Page 99 of Deadly Cry
She reached the bottom of the list and looked to Penn for explanation.
Alison looked just as puzzled as she felt.
‘I’ve been searching for unsolved crimes involving scratches. I’ve also searched for unsolved crimes with similarities to another crime and for crimes that happened closely together. After a lot of cross-referencing, this is what I’ve got. Every one of these crimes happened within days of each other, and every single one of them is unsolved.’
He paused, looked at the board and then pointed to the first listing. ‘In May 2010, there was a burglary at a house in West Hagley. The scratches had been carved into the sideboard that held the jewellery that was taken. You couldn’t miss it. Second burglary was a similar MO but just round the corner, in Pedmore. No scratches.’
Stacey listened as his pointing finger moved down to the second pairing. ‘In August 2012, a twenty-seven-year-old woman in Bilston reported seeing a shadowy figure staring at her through the bedroom window at around 11 p.m. She lived alone and was terrified. When shown where she’d seen the figure, officers noted fresh scratches in the paintwork of the outside window sill. A photo was taken and held on the file. The next day, the same thing happened to a twenty-five-year-old woman in Coseley. Exactly the same, even the same time of night. The victim saw someone peering through the window, but no scratches were found. Still with me?’ he asked.
Both she and Alison nodded.
‘In January 2014, a thirty-nine-year-old male was knocked unconscious as he walked home from his job at a tool-making factory in Wall Heath. The scratches were cut into his hand, and no other injuries were found. The following night, a forty-two-year-old male, Barry Thompson, was hit from behind as he left a pub in Kingswinford. No scratches and no injury other than the head wound. Both made full recoveries but could offer no information about their attackers.’
‘Bloody hell,’ Stacey said. Hearing the explanations behind the one-line notations on the board was causing her to wonder if Penn really was on to something.
‘In February 2019, a fifty-four-year-old homeless woman was found murdered by one single stab wound, on the outskirts of Walsall, at the back of a twenty-four-hour service station. They got a partial print but no match. Scratches were found on her lower arm. The following night, Rhona Stubbs, a sixty-three-year-old homeless woman, was found murdered in exactly the same way just outside a new housing development in Great Bridge. No partial print and no scratches. The local team originally had a suspect for Rhona’s murder, as the building site was having a lot of problems with looters and vandals, but there was no physical evidence to link him.’
‘So you think Noah is responsible for all these crimes and he’s escalated over the years?’ Stacey asked.
‘I think it’s possible,’ Penn answered.
‘But why always a pair?’ Alison asked. ‘Why does he do everything twice?’
‘I have no idea.’
‘And why are there only scratches noted on the first incident of each pair?’ Stacey asked.
‘I have no idea.’
‘Penn, right now you’re posing more questions than you’re answering.’
‘I know,’ he said, taking a seat and staring up at the board.
‘You know, Penn, there’s something not right about that list,’ Alison said, breaking a KitKat in half. ‘Look at the stages of escalation. There’s a proportional elevation from one crime to the next, except for assault to murder. The leap is too big.’
‘So what are you telling me?’ Penn asked, frowning.
‘I’m telling you that you’re missing some incidents. There has to be something in between.’
Eighty-One
‘Nothing yet,’ Kim said, checking her phone as Bryant pulled onto Russells Hall Hospital car park.
‘Guv, it’s been twenty minutes. Give her a bloody chance. She’s gotta write the article first, and it’s not like you’ve given her a lot to work with.’
‘Doesn’t normally stop her from making something out of nothing,’ Kim shot back.
‘I swear, sometimes…’
He left the thought hanging as they got out the car.
‘You know, Frost does puzzle me,’ he said as they headed across the road. ‘I can never work out if she’s a decent human being or a ruthless journalist with no morals.’
‘Assume the latter and hope for the former,’ Kim said as they headed towards the morgue. But she agreed with Bryant and often felt the same confusion.
Over the years, Frost had been a consistent pain in the backside: needling, goading, prying and pushing for information. And yet, at times she’d also done the right thing and held back from publishing information she’d unearthed or been given access to. Not least when she’d been presented with the entire social services file of Kim’s childhood, gifted to her by someone who hated Kim enough to murder people in recreations of the most traumatic events in her life. It was that same case that had almost cost Alison her life.
Kim shook away the memories. Frost had handed her back the file, unread. No matter what the woman did, Kim would always remember that.
