Page 40 of Her Last Breath

Her team were gathered in the open-plan office, waiting for her. Jane felt like a general trying to rally her troops after a battle defeat. Hoping it would steady her nerves, she swigged back her remaining tea, before taking a deep breath and walking out into the middle of the room. She raised herself up with as much confidence as she could muster and began:

‘Liam Harrison appears to have an alibi for the time of Mark Burrows’ murder. While this is a setback, I want his manager, his colleagues, all interviewed again. I want CCTV around the abattoir scoured as well. It was a twelve-hour shift. Did our man disappear for two hours in that time? Burnley is a small town, it’s easy enough to travel across it in a motor vehicle within minutes.’

‘I’ll get onto that, ma’am,’ DC Berry said.

‘The forensic reports from Dr Lydia are very clear,’ Jane continued. ‘The deaths of Alice Rogers and Mark Burrows are linked. Not just the staged suicides, but the mud and the tyre tracks also place the same vehicle in both locations. We also have the CCTV of the van in both locations where these murders took place.’

She raised her voice as she said the word ‘murders’; she wanted everyone in the room to be as certain as she was. She had to make sure her conviction came through, preventing the adrenaline of the chase from evaporating as they lost their primary suspect. Because their real suspect, their killer, was still out there. And if Jane didn’t feel her team were as committed to this investigation as she was, there was a danger the body count would rise. More innocent people would die.

‘The killer didn’t know about Mark Burrows’ latex allergy or the damage done to Alice Rogers’ ankle when drowning her. We got a break. If Alice had stayed in the water longer, the soft tissue damage would have been harder to spot. If Mark Burrows’ skin hadn’t reacted the way it did, we would have assumed it was suicide. What I need for us to do is find where Alice Rogers’ and Mark Burrows’ lives intersected. We might find out how they fell victim to the same killer, where he met them, chose them. Any more information on the van?’

‘I’m making good progress,’ said DS Johnson. ‘Tracing the route the van took to each of the murder scenes and checking for vans that are ghosting the cameras. So far I haven’t got an exact match, but the field is narrowing, ma’am. The driver is pretty smart, knows where the cameras are.’

‘Too dumb to spot the ring cam though,’ DC Berry said.

‘We lucked out,’ DS Johnson said.

‘DC Chan, can you do some digging into the foodbank manager at St Agnes Church, please? Colin Wilson. See if he had any relationship with Mark Burrows or Alice Rogers.’

‘Why, do you suspect something, ma’am?’ DS Johnson asked.

‘He knew Alice Rogers from the foodbank. I just want to make sure we follow up on everyone who had significant contact with her.’ She didn’t tell them about him lying about how well he knew Alice. It didn’t mean anything unless there was a concrete link to Mark Burrows.

‘Our killer is prepared, using gloves, possibly taking routes to avoid ANPR and CCTV. The locations for each murder have been carefully chosen. These deaths are carefully planned, well researched, clinically executed …’

Jane jolted at the word ‘clinically’, her brain synapses making split-second links. Father Walsh asking if Jane’s mother had moved into the hospice. Alice Rogers being accused of stealing at the hospice her grandmother was in. Mark Burrows accused of using hospice grounds to deal drugs.

‘DC Chan, can you check if Alice’s grandmother was at the same hospice whose car park Mark Burrows was using for his dealing.’

DC Chan typed furiously on her keyboard as Jane dismissed the rest of the team.

‘Yes, ma’am,’ said DC Chan, looking towards Jane and DC Johnson, who were positioned behind her workstation. ‘Tranquillity Care Hospice.’

‘I wonder if Alice ever met Mark there on one of her visits? Can we get hold of the staff, see if there was any interaction between them? We know they were both drug users, dealing too in Burrows’ case—’

‘Ma’am,’ DC Chan interrupted, ‘something to flag. Maybe we speak to this staff member in particular?’

The printer juddered into action, DC Chan handing a picture to Jane moments later. Jane looked into the ID picture of an Asian woman staring, unsmiling, straight into the camera.

‘Kangna Kandasamy,’ DC Chan explained. ‘She’s the nurse who reported Alice for stealing from her grandmother. She’s also the person who reported Burrows for using the car park for dealing drugs.’

‘She knew both of our victims,’ Jane responded, her mind whirring. ‘Let’s find out if she ever confronted Burrows face to face, and I need to know if she contacted either of our victims directly. She might even be able to shed some light on how well Mark Burrows and Alice Rogers knew each other. If they spoke to each other at the hospice, maybe?’

‘I’ll check her phone records,’ said DC Chan.

‘Can you check her movements as well?’

Jane knew she was clutching at straws, but with Liam Harrison fading from her suspect list, she needed to drill down on any potential crossover between Alice Rogers and Mark Burrows. She turned her gaze to their pictures on the incident board looking out at her, demanding justice.

Demanding she find out who killed them.

Chapter 25

Liam Harrison stumbled into the interview room, his eyes red from lack of sleep.

‘You look worse than you did this morning,’ Jane said viciously, barely containing her feelings that someone like Liam was about to be released back onto the streets.

Sitting forward, her body halfway across the table, she got as close to Liam as she could. He didn’t react, his eyes downcast.