Following her coffee with Danny Hanson, Matilda went back to the station. She had hoped she would feel refreshed after having some time alone. Unfortunately, that hadn’t happened. She sneaked into her office and gently closed the door behind her. It was soon flung open by Christian.
‘Adele’s been trying to get hold of you. She said your phone kept going straight to voicemail.’
Matilda dug her iPhone out of her pocket and looked at the screen. ‘The battery’s died,’ she said. She rooted around in her bottom drawer for a charger and plugged it in. ‘Did she want anything in particular?’
‘She’s done the post-mortem on Gordon Berry. There is some severe bruising to his body that looks like he was beaten,’ Christian said, reading from a notepad. ‘The bruising is relatively fresh. She thinks it was done a day, maybe two, before he was killed.’
‘That explains the disturbance at his house. Anything else?’
‘Yes. There is a nice footprint on the back of his knees. She may be able to get the print of a shoe from it. No bruising though. She’s found red dust in a head wound which she says is from a regular household brick. She seems to think he was attacked from behind, a swift kick to the back of the legs, smack on the head, and he’s rendered unconscious. Then he’s hanged.’
‘Have her check the footprint found at the Lacey’s house to see if it matches.’
‘She’s already checked.’ He smiled. ‘No match.’
‘OK.’ Matilda squeezed her eyes tightly shut and gripped the bridge of her nose. ‘If he was attacked a day or so before he was killed, then that happened before he came to the station.’
‘It would appear so.’
‘What have his colleagues said about him?’
‘Hang on. Rory, in here!’ Christian shouted over his shoulder.
Rory came bounding into the office, a silly grin on his face.
‘Tell the boss what Gordon Berry’s colleagues said.’
‘Well, Tuesday was Gordon’s forty-seventh birthday. He and a few others went out for a drink straight from work. They were in the Banker’s Draft all night, until just before midnight when they all went their separate ways.’
‘Did Gordon go home alone?’
‘Yes. He arranged to go out with a female co-worker for a meal on Friday, but on Tuesday he went home on his own.’
‘How?’
‘He walked. It wasn’t far. A few of them said he was pretty pissed but he knew where he was going.’
‘Was there anyone in the pub who he had a run-in with?’
‘No. They were a small party. They had a few drinks and a laugh.’
‘What about on Wednesday?’
‘He didn’t turn up for work on Wednesday.’
‘Why not? Did he call in?’ Matilda asked.
‘No. They weren’t surprised by all accounts. They assumed he had a massive hangover and was sleeping it off.’
‘Did nobody think to go around to see how he was?’
‘No.’ Rory shrugged.
‘KKE Engineering isn’t far from Attercliffe. It wouldn’t have taken five minutes for someone to check on him.’
‘They just thought he was hungover.’
‘So after he came to the station on Wednesday morning, where did he go until he was found hanged in the early hours of Thursday morning?’
Rory thought for a while. ‘Maybe the killer was keeping him somewhere.’
‘With his other victims he’s hanged them in their homes. Why not take Gordon back to his house and kill him there?’ Christian asked.
‘I don’t know.’ Rory shrugged.
‘I think the killer was following Gordon for the majority of the day and waited until he could strike. He’ll have gone home from his night out and found the Hangman in his house. Gordon put up a fight and managed to get away. He obviously saw the face of his attacker, which is why the killer didn’t take any chances when he found him again and murdered him as soon as possible. That’s why he didn’t cover his head with a pillowcase; because he didn’t have one on him,’ Matilda said, feeling things coming together at last.
‘The killer followed him to the walkway between the bus station and train station, knocked him unconscious, then hanged him?’ Christian said, trying to get everything straight in his head. ‘Then he called Danny Hanson and told him where he was.’
‘Exactly,’ Matilda agreed.
‘But when Gordon came into the station, why didn’t he report anything? Why did he do a runner?’ Rory asked.
Matilda was about to answer when she looked over Rory’s shoulder into the incident room. DC Faith Easter was on the phone, handset wedged between her shoulder and head, frantically scribbling down on a notepad. DC Kesinka Rani was at the murder boards, a thoughtful look on her face. DC Ranjeet Deshwal was talking to a uniformed officer at the entrance to the room.
‘Thanks, Rory,’ Matilda said.
He glanced at the DI and DCI. They obviously wanted to discuss something without a lowly DC within earshot. He gave a half-hearted smile and left, closing the door behind him.
‘Do you know what we’ve not given enough consideration?’ Matilda asked Christian once the door was closed.
‘What’s that?’
‘The possibility of two killers.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘We’ve got James Dalziel telling us the Hangman is a police officer, but I can’t get my mind off it being a vigilante killing,’ Matilda said, bridging her fingers.
‘A police officer could be a vigilante.’
‘Yes. So could someone who has been disgraced by the actions of his father.’
Christian thought for a moment. ‘George Appleby?’
Matilda nodded.
‘Why him?’
‘He lured Danny Hanson to Weston Park and attacked him.’
‘Why would he do that?’
‘I’ve no idea. Maybe Danny was getting too close, too soon. Yes, the killer has been contacting Danny, feeding him information, but that’s another element of his control. He’s giving Danny what he wants him to know.’
‘The thought of two people working together to kill others is frightening,’ Christian said. ‘It’s beyond evil.’
‘I know. Christian, we need to bring George in and formally interview him. If we can break him down, we might start getting somewhere. On their own, I can’t see George Appleby or Danny Hanson being the killer. I can’t even see anyone on our team being the killer, but when you put the two together, well, who knows?’
‘Hang on, it doesn’t make any sense,’ Christian said, sitting up. ‘If the Hangman has been feeding information to Danny to print, why attack him? And why leave himself to be identified? Why not kill Danny?’
Matilda frowned. She hadn’t thought of any of that. ‘But if George Appleby isn’t the killer, why attack Danny in the first place?’
‘Because … I don’t know,’ Christian struggled for an answer.
Matilda flopped back in her chair and let out a sigh. ‘I’d almost convinced myself he was the killer, then. I knew I shouldn’t have spoken to you about it.’ She smiled. ‘I still want him interviewed about the attack on Danny, though. And while you’re at it, get his alibis for the murders too. He’s too much of a loose cannon.’
‘I’ll have him brought in,’ Christian said, heading for the door.
‘Be hard on him. The time for pissing about has long gone. Oh, one more thing, keep this theory about two killers under your hat.’
Matilda spent the rest of the afternoon sitting at her desk nursing a headache. She had so many scenarios running around her mind.
When Matilda looked up from her desk she noticed the incident room was all but empty and it was dark outside. Another day had gone by and they were no closer to identifying a killer. They were, however, one day closer to ACC Masterson fulfilling her threat and bringing in someone new to oversee the case. She could certainly kiss goodbye to the Major Crimes Unit and the chance of promotion.
Matilda yawned. She should probably go home and get some sleep. If she stayed awake, however, she could achieve so much in the hours she would waste on sleep.