Page 53 of Dying Breath
‘No, I agree. It’s not enough to discount him completely, but whoever it is that pocketed her tights is definitely worth checking out, if we can identify him.’
‘Well done – that’s pretty amazing. I don’t know if I’d have spotted that.’
‘Yes you would, boss; you don’t miss a trick.’
She smiled. ‘Right then, we need to find out who this mystery man is. Did you check the cameras before and immediately after she left the club?’
‘I did. People are in and out on their own, in groups, couples.’
‘So near, yet so far. I want every single man that goes in or out tracked down and spoken to.’
Mattie shook his head. ‘What about the town CCTV cameras; don’t they cover High Street? If we check them to see if there’re any lone men in the area we can go back and check the club CCTV to see if it’s the same person.’
Lucy patted his back. ‘I’ve also got something I want to share with you, but I don’t want him to know just yet.’ She pointed in the direction of where Patrick was standing talking on the phone. She lowered her voice.
‘As I told Mattie last night, I’m convinced we’re dealing with a copycat killer. Hang on – I’ll go and get the stuff I just printed out.’
She briskly walked back to the photocopier and grabbed the sheets of paper from the tray. Then she returned to the video imaging room where Mattie and Browning were waiting and shut the door behind her.
‘Until I’m one hundred per cent certain that I’m right, this is between us and Col – when I get him on his own to run the checks. I don’t want Patrick doing what he used to do.’
Browning frowned. ‘What was that?’
‘Years ago, if we were ever onto a lead, had suspects to bring in or just used our brains to work out what had happened at an incident, you could guarantee that if he thought it would make him look good he’d take the credit for it. He’d go to the bosses before we even got a chance and claim it was what he’d come up with. He shafted a couple of my friends big time by being such a smarmy, selfish bastard. Only I didn’t realise until it was too late and they’d been moved to another department. I’m not having him pretend this is all his hard work, because in actual fact it was Toby who came up with it originally.’
Browning looked confused. ‘Who’s Toby?’
‘The new CSI. He came knocking on my door last night with a few newspaper articles and stuff he’d found on the internet.’
‘That’s a bit weird – how did he know where you lived?’
Lucy shrugged. ‘It did unsettle me a bit, but what he said makes perfect sense.’
She began to explain to them what he’d told her and what she’d found herself, and by the time she’d finished both men were staring at her with their mouths open. It was Browning who spoke first.
‘Blimey. That’s fucking odd, but I get it. I really do.’
Mattie nodded. ‘So do I, but what I don’t get is why Toby came to your house to tell you. It’s not right.’
She stared at Mattie. ‘Obviously he thought it was important and he just so happens to be right. I think it’s vital information.’
But he was shaking his head. ‘How did he know this? He’s only been here since the second murder.’
Mattie stopped in his tracks and Lucy felt a lead ball form in the pit of her stomach. Was it a coincidence that Toby had just started working here when the murders began, or something more sinister? She didn’t know.
Mattie gaped at her. ‘You don’t know him! Why did you let him in, Lucy? I don’t like that he knows all this stuff – it’s like he was spelling it out to you. Why would he need to do that? You’re clever. You’d have worked it out for yourself.’
Lucy loved how loyal Mattie was and she knew that normally she was very good, but she hadn’t seen this coming and she wasn’t afraid to admit that.
He continued. ‘I mean, it’s as if he was fed up of waiting for you to come to that conclusion. Why did he need to give you a helping hand? And am I the only one who thinks it’s weird that he knew where you lived? He’s only been here a week – I don’t imagine at any point you’ve spoken to him long enough to give him your address…’
Lucy looked at him. ‘Oh Christ, what if it’s him? What if he’s the killer?’
Browning suddenly interjected. ‘Then I think we should bring him in for questioning; we need to search his house and car. If we find anything that those blue fibres could have come off and can match them back to him it will give us enough reason. In my opinion, he’s just become a very valuable person of interest. Who’s going to arrest him? Us or task force?’
She sat down, the weight of it all crashing down on her shoulders as she ran through their conversation last night. He’d freely admitted he had a fascination with serial killers whilst he was sitting opposite her. She’d felt a little uncomfortable letting him into her house, yet she had. But – and this was the crucial point – was he capable of masterminding all these murders? She couldn’t answer her own question because she knew very well that the sickest individuals could be the nicest person you knew. You only had to look at Ted Bundy, with his good looks and charming personality. Who would ever have guessed that underneath was a man with nothing but complete depravity inside his mind?
‘We still need to find Waite – he might be the one person who actually got a good glimpse of the killer. He may turn out to be our star witness.’
