Gut Instinct (12 page)

It was interesting that he knew there would be another murder, what was it he said?

“
This
is the
m.o
of a serial killer sir”

Odd, to say that when there had only been one body.  None of them had been thinking that this was more than a one off.  It was if he was trying to tell them something.

Stephen had put it down to his naivety; he’d thought that he was just being overzealous. 

Now his thoughts were much darker, much more sinister.  He’d felt for a while that
this killer was close to home, he’d not voiced his thoughts, he had no evidence to support this, but they were missing something, he didn’t
know what but Stephen was sure as hell going to find out!

He pulled up outside his cottage with a plan. 

He knew exactly what he was going to do on Monday, but for now he was going to enjoy the rest of his weekend.

Chapter Eigh
teen

“Fuck me”
I nearly got caught, I’m
getting far too complacent.
I need to be more careful,
  It made sense that there would be a police presence at Jason’s
, especially if they had worked out that both of the slag
’
s had been there.

I had been looking around for my
next possible victim.
  I know where most of the girls live.  I’ve been following
them home over the last ten months, took note
s of their addresses, biding my time. I’ve
watche
d as they took men in, and seen
the bedroom
light go on and off within hours of them meeting their prey. 

That’s what men were to women, their prey, a meal ticket, someone to bring up their spawn and pay the bills whilst they sat around on their big fat arses, drinking coffee all day.  They never worked this
type;
they were the dregs of socie
ty, sponged off tax payers
.  I’m
doing the world a favour eliminating them off the face of the earth

I spotted him by chance; hovering around the bar scanning the room, looking for me, no doubt. 

H
e was another one, slept with them, used them for his own satisfaction and then left them t
o beat up their childr
en and laughed at others misfortunes.

Luckily I managed to hide behind a pillar just as his eyes scanned the place where I had be
en lurking, his eyes lingering
on the spot where I had been standing. 

Whoa that was close!

As soon as his eyes lingered somewhere else,
I got out of there.

I had
a
narrow escape, if he’d seen me
there he would have unquestionably
have came over and spoke to me asked what I was doing there.  I’ll
have to be more careful in the future, let things settle.

I’m home now and safe, but I need to rethink.

**********

I guess you want to know more about my mother, everyone does.

You all maintain that you don’t want to hear about this stuff,

“
Oooh
don’t tell me anymore” or “I’d rather not hear about it” but you can’t help yourself can you? 

The curiosity is killing you.  Does that make you as sick as me?

Well, turn the page
then, go to the next chapter
,
you
don’t have to read it. 

But you will, won’t you,

You just can’t help yourself can you?

Everyone’s mind is the same as mine you see, you just don’t act on it, everyone is capable of bad things even you.

And because you are too cowardly to do what I do, you just enjoy reading about what I do.

You just like intruding on my life, invading my privacy, my private thoughts. 

That’s fine for now.

I think it might be helpful for me to describe my mother, so you can have a picture in your head; she never leaves mine so why should she not be implanted in yours?

She was not a big woman, quite petite in fact, around five foot and must have only weighed about seven stone, but I was still scared of her, she still petrifies me to this day, even though she’s dead, oh yes, she’s dead, very dead in fact.

She had a round face with a large thin nose and green eyes.  Her hair was long, bleached
blonde and always very dry, it
reminded me of straw. 

When she got up in the morning, mascara caked on her cheeks and stale foundation in blotches she would look like a
flippy
floppy scarecrow, lolling all over the place, often still drunk from the night before.

She could have been a pretty woman I think, if she’d smiled more, if she hadn’t caked all that make up on her face, but she could never have been pretty inside.  Inside she was a monster, an evil sadistic fiend.

I was thirteen years old; oh did I forget to tell you, I never went to school, didn’t even know there was such a thing as school.  In hindsight she probably kept me away so the authorities wouldn’t know what was happening to me.  I don’t know to this day how she managed to evade the establishment, but she did.

Taught me herself.................
the
harsh way!

Anyway, where was I? 

Oh yes I was thirteen years old, by then she’d given up on my education and I now had to work, around
the house, you women will know the score, the cleaning, the washing, the ironing and so on.

And by God I had to do it right, but I never did of course, not to her wishes.

I was just putting the vacuum cleaner  away when she noticed I’d missed a bit, it was a small
blonde
hair on her rug.

Well first world war broke out I was battered of course battered almost to death, but that wasn’t enough for her, never was enough for her........................

The worst was yet to come!

“The time has come” she said “for you to know the way the world works; you need to know the facts of life
son
, the birds and the bees”

Well I was thirteen; it was time you may think.

So battered and bruised and still traumatised physically and psychologically, that was when my virginity was broken, that was when I learned about
what you mere mortals call lovemaking...................................

My mother always did reason that practical
learning
was better than theory.

C
hapter Nine
te
en

Thursday 3
rd
April

Stephen was sat at his desk doi
ng paperwork and preparing
further material that the CPS needed in relation to the up and coming court case of the methamphetamine rapist, as the media were now calling him.

He was also waiting for some information to come through, that he’d been chasing up since Monday. 

He’d been looking into Paul Spencer’s background after seeing him unauthorised at Jason’s on Friday night. Paul had not mentioned to him that he had been down there, and as far as Stephen was aware had not mentioned it to his colleagues either as he had made some discreet enquiries
.
 

There was something bothering him about this guy, and little titbits had been
coming through all week, it appeared that Paul had a bit of a dodgy past, he had accumulated a few driving offences, but he had also been under observation in his youth, the police involved at the time could never pin anything on him.
So he was curiously waiting for information on why he had been under observation.

There was nothing much doing at the station, no more leads to follow on the two murder cases.
They were just sitting ducks, hoping to catch the killer before he struck again.

The atmosphere in the main office was charged, everyone waiting, ready, wanting to do t
he job they were all paid to do.

The call came direct to Stephen at three fifteen.  They’d got a match.  They were on the move.  Thank god for that Stephen thought, as he thanked his caller and put the phone do
wn, forgetting all about his initial instincts about Paul.

He mad
e
a quick call to the control room then h
e walked into the main office and everyone looked at him in anticipation.

“Right guys, we have a match.  The suspects name is Ivan
Springer,
he is white Caucasian 40 years of age and lives on
the
Nevington
Estate.

Paul see if we can get anything from the DVLA on what vehicle he is currently driving. Vera see if you can find out anything regarding his employment status, Derek, John do some research get anything you can on this man I want us back here ready to roll in..........” he
looked at his watch “one hour, that’s four thirty precise!”

The place began to buzz, everyone immediately embroiled in their individual tasks, that the time flew by and it only appeared to be five minutes before they were all sat waiting for their boss at four thirty.

Paul had his car type and registration number, which matched what Stephen had obtained from the control room.  He had asked them to send a patrol car to cautiously drive by Ivan’s home to see if there was a car
parked in the vicinity of the house.  His car was in his drive,
it matched Paul
’s
so therefore
the suspect
was possibly at home.

Vera had got his social security number and he was currently on unemployment benefits, another probability that he was at home.

Derek and John had pulled up his criminal record status and he had
a few minor misdemeanours which
were
how they had got his DNA on the system.

Stephen gave them their
individual responsibilities
in the arrest
strategy
and
discussed the plan
of action. 

By five O’clock they were all on the road to get the man that had fucked up two of their weekends with their families and murdered two innocent girls, and left four children motherless.

**********

The arrest went smoothly; Ivan had been in shoc
k and thus had gone
quietly and willingly with them into the police car, no kicking and screaming which would have drawn attention to the arrest and subsequently brought the press sniffing around the station wanting a piece of the action, hankering after a news story confirming that the killer was now being held and questioned.

Ivan had been processed in the arrest suite and they were just waiting for the duty solicitor to arrive
, which he had requested, so that they could begin their interrogation.

Stephen had decided that Derek and John would be the best men for this task and was just about to speak with them when Paul knocked on his door.

“Yes Paul” he said as he looked up into the face
of the man
that he once believed was a suspect.

“I was wondering sir” Paul said “if I could be part of the interrogation.  I have the skills sir and would like to gain a bit more experience”

This was a fucking double murder case Stephen thought, did he really think that he was going to allow him to do his ‘skills practice’ on this one!

“No, Paul, not this time, I will bear you in mind when something else comes up though” Stephen said lowering his head back down to his paperwork, letting Paul know that he was being dismissed.

“But sir, I think
I
.....................” Paul was not going to give up that easily.

“Look Paul” Stephen snapped “Derek and John will be handling this one. There i
s only one way to unfold a note, without teari
n
g the paper and they know how
to do it, if you get my meaning” and to ensure that Paul left the office without any further ‘buts’ he got up from his desk and held the door, ready to shut it when he sulkily left.

**********

The tape whirling in the background, Derek stated the usual procedure for suspect interviews: