Hidden Killers

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

DS Gibbs drove Jane back to the section house and as she attempted to get out of the car he had touched her arm.

‘Listen, I need to apologize to you, I behaved like an arsehole, and I just want to clear the air between us. To be honest when I did that run into that estate I had a few seconds when I didn’t think I would be able to deal with stuff, you know, the tension and all that crap. I’ve had these recurring sweats and panicky feelings, but when I saw you with that bastard I never felt for a minute I couldn’t cope. Maybe it’s over, you know, I’ve come through it.’ Jane was taken aback when he leaned towards her and kissed her cheek, before he gave an embarrassed wave of his hand for her to get out of the car.

Jane was back on duty on the Monday morning. DCI Shepherd had been informed of the arrest of Allard, and told her that she was to be at Hackney Station to make a formal report. He didn’t appear interested in discussing what had occurred, having already had a lengthy conversation with DI Gibbs.

Jane was not disappointed. In fact, she was partly relieved as she had been very traumatized, and had hardly slept after she had left Gibbs. However, like Spence, she had been somewhat comforted by the fact that she had remained in control and had not suffered from nerves.

Peter Allard had been charged with assault and battery and held in the cells at Hackney. On his arrival at the station, Moran had received a call from Maidstone. The stones from the patio had been lifted, and using arc lights, as the soil beneath was being carefully sifted, they had partly uncovered a roll of carpet.

The body was inside the carpet, covered with plastic, and thick duct tape bound her from head to toe. As a result of the tight bindings there was little decomposition. It was without doubt Susie Luna, as in the pocket of her overall was a name tag from the Majestic Hotel where she had worked.

After clearing her absence with DCI Shepherd, Jane arrived at Hackney Station and went into the incident room where DC Edwards gave her the update on the discovery of the body. Moran was waiting for the formal identification but it was pretty conclusive. ‘He wants to see you, and he’s had DCI Shepherd on the phone, so he’ll no doubt fill you in.’

Jane felt nervous, wondering if this was going to be a severe reprimand over her suspicions about Moran. She was not that eager to go and see him, but she had no option. She checked her appearance in the ladies’ locker room and then went to his office, which she still thought of as Bradfield’s. She knocked on the door, and it was a moment before she heard Moran say ‘come in’. He gave almost a curt nod of his head, to indicate for her to sit in the chair opposite his desk.

‘We need to discuss a few things just to clear the air a bit. I have given DCI Shepherd a rundown. He started off being a bit tetchy about your professional conduct, saying that you were not a team player – he already seems to think you were acting without backup on the Shirley Dawson case.’ Jane chewed her lips.

‘Shepherd said he had discussed this with you previously, about some unethical procedure. Apparently, despite the coroner’s report that it was a non-suspicious death, you and DS Lawrence continued to investigate. You went without authority to question Katrina Harcourt and introduced evidence of the black patent leather shoes but-’

Jane interrupted. ‘It was a good job we did.’

‘Hang on, Tennison. Although he disapproved of what he described as unethical procedure, he did express his admiration for the way you triggered the investigation into the murder of Shirley Dawson. What was it that made you suspect foul play?’

Jane hesitated before answering. ‘I found it very distressing because I was alone in the flat with the victim, her eyes were open, and I had to lift her out of the bath to be taken to the mortuary. Something just didn’t feel right. She was the same age as me, and she had a small child, and it was seeing the baby food, her bottle ready to feed her.’

‘As a detective, you’re going to find an awful lot of cases of non-suspicious death and of victims as young or even younger than you. What was it that made you believe Shirley Dawson’s death was suspicious?’ he asked her again.

‘It was an intuitive feeling that something didn’t add up. I think the position that her body was found in, in the bath, was not quite right. That was all really.’

‘But at that point you didn’t have the evidence. Would you have ever considered the need to find something that would implicate them?’

Jane knew he was testing her with regard to the fact she knew he had planted the knife. She looked at him directly. ‘There was no need to uncover evidence that wasn’t there because my finding of the photographs was enough.’

‘What did you feel when you were proved right?’ Moran asked quietly.

She turned away, unable to answer.

‘It made you feel good, didn’t it?’ he asked, and she nodded.

‘And how did you feel about the two suspects being charged with murder?’

‘Good, they deserve to be given life sentences.’

‘How would you feel if they had got away with it?’

‘That I had failed.’

‘I suppose you know why Allard was given bail and was let out of prison?’ Moran stood up and put his hands in his trouser pockets, and moved from behind the desk.

Jane was becoming more uneasy, suspecting he was going to bring up the fact she had been suspicious of him doctoring the confession and planting evidence of the flick knife, which she now knew had been given to him by Janet Brown.

‘Allard will be put away for the rest of his life. He hid the murder of Susie Luna for five years, hid his disgusting perverted sexual urges and appeared on the surface to be a decent honest husband and father. The current trial will go ahead because the other criminal offences, the assault on the owner of the adult bookshop, the kid Ginger, the attack against you and Janet Brown, and even the murder of Susie Luna, are not what he is on trial for, they will be a completely separate arrest. Do you understand? The law let him loose, and we got him back, and we won’t let him out of our sight, but it’s all down to the legal boffins’ correct procedure in the courts, understand?’

‘I find it hard to believe,’ she said and he nodded. He began to unnerve her even more as he moved behind her, still with his hands in his pockets. She was sure this was now going to be a reference to the knife.

‘Make you feel positive, does it?’

‘On the one hand, yes, that we caught him. On the other, very confused that the trial will get him on one set of charges and that he could then be free unless we have the evidence to get him on something else.’

‘Right, because his legal team will not allow the new charges to be read at the same time, so the jury will not be privy to them. There will have to be a completely new trial.’

She swivelled her head round to see him because it sounded unbelievable.

‘What do you feel about Janet Brown? Or Angie as she calls herself?’

She was taken off guard and shrugged. ‘I don’t know what I feel about her.’

‘She saved your life?’

‘Yes.’

‘She has agreed to give evidence at Peter Allard’s immediate trial, but I am unsure if we will need her. What do you think about that?’

‘If it will jeopardize her as an informer, and it is possible to keep her identity safe… then she should not be called.’

‘But you know she blackmailed Marie Allard?’

‘Yes, but in reality if she hadn’t we might never have got the details and information about Susie Luna.’

He nodded and moved back to the desk. ‘So that is something you would not deem necessary to expose?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Good, OK, WDC Tennison. I think we’ve cleared up a lot, apart from…’

Oh God, she thought, now it’s coming, but he leaned down behind the desk and brought up a large package wrapped in a Hamleys carrier bag. ‘This is for you. I don’t think it is necessary to put it in the report. DC Gibbs organized it, and we all chipped in.’

He swung the handles in his fingers. ‘WDC Tennison, you are one of us. So take it and we’ll see you tonight for a good knees-up.’

Jane left with the carrier bag, and went into the ladies’. She opened it up and took out a very large, very expensive replica of a red double-decker bus. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face, tucking it under her arm, loving the fact he had said that she was one of them. It made up for everything she had been through. She’d make sure Peter Allard was put away when the time came, and if that failed, she would make sure that she would be the one to arrest him for murder.

Shortly before the trial of Peter Allard began, DS Lawrence had a meeting with Moran. The newspaper was still wrapped around the black woollen balaclava, and as he carefully opened it to reveal the hood, he placed it onto a sheet of white paper on the lab table.

He leaned in closely and sniffed, as he could detect a strong sweet smell.

‘I can smell some kind of aftershave.’

Moran nodded. ‘Yeah, I know, it’s Aramis… I use it, but I won’t be as from today… Anything else? Any bloodstains?’

Lawrence used a spatula and took his time examining it, turning the hood around, pressing it down and checking every inch. He detected that on the area where the assailant’s mouth would have been, the wool was in part stuck together.

‘This could be his saliva, but I can’t detect any blood. I can test if there is a residue but I doubt it, and with it being black nothing shows up. Your rape victim wasn’t cut, was she? Besides, you won’t get it into the trial now – how long ago was this found?’

‘He was wearing it on the night of the rape, so it’s quite a substantial time, although it was kept wrapped in that newspaper. But I’m certain his defence council won’t accept it… I just needed to know for certain.’

‘Sorry, but like I said I can do some tests…’

Moran shrugged and checked his watch.

‘I got to go. Thanks for your time, Paul.’

Just as Moran reached the double doors leading out from the lab, Paul called out to him.

‘Hang on… come back.’

Moran hurried to the table. Lawrence was using a pair of fine long tweezers and had placed onto the white paper a thin, pale blue woollen strand. He now teased out a second strand and held it up.

‘Is that blue rabbit fur?’ Moran asked.

‘No, it’s wool, just caught inside the rim of the hood. What was your rape victim wearing?’

Moran took a deep breath. ‘A shaggy blue mohair jacket.’

‘Shit… it’s a pity this wasn’t brought in earlier because I could have checked it out with the actual jacket.’

‘Thanks, Paul, but I don’t hold out much hope that we can use it.’

By the time Moran returned to Hackney he was anxious to discuss the findings from the balaclava. He felt that the results confirmed, without doubt, that Peter Allard had committed the rape. But he was concerned about the late discovery of the vital evidence and after a heated discussion with the defence lawyer they were refused permission for it to be used in court.

Disappointed, Moran put more pressure on confirming that the body found at the Allards’ rented house was Susie Luna. The body had still not been formally identified when the trial began. All he knew was that they were hoping to gain a result from dental checks, and there had been delays caused by trying to trace a dentist in Maidstone who had had Susie Luna registered as a patient.

As the trial commenced Jane witnessed the hidden depths of Peter Allard’s sick mind. He constantly made direct eye contact with the jury and said very clearly that he pleaded guilty to the assault charges. When the rape charge was read out he said loudly, ‘Not guilty.’

Jane held her own in the witness box. She was controlled under questioning by the defence council, who accused her of deliberately encouraging the defendant by wearing sexually suggestive attire that would have been an attempt to lure the defendant into making a sexual approach. Jane denied the allegations and said that her intention was to safeguard any other women from being attacked. It was all very uncomfortable and by the time she returned to sit in the court to listen to the rest of the trial she could hardly contain her anger. Moran winked at her to indicate that she had held her own. He then sat with his head bowed, refusing to look at Allard who stood in the witness box looking very handsome, wearing a suit and a pressed shirt his mother had brought into the prison for him to wear for his court appearance. Allard had the audacity to keep his head held high, and then lower it in a gesture of submission when he said softly that he was ashamed of having assaulted the women but he was under such stress because of his wife’s medical predicament.

The defence were able to argue that his confession was taken under duress and was therefore not admissible evidence. They argued that his signature and that of WDC Tennison were also not acceptable.

The prosecution asked why, as innocent as he professed to be, he was wearing a stocking mask and Allard bowed his head.

‘Because I am a foolish, stupid man. I was desperate for some kind of satisfaction, and I am deeply sorry.’

The jury filed out as DC Edwards approached Moran and passed him an envelope. He ripped it open and then leaned back, closing his eyes. Jane was sitting directly behind him and he turned to face her whispering, ‘We just got confirmation… Susie Luna’s dental records match the body found at Allard’s house. We bloody got him!’

The jury returned half an hour later. The foreman handed the judge the result and there was a palpable tension in the courtroom. When the judge read out the verdict there was an audible murmur from everyone present. Peter Allard was found not guilty of rape and, as he had pleaded, guilty of the assaults. As he had already spent time in prison on remand he was released and free to leave the court.

Allard walked out into the marble reception area of the Old Bailey. He was smiling as he shook the hand of his barrister. It was extraordinary and it felt as if he was in total denial about the second knife attack on Jane and Janet Brown, and the brutal assault of the young boy Ginger. But he suddenly straightened and looked afraid, his eyes like a trapped animal.

DI Moran was clearly enjoying the moment, and he made a point of having WDC Tennison by his side. He looked across at Jane.

‘He’s yours, Tennison… it’s your arrest.’

They approached Allard and Jane’s voice echoed around the old courthouse reception.

‘Peter Allard, I am arresting you on the suspicion of the murder of Susie Luna. You do not have to say anything unless you wish to do so, but what you say may be given in evidence.’

It was as if everyone was caught in time, moving in slow motion as Allard stepped back. But an officer had already moved in behind him. Moran handcuffed him, then stepped to stand beside him as Jane moved to walk on the other side. As DI Moran and WDC Tennison escorted Allard out of the court, the press photographers suddenly realized that something very newsworthy was happening, and the flash bulbs began popping as the cameras clicked in quick succession.

Allard was still handcuffed as he was pushed into the waiting police van and the caged doors locked behind him. When the doors slammed shut he let out a howl like a wolf.

Jane and Moran got into a patrol car together. She had expected him to show some kind of emotional exuberance but instead he was quiet. He eventually turned towards her.

‘It’s over. I’m going to give you a nudge for a commendation, because you’ve shown persistence and good team work as a trainee CID Detective… surprising for…’

She was about to thank him when he added, ‘… a young woman.’

Jane laughed. It was a backhanded compliment but she was now more determined than ever to move up the ranks in this, her chosen career.