Righteous Anger: A frantic hunt for a child killer (DCI Rob Miller Book 3)

by BL Pearce

  “Agreed, but DCI Purley has been suspended pending a review. The case would fall to the DI, if there is one. If not, the DS will handle it.”

  Both would have to be fully briefed.

  “My team is familiar with the original investigation,” he said. “Anyone coming in would have to start from scratch. It makes more sense for us to keep it. Katie’s been found. Tessa Parvin’s been charged with attempted murder and possibly kidnapping. We have the time to dedicate to it.”

  Did he sound too desperate?

  The DCS studied him for a long moment. “This is personal, isn’t it?”

  Rob shrugged, not altogether convincingly. “Arina deserves justice. Nobody knows the ins and outs of this case as well as we do. She was palmed off before. I think we should see it through.”

  Lawrence sighed. “What about the other missing girls? Have you found anything connecting them to the investigation, apart from them all being of similar age?”

  He glanced at his hands. “Not yet, sir.”

  “Why not?”

  “Budgetary constraints. We can’t justify a full-scale search of every green area near where they disappeared.” He gave the Chief Superintendent a sideways glance. “Can we?”

  “No, we bloody can’t. And before you ask, I’m not sending divers into every lake in the district either. You need something else linking the girls before we go any further. Failing that, let’s cut back to Arina Parvin’s case and concentrate on finding her killer. Once we’ve put the Katie Wells case to bed.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief. At least they were hanging on to Arina’s case, albeit by the skin of their teeth.

  Rob was about to leave when the Chief Superintendent spoke. “Strange how Katie’s backpack was weighed down just like Arina’s? I guess there is such a thing as coincidence.”

  Rob blinked at him. A light had just gone on in his head.

  “No, sir. There isn’t?”

  “Pardon me?”

  “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. Of course, it’s linked. It’s obvious when you think about it.”

  “Not to me,” grunted Lawrence.

  But Rob had thrown open the office door and was striding through the squad room.

  “Where are you going?” Lawrence called after him.

  Such was the power of his voice that everybody stopped what they were doing and glanced up.

  “I’m going to speak to Tessa Parvin,” Rob replied. “I know why she did it. I know why she kidnapped Katie.”

  33

  Mallory, who’d seen him through the glass walls of Incident Room 2, swung open the door and ran after him.

  “Wait up, Rob,” he called, as he took the stairs two at a time after his DCI. “What’s so important you can’t wait.”

  Rob stopped in the stairwell on the ground floor.

  “Come on, I’ll explain on the way.”

  They had to wait for Tessa Parvin’s solicitor to turn around on the A3 and come back to the station. By the time she arrived, Rob had filled in Mallory on his line of thought.

  Now, as he sat opposite Tessa, his heart pounded in anticipation.

  She looked like she’d been crying. Obviously, the last interview had got to her. Rob felt sorry for her. It was the police’s shortcomings that had forced her to do what she did.

  “I know why you did it, Tessa,” he said, once Mallory had switched on the recording device and announced them all for the second time that afternoon. “I know why you kidnapped Katie.”

  She didn’t respond, but her lip quivered.

  “It was our fault, wasn’t it?”

  She glanced up. Her solicitor looked confused.

  “We failed you when Arina went missing. We let you both down. I’m sorry about that.”

  She kept her eyes on him. Unblinking.

  “That’s why you kidnapped Katie, isn’t it? You wanted to get our attention. You wanted us to reopen your case. And it worked.” He studied her and saw a small blush creep into her cheeks. “You knew we’d look into her friends and family; you knew we’d discover your daughter went missing four years ago. That was what you wanted, wasn’t it? You wanted us to make a connection between the two missing girls.”

  Tears welled up in Tessa’s eyes. She nodded. “It was the only way I could get you to take Arina’s disappearance seriously.”

  Yes!

  She was talking. They had a confession.

  Mallory stiffened beside to him.

  “You don’t have to continue,” her solicitor pointed out, laying a hand on her arm. But Tessa shrugged it off.

  “I want to.”

  The solicitor removed her hand.

  “I never planned on hurting Katie,” Tessa whispered. “I just wanted to find my girl, to know for sure whether she was dead. I couldn’t stand not knowing.”

  It had eaten her up inside.

  “I arranged Katie’s disappearance to look like an old case I’d read about online. I knew there had been other girls that had gone missing in the county, so I looked into those disappearances, and I saw that one of their school satchels had been found in a nearby river. I thought if I did the same, you’d connect the cases and take Arina’s disappearance more seriously. I didn’t for a moment think–” She petered off, unable to continue.

  Her solicitor sat stone-faced beside her. She was picturing the kidnapping charge on top of the one for attempted murder.

  “You didn’t think we’d also find her school rucksack weighed down in a nearby lake?” Rob finished for her.

  Or that it would lead to Jo making the connection with her sister.

  She shook her head. “I had hoped she was with Ramin in Iraq, but deep down I knew she wasn’t. I knew she was dead. I could sense it.”

  Tears flowed freely down her face, but she didn’t care. She was beyond caring.

  Rob’s heart went out to her. Everything she’d done had been in search of the truth. If the original SIO had done his job in the first place, Tessa Parvin wouldn’t be sitting here today. She wouldn't be spending the next ten or twenty years in prison.

  They had what they needed for a conviction.

  He excused himself and left Mallory to finish the interview.

  “Well done, Rob.” Chief Superintendent Lawrence pumped his hand when he told him they’d wrapped up the Katie Wells case. The CPS had given them the go-ahead to further charge Tessa Parvin with kidnapping.

  “Let’s issue a statement to the press ASAP. You do it. This is your moment.”

  But Rob shook his head. “I’ll let DS Malhotra do it, sir. For consistency's sake.”

  Lawrence wagged his finger. “You’ll never get ahead if you don’t suck it up, Rob. If you want my job one day, you need to own your successes.”

  This didn’t feel like a success. Tessa Parvin should never have had to resort to kidnapping to get the police to take her daughter’s disappearance seriously. Besides, Arina’s killer was still out there and it was his job to hunt that person down. He wanted justice for the Parvin family.

  With the case wrapped up, Rob decided to go home early and take Trigger to the park. He called Jo, but her phone diverted straight to voicemail, which meant she was busy. Had she managed to convince her superiors to second her to their team yet?

  As he stepped outside the police station, he was besieged by a reporter. The young women thrust a recorder under his nose and asked, “How do you feel now that Katie’s kidnapper is in custody?”

  “I’m delighted,” he said, pushing past her.

  She ran alongside him. “Do you think Tessa Parvin will get a reduced sentence seeing as it’s the police's fault she was put in this position?”

  “I can’t comment on the outcome of the trial,” he said, annoyed.

  “Are you in charge of her daughter’s case?”

  “Yes, now if you’ll excuse me.” He managed to get away from her and jump into a passing taxi, even though it was less than a kilometre to his house.<
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  He’d just paid the fare when Jo rang him back.

  “Congratulations,” she said. “I heard you made an arrest.”

  “Thanks.” He still didn’t feel great about it. “How are things there?”

  She sighed. “I haven’t spoken to Pearson. I think he’s avoiding me. I’m going to stay late and try to catch him before he goes home.”

  “Good luck. So, I won’t be seeing you tonight?” He didn’t want to sound too hopeful. Now the insane rush of the last few days was over, it would have been nice to spend some time with her. But theirs wasn’t the sort of relationship to beg. He couldn’t have it both ways.

  “No, sorry. I’m rushed off my feet trying to tie up my current projects so I can be with you tomorrow.”

  He knew she meant the police station.

  “It’ll be great having you back.” After the last few cases they’d worked on, she was almost an honorary member of the team anyway.

  They’d first met during the Surrey Stalker case when she’d been drafted in to oversee their investigation. He’d expected to resent her presence, but they’d worked well together and by the end of the case, were firm friends. That had been two years ago now.

  He smiled. Who would have thought they’d end up together?

  “I can’t wait. Chat later, Rob.”

  “Night, Jo.”

  Trigger launched himself at Rob as he walked through the door. He fondled the dog’s ears. Unconditional love. No shame in it.

  “Let’s go for a walk, yeah?”

  It was a sultry night, the kind made for lovers. The moon sat high in the sky, suspended by an invisible string, flanked by knowing stars. Had they been shining the night Arina Parvin and the others had been abducted? Had they seen the horrors that had befallen them?

  Or had the rolling clouds blocked them out, blindfolded them. Protected them?

  Trigger tugged on the leash, eagerly to explore the bushes alongside the pavement. Other people’s gardens. Other pet smells. Until they got to Old Deer Park, when he let him free.

  Sprinting from one end to the other, ears flattened against his face, enjoying the freedom. Rob thought of Katie, safe in her bed. Free.

  She still had no inkling of the drama her abduction had caused. Her mother’s anguish. Her kidnapper’s desperation. One day it would be explained to her, verified by a series of newspaper clippings. Her history, in monochrome.

  Back home, Rob had a beer while he made a sandwich. Then he had another. Tessa Parvin in custody. Her hell just beginning. Was it worth it?

  Four missing girls. Dead, of course. How long had it been? And a serial killer prowling the streets, using the clear night and unsuspecting stars to stalk his next victim.

  And they didn’t have a clue who he was.

  He sighed, and settled in his chair, Trigger at his feet.

  The television was on, but he wasn’t watching. After processing all evening, his mind was shutting down. The faces become a blur. Voices like background music.

  Eventually, he dozed off. The deep, escapist sleep of a man who didn’t want to know.

  34

  Katie found! screamed the headlines.

  Rob bought a newspaper on his way to work, but instead of reading it, he folded it under his arm and headed straight to the coffee shop. He needed caffeine to stomach this.

  Harry, DS Malhotra, had given a press conference outside Richmond Police Station yesterday afternoon, and every journalist in London had been there. Good news stories like this one were few and far between. And for once, they’d sell newspapers.

  Rob ordered his usual double espresso and sat down to read.

  Surprisingly, Tessa Parvin had been painted in a sympathetic light by the press. Rob had half expected them to tear her to bits.

  Even though the statement to the press had only covered the basics, they’d still managed to dig up Tessa’s past and Arina was mentioned almost as much as Katie.

  Four years too late.

  Tessa Parvin, the woman charged with the kidnapping of Katie Wells, had herself lost a child four years earlier. Ignored by the police, she resorted to kidnapping Katie in order to get her daughter’s case reopened.

  Lawrence was not going to like that. The Police Commissioner, even less so. Stuff ‘em. Lessons needed to be learned.

  He read on. At the very end of the article it mentioned that the senior investigating officer, DCI Rob Miller was “delighted” with the outcome.

  He was finishing up when his phone buzzed.

  “Hi, Jo,” he said after glancing at the screen. “You on your way in?”

  “He didn’t go for it.” Her voice was heavy, accusatory. “We’ve got a new case and he needs me to run the team. If I can see this through there’s a promotion in it for me.”

  Rob frowned. “I thought Sam was going to have a word.”

  “He did, but it’s still a no-go. Pearson wants to make his quota and this case will contribute multiple arrests. There’s no way I can leave now.”

  Her voice edged with disappointment. They were dangling the promotion carrot in front of her. Forcing her to choose.

  “I’m sorry, Jo. I know how much this meant to you.”

  “It’s my sister, Rob.”

  “I know.”

  There was a pause, then she said, “I have some leave owing to me. I might ask Sam if I can work the Manchester angle on my own, as a consultant.”

  “What about your case and the promotion?”

  “If this is my sister’s killer, I don’t care about any of that. Pearson can shove his promotion up his arse.”

  She was just letting off steam. She’d worked too hard to get to where she was to throw it all away over this. But then again, it could be her sister’s killer. A lifelong quest.

  “Look, don’t do anything rash. Why don’t you wait until we have something definite, then you can think about taking leave? At the moment we have one body and four maybes. We don’t even know for sure if they’re connected.”

  Other than the satchel. The detail Tessa Parvin had picked up on, and mimicked in her own staging of the crime.

  She made a strangled sound at the back of her throat. “I feel so useless.”

  “We’re on this, Jo. My team is working around the clock to find a link. When we do, you’ll be the first to know.”

  “Okay.” She took a deep, regretful breath. “You’re right. There’s no sense in pissing off Pearson prematurely. But as soon as you have something, call me.”

  “You know I will.” He smiled down the line.

  “In the meantime, I’ll go through the old case files. I’ve got them stashed away in a box in the attic.”

  “They gave them to you?” He was surprised, but then twenty years was a long time ago. Back then, they didn’t have the same security protocols they had now.

  “Copies,” she clarified. “I haven’t looked at them in years.”

  “Now would be a good time,” agreed Rob.

  They said goodbye and ended the call shortly after that.

  “Meeting, guys!”

  They had to tie up the loose ends in the Katie Wells case in order to prepare for Tessa Parvin’s prosecution.

  Everyone gathered around.

  “First up, the allotment where she held Katie,” said Rob.

  Jenny glanced up. “Yes, forensics went in first thing this morning. There’s evidence of Katie having stayed there, including a box of old toys, presumably belonging to Arina, and Katie’s old clothes were found in a tip out on the street.”

  “Great, that’s good.” Along with the signed confession, it should be a slam dunk. “Any sign of the dog?”

  Jenny grinned. “Yes, that’s the good part. Asher was found in the shed and when the officer told Lisa Wells he would probably be put down, Katie asked if she could adopt him. So, Ash is now Flash and has a new home.”

  Rob chuckled. “I’m glad.” At least something good had come out of all this. It wasn’t the dog’s fault, after all.
>
  Next, Rob asked Will to update them on Arina Parvin’s post-mortem.

  “There was no obvious cause of death.” He swiped at his tablet. “The pathologist couldn’t find any evidence of strangulation or trauma to the body. Due to the level of decomposition, it’s impossible to say whether she’d been sexually assaulted. She thinks not.”

  A small comfort. “But we don’t know for sure?” said Rob.

  Will shook his head.

  “Also, due to a process of elimination, the most likely cause of death is drug-related.”

  “You mean she was poisoned?” asked Rob.

  Will shrugged. “Sedated. Drugged. Given a lethal cocktail. Although, it’s little more than guess work at this point. Her words. They’ve taken samples for a toxicology but with her having been in the ground for so long, they’re not sure if they’ll find anything.”

  “Understood.”

  They lamented the details of the post-mortem for a while longer, then Rob tied up the briefing. It got to a point where they were just going round in circles.

  “Keep looking into those other disappearances,” he told them. “There must be a connection somewhere.”

  Several phones beeped at once. Mallory got to his first.

  “Shit.”

  “What?” said Rob.

  “You’re never going to believe this.”

  Rob waved his hand. “What is it?”

  “The dog squad have located another body on Bisley Common, near to where Arina Parvin was found.”

  35

  “Another body?” Had he heard correctly?

  But Mallory was reading another text.

  They all waited. Nobody breathed.

  He glanced up, grave faced. “The K-9 team leader says the dogs were acting strangely when they left yesterday, so they thought go back for another sweep this morning.”

  “Who’s in charge?”

  “A Sergeant Wilson.”

  “Give me his number.”

  The briefing clearly over, the team dispersed. Except Mallory.

  It took six rings before Wilson answered. Judging by the wind echoing down the line, he was out in the open somewhere. Bisley Common, maybe?