Tania Carver - The Surrogate

They waited.

‘If there’s two of them, one may be the psychopath, one the sociopath…’ She could feel an idea coming to her. ‘If… if there are two of them, then one, the contained one, the sociopath, could be finding the victims…’

‘And the other one ripping them up?’ said Anni.

‘It’s a theory.’

‘If that’s the case, then there’s another idea,’ said Phil.

They all looked at him.

‘Split personality. Is that viable?’

‘Could be,’ said Marina. ‘Two in one. I think that’s even scarier, actually. But the same principles apply.’

‘So how do we catch them?’ asked Phil.

‘Well, I don’t think they’re based in Colchester. I think they’re coming in to do this. The geographical profiling supports that. And because they’re all over the town, I think that means he’s targeting them another way.’

‘How?’ said Phil.

‘I don’t know,’ said Marina. ‘But I think that’s the key. Find out how he’s choosing them and we’ve got him.’ She nodded at Phil. His turn.

‘Thanks, Marina. Right. I want all the individual cases re-examined today.’ He scanned the room, making sure his words registered. ‘Similarities flagged, everything. Old reports gone over, the lot. Marina, would you help with that, please? I’d like you teamed with Anni.’

‘Sure.’

‘Good. Anything that sticks out, flag it up. We can cross-reference it against Brotherton and Caroline and Graeme Eades. Look for another match. Forensics are still going through the data from the last two crime scenes. No conclusive DNA yet, but they’ll keep looking. And there’s something else. I don’t know how significant it is.’

They waited.

‘Sophie Gale has done a runner. Brotherton’s solicitor was on the phone this morning.’ He told them about the call.

‘Good luck to her,’ said Anni.

‘Let’s keep an eye out for her, though. We should still talk to her again.’ He scanned the room once more. Despite the tiredness, he could see that they were all ready to go. ‘Get pounding those files, those streets. Good old-fashioned police work. We might have lost one baby but there’s another one out there and the clock’s ticking. Let’s get going.’

They all filed out.

As Marina got up, Phil moved in to talk to her.

‘Marina,’ said Anni, ‘come on.You’re with me.’

She looked at Phil, gave an apologetic little shrug and turned away. Phil walked out alone.

Clayton couldn’t concentrate. He looked round the bar, at the walls, through the windows. Anywhere but where he was supposed to be looking. Down at the report in front of him.

He was deskbound, tasked with paperwork. Unable to work the case, unable to function like the copper he wanted to be, believed himself to be. He hated it. He saw faces, clocked movements. He knew what they were doing, what they were thinking. About him. They knew. They knew.

His heart was hammering in his chest, his hands shaking. But how much did they know? If it was everything, then that was it, finito. But if wasn’t… he might have a chance. A slim one. He shouldn’t have done it. Let Sophie stay at his place. He shouldn’t have taken that blow job from her in the car the other night. Hell, if he traced it all the way back, he shouldn’t have got involved with her in the first place.

All he wanted to be was a good copper. Well respected by his peers, well liked by his colleagues. And the ladies. But he couldn’t see that happening now. Because he was weak. And being weak made him do stupid, cowardly things. Like getting involved with Sophie.

He looked round again. Phil was at his desk, attacking a pile of paperwork he had allowed to accrue. He kept his head, down, focused on his task. Didn’t catch Clayton’s eye. Millhouse was geeking away at his computer, in his own virtual world as usual. But it was Marina and Anni that he felt most scared about. Anni had pulled her chair up to Marina’s desk and was sitting alongside her, poring over reports and statements, scrutinising photos. Every once in a while Clayton would look across, find Anni staring back at him. He would look quickly away, his eyes nervous, shifty. Guilty.

She hadn’t told. He knew that. Otherwise Phil would have said something. But it was only a matter of time. She wouldn’t keep that to herself. She was as ambitious as he was, and hard-working. She wouldn’t want to be seen to collude in mistakes he had made.

They would find out where Sophie was. Because they might still need to talk to her. And when they did…

He had to get a grip, think about what to do next. Get a damage-limitation plan in operation. Clayton sighed, went back to his paperwork.

Still unable to concentrate.

Anni read the statement over once again. Geraint Cooper, Claire Fielding’s friend at school. She reached the end. Read it once more. Put it down, rubbed her eyes.

‘Nothing?’ said Marina, looking up.

‘I think it’s just… I want to see something there, find a connection so much that I’m imagining things…’

‘Take a break,’ said Marina.

Anni shook her head. ‘Not yet.’ She took a mouthful of bottled water. ‘Right. Let’s go again. Connections.’ She looked down at the list she had made in front of her. ‘Lisa King. Killed in an empty house. Had shown properties to Ryan Brotherton. Susie Evans. Prostitute. Ryan Brotherton one of her customers.’

‘And Sophie Gale,’ said Marina. ‘Where he met her.’

Anni nodded. ‘And she informed for the police. In return for certain leniencies. Right. Claire Fielding. Julie Simpson. Girlfriend of Brotherton and her best friend. Then Caroline Eades.’ She looked through the piles of paper on her desk. ‘No connection. None.’

‘Caroline Eades. Never worked?’

‘Her husband’s an area manager for a recruitment agency. She was a stay-at-home mum. No connection with any of the others.’

Marina sat back, thoughtful. Sucked one of the arms of her reading glasses. ‘What do we know about Sophie Gale?’

Anni rifled through her pile of papers, brought one out. ‘Born Gail Johnson. First known address is in New Town.

Pulled in on a raid, let go, works for us. Changes her name to Sophie Gale.’

‘Reinvents herself.’

‘Up to a point. Then appears with Ryan Brotherton.’

‘So we have to assume they’ve known each other for a number of years. And in a number of capacities.’

Anni nodded. ‘We’ll never know now. She’s gone.’

‘Won’t she turn up again?’

Anni gave a small smile. ‘Probably. One way or another. They usually do. And usually attached to a man.’

Marina got a quick mental image of Erin O’Connor then. Sitting in her little New Town house, looking like she wouldn’t be there too much longer. Erin O’Connor. Sophie Gale. Both sounded like made-up names. Manufactured girlie names. Names a man might enjoy saying, especially at certain times and in certain situations…

‘Marina? You all right?’

Marina blinked. Anni was looking at her, concerned. ‘Sorry?’

‘You’d gone for a few seconds.’

She shook her head. ‘Yes… miles away…’ She was still thinking, grasping for something…

Something Erin O’Connor had said: At least I don’t have to pay for it any more …

‘Phil and I went to talk to Graeme Eades’ girlfriend. Erin O’Connor.’

‘His alibi.’

‘Have you checked to see if she’s got a record?’

Anni sat upright. It looked like electricity had been run through her already spiky hair. ‘What kind of a record?’

‘Prostitution.’

‘I’ll check.’

‘I may be wrong,’ said Marina, thinking how disgusted the woman had looked when she had said the phrase, but wondering if that could have been an act put on for their benefit. ‘I may be doing her a great disservice, but I just get the feeling there might be a connection.’