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‘Unless he committed the first murder and this is a copycat’
‘Very unlikely We haven’t made public some key details about the murder of Elinor Sanders We’ve told the press that she was strangled with flex But we haven’t told anyone that she was placed on a chair in front of a mirror That infor No one has access to it apart froist and forensics Rosemary Poole was treated to exactly the same ritual – whatever that means But the tomen were almost one hundred per cent certainly killed by the same man and that man was not Matthew Williams’
‘Guv, not sure if you know this but a patrol picked up Nobby Parks again late last night, hanging about in the area of the sheltered houses That’s the second ti but there was no reason to hold hio on holiday so in our way So-to, have a look around But he’s not a killer However, no doubt you’re thinking I shouldn’t sound quite so confident because I got it wrong on one count I said the profile of a killer like this would indicate that there’d be a lapse of tiain That’s because he plans very carefully and meticulously and also because he ant to savour every detail of what he’s done, go over it, picture it, for quite a long ti of pictures, he could very well have taken photographs of his victiital nobody has to take their little roll of film to be developed at a chemist’s shop so a killer isthe scene But I rong He killed again almost i – of having been seen perhaps If there’s the faintest doubt in his ht he saw Mrs Poole’s curtain shift slightly, when he was leaving Elinor Sanders’s bungalow after ht she be able to identify hie This is a man who kills old people, probably only old wo and he plans carefully He probably cases out the scene and watches theanyabout for a while, just watching, is going to attract suspicion, but plenty of people had legitimate access to these houses – workood reason e arrested Williams Removal men The same firm has moved in no fewer than three of the new occupants of these places – including Mrs Poole I want details of all their rounds, criminal checks, the lot, and of every workman as on the Duchess of Cornwall Close since the building started’
‘Sorry to bring you back to Nobby Parks, guv, but he’s now been stopped twice for hanging around at night, and he’s known to wander the town regularly We can’t just discount hi and carrying out this sort of murder even once, let alone twice He scarcely bothers to hide hi picked up He’s known to taxi drivers and late-night bar staff going home, as well as the boys on the food bus that looks out for the prostitutes and the rough sleepers down near the printworks and the canal Still, I’ot his prints on file we’ll have those too Though as the cri to be much use Nobby wouldn’t have a clue how to make a crime scene as clean as these were Now, faht to be seen again, plus both Karen Fletcher, Roseet anything there We’re looking for a psychopath, a cold-blooded murderer who kills for reasons inside his oisted mind Two murders do not a serial killer make, the usual definition is three or more, but two ht is flashing He’ll do it again So I want per co up on street patrols in any part of the tohere there’s a concentration of older people – and generally an increased night-time presence The public will have the ell and truly up now, and justifiably
‘Don and Clare, you need to get up to Newcastle, go to where Elinor Sanders used to live, talk to neighbours and so on, find out anything at all about who she knew, visitors, anything thatshot but we have to do this now When her twin sister is interviewed again, delve into any links there ht have been between her and Rose we looked at before but it should be checked out now
‘OK, that’s it I’ve a press conference at two I’ll be covering the second murder, an update on the first and the release of Matthew Williams And remember, details of these crimes, especially any mention of the way the victims were placed in front of ht Thanks, all Let’s step this up sofroone
Thirty-six
‘ANY CHANCE OF you both co over for lunch on Sunday?’ Cat asked
Judith hesitated for so – at least if he gets off he is’
‘I just think perhaps on’t Do youJudith sounded closed off and she was one of the most open people Cat knew
‘No, of course not But could you and I have a coffee or so –’
‘Hannah?’
‘No, for once She’s miserable, but she’s accepted it and I’ve threatened Saain No, it’s me – job and plans and so on’
‘I can come round after your lunch Have to take some charity shop stuff in and to the chiropodist but I can be with you around two’
It was ten past when Judith’s car turned into the drive Watching her through the , Cat thought she looked older, thinner – not that she had ever been fat – and had a sadness in her face that had never been there before Obviously, things were awry between her and Richard and, just as obviously, Judith was keeping quiet about it
‘I brought Hannah a CD of Justin Bieber – a pound from the charity shop – plus a nice copy of Lord of the Flies for Sa to star’
‘Hardly – one of the boys, not the main boy But thanks, and the Bieber is spot on Let’s have coffee in the sitting room, the sun’s on that side’
She followed Judith after a few uilty about this room We hardly ever use it now – we live in the kitchen and the den, or else I’arden was bare; the field beyond, with the white pony grazing in its winter rug, sunlit but bleak But the sitting room arm and retained a calmness Cat tried to keep up, because it was free of the children and their clutter, and her oork files and papers It was a room with books, the piano, pictures and the hi-fi system, but no television
Cat wanted tobetween her hands, looking out of theat the alu
‘You know Gerald Hanbury has taken the financial bull by the horns,’ Cat said to break the silence ‘I of nextelse It’s not the ht because of Chris’s life insurance which I invested and that backs us up But I’et stuck there’
‘I was thinking about that only yesterday, oddly enough, but I didn’t like to barge in and ask you’
‘Oh, never worry about that Advice and suggestions welcome I wondered what Dad would say actually’
‘He’d tell you to eneral practice?’
‘Yes, I aed, even more since I left it, and there’s so ement of it now I could do locu for peanuts after tax and I’d rather volunteer for soet to know your patients, you al because those people wait to see their own doctors – they just bring locums the sore throats So’
‘Have you enjoyed the hospice work? Has it been fulfilling?’
‘Very That’s why I’utted I know day care fills an important need and I’ll carry on, even if only for two and a half days If they can afford that’
Judith poured herself more coffee and sat silent for a ood brain and such a really deep interest in palliative care thata bit ave you a lot of satisfaction, though I knoas partly aa PhD? You could spread it out over ti and still have the children’
‘What would I do though? It’s a big jump to a doctorate and I don’t have a particular subject in mind’