Liar Liar

98

Helen was half the way down the corridor when she spotted her. Helen had biked straight from the hospital to Southampton Central and was now striding along the seventh floor. She had called the team in for an early briefing and was surprised and relieved to see Charlie, smartly dressed and looking a little refreshed, bending her steps towards the incident room. After a terrible night, it was a boost to see her old friend and colleague back on the case.

‘Everything ok?’ Helen asked as they walked.

‘As ok as it’ll ever be. Thank you for coming round last -’

‘Don’t mention it. I hope you’d do the same for me.’

An unwelcome memory of last night’s violence shot into Helen’s mind, but she pushed it away. She’d have to deal with that later.

‘Of course,’ Charlie replied, ‘though I doubt I’ll ever need to.’

That was nonsense, naturally, but it was said with a smile. It was the first time Helen had seen Charlie smile in some time and it buoyed her up as they pushed through the double doors and into the throng.

‘As DS Sanderson has just pointed out, we’re going to have to disregard previous witness statements and start again. This is a ground-up job, so we need open minds, ok?’

The team nodded, but Helen could sense the deflation among them. So much devastation, so many deaths and still no progress. Helen knew that it was Karen and Alice Simms’s funeral today – this was preying on everyone’s mind, affecting their mood. Helen had to drive the team forward, had to keep them focused, had to convince them that this guy could be caught.

‘I’ve got uniform doing house-to-house near last night’s sites. They will feed any intelligence they gather straight back to the incident room and I’ve asked DCs Lucas and McAndrew to collate and sift the witness statements from all the incidents. Who called the fires in, who was passing by, who’d seen unfamiliar characters hanging around – let’s double-check we’ve not missed anything important.’

‘Yes, boss,’ DC Lucas piped up.

‘And I know it’s laborious, but I’d like DC Edwards and DC Marnie to go over the footage from the fires again, looking for faces in the crowds. Our perpetrator is a superstar now – he’s viral on the internet, he’s made the New York Times, the Sydney Herald – he must be enjoying himself. There’s no way he isn’t forcing himself into the story somehow, so let’s see if we can find him. I know we’ve done it before, I know it can seem like a waste of time, but the small things matter.’

‘No problem,’ DC Marnie acknowledged.

‘DS Sanderson is coordinating a survey of recent police incidents involving psychiatric patients to see if there are any leads there, anyone with a grievance against the city, or a predilection for pyromania -’

‘So we think our perpetrator is crazy now?’ DC Edwards asked.

‘That’s not a word I’d use, but our killer is certainly very driven, very focused. He’s clearly obsessed by fire – or the consequences of fire – and has no regard for human life. The direct nature of the attack on Agnieszka Jarosik suggests that our arsonist is upping his game, becoming less cautious and more aggressive. This might be the end product of his sadism or it might be that he’s feeling under pressure. Either way it’s not good news for us.’

The team digested this, then Helen carried on.

‘There will be a reason why he’s doing this, something that’s driving him, so let’s focus on that.’

‘So we’re now saying the attacks aren’t random?’ McAndrew asked.

‘It was a valid theory – initially at least – but this is too well planned to be random. The commercial sites targeted have their similarities – all small businesses without expensive security in place – but the domestic properties couldn’t be more different in terms of geography, price tag or social class. They were, however, easily accessible, the attacks were methodically executed and even when our perpetrator rushed things – for example, in the attack on Agnieszka Jarosik – he still took the time to lock the door from the outside before leaving. He must have known these people or these properties well, so in addition to witness statements, let’s take an interest in people who knew the families and would have walked past these sites every day. Is there a particular job that would take someone there regularly? Posties, refuse collection, social workers, cold callers – anyone who would know the houses and would have come into contact with these families. It’s very likely our arsonist is hiding in plain sight, so disregard no one, however respectable or stable they might appear on the surface.’

‘We should also look at break-ins,’ Charlie offered. ‘We had a break-in at the Simms residence and, at the others he walked in bold as brass. He is confident at what he’s doing.’

‘Good,’ Helen responded. ‘Let’s also look at stalking incidents – any recent reports that might link the three sites. There has to be a connection.’

Helen nodded at the nearest DC, who hurried off to set this in train.

‘In the meantime,’ Helen resumed, ‘let’s look again at motive.’

‘Could he have a thing against women?’ Sanderson asked. ‘All the murder victims so far have been female. And the attack on Agnieszka was pretty direct. Does he hate women for some reason?’

‘Did he know the husbands would be out? That the boys lived on the top floors and were less at risk?’ DC Lucas said, overlapping. ‘We’ve had two mothers die, one nanny. Is this about kids and their guardians?’

‘Maybe,’ Charlie interrupted. ‘But it was sheer good fortune that Luke Simms and Ethan Harris survived. Both probably should have died. And what about Alice? The arsonist must have known a young girl would be in bed at the time – so why was she targeted?’

A long silence, which Helen leapt to fill.

‘I think we can rule out a financial motive, as the killer has not tried to make contact or issued any demands. Also, it doesn’t appear that there is a professional connection – Denise was on benefits and among the others we have an architect, a small businessman and a psychiatrist. So for me the motivation has got to be personal. We know that Agnieszka Jarosik was internet dating, had seen a few guys. Denise might well have been doing likewise. Had Karen Simms been in touch with any old flames however innocently? Unwittingly raised anyone’s hopes? This killer wants to destroy these people, destroy these families, so let’s climb inside their lives. Everyone has enemies and if we find a link between them, then we have our man.’

There was a brief pause as everyone took this in.

‘Now get on with it,’ Helen urged them. ‘Let’s bring this guy in.’