Stranglehold (21 page)

Johnson said, ‘We took hairs of Vic Knowles from a golf cap in his car and the forensic boys did a DNA test on them. We also now have the test on the semen samples from the corpse. They are from the same man.'

There was a little stir around the room. Lambert said, ‘What about other findings from the Scene of the Crime team for Harriet Brown's murder?'

‘Precious little that is useful, I'm afraid. That empty house where she was found was too popular a venue for us to pin things positively to the time of the murder. There was a print from a formal city shoe which was fairly recent, but of course, we couldn't say definitely that it relates to the death. It might have been made earlier in the day. Size nine and a half or ten. A size which could be worn by Vic Knowles, but also by Charlie Kemp, Ben Dexter or Darren Pickering.'

‘And by me, Sergeant,' Don Haworth reminded him with a sheepish grin. ‘Don't forget I was there very soon after the discovery of the corpse.'

‘But you went in with bags over your feet, Doctor. And in any case, you were wearing trainers, not city shoes.' If Johnson was pleased to be able to demonstrate his efficiency as a SOC officer, he gave no outward sign beyond a small answering smile. ‘There is one other thing about the killing of Hetty Brown, though. The pathologist's examination of the corpse showed no sign of violence beyond the strangulation marks on the neck. There had been intercourse within the hour before death, but it was not rape, unless we assume that the victim had been passive to avoid injury. There was also no sign of robbery. The girl's purse was intact, as in the other two killings. There was almost forty pounds in it; Knowles says he paid her twenty for sex in the back of his car.'

Lambert said, ‘So Knowles had had intercourse, probably as he told it, but we don't know yet whether he killed her or not.'

Stanley Warboys said, ‘From the point of view of the psychologist, the most significant difference between the first two killings is that Julie Salmon was violently raped before she was killed, whereas Hetty Brown was not.'

Lambert said, ‘Does that imply two different killers?' His mind was reeling with the prospect.

‘Not necessarily.' The forensic psychologist looked round at the other six men, like a teacher sizing up a seminar group and wondering how much knowledge he could take for granted. ‘You probably know that ninety per cent of rapes are really about power rather than sexual gratification. When further violence follows, as it did in the case of your first victim, it is usually for one of two reasons. The first is simply panic: perhaps the girl is screaming, or the man knows that she will reveal to others what he has done. He commits the still greater crime of murder in an attempt to silence the only witness to the rape.'

Rushton said, ‘Would that indicate that the rapist was known to the victim?'

‘Often: far more often than not, indeed; but not exclusively. Again, the majority of people who kill because they panic are of low mentality; with few personal resources at their command, they lose their heads and silence their witness in the only way they can see.'

Lambert said, ‘You mentioned a second reason why murder might follow immediately upon rape.'

Warboys turned his shrewd brown eyes upon the Superintendent, rested them there for a moment, then flicked them around the other expectant faces. ‘An extension of the most usual reason for rape: the assertion of power. Men may either find the rape insufficient to assuage that urge, or be so inflamed by the rape that it excites them to further demonstrations of their physical supremacy.'

‘Like a drug?' said Hook.

‘If you like. There are certain chemical reactions within the body, indeed, which produce their own stimulations: the best-known one is the production of adrenalin.'

It was Don Haworth, as if indicating that doctors as well as policemen could be in deep waters when it came to psychology, who said, ‘But why should our man rape and kill Julie Salmon, then kill the other two girls without raping them?'

Warboys smiled. For a moment, he was a scientist intrigued by a problem, not an expert called into the investigation of a chain of grisly murders. ‘He might have known the first girl personally, but been hardly acquainted with the others. Or he could simply have found himself more excited by the killings than the rape. Murder made him feel even more powerful, even more the master of these women, than rape did.' He stopped smiling and looked apologetically at the grim faces around him. ‘If I'm right, that would also help to explain the accelerating rate of the killings. There are nineteen days between the deaths of Julie Salmon and Harriet Brown, but only three between those of Harriet Brown and Amy Coleford.'

‘Which means he might kill again very soon?' asked Lambert glumly.

‘I'm afraid so. If I'm right and he sees the opportunity. It's all hypothetical, as you realize.'

Rushton was very white. He said, ‘Yes, it is. Is there anything else you can tell us about the man we're looking for?' His voice was unexpectedly harsh in the quiet room; it was impossible to be certain whether this stemmed from a contempt for psychological speculations or from some other kind of strain.

Warboys was completely unruffled. He said, ‘I'd prefer to hear the rest of the forensic findings before we go any further.'

Sergeant Johnson, who had been waiting to speak for some time, said, ‘Now that we can compare the reports on the semen samples from the first two murders, we know that they were not from the same man.'

There was a long silence round the table. Eventually Rushton said, ‘Does this put Knowles in the clear for murder?'

Lambert said, ‘No. It doesn't really help us. It means that Knowles didn't rape Julie Salmon. But he could still have killed her, if he found her in a distressed condition after the rapist had left. Alternatively, he could be telling the truth, in which case the murderer of Julie Salmon might have killed Hetty Brown after she had left Knowles.'

Rushton said slowly, ‘Knowles was in this area on the night of the killing of Julie Salmon, although he lived a hundred miles away at the time. It's the most damning fact against him. When you put that together with his presence at the time of the other two murders, it seems a remarkable coincidence. But perhaps it isn't all that remarkable. We've investigated over a hundred men so far in connection with these killings, but found only four who apparently had the opportunity to commit all three of them and have no convincing alibi for any one of them.'

Don Haworth said, ‘You mentioned that the man who raped Julie Salmon might have had some previous relationship with her. Darren Pickering was her boyfriend until a week or two before she died. I was her GP, and I know how unhappy her parents were about the association.'

‘And he had opportunity to commit the other two killings,' growled Rushton.

The drugs squad sergeant, Paul Williams, found himself at last with something to contribute. ‘Pickering isn't as tough as he pretends to be – I've seen plenty of him at the
Roosters.
I'd say he was genuinely very upset by the death of Julie Salmon.'

Stanley Warboys said, ‘I'm afraid that wouldn't eliminate him as a suspect. It's quite common for people who kill after they have been rejected as sexual partners to be overcome with emotion afterwards. Sometimes it's remorse; more often it's a complex of feelings. As I think we agreed at the outset of this meeting, we are looking for an unbalanced mind. Our problem is that such minds, particularly those suffering from schizoic disturbance, often display quite normal reactions once they are operating away from the immediate area of the killings. That's why even people close to them sometimes don't suspect them of their crimes.'

Williams turned to Rushton. ‘Was there anything among Julie Salmon's possessions which would implicate Darren Pickering?'

Rushton shook his head reluctantly, but it was Johnson who spoke. ‘No. There was one strange thing, though. I said there was nothing at the scene of crime to indicate robbery, and Julie Salmon's purse was left in the pocket of the jacket she was wearing. But her handbag was missing, and it's never turned up. Her parents were sure she had it with her, and it certainly wasn't in the house. We've rather assumed that some person unknown removed it from the scene of the crime well after she was dead – remember she wasn't found until some two days after she was killed. But it could have been the murderer, if the bag contained something to connect him with the crime.'

Hook said, ‘Her parents were not as down on Darren Pickering as I expected. Apparently Julie had had some dealings with an older man – no one seems sure whether there was a sexual relationship or not and she never revealed his identity to her parents. I think they thought Darren Pickering was the lesser of two evils. At least he was about her own age: she was only nineteen when she died, don't forget.'

Don Haworth said, ‘I understand Pickering has a history of violence.'

Rushton said, ‘Various punch-ups, yes. He also left the
Roosters
shortly before Harriet Brown was killed, and he was out on his motorbike at the time when Amy Coleford died, without any witnesses as to his whereabouts.'

Paul Williams said, ‘For what it's worth, I wouldn't make him a leader in the football hooliganism you're going to have to snuff out next season. 1 should keep your eye on Ben Dexter in that respect: he fancies himself as a manipulator of puppets. Incidentally, both of them have used pot, and I think Dexter's dabbling with heroin. It's possible he's dealing, but we're after the big boys, so please don't raise it with him yet. I mention it only because it might have some bearing on this case.'

They looked expectantly at Stanley Warboys, but he shook his head. ‘I haven't seen Dexter, so I couldn't venture an opinion. If he is of a violent disposition, those tendencies of course might be released as any others might by the administration of drugs.'

Lambert said, ‘If he confines his drugs to his leisure hours, that might explain why he was so easily deflated when we saw him in his working environment. He started by being derisory about our efforts, but he collapsed pretty quickly. But he does seem to look for kicks in outwitting the police. I suppose there could be an element of that in these killings.'

Warboys said, ‘Yes. It's a factor in most serial killings, especially as time goes on and the murderer remains undetected. It has led several killers to ever more daring and shocking crimes, particularly when press coverage has increased and dwelt on the bafflement of the police. I notice that your man is now universally known as the Strangler. It could be worse: there is some evidence that animal soubriquets – the Black Panther and so on – excite minds which are already disturbed to great displays of violence and what they consider invincibility.'

Williams said, ‘Making fools of the police would certainly be attractive to Dexter: the father he claims to hate was a senior policeman. I've listened to him in the
Roosters
and it isn't just a front. He seems to have a contempt for all authority; perhaps it stems from his days in a public school.' He looked quickly at Warboys, as if in apology for this outbreak of amateur psychology. ‘That's what's behind his preoccupation with organizing football mayhem – which incidentally he claims he did on a bigger scale at West Ham before he came down here.'

Hook said, ‘Dexter's Porsche was sighted within a quarter of a mile of the spot where Hetty Brown was killed, at the time of the murder. He also left the
Roosters
at about nine o'clock on the night when Amy Coleford was killed – much earlier than usual. No sightings of his car in Gloucester yet, but the uniformed boys are working on it.'

Hook tried to keep his rubicund features suitably impartial. He very much wanted their man to be Dexter: he only realized that as he spoke. No doubt it had something to do with his Barnardo's boy background: Dexter's schooling and higher education could hardly have been more different from his own. But he did not feel guilty about his feelings. Someone had done these killings, and was looking to do more: it had as well be that gilded young psychopath Dexter as anyone else.

Lambert said quietly, ‘Charlie Kemp is just as much in the frame as Dexter or the others. More so, in fact, in that we know from his wife's statement that he's lying about his movements on the nights of at least the last two killings.' There was a murmur of satisfaction among the five policemen around the table: Kemp was a villain who had got away with far too much in the past. They would all be pleased if they could make this one stick.

Sensing the mood, Lambert went rapidly through the facts about Kemp, surprising the team as he had done often before by not referring to a note at any point. ‘We know that he knew the first victim, Julie Salmon, because she frequented the
Roosters,
often with Darren Pickering. But that is all we have been able to pin down. The case is strongest against him on the second and third murders. We are fairly certain that Harriet Brown was killed in the hour after midnight on 12th June –'

‘I did emphasize you shouldn't take that as gospel, you know,' put in Don Haworth with a modest grin.

Lambert's acknowledging smile was briefer, a mere disguise for his irritation at the interruption. ‘We aren't in a court of law yet. When we are, no doubt we'll have enough evidence to make sure that you're not embarrassed under oath, Doctor. We now have Mrs Kemp's word that her husband was not in the house that night until one thirty-three, despite his earlier statement to us that he was home by midnight.'

Paul Williams said quietly, as if reluctant to reveal information on a man he had been watching in another context. ‘Kemp took Amy Coleford up to his suite at the
Roosters
two nights before her death.'

‘Why?' The monosyllable came like a pistol shot, reflecting Lambert's annoyance that the information should have been held back until now.