26
Leaning against the wire fence, Kate took a moment to catch her breath. She’d forgotten how steep the bank up to the railway tracks was. The rain continued to fall and her grip on the bank’s edge was poor.
Kate could still remember that fateful October morning in 2015 when she’d first set eyes upon the murder scene here. Steph’s face had been contorted with fear; an image that still haunted Kate’s dreams to this day. Her skin had taken on a milky-brown quality, owing to overnight exposure to the elements.
She had dealt with murder enquiries before, but this had been the first that had really affected her. The murders she’d previously investigated had been motivated by revenge or anger, but Steph’s murder seemed senseless.
The body had been reported by a concerned passenger on a passing tube that cold morning. Hundreds of people must have whizzed past on Piccadilly Line trains that day, but only one person had picked up the phone to report it. It wouldn’t have surprised Kate if nobody else had seen the body. Rush-hour commuters are focused on getting to work as efficiently as possible; they travel in bubbles, oblivious to the world outside.
The killer had squashed Steph’s side up against the wire fence, leaving her naked on the bank, with the cut across her throat exposed.
Kate looked back down the soggy bank at the concrete cycle path below. The path led directly into the park, but there were no street lights, so in the dead of night, there would be no way a potential witness passing by could have seen what he was doing to Steph up here.
Security cameras at Finsbury Park tube station had her exiting the station at 22:58, and turning to the left, instead of to the right, which would have allowed her to walk the short distance to the Seven Sisters Road, where she lived. But instead of going home, she’d headed in the opposite direction towards the cycle path into the park. To this day, nobody could explain why she hadn’t gone straight home. Had she been meeting somebody? But why would she agree to meet someone in such a dark and secluded place? The junction where the tube station sat was a busy spot with plenty of local businesses, street lights and passing buses and cabs.
The team had investigated whether Steph could have been discreetly meeting a dealer in the park, but there was no evidence that she had a habit of any kind. She was paid the minimum wage, making just enough to cover rent and food for the one-room studio flat above the takeaway.
According to her work colleagues, Steph had been excited about going on a date that evening. She’d told them she was meeting him in the West End for coffee, and she would let them know how things had gone the following morning. She’d met this man through an online dating agency, and having exchanged a dozen or so messages, they’d agreed to meet in person, though both had insisted it be in a very public place.
Kate’s team accessed Steph’s computer and identified the mystery man as Daniel Papic, a Polish teacher in his early forties. They brought him in for questioning and he told them that the date hadn’t been a great success, with both of them too shy to properly engage in conversation. Although they’d agreed to speak again, he admitted that he hadn’t intended to get in touch with her. He confirmed he’d gone straight home after the date and security footage from a camera in a tube station in Greenwich confirmed he was nowhere near Finsbury Park at the time of her death.
Papic wasn’t in the frame, but the dating site did give them a further avenue to explore. It became even more relevant when Amy spotted that O’Brien had also used a couple of dating sites in the months prior to her death. Further digging confirmed that Willow had also recently registered on a dating site after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend. Was it just coincidence? Not for Kate. It was tenuous, but all her instincts told her this was a link worth pursuing.
Kate created a sub-team to analyse the information on each of the victims’ profiles. There had to be something specific the killer looked for: a character trait, a turn of phrase, or a particular interest. There had to be something that had brought these three women into his spotlight.
But as hard as they’d tried to find even a tenuous link, there was nothing that made them stand out above anyone else. Yes, they were female; yes, they were single; yes, they lived in London; yes, they were employed; but their hobbies and interests varied, as did the type of man they said they were looking for. If they were to set a trap for him, how could they leave the right bait for him to track?
‘I’ll do it, ma’am,’ Amy had said during one afternoon brief. ‘Let me hook him.’
After thanking her for volunteering, Kate had dismissed the idea in the meeting. But once the rest of the team had gone home, Amy had come into the office and had refused to leave until Kate considered the proposal. Looking back on it now, Kate could see how she should have been firmer with Amy. But the young DC had been desperate for a chance to prove herself, and had begged Kate for the opportunity. Kate had only reluctantly agreed when Amy promised to take a self-defence course.
Kate slipped as she made her way down the muddy embankment, frustrated that her wet overcoat was now also streaked with mud. She did her best to wipe off most of the stain with a tissue from her bag, before hobbling unsteadily back to where Finn was waiting at the tube station drop-off point.
‘One more stop to make,’ she said, a shiver running down her spine as he looked up.
There was no need to tell him where.
They’d set Amy up with temporary accommodation in a one-bed flat in Balham, from which she was to live her cover role as a receptionist in a busy doctor’s surgery. But her body had been found outside her own flat in Battersea, which meant he’d seen through the cover and had still decided to kill her.