Hindsight (9781921997211) (15 page)

So what had happened in 2009? Was there a missing woman they didn't know about? He stood there, his heart racing. No, she wasn't missing; people didn't disappear without someone noticing. Either the killer had skipped a year or there was another Janet Hodgson, another one they'd found dead. He ran out of the room and down the hallway, grabbing his keys and jacket on the way through. If there was another dead victim she might be the key to finding the killer. And Susan.

CHAPTER

17

Ed walked into a squad room so taut with nervous tension it was palpable. Phil wasn't at her desk so he threw his jacket over the back of his chair and picked up the phone to check his messages. Samuels spotted him from across the room and made a beeline for him. Ed sighed and replaced the receiver. As much as he found the man irritating there was no faster way to find out what was going on.

‘Afternoon shift started then has it?' Samuels asked with a leer.

‘What's up?' Ed didn't bother to acknowledge the snide remark. There was no point. A reaction was what Samuels wanted.

‘Results are back from the lab on the Michael McKenzie case.' Samuels paused, waiting for Ed to ask the question.

Ed gritted his teeth. He was going to have to play the game if he wanted to find out anything. He looked around, hoping Phil might appear and save him from the charade. No such luck. He took a deep breath.

‘So what did they find?'

‘The blood results indicate that he was nowhere near drunk enough to walk in front of a truck or pass out on the road.'

‘Really?' Ed tried to mask his distaste at Samuels's relish over the details.

‘Yes, and there's way the truck hit him.' He paused again for dramatic effect. ‘Sonya thinks he was pushed or thrown in front of it.'

‘So it looks like a homicide?'

‘Yep, but I haven't told you the best bit.'

Ed just waited, looking at Samuels and trying not to let his impatience get the better of him. Aside from the alcohol reading, Samuels hadn't told him anything he didn't know. He just wanted to be done with the conversation to get on with a search for female homicide victims in 2009 and see if anything stood out.

‘They found traces of the same muscle relaxant in his bloodstream as they found in Janet Hodgson's.' Samuels watched Ed's face, delighted at being the one to deliver the bombshell.

‘So the two are definitely linked?'

‘Seems that way. Anyway, Phil is in the conference room with Sorenson. They're on a conference call with CS now giving them the news.'

‘Thanks, Bill.' Ed headed straight for the conference room. He wanted to be a party to whatever decision was made. If there was even the slightest chance that Janet and Mick had been killed by the person who had killed Susan, he wanted in.

He gave a cursory knock then walked in. Sorenson was talking and Phil was looking red and sweaty, which told him that things weren't going smoothly. He looked at the screen on the phone. The call had only been going for eight minutes. He felt a twinge of irritation. If Samuels had just got to the point he wouldn't have missed much.

‘… and given the likelihood that the killer is probably from this region —'

‘That's not definite,' Byrnes interrupted. He sounded really pissed.

‘Yes, but it's highly likely. You have to agree that the traces of the same muscle relaxant having been found in both victims clearly suggests they were killed by the same person?'

‘Yes, it appears that way.'

‘Well, the most likely way the killer would have found out the identity of the witness was through local gossip. Unfortunately, a young officer in Jewel Bay asked one of the local business operators about his whereabouts and let slip that he was the likely witness.'

‘That doesn't mean the killer's a local. He could have been hanging around and overheard the chatter,' Byrnes said

‘If he stayed around after we found the body,' Phil said.

‘Killers like to revisit the scene,' Rawlinson chipped in.

‘Maybe, but I think the local angle is more likely. Besides, even if the killer isn't local, both victims were, and you said yourself that your suspect couldn't have killed Michael McKenzie,' Ed said.

‘Yes, that's correct,' Rawlinson said.

Ed could almost imagine the look Byrnes would've been giving him right at that moment.

‘It doesn't mean that it's not an organised hit. Even if it wasn't Liberetti, they could have had multiple contracts out on Janet,' Byrnes said.

‘Have you got any leads on another suspect?' Sorenson asked.

‘No, until ten minutes ago we were comfortable with Liberetti.' The tone of his voice made it sound like the Fairfield police were personally responsible for the fact that they had the wrong person in custody.

‘Well, given the situation I would like my detectives reinstated on the case,' Sorenson said.

There was a pause. Eventually Byrnes answered. ‘I'll need to speak to DCI Fisher.'

‘I've already spoken to him. He asked me to brief you.'

More silence, then, ‘Fine, we need to sort things out down this end. We'll come down first thing in the morning.'

‘Good, we'll continue with the investigation and see you then.'

They terminated the call and the three of them sat for a few seconds before anyone spoke.

‘So you're up to date with what happened this morning, Ed?' Sorenson asked.

‘Yes, Samuels filled me in.'

‘Good.' She stood up to leave the room and then stopped. ‘How's the head?' She looked at him closely.

She's looking to see if I look hung-over, Ed thought. ‘Much better thanks. I'm keen to get on with it. I want to catch whatever crazy bastard thinks it's OK to throw an old man in front of a truck.'

‘Yes, I want you and Phil to work out what your next steps are and fill me in on your plans. This room is booked until twelve — you might as well stay here and do it. Ed, come and see me when you're finished.'

‘Yes, ma'am,' Ed said.

She closed the door firmly behind her, leaving them to it.

‘So?' Phil asked.

Ed knew the question wasn't about where he thought they should start their investigation. ‘So it looks like Cass might have been on to something.'

‘You're kidding, right?'

‘No, I reckon there's a pattern. Each of the missing women disappeared in consecutive years starting in 2008 and they all disappeared in either June or July. There's only one problem: there's a missing year.'

‘A missing year?'

‘Either the killer skipped a year, there's someone missing that we don't know about or there was another Janet Hodgson.'

‘Another body?'

‘Maybe.'

‘Which year is missing?'

‘Oh-nine.'

Phil thought for a while. ‘I don't remember any unsolved homicides around here in 2009.'

‘No, me neither, but I still need to check. Maybe it wasn't in our region.'

‘You want to check before we say anything to Sorenson?'

‘Yeah, I'd like to have the full picture before we do. If there are five in a row, all missing or dead at around the same time of year, all loners, all with green eyes, there's no room for any doubts.'

‘All right, we'd better come up with a plan for Sorenson. Once we've got something I'll write it up while you do a database search.'

‘Thanks Phil, I owe you one.'

‘One? You owe me a shitload more than one. I've lost count of the times I've covered for your sorry arse.' She snorted and ran a hand through her cropped hair, making it stick up at crazy angles.

‘So what's the plan for Old Mick? We could try to find the truck driver. If we canvass the trucking companies and try to find out which drivers were on South Road at that time we might be able to find him.' Ed got out of his chair and started to jot down notes on the whiteboard.

‘Yeah, if we can find the driver he might remember seeing a car parked by the side of the road and give us a description.'

‘Yep, and what about Janet?'

‘We need to go back over her phone records and see if anything stands out. This guy is into eyes. Maybe he's an optician?' Phil said, only half joking.

‘We should be so lucky. I don't want to tell Sorenson about the eye thing yet so if you're serious about checking out her optician then let's keep that out of the official plan, OK? What about her friends and colleagues?'

‘She didn't have any friends but we should reinterview her colleagues. I might do some quiet crosschecking with the friends, relatives and associates of those other missing women.'

‘Thanks, Phil, you're a champ.'

‘I know, I'm a diamond in a box full of coal. You can thank me on Friday by buying me a beer. I'll go back to my desk and start writing up an action plan for Sorenson. I'll list off who we're going to interview and why. You know we're gonna have to tell her about the possible serial sooner rather than later, though. If there really is someone out there picking off a woman every year he might decide he wants to have another go at snatching a victim this year.'

‘Yeah, I know. We'll have to tell Sorenson by the end of the day and let her make the call about what to tell CS.' Ed sighed.

‘She'll want to tell them. If we have a serial killer on the loose then it's automatically their case.'

‘Yeah, I know.'

‘And you know that Sorenson won't want you working it if Susan was one of the vics?'

‘I know that too.'

‘Well, let's get to it then.'

‘I'll go and see what Sorenson wants and join you back in the squad room,' Ed said as they walked down the corridor.

He stopped at the door to Sorenson's office and gave a quick knock before sticking his head around it. She was on the phone but waved him into a chair.

He sat down and waited for her to finish, letting his eyes wander over the bits and pieces she had dotted around: a couple of pot plants that looked in need of a drink; her degrees, framed and hanging on one wall; and bookshelves crammed full of textbooks and journals. She'd come to them from one of the metropolitan stations in Adelaide five years ago. She'd had a pretty hard time of it at first; some of the old school types were sceptical about working for a woman, others were naturally suspicious of anyone who wasn't from Fairfield and then there were one or two who thought that the only education worth having was one gained through hard knocks.

She was a tough but fair boss and she knew a lot more than what she'd learned from text books. It wasn't uncommon for her to decide to come out on a case with them and more often than not she contributed some insight. Over time even the most hard-core officers had developed a kind of grudging respect for her.

She finished her call and turned to Ed. Her pale blue eyes locked with his and she studied him for a few seconds before she spoke.

‘Do you want to tell me what happened with Cass?'

Ed sighed. ‘She called you then?'

‘No, her mother did. She called to tell me that Cass has decided she doesn't want to help us with our investigation after all. I asked why she'd changed her mind but Anita wasn't exactly forthcoming.'

‘She came to see me after her mum dropped the bombshell about Susan. She reckons she wanted to see if I was all right. She caught me at a bad time. I didn't behave very well.'

‘What did you say?'

‘I accused her of stalking me.'

‘Why would you do that?'

‘I thought it was a bit strange that she turned up here asking to work with me one day and then showed up at my home the next and started going through my things while I was on the phone.'

‘She went through your things?' Sorenson's eyebrows shot up in genuine surprise.

‘Well, sort of, I had some information about Susan's disappearance written up on a whiteboard and while I was on the phone she went for a wander and started studying it and offering ideas.'

‘She was probably just trying to be helpful. She isn't very good with people. She's spent most of her adult life locked away in that house with only her mother and grandmother for company. I can promise you she isn't a stalker. I've known her and her mother for nearly five years and they are lovely, genuine people.'

‘Yeah, once I simmered down a bit I realised that she probably was trying to help but she's just not very good at it. How did you meet them?'

Sorenson paused. From the look on her face he could tell she was debating whether or not to tell him. ‘Anita Lehman had a vision that saved my life.'

‘That time you got shot by that kid in the petrol station?'

‘The very same.'

‘None of us could work out why you were wearing a vest.'

‘Now you know. I'd prefer if you didn't share it with anyone else.'

‘Sure.'

‘So you can understand why I have a lot of time for Anita and her family. As far as I'm concerned they're the real deal.'

‘What do you want me to do?'

‘If you think you owe Cass an apology then I'll leave it to you to make it right.'

‘Do you still want her to work with us?'

‘I honestly think she might be able to help in some way. She might be able to shed some light on the Michael McKenzie death if she can see what he saw just before he died.'

Ed pondered this before he answered. It was true that they were back to square one with their only witness dead. If Janet Hodgson's killer had also killed Old Mick, which seemed highly probable, then what Mick had seen before he died became incredibly important. It could be the key to finding the killer.

It hadn't occurred to him that Cass might be able to see the killer through Old Mick's eyes. He'd been so swept up in his own quest that he hadn't even thought about asking Cass to help with the Michael McKenzie case. How slow was he? He realised that Sorenson was looking at him curiously, trying to work out what was taking so much mental effort.

‘Sorry, I was just trying to work out how to approach her.'

‘If you're going to ask for her help then you're going to have a tough battle on your hands. In the time that I have known her I've found her to be a fairly single-minded young woman. Once she's made her mind up about something she doesn't change it very easily.'