Chapter 42

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?’

‘Not so far.’ Boyd shook his head. ‘McGlynn thinks they’re home-made. Definitely not monetary. No symbols. He’s trying to find out what type of machine might’ve made them.’

‘Keep on to him about it.’ She scanned the list in front of her. ‘The phone we recovered from Richard Whyte’s house. Please tell me we got something from that.’

More blank stares. ‘Jesus, lads, will you wake up. There has to be someone working on it.’

‘It’s with the technical department,’ Kirby said. ‘It’s an old Nokia. SIM card is missing. Nothing saved to the phone itself. No photos or numbers. Unless we find the SIM, it’s useless.’

‘Fingerprints?’

‘Some have been extracted and are being compared to both Amy and Cristina. I’ll know more later.’

‘Step on it, Kirby. That phone belonged to either Richard Whyte or one of the girls. Why the need to hide it? Who were they in contact with? And where the hell is the SIM card? We’ll go back and do a thorough search of the house. Boyd, you check with Richard Whyte to see if that’s okay.’

‘Will do.’

‘And if he doesn’t agree, we’ll get a warrant.’ She paused for a moment. ‘The girls’ own phones were all found with the bodies, with the exception of Louise’s, which was in her room. Anything of interest found on them?’

‘The usual social media,’ Kirby said. ‘Nothing jumping out to point to them being stalked by a serial killer.’

‘Except for the coins found in Louise and Amy’s rooms and the note in Amy’s house. I’ve had a quick glance through Louise’s notebooks and at first glance they all relate to her coursework. I could do with Lynch to go through them meticulously.’ They were too stretched.

‘Louise’s laptop is similar,’ Boyd said. ‘Criminal behaviour assignments, and her search history is all to do with her research for those.’

Lottie recalled Cynthia Rhodes’ revelation. ‘Anything about visits to prisons?’

‘Not yet,’ he said. ‘Why?’

‘Read through everything. See if you can find any reference to Conor Dowling. I’m led to believe Louise went to see him in Mountjoy.’

Boyd raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘Who led you to believe that?’

‘Doesn’t matter who, just see if you can find any reference to him in her work.’ She rolled up the sleeves of her faded-to-grey- in-the-wash white T-shirt, feeling light-headed from the stifling heat in the room.

‘What about the murder weapon?’ Boyd said.

‘What about it? We haven’t found it.’

‘Exactly. Shouldn’t we step up our efforts?’

‘Uniforms have scoured all around Petit Lane and the car park. Bins and recycling bins. Gardens, the railway tracks. They’ve looked everywhere, plus the canal. If the killer used the same weapon on Louise and Cristina, we can assume he kept it. Once we get the post-mortem results we will know if he used the same one.’

‘Right,’ Boyd said. Lottie thought she detected a distinct grumpiness from him. She could do without that.

‘Have the two lads who were knocked out at the house in Petit Lane been interviewed since I spoke to them in hospital?’

Kirby put up his hand. ‘I’ve got the transcripts here. Nealon and McGrath were more than a bit hazy. They’d been drinking on the canal line and needed somewhere to kip. They think they were previously in that house about two weeks ago. They have no recollection of seeing anyone before they were attacked. Their tox levels were off the page. Alcohol and cannabis.’

‘How were they knocked out?’ Lottie asked.

‘Both had contusions to the back of the head. Blunt object. Since nothing that could be the weapon was found at the scene, it’s safe to say their assailant took it.’

‘And they can’t give any description?’

Kirby shook his head.

‘Anyone got anything to add? We could do with a lead.’ She sat on the chair and felt the tiredness of her sleepless night sink into her muscles.

‘The note found in Amy’s room,’ Boyd said. ‘It’s been sent for fingerprint analysis. We still have no idea how she came to have it. Should we send it for further forensic tests?’

‘Like what?’

‘The ink. The paper type. Where it might have been purchased. Is it rare or mass-produced? All that kind of thing.’

‘All that kind of thing costs money. Wait for the fingerprint analysis. The words are written in capital letters, so no point doing handwriting analysis. Keep it in mind, but no further action at the moment.’

‘It was a direct threat to Amy. It’s a major clue. We need to follow it up,’ Boyd protested.

‘How do you envisage we do that?’

‘TV appeal?’

‘You’ll have the crazies crawling out of the woodwork. The coins are a different matter. We need to see if anyone recognises them. Maybe your friend Cynthia could help there.’

‘She’s no friend of mine,’ Boyd said.

She let it go. ‘We need house-to-house stepped up around Cristina’s apartment. We need to establish her last-known movements, and the same for Louise. Her father says she left the house sometime after eight on Tuesday night. Her body was found yesterday morning. So I want a timeline for her movements during that interval.’ She turned to look at the photos of the four victims on the board. ‘What links these four young women to lead them to be the targets of a killer?’

‘Amy and Louise gave evidence against Conor Dowling. Maybe he’s exacting his revenge,’ Boyd said.

‘But why kill Penny and Cristina?’ Kirby asked. ‘That doesn’t make sense.’

‘To muddy the waters?’ Boyd offered.

‘Penny worked with Amy at one stage,’ Lottie said. ‘Did you find out anything worthwhile at the pharmacy, Kirby?’

‘Just that she was let go for petty pilfering. Amy had secured her the job originally.’

‘Penny’s list of clients for her nail bar,’ Lottie said, remembering the black appointment book. ‘Anyone turn up there that might be suspicious?’

‘I’ll check it,’ Kirby said, tapping his shirt pocket for his elusive cigar that he couldn’t smoke inside anyway.

Lottie thought he looked a little brighter this morning. That makes one of us, she thought.

‘Priorities for today. One, find out if Louise visited Conor Dowling in prison. There might be something in her coursework; if not, contact Mountjoy. Boyd, you do that. Two, the coins need to be identified. Kirby, you stick McGlynn on that one. And the phones. Especially the Nokia. I want the SIM card found. Once Richard Whyte gives the go-ahead, I want a full search of his house. McKeown, you also need to keep on top of the CCTV.’

‘Will do,’ Sam McKeown said.

‘What are we going to do about Conor Dowling?’ Boyd said.

‘Request a twenty-four-hour surveillance detail to tail him,’ Lottie said. ‘I want to know what he eats and where he shits until this investigation is closed.’

‘We better run that by the superintendent first.’

‘I intend to do it straight away.’

‘Wish you luck with that.’

‘Then you and I are going to talk to Dowling’s mother.’

‘What for?’

‘To shake up his weak alibi.’