Girls Of The Dark (4 page)

Chapter 8

M
organ had only provided Dani with the bare facts of the Suter case. The investigation had been a lengthy one, with many officers involved.

              It took until the April of 1973, when the third victim, Kirsty Glendinning, went missing after an evening spent at the West Side Bar in Kilmaurs that a witness came forward with the description of a light blue Ford Anglia, seen in the West Side’s car park on the night Kirsty had been in there. The witness thought they caught sight of a woman get into it. He was convinced she’d climbed into the back seat, making him think it was a taxi.

              The vehicle was traced to Princely Cars of Kilmarnock, although the call centre had no record of a pick-up from Kilmaurs that night. The detectives went back to the witness statements from the previous disappearances.

              A sky blue saloon car was spotted driving away from the pub in Kilmarnock town centre where Cheryl Moss had been drinking, during the summer of ‘72. She was the second victim. The police finally had a lead.

              But Dani was surprised to see that Calvin Suter, who had worked for Princely Cars since ’71, did not tend to use the light blue Anglia when he was on duty. In fact, the owner of the mini cab firm told the police that the car had been unreliable and was in the garage at the times when both Moss and Glendinning were taken.

              But the car provided the only real lead that the Ayrshire constabulary had. They began a surveillance operation on five men who had worked for Princely Cars during the dates in question. Dani was surprised they’d been granted the budget. She thought the evidence was thin.

              Suter had already come to the attention of the officer in charge of the case, DCI Harry Paton. Calvin had a juvenile record for breaking and entering. He’d served three months in a youth detention centre.

              In the summer of 1974, Calvin went to Jamaica for two weeks, to visit his grandmother who was dying. The detectives hadn’t got the evidence to get a court order to keep him in the country. The focus for the surveillance teams fell upon the other drivers at Princely Cars.

              On the evening of 12
th
August 1974, 21 year old Debbie Cane failed to return to her parents’ house from a visit to a bar and nightclub in Irvine. According to the police reports, Calvin had returned to Scotland by this date, but their teams had been unable to locate his exact whereabouts until the 14
th
of the month.

              DCI Paton claimed that this window of time was when Suter snatched and murdered Debbie Cane. It was two weeks after the disappearance of Cane that Suter appeared to ‘lead’ the police to the cave in which the women’s bodies were kept.

              There was a knock on Dani’s door. She automatically shuffled the papers into a pile and shoved them back into the unmarked file. It was only DS Mann.

              ‘Sorry to bother you, Ma’am. We’ve got something interesting on Lisa Abbot.’

              ‘Take a seat, Alice.’

              ‘DC Tait followed her to an appointment this morning. Abbot visited a health clinic on Maryhill Road. Tait sat beside her in the waiting room.’ Alice cleared her throat. ‘I know we don’t have the jurisdiction to look at her medical records, but Tait got a glimpse at what the letter in Abbot’s hand said.’

              Dani sighed, having a nasty feeling about what was coming. ‘We can’t use it in court, but go ahead.’

              ‘Lisa Abbot has an aggressive malignant melanoma. She’s suffering from Stage three, inoperable skin cancer.’

              ‘What she told Nick McKenna was true?’

              Alice nodded. ‘It looks like it. Her approach to McKenna wasn’t a scam at all. It was simply a dying woman begging her ex-lover to give her money for the treatment that might save her life.’

              ‘Damn it. There’s no fraud then. It looks like DCS Douglas will get his way. We’ll have to dump the case on Maryhill CID.’

              Alice frowned. ‘Just because one of her stories turned out to be true, it doesn’t mean that the rest were.’

              ‘I know that, but we’ve not got enough to charge her. Even if we do get to court, her defence will say Abbot’s too incapacitated to stand trial. She may very well be by then.’

              ‘Yes, but the fact she’s so ill means that Abbot must be desperate for that money. I bet she did something to really turn the heat up on the poor Kerrs.
That’s
why they committed suicide. Just because
she’s
been given a life sentence it doesn’t mean the woman can take her victims along with her.’

              Dani could see that Alice was genuinely rattled. She was glad. It meant the young detective cared. ‘I’m sorry. The DCS won’t allow us to take this further. As you move up through the ranks DS Mann, you’ll have to learn how to balance the pursuit of justice with the realities of modern policing. I know it’s frustrating to leave an investigation incomplete.’

              Alice nodded. ‘Thank you, Ma’am. I think I understand.’

              ‘Good. Now get onto DCI Tyler at Maryhill. Give him a decent overview of where you got to with the Abbot case. Send him all the files. Then you’ll have done the best you could for those two victims.’

              ‘Of course.’ Alice moved slowly towards the door, her posture just a little more bowed than when she’d first come in.              

Chapter 9

R
hodri Morgan’s flat was on the top floor of a gentrified tenement building not far from Kelvingrove Park. Dani had been there for dinner once before, meeting Morgan’s eldest son, who’d been visiting for the university holidays.

              This time, the professor was there alone. ‘I’m glad you came round to discuss the matter further. I felt I’d not had the opportunity to give you a proper picture when I dropped into your office. It was my fault for not providing any warning.’

              Dani assisted her host to place the cups on a small kitchen table. ‘I’ve got a new boss. DCS Nicholson had a stroke last month and had to retire. His replacement is rather strict about sticking to our allotted caseload during working hours. I can only really discuss this Calvin Suter issue when I’m off duty.’

              ‘I understand. We have Department Heads like that at the university. It’s a terrible shame because it stifles intellectual growth and debate. Complex cases, like that of Calvin’s, help those who work in the justice system to learn to become better practitioners.’

              ‘You have the academic’s approach to policing. It’s more about business and management at my end.’

              Rhodri poured reddish tea from an oriental looking pot. ‘But detective work is not about balance sheets and statistics. It is an intellectual puzzle, like any other. All the very best crime fiction teaches us this.’

              Dani smiled. ‘Andy Calder would agree with you, although he’d never call himself an intellectual. He thinks that policemen should be free to police. But his attitude has meant it’s been impossible for him to progress in the job.’

              ‘How is Andy?’ Rhodri put the cup to his lips. ‘I haven’t seen him since he was at the Infirmary.’

              ‘He is totally recovered physically, but sometimes cases can really get to him. There was a recent double suicide, for example. Andy attended the scene. Afterwards, he was hell bent on finding someone responsible.’

              ‘This residual anger suggests to me that he is still suffering from the trauma of his abduction. If he will agree to it, I would be happy to conduct a few sessions with him.’

              Dani grimaced. ‘Thanks. I’ll ask him, but I can’t imagine he’ll be up for it.’

              ‘Well, make the offer anyway. You never know.’

              ‘Will you continue to see Calvin after his release?’ Dani changed the subject.

              ‘Yes, actually. It’s entirely his decision but a good number of my clients wish to continue our sessions outside of prison. I usually adjust my fees accordingly. It would feel wrong to abandon a patient, just when they need my help the most.’

              ‘Aren’t they most in need when they’re first imprisoned?’

              ‘I didn’t know Calvin back then. I can’t comment on his particular case. But most of my patients are serving multiple life sentences. Often, they were no more than children when they were convicted and are coming out old men. They don’t know how the world works. Freedom can be utterly overwhelming for them.’

              Dani sipped the fragrant tea. ‘I hadn’t considered that. It does seem incredible that Suter has been inside a prison for over forty years. People have lived and died in that time.’

              ‘Exactly. These lengthy sentences are more commonplace in other countries, like the US. But here, it is really not the norm. I suppose we should be grateful that capital punishment is no longer an option.’

              ‘I’ve reviewed the evidence in the police files from 1975 and the subsequent appeals. I’m amazed the prosecution secured a guilty verdict on the strength of their case. Almost all of it was circumstantial.’

              ‘I certainly felt the same when I took Calvin on as a client in the early 2000s. He’s never confessed to killing those women in all these years, even though it would have granted him an earlier parole. That’s unusual for a guilty man, especially one as talented and intelligent as Calvin.’

              ‘The first appeal argued that the surveillance on Suter had been illegal and all evidence gathered from it was inadmissible.’

              ‘Yes, but this appeal failed. The surveillance was deemed lawful because of Suter’s connection to the blue Ford Anglia. A colleague of his at Princely Cars testified that Suter had a preference for the vehicle and had always chosen it over others - before it began breaking down, that was.’

              ‘Was that witness ever a suspect?’

              ‘He had solid alibis for three of the murders. The man had a wife and three children to vouch for his whereabouts.’ Rhodri lifted an eyebrow. ‘Did you know that single men are 75% more likely to be charged with a crime than a married man is?’

‘Because it’s harder for a single man to prove he was home alone and this is usually his only alibi?’

              ‘Partly. Also, as a society we are naturally suspicious of men who live by themselves. Especially once they reach a certain age. They are treated with caution. Ordinary folk don’t quite know what to make of them.’

              ‘Does that go for divorced men too?’ Dani glanced quickly at her host, hoping he wouldn’t take offence.

              ‘Oh yes, definitely. If a series of murders occurred within this area I would expect to immediately become a chief suspect, particularly as I hang about with convicted murderers and child molesters. Indeed, I’m considered an apologiser for them in some circles.’

              Dani didn’t quite know what to say to this, she sensed he was right.

              ‘The second appeal was launched after another young woman went missing in the spring of 1978.’

              ‘I read about this. She was called Sarah Martin, 26 years old. She was a secretary at a financial services company in the city centre. Sarah went missing after a night out in her local pub in the April of ’78.’

              ‘Yes, the pub was in Fenwick, just a few miles from Kilmarnock. She has never been found. We still don’t know for certain that the girl is dead.’ Rhodri rubbed his beard. ‘Although, I think it’s extremely likely she is.’

              ‘The police searched the cave system where the other women’s bodies were discovered and similar geographical features along the entire Ayrshire coastline. They found nothing.’

              ‘There was no other evidence to link Sarah Martin’s disappearance to the original Suter case except for the fact it occurred within the same vicinity,’ Rhodri continued. ‘This wasn’t enough for the appeal judge. Calvin’s conviction stood.’

              Dani took a moment to finish her tea. The light was beginning to fade outside the impressive sash and case windows. ‘If Suter was the killer, why did he choose to take the girls to that cave? It seems almost primeval as a choice of murder site.’

              ‘Unlike many of my other clients, Calvin never admitted to the crimes. We weren’t able to analyse the various patterns and motives involved. Like all these awful cases, the answer usually lies in the childhood of the perpetrator. Calvin was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1950. His mother was Jamaican and his father a Scottish businessman. His parents never married. In fact, William Suter already had a family back in Glasgow when he fathered Calvin. But Suter supported his son financially during the early years of his life.’

              ‘Was his father the reason Calvin came to Scotland?’

              ‘Not necessarily. Calvin’s mother, Elesha, emigrated to Britain in the early sixties. She’d lost touch with William by then and was trying to make a better life for Calvin and her other children. Elesha had various jobs, all of them low-paid. The family were very poor. Calvin left school at sixteen with no qualifications.’

              ‘Plenty of young migrant families had a similar story. I don’t see how Calvin’s experience could have made him into a serial killer.’

              ‘There was something that came up in the background searches on Calvin performed by his defence lawyers. The details never made it into the original trial. I suppose they worried it might be prejudicial to an innocent plea.’

              ‘Oh yes?’ Dani leant forward with interest.

              ‘As you probably know, Jamaica lies within the hurricane belt of the Atlantic Ocean. The island has suffered from severe storm damage over the years. In 1955, Hurricanes Charlie and Gilbert hit the island directly, causing terrible damage and many deaths. Near to Montego Bay is a rocky configuration of low-lying cliffs and coves.

              A group of young women were fishing from the beach there in ’55, when the worst of the hurricane struck. They must have sought shelter in one of the caves. Local villagers discovered them the next day. All the girls were drowned, their bodies left washed up in the dark cave. The whole area was in mourning for weeks.’

              ‘Calvin would only have been five years old when it happened.’

              ‘Yes, but the story was probably passed down through the years, perhaps becoming more gruesome with each telling. For a young impressionable boy, it could have left an indelible mark.’

              Dani frowned. ‘I still think it’s a stretch. We’ve no idea how well Calvin knew the story of what happened to those girls. The murders in Ayrshire were of an entirely different nature.’ She ran a hand through her dark hair. ‘Everything in this case appears to be circumstantial. It’s hard to pinpoint any solid evidence one way or the other.’

              Rhodri nodded. ‘But in my world, there are no absolute truths. It’s amazing what apparently trivial events can leave a powerful imprint on a young mind. It might be that there was another, more violent and sexual motive for the killings, but in the method of disposal, the story of those girls in the dark cave, at the mercy of the Atlantic, had given Calvin the seed of an idea.’

              Dani shuddered. ‘And the man gets out tomorrow?’

              ‘Yes. In fact, I shall be there at Garwood Park to greet him myself. The gate will be opened at three.’