by Conrad Jones
“Can’t say that I remember her clearly.” Tod shook his head. “I may have taken her to her car but that’s just the type of guy that I am.” He appeared almost genuine. “If I can help someone, I will.”
“You like to help people?” Annie asked smiling. She held up another photograph. “Well, this is a picture of you ‘helping’ her friend, Jackie Webb, from the stairwell of the car park into the back of the car.” Annie turned to Stirling and showed him the picture. “He does like to ‘help’ doesn’t he, Sergeant?”
“Clearly.”
“I’m surprised that you don’t recall ‘helping’ two women back to their car?” Tod’s face darkened at their sarcasm. “Anything coming back to you yet?” He folded his arms and tilted his head to one side. A narrow smile touched his lips. “What is so amusing?” Annie asked.
“You are. I’m enjoying watching you sweating your pretty little head,” he grinned. “You’re quite attractive considering.”
“Tod!” Kate Bartlet said shocked. It was obvious that he was referring to Annie’s false eye. “I don’t think that is helpful. Just answer the Inspector’s questions.”
“Oops, sore subject,” Tod shrugged. “I was just passing a compliment, that’s all.”
“I’m glad that you feel comfortable enough to make light of the situation but this is very serious.” She paused and tapped the photo. Annie felt anger rising inside her. She swallowed and returned her focus to the pictures. “If you think it’s funny so far, then you’ll find this absolutely hilarious,” Annie looked directly at him. “This is you with both Jayne Windsor and Jackie Webb.” His eyes flicked to the photo. He swallowed hard again. “You’re on camera getting into the car and driving them away,” Annie smiled coldly. “See how funny that is?”
“I think he’s lost his sense of humour,” Stirling added.
“As much as I enjoy the cut and thrust of mental jousting, Tod,” Annie shrugged. “But I think we’ve messed about enough now, don’t you?” she smiled coldly. “I’ll ask you once more. Do you recognise them now?”
Tod sat in silence for a few moments. His eyes were fixed on the photographs but Annie couldn’t work out what was going through his mind. Suddenly, he looked up, smirked and held up his index finger. “You know what, now that I’ve seen their pictures properly, it’s all coming back to me,” he nodded thoughtfully and rubbed his chin.
“Tod, your acting is forced and unconvincing,” Stirling said gruffly. “It is also very annoying so pack it in and get on with it!”
“Can you throw your gorilla a banana or something please, Inspector, he’s becoming aggressive,” Tod sneered and looked at Stirling. “Calm down King Kong, who rattled your cage?” Tod smirked again. Stirling looked ready to explode. “Okay, Inspector.” Tod held up his hands. “So you have pictures of me in their car,” he shrugged nonchalantly and looked down at his fingernails. “So I drove them home, so what?” Tod shrugged. “They were as drunk as skunks. I was helping them out that’s all. Like I said, I love helping. It’s just part of who I am.”
“Where did you drive them to?”
Tod frowned. “Wherever home was. I cannot remember. I took them home and called a cab.”
“That was very good of you,” Annie smiled thinly. “You’re a real model citizen.”
“I try my best.”
“So to summarise, you left the nightclub with Jayne?” Annie tapped the photograph.
“It looks like I did.” Tod shrugged. “Like I said before, I can’t really remember much about it.”
“Tell me how did Jackie Webb get from the club into the car park stairwell?” Annie frowned. “She didn’t leave the club with you did she?”
“I have no idea.” He sighed.
“You see I’m puzzled,” Annie looked at the photographs again. “Were you with a friend that night?” Annie raised her eyebrows. “Could he have escorted her to the car park?”
“I was alone.” Twitch.
“Then how did she get there?”
“We’re going around in circles here,” Tod rolled his eyes skyward. “I have told you that I don’t remember anything. If it’s such a big deal, why don’t you ask her?”
“Because she’s dead, Tod.” Annie snapped and watched his reaction. His expression didn’t change but his eyes darted around the room. Annie pointed to the photographs again. “They are both dead,” she said flatly. “But then you know that already, don’t you?” Annie was quite surprised when the colour drained from his face.
“How would I know that?” Tod looked genuinely shocked. He shuffled uncomfortably in his chair. “I don’t know anything about them being dead, honestly.” His eyes looked frightened but there was no sincerity in his voice. He looked from Annie to Stirling. “You dragged me all the way from Spain for this?” He scoffed nervously. “Is that what this is all about?”
Annie swallowed her anger once more and ignored his sarcasm. “Tell me, did you target them before you went to the club or did you pick them at random once you were inside?”
“What drugs are you taking?” Tod snapped. “Targeting?” he shook his head and frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You know exactly what I mean, Tod.” Annie smiled thinly. “How did you choose who to target?”
“Listen to me and listen really well,” he leaned forward and glared at Annie, “are you listening properly?” he paused. “I don’t have a fucking clue what you are talking about.” His face reddened angrily and the muscles at the edge of his mouth twitched slightly. His eyes were cold and piercing. Annie could sense the violence inside him. “I repeat for those who are hard of hearing, I haven’t got a clue what this about.”
“Mr Harris is struggling to understand what this is about,” Annie said to Stirling.
Stirling shook his head and smiled. “It is not rocket science is it?”
“Nope it is not. In actual fact it is quite simple,” Annie said tight lipped, “it’s about the kidnap, rape and murder of two women, Tod.” She pointed to the photos. “The two women that you drove home from the nightclub,” she tapped the pictures again. “These two women here, Jayne Windsor and Jackie Webb. Raped and murdered.” She sat back and shrugged. “Do you understand what we’re talking about now?”
“What?” he asked incredulously. “Rape and murder?” he left his mouth open and stared at Annie. “Are you crazy?” Tod held up his hands in surrender and shook his head. “Look here,” he croaked and tapped the photos. His voice was shaking, the arrogance gone. “Listen to me, they were so drunk that they couldn’t stand up,” Tod stammered. “I drove them home and that’s it. I don’t know anything about them dying.”
“Jayne Windsor didn’t drink.”
“So what?” he shrugged and blushed again. Annie could see the cogs turning in his mind. “She might have dropped something in the club.”
“She was a serving police officer. She didn’t do drugs.”
“And you’re all angels I suppose?”
“They were drugged,” Annie snapped. “You drugged them. It’s on the CCTV from the club.”
“You’re mistaken.”
“No.” Annie put three photographs down. “This is you giving Jayne drinks. Spiked drinks.”
“No chance. I don’t need to drug women to get them into bed.”
“Really?” Annie frowned. “We’ve had a good look through your computer and your DVD collection, Tod,” she shook her head. “You have a lot of images and videos of women being raped don’t you?”
Tod grinned nervously and looked at his brief. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair and nodded. “It’s not a crime. I like watching porn,” he said flatly. “You know, handcuffs and the like. You have handcuffs don’t you, Inspector?” he winked. “Don’t tell me you’ve never used them in your spare time, eh?” he laughed. “She’s blushing. I bet you have!” he looked around nervously. “Tell me, Inspector,” he frowned thoughtfully. “When you fuck do your boyfriends ask you to turn the lights off?” Hi
s eyes glared at Annie. In that moment, she knew he could kill without conscience. “You know the glass eye and the scar must put some guys off.”
“That’s enough.” Stirling leaned towards him and glowered at him. Tod blushed and looked away. “Do you know that our computer techs are able to retrieve everything that you’ve ever looked at, downloaded, purchased, stored on a memory stick or even deleted?” he paused for effect. “And I mean everything. You may think data has gone from your computer but it hasn’t.” Tod stopped smiling and frowned. Stirling pushed a print out of an online invoice across the table. “You deleted this from your history but we found it.” Tod swallowed hard. “You purchased roofies online two months ago. A lot of it.” Tod bit his bottom lip and glanced at the invoice. “You know what roofies are, don’t you Tod?” Stirling sat back and tapped the invoice. “Rohypnol. The ‘date rape’ drug. The same drug used on Jayne Windsor, the woman in that photograph.”
“I’ve never seen that before.”
“Jayne Windsor wasn’t drunk, you drugged her.”
“You’re mistaken.”
Stirling held up an evidence bag. “We found three bottles of it in your bedside cabinet.”
“What?” Tod looked at his brief angrily. “What is this?”
“You heard me,” Stirling said smiling. “Rohypnol, which was found in your bedroom.”
“In my bedroom?” Tod frowned and looked at his brief again. “Are you listening to this?” she nodded and blushed but didn’t say anything. “They’ve been to my mum’s? Can’t you object or something?”
“We’re not in court, Tod,” she muttered.
“Not yet anyway,” Stirling added with a sarcastic grin.
Tod looked furious. “You can’t do that,” he pointed his finger at Stirling. “You’ve been to my mum’s house and searched it, bastards!”
“Yes.”
“You can’t, can they?” Tod looked at his brief and she nodded her head. She whispered in his ear. He looked rattled but listened to her advice. “I’m saying nothing more, fuck you!”
“That won’t help you,” Annie said.
“No comment,” he grinned and raised his middle finger to her. He felt his heart pounding in his chest. Tod shifted; his hands were clasped tightly together beneath the table. His knuckles were white and his palms were sweating. He licked his lips but his mouth was bone dry.
“Tod,” Annie sat back and folded her arms. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in?”
“No comment.”
“We found your DVD collection in your mum’s shed.”
“No comment.” The colour drained from his face again. His eyes dropped to the table. He shifted his weight uncomfortably.
Annie placed two more photos on the table. The colour drained from Tod’s face and his jaw clenched. She could see the vein pulsing in his forehead. His eyes narrowed as he stared at one and then the other. “What the hell is this?” Tod asked in a whisper. He looked at Bartlet angrily. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s a picture of your shed,” Stirling said. “You know, it’s where you sit and drink beer and watch DVD’s.”
“No comment.”
“Do you recognise this?”
Tod’s face showed fear and something else. He looked genuinely sickened. “What the hell is that?” he muttered. Sweat formed on his brow. “That is sick.”
“That is Jackie Webb with no face left,” Stirling tapped the photo.
“Oh my God!” Tod looked at his brief. “I’ve never seen that before, honestly!”
Kate Bartlet looked like she was going to vomit. “Don’t say anything else.”
“You have never seen that before?” Stirling frowned.
“Never.”
“Tod, say nothing more,” Bartlet said again.
“You should recognise her like this.” Stirling pushed the photograph closer to him. “She stars in the DVD that we took from your player, you know, the last DVD that you watched before you ran off to Spain.”
“No comment.”
“You drank beer and masturbated in your armchair,” Annie added with a sour grin. “The waste bin was full of stained tissues.”
“I haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about,” Tod stared at the picture of Jackie Webb’s body incredulously. “I have never seen this before and I certainly had nothing to do with that!”
“The DNA on the tissues we found is yours, Tod,” Annie said dryly. “Your semen is all over them.”
“No comment. That’s sick!”
“It is sick,” Annie nodded. “But masturbating over it is sicker still, don’t you think?”
“I have never seen that before,” Tod stressed. Rivulets of sweat trickled down his forehead.
“Tod,” Bartlet said angrily. “My advice is to say nothing more!”
“I didn’t do that,” Tod replied in a whisper.
“Are you denying being in the shed?” Annie asked calmly. “Your DNA is on the tissues and it’s on the beer bottles too.” She paused. Tod blushed bright red. “You sat in that armchair and masturbated in front of the television. Didn’t you?”
“No comment.”
“This is the DVD that you were watching,” she pointed to several stills from the recording. “It shows Jackie Webb, her face missing and then it shows the headless body of Jayne Windsor.”
“Headless?” he muttered. “Jesus! No comment.”
“Both women are on that DVD.” She tilted her head and looked at his eyes. They were full of fear. “The game is over, Tod.” He sat forward and shook his head. His face was pale and his bottom lip quivered. “What happened, Tod?” Annie spoke calmly. “Raping women wasn’t enough anymore?” she paused. “Did you need something more extreme to get it up?”
“Screw you!” Tod snapped. “What is going on here?” His face had a confused expression across it. Annie watched his reactions with interest. “What the hell are they playing at here?” He looked at Bartlet again but she looked equally shocked by the images. “This is a stitch up. Do something!” he leaned towards Annie. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! Can you hear me?”
“I can hear you well enough but you’re lying.”
“I am not lying!”
“Are you denying sitting in that chair before you left for Spain?”
“No,” he said flustered. “But I have never seen that DVD.” He swallowed hard. “I was watching porn, not that!”
“How did it get into your player?”
“It must have been planted.”
“That’s difficult to believe, Tod.”
“I didn’t kill anyone.”
Annie ignored him. “You admit that you drove them home that night though?”
“No comment,” he snapped.
“You’ve already admitted that, Einstein,” Annie said flatly. “You drugged them in the club, drove them home and raped them,” she looked into his eyes and paused. He hesitated as if he was going to confess but then he seemed to calm himself. Annie continued. “And then you tortured them to death and mutilated their bodies.” Annie placed a series of crime scene images in front of Tod. He sat back in his chair as if trying to get away from them. She paused to let the images take effect. The pictures were difficult to look at. “We found this Cyrillic script intricately carved into the skin of Jackie Webb.” She watched his reaction. “This is especially interesting. It must have taken hours.” Annie looked Bartlet in the eyes. “We can tell that she was alive during the entire process. Like something from a horror movie, don’t you think?”
“That’s sick.” Tod stammered. “I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t do that. This is mental!” he turned to his brief, his eyes watery and pleading. “Do something, please! They are trying to frame me!”
“Calm down, Tod,” Bartlet said irritably. The photographs had rattled her too. “Say nothing else. Do you understand?” Tod took a deep breath and nodded. He closed his eyes and sat back as far as his wound would allow.
&nb
sp; Annie placed three pictures of the intricate carvings on the victim’s skin onto the table. Tod shook his head in disbelief. His brief looked like she was about to pass out. She swallowed hard and looked at the ceiling. “Nasty isn’t it?”
“I need to talk to my client alone,” Bartlet said quietly.
“I didn’t do that,” Tod shook his head. He looked at his brief for help. “Tell them that I didn’t do this!” he turned to Annie. “I didn’t kill anyone!”
“Really?” Annie asked sarcastically. “How do you explain the DVD at your mother’s house?”
Tod shrugged and shook his head. His pallor was grey and his lower lip trembled. He looked to Bartlet for advice. She shook her head. “No comment.” This time his voice was little more than a whisper.
“Kidnap, rape, murder,” Annie smiled thinly. “If you add to that the fact that you deliberately tried to murder and maim the responders, you’re looking at three life sentences back to back.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t try to murder anyone.”
“Tod, don’t say anymore,” Bartlet advised him again. “I must insist on a break.
“Shut up! I want to know what you mean about the responders,” he said impatiently. “What are you talking about?”
“The incendiary device that you rigged up in the attic?” Annie said placing a picture of the burnt out shell that was Jayne Windsor’s home. Tod looked at it and looked at the ceiling.
“Incendiary device?” Tod shook his head in disbelief. It was the image of a burned out shell that he had seen in the newspapers. “This is going from the sublime to the fucking ridiculous. I didn’t kill anyone and I didn’t build any bomb.”
Annie placed another photo on the table. “We found this equipment in your mum’s garage,” she paused as he looked at the picture. His eyes widened. “It’s exactly the same as the material used to set fire to Jayne Windsor’s house.” She put more pictures taken in the garage in front of him and watched his face. “Ball bearings, water heaters, petrol cans.” There was another painful pause. “It destroyed most of the evidence at the first scene but we still managed to get these pictures.”