Page 86 of Final Betrayal

Cynthia stood. ‘When you decide to cooperate, Inspector, then I will consider handing them over.’

‘I can have you arrested for impeding a murder investigation,’ Lottie snapped.

‘That would make a great headline. And I’m sure Superintendent McMahon would love that featuring on the nine o’clock news. Think about it.’

Before she could retort, Lottie was left standing alone in the middle of her bright new kitchen with her brain in turmoil.

If Cynthia wasn’t going to tell her what Louise had divulged, she’d have to find out another way. First, though, she phoned the station to requisition a squad car with a couple of uniforms to watch over the house. She’d deal with McMahon when the need arose. She left a note for Chloe and Sean telling them she’d booked a taxi to take them to and from school, and to remain indoors after school until she returned home.

She hoped that was enough to keep her family safe.

FORTY-TWO

The heating was on full blast in the incident room. Lottie stripped off her jacket and dropped it on the floor beside the desk at the head of the room. Boyd sauntered up to her.

‘You look awful,’ he said. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I’ll tell you later. We need to get these investigations motoring.’

She turned to study the sparse boards, and then set about recapping their progress over the last few days.

‘Anything on CCTV?’ she asked Kirby.

‘It’s painstaking work, but the relevant security cameras in the vicinity of Petit Lane and the car park are number one priority. Nothing to report so far. We’re casting the net wider now, but we’re so short-staffed, the job is almost impossible.’

‘I don’t want to hear what we don’t have. I want answers.’

‘I can’t give you what I haven’t got, boss. There’s two lads working twenty-four seven, going blind squinting at blurry tapes. Myself and McKeown take over for a few hours at a time, but so far we’ve detected nothing suspicious.’

‘The cameras from Cristina Lee’s apartment block. Have you got that footage?’

‘We prioritised the tapes from the first two murders, so I don’t know when we’ll get to that.’

‘Can someone do a quick scan? See if anyone enters or leaves the apartment?’

‘I’ll do it,’ McKeown said. Lottie thought he was being eager to please. She didn’t care, as long as the job got done.

Kirby sighed loudly. ‘Boss, we really need more bodies.’ He blushed. ‘I mean live ones.’

‘I know what you mean.’ She flicked through the report on the desk. ‘Post-mortems have been completed on the first two victims. Both had their throats cut. I won’t go into the technical details, but neither girl was sexually assaulted. No foreign DNA on their bodies so far as Jane could determine. No fingerprints recovered, which suggests the assailant wore gloves. A couple of hairs were found on both girls’ clothing and these have been sent for analysis. Given that the crime scene was used as a doss house, we can’t count on getting anything worthwhile from those hairs unless we have a suspect to compare them to. But Jane discovered a small pinprick at the base of each girl’s neck and suspects they were injected. She’s awaiting toxicology reports. What’s the update on interviews with the people who were at the nightclub?’

Boyd tapped a keyboard. ‘The doorman claims Amy left first, followed about half an hour later by Penny. The CCTV at the door confirms this. Both turned left as they exited, which suggests they headed towards Petit Lane. Penny’s flat is in that direction and it’s possible that Amy was taking a shortcut via the underpass.’

‘Someone was watching and waiting. Does everyone at the club check out?’

‘Those we were able to contact. We spoke to all the staff. Tracking down the patrons is a different story. Ducky Reilly was with both girls at one stage, but he remained at the club with a group of lads and they all verify this along with the CCTV. So that puts him in the clear.’

‘I’m not discounting the fact that more than one person could be complicit in this crime.’

‘Why?’ Boyd enquired.

‘I just think there was a lot of planning involved. After the first girl, Amy, was dealt with, the killer went back for the second. We need to establish which of them was the prime target, or was it both? The deaths of Louise Gill and Cristina Lee throw the cat among the pigeons, so to speak.’ Lottie paused to catch her breath. Talking about the victims broke her heart a little each time she had to do it, but she had to distance herself slightly or she knew she wouldn’t be able to do her job.

‘The post-mortems on Louise and Cristina will be completed today, and I should have preliminary reports by late evening. Besides the fact that all four victims had their throats cut, the common denominator at both scenes is the coins. Anyone find out anything about them yet?’

Blank faces stared back at her.

‘Nothing?’

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