‘Keep it simple, will you, Phil?’ said Talbot.
‘Preciptin tests can identify the nature of the blood. Human or animal.’
‘And?’
‘There were thirty-two identifiable blood samples in the warehouse. Six of them were A, three were O.’
‘And the rest?’
‘Animal.’
Talbot frowned and sat forward in his chair. ‘What kind of animal?’
‘Dog and cat accounted for twenty-one of the other samples,’ Barclay told him.
‘That still leaves two unaccounted for,’ Talbot persisted.
‘That’s because we don’t know what they are,’ the coroner said, irritably. ‘We keep anti-serums for most domestic and farmyard animals.’
‘So what are you telling me?’ Talbot demanded. ‘That you don’t know which animals the other two blood samples came from? How many possible are there, Phil?
I mean, once you’ve eliminated fucking giraffes and rhinos, what’s left?
Logically, what kind of animal could have been in that warehouse?’
‘Logically, I would have said it had to be a domestic animal of some kind, a sheep or goat at a stretch. It had to be some kind of animal that was fairly easily obtainable, perhaps from a pet shop.’
‘Some kind of exotic pet?’ Rafferty offered, looking at Talbot.
‘Any ideas?’ the DI said.
‘It depends what was going on in that warehouse. If they were carving up dogs and cats, Christ knows what else they might have used,’ the DS said.
‘The bloodstains were all concentrated in one main area of the warehouse, that’s why it was difficult to identify them all at first’ Barclay explained.
‘What other physical evidence did you find?’ Rafferty asked.
‘Hair and fibres,’ said Barclay. ‘Do you want the list?’
The policemen nodded his head in affirmation.
‘Head hair, eyebrows, axillary hair and pubic hair,’ the pathologist said.
‘How the hell can you tell the difference?’ Rafferty wanted to know.
‘Head hair is circular in cross-section, pubic hair is triangular in cross section, eyebrows-‘
Talbot held up a hand to silence him. ‘Yeah, OK, Phil, we get the picture.
What about fibres?’
‘Cotton, wool, nylon. I’ve got another list’ Barclay informed them.
Talbot shook his head. ‘So, the only mystery is where those two unidentified blood samples came from, right?’ the DI said.
Barclay nodded.
‘There was enough physical evidence in that warehouse to secure a conviction, should we find a suspect’ the pathologist said.
‘The parents of the abused kids. We don’t need to look any further.’
‘How can you be so sure, Jim?’ Rafferty asked.
‘I can’t. That’s the whole point,’ Talbot told him. ‘The media has already convicted these people. Not us.’
‘And this satanism angle?’ Rafferty continued.
‘That’s bollocks, you know it is,’ Talbot snapped.
‘What if it isn’t?’ the DS persisted. ‘Those symbols we saw, the statements given by the kids …’
‘For Christ’s sake, Bill,’ Talbot responded angrily.
‘What makes you such a bloody expert, Jim?’ Rafferty hissed.
Talbot avoided his colleague’s gaze.
Trust me.
‘This wasn’t even our case,’ the DS continued. ‘Why the interest?’
‘Because the case we were working on is linked to this one, remember?’ the DI said, acidly.
A heavy silence descended, broken finally by Barclay. ‘Look, I’ve got some more work to do,’ he said, getting to his feet.
‘Find out what you can about those unidentified blood samples, Phil’ Talbot said.
Rafferty also followed the pathologist towards the door.
‘I’ve got some stuff to do as well’ he muttered.
‘Trust me on this one, Bill’ Talbot called to his colleague.
Rafferty closed the door as he left.
Talbot sat forward in his chair, head bowed. Trust me. I know what I’m talking about. He brought his fist down hard on the table top. So hard it hurt.
Christ, he needed a drink.
Seventy-seven
‘There must be something you can do,’ Catherine Reed said, exasperatedly.
Her brother sat motionless on the sofa in his flat, a cup of coffee gripped in his hand. He barely seemed to notice the heat which was searing his palm, so deep in thought was he.
‘Frank’ she said and her voice seemed to shock him from his trance and make him aware of the heat he cradled.
He put down the cup and rubbed his hands together slowly.
‘The police think I molested Becky’ he said, softly.
‘They haven’t charged you.’
‘It’s just a matter of time’ he told her. ‘Ellen will press charges.’ He began rubbing the nail of his right middle finger up and down the leg of his jeans.
‘I was a fool. I should never have trusted her. It was too easy. She wouldn’t let me see Becky for months, then suddenly, out of the blue, she rings up and says I can have her for the weekend. And all the time she was planning this.
They were planning this. She and that bastard, Ward.’
Cath sat beside him and slid one arm around his shoulder. ‘Frank, if you didn’t do anything then they haven’t got a case against you’ she tried to assure him.
He glared at her. ‘What do you mean if? I didn’t do anything. Do you think I touched Becky? My God, Cath.’
‘I didn’t say that. I know you’d never hurt her. What did the police say?’
‘They said I touched her when I was drying her after she had a bath.’ ‘Did you?’
‘How can you even ask me that?’ When she looked into his eyes she saw tears there. ‘They can twist things, Frank,’ she said, touching his cheek. ‘Have you spoken to Becky?’
I’m not allowed anywhere near her until this … enquiry is over. If Ellen has her way, I’ll never see her again. That’s what she wanted from the beginning and it looks as if she’s going to achieve it.’ ‘When can you go back to the school?’ He shook his head. ‘The suspension is indefinite. Hardy was waiting for his chance too.’
‘Come on, Frank. You’ll be saying they’re in it together next. You know why Hardy had it in for you. You made him and his school look bad.’ ‘By telling
the truth?’ ‘Like they say, “the truth hurts”.’ Reed got to his feet and crossed to the window. ‘If I had touched Becky,’ he said, quietly. ‘They’d be able to prove it, wouldn’t they?’ Cath swallowed hard. What was he saying? She kept her gaze fixed on her brother.
‘There’d be physical signs’ he continued.
Cath felt the hairs at the back of her neck rise.
‘Frank’ she said, softly. ‘Did you touch her?’
‘I held her in the towel after she had a bath. She dried herself, she dressed herself.’
Cath regarded him intently.
T love her, Cath’ he said, his eyes misting over again. ‘I’d never hurt her.
But how am I going to convince people of that?’
She had no answer for him.
Only helpless silence.
She felt it kick.
Shanine Connor winced and clapped a hand to her belly. It was heavily swollen now.
Her breasts too felt uncomfortably large and conspicuous, straining against the threadbare material of the jumper she wore. It scarcely stretched over the lump in her belly.
She stood still for a moment, wincing at a sudden stab of pain, ignoring the fleeting stares of passers-by.
The sensations passed, and Shanine walked on along the Strand, one hand clutching the holdall close to her, the other gripping one of the bars of chocolate she’d stolen less than fifteen minutes ago from a small tobacconists’ at Charing Cross station.