Lynda La Plante - Hidden Killers

‘As a detective, you’re going to find an awful lot of cases of non-suspicious death and of victims as young or even younger than you. What was it that made you believe Shirley Dawson’s death was suspicious?’ he asked her again.

‘It was an intuitive feeling that something didn’t add up. I think the position that her body was found in, in the bath, was not quite right. That was all really.’

‘But at that point you didn’t have the evidence. Would you have ever considered the need to find something that would implicate them?’

Jane knew he was testing her with regard to the fact she knew he had planted the knife. She looked at him directly. ‘There was no need to uncover evidence that wasn’t there because my finding of the photographs was enough.’

‘What did you feel when you were proved right?’ Moran asked quietly.

She turned away, unable to answer.

‘It made you feel good, didn’t it?’ he asked, and she nodded.

‘And how did you feel about the two suspects being charged with murder?’

‘Good, they deserve to be given life sentences.’

‘How would you feel if they had got away with it?’

‘That I had failed.’

‘I suppose you know why Allard was given bail and was let out of prison?’ Moran stood up and put his hands in his trouser pockets, and moved from behind the desk.

Jane was becoming more uneasy, suspecting he was going to bring up the fact she had been suspicious of him doctoring the confession and planting evidence of the flick knife, which she now knew had been given to him by Janet Brown.

‘Allard will be put away for the rest of his life. He hid the murder of Susie Luna for five years, hid his disgusting perverted sexual urges and appeared on the surface to be a decent honest husband and father. The current trial will go ahead because the other criminal offences, the assault on the owner of the adult bookshop, the kid Ginger, the attack against you and Janet Brown, and even the murder of Susie Luna, are not what he is on trial for, they will be a completely separate arrest. Do you understand? The law let him loose, and we got him back, and we won’t let him out of our sight, but it’s all down to the legal boffins’ correct procedure in the courts, understand?’

‘I find it hard to believe,’ she said and he nodded. He began to unnerve her even more as he moved behind her, still with his hands in his pockets. She was sure this was now going to be a reference to the knife.

‘Make you feel positive, does it?’

‘On the one hand, yes, that we caught him. On the other, very confused that the trial will get him on one set of charges and that he could then be free unless we have the evidence to get him on something else.’

‘Right, because his legal team will not allow the new charges to be read at the same time, so the jury will not be privy to them. There will have to be a completely new trial.’

She swivelled her head round to see him because it sounded unbelievable.

‘What do you feel about Janet Brown? Or Angie as she calls herself?’

She was taken off guard and shrugged. ‘I don’t know what I feel about her.’

‘She saved your life?’

‘Yes.’

‘She has agreed to give evidence at Peter Allard’s immediate trial, but I am unsure if we will need her. What do you think about that?’

‘If it will jeopardize her as an informer, and it is possible to keep her identity safe… then she should not be called.’

‘But you know she blackmailed Marie Allard?’

‘Yes, but in reality if she hadn’t we might never have got the details and information about Susie Luna.’

He nodded and moved back to the desk. ‘So that is something you would not deem necessary to expose?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Good, OK, WDC Tennison. I think we’ve cleared up a lot, apart from…’

Oh God, she thought, now it’s coming, but he leaned down behind the desk and brought up a large package wrapped in a Hamleys carrier bag. ‘This is for you. I don’t think it is necessary to put it in the report. DC Gibbs organized it, and we all chipped in.’

He swung the handles in his fingers. ‘WDC Tennison, you are one of us. So take it and we’ll see you tonight for a good knees-up.’

Jane left with the carrier bag, and went into the ladies’. She opened it up and took out a very large, very expensive replica of a red double-decker bus. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face, tucking it under her arm, loving the fact he had said that she was one of them. It made up for everything she had been through. She’d make sure Peter Allard was put away when the time came, and if that failed, she would make sure that she would be the one to arrest him for murder.

Shortly before the trial of Peter Allard began, DS Lawrence had a meeting with Moran. The newspaper was still wrapped around the black woollen balaclava, and as he carefully opened it to reveal the hood, he placed it onto a sheet of white paper on the lab table.

He leaned in closely and sniffed, as he could detect a strong sweet smell.

‘I can smell some kind of aftershave.’

Moran nodded. ‘Yeah, I know, it’s Aramis… I use it, but I won’t be as from today… Anything else? Any bloodstains?’

Lawrence used a spatula and took his time examining it, turning the hood around, pressing it down and checking every inch. He detected that on the area where the assailant’s mouth would have been, the wool was in part stuck together.

‘This could be his saliva, but I can’t detect any blood. I can test if there is a residue but I doubt it, and with it being black nothing shows up. Your rape victim wasn’t cut, was she? Besides, you won’t get it into the trial now – how long ago was this found?’

‘He was wearing it on the night of the rape, so it’s quite a substantial time, although it was kept wrapped in that newspaper. But I’m certain his defence council won’t accept it… I just needed to know for certain.’

‘Sorry, but like I said I can do some tests…’

Moran shrugged and checked his watch.

‘I got to go. Thanks for your time, Paul.’

Just as Moran reached the double doors leading out from the lab, Paul called out to him.

‘Hang on… come back.’

Moran hurried to the table. Lawrence was using a pair of fine long tweezers and had placed onto the white paper a thin, pale blue woollen strand. He now teased out a second strand and held it up.

‘Is that blue rabbit fur?’ Moran asked.

‘No, it’s wool, just caught inside the rim of the hood. What was your rape victim wearing?’

Moran took a deep breath. ‘A shaggy blue mohair jacket.’

‘Shit… it’s a pity this wasn’t brought in earlier because I could have checked it out with the actual jacket.’

‘Thanks, Paul, but I don’t hold out much hope that we can use it.’

By the time Moran returned to Hackney he was anxious to discuss the findings from the balaclava. He felt that the results confirmed, without doubt, that Peter Allard had committed the rape. But he was concerned about the late discovery of the vital evidence and after a heated discussion with the defence lawyer they were refused permission for it to be used in court.

Disappointed, Moran put more pressure on confirming that the body found at the Allards’ rented house was Susie Luna. The body had still not been formally identified when the trial began. All he knew was that they were hoping to gain a result from dental checks, and there had been delays caused by trying to trace a dentist in Maidstone who had had Susie Luna registered as a patient.

As the trial commenced Jane witnessed the hidden depths of Peter Allard’s sick mind. He constantly made direct eye contact with the jury and said very clearly that he pleaded guilty to the assault charges. When the rape charge was read out he said loudly, ‘Not guilty.’