Chapter 31
Stanford stood in front of Eastwood’s desk searching for a clear space to place the cup of tea that he was holding. ‘Hello. Earth to DS Eastwood,’ he said loudly.
Eastwood looked up from her computer screen. ‘Why are you shouting at me?’ she asked.
‘I thought you might have been one of those people who literally drop dead at their desk.’
‘Not dead, just deep in thought about Fox-Carnell,’ she said, taking the tea from Stanford’s hand.
‘Thinking that there won’t be many people who will mourn her, but that there will be a lot of people saying she got what she deserved?’ Stanford pulled up a chair and sat down.
‘Last week, before Fox-Carnell turned up on our active cases pile, the guv asked me to go through all the applications that we’ve received from the other forces to see if any of them qualified as serial cases,’ Eastwood continued.
‘The majority of them were just other departments looking for an excuse to reduce their caseload but Sussex, Cleveland, West Midlands and Greater Manchester have all had a run of vigilante cases.’
‘Vigilante. Like Batman?’ Stanford sniggered.
Eastwood pursed her lips and fixed Stanford with a stare.
‘Jesus Christ, it was just a joke.’
‘No one has ever told you that you’re funny,’ Eastwood snapped.
‘The point is, I went down a rabbit hole with these cases. A lot of them were just your usual gangs of disgruntled dads hunting down and entrapping suspected paedophiles and grooming gangs. Sometimes they were bang on the money and there were successful arrests but more often than not, they targeted the wrong person or completely fucked up ongoing investigations.’
‘Fox-Carnell and Tabitha Ashcroft were neither paedophiles nor in a grooming gang. Fox-Carnell just had a penchant for knocking off her patients.’
‘But someone targeted her, Ashcroft and – from the looks of things – Nathan Hall. My point is that all three have something in common.’
‘The court verdicts,’ said Stanford.
Eastwood handed Stanford a printout. ‘February 2019, a man called Douglas Mantell was reported missing,’ said Eastwood. ‘He was last seen at a pub in Fairfield, Manchester. Two and a half months after his disappearance Mantell’s body was found in the Ashton Canal.’
‘Drunk man falls into canal. What’s that got to do with us?’ Stanford asked as the office door opened and Henley and Ramouter walked in.
‘Post-mortem report concluded that Mantell died from multiple stab wounds so Greater Manchester Police’s investigation went from a missing person to a murder.
One that had no further leads until—’ Eastwood raised her wrist and checked her watch, ‘ninety-five minutes ago, when you were still in bed.’
‘What did you find, or shall I just call the boss over and you can do a big reveal?’ Stanford folded his arms.
‘Call her over,’ said Eastwood.
‘Douglas Mantell was acquitted of historical sexual offences on the day he went missing,’ Eastwood told them.
Henley stepped back and took in the full body photograph of Mantell’s waterlogged and slightly decomposing body on an examination table like a macabre museum exhibit. ‘Who was he alleged to have sexually assaulted?’ she asked.
‘His daughter,’ Eastwood replied.
Ramouter tutted loudly with disgust.
‘How long was he in the canal for?’ Henley asked
‘Nearly three months but it was a record-breaking winter when Mantell disappeared. Temperatures dropped to ?8°C, the canal was frozen over and he was basically entombed in ice. Post-mortem details multiple stab wounds but more importantly for us a 2.36 inch by 1.37 inch wound on his head.’ The image of the back of Mantell’s head filled the screen, the wound visible in the middle of his scalp.
‘Pathologist concluded that the wound was caused by a knife, but that’s not all.
’ Eastwood tapped the board several times. ‘I found another case.’
A custody photograph of an Asian woman in her fifties filled the screen. The harsh, unflattering light brought out the anger in the woman’s eyes, her mouth fixed in a thin, unamused line.
‘This is Gong Bo Hyoo,’ said Eastwood. ‘Murdered in September 2019. Her throat had been cut, and she was found in an alleyway in Sheffield.’
‘Sheffield?’ repeated Ramouter. ‘First Manchester, now Sheffield. What have we got? A travelling salesman of a killer?’
‘Not quite,’ said Eastwood. ‘Two weeks before her murder, Gong Bo Hyoo had been acquitted of attempted murder and fraud.’
‘Who did she attempt to kill?’ asked Stanford.
‘According to the CRIS reports, a friend, Cynthia Onslo who was seventy-five years old and lived in Ancoats in Manchester.’
‘Ah, Manchester. Maybe not a travelling killer. So how did she try to kill her?’ asked Ramouter.
‘Pushed her down the stairs and the fraud was faking her will so that she would inherit her house. Hyoo denied both charges and had a trial. Technically she had two trials, both at Manchester Crown Court.’
‘The same court as Mantell,’ pointed out Stanford.
‘Hyoo had moved back to Sheffield because she’d been evicted from her flat in Ancoats,’ Eastwood said as she flicked through the crime scene photographs.
‘The jury couldn’t reach a verdict in the first trial in May 2019 or the retrial.
The prosecution decided that the third time wouldn’t be the charm after two hung juries and threw in the towel.
Two weeks later, Hyoo is dead. In addition to the cut throat, she also has a large wound on her scalp. ’
Henley sat on the desk nearby as the photograph of Hyoo’s upper back filled the screen. Her skin was discoloured and covered with raised scars. The wound on her scalp was raw and vicious.
‘So many similarities and yet no one on the murder teams saw a link?’ Henley was angry. ‘How in this day and age and the fact that we have HOLMES, is that possible?’
‘It shouldn’t be possible,’ said Eastwood. ‘But someone wasn’t paying attention. I only found them because I was paying attention.’
‘None of this is a coincidence.’
The door opened and Pellacia walked in with DC Copeland by his side.
Henley paused and watched the pair as Pellacia directed Copeland to sit at an empty desk.
Henley picked up a marker and walked to the whiteboard.
She added Douglas Mantell and Gong Bo Hyoo’s names and the dates they went missing to the board.
‘Both walked free, both scalped. Just like Fox-Carnell.’ she tapped Sian’s name on the board.
‘Tabitha Ashcroft the same but the only reason why her name isn’t in red is because her husband intervened. ’
‘And now we have Nathan Hall,’ added Ramouter.
‘Is that confirmed?’ asked Pellacia as Copeland picked up an unused notepad from the desk and began to make notes.
‘His DNA and prints were already on the database because of his recent arrests and charges of rape. Anthony confirmed an hour ago that there was a match. We’ve sent officers round to inform his next of kin.’
‘Where are we on cause of death?’ Copeland asked.
‘And who are you exactly?’ asked Stanford.
‘I was going to wait until Henley had finished,’ said Pellacia. ‘But this is DC Xania Copeland from Lewisham CID.’
‘You’re the one who palmed the case onto us,’ Stanford stated.
‘DC Copeland is joining the SCU on secondment to help with this case,’ Pellacia explained.
‘I’m looking forward to being part of the team,’ said Copeland.
‘Ramouter, carry on,’ Pellacia instructed.
‘We won’t have an answer about cause of death until earliest later this evening or first thing tomorrow morning,’ said Ramouter. ‘But Dr Choi—’
‘Based at Greenwich mortuary,’ Copeland interrupted as she nodded to herself. ‘I’ve met her before.’
‘Right,’ said Ramouter, catching the look of disapproval in Henley’s eyes, knowing she wasn’t impressed with interruptions.
‘Dr Choi has given a time of death of between 10.30 p.m. last night and midnight, but we think that it’s closer to 10.
30 p.m.. There was a kebab takeaway – well, the leftovers after the foxes got their way with it – all over the driveway.
The restaurant’s logo was on the bag. They received the order at 10.
02 p.m., it was picked up at 10.13 p.m. by Uber Eats and delivery was confirmed at 10.
31 p.m.. We spoke to the courier, who said that he met the owner outside the gate, and handed over the order. ’
‘Just like that,’ said Copeland. ‘Don’t you usually have to give a code before you get your order?’
‘Not always and, in this instance, the courier didn’t ask for one,’ Henley said bluntly. ‘CSI also found Nathan Hall’s mobile phone in the hallway. We’ll get it to Ezra once they’re done with it. Hopefully he’ll be able to retrieve security footage.’
‘Sorry to jump around but I’ve got a question about Tabitha Ashcroft,’ said Stanford. ‘You can call me a pessimist, but I’d be surprised if whoever attacked her wasn’t determined to finish the job. I’m just thinking of Fox-Carnell.’
‘Why is Fox-Carnell relevant?’ Copeland asked as she turned and faced Stanford.
‘She’s dead, isn’t she?’ Stanford said sarcastically. ‘I’m thinking that Tabitha and Graham Ashcroft could be at risk. Where are they now?’
‘Graham Ashcroft is still at King’s,’ answered Henley. ‘But I need to check when Tabitha—’
‘Tabitha discharged herself from King’s yesterday afternoon,’ Copeland interrupted. ‘I told her to stay but she was adamant that she wanted to leave. Her parents picked her up and she’s staying with them in Margate.’
Henley folded her arms and turned to face Copeland. ‘You spoke to the Ashcrofts even though until five minutes ago you weren’t on this case?’ The iron in her voice was impossible to ignore.
‘It wasn’t like that. Tabitha already has a relationship with me, and she—’
‘Stop,’ Henley said, holding up her hand and inwardly counting to ten to quell her frustration with Copeland stepping out of bounds. She turned her back and faced Pellacia. ‘What can we do about getting Tabitha Ashcroft some form of protection?’ she asked.