by Helen Fields
Callanach looked at Ava. It was a scenario they would have to explore. Caroline Ryan would have to be hiding her secrets pretty well if her fiancé had no idea what could have attracted the killer to her. For now, the best they could do was hope that Jonty had more information for them courtesy of Kate Bailey’s body, or that the latest doll would reveal something new. Given that Kate Bailey had been murdered earlier than expected, there was no knowing how long Caroline might survive.
Chapter Thirty-Six
‘“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body”,’ Jonty read from the miniature scroll of paper contained within the skin doll. ‘Similar to the other two. Nothing unexpected given what you already knew about Kate.’
‘From Corinthians,’ Callanach said, checking the quote on his mobile. ‘Doesn’t take us any further forward.’
‘Do you know what happened to Kate’s wrist?’ Ava asked Jonty.
‘I’m pretty sure she rubbed her bindings against sharp wood to cut them. The skin below the infection was absolutely full of splinters. She must have been in agony,’ Jonty told them.
‘What about the new doll?’ Callanach asked. ‘The secretary from the architect’s firm opened the box because of the smell. Did the killer do something differently this time?’
‘Well, the inside of the skin hadn’t been cleaned as thoroughly, so more flesh was still clinging to the skin. Must have been in more of a rush than on previous occasions. It’s a difficult thing to work with, human skin. Normally there would be a drying process and some stretching.’
The two halves of the skin doll lay on a metal tray in front of them, identical in size and shape to those taken from Zoey and Lorna. ‘He can’t maintain this level of offending,’ Callanach said. ‘Even if he’s as obsessed as he seems, he must appreciate that sooner or later he’ll make a mistake. He’s working to a fixed pattern. It’s not realistic to think he’ll never get caught.’
‘Only this victim breaks the mould,’ Ava said. ‘Perhaps he’s deliberately diversifying to make it harder for us to anticipate his next move. Jonty, I should have asked you this before, but I was in the middle of something when you called. You said there was marble residue found on both the other dolls. Do you have any more information about where that came from?’
‘I don’t,’ he said. ‘We swabbed both dolls completely after checking for fingerprints and trace evidence, then had a chemical breakdown performed to identify every substance. There was very little of it found, but it was common to both dolls, which is what struck us as odd.’
‘Could you identify the type of marble so we can isolate the source?’ Callanach asked.
‘Not possible. There simply wasn’t enough available to work with.’
‘But the particles would sparkle under bright lights, surely? You might be able to identify them other than through a chemical sweep,’ Callanach remarked.
‘Quite possibly, although I’m not sure how that would help,’ Jonty said, picking up the skin on a tray and moving it to an area below a high-powered light with a magnifying lens, then walking to the doors to turn off the main lights.
‘Maybe the girls are lying on a marble countertop, in which case there would be more marble present on the skin of the rear of the doll than the front. It might help identify the place they’re being held,’ Callanach said.
‘Worth a try,’ Jonty said, walking back towards them through the semi-dark. He placed the rear skin below the light first of all as they crowded around to look. They inspected every square centimetre. Not a single reflection came off the skin’s surface. They angled it in different directions and moved the light around in case any traces had caught within the tiny imperfections on the skin’s surface. ‘Nothing,’ Jonty said. ‘It might have been an anomaly with the first two dolls. Something caught on a tool from a different location perhaps.’
He exchanged the back skin segment for the front and slid it beneath the brilliant light. The glimmer was immediately visible. ‘It’s all on the face area,’ Callanach said. ‘Can we see it any more clearly?’
Jonty increased the magnification and they huddled to get a view. ‘That’s odd,’ Ava said. ‘It’s literally in a pool on the forehead. I don’t see how it could be there and nowhere else.’
‘And it’s dribbled into the front of the hairline, where the glue has been used. Assuming this represents something that the killer wanted to do to the victims, how and when do we pour a substance onto someone’s head?’ Jonty mused, tipping the skin from one side to another to allow the minute marble particles to shine on different angles of the skin.
They stepped away from the light. Ava rubbed her eyes as Jonty took out a camera to get close-up shots of the marble residue on the skin. ‘I don’t even want to say what I’m thinking out loud. This just keeps getting more and more twisted,’ she muttered.
‘That the dolls have been baptised? In the context of what the killer’s trying to achieve, it makes sense. He takes the skin from a young woman he sees as a sinner, makes a new person – a baby – literally from their bodies, then cleanses or purifies the doll,’ Callanach said.
‘So they have access to a font. I’m guessing it’s from an actual church or the ritual would be meaningless. The dolls wouldn’t be purified of sin. Which makes me wonder what sort of religion would countenance using their facilities for such sick, bizarre activities,’ Ava said.
‘What about getting a profiler in?’ Callanach asked. ‘I’m not always keen on trying to draw up a psychological picture of an offender, but in this case it might just help.’
‘Actually, I was thinking of someone more qualified to help us with the theological significance of what the killer is doing,’ Ava said. ‘Someone with theoretical knowledge and who can also offer an insight into local churches. I only hope she can bear to be in the same room as me again.’
The Reverend Jayne Magee smiled widely as she opened her front door to invite them into her home. The last time Callanach and Ava had been on that road, more than a year earlier, they were looking for a missing person who, it turned out, had been sedated, bundled into a large wheelie case and dragged down the road to the trunk of a car. As the victim of that abduction, Jayne Magee had done her best to save the lives of others whilst she herself had been imprisoned and fearing for her own life. Ava and she had spent many terrifying hours together, both hostages at the whim of a madman. Most of the other women he’d taken hadn’t lived to tell the tale.
Jayne and Ava embraced gently, eyes closed, and Callanach wondered how badly the memories of their ordeal with Dr Reginald King still plagued them. Ava never talked about it. She always pretended it was part and parcel of the dangers of police work, but the truth was that no one signed up expecting to become the victim. Jayne Magee was well respected and much loved in Edinburgh’s religious community, and it seemed her faith was unshaken, even having witnessed such evil first-hand. The human spirit was a remarkably resilient entity, Callanach thought, as they went to sit in Jayne’s lounge and drink tea.
‘I’m sorry to bother you,’ Ava said. ‘I hope you don’t mind us reaching out to you for help after what you went through.’
‘If I can help another person then I’m delighted,’ Jayne said. ‘Perhaps more so because of what we went through. You were there, too, Ava.’
‘Not as long as you,’ Ava said. ‘I wasn’t sure you’d even want to see me.’
‘Actually, when you phoned, I was surprised at how uplifted I felt. I’m glad you’ve visited, but you look sad, and stressed. How can I assist?’
‘You’ll have heard on the news that three women were abducted, then left for dead a few days later. It’s confidential, but another young woman has been taken. We need to understand the motivations of the man we believe is behind the offences. I thought you might be able to help,’ Ava said, opening a folder and laying out a pile of documents on the coffee table between them.
> ‘You believe this other girl’s life is in danger right now?’ Jayne asked.
‘We do,’ Ava said. ‘And we don’t know how long she has left. No more than six days, possibly less. He didn’t wait a full week before killing the last one.’
Jayne sighed, blinking away tears before speaking again. ‘I’ll do whatever I can.’
‘First, forgive me for bringing such atrocities to you. If I knew anyone better qualified, I’d have spared you it. The killer makes a doll from each woman’s skin. Like a rag doll. What the media has not been told is that inside each doll is a line of scripture. Here.’ Ava handed over a copy of each Bible quote for Jayne to read. ‘Each girl had faced her own difficulties and the quote is relevant to their life – apparently it’s why the killer regards them as steeped in sin. It now seems that these dolls are being baptised. There is marble residue left on the skin of their foreheads.’
‘From a proper font then, you think. John, chapter three, verse five says, “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’” It’s pretty extreme stuff, although these are all well-known biblical quotes. Very brimstone though, all the wrath and punishment stuff. These days we try to focus on forgiveness and outreach rather than judgment.’
‘What we don’t know is why he chose the current victim,’ Callanach said. ‘Zoey had a history with her stepfather and had accused him of violence.’
‘Respect thy father and mother …’ Jayne said.
‘Exactly. Then Lorna had a child out of wedlock, father unknown, with a history of drug misuse. Most recently Kate had been working, effectively, as a prostitute to help support her family and reduce her student debts.’
‘And the young woman he has now?’ Jayne asked.
‘Caroline is an architect. Well qualified. No criminal record. Never known to social services. None of the lifestyle issues the other victims had. It makes no sense at all, and yet she was clearly targeted. The killer was waiting for her in the car park where she normally parks for work, and left the last doll in a box marked with her name. We’ve spoken to her fiancé, checked her online presence – which is virtually non-existent – and cross-referenced with every other government agency. We’re coming up blank.’
‘So the questions are, how is he locating and identifying his victims, how is he getting so much information about them and how does Caroline fit into the picture?’ Jayne concluded.
‘Yes. If we can answer any one of those questions, we stand a chance of finding him. At the moment, everything we have is evidence that will help convict him at trial, but which doesn’t take us to his front door,’ Ava said.
‘Show me everything,’ Jayne said. ‘On all the victims.’
Ava spread the stack of documents out across the table, expanding to the floor, propping pictures, maps and statements against chair legs.
‘So Caroline is older than the other three victims as well,’ Jayne said.
‘Yes, twenty-eight. Everything seems to have been going well in her life. She was hoping to make partner in her firm, and she and her fiancé had just bought a patch of land to build a house on. There’s nothing in her life at all that suggests how she might have come to the killer’s attention,’ Callanach said, handing Jayne a photograph taken of Caroline and Jadyn.
Jayne looked at it, put it down on the floor, then picked it up again.
‘When was this taken?’ she asked quietly.
‘At their engagement party,’ Ava said. ‘Her fiancé said this was the most recent photo of her. It went into a local newspaper when they announced they were getting married.’
Jayne frowned, shaking her head, then stood up and walked to a bookshelf. She took down a heavy textbook, running a fingertip down the index at the back and flicking through the pages, before flicking on a light to read the text. Ava and Callanach waited.
‘This is very unusual interpretation of the Bible,’ Jayne said. ‘And not one I’m happy even discussing, but there are those – not accepted by any religion I could ally myself with – who profess such filth.’
‘What is it?’ Ava asked.
‘Daniel chapter two, verse forty-three. “As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.” Sometimes cited alongside that is Leviticus chapter nineteen, verse nineteen: “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.”’
‘I don’t understand the relevance,’ Callanach said.
‘I’ve only come across it in certain extremist American churches – though to use the word church to describe them undermines everything about religion that is good. In reality, they are more like cults that exist for the purpose of excusing hatred and exclusion. Such groups operate outside the law and almost inevitably to the far-right extremes of politics. Yet there are one or two even in Scotland who share their vile beliefs. In the absence of anything else that might explain why Caroline Ryan has been abducted, I wonder if the man who has taken her objects to the colour of her fiancé’s skin.’
‘Because Jadyn Odoki is black? You think that could happen here, in Scotland? You think there’s a religious sect who could actually act on such disgusting beliefs?’ Ava asked.
‘Religion gets a bad press for exactly such reasons. It’s not unusual to have deviants misquote or misinterpret scripture to match their own beliefs. I’ve heard arguments from people who say that Mary was a teenager when she met Joseph, so why should sex with underage girls be condemned. History has produced innumerable holy wars based on the need to wipe out anyone not of their own religion. Plenty of prominent evangelists have overlooked serious crimes committed by their supporters in order to get their churches a stronger foothold in political circles. People will use scripture to excuse almost anything, twisting the words to match their own personal code. It’s shocking, but no more so than committing murder in order, apparently, to free the victim of perceived sin,’ Jayne said.
‘We suspect the killer identified Caroline when this picture went in the paper,’ Ava said. ‘The article gave their full names, where they worked, everything he needed. How do we find him, Jayne? If there’s a church or organisation in Edinburgh that promotes such extreme hate, wouldn’t we have heard about it by now?’
‘The problem is that it never starts as a whole group or church at once. If you take a strict religious group that applies the Bible very literally, they attract members who think a certain way. They might hold very extreme views, but often keep them to themselves for fear of being rejected or misunderstood. Over time, that group will attract enough followers with strong views that the extremes become more mainstream – internally, at least. Then, as with certain groups who are well documented in other countries, there is more public interest. But at the start, when the seeds of extremism are being sown, who knows what’s in one man’s heart?’
‘Murder, apparently,’ Ava said. ‘Jayne, thank you. I need to take this theory back to the squad so we can see where it takes us. You’ve been a huge help.’
‘I’ll pray for her,’ Jayne said as they stood up.
Callanach looked at her sharply, then at Ava.
‘What is it?’ Ava asked him.
‘Just a memory. Someone else said the same thing, right at the beginning of all this. I just can’t recall who.’
Chapter Thirty-Seven
‘We’re looking for extremist groups that dress themselves up under the guise of religion, but that in reality practise racism and probably homophobia, very Old Testament, unrecognisable from the sort of churches and religious groups we’re familiar with,’ Ava said.
‘You’re talking about hate groups,’ Tripp said. ‘A cult, effectively.’
‘Exactly. Caroline Ryan and Jadyn Odoki’s photograph was put in the pap
er when they got engaged. Given how little she uses social media, we believe the press coverage may be when she was spotted and chosen as a target,’ Ava explained.
‘So does the murderer really believe in God but have a deranged view of the Bible, or is this whole thing just a front for extreme right-wing views?’ a uniformed officer asked.
‘We’ll have to wait until we have the bastard in custody before we get an answer to that,’ Ava said. ‘What we’re looking for is religious groups in the area who might attract fringe worshippers. Those who like their religion beyond mainstream parameters. They are likely to be careful about who they speak to. There are plenty of churches around who are selective about allowing new members into their congregations, and this group will be very cautious indeed, so don’t expect to find what we’re looking for on a public website.’
DS Lively put his head round the incident room door, scanning the crowd before beckoning Callanach into the corridor. Ava ignored them. Lively had chosen sides already. She had to let the Melanie Long investigation go. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have enough to keep her busy. When it was over, she’d make a decision about her future with Police Scotland. What was perfectly clear, however, was that she couldn’t continue to work under Detective Superintendent Overbeck.
Callanach reappeared five minutes later and stood at the back of the room texting. Ava allocated tasks to different groups within the squad, then asked for a core team of officers to remain for an evidence review. As bodies filtered from the room, Ava pulled a group of chairs round in a semicircle to face the information board. The photographs, maps and victim information had grown too vast for its allocated space, spreading to the outer walls which were dappled with sticky tape, identifying possible exit routes from the city, the positions of CCTV cameras, and shots of each young woman in the location of her death. Next to each one was a picture of the doll made from her skin. It was a gruesome collage.