Ugly Duckling (10 page)

John climbed into the passenger seat of Ian's Car 'Morning Ian, how are you?'

'I'm good thanks J.D. Is that Liz's Car in your drive?'

'Yes, she just came round before we left to make sure I was ok, I've just left her to have a cuppa before she goes into work'

Ian looked at John and smiled, he could always tell when he was lying but knew not to push it, John would tell him when he was ready. John looked at Ian, he didn't want to tell him that Liz had stayed the night and yet again nothing had happened, they had slept in the same bed this time, but she had borrowed a pair of his pyjamas, and spent all night just cuddling him, spooning into his back. It felt so nice to be that close to someone, but he didn't want to tell Ian that they just enjoyed the night cuddling. Anyway, Ian would never believe it.

John gestured Ian to start driving 'So you’d better bring me up to speed'

'Inspector Wills at Brighton Phoned, Says he worked on a few cases there that have a similarity to ours, in as much as they were all severed carotid, never solved but suddenly stopped, he's invited us to look through the files ourselves, they don't have the spare manpower to do it for us.'

'How many is a few?'

'He told me there were three he feels are definitely linked to each other plus others that may have a link'

'How long ago was this?'

'They stopped about two years ago but go back about five'

'Looks like we're going to have fun then, wading through piles of bloody paper'

'And the Americans contacted us; apparently they are looking into the possibility of reopening the fire case'

'Why?'

'They say that with new technology they might now be able to get a definite answer to the third victim'

'I didn't think there was much doubt'

'No, I don't think there is, but a positive ID would be more conclusive I suppose. How are things with you and Jenni?' Ian tried to show interest even though he had taken a dislike to her since the hospital.

'They're ok' John Smiled 'I think I might have upset her though don't know how, but she didn't seem very happy when she left yesterday, although I did tell her to leave Sonia's pictures alone'

'That'll be it' Ian said 'either that or it’s the time of the month, Jane always gets moody every 28 days'

'That's a really bloody sexist remark Ian, but you're probably right.'

John's phone rang. 'Hello, Hi Jenni. That's great, no. OK we'll do that, see you later then.'

Ian looked questioningly at John

'Jenni, has a piece to do on the Gay community at Brighton, she's coming over this afternoon, we'll grab something to eat when I've finished work'

'Oh, fantastic J.D! That'll be nice for you.' The words didn't match the thoughts running through Ian's mind, there was something not quite right with Jenni, he didn't know what, but he owed it to his friend to find out. He usually had this feeling about prostitutes, he could sense them a mile away, ever since that time in Thailand when he so nearly had sex with a lady-boy, it was only thanks to John who pointed out the enormous Adams apple that he didn't. Perhaps Jenni's a call girl or something. When he got back to Bournemouth he would make it a priority to ask around and find out.

Arriving at the John Street police station in Brighton John and Ian were greeted by D.I Wicks, He was a long serving, old school police officer who knew Brighton like the back of his hand, when he heard about the Bournemouth case's he immediately thought of his own unsolved cases and called to arrange this meeting, he was pleased to see John and Ian and thought that between them they may finally close these cases.

'Hi, you must be Dickie and Cripp, I'm Wicks' he held out his hand to shake first with John then Ian. Introductions over he took them immediately to a room that he had set up for them, in it there was a desk with several large files on it two chairs and a filter coffee machine, 'It's not much I'm afraid but you should be able to work in peace here, the coffee machine's on and its a fresh brew, if you need any more there's a packet of coffee just underneath in the cupboard, I wouldn't be tempted to try the stuff out of the main machine if I were you, it's crap.'

'That's Very kind of you, thank you.' John was already thumbing through one of the files 'Is there anywhere we can get a couple of bacon sarnie's? It’s been a long drive and I'm bloody starving'

'No problem John, you're wish is PC Barnett's command.' Wicks leant out the door and shouted 'Barnett! Three bacon sandwiches for me and my guests!' he crossed to John and Ian who were now sitting either side of the desk and sat on the desk next to John forcing him to move to one side, 'could only find two chairs, but I won’t be with you long, other stuff to do, but if you need me at any time just ask someone to get me and if I can I'll get here. The files are the ones I spoke to Ian about, three murders all in the Kemp town area, if you don't know, it's quite a heavy Gay area and it’s where we are now. They all happened in the victims own homes, the first one was perhaps the most messy, I believe he was stabbed in the stomach first then there were several slashes around the neck' he was waving his hand around acting out his description of events 'Then I think he hit the carotid and bingo, poor sod was dead.'

'You said they were all in a gay area, lots of drugs as well I suppose' Ian was quite sincere with his question but Wicks seemed to take offence at the suggestion, he swivelled round on the table to face Ian

'You don't know much about Brighton and the gay community do you? Unfortunately there has been a lot of bad press about the crime rates and drugs in this area and its true to say that there is a drug problem in Brighton, but not only amongst the gay community, the drug problem knows no boundaries. All in all the people in this area are a good friendly lot; you're more likely to suffer crime from outsiders than you are from the residents.'

'Do you mean hate crimes?' John interjected

'Now there's a good sensible question from a senior officer' Wicks glared at Ian then turned back to John 'Yes, there have been a few hate crimes against some of the residents, but I don't think these are hate crimes, it just doesn't fit. There was no sign of forced entry at any of these murders, suggesting that the victims knew their attackers, the other two I've given you were much cleaner, not much of a struggle, and we believe in those ones the stomach wounds were post mortem, it was only on the third one that the intestines were actually removed from the body cavity.'

There was a knock at the door and PC Barnett appeared with the bacon sandwiches

'Ah, Barnett this is Detective Inspector Dickie and his side kick Cripp, They're here to have another look at the Kemp Town murders they think there may be a link to an ongoing investigation in Bournemouth. Give them as much help as they ask for but don't get in the way.'

Barnett, still holding the stack of three sandwiches in their bags, sneezed 'Excuse me, think I might have a bit of a cold coming on' and he placed the sandwiches on the desk, John and Ian immediately claimed the bottom two. 'If there's anything I can do just holler like D.I Wicks does' he closed the door behind him as he left still sneezing.

Wicks picked up the remaining sandwich and took a large bite, 'Now as I was saying, it was only the third victim that had his intestines removed from the cavity, the second one had been slashed down the abdomen and the wound had been forced open, but nothing removed and the first one, as I said, was just a stab wound, All three were Gay, but there was no evidence of drugs either in their homes or bodies' he turned again to look at Ian, when he turned back Ian silently mouthed 'What have I done' to John who had to put his hand to his mouth to prevent him from laughing.

'Right, So I'll leave you two to have a good rummage through, see if you can find anything useful, if you need anything just shout' and with that Wicks bustled though the door and away.

'Oh my god J.D what was that?'

'Don't think he likes you, do you want a coffee?' John poured two cups from the filter machine and they settled down to study the files.

***

PC Barnett bought in two super-burgers and chips and placed them on the table, peering over Ian's shoulder he could see that he was studying a crime scene photo from the third murder, the victim was laying on the floor in a pool of blood with his arms down by his sides, his stomach had been opened up his intestines removed and put in a neat pile to the side of the body, the victims throat had two clear cuts on it, one on either side of the trachea and the eyes were closed.

'That was terrible that one,' Barnett said 'the stink was horrible.' he sneezed again

'You ought to get yourself something for that' Ian said, wiping the back of his neck,

'I'll get some night nurse later. Anyway enjoy your burgers, eat them while they're hot.' Ian watched as Barnett left the room.

'J.D there's something bothering me about these, in all of them the wounds look clean, like a sharp knife was used, and certainly in the second two the throat has been cut twice, once on either side, just like Bill and even the Dog, but our first one was different, in that one the knife wasn’t that sharp and the throat was cut from side to side, why the difference?'

'He was already dead?' John looked puzzled by this fact as well 'perhaps that one wasn't planned; maybe our killer was caught off guard with that one.'

'And the other thing, all these were Gay but we know for sure that Bill wasn't can we be sure that we're looking at the same killer?'

John thought for a moment then said 'The M O fits, so if its not the same killer we could be looking at a copycat, maybe that's why our first one wasn't as clean, they were just learning.'  His face went blank and he drifted off into one of his trances. Ian went back to studying the case files while munching on his burger. An hour and a half later John suddenly said, 'it’s not a copycat, it is the same one. I'm sure of it' he'd come out of his trance state and as always when this happened he looked like he'd had a really good nights sleep and was raring to go again.

'What makes you say that?' Ian was glad to have somebody to talk too again.

'I just know it is, and Leon in his profile said that there would be others and that our killer would have built up to his present level, well here's the evidence of that in these three cases, gradually developing his skill, I'm not sure its important whether the victims are gay or straight, I think we should forget about that because I don't think that's why they were killed, there's going to be another connection, we just don't know what it is yet. Were there any people interviewed here that we can now place in Bournemouth?'

'None that are leaping off the paper at me'

'And our first one, I think I'm right on that, our killer didn't plan that one, just used what ever he could get hold of at the time, but that still begg's the question. Why? What was different? And where do you get hold of a semi sharp kitchen knife at that time of night?'

'From your Kitchen?' Ian offered

'Oh you just crack me up sometimes, you really do, you funny fucker. But you're right, if we assume it was a kitchen knife, chances are our man took it from his kitchen, for some reason he didn't have time to get his usual kit, then he walked with the knife to the pier. Now, did he walk with the victim or did he meet the victim there?'

'If we come back to the Gay thing, it could have been a Gay liaison'

'It could have been but that still doesn’t tie in with William Broom. I really don't think it’s a gay thing'

'What then?'

'I don't know, but I think our Jeremy Green has more to tell if we look in the right places.'

There was a sneeze outside the door and PC Barnett knocked and entered,

'Sorry to disturb you but there's somebody calling herself Jenni Everitt here to see you inspector Dickie.'

John followed Barnett to the front desk where Jenni was waiting,

'John, how are you' she rushed up to John and kissed him firmly on the lips.

'As nice as that was Jenni we don't do that sort of thing while I'm working, it’s not very professional'

'He doesn't mind, he's probably just a bit Jealous' Jenni was looking at PC Barnett.

'Anyway Jenni I'm fine, glad you got here ok, there's a pub just across the road shall we meet there in, say, two hours?'

'OK. I'll go and browse around the antique shops till then, Can’t wait' she went to kiss John again but he backed away raising his hand to stop her. 'I'll save it for later then' Jenni winked at John as she left the station.

John returned to the office leaving Barnett staring at Jenni leaving, 'She's way out of your league son' he said as he passed.

Two and a half hours later John was sat with Ian in the pub, they had decided to take copies of the relevant information back with them to Bournemouth so that the entire team could look at them and had arranged for the post-mortem reports to be sent to Liz, Jenni came rushing in with arms full of shopping bags, 'Sorry I'm late! Got a bit carried away, there's some fantastic shops around here'

'Can I get you a drink Jenni?' Ian asked 'John and I are just having one more then we've got to head back'