Fourteen
Through the MCRTF office window Anna could see the afternoon had brightened but was quickly yielding to early evening murk with a forecast of lashing rain by ten that evening. She spent half an hour in her office, checking emails and reports and trying to get a handle on the operation to find Alison Johnson sixteen years before. It had been prolonged and thorough but ultimately fruitless. The search concentrated on Glastonbury for obvious reasons, but they’d also covered the hospital grounds. The search team had no reason to extend the parameters to the railway. But another fifty yards might have yielded a very different result. Her fiancé and other family members had been questioned and eliminated. No one knew why she might have gone to Glastonbury. Someone had postulated a carjacking and abduction theory, but it remained just that.
When Rainsford appeared shortly after 4 p.m., Anna left the tiny senior investigator’s room and joined the team.
‘Afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,’ Anna said. ‘This is a brief summary of today’s events and an update on what we know so far. We now have both bodies identified from dental records. It seems highly likely Carson was an early victim of the Black Squid given the details in the notebook provided by his brother. We’ve referred to this as a “game” previously, but I think it’s time we call it what it was: a grooming website designed to incite suicide in vulnerable victims.’
She turned to the TV screen. Trisha had loaded some images of Jamie Carson’s drawings on to a disc. Anna now presented them as a slide show.
‘This was what Jamie Carson drew in his book just before he died.’
‘The word XCRST?’ Rainsford asked.
‘The Exorcist. It’s the same as per the Kimberley Williams case. As is the getting up early, spending time alone in the dark, self-harming. It’s a slow turning of the screw.’
Holder shook his head.
‘What about the other historic cases?’ Dawes asked. ‘The kid from Sussex…’ He paused, remembering the name.
‘Daniel Litton,’ Holder said.
‘Yes, and Shaw’s daughter?’
Anna replied, ‘Sussex police have found no hard evidence other than Litton’s mother confirming that he’d drawn a squid on his belly in ink. She thought it might have been an abortive attempt at a tattoo. And as for Abbie Shaw, I’ll need to talk to her father about that.’
‘But they are linked?’ Khosa asked.
‘The specific tasks leading up to deaths, the drawings and the notes all suggest so.’ Anna turned back to the whiteboard. ‘But that leaves us with lots of questions.’
Anna wrote on the board as she spoke. ‘Does what happened sixteen years ago to these young people have any bearing on what happened to Kimberley Williams? If so, how and why? Is this one perpetrator or an organised group? And, more importantly, if they are linked, why the long gap between cases? And then there is the question of Alison Johnson. Murdered within sight of her place of work just yards from a Black Squid victim.’
‘That’s exactly what I intend to find out. You all know that the word coincidence has no place in any investigation I’m involved with.’
Dawes nodded. ‘So, where do we start with her?’
‘I’ve already asked Ryia to look through the employee lists for anyone who’s now on the PNC.’
‘I’m on that, ma’am.’
‘Justin, go over the original investigation into Alison’s disappearance. See if anything jumps out at you.’
Dawes stared at the board. ‘If you want my opinion, the answer to all of this lies in Ryegrove.’
Anna agreed. ‘The head of security there mentioned attacks on students at around the time the hospital underwent its rebuild. It might be worth digging up those reports.’
Dawes nodded. ‘And a word with the contractor maybe. Especially if you say there were security issues.’
‘Which brings us back to personnel,’ Anna said. ‘It’s a nightmare visiting that place. Maybe we could get them to come to us? This Dr King, for example, and the nurse manager.’ She paused, remembering the name. ‘Monica Easterby.’
‘I’ll turn on the charm,’ Dawes said. ‘See if we can get them to spare an hour from their busy schedules.’
Anna looked up at Rainsford. ‘There’s little or no information on the digital footprint left by Jamie Carson. But I’d like some help with that, sir. Varga at Hi-Tech, if I can.’
‘I’ll speak to them.’
Anna had worked with Hi-Tech, Avon and Somerset’s Digital Forensics Unit, before. Szandra Varga was a bright, no-nonsense data forensic investigator.
‘Which leaves me needing to talk to Shaw.’
Dawes lifted his eyebrows. ‘The offer’s still on the table, ma’am, if you want me to—’
‘No. It’s OK, Phil. That’s my job. What do we need to know?’ She smiled and hoped it looked confident. Inside, she was full of dread.
‘Everything he does,’ Dawes said. ‘From what I’ve read of his daughter’s case, the Black Squid connection was glossed over as urban legend. She got marked down as a suicide full stop. What the hell does Shaw know that makes him so certain?’
And so murderously angry, Anna thought. ‘He’s never been happy to discuss his daughter before.’
Dawes shrugged. ‘In my opinion, she is the key.’
Anna nodded, knowing he was right. Knowing, too, that her interview with Shaw was rapidly becoming as attractive a prospect as a root canal without anaesthetic.
‘Anyone want to add anything?’ she asked.
Trisha said, ‘The CSM rang, ma’am. The archaeologist would like to speak to you. They’ve analysed soil samples. Wanted to show you something on-site.’
‘OK, let’s fix it up for tomorrow morning. I’ll meet them there at nine. Right. Looks like there’s enough to do.’ Anna was conscious that she had not said when she’d go and see Shaw. There was no denying she needed to. But she didn’t want to think about it now. It was almost four thirty and she needed to take some personal time to attend her nephew’s birthday party. A promise was a promise.
The bodies had been buried beneath the earth next to the railway line for a long time. They could wait another day.
But even as she heard those thoughts manifest inside her head, Anna knew she was trying to reassure herself, assuage her own guilt. Someone had buried Alison Johnson to hide a crime. And that person might still be out there.