Ugly Duckling (5 page)

The next morning John and Ian were in the office studying the crime scene photos. The usual spread of coffee cups and bacon sandwich bags littered the area.

'Did you see Liz last night?'

John didn’t look up from the photo he had in his hand.

'No.'

'Playing it cool are you?'

'She was busy, pass that one over will you'

Ian passed the print over.

'Thought now you’d broke your duck you might be going for the winning score'

'Told you, she was busy.'

'Of course, if you hadn't actually done anything the other night then it'd be more understandable.'

'Have we got the pictures from the first one here?'

Ian went to the filing cabinet and retrieved the file for Jeremy Green.

'I mean, if nothing happened you two are just the same as ever, good friends' he passed the file to John.

John finally looked up.

'Give it a rest Ian' he took the file and started to examine the photos.

'I'm just saying, you’ve known each other a long time, since we were all at Uni. You, Me, Sonia and Liz, of course then it was all about you and Sonia and quite right too, you were both madly in love with each other. Everybody thought I was going to get together with Liz, but we never did. Do you know why?

'No' John replied.

'Because even then Liz was madly in love with you.'

'Oh shut up Ian.'

'No. its true, she told me! It was a long time ago, but I'm telling you she is still in love with you.'

'Take a look at these two pictures for me would you' John said handing them over 'do you notice anything?'

Ian studied the images for a while.

'What am I looking for?' he asked.

'Might be nothing.' John took the pictures back 'don’t worry about it.' He went back to studying the photos.

There was a long silence until Ian eventually said 'so if you and Liz did get together so to speak, could be wedding bells.'

John started laughing.

'For fuck sake Ian, give it a rest.'

'You didn't did you?'

'No, we didn’t, I passed out after a half glass of wine, there you happy?'

'You lying bastard!' Ian was laughing 'and she’s just as bad!'

'Oh mate you don’t know the half of it,' John was suddenly eager to tell his old friend all 'I woke up in her spare bed completely naked! She'd undressed me!'

'What completely?'

'Yes completely the whole lot and I can’t remember a thing about it.'

'What, you can’t even remember if she had a little fiddle?'

John stopped laughing 'er no, hadn’t even thought of that,' he paused while he thought about it, 'no she wouldn’t do that.'

'She wouldn’t tell you! Especially if it was undersized, and she's seen plenty to compare it to.'

'Don’t be stupid Ian!'

Ian didn’t say anything he just put his hand in front of his mouth wiggled his little finger and sniggered.

'Piss off' was John’s only remark as he went back to studying the photos.

Suddenly John looked up.

'Come on, we're going for a walk' he said collecting the photos.

Outside it was a lovely spring like morning, warm, no need for coats, possibly the first time this year so far. And there was a fresh smell in the air. John took a cigarette and lit it.

'You smoking again?' Ian asked, surprised to see John light up after three years not smoking.

'No, not really, only every now and then when I'm thinking.' He stubbed the cigarette out again, having taken only two drags.

They walked down Madeira Road to Horseshoe Common. John stopped, 'His car was up there' he said, mainly to himself, looking back along the route they had just taken, 'and the Pig is down there', looking the other way towards Old Christchurch Road.

They walked onto the Common and over to the flyover, where the body had been found, it had been cleaned up now, hardly any trace of the horrific incident that had taken place there less than 36 hours before. John stopped again and looked towards the Pig and the road.

'Let’s walk down.' he said.

As they walked John asked Ian about him and Jane, about AFC Bournemouth, said what a nice day it was, in fact he chattered on about anything and nothing, he seemed not quite there. Ian had seen this before it was almost as if John put himself into a trance whenever he had something on his mind or something he wanted to work through, this is how he went, it didn’t really matter what Ian said because John wasn’t listening anyway. They walked way past the Laughing Pig down through the gardens and eventually ended up at the Pier.

'I see they've got a new hot dog stall over there, do you like hot dogs Ian?'

Ian wanted to test his theory.

'I think hot dogs should be rammed up the ass hole of anyone who asks do you like hot dogs Ian.'

'Yeh, that’s what I thought, better with onions though' John said sitting on a bench.

They sat there for nearly an hour without speaking. It was busy in that area, people out and about, making the most of what was definitely the best day of the year so far. Parents and children with ice cream cones, office and shop workers out on their breaks laying on the grass catching a few rays, after all this could be the only day of summer they have, Ian thought.  It would soon be bank holiday, they were usually pretty lucky on May bank holiday weather wise, there’ll be another picture of a packed Bournemouth beach on the front page of the tabloids with the headline “Phew what a scorcher!”

Suddenly John seemed to snap out of it, he took the pictures from the envelope he'd been carrying and looked at them again, Ian waited, and waited, he knew something was coming.

'Have another look at these pictures Ian, Tell me what you see.'

Ian took the pictures and looked.

'I see the heads and shoulders of our two victims taken at the scenes' Ian started, 'there’s much less blood in the first one than the second, but the second looks slightly less gory, they've both had their throats cut in a similar, but not exact manner, the first one rough, slightly torn, the second two clean cuts either side of the wind pipe.'

'What else' John asked.

Ian looked hard at the pictures 'sorry J.D. I don’t know what you're getting at.'

'Just describe what you can see.'

'Well,' Ian continued 'I can see their mouths, noses, ears, eyes …'

'Eyes! Ian, Can you see their eyes?'

'Either side of their noses.'

'Look again.'

'Ah.' It dawned on Ian what John was getting at' J.D. the eyes are closed.'

'Exactly!' John said 'it’s not right is it? Someone would have had to close the eyelids, our murderer didn’t want the victims to watch while he disembowelled them, why not?’

'Perhaps he just didn’t like the idea of being watched.'

'I've thought about that' John replied 'but there’s something in my gut telling me that there’s a connection between these two, I think that these weren’t random murders, I think these two knew our murderer and, perhaps more to the point, he knew them, not only that, but somewhere in that twisted mind of his, he even cared for them.'

'It’s a bit of a leap J.D. but if you're right we need to find one person that both our victims knew.'

Liz was tidying up the Lab after her examination of the body, it had been a very long, thorough examination, going over everything two, even three times to make sure there was no error and nothing was missed. She was beginning to formulate the report in her head as she went to the locker room to change into her “normal” clothes.  As she removed the lab coat she couldn’t help but smile, the look on Johns face was priceless when she'd dropped her bathrobe. She stripped out of her long johns replacing them with a skirt and blouse and made her way to the office, where she was going to start to write up her findings to send to John.

There was a knock at the door and John’s head appeared,

'Anyone in?’

'Hello John, I was just thinking about you. Just about to start on the report.'

'I was wondering how far you’d got?'

'Well, I've finished the examination but I need some more information.'

'Oh. What do you need?' John was curious.

'Regarding the time of death. I took the brain temperature because of the state of the rest of the body but because of the other factors, a cold night, blood loss, clothes had been opened, all those things, its still difficult to be more accurate than I've already told you'

'I see' Said John, nodding knowingly

'The examination of the stomach contents should have helped to give me a clearer time line, but all I know is, he had last eaten a burger and chips but we don’t know at what time he did that, it wasn’t breakfast, he’d already had breakfast, that was well on its way through the digestive process, but people eat burger and chips at any time of day. So without more information I still can’t be more accurate than I was'

'Burger and chips'

'My guess would be McDonalds, there was pickle and mayo and all the other stuff they put on their burgers'

'Great! We'll start with them, most have CCTV we should be able to find him, anything else?'

'Yes, the attacker was close, very close I'd say, and with the two slashes either side of the trachea was stood in front of the victim, facing him.'

'Go on' John was interested in what was coming next

'I can’t find any evidence of a struggle John, I think if someone ran up to me brandishing a knife I'd at least try to fight them off if I couldn’t run, or, I'd raise my arms like this.' she bought both arms up in front of her face shielding her head from potential attack.

'If he'd done that, there may have been scratches or bruises on his arms, but there's not, there's nothing, either on him or the first one, he was already dead form heart failure of course, but this one wasn’t he was very much alive at the time of the attack.'

'You think they knew their attacker?'

'I just report my findings, it’s up to you from there on, but, personally I would say the indications are that certainly the second one knew his attacker.'

'What about the eye's Liz?'

'Being closed you mean? I found that Interesting. The attacker almost certainly would have closed them'

'Another indication that the attacker knew them personally?'

'Possibly, I couldn't really say John'

John thought for a moment.

'Has the knife given you anything?' Liz asked

'Not a great deal so far Liz, They did find a trace of alien DNA in amongst all the other blood and dog slobber, probably nicked himself when he extended the blade, not uncommon, but there's nothing on the national database at Birmingham so all it does is confirm that we're looking for a man, Big help that.'

'So what do you do next?'

'Well, we'll get onto the McDonalds lead, see if we can pin his timeline down a bit and help you with time of death, and then I think tomorrow I'm going to call in a profiler.'

'Good Idea.'

John looked at Liz although he was about to say something else.

'I've told you everything of interest John. But, I've still got to get this report done before I leave'

'Of course Liz, yes. There was something though'

'Yes?' Liz raised her eyebrows waiting for the question

'The other night, at your place, you took my clothes off'

'That’s right.' Liz had a feeling she knew what he was about to ask

'All of them' John continued

'Correct'

'Did you, erm, you know'

'Examine your penis?' Liz offered

'Well, Yes'

'It's quite a sufficient size I'd say, but I have to tell you, dealing with rigor mortis, as I often do, I'm used to handling something a little stiffer. Now can I get on with this report'

John was embarrassed by the answer, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t that.

'Right, right, I'll um, leave you to it then'

John stood and left the office quickly, blushing as he went.

Ian had met John at the Laughing pig, they stood at the bar talking over the days events, Ian with a half of lager, John with a half of lager shandy.

'Hey boys, got something for you' it was Phil the owner,

'Have a look at this'

He produced a “Billy Big Mouth singing Bass” and pushed the button, the fish sprang into action flapping its tail, wagging its head and opening and closing its mouth to a recording of “Don’t worry, be happy”.

A girl, sat at one of the high tables just behind them, started sobbing.

'Now look what you've done' Ian said to Phil 'you've reduced your customers to tears'

'Don’t worry, be Happy' the song continued

More, louder sobbing from behind.

'Will you turn that tacky fucking thing off!' Ian snapped

Phil turned it off, looking offended.

'I bought this tacky fucking thing in from my lounge at home, thought it would give you a laugh'

'Sorry Phil I didn’t mean' Ian started, but it was too late Phil Grabbed his fish and disappeared to the other side of the bar.

'Phil, Phil! Come on mate, I didn’t mean anything' Ian followed Phil around the bar leaving John with a half of lager and a sobbing girl. He turned and walked towards her.

'Are you ok? He didn’t mean anything'

'It wasn’t the fish' she said 'I’ve just read this' she handed the Mail to John, on the front page was a photograph of William Broom and the headline “Local man found murdered on common”. The Media relations Office would have released the carefully vetted story to the press, making sure that all next of kin had been informed beforehand.

'Did you know him?' John asked

'He was my boyfriend, well, sort of, we broke up a couple of days ago' she continued to sob, tears rolling down her cheeks, John handed her a tissue.

'J.D that’s her, the girl in the CCTV!' Ian rushed up to them.

'I've just realised that Ian. I think we've been looking for you'

'Me, Why?'

'I'm Detective Inspector Dickie and this is Detective Sergeant Cripp, You may have been the last person to have seen him alive' John said

She started to sob even more. The MRO were very careful about next of kin being informed before they read or heard it from the press, but unfortunately that courtesy couldn't extend to lovers.

'I'm sorry you found out this way' Ian commented

'What’s your name?'

'Jenni Everitt' Jenni replied through the sobs

'Did he ever mention anyone he was afraid of or any incident that made him think he was in danger?'

'No, Nothing. He always seemed happy, up until the other night'

'And what happened then?' John asked.

'It was the opening night for this place, I'd arranged to meet Bill here for a drink, I thought we were going to go for a meal, but when he arrived' she started to sob again.

'It’s alright' John put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a clean handkerchief from his pocket 'Take your time'

'Thank you' Jenni looked John in the eye through her own tear filled eyes and blew her nose. He found himself wanting to hug her, but knew that would be completely inappropriate on all levels.

'He told me he was married' Jenni continued 'and that he didn’t want to hurt me but he'd decided to try again with his wife, he said he had only started the affair with me because he knew his wife was having an affair with the man next door, but that she'd promised him that she had ended it and wanted to patch things up with Bill, he said he had to give it a try for the sake of his kids, I didn’t even know he had kids! Anyway I got upset, called him some names. I didn’t mean them, I was just angry, so I tried to apologise but he just got up and dashed off, I went after him but he just vanished, there were too many people around. I wish I'd found him, perhaps none of this would have happened if I had, I know he loved me more than his wife.'

'How do you know that?' Ian asked

Jenni shot him a look that, if looks could kill, would have put Ian six feet under.

'Because if he'd been with me, he would never have had an affair with anyone else.' Jenni retorted.

'No that’s right Jenni; Sergeant Cripp can be a bit tactless at times. Is there anything else you can tell us about that night'

'I don’t think so Inspector Dickie'

'Please call me John'

Jenni half smiled 'I don’t think so John, but if I do think of anything can I call you?'

'Yes, Please do' John handed Jenni his card, 'I'll also need your address and contact details just in case we have any further questions'

Jenni went into her purse and gave John one of her personal cards.

'Do you mind if I leave you now? I think I'd like to get home'

'No, that’s ok; I think we've got enough for now. Will you be OK? Do you want me to run you anywhere? Or contact somebody to stay with you?'

'That's very kind John, but I'll be ok and I think I'd rather be on my own tonight' and with that she got up, gave John a sweet, but tearful, smile and left the pub,  John watched, his eyes following her until the door closed behind her.

'OH, Sergeant Cripp can be very tactless, Can I run you anywhere, would you like some help getting out of those knickers?' Ian said mimicking John.

'What you on about?'

'You! God if you made it any more obvious you'd have been laying on top of her with your tongue down her throat!'

'Don’t be stupid Ian, she's upset, I was just trying to be nice, comforting. Now get me another drink, it's your round.'

Ian went to the bar and ordered another beer and a shandy. John stood looking at the door; there was something about her, even though she was upset, she was amazingly attractive John thought. He strangely wanted her to come back through the door with some more information, just so he could talk to her a bit longer, but she didn’t return. John decided to find some more questions to ask her, just so that he could visit her tomorrow, it was something he didn't need to think about too long.

'Anyway' Ian said returning with the beer's 'You’d better get those contact details out, I've just remembered where I've seen her before'

'Where’s that?' John asked half heartedly

'She was one of the reporters at the scene.'

Perfect, thought John.