Free Criminally Insane by Conrad Jones

major cases. They flagged up anyone without a concrete alibi and brought them in for further questioning. “We can get on with identifying our victim for now and find out whose footprints they are.”
    The picture changed to the small bloody footprints from the unit. “Will, your team takes the bottom half of the list.”
    “Yes, .guv” Will snapped his fingers and his team began sorting through their part of the list of names. The teams moved and studied their lists. They chatted quietly as they studied the information. Some of the women on the list were similar in appearance, but photographs could be misleading and people often changed their hairstyle. They couldn’t make assumptions at this point.
    “We need as much detail as we can get our hands on before the initial forensics are completed. I want dental records, bank details, credit card transactions and, where possible, samples we can match to the DNA results. Find out the names of friends and relatives and the places they frequented. Tread carefully. I don’t want their families rattled by our investigation. I want to know who the child is without alerting the killer that we’ve found the body. We don’t want to spook him yet, in case the child is still alive.” Alec was worried that clumsy police work might upset the families of the missing and alert the press. He had never had children, but he could empathise with the parents of missing children and he had witnessed the mistakes made by fellow detectives who had worked on some of the high profile child abductions and murders in Liverpool over the last few decades. He needed to avoid a press circus at all costs.
    “Guv. I have another question.” Smithy put his hand up.
    “What is it, Smithy?” Alec smiled. He told his team repeatedly that the only stupid questions were the ones you wished that you had asked earlier.
    “Will mentioned that we may be dealing with more than one victim, guv.” The detectives in the room nodded. “Apart from the child, I mean.”
    “We may be.” Alec paused. Speculating at this point could hamper the already complicated investigation. “There are several blood pools at the scene and we don’t believe they could possibly be from the same victim, but until we get forensics back, we should concentrate our efforts on her.” Alec nodded to the screens. The woman’s distorted features stared out of the screens for all to see.
    “We need to work through these lists thoroughly because if we do have multiple victims, then they will be on those lists, no mistake. I do not want the press to know anything about the missing persons list or the child until we’re ready to tell them. Are we all clear about this?” There had been leaks in the past, usually spreading from careless conversation at home or at the pub. The job of a murder detective was a tough one; they often played hard during a case to unwind and take their minds off their work for a few hours. When alcohol numbed their senses it also numbed their brains. Sometimes people overheard details of investigations and leaked them to the press. “I do not want this case discussed over the pool table down at the pub, clear?”
    “Guv.”
    This investigation possibly involved more than one victim, and the press would go to town when it became public knowledge. High-profile cases attracted society’s nutcases and just dealing with the number of crank calls that a newspaper feature could generate became a fulltime job for at least one detective. They needed every detective employed in the investigation.
    “Crack on, find that kid.”
    “Yes, guv.” They replied in unison.
    “Kisha.” Alec turned to a slim black detective who was sitting in Will Naylor’s team.
    “Guv?” She replied as she looked up from her list. She was marking some notes in the margin of her list. Kisha was keen and her superiors had already noticed her potential.
    “I want you to gather the names of everyone who has rented that unit for the