, you’ll be in the clear.’

  ‘That wasn’t what worried me, Guv, you know I always support you where I can. So who do you want in the line?’

  ‘Speight, Miro, Donaldson, Nesbitt, Flanagan, and Williams. Crocker’s out of the frame, good head of hair, not. We’ll tell them all they’re not the prime suspect; they are there to make up the numbers, due to their similarity to the description we now have of a man leaving Belinda’s place at the dead of night. All we are trying to do is finally eliminate them from our inquiry. It’s in their interests, blah-blah.’

  ‘I don’t think they’ll buy that, especially that solicitor bloke, Mr Bouffant. He’ll see through it straight away.’

  ‘Maybe, but we’ll appeal to his community spirit, helping with the police in such a tragic case, etcetera, and we’ll throw in two ringers as well, just as token bodies, nothing to do with the case.’

  Karen shook her head and grinned and said, ‘This is one crazy idea.’

  ‘Yes, it is, but it might just work.’

  ‘Mrs West won’t like it.’

  ‘Mrs West won’t know about it, until it’s all set up. Look, I know it’s a bit.... well, very unusual, but sometimes, occasionally, unusual tactics pay big dividends.’

  ‘It’s not like you, Guv, but okay, if that’s what you want
. I’m with you all the way, but I did think you might have used VIPER.’

  Walter thought about that for a second and scratched his head. VIPER, the new digital recognition system: Video Identification Parade Electronic Recording, to give it its overlong and rather pompous title. VIPER had it’s place, showing witnesses in the comfort of their own home video line-ups of suspects, but surely it was better in the flesh, where you could smell the fear on the guilty, see the twitchiness in their eyes, and closely monitor their body language. You couldn’t beat up close and personal.

  ‘VIPER has a place, but not here, not now, especially with a woman who supposedly possesses superhuman powers.’

  ‘Thought you didn’t believe in all that tosh.’

  ‘I don’t, but if there’s anything in it at all, I want to have her up close to the killer, to be able to look into his eyes.’

  ‘If he’s among them.’

  ‘Yes, Karen, there is that, but at least we’ll know if we are looking in the right place, or the wrong one.’

  ‘Actually, Guv, talking about doing things a little off the wall....’

  A heavy knock came to the door and Gibbons barged in. He didn’t wait to be invited, or to speak; he was straight in there.

  ‘Did you know, Guv, who’s put up the reward in the Belinda Cooper case?’

  ‘No. Who?’

  ‘Only Gareth Bloody Williams!’

  ‘He can’t do that!’

  ‘Why not?’ asked Karen.

  ‘Because he’s a suspect, without an alibi,’ said Walter, ‘when I last looked, and no matter how unlikely a suspect he might be, he’s still in the frame, and he can’t be putting up financial inducements to put someone else in the frame.’

  ‘Thought you’d better know, Guv.’

  ‘Yeah, thanks Gibbons, we’ll be with you in a minute,’ and Walter turned back to Karen. ‘What were you going to say?’

  Karen scratched her head.

  ‘Oh, nothing important, Guv, another time maybe, let’s get on with setting up the ID parade to end all ID parades.’

  Walter grinned.

  ‘I couldn’t have put it better myself. We’ll set it up for half past four tomorrow afternoon. Someone will have to go and fetch Corla Rev at say half three, so she’s here in plenty of time.’