69
Now that Laidlaw’s description had been widely circulated, the public were on the lookout and the incident room was buzzing with excitement. Call takers were rushed off their feet. Within the last hour, they had received hundreds of calls from people claiming to know her, some adamant that they had seen her recently. It was impossible to say how many of them were genuine, but all sightings were being checked by an outside team as a matter of urgency. Another team were out looking for Chantelle.
Daniels could see hope in the faces of murder investigators. They knew they were closing in on a suspect. Two cases were at stake here, involving three murders, so it was all hands on deck to make an arrest. In a show of unity and inter-agency cooperation the Chief Fire Officer and the Chief Constable of Northumbria Police had agreed that Geoff Abbott could assist them in order to bring Laidlaw to justice as quickly as possible. He’d just arrived at the office looking a little sheepish with her personnel file under his arm.
‘Welcome to my world,’ Daniels said. Abbott had never been in the new Major Incident Suite before. ‘Good to have you on board, Geoff.’
‘Tell me that when you’ve read this.’ He tapped the file.
‘Is there a problem?’ Daniels asked.
‘I’d say there might be.’ He sighed, handing over the file and watching as she scanned the pages contained therein. ‘It’s what’s not in there that worries me, Kate. It seems Laidlaw may have slipped through the recruitment net. She had a traumatic early childhood and time spent in care, but there’s no psychological assessment, no psychometric test score. Need I go on?’
‘Why am I not surprised?’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘Dixon says she’s a manipulative looker who knows how to get what she wants.’ Daniels shook her head. It never ceased to amaze her how women – even in her own organization – could get on by batting their eyelashes or stroking the egos of the decision makers. More than a smile and you were destined for a meteoric rise through the echelons of the police service. Nobody cared if you could actually do the job. It was whether you looked good that counted. She glanced sideways. ‘Hank, get Jo on the phone. Tell her we need her in on this one after all.’
‘After all? Something I missed?’
‘Don’t question me, Hank. Just do it!’ Daniels winced as he sloped off in a strop, passing Andy Brown coming the other way. The DC seemed a little out of breath and headed straight towards her, pulling up sharply as her mobile phone rang in her hand. The display read: Matt West calling.
About bloody time. She was keen to hear the results of the samples he’d been testing.
‘Matt, what you got for me?’ she said.
‘You want the good news or the bad?’
‘Don’t you start!’
‘Pardon?’
‘Doesn’t matter. What’s up?’
He hesitated. ‘Your fag sample was contaminated by one of my interns.’
‘For God’s sake! We’re running a triple murder case here!’
‘I’m so sorry, Kate. We only used part of the sample, so it is possible to do the whole thing again.’ He paused – probably feeling her frustration down the line, hoping she wouldn’t fly off on one. ‘The guy who made the mistake is a good kid. He’s shitting himself that you’ll make things difficult for him. Can I put his mind at rest?’
Daniels swore, DS Robson’s blunder on a serial murder case popping into her head as he walked past her in the MIR. More recently, Carmichael had come a cropper while working under cover. No matter how much care was taken, how much training given, human error crept in from time to time. Abbott and Brown were both still hovering. She mouthed the word sorry before going back to her call. The error was hardly Matt West’s fault.
‘Don’t you worry about it,’ she said, trying to keep her temper in check. ‘To be honest, the pressure we’re under, I’m amazed it doesn’t happen more often. We’re not perfect this end either. But you be sure to kick his arse and tell him I’m not at all happy. This is a murder enquiry not a petty theft and he should take more care. There will be no complaint from me, but leave him in no doubt he owes me – and I will collect.’
‘Thanks, Kate.’ West sounded relieved.
Daniels glanced at her watch. Five to eleven. ‘How soon can you get back to me?’
‘I’ll get on to it right away. As soon as I have a result, I’ll call you.’
Daniels registered the indirect answer. Matt West was the most meticulous scientist she’d ever worked with. She’d have a reliable result sooner rather than later. She thanked him, hung up and looked at her waiting DC.
‘You wanted to see me, Andy?’
Brown nodded. ‘A young woman matching Chantelle’s description nicked off without making payment at a café in the West End. The proprietor thinks she’s seen her before. Said she’d taken quite a beating and was bleeding from an arm injury. It sounded pretty bad, so much so, the owner was more concerned to report an assault than she was about getting her money back.’
‘Sounds like a nice lady.’
‘She is. Want me to take care of it?’
‘No, I’ll sort it, thanks.’ She turned to Abbott. ‘Sorry, this is important, I’ve got to go. Can you sit tight ’til our profiler gets here? I’m sure she won’t be long.’ She grabbed Brown before he had chance to walk away. ‘Andy, get Geoff a coffee and bring him up to speed on where we are.’ On the way out the door, she rang Gormley. He picked up right away and she dropped her voice so she wouldn’t be overheard by officers in the corridor. ‘Sorry I snapped at you before. Things are difficult between Jo and I. When she arrives, can you pair her with Geoff? They can work in my office. Tell her . . .’ she paused. ‘Doesn’t matter, I’ll tell her myself. Oh shit!’
‘What’s up?’
‘I rode in! Forget what I said before. Just meet me in the car park and bring your keys with you. I might need to transport someone to hospital and I can hardly do that on the back of my bike.’
By the time he got there, Daniels had repeated her instruction to Carmichael.
‘Where we going?’ Gormley asked.
‘Café.’
His eyes lit up. ‘Brill!’
‘Don’t get excited. We won’t be eating. I’ll explain on the way.’
They reached the café about fifteen minutes later and took a statement from the owner, satisfied that it really was Chantelle the woman had seen. Daniels called the MIR and asked Robson to arrange a uniformed presence at casualty at the hospitals in the city: the Royal Victoria Infirmary and Newcastle General Hospital, the latter being the best bet in view of its location in the West End. Then they walked back to Gormley’s car.
‘If she’s injured, where would she hide?’ Daniels asked, getting in.
‘She’ll be bunkered in with a mate somewhere.’
‘No, that’s too risky, for her and her mates. She described Laidlaw as a psycho, Hank. She wasn’t spooked when I spoke to her, she was bloody terrified. Her world is microscopic compared to ours. She’s lived in the same house all her life, never goes further than the corner shop, works just a few streets away – although not today. I checked and got a mouthful of abuse for my trouble. Her P45 is in the post, according to her boss.’
‘Oh, she’ll love that!’ Gormley was being ironic. ‘What about the neighbours?’
‘No chance. Believe me, she’ll be as far from Ralph Street as she can possibly get.’
‘Unless—’
‘What?’ Daniels could see he was excited about something. ‘You think she’s in George Milburn’s empty house?’
‘Close . . .’ he smiled. ‘I think I know exactly where she is.’