“Thank you Sir, I needed some good news.” He told Forster about Renton’s operation and said he’d let him know the outcome. His next step was to explain the situation to Sir Nigel. He didn’t expect that disclosure to add to the Chief’s recent adrenalin ride with plugging the holes in the Intranet and bringing corruption charges to divert the blame. This promised to be a watershed one-way discussion.
Chapter 25
Captain Rudge was on the line for Stephanie. She dashed from the canteen to take the call.
“Hello, Stephanie Baker here.”
“I have managed to trace Gerald Walton. It’s not good news I’m afraid. He is apparently quite ill. He is being cared for in a hospice in Blackburn. It seems he has a terminal condition. We are making arrangements to send someone in an official capacity to see him, as we obviously didn’t know he had fallen so desperately ill, having lost touch with him. The hospice is on the outskirts of the town and is called Dovecote Rest. I hope you can speak with him too.”
“Thank you so much Captain Rudge. I’ll do so as soon as I can. It sounds as though he won’t be able to meet Alex Blake, unless I can convince Broad Meadows to allow me to take him to see Gerald. It’s worth a shot.”
“It is indeed, and I wish you luck. There aren’t many who’d take time out to do this for an ageing ex-serviceman, you have my most sincere thanks.” She confronted Adams with the request and was shocked when she heard of the plight of Renton’s family.
“Steph, it’s going to be difficult enough to get Bradstock to support the Boss’ plea for protection without you swanning off to the south coast again. What do we gain from another jaunt?”
“Yes, I can see your problem Sir, but I can’t seem to let go of this. I’ll take leave to cover it.”
“Nice one, another trip away with your fella then?”
“Perhaps, but it is short notice. David may not be able to join me.”
“David eh, I was beginning to think he had no name. I could do without you taking time off right now Steph, but let’s hope you hit lucky.”
“Are you still talking about David Sir, or Alex Blake?”
“Both I guess, but if I have to choose…”
“Don’t go there. See you soon.”
*
Frank’s internet announcement covered two points. The first was to take ownership of the post which referred to the two half-bodies as being joined together forever, in contrast to Siamese twins. He specifically made this claim together with the location in which the police would find another body. In this way he was making sure the internet knew the difference between his posts and those of imposters. No imagination was required to assign the coordinates of the body; the image said it all about the victim’s final resting place, subject to the influence of the Moon.
The problem Frank had knowingly created was related to the causeway. Lindisfarne could only cope with a certain volume of traffic. The island was instantly recognisable and would attract sufficient interest to produce a lock-jam. The police assumed this was part of the plan, to create a panic to beat the tide. Adams was grateful to both the Three Rivers and Border traffic control for their prompt response. It enabled him, together with Greg Watson and Donoghue to get there ahead of the gloaters. The roadblocks went up just in time to avert chaos on the causeway. Lindisfarne Castle always had a rugged appearance, regardless of the weather, but today it was also shrouded by fast moving clouds which scattered the available sunlight, adding to the drama. Within ten minutes of arriving, Adams found a group of tourists standing over a corpse. The first thoughts were that Frank must have posted the picture from here at or about the same time as he dumped the body. This was his trademark. He could be taking a photograph of them right now. When Adams got the opportunity to question the tourists they all agreed that the body was already lolling about in the water in a buttoned yellow plastic bag when they arrived. A dog had paid more attention to it than the people, and when it pulled the fasteners open an arm dangled out. A man said he’d immediately phoned the police and had been told that they knew about the incident, he was told that officers were on their way. Adams rang the traffic boys to seal off the exit of the causeway, as there was just a chance that Frank was still on the island. The frantic activity was temporarily punctured by Greg Watson. As he turned the body over he instantly recognised the Junior Minister for Culture and Recreation. Tim Radcliffe was, or had been M.P. for Newcastle South. This was a departure from Frank’s previous victims, as Radcliffe had not been missing and only the previous evening had spoken on local television. The object in his grip however, looked as if it had not yet thawed out; it was someone else’s hand. A tent was erected a safe distance from the incoming tide and Adams left Watson and Donoghue to their tasks while he went to the exit point of the causeway. He explained as quickly as he could to the supervising officer that he wanted to check out any males between twenty and forty years of age. Although there was considerably less than two hundred people in the queue, it became a logistics problem to get all of those who wanted to leave, off the island, and into a makeshift compound. There were angry scenes and this kind of distraction was just what Adams wanted to avoid. He wanted to personally see every single person checked off, with names and addresses for future reference, but he couldn’t help casting furtive glances to the surrounding areas, believing that his quarry could be standing there smiling at him. He also knew that he’d have to check all visitors and local inhabitants. It was not beyond Frank to have arranged to stay with a friend or even sleep rough overnight.
The process finally petered out without a hint of success. Adams was mentally exhausted and he hadn’t yet made his call to Bradstock. Renton’s irresponsibility and this apparent reaction to it had the distinct capability to have the messenger suffer collateral damage. He decided to check with Watson and Donoghue before looking for somewhere to stay the night.
Watson rebuffed the usual clamour for premature conclusions but hinted that Radcliffe hadn’t been dead for more than a few hours.
“The cause of death shouldn’t be too difficult to pin down with such a fresh corpse. There is a hypodermic mark in the midriff, so I’ll look at that first to see what the content might have been.” Donoghue uncharacteristically chimed in with a bold prediction. “The waterproof bag has almost acted as a forensics pouch as well as a buoyancy aid. He must have wanted it to grab attention and avoid the body being half-immersed, thus difficult to see. He must also have ‘arranged’ for it to be discovered by people other than the police. That is also a departure from the pattern. The dog, having dragged the bundle to the shore has given us a bonus as well. I’m assured by the group who found him that they did not touch the body. If he’s left any debris on the inside of the yellow bag we’ll find it.”
Adams called Sam and asked him to bring Bradley and Jones to Lindisfarne to assist with interviewing all remaining people on the island. He then settled into a chair in the nearest hostelry to speak with Bradstock.
“Detective Inspector, I’m going to give you a chance to let D.C.I. Renton tell me this himself. I have no intention of disrupting your hunt for Frank if there is even the slightest chance of him still being there. What Renton has done can’t be undone, and we just carry on as if he hasn’t told you. If this Frank exposes him we will deal with that appropriately. I don’t want you to accrete any blame for this. I want your focus maintained. Is that clear?”
“It’s clear Sir, but I can’t just…”
“There’s no more to be said at present, I’ll discuss the plan going forward when I arrive. Don’t bother about picking me up, I’ll find my way to the island.” Ben Adams wasn’t happy about this temporary deceit, but Bradstock was right to stress the need to keep focus on Frank, and at least he didn’t veto protection for Jane and Daniel.
*
The internet was ablaze with comments on the photographs posted. They were arranged in a slider which began with the yellow ‘corpse bag’ bobbing in the sea. The
succeeding ones showed the dog, then the tourists and finally the police inspecting the content. Some of the comments were technically oriented to try and estimate angles and relative positions of the sun, to produce a grid of time for each. Without trying to be overly precise, there didn’t appear to be much more than two hours between the first and last pictures. It also meant that he was on the island when Adams arrived. There was a slender time gap between seeing the body and Ben Adams issuing the order to close the causeway exit. Frank posted another picture of the police interviews of those leaving the island. This one had a time stamp on it and it was accurate. It also had a comment appended, saying that the bloggers should concentrate on the identity of the deceased person. ‘The purpose is most important, and that is often correlated to the celebrity of the man. Culture implies civilised attitudes and pursuits. Mirage is a tool as well as a state of mind, in the hands of cynics. It matters not that I am uploading evidence to show that the police could not find me in a population of hundreds, especially as I am now returned to the obscurity of millions. Help them interpret the divisiveness of Ministers of Hypocrisy’.
*
Adams was not convinced that Frank had escaped Lindisfarne, but it only took another four hours for him to concede. Bradstock’s facial expression of exasperation was but the gilding of the lily.
Because of Donoghue’s crippling workload Adams had, as requested, sent the genitalia DNA profile to D.C.I. Forster, and asked if his forensics department could check any samples of Driscoll’s property for a match. They had collected quite a few and separated them into two lots. The first had only one set of fingerprints, and the second had multiples, probably including the cleaner. They had tested the available DNA from the first lot and the result was definite. The comparison showed that Driscoll was the previous owner of the genitalia from the Priory corpse. It was good news and bad, just as Sam Gibson had said, they now had to figure out who really killed Brett Driscoll. The mitigating consequence however could be that if this was known, they couldn’t be far away from the overarching connection they needed so badly. It pleased Bradstock because he interpreted this as the elimination of one escape route for Bruce Middleton. He had feared the connection of Middleton’s treachery with the Intranet being linked to a grander agenda of the Colony. The absolute proof of Driscoll being an integral part of Frank’s plan was viewed as a challenge rather than an impasse.
*
This began the process of raking over the coals again. With Stephanie on leave, Adams had to show contrived appreciation for Bradstock’s presence, because he actually said something which nobody else had strayed upon.
“When you say that one of the hallmarks of the killings, apart from this latest one at Lindisfarne, is dismemberment, it could equally be amputation.” Adams asked for clarification. “Well, the only one of the original five you haven’t discussed today is the torso of the young female. In order to contribute that torso to the composite corpse, he had to amputate arms, legs, head and genitals. It’s just a thought.”
The others nodded. Sam offered corroborative support.
“Indeed, the two half-bodies had a finger and toe removed before they were stitched together. I suppose we can assume the separation of half of each, which would then to be joined to the other, is a kind of ‘amputation’. It involves more body parts, but it is still symbolic of removal of the ‘bad’ part.”
*
Having introduced Alex Blake and Gerry Walton, Stephanie sat back and listened carefully. They talked about Robert Blake for over an hour, had refreshments and began to run out of things to say. She asked Gerry what he meant by his comment that he was always envious of Robert Blake’s relationship with his son.
“I never married, but I did have a son. She thought I was beneath her aspirations for an ideal husband and left. That’s when I joined the Green Howards. I resisted Robert’s many invitations to visit his family because, well you know – there but for the grace of God and all that. I just pretended I didn’t have a son. Many of the men in our unit had children and I couldn’t join in the conversation most of the time.”
“Do you remember their names, you know the other Green Howards?”
“Not really, Robert was my special friend, and anyway many of the originals didn’t make it back. I do have a diary of sorts somewhere. I used to write notes when the others were talking family stuff. I’ll ask one of the nurses where she put it. I haven’t looked at it since I came here.” The nurse produced it after quite a search in the storeroom and he handed it to Stephanie. “Take it. I won’t have need of it for much longer.”
Stephanie didn’t want to begin reading through it while they chatted a little longer. She also drove Alex back to Broad Meadows before she even glanced at the opening page. The grammar was poor and the spelling even worse, so she decided to leave it until she got home. David Miller hadn’t been able to join her otherwise he could have helped during the journey.
Chapter 26
Jack Renton woke to find both Daniel and Jane at his bedside. His son was in a wheelchair, but at least he was clear of any serious pulmonary threat, and was making good progress with his other injuries. He seemed to have found his tongue again and launched into an apology for the sour reception he’d given his father during their previous meeting. He’d also seen the internet pictures from Lindisfarne.
“This maniac has to be caught Dad, he’s actually getting support from groups on the web. It’s sickening to see them treating this as some sort of entertainment, and they are now talking of forming a cult. They don’t even know why he is killing these people. How will you stop him?” Jane was quite short with him.
“Daniel, your father has just come out of surgery. For God’s sake stop talking about this case. We have to allow those whose job it is to get on with it.”
“But it is Dad’s job, I’m just ask….”
“Leave it please. I brought you to his ward on the understanding it was strictly to see how he was feeling.” Renton held up his hands.
“I’m feeling a little dizzy, but much better for seeing the two of you together. Your Mum’s right Daniel, I have to let Ben and his team get on with their task while I recover. Hopefully the killer will be apprehended by then, but if he isn’t I’ll do everything I can to bring him down. Now, tell me about your progress – you look much stronger than you did just a few days ago.”
Daniel was annoyed by his mother’s interference but responded by telling Renton that he might soon be allowed to go home and return regularly for physiotherapy. This caused a mild rush of panic. Renton felt Daniel and Jane would be safer in hospital.
“What do you mean by soon?”
“About a week or two, they haven’t decided yet”
“Ok, that’s great. Jane have you got my phone?”
“Yes, but why do you need it? You’ve just had a serious operation.”
“I want to tell Ben I’m fine, but tired and that he needn’t come to see me just yet. Give it to me and I’ll ring him while you’re here if that makes you happy.” She handed over the mobile and he made the call. Adams was astute enough to recognise the invitation.
*
Greg Watson had more information on Radcliffe’s cause of death.
“I have to say Ben that this is something I haven’t seen before. He has been injected with a massive dose of Pantothenic Acid, but I also found burn marks on his scalp – both sides. They were near the temples, but initially obscured by his hair.”
“I’m sorry Greg, er Panto what acid?”
“It’s more commonly known as Vitamin B5.”
“How could that kill him?”
“As I said it was a really massive dose, and combined with a serious level of electric shock. Any substance, if delivered to the body in uncontrolled amounts can throw our system out of balance, and some normally harmless foodstuffs can simulate a toxic effect if sufficient is ingested. Anyway, the key observation I have made is that he suffered a horrendously painful death. The brai
n tissue has been reduced to nothing more than pulp. The burn marks are indicative of electrical charge, but they must have been very high to cause this cerebral jellification. The Pantothenic Acid seems to have been delivered first as there are traces where you’d expect them, if they had been digested rather than injected.”
“Thanks for the quick turnaround Greg, not that I know what to do with this information.”
“Well, I said after the Priory episode that this man was proficient in surgical techniques, and it appears he also has quite a broad medical knowledge. We aren’t dealing with some bumbling amateur here.” Adams tried to make sense of this when Watson spoke again. “By the way, my original time of death estimate was not quite correct, so we are now talking more than three hours before we found him on the beach.”
“How can that be? It took us over an hour to get to him after we were alerted, and surely Frank would have needed a properly equipped place to perform this combined injection, wait for this simulated digestion and then zap him with what seems to be a controlled electrical charge. We have searched the entire, albeit small island and found nothing, so I can only assume he was killed somewhere else. He must have posted his message about the body after he dumped it in the water, so it could only have been from the island or somewhere near. He’s always used public IP addresses for his posts, and maybe he hooked into a wireless connection. We should follow this up. It still doesn’t leave much margin for error, especially as we know from his subsequent posts, that he took pictures of us at the scene, and still got past our checkpoints.”
“It is very tight unless he has an accomplice for taking the pictures. It could be someone who just blends in. You know, he’s often mentioned these ‘unfortunates’ as part of his mission. Anyway, as always, I must leave the detective work to you”
A confused Ben Adams was walking in the direction of forensics to see if Donoghue had found anything to help him see through the fog. He stopped and headed back to the office. On the way he returned Renton’s call. His Boss had switched to vibrate only and picked up.
“Thanks for getting back to me Ben. My thought process seems to be getting back to normal. Daniel mentioned that he may be discharged to outpatient status within a week. I assume you have the protection operating by now.”