THE LALLYBROCH MURDERS

CHAPTER 24

Carrie Richards opened the door and shouted ‘We’re back’ as she entered the property followed by Liam and Hank. She closed the door behind them and then led them through to the living room. ‘Detectives Liam Johnson and Hank Harvey’, she announced as they entered the room.

‘This is my husband Frank, and of course you already know Tania,’ she introduced them gesturing with an open hand.

Frank stood up and shook each of the detectives by hand. ‘Good afternoon detectives great to meet you,’ he told them and both Liam and Hank both nodded and returned the compliment before turning their attentions to Tania who was sitting in a wheelchair.

‘Well,’ said Hank, ‘Before we get started, may I just say how wonderful it is to see you looking so well. You gave us all quite a fright you know.’ This seemed to settle her down slightly and Tania began to smile and nod her head quite excitedly. Tania’s mother took a seat next to her daughter, holding onto her hand while Liam and Hank took a seat on the sofa opposite her, one each side of her father.

‘Now then I want you to try to relax and take your time ok?’ Liam told her softly trying to put her mind at ease. ‘I don’t want you to feel under any pressure or anything, so please make sure you’re comfortable and when you’re ready give us a nod and we’ll begin ok?’ Tania nodded her head before taking a deep breath. ‘Ready,’ she told him.

‘Good girl. Now then you told your mom you recognized the girl on TV, we need to be absolutely certain. So can you confirm is this the girl you saw?’ Liam asked as he reached into his briefcase, taking out a photograph of Clair Buchan and showing it to Tania. She flinched and immediately closed her eyes, looking away from the picture.

‘Ah,ah, ah.’ She let out a panicky grunting kind of sound before saying ‘Bad Girl’ several times over. Liam put the photo back into the briefcase.

‘It’s Ok,’ he said trying to reassure her. ‘She’s gone now. The Bad Girl is in jail and she can’t hurt you anymore. And my buddy here and I,’ he said pointing to his partner Hank, ‘we are going to make sure she stays there. Understand?’ Tania calmed down and gave Liam a nod before he continued. ‘So when did you first see her?’

‘Gig,’ she responded very carefully, ‘Girl at Gig.’

‘Is that the gig you went to the night you were attacked? Was she there?’

Tania nodded a yes for an answer. ‘Seem nice,’ she added ’Seem like Tania fffffriend.’

‘Ok, that’s brilliant, you’re doing great Tania. So after the gig, when you left, what happened then?’

‘She said, she give lift home.’

‘She offered you a ride home?’ Hank asked, to which Tania nodded. ’Wow,’ he uttered.

‘Now I know this may be difficult but I want you to think very carefully about this one ok? Do you remember anything about the vehicle she gave you a ride in?’

Tania nodded once more.  ’Was big blue wagon,’ she told him. Liam and Hank looked at each other, both remembering the same description that Katie had thought she had seen on the night of Campbell Stratton’s attack.

‘A blue station wagon? Is that what she picked you up in?’ Liam asked just to confirm for certain.

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ Tania confirmed.

‘Ok well done Tania, you’re doing absolutely brilliant. I can’t begin to tell how much you’re helping us right now,’ Hank told her and this settled her even further and Hank pushed for more information. ’So what happened then? Were you in the car?’

‘Yeah, in car, she stab.’

‘She stabbed you?’ Liam asked somewhat startled by this.

Tania shook her head, the confusion clear on her face. ’No, no, no, not stab, ugh.’ The frustration was evident in her tone as she tried reaching for her tablet. Her mother passed her the device and Tania started typing before handing it back to her mother who then passed it straight to Liam.

‘Gave medsin in leg,’ she had written. The spelling was off, but the meaning was clear as day to the detectives.

‘She gave you medicine? Like an injection, a shot? Like the doctors do with a syringe and a needle?’

‘Liam asked trying to do his best impression of a shot. Tania jumped up and down in her wheelchair nodding rather excitedly.

‘And then after that your body didn’t work? Am I right?’ Hank asked her. Tania continued her excitement confirming what they were after.

‘Ok well there’s no need to put her through any unnecessary distress. I think we know the rest,’ Liam said before getting up from the sofa and kneeling down in front of Tania placing one hand either side of her chair.

‘Listen to me,’ he told her looking straight into her eyes, ’you, are an absolute superstar, you hear me? You have been absolutely fantastic and I can’t thank you enough.’ Tania was beaming at this, her mother who was bursting with pride even had to wipe a tear from her eyes.

Hank got up and leaned towards Tania. ’He’s right you know,’ he added.

‘You’ve been amazing, now you take care and we’ll see you soon.’

Liam and Hank both thanked her parents for their help. ’We weren’t just saying that either,’ Liam assured them both.

‘Tania really has been a great help.’ They then shook hands once more and made their way back to the car.

‘Right then, let’s see what we can find out about this station wagon shall we?’ Hank said as the car pulled away. A few minutes later they parked up at one end of the street in which Clair Buchan had resided. They both got out of the car and walked down one side of the street, crossed over, then returned back down the other side keeping a close eye on each and every vehicle. By the time they had returned to their own car they had spotted two blue station wagons and had recorded the registration number of each, and then they both got on the phone. Liam contacted Barry to ask him to check out each of the vehicles they had found while Hank had phoned the jail to check if there were any keys present amongst the personal possessions surrendered when Clair had been inducted.

‘Sounds promising,’ Hank told his partner. ’Spoke to a guy named Jake, said they were a bunch of keys amongst Clair’s possessions and even claimed that one of them appeared to be a car key.’

‘Great news,’ Liam responded.

‘Barrys’ checking the number plates now; we should have some details by the time we get back.’ They both shared a little smile and Liam fired up the engine to head back to the station. ’Once that’s confirmed, we can get the car and have it dusted for prints, and unless she’s cleaned it from top to bottom every time, we might find some print from one of our victims.’