sidelong glance that made her feel uncomfortable. As he drove on through the dark streets, Megan thought about Tina. Sheâd gone out that night, looking forward to celebrating later and no doubt happy to be free of her vicious husband. And what had happened? Sheâd been stalked by someone even worse.
And Natalie. It was bad enough that she went, like Donna Fieldhouse, from a childrenâs home to the streets; bad enough what her usual punters asked of her, without being used by some monster to stand in for all his hatred of the world.
Stand in. Something flickered in her mind. He used them as a stand-in for the real object of his hatred. Who? A wife? Girlfriend? Mother? Boss?
And he used the pimp â the O man â to hide behind too. O got Natalie for him. Perhaps O dumped her body as part of the deal. A murderer hiding behind another killer. She shivered. And they had no idea who either of them were.
Chapter 6
Megan stood on a duckboard in Tina Jacksonâs bedroom. For the past two days scenes-of-crime officers had been carrying out a painstaking search of the entire house. Anyone who entered was required to put on protective clothing and getting from one room to another meant walking on the raised wooden boards that criss-crossed the floors like stepping stones in a stream.
The room now bore little resemblance to the crime scene photograph Megan held in her hand. The bed had been stripped, its duvet, sheets, pillows and mattress taken away for forensic examination. All that was left was the brass and cast iron frame. Megan could see how easy it would have been for the killer to handcuff Tina to its rails.
The clothes and the shoe in the photograph had been removed, and there was a large dark stain on the carpet where Dudley Jacksonâs body had been lying.
With some difficulty Megan stepped onto another duck-board, the bulky overalls limiting her movement. She drew level with a dressing table and carefully opened the top drawer. Inside was an assortment of neatly folded underwear. Something hard and shiny stuck out from beneath the pile and Megan pulled back the clothes to see what it was.
The smiling faces of Dudley and Tina Jackson looked up at her. It was a wedding photograph, hidden from view in the same way that Megan had hidden hers.
Charlotte McGahy had been right about her sister. She was beautiful. She reminded Megan of Penelope Cruz. She had that same slightly vulnerable look about her.
âWhat have you found? Anything interesting?â Leverton appeared round the doorway, stepping across the boards with apparent ease.
âNo â just a wedding photo. Any news on the friend?â
âShe was with her on the soup run. Says Tina drove herself home from the place they cook it.â
âNothing suspicious?â
âNot that she remembers. Says it was a quiet night.â
âWhere are they based?â
âItâs a house in Cheddar Road. Owned by the woman who set up the charity. Itâs a women-only thing.â
âAnd this Gail didnât have any other ideas? No boyfriend we donât know about?â
âNo.â Leverton frowned. âWeâre going to have to hold a press conference soon: someoneâs leaked the pathologistâs report to the papers. Any chance of you coming up with something by, say, lunchtime tomorrow?â
Megan paused before answering. A press conference? Was this Levertonâs idea? It couldnât be. There was no way he would go public on his suspicions if there was any suggestion of police corruption. Either he was playing some game Megan couldnât fathom or someone else had been responsible for the leak.
âIâll see what I can do.â She moved on. âLetâs go over what happened here step by step; once Iâve got all the crime scene evidence I can build up a more detailed description of this killer before I start working on a profile of the guy who murdered