by G D Sanders
Ed was conscious of a glance from Jenny but she fixed her eyes on Teresa’s face.
‘If I was pregnant it was because, in the Mind of Our Lord, the child had a place and a purpose in His World. I came to see the man you call my abductor in a different light. I realized that, to do all that he had done, the man who chose me must have really wanted to bring this child into the world. He wanted it so much he was prepared to be separated from his child for ever.’
Ed remained silent.
‘At least I can watch my daughter grow up. I can love her even if I cannot experience my daughter’s love as a mother should. He knew that his child would never be part of his life. He sacrificed fatherhood for the sake of this child.’
The outpouring of the belief that had sustained Teresa over the last ten years came to a stop. Ed waited for the peak of Teresa’s emotion to subside.
‘Teresa, none of this was your choice. This man forced his selfish desire onto you. You didn’t ask for this to happen. He forced his perverted needs onto your body; he stole your life. You could have been a mother with a loving husband, a caring father to your children.’
‘But that wasn’t God’s Way. We all have crosses to bear. My parents sacrificed their way of life to raise my daughter without shame in the eyes of the world. I live knowing that I shall never be able to acknowledge my daughter as my own. She’s my sister and she is loved by her family. We will do all in our power to ensure she has a wonderful life.’
‘Teresa, none of this was God’s way. You and your parents are bearing crosses fabricated by your willingness to collude with an evil man’s desires. We can do nothing to change what he did to you, but together we can stop him doing it to more young women; we can stop him disrupting the lives of more families.’
‘I don’t believe the man who chose me was born evil, Inspector. He didn’t plant evil genes in the body of my daughter. He may not have loved me but he chose me to carry his child. He may not know her name but I’m sure he loves her from afar. Such a man is not an evil man. No men are born evil, although experience may make them do things that the world sees as evil. Before you accuse him of evil you should ask what happened to him in his earlier life.’
The tea and shortbread were forgotten. For a moment Ed thought their cause was lost. She wanted to break through the blind defence Teresa had built to cope with her life. Teresa clung to a faith and Ed was aware that faith is not changed by logic. She thought of the other victims and their families and gathered the resolve to remain patient but determined.
‘Teresa, this man may not be evil but what he did was terribly wrong. Whatever pain he suffered when he was younger cannot justify what he has done since. In all other aspects of his life he may be a good man, a model citizen, but what he has done to you and his other victims is evil. Maybe it is an evil act by an otherwise good but flawed man. But, no matter how good he is in other ways, we cannot condone what he did, what he’s still doing. We cannot condone what you and other young women have suffered at his hands. I am not seeking punishment for his crimes but I do want to stop him claiming more innocent victims.’
‘You’re saying that my Celia is not the daughter of an evil man?’
‘In this one thing he’s a misguided man; he’s been weak, lacking the strength you’ve shown. You’ve said you will never know the love a mother should receive from her daughter. This man’s actions have robbed you of that experience. Help us, Teresa, don’t let him steal a child’s love from other women.’
‘Celia is mine and I love her but I’ll never be able to call her my own. She’s my daughter but she’ll never know that I’m her mother and I’ll never know a daughter’s love.’
‘That is what he has done to you, to both of you. Don’t let him do it to others. Imagine if what has happened to you were to happen to Celia.’
Ed thought Teresa might argue against the logic of her last remark but she had staked all on a mother’s love. They sat in silence. The tears, which had stopped while Teresa was defending her position, began to run down her cheeks again. Her eyes were unfocused, betraying an immense sadness to the world. Ed felt her own eyes moisten at this woman’s pain. She waited. Slowly Teresa began to summon the strength which had sustained her since she was abducted. Unconcerned for her appearance, she wiped away her tears with the backs of her hands and looked directly at Ed.
‘There’s a connecting gate between here and my parents’ garden. This afternoon they took Celia to her friend’s for tea.’ Teresa glanced at her watch. ‘By now they’ll have gone to pick her up. If I go quickly I can get the hair before they get home.’
‘We’ll wait in your garden. Bring us what you can get, a brush, a comb, but leave it for us to take what we need.’
When the detectives had secured and bagged the evidence, Ed had one more question.
‘I know it was a long time ago and I wouldn’t ask you to revisit that time if it wasn’t important but it would be a great help if you could tell us something about the man who took you and something about the place where you were held.’
‘So you don’t know it’s the same man.’ Teresa was alarmed and she looked angrily at Ed. ‘You’ve tricked me. You said you would keep us out of it, that you would use evidence from the other abductions at the trial but if it’s not the same man …’
‘Teresa, we’re sure it was the same man. I’d just like you to confirm it. Was there anything striking or unusual about the man or the place?’
There was no pause in the exchange. Teresa had already decided to co-operate with the police. She responded immediately.
‘I’ll never forget his voice and the place where he kept me. He sounded like Mr Punch and I was locked behind a wire mesh wall, like fencing.’
‘Thank you, Teresa, it’s the same man.’
56
The following morning Ed picked up a flat white from Deakin’s on her way to the Station. Entering the CID Room, she found Mike and Nat sitting at their desks.
‘Finished already?’ asked Ed.
‘Finished?’ muttered a puzzled Nat.
‘Checking the CCTV for Tyler’s abduction.’
‘We haven’t bleeding started!’ exclaimed Mike. Nat had made to speak, but for once Mike had beaten him to it, his usual phlegmatic demeanour exploded by uncontrolled frustration.
‘What!’ Flush with yesterday’s success with Teresa in Poole, Ed slammed her coffee onto her desk and rounded on her colleagues. ‘Are you saying the CCTV tapes for the time of Tyler’s abduction aren’t available?’
‘It’s a total fucking cock-up,’ said Nat, seizing his chance to raise the ante.
‘What the hell’s going on? When I wanted tapes of Alex Carlton’s training runs, I got them, no problem. Why couldn’t you get Thursday’s CCTV?’
‘Depends who you ask: pressure of work; the Olympic Torch Relay; new office junior not following procedure; tapes incorrectly labelled; senior staff on a long weekend.’
Mike paused for breath and it was Ed’s turn to explode.
‘What a bloody travesty! It’s outrageous. You pushed them?’
‘The best I could get is that the office manager would be back first thing Tuesday. We’re promised the tapes by lunchtime.’
‘Tuesday!’
They were on a roll and now this. Ed couldn’t believe it. She wanted to rage about provincial ineptitude but she knew such things happened. They’d happened in London more than once. Usually the system worked efficiently but sometimes the level of incompetence beggared belief.
Jenny came into the room and was surprised by her colleagues’ expressions. ‘What’s happened?’
Ed exploded. ‘It’s Saturday morning and we’ll not have Thursday’s CCTV until Tuesday lunchtime! Someone’s getting a bollocking for this.’ She took a deep breath. ‘We can’t get DNA from the school staff until Monday morning. That was our back-up if the CCTV of Tyler’s abduction didn’t lead us straight to our man.’
Neither Nat nor Mike offered a respons
e. Ed dropped into her chair and frowned.
‘Where are we with our suspects? Mike?’
‘I’ve made progress with Podzansky.’
‘You’ve eliminated him?’
‘Quite the opposite, I’d say.’ Mike flipped open his notebook. ‘Both Tomasz and his mother keep themselves to themselves. He has a mobile and a bank account but both are strictly for work. No credit card, he always pays in cash, which he withdraws from ATMs. He shops in Sturry for food on his way back from the school. All told he leads a pretty monotonous life, spending his free time at home or fishing. The one exception is a regular three-week holiday every August, which I’ve got to follow up.’
‘Nothing else on the database?’
‘No, but I plan to check with ex-DI Lynn. Percy’s got a great memory.’
‘As quick as you can, Mike.’
‘As soon as I can get hold of him, it’ll be done.’
‘Right, I’ll stick with Drakes-Moulton. Jenny and Nat, give Mike a hand with Grieves, Leaman and Podzansky. One of these men is holding Tyler captive and planning to rape her. I want us to nail the bastard before it’s too late!’
57
Ed, Mike and a team of uniformed officers got to the school early on Monday, 23 July 2012, to collect DNA. As the last sample was taken, Ed turned to Mike.
‘In my hurry to get everything arranged I forgot Nigel Drakes-Moulton. Take Nat and get a sample from our estate agent friend.’ Why did she say friend? ‘Get it back to the Station asap; we’ve got priority on this one.’
Watching Mike and Nat leave the school, Ed knew they should also have a sample from Barry Williams but she held back because of the furore swabbing the Desk Sergeant would have caused. To avoid pointing the finger, she could have asked for a DNA sample from all the male officers at the Station but, to do so, she would need to state her reasons. Once she’d done that, the story would be out anyway, and her head would be on the block. Ed didn’t believe Barry was the perpetrator but that was no defence. If, against the odds, he proved guilty, her lack of action could mark the end of her police career.
Later that morning, as Mike and Nat entered the CID Room, Ed asked if they’d got a DNA sample from Drakes-Moulton.
‘It’s gone off with the others.’
‘When do we get the results?’ ask Nat.
‘Addler’s got us top priority for this one. She wants the case wrapped up. I’m sure the Chief Constable’s been bending her ear. She’s desperate for an arrest.’
‘Aren’t we all,’ said Jenny.
‘Yes, but I hope you’re thinking more about the victims and their families than pressure from the Chief Constable and the next set of crime stats.’
‘Of course … but when do we get the DNA results?’
‘Two or three days, Thursday at the latest – it’ll give us Friday and the weekend to save Tyler Hewitt before he starts inseminating her.’ Ed paused, knowing they mustn’t rely on one line of inquiry. ‘We can’t just bank on the DNA; it may not throw up a match. Anders and Carlton are eliminated. Have we anything new on our remaining suspects?’
No one spoke. The team seemed to have reached an impasse in their thinking.
In the silence Ed recalled something Teresa had said. ‘No men are born evil. Before we accuse a person of being evil we should know what happened to them earlier in their life.’ Until now the team’s focus had been on the present; it was time to investigate the past. She was about to explore this idea with her colleagues when Nat seized the initiative.
‘Why are we pussy-footing around with these guys? Let’s pull them in for some tough questioning.’
Ed stiffened. Why was he so impetuous? The prospect of what Nigel might say if harshly questioned about his sexual behaviour filled her with alarm. Then, to her dismay, Jenny supported him. She not only supported Nat but dismissed one of Ed’s counter-arguments in the process.
‘I know Addler has said we should tread carefully, play this one with kid gloves because it’s sensitive, important feathers ruffled, et cetera, et cetera, but whoever’s doing this is an evil bastard. What he’s done to these young women is horrendous. And then there’s the blood-soaked package. He’s already murdered and mutilated some poor unknown woman. Tyler Hewitt could be next.’ The pitch of Jenny’s voice had risen with emotion and she was becoming breathless. ‘We’ve got to do all we can to save her.’
There was a murmur of agreement. Ed needed to buy time.
‘I agree. This man is evil and we must get the bastard but our suspects are respected members of a small—’ Ed had nearly said provincial but she stopped herself just in time ‘—a small community. We not talking of a bunch of low-lifes, like McNally. I think we can afford twenty-four hours to reduce the number of citizens we lean on.’
‘But he could be about to kill Tyler!’
‘Jenny, we’ve gone over this. Tyler’s abduction exactly fits the pattern of Kimberley and Lucy. There’s every probability that she is being well cared for and will be released unharmed but, unless we find her first, she will have been impregnated with every probability of becoming pregnant. On a conservative estimate we still have five days before he starts impregnation so let’s make it our priority to eliminate more of our suspects, close in on the perpetrator and save Tyler from that fate.’
Her colleagues were regarding her quizzically. Ed remembered the look that passed between Nat and Jenny when Nigel’s name was first mentioned and her discomfort moved towards alarm. Had they seen through what she was doing? Mike broke the silence.
‘How do you propose we do that without questioning our suspects?’
‘Whoever the abductor is, he’s very careful. He plans meticulously. Lucy told us that he bought her complete sets of new clothes but not a single shop in Canterbury had a record of such purchases.’
‘We’ve checked in nearby towns and there’s still nothing,’ said Nat.
‘That’s my point. We simply can’t find a record of those sales. We need a breakthrough and our present approach hasn’t delivered.’
This was true, but the argument wasn’t going in the direction Ed wanted. She wanted to ignore Nat’s contribution but she had to encourage her team.
‘We haven’t yet traced a matching sale and I don’t think we will. Looking after the girls is a central component of his plan. If he is going to slip up, it will be in something that is peripheral to his thinking, some small thing that hasn’t featured in his planning.’
‘What d’you have in mind?’ asked Jenny.
‘We’ll know it when we see it.’
Ed waited for their attention and then pressed on with what she wanted to say.
‘Drakes-Moulton is clearly into young women but there’s nothing to connect him to the abductions. We’ve been focusing primarily on the present and immediate past. That’s caused us to be distracted by the plausible relevance of the clandestine TOBs and we’ve effectively ignored Grieves and Leaman; perhaps they’re our dark horses. The Old Boys connection may have suckered us into a blind alley. Maybe the driving force behind these abductions was not to have sole possession of a young woman; rather, the young women were a means to the main objective – to create a child.’
Mike objected. ‘You’re forgetting Podzansky; how would that be the case with him?’
‘Let’s just run with it for the moment. Last Friday, when she was talking about the abductor, Teresa said, “The man who chose me must have really wanted to bring this child into the world, wanted it so much that he was prepared to be separated from his child for ever.” Where does this intense desire to have children with surrogate mothers come from? Teresa said, “Men are not born evil; their motivation to commit evil acts comes from events experienced in their past.” I’m not saying she’s a brilliant clinical psychologist but her thoughts point to an avenue we haven’t explored. What do we know about the childhood experiences of our suspects?’
‘Hmm … not a lot,’ said Mike, ‘but we can get on to it.’
‘Let’s do that!’
58
Everything was going well. The timing couldn’t have been better. Last Thursday, when Tyler recovered from the ether she’d asked for her school bag. He’d already checked the contents. Emptying her pails the following morning confirmed he’d have to keep her for the fewest number of days. Chance had served him well. Tyler was resilient. Her shift from pleading to resignation had occurred faster than with any of the others. She was fitter too and would be a good mother for his child. She was even wearing a skirt, not the ubiquitous jeans he’d encountered with Kimberley and Lucy. He felt good.
He felt good until the police arrived and took a DNA sample. That had been this morning. It was now the evening. He was back at the building in the woods and Tyler was on the bed listening to music. As soon as he’d cleared their supper things, he went to his private room. Gazing at the gleaming jars of his collection, his eyes lost focus as he pondered the day’s events. It was approaching 10 p.m. when he rose, checked the padlock on the chain-link door, wished Tyler goodnight and turned out the lamp. Beyond her sight, he hung his hood on the peg and slipped the Mr Punch reed into his pocket before walking to the car.
Driving home he replayed his thoughts about the day’s events and the doubts increased. The police had taken DNA so they must have a sample for comparison. For the first time he felt vulnerable. In a few days, three he guessed, they would have a DNA match. Then they would come looking for him. He must get away, somewhere safe, but what about Tyler? He couldn’t leave her alone. He must care for her as he planned to care for their child.
There was a rabbit caught in his headlights. He braked hard.
The abrupt deceleration rearranged the thoughts in his head. There was no need to leave Tyler, quite the opposite. The building in the woods was the place to go. When he’d held the others captive the police hadn’t found them. He’d be safe in the woods and he could continue to look after Tyler. If he started early tomorrow, he could do eight separate weekly shops at different supermarkets and be safe by nightfall. He’d be hidden long before the police had their DNA results and came looking for him.