T.M.E. Walsh - Pretty Little Things - 2018’s most nail-biting serial killer thriller with an unbelievable twist

An overwhelming feeling of sadness threatened to swallow Madeleine whole, right there and then.

She quickly left the tent.

*

After her suit had been taken and bagged up, Madeleine sat in her car, legs hanging out the door. Her face frozen, rigid, staring ahead at the cars and news vans that had turned up far beyond the police cordon.

Cameras rolling, reporters gesturing to the cameras, photographers with zoom lenses, vying for that perfect shot to sell on.

‘Is this what four young girls’ lives are worth, what they’ve been reduced to? A sideshow?’ Charis said as she approached the car. She looked back over her shoulder, sweeping back her long brown hair from her eyes as the wind picked up, howling across the wasteland.

‘Just doing their job,’ Madeleine said, voice drenched in sarcasm.

‘I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. What kind of monster do you have to be to do something like this?’

‘Monster? No,’ Madeleine said, shaking her head. ‘This person isn’t a monster. Monsters aren’t real, and besides, whoever did this doesn’t see themselves as a monster, villain or bogeyman.’

She swung her legs into the car and her fingers wrapped around the steering wheel, knuckles white. ‘This person is the hero in their own story.’

‘Hero,’ Charis scoffed.

‘In their eyes.’

‘They won’t like how the media will portray them.’

‘I know,’ Madeleine said. ‘And that’s a problem. It could make the killer impulsive, more than they appear to be already.’

‘You think they could up the stakes?’

‘It’s what I’d do if I were the killer. They have some kind of message to send. If they feel they’re close to being caught, or being ridiculed . . .’ Madeleine clipped her seatbelt into the slot then turned to look up at Charis. ‘Where are we on that list of newly released sex offenders?’

‘Some have had visits but nothing of note so far.’

‘Violent offenders?’

‘One released in Luton, two weeks before Caroline went missing, but he has an alibi. CCTV confirms his whereabouts that Sunday.’

Madeleine cast her eyes over the wasteland, the desolate horizon towards the hills beyond. ‘You’d need a vehicle to bring the bodies here,’ she said. ‘The actual murder scene must be close.’

Charis nodded. ‘It’s mostly farmland out this way.’

‘Organise some officers to look around the farms, outbuildings, barns, that kind of thing.’ Madeleine’s mobile rang before Charis could respond. The caller ID display revealed it was DC Alex Farr.

‘Alex,’ she said, pressing her mobile to her ear.

‘Guv, I’ve had Mispers on the phone.’

Madeleine felt her insides knot and her mouth was immediately dry. She struggled to find her voice.

‘Shit,’ was all she managed, her voice low, but Charis, who was standing over her, drew closer, her face now paler than before.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Alex. ‘Another one’s been reported missing. Same age range, missing under similar circumstances.’

Madeleine’s body felt stiff. She ended the call and took a few deep breaths before remembering Charis was standing over her.

By the look on her face, Madeleine knew the other woman already understood.

‘Not another one?’ she said, the disbelief clear in her voice, wanting it desperately not to be so.

Madeleine nodded, and said, ‘Head back to Sutton House. Team brief in an hour.’

CHAPTER 3

Sutton House, home to Chiltern & South Bucks LPA, where Madeleine and her team were based, was a dull-looking, grey-brick building built in the mid-seventies.

The official main HQ for Thames Valley Police was in Amersham and Madeleine was part of the Major Crime Unit, the Force CID, which was made up of a number of smaller teams based in the local policing areas (LPA).

Being based at Sutton House rather than in the bigger hub of a town or city, Madeleine sometimes felt she was a little restricted and not always fulfilling her potential. Most crimes she had dealt with included robberies, home invasions and violent crime on occasion, but murder was rare.

Suddenly finding herself involved in a high-profile murder and missing persons investigation that was already fairly complex, she was feeling the pressure of the enormity of it all.

She was heading up a large team of people, and she knew you were only as good as your last case, your last success, in the eyes of her superiors. She wanted to obtain justice for the families that had been left destroyed by the events unfolding around them, but the thought of screwing up frightened her more than she’d realised it would.

She had been offered a small office, almost cupboard-like, but she’d declined it, preferring to be in the thick of things.

Right now, she was in the deep end, and silently prayed she wouldn’t drown.

Charis was sitting with DC Farr at the far side of the large, open-plan room, packed tight with desks and equipment, with a large board at the front that had a photograph of each victim pinned to it, with various information that had been collected, including key points like the date and time they had last been seen.

Madeleine stared at each photograph in turn and, as she had done many times before, each time a new photograph had been added, silently promised them she’d find them and bring them home again.

Now, though, she would be bringing them back to their parents only for them to have to bury them.

The weight of this was heavy on her mind, on her soul.

The fact that she’d just been handed another photograph to pin to the expanding board of information made her feel ill.

She tried to pull herself together. To keep herself focused and try not to absorb too much of the sadness playing out in front of them.

Young life cut brutally short, with another innocent likely to end up the same way if she and her team couldn’t find her in time.

‘Bryony Keats,’ she said, pinning a 10 x 8 photograph to the board as everyone came together to huddle around the large table in the centre of the room.

All eyes were now on the photograph of a petite teen wearing a jumper bearing the logo of the school she attended. Chestnut-coloured hair framed a face of delicate features, and flowed around her shoulders. A pretty, ornate, metal hair clip held back a section of hair from her face, revealing wide, dark, expressive eyes looking directly at the camera.

Although her mouth was pulled into a smile, it didn’t reach her eyes. Something Madeleine was more than conscious of.

‘Bryony is seventeen years old and lives in the village of Bronze Mead, just on the outskirts of Kennington. She’s a sixth-form student at Kings Hill Secondary School.’ She paused as she sat down at the far end of the table.

She then took a moment to look at her team.

‘Bryony’s been missing since last Wednesday.’

A collective silence fell over those gathered at the table.

‘As you’re already aware,’ Madeleine said, ‘the bodies of four young girls were found on the Heath Edge wasteland late last night by a group of teenagers. It quickly became apparent that they were the bodies of the four missing teens, although official identification will take a little longer due to the state of each body.’

She breathed out heavily.

‘To have the families formally ID the girls is out of the question. That’s the advice we’re being given.’

‘What do we know about Bryony Keats?’ Charis said.

Madeleine looked to Alex.

‘Bryony seems to be the average teenager. Nothing really stands out as suspect or particularly different about her or her home life,’ he said, looking at the file from Mispers. He rubbed his grey beard as he read through his notes. ‘We’ve already been collecting information on her social media accounts, bank records . . .’