Paula talked right over him. ‘There are two ways to do this. You open the door and let us in. Or I call in the local tactical support group and they arrive with sirens and flashing lights and break your door down. It’s your choice, but you have to make it in the next thirty seconds. You should take it as read that I am not bluffing. I got up very early to be here now and I am not going away without what I came for.’
His mouth hung open. Paula doubted anyone had spoken to him like that in years. He pushed the door almost closed; the chain rattled as fingers clumsy with sleep or fear fumbled it out of its track. Then the door edged open. Father Keenan stood in his rumpled state, skinny legs covered in thick black hair sticking out of the bottom of a woollen dressing gown over a white T-shirt. He backed up enough to let them in and Karim closed the door behind him.
‘You are Father Michael Keenan?’ Paula asked.
‘I am he.’ Imperious tone, the shock ebbing out of him.
We’ll see about that. ‘Michael Keenan, I am arresting you on suspicion of murder. You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
He took a step back, horrified incredulity on his face. He raised his hands, palms out, as if fending off a blow. ‘This is crazy,’ he protested. ‘I had nothing to do with those girls. Nothing.’ He pointed at Karim. ‘He said nothing about murder.’
‘It’s not the girls we’re here about,’ Paula said. ‘It’s the other bodies.’
He blinked rapidly, aghast. ‘What are you talking about? What other bodies?’
‘Father Keenan, I’m going to have to ask you to get dressed and come with us to Bradfield, where you will be formally interviewed. DC Hussein will accompany you upstairs to get dressed.’
‘This is madness. I’m not going anywhere with you. You can’t just march in here with your nonsense.’ Karim moved towards him but he shied away. ‘I want a lawyer before I set one foot out of here.’
‘You can consult with a lawyer at the police station. But right now, you are under arrest and you are coming to Bradfield with us. If you don’t want to get dressed, I’m quite happy to handcuff you and frogmarch you out to our car for all your neighbours to see. How do you think that’ll go down with your parishioners? With your bishop?’ Paula sighed. ‘Karim?’
He grabbed Keenan’s arm and with his other hand pulled a set of plastic cuffs from his pocket.
‘All right,’ the priest shouted. ‘May God forgive you for this outrage. I’ll get dressed.’ Karim let him go and followed him upstairs.
Paula let out a long breath. Was that the reaction of an innocent man? Or one cunning enough to have carried out these crimes in the first place? Too soon to know. But she’d get there. One way or another.
38
However bizarre the sequence of actions undertaken by a serial murderer, they will all have meaning for the killer. No two sequences are ever identical. And there is no limit to how grotesque they can seem.
From Reading Crimes by DR TONY HILL
Rutherford had called just as Alvin was finishing breakfast. Whenever he could manage it, he sat down to eat with Esme and the kids. He’d been brought up in the belief that eating together had a value that went far beyond the calorific. That morning, he’d been first downstairs, beating eggs in a bowl and scrambling them with a handful of cheese, spring onions and a scatter of chilli flakes. Thick slices of crusty white toast slathered with butter on the side. ‘Breakfast of champions,’ he announced as they sat down together. Esme rolled her eyes, her response as predictable as his words. The kids said nothing, too busy eating.
When his phone rang, Alvin automatically got up from the table and closed the door behind him as he headed into the hall. Rutherford launched straight in. ‘Sergeant, don’t bother coming in for the early briefing. I want you to go straight to the lab and see what they have to tell us about the second set of remains. I realise it’s early days, but I want them to know we’re staying right on top of this. Whatever they’ve got at this point, I want it. Clear on that?’
It was hard to imagine what could be unclear about Rutherford’s instructions. Alvin wondered if the man was unconsciously racist or whether he treated everyone as if they were a bit on the slow side. He’d have to check that with Paula. ‘Clear, sir,’ was all he said. ‘I’m on my way.’
He checked the time. If he dropped the kids at school, it would only take him a few minutes out of his road. A few minutes that nobody would notice. And it would mean starting his day with a better taste in his mouth than Rutherford’s patronising words.
He’d called ahead to let Chrissie O’Farrelly know he was coming and she was waiting for him at the reception desk. As they made their way up to the room with the view of the lab, she brought him up to speed on the second group of remains. ‘They’ve gone in the first instance to the mortuary so the pathologists can make their primary findings. Some of the bodies are partially fleshed, so there may be indications of what happened to them before they went into the ground,’ she said, leading the way and sitting down.
‘So you can’t tell me much about where we’re up to right now?’ Alvin was disappointed. He still clung to the idea that forensics experts could work magic, and almost instantly. If pushed, he’d have had to admit to watching too much
