Lynda La Plante - Above Suspicion

‘There’s our Cuban pacing around, lighting a cigarette. He is directly opposite the massage parlour. Passing him are a number of cars, one is a Range Rover and the other is a Jaguar. You can see the flash of the neon sign outside the massage parlour; it’s giving us that strange light. Now, there’s a vehicle on the inside of the Range Rover, but hidden; it’s some kind of low car and it’s turning right. You can see his indicator flashing, along with the neon light. But there’s no way we can tell the make of the vehicle. We’ve got the reg of three of the passing vehicles but no luck with the other two.’

There was a brief pause as the footage jumped to the next segment.

‘OK, now we’re seeing footage from the massage parlour security camera and again the Cuban’s statement bears out. Here she comes, just entering right of frame, maybe intending to walk down Greek Street, to Soho Square. If we believe the boyfriend, she was heading towards Oxford Street, either to get on the tube at Tottenham Court Road or to continue on to Oxford Circus tube. That would make more sense since she lived in Maida Vale, which is on the Bakerloo, line. There’s a clear shot of Melissa for only a second, passing the massage parlour and again she looks as if she were unsure of her direction. She stands a moment. She turns back to walk past the massage parlour again. She walks virtually out of shot, then she can be seen looking towards something or someone, before disappearing out of frame.’

Lewis held up his hand. ‘Now, on the freeze frame, you can just see a small section of a pale coloured vehicle. It could be white or grey, but all we’ve got is that fraction of the side and a minuscule section of the back bumper. See it?’

Lewis had to rewind the tape twice before it was clear to them what he was pointing at on the edge of frame: there was a fraction of the side of a car and a small section of the vehicle’s bumper.

‘It could be the same car that was on the inside of the Range Rover; either that, or he’s driving down Old Compton Street from Tottenham Court Road and parking up on the corner. We’ll get that section blown up and see if we can tell the make of the car, but I think it could be a Mercedes, an old one, maybe thirty years old.’

The video ended and Lewis rewound the tape.

Viewing the video had left the team with a strange, almost surreal feeling. Melissa had come to life in front of them and yet they seemed as far away as ever from trapping her killer. Langton closed his office door with unusual quietness. Everyone went to work on their various assignments.

Anna studied the file of the fifth victim. Beryl Villiers was thirty-four. Younger and fitter, she had put up more resistance than the others. Nevertheless, both her eyes were blackened and swollen and her nose had been broken; two front teeth had been knocked out and were found near the body.

She, too, was a known prostitute and had a history of addiction, but her autopsy showed no signs of her still using, nor any alcohol. Her home address was in Bradford. When all else had failed to produce anything, Beryl had finally been identified by the number on her breast implants. Once she was identified, the police leading her enquiry had questioned all the working girls around King’s Cross station. None could recall who Beryl had picked up earlier that night, after a couple of punters she’d taken to the old station arches. She was last seen patrolling her beat, around ten fifteen, but no one could recall seeing her after that. Four weeks after she disappeared, in March 1999, Beryl’s body was found on Wimbledon Common.

Beryl was younger than the previous victims. She had no children. She was a ‘weekender’, travelling from Bradford every Friday night and returning home on the following Monday. She originally hailed from Leicester, where they located her mother; she seemed more distraught to learn her daughter was a prostitute than to learn that she was dead.

Anna made copious notes and returned to the filing cabinet for the last case history.

‘What are you doing?’ Moira asked.

In reality she was making herself busy. ‘Just familiarizing myself with the case files,’ she said.

‘You’re Jack Travis’s daughter, aren’t you?’

Anna’s eyes lit up. ‘Did you know him?’

‘Everybody knew Jack. He was something else. I was sorry he died.’

‘It was cancer.’

‘Yes, I know. We sent flowers. How’s your mother handling it?’ Moira asked.

‘She died two years ago.’

‘Oh, I’m so sorry. She was very beautiful. I remember meeting her once. None of us could believe that old codger had kept her secret for so long.’

‘He worshipped her.’ Anna smiled.

‘We all pretty much worshipped your dad. If he’d been handling this case, he’d have got a result by now. I think Langton’s out of his depth. And I tell you something: that girl had to have a handbag. Why aren’t we concentrating on that?’

Anna felt an urge to defend Langton. ‘We are, though.’

‘Bloody haphazard way of going about it. And that reconstruction? They didn’t have her with a handbag in the video. They’re bloody amateurs. Why didn’t they ask her mother if one of Melissa’s handbags was missing from home?’

‘Have we checked Melissa’s flat?’ Anna asked.

‘Of course we have. She had a wardrobe full of handbags.’ Moira stared at the photographs on the wall. ‘Better life than any of these poor bitches. Seeing them up there, it’s as if their eyes follow you around, like wounded dogs. All got the same expression, haven’t they?’

‘Have you noticed how many come from up north?’

Moira nodded. ‘Leeds, Liverpool, Blackpool, Manchester, Bradford …’

‘I was just wondering if there was a possible connection; whether they knew each other.’

Moira shrugged. ‘You ask around the big stations: Euston, King’s Cross, Paddington — a big percentage come down on the train from the north and scrabble for punters. They’re like hornets. Usually junkies, who get hooked up with a pimp, or drugs, or booze. I know, I was on Vice for six years.’

Moira was walking away as if the conversation was over. Anna took the last file to her desk. Langton opened his office door and called, abruptly: ‘Travis! Come in here a minute.’

Anna picked up her notebook and headed for his office. Moira smirked at Jean.

‘Keen, isn’t she?’

Jean pursed her lips and returned to her computer. ‘Maybe she’s after a spot on Crime Night!’

Anna stood in front of Langton’s desk. He rolled a pencil, flicking it back and forth. ‘You were late this morning. You threw up at the murder site yesterday and then again at the post mortem. I was beginning to think you were a waste of space, Travis.’

She bristled.

‘But Henson’s just called. It seems you’re right. The marks to Melissa’s stomach are part of a fist. The punch wasn’t directly to the skin but through her T-shirt; there are fine fibres embedded in the skin that match the material. It makes it hopeless for us to get a clear print but Henson believes that they’ll have every indication of the size of fist, so there’s a possibility that if we find the killer, they might be able to make a match with his fist!’

‘That’s good,’ she said quietly.

He gave her a beady look. ‘What is it?’

She hesitated. ‘Erm, I was just thinking we should issue a press release to warn the girls.’

‘Won’t mean anything. Nothing stops them.’

‘I’ve been reading up on the fifth victim and—’

‘Beryl Villiers,’ he said to himself.

‘Well, she wasn’t as washed up as the others, no alcohol or drug problems and—’

‘You are not telling me anything I don’t know, Travis,’ he interrupted impatiently. ‘And we are giving a press conference. Soon.’