The Taken Girls

by G D Sanders

  ‘Sorry to get you out of bed, Janice. We think this hard drive contains material critical for our investigation but it’s password protected.’

  ‘Okay, leave it with me. I’ll get back to you when I’ve cracked it.’

  ‘The material we need may have been deleted. You can recover deleted files, can’t you?’

  ‘Recently deleted material should be no problem but older files may be corrupted. I can run a recovery program and see what—’

  ‘The content of the files is confidential. It’s important I see what you get asap. Call me as soon as you’ve cracked the password and you’re ready to run the program.’

  ‘With luck it’ll be sometime this morning.’

  ‘Thanks, Janice, I’ll be at my desk.’

  Ed was on her third coffee from the Station machine before the call from forensics came through. She logged off her computer and joined Janice in the basement.

  ‘I’ve recovered all that I can. It all seems to be photo or video files.’

  Ed stiffened. She’d intended to be present while the hard disk was searched.

  ‘You haven’t opened any of the files …’

  ‘No, you said they were confidential.’

  Ed relaxed. ‘Thanks, Janice. How can I access them?’

  ‘The files on the hard drive are untouched and you can access them using the new password AB123. The recovered material is on this flash drive, which has the same AB123 password.’

  ‘You’re a star.’

  ‘It’s all in a night’s work. I’m off back to bed so you can look at them here if you like.’

  ‘Thanks, I’ll do that. The moment you get back, contact me so you and I can do the same with the other laptop and the two PCs we got from this suspect. I want to be here when you run the recovery program.’

  ‘Will do.’

  As soon as Janice left the room Ed began searching the hard drive. As she suspected, the most recently stored item was what would have been a sex tape of her and Nigel in his secret room had she not brought that encounter to an end. She was in no mood to smile at the file’s name, DIED04. She listed the files alphabetically, and found DIED01, 02 and 03. All three were of the bed in her new hotel room. The first two were her on the bed alone. She was playing DIED03, a recording of the second time she and Nigel had sex, when she heard a noise behind her. Ed’s blood ran cold.

  ‘Sorry. I was looking for Janice.’

  Ed blanked the screen as she turned to face the speaker, who was wearing a white lab coat. Fortunately the computer was muted. Watching the recordings was sickening enough; she couldn’t bear to hear her own voice.

  ‘I’m checking some confidential data Janice recovered for me.’

  ‘That’s okay. I didn’t see the screen. I just came to check if she wanted a coffee.’

  Ed suppressed a sigh of relief.

  ‘Janice has gone home to bed. She was here in the middle of the night helping us.’

  ‘Right, I’ll be off then. Sorry to interrupt.’

  Ed waited until the retreating technician’s footsteps were no longer audible before turning back to the bench. She found a secure erase program on the computer she was using so she didn’t need the one on the USB in her pocket. For a moment she hesitated; she’d never destroyed evidence, but the videos of her on her hotel bed alone and with Nigel were not evidence in the abduction case. She highlighted all four DIED files and hit erase. A dialogue box with ‘Erasure complete’ appeared on the screen. Ed closed the program.

  With the sex tapes removed from the hard drive Ed relaxed. The most likely location of those files was clean. However, to be certain, as soon as Janice returned to work she’d run the same checks on Nigel’s home computers and especially on the laptop from his secret room. She was on top of the problem but she wasn’t clear yet. Ed left the basement taking the stairs on her toes.

  Walking into the CID Room, Ed waved the hard drive she’d carried up from the basement. ‘Good news! Forensics have cracked Drakes-Moulton’s password to his hidden hard drive and recovered the deleted files.’

  ‘What’s on it?’ asked Nat.

  ‘I had a quick look. Nude photographs of young women.’

  ‘We’ll need to identify them. Shall I get started?’ ask Nat. His enthusiasm, which had dipped when further raids were ruled out, had suddenly returned.

  ‘It’ll be more appropriate for Jenny to do it; less embarrassing for the women if she needs to question them later.’

  Nat’s face fell.

  ‘Jenny, try matching the photographs with girls who were in the sixth form. Ring the school now, speak directly to the Head. We want photographs from the last 12 years, 15 years if possible. Say you’ll be there to collect them in 40 minutes. Don’t take no for an answer.’

  49

  ‘That’s it, 198 images of young women on Drakes-Moulton’s hard drive, all naked, and most in very revealing poses.’ Jenny sat back in her office chair and swung round to face her colleagues at their desks in the CID Room.

  ‘What about matches with the school photos?’ asked Ed.

  Jenny took a sip of coffee before answering.

  ‘Most girls appear in more than one shot. There were 48 different girls and I’ve matched 39 to school photographs stretching back 12 years. Comparing hairstyles, I’d say all of the girls were in the lower or upper sixth when the shots were taken.’

  ‘So they were all 16-plus at the time,’ said Mike. ‘Sleazy but, even if Drakes-Moulton had sex with them, not illegal and not much to suggest he’s the abductor. He certainly couldn’t have kept a girl for weeks in that secret room at his office.’

  ‘No, we’ve already ruled that out,’ said Ed.

  ‘Is he a suspect or not?’ asked Nat.

  ‘He stays on the list,’ said Ed. ‘We’ve already noted there must be places on his family’s property where he could have held a girl captive.’

  ‘Still four suspects then,’ said Mike.

  Ed managed to nod in agreement despite the discomfort she felt at keeping her suspicion of Desk Sergeant Barry Williams from her colleagues. This time she almost welcomed Nat’s misplaced enthusiasm.

  ‘Jenny said she’d only managed to match 39 of the girls with the class photographs. Perhaps I could give her a hand with the other nine?’

  ‘I don’t think that will be necessary, Nat. Should it come to a prosecution we’ll need to identify them all but for now we have more important things to do.’

  At that moment Jenny’s phone rang and she turned to it with a look of relief.

  ‘DC Eastham.’ She listened and her face grew pale. She thanked the caller, replaced the receiver and turned back to her colleagues.

  ‘That was forensics. The blood on the wrapping paper from Lucy’s shoe is normal. It’s systemic blood, not menstrual blood.’

  ‘Right,’ said Ed, quickly returning to her desk. ‘We know Lucy had no physical injury, not even a small cut or graze, so it can’t be hers. The blood must be from another woman.’

  ‘Then we do have mutilation and murder. The bastard’s killing women, slicing off a trophy, and bringing it home like a piece of steak.’ Nat spoke almost triumphantly with an I-told-you-so satisfaction, apparently unaware of the implications of his words.

  In contrast, Jenny clamped a hand to her breast and physically recoiled. ‘That’s a nightmare. We’ve got to get him before he snatches another girl.’

  Unspeakable events came with the job. Ed had learned to live with her revulsion while focusing on the facts of an investigation.

  ‘He didn’t slice trophies from the girls he abducted from the streets of Canterbury, and remember, Lucy said he carried the bloody package into the building where he held her captive. He must mutilate the women somewhere else. Horrendous though these thoughts are, the blood gives us another line of inquiry. I’ll get the DNA profile checked against Missing Persons and the National Database. We must use everything we have that might lead us to this guy before he strikes again.’
<
br />   There was a mutter of subdued agreement before Ed continued.

  ‘So, we’ve two lines of inquiry: the blood and our suspects. If we can get a quick DNA match the blood could give us a breakthrough. I’ll ask the Super to prioritize it.’

  ‘What about the first victim, Teresa Mulholland?’ asked Jenny. ‘I’ve had no luck talking to people who knew her. Has she been traced?’

  ‘Erm … nothing yet,’ mumbled Mike, ‘the Mulhollands are proving hard to find.’

  Ed rounded on her DS.

  ‘Come on, Mike. Put some pressure on. Finding the Mulhollands will give us a third line to follow.’

  Further discussion was prevented by the sound of someone at the door of the CID Room.

  50

  ‘Ma’am, Mrs Naylor’s called three times asking for you.’ It was Desk Sergeant Williams, who’d knocked before addressing Ed from the open doorway. ‘I said you’d call back as soon as you were out of your meeting. Now she’s at the front desk with her daughter and they’re both looking very upset.’

  ‘Thanks, Barry, tell them I’ll be out in five minutes.’ Ed turned to the team. ‘Right, we’ve been here for two hours already this morning, let’s sum up: means, motive, and opportunity.’

  ‘Talking means, Drakes-Moulton couldn’t have used his secret room, so …’

  ‘Hold on, Nat, there are many isolated buildings in the woods around Canterbury, which any one of our suspects could’ve used. Of course, they’d need suitable transport. What cars have they got?’

  ‘I’ve got a list here,’ said Mike, searching through his notes.

  Before he could find the information, Jenny reeled off the details from memory.

  ‘The caretaker uses a Honda 125 scooter but he must have a full licence because he drove a van when he worked for British Gas. Drakes-Moulton has converted stables at The Hall with a dozen different vehicles from vintage sports cars to the latest Range Rover, plus a minibus to ferry guests for shoots.’

  ‘Ray Leaman and Roger Grieves haven’t changed their cars in years,’ said Mike. ‘Ray’s got a sad-looking pale blue two-door Ford Fiesta and Roger drives a lovingly cared for white four-door Morris Minor saloon. Neither very suitable for carrying an unconscious body.’

  ‘We eliminated Alex Carlton, and Stephan Anders is no longer a frontline suspect, but, for the record, what do the Anderses drive?’ asked Ed.

  Jenny responded quickly. ‘Stephan Anders uses a Citroen 2CV around town. However, the Anders also have an old VW Camper, which could comfortably take the unconscious body of a young woman.’

  ‘None of them has a solid alibi,’ said Ed, ‘so at present, opportunity doesn’t help us and motive is puzzling. Can we identify principal suspects on the basis of means?’

  Jenny responded before either Nat or Mike could speak.

  ‘Access to a suitable vehicle would favour Drakes-Moulton and Anders. On what we know so far, Grieves, Leaman and Podzansky don’t come close.’

  Nat looked at Jenny and smiled. ‘TOBs … also points to Anders and Drakes-Moulton.’

  ‘True,’ said Ed, ‘but we’ve yet to find out what, if anything, turns Grieves, Leaman and Podzansky on.’

  She glanced round the table, looking for suggestions, but no one else spoke.

  ‘Okay, let’s leave it there for now. I must go see Lucy and her mother.’

  ‘Mrs Naylor, Lucy, sorry to have kept you waiting.’

  ‘Can we go somewhere private?’

  ‘Of course, come with me.’

  Once inside the Interview Room with the door closed Ed asked how she could help.

  ‘I wanted Lucy to go to our GP but she’s embarrassed. She wants to see the lady doctor from the hospital.’

  ‘I’m sorry you’re upset, Lucy. Why do you think our Medical Officer can help?’

  ‘I’ve missed my period.’

  ‘Are you sure it’s not just a little late?’

  ‘I’m always regular. I should have come on at the end of last week. It’s now Thursday. I’m six days late. I must be pregnant but I haven’t had sex so I can’t be pregnant. The lady doctor said the man hadn’t done anything like that to me. I want to know what’s happening.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Lucy, this must be very upsetting for you.’ Ed paused and turned to the mother. ‘Mrs Naylor, please could you ask the Sergeant at reception to bring us some tea?’

  Mrs Naylor left, closing the door behind her.

  ‘Lucy, we’ll do all we can to help but I have to ask you some very direct questions. If you are pregnant it could have a major influence on the way we are trying to catch the man who abducted you. I need you to tell me the truth. Will you do that?’

  ‘Of course, I’ve nothing to hide. I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. I just didn’t want to go to our GP, he’s a man.’

  ‘I understand.’ In her determination to get absolute clarity Ed was prepared to sound patronizing. ‘Lucy, the stress you’ve experienced recently could have delayed your period but let’s assume you’re pregnant. You can only be pregnant if a man’s sperm has fertilized one of your eggs.’

  ‘I know that, but I haven’t had sex.’

  ‘Think about this carefully. Have you done anything with a boy that might have allowed a little of his sperm to get inside you?’

  Lucy looked shocked. ‘No! I’m not married. I haven’t even let a boy touch me.’

  ‘I believe you, Lucy. We’ll get the Medical Officer to examine you.’

  There was a knock and the door opened.

  ‘Ah … here’s your mother and Sergeant Williams with the tea.’

  As the Desk Sergeant and Mrs Naylor entered the room the MO arrived.

  ‘Hi, Anna,’ said Ed as she left, ‘give me a call when you’ve finished examining Lucy.’

  Thirty minutes later Ed got a call from Anna and went to see her in the examination room.

  ‘How is she?’

  ‘Pregnant.’

  ‘Is that certain? It’s less than a week since she claims she missed her period. Is anyone that regular?’

  ‘A positive result is certain; negative results are less so.’

  ‘Did you examine her again?’

  ‘There’s no change from when I saw her at the hospital; no physical signs she’s engaged in sexual intercourse.’

  ‘Lucy’s a virgin?’

  ‘She shows no physical signs of penetration.’

  Ed’s brow furrowed and she looked quizzically at the MO.

  ‘But … erm … if she’s a virgin, how can she be pregnant?’

  ‘Artificial insemination, almost certainly the turkey baster method.’

  ‘It rings a bell but it’s not something I’ve ever felt the need to look into.’

  Anna smiled. ‘No problem. Should the need arise, you’ll find instructions on the internet.’

  ‘Talk me through it.’

  ‘All you need is a pot and one of those small syringes parents use to give medicine to young children. Get your chosen man to fill the pot, then inject the semen into your vagina.’

  ‘You said Lucy showed no signs of penetration.’

  ‘That’s what I’d expect if a catheter, a narrow plastic tube, had been used. Attach it to the end of the syringe and insert the narrow tube.’

  ‘Is that what happened?’

  ‘I think you’ve got some sick guy who abducts young women, drugs them and then very carefully inseminates them while they’re unconscious.’

  ‘What about timing if he wants to maximize the chances of pregnancy?’

  ‘He’d have to know when their last period started and then do the artificial insemination 12, 13 and 14 days later.’

  ‘So what are the shortest and longest times he’d have to keep the girl captive?’

  ‘If she started to menstruate the day he snatched her he’d need to keep her for a day or two over two weeks. Let’s say 16 days. If he snatched her just after her period had finished he could need up to—’ Anna did a quick calculation ‘—44 da
ys or longer.’

  ‘Thanks, Anna. We’re working on the assumption that all three girls, Teresa, Kimberley and Lucy, were taken by the same man. All three were held captive for periods that fall within your 16 to 44 days. I’d better have a word with Lucy.’

  ‘She’s back in Interview Room 2 with her mother. A counsellor’s in there at the moment. I asked Lucy and her mother to see you before they left.’

  ‘Thanks for your help.’

  On her way to rejoin her colleagues Ed detoured via the front desk.

  ‘Barry, I gather there’s a counsellor with Lucy at the—’

  ‘Joanna Singleton,’ Williams muttered, the reply swift, delivered without looking up.

  ‘Right. Tell her I’d like a brief word before she leaves. You can call me at my desk.’

  Still with his eyes on the document in front of him, the Desk Sergeant nodded. ‘Will do.’

  As she walked away, Ed wondered if Desk Sergeant Williams had been spooked by the arrival of Lucy, her mother, the MO and now a counsellor at the Station. For her, knowing that Lucy was pregnant ruled out Anders but, unlike her team, Ed knew they still had five suspects. Once again, she hoped her decision to keep her suspicion of Barry Williams secret wouldn’t backfire.

  The team looked up expectantly as Ed entered the CID Room.

  ‘That bloody journalist was right. Anna has no doubt. Lucy’s a virgin but she’s also pregnant.’

  Mike, Nat and Jenny looked puzzled. Then Jenny’s eyes widened.

  ‘Turkey baster! The bastard!’

  ‘Turkey what?’ asked Nat.

  ‘DIY insemination,’ explained Jenny.

  Mike sat forward in his chair. ‘Why some sick bastard should want to artificially inseminate young girls I can’t imagine, but it gives us a motive. As for means … I guess all this points to the biology master, Roger Grieves.’

  ‘If only, Mike, but I’m afraid not. Anybody can get the information on the internet. You can buy the equipment from any supermarket.’

  ‘So we’re back to square one.’ Mike slumped back in his chair.