Zilhouette Murders, page 11
“Mrs. Pouter?”
She nodded.
“Please come through and follow me. The sergeant is waiting for you.”
She brushed past the officer and waited for him to close the door. “Sorry to have kept you waiting Mrs. Pouter. Please come this way.”
She followed him along a corridor until he stopped, knocked on the door and opened it when the person inside said “Come in.”
He stood to one side allowing Susan Pouter to walk past him and into the small room.
Inside there was a desk and two chairs. Behind the desk sat a uniformed woman who stood up and extended her hand.
“Mr. Pouter, I’m sergeant Pat Watts, thanks for coming in. Please take a seat.”
She shook the sergeant’s hand, sat down and made herself comfortable.”
“Now Mrs. Pouter, I understand you have been asked to come in to make a statement about the disappearance of your sister-in-law Mrs. Gillian Murphy?”
“Yes, that right. Have you found her yet?”
“Well, I’m afraid no, we haven’t though we have a team of officers searching.”
“So if it wasn’t Gillian carried out of her house, who was it?”
“I don’t have that information Mrs. Pouter. Can we move on please?”
“Of course, sorry.”
The sergeant smiled and opened her notebook.
“OK, I understand you reported Mrs. Murphy missing a couple days ago, is that correct?”
“Yes, I had tried to get hold of her but she didn’t go into work and wasn’t answering her phone so I became worried and went round to her house. Her car was parked, not in its usual place but I did see it so assumed she was at home. The curtains were drawn and I could see post on the mat inside the door. I rang the bell and knocked and shouted but she did not answer the door.”
“Had you arranged to meet with Mrs. Murphy?”
“Not exactly. We met most days for a sandwich at lunchtime and would often spend evenings together. We were both on our own and enjoyed each other’s company. Our relationship became closer after she was diagnosed with cancer.”
“So after you received no response from knocking on the door and phoning, what did you do next?”
“I went back to her car. It was locked and I became very concerned. I had known Gillian for about seven years. She was married to my brother who worked with her in the care home. They split up but I remained in contact with her.”
“Does your brother still work in the care home?”
“No, he left and moved away after they split up.”
“Do you know where he is now Mrs. Pouter.”
Susan Pouter paused before answering.
“He’s with someone else now, living in East London.”
“Could I please have his details?”
“Sure.”
She checked her bag, took out a small address book and handed it to the sergeant opened at the page where her brother’s details were written.
“Thank you.”
The sergeant continued to question Mrs. Pouter, writing down her statement and just over one hour later she declared it was finished. “Please check this through Mrs. Pouter and if you think it is correct, kindly sign and date it at the bottom.”
Ten minutes later Susan Pouter was back on the pavement outside the police station, a little lost and very upset after recalling her friendship with Gillian and the fact she was now missing.
She caught the bus home and tried to get the upsetting day out of her mind.
CHAPTER 23
Anton, Brian and Pauline returned to their laboratory.
He asked his assistant Justine to come into his office with her pad. “Justine, we are expecting the body collected earlier to be delivered shortly and I want you to please start a file on Gillian Murphy.”
“Is this the name of the corpse being brought in Anton?”
“No. this is the name of the person who is missing and in whose home we found the corpse being brought in. We have not yet established the identity of the corpse. It’s in a pretty bad state.”
“Like the other one?”
“Yes, looks like the same hand.”
“Right, I’ll start the file. Anything else?”
“I know it’s not your job but I would love a coffee and a sandwich. I think it’s going to be a long day and I need something inside me.” Justine smiled. “No problem Anton. I’ll check if Brian and Pauline need something as well.”
“Thanks,” concluded Anton as he watched Justine leave his office and head down the corridor to find Brian and Pauline.
He checked his email and noticed a message from his daughter and his wife advising him they would organise Margaret’s funeral. “We know how busy you are and we’d like to do this – for Margaret.”
He smiled weakly and burst into tears. He quickly composed himself and looked further down his messages and stopped at a sender he didn’t recognise.
The message title was ‘Still Stuck?’... and it had a number of emojis after the text.
His screening program had allowed this through so he opened the email to find a number of photos attached. The text in the mail congratulated him on his efforts and then ended with the line. “‘our sister is in a better place than you.’
He slumped back in his chair angry but inquisitive.
He called Brian into his office.
“Brian, please take a look at this. What do you think?”
Anton knew Brian’s technical knowledge about software was greater than his and he was keen to get his friend’s opinion.
Brian leaned forward to get a closer look at the email before opening up the photos.
He pressed some keys and another screen appeared with white lettering on a black background.
“What are you doing Brian?”
“I’m trying to determine the IP address of who sent this but it is very cleverly disguised. It’s moving all over the world every couple of seconds. Whoever sent this doesn’t want you, or anyone to know who they are, but I think there are some people upstairs who might be able to break the ghosting and get some concrete answers.”
Just as he finished talking a countdown clock appeared on screen counting down from thirty seconds.
“Quick, forward this to me Anton, we might be able to save it.” Brian said.
Anton pressed the forward button and the screen changed. Fake blood ran down the screen until the time finished at zero. Then the email was lost.
“Shit!” exclaimed Brian. “Let me see if it came through to me.” he walked out of Anton’s office and moments later returned with his laptop open resting on his forearm frantically pressing keys.
He looked up at Anton and shook his head. “It didn’t come through.”
“Why would anyone send me an email with attached photos I couldn’t open?”
Brian shrugged his shoulders.
“Maybe it’s just a wind-up Anton.”
“Yes, but Brian, the comments about Margaret, surely that’s unusual?”
“It is, but without more information there is no way we can find out any more about this.”
Pauline tapped on the door.
“The victim from Gillian Murphy’s house has arrived.”
Both men rose to their feet and headed for the door. Anton had forgotten about the email already as he was hoping the killer had left him more clues this time. Brian pressed a few keys on his laptop and closed it up.
Anton, Brian and Pauline changed their clothes and walked into the lab. The corpse had already been laid on one of the tables and the instruments were laid out ready for Anton to begin the post-mortem. He walked to the side of the table, adjusting the light above and looking closely at the torso laying before him. ‘Poor woman’ he thought as he gently lifted her head slightly to look at her neck. He began to record his findings.
“The torso we have before us is that of a young woman between thirty-five and forty-five years old. The victim has had both legs and arms amputated; all blood has been drained from the body and she has been scalped. The damage to her skull and the top of her face makes identification very difficult. We can see she had blue eyes but there are no other distinguishing marks on the face; there is bruising around the mouth suggesting something might have been forced onto her face and held by a strong arm. Judging by the state and condition of the skin I would say this body has been kept in a cold store or freezer.” He paused and took a step backwards to allow Brian to take some close-up photos of the areas he mentioned.
“Moving down to the shoulders there is some bruising. On first inspection it appears some of this is pre-mortem and some post-mortem. The latter could have been caused by the body being moved, dragged or even dropped.” Again, he took a step backwards to allow the photos to be taken.
“Both arms have been amputated. Underneath the arm socket there is a four-inch incision, but it appears only on the left-hand side.” He paused for a moment thinking about what he was seeing. “I think the killer made this incision to access the heart and lungs to accelerate the blood loss.” He beckoned Brian over the take a close-up of the area and pointed to the incision. Brian nodded and took a number of shots.
“Moving down the body there doesn’t appear to be any markings which might help us identify the victim but,” he paused and pulled down a light to an area just above the hip on the right-hand side.
“Is that a scar Brian?” His colleague moved in closer with the camera and looked at the area through the camera lens.
“Yes, Anton, I believe it is. It’s looks very old but it’s definitely a scar.”
Anton grabbed his ruler and took measurements.
“The scar is approximately five inches long and judging by the way it has faded, I would guess this is at least five years old. It’s more difficult to determine age because of the skin colour due to the lack of blood in the body but we do have processes which will help us identify this victim.”
Anton then moved on to opening the chest wall.
“Examining the heart and lungs I cannot find any disease. There are some deposits in her lungs and I would think this lady was a smoker or lived and worked near heavy smokers. The stomach reveals very little. I wouldn’t think she’d had a meal or drunk anything in the last seventy-two hours at least. Her kidney and liver are both in good condition. All in all, apart from the deposits in the lungs, she was a healthy young woman.”
Anton stood back to take a last look at this poor woman remembering how his own sister had been a victim of whoever did this, which sent a shudder down his back.
“Are you finished Anton?” asked Pauline who had come into the laboratory to view the post-mortem.
“Yes, I have Pauline. Would you mind closing up the chest for me. I’ll get the photos from Brian of the scar we found and see whether the Detectives have any Joey finding her identity.” Pauline nodded and Anton and Brian left the laboratory and after changing and washing, made their way to Anton’s office.
Brain uploaded the photos of the scar to the office system and advised Anton he could now take a closer look on screen. Justine knocked on Anton’s door.
“Would you like a coffee Anton?”
“Coffee would be great. Please ask Brian to come in would you?” Justine turned and walked towards Brian’s office, took his order for coffee before asking him to join Anton in his office.
“OK Brian, I’ve looked closely at this and now I’m not so sure this scar is as old as I originally thought. Look at the state of the skin around the site and compare that to the scar tissue itself – what do you see?”
Brian picked up a magnifying glass and took a closer look at the photo which was already enlarged on the screen.
“I agree Anton, this might be only two or three years old but without the blood in the body and the state of the cells which have been affected by the freezing and thawing process, it’s going to be difficult to tell for sure”.
Anton sat back in his chair as Justine walked in with two coffees. “Pauline has just about finished and she will be up here in a couple of minutes. I have brought an extra cup for her.”
“Thanks Justine.”
Anton cupped the mug of coffee in both hands and stared at the image on the screen.
He suddenly sat forward.
“Brian, what do we know about our victims and their killer?” Brian sat at the other side of Anton’s desk and sipped his coffee. “Well, we now have three bodies which have been mutilated in the same way. Of course, we have Paula Monarch from the golf course but we think this is the same killer but used to try to make us believe Steven Monarch was the killer.”
“What else Brian?”
“Er, well, we have established the identity of one of the victims” he looked at Anton realising what he was talking about.
“Yes Brian, it’s OK. What else?”
“We had no way of identifying the two other bodies but, Julia found a handbag belonging to Honey Bates at the scene where Margaret’s body was found but we don’t know who was placed at the Bate’s residence.”
“OK Brian, so what if this is Honey Bates. We know it’s not Gillian Murphy and the only other identified missing person is Honey Bates. If this is her, she had been chilled or even frozen because she was killed over a week ago. It all fits.”
Brian nodded in agreement and Anton picked up the phone.
“Detective Peter Wicker please.” he said down the phone.
“Peter, it’s Anton. We have done some preliminary investigation on the torso found at Gillian Murphy’s house and we have found a small scar on the body. Is it possible for you to speak with Mr. Bates and find out whether his wife had an accident or hurt herself enough to need some stitches. The scar is on her right side just above the hip bone.”
“You think this might be Honey Bates Anton?” asked the detective.
“It’s possible but, don’t give Mr. Bates any false hope just yet. If he confirms she did have an injury in this area I think it’s more than likely we do have Honey Bates.”
“I’ll get right on it and let you know.”
“Thanks Peter, bye.”
He replaced the received and smiled at Brian.
“Maybe a breakthrough, if we can confirm this is Honey Bates. Then we can move forward with trying to establish some kind of connection between her and Margaret but I have to be honest, I never heard Margaret mention Mrs. Bates and I certainly never met her.”
“Fingers crossed then Anton.” Brian said.
Peter Wicker decided to call Paul Bates rather than drive over there. He had changed his mind about Mr. Bates after hearing what his wife’s sister told him about the way Honey Bates treated her husband.
The phone only rang twice.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Bates?”
“Yes, who’s this?”
“Detective Wicker Mr. Bates, do you have a moment?”
“Have you found Honey, Detective?”
“Not exactly Sir. Please, I need to ask you a simple question.”
“OK.”
“To your knowledge Mr. Bates, had your wife needed any stitches in an injury in the last, say five years.”
The line went very quiet.
“Mr. Bates, are you still there.”
Peter Wicker could hear sobbing down the line.
“You’ve found her haven’t you?”
“Mr. Bates, I can’t confirm this. We have found another body but we cannot confirm this is Mrs. Bates. Now, the injury?”
Paul Bates composed himself, took a deep breath.
“About three years ago Honey decided to try horse riding at her very first attempt she was thrown from the horse and landed badly and needed stitches to an injury.”
“Where was she injured Mr. Bates?”
“Er, on her right side I think Detective, on the top of her thigh. I remember her being very angry because we were going to Spain for a week and she was worried about wearing her bikini.” he laughed through his tears as he recalled the event.
Peter Wicker stayed silent. He had received training when confronted with this situation, telling someone one of their loved ones had been killed. But this didn’t make the task any easier.
“You’ve found her haven’t you?” Mr. Bates asked through his sobbing.
“Mr. Bates I am so sorry to have to inform you the victim we have found is probably your wife.” He waited for a response.
“Thank you detective. When will you be sure and when can I see her?”
“I will come back to you tomorrow with final confirmation but Mr. Bates, I would not recommend you see your wife. We wouldn’t expect or need you to carry out a formal identification because, to be brutally honest Mr. Bates, you would not recognise her.”
He heard Paul Bates desperately cry out but then he calmed down. “I’ll call Bella and let her know.”
“Please Mr. Bates, please leave it until tomorrow when I can formally confirm this, please.”
“Very well, I understand. Thank you Detective. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye Sir. I promise I will call you tomorrow no later than four pm.”
Peter returned the phone to it’s cradle. Then he picked it up again and dialled Anton Schwartz.
“Anton, yes, he confirmed she had a riding accident a few years ago and needed stitches. He said at the top of her right thigh so I guess that’s more or less the same as you explained. Looks like we have identified another victim.”
“Thanks Peter. I will complete my report and you will have it in the morning. Now the Jo starts to see what connection we can find between these two victims. We still have the body found at the Bates house and we will eventually find Gillian Murphy. This is nowhere near the end Peter. I don’t think our murderer has finished yet.”
“Nor me Anton Let’s talk tomorrow. Bye”
“Bye Peter.”
