The Death Messenger (Matthew Ryan Book 2)(83)

Newman gave her a pointed look. His reluctance to dignify her question with an answer was proof in itself that Hunter wasn’t their guy.

‘Sussex Police are investigating the rest of Tierney’s friends and associates,’ O’Neil said. ‘Most of his contacts are London-based or living abroad, many of them in Asia. Hunter was the exception, which raises the question: why? Is he different in some way?’

‘Are you kidding?’ Grace said. ‘When do we northerners get a look in where high finance is concerned? We’re much too busy collecting coal off the beach and wearing flat caps.’ At every opportunity she was vocal on the subject of the north–south divide.

O’Neil cut her off before she could climb on her soapbox. ‘Will HOLMES automatically throw out any direct hits, Grace?’

‘No.’ There was nothing she didn’t know about the major incident computer system she’d helped set up. ‘But all indexers are trained to cross-reference names as a matter of course. They’ll do that at the input stage. Every person has a unique reference number in case two people have the same name. It happens more often than you might think.’

‘Have there been any duplicates?’

‘No merged records so far.’

‘Let’s move on then.’ O’Neil shifted her attention. ‘Ryan? You wanted to talk about victims?’

‘Yes. Discounting James Fraser, the three victims whose bodies we have recovered are high-achievers: all male, influential, middle-aged. A definite cluster.’ Heads were nodding. ‘The missing victim from North Shields is different – and not because she’s female. It’s her age. She’s a lot younger than the men, in Watson’s opinion—’

‘Ah, the Word, according to Stevie Watson. We all know what a tosser he is.’ Grace hadn’t forgiven Gloria’s punter for knocking her to the ground and was waiting to make his life difficult. Ridiculing him verbally would do for now. In time, she’d show him up in other ways. He could count on it.

Ryan ignored the interruption. ‘If she’s a lot younger than the men, it stands to reason that the killers’ link to her is more recent. She could be the key to unlock this investigation. For what it’s worth, I think we should concentrate our efforts on her.’

‘When we have an ID, we’ll do that,’ O’Neil said. ‘In the meantime, unless you know something I don’t, may I remind you that we’ve not established a geographical link between any of the victims, nor have we identified a school or university as the common denominator—’

‘That’s precisely my point,’ Ryan said. ‘The fact that the victims aren’t of the same age means we’re not searching for a class of ’88 or anything like that. Maybe these are hate crimes.’

‘Go on.’ O’Neil was interested.

‘Tierney is in a close relationship now. Trevathan never married. We’ve almost certainly ruled James Fraser out, but he lived alone. He’s a young trendy male. Am I making links where there are none?’

‘You’re a straight man making gay men look bad,’ Grace said.

‘That’s unfair,’ O’Neil said.

‘I agree,’ Newman said. ‘You’re well out of order.’

‘OK. You’re right . . .’ Grace climbed down. ‘For once.’

‘Apology accepted,’ Ryan said.

‘I didn’t . . . oh, funny guy.’ Grace pulled a face. ‘I’m splitting my sides here.’

‘Children, can we please get on?’ O’Neil said. ‘Look, we’re all feeling frustrated, but I need your heads up and your minds on the job. There’s been enough in-fighting and time-wasting. We need to stand together now. There will be a link. We just need to find it. Please, one of you, give me something to go on. Ryan?’

‘The fact that our male victims didn’t attend the same school or university doesn’t mean that they aren’t connected by an experience they might have shared at separate boarding schools. Maybe an interschool sports club or study group, some other extracurricular activity—’

‘Is that a euphemism for something more sinister?’ Grace asked, his words having piqued her interest. ‘Are you suggesting a paedophile ring?’

‘I’m just putting it on the table. What does everyone else think?’ He turned to face O’Neil. ‘Guv, you said yourself that anywhere that houses children worries you. Let’s examine that in more detail.’

‘I know what I said, but if there was abuse at the boarding school where Tierney was a pupil, it’s not been reported. He’d hardly go there to teach if he’d been abused—’

‘Unless he’s a victim turned abuser,’ Grace said. ‘There are plenty around. Where better to find your prey than in a job that brings you face to face with vulnerable youngsters? I’m with Ryan on this. It’s worthy of further investigation. The victim-to-victimizer cycle is too big of an issue to ignore.’

‘Whether or not it’s proven?’ Newman said.

Grace challenged him. ‘What the hell does that mean?’

‘I’m just making a point. That theory has been open to interpretation for years.’

‘I’m not suggesting that all abused children turn into abusers, just that Tierney might have. In light of Operation Yewtree, we can’t ignore it.’ Grace was alluding to a Metropolitan Police initiative to investigate a string of historical sex abuse allegations against high-profile figures, many of whom had continued their activities for decades. Some offences had been reported and not properly investigated, regardless of credible complaints based on reliable evidence. Historical abuse was the hottest issue around. It had dominated headlines for months.