THE LALLYBROCH MURDERS

CHAPTER 11

Almost a week had gone by and no more bodies had been discovered.

Liam, Hank and Barry had been discussing this and had come up with three possibilities. The first was that the warnings they had tried to put out were doing their job and that maybe the killer had simply not had the opportunity to strike. The second possibility was that the killer had decided to lie low for a little while given the media frenzy that had now surrounded this case.

None of them, however, really believed that though because the killer had made no attempt to hide any of the bodies and had left the bodies out in the open, knowing they would be found. So, whoever was doing this certainly wasn’t shy and didn’t seem like the type to go into hiding.

The third possibility they discussed centered on that of prime suspect Larry Fisher. There were links between him and at least two of the victims’; one of which had provided the DNA sample that had Alerted them to Larry in the first place. Plus he was also known to have been wearing the same size footwear as the print that they had discovered at another of the scenes.

He was due in court today on charges of drunk driving. He had decided to plead guilty so there was no trial but given that this was his first offence he would have still been nervous. And perhaps his focus had switched to this, rather than on killing.

So, therefore, he didn’t quite have his head in the game; after all, the only other lull in the case had occurred while he was being held in custody.

Meanwhile, Tania was still in a coma. Surgeons had confirmed they were delighted with the operation and had declared it a 100% success. They had also confirmed, however, that there had been significant damage to the brain.

The extent of how much this would affect her life moving forward would be unknown until she came round. Although there were, of course, no guarantees that she would wake up at all and unfortunately, the longer she remained in the coma, the less likely a recovery would seem

What was nice to see, though, was the band she had been to see on the night of the attack had visited her in hospital and had even performed a couple of their songs by her bedside in the hope of getting through to her. Her mother had claimed to have seen a small movement of her fingers during this but sadly, she remained unconscious.

The band had also left a copy of their CD to play for to try and help raise her spirits. The whole community was rooting for her and everything that could be done to help her was being done. And at times like this, when so much was going on within their community, it was a tug on the heart strings to see good happen.

And after that good news, they were all hit with some other news that pissed them. There was an atmosphere of shock descending at the station as the news from the courtroom returned.

Larry had somehow avoided a custodial sentence and instead had gotten a lengthy driving ban and a pretty hefty fine; which no doubt would have hurt him considerably. But he was, however, leaving the courthouse this evening a free man. Liam and Hank had heard enough, their frustration mounting and decided to wrap things up early and head off home for a quiet night in.

The following morning they both turned up bright and early with smiling faces full of optimism; was rather short lived, however, as about half an hour into their shift, they had received the news that another body had been found.

‘That cocky son of a bitch,’ Hank yelled angrily. ’You mean to tell me he celebrated his own freedom by going out and…’, he trailed off and held himself back from finishing that sentence.

‘Well, if he is our man,’ said Liam, trying to calm his partner, giving him a look. Hank read it loud and clear and nodded, he knew better than to jump to conclusions. He took a deep breath and let out a huge sigh. They both put on their jackets and headed over to the scene of the crime.

30 minutes later, Liam looked out over the river, he had always loved it down here and had quite often, in the past, come down here by himself to just relax. Or if he had wanted to, gather his thoughts about something. Now, though, not so much, and this pained him. He was beginning to feel that he knew it a little too well and the calming serenity he had previously felt was now being replaced by the memories of the scenes he and his partner had investigated over the past few weeks.

And now here they were ready to start to process all over again. ’What fresh horrors have we got this time,’ he wondered to himself as the car pulled up to the yellow tape.

Liam and Hank were just about the first ones to arrive so they had a chance to have a good look around before the chaos began. The scene was very much like the previous ones. Male victim, lying naked next to the tree, head had been smashed against the trunk. Although, this one was possibly even more gruesome and violent than the others scenes.

There was a significant amount of blood on the tree itself and what looked like several hairs stuck in amongst some of it. There were also patches of blood on the ground surrounding the tree and the victims head. Liam spotted something white glistening in the morning sun to the right of the victim, possibly a piece of bone that had broken away from the victim’s skull.

Forensics hadn’t arrived yet, and neither he nor Hank, had any evidence bags with them so he didn’t want to touch it yet. But the more he looked at it the more certain he was that it, in fact, a piece of human bone. He hadn’t moved the victims head for the same reason but from the angle he could see it did look like a chunk of it had broken away.

‘Hank, take a look at that,’ Liam said, pointing to both the piece of bone and the skull.

‘I’m guessing our killer got a little angry,’ Hank said, shaking his head in disgust. ’Probably heard about the previous victim surviving in the news and wanted to make absolutely certain that this one didn’t.’

‘Yeah,’ Liam said quietly in agreement. ’You’re probably right.’ He stopped and then looked up at Hank. Hank heard the pause in his partner’s voice and turned to look at him, a brow lifted in silent question.

‘To have had the head so severely damaged, took a lot of brute force, wouldn’t you agree?’ The question hung between the two, both of them mentally ruling out any suspects without just cause yet.