Page 80 of No Safe Place
‘My lothaven’t forgotten anything,’ she said, coldly. ‘We haven’t forgotten the knife wounds of our two victims.’
He stared down at her. ‘Providing nothing changes over the next couple of days, I’m going to suggest Callum is discharged on Sunday. I’m going to recommend beta blockers for the panic attacks he’s been having, but otherwise his prescription will remain unchanged.’
She almost didn’t catch herself. Nearly snapped at him.
There was a thick folder of crime scene photos in her workbag that she would love to slap down on the chaos of his desk. Ten, fifteen years ago, they’d already be out, and she’d have been forcing Maxwell to really look at them.
‘Is there anything else?’ Maxwell rooted around on his untidy desk.
‘I want to have him assessed,’ Field said. ‘Independently.’
‘And you can,’ Maxwell said, moving to the door. ‘You can assess him at his home, because unless you’re arresting him, you can’t detain him here.’
Field was still pissed off when they got back to the car. She had the post-mortems down the road in a few hours, but DI Bellamy was going to accompany her, so Wilson was driving back to the station.
Field grabbed her bag from the boot and waved her off.
It was a relief to be alone for a while. Plus, it made sense for Wilson to go back. She could relay the news, kick-start the new lines of inquiry.
Lily was Patient A. They’d need to look into her boyfriend, her relationship with Callum – her non-existent alibis.
Paige Jacobs had died a few years after the trial. Riley was already working on tracing her family, and pulling the road traffic collision reports from the incident.
Possibly most significant, there’d been no attack last night. Two stabbings in the space of twenty-four-hours and then just – nothing. Either the attacker couldn’t get to their next victim, or they only ever had two intended targets.
Field walked in the opposite direction of both the Maudsley and King’s – rubbing her forehead to try to ease some of her tension. When she arrived, Ruskin Park was full of laughing children, picnicking students and NHS workers on their lunchbreaks.
Field found a bench in the shade and checked her emails.
The blood-spatter experts definitively agreed that Samantha Hughes had been stabbed directly outside Mulligan’s house. What wasn’t definitive from their perspective was whether Callum Mulligan stabbed her.
In trying to save Sam’s life, Callum’s clothes had become so drenched in blood, and so smeared, that it was impossible to tell whether he had been near her when the wounds were inflicted. There were microscopic airborne particles, apparently, but as Sam had sustained an arterial wound, they could have been deposited in trying to save her life, rather than in taking it.
But either way – it didn’t matter. Callum wasn’t injured – they’d photographed his chest and hands, and Field had studied the images. Callum had no injuries.
‘Perfect alibi,’ Field mumbled, flicking onto the next email.
The droplets of blood that they presumed belonged to the attacker had been sent to Teddington for processing, and fast-tracked. They should have the results on Sunday – Monday at the latest.
Even in the shade of the oak tree, the afternoon sun felt laser-targeted on her back, and she could feel her neck burning.
The phone rang.
‘Fuck’s sake,’ she muttered. She debated putting the phone next to her on the bench and not answering, but the super had a view of her calendar – he’d know that she was free. ‘Afternoon, guv.’
‘Field,’ he said. ‘I’ve got five minutes. Give me the headlines.’
She told him they had four of the five names. Good progress being made processing the scene. Several new lines of inquiry. Zara Ayres establishing a good relationship with David Moore’s wife. Mr and Mrs Hughes being kept up to date by Herts police.
‘But no suspect?’ he barked.
She gritted her teeth. ‘The trial was anonymous, and well over a decade ago. Forensics is the best chance we have of catching him, Sir. I’ve fast-tracked—’
‘I saw that. I approved it. But what if he’s on a mission? Why’s he stopped at two?’
She still had a horrible feeling that it was because Callum was in hospital.
‘It’s early days, sir—’
