by Liz Mistry
Gus shrugged. ‘Same.’
There was no need for either of them to voice their thoughts, as after a cursory glance in the downstairs rooms revealed them to be empty, they headed upstairs. The first room they entered was Ben Cameron’s bedroom and it was empty. With a sinking heart Gus moved onto the second room which as expected didn’t harbour him either, however it did have all the tools of his trade – pulleys, gloves, candles – everything he used in his attacks was there. They had identified their killer, but where was he?
Hearing sounds of his team arriving, Gus headed downstairs, to meet Nancy. ‘He’s gone. God knows where he’s gone, but the sooner we get that upstairs room processed the sooner we’ll find out where he’s gone. I reckon he’s nearing his endgame and he’s probably moving in on his next victim as we speak.’ He turned to Taffy who was in full crime scene overalls. ‘Get all the computer stuff to Compo, asap.’
An hour later, Gus was near pulling his hair out. They had more than enough evidence to convict Ben Cameron, but nothing to indicate where he might be or who his next target was. The idea of someone close to him being at the mercy of this killer didn’t bear thinking about. He was glad his parents were in Scotland. He’d woken up a grouchy Katie, who was dog sitting at his parents’ house, and despite her annoyance he was pleased that she was there. Nobody – not even Ben Cameron could get past his parents’ security system.
Of course, he might have moved on to another pregnant woman. That seemed more likely to Gus because to date Cameron had alternated between the ritual kill and the personal ones. Compo was having trouble breaking through all the firewalls and encryptions and what not, that Ben had put in place to thwart access. So, while his various programmes ran, Compo was contacting as many of the Hudson Clinic’s clientele who lived in terraced houses and had had a seventh month scan as quickly as he could.
Having been banished from Cameron’s house by Nancy because he was being ‘narky’ and getting in the way, Gus sat at his kitchen table with Professor Carlton, a cold coffee by his arm. Round and round his mind went, trying to make sense of this. He was only too aware of the time running out, so when his phone rang, he almost spilled the coffee in his haste to pick up.
‘Gus, boss, I mean Gus, You’re on speaker phone. Me and Taffy know who he’s going after next.’
Compo’s agitated voice had Gus jumping to his feet as the lad continued. ‘I’m such an idiot I should have read right down to the bottom of the list, but it didn’t occur to me that the next one would be so close to us. All the others are strangers.’
Trying to make sense of it, Gus switched to speaker phone so Carlton and Alice, who had just walked in, could hear. He was just about to speak, when a fainter voice came across the line. ‘It’s not our fault, Comps. How were we supposed to know she’d used the clinic? We all thought the boss had been intimate with a test tube and donated to her. Alice must have forgotten to tell us that he’d refused – good on him too, if you ask me – bloody weird being both uncle and dad to a kiddie.’
Taffy’s words formed a horrid scenario in Gus’s mind. Voice cold, he spared an angry glance at Alice for gossiping about his private business and said, ‘You do realise Compo has you on speaker phone, Taffy?’
Alice had the grace to look mortified at being found out, but Gus had no time for that – not now, anyway. As the younger officer tried to apologise, Gus moved on. ‘Comps, are you saying Gabriella is on that list?’
‘Yes, yes we were…’
But Gus had hung up. ‘Come on, Al. You drive, I’ll phone Katie again and you’ – he turned to Carlton – ‘get Nancy up to speed and get a team to my parent’s house asap.’
Cursing himself for underestimating Cameron’s hacking skills, Gus flung himself into the passenger seat of Alice’s Mini and phoned his sister. ‘Come on, Katie, pick up.’ It went to voicemail, so he tried again – once more voicemail. The third time he dialled, Alice was halfway up Emm Lane and Gus nearly dropped his phone when he heard Katie’s brusque tones demanding, ‘Are you drunk, Gus? Why do you keep phoning?’
‘You’re OK?
‘No, I’m not OK. I’m bloody knackered because some lunatic keeps phoning me in the middle of the night.’
Gus, his heart rate returning to normal, said, ‘And Gabriella? She’s OK?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you try phoning her? She’ll be even less happy than me to be woken at this time of the morning.’
Gus frowned. ‘What do you mean? She’s there with you, isn’t she?’
‘Look, Gus, I’m going back to bed, stop phoning. ‘
Katie, where is Gaby?’
‘For God’s sake, Gus, she’s at our house. She hates the bed at Mum and Dad’s, so she stayed at home.’
‘Fuck! Katie, phone Gaby right now and if you get through to her let me know.’
Something in his tone must have sunk in because Katie gulped back a sob and said, ‘On it,’ before hanging up.
Using Alice’s phone, Gus contacted Nancy to divert the team to Gabriella and Katie’s house which was very near the killer’s place.
‘Come on, Al, get a move on. Can’t this heap go any faster?’
Within minutes, Alice screeched to a halt outside Gus’s sister’s new house. A very faint light shone through the curtains. Not prepared to wait for back-up, Gus dove out of the car, Alice on his heels, and thanking God that Katie had seen fit to give him a key to their house, he opened the door and stormed through. As far as he was concerned, the need for stealth was gone. Now was time for speed. He yanked open the door leading upstairs, dreading what he would find, but although the pulley system was in place, Gabriella’s lifeless body wasn’t dangling from it.
A scurry of sound had Gus diving upstairs, just in time to see two legs disappearing up a ladder into the attic space. Gus lunged forward making a desperate grab for a leg. Gripping the ankle, he held tight, with one hand, but his assailant struggled, kicking, and twisting his leg until finally he made purchase with Gus’s broken nose. Gus yelped as the killer pulled away and scrambled into the attic. Grabbing the ladder rungs, Gus hoisted himself upwards and threw himself into the space landing on a bed of Rockwool.
Scrambling sounds to his right gave him Cameron’s position and attempting to keep his knees on the joists he crawled after him. As he moved along the loft space, adrenalin allowed him to keep pace with Ben Cameron, the sounds of Alice talking to Gabriella in the bedroom beneath receded. Wondering which of the row of terraced houses Ben had gained entry by, Gus kept on doggedly. His entire body protested, but he was determined not to give up. Ahead of him the killer stopped and turned the dull light from his head torch gave his face a maniacal look. ‘Come on then, McGuire. It’s just you and me now. Let’s do this.’
Gus got to his feet and moved closer to Ben. ‘Yes, let’s.’
When Gus was within a few feet of his assailant, Cameron threw something at Gus’s head. Taken by surprise, Gus tried to dodge but the object – a metal drill, but it hit him on the temple making him lose his balance. One foot slipped off the floor joists and onto the plasterboard. Before Gus could pull his foot back, it sunk into the plasterboard and his foot was trapped.
Ben, seeing his predicament, laughed. ‘Oh dear, McGuire. What will you do now?’
Cameron moved closer, his experience exploring attic spaces making his movements fluid. He carried a syringe in his hand and Gus knew that if Cameron managed to inject him with the ketamine he was sure was in the syringe, then he’d be incapacitated within seconds. Yanking his foot, Gus ignored the pain of his ankle twisting, intent only on releasing himself so he stood a better chance against the maniac. Another twist, and his foot came clear, leaving his shoe behind. Cameron was now only a foot away from him. With no time to think, Gus, instead of advancing on Ben, dived to the side, his fingers grasping for the drill Ben had thrown at him moments earlier. It was the only weapon Gus had and, although he was confident of his chances of taking Ben down in a fight, he didn�
��t want to get anywhere near that syringe.
Surprised by Gus’s tactics, Cameron hesitated, and that hesitation provided Gus with the chance to throw the drill back at Ben. Rather than aiming for his head though, Gus opted for his knees. The clank of the metal hitting his knees followed almost immediately by Ben falling onto them, galvanised Gus. He wasn’t sure if Cameron still held the syringe but that didn’t matter. Gus jumped to his feet and instead of lunging forward using the foot with his trainer still on, he aimed a kick right for his adversary’s face. The sound of bone and cartilage breaking was accompanied by a spurt of blood. Gus, breathing hard, moved closer as the other man, his hands cupping his nose, growled. Before Gus reached him, Cameron jerked forward, one arm outstretched, and Gus felt a scratch on his thigh through his jeans. Barely aware of the sound of activity beyond Ben Cameron, Gus collapsed. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t move his limbs. His heart hammered, sending the ketamine through his system quicker and as he looked up, unable to do anything, the killer’s booted foot stomped right on his stomach. As Cameron raised it again, this time to aim at Gus’s head, a familiar voice said, ‘Fucked if you do that to my boss.’ Taffy!
Taffy winked at Gus as he and a uniformed officer restrained Ben Cameron. ‘I got you, boss. I got you.’
Chapter 78
Bradford
Woozy, his entire body throbbing, with fractures to his cheekbone, ribs, and ankle, as well as the injuries he’d sustained in the car crash, Gus sat behind his desk in The Fort, trying not to move any more than was strictly necessary. Much as he would have liked to sleep for a week, his obstinate refusal to take any stronger pain relief than ibuprofen made that impossible. Besides, every time he thought of Ben Cameron and the destruction he’d caused and the torture he’d inflicted, his anger reached new heights.
Gabriella, thankfully, was fine – bruised and in pain and, in true Gabriella style, blaming him for everything that had happened to her. Gus was only relieved that their baby appeared to be unharmed by the trauma and Katie, while siding with her partner wasn’t quite so hard on Gus. Gus suspected that as the days passed all the trauma that she’d suffered at the hands of Ben Cameron would flatten her, so he’d very quietly asked Carlton to suggest a therapist to Katie. Neither his sister nor her partner would accept any help from him.
‘Look Gus. We can’t just give in to his whims. We’ve got him on all the pregnant women’s murders and on Dr Mahmood, Hopkins, and Smedley’s ones too. That combined with his attack on you will be more than enough to have him locked away forever. So you don’t need to face him again.’ Nancy was attempting to be firm, but it was clear that she was conflicted between protecting Gus and getting more information from Cameron. Ben had insisted that he would only speak to Gus and Professor Carlton about the allegations made against him by his father, Jimmy Cameron.
‘But what about all the others? He refuses to talk to anyone but me about it, so maybe we need to stop looking at it as him controlling us all and consider it more as obtaining closure for all those still suffering as a consequence of his actions.’
Nancy rubbed her fingers over her eyes, her face grey. Sensing he was winning his argument Gus continued. ‘It’s been done before, Nancy. You could get permission from further up the chain. You know you can. But, I have to face him. You know that and I know that. There are so many lives at stake, so many people who need closure, so many people who have been wronged by him. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try. Besides you can be there too.’
The group of people sitting around his table nodded. They were his team and although he could tell by the look in each person’s eyes that they hated that he had to do this. Taffy, Alice, Compo, Carlton – each of them had been affected by the investigation and they wanted to put it to bed. However, their support for him shone through strong and empowering. That gave him the strength he needed.
****
The door opened and Ben Cameron was escorted into the dankest interview room they had. Cuffed, both hands and feet, he shuffled over to the table and sat down opposite Gus, Nancy and Professor Carlton.
Black stubble was beginning to grow on his bald head and the bruising on his face was pronounced. Dressed in the over baggy prison overalls he looked diminished and unthreatening. It was that that sent a chill through Gus because he knew that the man opposite was anything but unthreatening.
‘Nice to see you again, cuz.’ Cameron sneered across the worn table and winked.
Gus wasn’t here to play power games, so he folded his arms, ignoring the stab of pain as his ribs protested and said nothing.
‘Oh, silent treatment is it? Never mind. I’ve got plenty to say.’ Again with the stupid wink. ‘You look like you should be in hospital instead of sitting opposite me. Think I won that battle, didn’t I?’
Again, Gus remained silent. He, Nancy and Carlton had agreed that this strategy would frustrate Cameron into talking – bigging himself up. Nancy had agreed to take Carlton’s lead and everything was being recorded. They couldn’t afford to mess this up. Cameron had declined his right to a lawyer and, now that Gus was in the room, seemed happy to talk.
Carlton looked at his watch. ‘I’ve got an hour, but that’s all. I met with your dad and I think he’s talking, to be technical, crap.’ Carlton winked at Cameron and Gus struggled not to smile. The psychologist was damn good at this. ‘No way could you have pulled off all the stuff he’s saying. The old idiot is just trying to get himself off the hook. No serial killer is that good – look at you. Pretty minor in the serial killer league aren’t’ you. A couple of weeks. God, that’s small fry compared to Sutcliffe and the Wests – they were at it for years. I’m afraid, Ben, your name is going to die a death the minute you’re sentenced for your rather short killing spree.’
And that was all it took. Ben leant forward, his face red, his fists clenched, but unlike his father who wanted only to punish himself, Ben wanted to smash his fists into Carlton’s smug face.
‘Sutcliffe and the Wests … amateurs compared to me. Get your recorder on and listen to this…’
Chapter 79
Bradford
The interview with Ben Cameron had lasted four hours and by the end of it Gus was sickened as well as exhausted. Maintaining his surly silence had used up every shred of his self-control, but Carlton’s carefully detailed strategy had worked. Gus had been thinking about his future and now that he’d fulfilled his obligation to get information from Ben Cameron, he was happy to leave any subsequent interviews in the capable hands of Professor Carlton. But before he made his announcement, he gathered his team together to outline the information they’d gained.
Nodding at Compo, Gus waited while he pressed a key to make a list of names appear, in chronological order, on the white board. ‘As you can see, to date, Ben Cameron has admitted to all of these deaths. The first one being, as his father said, Ben’s mother when he was barely twelve years old. By the time he was sixteen, he was frequenting the docks and when the opportunity arose strangling sex workers. He has names for some of his victims and remembers many others whom he had no names for. To date he has admitted to fifteen such murders over a twelve-year period from the age of sixteen.’ Gus shuddered. It had taken a major effort not to react to Cameron’s gleeful reconstruction of each one of these strangulations. ‘We’ve passed this onto Police Scotland who will investigate. Some of the men convicted of these murders will be released in due course. Unfortunately, two wrongly convicted men died in prison.’
Compo scrolled down the list until a familiar name appeared. ‘He admits to killing Helen Robertson – Rory’s wife as a warning to his father to keep out of his business.’ Gus closed his eyes. Watching the enjoyment play across Ben Cameron’s face as he described his satisfaction at not only killing Rory’s wife but at all the subsequent torture poor Rory suffered. He delighted in telling how he stole the sketches from Rory and tortured him every time he visited by asking him how his wife was. If Gus had been able,
he would have put his own hands around Ben Cameron’s neck and extinguished him there and then.
‘The next victim was his sister-in-law, Tracie – again to thwart his dad. He enjoyed that one immensely.’ Moving down the list Gus stopped at two unfamiliar names: Betty and Stanley Lipton. ‘These were Ben’s foster parents. After his own father was imprisoned, Ben decided he wanted more independence and some money to fund that independence, so he cut their brake cables and waved them bye bye, one wintry day. Those deaths were deemed an accident.’
‘Fuck’s sake.’ While everyone else was staring in stunned wonder at the long list of deaths Ben Cameron had admitted to, Taffy couldn’t contain himself. ‘Bastard!’
Gus moved on. This was a list of 22 victims between 2008 and the present with dates of death and method of death – not including his Bradford victims. His victims prior to his spree in Bradford were evenly spread by gender as Cameron seemed not to have a preference for either male or female victims nor which method of killing he preferred. This was probably what allowed him to remain undetected for so long. ‘These deaths again will be investigated and corroborated by Police Scotland. They took place all over Scotland and were never attributed to a single killer. Cameron called this his ‘experimental phase’, before settling on strangling as his favourite MO. Some of these victims were dumped and never found. He admitted to weighing some down and dumping them in various lochs – all of which will be trawled now. This last one, before we move on to Bradford victims, is his brother John. He dumped him in Lanark Loch supposedly – and used his ID on occasion as the fancy took.’