The Rain Killer

‘Not too much,’ he assured her. ‘Only what I’ve seen on TV and what Superintendent Middleton’s told me. I don’t have any detailed knowledge.’

‘Okay,’ Townsend told him and swept her hand in the direction of the white boards. ‘We have five victims to date, the first victim, Heather Dylan, being killed almost a year ago now. A couple of months after her Lisa Sheeran was killed, then a few weeks later Norah Cardle, then Rebecca Shepard and finally the latest victim – Cantara Roper, whose body was found a little over five weeks ago. The oldest of the victims was thirty-three and the youngest was Norah Cardle, who was only twenty-one. All were low-level prostitutes – street-girls, not your upmarket call-girls, and all appeared to have had addictions of various types, hence their chosen occupation.’

‘And the fact they were still prepared to go out onto the streets, even after they knew someone was stalking and killing prostitutes,’ Sean added.

‘Certainly true of our last three victims,’ Townsend agreed. ‘The first couldn’t have seen it coming and even after her death the most popular theory was she’d pissed off some pimp who wanted to make an example of her. But once we had victim number two … there was little doubt what we were dealing with.’

‘The timings between each murder,’ Sean asked, ‘were they the same length of time?’

‘No,’ Townsend answered. ‘It’s varied between about four weeks and ten weeks.’

‘Then timing’s not part of his pattern,’ Sean mused.

‘So we figured,’ Townsend replied.

‘And locations?’

‘Apparently random,’ Townsend explained. ‘Anywhere you could find prostitutes plying their trade. He seems to have a preference for the areas around central London, although he has been as far out as Brixton and of course Streatham, which is why we inherited the whole shooting match: first victim was ours, so all that follow are too.’

Sean ignored her griping. ‘What were they like,’ he asked, ‘the places he picked them up from?’

‘We can’t be too sure,’ Townsend admitted. ‘Nobody knows where he took them from. Nobody saw them getting into any vehicles. Our man’s careful. Very careful. He’s a ghost.’

‘And CCTV?’ Sean asked.

‘None of the victims being picked up, if that’s what you mean. These girls were prostitutes, all of whom were working the night of their deaths. They’re hardly going to do their business in the glare of CCTV cameras.’

‘And he knew that,’ Sean spoke to himself more than her.

‘Probably,’ Townsend agreed.

‘But you know the areas they were working, right?’ Sean asked. ‘Working girls tend to stick to the same patch, or risk falling foul of someone else’s pimp.’

‘We do,’ Townsend told him and began to walk along the lines of photographs, pointing to each one in turn as she spoke. ‘Heather Dylan, worked Streatham Common. Lisa Sheeran, worked …’

Sean stopped her. ‘Go back,’ he insisted. ‘Tell me where the bodies were found as well.’

Townsend raised her eyebrows slightly. ‘Okay. Heather Dylan was found relatively close by in a wooded area on Tooting Common. Lisa Sheeran worked Shoreditch and was found in Tower Hamlets Cemetery. Norah Cardle worked the back streets of King’s Cross and was found in Caledonian Park in nearby Camden.’ She continued her damning procession along the boards and the images of the dead. ‘Rebecca Shepard worked around Water Lane in Brixton and was found in the woods in Brockwell Park and finally there’s Cantara Roper, who worked around Lisson Grove in Paddington. Her body was found where we believe she was killed – on a building site in Marylebone.’

‘Where you believe she was killed?’ Sean jumped on her use of the word. ‘You don’t know where they were killed?’

‘All the victims were strangled and they all suffered multiple stab and slash wounds. The pathologist believes they were killed by strangulation and the stab wounds were postmortem. Also, there was very little blood at the scenes, although that could also be due the adverse weather. This one likes to strike in the rain.’

‘Why stab someone after you’ve already strangled them to death?’ Sean again accidentally spoke out loud. ‘Doesn’t make any sense.’

‘Does it really make any difference which he did first? He murdered and mutilated them. Isn’t that enough?’

‘It matters,’ Sean reprimanded her. ‘If we want to stop him we need to know what motivates him and to do that we have to think like him.’

Townsend looked at him suspiciously. ‘Is that how you caught Oscar Stokes – by thinking like him?’

Sean ignored the question as he stared at the photographs of the victims. ‘This one’s in a rage. First he rapes them, then he rids himself of them by efficiently and cleanly strangling them, but it’s not enough, so he takes them some place close by, where he can take them from the car and he does this to them. He needs them out of his car because he knows there’s going to be a lot of blood.’ Sean pointed to the horrific wounds on Rebecca Shepard’s naked body.

‘How did you know he rapes them?’ Townsend caught him out. ‘I never told you that.’

Sean realized his mistake. ‘Middleton must have told me.’

‘Of course,’ Townsend played along, ‘only we can’t actually be sure they were raped. All had signs of recent sexual intercourse. There was evidence of vaginal trauma on each of them, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they were raped – given their profession.’

‘Take it from me,’ Sean told her, not concerned how he might sound, ‘they were all raped. DNA? Semen?’

‘All five victims had semen and DNA matching the same man inside them. The chances of it not being from the killer are astronomical.’

‘But his DNA’s not on the National Database?’

‘No,’ Townsend confirmed. ‘We’ve circulated his DNA throughout Europe through Interpol and the FBI have had it too – nothing. But he has to have offended before right? He didn’t just jump straight in with … with this?’

‘Probably,’ Sean agreed, ‘but not absolutely. Maybe we need to get his DNA signature further afield.’

‘Not many countries beyond Europe and the States have DNA databases,’ she reminded him.

‘No,’ Sean conceded. ‘I don’t suppose they do … Before you said there wasn’t much blood at the scenes because of the weather?’

‘I did.’

‘Every scene was affected by the weather?’

‘Rain,’ Townsend stated again. ‘He likes to hunt in the rain.’

‘Then it’s deliberate – he chooses to kill in the rain.’

‘That’s what we believe.’

‘Because he knows rain can damage forensic evidence – such as washing away blood …’ Sean talked out loud, ‘but is it something else as well? Something … emotional to him? A memory?’

‘Rain?’ Townsend asked. ‘How could rain be personal to him?’

‘I don’t know,’ Sean admitted, ‘but I’ll be sure to ask him.’

‘Getting a bit ahead of yourself aren’t you?’

Again he ignored her comment. ‘There’s something else as well,’ he told her, ‘why he needs the rain – something you might not have thought of.’

‘Such as?’ Townsend asked, crossing her arms defensively.

‘They’re street girls, right, so that’s where he’s taking them from, but he needs to be quick – he can’t be seen to be hanging around. Can’t risk attracting attention. The rain gets them in the car quicker,’ Sean continued. ‘Instead of standing on the pavement discussing business through the window, they get in his car – where it’s warm and dry. No doubt he encourages them to, and then he has them.’

‘I suppose that’s possible,’ Townsend admitted.