Hidden Killers

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The following morning Jane was in the ladies’ locker room and hadn’t even taken off her coat when Edith walked in.

‘You’d better get over to Hackney – DI Moran has called three times. He says he has an update on the Allard trial. I’ll make a note in the schedule that that’s where you’ll be.’

‘Is DI Gibbs in?’

‘He’s in, but he’s having a meeting with DCI Shepherd and left instructions that he didn’t want to be disturbed.’

Jane had a terrible sinking feeling as she left Bow Street. She was sure that Spencer Gibbs had gone behind her back and spoken to Moran. Her fears were confirmed when, on arriving at the reception in Hackney Station, DC Brian Edwards told her that DI Moran was waiting to see her in his office, and he wasn’t a happy man.

Moran was perching on the edge of his desk, his office door open, as Jane approached.

‘Sir…’ Her stomach was churning.

‘Shut the door behind you. You know, Tennison, if you were a bloke I would grab you by your collar and throw a punch at your smug little face. I don’t know what you think you’ve been playing at, but I am going to hear what you’ve got to say before I get you back in uniform directing traffic.’

‘I am not in any way smug, sir, I’m just very nervous. I never had any intention of acting on my own, it was just circumstances and my need to double-check before I brought my findings to anyone’s attention, especially yours.’

Moran leaned forward, pulling his loud tie loose from his shirt collar.

‘I’m all ears…’

‘May I refer to my notes?’

Moran gave the go-ahead with his hands. Jane opened her bag and took out her notebook.

‘You can obviously verify the dates, sir. On the night of the twenty-third of August uniform officers brought in a prostitute called Janet Brown. She had been badly beaten and had a deep knife wound to her chest and left breast, which required hospital treatment. She was photographed and a report made out but she refused to press charges, claiming that she was unable to identify the man as he had worn a balaclava.’

Moran stared at her, his blue eyes holding hers, and acted as if what she was saying was obvious.

Jane continued.

‘The CID were brought in to investigate the rape of a young girl who was found semi-conscious on the morning of the twenty-fourth of August. She had suffered a terrible beating and was unable to identify the rapist as he had worn a black woollen mask covering his entire face. But timewise it was possible that she had been raped earlier the same night as Janet Brown. But the two cases were not, to begin with, linked as having the same perpetrator.’

He banged his chair to sit forward. ‘I linked them.’

‘I know you did, sir, because you brought in Janet Brown, under the assumed name of Mary Kelly, and re-questioned her. But this was two weeks later, when you organized a CID operation and used me as a decoy. I believe you gave me the blue rabbit fur coat as it was probable that the rapist intended Janet Brown to be his victim, and not the young girl.’

Moran leaned forward, and flicked through a statement, not looking at Jane. He then sighed and picked up a pencil.

‘The prostitute – Janet Brown, Mary Kelly, Angie – was unable to identify her attacker and refused point blank to assist my operation, which was why I held her in the cells. She was released the following morning after we had arrested Peter Allard.’

‘I know that, sir. I also know that she is capable of identifying him. She pulled his balaclava off when he was attacking her.’

‘Perhaps what you don’t know, Tennison, is that Janet Brown, aka Mary Kelly, aka Angie, had stolen a bag of takings from a taxi around about a month beforehand… it was a lot of money, nearly four hundred quid as he had been doing airport runs. He had argued about paying her after sex, so she stole it and did a runner. So now we have a known hooker who steals a load of money from Peter Allard. When he did catch up with her he beat the shit out of her, because she was a thief. Are you following me, Tennison?’

‘Yes, sir… I didn’t know that it was Janet who had stolen Allard’s money…’ She swallowed and took a deep breath.

‘No, you didn’t know… but I did. So you tell me what a jury are going to believe? A known tart with a long list of previous arrests for prostitution, or are they going to say she deserved what she got and that he didn’t rape her? He’s a hard-working man with a wife and two kids. It was the first time he had ever been arrested… look at how he behaved in court, head hanging down and weeping, all innocent. He even admitted that he did fondle a few women, but he denied rape.’

Jane couldn’t look at him.

‘I wanted him for the rape of that seventeen-year-old innocent girl. I wanted him charged with sexual assaults that I had no evidence to prove he did, but I knew he did them. Look at the way he attacked you and how he acted in court and what you were subjected to by his defence council. So you tell me, why would I not use Janet Brown as a witness?’

‘I don’t know, sir?’

‘She is a tart… but she’s also an informer and has been for years. One court appearance and she’s no use to us. You have no idea just how useful she has been. And you think after one conversation with her that you know her?’

‘But she was blackmailing Marie Allard, sir.’

Moran threw up his hands and laughed, becoming increasingly impatient.

‘That’s how she survives, Tennison! Allard cut her breasts and scarred her… he would have killed her if we hadn’t stopped him.’

Jane was unable to hold back.

‘So you knew what Allard had done to Janet Brown, and yet you made me wear her blue fur coat and planted me as a decoy, knowing that he had almost killed her?’

Moran lifted his arms up again.

‘Yes, I own up to that. We lost sight of you for a few minutes. But it was only a few minutes…’

‘So, I’m wearing Janet Brown’s blue fur coat… you want Allard to think I am her and for him to attack me, so that you can arrest him? Because you already had the knife he used in the rape, and when he slashed Janet.’

Moran folded his arms. After a long pause he spoke. For the first time she could see he was uneasy, eventually choosing his words carefully.

‘What choice do I have? I’m pretty certain he may be connected to a murder that occurred five years ago. If I don’t put him away he’s going to kill again.’

Moran stood up and opened his office door. Jane didn’t know how to react to the fact that he had just virtually admitted to planting evidence. As if he was reading her mind Moran gently touched her shoulder.

‘It was all on the level, OK? Now, come with me. I want to show you something.’

Moran walked ahead of her and went into the incident room. DC Brian Edwards was standing in front of the information board.

‘It’s not positive news from Maidstone, guv. The Chief Superintendent there said we would need a lot more incriminating evidence to excavate the garden at the house the Allards used to rent.’

Moran sighed as Edwards moved away from the board. Pinned up were the photographs they had pulled out from the cold files at Maidstone. Moran tapped the board with his pencil.

‘This is what we’re looking into, Tennison, and we need to question-’

Jane interrupted as she saw the photograph of Susie Luna with the rose in her hair.

‘Marie Allard?’’

Moran hesitated. ‘What did you just say?’

‘That’s a photograph of Marie Allard.’

‘No, it isn’t, it’s the missing girl from five years ago. Her name is Susie Luna.’

‘Oh, sorry… they look so similar.’

Moran glanced at Edwards, then back to Jane.

‘Marie Allard gave her husband a cast-iron alibi for the day Susie Luna went missing. I think we need to go and have a chat with her.’

‘I would really appreciate it if I was allowed to accompany you – Marie Allard trusts me. In fact, she called me personally to tell me she was being blackmailed by Janet Brown who referred to herself as Angie and sang a song and-’

‘Did she now?’

Edwards raised his hand. ‘Can I have a quiet word, guv, in your office?’

‘Sure. DC Ashton, show Tennison the files we’ve got on Susie Luna.’

Edwards closed Moran’s office door behind them.

‘Did everything go all right, guv?’

‘Yes. Just a misunderstanding. What did you want to talk to me about?’

‘Two things… we received confirmation this morning of a trial date for Peter Allard, in two weeks’ time.’

‘That doesn’t give us much time to investigate the Susie Luna connection, does it?’

‘I’m afraid there may be another problem, sir. Apparently the barrister who represents Allard has raised doubts about his confession and has requested an independent forensic examination of the interview notes. In particular, the confession that Allard supposedly signed.’

‘Shit… that’s all I bloody need. I’m going to take Tennison with me to interview Marie Allard. The last time we were there with SOCO we pulled the bloody house apart, so I’m taking Tennison along to give the gentle touch… maybe have a woman to woman chat with her.’ Moran smiled.

‘I wouldn’t mind coming along after all the new information we’ve uncovered…’

‘No, I want you to man the fort here, Edwards. I’m only taking Tennison with me to keep her sweet.’

‘Gone sour on you, has she, sir?’

‘You could say that.’