The Secrets of the Shadows (The Annie Graham series - Book 2) (26 page)

Will, who had been sitting bolt upright listening to her speak for the last five minutes, slumped forward; putting his elbows on the desk he buried his head in his hands and sat like that for a couple of minutes and then peered at her through his fingers. ‘What the hell are we going to do Grace?’

‘Who can you trust, or more importantly who doesn’t have size 12 feet?’

‘Up to now that’s me, I don’t think anyone in my office does but I couldn’t really say for sure. What if they just borrowed someone’s size 12 boots and they are really a size 9?

Grace chewed her thumbnail for a few seconds. ‘Then my friend we are fucked.’ She went through the pictures she had tucked away in the back of her notebook until she found the one of the footprint and studied it. After a while she smiled and then held it towards Will. ‘Nope, they have to be his boots; you see where it’s worn a bit on the heel and the pattern is not as distinct. If the boot was too big it wouldn’t have made that impression in the soil. That was where the full weight of the body pressed down into it.’

‘Phew, thank Christ for that. So if I go and print off the duties and the logs and photocopy the scene logs we can go through them together. We won’t mention it to anyone if he’s as much of a ticking time bomb as you think. Why is he picking blonde-haired women?’

‘I would say because he has a grudge against someone from when he was younger, they must have blonde hair and be pretty because I would bet that whoever pissed him off once upon a time looked very similar to both victims. It could have been a mother who left him or a sister he was extremely jealous of. It could even have been a previous girlfriend who left him.’

‘Do you want to go down and get your stuff and I’ll drive you to my house?’ He looked at her long blonde hair which was piled into a loose bun on the top of her head and her delicate features. She fit the victim profile so he couldn’t risk her being in the station and he wondered if she’d worked that one out as well.

‘If that’s what you want to do, oh and Will, we need to speak to the priest. He is the key to all of this even if he doesn’t know it.’

They left the room and stepped into the deserted corridor, walking along until they passed the staff room which was empty. Will felt on edge and couldn’t get his head around the fact that one of the good guys had turned out to be not so good after all and that it could go from bad to worse in the blink of an eye. He waited in the corridor while Grace went back into his office to collect her things off his desk. When she came out he walked her to where he had parked his car down a little back street. ‘Wait here and I’ll go and print the stuff off that we need, then we can go back to my house and see what we can find. The fewer people we tell the better, although I’m tempted to tell Jake and Annie but I’m scared of dragging them into it. I know for a fact that it won’t be Jake even though he does have size 12 feet, he’s definitely one of us and Alex would be the first to ring me or Annie if he thought that Jake was cracking up. The killer must live alone or have access to somewhere that no-one else does because the first body dump wasn’t the primary scene and we still have no idea where the first murder took place. We only found the second one because we were searching for the man who Laura left the pub with. The first victim’s house has been searched several times by CSI and Task Force and it was clean.’

‘Did I read that Tracy Hale phoned up because she thought someone had been inside her home?’

‘Yes you did, but the only reason she thought that was because the Sky remote had been moved.’

‘Can you tell me if it was taken away and checked for prints after her body was discovered?’

‘I don’t think so, shit. I didn’t even think of that and I doubt anyone else has, we need that control. If the killer stalked her then he could have been in her house and touched the control, his prints could be on them. It’s a long shot but what have we got to lose?’

Grace nodded, ‘I’d say so, anything at this point is worth a try. The quicker we can identify the killer the less chance there is of anyone else being hurt.’

Will slammed the car door shut and jogged back to the station, adrenalin making his hands shake a little; a fine sheen of sweat broke out on his forehead, which he wiped with the sleeve of his jacket. Now wasn’t the time to screw up, people’s lives depended upon him. He rushed into the station and back to his desk. He couldn’t even look into the parade room, he was so on edge and frightened he might give something away. CID staff didn’t wear work boots so he was pretty sure it wasn’t any of his team, but that didn’t mean they didn’t still have a pair tucked away at home or in the locker room. Every one of them had begun life as a response officer. The office was busy, his team had all been allocated tasks at the morning meeting to be following up on. He sat down at his desk and logged back on to his computer where he set about printing out the duty rotas for the days the victims were found. He then took the crime scene logs and went to the photocopier. If anyone wondered what he was doing, they didn’t comment, in fact they didn’t even give him a second glance. and fifteen minutes later he had everything that he needed. Without saying a word he gathered his papers and left the office.

Kav came through the back door just as Will was about to leave. ‘How’s it going?’

Will found himself instinctively looking down at the man’s boots and then snapped his head back up. ‘Not so good. What size feet are you? I’ve got some boots at home that I’ve only worn a couple of times, you can have them if they’ll fit.’

‘I don’t think my feet will fit in your boots Will, I’m a 13.’

‘No these are 11s but they are massive so would probably fit someone who’s a size 12. Do you know anyone who they might fit? I’m having a clear out and it would be a shame to let them sit there.’

Kav shrugged. ‘Jake probably, one of the bigger men. Do you want me to ask around?’

‘No it’s okay, I’ll stick a notice on the board, cheers Kav.’

Will walked out of the station relieved it wasn’t Kav, that would have tipped him over the edge. He hadn’t thought about that, it would be one of the bigger guys so that was another thing they could use to cross-reference when they had their list. He couldn’t wait to get home and work through what they had and hopefully find the murdering bastard and bring him in before Laura’s funeral.

Chapter 30

Annie knocked at the presbytery door quite a bit louder than she had meant to but it was a big house and she wanted to make sure if Father John was in there he would hear her. She waited and was rewarded by hearing footsteps on the other side. She hoped it would be John and then smiled to see him standing on the other side of the now open door. ‘Hi, how are you?’

He stepped to one side to let her in. ‘I’ve been better. My sister arrived late last night so one of your kind officers drove me back to meet her. She’s been in a bit of a state so I had to phone the doctor; he’s not long been and gave her some sleeping tablets, they knocked her right out. I wish there was something that I could take to block this whole nightmare out.’

‘I’m so sorry John, I really am. I hate to bother you but I was wondering if there is any way to find out who the parish priest was in 1984. Would you know where they keep the records, it’s really important.’

‘I don’t know about the records but I can answer that question because I do know exactly who it was. It was me, a lot younger and ever so keen. Why did you want to know that?’

Annie was shocked and took a minute to consider her reply, what if the man standing in front of her was the killer? But then her relatively new sixth sense told her that he was a good guy and it wasn’t him. She hoped that she was right and wasn’t walking straight into the arms of another madman. ‘Well this is really hard to explain but I believe it to be true, do you believe in ghosts?’

It was John’s turn to pause for a second and Annie felt a bit awkward, wondering if she had just asked him the ultimate no-no in questions that you should never ask a priest. He studied her face and then slowly nodded his head. Taking her by the elbow he gently led her through to the kitchen and shut the door behind them.

‘What I am about to tell you is between you and me, is that okay. I can’t bring the church into any disrepute and I don’t want it to become public knowledge do you understand?’

Annie, lost for words, nodded.

He took a deep breath. ‘I do believe in ghosts and when I was a lot younger, and by that I mean thirteen, I kept seeing one which scared the living daylights out of me. It was the main reason I turned to God. I believed that if something like that existed then so must the Almighty. But why do you ask and what has it got to do with 1984?’

She wasn’t sure just how much she should disclose to him about herself but then decided that honesty was the best policy, lying was too complicated. ‘I had an accident last year where I sustained a serious head injury and ever since then I have occasionally been able to see ghosts. At first I thought I was having hallucinations, but then some really strange things began happening to me and I met a medium who told me that I had developed a sixth sense. Apparently some people do after such injuries.’ She waited for John to laugh but he didn’t, he just nodded his head for her to continue. ‘I have been seeing a little girl but at the same time I have also seen a man, well he is more of a shadow of a man but he smells really bad.’

The colour drained from John’s face and he looked as if he was going to be sick all over the table. He dropped down onto one of the pine chairs. ‘Do you know what this little girl is called? Is it Sophie?’

‘Yes, she told me that her name was Sophie Woods, she also told me that she doesn’t want her brother to keep on killing. But the shadow man does and he won’t let Sophie go to the light, he keeps her with him in the dark.’

Annie didn’t think she had ever seen a person who was still alive look the colour that John was right now, his face was ashen.

‘I haven’t thought about little Sophie Wood for a long, long time. Do you think it’s her brother that is killing these women, who killed Ryan? Oh dear Lord, he thinks it’s my fault, he’s blaming me for what happened back in June in 1984. I swear to God it wasn’t my fault, I only wanted to help. I almost gave up my priesthood for Sophie’s mum Beth and those children but it all went terribly wrong and now Sean has come back for his revenge.’ John crossed himself and began relating the tale of what happened all those years ago. When he finished he began reciting a prayer.

Annie took out her phone and rang Will. ‘Don’t ask the details but I have a name for the killer, at least I’m ninety nine percent sure he’s the killer.’

‘What’s his name Annie? I’m at home with Grace, she has come up with a profile and it’s not good news. It all points to the killer being a copper.’

Annie made a sound in the back of her throat that sounded like a squeal. ‘The name I have is Sean Wood; his sister was called Sophie Wood and she died back in 1984 when Father John Trelmain tried to help the family and I think because of this he has one massive grudge against John. Will there’s a response officer called Sean but I’m sure his second name is Black.’

‘Thanks Annie, I’ll look into that now and get some background checks done. For the time being we need to keep John safe, Grace said that he was the link and once Sean realises that we’re onto him he might want to go out in a blaze of glory. Is there anywhere you can take him and keep the both of you out of the way until we find him? I don’t want to involve you but I don’t have many people I can trust at this end.’

‘I can’t take him anywhere Will, Ryan’s mum is here and she’s out for the count, the doctor had to sedate her. Will it’s not Jake, whoever this Sean is was orphaned at an early age and according to John put into foster care in Manchester or somewhere near to there.’

‘Thank you and tell John thanks, we should be able to narrow it down within the hour and not days. I’ll ask Jake to come up and stay with you both. I’m really sorry Annie I’ve managed to drag you into something dangerous all over again. Secure the building and you know the drill, don’t let anyone and I mean absolutely no-one in except for Jake.’

Annie felt sick from her stomach to the bottom of her feet. ‘I won’t. Will please be careful.’

Chapter 31

Sean was on his rest days, no work for three days, and he’d taken up his usual position outside the hairdressers to watch her. He liked her more than he’d liked the other two. From the salon’s Facebook page he knew that she was called Sophie, which was quite fitting. He watched her come out to get her lunch, this time he stayed where he was. When she came back he was going to go in and ask for an appointment with her. He knew that there was no CCTV cameras in the shop because there had been an attempted break-in a month ago and he had dealt with it. As she came back around the corner he got out of the car and headed towards the salon, not giving her a second glance but walking so he got to the front door of the shop at the same time that she did. He knocked her slightly and looked up, ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t notice you there.’

She smiled, ‘It’s okay.’

He opened the door and walked in, holding it open for her, and she gave him a smile which almost melted his heart. He grinned back and headed for the small counter where another girl was on the telephone. Sophie disappeared into the small staff room at the back but came out almost immediately. ‘Can I help you?’

‘Sorry to be a complete pain, I’m just after a bit of a tidy up. Is there any chance someone could run the clippers over my head. I can’t do it myself; I always manage to cut myself.’

‘I can do it now for you, if you want?’

‘I don’t want to ruin your lunch break, I can wait until you finish.’

‘No it’s fine, it’s only a chicken salad baguette, very boring and I’m not that desperate.’ She led him over to her workstation in the window and he sat down. As she tied the gown around his neck he felt a cold shiver run down his spine. She smiled at him in the mirror, ‘Did someone just walk over your grave?’

He laughed, ‘I hope not.’

‘Number two all over?’