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Authors: Conrad Jones
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steal from them in the first place. Bodger would have a score to settle with him too for wasting his minder. Whatever happened over the next few days and weeks, someone was going to die. Jinx was adamant that it wouldn’t be him.
Chapter Seven
MIT
Alec Ramsay waited for the team to gather in the briefing room. There was an air of excitement and anticipation as they arrived and took their seats. Photographs of the crime scene were flashing across a bank of screens on one wall and the detectives chatted and made comments to each other as each picture appeared. Alec took off his suit jacket, rolled up the sleeves of his crumpled white shirt and loosened his tie before standing up at the front of the room to the left of the screens.
“Good afternoon. I’m sorry if you have been called in from your leave, but as you can see from the crime scene photos, we have a nasty one to deal with.” There were murmured responses from the gathering, then a hush descended over them as they listened to their superintendent. Some of them had been at home less than twelve hours before Alec had summoned them back to work. “At eight o’clock this morning a letting agent working for a company called Ashfords opened up this factory unit on Jamaica Street.”
The screens showed pictures of the building and the surrounding streets. Most of the officers were familiar with the waterside area as a notorious red light district. It bordered both the river and the city centre and to its north was the Toxteth area.
“He made an emergency call at one minute past eight when he discovered the body of a woman hanging from the rafters.” Alec turned toward the screen as pictures of the tortured female flashed across them. The brutality of the scene they were looking at reflected on the faces of the detectives. It didn’t matter how many times they had seen death, this scene hit them hard.
“We have a list of missing persons going back six months who fit the profile of the victim. She is female, long auburn hair, mid twenties to thirties and as you can see, the killer strung her up and tortured her to death. We don’t know if she was a working girl or not, and for now it doesn’t matter because we have evidence that there was a child at the scene. We may be looking for a mother and child whose family have not reported them as missing, or they may not be related. We need to know who she was.”
Will handed out lists of the missing persons. “The list is compiled of women who match the age of the victim, but we don’t know if any of them have children.” Alec spoke to the team as the lists were distributed. The detectives scanned the names and images as they listened.
“Some of the women are known prostitutes and others are not. It doesn’t matter at this stage, they are all someone’s daughter, mother or sister, and they will be treated with the same respect. Are we clear?”
“Guv.”
“Vice have spoken with many of the girls who they know work in that area,” Alec continued. “None of them are aware of any friends missing. We are waiting for preliminary results to come in. I want to be in the position to match them to our missing persons list as soon as we have them. Smithy, your team has the top half of the list to work on. Work down to M, please.”
“Yes, guv.” Smithy was a well-built detective with thinning red hair and a beer-belly that hung over his belt. He looked slovenly but he was a key member of the Major Investigation Team. His commitment to the job had cost him three marriages and left him with limited access to his kids and grandkids. He played prop forward for the police rugby team and drank heavily after every game, which had compounded the tensions at home. Life as a bachelor suited him for now. “What about rounding up the usual suspects, guv?”
“Uniform are picking up all known sex offenders on our patch,” Alec pointed to Chief Carlton. His uniformed officers usually did the groundwork and sifting on
Chapter Seven
MIT
Alec Ramsay waited for the team to gather in the briefing room. There was an air of excitement and anticipation as they arrived and took their seats. Photographs of the crime scene were flashing across a bank of screens on one wall and the detectives chatted and made comments to each other as each picture appeared. Alec took off his suit jacket, rolled up the sleeves of his crumpled white shirt and loosened his tie before standing up at the front of the room to the left of the screens.
“Good afternoon. I’m sorry if you have been called in from your leave, but as you can see from the crime scene photos, we have a nasty one to deal with.” There were murmured responses from the gathering, then a hush descended over them as they listened to their superintendent. Some of them had been at home less than twelve hours before Alec had summoned them back to work. “At eight o’clock this morning a letting agent working for a company called Ashfords opened up this factory unit on Jamaica Street.”
The screens showed pictures of the building and the surrounding streets. Most of the officers were familiar with the waterside area as a notorious red light district. It bordered both the river and the city centre and to its north was the Toxteth area.
“He made an emergency call at one minute past eight when he discovered the body of a woman hanging from the rafters.” Alec turned toward the screen as pictures of the tortured female flashed across them. The brutality of the scene they were looking at reflected on the faces of the detectives. It didn’t matter how many times they had seen death, this scene hit them hard.
“We have a list of missing persons going back six months who fit the profile of the victim. She is female, long auburn hair, mid twenties to thirties and as you can see, the killer strung her up and tortured her to death. We don’t know if she was a working girl or not, and for now it doesn’t matter because we have evidence that there was a child at the scene. We may be looking for a mother and child whose family have not reported them as missing, or they may not be related. We need to know who she was.”
Will handed out lists of the missing persons. “The list is compiled of women who match the age of the victim, but we don’t know if any of them have children.” Alec spoke to the team as the lists were distributed. The detectives scanned the names and images as they listened.
“Some of the women are known prostitutes and others are not. It doesn’t matter at this stage, they are all someone’s daughter, mother or sister, and they will be treated with the same respect. Are we clear?”
“Guv.”
“Vice have spoken with many of the girls who they know work in that area,” Alec continued. “None of them are aware of any friends missing. We are waiting for preliminary results to come in. I want to be in the position to match them to our missing persons list as soon as we have them. Smithy, your team has the top half of the list to work on. Work down to M, please.”
“Yes, guv.” Smithy was a well-built detective with thinning red hair and a beer-belly that hung over his belt. He looked slovenly but he was a key member of the Major Investigation Team. His commitment to the job had cost him three marriages and left him with limited access to his kids and grandkids. He played prop forward for the police rugby team and drank heavily after every game, which had compounded the tensions at home. Life as a bachelor suited him for now. “What about rounding up the usual suspects, guv?”
“Uniform are picking up all known sex offenders on our patch,” Alec pointed to Chief Carlton. His uniformed officers usually did the groundwork and sifting on
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