Woman in Black (35 page)

‘Jess? You awake?’

She jumped, wondering if she actually had dozed off for a few moments. She certainly hadn’t heard her office door go. Opening her eyes, she saw Izzy standing in between her desk and DS Cornish’s.

‘I’m just having a rest after a long few days.’

The constable clearly thought Jessica had been asleep for some time. ‘I just wanted to make sure I was fine to get off?’

Jessica looked at the clock above the door and realised she had been sleeping for almost an hour. On most days, it wouldn’t have been possible but with everyone dashing around to find the garage owner, people hadn’t been bothering her. ‘Of course. I take it nothing came in on the phones to match our Sam?’ she asked.

‘No, but I guess it’s going to be over now, isn’t it?’ Jessica must have had a confused look on her face because the constable followed it up. ‘I mean, that’s six men from the photo and all of them are either dead or missing.’

It seemed an obvious point but, for whatever reason, Jessica had missed the significance of the find. She was feeling tired after working through the weekend but Izzy was right. Unless they had missed something major, the six men involved in the assault Steven Povey had described were all accounted for in one way or the other. Barry Newcombe had been killed in a car accident but Jessica wondered if the other five men’s bodies would ever be found, assuming they were dead.

‘I don’t know what we’re going to do if we can’t find Sam,’ Jessica said. It was an honest statement but not something she would have revealed to many of her colleagues.

‘She’s bound to show up somewhere.’

‘Maybe, but we’ve only got a picture that’s eleven years old and we can’t get too much attention for that at the moment.’

‘She won’t be able to hide forever though.’

Jessica sighed. ‘Don’t you think it’s a really rough way of doing things? The only thing we’ve got to connect her to the six men in the photo is the say-so of Steven Povey and he’s disappeared. What if it’s nothing to do with her at all? What if we’re going after someone who’s spent eleven years trying to forget everything and we’re punishing her for it?’

Izzy paused, thinking it over. ‘Do you think Steven was lying?’

‘No, you saw him; he was genuinely frightened but I wonder if we’ve missed something else.’

‘Like what?’

Jessica shrugged. The truth was she didn’t know. It wasn’t as if they had any other suspects or leads but she felt very uneasy with making assumptions about the woman whose face she had been responsible for getting in the papers and on the news. ‘I have no idea.’

She had spent the morning going through more CCTV footage. The hand had been left in very similar circumstances to the others. A figure wearing a black hooded gown had dropped it near the train station in the early hours of the morning. With so many people hurrying past, it had somehow been ignored for almost six hours. Jessica wondered how people could be so oblivious but, as she watched the footage, it was clear everyone leaving or arriving at the station was in a rush. As before it seemed clear the person knew where the cameras were and, from what Jessica had seen, they had no clear views of the person. She wondered if it was the sheer amount of time staring at monitors over the past few weeks that was making her feel so tired.

Izzy scratched her chin. ‘What about the woman in black?’

Jessica weighed up the question. ‘Who knows? It could be Sam. Whoever she is knows the area well. Her photo has been in the local papers so you’d assume she would be recognised but we’ve not had anything so far. Honestly? I just don’t know.’

Another package arrived for Jessica the next day but, once again, she didn’t get to see it before it was taken away by the science team. The previous ones had bothered her but Jessica had pretty much expected another finger to arrive. If it was Sam, she wondered if the woman knew who she was because of the media reports.

The biggest development of the day again didn’t relate to her case. The garage owner was found hiding in a caravan in a field north of the city. His photo had been everywhere and a member of the public had called the police after spotting him. He had spent the first twenty-four hours no-commenting but there were hints from his solicitor that he might have information to reveal. Jessica thought he might have been more willing to speak given the fact he was likely to be charged with murder but people could do strange things when they were either frightened or felt they could be battling for their life. What had perhaps been telling was that George Johnson hadn’t said anything to the media since his wife’s body had been found. For someone who had been only too keen to speak beforehand, it really was a turnaround and, from what Jessica could tell, had convinced Cole and Reynolds even further that he was somehow involved.

On the Thursday, Jessica finally got confirmation the hand they’d found belonged to Steven Povey. She’d thought all along that it did but actually getting the test results had her wondering what might happen next. With the final finger also identified, Jessica debated if things really were now over in terms of finding body parts. It was an odd feeling, thinking a killing spree had started and ended on her watch.

Also playing on her mind was the fact it was Caroline’s wedding in two days. Jessica had done her best to stay in touch over the past week and gone to the final dress fitting but things had been so busy it was proving almost impossible to be involved. Caroline seemed to be calm but Jessica felt she was neglecting her friend by not having the time to visit her with the day so close. Jessica was due to sleep at the bride’s house on the Friday night but hadn’t packed anything to take. She was frequently disorganised but had wanted to get everything ready a day or two ahead of time.

Jessica was sitting in her office thinking about marriage when her desk phone rang. The noise surprised her and it was almost as if she didn’t know what to do. When she answered, the man on the other end sounded nervous. He introduced himself as an officer from a force somewhere around Nottingham. He waffled for a little bit but, when he finally got to the point, Jessica was left worrying whether or not she would be back in time for Caroline’s wedding as there was no doubt she was going to have to travel to see him the next day. A woman named Sam Kellett had handed herself into her local police station, identifying herself as the person in the holiday photo.

THIRTY-TWO

Jessica made an awkward phone call to tell Caroline she was going to be spending the day before her wedding in Nottingham. Jessica assured her friend she would be back to stay at hers that evening but wasn’t actually certain herself. Caroline took it well – they had known each other for long enough for her friend to realise sometimes the police work took over. The final thing Caroline said was, ‘Please don’t miss it’.

Because she didn’t want to rely on trains to get her back to Manchester on time, Jessica called Rowlands to ask if he would drive them down to the Midlands the next day. He was still roaring around in a boy racer-style car but it did at least seem reliable, something her vehicle most certainly was not. Jessica updated Cole with what was happening and was surprised at how much attention he gave her given the break in the Johnson case. He even offered to go to Nottingham with her but she knew he should probably be at their station with the clock ticking on the garage owner.

It was after eleven at night when Jessica finally got around to packing the things she needed to stay at Caroline’s.

Rowlands picked her up from her house the next morning. Jessica found the journey relatively stressful, largely because of the motorway traffic jams and the fact she hadn’t slept much. Her colleague kept fishing to ask who she was taking to the wedding but she ignored him. Jessica wouldn’t have admitted it to him but Rowlands was a pretty good driver. He weaved them in and out of the slow-moving traffic, getting them off at the correct junction without too much hassle before finding the police station as if he had memorised the route.

As they pulled up, Jessica hurried out of the car, leaving her colleague to offer a sarcastic ‘You’re welcome’.

‘You’ll get your thanks when you get me back to Manchester in time,’ Jessica called, not looking backwards.

The police station was a lot smaller than the one they were used to back at Longsight. It was on the outskirts of Nottingham in a little community of its own. It had just one storey and an unmanned front desk where Jessica had to ring a bell to summon someone to meet them. Sam Kellett had been let go the previous evening and asked to return to be interviewed the next day. According to the officer Jessica had spoken to, the woman was fine with that but was worried about her husband finding out she had visited the police.

Jessica’s instinct told her those were the actions of someone shocked to see their own face on the news, not a person who had spent the last few weeks chopping off hands and leaving them in public.

After ringing the bell, nobody came to the reception. Jessica shared a sideways look with Rowlands but wasn’t in the mood to be messed around. She started banging the bell with the palm of her hand repeatedly until eventually a red-faced overweight woman bundled into the area behind the glass counter.

‘Oi, what do you think…’ the woman started to say angrily but Jessica took her identification out of her pocket.

‘We’re down from Manchester to interview Samantha Kellett. I was assured you’d have a room ready for us.’

The woman glanced up at a clock behind her on the wall. ‘You’re a bit early like.’

Jessica nodded. ‘Yep, we’re an efficient bunch up north.’ She wasn’t annoyed with the woman as such and knew the over-zealous ringing of the bell was a little childish given the station was most likely very understaffed. Ultimately, she wanted things sorted one way or the other so she could get back to Manchester.

The officer behind the counter unlocked a nearby door, ushering Jessica and Rowlands through. ‘Sorry, there are just three of us in today. We’d love to be as
efficient
as you but we have budgets to stick to and so on.’

Jessica said nothing, knowing she deserved the little dig. The woman led them down a short corridor through a locked door and into an interview room that wasn’t too dissimilar to the one Jessica was used to at Longsight. Neither looked as if they had been updated in the past fifteen years with peeling dreary cream paint on the walls and a sweaty musty smell.

The other officer stood in the doorway as Jessica and Rowlands stepped into the room. She gave a big sigh before speaking. ‘In our notes it says Samantha Kellett is due to be back here by ten o’clock so you’ve got half an hour. You can hang around here and make sure everything’s up to your
standards
or there’s a coffee machine just down the hall. We’ll make sure she’s brought through when she gets here. Is there anything else I can help you with?’

Jessica was definitely feeling a little silly for her earlier outburst and the other officer was clearly annoyed.

‘Does your tea machine spit out drinks that taste vaguely of washing-up liquid the way ours does?’ Jessica asked.

The woman stared at them for a moment then laughed. ‘I guess that’s the standard nationwide. Don’t risk the hot chocolate either, that tastes worse.’

‘Thanks for the tip.’

When they were alone, Jessica checked the recording equipment over and everything seemed in a better condition than theirs, which wasn’t a surprise. It didn’t take long before there was a knock at the door and a nervous-looking young male officer showed Sam into the room.

Jessica could see a lot of herself in the woman. They were roughly the same age and had the same figure. The woman’s hair was black, Jessica’s was a dark blonde, but they both had it in loose ponytails and were even dressed similarly. Jessica was wearing a light grey work suit, Sam’s was slightly darker.

The woman sat across the table from them and, when the door was shut, Jessica introduced herself and Rowlands and checked Sam’s name. ‘You do know you’re allowed a legal representative with you,’ she added.

‘I don’t need one,’ Sam said confidently.

‘Are you sure? We can arrange for someone to talk to you for free.’

‘It’s fine, I haven’t done anything.’

‘As long as you’re absolutely positive.’

Sam looked determinedly at Jessica. ‘Why did you put my picture on the news?’

‘We’re investigating…’ Jessica started to say but she was interrupted.

‘I had to lie to my husband and tell him it wasn’t me. He pointed out how similar I looked to the photograph and I had to say I didn’t know anything about it.’

‘So you admit it is you in the photograph with Edward Marks?’

The woman twitched ever so slightly as if trying to suppress a full-on shiver at the mention of the name. ‘What of it?’

‘Can I ask you how you knew Mr Marks?’

Sam’s eyes narrowed. ‘Do you already know?’

‘We’ve been told…certain things.’

‘So why do you need me to tell you?’

‘Because we don’t know if what was told to us is true.’

The woman sighed, looking away. ‘Why are you bringing this back up? It was over ten years ago. I’ve moved on.’ For the first time her voice faltered slightly.

Jessica wasn’t usually nervous in interviews but she knew this one wasn’t going to get her anything. Everything about the way the woman had spoken initially and how she had handed herself indicated she had nothing to hide. ‘Do you know what happened to Mr Marks and his friends from that holiday?’ she asked.

The woman turned sharply and looked back at Jessica. ‘I don’t care.’

‘One is definitely dead, the other five are assumed murdered.’

‘I saw about the hands on the news. What does it matter?’

‘Because you’re the one connection we have that goes back to the six of them.’ Jessica paused and then added, ‘And, from what we’ve been told, you might well have had the motive.’

Sam snorted, looking away with tears in her eyes. ‘You’re joking, right? I mean, when I read about the picture you’d released I wondered why you wanted me. I thought perhaps you might have thought I was a witness to something, maybe even that you wanted to investigate what happened back then. I should have known you were going to accuse me of, I don’t know, whatever. It’s like those shit cop shows.’