‘Or her,’ added Cresta.
‘Yeah, that too.’
Chapter Thirteen
They hadn’t been back in the office more than twenty minutes when Karen took a call from Prestatyn. ‘Dai Williams for you,’ she said. Walter grabbed the phone. ‘Hi, Dai.’
‘Saw you on the telly.’
Walter laughed. ‘That was the idea.’
‘I never knew you were so good looking.’
Walter guffawed. ‘I’ll take your word for that.’
‘You are going to owe me one huge drink.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘I’ve found a witness for you.’
‘For the Mostyn death?’
‘Yes.’
‘Go on.’
‘A schoolgirl, though she doesn’t look like a schoolgirl, as you will see when you meet her. Her name is Chloe Evans; she’s fourteen but looks twenty. She says she saw the whole thing.’
‘Where is she now?’
‘At school I should think.’
‘Could you have her there at half four?’
‘I don’t see why not.’
‘Prestatyn station?’
‘Yep.’
‘We’ll be there, oh and Dai, I owe you one.’
‘Yep, and I know you won’t forget.’
Walter rang off and told Karen to organise a car for quarter to four. Told her to keep it to herself, they’d go alone.
Mrs West made a rare appearance and stood in the centre of the room and said, ‘About this meeting?’
‘I’m ready,’ said Cresta.
Karen nodded and Walter couldn’t avoid being rounded up by the three women, and a couple of minutes later the meeting got underway.
‘Who wants to start?’ said Mrs West, sitting at the head of the polished mahogany table.
Cresta glanced at Walter, as if seeking his permission. Walter nodded her on, and she began.
‘We are looking for a loner...’
‘Aren’t we always?’ mumbled Karen.
Cresta forced a smile and continued. ‘Aged between thirty and forty, is my best guess...’
There’s that word again, thought Walter. Guess, which was all it was, and couldn’t anyone guess? You didn’t have to go to some fancy Yankee university to do that.
‘We could be looking for a man or woman, and I want to stress that. There is still no evidence this is the work of a man. Margaret O’Brien was a slight lady; anyone could have picked her up and carried her. We are looking for someone who was in a meaningful relationship, probably the most meaningful relationship of their entire life, maybe their only relationship, a relationship that went horribly wrong. I suspect they had a ferocious row and split. Maybe they fought, physically; perhaps the other party simply upped and left, walked out, abandoned their lover, or maybe they were murdered by the person we are seeking. Whatever it is, the perpetrator felt dirty and damaged when it all came tumbling down.’
‘So we could have five unexplained deaths, not four?’ said Mrs West.
‘That’s quite possible,’ said Walter.
Cresta resumed. ‘They are a car owner, a driver, with a nice car, in full-time employment, a well paid job, maybe living alone...’
Another worthless word, thought Walter. Maybe. Maybe this, maybe that. Maybe I’m a Chinaman. Was it all guesses and maybes? Is that what we are paying for?
‘The killer will go on killing until he or she is caught. I expect them to become more brazen, take more risks, seek more publicity, and most interesting of all, I suspect they may try to attack you.’
With the “you”, she glanced at Walter. They all did.
And just in case anyone hadn’t understood her meaning, Cresta said, ‘To kill you.’
‘That’s comforting,’ he joked.
‘I am serious.’
‘I agree,’ said Karen.
‘So do I,’ said Mrs West. ‘You must be on your guard, Walter. Try not to go out alone, especially at night; try not to be alone.’
What wonderful words they were, he pondered.
Try not to be alone.
He had been trying not to be alone for over thirty years and had failed miserably.
‘If any of you three ladies wish to come and sleep with me, you are all most welcome... in the spare room, I assure you.’
Karen laughed aloud.
Cresta grinned.
Mrs West looked shocked, before realising he was joking, when she said, ‘You are a fool, Walter.’
Cresta began again. She sure as heck liked the sound of her own voice.
‘I suspect he or she will contact us direct.’
‘With what aim in mind?’ asked Karen.
‘To bait us, of course.’
‘I agree with that,’ said Walter. ‘It will give him pleasure.’
‘Women like pleasure, too,’ grinned Cresta.
No one was going to argue with that.
‘When is the PM due on Mrs O’Brien?’ asked Mrs West.
‘This afternoon, ma’am,’ said Karen.
‘You said earlier you might have some thoughts,’ Cresta said to Walter.
‘Yes, I do.’
‘Well, let’s hear them,’ said Mrs West.
‘We think this person is in full-time employment, but two of the deaths occurred in the middle of the afternoon; and another in the early hours of the morning. That suggests if they are employed it isn’t in any ordinary day job. But not nights either, as if they start in the evening and go through to the early hours.’
‘Yeah, like a barman or a nightclub bouncer, that would fit the bill,’ said Karen.
‘It would,’ said Walter, ‘though there are any number of jobs that fit the bill. Taxi drivers for example, transport ready to hand, the public trust taxi drivers and never think twice about jumping into a cab when they would never get into a stranger’s car. Or hospital porters on the four till midnight shift or whatever it is they work, bus drivers, train drivers, supermarket stockists, there are many jobs that fit these odd hours.’
‘I like nightclub bouncers,’ said Mrs West.
‘I’ll bet you do,’ whispered Gibbons.
‘I don’t,’ said Cresta.
Mrs West shot her a look over her glasses. ‘Oh? And why is that?’
‘There is positive ID, the person responsible is slight. Have you ever seen a slight bouncer?’
‘Fair point.’
‘I know who’s slight and works in nightclubs,’ said Karen.
‘Who?’ said Mrs West.
‘Pole dancers and strippers.’
Not all pole dancers and strippers are slight, thought Walter, though he didn’t say.
Cresta’s face lit up.
‘That would work perfectly. Maybe someone who had a grudge against the punters. Did any of the dead men have any history of attending strip clubs?’
‘Not that we know of,’ said Walter, ‘but anything’s possible. Karen, can you look into
