All the Rage

Adam Fawley
11 April 2018
15.40

I can see it now, in my head. The colours slightly too bright, the focus slightly too sharp, like it is in dreams, or in fever. Parking the car outside the Co-op that day. The litter bin spilling over with rubbish, a magpie perched on the edge, something pink and glittery gripped in its beak, sparkling in the low winter sun. Something I thought, even then, I recognized. I remember my pace slowing, just for a moment; I remember wondering at the coincidence, if that's what it was. But I didn't put it together, not then. Not then, and not even five minutes later when I went inside and saw her and realized that she'd cut her hair.

And what about later, you're going to say, after they found what they found? If forensics had come to me first, if they'd showed me what was in that evidence bag, would I have put it together then?

Yes. No question.

And would I have said something? Would I have done things differently?

I think so, but if I'm honest, I don't know. I still don't know, even now. Because we knew it was him. I knew it was him. And this was the only way we were going to make him pay.

But it's all hypothetical, because they didn't come to me. They went to Osbourne, and he realized at once what they had, and the difference it could make, and by the time anyone told me it was far, far too late.

* * *

When Gallagher looks up from her desk and sees Somer her first reaction is to frown.

`˜Aren't you supposed to be off this afternoon?'

But then she notices there's a man standing behind her, and the thought half forms that this must be the boyfriend everyone's talking about, but then Somer's holding out her phone and there's no mistaking the look on her face.

Gallagher stares at the screen then looks up, frowning. `˜Sorry, I don't get it `“ what's this?'

`˜It's from the TV in Patsie Webb's house. A programme she watched six months ago `“ a programme she thought she'd deleted. This is why those girls ripped out Sasha's hair, and why they'd already done exactly the same thing to Faith. They knew about the Roadside Rapist all along. They wanted us to think he was back `“ they wanted us so focused on him we wouldn't go looking anywhere else.'

TRUE CRIME TVNew: Britain's Most Notorious Predators1h 3m В® ↕ Record series, Monday 11.00 pmThe Roadside Rapist: True crime author Walter Selnick Jr takes an in-depth look at the case of Gavin Parrie, convicted of seven brutal sex attacks in the UK in 1999. But could the real rapist still be out there? (S3, ep8)* * *