“Jenny and Will, look into our missing girls and see if you can find a link between them. We don’t know for sure if they’re the ones found at Bisley yet, Celeste will keep us updated, but until we have an ID for our bodies, keep digging. He’s targeting them somehow, and we need to find out how. Jeff, Mike, talk to their friends and family, revisit witness statements, that sort of thing. Jenny and Will will advise you, so take your instruction from them.”
All four team members nodded. Having worked with Rob on the revenge killings earlier in the year, they knew what was at stake. Finding that connection was vital. It was what would lead them to the killer. If they could decipher his pattern, locate his hunting ground, they’d be a lot closer to catching him.
“Evan and Harry, I think we need to go back further than five years. There might be more missing kids we don’t know about. There’s no telling how long this guy’s been active. It could potentially be as far back as twenty years. Expand the search nationwide and look at those that have never been found as well as bodies that were discovered. Try to find similarities with our victims, staging, covered, hair clips, that sort of thing. Flag anything that could possibly be related.”
“Yes, boss,” said Evan.
“Gotcha.” Harry beamed. He was enjoying this.
Things were happening fast now that the bodies were being uncovered and there was a sense of excitement in the incident room.
“Obviously, not a word about this to anyone. Not your better halves, not friends, and definitely not the media. We need to keep this under wraps for as long as possible. It won’t be long before the press discover the multiple gravesites, and then we’re going to be issuing press releases and updates every few days. Harry, get ready for that.”
The good-looking DS nodded and brushed an imaginary speck of dust from his shoulder. Celeste giggled, while Evan shook his head and grinned good naturedly.
They were a great team, he was lucky to have them.
“Let’s get to work.”
“They’ve pulled up the third body,” Celeste said, going to the white board. She wrote: Body 3 down the left-hand side underneath Body 1 and Body 2. As of yet, they had no idea who the victims were.
“Also posed?” Rob asked.
“Yes, just like the others.”
“Clips?”
She nodded. “Two blue ones.”
“Age of the body?”
“Not sure yet. Dr Kramer thinks possibly two or three years old, but it’s also a teenage girl.”
The muscles in his jaw tensed. “Okay, thanks Celeste.”
“Also, sir. Dr Kramer said to let you know the press has arrived.”
“Shit.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I knew they’d get wind of it soon.” A cordoned off area in the middle of Bisley Woods was bound to attract attention. Not that there was anything to tell. Nobody knew who the victims were, and camping out beyond the cordon, they wouldn’t have a clear line of sight.
On cue, the Chief Superintendent poked his nose into the incident room. “We need to issue a press release, Rob. My bloody phone is ringing off the hook. I’ve briefed the Commissioner. Word is out.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rob glanced at Harry, who got to his feet.
“I’ll go and speak to Vicky. How soon do you want it done?”
“How about in an hour?” Rob suggested. “Just the facts. Five bodies have been discovered, identities unknown, more information to follow.”
The DCS gave a curt nod. “That should keep them off our backs for a while.”
A frenzied silence fell over the incident room as fingers bashed away at keyboards and notes were scribbled on whiteboards. A soft murmur every now and then as a point was discussed or a lead developed.
Rob went outside with the aim of grabbing everyone a coffee, after he’d called Jo. She needed to hear it from him first.
“How many?” she croaked down the line.
“Three so far, but they’ve found five graves. Possibly more. We’re still waiting to hear back from the K-9 unit.”
“Christ, Rob. And they’re all young girls?”
“Yeah, teens mostly. All female. The three that have been unearthed so far were dressed in their school uniform.”
He heard her sigh. “I’ve got to get in on this. I can’t sit here anymore while this is going on. These girls were just like Rachel. Innocents. What if it is related?”
“We don’t know that for sure yet,” he cautioned her. “Just because Arina’s and one of the other missing girls’ rucksacks were found weighted down in a lake or a pond, it doesn’t mean it’s the same killer. Rachel died a long time ago. Weighting a bag down is a pretty common way of making sure it won’t be found.”
“I know…” She paused. “It’s just… I feel it in my gut, you know. It’s the same guy.”
He did know. And he knew Jo. If her gut was telling her they might be a connection, he wasn’t about to dismiss that.
“Is it worth losing a promotion over, though?” he asked. “At this point, it’s still early days.”
She sighed heavily. “God, I'm so frustrated. I haven’t even had time to look at those Manchester files with this case going on. It’s like Pearson’s going out of his way to pile as much work on me as possible. Bastard.”
“Give it until tomorrow,” he told her. “We should have all five bodies up by then. I’m going to speak to Sam about searching nearby lakes and other bodies of water, once we know who these girls are and where they disappeared from. If we find any more weighted school bags, then it might justify taking that leave you mentioned.”
“Yeah, okay. Keep me posted, Rob.”
“Will do.”
37
Rob met Tony Sanderson at Bisley Common after work. As they stared down into the fifth and final grave, the criminal profiler said, “Were they all posed like this?”
“Yeah.”
Big, bulbous clouds hovered above them, threatening to burst at any moment. The forensic technicians worked quickly and grimly.
