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Nico raised a hand. “I know what you’re all thinking, but for now we are going to regard these two murders on their own merits.”
“But there could be a connection to the sex-worker killer,” Pederson said loudly. “I don’t see why we’re discarding them as a possible suspect.”
“We’re not discarding them,” Nico replied steadily. “I merely want to profile this killer on these murders alone. If the facts point us in the direction of the so-called serial killer, then we will follow that line of investigation. But I don’t want us to get bogged down too early in the investigation into thinking these are one and the same person.”
It was a fair point, and now she saw it like that, she agreed with Nico’s assessment. Lacey glanced sideways at Pederson to see his reaction. He scowled, but said nothing further. Saito kept her unwavering gaze fixed on Nico, not even acknowledging her partner’s discontent.
“There’s also one major point of difference between these murders and the other three attributed to the serial killer. Autopsy found both girls had large doses of ketamine in their system. So these girls were drugged before they were killed, as we suspected. Probably to make them easy to move around without having them struggle or call out.”
Quiet whispers started up around the room, and Lacey turned to Tyrell to gauge his reaction to Nico’s news.
Gorman stood up and spoke above the growing hubbub. “Do we know for sure if our victims were hung somewhere in the reserve and then dumped in the river?”
“I’m hoping that’s one of the questions you can help me answer,” Nico replied with a hint of relief. “At the moment, we’re not sure how the scenarios played out. Were they abducted? There was no sign of a struggle at Zoya’s apartment, and no sign of a break-in. Indeed, her handbag and phone and other belongings were found on the kitchen countertop, untouched. And her car was in its usual parking space below the apartment, untouched. So why did she just walk out of her house and not take anything with her? And where did she go? It seems likely the killer injected ketamine to subdue his victims, perhaps taking Zoya unawares as she walked into her house after returning from work. We don’t know if the girls were then killed at another location, and brought to the reserve under the cover of darkness. And if so why? We need to go back and re-examine the reserve. Look for anything that might point to the location of the murders. Look for a spot where the murders might’ve been carried out.”
“A hanging tree, you mean,” Gorman piped up, then quickly looked abashed when Nico frowned at him. “Sorry, that was in bad taste, I didn’t mean it like that. I…”
“Funny you should mention that.” Sally-Ann took over the slightly awkward silence that’d descended, also standing up next to Nico and adding her frown to his. “Because even though you made a tactless joke, you’re on the right track. I think I may have found some information that could be pertinent to this case.”
The whispers died down as everyone focussed on Sally-Ann.
“At first I thought it was just a coincidence. But when Nico told me the cause of death in these new murders, it took on a much more sinister meaning.” She paused as she flicked through a pile of papers in her arms. Holding out an A4 picture of another young woman, she passed it to Nico, who stuck it to the whiteboard. “This young lady’s name is Tia Brown, and she committed suicide four years ago when she was only seventeen by hanging herself from a tree in Platypus Reserve.”
So many questions were fired at Sally-Ann, she hardly knew which one to answer first.
“Are they sure it was suicide?” That one was from Saito.
“Yes. Tia left a suicide note. And it was documented she was suffering from anorexia and depression at the time. But perhaps we now have cause to look deeper into this matter,” Nico replied.
“Do we know exactly where her body was found in the reserve?” It was Hickey who asked this one.
“Yes. It’s in the documentation. There’s an old King Billy Pine in a clearing only a few hundred feet from the parking lot. It’s believed she climbed up in the middle of the night, dragging a heavy rope with her, tied it around her neck and jumped from a branch around twenty feet off the ground. A local ranger found her the next morning.”
“If this was suicide, why do we think it’s connected to these two murders? It was four years ago. That girl was much younger than our victims. If the only link you can find is the fact but she hung herself, then it’s pretty flimsy don’t you think?” This time, it was Pederson. Lacey was beginning to think of him as the thorn in Nico’s side. He certainly liked to argue and to nitpick. Was that a sign of a good detective? Or just proof he never believed what anybody else said. An arrogant pig in other words.
“Maybe.” This time, it was Sally-Ann who answered. “But if she’d lived, she would be the same age as Zoya Kibel is now. Zoya had just turned twenty-one.”
That caused everyone to pause for a second.
“I’m not sure if this is connected in any way,” Nico conceded. “But I am going to investigate further. I’m going to talk to Tia’s mother this afternoon. And I’d like Pederson and Saito to go out to the reserve and see if they can find the tree where Tia died. See if you can find any sort of connection between it and where the two bodies were dumped.”
“You mean, you want us to determine if the murders were carried out there?” Saito asked, cool as a cucumber.
“That’s exactly what I mean. But I also want you to try and see the broader picture. Is that tree significant somehow to where the other bodies were dumped? Or are they three completely random sites? Is this merely coincidence?”
“Might not be able to answer that question,” Saito said blandly.
Nico gave her a sour look but chose not to comment. “The rest of you can go back to your allotted tasks, but keep this new information in mind, see if it relates to anything new that you find.”
People began to stand and mill around the room. The two out-of-town detectives made a beeline for the door. Lacey stood also, readjusting her duty belt, which always rode up uncomfortably when she sat down.
“Carmichael, you’re with me.” Lacey startled at the sound of her name. Then screwed up her nose and opened her mouth to argue, but shut it again just as quickly. Nico had cornered her nicely, because she couldn’t very well object in front of all their colleagues. Pursing her lips into a thin line she waited at the back of the room until he lifted his chin in her direction, indicating he was ready to go. She fell into step behind him, and they walked without speaking through the maze of corridors and down to the undercover parking lot, where he got into the driver side of the nearest cruiser.
With her fingers resting on the door handle, she drew in a deep breath. She wasn’t ready to be cooped up inside a car with Nico just yet. But she had no choice, and she had to handle this like an adult. A couple more deep breaths and she opened the door, putting on her game face.
“Where does the mother live?” she asked in clipped tones, before she’d even taken her seat, preempting anything he might want to say.
“Not too far away,” Nico replied, turning the key in the ignition.
