Phil felt his hands ball into fists. His breathing came harsh and fast; his turn to struggle for control.
He managed it. ‘Like I said. This is my investigation, sir. And I’ll conduct it the way I see fit. Your comments aren’t helpful. In fact, you’re way out of order, superior or not.’
Fenwick said nothing.
‘I’m going back inside,’ said Phil, ‘to continue the meeting. Will you be joining us?’
Fenwick held Phil’s stare for a second or two before turning and walking away.
Phil watched him go, then, taking a deep breath and expelling it slowly, walked back into the bar.
22
‘I’m afraid DCI Fenwick won’t be rejoining us for the moment,’ said Phil, his voice as light as possible. ‘So let’s finish up here and we can go home. Shall we continue?’
His team looked at him, eyes wide. He knew what they were thinking – had he punched out a senior officer? Had a senior officer had a go at him? Whatever, it would be round the station in minutes.
‘Marina?’ said Phil. ‘You were saying?’
Marina looked at him, her face unreadable. Was that admiration he saw? Irritation? She looked down at her notes, began scanning.
‘Erm… Yes. Here. What was I saying? Yes. Right. Escalation. Look at all these women. Lisa King, Susie Evans, Claire Fielding… with the unfortunate exception of Julie Simpson, you see a clear escalation.’
‘Trial runs or unsuccessful attempts,’ said Phil, getting back into the rhythm as quickly as possible. ‘Technique refining.’
Marina nodded, picking up speed as she did so. ‘This person wants a baby. A live one. And if that’s the case, to the killer, these women are just breeders. Surrogates.’
‘Why not just snatch one from somewhere? A maternity ward or outside Mothercare?’ said Phil.
‘Perhaps the risks are too great. I don’t know, they think that a baby taken from the womb will be easier to bond with. Now,’ Marina said, pointing to the map, ‘the geographical aspect might be worth looking at. Usually you can put together a profile of the perpetrator from the area in which they’ve operated. Fix their position, their home, from where they’ve committed their crimes. But looking at the map, I can’t find any kind of pattern.’
‘Where does Brotherton live?’ asked Anni.
Both Phil and Marina looked at her.
She blushed. ‘I’m only asking.’
Phil checked his notes. ‘Highwoods,’ he said.
‘Right in the middle of it,’ said Anni, looking at the map. ‘Well, almost.’
‘Yes,’ said Marina, ‘that’s true. But these women have different backgrounds, social classes, they come from different areas. There doesn’t seem to be any kind of geographical overlap in terms of Brotherton meeting them.’
‘Perhaps he bought a house,’ said Phil. ‘Used Lisa King’s estate agency. Might be worth a look.’ Jane Gosling made a note.
‘Maybe he used prostitutes,’ said Anni. ‘Met Susie Evans in New Town.’
Jane made another note.
‘I don’t think we should rule Brotherton out,’ said Phil. ‘Let’s investigate him further. See if we can find a connection between him and the earlier victims. And we’ll get his phone records checked too. But he shouldn’t be the only avenue we explore.’
‘What if he’s not living or working where he targets and kills?’ said Anni. ‘How’s he picking his targets? Hospitals, antenatal clinics, that sort of thing. Could he have access to a database with pregnant women on it?’
‘It’s being looked into,’ said Jane Gosling.
‘And also,’ said Phil, ‘we still need full background checks on both Julie Simpson and Claire Fielding. They’re both as important as the other. I want their last weeks traced, where they went, who with, who they spoke to, everything. Nothing is unimportant. If someone has asked them the time in the street, find out who. Find out when. Jane, can you do that?’
Jane Gosling, scribbling, nodded without looking up.
‘D’you mind if I take a look at the murder scene?’ said Marina. ‘Might help.’
‘I’ll run you over there when we finish.’
He watched her nod; their eyes caught once more, then away.
‘Right,’ said Phil, ‘that seems to be as much as we can do for now. Uniforms will continue to collate the door- to-door and CCTV stuff, Ben Fenwick can talk to the media again, give them an update. In the meantime, those who are going home get some rest. We’ll need it.’
‘Before we go, can I just ask,’ said Adrian Wren, ‘this serial killer-’
Marina cut him off. ‘Please don’t use that term. As soon as you say the words “serial killer”, everyone goes all FBI and
‘So, this person who kills more than one person sequentially, ’ Adrian Wren said, and got a few polite smiles as a response. ‘Don’t that sort usually try to communicate with us, or to leave clues to show off how clever they are? Taunt us? Or is that just in films and books?’
‘No, in real life too, sometimes,’ said Marina. ‘Killers of that nature are often of low self-esteem and want to parade their intelligence. Sometimes it’s a cry for help. They actually want, subconsciously, to be caught. That’s one kind of serial killer, yes. But I don’t believe we’re dealing with that kind here. This one seems to be fixated on a very specific goal.’
‘The abduction of the baby?’ said Phil.
She nodded. ‘To the exclusion of everything else. And the end, in their mind, justifies the means.’
‘Well, if they’ve got the baby now,’ said Anni, ‘and it’s alive, that might be a good thing. They’ve got what they wanted.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Marina.
‘Why perhaps?’ said Anni.
‘Because we’re assuming this baby’s alive,’ said Phil. ‘And being well cared for.’
‘Precisely,’ said Marina. ‘What if, God forbid, this baby dies and they need a replacement? Or even worse, what if they get a taste for what they’ve done and want to continue?’
‘Start a family,’ said Phil.
Marina looked right at him and he at her. They held their look. Connection made. ‘Exactly.’
‘Jesus,’ said Anni.
The whole room sat in silence for a few seconds, taking that information in.
The silence stretched on. Outside the window, people were making their way home from work, coming out for the evening. Life was going on in that other, separate world.
The door to the bar opened. Fenwick walked in, a look of triumph on his face.
‘Right,’ he said. ‘Been on the phone to Chelmsford. They’ve sanctioned twenty-four-hour surveillance on Ryan Brotherton. Overtime in place. I’ll leave you to draw up a rota for the uniforms, Phil.’
Phil stared at him.
‘I said, and the Detective Super at Chelmsford agreed with me, that Brotherton should be brought in for questioning tomorrow.’ He turned to Marina. ‘Of course, I think you should be there to take a look at him from the observation room. See what impression you get.’ He looked round, gestured to Phil. ‘All yours.’ Then he strode out.
The silence his absence created was louder than a bomb.
The door opened again. They all turned.
‘So,’ said Clayton, ‘what have I missed?’
