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“Who’s on the phone?”
Chad stiffened at the DI’s voice. He shook his head and steeled himself. “I know I’m not supposed to be working on the case, but I’ve found out some information that you need to know.”
A tense few seconds passed where the DI said nothing, then he sighed. “Go on.”
Chad described in as much detail as he could Tate’s bedroom, and recounted what Eleanor had told him about her son’s friendship with Vincent Whitehall. He didn’t pause for breath, and when he finished, he panted to fight off the sudden wave of light-headedness.
“Shawn’s in danger,” the DI said. “If Tate knows you’re on to him, he might do something drastic.”
Ally snorted. “That’s his little brother, there’s no way—”
“He knew the three victims,” the DI interrupted. “Justin was a regular customer. Damian worked with him. And Garrett—the third victim, went to the same college as Tate. Can you confidently tell me Shawn isn’t in any danger?”
“No … but Tate. It’s cliché, but he doesn’t seem the type. He’s quiet and small.”
“This killer hasn’t relied on brute strength,” Chad argued. “His victims are willing to get in his car and he’s a trainee mechanic, Ally. He’ll know how to rig one. The only reason we believe this killer is tall and well-built is because Tate told us so.”
The DI grunted. “Tate put on a good performance. He came to the station the morning we found Damian and spoke to Chad and Josh, then he inserted himself in the case by staging himself as a victim. He’s a true crime fanatic that left us a mocking piece of evidence to find by the freezers. He’s not the timid teenage we thought he was.”
“What possessed him to reach out to Vincent Whitehall,” Ally whispered.
Chad looked at the letters he’d spread on the passenger seat. “He’s been visiting him, and sending letters for a year.”
“Do you have any of the letters?” The DI asked.
“Yes, but they’re just scribbled drawings of trees, buildings, erratic, manic…” Chad frowned, smudging his thumb over the pencil. “But…”
“But what?” Ally asked.
“You know when you stare at something long enough, you start to see faces?”
“Pareidolia … what faces do you see?”
“The faces of girls … or bits of faces, in the trunks of trees, and the sides of buildings.” Chad looked away. “And in the earth.”
He waited for the DI or Ally to say something, but all he got was silence. He shook his head, and checked to see whether Eleanor was still on the driveway.
She’d gone back inside the house. “It’s probably nothing, it’s just me.”
“How much do you know about Vincent Whitehall?” the DI asked.
When Ally didn’t reply, Chad assumed the question was for him. “He killed teenage girls between 1980 and 83. Eight of them.”
“Nine,” Ally snarled. “He killed nine.”
Chad shrunk into his seat. Vincent Whitehall was an active killer before he’d been born. He’d read about the case, but not in any detail. He was a serial killer, and he got caught. That was as much as Chad knew about him.
“He never revealed where he buried the ninth.” Ally said. “Only eight of those girls got laid to rest after what he did to them.”
The DI took over, “Vincent Whitehall was heavily involved in the investigation. He was a well-trusted member of the community and a swimming coach at St Mary’s college. The students loved him, and so did the teachers. He had friends, and a girlfriend. He drove the girls from school to swimming competitions in a minibus to keep them all safe and ensured they got home. No one suspected him.”
“How did he get caught?”
“His last victim managed to escape him, and even her testimony was thrown into disrepute. He had a lot of support from the town, and it was only after his house was searched, and evidence was obtained did people begin to see him in a darker light. He gets the same kick from manipulating people that he does from killing young girls.”
Chad glanced at all the faces in the drawings he couldn’t unsee. He snapped his head up at the DI’s voice.
“He kidnapped young girls by pretending to be a police officer. He tortured them and terrorized the town by leaving bits of them to find like a scavenger hunt, but one of the bodies he kept for himself.”
