Their Lost Daughters (DI Jackman & DS Evans #2)(71)
‘Okay, but one thing before you go.’ She handed Marie a brown envelope. ‘This came for DI Jackman, it’s from forensics.’
Marie took it over to where Jackman was deep in conversation with Charlie Button.
‘Open it, would you, Marie? I’m almost finished here.’
She skimmed though the memo and felt a surge of frustration. It was a short report on the findings from the drinking club venue at the old chapel. None of the dozens of samples taken had matched any known offenders. Well, at least they had new samples on file, and could use them to tie in any suspects — including one of their own.
‘We are ready when you are!’ Jackman called out to the professor. ‘Get ready for your trip to the nastiest Children’s Ward you’ll ever see.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
As they drove out towards Roman Creek, Jackman and Henry O’Byrne talked about murderers, and what might bring someone to the point where they took another person’s life. Jackman mostly listened.
Approaching the lane that led to Windrush, Henry said, ‘I don’t believe that anyone is born evil. I do think that some people lack the capacity to understand the consequences of their actions. If they are exposed to cruelty at an early, impressionable age, and then continue to suffer violence, neglect or abuse as they grow, then they become desensitised. They become conditioned to believe that violence is an acceptable way to express their pent-up anger.’
‘Do you think our killer is someone like that?’ Jackman asked.
The professor shook his head. ‘Oh I’m just generalising. I need to see a lot more before I start making any judgements.’
They were waved through the gate.
Marie was pensive. ‘Even after years in this job, and having seen some terrible things, I’m still amazed at what people are capable of doing to one another.’
The professor turned and looked at her with an expression of great sadness. ‘Sergeant Evans, when a person lacks empathy, and sees others as objects rather than human beings, they are capable of anything and will experience no remorse whatsoever.’
Jackman gazed out of the windscreen. What complicated animals humans were! ‘In our job,’ he said, ‘we deal with simple criminal activity, but you have to contend with people in confused mental states. How do you cope, Professor?’
Henry O’Byrne smiled. ‘The same way you do. It’s a job. It pays the mortgage, clothes and feeds us. We may be passionate about what we do, but it is not our whole life. I’m betting that you have friends and family, and love nothing better than spending time with them.’ His smile broadened. ‘And it helps that we know the difference between right and wrong, as do most people. I like to believe that most people are pretty decent, all things considered, and we happen to deal with a very small minority.’
Jackman opened his door and got out. ‘It’s nice to meet an optimist. It’s quite refreshing. Believe me, optimists are all too rare in the police force!’
Inside the house, the professor looked around him. ‘I bet this was quite something once. Such a shame it’s been so neglected.’
Jackman’s phone rang.
‘Jackman? It’s Rory Wilkinson. Are you free? I have something that you should know about.’
‘Fire away. Your friend Henry O’Byrne and I are out at the scene.’
Rory sounded excited. ‘Jackman, I’m almost certain that none of our victims were actually killed in that underground room. They were all killed elsewhere and brought down the tunnel to the ward, using the old trolley that we found close to the door. There were tiny particles of cloth and fabric caught on splinters in the rough wooden base of the thing.’
‘So we are looking for another site where the actual killings took place?’
‘I’m afraid so.’
Jackman asked the question he’d been dreading. ‘Do you know if the victims were sexually assaulted?’
‘With the older bodies it is impossible to tell yet, although Jan Wallace has compiled a very detailed report on the first girl, the one we know as Fleur. She’s a completely different story and I’ll leave Jan to talk to you about her. Some of the more recent ones had certainly suffered sexual assault and possibly rape, although not all of them. The younger ones seemed to have escaped that fate.’
‘I wonder why Emily wasn’t already dead? She was drugged, and had certainly put up a fight at some point, from the state of her feet and her torn clothing, but she was still alive.’
‘I guess the murderer thought he’d killed her. You said yourself that her signs were very weak.’
That was true. Jackman had felt nothing in the way of a pulse.
‘Jan Wallace says she will be calling you, if that’s alright?’
‘Just in case we are still down in the chamber, get her to ring the CID room. They’ll take the details. And, Rory, we’ve had a lot of response from other forces regarding the girls’ identities, but we can’t say that any of them are hundred per cent positive until we get the DNA results. Any idea when that’s likely to be?’
‘It is not a straightforward, simple process. But because of the number of victims, I’m using the university and a private lab run by a colleague of mine. They deal mainly with paternity testing, but have volunteered to chip in. I can’t tell you exactly when they’ll be back — hopefully not long, but I’ll fast-track anything of real urgency.’