“Nothing yet. We just want a friendly chat with him. Is it this way?” Sally pointed up the flight of stairs in front of them.
“Yep, the only stairs we have. Go to the top and turn right. It’s the door at the end you want.”
“Thanks.” Sally walked casually up the stairs with Jack behind her. Once they got to the top, they walked briskly past the rest of the rooms. She knocked lightly on the door to Dorling’s room.
The door swung open, and the man eyed the detectives cautiously. “Yeah?”
“Les Dorling?”
“That’s right.”
Sally stepped aside and let Jack barge into the room. He knocked the man to the floor, pulled his hands behind his back, and slapped on the cuffs. Jack read the man his rights. “We’re arresting you for the murder of Brenda Fisher. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” the man asked, jostling against Jack.
“Let’s go.” Rather than argue, Sally walked out of the room, leaving Jack to force the man to his feet. She could hear Dorling still trying to resist arrest, but she turned a blind eye to Jack’s manhandling him through the building and out to the car. “Give it a rest, Dorling.”
Jack opened the back door, urged the suspect into his seat, then squashed in beside him.
“I ain’t done nothin’ wrong. I’m telling you—you’ve made a mistake.”
“We’ll see about that. Now sit still and shut up,” Sally warned, pulling away from the guesthouse.
At the station, Jack and Sally left the suspect with the duty sergeant and a couple of constables.
“Let me know when you’ve booked him in, Sergeant. I’ll be upstairs,” Sally said.
Sally and Jack ran upstairs to the incident room.
“We’ve got him,” she announced as soon as she burst through the door to the office. “What have you found out about him?”
Joanna was the first to speak. “He’s been out of prison since February this year, boss. Served four years for raping an eighteen-year-old girl. He swore he was innocent, but the DNA proved he was lying.”
“Why am I not surprised about that? He’s just denied he didn’t know Brenda Fisher in the car. I haven’t tackled him about Maddie Webster yet, as we’re still awaiting clarification on the results on that, although the pathologist’s initial findings have already linked the two crimes. It doesn’t really matter, because we have enough against him already. What about his car? Does he have one?”
“Yep. An old Ford Escort registered to him at a different address.”
“Naughty boy. Something else we can fling at him. Okay, at least we can try and place him at the scenes for further evidence. Let’s see what else we can throw at him.”
“Yes, boss,” the team replied in unison.
“Coffee, Jack? We’ll stay up here for half an hour or so, give him a chance to get worked up about what’s going on.”
“Why not? I’ll get these, boss, as you forked out for lunch.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll be in the office, preparing my questions for the suspect. Hey, is everyone up for a celebratory drink after work?”
Every member of the team either nodded or gave her the thumbs-up in reply.
At five thirty, Sally and Jack made their way back downstairs. “Has the brief turned up, Sergeant?”
“Yes, she’s waiting in Interview Room Two, Inspector.”
“Thanks. Leave it five minutes and then bring the prisoner in, will you?”
“Yes, boss. When you went upstairs, he put up a bit of a struggle, and one of the constables ended up elbowing him in the eye by mistake. So don’t be surprised if he’s sporting a shiner when you see him.”
Sally shook her head but smiled at the sergeant. “Shit happens!”
Jack sniggered. “I almost did the same thing myself back at the B&B, Sergeant.”
Sally walked along the corridor to where the appointed solicitor was waiting for them. She introduced herself and Jack to the woman then sat down opposite.
“Hello, Inspector. Is my client about to join us?”
“He is, Miss Cornwell. He should be with us any time soon. You’re aware of the charge brought against him, I believe.”
“I am. I hope you haven’t picked him up just because he has a past record for a similar offence, Inspector?”
“No. That would be totally unprofessional. We picked him up through the DNA we recovered at the first scene.”
“I see.”
The door opened, interrupting their conversation, and in walked Les Dorling, sporting a discoloured right eye, which Sally feared was only going to intensify in colour during their questioning.
“Take a seat, Mr. Dorling.” Sally noted the shocked expression on the solicitor’s face and asked, “Has the doctor seen you?”
“Not yet. He’s busy, so they tell me. I’m going to sue you for this. Mark my words, I will.” He turned to his solicitor and pointed at his eye. “They did this to me when I came in. I want compo, right?”
“I’m sorry about that, Mr. Dorling. I’ll see what I can do for you. Did you resist arrest or come to the station willingly?” Miss Cornwell asked her client.
“I might have had a little tussle out there, but there was no call for them to give me this.” Dorling pointed to his eye again.
“Okay, let’s begin.” Sally said the necessary blurb into the tape to begin the interview then asked the suspect, “Mr. Dorling, where were you on Sunday night of last week? That would be the eighth of March.”
Dorling shrugged. “How the fuck should I know?”
“That’s not helpful to your case. Try harder,” Sally suggested.
Dorling scratched his head and seemed pensive for a moment or two. “At home, if you can call that shithole a home.”
“So, you were at the B&B all night? Can anyone confirm that?”
Dorling shrugged again. “I have no idea.”
“Can you remember talking to anyone that night?” Sally asked.
“Lady, I’ve got no idea. Once I’m in my room, that’s it.”
“Okay, and when you’re not in your room? What are you doing then?”
“I’ve got a part-time job valeting cars.” He looked up at Sally and sneered. “It’s the only job I can get since your lot banged me up.”
“So, the fact that you were convicted of rape had nothing to do with your imprisonment, then?”
Dorling fidgeted in his seat. “Like I told the judge, me and that bitch had consensual sex. Juries always come down heavy on the guys. They always believe the bitches when they lie about spreading their legs.”
“Mr. Dorling, we’re not here to go over your previous convictions. That has already been successfully dealt with, as far as I’m concerned.”
“Has it, though? Aren’t you here accusing me of doing something to this woman only because of what’s gone on in my past?” He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“Not exactly, no. And as I told you back at the B&B, this woman, Brenda Fisher, was murdered.”
“And I told you that I have no idea who she is. It didn’t stop you dragging me in here and beating me up. I ain’t no murderer, lady.” Defiance blazed in his large, brown eyes.
“You see, this is where experience tells us that people who commit heinous crimes like rape often come out of prison feeling as though they’ve been misjudged and go on a mission to punish yet more women. Even killing them in some cases.”
He lunged forward in his chair. “Not me. For a start, I never effing raped the girl I was convicted of anyway.”
“You can protest all you like; the evidence clearly convicted you on that case.”
“Of course your lot have never arrested and convicted the wrong person, ever, have you? Jeez, why can’t you fuckers leave me alone? I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Less of the language, buster,” Jack warned. “Play nice with us, and we’ll play fairly with you.”