AT EXACTLY EIGHT on Saturday morning, Lambert stormed into the incident room brandishing a copy of the Western Mail. DCS Marden stood in the middle of the room facing the door and glanced pointedly at his watch, the gesture implying that the DI was cutting it fine. Debbie Jones was sitting at one of the desks, already busy on a computer, as was Sergeant Ellis at another desk. Kevin Wallace was perched on a corner of Jones’s desk, a sheaf of papers in his hands, and DS Hazel was bent over a table, frowning in concentration as he wrote in the team’s action book.
‘I heard the news headlines on the car radio,’ Lambert seethed, desperately trying to control his anger. ‘So I stopped to get a copy of the Western Mail.’
He slammed the paper onto a vacant desk close to Marden. The headline read: ‘TWO MURDERS AND TV MAN’S CHILD PORN’.
Lambert stared at Marden. ‘Why weren’t we told about this?’
Collectively, the room held its breath.
Marden’s lips tightened. ‘DI Ambrose was dealing with it, and it took up most of Thursday. You may remember I called you at home after the first body was discovered …’
‘Do you think I could have a word in private, sir?’ Lambert cut in.
Marden gave Lambert a frosty look. ‘Permission denied, Inspector. No robust management here. We work as a team. Sing from the same hymnsheet. So if you’ve got something to say, let’s hear it.’
Lambert glared at his boss for a moment. He had never liked Marden, and the feeling was mutual. He thought he was a creep, and once, at a police do, after one too many red wines, he had laid in to the coterie of fluent Welsh language speakers – of which Marden was one – and made a comment about them brown-nosing to get in with the Tafia. It wasn’t Lambert’s best career move.
Ignoring Marden, Lambert addressed the rest of the team. ‘If none of you have had a chance to read the details of this sordid story let me give you a quick rundown. A television editor … man called Mark Yalding … was arrested yesterday for downloading child pornography images on the internet. He was traced through the FBI in the US, and they passed the information to South Wales Police.
‘Yalding claims he was downloading the images as research for Green Valley Productions, the company who made the TV documentary. But his employer, Gavin Lloyd, had previously sacked his researcher, claiming the documentary was made more than nine months ago, and at that time he had warned Yalding about downloading pornography for research purposes.’
‘What’s happened to this Yalding bloke?’ Ellis asked.
‘He was bailed,’ Lambert replied, and then shifted his focus to Marden. ‘We should have been told about this Yalding’s arrest on Thursday, sir. Who was dealing with the case?’
‘Geoff Ambrose. Now listen, Inspector: yesterday, in the space of about four hours, you and your team had two murders to investigate. I think you had enough on your plate.’
‘All the same, it looks as if this Yalding business is connected in some way.’
Marden looked like a poker player about to throw down a good hand. ‘Exactly! Which is why we’re having this meeting now and I’m leaving you to deal with it. This will be your investigation, for which I hope you get a quick result.’
Rather than being placated by being handed the controls, Lambert was immediately suspicious. ‘What about Geoff Ambrose?’ he asked.
‘As we speak, Geoff’s on a plane to Florida on his annual leave.’
‘Presumably, after having arrested Yalding, he obtained a confession and thinks that’s the end of the affair.’
‘Hardly.’ Marden pointed at Kevin Wallace. ‘I’ve got you the transcript of the interview and DC Wallace has made a start on it. Yalding totally denies downloading child porn – any sort of porn – off the internet.’
‘But I’m assuming it was his home computer and he was caught in the usual way, by using a credit card.’
‘We’ve got his computer. It was checked and confirmed that child porn was downloaded from his credit card. But he still denies all knowledge of it and claims he never used his credit card.’
‘His denial sounds a bit flimsy.’
‘It is,’ Marden agreed. ‘But after that actor gave research as a justification, perhaps he thought denying it a better option.’
‘Even if unrealistic,’ Lambert added.
Marden glanced at his watch again. ‘I’m trusting you to get a result on these murders, Harry. I’ve got my time cut out dealing with the press and a thousand and one other matters churned up by this mess. The media are hoping for longevity with this story, and there are all the political implications.’
‘Should these people be set free in the community?’ Lambert said. ‘And is the killer doing us all a favour?’
‘I take it they were rhetorical.’
Lambert nodded gravely.
‘So the sooner you get a result, the better for all concerned.’
‘I’ll do my best, sir. Although I can see mega problems with this investigation.’
This wasn’t what Marden wanted to hear. ‘Oh?’ he said, managing to give the exclamation a world of meaning.
‘I’m thinking of just how hated these men were, sir. They’ve got a lot of enemies.’
‘So you’d better start by eliminating those with cast-iron alibis.’
‘Which is exactly what we’re about to do.’
Marden stared guardedly at Lambert before he spun round and headed for the door. Lambert watched him, waiting for the exit speech. But he left without as much as a backward glance. Lambert smiled wryly. There had to be a first time for everything.
He turned towards the whiteboard where DC Jones now stood, holding a picture uncertainly. ‘It’s not necessary to display the corpses, Debbie. It’s not going to forward our investigation in any way.’
Relieved, she inserted them back in the folder. Lambert perched on the edge of a desk and said, ‘OK, let’s all take a seat and do some brainstorming.’
As Wallace slid into a seat, he said, ‘The killer’s already done a fair bit of that.’
Lambert indulged him with a brief smile. He understood the need for a team to resort to gallows humour occasionally, which seemed to be a release valve. And he also understood the need to break the ice before embarking on the arduous and often tedious task ahead.
‘Maybe that woman on the diversity training course was right,’ he said, pausing for effect. ‘She said it might not be politically correct to use the word brainstorming anymore.’
‘I think that was because of stroke victims,’ DC Jones offered.
Kevin said, ‘So what we supposed to say instead?’
DS Hazel smiled, as if he already knew the answer.
A glint in his eye, Lambert replied, ‘Thought showering.’
Wallace pulled a face, stuck two fingers in his mouth and mimed gagging.
Lambert chuckled and shook his head. Then, ice broken, it was down to business. ‘Right! I’ll keep it brief and leave you in Tony’s charge. I’ve got to get over to Cardiff for the post mortem. And then I’ll see Hughie at the forensics lab to see what they’ve uncovered. What they find or don’t find, as the case may be, will be interesting, because I think we could be dealing with a killer who knows how to cover the traces.’
He went on to explain about the beer found at the crime scenes, and how in each case one of the beers hadn’t been touched or opened. He also put forward the theory that he and DC Jones had discussed on their journey back from Carmarthen, about the killer knowing his victims. He said there was one thing of which he was certain, the way in which the perpetrator had tortured his victims prior to killing them indicated a psychotic hatred of paedophiles and a lust for revenge. At the end of his short speech about the murders and the easy way the murderer had gained access to the victims’ accommodations, he asked if anyone else on the team had anything to add.
Sergeant Ellis, lips pursed in concentration, said, ‘We’re assuming it’s someone who was abused by these men or men of their kind. It could be a sex offender, someone who’s done his fair share of abusing over the years, and now hates himself for it and has transferred the self-hatred and loathing to others of his kind.’
‘Someone who’s got religion, the fire and brimstone sort,’ Wallace added. ‘Plenty of that in darkest Wales.’
‘It’s a possibility,’ Lambert admitted, ‘but let’s have a look at all the options. For instance, Tony and Kevin, you interviewed McNeil. What did you make of him?’
‘Definitely a vigilante,’ Ellis said. ‘He and the neighbourhood have formed a committee called PASO, Parents Against Sex Offenders. Although this organization seems to be going through the right channels to oust these men from their neighbourhoods, such as contacting the press and their MP, it seems more personal with McNeil.’
Lambert nodded agreement. ‘And he’s a heavy drinker with time on his hands.’
‘He’s got a Renault Clio,’ Wallace said. ‘And my nosy neighbour on the marina said it could have been a small saloon she saw.’
‘And there’s something else about McNeil that Kevin discovered,’ Ellis said. ‘He used to work at his brother-in-law’s small factory, manufacturing fertilizer.’
For a brief moment Lambert stared thoughtfully into the distance. ‘Interesting. Don’t fertilizers contain sulphuric acid? Although – correct me if I’m wrong – isn’t sulphuric acid one of the world’s most commonly used chemicals? But, taking everything else into account, it certainly puts him high on the list as a suspect. I mean, it’s not as if he worked in a chocolate factory. But you say he no longer works at the fertilizer plant.’
Ellis shook his head. ‘I don’t think that means a great deal. His wife said he’s got a bad back and he’s on incapacity benefit. Maybe he’s receiving state benefits and still working odd hours for his brother-in-law.’
‘Could be,’ Lambert agreed. ‘I think what we need to do here is look for another motive. Check out McNeil thoroughly, see if there’s anything on record that tells us he might have suffered as a victim of abuse, either from his parents or elsewhere.’
Debbie Jones, who had been making notes, got their attention by speaking quietly. ‘I think this Mayfield’s definitely suspicious. Why did he leave it for two hours until he called the police? Did he go back there to conceal a vital piece of evidence?’
‘If he did,’ Lambert said, ‘why would he tell the truth about finding the body much earlier? He could have lied about phoning the police immediately after finding the body and no one would have known any difference.’
Wallace slammed a fist onto the desk. ‘He’s a devious bastard. He knows all those flats on the marina overlook the yacht basin. He knew he couldn’t risk that particular lie.’
Lambert looked at the clock on the wall and made a decision. ‘One of the most important jobs for this morning will be to try and trace the origin of the murder weapons. Debbie, if you’d like to pin up the photos. But that’s just one of our tasks. We also need to check with the youth custody centre where Titmus and Mayfield worked, and see if we can get a list of their young offenders between 1975 and 2001.’
While Lambert was speaking, Debbie Jones took the photographs of the murder weapons from the file and stuck them on to the whiteboard.
‘And, Debbie, you had an idea about checking the computer databases for similar unsolved murders from years ago.’ He turned and addressed Ellis and Wallace. ‘Debbie thinks a crime where the killer cold-bloodedly tortures his victims doesn’t tally with a frenzied attack with a blunt instrument. So perhaps our murderer’s an abused person who years ago carried out a frenzied attack, but now wants to rid the world of these evil men, first making them suffer, just like he suffered.’
Lambert got up off the desk and stood in front of the whiteboard, pointing to one of the photographs.
‘This one just says “Made in China”, and there’s no identifying serial marks or anything. But the other one – the one used to murder Jarvis Thomas – as you can see says “US Patent”, with quite a long serial number after it. It could well be that this is more expensive and comes from a reputable shop or chain store, so I think we could start with this one.’
From his pocket he took out the snapshot of Mayfield and the young boy and attached it to the board. ‘This young boy, Tom Thorne, we need to check him out.’
‘If that’s his name,’ Ellis said. ‘Mayfield could have been lying again.’
‘We still need to check if such a person exists. And we need to contact Mayfield again and see if we can get more information. We need to know when approximately this photograph was taken, how old the boy is now, and when he went to Spain. That’s if any of what Mayfield told us is true. And see if there’s anyone of that name on a young offenders’ list.’
Lambert crossed hurriedly to the door and spoke to Ellis as he was about to pick up the phone. ‘Tony, I’ve got to get over to Cardiff for the post mortems – nothing for a year and now two in one day.’
‘Must be your lucky day, Harry,’ Ellis said.
Lambert rolled his eyes. ‘On the way back I’ll see Hughie at Bridgend. So I’ll be gone for most of the day. I know it’s Saturday but I’d like someone to get hold of the producer at Green Valley Productions, either at his home or office. I’d be very interested in seeing that documentary. If we meet back here later this afternoon to see what we’ve got, and then we can adjourn to our other incident room.’
Lambert swept out, and Debbie Jones raised her eyebrows questioningly at DS Hazel.
‘I assume he meant the pub. Does that go in the action book?’
DS Hazel laughed. ‘Actions go in the action book. The pub is for theorizing and – er – thought showering.’
Less than half an hour after Lambert’s departure the team were startled by Wallace shouting ‘Yes!’ as he ended a telephone call. Ellis glanced at the clock and saw that it was just after ten and already it looked as if one of them had got a result.
‘What is it, Kevin?’
Trying not to preen himself, and failing miserably, Wallace swaggered into the centre of the room and consulted his notebook.
‘I’ve traced the murder weapon to a B & Q store in Llanelli. The same serial number as the murder weapon and it was sold on Saturday three weeks ago at 15.30 hours.’
Ellis tried not to raise his hopes too high. ‘How was it paid for?’
‘Cash.’
‘Do they know the member of staff who sold it?’
Wallace nodded fervently. ‘A Gareth Edwards. But I couldn’t speak to him – he’s not at work today.’
‘On a Saturday?’
‘Apparently he’s already done six days on the trot.’
‘Did you get his address and phone number?’
‘They won’t give it out over the phone.’
‘We could email them in an official capacity. On the other hand, it might be more valuable if you get to Llanelli as fast as you can, get this Mr Edwards’ address, and see if you can interview him. Let’s hope he can remember selling this wrecking bar. They can’t sell many of those items, can they?’
Pleased to be getting away from the office, Wallace grinned and said, ‘Soon find out, won’t I?’
Eyes narrowing, Ellis gave the young constable a knowing look. ‘And as soon as you’ve spoken to this checkout bloke, straight back here, please, Kevin.’
‘Of course,’ Wallace replied, making it sound as if there was no question of him doing anything to the contrary.
‘Off you go then.’
DC Jones rose hurriedly from her workstation and said to Ellis, ‘Before Kevin goes, he might want to be a part of this information.’
Ellis waved a hand in Wallace’s direction. ‘Hang about, Kevin.’ He looked up enquiringly at DC Jones. ‘What’ve you got, Debbie?’
DS Hazel stopped working on his computer to listen.
‘Mayfield didn’t lie about Tom Thorne. He was a young offender at the youth custody centre. He was released aged fourteen in April 1991, went home to Cardiff where he lived on a council estate with his parents and younger brother, and he had to make probation visits weekly. After only two visits he stopped going. When his probation officer visited his home, she discovered he had left and no one knew of his whereabouts. He went on a missing persons register—’
Ellis interrupted to ask, ‘And has he been missing ever since?’
DC Jones looked at the sergeant and nodded gravely. ‘That’s right.’
‘Could he have been seeing Mayfield after he’d gone missing?’
‘It’s a distinct possibility. But there’s no way he could have gone abroad. He’s never applied for a passport.’
‘So Mayfield told us another lie. But he was truthful when he told us his name.’
Leaning with one arm against the door, Wallace chuckled. ‘I think our boss man may have frightened him into that one.’
DC Jones nodded agreement. ‘Yes, he’s now terrified for his life. And he needs the police to protect him, so he was forced into giving us half the truth.’
Ellis stared thoughtfully into the distance for a moment. ‘I wonder what happened to this Tom Thorne?’
Jones shuddered. ‘I’d hate to think.’
Freeing himself from troubled thoughts, Ellis told Wallace to get on his way.
Once he had left, Ellis told Debbie, ‘I think we need to get Mayfield back here. Get on to the main desk and see if you can get the patrol car that’s keeping an eye on him to bring him in.’
As soon as he finished speaking, his desk phone rang and he snatched it up. DC Jones was about to return to her desk but Ellis indicated with a raised hand for her to stay, listening intently to the received information from the call, making small exclamations to show the caller he was listening. He ended the call by saying, ‘Thank you, Sergeant. I’ll have a word with Chief Superintendent Marden and see if we can organize a helicopter search.’
Jones and Hazel were poised and tense, awaiting news of the sudden development.
Ellis said, ‘After the change of shift with the patrol cars, the new shift was called to an incident in Singleton Street. When they eventually checked up on Mayfield’s boat, it had gone. Our bird has flown. Or in this case sailed.’