The Murder Exchange (36 page)

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coming forward towards the bed, 'We fucking did
it!' She sat up and we clutched each other tightly. I
pushed my face into her neck, revelling in her
smell. And do you know what? I almost said I love
you, but stopped myself just in time. It wasn't the
moment for that yet.

'If s not over yet, hon.'

'No, but the worst part's sorted.'

'I saw on the news that two people got shot/ she
said, easing herself away from my grasp. 'What
happened?'

'They were Krys's associates. They tried to stop
us, we had no choice.'

'Did you know that they've shown your mug on CrimewatchT I shook my head. 'It was on last night.
I saw it.'

'How did I look?'

Tucking ugly, so better than usual. I hope your
passport photo looks a lot different.'

'Don't worry. It'll look beautiful.'

That'll take some work.'

'You know, Miss Toms, you're getting a little bit
too disrespectful for my liking.' I removed my shirt
and flung it on the floor.

'You need a suntan.'

'You need to be taught a lesson.'

'How's little Krysy doing?'
'Blindfolded and shackled in a cellar, on a diet of
bread and water.'

'Good. Kick that bastard for me, will you?' She
pulled me towards her.

'I already have/ I said, tugging at my belt.

As I entered her, she asked me if I'd been the one

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who'd pulled the trigger in Heavenly Girls. I told
her I had been.
The sex was fantastic.

Gallan

Knox looked at Benin and me with a mixture of
annoyance and confusion. We were in his office in
the Matthews incident room, the last three people
on the case, and it was eleven a.m.

'Explain this to me again/ he said, rubbing his
eyes. 'We've all had a late night and I know I'm not
quite with it this morning, but I'm sure you've just
told me that your possible suspect in this inquiry is
^w lied in with the Jones murder.'

That's right,' I said, feeling that at this point I
had nothing to lose. 'I wouldn't say I'm sure of it,
but I've got enough suspicions to warrant a full
search of the house, and I believe I can get the
owner's permission.'

'How many murders are you trying to solve
here?'

'As many as I can.'

Knox sat up in his seat and took a large gulp of
coffee. 'If we send SOCO round, what do you think
they're going to find?'

'Maybe nothing, but it's got to be worth a shot.
The Jones case has ground to a halt, everyone
knows that. Even the Essex police found nothing
when they reviewed it. So, if we can be seen to be
doing something it certainly won't do us any
harm.'

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'I don't want to raise the hopes of the family.
They're good people.'

'I know they are, but look at it like this. Robert
Jones disappeared from that street one morning
without anyone ever seeing him get taken. Now,
that road's quite busy at that time, as we all know, "^
so that was unusual in itself.'

'Not that unusual.'

'If you'll let me finish, sir.' Knox motioned for me
to go on. 'I checked the pathologist's notes again
yesterday. Robert's clothing had been interfered
with but there were no other signs of sexual assault.
It was also noted that he was murdered elsewhere
before being dumped, and that, because of the lack
of signs of a struggle or defensive injuries, he probably
died very quickly after being taken. But the
most important thing is that there were no signs of
him being bound or gagged.' i

Knox shrugged. 'We went over this during Jj
the investigation. He could have been thrown in the ~~
back of a van from where it would have been
impossible for him to get out, and driven somewhere
isolated where the murderer could finish
him off without having to worry about him making
a noise.'

I knew this wasn't going to be easy. Knox had
been, still was technically, the man leading the
inquiry. He was not going to want to have
the theory that had underpinned it, that it had been
a predatory paedophile who'd killed Robert, taken
away from under him. That's possible, yes/ I
persisted, "but the thing is, we've never come close
to finding the killer, and there's been no other

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abduction and murder of a young boy anywhere in
south-east England since. Or, for that matter, in the
year leading up to it.'

'That doesn't necessarily mean anything, John.
Robert Black was one of the worst predatory
paedophiles of the last twenty years, and he often
waited up to three or four years before
re-offending.'

True, but we know, or are pretty certain, that the
house on Runmayne Avenue that Tony Franks
rented was being used for some sort of illegal
purpose linked to one of north London's most
dangerous crime families, and it's going to have to
have been something pretty lucrative for the
Holt/es to shell out that much in rent every month.
». hat if Robert saw something that caught his eye
that morning and went to take a closer look?'

'Like what?'

'I don't know,' I admitted, 'but let's say he goes
up to the house, takes a look, as any inquisitive
thirteen-year-old would, and sees something he
shouldn't. He gets spotted, is taken inside the
house, and he's then murdered because his killer or
killers have no choice but to get rid of him. They
then dump his body, making it look like a sex crime
in an effort to cover their tracks. Just like they did
with Miriam Fox that time. I know it may well not
be the likeliest scenario but it's got to be a
possibility.'

Knox sighed. 'I understand your desire to get a
result on the Jones case, John. I know how much it
affected you, all of us, but we're meant to be concentrating
on the Matthews investigation.'

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'I know, but let's face it, from what we've found
out so far, the Holtzes or one or more of their
associates had at least something to do with the
murder of Matthews. Maybe Iversson's involved
there too. And the problem we've got is it's difficult
to get anyone to talk, but if somehow we can link
members of their organization with what happened
to Robert Jones, maybe we can loosen a few
tongues and make some headway on both cases.
No-one wants to protect child killers.'

'You know how much it costs to get a team to
give a house a full once-over?'

'Yes, sir, it's a lot, but we've got a lead. It's not a
great one but it's something, and on the Jones case
particularly we haven't got any others, and haven't
had for months. 1 know that SO7 are potentially
interested in this too,' I added, trying to attach
some authority to my request. 'It might give them a
route into the Holtzes.'

'Maybe they should pay for the SOCO team,
then.'

'It's still our case, sir.'

Knox sat there not saying anything, sipping
thoughtfully on his coffee. I knew I'd boxed him
into a corner. He could say no and claim there
simply wasn't enough in what I was saying, but if
he made that decision and then, at some point
down the line, it turned out that this had indeed
been what had happened to Robert Jones, the buck
would stop with him. That was one of the problems
with twenty-first-century policing. Such was the
power of technology that important evidence could
be found years after the event. Although this

338

could mean far more convictions, it also meant that
the mistakes of police officers investigating crimes
were forever open to exposure. Knox, like the
consummate politician he was, decided to play it
safe.

'What do you think, Dave?' he asked Benin.

'I think the sarge is right, sir. It's got to be worth
looking into. And it may well help the Matthews
r.^e.'

Knox finally nodded. 'All right, we'll go with it.'

339

Friday, two days ago

Iversson

'Have you got the money ready?'

'I told you, I need more time.'

'So you haven't?'

'Look, you don't know who you're fucking
around with here. If you don't let him go, I'll be
coming after you, you hear me?'

Tm not listening. Now, you hear me. We'll start
pulling your boy's fingernails out unless you do
what we say, when we say it.'

'If you touch one fucking hair on his head--'

'Then what? What will you do exactly?'

'I will kill you. Understand that. I will find you
and I will saw your fucking legs off.'

'Nothing'11 happen to him if you give us
the money we've requested. Why haven't you got
it?'

'What guarantee have I got that he's even still
alive?'

'There's no point us killing him. He hasn't seen
our faces and he doesn't know who we are.'

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'You hurt him and I'll hunt you down. There'll be
no fucking hiding place.'

'You've said that already. It wasn't frightening
the first time. Now, have you got the money or not?
Answer me now.'

There was a pause. Teah, I've got the money.'

'Good. Now, listen carefully. At six-thirty p.m.
tomorrow, be in the rear car park of the Post House
Hotel on the Epping High Road. It's on the
southern outskirts of Epping, just before the road
crosses the M25. Have your mobile with you, as
well as the money. And do not bring anyone else.
Do you understand?'

'How do I know you're not going to have a pop
at me?'

All I want's that money. Nothing else. Be at the
Post House tomorrow and I'll call you then.'

I thought I was getting good at this as I stepped
out of the phone box into the light morning drizzle.

Gallan

After much persuasion, I managed to push the DCI
into organizing the SOCO team to start their
painstaking work that Friday morning. I watched
them arrive from across the street, hoping they
would turn up something, however small, that
could solve the murder of the thirteen-year-old
paperboy.

The previous evening I'd gone round alone to
Robert's parents' house to tell them of the new
developments and to remind them not to get too

341

optimistic. They'd both nodded in understanding,
and had thanked me for my help and my thoughtfulness
in keeping them informed. I'd told them I
was just doing my job, and Mrs Jones had put her
hand on my arm and told me I was doing it well.
And I'd thought then that, whatever happened
with this lead, I would never stop until I found the
person who'd killed their son and brought him to
justice. It was why I was a copper. It was my vocation
in life. The constant desire to give some sort of justice
to people for whom fate had denied it. "£

I waited there for a long time as the white
overalled SOCO officers strode in and out of 41F
Runmayne Avenue with their various paraphernalia.
Only when I was satisfied they were taking the job
seriously, that they would scour the place until they'd
covered every square inch of it, did I finally turn and
make my way back to the station.

When I got back to the incident room, Benin was
just coming off the phone. 'That was Martin
Leppel,' he said, as I went and got myself a coffee.

'Has he got together that list of people we were
after yet?' I knew Benin had been hassling him
about it all week.

He nodded. 'Yeah, he faxed it through about an
hour ago. That's what I was phoning him about.'

'Anything interesting on it?' I asked, heading to
his desk with the coffee.

'Here, take a look.' He passed over the typewritten!
list of names and dates and I scanned down it, immediately
seeing what had caught his attention.

'Well, well, well. So, Craig McBride was there.'

Twice. And for a total of nearly eighteen montl

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Leppel remembers him well. Says he was a right
nasty piece of work, but definitely not a drug
addict. Apparently some of his colleagues used to
take the piss out of him because for all his so-called
hardness he was petrified of needles.'

'I knew there was nothing natural about his
death. But that arsehole Burley's saying it was a
self-administered overdose.'

'Capper told me this morning that all they're
charging Jean Tanner with is possession of a Class
A drug.'

I sighed. 1 can't see why they don't at least charge
her with the illegal disposal of a dead body. At this
rate, we'll be lucky if she ends up with a fine.'

'Maybe we should try and talk to her.'

j j

..itiybe.' I sipped my coffee, wishing there was
something I could lean on her with. But what did I
have that Neil Vamen didn't? There was no way
I could put pressure on her and she'd know it. But
in spite of everything, I'm an optimist, and that
means I don't give up. I was just going to have to
think of a way.

'Anyway, good work, Dave. You've done well.'

Berrin shrugged. 'I'm not entirely useless, Sarge.
I can do more than just routine enquiries, you
know.'

I nodded. 'Yeah, I do know. I'll do a better job of
keeping you in the loop in future.' He nodded,
acknowledging the fact that I was indirectly
apologizing, and I hoped we could leave it at that.

I picked up the phone and tried Malik's number.
Amazingly enough, he actually answered, though
he informed me he was in a hurry.

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This Krys Holtz thing's turning into a nightmare/
he explained.

How come?'

'Well, no-one's co-operating, as usual. The family *
say they don't know what we're talking about and
apparently Krys is fine, just not around at the
moment, and now suddenly all the staff at
the brothel are retracting their statements. Plus,
we've got no intelligence on the ground as to who
might be behind it.'

Tm sorry to bother you, Asif, but did you find
out anything about this company, Dagmar
Holdings?'

'I haven't had time. I'll get something sorted for
you by tomorrow, I promise. Have you tried
Companies House for any information?'