Jack's Back

have been kitted out in a condom that covered his entire body, not just his dick. Even then, there would probably be traces of the spermicide condoms are coated in, which I believe is most commonly nonoxynol-9. Conclusion: she was done in before she could open shop.”

“Open her legs, he means,” Murray sniggered in Grier’s ear, earning himself a disapproving glare from Dillon.

“Interestingly,” Barton said, “there were marks on the body that suggested she had been wearing underwear, but this was never recovered.”

“So, he’s a trophy taker as well as a cannibal,” White said.

“We’ll come back to that possibility in a little while,” Tyler said. “At this point, I want to ask Chris Deakin to talk us through the financial enquiries he’s been making for me.”

Chris Deakin leaned forward in his chair. “For those of you who don’t know, I worked on the fraud squad in a past life so the boss asked me to conduct some enquiries into the money that was found in the deceased’s possession.”

“Hopefully,” Jack interjected, “you have all had time to read the briefing document that DI Dillon prepared, and are all aware that Tracey Phillips had three brand new ten-pound notes in her purse when her body was found,” This was said for the benefit of the officers who had been seconded to the enquiry over the weekend.

“When we examined the notes, we immediately saw that they were numbered consecutively,” Deakin continued. “This suggested they were newly printed notes that had been issued together by a bank or building society, most probably through a hole in the wall. To cut a long story short, I made some enquiries with my old banking contacts and confirmed this was the case. Two Production Orders later, I can tell you that the notes were issued from a Nat West ATM in Whitechapel Road. The notes were part of a batch placed in the ATM on the morning of Saturday 30^th October. It has taken some doing, but I’ve finally obtained a list of every person who made a withdrawal of thirty-pounds or more between then and 06:00 hours on Monday 1^st November.  Not only that, but there is a CCTV camera covering the cash point – there have been robberies in the area – and we have now received the digital download of the footage for the relevant period.”

“We know from Sandra Dawson that Tracey didn’t have a penny on her when she arrived in Quaker Street,” Jack said. “Sandra even purchased two rocks of crack for Tracey because she didn’t have any money to buy them herself, yet when her body was found she suddenly had thirty-pounds in her purse. I think our killer gave Tracey that cash. I think if we identify who made the withdrawal, we identify our killer.”

“How would we ever be able to prove that?” Murray asked.

Jack smiled. “George, how do we prove it?”

“I had the notes treated with ninhydrin at the lab. We recovered two clear sets of fingerprints. One belonged to our victim; the other is not on the system, meaning it belongs to someone who has never been arrested.”

“We have three brand new notes, fresh from the cash machine,” Jack said, “with two sets of fingerprints on them. One set belongs to the deceased. If the unidentified prints on the notes match the person who made the withdrawal, I think a jury will be persuaded that he is our killer.” He could almost hear the cogs turning as the detectives mulled this over, and he held up a hand to stem the questions that were clearly forming in their minds. “As the meeting goes on, we’re going to be introducing some supporting evidence, so save your questions until the end, when you have the full picture.”

“I have names and addresses for all the people making withdrawals,” Deakin said. “I’ll pin it up in the MIR straight after the meeting. I would like you all to read through it to see if any names jump out at you. Brian, Dean, Wendy, I’ll issue HP actions for PNC checks and very basic research to be carried out on each one. HP actions will also be issued this morning for every name on the list to be visited. We’ll require statements from all of them to see what they did with the money. We’ll also need elim prints and voluntary DNA samples from everyone on the list to eliminate them from our enquiries.”

“I understand why we need prints, but why do we need DNA samples as well?” Charlie White asked.

“All will be revealed,” Tyler said cryptically. “Just bear with us for a few minutes longer and I promise it will all make sense.”

“Right, I think that just about covers victim number one,” Holland said. “Let’s move on to victim number two.”

“One last thing before we move on,” Jack said. “I take it you are all aware of the ‘Jack’s back’ message he painted in the victim’s blood at the body deposition site? We’ll talk about all the messages the killer’s left us in due course. For the moment, all you need to know is he left a message telling us to be afraid because –” he made air quotes with his fingers “– Jack’s back.” He nodded for Barton to continue.

CHAPTER 28

At the same time as the detectives were starting their meeting in the conference room at Arbour Square, Sarah Pritchard and her husband Simon were sitting down over a cup of coffee for their regular Monday morning tête-à-tête to discuss the Mission’s plans and priorities for the coming week.

Sarah had spent the night in the small flat above the Mission, which is where she had been staying for the last three weeks, since she had moved out of the matrimonial home to give them both some breathing space. Although their marriage was on the rocks, neither of them had allowed the cracks – some would say chasms – that had developed in their personal life to interfere