Not Forgotten (18 page)

Chapter 24

Matt’s house was only a couple years old. The dark red brick one-storey was in an old well-established neighbourhood. The previous owner had knocked down and rebuilt the two bedroom, two bath house with double garage, adding the modern amenities that people nowadays couldn’t do without and a low maintenance garden which with Matt’s job appealed to him the most. The interior was open-planned; his kitchen, dining, and lounge were all one large room. His bedrooms, laundry, and bathrooms were down the hall towards the enclosed backyard. The walls were painted vivid red-orange, a stark contrast to his deep steel-blue carpet. His furniture was durable rather than fancy and only matched since he’d purchased a set. His philosophy was as long as it was comfortable it was fine. He wasn’t about to spend his life savings on something frivolous and honestly didn’t give a stuff about décor.

As a man who was used to living alone, his house wasn’t up for inspection and Matt was thankful he’d run out of clean clothes that morning and had been required to pick up his discarded clothes from the floor and run them through the wash. Now, only a few empty beer cans sat on his kitchen counter, a stack of unopened mail beside them.

He wasn’t a messy person nor was he a clean and obsessive person. His house was for living in and usually he didn’t care about a light coating of dust or a few plates in the sink but Matt didn’t want Natalie to think he was a slob. He’d seen more than one delicate nose get out of joint at his lack of housekeeping skills but for the first time he wanted to make a good impression.

Matt gave his house a cursory look, making sure he hadn’t missed a sock or brief anywhere. He tried to keep things neat but sometimes the cleaning got away from him on cases such as this when he only ever came home to crash or when he ran out of clean shirts at the office. Now he was practically holding his breath waiting for her approval—or disapproval, whichever the case may be.

The smell of Chinese food wafted up from the plastic bag in his hand and made his stomach growl. After deciding that maybe Natalie could help with the case, Matt had dropped into the Shanghai Garden, his favourite takeaway, and picked up his usual order of beef and black beans with mixed rice and honey chicken and prawn crackers for Natalie.

He grabbed a couple of clean plates from the cupboard and showed her to the sofa. After sitting down on his living room floor, Natalie had taken charge of dishing out dinner and Matt had never felt better. There was something about Natalie that made him think about rainy days and cuddling up in front of a fire. Matt felt he could be himself around her and began to relax. He didn’t think that she would mind his many little quirks. He liked the fact that Natalie didn’t appear to be concerned when he made a fool of himself, which around her was a common occurrence.

He knew his boss would chew his arse out if he knew Matt was sharing pertinent case information with Natalie, but he was past caring. All he was interested in was solving the case. He didn’t care if he had to cut deals with half the criminals in the city to do it. It was past time that the Butcher was put away.

Hours later, the empty Chinese takeaway containers littered the floor of Matt’s lounge room. The sun had gone down and they were no closer to finding the Butcher than when they had first started. Both Matt and Natalie had decided to start from the beginning—to look at each case individually and from a fresh perspective.

So far, he had reviewed the same information he already knew, nothing new jumped out at him and he felt frustrated and useless. Of all his training and experience he simply couldn’t find what wasn’t there. He couldn’t see whatever linked the victims, and the bodies were stacking up. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked over at Natalie.

She sat with her back up against his black leather sofa, opting to remain on the floor to make it easier to review the mass quantity of files. Her knees were up, providing a stand for the folder open in front of her, resting on her thighs as her eyes remained glued to the paper. She had already reviewed several files and they were neatly stacked to one side of her. The ones she hadn’t perused were on the other. That was one of the many things he had discovered about Natalie that he admired. She was dedicated and he knew she would see this thing through until the bitter end, which he had no doubt it would be.

Matt watched as her lips moved but he couldn’t hear anything. Her concentration was entirely on the case in front of her and he wondered if she even realised she was doing it. He doubted she was even aware he was in the room with her let alone anything else.

He caught the frown that creased her brow as her finger glided over the paper. Her head shook from side to side as she evidently tried to make sense of something. She opened one of the files she had already read and shuffled through the pages until she found the one she wanted and her finger slid down the page.

His entire body tensed as he felt something in the air. Her excitement was almost palpable. His gaze locked on Natalie and once again he saw her lips move only this time he heard her mumble.

“Promising law student.” The frown deepened and she looked at the other file open in front of her. “Awarded biologist.” Her voice was louder this time and she looked up at him, surprise on her face when she found him watching her intently. “Maybe these women have more in common than you think.”

Matt raised an eyebrow at her statement and patiently waited for her to explain. If she had discovered something he had missed, he was more than eager to be enlightened. He watched as Natalie’s head bowed and her attention drifted back to the file, her entire being absorbed into it. When she didn’t look like she was going to elaborate, he spoke.

“How?” Matt asked.

Her head jerked up and she gave him a sheepish smile.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to leave you in the dark. I believe their connection is their jobs,” she said, as she tapped one of the folders.

“I don’t see it. None of them were in the same field,” he stated.

Natalie leaned forward. “True, but what I mean is that they each had a successful job—a career,” she explained as her face turned thoughtful.

Matt could practically hear the gears turning in her head. She was on to something, he could feel it. She was radiating so much excitement he thought she could power a small country. He knew she didn’t quite know just what yet, but it was there at the forefront of her brain and was pushing itself into the light.

He didn’t know why he felt so confident about Natalie’s ability but he knew he hadn’t lied the other day when he’d told her he had the upmost respect for her ability as a psychologist. She had a talent and it was going to work for them.

“What’re you thinking?” he asked after a long silence.

Her eyes had narrowed as she thought and her head tilted to one side. Deep blue eyes met his. “I’m thinking he’s after career driven women. Look at each of the files. Marie Stanton was a medical graduate. Karen Filcher a biologist. Laurel Millard a lawyer and Helen Teller received ‘Woman of the Year’ because of her computer programming. There’s not one menial job holder in the bunch.”

Matt went through his files and watched as a pattern began to emerge. He was amazed that none of the detectives—including him—had discovered it before.

“I’ll be damned.”

Matt shook his head. So much for being a hotshot detective. Over fifteen years on the job and it takes this woman a few hours to find a link. Of course it was an obscure link. He looked into Natalie’s eyes. “I never saw that before.”

“We still don’t know if I’m right,” she soothed.

“What else could it be? We’ve been beating at a brick wall for so long. This is the first time we’ve come close to even figuring out this guy’s motive.”

Natalie frowned and looked uncertain. “I don’t understand. Why would he target women because of their chosen profession?”

Matt shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not him but maybe he lost his job to a successful woman or a woman divorced him for a job. You tell me. There could be a hundred or so reasons. None of which we would ever understand.”

Men had killed for a lot less, he knew that for a fact, but still a pattern was emerging and that pattern would tell them more about the Butcher than anything else. Once they knew what made him tick they would have a profile and once that got out maybe they could find this son-of-a-bitch.

“Has anything come up in the search of Helen?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. I have Donovan specifically cross-referencing her name with the Walkers.” He paused. “What about Ian and Missy Walker? Where do you think they fit into all this? He wasn’t a successful woman and she was a stay at home mum,” he wondered aloud.

Natalie stretched out her back as she shifted position on the floor and stared at the pile of folders beside her feet.

“Suppose Ian or Missy saw something they shouldn’t have? Something like Helen Teller’s murder. Hallie said she thought Helen could’ve been a friend of her parents.”

Matt digested that. “But if that was the case, why didn’t they report it? The Walkers were law abiding people. I don’t see Ian Walker as one to let a murderer go free.”

“Unless he was protecting his family. Some men will go to great lengths to keep their women and children safe. Missy might’ve felt the same.”

“That,” Matt said, “is a possibility.” One he would certainly investigate further.

Natalie stared at a spot behind his shoulder.

“The only thing that makes sense to me is that the murders were personal. Someone who knew Senator Walker didn’t like to fly and would be driving home from Melbourne. He could’ve followed the family and pulled ahead when they stopped for fuel.”

Natalie lifted a copy of the Walker family photo from the file. He thought she was thinking about the two people who had lost their lives and the one that got away.

“Hallie looks a lot like Ian, doesn’t she? It must be hard for her to look in the mirror every day and see her father’s face.”

Matt looked over at the photo she held. “She’s strong.”

“Yes, she is. I’ve never met anyone like her before. She’s a real survivor.”

He glanced over at Natalie and he wondered at the type of woman she was. A strong minded one, he thought, and tough as nails. Hadn’t she already proved that? She had been terrified and yet hadn’t let it incapacitate her. She had fought back. Matt liked that about her. He liked everything about her.

Natalie was no timid wallflower. She knew what lurked in the darkness and understood human nature better than anyone. She would understand the demands of his job and why it was so important for him to continue on even when he was ready to pack it in. He saw the most horrific things day in and day out. Seeing human depravity and what the human race did to its own kind was sickening. If he let her, she would be there to balance the bad with the good.

Natalie leaned past him, interrupting his thoughts and the dangerous path they were heading and pulled forward one of the five cardboard boxes Matt had signed out of evidence earlier before leaving the station. She removed the lid and peered into the box marked
The Butcher, 2007-2010
.

The thirty by forty centimetre archive boxes contained the LAC’s hard-copy files. If they couldn’t find it in here, it didn’t exist or hadn’t yet been investigated. Matt moved to sit beside her and together they went methodically through the evidence until each box was empty.

Seventeen years’ worth of unsolved cases covered the floor. Statements, autopsy reports, timelines, coloured photos—crime scene and general—filled each manila folder along with a catalogue of any evidence they’d found. A bloody scuff mark, a lone button, jewellery on the body. Each had been photographed and a report written about the location of the evidence in the scene.

Natalie had been right. Each victim had been successful. Proving themselves in what was in effect a man’s world, many of them occupying the top of watch lists when they were alive.

His palms became sweaty. He looked over at Natalie. Her head was once again buried in a file, her hand gliding over the notepad beside her as she jotted down her thoughts. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders as she leaned down. Her long dark eyelashes fluttered against her skin as she blinked.

She was so beautiful. The type all men wanted to covet and protect and he wasn’t immune to that way of thinking either. It was in a man’s genes to protect women going back to the caveman era and they certainly hadn’t evolved as much as scientists liked to think. The need to lock her away where no one could touch or hurt her was growing stronger by the minute.

“You know, you should be extra careful. You fit his profile too.”

Natalie sat up and frowned as she tucked her hair behind her ears.

“My midnight visitor could’ve been anyone,” she said slowly. “But I’ll still be careful.”

He imagined her as she had been the other night. At how scared she had been. Matt nodded. “Good.”

He made a mental note to arrange to have a vehicle drive by her house and office every hour just in case. He didn’t like the fact she had a late night visitor and with the profile they were uncovering it seemed more and more likely the Butcher might try and attack her and Matt wasn’t about to allow that. He had failed all the others since he had been unable to catch the man but he wasn’t about to let the Butcher anywhere near Natalie. The last thing he wanted was to find Natalie’s body on Doctor Stone’s autopsy table. He would do just about anything to prevent that. The thought of being unable to save her scared Matt to death.