Page 85 of First Blood

Due to stiff competition…

Unfortunately…

Marianne cared nothing for the excuses. All she saw was the word ‘NO’.

At the bottom of her inbox was a message from Derek Hodge. The message header simply said ‘Mistake’. She clicked into it and read.

Dear Marianne, having thought more about your recent request for assistance, it would appear that my refusal to donate to such a worthy cause may have been both churlish and hasty. After taking time to reconsider I have decided that a suitable contribution will be transferred by BACS payment directly to your account later today.

Best regards

Derek

Marianne clapped her hands with glee. Perfect. Maybe the computer suite was not such a distant dream after all. With some of the residents they had to settle for helping them become computer literate as opposed to basic reading and writing.

Hayley Smart had been one of those girls.

Her thoughts returned once more to the unfortunate woman with the birthmark. That final look of desperation mixed with helplessness, the defeated slump of the shoulders. The revelation of what she’d finally done with Mia. The begging, the pleading that had come from her mouth. All to no avail.

Yes, DI Stone had been unable to hide her disgust that the girl had been made to leave after the maximum period. Marianne couldn’t help wondering what the detective would say when she found out what she’d really done with Hayley.

Chapter Seventy-Eight

Dawson stared at the wipe boards on the wall where bullet points were written beneath the names of all five victims.

Two of the five victims had been hit on the back of the head.

Four of the victims had had their genitals mutilated.

Two of the victims were known abusers.

They were all poring over phone records and witnesses and links between two or four of the victims, but he was beginning to wonder if something linked all five, and if the answer lay elsewhere.

There were things about the crime scene that mattered. He got that. Time of death, Forensics, MO. They all counted. And also, there were things that mattered less, or did they?

What was the constant here between all five victims?

Gender – no.

Manner of death – no.

Time of death – no.

Genital mutilation – no.

While they had uncovered links between one or two victims, there was no single connection between them all. Or was there, he began to wonder, tapping the pen against his lip.

John Doe: an abandoned shoe had been found near the body. Why?

Lester Jackson had been murdered in a priest hole. Why?

Tommy Deeley had a small bell in his pocket. Why?

Luke Fenton had a tiny piece of brown packing paper left on his body. Why?

Hayley Smart’s crime scene had included the top from a vinegar bottle. Why?

Dawson turned to his computer and began to search for something that could provide a link between all five victims through the small things found near them or on their person, the five anomalies: could he find something that made the connection?