“Okay. I’ll come to yours tonight, after I’m done here.”
They said goodbye.
Rob scowled at the cigarette butts scattered on the ground where he stood. He’d never felt more like one. Big cases always brought on his craving. He doubted it would ever go away.
A gust of wind blew dust up into his face and he swiped it away, before striding across the road to grab a take-away coffee.
Rachel was the anomaly. Her disappearance was too long ago to be related. It couldn’t be Payne. From Payne’s history, he’d been born and bred in Croydon. There was no mention of Manchester in his file. Besides, he’d have been way too young to commit murder, almost as young as the victim herself.
That meant they were dealing with different killers, or Payne wasn’t their man.
26
Jo sat with a bulky file on her lap. They were in The Old Kings Head, a cosy pub near Jo’s apartment in Borough.
“There’s no mention of a father on Payne’s birth certificate,” Jo was saying, a pint of lager on the table in front of her. “But his mother remarried when he was two, so he had a stepfather. From what I can gather, they didn’t get on. His psyche report makes mention of sexual abuse at the hands of his stepfather when he was a boy and several attempts to run away.”
“Christ.” Rob took a swig of his beer. Obviously, that had a major impact on the young Payne. “I almost feel sorry for the guy.”
“Hold that thought,” said Jo. “He left home when he was sixteen and began selling nude photographs of himself to make money. He stayed in youth hostels and squats in the area.”
“I suppose it’s better than selling yourself,” Rob muttered.
Jo continued, “A few years later, he was cautioned for giving a blow job in a public park. He was let off with a fine.”
Rob just raised his eyebrows.
“Then nothing until his sexual assault charge in 2009. He used to be a primary school teacher at a local prep in south Croydon until a kid complained to a member of the support staff. He claimed Payne had fondled him during homework club. It appears this kid was special needs and required a bit more help with his schooling. Payne had offered to give him extra classes after school and it was here these alleged episodes took place.”
She’d been reading from the file, but she paused and glanced up. “What a creep, taking advantage of a kid like that. He probably thought he wouldn’t understand what was going on.”
Rob frowned. Something had been playing on his mind ever since he’d first met Payne. “You know, there’s something about all this that doesn’t add up.”
Jo leaned back with her drink. “What’s that?”
“He’s gay, right? It’s obvious just by talking to him. The first time he was busted was with another guy, then the kid he assaulted was male too. There’s no evidence that he’s ever messed with girls.”
Jo placed her drink carefully on the table. “I didn’t even think about that. Are you saying that Payne might not be our man? That he might have nothing to do with Katie or the other girls’ disappearances?”
Rob squeezed his eyes shut and gave his head a little shake. He was an idiot for not seeing it sooner. “I think I know where Payne was the morning Katie vanished.”
“You do?” Jo leaned in. “Where?”
“I need to check something first.” He pulled out his phone and dialled the squad room. DS Bird picked up. She was on late duty tonight.
“Jenny, I need you to do me a favour…”
After he’d told her what he wanted, Jo’s eyes lit up with understanding. They finished their beers, talking in low voices, while they waited for Jenny to call them back.
Half an hour later, Rob’s phone buzzed. He put it on speaker so Jo could hear.
“Sir, you were right. We picked him up on CCTV outside the boys school on Station Road. Oakhurst Primary, it’s called. They’re running a summer camp during the holidays.”
Rob exhaled low and long. He’d been right. “What was he doing?”
“Just watching, sir. He stood on the opposite side of the road. He didn’t approach any of the boys.”
Payne was a sexual predator, but he wasn’t their kidnapper.
“Thanks Jenny. You can document his alibi and we’ll deal with what this means tomorrow.”
“Okay, guv.”
“Oh, call off the tail on Anthony Payne.”
“Will do. Goodnight, sir.”
“Goodnight, Jenny.”
He cut the call.
“I’m impressed.” Jo smiled at him across the table.
He sighed. “It’s a bugger really. The man’s dangerous, for sure, but now he has an alibi for the time of Katie’s disappearance.” He dropped his head into his hands. “That means he’s going to sue the hell out of us for wrongful arrest and destroying his professional reputation, and God knows what else.”
Jo grimaced. ‘I’m sorry, that’s tough.”
“Yeah, Lawrence is going to have to handle the shitstorm.”
“He’s going to love that.”
“It also means we’ve been chasing the wrong guy. There’s someone else out there kidnapping little girls and we have no idea who.”
She leaned forward. “It also means that it could be the same guy who took Rachel. This guy could have been active for twenty years.”
They stared at each other as her words sank in.
“That’s crazy,” he said. “If that’s true, then we’re looking for a man in his forties or older, who moved to Surrey from Manchester over five years ago.”
“It’s a start.”
Rob sighed. It was a start, but it meant throwing out everything they knew and starting fresh. Again.
“Where do you think he buried them,” Rob asked quietly when they were halfway through their second round.
Jo frowned. “I don’t know.”
“None of the bodies have been discovered. If the guy is as prolific as we suspect, he must have disposed of his victims somehow. They’re not in the lakes or ponds with the backpacks, so where are they?”
“He could have buried them in the woods where the
