Zilhouette Murders, page 22
“But wasn’t Paula with Charlie Potts?” Anne Morris asked. Peter Wicker looked at Steven, then turned to Anne Morris.
“You seem to know a lot about Paula Monarch?”
Anne Morris was now crying and looking to the heavens for help. “Well Miss Morris, why do you know so much about Paula Monarch?”
Anne Morris was getting more and more distressed and both detectives were certain she was holding back information but also concerned they might be pushing her too hard.
“If you would prefer to have a break, get a cup of tea or something, that’s fine.” suggested Peter.
“No, I don’t need a cup of tea. Did you believe Steven had killed Paula like those other women?”
“We can’t prove anything Miss Morris, As we said, he was wearing a tag at the time and he couldn’t be in two places at the same time – could he?”
“This is Steven Monarch you are talking about. He knows all kinds of people and I bet you he knows someone who can fool one of them tags. He as much bragged about it when I knew him.”
“So do you know anyone who could do that who might know Monarch?” Peter asked.
“Of course not detective, I just know HE knows people.”
Peter paused for a moment then decided to ask the question.
“Miss Morris how do you know so much about Paula Monarch?”
“Cos she’s my sister!” she replied and burst into tears “and now she’s dead!”
Peter looked at Steven and they were both surprised by this revelation: but then came the realisation Anne Morris might have provided an alibi for Monarch because he was married to her sister. “I want you to think very carefully before answering this question Anne because perjury is a very serious crime and those who are found guilty can go to prison. Did you tell the truth about being with Steven Monarch for two weeks or were you forced into providing this alibi.?”
Anne Morris was now shaking as well as sobbing and she was rolling her handkerchief in her hands.
“Well Miss Morris, I need an answer.”
“Paula called me and asked me to help out Steven. She said he had been accused of robbing a couple of houses, just small robberies, and he needed an alibi otherwise he might end up in jail because this would be treated as a multiple offence and he would go to jail so I er, well I agreed to say he was with me in Marbella for a couple of weeks.”
“So, for confirmation, you are now saying you weren’t with Steven Monarch on the days in question?”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“But he had tickets and his passport was stamped.”
“They were forged, I think Paula got these.”
“And when you went to court and heard the charges, did you not think that this was obviously not a couple of robberies, it was a multiple murder. Why didn’t you change you mind and tell the truth?”
“Because Monarch threatened me and told me I would be done for perjury and would end up in Prison,”
“You realise your statement got him a lighter sentence and eventually early release and because of this early release he was able to murder your sister!” said Steven Warrington in a raised voice. “and what’s more, he would have probably killed again.”
“I know, I know God forgive me.”
“Miss Morris, God might forgive you but the courts and the police won’t. Miss Anne Morris I am arresting you for admitting you lied in court and committed perjury in a murder case. You do not have to say anything but anything you do say may be used in evidence against you. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
Steven Warrington left the room and called the local police to ask for a uniformed unit to come and arrest their suspect. He came back into the room five minutes later.
“Miss Morris, a police car is on its way to take you to the local station where you will be formally charged. You are entitled to a solicitor, if you do not have one, one will be appointed for you. Do you have anything else to say or have any questions?”
“What will happen to me?” Anne asked.
“You will be taken from here to the local police station where you will be charged with perverting the course of justice.” explained DS Wicker
“Miss Morris, this is the time to volunteer any information which you feel might assist us in the investigation of Steven Monarch.”
“Can I do a deal with you sergeant?”
“I’m afraid the police don’t do deals Miss Morris but, if you were to provide us with information which proved to assist us in our enquiries, I promise you the court will be made aware of your co-operation. I can’t say any more than that.”
“What about my protection?”
“Protection? from what?”
“From Steven Monarch. He is completely mad but also resourceful. He knows people and, if he wanted to get to me he could,” a very frightened Anne Morris replied.
Peter Wicker looked at his colleague and nodded.
“Miss Morris. If you have some information and that information helps us in this case I will push for your inclusion in the Witness Protection Program – but I cannot guarantee this because it will depend on the evidence you can supply,” DC Warrington explained. “I might not go to prison?”
Steven Warrington shook his head and moved to sit next to Anne Morris and took her hand.
“You know I can’t answer that Miss Morris. Like my sergeant said, if you help us we will make sure the Court is made aware of your help. Now what do you want to tell us?”
Back in Guildford the team of detectives continued working on the profile of each of the now-identified victims and as each new piece of information was unearthed it was written on the board next to the last available photograph of the victim.
At the end of each day Viv Roberts would collect a copy of the updated information and transcribe it onto a single sheet and ensure each detective working on the case received the information on their desk for the following day.
In the meantime, George Sonas had updated his opinion on the identity of the murderer and had requested a meeting with David Cunningham.
“Come in George.” said David Cunningham as he saw his associate knocking on his door.
“Inspector, thanks for seeing me. Look, I have been going through the information we now know about the victims and I can tell you our man is definitely choosing his victim carefully. These are definitely not random killings and I think the last two findings of multiple victims tells me he has finished and I don’t think any more victims will be found.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because this is a story, and we have read the last two chapters by finding the last two sets of victims. May I sit down Inspector?”
“Of course George. Do you want a coffee or something?”
“Er, no thank you Inspector,” replied George as he sat in one of the chairs in front of David Cunningham’s desk,
“Are you alright George?”
“Yes, er, well no not completely. You see David, whilst I believe our murderer is telling this story and he is now finished, I don’t think he wants to be caught. I thought at the beginning he wanted to be caught and punished because he left so many clues for us and in the beginning, until the find in the Thames, he was almost ‘daring’ us to catch him.
Even when he took the risk of contacting Anton and telling him – in a riddle – the whereabouts of the next victims I think he was doing that because we hadn’t figured it out for ourselves. We know now, the victims in the river were left sometime ago and so him contacting us and guiding us was done to make sure the victims would be found and not simply washed away because these were part of the story.”
“Go on George.”
“The last find, the destruction of his secret hideaway where it appears he killed most of the victims and the torching of the van he had used to abduct most of his victims was a ‘victory’ celebration David. He believes he has won and my greatest fear is we will not catch him because of his knowledge of how to cover his trails and leave no clues. But I think he has made a big mistake.”
David Cunningham was listening closely to what George was saying and when he heard George say the killer had ‘made a big mistake’ he assumed the next sentence from George’s mouth was going to be ‘and the killer is...’ so he leaned forward in his chair waiting for George to continue.
Before George could continue there was a knock on his door. It was his secretary holding the phone receiver in her hand and pointing vigorously indicating he should take this.
“Please excuse me for a second George.”
He got up from his chair and walked out of his office to where his secretary was standing.
“Sorry Sir but I know you will want to take this.”
“Who is it?”
“Didn’t give his name but said he’s the ‘Zilhouette’ murderer Sir.” She handed him the phone receiver and wrote on her pad ‘we are tracing the call.’
He smiled and nodded, cleared his throat then lifted the receiver to his mouth.
“Inspector Cunningham.”
The line remained quiet for a couple of seconds before a voice disguised by an electronic device answered.
“So Inspector Cunningham, how is your investigation going?”
“Who is this?”
“Look, I know you are trying to trace the call, don’t bother I’m not that stupid as I am sure your people have now confirmed.”
“What to you want?”
“Want? I want to help.”
“Is this a joke?”
“Inspector, the deaths of ten women is no joke.”
“Eleven women.” David Cunningham corrected the caller, There was a pause.
“Hello, are you still there?”
“Inspector, I am responsible for the deaths of ten women. That animal Steven Monarch is responsible for the brutal and unjustified murder of his wife in a manner designed to make you think it was me.”
This calm-spoken person at the other end of the phone completely took the wind out of David Cunningham’s sails by revealing it was Paula Monarch’s husband who had killed her. He shook himself back to reality.
“Unjustified!? You accuse another man of the unjustified murder of his wife whilst you, … you obviously feel justified in murdering ten innocent women.”
The line again went quiet, then ...
“Only you think it was unjustified Inspector. It is unlikely we will meet again so I will say goodbye and I will watch the news about Steven Monarch’s arrest and feel happy justice has been served.”
“Wait, wait...”
The line cleared and David Cunningham was left holding the phone receiver in silence. He turned to his secretary hopefully, but she simply shook her head in despair.
“Nothing Inspector, we couldn’t trace the call.”
He stood frozen in-the-moment before turning back to his secretary. “Find me DS Wicker please, as soon as you can and put him through.”
His secretary nodded and David Cunningham walked back into his office with a look of thunder on his face.
“Are you alright Inspector?”
The Inspector turned to face him and lifted his arm and pointed his finger towards his secretaries desk.
“Do you now who that was?”
“No Inspector.” George replied not daring to speculate.
“That was our killer!”
“What?”
“You heard. The arrogant bastard phoned me, here in the police station.
“What did he say?”
David calmed down a little and stared down at his desk. He lifted his head and looked back a George.
“Doesn’t matter George. Probably a prank call. Where were we?”
George looked back at the man opposite and realised at that moment he was still an outsider, only told what his employers thought he should know – and whatever happened on the phone a minute ago was something this Inspector did not think he should know, for now. “Oh yes, we were talking about the murderer making a big mistake and you were about to explain to me what that mistake actually was.”
“Yes Inspector, by telling us he has finished, we know the victims we have are all the players in his story and there is no-one else so, we only need to establish the link between them to discover why they were killed and the common denominator will be the identity of the murderer.”
“And this was his big mistake?”
“Yes, don’t you see; all your efforts can be concentrated on finding the link.” explained George.
“Right, well we better get on with this then.” David Cunningham replied rising from his chair telling George this meeting was now over.
George shook the hand extended to him by the Inspector and headed for the door but before walking through the exit turned back to the Inspector.
“I am right Inspector, you will see I am right.”
David smiled as he watched George Sonas exit his office and head for his own office.
He raised his eyebrows as he recalled his parting words.
His thoughts were interrupted by the phone on his desk ringing.
“DS Wicker for you, Sir.”
“Thanks, please put him through.”
CHAPTER 45
David Cunningham picked up the receiver and sat back in his chair. “Where are you Peter?”
Peter Wicker went on to explain where he was, why he was there and most importantly, what he and his DC had uncovered.
Inspector Cunningham frantically made notes as his DS described the events of the last twenty-four hours finishing with the confession Anne Morris she had lied under oath to provide Steven Monarch with an alibi, resulting in his barrister winning the appeal and his client’s early release.
“And she did this because she was Paula Monarch’s sister, and no one discovered this during the investigation Peter?”
“Yes Sir. At the time, Anne Morris was divorced but retained her married name. Turns out her husband was worse than Steven Monarch and she couldn’t get away from him quick enough, but she declared herself single at the time and because of this, I guess this was taken on face value and no one checked.”
“And she knew nothing about her sister’s murder?”
“No, she fell out with her after she discovered her sister had misled her about the crime her husband needed an alibi for. She was under the impression it was for a small burglary but Monarch would have received a disproportionate sentence because of a totting-up system – which you and I know is nonsense. When she actually found out the charge against Monarch she felt she had gone so far with lying it made no difference to the problems she would face if she stuck by her statement in court. She also thought her life would be in danger if she didn’t provide Monarch with the alibi.”
“So where is she now Peter?”
“In custody Sir, here in Birmingham where she is retracting her original statement and wanting to tell the truth.”
“She knows she will probably go to jail Peter?”
“I did inform her Sir but once she heard about her sister and her belief Steven Monarch had murdered her, she didn’t seem to bother about what would happen to her.”
“That still doesn’t explain the tag placing him at home when the murder took place.”
“I’m working on that now Sir. She has provided us with a couple of names of people she knows who could and would be persuaded to help Steven Monarch beat the tag in exchange for cash or even their lives.”
“Good work Peter. When are you back?”
“Heading back now Sir. We are leaving Morris with CID up here and they will arrange for her transfer when she is required to make a court appearance.”
“OK, see you later.”
He asked his secretary to find DC’s Black and Menton and ask them to come to see him.
Ten minutes later his secretary called to say they were on their way.
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
Both detectives walked into DI Cunningham’s office uncertain about why they had been summoned.
“Good afternoon Sir,” said DC Menton.
“Yes, good afternoon, please take a seat. Before I get to the main reason for calling you up here I wanted to go over your report from the CCTV next to the car park in the shopping centre.”
“Yes Sir,” acknowledged Stuart Menton.
“According to your report an image of the subject was caught going through the shopping centre and then he disappeared.”
“We think he went into the toilets Sir, but there was no image showing him exiting the facility, which leads us to believe he was lost in the crowd, changed his identity or found another exit, but we have no other image of him at all. Sorry Sir.”
“You have definitely checked all the CCTV footage?”
“Yes Sir.”
David Cunningham showed his disappointment but shrugged his shoulders and put the file on his desk.
“I suppose you were wondering why I asked you here.”
DC Menton looked at his colleague and then back to their boss.
“Well, yes Sir.”
“Earlier in the year you both were involved in the arrest of Steven Monarch – I’m sure you both remember.”
“Not something we are likely to forget Sir. SWAT was involved and it ended with Monarch not being charged,” replied DC Black. “Has something changed Sir?”
“I think you will be making a return journey back to collect Mr. Monarch after DC Wicker returns.”
“How come Sir?”
“New evidence, DC Menton, hopefully robust enough to keep him this time!”
“Great news Sir! Is there something you want us to do before DS Wicker arrives?”
“On this no, but tell me where you are on unearthing the link between the ‘Zilhouette’ victims.”
Both detectives looked at each other before Alison Black leaned forward in her seat.
“Are we sure there is a connection Sir?”
“Strange question DC Black, you know we have had the best people looking at this and they all say there is a reason why these particular women were targeted and murdered and there has to be a connection between them.”
“I know Sir, but there are fourteen of us working on this plus we have involved colleagues out of area where our enquiries pointed in different directions; but every lead we follow goes nowhere.
