Red Ribbons Read online

  ‘What age was she, O’Connor?’

  ‘Twelve, last year at national school.’

  ‘Her name?’

  ‘Caroline Devine.’

  Looking at a photograph, Kate asked, ‘I see Morrison. Does he have any idea how long she was down there?’

  ‘Well, he was clear on a number of points. There is, as you can see, little sign of decomposition. Although earthworms had begun proliferating some of the open orifices, they were in the early stages. Plus there’s minimal skin blistering, so the body hadn’t been down there long. With no external protection, even with the low temperatures in the mountains, Morrison believes she couldn’t have been below ground for much more than twenty-four hours, and probably a whole lot less.’

  ‘At the very least, I guess it means it’ll be less horrific for the parents to identify her body than it might have been.’

  ‘For sure.’ O’Connor paused, both of them taking in the last piece of information before he continued with Morrison’s assessment. ‘Rigor mortis, which normally sets in within one to six hours of death, had already relaxed, so she’d been dead for some time before burial. Morrison has his suspicions about the positioning of the corpse, he thinks it might have been forced prior to the relaxation of the rigor.’

  ‘So how the girl was lying was intentional?’

  ‘We’ll know more once the postmortem is complete. I’m due to see him later this evening.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Yeah, neither Hanley nor the other techs have found any blood splatters in the area, despite the severity of the blows to the girl’s head. The heavy rainfall during the storm the other night might have washed away a lot of the trace evidence, but the complete lack of blood deposits other than those found on the corpse means the girl was killed someplace else, according to Hanley.’

  Despite the subject matter of their conversation, the arrival of food didn’t stop O’Connor tucking in like a famished adolescent. Kate, on the other hand, had lost her appetite. She continued to examine the photographs while the DI ate his lunch.

  The girl’s strawberry-blonde hair had been arranged in two long plaits, both tied with red ribbons. Her white knee socks looked like crumpled layers above a pair of black leather school shoes, everything now looking too large for the girl’s narrow frame. The ground, murky and damp from the heavy rain, was rugged. Fragments of stone, granite for the most part, meant it wasn’t an easy terrain to carry out a burial. The grave area was deep. She looked up at O’Connor again.

  ‘The grave, O’Connor, it’s not shallow.’

  ‘Over three feet. The killer may not have acted alone – either way, he came equipped.’

  ‘Or, if alone, he would have to be physically fit.’ Kate looked at the images again. ‘If what Morrison says is true, about the short time the corpse was below ground, then the killer waited for nightfall to bury his victim.’

  ‘And he chose a bitch of a night to do it.’ O’Connor raised his fork, as if to give emphasis to his last remark.

  ‘Her hair – is that the way she normally wore it?’

  ‘Good question, Kate, why do you ask?’

  ‘The ribbons, I don’t know, they look wrong, nearly old-fashioned. The bows are too large, like the way kids wore them years ago.’

  ‘You’re spot-on. According to her friend, Jessica Barry, who was the last one to see her, Caroline wasn’t wearing her hair in plaits that day. Rarely did.’

  ‘And the ribbons?’

  ‘Parents know nothing about them. They are unusual, though. You might not be able to see it in the images, but they have a perforated edge running along the side, a kind of herringbone pattern.’

  ‘What else was picked up at the scene?’

  ‘Despite Hanley’s best efforts, apart from the victim herself, there’s a partial boot print from the side of the ditch, that’s all. Of course, the heavy rain could well have put paid to any skid or drag marks left by the killer getting the body down there.’

  ‘So not much really?’

  ‘No, not yet. But you and I both know you can’t exclude evidence just because it isn’t there.’

  Kate looked down at the images again. There were also some black-and-whites photographs and they reminded her of another murder she’d been involved with during her placement with Henry Bloom. That had also been of a young female victim, a teenager named Rachel Mellows. Rachel had been viciously attacked in a laneway on her way home no more than a hundred yards away from where she lived. On that occasion, they’d arrested the killer, a psychopath called Paul Whitney. When Whitney was asked why he had chosen Rachel, he told the investigation officers that on the night he killed her, he had picked her out for no other reason than he’d been attracted to her white scarf. Whitney said it had reminded him of a sail blowing in the wind. It taught Kate one indisputable lesson: whatever brings a murderer to a location, the choice of victim could be determined by the smallest of details.

  ‘So, Kate, now that I have finished my lunch, what do you think we have here?’

  ‘The killer was careful, O’Connor. Notwithstanding the storm and possible erosion of evidence, whoever killed Caroline Devine buried her in challenging terrain, but he took his time and was calm. It all looks too organised for any other interpretation.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘The crime scene – the secondary crime scene if Hanley is right – is far too neat. Typically, organised crime scenes are planned, but we have to remember this is probably a secondary scene. It may mean the killer simply put extra thought into the burial, but, in so doing, it shows him – or her – to be very particular and specific. Look at the way the child is positioned, everything seems very exact, almost like a picture. It is not unusual when a murder has been committed for the perpetrator to hide the body, but this is different. This body wasn’t just dumped and hidden. Everything about the site says there is a high level of intimacy here.’

  ‘Intimacy?’

  ‘Look at the girl, her hands, the way they are joined, the plaiting, how each ribbon is resting neatly on her shoulders.’

  ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘The killer was careful. It must have taken him some time to dig out that grave, yet if Morrison is correct, he made a point of preparing the corpse, positioning the girl in a very specific way. Did Morrison say whether the hair was plaited before or after the head injuries?’

  ‘After, he thinks, but the postmortem will firm that up.’

  ‘Perhaps the killer was familiar with the area. It’s not an easy area to get around.’

  ‘Or perhaps, Kate, our pal likes to take his time burying innocent young girls?’

  ‘Guilt makes people sloppy. This guy was anything but.’

  ‘Great, a neat killer, exactly what I wanted to hear.’

  ‘You asked for it.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘The blows to the head, they look severe.’

  ‘They were. Morrison says both blows came from behind. Although the injuries to the head were deep, they’re not the likely cause of death. We should know more later on, but according to him, the most likely cause was asphyxiation.’

  ‘I can see the marks and bruising on the neck.’

  ‘Yeah and the spotting around the eyes, another tell-tale sign.’

  ‘What was used?’

  ‘Hands probably.’

  ‘The two indentations at the front?’

  ‘Pressure thumb marks most likely.’

  ‘Was she conscious?’

  ‘Too early to tell, but Morrison thinks the blows may have knocked her out.’

  ‘A small mercy.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Nothing, I was just thinking out loud. No sign of any sexual assault?’

  ‘No, if there was, we might have something on the bastard.’

  ‘Yeah but …’

  ‘I know. You don’t have to spell it out for me. We’re all feeling the heat on this one, and for obvious reasons. Who knows wh
at the hell was on this sicko’s mind. I’ve run checks on known offenders in the area, and some farther afield. You know how these things spread out, those bastards like to share things with their friends.’

  ‘What have you released to the press?’

  ‘The bare minimum. Rohan’s in charge of all press communication. You need a bloody degree in the thing these days to deal with those guys.’

  ‘Nothing about the plaiting or the ribbons?’

  ‘Not yet, but we may have to give something out. The type of ribbon could turn out to be useful in a public appeal.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘By the way, we haven’t made an official statement yet, confirming the body is that of the missing girl, not until after the postmortem. Anyhow, I need to be getting back, we’ve another briefing in half an hour – you know how these things go, by the time I get any sleep tonight, I’ll have at least three of them under my belt.’

  ‘Where’s the briefing?’

  ‘We’re working out of the Incident Room in Tallaght. The next meeting is a biggie. Everyone will be there. Do you remember Gunning from the Dunmore case?’

  ‘How could I forget?’

  ‘Well he’s mighty pissed off that the investigation has moved from his territory to mine.’

  ‘So he’s no longer involved?’

  ‘The chief wants him to stay in, but only to assist, along with some extra detectives from Harcourt Square, criminal bureau guys. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad of the extra support, but some of those DI’s are right elitist bastards.’

  ‘Not behaving, are they?’

  ‘They’ll do their job. I’ll make sure of it.’

  ‘I know you will.’

  ‘Just one other thing, Kate.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘Caroline, she was wearing a pair of small stud earrings.’

  ‘Like the ones in the school photograph?’

  ‘Yeah, the thing is, they’re missing.’

  ‘You’re thinking a memento, souvenir?’

  ‘They could be. But listen, Kate, I don’t need to spell out what I came here to ask you.’

  ‘Will he reoffend?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Hanley is sure the girl wasn’t killed where she was found?’

  ‘The site’s too clean, although we’re not ruling out the surrounding area. The tech guys are still there, and I’ve given instructions to move the search area out farther, but it’s a hell of a place to find anything. Chances are he brought the victim there, but he certainly found himself a nice secluded spot.’

  ‘We know he is organised, O’Connor, and specific in how he handled the body. He didn’t seem to panic in the terrain, and although he had no way of knowing that the victim would ever be found, putting her, as you say, in a nice secluded spot, there is no argument that a lot of care went into her burial. Your killer went to huge lengths for a body he didn’t want found. She meant something to him. If he is not connected with her directly, then chances are he might have chosen her. This doesn’t look random.’

  ‘So he could strike again?’

  ‘If he does, I doubt he’ll do it in a hurry.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘He is, as I said, particular, probably a man who likes to take his time. Something about this girl drew him to her. My guess is he didn’t reach his decision quickly.’

  ‘So we have time?’

  ‘I think so, but he didn’t arrive at this juncture overnight.’

  ‘I know that, Kate, but having time on our hands is exactly what I want to hear right now. I don’t need to tell you,’ he paused, ‘every parent, granny and bloody tabloid newspaper out there are all asking the same thing.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘When the hell are we going to catch this fucker?’

  St Michael’s Psychiatric Hospital,

  Dr Samuel Ebbs’ office

  SAMUEL HAD A LARGE NUMBER OF PATIENTS UNDER his care, all of whom needed different things. Ellie Brady might have been considered one of the least optimistic cases at St Michael’s, but after meeting with her the previous day, hers was certainly one of the cases that intrigued him most.

  He had reflected long and hard about their first encounter and was quite sure, irrespective of what his prior expectations had been, that he had been very much surprised by Ellie Brady. Sedatives used in institutional care were not uncommon – the majority of his patients were on benzodiazepines, and night sedation ran to about 65 per cent of the patients at the hospital. But he sensed a spark about Ellie yesterday, bubbling just below the surface, a kind of feistiness that gave him hope. He was glad he had made the decision to tweak her medication. The alteration would have gone unnoticed, other than by those in the hospital pharmacy. He had not mentioned it to Ellie purposely. It wasn’t always a good thing to advise a patient of such a change, especially a long-term patient who might fret, impacting on any benefit there might be.

  Although at first glance Ellie’s appearance had been drab, as was the case with most of the inmates of the institution, and she undoubtedly looked every bit her forty-seven years when she walked into the room, the remnants of her youthful beauty were still apparent to him within moments of meeting her. It was one of the first things that had struck him about the old photograph in her file – how attractive she was, and how alive and vibrant she seemed. He had been taken aback by her remarkable bone structure, both in the photograph and then in real life. But there was something else. It was in the way she looked at him, how she seemed to lock onto his face, unusual for someone of her condition, leaving the distinct impression that when she stared at him, she did so with the knowledge that she had seen a great many things which he had not.

  Re-examining the case notes, he went to the last entry written by his predecessor, Dr Norris.

  Ellie Brady (née Thompson, born 20/10/1963) Patient displays no change in condition since last review.

  Based on her prolonged period at St Michael’s, it would seem unlikely that any improvement in her mental state is envisaged in the short or medium term.

  Memory of events leading up to and after the fire are still sporadic.

  Patient still seems capable of only minimal recall.

  Continues to demonstrate behaviour of withdrawal and a reluctance to engage in any activity other than the basic interaction with others.

  As symptoms and behaviour show no signs of alteration, for the short term, I recommend continuance on existing medication and set review date for six months from today.

  Signed: Dr G Norris

  His predecessor’s assessment confirmed Samuel’s suspicions about the entire file: many of the reviews of the past few years had achieved little more than repeating the same things that had been stated previously. If anything, the assessments were nothing more than a recording of what seems to have been accepted as the status quo when it came to handling Ellie’s case.

  The only reviews of any difference were those recorded when Ellie was first admitted to St Michael’s. She was undoubtedly a very sick woman from the outset, willing to take her own life by whatever means had been open to her. Once the initial danger Ellie posed to herself had passed, it seemed that what had been adopted was little more than a desire to keep her condition stable.

  Samuel had been struck by something else during his encounter with Ellie, apart from her feistiness. There was no denying that she had made direct eye contact with him, in fact she had no problem on numerous occasions attempting to outstare him. This was unusual for someone who supposedly had withdrawn inside themselves, even given the slight adjustment to her medication. More importantly, it caused him to question if Ellie Brady had not been leading them all a merry dance.

  Flicking through the file, he picked up the photograph of Ellie with her daughter. When he had studied it before, he had wondered about how both mother and child had looked at the camera, smiling in great amusement. The girl’s smile was not unusual, but there was something about Ellie, as if she d
isplayed more than the normal level of affection one might have expected when someone was posing for a photograph, almost as if Ellie’s smile was for the photographer alone. The photograph was taken before she had arrived at the hospital. The girl was probably about ten at the time. She had the same hair as Ellie, only longer and it was tied in two plaits. On first reading the file, he had been rather taken by the case, not just because all his predecessors had seemed to fail in its regard, but also because there were a great many aspects to it that didn’t make sense – and it was Samuel’s experience that if something didn’t make sense, there was usually a very good reason for it.

  Incident Room, Tallaght Garda Station

  Friday, 7 October 2011, 2.30 p.m.

  THE INCIDENT ROOM IN TALLAGHT WAS FULL TO capacity, every stacked black plastic chair had been taken down and occupied. The atmosphere felt tight; a cauldron of manpower and resources that could tip at any moment, depending on what fresh information was fired into the mix.

  The occupants of the top table were already seated, except for O’Connor, who took his seat to the right of Chief Superintendent Brian Nolan, whispering, ‘Hiya, Boss’, before nodding at the bookman, James Donoghue.

  As was customary at this point in the investigation, all key posts had been allocated and although these had been made primarily by O’Connor as the Senior Investigating Officer, others had had their say too. DS Dermot O’Brien had been put in charge of CCTV footage, Tom Byrne was the DS for records on preservation of the crime scene and protection of evidence, DS Brian McCann was heading up the house-to-house enquiries and DS Martin Pringle had been made overseer of witness statements.

  When it came to the multiple interactions within the Incident Room, the engine of any investigation was the bookman. In this case, it was James Donoghue who would call the shots. There was never any doubt about who would be appointed. Donoghue was at the height of his career, he knew more about many members of the district than Nolan, and had more experience behind him than half the people in the room. It was his job to see links or inconsistencies within the information collected, and it was up to the detective sergeants, detective inspectors and everyone else to get that information filtered through the tried and tested hierarchical system, a system to which every single one of the fifty-plus people in the room would strictly adhere. The bookman was the one person who saw everything worth seeing, and by noticing an association that might otherwise have been missed, he could change the course of a case in an instant.