I rang Jim on the mobile to let him know I was on my way back, accompanied by Dr Simmons. He made no comment other than to ask me to go straight to the main conference room, where he would be waiting with the superintendent and Frank Kewell. When we arrived I made the appropriate introductions; as I already knew, the superintendent and Dr Simmons – I still had to get used to thinking of him as Paul – went back quite a long way, although he hadn’t met the others before today. He took a seat at the large, oblong conference table looking relaxed and confident, despite the tension evident in the room.
He made a prayer-like gesture with his fingers, leant forward in his chair and smilingly said: “So, Phil – or do I call you Superintendent Connors, as you’re on official duty? – How can I help you?”
“Come on, Paul; we know each well enough to dispense with the formalities.” He forced a smile, made his customary clearing of his throat and then continued, “Has Sergeant Crossley here given you an outline of our problem, at all?”
“Only briefly. I know you’re looking for a missing child, and you now have reason to believe she may already be dead. And Angie said you’d welcome some help with offender profiling; although I did point out I haven’t done that sort of work for some time.”
Jim cut in, “Your reputation precedes you, Doctor…”
“Paul. Please.”
“Quite. Paul. Anyway, as I was about to say, the superintendent informs us you were instrumental a few years back in helping to bring Stewart, the serial rapist, to justice.”
“Yes, but that was a while ago, Jim. I’ve been out of the loop for some time now.”
“I accept that. But I doubt the criminal psychology has changed any. A child murderer’s still a murderer – that’ll never change – and one of the most effective ways of apprehending them is with the help of experts like yourself…You know, giving us insight into the darkest recesses of his mind.
“So, Paul,” the superintendent said; “having heard that, will you help us?”
The doctor nodded. “Yes, I’ll do the best I can. But first I need to be fully briefed. Is that something you’ll do, Phil?”
“No. The SIO on this case is Detective Chief Inspector Robbins here – Jim Robbins. He’ll carry out the briefing, with some help from the three detective sergeants - we also have Peter Corkhill on the team - but I want the two of you to liaise constantly with me. That said, I can give you an initial outline of the case.”
He then proceeded to take Dr Simmons through a summary of the incident, from the time we first received notification of the abduction, up to the recent contact we had via the Marsdens. Throughout it all, Paul made copious notes on a foolscap pad, and didn’t interrupt until the superintendent had completed his review. Interestingly, no reference was made of the role Connie had played in the proceedings, and – to my relief – neither Jim nor the doctor picked up on it. The latest discussion between Connie and me, I had, so far, kept to myself. I would put Jim in the picture later, when it was appropriate, but I would have to consider the doctor’s position. Not so much on a need-to-know basis, but more on how dismissive he might be.
Paul looked thoughtful for a moment as he reread his notes. Finally, he said: “You might think this is a superfluous question, but what makes you so sure the child is dead? Is it because of the discovery of the clothes? Or the telephone call to the Marsdens? Or, perhaps, a combination of the two?”
It was Jim who answered. “First off, Paul, that’s just an internal view, in the absence of any hard evidence. We don’t want that to get into the public domain – not yet anyway. It’s based not only on the issues you’ve raised but also primarily on the MO. We now have reason to believe this man planned the abduction over a period of time; it wasn’t what you psychologists would describe as a disorganised crime…”
Paul smiled at the mistaken reference to his qualification, not bothering to contradict him.
“He very carefully surveyed the site, selected his target, then identified the child’s mother and followed her to her home, with the intention of disabling her car so she’d be late picking up her daughter the following afternoon.”
“And did he? Disable her car?”
“Yes. We’ve had forensics check and the car was broken into the night before the child was taken.”
“How would he know the mother wouldn’t try to use the car the next morning?” Paul asked. “Wouldn’t that have backfired on him if she had?”
“Because, obviously, he’d been watching the house for some little while, and he would have learnt that it was Mr Marsden who always dropped Josephine off at school in the mornings. Had she intended to use the car the following morning, earlier than her scheduled timetable, then our man would simply have altered his plans accordingly, then tried again later. He was very meticulous. And he wanted Josephine. He appeared to be very clear about that.”
“Yes. I understand that, and I don’t disagree with you, Jim. From what you’re telling me there is no doubt he planned this abduction very carefully. But you still haven’t convinced me he’s actually murdered her. How long’s it been? Three days? Have you considered he might be holding her as some kind of trophy? Paedophiles have been known to do that – especially if they’re involved in a ring.”
“What about the clothes? And the telephone call?” Frank asked, speaking for the first time. “We believe it was this man who told the Marsdens their daughter was already dead; it had to be because he knew exactly where we found the clothes. That information has still not been disclosed outside of this police station.”
“A leak?” Paul suggested.
“No,” Jim said adamantly. “If there’d been a leak it would’ve been to the press… and we haven’t heard a word about it from them. Anyway, whoever phoned the Marsdens is one sick bastard, and I really can’t believe it was one of ours.” He frowned. “No, doctor – sorry, Paul; the child is dead. We’re certain of that. All of our experience tells us she’s been murdered. And there’s one other thing we haven’t mentioned. There was a bloodstain on the child’s shoe, and we have reason to believe it’s from Josephine; we’ll know for certain within the next few hours.”
Paul still had that cynical expression on his face; apparently he remained unconvinced.
“What about DNA?” he asked. “Any possibilities there?”
“It’s too early yet. That will take a couple of weeks for the complete analysis.”
The superintendent reached out and placed a hand on Jim’s arm. “So, Paul; I’m not going to ask you what you think – I realise that would be premature. But I want you to know that all of our resources are available to you, and we’ve set aside an office for you to use. Can you make a start on the information we have so far?”
“Well, I can certainly make some postulations. But if we assume for now the girl’s dead, then I’m sure most of you will be aware that we’re dealing with the type known as a ‘sadistic offender’ – the most vicious of all paedophiles. Of the many children each year abducted and never seen again, it’s almost certain the archetypal sadistic offender will have murdered them. And it’s unlikely their bodies will ever be found.”
My mind drifted back to the children in the drainage pit, and the effect it had on me at the time. Sure, it was true that I was stronger now, and that was in no small way down to the patience of the good doctor here. But one thing that nothing would ever eradicate was the reaction of the parents when I told them we had found their daughter’s body. I would do anything to avoid having to go through that torment again.
“The only thing I’d ask you to bear in mind if I take this on,” the doctor was saying, “is that, I’ve still got patients in the hospital to care for, and it’s out of the question that I neglect them in any way.”
The superintendent nodded his agreement. “’Course not. That goes without saying. All I ask is that you give us as much time as you possibly can. We’ve got to catch this man.”
Dr Simmons pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Well, you don’t need me to tell you that’s not going to be easy. Perhaps it might help if I gave you an outline of the profiler’s role in this sort of case, so you’re all familiar with how we go about it. Angie, you’ll have to excuse me; I know you’ve already covered this at Warwick, but I don’t think your colleagues will object to a bit of a lecture.”
I nodded, pleased he at least acknowledged my limited expertise.
“First off, the correct terminology is ‘sociopsychology profiling’. There’s a good reason for that, and it’s essentially because, aside from attempting to analyse the criminal’s psychological profile, we also need to understand his social pathology. That is, his background, education and level of intelligence, and, together with that, attempt to establish a social environment – principally his parents – and how they treated him as a child. All of these issues, and more, will help to identify his psychological make-up. These days, of course, we drop the reference to ‘socio-’, more as a matter of convenience – but it’s still vitally important.
“The second aspect of offender profiling deals with what are known as ‘treasures’, or collectors’ items. These are either paraphernalia he will collect, such as pornographic photos he’ll have taken or items that belonged to his victims. These could be pieces of jewellery, or even small body parts, such as fingers. So, if you do find a body, you have to watch out for mutilation because it’s bound to tell us something about the criminal.
“The third element of profiling, in case some of you aren’t familiar with it, is the interviewing technique. Having established the offender’s social pathology and psychological framework, we can then use it to create an effective programme for persuasive interviewing - once he’s been apprehended, that is. The interviewing technique is mainly designed to encourage the suspect to admit to his crimes. That’s what happened with the serial rapist the chief inspector mentioned earlier.
“I’m sorry to bore you with all this, but I think it’s important for you all to have at least some understanding of how this works. And, of course, you’ve got to understand that profiling’s not an exact science; it’s part science and part art form. Now, our particular offender, as I’ve said, is not going to be easy to apprehend; and I wouldn’t want you to think that profiling will catch him. At best, it’s a tool. But there is no substitute for intelligent investigative police work.
“Okay, having said all that, I do believe he’s inadvertently opened the door a fraction.”
“How do you mean?” Jim asked.
“For starters he left the clothes where you were bound to find them. That tells us he’s challenging the police. Secondly, the phone call to the Marsdens; what was it he said? ‘You’ll never find the body.’ That confirms his invincibility in his own mind; that is: ‘You won’t find the body, you won’t find me.’ I believe we can use that against him.”
“How?” I was the first to ask.
“By letting him believe we’re playing his game. When actually, we’re making it our game.” Again, he held out a hand. “Don’t ask me yet exactly how we’re going to achieve that; I need time to think about it. But one thing I’m sure of: this man’s supremely confident, and undoubtedly intelligent – and that too can be used to our advantage.”
The superintendent got up from his chair and reached across the table to shake Paul’s hand.
“Welcome aboard, Paul. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m needed elsewhere. I’ll leave Jim here to show you your office. Just tell him what you need and we’ll make it available. Oh, and good luck.”