Separated at Death (The Lakeland Murders) (6 page)

Beech offered them both a coffee, pointing to the machine outside in the open office area adjoining the mortuary. Hall couldn’t think of anything he wanted less, but Mann said that he could go a cup.

‘Was everything clear in the report?’ asked Beech. ‘Manual strangulation, but we’ll do more work today on the neck. I’m pretty certain it’s going to be a man, wearing gloves, and he just had one go to get the job done. Exactly what I said when we first saw Amy in fact. Grabbed her from in front and just held on, so he was very certain about what he was doing. Very decisive in fact. Would you like to have a look, or are the pictures enough for you?’

‘The pictures are fine’ said Hall quickly. ‘So you’re very confident that we’re looking for a man?’

‘I’d say yes, you’re after a man. The chances of a woman having that large a span are very small, certainly under 10%. He was wearing thin gloves, leather perhaps, so we can be very clear about his span.’

‘Known to the victim?’ asked Mann.

‘Yes, certainly that’s likely too. The poor kid didn’t have a chance to put up much of a fight. We’ve been looking for DNA and fibres under the fingernails, and we have recovered some samples from under the fingers on the right hand, but as I said this wasn’t some sort of argument that turned into a scrap and then murder. There’s no other bruising, nothing. The killer just grabbed her and that was it. She didn’t have a chance to struggle. Otherwise Amy was in perfect health when she died.’

The irony of that wasn’t lost on any of them, and there was silence for a moment. Somewhere nearby a tap was dripping onto stainless steel. Hall broke the silence. ‘So what you’re saying is that Amy very probably knew her killer, and that he probably met her with the intention of doing it, and that he never deviated from that intention?’

‘You’re the detective as they say, but yes, based on the evidence so far I think that’s a reasonable assumption.’

‘So we probably are looking at the dad then’ said Mann, a little gloomily.

‘Not necessarily’ said Hall quickly. ‘And you’re saying recent sexual activity, but no indication of a sexual assault?’

‘Exactly, I’d be astonished if we change our view on that. We did get some samples for DNA testing, so we’ll get a profile, and if you’re lucky a match, in another day or two. We know from her GP that she was on the pill incidentally. Had been for a few months.’

‘No chance of hurrying that lab work up I suppose?’ asked Hall.

‘No, that’s using the very latest equipment that they’ve got down in Manchester. One of your traffic boys took the DNA sample down to the lab just as soon as we recovered it. Toxicology will be sooner, probably today, but I’m not expecting much in the way of surprises. And I’m certain that she was killed right there, within feet of where she was found. She certainly wasn’t moved much after she died, and not at all beyond ten or twenty minutes after death. There’s more work to do on her clothes and shoes to confirm it, but everything physical points to that. I assume you’re still pursuing the theft angle as well?’

Hall shrugged. ‘Only her mobile was taken as far as we know, and the killer didn’t even bother to take the cash from her purse. I know it was only twenty quid, but people have died for less, believe me. So while we certainly won’t ignore it I think it’s more likely that our killer took the phone because of the SIM. What do you think Ian?’

‘Agreed, though he’d have to be a total plank really. We’ll have a complete record of every number called, and the content of any texts, this morning. So that was a bit pointless really. Of course if the killer doesn’t understand the technology, then I suppose it is possible.’

Mann sounded as if even a hint of technophobia came as a huge surprise to him. But Hall had been walking with him just a week before and Mann had complained loud and long about the complexity of his new TV and satellite combo.

Hall nodded anyway, and asked Beech if that was it. Beech said he’d be in touch with an update before the end of the day. Hall was glad to be able to leave the mortuary without having to look at the body. He couldn’t see what earthly good that could possibly do.

The two detectives walked back to the car in silence. Then, as Mann drove them back to the office, they talked through the resource plan for the day, and about which detective would be assigned which task. ‘Doesn’t sound like a random killing, does it?’ said Mann as he drove slowly round the one way system in town, ‘at least that’s something.’

Hall had been thinking much the same, and he agreed. But he’d never believed that a teenage girl would just decide to go for a walk in the woods, even if she was found just a couple of dozen yards or so from the nearest house, on a cold winter evening. She had to have been meeting someone already known to her. Her car had been parked outside her friend’s house, but they already knew that Amy hadn’t gone in, and she’d been due there at about 8pm. The CCTV from town was still being pieced together, but it already looked certain that she’d driven straight there from her dad’s house, with no stops or detours.

So why had she gone to the woods? Hall had an idea. ‘Ian, do me a favour will you? When we get back to the nick would you remind me to get all the CCTV watched for a few minutes after Amy’s car goes through, and check all the registration numbers against everyone we’ve talked to. Any surnames that match, I want to know.’

‘You’re thinking the dad then? You think he followed her?’

‘No, I didn’t say that. Let’s not jump to any conclusions, but one possible explanation is that someone followed her in a vehicle, and persuaded her to go with them into Serpentine Woods when she stopped. Wouldn’t have to be the dad.’

They were almost back at the station. ‘Do you want me to get someone to canvass the neighbours in the dad’s street then, see if any cars or people were hanging around?’ asked Mann.

‘Good idea, and not just the night before last. Anytime recently.’

As they parked Hall felt calmer, and though optimism wasn’t his natural state of mind the initial PM findings were encouraging in a way. He’d have to brief the team, and of course Robinson would be perched on the edge of a table no doubt, but Hall felt in control. Without an immediate confession or a strong eye-witness there was never going to be an instant arrest, but everything pointed to the killer being already known to Amy. And that meant two things, both of brightened Hall’s mood. First, that the chances of rapid detection were much increased over a ‘stranger’ attack, and second that another killing was much less likely. Throw in the fact that a motive should turn up in due course and the situation looked more favourable still.

The investigation had been split into its main elements the day before, and each officer-in-charge briefed Hall and the group. Door-to-door had generated nothing so far, and last night’s evening dog walkers had been canvassed too, again without success. They agreed to try again that evening.

CCTV had already picked up Amy’s car twice, and established that she was driving through town at 8.10pm. A couple of beat officers were calling at garages, pubs and shops to try to pick up additional coverage. Mann mentioned that they should look at the cars after Amy’s, perhaps the next dozen or so, and it was agreed that these would be checked.

The press officer from HQ, a former copper called Ray Hardy, and said that the first public appeals had aired last night, and the officer looking at the call-sheets just shook her head when Hall asked if there was anything interesting.

Hall knew that he needed to set the tone for the meeting, so he worked hard to keep his comments positive, and he thanked each person briefly when they made their contribution. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Robinson nodding slightly when he did so.

One of the old sweat DCs, Ray Dixon, had been through the list of local sex offenders, and anyone caught up to anything in Serpentine Woods. ‘We found a biggish haul of drugs up there last year, or rather someone’s pet Basset did, but otherwise nothing recent that could tie in. We had a flasher reported a couple of times, but that was years ago. And I’m working my way through the pervs parade: we’ve got half a dozen with an interest in young girls locally, and they’ve all been spoken too. All have alibis of sorts, but some are pretty thin. But then they do tend to live on their own.’

That raised a couple of wry smiles. ‘Stay with it’ said Hall, ‘can you talk to all of them yourself, and see what you can do to eliminate them? We’re not ruling out a sexual motive, so Ian, would you mind helping out?’

Mann didn’t look overjoyed, but nodded acceptance. So how about Amy’s laptop and phone asked Hall? A couple of civilian techies from HQ were tucked away in an office recovering everything they could, and reporting to a DC called Jane Francis, who’d only joined from Manchester a month or two before. But she’d worked drugs and vice before, and was used to mobile phone records and paper trails. So Mann had put her onto this aspect. Hall had only spoken to her briefly since she’d arrived, but his initial impression was that she was bright and hard working.

‘No luck when we pinged it, but we’ll keep trying obviously. They’re still working on the hard drive on Amy’s laptop’ said Jane, ‘but as you’d expect there’s literally hundreds, probably thousands, of recent texts, emails and social messaging contacts on her phone. Fewer calls though, probably less than 100 in the last month. But it’s going to take weeks for me to get through them all, because at a quick skim there’s nothing saying ‘meet me at the woods tonight’ or anything like that.’

Hall just started to feel annoyed: that sounded like a whinge to him. But that was just a flicker, because he also realised that he’d messed up and under-resourced the job. He knew well enough from watching from his own kids that they used all those media far more than someone his age.

‘OK Jane’ he said. ‘Tell you what, let’s get together in my office straight after this meeting and try to crack on with everything from last weekend together. This really is absolutely top priority. We all know that kids live their lives on these things now. And have you given the techies keywords to search for on the laptop?’

Jane shook her head. Hall suggested a few obvious ones, like ‘Serpentine Woods’ and then asked for other suggestions. Normally a few jokes would have been guaranteed at this point, but today that didn’t happen. Then Hall invited questions, comments and ideas. They talked around a couple of minor issues, then the meeting broke up.

Robinson looked pleased enough Hall thought, even though they’d made very modest progress. But good procedure makes for good outcomes, or so they said on all the courses. And Hall certainly hoped that was true in this case.

DC Ray Dixon was a career policeman in the sense that he had 28 years in, and had been counting down to his pension since he’d barely done 15. And while that wasn’t unusual in itself, it was still earlier than most to begin counting the days.

So as Dixon took Mann through his notes of yesterday’s enquiries Mann wasn’t surprised at what he saw. Solid enough work, intelligent even, but not what you’d call a day of really solid graft. Especially with a young girl lying stone cold on the slab.

Nevertheless, Dixon had eliminated four of their registered sex offenders who had the kind of offending history that might even remotely suggest a possible sex attack on a teenage girl, and that left two possibles. Both lived within a ten minute walk of Serpentine Woods, although the same could be said of half the town’s population, and both said they’d been in, alone, on Wednesday night doing the usual: drinking cheap lager and watching shit on TV. Dixon had already been to see both men.

‘What were your impressions Ray?’

‘Well obviously they’re both lying scumbags Sarge, but I can’t say either struck me as any more nervous than they usually are when one of us comes knocking at the door.’ But Dixon had been a copper more than long enough to know that instincts weren’t always to be followed, even with donkeys years in, and he half remembered going on a course when some university type said as much. So he added, ‘but of course that proves nowt, does it?’

‘Ok, let’s pop round and have another word. I expect they’ll both be home?’

‘I expect so Sarge’ said Dixon drily. He sincerely doubted that either man was ever out of bed much before noon anyway.

Andy Hall’s initial impression of Jane Francis’ work was very different. He knew that she’d had a different job for years before she’d joined the force, as a research scientist if he remembered rightly. She might even have a PhD. And her work so far had been fantastically systematic and thorough, if just a little short on common sense.

They sat side-by-side at his small meeting table, so they could both see her laptop screen. For some reason he didn’t get up and go to his desk to grab his reading glasses, and Jane showed him how she’d begun to tabulate and cross-reference every phone number called, and every text message sent and received.