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18th March 2014
DCI Baddeley and DI White stood in front of the team gathered in the main office. Chalkie called everyone to order then Thurstan stepped forward and began the briefing.
“Good morning everybody. Sorry for the early start, but we need all the time we can get. The body found in Potter’s Wood, close to the junction of Crank Road with Abbey Road, St. Helen’s, has been confirmed to be that of Monica Jean Masterson, also known as Monique Masterson. She’d been strangled, stripped, rolled up in an old carpet and dumped just inside the fence line.”
Thurstan selected his words with care. He’d emphasised the word ‘dumped’, using it as much to convey his contempt for the person or persons who’d taken Monica’s life as to describe the reality of the situation in which her body had been left. Believing she deserved respect he would avoid referring to her as ‘the deceased’, ‘the body’ or ‘the victim’ wherever possible. She had been, and was, Monica Jean.
He continued in a measured manner. “It’s evident whoever was responsible hoped to make it look like the work of our St. Helens killer. However, she’d not been sexually assaulted, her breasts and genitalia were intact, and therefore due to this, and one or two other matters, our colleagues on the St Helens investigation team are satisfied this is not the work of their killer. This one is down to us now.” He paused for effect. “It appears whoever murdered Monica Jean lifted her over the low fence and dropped her into the undergrowth. There’s no indication the perpetrator climbed in to straighten things up so we believe at least two people were involved in the placing of her body.
“From the roadway, she couldn’t be readily seen and initially anyone who did approach the fence close enough to notice would’ve simply seen an old rolled-up carpet and, I believe, think it to be the work of fly-tippers. From the condition of the body, it’s estimated she’d been there for around ten days before she was found, which puts her death roughly around the same day as Tony MacMahon’s.
“Her car was found in the car park at Calderstones Park, parked and secure. It’s a Fiat 500 Gucci model, light blue, which she’s owned for three months and paid £17,000 cash for, apparently. Not something she could easily afford, so, that and the fact her fingerprints were found in MacMahon’s car give rise to a strong suspicion she was a mistress of MacMahon’s, but this has still to be confirmed. A local night patrol checked the car two days before her body was found and as there were no reports on it and, not surprisingly, Monica couldn’t be contacted, the patrol placed an information marker on the Command and Control system.
“Forensically, we’ve gained nothing from it except her mobile phone on which there’s a text message from an unattributed phone saying ‘Meet me at the usual place 1 am. Good news’. The car park itself, as you know, is well used during the day so any external evidence that may have been there is now, unfortunately, well gone. The St Helens enquiry team are releasing some of the Matrix Disruption who’ll be conducting House to House enquiries from Allerton Police Station.” He turned to Arthur. “Their Supervision will be controlling that aspect, Arthur, and of course any searches we need doing, so it’s business as usual for you.” He paused surveying the room. “We don’t believe Monica Jean’s death is mere coincidence but the contrast in the modus operandi in respect of MacMahon’s killing would tend to suggest our killers are not the same, although we need to keep an open mind on this.
“DI White will be running the enquiry, assisted by DS Johnson, and they’ll now let you know who’s working which enquiry and brief you accordingly so unless there are any questions you feel can’t wait until they brief you further, that’s all there is from me.” He paused again. The room was silent. "Oh, and local CID are providing extra personnel. I asked for five so we'll probably get three." He turned to his DI and added with a weak smile: “It’s all yours, Chalkie. We’ll speak later when you’re ready.”
Catching Degsy’s eye, Thurstan pointed to his watch flashing the five digits of his right hand and pointed to his office with his thumb. Degsy nodded.
“Right, Derek, what have you got for me?” he said waving him towards a seat, five minutes later.
The DS shook his head, declining the offer. “We need to view this, Boss,” he said, placing a CD on Thurstan’s desk. “As you know, Sparky and Sandeep went down to Hertfordshire and picked up the witness footage from the guy on the balcony. Sandy downloaded the original file and we’ve had it copied.”
“So we’re off to the quiet room to view it?” Thurstan asked.
“No, Boss. I had the IT Department put a player on your PC last night so we can view it here.” Degsy moved around Thurstan’s desk so he could access the computer. “Is it ok if I sit here?” he asked, indicating Thurstan’s chair. “It’ll just be easier to sort stuff out.”
“Help yourself,” Thurstan pulled up a small chair and sat next to him.
“Right, here we go,” Degsy said clicking ‘play’. “I looked at it last night. It’s not great and, as you’ll hear, he’s being distracted by his wife, which accounts for it being all over the place, but there are two bits of interest.”
They sat in silence watching a disjointed account of room, balcony, street, brick walls, pavement, road and sky with the odd fleeting glimpse of a human being.
When it finished, before Thurstan could make any comments, Degsy said: “The bits where we actually saw someone I’ve had isolated and...” He made several quick clicks through the disc menu. “This first one shows the front of MacMahon’s BMW, then sweeps across the roadway and we see the figure... now, then it’s gone. OK, the second sequence; slightly longer, figure again, see the hand movement? I’ll play it again. I thought he was maybe talking into a microphone or something, so I got it blown up, but it’s hard to tell. It’s too blurred.”
Thurstan watched the replay with interest. “Just stop it there Derek.”
Degsy paused the footage.
“It’s not good, but it looks to me like he’s got a beard, what do you think? Looks a bit middle eastern?” Thurstan ventured.
“Yeah, what I thought, Boss,” Degsy replied.
“And you’re right; he could be talking into a handheld mike. Just play it again.”
The Boss stared intently at the screen.
“Hmmm, it’s hard to tell, Derek. He could just be rubbing his nose and that bit looks like the thing people with beards tend to do. Have you ever noticed? They sort of run their hand around their mouth and chin. Or it could be he’s just doing that to cover his use of a microphone, who knows. Can’t we get a better enhancement?”
“I’ve asked, Boss. They tell me it’s the original resolution that’s the problem. His phone was only a cheapie. Can’t put pixels where pixels don’t exist,” Degsy replied, apologetically.
“Not your fault, Derek. Tell you what, let’s look at the first clip again.”