I've Been Watching You: a stunning crime thriller from The North East Police Series (27 page)

Ali sat Ben inside the cab to the van and handed her a water bottle. ‘Ben, you need to take a few sips of this. It’s only water.’ Ali kept his tone even, wondering what had been so bad. Ben had seen murders before. He was certain it wasn’t just the body that was bothering her.

16
^th
June, 0905 hours –Sunderland Outreach Centre

Jacob hadn’t needed to think twice when he’d heard from Kevin. He’d told Ed he had to leave for a family emergency, jumped in his car and hared it over to the scene. Parking his car at the rendezvous point, he signed in with the loggist, and made his way through.

He waved at Kevin who raised his hand in acknowledgement.

Jacob caught sight of Ali standing beside the CSI van and made his way over. Seeing him approach, Ali stepped back and motioned him to the side of the van.

‘I’m tempted to call an ambulance to be honest. She’s really pale and not responding very well to my attempts at small talk. I don’t know what spooked her in there but whatever it was, it’s bothered her big-style. You have any idea what it could be?’

‘Maybe. Hold off on the ambulance for now, I’ll get back to you in a sec when I’ve spoken to her.’ Jacob was worried - he’d felt it take hold at the station, a vicious gnawing that was eating at his insides. He’d felt it the moment he’d been told TJ was in hospital too.

Stepping around Ali, he bent at the doorway and faced Ben.

‘Ben. It’s me,’ he said quietly, taking hold of her face and gently manoeuvring her around to face him. Her eyes had a haunted look, but recognition quickly replaced it. Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks, and for a moment he felt like she’d punched him in the gut. She looked so scared he could almost taste it.

Silently he pulled her into his arms, her head resting on his shoulder, and he let her cry for a moment. ‘Shhh, it’s OK. Everything is going to be just fine.’

Ben stopped herself crying after a couple of minutes, a look of determination passing over her features. Now she was ready to speak.

‘I’m sorry for making Kevin call you. I just…’ she paused not quite knowing how to put into words what she felt, ‘I just needed you here.’

‘I’m here,’ he replied, holding her hand and pulling back to look at her.

‘It’s him. The … man that raped me. This is him.’

Carefully, Jacob said, ‘How do you know that?’

‘I’m not fantasising, Jacob. This isn’t a case of misguided recognition or whatever the hell else you wanna call it. The body in that room has the same wounds he did to me, the same wounds in the same places. She’s been raped, and she was strangled. It’s him.’ Ben’s voice turned fierce on the last sentence, fiercer than she felt. She actually thought she might break apart. She’d had years of knowing the day would come when she’d have to face her demons, but it hadn’t prepared her adequately for the flood of emotion. She knew in her heart that this was the same person, the same man that had tortured her and left her for dead.

‘Then you need to tell Ali and Kevin,’ replied Jacob, squeezing her hand, letting her know, without speaking, that he believed her. She’d been there, lived through it. If she thought it was the same person then that was all he needed. He watched as she breathed deeply, and plucked her radio from its holder on the side of her trousers.

Depressing the button, she said, ‘Kev, can you come out for a second, I need to speak with you and Ali.’

Within seconds, both of them were by the van.

‘This is hard, so bear with me OK. Eight years ago I worked for the police in Durham City, back before they amalgamated all the forces into one. There was a case that fit the MO of this one exactly. The victim was beaten, raped repeatedly, strangled, stabbed and left for dead. The police never caught the guy responsible.’

Ben paused, more to steady herself than anything else. Before she could open her mouth though, Jacob interrupted, giving her hand another squeeze in support. ‘Ben was the victim. She thinks the person who attacked her is responsible for this attack also.’

Ben flashed him a thankful glance.

‘You mind me asking what makes you think this is the same guy? I’m sorry I have to ask. I get that some of the MO must match, but is it not possible that this is just a similar case?’ Ali’s voice was calm, he didn’t
not
believe her, but he had to have the facts before he could think realistically that this might be the same person. Eight years was a long time.

Ben took in a deep breath. Even Jacob didn’t know this part. Her voice was quiet and shaky as she replied, ‘The victim has criss-cross cuts across her breasts and so did I. I haven’t seen but she will have bite marks to her shoulders, possibly even around her nipples. If you swab both her cheeks, the killer will have licked down the sides of her face. There’ll be a chunk of hair missing: he cuts it with a knife. And there won’t be any semen inside the vaginal cavity: he wears a condom.’

Kevin looked at Ali, his face paling. ‘She’s right about the breasts and bite marks. Our vic has those wounds. Jesus.’

Ali stayed silent for a moment, letting the information sink in. His mind echoed Kevin’s last word, but more blasphemous.
Jesus fucking Christ. Another serial killer in Sunderland? Second one in eighteen months? What is this place, a bloody shit magnet?
Then felt instantly ashamed of his thoughts. He was busy thinking of having another killer, when Ben was stood in front of him, telling him the horrible things that had happened to her.

‘Ben, you’re off the case. Conflict of interests. I need you to sit down with one of my detectives and go over everything.’ His expression softening, he took hold of Ben’s hand. ‘I’m so sorry this happened to you, love. And sorry that I’m making you relive it all. But we need all the information we can get so we can catch this guy. You’re in the prime position to help us do that. Will you help me, Ben?’

Ben just nodded, her voice suddenly overcome with emotion.

‘I’ll take her back to the nick,’ said Jacob. ‘Who do you want her to sit down with?’

‘Charlie. I’ll ring her now and give her the heads up.’

Kevin couldn’t speak.
Poor kid. All she’s been through and we didn’t have a clue.
Before he could change his mind, he pulled her into a quick hug. He was close to all of his staff but to realise one of them had been through something so traumatic and still ended up in the police doing a role that helped others; it was an eye-opener.

‘Look after her,’ said Kevin to Jacob as he released his hold on Ben.

16
^th
June, 0940 hours –Sunderland Outreach Centre

Stan watched from the semi-comfort of the police car he was sitting in. He’d grinned as the scene investigators had entered the scene in their white suits. They wouldn’t find anything. He was too good. He hadn’t left them anything that would point to him. The over-teeth dental casts he used during his teachings meant that he could attend the dentist when needed like a normal person. The bite marks would make them think they had a lead when in reality it would lead to nothing. And he always used a wipe over the mark afterwards to remove any DNA.

Seeing Gill carted off in an ambulance had pleased him. It had been a stroke of luck that it was her and not Brian who had gotten to the centre first, and even luckier that he’d been there when she found the body of someone she had cared about so much. He’d felt the power and held her as she screamed, all the while thinking that it was his handiwork and she didn’t have a clue. He wondered what she’d have done differently if she had known. Would she have kicked out, biting, screaming, scratching? Or would she have backed away in terror, afraid the same fate awaited her?

He’d watched with interest as the female CSI had been walked from the scene, and placed in the van. There was a reason women shouldn’t get involved in that kind of work. They didn’t have the stomach. It was best to leave it to the men. Men could stomach pretty much anything. Well real men could, men like him.

Stan wished he was closer as they’d been talking near the van, wished he could hear what they’d said. They seemed concerned for her, the red-head.

Suddenly his cogs started turning, his senses kicking into overdrive as he processed the thoughts that were just on the periphery of his mind. It couldn’t be. There was no way he was that lucky.

The frown was slow passing over his features. If it is her, then she’d have told them things. They might know things that no one was ever meant to know. Or find. He realised he hadn’t wiped her cheek where he’d tasted the saltiness of her tears. He never did. But the police would never have cause to look for it. Not unless
she
told them.

Bree was alive, he knew this. But it couldn’t be that she just happened to show up here. Could it? He had to find out where she was, what she was doing, whether there was any remote possibility that this red-head at the outreach centre was her. Tonight. He would do that tonight. Right now, he was too busy sat in the police car watching, waiting to be spoken to as a potential witness. But the seed of doubt began to grow in his mind. What if …

Chapter Nineteen

16
^th
June, 1420 hours – Tunstall, Sunderland City Centre Depot

Ben felt drained. She’d sat in the interview room and explained to Charlie what had happened to her in great detail. It had made her feel all the things she’d felt back when it had happened. The shame, the guilt, the fear.

It was awful knowing he was back, just being aware that what he’d done to her had happened to someone else who hadn’t survived. Ben couldn’t shake the cold feeling that seeped into her very soul. Was anywhere safe? She’d moved from Durham to get away from the nagging thought that he was always just around the corner, that he could strike again at any moment, that he would know she was alive and come looking. It had taken years for her to be able to function in society without looking over her shoulder constantly.

When she’d requested the transfer to the Sunderland section of North East Police, the chief himself had phoned ahead and put in a recommendation. The job on front office had been offered instantly: there’d just been a recruitment drive for the position.

It wasn’t favouritism that got her the job, it was her need to work in a place she felt safe, and despite everything that had happened, that had still been the police force. And let’s face it; the police force takes care of its own. When she’d needed stability and shielding the front office had provided that, a nice glass screen separating her from the world. Her new colleagues hadn’t known what had happened. She’d been lucky really, the rumour mill hadn’t started up, no-one at the Sunderland office had even known where she’d come from.
Now that’s going to change. They’ll all find out, look at me like I’m some kind of freak. Or worse, look at me in pity. ‘There’s the girl that was raped. The one that got away.’

Jacob had sat with her the entire time, holding her hand, not speaking as she went through the whole thing from start to finish, handing her tissues when the emotion got too much. He’d nipped out and phoned Aoife to tell her what was happening.

All Ben wanted to do now was go home, lock the doors, and hide under a duvet to keep the monsters at bay. She’d thought she might have another panic attack but to her surprise, she’d kept it together through the interview with Charlie. Jacob had taken her to the canteen when they’d finished, but she was under orders not to leave the station yet. They’d been sat in silence in the canteen, Jacob automatically understanding that she needed to process her thoughts.

After an hour though, it was too much.

‘How’re you holding up?’ he asked, looking up from his now cold coffee.

‘I honestly don’t know. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, telling them. I thought I’d fall apart, not be able to. Maybe even have to be sedated.’ A faint rueful grin flittered over her lips. ‘But it was OK.’

‘You’re incredibly brave, Ben. You know that, right?’

‘I don’t know if it’s brave,’ she replied. ‘They needed to know. Hopefully they’ll get evidence at the scene and catch the sonofabitch.’

‘What’s Ben short for? Benjamina?’

Jacob’s sudden question threw her momentarily, and then she stared at him in horror. ‘Benjamina? Oh God no.’

The smile faded as she went on to explain. ‘He used my name. When he was… you know, he said my name over and over. Afterwards I couldn’t bear to hear it. It made me cringe. I actually screamed at Aoife in the hospital when she called me it one day. It was awful. But I needed a name. My first name is Bree. It means strong and honourable. But it didn’t feel either after he’d finished. Elizabeth was my gran’s name and Nicole was my mum’s best friend. I put the initials together and changed it by deed poll. Bree was who I was before the rape. Ben is who I’ve grown to be since.’

‘Ben suits you. Still strong and honouring your family at the same time,’ said Jacob.

Not quite knowing how to respond, she smiled back at him.

‘I should ring Aoife. She’ll be worried.’

‘She is, but she knows you’re safe with me. I said I’d get you home as soon as I could.’

‘I bet she loved that. She’s got this spidey sense where you’re concerned. She’s convinced there’s something between us,’ Ben’s cheeks coloured as she realised what she’d said.

Jacob couldn’t stop his eyes smouldering in reaction to her comments. All he’d wanted to do all day was tear her away from the police station and take her somewhere he could keep her safe. It was an urge so strong he’d had to physically stop himself. There was definitely something between them: Aoife’s spidey sense was right.