Deadly Secrets (Detective Erika Foster #6)(84)

‘Of course not.’

‘And I want a northerner. I don’t mind southerners, but having one in the house three times a week would be too much.’

‘She’s sort of a northerner... North Slovakia. Her name’s Lydia. She’s twenty-five, speaks excellent English and she’s been caring, sorry, working part-time as a PA, for a lady in the next village.’

‘Do you have a photo of her?’

‘No. You’ll meet her when you come home, which I hope, is tomorrow.’

Edward was discharged from hospital the next day, and Erika was waiting at home with Lydia. He liked her, and they instantly struck up a rapport, and Erika felt like the last piece in the puzzle had been slotted into place.

Erika spent the rest of the day and the next with Edward. On Sunday January 14th, she left to drive back to London. He came to the taxi with her, now walking with the aid of one stick, and they hugged.

‘Now, you’ll keep doing your exercises,’ said Erika.

‘Yes, love.’

‘And keep eating well. Lydia is bringing over goulash tomorrow.’

‘I’m looking forward to it.’

‘And use the stair lift. No showing off to her that you can climb them on your own.’

He nodded.

‘I’ve told Lydia to make sure you keep those compression stockings on for another two weeks. They prevent…’

‘Yes, blood clots,’ he said, lifting up the bottom of his trousers to show the green support stockings. ‘And you won’t be a stranger?’

‘No, of course not,’ she said.

Erika felt she was going to cry, so she hugged him again, and got into the taxi. The journey down to London by train was smooth and fast. The snow had all melted, and despite having been busy for the past two and a half weeks, she felt rested. The break had done her good.

When she got into the flat, it was freezing cold and there was a huge pile of post on the mat.



* * *



The next morning, she woke early and drove into work at Lewisham Row. She went through the reception, and greeted Desk Sergeant Woolf, a large, red-faced officer who was a few weeks away from retirement.

‘Happy New Year,’ she said.

‘Bloody hell, you’re a bit late,’ he replied. ‘New Year seems in the mists of time. There’s already Easter Eggs in the shops!’

Erika grabbed some coffee and went up to her office on the fourth floor, starting to work through all the post and emails which had banked up over the past couple of weeks. Around mid-morning, there was a knock on her door, and Superintendent Hudson poked her head around.

‘Alright stranger, welcome back. How’s the father-in-law?’

‘Well on the way to recovery… I’m just catching up on everything,’ she replied, indicating a pile of folders on the desk beside her.

‘I sent you an email yesterday, and I didn’t want it to get lost amongst everything else in your inbox. We’ve been putting together the evidence and casefiles to go over to the CPS and defence team involved in the Taro Williams case. We’ve got the official DNA match, linking him to two of the attacks, with enough circumstantial evidence to implicate him in the other attacks. The CCTV footage will be submitted along with a statement from Mrs Fryatt with regards to the murder of Marissa Lewis.’

‘Statement from Mrs Fryatt?’

‘Yes, she’s gone on record to say that Taro Williams attacked Marissa a few weeks before he killed her.’

‘Surely that’s a bit vague, she said that Marissa said…’

‘The case is a slam dunk. We have him on CCTV following Marissa into her front garden. I want you to check through everything and submit your report before we sign off. Moss and Peterson have been working on it whilst you’ve been away, as I’m sure you know.’

‘Are you confident of a conviction for Marissa’s murder?’

‘Confident as you can be with CCTV evidence, a DNA sample, a past history of violence... You’re not going to tell me that you think there’s a copycat killer out there?’

‘No. Just asking the questions. No stupid questions when it comes to a murder investigation,’ said Erika. Melanie nodded.

‘Taro Williams has money, and he has the best of the best working on his behalf, and you know how good they can be at sniffing out a minor error in procedure. The hard copy file is there on top.’

‘I’ll look at it now.’

Melanie’s phone rang and she excused herself. Erika pulled the file off the pile, and started to look through it. There were statements from all the attack victims, from Marissa’s mother, Mrs Fryatt, and some of Marissa’s colleagues. What upset Erika was seeing Moss’s statement, where she described her ordeal of having been captured against her will.

Erika pored over the custody photos taken of Taro Williams. He was a big man, with a wide face and large features. He seemed so impassive in the shots, with dead eyes. She logged in to Holmes, and accessed the police interviews which were being submitted on a disc to the prosecution. He had been interviewed three times in the space of two days. In the first interview, Taro Williams sat impassive opposite Peterson, and in the other interviews, Peterson was joined by McGorry. Taro remained in handcuffs throughout all three interviews, despite his solicitor requesting that they be removed. Taro was gangly, and sat hunched over the table. The t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms he wore looked too small. Like he had been stuffed into his clothes. Erika ran the second interview forward to the end, and then watched as Taro stood to leave. He towered over the solicitor, McGorry, and Peterson, who was himself six foot tall.