Woman in Black (27 page)

Jessica thought about going to tell the DCI what had happened but was more interested in the name Matt. She went to her office and shuffled around the papers and files that were, as usual, cluttering her space. She finally found what she was looking for but couldn’t see a player whose name was the same as what she thought the tattoo could say.

Given the possible letter combinations, she was struggling to match anything before it occurred to her the letters could represent someone else, for instance the person’s son or daughter. It seemed an odd place to tattoo a different person’s name but then she had once arrested a woman who had a tattoo of a fully naked female on her breast, so anything was possible.

Temporarily giving up, Jessica walked through the main floor to find the officers who had been working on the updated list of missing persons. After asking a few people, she was directed to two officers sitting opposite each other in the far back corner of the room. Aside from when she was at either Izzy or Dave’s desks, Jessica didn’t spend too much time on the main floor but when she herself had been more junior, her own area had been exactly where the two people were sitting.

Jessica had always found the corner hot and stuffy in the summer, cold and draughty in the winter. As she made her way over, Jessica could almost feel herself sweating because of the temperature. She had stopped asking for updates about the state of the station’s air-conditioning. The part the refrigeration company were apparently waiting for had gone missing somewhere in Eastern Europe, its replacement impounded by customs officers. No one seemed to know what was going on beyond the fact it was far hotter inside than it was out. Jessica had persuaded the admin department to give her the number for the company supposed to be fixing things but the customer service department had almost left her wanting to cut off various body parts from the clowns who worked there. Twenty-five minutes of having to press ‘one’ to get through to another set of options where she needed to press ‘four’ followed by ten minutes on hold, five minutes of someone not helping her and then another ten minutes on hold hadn’t put her in a good mood and she’d given up.

One of the two officers was on the phone, the other was typing on a keyboard. Jessica knew their faces but not their names. She sat on the edge of their desk and both officers acknowledged her. The one who wasn’t on the phone was a new recruit, a young woman somewhere in her twenties. ‘Are you all right, Ma’am?’

‘Yeah, don’t call me that though. Seriously, “Jess” is fine or “DS” or “Sarge” if you really must.’ Some officers preferred the formality of using titles. Jessica did understand it in that it could make it easier to separate ‘real’ life from the job but, from her point of view, each time anyone called her by anything other than her actual name, it just made her feel old.

‘Sorry, the DCI asked us to start working on bits for you but we haven’t called because there wasn’t much to report,’ the constable said.

‘How much have you got through?’

‘We brought together all the missing persons reports from Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and a few others we managed to get. They’ve all gone onto the list we had to start with and we’re working our way through a bit of background to see if any were former prisoners.’

‘Have you got a list of names?’

‘Only on screen.’ The constable pointed at the computer monitor and Jessica crouched over to look.

‘Can you search for anyone called “Matt” or “Matthew” please?’

The officer click through a few screens and brought up a list. There were only two names and one of them had been missing long-term. The second had disappeared the previous week and Jessica felt a familiar tingle down her spine as the operator brought up the details they had.

Matthew Cooper lived locally and had been reported missing by his younger brother. Not only that but, give or take a couple of months, he was the same age as all the other victims who’d had their hands left around the city.

‘Can you find out as much as you can about this guy for me?’ Jessica asked, noting the phone number of his sibling.

Jessica went to brief Cole about everything that had happened and then, as Rowlands and Diamond arrived, annoyed at having to have used public transport, the three of them called the remaining members of the rugby team who they knew were alive. They also looked over their list of college-leavers but Matthew Cooper wasn’t on it.

She let the two constables leave for the day but, not entirely willing to give up her theory, called the missing man’s brother, Luke. The details around his sibling’s disappearance seemed fairly straightforward – he had gone to the pub one night and not returned. The missing man’s friends said he had left as he normally would and, as Jessica had seen from the brief information they had on record, there hadn’t been anything the local force to the west of the city had found. Although missing people weren’t exactly common, Matthew wouldn’t have been the first person to stumble into the canal after having too much to drink.

Because there was no other obvious way to identify who the hand had come from, Jessica asked Luke if an officer could visit to take a mouth swab that would be tested by the labs against the mangled hand. She tried not to give the man any hope his missing sibling had been found but it was a tough situation. Either way, he agreed and Jessica figured they might have a match one way or the other in the next twenty-four hours if they were lucky.

It was as she was about to hang up when Jessica realised she had overlooked the most obvious question. ‘Does your brother have any tattoos?’ she asked.

‘He’s got a few on his arms and a big one on his back,’ Luke replied.

‘Is that all?’

‘Why?’

‘It could just help us with identification purposes if need be.’

‘The one on his back is a dragon while he’s got some Chinese bits on his arms.’

Jessica didn’t want to give specifics about the tattooed letters she’d seen on the victim’s fingers in case it gave too much away. Nothing had been released to the media so far and if it did turn out to be the man’s brother, she would want the DNA confirmation first before telling him properly. ‘Are you sure he doesn’t have any others?’

‘I think there’s something on his calf…oh, and he’s got something on his knuckles too,’ the man added. Jessica held her breath as the man finished his sentence. ‘I don’t know why he got it but it says my name “Luke” on one hand and “Matt” on the other.’

Jessica kept herself calm as she thanked the man for his help and said she would contact him once the DNA results came back. She hung up and took a deep breath.

It seemed likely the fourth hand belonged to Matthew Cooper but, considering he neither played rugby – nor went to school – with the other three victims, she had no idea how he was connected to them.

TWENTY-FIVE

The almost two-day wait to get the identity of the severed finger confirmed had been interminable. It seemed fair that the lab workers had to take their time given the state of the hand but that hadn’t stopped Jessica swearing silently at them in the privacy of her office.

Edward Marks, Lewis Barnes and Jacob Chrisp had all gone to the same school together and played in the same rugby team. Matthew Cooper had none of those connections and, apart from being roughly the same age and coming from generally the same area, Jessica hadn’t managed to find anything else to link him to the other victims.

After confirmation of his identity, she broke the news to Luke Cooper that his brother was most-likely dead and tried to get as much information as she could about the missing man. The problem was that, aside from an odd taste in tattoos, Matthew simply seemed too normal. He worked in accounts, had a small group of friends, was apparently happily single and, from everything they had found, had no obvious enemies or reasons for people to hurt him.

Jessica didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing but January Forrester had also been ruled out of their inquiries. At the time the fourth hand was being left, she was doing volunteer work at a hostel and had half-a-dozen witnesses to say where she was. Jessica was glad in a way as it closed that chapter but, on the other hand, didn’t give them much to work with.

While Rowlands and Diamond continued to look into Matthew’s background to see if there was something they had missed, Jessica had an up-to-date photograph of the missing man from his brother and was taking a day to visit relatives of the other people who had disappeared.

Vicky Barnes wasn’t ready to admit January was innocent and was still angry with the police for releasing the woman. She kept saying she didn’t feel safe in her house but, while Jessica had some sympathy, there wasn’t really anything the woman had to back her feelings up, other than the fact January had been freed. Either way she didn’t recognise the picture of Matthew Cooper and neither did Jacob Chrisp’s parents.

Her final call was to Charlie Marks, who invited her over to the house again. Jessica had no problems finding the place second time around and parked at the top of the driveway. The gardens looked as if they had been cut since the last time Jessica had visited and as the man strolled out of the house, it seemed clear he had now moved in properly. He looked like a man of leisure, wearing a different pair of baggy shorts and flip-flops, finished off with a loose-fitting cotton shirt and sunglasses. It was a slightly strange thing to do but, as he emerged into the sun to greet Jessica, he took the glasses off.

If anything his hair looked blonder and messier than before and he smiled as he welcomed her inside. For a moment, she thought he might try to hug her but he simply held out his hand for her to shake.

‘How are you keeping, Charlie?’ she asked.

‘Not too bad. I’m still sorting through some of my brother’s papers and I’ve been in touch with a couple of solicitors. Obviously I’m still hoping you’ll find him but there are bills that need to be paid and so on. It’s very complicated because Ed is still classed as “missing” rather than anything…worse. I don’t think he was very good at keeping up with things.’

Jessica nodded, knowing it was hard enough dealing with the legal issues when someone had died, let alone when they had just disappeared. ‘I don’t really need to stay for long, I was wondering if you might be able to take a look at a photo for me to see if you recognise the person?’

‘Sure, but if it’s anything to do with my brother, I’m not sure there’s much I’ll know. You’re aware of the…problems between us.’

Jessica slid the photo of Matthew Cooper out of an envelope. Charlie scanned it but stuck his bottom lip out and shook his head. ‘No idea, I’m afraid.’ He handed the photo back and she put it away.

‘Do you want a drink? I can sort you a tea or something? Maybe a cold drink?’

Perhaps it was because she didn’t fancy an afternoon in the stifling police station but Jessica surprised herself with her answer. ‘Sure.’

She followed the man as he led her through the house and Jessica glanced from side to side while they walked. Ed’s art was hung throughout the area, a stark contrast to some of the clutter which had simply been left around. Their footsteps echoed from the hard floor until they reached the kitchen.

While the rest of the property seemed a strange mix of being half-finished as well as old and new, the kitchen was impressive. There was a huge American-style fridge on the wall directly opposite the door, with a gas cooker that had six hobs and a huge extractor hood overhanging it pressed against the wall to her right. The rest of the area was taken up with thick worktops. Jessica blinked, trying to take in the difference in the room compared to what she had seen before.

‘Do you cook?’ she asked, almost feebly.

‘A little. None of this was here when I left, I guess my brother had it all put in. I’ve been playing around over the last couple of weeks though. It would be almost a shame not to, given everything that’s here.’

‘Why do you think so much effort went into this room?’ As Jessica asked the question, a mobile phone started to ring. Charlie at first looked surprised as the sound clearly wasn’t coming from his pockets. He tried a couple of drawers before eventually finding the device. Without answering it, he pressed a button to silence it.

‘Sorry about that. I have no idea what it was doing in there.’

‘Is it yours?’

‘Yeah, yeah. I’ve been looking for it for a couple of days.’

‘But I called your mobile not long ago to see if you were around,’ Jessica said, a little confused.

‘I’ve got a couple. I had one for work that I never ended up giving back. I should probably send it down to them to be honest.’

Jessica didn’t say anything but it seemed odd. He put the phone into his shorts pocket and opened the fridge. ‘I went shopping the other day. I’ve got lemonade, Coke, water, fruit juice…?’

‘Lemonade’s fine.’

Charlie sat on a stool and drank himself as Jessica walked slowly around the room. ‘Can I help you with anything?’ he asked.

‘No, sorry, just being nosy – force of habit. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kitchen this nice before.’

‘I don’t know what to tell you. It’s not really mine.’

‘Can I look around the rest of the house?’

‘I guess…is there anything you’re after specifically? I know where most bits are now.’

Jessica shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. You found that rugby picture, perhaps there’s something else? People other than your brother have gone missing and it must be for a reason. There’s so much stuff here, maybe there’s something we’ve all missed because we’ve been looking in the wrong place?’

Charlie smiled and downed his drink. ‘That’s fine. I was going to be around all afternoon anyway, though I’ve got a few phone calls to make. All I’d say is to be careful if you go into the pool area. I’m still trying to get to the bottom of that. From what I can tell some contractors took the money, did half a job and that was that. Lot of gippos around here, so who knows? I’m getting someone in to do a proper job but he’s good so there’s a waiting list. He’s working on some footballer’s house just over the back at the moment then he’s going to come here. I need to get a bit of money released before then but it’s all with the solicitors.’