The Valley of Longing 32

Melissa nodded nervously. There was no point in her denying authorship of the file when he clearly knew that she had written it. ‘Yes, sir.’ Detective Lemark smiled briefly. ‘It’s very detailed, more so than the official file,’ he remarked. ‘How accurate is it?’ Melissa opened her mouth to protest the suggestion that what she had written might be wrong, but quickly shut her mouth on what she had been about to say. ‘As accurate as I could make it, sir,’ she answered. ‘I’ve probably missed a few things out, or not put in all the details of something, but for the most part it’s everything that’s happened since Lynne went missing.’ ‘Good, I’d hate to have to start this investigation from scratch after a week and a half, that would just be awkward.’ Lemark said with a second smile that disappeared as quickly as the first. ‘Now, on the basis of this,’ he held the report again, ‘I have requested that your inspector assign you to me to help with my investigation - I could get more help from my own station, but I’d rather use you, you know the case and the people involved, which will help - and he has agreed on the condition that you also agree to the assignment, he seemed to think you might have reasons for declining.’ ‘Yeah,’ she definitely had reasons, Melissa thought. ‘I’m related to one of the - one of the victims,’ she said. ‘Daisy Hawkins is my cousin. Not only that, but I’m a witness to Sergeant Mitchell’s attack on Mr Wild. Either one of those things would keep me from being involved with the case.’ ‘Ordinarily, yes, but I’ve discussed the situation with your inspector, and he agrees with me that if you’re okay with assisting me to investigate your cousin’s death, there shouldn’t be any problem with it,’ Lemark told her. ’As for the assault on Mr Wild by your Sergeant Mitchell - I Will be investigating it and your other allegation against the sergeant, just not yet, the murders are my priority. Once that case has been resolved, I’ll look into the rest of it, though, truth be told, I don’t think it will take long to deal with your allegations.’ Melissa was relieved to hear that she was being taken seriously, even if it was going to take a while for anything to come of what she had reported. ’As long as you’re sure there won’t be any complications with me being involved, sir, I’ll help you.’ It was tempting for her to use the excuse she had available and leave the investigation into the murders that had rocked her village to other people; that would leave her unaware of how the investigation was proceeding, however, and she preferred to know. ‘I’m pleased to hear that. Our first stop,’ Lemark sat up a little straighter in his chair and flipped open the covers on the files that detailed Lynne’s disappearance, and the murders that had been discovered in the village, ’Is to get the post - mortem report on your cousin; I’ve phoned the morgue, and it should be ready by the time we get to town. I know that the murders of Lynne and Lily have been linked through the preliminary test that have been run, now we need to be certain that your cousin’s murder is linked to the other two - if it is, we’ll know that the attack on Amy Wright is also linked. I realise you’re already pretty certain they’re all connected,’ he said when he saw that the constable who would be partnering him was about to say something. ’But we need to be certain of that.’ Melissa closed her mouth and thought about that. It only took her a moment to realise that he was right, as confident as she was that the murders were connected, there was a chance that she was wrong; she didn’t want to stay fixed on an idea that might not be right, not when that was exactly what had prompted her to go to Inspector Stevens about sergeant Mitchell. Her thinking continued along that line until it made her say, ’We should also check the phone records to make certain, if we can, that the phone call that came into the station on Sunday evening was from Lynne’s phone; I’ve spoken to the other kids in the village, and they all agree that the number is the one Lynne used….’ ‘But if we can get it confirmed by the phone company it will help our case,’ Lemark finished. ‘Sir, can I ask …’ Melissa hesitated for a moment, but then went on with her question. ’Do you think Mr Wild is the killer?’ Lemark didn’t answer straight away, instead he allowed himself a brief period in which to consider the question. Finally, he said, ’Based on what we have right now, I’d have to say it’s unlikely. With the exception of Mr Wild’s blood - type, which isn’t rare enough to be conclusive, all of the evidence against him is circumstantial; not only that, but the same witness reported last sightings of two of the girls in the company of Mr Wild. That could be coincidental, and is certainly more likely out here than it would be in town, but I find it suspicious, especially when that witness is someone you’ve identified as a possible suspect.’ He frowned. “This would be easier if I had been brought in right at the start, at this point the water’s been muddied a little too much for my liking.’ After a quick sigh of regret, he shook himself off. ’Come on, let’s go get that post - mortem report, we can discuss the case on the way.’ ‘The only thing we know for certain right now, if I’ve read your report right,’ Lemark said as he drove them towards town. ’Is that all four of the girls who we know to be victims of our killer were either at the Wright Farm or on the road that leads to it when they were attacked.’ ‘But we don’t know where Daisy was when she was attacked,’ Melissa said, determined not to get caught in the trap of believing something was certain until it was actually proven. “We know she left home just before five, and should have been on her way to the Wright Farm, but we don’t know that - that’s where she was actually heading, and we haven’t been able to find anyone in the village who saw her between the end of the road she lives on and the farm.’ ‘That’s true,’ Lemark agreed. “But the fact that she was found in a farmhouse off the road we were talking about does suggest that the attack on her fits with the others. It gives us somewhere to start, and that’s important. The map you included in your file indicates that the road to the Wright Farm runs for about a five kilometres from the church to the farm, we can probably discount about half of that distance, the area from the church to the three houses you marked, as being where the attacks took place - the odds of three girls being snatched along that stretch, where there’s most likely to be a witness, are too low. ‘I think it far more likely that the killer would have grabbed them on the latter stretch of the road, where there was less chance of him being spotted.’ ‘I guess so, the only place where we know for sure that one of the attacks happened, other than the attack on Amy, which happened in her bedroom, is the field belonging to the Wright Farm, that’s almost parallel with the houses, but the actual spot where the attack happened isn’t easy to see from them.’ Melissa grimaced. ’That doesn’t really help us, though, does it.’ ‘Maybe, Maybe not. If there were no houses along that stretch of road I’d be inclined to agree with you, but with them there it means the killer is almost certainly either Jack Wild or Kerwin Wright. The attacks occurred on at least three separate occasions- if someone who had no reason for being there was seen on the days the attacks happened it would have been noted by one of Jack Wild’s neighbours, who I’m sure are aware of everyone who goes up and down the road; it’s doubtful, however, that they would take much note of the comings and goings of either Jack Wild or Kerwin Wright…’ ‘Since Wild has an alibi for when one of the attacks appears to have taken place, we need to focus our attention on either proving that Wright is responsible for the murders, or on finding the evidence that proves he can’t be.’ ‘We’ve got DNA from Lynne and Lily, Melissa said. ’That should prove who the killer is.’ ‘It will certainly prove whether Mr Wild is the killer or not,’ Lemark said. ’We can get a DNA sample from Mr Wild no problem; we can’t with Kerwin Wright, however, he would have to volunteer, and I can’t see him doing that. I do have a tentative idea for how we can get a sample from him without arousing his suspicions, however. The problem we have is that they are our only two suspects, if the DNA eliminates both of them, we’re left with no idea who the killer is, and nothing to point us to him unless Amy Wright wakes up.’