The Headhunters (4 page)
‘Bruising to the neck consistent with finger pressure.’
A pulse throbbed in her temple and she thought she would faint. ‘No—how dreadful!’
‘We’re treating it as a violent death and possibly murder.’
Gooseflesh was forming on her arms.
‘She drowned, as you must have guessed,’ DC Pearce said in a tone meant to make it less of a shock, ‘and the marks suggest she was held under the water.’
‘Horrible.’
‘Yes.’
‘I had no idea. And this happened at sea?’
‘Not in the way you mean,’ Hen Mallin said.
‘I don’t follow you.’
‘You’re assuming she was attacked on a ship. We don’t think so. Human skin immersed in water for any length of time gets bleached and wrinkled. It used to be called washerwoman’s hand, but these days we don’t use the term. This woman’s skin was in good condition, wet from the waves, and no more. We think the attack happened close to the beach.’
‘I can’t believe this.’
‘It seems she was in the water with her killer and held under until she stopped breathing. Now do you see why your recall of the scene is so important?’
She released a large, shaky breath. And nodded.
Hen Mallin pressed on with her questions. ‘You found the body at the base of the breakwater, right?’
‘Yes.’
‘As you pointed out, they stand ten or twelve feet high, those breakwaters. On the one side, that is. On the other, the stones are stacked almost to the top, so you don’t see much timber at all. It’s the action of the tide, dragging the stones from under one breakwater and heaping them against the next one.’
Jo waited for her to get to the point.
‘And the sea was quite rough. Had been for some hours. Do you follow me? If the body had been washed up, it wouldn’t have got where you found it.’
It was as if they were questioning her account. ‘That’s where it was.’
‘So it looks as if the tide went out and the body was left there, more or less where she drowned. That would explain why it was on that side of the breakwater.’
‘I suppose.’
‘You didn’t find any clothes nearby?’
‘No. Why?’ She knew the question was stupid as soon as it left her mouth, but all this had come as a shock.
‘She’s not going to be on a public beach in no more than her knickers.’
‘There weren’t any clothes that I could see.’
‘You must have wondered where they were, surely, finding a poor dead woman almost naked.’
‘I don’t know what I thought. I was very upset when I discovered what it was I’d found.’
‘You didn’t look around, then?’ Hen Mallin’s brown eyes regarded her with disbelief, if not disapproval.
Jo felt annoyed by the question. ‘I’m not an expert like you. I thought she’d been washed up by the tide. I’m only the person who happened to find her.’ She almost added that they were making her feel like a suspect, but she stopped herself in time. ‘Was she . . . ?’
‘Raped? Apparently not. The signs weren’t there, but who can say what was in the mind of the killer? Something that starts out as sex play can turn ugly if the woman doesn’t welcome it.’
These words, ‘raped,’ ‘killer,’ ‘sex play,’ and ‘ugly’ struck Jo with near-physical force. ‘Do you think they knew each other, then? They went to the beach together for a swim?’
‘That’s our present assumption.’
‘And he held her under and she drowned?’
‘He, or she. We consider every option.’
‘Why?’
‘Why was she attacked?’ Hen Mallin turned up her palms. ‘No one can say yet. The killer could have planned it, expecting she’d be taken for some unfortunate woman who fell overboard. You understand why I’m asking if you remember anything from the scene?’
‘Who was she?’
‘We don’t know yet. She could be local. Equally she could have come from miles away. Or been brought there by her killer.’
‘Poor woman.’
‘Yes. Whoever she was, her luck ran out that weekend. Cast your mind back, Jo. Who did you see along the front?’
‘Nobody I knew.’
‘That isn’t what I’m asking. I don’t expect names. I want your recollection of everyone you noticed.’
‘That’s hard.’
‘Think for a bit. Take your time.’
She frowned. The finding of the body had pushed everything before that moment into a hazy, unimportant background. For much of the walk she’d been absorbed in her own thoughts, hoping against the odds to meet Jake. She’d been on the lookout for tall men, that was one sure thing.
‘There was a young guy who passed me early on. He was tall, over six feet, and wearing a fleece and tracksuit trousers. Grey, I think. And he had an iPod. Well, I saw the earphones.’
‘You say he passed you. Do you mean overtook you?’
‘No, he was coming towards me.’
‘From the direction of the body?’
‘Yes, but I don’t think—’
‘Hair colour?’
‘God, this is difficult. Darkish brown and short.’
‘Age?’
‘Younger than me. Mid-twenties probably.’
‘Was he in a hurry?’
‘He was walking quite fast when I saw him. He could have been a jogger.’
‘Did you speak?’
She shook her head. ‘There wasn’t even eye contact.’
‘But you’d remember him if you saw him again?’
‘I might. I can’t say for sure.’ She felt responsible, drawing attention to this guy who probably had nothing to do with the body. ‘He wasn’t the only man I saw along the beach. There was another, in combat clothes, down at the water’s edge throwing a ball for his dog.’
‘What—near the body?’
‘No. I told you nobody was there. This was further back, closer to those wooden buildings where the fish are sold.’
‘Go on,’ DC Pearce said. ‘We’re with you.’
‘I watched the dog running into the waves to collect the ball. It was a large black poodle.’
Maybe a pit bull would have impressed them more. The two detectives lost all interest in the dog owner. They didn’t even ask the colour of his hair. ‘When you saw the first man, the guy in the tracksuit,’ Hen Mallin said, ‘it was early on in the walk, you said?’
‘I think so.’
‘Not far from where you left the car?’
‘Probably.’
‘You wouldn’t have noticed if he got into a car himself?’
‘I told you. He passed me. I didn’t look back.’
‘Fair enough.’ Hen looked at her colleague. They’d run through their repertoire. ‘There’s nothing else you remember from that afternoon?’
‘I’ve told you all I know.’
They left soon after. Although something was said about thanks and cooperation, Jo felt it was only lip service. She’d had a mauling. She needed another coffee before she could face work again.
THAT EVENING one of those small cars that look as if it they’ve been sawn off at the back was parked in the spot she always used outside her flat, so she had to go looking for another place. Typical. The only space she could find was way up the next street. Serious damage to property (namely, one yellow Smartcar) was on her mind as she finished humping two bags of shopping the two hundred yards to her door.
Before she got there someone stepped out of the offending car and stood waiting for her.
Gemma.
‘Can I help with those?’
‘You’d better, seeing that you nicked my parking place.’
‘Sorry.’ Gem sounded worried, more worried than ill-judged parking warranted.
‘Problems?’
‘Mind if I come in? I’ve had a godawful week and it’s still only Monday.’
Supper would have to wait. Inside, Jo opened the bottle of merlot she’d bought for herself and carried two drinks to the sofa. The two friends sat facing the switched-off television.
‘It’s my butthead boss again,’ Gemma said. ‘You remember I was telling you about Fiona from accounts? Well, it seems I read the signs all wrong. She’s giving him the come-on now. In the last couple of days she’s appeared at work all done up like the next
Big
Brother
contestant in really unsuitable clothes, low-cut tops and skirts a teenager would think twice about wearing.’
Jo was still feeling frayed from her session with the police and it wasn’t easy to take Gemma’s problems seriously, but she made the effort. ‘I thought she was the homespun type. That’s what you told me.’
‘And how wrong I was. That line she gave me about being embarrassed by all his interest was a load of horse hooey. She was sounding me out, making sure I wasn’t going to make a play for him myself.’
‘And what does he make of it?’
‘Laps it up, naturally. He’s starting to give her jobs that mean reporting back to him directly. Every time she comes in he sends me out on some errand.’
‘Do you think they’re at it in the office?’
‘Parallel parking? I wouldn’t put it past them. There’s some fooling around for sure, but that isn’t here nor there. What really upsets me, Jo, is that I think he’s grooming her for my job.’
‘Really?’ For all her efforts, Jo wasn’t sounding as outraged as the story demanded.
Fortunately Gemma didn’t seem to notice. ‘Yesterday she was told to take a spess—that’s a specification—from a client. That’s what I do. I should have done that.’
Jo rallied a bit. ‘Bloody cheek. Did you tell him he’s out of order?’
‘No. I’m a coward basically.’
‘You’ve got to stand up for yourself or she’ll trample all over you. If it happens again, you march into that office of his and tell him you won’t stand for it.’
Gemma shook her head. ‘I know what’ll happen if I do. My office experience up against her pulling power? No contest.’
‘The place can’t run without you.’
‘I wish that was true. I was talking to Rick and he said no one is indispensable.’
‘You’ve discussed it with Rick?’
‘We had a drink last night.’
‘And he wasn’t much comfort by the sound of it.’
‘He said the writing is on the wall. I’d better see what’s on offer at the job centre.’
‘Oh great!’ Jo’s fighting spirit surfaced. ‘Listen, Gem. Rick is way off message here. You’ve done nothing wrong. You’re practically running that firm on your own. If you want out, okay, but if you want to keep the job you’ve got to hit back.’
‘What can I do? Call in the Headhunters?’
‘Let’s think. Like you say, she’s played the sex card, and that’s got him all fired up. We give him the cold shower treatment.’
‘How?’
‘You say he’s giving her the chance to meet clients. What if she makes a mistake that costs the firm a lot of money?’
‘I’m sure she will, given time, but I can’t afford to wait for it to happen.’
‘Exactly. You help it along. I don’t know how your office works, but if, say, an order comes in for three hundred booklets it won’t look good for the fair Fiona if her paperwork says thirty thousand.’
‘I add some zeros? She’d notice. She’s trained in accounts.’
‘It’s a matter of when it’s done. You intercept the order after it’s left her and before it goes to the printer. You can find a way of doing that, can’t you?’
‘I guess I can . . . but it’s sneaky.’
‘Gem, I don’t get you. Don’t you think
she’s
being sneaky, doing you out of your job?’
Gemma looked as if the sun had come out. ‘Back of the net. Yes, I could use her computer and alter the figures at source and reprint the order. It would be simple to do.’
‘Remember, for this to work it has to be several zeros, not just one.’
‘A major boo-boo?’ Gemma’s eyes shone again.
‘Precisely. And the beauty is, she won’t know for certain that she didn’t make the mistake herself. We’ve all done that, pressed one key too hard and made a row of letters.’ Jo was surprising herself with her relish for this underhand plot.
‘Do you think I’ll get away with it?’ Gemma said. ‘I’ll be the obvious suspect.’
‘If she points the finger at you, she’s admitting she’s made an enemy of you by targeting your job. She won’t want to do that.’
‘What about Mr Cartwright? He’s going to think it was me.’
‘Let him. He won’t be able to prove a thing. And he can’t be certain it wasn’t Fiona who screwed up. The main thing is he won’t dare put any more of your work her way.’
‘I’m going to do it,’ Gemma raised a clenched fist. ‘I feel heaps better now.’
Jo, too, was much recovered.
‘I knew I could depend on you,’ Gemma said. ‘You know what?’
‘Tell me.’
‘When I top the bastard, you’re definitely on the team.’
‘THIS IS GETTING TO ME,’ Hen Mallin said to Stella Gregson, who was managing the mobile incident room on the front at Selsey. They were sitting on the steps in front of the open door so that Hen could smoke one of her evil-smelling cigarillos. ‘I never fancied a caravan holiday.’
Stella had worked with Hen ever since their days at Bognor police station and knew when the boss was in danger of erupting. Ten days into the investigation they still hadn’t identified the victim. ‘Things could be worse. Makes a nice change from the nick. Fresh sea air.’
‘You think so? I’m an Essex girl, raised on petrol fumes.’
‘A tough case brings out the best in you.’
‘It isn’t a case at all yet.’
‘I can’t think what else we can try, guv. The posters are everywhere. We had the front page in all the local papers. Television news.’
‘And what have we got for it? Sweet FA.’
‘There can’t be anyone left in Selsey who hasn’t heard.’
‘Have we scared them off, parking this Port-a-Loo at the scene, or what? Even the attention-seekers are shunning us. We might as well shut up shop and shift back to the nick. At least you get a burger and chips there.’
‘You get freshly caught fish here. I took home two beautiful fillets of plaice last night.’
‘Great—if you’ve got the energy to cook at the end of the day.’
‘My fellow does the cooking.’
‘Be like that.’ Hen lived alone in a Bognor terrace. Her police career had always come first, and, unlike Stella, she’d never thought of sharing her home with a cop. She’d been raised in a working class family in Dagenham, but the raising had stopped at five foot one, and when she’d confided to her sister and two older brothers that she wanted to join the police they’d teased her without mercy. For the next year she was PC Shortarse and had to put up with ee-ah siren sounds whenever she appeared. She’d refused to be downed and answered a recruitment ad as soon as she was old enough. For the interview she’d added extra inches with platform shoes and her hair on top in a bun. Even the interviewer had poked fun, telling her the ballet school was up the street, but she’d toughed it out and said she had her own version of the
Nutcracker
called the ballbuster. And here she was, twelve years on, running a murder squad.
Stella switched the talk back to the investigation. ‘I’ve been asking myself why it’s so quiet. It’s a small community, just a village really. Suppose word got round that talking to us is not encouraged?’
‘A conspiracy of silence? I don’t think so, Stell. You don’t see that in their faces. Nobody cares enough. If we could put a name to the victim, we’d get a response, believe me.’
‘There are still no reports of missing women.’
‘I’m wondering about house-to-house.’
Now it was Stella’s turn to get uptight. ‘Do you want my honest opinion, guv?’
‘Save your breath,’ Hen said. ‘I know where you’re coming from. It wouldn’t be cost-effective. If we knew what happened to the victim’s clothes, we might get somewhere.’
‘Taken by the sea?’
‘I doubt it. You’ve seen the tideline all the way along. Enough rubbish to fill a quarry. Things get washed up here, not swept out.’
‘And everything along the beach has been sifted by the search squad.’
‘I’m not complaining at the effort,’ Hen said. ‘I want to know why, that’s all. Either some local ne’er-do-well found her kit and nicked it and is scared to own up, or the killer saw the sense in disposing of it. I would, and so would you.’
Uncomfortably close to home. Stella hesitated before asking, ‘So are we talking about someone with police experience?’
‘Not these days. Any couch potato with a telly gets the basics about forensics most nights of the week.’
The dialogue was interrupted briefly by some screaming gulls fighting over a fish head. Burgers still got Hen’s vote.
Stella threw in another suggestion. ‘What about the woman who found her?’
‘Jo Stevens?’
‘What’s she like?’
‘Ordinary. Profoundly shaken up by the experience. Lives in Chi and has the occasional walk down here at weekends. I got the impression she was keeping something back. It could be down to nerves, but she was pretty tight-lipped when I asked.’
‘Could that be because she picked up the victim’s clothes?’
Hen turned to look at her. ‘That’s a thought.’
‘Is she short of a few bob?’
‘Shouldn’t be. She’s in work. Mind, we don’t even know if the clothes were worth taking. No, on second thoughts she’d have found nicking them difficult. She was still at the scene when the patrol car answered the shout. The things must have walked before she got here.’
‘What’s she holding back, then?’
‘Don’t know. It’s just the vibe I was getting from her.’
‘Would you like me to have a go at her?’
Hen shook her head. ‘I don’t want her retreating into her shell.’
Stella wasn’t known for bullying tactics, but she let the remark pass. ‘Could she be a suspect?’
Hen flicked ash on the pebbles. ‘What, drowned the woman and raised the alarm herself? It wouldn’t be unknown in the annals of crime. I dare say there’s a syndrome with a special name for it. In the absence of any other suspects, Stella, I’m keeping an open mind on Miss Jo Stevens.’
‘And the men she saw along the beach, the jogger and the dog-owner?’
‘Still trying to trace them. Like I said, Selsey people aren’t the best at coming forward. This box on wheels looks too much like a prison vehicle. Speaking of which, I’m still interested in local villains.’
‘We checked the sex offenders’ register on the first day and drew a blank, as you know.’
‘This may not be about sex.’
‘Nothing showed up in the post mortem.’
‘My point exactly. It’s easy to get carried away with the idea that because she was undressed it was for one thing only.’
‘What else is there?’
‘Skinny dipping, for starters. This was a warm September night. At this end of summer, the sea temperature is as high as it gets.’
‘I haven’t heard of nude bathing down here.’
‘These things go on, Stell.’
‘In Selsey?’
‘All along the coast. There’s an entire beach in Brighton that is set aside for the birthday suit brigade. I once walked by out of curiosity. Didn’t exactly inflame me. And then there’s art.’
‘There’s what?’
‘Photography in the main, celebrating the naked form, usually female. Page three girls. Not just the
Sun.
Lads’ mags. Even posh Sunday colour magazines pay big bucks for that kind of stuff. Beaches are favoured locations. Not that your average girl-fancier wastes much time looking at the background.’
‘And they call it art!’
‘I hope I haven’t got a Philistine on my team. This is commercial art. Cash for the models, fees for the photographers, and sales for the newsagents.’
‘Do you think our victim was a model, then?’
‘Actually, no. At thirty plus, she was a bit old for that. Unless it was amateur photography. The local camera club.’
‘A Women’s Institute calendar. What was that film?’ Stella asked, playing to Hen’s improving mood.
‘It had a thousand imitations. The world’s moved on.’
‘But has this place?’
‘Going by Bognor, where I live, probably not. But I haven’t heard Selsey is planning anything quite so risqué. Someone would have told us, wouldn’t they?’
‘Are they telling us anything?’
‘You can’t get up to frolics like that without half the village knowing about it.’
‘We don’t know half the village.’
‘Which is why house-to-house has its attractions,’ Hen said. ‘You walked into that.’
Behind them, a phone went. One of the computer operators inside the van would take it.
‘What we need is someone out here under an awning,’ Hen said. ‘Know what I mean? A canvas thing with coloured stripes. We’re on a beach, for God’s sake. Let’s meet the public as they walk by.’
She was called to the phone.
Stella waited, hoping whoever it was would put the awning out of the boss’s mind. Outside was no place to be when the wind got up.
‘Breakthrough,’ Hen said, stepping out again, elated. ‘A witness has surfaced. Says he was on the beach on the day she was found. He was exercising his dog. This is the guy with the poodle.’
TWENTY PAST two and Jake was late. They were supposed to meet on the path opposite the lifeboat station, and it wasn’t the best of choices. The sharp east wind coming off the sea was getting through Jo’s padded jacket and chilling her. Unusually for her, she was shivering. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could stand here.
She should have asked for his mobile number. She assumed he carried a phone. He’d need one in his line of work, just to keep in touch with colleagues. She wasn’t sure what nature conservancy entailed, except that labelling shingle plants was part of it. A man out on the reserve would need to stay in contact.
The arrangement had been clear, she thought. Friday at two. If something had gone wrong he could have called the garden centre and left a message for her. She’d just checked and she had no voicemail. He wouldn’t have reached her at home because he didn’t know her number, or even where she lived. This early in a friendship you don’t exchange addresses.
Plenty of things might have delayed him, and she kept playing them through her mind. She didn’t wish to face the other possibility: that he’d stood her up. It was hard to know how any man’s mind worked, and Jake’s shyness was an extra barrier. So for the moment she preferred to think something had gone wrong at home, a burst pipe or a gas leak. He’d get the problem fixed as soon as possible and come hurrying to meet her.
If she was wrong and a domestic emergency wasn’t the reason, she supposed he could have made a mistake about the time. Or even the day. Forgetfulness would be preferable to rejection.
Clutching at her arms, trying to rub warmth into them, she looked again along the path in each direction. Few scenes are so bleak as the seaside on a grey autumn day. To the east, where the wind was coming from, she could see the black trailer the police had parked opposite the place where she’d found the body. It just depressed her more.
He’d said he lived in Selsey but she had no idea which part. No one else was in sight. The only life in view was the gulls gliding on the stiff wind, and they were pretty inactive, not needing to move their wings. This was looking like a lost cause.
I hate this place, she thought. Once it was all right, but now it’s linked with that poor woman’s death and the hard time I was given by those detectives. If I’m honest with myself I’m only here for the chance to spend time with Jake. I don’t really have to put myself through this.
She looked at her watch again. Maybe the poor guy was ill, too far gone to make contact. That would be dreadful, but was it realistic? People his age didn’t get ill very often, not ill enough to be stuck indoors. If she stayed here much longer she’d be the one who was ill. Soon she’d have to admit he wasn’t going to appear and hadn’t bothered to let her know.
Ten more minutes, then.
Those minutes passed and he didn’t come.
ON SATURDAY in Starbucks Gemma was even more hyper than usual. ‘You’re a crafty minx, putting those wicked ideas in my head. I’ve done the dirty now. There’s no going back. The ordure hits the air conditioning next week, about Tuesday morning, I reckon.’
‘You went through with it?’
‘Calm down. You look like the bird that went for a worm and pecked through the electric cable. This was your suggestion, remember. Yesterday she left about three-thirty and so did he.’
‘Together?’
‘Take a wild guess. So it gave me the chance to get into her computer. To be honest, I was in two minds even then, but I didn’t know the half of it. You wouldn’t believe the amount of stuff he’s syphoned off to her in the last week. I went mental when I saw it all on screen. These aren’t jumble sale posters, Jo, they’re major projects, colour magazines, and Christmas catalogues for some of our top clients. Work I’ve always handled.’
‘So what did you do?’
‘Just like you said, I bumped up one of the orders from five thou to five hundred thou.’
‘Good. Which one?’
‘A council booklet about waste disposal.’
Jo raised a clenched fist. ‘I like it. She’ll be waste herself when this gets found out.’
Gemma rolled her eyes upwards. ‘I’m not so comfortable with it now.’
‘Why?’
‘Basically, I’m a coward. I’m hoping the printer queries it with Mr Cartwright.’
‘That’s no use,’ Jo said. ‘The business has to suffer, or she’ll walk all over you and so will he. You want half a million useless booklets stacked up for everyone to see.’
Gemma whistled. ‘Half a million? Is that how much it comes to?’
‘Five hundred thou, you said.’
‘I’m wetting my pants over this.’
‘Believe me, if it doesn’t hurt him where it matters, in his pocket, your Mr Cartwright is going to forgive and forget and Fiona will be sitting at your desk before the end of the year. Be strong, Gem.’
Gemma’s way of being strong was to bite her lip and flap her hand in front of her face, and Jo felt her own confidence falter, in spite of all she’d said. She’d set this up and people’s careers were at risk. Someone was going to suffer, whatever the justification for the thing.
Jo changed the subject. ‘How are you and Rick getting on? Have you been out with him again?’
‘A couple of times,’ Gemma said. ‘The lad is shaping up. We’ve got the same taste in films, which is good. But we haven’t had sex yet, if that’s what you’re asking.’
‘D’you mind? I wouldn’t be so nosy.’
‘Did you sleep with him when you two were going out?’
Jo smiled. ‘I see. It’s all right to ask me. As a matter of fact, I didn’t. Things got a bit physical, if you get me, but I wasn’t ready for the main course.’
‘I bet he was.’
‘Possibly, but it takes two.’
‘He behaved like a gent, then? Adjusted his dress and wished you a polite good evening?’
‘Something like that.’
‘I don’t plan on telling him about my war with Fiona,’ Gemma said. ‘That’s between you and me, right?’
