Lee Weeks: Cold as Ice

‘He’s been living a bit of a lie.’

‘I know. We found out about his job. Carter and I went to see where he’s been holing up. It isn’t a pretty sight. He’s obviously been going through a difficult time mentally. Is he going to stay?’

‘Jackson seems to be okay with him. He got a smile. That means a lot, I think. At least we know he’s not Daddy Pig.’

‘Yeah – you’re right.’

‘Are you any nearer to finding Danielle?’

‘We have someone we are going to bring in for questioning. He’s a man who we know she was seeing as a friend and more. We are getting closer. I’ll be over tomorrow morning but you can phone me any time, Tracy.’

She heard Tracy sigh. ‘Thank you, Jeanie.’

Robbo was still searching Interpol when Jeanie returned to his desk.

He looked up as she approached. ‘A couple of interesting cases came though from Australia. Two women died in Perth, both in their twenties. Both left a baby. Another three women disappeared in New Zealand, again all three left a child. There was one older woman in her forties found in 2006 in familiar circumstances to our women in a remote farm five hundred kilometres southeast of Adelaide. She was found with a garish mask of make-up on her face; she’d been strangled. Her body was wrapped in spiders’ webs by the time they found her.’

‘She was forty?’

‘Forty-five. No small child anywhere. She was from Britain. I don’t know a lot more at this stage. I’ll keep looking and I’ll get in touch with the police out there.’

Robbo took a call.

‘They’ve picked up Goddard outside his house and are bringing him in here to Archway Police Station; officers are in there searching the house now.’

‘Tell them we are looking for a possible second premises,’ said Carter. ‘There might be some correspondence with some other address on it – electricity bill, that kind of thing. I’ll get ready to interview him. Robbo, you need to prepare some questions for me specifically about this history.’

Ebony took a detour on the way to Islington. She was glad that it had been decided to bring Christian in. She would do all she could that evening to find out where he could be holding the women if the police search of his home didn’t find them. She needed to talk to some of his less forthcoming conquests just in case more information was needed. She got a text on the way. It was from Yan.

‘ There’s been police here asking about Christian and Emily Styles, the girl he was dating. I just thought I’d warn you. I really think there’s something not right about him. I’ve decided to invite everyone to mine instead – that is, the people from the course I was telling you about. Where are you now? ’

‘ About to get to The Pear and Peach – the pub ,’ she texted.

‘ Well, go past it, take the next left, walk down that road till the end, I’m across the street, second from the end, number 130. See you in a minute .’

‘ Shall I bring something? ’

‘ No, don’t worry. Just bring yourself, that will be enough .’

Ebony glanced into the pub as she passed. Selena and Julie were there. Ebony didn’t need to talk to them again. It didn’t look like there were many others unless they decided to nearly all go to Yan’s.

Ebony walked down to the end of the road and crossed over at the end, then she stood opposite the house. It was a narrow four-storey Victorian terrace that looked in need of repair. The houses either side looked like they’d been renovated but not this one. Typical student accommodation , thought Ebony. Yan had said he let rooms out. There were two windows on each floor, overlooking the street. There were black railings at street level and steps leading down to a basement that looked like no one had used them in a long time. An ash tree had taken root in there and was now so tall that it obscured the first-floor windows. There were lights on in the upper two floors. She walked up the steps and looked for a bell, gave up and knocked. She heard the sound of feet approaching. She felt a trickle of excitement in her stomach. She realized she was looking forward to seeing him.

Carter sat across from Christian Goddard and his lawyer. ‘Interview commencing at seven p.m. on Saturday December 21st , December 2013. Thank you for agreeing to give a DNA sample.’ Carter watched Goddard. He was establishing a baseline. His breathing was deep and calm. He sat still, his hands folded in his lap.

‘What’s it for?’ The pitch of his voice was low, measured. He used his hands very little when he talked.

‘Exhibit number eighty-three.’ Carter pushed a photo of two women across the table. ‘You knew Emily Styles and Danielle Foster well?’

Goddard reached out to pick up the picture and look at it closely.

‘Yes. Quite well.’

He was right-handed.

‘When was the last time you saw either of these two women?’

‘Emily? It was at the festival in Finsbury Park – the Fields festival. It was May sometime – the twenty-fifth.’

‘And Danielle?’

‘Danielle? A week or so ago. We saw one another at college.’

Carter watched Goddard answer; he was thinking about the dates. His eyes went up towards the left. He was remembering something that was real.

‘You have had a few girlfriends from the college?’

‘Yes, sure. That’s not a crime, is it?’

‘But what is a crime is they have ended up dead.’ Carter took out the photos of Emily Styles’ injuries from the autopsy.

‘Do you recognize those wounds?’

‘No.’ His voice lifted a little in pitch. His body moved forward in his seat. He looked to his right. ‘Why should I?’

‘I thought you might have because they are spider bites left untreated. You keep spiders as pets, don’t you?’

‘I do. But that’s not against the law.’ His voice was creeping up, stressed.

‘What about snakes?’

Carter watched the sweat glow on Goddard’s upper lip and forehead.

‘I haven’t owned a snake for a while.’ He stopped fidgeting. He put his hands on his lap.

‘But you like exotic pets?’

Christian shrugged. ‘Depends what you mean by that. Is a fish exotic to you? Maybe it is. Yes I own pets that might be termed exotic.’

‘Spiders?’

‘I already told you I have spiders.’

‘What kind? Venomous?’

‘A couple are, the rest just bite if they’re threatened. But I would never let a spider bite someone like that. I have anti-venom. Anyway, it just wouldn’t happen. I wouldn’t let it.’ He turned away, unable to stomach the images in front of him. ‘I liked Emily.’

‘When was the last time you saw her?’

‘I told you, at the May Fields festival. We broke up before that – before the holidays.’

‘Were you dating? For how long?’

‘I wouldn’t call it dating. We had had a few nights together.’

‘So you felt nothing for her? What about Mary Rogers? Pauline Murphy? Do these names mean anything to you?’

‘Yes. They were friends.’

‘More than?’

He shrugged. His body remained tense. ‘I suppose so – yes.’

‘What about Danielle Foster?’

‘What is this about?’ His voice rose. ‘Where is Danielle? I don’t understand. What happened to all these women?’

‘When was the last time you saw her?’

‘Two weeks ago. We had talked about meeting up.’

‘When was the exact time you saw her?’

‘Monday the eighth. She had a babysitter. Her mum was looking after Jackson for her.’

‘So you met up?’

‘Yes.’

‘Alone?’

‘No. There were other people from the college there.’