by Sally Rigby
‘I assume you’re using the term legitimate loosely,’ George said. ‘Is this the only group you’re studying?’
‘Yes, because it’s the only one I’ve been able to get into. There have been some research papers written on other groups. I think they’re all fairly similar in their makeup. Some of them go further than others.’
‘In what way?’ she asked.
‘Some are happy to name and shame, whereas others will take it further and then it becomes aggressive. Particularly setting up stings where they trick men who’ve been grooming girls. The groomer believes he’s meeting a young girl, but he isn’t. The group turns out in force and confronts the man, sometimes physically and always with cameras. They’ll either put it up on social media or pass their information on to police. Sometimes both.’
‘Thanks. That’s useful to know. I’m going to have a chat with DCI Walker. Let me know if you think of anything else which might assist us.’
She made her way to where Whitney was standing, talking with one of the female members, a woman in her early sixties with short grey hair and dressed conservatively.
‘They get what they have coming to them,’ she was saying to Whitney.
‘And you don’t feel taking matters into your own hands can make things worse?’ Whitney asked.
‘How can it? If these people didn’t commit such horrendous acts, we wouldn’t have to go after them.’
‘You could leave it to the police,’ Whitney suggested.
‘What are the police going to do, that we can’t do a lot better? And quicker. Look around you. All these people are committed to bringing down sexual predators. Do you think the police have the time? Of course they don’t. They’re far too busy. They should be thanking us for easing their workload.’
Clearly Whitney hadn’t told the woman who she was. Probably a good thing, or she wouldn’t have got so much information.
‘It’s been good talking to you—’ Whitney paused.
‘Vera,’ she said.
‘I’m Whitney.’
‘Will we see you at our next meeting?’ Vera asked.
‘I’m not sure. I’ll try to make it.’
Whitney turned to face George. ‘Shall we get something to eat?’
‘Okay,’ George said, assuming she was joking, as there was nothing on the table that remotely interested her. Sausage rolls and sandwiches with curled up ends, which had clearly been made hours ago, were not her food of choice.
They headed towards the table and stood to one side where no one could hear them.
‘Did you learn anything?’ Whitney asked, her voice so quiet George could hardly make out the words.
‘Dave Milton is doing some undercover research. He’s here at the invitation of Nikki Bosworth, the blonde girl who spoke at the beginning. She’s also doing research, for her Masters degree. As far as I’m aware, no one else knows about their projects.’
‘Undercover, like us. I didn’t tell anyone we’re the police, as I thought we might get better answers if we’re just chatting.’
‘Makes sense. And did you get anything?’
‘They’re not backwards in coming forwards. They’re more than happy to explain what they do. What they get up to stinks, especially the way they flush out these people online,’ Whitney said.
‘They would say the ends justifies the means.’
‘I get that. If anything had happened to Tiffany, I’d have broken every law on the planet to seek revenge.’
‘I don’t think you would. You’d have placed your faith in the justice system,’ George responded.
‘Once I’d found him then, yes, I would have handed him over to the police. If he got away with it, then all bets would be off.’
‘We’re talking hypothetically here, because Tiffany’s fine. So, let’s not go down that road,’ George said.
‘You’re right. One thing’s for sure, someone within the agencies involved with sexual offenders’ release is sharing this information. They seem very well informed.’
‘It doesn’t surprise me. These are emotive issues. Do you want us to mingle again?’
‘I think we’ve done as much as we can tonight. Let’s grab a drink somewhere away from here. Len White handed me the list of members earlier. In the morning I’ll get the team to run background checks on all of them and decide who we need to bring in for questioning.’
Chapter Twenty-Two
‘Morning, team,’ Whitney said as she walked into the incident room. ‘Last night, George and I went to the Justice Hunters meeting. It was extremely informative, and I have a list of all the members for you to run background checks on. I already know at least one of them has a criminal record, so Frank, if you can focus on him, Mr Jimmy O’Brien, and Ellie, Doug, and Sue, I want you to share the rest.’ She handed Doug the list.
‘Yes, guv,’ they all responded.
‘Matt, I want you to come with me. We’re going to pay another visit to Len White. I want more in-depth information on how they go about their work. Actually, no. Scrap that. We’ll interview him here, and George can observe. Contact him to let him know you’ll be picking him up. Ellie has his number.’
‘On it,’ Matt said.
The incident room door opened, and George came in holding a large white box.
‘Doughnuts all round.’ She placed it on the table, and everyone made a beeline for them.
Whitney thought back to when she first met George. She’d have no more brought in a box of doughnuts than fly to the moon. She was single-mindedly focussed on the task at hand. She only ever talked about work and didn’t discuss anything else. Whitney liked this change in her. It didn’t detract from how smart she was. She was the cleverest person Whitney had ever met.
‘Now you’ll be everybody’s best friend.’ Whitney took a bite of the jam doughnut in her hand and licked off the sugar from around her mouth.
‘I thought as it was Sunday, and you got everybody in to work, it would be a nice treat. What are the plans for today?’
‘We’re going to get Len White in, and you can observe the interview. I want more information on Justice Hunters. Now we’ve been to a meeting, we understand the group more. I’m still of the opinion one of them could be the perpetrator. What do you think?’ she asked the doctor.
‘Difficult to say, but getting to know the group and the way it operates is certainly going to help us get into the mind of the person, or persons, carrying out the murders. The murderer definitely has the vigilante mentality, as illustrated by the letter sent to the radio station.’
‘Exactly. And as we believe there could be more than one perp, let’s see what White has to say. We know he’s got an alibi for the first date, but it doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved in the setup,’ she said.
‘Are you going to tell him about the letter?’ George asked.
‘Do you think I should?’
‘Yes. I can interpret his reaction and see whether he’s really shocked or pretending. If you allow him to read it, I’ll get a much better idea.’
‘Will do. Even if he had no part in the murders, by seeing the letter he might be able to direct us to who he thinks could be responsible.’
‘What time is he coming in?’ George asked.
‘Matt’s going to pick him up, so hopefully soon.’ She walked to where Matt was standing. ‘Have you spoken to Len White yet?’
‘I got his voicemail. I’m about to try again.’
Whitney listened as this time Matt got through. Sounded like White was giving him some grief. Matt diffused the situation and agreed to pick him up in fifteen minutes. He was a good cop. He’d always been conscientious, and more and more he was able to think for himself. She’d have no hesitation in recommending him for DI once he’d done his exams. Although every time she’d broached the subject, he brushed it off. Perhaps George could shed some light on his reticence.
Matt ended the call, grabbed his jacket, and left the incident room, as she wandered over to Frank’s de
sk.
‘Any joy?’ she asked.
‘Jimmy O’Brien is thirty-five and has a rap sheet as long as your arm, starting from when he was a juvenile. Initially stealing from shops, then he progressed to burglary and later assault. He’s been out of prison for the last twelve months after serving three years of a five-year term for grievous bodily harm. He attacked a man in his fifties who cut him up in his car at a junction. He followed the man, and when he got out of his car, O’Brien beat him senseless.’
‘Charming. What about jobs? Where has he worked?’ Whitney asked.
‘This is where it gets interesting. He worked as a butcher’s assistant in his late teens.’
‘Interesting, indeed. He knows how to use a knife.’ At last they were getting somewhere. ‘Continue checking and then help the others looking into the rest of the group.’
She went back to the board. George was staring intently at it.
‘Jimmy O’Brien looks promising. We’ll speak to him after we’ve interviewed Len White. Remind me what your lecturer friend said about him?’ she asked.
‘Mainly, he’s quite open about his criminal record and appears proud of it. Are you sending someone to bring O’Brien in for questioning?’ George asked.
‘No. I’ll go around to his house after the interview with White. You can come, too.’
Whitney wrote Justice Hunters up on the board and underneath put the names Len White and Jimmy O’Brien. At least she now had something to report to Jamieson. She’d speak to him tomorrow when he came into work.
‘Guv?’ She looked up as Doug came over to them. ‘Did you check this list of club members?’
‘No.’
‘Beryl Murphy’s a member. Kelvin’s mother.’
Crap. She could kick herself for not checking last night. ‘Stepmother,’ she corrected.
‘What do you want to do?’
‘Phone her and arrange to pick her up this afternoon. Tell her we have a few more questions about Kelvin.’
She wrote Beryl Murphy on the board and turned to George. ‘Do you think she could do it? I know she’s not his actual mother. But even so.’
‘Parents have murdered their children in the past.’
‘Murder, yes. But to feed him his mutilated body parts. That’s beyond my comprehension.’
‘You met her, I didn’t. What do you think?’
‘Her husband, Keane’s father, is dead. When he was alive, he had a thing for young girls. There’s a pattern.’
‘Certainly a reason for her to join Justice Hunters. How did she take the news about Keane?’
‘She acted like she didn’t care. I couldn’t tell whether she knew what he was up to or not. We’ll know more after we question her later. In the meantime, we have Len coming in. He’ll be able to tell us more about the woman.’
Within forty-five minutes, Matt had returned, having collected Len White and deposited him in one of the interview rooms.
Whitney wore an earpiece, and George stood by the two-way mirror to get a good view of what was going on.
‘Thank you for coming in, Len,’ Whitney said as she walked into the room with Matt following. They sat opposite him.
‘I didn’t have much choice,’ the vigilante said. ‘I thought I told you everything you needed to know when we spoke last week.’
‘I’m going to record the interview. It’s easier than writing everything down. Is that okay with you?’
‘Do what you want,’ White said, his arms folded tightly across his chest.
‘You need to soften him up a bit,’ George said in Whitney’s ear. ‘Or he’ll dig his heels in, and you won’t get anything out of him.’
‘We appreciate you coming in to help us. We have some questions for you, following the meeting, and after doing background checks on some of the members.’
‘Okay.’ He unfolded his arms and sat back in the chair.
‘What do you know about Jimmy O’Brien?’ Whitney asked.
‘I take it you’re picking on him because of his criminal record,’ White said, shaking his head. ‘Just because he’s been in prison, doesn’t mean he’ll go off on his own to murder men who groom children. There’s an art to finding these men. We have techniques.’
‘Perhaps you could enlighten us more on these techniques,’ Whitney said.
‘There’s the hint of a smug expression on his face,’ George said. ‘He likes you coming to him for information. It’s making him feel important. Keep going.’
‘We entice men to take the bait and start to groom who they believe are teen girls.’
‘This is very helpful. Can you give me an example of the words your people use when they’re trying to trap a paedophile?’ Whitney asked.
‘We get our people to ask naïve questions. That always seems to get the nonce going. We also get our decoy to state their fake age within the first two or three messages. Which is usually either thirteen or fourteen. They tell him they’re having problems at home or school and have no one to confide in. All these things are designed to draw out these monsters.’
‘This is entrapment,’ Whitney said.
‘Call it what you like. If we can stop even one of them from grooming a young girl for sex, in my book, it’s all that matters.’ He leaned forward and locked eyes with her.
‘Does that mean you condone murder?’ Whitney asked.
‘That’s not what I said.’
‘Look, Len. We have two dead bodies on our hands, and we’re expecting more. We know the murderer is someone with vigilante beliefs.’
‘How do you know?’ White frowned.
Whitney pulled out a copy of the letter from the folder in front of her and slid it over for him to read.
His brow lifted. ‘This doesn’t sound like any of our members,’ he said.
‘He’s surprised by the letter but is also uncertain. The expression on his face and the hesitation in his voice, when he denied it being one of his members, makes me think, in reality, he doesn’t know,’ George said.
‘How can you be so sure?’ Whitney asked.
‘Because I’d have heard if any of my members were planning to go on a murdering rampage like this.’
‘What about Jimmy O’Brien? Is he capable of this behaviour?’
‘He would be capable of the murder, but this letter wasn’t written by him. He can hardly write his name.’
‘Do you think he could be working with another member of your group?’
‘Keep going,’ George said. ‘He’s getting very uncomfortable. We might get something good.’
‘It’s possible. That’s all I can say. But I still can’t see Jimmy being the murderer. I mean, mutilating a body. It doesn’t seem like him.’
‘You’d be surprised what people do in a fit of passion. The removal of genitals included,’ Whitney said.
‘You’re getting into his head,’ George said.
‘Bloody hell,’ Len exclaimed. ‘Talk about the punishment fitting the crime.’
‘It’s not public knowledge. And we want it to stay that way.’
‘People have a right to know.’
‘They will find out when we’re ready to tell them. Getting back to Jimmy, who does he hang out with most in the group?’ Whitney asked.
‘No one in particular. He mixes with everyone. I sometimes have a drink with him in the pub, as he doesn’t live too far away.’
‘What about women in the group? Is he particularly friendly with any of them?’ Whitney continued.
‘He sits next to Vera at most meetings. I don’t know if they see each other outside of the group.’
‘What can you tell me about Vera?’
‘Vera’s been with us since we started. She’s sixty-odd and used to work at Hamilton’s as a project manager but had to take early retirement because of ill-health. She has bad asthma. I don’t know much about her personal life, other than she has a daughter who she doesn’t see much. There’s some history there, but I don’t know what it is.’
‘How did you introduce her to Justice Hunters?’ Whitney asked.
‘We were outside having a smoke break, and we got talking. I told her about the group, and she asked to join.’
‘Smoking? I thought she had asthma.’
‘She did, and smoking made it worse. It probably contributed to her having to retire early.’
‘We’ll look into her,’ she said.
‘I can’t see how she’d be able to do it. She walks with a stick and can hardly breathe. I’m fairly sure the only time she goes out is when she comes to one of our meetings.’
‘What about Beryl Murphy?’
‘Why do you want to know about her?’ He frowned.
‘Is she a proactive member?’ she asked, ignoring his question.
‘Not really. She attends meetings. Keeps herself to herself, most of the time.’
‘Who introduced her to the group?’
‘I don’t remember. She’s been coming for about a year. Why?’
‘She’s the second victim’s stepmother.’
‘You’re kidding?’ His eyes widened.
‘He’s definitely surprised,’ George said.
‘No. Not kidding. You were told in confidence, and I don’t want to find out you’ve blabbed it to anyone.’
‘Okay.’
‘I think that’s everything for now,’ Whitney said. ‘If you think of anything which might help the investigation, contact us immediately. Remember, don’t discuss the mutilation or the contents of the letter with anyone. You were shown it in confidence.’
‘I won’t.’
‘DS Price will take you out.’
After White and Matt had left the room, Whitney went to see George.
‘What do you think?’ she asked.
‘He was telling the truth. The revelation about Beryl Murphy was a surprise. He had suspicions about Jimmy O’Brien, though, despite what he said. We definitely need to interview him as soon as possible.’
‘It’s where we’re heading next.’
Chapter Twenty-Three