Rogue Killer

by Leigh Russell

  Attempting to rotate her head gently to loosen the stiffness, she cried out in pain, and realised she must have been lying unconscious in one position for hours. Any movement was painful. Afraid she might seize up completely if she remained immobile for much longer she forced herself to push her head from side to side, gently at first, but with increasing force. Having loosened her neck muscles until she could move her shoulders and upper arms, she rotated her ankles for a while before finally struggling to her feet. Once she was standing up, she began thinking more clearly. Jamie wouldn’t be expecting a counter attack, which gave Geraldine a chance to take him by surprise. But to catch him off guard, she had to be ready to pounce as soon as the door opened. With both her wrists and ankles bound, that was going to be difficult, if not impossible. For a long time she stood leaning against the wall, swinging her head around until she felt dizzy, and stamping her feet gently to stop them from going numb.

  Finally she thought she heard footsteps. Shuffling over to the door and pressing her ear against it, she heard the footsteps grow fainter and guessed Jamie was going downstairs. Afraid he was going to go away and leave her there, she banged on the door with her elbow.

  ‘Come back!’ she shouted. ‘Open this door! We need to talk! I can help you!’

  The footsteps didn’t return. Controlling her panic, Geraldine told herself that she wasn’t alone. By now her absence must have been noticed, and her colleagues would be searching for her. Ian knew she had been investigating Lindsey. It was only a matter of time before the police turned up at the house. But Janie might return before that and, when he did, she would have to be ready. She breathed slowly to conserve her energy, and tried to work out a plan. But with her wrists and ankles tied together, it was going to be impossible to resist an attack. Defeated, she slumped back on the floor, listening to her sister’s voice inside her head: ‘I don’t understand why you keep on with that job. You’re getting too old for all that action and danger and stupid heroics.’

  Celia was right. It was time to give up her job. Facing a choice between carrying on as she was or leaving the force, right now she wasn’t sure she even wanted to continue. But there was no point in worrying about a future that might never happen. With an effort, she turned her attention back to her immediate situation. It wasn’t easy feeling her way around in the darkness but she pressed her arm against the wall and shuffled forwards until she found the door. Taking up a position behind it she waited, still working to loosen the bonds on her wrists. She was thankful that Jamie hadn’t found the handcuffs in her bag. As it was, he had merely tied her wrists together with something like a scarf that was gradually working loose.

  She twisted her hands with dogged determination, ignoring the smarting in her wrists until at last she was able to pull one hand free. For a moment she stood, slumped against the wall, rubbing her chafed wrists. Reaching out, she felt for the door handle and wasn’t surprised to find it locked. She couldn’t afford to stand around waiting and doing nothing. She set to work on her ankles and before long she was free of her shackles. If she could only subdue him, Jamie would soon be behind bars where he belonged. Of course there was a risk involved in attacking him, but she wasn’t afraid. Admittedly he was strong, but she had trained for years to deal with a situation like this.

  It wasn’t just that she thought she would be able to overpower her captor. If she failed to control the situation and was injured or killed in the struggle, she would still have won. Having assaulted a police officer, Jamie would never kill anyone else. Frantically she flexed and relaxed her hands, and rotated her feet, to restore her mobility. Without her handcuffs, she had to find another way of securing Jamie once she had subdued him. Looking around quickly, she selected a chain belt from a pile of clothes on the bed, and leaned back against the wall behind the door, listening out for his return.

  The danger that threatened her kept her alert for the sounds of his approach, but he must have been walking silently because she heard nothing until the door handle turned. If he had flung the door open she might have been taken by surprise. As it was, the door seemed to open in slow motion as she tensed to pounce, clutching the belt.

  Jamie took a step into the room.

  Under other circumstances, Geraldine might have been tempted to grab her adversary by the hair, but he was wearing a wig. His head turned, searching for her. Before he could look over his shoulder, Geraldine sprang. Her forearm was round his neck before he had a chance to react. His arms flailed helplessly, but he put up little resistance. This time it was her grip that proved too strong to resist. She was tempted to squeeze so hard that he couldn’t breathe. In addition to stopping his killing, she could so easily end his life. It was only what he had planned for her, and perhaps many others.

  No one would call her to account for murder. This was justifiable self defence. Only she would know it had been an execution. A feeling of power coursed through her, like a bolt of electricity. She drew in a deep shuddering breath as she twisted his arm up behind his back. It was time to relax her hold on his throat and allow him to breathe, but her arm seemed to act outside of her control. Tears coursed down her cheeks as she listened to his gasps grow faint, and watched his arms become limp, but she didn’t loosen her grip.

  59

  Ian and Ariadne walked back to the car in silence. He had been so sure they were going to find Geraldine at Lindsey’s house that, although he should have been relieved, he felt curiously deflated. He had intended to chastise her for going off like that without having first logged her decision, and had even prepared what he was going to say when he saw her. Expecting her to request permission for her actions like any normal officer was clearly out of the question where Geraldine was concerned. She was in danger of becoming a complete maverick, and difficult to work with as a result. It might be just about possible for her independent activity to be overlooked when her instincts led her to discover a new lead, but running around off the radar, worrying everyone and wasting her colleagues’ time for no good reason was unacceptable. Unless he kept a very close eye on her in future, she was going to end up in serious trouble.

  He should have known better than to have been so generous with his praise when Eileen had asked him about Geraldine. When he had worked with her before, she had been heading for promotion. Only now did he realise that an officer who had been demoted had thrown away any hope of advancement, and was in a very different place to someone who was keen to further their career. There was no longer any reason for her to exercise restraint.

  Feeling thoroughly irritated, he pulled away from the kerb and put his foot down. Geraldine wasn’t going to enjoy being castigated by him, but he was her superior officer and responsible for her safety. The fact that she had been his inspector when he had still been a sergeant was beside the point. He was the inspector now, and he had to conduct himself accordingly. As soon as Geraldine returned to the police station, he was going to give her a dressing down, friend or no friend.

  Ariadne broke the silence. ‘I wonder what her car was doing so near the hospital?’ she asked. ‘We know she hadn’t been to the mortuary. And in any case, she would have left it in the hospital car park if she was going there. So where was she going and why has she left her car there for so long?’

  ‘What the hell is she playing at?’ Ian burst out, giving up any attempt to conceal his irritation. ‘You work with her, don’t you? Didn’t she say anything at all to you that might help us work out where she’s gone?’

  ‘All she said was, “If you were a man and you wanted to hide, where would you go to be sure no one would ever find you?” Something along those lines anyway. I had the impression she thought she was on to something, but I don’t remember her saying anything else.’

  ‘What do you suppose she meant by that?’ Ian asked. ‘If you were a man…’

  ‘If you were a man and you wanted to hide, where might you go to be sure no one would ever find you
?’ Ariadne repeated.

  ‘If you were a man?’ Ian frowned. ‘As opposed to what?’

  He braked suddenly and turned to give Ariadne a hard stare. ‘Lindsey doesn’t have fair hair and blue eyes, does she?’

  Ariadne frowned. ‘No, dark eyes and dark hair.’

  ‘But she could be wearing a wig.’

  ‘And dark contact lenses,’ Ariadne added slowly, catching his drift. ‘Lindsey’s tall, isn’t she? For a woman.’

  As Ian spun the wheel, Ariadne was on her phone.

  ‘We need to know if she drove her car there herself,’ Ian heard her say. ‘There’s no time to explain. Just see if you can find any record of it. And we need backup urgently.’ She gave Lindsey’s address. Ringing off she turned to Ian. ‘Should I tell Eileen what’s going on? I’ve asked for backup.’

  Ian grunted. If they were wrong, he was going to look like a fool for overreacting to a colleague being out of contact for a day, but he didn’t care.

  ‘Call her now. Tell her we have a potential hostage situation.’

  ‘Do you really think it’s that serious?’

  ‘I’m looking at best case scenario.’

  Once Ariadne had spoken to Eileen and explained what was going on, they drove the rest of the way without speaking. Daylight was already beginning to fade by the time they drew up outside Lindsey’s house. As they stepped on to the pavement they heard sirens, and seconds later several police cars raced into the street. Before Ian had even reached the gate, Eileen leapt out of a police vehicle and snapped at him to move back. By now more officers had arrived. They moved swiftly into place, while a cordon was set up to stop members of the public approaching. A helicopter roared overhead and circled, sweeping the street with a bright light. Within minutes the house was surrounded. The helicopter wheeled away and a voice rang out through a megaphone, speaking with a reassuring air of calm authority. Ian felt as though the whole of his life hung on the outcome of that one moment. Past and future faded into insignificance. All that mattered was to save Geraldine’s life.

  ‘Jamie, we know you’re in there,’ the negotiator called out. ‘Please, come out and talk to us.’ There was a brief pause. ‘We just want to talk to you. Come out now, please.’

  The officers waited silently. It seemed to Ian that time itself had stopped while they waited for a response from inside the house. Just when it seemed certain that Jamie wasn’t willing to cooperate, the front door opened. A lone figure emerged and hobbled slowly down the path. Ian struggled to restrain himself from running forward as they watched Geraldine halt at the gate and gaze around with a bewildered expression.

  ‘What’s happening?’ she cried out. ‘What are you all doing here?’

  ‘Looking for you,’ Ian replied, stepping forward.

  ‘How did you know I was here?’

  ‘Where’s Jamie?’ Eileen asked.

  Geraldine gave a lopsided smile. ‘He’s upstairs.’

  At a nod from Eileen, two uniformed officers dashed past Geraldine and ran into the house.

  ‘There’s no need to rush,’ Geraldine called after them. ‘He’s not going anywhere.’

  As she walked out into the street, in the light from a street lamp Ian saw that her neck was bruised, and she had red marks on the backs of her hands where something had rubbed her skin raw.

  ‘You look as though someone tried to throttle you,’ he said, joining her.

  Geraldine raised her hands and pulled back her sleeves to show weals on her wrists.

  ‘Throttled and tied up,’ she said calmly.

  ‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

  Looking closely at her, he could see her bottom lip tremble very slightly. Before she could answer, he heard a disturbance and turned to see Jamie being dragged from the house. His long wig was askew and his heavy eye make-up was smudged.

  ‘This is an outrage!’ he shouted. ‘This is harassment! I’ll sue you for this! Police brutality! Help!’

  Still protesting, he was led to a police car and driven away. The other police vehicles followed and the roar of the helicopter faded as it flew off.

  ‘I’m okay,’ Geraldine said. ‘In fact, better than okay.’ She held up her arms again to display her discoloured wrists. ‘There’s no way he’s walking away from all this now.’

  She smiled, and Ian resisted the urge to hug her.

  ‘We nailed him from his DNA. We didn’t need you to get injured to secure a conviction.’

  His words sounded far more churlish than he had intended, but before he could say anything else, Eileen joined them. She was beaming.

  ‘Are you all right, Geraldine?’

  ‘Of course,’ Geraldine answered, returning the detective chief inspector’s smile. ‘We’ve got him, haven’t we?’

  ‘You got him,’ Eileen corrected her quietly.

  They both knew that Eileen would reprimand her for going to see Jamie on her own, even though Geraldine had believed she was going to see Lindsey. They knew too that Eileen would take the credit for the success of the investigation. But in that moment, Eileen and Geraldine were just two women sharing their relief that they had been instrumental in apprehending a brutal killer.

  60

  When they arrived back at the police station, Eileen wasn’t nearly as irate as Geraldine had expected.

  ‘Well at least you’re safe,’ the detective chief inspector said. ‘But what were you thinking of, going there on your own like that? With all your experience, you should have known better.’

  Geraldine smarted at the criticism, not least because it was unjust. Her defence that Lindsey had never been a suspect fell on deaf ears.

  ‘Well, I can’t have officers gallivanting around on their own without telling anyone where they’re going.’

  That wasn’t strictly true either, because Geraldine had made no secret of the fact that she had been trying to speak to Lindsey. Not only that, but she had left her car right outside the house so her colleagues would know where she was. Geraldine could hardly be blamed for failing to predict that Jamie would move her car. Still, now that they had apprehended the killer, Eileen seemed fairly relaxed about Geraldine’s conduct, so she accepted the detective chief inspector’s admonishment with good grace.

  Jamie’s wig and contact lenses had been removed when he was taken into custody, revealing his short and spiky fair hair. Stripped of his veil of dark hair the heavy black make-up around his pale blue eyes looked absurd. Geraldine stared at him across the interview table with a mixture of compassion and disgust. With blotchy make-up and bright red lipstick, he wouldn’t have looked out of place in a troupe of circus clowns. Yet he remained defiant.

  ‘Tell us what happened,’ Geraldine said. ‘You can speak freely here.’

  Jamie’s thin lawyer stirred in his seat. Poker-faced, he listened to the interview in silence. They all knew that whatever anyone said, none of it could make any difference to the outcome. Jamie’s defence was immaterial. The evidence placing him at the crime scenes was indisputable, as was his attempted murder of Geraldine. But even with her sitting opposite him, he tried to bluff his way out of his predicament.

  ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here,’ he blustered. ‘It’s not illegal for a man to dress how he likes. This is bigotry and harassment. You’ll lose your jobs for this, if there’s any justice in the –’

  Geraldine cut him short. ‘There is justice, of a kind, and it’s going to put you behind bars for the rest of your life.’

  Jamie’s laughter sounded forced. ‘Only in your dreams.’

  ‘We know you attacked my colleague here.’ As he spoke, Ian placed three photographs on the table in front of Jamie. ‘And you also killed these three people.’

  Geraldine listed the names for the tape.

  Jamie shrugged. ‘I don’t know who those people are.’

  He s
ounded bored, but his eyes darted restlessly around the room while his fingers on one hand tapped the back of his other hand in a silent tattoo. It gave Geraldine a flicker of satisfaction to know he was afraid.

  ‘But you do recognise them as the victims of your attacks?’ Ian asked.

  ‘Whose attacks? You’re putting words in my mouth.’ He glanced at his lawyer. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  Ian continued speaking in an even tone. ‘I’m talking about the three people you killed.’

  ‘Prove it! You’re not going to pin this on me. You haven’t got a shred of evidence.’

  ‘The evidence is clear,’ Ian said.

  ‘What evidence? You’re faking it. You’ll never get away with this.’

  ‘We found traces of your DNA on all three of the victims,’ Ian told him.

  After his vehement protestations of innocence, Jamie’s capitulation was abrupt and unequivocal.

  ‘Oh all right then, yes, it was me. You got me. Well done. I did it. It was me all along. Oh shut up,’ he added, turning to his lawyer who had begun agitating for a break. ‘Yes, I killed them. All of them. And I nearly got away with it too. My only mistake was not finishing you off when I had the chance,’ he added, nodding at Geraldine.