Girls Of The Dark (8 page)

Chapter 18

S
ally Irving Bryant QC returned to her offices after a long day in court. Her appearance was usually immaculately tended, but on this particular evening she was showing every one of her 52 years.

              There was still a light on in the research room. Sally dipped inside the doorway to turn it off. She paused, with her hand resting on the switch. ‘
Dad
? Is that you?’

              Jim Irving glanced up from a pile of papers. He was seated at the long table which dominated this mini library. ‘Hi Sally. How did the hearing go?’

              ‘Fine. We’ve secured bail for Aaron, although he’ll struggle to raise it.’

              ‘How much?’

              ‘Half a million pounds.’

              Jim whistled. ‘How’s he going to find that? He’s only a retired teacher.’

              ‘We’ve suggested he re-mortgage his Edinburgh house. It’s trebled in value since he bought it, umpteen years ago. He can release the equity.’ Sally shrugged off her gown and sat beside her father. ‘It’s better than custody. The trial could be weeks away yet.’

              ‘I’m going through the testimonials that the prosecution released to you. We need to have detailed rebuttals for each of the allegations made by Lister’s ex-students. We’ll have to ascertain exactly where Aaron Lister was and who he was with on each and every one of these occasions he’s accused of abusing them.’

              Sally laid her hand on his arm. ‘I really appreciate your help, but I’ve got clerks to do this for me. I don’t want you wasting your evenings on it. Go home to Mum. She’ll have made dinner.’

              Jim shuffled the papers back into the files. ‘I thought you wanted my input?’

              ‘Of course I do. Your advice is invaluable to me. I just didn’t think you’d throw yourself into things quite so energetically.’ She smiled ruefully. ‘I’ll get into trouble with Mum and James at this rate.’

              Jim shook his head. ‘You’re right, Sally. I should get going.’

              Sally kept her hand firmly in place, as if tethering him to the spot. ‘Is there something the matter? You aren’t your usual self.’

              ‘Have you spoken to your brother?’

              ‘No, we’ve both been busy. What’s going on?’

              Jim slumped back down into the chair. ‘Calvin Suter has been released from Garfield Park. His forty years was up.’

              Sally was silent for a moment. ‘I didn’t know that. I’d been so wrapped up in the Lister case I’d not been keeping up with the latest news. Well, we knew it would happen eventually, Dad.’

              ‘Yes, but his release has brought it all back, that’s all.’

              Sally suddenly got up, disappearing from the room for a few moments and returning with a bottle of single malt and two tumblers. ‘Here, have some of this.’ She poured a couple of generous measures.

              ‘Dani knows Suter’s psychiatrist. She says he’s planning on writing a book. He’s already given a candid interview to one of the broadsheets.’

              ‘I actually remember the case well.’ Sally took a slug of the whisky. ‘I was still in the prep school back then. I was twelve years old. It’s an impressionable age. The girls in my dorm were all horrified by the discovery of those women’s bodies in the cave. It kept a few of them up in the night for a while. I remember Matron scolding us for listening to all the gory details on the Radio and TV news reports. We couldn’t help it. The story was compulsive viewing.’

              ‘Every single one of the jurors at the trial knew all the gory details too. We were fighting a losing battle.’

              Sally swirled the liquid around her glass. ‘Mum had not long brought James home when the trial started, do you remember? I felt really quite put out for a while. I’d been your only child for all those years.’

              ‘You never resented him, did you?’ Jim turned toward his daughter, an expression of surprise on his face.

              ‘No,’ she laughed. ‘He was so sweet. And I knew how long you and mum had waited for another child. It’s not something I share – the desire for children that is, but I do understand it. In many ways, I think that James was my baby too. I got to hold him and take him out for walks in the park in his pram. Maybe that’s why I’ve never wanted one of my own. I got it out of my system with him.’

              ‘There was never such a loved little boy,’ Jim lamented quietly. ‘I expect we spoilt him rotten between us.’

              Sally chuckled, finishing off her drink. ‘Yes, but it’s done him no harm. It simply made him softer than us. I’m glad he didn’t follow in our footsteps and enter the criminal bar, aren’t you?’

              Jim nodded. ‘But it doesn’t mean I’m not proud of what you’ve achieved. I just wouldn’t want anyone else I love to have to shoulder the burdens that we do. We carry the knowledge of all the murderers who we’ve helped to walk free over the years - and the ones who haven’t.’

              Sally put down the glass and adopted a serious expression. ‘You’ve never brooded on this stuff before. It’s part of the job and we accept it. I learnt that lesson from
you
, Dad.’

              ‘I know. But this time it’s different. I’m not quite sure why, but it is.’

Chapter 19

D
espite it being a Saturday morning, the Clyde Valley University Library was busy. But then it was the middle of term for its students, Dani noted. Rhodri had organised for her to have the use of a visitors’ pass. The archive service had been informed of the information she was interested in accessing, so it was ready when she arrived.

              It wasn’t long before the DCI was comfortably positioned at a corner table, flanked by windows overlooking the campus, with all the relevant material laid out in a couple of neat piles on its glossy surface.

              Most of the print-outs were copies of articles originally published in the Glasgow Herald. There were dozens of them, the first dating back to February 1972.

              Dani examined the photograph of Heather Conlon, the first victim. Her hair was thick, curly and dark. Although the shot was black and white, Dani could tell that her thin lips were painted a deep red and her lashes accentuated with mascara. Heather was 19 years old when she went missing, the youngest of the victims.

              This short article outlined the last time Heather had been seen by her parents. She’d lived at home with them in a quiet suburban street in Kilmarnock. Heather was a trainee stylist at a local hair salon.               The girl had gone for drinks at a pub in the centre of town with some workmates. She’d left at quarter to eleven, saying she’d catch the bus home, but never got there. Local police were appealing for witnesses. There was a contact number given at the foot of the page.

              Dani considered how revolutionary CCTV was to her job as a detective. If Heather went missing nowadays, there would at least be grainy pictures of her in the town centre. They would know if she ever reached the bus stop and certainly if she actually travelled on the bus itself. In the early seventies there was nothing. Without witnesses, the girl was pretty much untraceable.

              The next time Heather Conlon was mentioned in the papers was when her case was linked to the subsequent disappearances of Cheryl Moss in the summer of 1972, then Kirsty Glendinning in April ’73 and finally Debbie Cane, in the August of 1974.

              Dani looked at each of their photos carefully. The young women were all slim, dark haired and pretty. Their features were small and neat. There was a wholesome appearance to each of these girls, even if a couple of them were known for having strings of boyfriends; sometimes seeing several men at the same time.

              Cheryl Moss and Kirsty Glendinning were the oldest of the victims, although neither was more than 25 years of age. These two were the ones who were regulars on their local pub and nightclub scenes. They had numerous gentlemen companions and occasionally left the clubs with men they’d only met that night. Dani knew all this from the police reports.

              These two women were what Dani and her team would now identify as having lifestyles which made them category ‘A’ targets for a serial sexual offender. Heather Conlon and Debbie Cane were younger, lived with their parents and were taken by the killer whilst enjoying a rare evening out.              

              Because of the differences in the four women’s profiles, Dani would have concluded that the killer was an opportunist. He preyed upon certain areas and venues rather than specific individuals. She wondered if DCI Harry Paton had come to the same conclusion. Dani thought he must have done, because the taxi driver theory fitted with that scenario very well.

              Dani took out her pad and made some notes. Something about the dates of the murders was bothering her. There was a seven month gap between murders one and two, then a nine month gap between two and three.

              But the third girl, Kirsty Glendinning, went missing in the April of 1973 and the fourth not until the August of 1974 – a gap of a year and four months. This was a much larger break than there had been with the earlier cases. It didn’t match the established behaviour pattern of the killer.

              The DCI’s phone began to buzz in her pocket. She dug it out, noted it was James and decided to return the call when she got outside.

              Dani glanced back at the print-outs. She sifted through the pile until alighting on the newspaper accounts of the discovery of the bodies. This story had hit the front pages of the nationals as well as the Glasgow papers.

              There were several photographs of the cave, but they didn’t show much – just a band of police tape outside the entrance and ashen-looking young officers hanging around smoking cigarettes and sitting on rocks near the shore. So much for the sanctity of the crime scene.

              The remainder of the coverage was reserved for Calvin Suter. His humourless face accompanied every single article and by-line relating to the murders. Grisly details of supposed sexual torture and even witchcraft made up the majority of the sensationalist text.

              Then Dani found what she was looking for, a relatively fact-based account of what the police discovered in the cave, which was reported in one of the national broadsheets. Only four bodies, all of them female; identified by medical and dental records.

              She sat back and sighed, tapping her pen on the desk. Then why the break of over a year? Dani desperately wanted to ask Calvin Suter this question. But something told her that he wouldn’t be very keen to answer it.

Chapter 20

B
efore she returned the documents, Dani had one more thing to check. The final article in the pack related to the disappearance of Sarah Martin. She was the 26 year old from Fenwick who went missing whilst Calvin Suter was in prison.

              The family must have supplied a photograph because an image of the young woman was staring out of the front page. Dani caught her breath. Sarah was smiling broadly at the camera, her even features carefully made-up and her wavy dark hair framing a very pretty face.

              Sarah Martin was undoubtedly a similar physical type to the other four girls. Dani read the piece carefully. The circumstances of this woman’s disappearance were slightly different. Sarah had a secretarial job in the city and commuted home each day. She lived with her partner, Ed Callan, who worked as a steward on the ferry to Belfast. His job was based in Irvine. He’d been away on a voyage when his girlfriend went missing.

              Dani tried to read between the lines. It seemed that Sarah had gone out drinking in her local pub alone. She’d been seen there by several witnesses, one who identified her drinking with a man, for at least part of the evening. After 11pm there were no further sightings.

              Callan returned to their flat the next day and discovered the bed hadn’t been slept in. Sarah Martin didn’t turn up at work. No one had set eyes on her since.

              The DCI concluded there was another man involved. Sarah had met him that evening, knowing her boyfriend was going to be away overnight. She wondered if the guy was ever traced. He’d have to be their prime suspect. Callan was working on a busy ferry, with umpteen witnesses. The boyfriend would never have been in the frame.

              She glanced at her watch and gathered together the papers, moving across to the archive desk to return them. Dani ducked into the toilets to freshen up. She was due to meet James for lunch in quarter of an hour. Dani ran the tap and cupped the warm water in her hands, splashing it over her face and closing her eyes for a moment.

              In that instant, the DCI heard one of the cubicle doors behind her squeak open. Before she could rub the water out of her eyes, Dani found herself doubled over the sink, her face shoved down into the tiny pool of water that had gathered in the bowl. She heard the taps being turned on once again. A gush of liquid spilled out onto her head, pooling around her face and submerging her mouth and nose.

              Dani wriggled frantically, but the grip on her body only tightened further. By this stage, she couldn’t breathe and could feel the water spilling over the top of the basin, wetting her blouse and trousers. When she managed to lift her head a fraction, Dani heard voices. Her attacker jerked backwards, allowing her to wrench her face out of the water and collapse onto the floor, coughing and wheezing for air.

              Suddenly, someone had an arm around her. ‘Are you alright, Miss?’

              ‘I’m a police officer,’ she managed to pant. ‘Where did he go?’

              ‘I’m sorry, he barged past me and took off. I wanted to check you were okay before getting security.’

              Dani levered herself up.

              The girl kneeling beside her was clearly a student.

              ‘Don’t worry. It was good of you to challenge him. You were very brave. Could you provide a description?’

              The girl smiled. ‘Shouldn’t you be getting to hospital before you start questioning witnesses?’

              Dani dug the phone out of her pocket and began dialling. ‘I’m afraid there’s no time for that.’

*

As requested, DS Mann had brought a change of clothes for her boss. Dani knew they were roughly the same size and the sweater and jeans fitted perfectly. She emerged from the disabled cubicle, rubbing at her short hair with a towel.

              Alice and Andy were dressed informally, but a couple of uniformed PCs, plus the campus security guards, were examining the scene.

              ‘The library and campus are full of CCTV cameras,’ Andy declared. ‘We’ll have plenty of footage of the guy.’

              ‘But nobody’s found him yet?’

              Alice looked sheepish. ‘No, Ma’am.’

              Dani sighed. ‘It’s not your fault. I should have gone after him.’

              ‘We’ve got the witness statement.’

              ‘Yes, but Grace said he was wearing a cap and kept his head right down as he barged past her. She doesn’t know if she would recognise him again.’

              Andy put his hand on her shoulder. ‘Let’s just be glad the girl interrupted him. Do you want me to give James a call?’

              ‘Shit! We were supposed to meet for lunch. That was nearly an hour ago.’ Dani delved into the pockets of the jeans, searching for her phone.

              ‘You won’t find it there, Ma’am,’ Alice said kindly. ‘All your stuff’s in this evidence bag.’

              ‘Oh, yeah, thanks.’ Dani reached out for it.

              ‘Look. I think we should go and get you checked out,’ Andy insisted. ‘Let me drive you to the Infirmary.
I’ll
give James a ring and ask him to meet us there. Okay?’

              Dani nodded, allowing Calder to take her by the arm and lead her purposefully towards the main stairs.