I've Been Watching You: a stunning crime thriller from The North East Police Series (11 page)

Now he just had a couple more days to wait until D-Day; he smiled, D-Day was an apt description. D for Die. He had a little more time to watch her in her room, doing the things young women did when they thought no-one was watching.

He was pleased she didn’t have a boyfriend. He hadn’t had to watch someone else defiling her – she was his now.

And it would be his pleasure to show her where women stood in his life.

The lopsided grin passed over his face, his scar glowing eerily in the ebbing light of his computer screens. The feeling of power made him harden instantly.

As he watched her pull herself out of bed and stretch gracefully, he pulled himself free from his trousers, and slowly worked his hand up and down.

This was going to feel so good.

6
^th
June, 1035 hours – Oncology Department, Sunderland Royal Hospital

‘Mrs O’Byrne?’ the nurse smiled softly as she motioned for Ben and Aoife to follow her through to the consultant’s room.

He stood as they entered, his checked shirt freshly ironed with crisp creases, and his warm smile extending down his arm as he took Aoife’s hand and shook it, using his other hand at the small of her back, guiding her to the seat in front of the large oak table.

Aoife sat in the chair beside Ben, barely even daring to breath. Ben’s hand on her knee was a silent but strong message of support. She put her hand over the top and squeezed gently.

‘How are you coping? It’s not easy I know,’ said the consultant.

His voice was smooth, disarming; Aoife felt a little of her overwhelming desire to run fade. She was here to get sorted. She would not run away or bury her head in the sand, as much as she might want to.

‘I’m OK. Still finding it a little hard to believe if I’m honest. I want you to be truthful with me Dr Carmichael, don’t sugar-coat it, OK?’

‘OK,’ Arthur Carmichael leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other, leaving his body language open. He was plainly experienced in dealing with patients. ‘At this stage we need to schedule in surgery to start, preferably as soon as possible. I actually have a cancellation tomorrow, if that’s not too soon for you. The nurse will see you after we’re done here and perform a pre-op assessment. What I’m hoping is that a lumpectomy will suffice. Do you know what that is?’

At her nod, he continued, ‘From the scan last week it doesn’t appear to have spread to the lymph nodes and as you know it’s roughly three centimetres in diameter. The surgery will take out the lump and a margin of flesh from around the lump. This will then be sent to the pathology lab for testing which will ascertain whether the margin is clear of cancer cells. We’ll then know what stage we are dealing with and can prepare your treatment plan. We caught this early thanks to your diligence with your breast checks. I’m hopeful for the outcome here.’

Aoife coughed a little, it was what she had expected after she had spent time researching, but it still scared the hell out of her.

‘Will I have to stay in hospital long?’

‘You should be out the day after surgery all being well. After the surgery though, you will need to take it easy for a few weeks, no lifting whatsoever using your left arm, so that means no housework, no driving, nothing that could constitute work, OK?’

Aoife nodded again, glancing at Ben to see if she had any questions.

Ben shook her head, her hand now holding her aunts tightly.

Forcing a smile, her aunt added, ‘Well I guess it’s time to see the nurse for the pre-op.’

6
^th
June, 1605 hours – CSI Department, Sunderland City Centre Depot

‘Jacob? It’s Ben from Sunderland depot,’ Ben held the phone to her ear, chewing her bottom lip. She didn’t know how this would look, being scheduled for an attachment was no light thing, but it was important she was at the hospital with Grace when Aoife came out of surgery.

‘Hi, how are you?’ His voice sounded gruff, and if she was honest with herself, a little sexy.

‘I’m OK. Listen I know I’m due at HQ in the morning at 9 a.m. which is fine, but my aunt has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and has her surgery tomorrow afternoon, and I’ve got my little girl to pick up from school and have to get to the hospital. It’ll mean that I have to leave early but I completely understand if you feel you need to cancel my attachment and reschedule, or cancel completely if you see this as a –’

‘Whoa, slow down,’ interrupted Jacob. Ben could almost hear him smile down the phone, fully aware she had been babbling.

‘It’s fine, Ben. I’m not a monster you know. If you need to get away you get away, end of. Are you sure you can still come in prior to picking the bairn up from school? If your aunt needs you beforehand then we can reschedule for next week. It’s entirely up to you.’

‘No I should be OK, Jacob, thank you. I just need to get away mid-afternoon. The day after should be OK too; I’ve arranged for one of the other mums to pick Grace up from school and keep her until I finish work. We’ll go get my aunt after that, providing she’s fine to be released.’

‘OK, if you’re sure, Ben. Don’t worry if plans change. We can work around them. Sounds like you’re having a bit of a tough time at the moment.’

Ben sighed down the phone, ‘Like you wouldn’t believe. Thanks again, Jacob, I’ll see you in the morning.’

7
^th
June, 0115 hours – Whitworth residence, Sunderland

John felt his eyes blur as he stared at the screen. He hadn’t been surprised to realise there were sites dedicated to appeasing the morbid curiosity surrounding death and murder. There were in fact, dedicated sites showing the brutality of the bodies before the police had arrived and cordoned them all off, restricting views. It really was fascinating stuff.

He just couldn’t see his way to going to bed yet. He felt a need to learn more, to perfect whichever was the most effective method for the next time. He had barely slept since killing Ann Caffrey, and tonight was not going to be any different.

His son was still staying at Carolyn’s house, leaving him free to be on the internet all day if he wanted. Killing played on his mind, he found himself replaying kill methods in his head, acting out every method he had found with victims who were faceless, nameless shapes. On the rare occasion he managed to sleep, his dreams were filled with bloodshed and vacant eyes staring at him.

He needed to see it for himself. It was growing stronger, almost out of control.

He hadn’t even been to work today. He had phoned his boss and told him in a monotone voice that he was sick.

And he knew he was.

It was no longer about putting his wife in her place, or any other woman for that matter. Now it was all about killing one, a very special one. The one of his choosing.

He pulled his coat over his shoulders, and left the house.

Chapter Nine

7
^th
June, 0850 hours – Digital Forensics Lab, Sunderland HQ

Ben turned the key to the side entrance door at HQ and made her way inside. She’d been in plenty of times before, liaising with the submissions team as well as those in the photography and chemical labs. She knew the place inside out: its drab walls in need of a lick of paint, the carpets worn along the routes most used. The corridors were adorned with posters about Domestic Violence, latest police campaigns, and union issues. It had always been that way, was the same in the smaller stations too.

She paused at the door to the digital forensics office, taking a deep breath.
Get a grip already. Getting so nervous all the time is just plain silly.
Pushing her shoulders back, she opened the door and entered.

The office was combined with the lab: with one end of the room fully kitted out with screens and the gadgets the technicians used to recover the data required from seized items. She felt herself grin – it was most definitely not as hi-tech as the TV portrayed in the American cop dramas. But then reality never was. She had often had a giggle to herself watching the CSI shows where the forensics personnel entered scenes wearing high heels, their flowing locks left loose in a way that would contaminate any evidence picked up, and magically got an ident within minutes.      

Spotting Jacob working on something at the end of the office, she made her way down.

‘Ben, hi,’ he greeted, glancing up from the screen for a moment, ‘just give me a sec, and I’ll be with you.’

Walking around the desk, she stood behind him, watching the computer screen.

‘The computer was seized from the house of a drug runner. I’ve created the two exact copies I need. This one’s the working copy. I’ve already catalogued the disk contents and I’m just setting up a keyword list to look for related files.’ He spoke quietly, concentrating on typing onto the black square in the middle of the screen.

‘The keyword list checks the slack space and the unallocated areas right?’ asked Ben, pulling a chair over and sitting down.

Jacob looked over at her again, his eye brows raised.

‘Someone been reading from the book-list I take it?’

Ben felt her cheeks turn pink as she nodded. ‘Yeah I got most of them from the library. I’m not technically-minded at all, figured I’d need a good head start.’

‘Not technically-minded? And you chose a digital forensics intro course; why exactly? Not that I’m complaining mind you. It just seems a little strange you would choose to do something you don’t know a great deal about.’

I should have known he would ask.

Giving herself a virtual shake was easy: it was something she did regularly now. Now was as good a time as any to mention the support group.

‘I assist in the running of an online support group for women who have been raped. We were hacked last year and some of our members ended up getting abusive emails. I guess the interest started around that time. At the time, I’d also just finished my training course for the CSI job and that piqued it a little further. When the funding came up through the Education Bursary for Police Staff, I thought it would be a good time to explore more.’

‘Support group? Did you set it up using secure server information and limit the administrators?’

‘I didn’t set it up. I only assist with the running now `cos I was an active member for years. It was one of those progression things. I have full administrator status but don’t have the knowledge to check the security aspects.’

Jacob’s eyes narrowed.
A member for years? What did that mean?

‘Give me the web address later and I’ll have a look at it for you. It wouldn’t be good for someone to get access to info like email addresses and the like. There’s people out there who can glean everything about a person just by getting a couple of bits of information.’

A little startled, Ben nodded, ‘Thanks, Jacob. It only allows you access into the forum area with registration though.’

Suddenly uncomfortable, she wondered why she had told him about the group. She could have answered his question sufficiently with the info she had received on the training course. Realising she had managed to avoid the unasked question of
why
she was a member in the first place, she took in a slow breath. Hardly anyone knew that answer.

She pulled herself back into the conversation to catch the tail end of Jacob’s sentence.

‘.....time do you have to get away?’

Thinking on her feet she answered, ‘about half two at the latest if that’s OK?’

‘No problem. What time’s your aunts surgery scheduled for?’

‘As far as I know it’s scheduled for 2 p.m. She’s going to ring me as she goes down to theatre. I need to be there when she’s brought back up to the ward.’

‘Must be hard for you. I can’t imagine how it must feel.’

Ben was glad he hadn’t said he knew how she felt. That sentence always grated on her. Nobody but you knows how you feel, and you wouldn’t expect people to know.

‘It’s a bit weird to be honest. She found out last week and didn’t tell me until yesterday. I guess it’s still sinking in a little.’

‘She left it a week to tell you? Why?’ Suddenly conscious he seemed nosy, he added, ‘Sorry I’m being intrusive. You don’t have to answer that.’

‘No, you’re not, it’s fine. Honest. She didn’t want to worry me, didn’t know how to tell me. I guess I’d have been the same in that situation.’

‘Suppose the old adage of everyone handling things differently would apply. I don’t know how I’d deal with something like that either. Sounds to me like your aunt needed to work things out herself before involving you. What’s her prognosis?’

‘Good according to her consultant. He thinks she’ll be fine.’

Jacob nodded. ‘Bit of a slog to get there though. How’s your daughter taking it all? Your aunt will be her great aunt right?’

‘Yeah, Grace is only four so we haven’t told her too much, just that Aoife is ill and needs something bad taken away. She seems to be coping OK at the minute, but that might change after the hospital. She’s never really been around ill people, actually she hasn’t stepped foot in hospital since she was born. But she’s a good kid, mature for her age. She’ll ask questions if something bothers her.’

Seeing Ben’s eyes light up talking about her daughter, Jacob found himself staring back, letting her green eyes draw him into their exotic depths. For a moment he almost forgot where he was. He coughed a little, forcing his gaze back to the computer screen.

What the hell? I’ve never met anyone like her. I wanted to dive into those eyes and never come back out.

It was disturbing, and made him uncomfortable. The next two days was going to be tough, he needed to maintain a professional distance. He hadn’t been with a woman since he had returned from Afghanistan.