Maggie went over the unknown suspect’s notes again and thought about the victims. She was struggling to make the connections, which was unusual. The personal aspect of the cases was obviously having more of an impact than she cared to admit. The killer always seemed to be one step ahead of them, almost as if he knew what they’d be looking for and then making sure no trace of his presence was found.
Think, Maggie! Think!
Bethany was waving a piece of paper. ‘Just had a call come in. A female who thinks she may have some information. Do you want me to follow up on this?’
‘Excellent. Is she coming in?’ Maggie didn’t want to get her hopes up but any new information could be the missing link they needed.
‘Yeah. She’ll be here during her lunch.’
‘Great. I’ll sit in with you, if you don’t mind. I like hearing things first-hand.’ Maggie was the first to admit she was a bit of a control freak. She knew her colleagues understood her need and way of working and she tried not to let that overpower her ability.
‘I think it would be useful given what you know about the case.’ Bethany smiled.
***
Maggie clocked the time she heard Bethany’s phone ring, and once she got the thumbs up, she gathered her notebook. She’d leave Bethany to take the lead in the interview and only jump in if she felt her questions hadn’t been addressed.
They made their way to the enquiry desk, and Maggie headed to the designated interview room while Bethany collected the witness. A few minutes later both walked into the room and Maggie smiled at the woman as she sat down across from them.
Bethany did the introductions and explained the purpose of the interview to the woman. ‘Thanks for coming today. You mentioned on the phone that you might have some information for us?’
The woman tugged on the sleeve of her sweater. ‘Uh … yes. My friends think I’m overreacting and tried to discourage me from coming, but I just couldn’t get it out of my head, so I thought I’d best leave it up to the experts to decide.’
‘Couldn’t get what out of your head?’ Bethany softened her voice to put the witness at ease.
‘Well, a few months ago I was in this pub. Not a fancy one or anything, but you know, like a Wetherspoons … though I don’t think it was one …’
‘Can I just stop you there for one moment? I can tell you’re nervous. We don’t have to rush through this, although I know you are on your lunch break. Let’s just focus on the specifics and if we need further details about the location we can come back to that if there’s time.’
The woman took a deep breath and appeared grateful for Bethany’s words. ‘Yes. Sorry. I ramble when I’m nervous. I met someone at the pub. This random guy just approached me and then offered to buy me a drink. I’ve read so much about that date rape drug that I prefer to buy my own now, so I turned him down.’ She took a sip of water. ‘So anyway. He didn’t pay any attention to that and bought me one anyway; he was weird though. Despite being overconfident in some respects, he seemed totally out of place in others.’
This interested Maggie, although it was beginning to sound like the story told by the witness who’d come forward about Charlie and he’d been cleared from their enquiry.
‘I mean, he sat waaaaay too close. No sense of personal space at all. Then he started asking me these strange questions. Like, did I believe in fate. And did I think it was possible for people to be together forever. I mean, what the hell kind of pick-up line is that?’
Both Bethany and Maggie nodded at the woman. The questions were a little too much for a first-time meeting.
‘How would you describe this guy? Did you notice any distinguishing features?’
‘Hmm. I think he was average height though I can’t be sure. His hair could have been dark blond, or maybe light brown. Sorry.’ She shrugged. ‘He was an older guy – maybe late forties. That’s not much help to you, is it? I have to be honest, I tried to avoid eye contact in case he thought I was encouraging him, so I spent a lot of the time looking at my watch or out of the window, hoping my friends would arrive and he’d leave me alone.’
‘No problem. We appreciate it was a few months ago, but any detail you can remember would be worth recalling.’
‘He did have a tattoo on his left wrist. Some squiggly mark. Looked like the “and” symbol, I think. I remember it because I thought it was pretty strange.’
Maggie scribbled something on a piece of paper and passed it to the woman. ‘Could it have been this do you think?’
‘Um … maybe. But I’m not too sure. I only saw it briefly. What does that even mean?’ Her eyebrows furrowed.
Maggie looked at Bethany and then turned back to the witness, they didn’t want to give too much away. ‘It could be nothing. Is there anything else you can think of?’
‘When my friends arrived, he still hovered about but I think he got the message when I ignored him. I did notice him staring at me throughout the night. And before he left my table, he reached out and tried to touch my hair.’
‘What did you do?’ Maggie noted the woman’s long black hair.
‘I just leaned back and shifted over in my seat. He really was pretty bad at reading signals!’ She rolled her eyes.
‘Sounds like it. So why did he stay in your mind after all this time?’ Bethany shifted in her seat.
‘Oh! That’s the weirdest part of it all. I’d been back to the place a few times after that and saw him there, but thankfully he didn’t notice me. Probably because he spent most of his time at the bar, chatting up the barmaid – then I saw that she was murdered.’