Authors: Robert Bryndza
T
hree days passed
with no word from Moss or Peterson. All Erika’s enthusiasm and positivity drained away, made worse by having nothing to do. On the third day, she was poised to call Edward and face up to visiting Mark’s headstone, when her phone rang in her hand.
‘Boss, you’re not going to believe this,’ said Moss. ‘Andrea’s phone has just shown up.’
‘What? In the sewer?’ asked Erika, gripping the pen.
‘No. A second-hand mobile phone shop in Anerley.’
‘That’s only a few miles away,’ said Erika.
‘Yeah. Crane circulated the IMEI number around local second-hand phone dealers, saying that if a handset with this number came into their shop they were to contact the incident room urgently.’
‘And they did?’
‘He also said they’d be paid the value of a new unlocked iPhone 5S, which must have sweetened the deal.’
‘How did it show up in Anerley?’ asked Erika.
‘A woman found it. The huge amount of rain and melt water last week caused the drains to overflow on the lower end of Forest Hill Road. The drains were so overloaded that high-pressure water was forced up through the sewage system, tearing through the tarmac. We’ve figured the phone came with it. She saw it, and even in the state it was in thought she could get a few bob for it.’
‘And it’s okay? It works?’
‘No, and the screen is badly cracked, but we’ve whisked it over to the cyber team who’ve put it at the top of their work queue. They’re trying to get everything they can off the internal memory.’
‘Moss, I’ll come in.’
‘No, boss, stay put. If you’re going to come down here, wait until you have a reason to storm in and read them the riot act.’
Erika started to protest.
‘Seriously, boss. I promise I’ll phone you the second I know anything.’ Moss hung up.
Six long, tense hours later, Moss called to say that the Cyber Crime Unit had pulled a substantial amount of data from Andrea’s phone.
Erika took a cab to the address Moss had given her, and met her outside the central London Cyber Crime Unit, which was based in a nondescript block of offices near Tower Bridge. They took the lift up to the top floor and emerged into a huge open-plan office. Every desk was busy; sitting at each was a weary officer poring over computer screens, beside them a phone or laptop in pieces, or a mess of wires and circuit boards.
On the far back wall was a row of what looked like viewing suites with tinted windows. Erika shuddered to think of the things these officers had to watch behind those screens.
A short, handsome man wearing a threadbare woolly jumper met them at the water cooler. He introduced himself as Lee Graham. They followed him through the office to a large storage room with racks and racks of computers, phones, and tablet computers, all bagged up and sealed. They passed one low shelf where a laptop was wrapped in plastic and encrusted with dried blood.
He took them over to a messy desk in the far corner where Andrea’s phone lay, battered and cracked. The back was off and it was hooked up to a large PC with twin screens.
‘We got a lot off this phone,’ said Lee, sitting and adjusting one of the screens. ‘The hard drive was in good condition.’
Moss pulled over a couple of chairs and they sat beside Lee.
‘There are three hundred and twelve photos,’ Lee continued, ‘sixteen videos, and hundreds of text messages going back from May 2012 to June 2014. I’ve run all the photos through our facial recognition software; this crunches through the national criminal database and uses facial recognition to look for any matches. It flagged up one name.’
Erika and Moss looked at each other, excited.
‘What was his name?’ asked Erika, keenly.
Lee tapped away at his keyboard. ‘It wasn’t a he, it was a she,’ he said.
‘What?’ said Erika and Moss in unison. Lee swiped his way through a series of thumbnail images, then clicked on one: a familiar face.
‘Linda Douglas-Brown is in the police database?’ asked Moss, in surprise. In the picture, Linda and Andrea sat at a table in a bar; Andrea stared confidently down the lens and looked immaculate in a cream blouse. The buttons were open, displaying a dark, full cleavage with a silver necklace nestling between her breasts. Linda, in comparison, was ruddy-faced with unkempt hair. She was wearing a roll-neck black jumper, which rode high enough to nestle just under her double chin. The jumper was embroidered with images of small poodles cavorting across the fabric. A large gold crucifix hung around her neck. Her hand was slung around Andrea’s and her face wore a drunken grin.
‘Is this is the victim’s mother?’ asked Lee.
‘No, the victim’s sister; there’s four years between them,’ said Erika. They let that hang for a moment.
‘Okay. Well, I’ve pulled her criminal record; it’s just printing off for you now,’ said Lee.
L
ee found
them a spare workstation in the office, where they first read through Linda’s file.
‘Jeez, Linda has a considerable record going back several years. Arson, theft, shoplifting . . .’ said Erika. ‘Between July and November last year, Andrea’s fiancé Giles Osborne made three complaints to the police, saying Linda was harassing him and sending him threatening mail.’
‘Officers spoke to her on all three occasions,’ said Moss, reading.
‘Yes, so no arrest. Giles Osborne’s first complaint was in July 2014, concerning abusive emails he received from Linda; in one she threatened to kill his cat first, and then him. The second complaint was a month later. His flat was broken into and his cat was
poisoned
. Linda’s fingerprints were found in the property, but her lawyer successfully claimed that her fingerprints
would
be in there because she had recently been a guest at the dinner party he threw to celebrate his engagement to Andrea.
‘Linda was also caught on CCTV in the next street to Giles Osborne’s flat within minutes of the break-in. She then capitulated and stated that she went into the house
after
the break-in to try and save the cat, who seemed in distress when she looked through the window.’
‘Sounds like she’s got a damn good lawyer,’ said Moss.
‘Perhaps, but there wasn’t enough proof to substantiate this either way. The third complaint was October last year when Linda caused eight thousand pounds’ worth of damage to Giles’s office. She threw a brick through one of the large glass window panels. Here, they even caught her on CCTV.’
The picture was over-exposed and black and white, but a bulky figure could be seen in a long overcoat, a baseball cap pulled down over her face. The coat had opened when the figure pulled back to throw the brick, and a jumper could be seen underneath, bearing an illustration of dancing poodles.
Moss was carrying her laptop in a bag. She pulled it out and switched it on. ‘Let’s work through the photos from Andrea’s phone,’ she said, fitting a USB key into the drive, which contained the contents of Andrea’s phone. They waited while the laptop whirred and hummed and booted up. The tiny little light on the USB key began to flicker, and then a scattergun of photos began to skim by on the screen.
Andrea was pictured at several parties: there were many selfies, pictures of Andrea topless in her bathroom mirror, cupping a breast seductively, tilting her head back. Then a series of photos that had been taken on a night out at a bar. It looked to be at the same bar as in the picture with Linda.
‘Stop, go back!’ said Erika.
‘I can’t stop, we have to let them load,’ said Moss.
‘Come on,’ said Erika, impatiently, as the laptop paused on a blurred photo of blackness, obviously taken in error – then the photos began to load again and finished. Erika began to flick through.
‘Yes. Here we go, these are the most recent ones, from the bar,’ said Erika.
‘Who’s that, do you think?’ asked Moss as they peered at the screen. A tall and broad man in his early thirties was pictured with Andrea. He was very dark with large brown eyes, and he had close-cropped stubble on his handsome, chiselled face.
The first few photos were taken by Andrea holding out the camera. In all of them, she was leaning into the man’s chest. He was incredibly handsome.
‘Dark-haired man,’ said Erika, in a soft, excited voice.
‘Let’s just steady on,’ said Moss, who also sounded excited. Erika clicked forward through the photos. They were all taken at what looked like the same party: people filled the background, sitting at tables or dancing. Andrea had gone mad taking pictures of herself with the man, and he’d happily let her. The poses began with them side-by-side, Andrea staring up at him with the love-light in her eyes. The pictures progressed to him kissing Andrea, their mouths locked with a glimpse of tongue, her red fingernails grazing his chiselled stubbly jaw.
‘These were all taken on the 23rd December last year,’ said Moss, noting the date stamp of the pictures.
‘That picture of Linda with Andrea. It was taken the same night. That’s the same party . . .’
The picture from which the National Criminal Database had recognised Linda’s face popped up again.
‘It’s towards the end of the evening by the look of it; they look a bit worse for wear,’ said Erika.
‘So Linda was there at the same time as that guy. He could have taken this photo,’ said Moss.
They pressed on through the photos. The date stamp showed a gap of a few days, and then they came across photos taken on a bed with pale sheets. Andrea lay with the dark-haired man, again holding out the camera to take the shots. His chest was powerful and covered in a smattering of dark hair. Andrea had her arm hooked under her naked breasts. The photos progressed to become more explicit: a close-up of the man with Andrea’s nipple drawn up between his white teeth, a full frontal picture of Andrea laying back on the bed, smiling. And then Andrea’s face filled the screen. Her lips were locked around the base of the man’s penis. He looked to be cupping her chin. One of his large thumbs rested on her cheekbone.
The next photo was abruptly less X-rated. Andrea and the man were pictured on the 30th December, hand-in-hand on the street. They were both dressed for winter. A familiar clock tower was in the background
‘Shit. That’s the Horniman Museum,’ said Moss.
‘And that’s four days before she went missing,’ said Erika.
‘Do you think this is the guy she was seen talking to in the pub?’ asked Moss.
‘This could be the guy who killed her,’ said Erika.
‘But he’s got no record that we know of; the National Criminal Database software didn’t flag him . . .’
‘He looks Russian, or – I don’t know – Romanian? Serbian? He could have a record overseas.’
‘But we don’t have a name, and that could take time,’ said Moss.
‘But we do know someone who could have his name. Linda Douglas-Brown,’ said Erika. ‘She’s pictured the same night. In the same bar as him.’
‘Should we bring her in?’ asked Moss.
‘Now, hang on,’ said Erika.
‘What do you mean, hang on? She’s obviously withholding information, boss.’
‘But we need to be very careful before we bring her in. The Douglas-Browns will lawyer up the second we do anything. It seems they have spent a fair bit of cash keeping Linda on the straight and narrow.’
Moss paused. ‘You know what your flat could do with, boss?’
‘What?’
‘Some nice fresh flowers.’
‘Yes. We should pay a visit to a florist,’ said Erika.
J
ocasta Floristry was tucked
between an elegant jeweller’s and a polished granite office block on Kensington High Street. The window was optimistically decorated for early spring. There was a carpet of real grass, and daffodils, tulips and crocuses pushed up in reds, pinks, blues and yellows. Several china Easter bunnies sat on the grass, or peered out from behind toadstools and giant speckled eggs. At the front, up close to the glass, a small picture of Andrea, smiling into the camera, sat on a red velvet cushion..
Moss went to open the glass entrance, but saw next to it a small white bell and a neatly printed sign with the words: RING FOR SERVICE
Erika pressed the button. Moments later, a small elderly woman with severely scraped-back hair peered up at them from under hooded eyelids. It was the same lady who had answered the door at the Douglas-Browns’ house. She waved them away dismissively. Erika held down the bell again. They realised how thick the glass was when she pulled open the door and the sound of the bell amplified.
‘What’s this about?’ she snapped. ‘We’ve spoken to the police, you have a man in custody. We’re preparing for a funeral!’ She went to slam the door, but Moss grabbed it.
‘We’d like to speak to Linda, please, if she’s here?’
‘You’ve got someone in custody, haven’t you? What more do you need from the family?’ the woman repeated.
‘We’re still building our case, Madam. We believe Linda will be able to help us to confirm a few details which could lead to a swift conviction,’ said Moss.
The old woman regarded them, eyes darting from side to side under the hooded lids, the skin crinkling and twitching, reminding Erika of a chameleon. She opened the door, and stood to one side to let them in,
‘And wipe your feet,’ she said, eyeing the wet pavement outside.
They followed her through to an open-plan seating area decorated in white. Along the back wall, an enormous clear-glass conference table glowed and changed colour. Adorning the walls were photos of the previous work Jocasta Floristry had undertaken: society weddings, product launches. The old lady vanished through a door at the back, and a moment later Linda emerged, carrying armfuls of yellow daffodils. She wore a long black A-line skirt, and another cat jumper poked out from behind a white apron. This time it was a giant tabby cat with languid eyes.
‘My mother isn’t here. She’s taken to her bed,’ she said. Her tone of voice seemed to suggest that her mother was slacking off. She crossed to the large table, laid the daffodils on the glass and began to sort them into bunches. Erika and Moss joined her at the table. ‘What are you doing here, DCI Foster? I thought you’d been taken off the case…’
‘Surely you of all people should know not to believe everything you read in the press,’ said Erika.
‘Yes. Journalists. They’re all beasts. One of the tabloids described me as a “moon-faced spinster”’.
‘I’m sorry to hear that, Linda.’
‘Are you?’ snapped Linda fixing them with a stare. Erika took a deep breath.
‘When we spoke to you before, we asked if you had any information that could help us with our enquiries. You failed to mention to us that Andrea had a second phone,’ said Erika.
Linda went back to bunching daffodils.
‘Well?’ said Moss.
‘You didn’t ask me a question. You made a statement,’ said Linda.
‘Okay. Did Andrea have a second phone?’ asked Erika.
‘No. I wasn’t aware she did,’ said Linda.
‘She reported it stolen in June 2014, but kept the handset and bought a pay-as-you go SIM card,’ said Moss.
‘So, what? You’re here on behalf of the insurance company to investigate insurance fraud?’
‘We found your criminal record, Linda. You have quite the rap sheet: assault, shoplifting, credit card fraud, vandalism,’ said Erika.
Linda stopped bunching the daffodils and looked up at them. ‘That was the old me. I’ve found God now,’ she said. ‘I’m a different person. If you look close enough, we all have a past we regret.’
‘So when did you find God?’ asked Moss.
‘I beg your pardon?’ asked Linda.
‘Well, you’re still on probation, and you caused eight thousand pounds’ worth of damage to Giles Osborne’s offices four months ago. Why did you do it?’
‘I was jealous,’ said Linda. ‘Jealous of Andrea, of Giles. She found someone, and as I’m sure you can imagine, I’m still looking.’
‘And what did Andrea and Giles have to say about your harassment?’
‘I apologised, I said it would never happen again and we all made up.’
‘He forgave you for killing his cat too?’ said Moss.
‘I DID NOT KILL HIS CAT!’ cried Linda. ‘I would never do something like that. Cats are the most beautiful, intelligent creatures . . . You can stare into their eyes, and I think they know all the answers . . . If only they could talk.’
Erika shot Moss a look, not to go too far.
Linda’s puddingy face clouded over and she slammed her hand down on the glass table. ‘I didn’t do it. I am not a liar!’
‘Okay, okay,’ said Moss. ‘Can you tell us who this man is in the picture with Andrea?’ She placed the photo of Andrea at the party with the dark-haired man next to the pile of daffodils.
‘I don’t know,’ said Linda, glancing at it.
‘Look at it properly, please, Linda,’ said Moss, holding up the photo in front of her face.
Linda looked at the photo and back at Moss. ‘I told you, I don’t know.’
‘How about this one?’ said Moss, pulling out the picture of Linda with Andrea. ‘This photo was taken of you and Andrea on the same night, at the same bar. He probably took this photo.’
Linda looked at the photo again and seemed to compose herself. ‘You see, officer, your use of the word
probably
is quite telling. I came to that bar a few minutes before closing for a drink. I’d been working here all evening. When I arrived, Andrea was alone; whoever she’d been there with had gone. She’d waited for me so we could have a drink and a catch-up before the family Christmas events took over. This man may well have been there, but not at the same time as me.’
‘Did Andrea mention him?’
‘Andrea always had a lot of male attention when she went out. I only agreed to meet her if she promised not to go on about boys all evening.’
‘Don’t you like boys?’
‘
Boys
,’ Linda snorted. ‘You know, two intelligent women can pass an evening without having to talk about men, surely?’
‘What was the name of the bar?’ asked Erika.
‘Um, I think it’s called Contagion.’
‘Who was Andrea there with?’
‘I told you, I don’t know. Andrea had a revolving door of party mates.’
‘Where was Giles?’
‘I would have thought that he’d left by then so he could avoid having to see me.’
‘Because you harassed him, vandalised his offices, and killed his . . .’ finished Moss.
‘How many more times, I did not kill Clara!’ cried Linda. Tears welled up in her eyes. She pulled down a sleeve of the tabby jumper and wiped her eyes. ‘Clara was . . . she was a lovely animal. She would let me hold her. She wouldn’t let many other people, not even Giles.’
‘Then who poisoned her?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Linda, softly. She pulled out a lump of balled tissue paper from the pocket of her jumper and scrubbed at her eyes until they started to look red.
‘What can you tell us about this?’ asked Moss, placing down the clear evidence bag which contained the letter that Erika had received.
‘What’s this? No, no, no. I don’t know anything!’ Linda said, fresh tears appearing on her red face.
‘I think Linda has been accommodating enough,’ said a voice from the back of the room. The Douglas-Browns’ housekeeper with the hooded eyes, had materialised and was coming toward them. ‘If you want to talk to her further, perhaps we can arrange something more formal, with the family solicitor in attendance?’
‘Linda. This man,’ said Moss, tapping the photo of the handsome man with Andrea, ‘is also a suspect in the rape and murder of three young Eastern European women over the past two years, and the recent murder of an elderly lady.’
Linda’s eyes widened. The housekeeper was now holding out her arm for them to leave.
‘Linda. Please contact us if you think of anything, however small,’ said Erika.
‘
S
he either doesn’t know
who that guy is, or she’s a very good liar,’ said Moss, when they were back out on the street.
‘The only thing I believed her about was the cat. She didn’t kill that cat,’ said Erika.
‘But we’re not investigating cat murders.’
‘I think we should go and pay Giles Osborne a visit,’ said Erika. ‘See what he has to say about Linda, and these photos.’