THE LALLYBROCH MURDERS

CHAPTER 10           

‘So in summary,’ Liam said as he moved to the white board and started listing out the victims’ names, as well as some of the facts of the cases and, ‘There is not much the victims have in common as they are all stemming from various areas throughout their college career, but the one main solo fact is that they are college students, which links them. So, let’s list some attributes about them and their career paths.

‘Like victim number one, David Norville, was aiming for the Legal system. Hadn’t made his mind up which profession, however looking at this grades, there wouldn’t have been short of offers. And he would probably have been in a position to pick and choose the best position at the time,’ Liam said as he wrote on the board under his name.

‘Victim two, Travis Peterson, was a totally different story. He was struggling with grades and even hired a personal tutor to help him out,’ Hank offered as he tapped his pen against the desk, watching the board.

‘Victim three, Katherine Didi Nammio, expected to graduate business management with flying colours, even possibly lined up to take over her father’s company, another well to do job there. Although that brings us up to Tania; so, one as yet unknown with grades or lucrative career paths, two straight A students who would have been quite well to off in their chosen paths, and then Travis, who was even struggling.’

‘What about origins?’ Hank asked. ‘Where are they from? Is there any link with that?’

‘No, I’m afraid not,’ Liam replied shaking his head. ‘While David and Travis have moved in from elsewhere to study, Katherine was a local girl. Remember her father owns that Engineering Company on the edge of town.’

‘Ah yes I remember,’ Hank added almost berating himself for forgetting something so recent. ‘Hold on,’ he added, ‘Is this a financial thing?’

‘What do you mean?’ Liam looked rather quizzical at this partner.

‘Well,’ Hank began to explain, ‘Katherine’s father owns his own company right? So was probably able to pay for her college fees without too many problems. And Travis, well he was on a Soccer Scholarship so again his education would have been paid for him. Just a thought but maybe whoever is doing this is struggling financially and is striking financially and is striking out at those who are better off?’

‘Hmmm you could be on to something there buddy,’ Liam told him.

‘Let’s see what we can find out about David, and maybe even Tania, see if that fits,’ Hank added.

‘I’m sure I remember reading something regarding David,’ Liam added rummaging through the file Cabinet.

‘Ah here we go, David Norville.’ Liam pulled out and opened the file he had on the very first victim. ‘Oh my, you might well be right,’ he said wide eyed. ‘David’s mother owns and runs a beauty Salon and Spa in her town. In fact has done so well with it that she now owns a string of salons and Spas across the country.’

The two of them looked at each other and back at the white board deep in thought.

‘Ok let’s see what we can find out about Tania’s parents. You may have just hit the nail on the head there,’ Liam said smiling. About an hour later, after some frantic searching, things seemed to hit a Dead End.

‘Unfortunately,’ Liam said, ‘it looks like a no go on that one. Tania’s father was forced into an early retirement due to ill health and her mother is currently employed as a packer at the local supermarket.’

‘Damn it, thought we had something there,’ Hank said angrily banging his fists onto his desk.

‘Yeah me too,’ Liam said sadly. ‘Back to the drawing board.’ They both let out a fed up sounding sigh and stared at the white board looking for more inspiration.

‘Wait,’ Hank responded with a frown, clearly developing a thought as he looked over the board and shook his head. He stood up and walked over, taping next to Travis’s name. ‘Didn’t Larry say the scouts were watching Travis? If that is the case, and he had any chance at all of making the Leagues, he would have had the most lucrative career of the lot of them!’

Liam nodded in agreement to that. ‘So all three potentially had extremely bright futures ahead of them, which is at least another common fact,’ he said, tapping the marker against his leg. ‘Hmmm, is it possible that our killer is targeting the brightest and best available?’

‘It would appear so,’ Hank replied, putting the file back down on his desk. ‘I can’t’ wait for Barry to get back and see what he’s found out about Tania.’

In truth, they didn’t have long to wait, for 20 minutes later, Barry walked right up to their desks, grinning at each of the detectives. Hank leaned back in his seat and nodded at Barry, ‘Ok Barry, what you have got for us?’

‘19 Year old Tania Richards was only on first term of the second year of college studying Journalism and media studies but seemingly breezing through it.’ Liam raised one eyebrow and looked towards Hank who closed his eyes and nodded in agreement.

They both had a pretty good idea what Barry was about to say next.

Barry had noticed this exchange of looks but continued uninterrupted, glancing briefly down at his notepad. ‘Ran the school paper back at high school and made a huge success of it. Which caused her to be noticed and she managed to get an internship here at the LallyBroch Herald in her freshman year of college. For the Herald, though, most students don’t even get recognized until their second year and start interning then, but the editor had his eye on her since high school.’ This was by far the biggest newspaper in the area so this was no mean feat in and of itself.

‘I swung by the office on the way back here and had a quick word with the editor.’

Barry looked up briefly to see if he still had the detective’s attention. They were both looking at him and motioned for him to continue.

‘The Editor said he had reservations about taking her on to begin with due to her age, even though he saw her skill. She’s one of the youngest interns they’ve ever had but all fellow journalists and crew alike said they were delighted to have her around now.

They all claimed she is doing a great job and if she continues learning at the rate she currently is then she could well have a fantastic future ahead of her.’

And there they were the words they were both waiting for. It Didn’t need saying but Hank decided to say it anyway, ’Looks like we have ourselves a pattern.’ Liam nodded and smiled as he placed the file into the folder with all the others they had relating to this case.

Three hours later, Liam and Hank worked together to produce a file containing all the details on each of the victims, along with their notes and their thoughts.

This was then handed to Barry, who had had made an appointment to speak with the college Dean; hopefully a rather secretive meeting, which is why they didn’t want to talk the Dean. Chances were, the media was camped outside the college doors, waiting to see the two defectives on the case and hoping for a word. At least Barry hadn’t been photographed yet. Although, he had been informed that he was to make it absolutely clear that none of this information was to become public knowledge but that they wanted to get a warning out to those students who they felt fitted the profile the killer seemed to be using.