Cath Staincliffe - Bleed Like Me

‘Something like that could be a trigger?’ Gill said.

Leonard nodded. ‘Definitely.’

‘He’d debts too,’ Pete said. ‘Credit cards – only paying off the interest. Payday loans.’

‘Owen was owing.’ Kevin grinned, looked round the room for a response. Got a scoff and rolling eyes from Rachel, a slow blink from Janet and a shake of the head from Lee. ‘Rhymes, doesn’t it?’ Kevin, crap at reading the signs, dug his hole even deeper.

‘Kevin,’ Andy said wearily.

‘What was he spending it on?’ Gill asked Pete.

‘Clothes, food, essentials, nothing flash. Utility bills. His car’s six years old, pick one up for six grand.’

‘Still – it’s a Mondeo,’ Mitch said. ‘Lot of car for the price.’

‘Tells us what?’ Gill said, not wanting them to get into a Top Gear riff. Mitch was mad about cars.

‘Not flash,’ Andy said, ‘but he’s looking at reasonable quality.’

‘Anything flash round the Larks and it’d soon disappear,’ Rachel said.

‘The family had a holiday to Minorca in May, not paid that off yet,’ Pete added.

‘He was already in debt by then?’ Janet asked.

‘Oh, yes,’ Pete said.

‘Keeping up appearances,’ said Lee. ‘He had to be seen to be providing for his family. He’ll keep the illusion going as long as possible.’

That would tally with the clothes, Gill thought. People would see the kids well dressed and assume the household were managing well.

Janet raised her pen and addressed Leonard Petty. ‘What’s he feeling then, about things going down the drain?’

‘Shame and anger. This is his responsibility. Any failure in that regard would be excruciating for him. He won’t admit to anyone it’s happening. He feels outraged, betrayed that his livelihood is on the line. It’s common enough: the recession, businesses folding, layoffs, but as far as this man is concerned it’s his problem and his alone. He’s been singled out, his status about to be destroyed, his self-esteem undermined.’

‘Even for us,’ Gill said. Numbers in the police force were going to be cut in an effort to make savings. At what cost, she thought? As people became poorer, more desperate, as unemployment increased, crime would rise, with fewer officers to deal with it all. Crime stats had been falling. It was something she was proud to be associated with, but the future was far more uncertain.

‘Did we find a will?’

‘Yes,’ Andy said. ‘They both had one. Standard stuff – spouse inherits and then the children.’

‘Okay. Moving on to our crime scenes,’ Gill said, ‘we’re awaiting further forensics but already we can agree a likely sequence of events. Last customers left the pub at eleven twenty-three.’

Rachel picked up the thread. ‘A group celebrating a thirtieth birthday with whisky chasers and rounds of pool.’

‘CCTV from the pub tells us all was well then,’ Gill said. ‘Pamela, Owen and Michael clearing up.’

She played the film. There was little communication between the three adults as they went about the routine. But it was unnerving witnessing the footage, so mundane and unremarkable, knowing what was to come. ‘No reports of anything out of the ordinary,’ Gill went on. ‘Pamela Milne texted her friend Lynn after going upstairs.’ She gave Janet the nod.

‘The women were due to be going shopping in Manchester,’ Janet said. ‘Pamela suggested Tuesday in her text. Nothing untoward in the exchange.’

‘No CCTV in the flat itself,’ Gill said. ‘The cameras are inside downstairs and outside covering the entrance and the car park. We see nothing until three in the morning.’ The film showed Owen Cottam entering the pub from the internal door and going behind the bar. He opened a bottle of whisky and then went into the small room behind the bar. The screen went black.

‘He switched the system off then. Note he is fully dressed and wearing clothes the same as or similar to the ones described by Tessa when he spoke to her at six thirty in the morning. Until forensics give us more hard data all we can be sure of is that between eleven thirty last night and eight, when the wagon driver from the brewery arrived, Cottam used a knife recovered from the property to kill his wife and his daughter and his brother-in-law. The sighting of the car by Grainger, the neighbouring farmer, before seven makes me think we can probably shave an hour off that. Analysis of drops of blood on the landing between the three bedrooms should help us confirm which direction Cottam was walking in and therefore the order in which the attacks took place. We believe he was interrupted during or soon after the attack on Michael, leading him to abandon the weapon in Michael’s room. The bottle of whisky, three-quarters empty, with a smear of blood visible on the label, was recovered from the bathroom. Owen Cottam’s fingerprints are on the bottle, which is the same brand as the one he had on the film from the bar. Evidence suggests he washed his hands in the bathroom after the attacks: blood traces in the sink and on a towel. Cottam shut the dog in the kitchen and fled the property between six thirty and eight with the two younger children. Mitch, friends and associates?’

‘Not finding many,’ Mitch said. ‘Seems to have kept himself to himself, family man.’

‘Acting alone?’ Gill said, and Leonard nodded. ‘Not likely to have any allies.’

‘He wouldn’t trust anyone else to help, would he,’ Lee said. ‘He believes he’s on his own. Any emotional investment he has is with his immediate family. Not beyond that.’

‘That’s right,’ Leonard Petty said. ‘So although we know he might be looking for places to regroup we’re not expecting him to contact friends or wider family.’

‘What places will be of interest?’ Gill said.

‘Possibly remote, isolated, where he won’t be at risk of identification,’ Leonard Petty said.

‘What if he’s clever, though? You’ve two kids, you want to go unnoticed, why not go where there’s loads of kids. A theme park or summat,’ Rachel said.

‘In plain sight.’ Gill considered it.

‘More risky, I’d have thought,’ said Janet.

‘I agree,’ the forensic psychologist said. ‘He wants to be somewhere where he believes he can control the scenario. Somewhere to take stock and redesign his plan.’

‘He didn’t take the knife, so we don’t know how he might be trying to kill them,’ Pete said.

‘He could buy another knife,’ said Kevin.

‘He’s got a car,’ Rachel pointed out. ‘If he’s got a bit of hosepipe he could have already done it. That’s what I’d do, or jump off a cliff with them.’ Rachel blunt as ever.

Gill tipped her head to Leonard Petty, inviting him to respond.

‘Hard to second guess, but it’s an eventuality we should prepare for if we do find the vehicle,’ he said.

Gill imagined it. The Mondeo in some lay-by. Unremarkable until someone sees the line of tubing snaking in the top of the window. Catches a glimpse of the driver’s face, or the kiddies’ – red as toffee apples: the side effect of cyanotic poisoning. ‘Let’s hope the bastard didn’t have time to take anything with him. That he’s still trolling up and down the M6 trying to work out where to go, what to do. You’ll all be entitled to overtime thanks to the powers that be.’ A cheer went up. She knew most of them would have put the time in regardless. Not interested in their social lives or feet up in front of the box in the midst of a case like this.

‘So, Rachel, take the father and the brother. As well as general background we specifically want a list of locations. We want to know where Cottam might be headed.’

Rachel had only just lit up, sucked a lungful of smoke in and closed her eyes when she heard someone approach, footsteps fast on the ground, setting her nerves jangling as she swung round prepared to bolt.