Banks laughed. ‘I’ll bet there are a few of those around. Thanks, Gerry. Keep at it.’
‘About all we’ve got so far,’ added Adrian Moss, ‘is more reporters sniffing around. They’ve got wind of something, and the rumours that we’re on to someone have already hit the early editions. Some bright sparks are even making a link with the Wendy Vincent case, so they know we’ve been investigating that somehow. We’ll have to give them something soon. Maybe a press conference.’
‘We’re not ready for that yet,’ said Banks. ‘Can’t you keep them at bay?’
‘I can only do so much. The only thing they seem to find more interesting is the weather. Apparently, we’re due for more rain tonight. Can’t we use them, perhaps?’
‘For what?’
‘To help us find him. Let them print a photo, or the sketch. Give them his name. It might speed things up.’
‘I don’t see how it would,’ Banks said.
‘Well, we’ve got to give them something,’ Moss said. ‘Once they run out of rumours they’ll simply start making things up.’
‘Most of them wouldn’t know the difference between the truth and fiction if it bit them on the arse,’ Annie muttered.
Gervaise gave her a sharp look. ‘I think we’d better find him before they make up anything close to the truth, hadn’t we?’ she said.
‘And maybe we should be asking ourselves just how they get hold of these little snippets of information they make so much of,’ Banks said.
Moss sniffed. ‘That’s easy. Most police stations have more holes than a sieve. These are experienced information gatherers, not thickies with a notebook and a pencil. They overhear things. They buy off-duty coppers a pint without revealing who they are. There are any number of ways they can get hold of information. There’s no—’
‘If I may say something,’ Jenny Fuller interrupted.
‘Go ahead, Jenny,’ said Banks. Moss shuffled sulkily in his chair.
‘In my opinion,’ Jenny said, ‘he’s not going to scarper or go to ground because he hasn’t finished yet. I think we can agree, after DC Masterson’s military information, that this Mark Vincent was an excellent shot, a sniper, in fact. That being the case, if he had wanted to kill, or even wound, Maureen Tindall at the wedding, he could have done so quite easily. But he clearly didn’t. Why? In my opinion, it’s because first he wanted to hurt Maureen Tindall, to cripple her with loss and grief, so that she could feel what he felt when his sister was killed all those years ago. But that’s not enough. If it is Mark Vincent, and if those are his motives, then it’s not enough for him. It’s not over yet. Wendy died, so Maureen Tindall has to die. He’ll go after her. And remember, we also know that he has good survival skills, however rusty, and facility with firearms, which could be very dangerous indeed if he has managed to get hold of another pistol or rifle.’
‘So what’s he likely to do next?’ Gervaise asked. ‘Is he a psycho?’
‘It would take far too long to go into the ins and outs of that diagnosis,’ said Jenny. ‘But the short answer is no, I don’t think he’s a psychopath, but I do think there’s a very good chance he’s the one you’re looking for. At least he’s not a “psycho” in the sense most people understand the term. He’s certainly suffering from some sort dissociative disorder, and he appears to lack a conscience, or he wouldn’t have been able to do what he did at the wedding. But perhaps his experiences in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Iraq and wherever else he fought did that to him. Dehumanised him. There may be reasons for that desensitisation in his military training and experience. After all, DC Masterson’s source has already told us not only that Vincent trained as a sniper, but that he had no compunction about killing complete strangers from a distance, a positive quality in the army’s eyes, but perhaps not so in civilian life. And we know that Vincent couldn’t make the adjustment to civilian life. His criminal activities and prison record show that to some extent. He also exhibited some symptoms of PTSD, though he was never diagnosed or treated for it. The lack of ability to form and maintain relations is an important factor here.’
‘But PTSD doesn’t make murderers, does it?’ said Gervaise.
‘We don’t know what makes murderers. If we did, we’d all be out of a job. I’m simply talking about the sheer mental burden this man is walking around with, not speculating on what it might cause him to do. And at the root of all this, or tangled up in it somehow, is his sister’s murder. That’s something he doesn’t appear to be able to let go, even fifty years after it happened. And I think we are all agreed that the triggers were there in the cold case, Frank Dowson’s imprisonment, finding out that Maureen didn’t turn up as promised and, finally, the news about the forthcoming wedding. More than enough for someone in as fragile a state of mind as I imagine Mark Vincent is. Gerry, do you know what happened to the Vincent family in the immediate aftermath of the murder?’
Gerry shuffled through the pages of her notes. ‘The parents split up three months after Wendy’s murder. The father moved to Sheffield and remained on the dole. He died of cirrhosis in 1988. The mother went home to her own parents in Salford and sent Mark to live with an aunt and uncle in Ferry Fryston, near Castleford. There was an incident recorded in 1967. The details are a bit vague, but Mark Vincent was taken into care for a while.’
‘Abuse?’ said Gervaise.
‘Sounds very much like it, ma’am. Naturally, the details are scrappy after so long, but the police and social services were involved, and there was an investigation of sorts before he was returned to the family. His aunt and uncle, that is. That’s when Vincent first started getting in trouble with the law. Small stuff at first, shoplifting, handling stolen goods, starting little fires, then graduating to more serious stuff like muggings and the occasional burglary. As my source said, it was jail or the army. His mother cleaned up her act. Detox, AA. She died of a stroke in 2004.’
‘Any brothers or sisters still living?’ Jenny asked.
‘Not according to my records.’
‘Drugs? In connection with Vincent.’
‘No mention,’ said Gerry. ‘Neither dealing nor using. Though my source did say that alcohol abuse was a significant factor in his later violent behaviour, and other drugs may have been involved. But there’s no evidence, or even suspicion, that he was a heroin addict, for example, or a cokehead.’
‘So what exactly do we do now?’ asked Gervaise. ‘Take Maureen Tindall into protective custody?’
‘I’d suggest discreet surveillance,’ said Banks. ‘It gives us more chance of nabbing him in the act if he goes after her. But it’s not without risk of scaring him off.’
‘Maybe you should give her a choice,’ Jenny said.
‘She’s not in good enough shape to make one,’ said Annie. ‘She’s in a state of constant anxiety, she’s scared all the time, jumps at shadows, feels guilty, ashamed. I know I’m not a psychiatrist, but there you are, that’s my opinion, for what it’s worth.’
‘You’re probably quite right,’ said Jenny. ‘And those issues would certainly throw her decision-making ability out of whack, to use a technical term.’
Even Annie smiled at that.
‘Get an unmarked car to the Tindall house now,’ said Gervaise. ‘Tell them to park down the street and try to remain unobserved,’ Gervaise said. ‘And arrange to have someone watching the back, if there’s access that way. You know the lie of the land better than I do.’