Free Team Spirit (Special Crime Unit Book 1) by Ian Mayfield

forth as she skimmed through the witness
statement. ‘The other man seemed more anxious to get the hell out of it. Said
something like, “Come on, you stupid little basket.” He didn’t take any part in
the assault.’
    ‘Stood
and watched, though,’ Lucky said.
    ‘Yeah,
but it was the other one who did the deed. Says here he forced her to strip by
the expedient of beating the crap out of her, then penetrated her with a silver
trophy she’d won for youth club drama.’ She looked up, paler even than usual.
‘Which he then nicked.’
    ‘Aggravated
assault, then, not actual rape?’ Zoltan said.
    Nina
frowned. ‘By the legal definition, no.’
    ‘And
no-one was ever found for it?’ Zoltan combed his beard with his fingers. ‘This
accomplice.’
    ‘Apart
from him,’ Jeff Wetherby spoke up, ‘it fits the MO.’
    ‘“You
stupid little basket,”’ the DI repeated. ‘But Miss Cole described the rapist as tall?’
    ‘ Very tall,’ Nina said. ‘She seems
to’ve been emphatic.’
    ‘Funny
way of putting it, then,’ Jeff said.
    ‘Figure
of speech?’ Lucky suggested.
    ‘Possibly
something else.’
    All
eyes turned to Jasmin Winter.
    ‘My
English is not that great,’ Jasmin said modestly, ‘but if a person is very
young, don’t you say also sometimes he is little?’
    They
became thoughtful.
    ‘So
young but tall,’ Zoltan said.
    ‘An
apprentice burglar with a sideline as a perv,’ Lucky said sharply.
    In
the next chair, Jeff glanced at her, his hazel eyes neutral. ‘Did CSI find any
footprints?’
    Nina
flipped through the file to the scene of crime report. ‘First thing Denise did
when they’d gone,’ she said, ‘was springclean the place from top to bottom.
That includes hoovering the carpet and curtains, mopping the kitchen floor,
wiping down all the surfaces and stuffing everything that would fit into the washing
machine. The upshot of which,’ she snapped the file shut, ‘no forensic.’
    There
was silence for a moment, then Zoltan sighed. ‘No wonder they never got
caught.’
    ‘Can’t
blame her, though,’ Lucky said in a small voice.
    ‘No.’
He uncrossed his legs, crossed them the other way. ‘Let’s hear about the other
one.’
    ‘Before
our time and all,’ Nina said. The file was on Jasmin’s lap and she passed it
over. ‘Lisa Harkness, age thirty-three, divorced with a fourteen year old son,
of 209 Alton Road, Waddon. Woken by an intruder who assaulted her using a
foreign object she thought was a perfume bottle from her dresser, although none
of the ones Forensic examined had traces.’
    ‘He
took it again,’ Jeff said.
    Zoltan
said, ‘Method aside, what links it to the others?’
    ‘Size
twelve footprints on the carpet and in the garden,’ Nina said, after a glance
at Jasmin. ‘And means of entry. In all these cases, McMinn and Abernetty
included, we’ve got B and E followed by sexual assault, which is very unusual
in itself. Access was through a sash or drop catch window on the ground floor.
Plus all the attacks took place in darkness, and all the victims describe a
tall or very tall man.’
    ‘Tenuous.’
Zoltan lapsed for a few moments into silent thought. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘I’ll get
on to Records, see if any of this rings a bell. Lucky, stick around and listen
in. We need to circulate a request for any knowledge of similar cases. On that
note, Nina, Jasmin, start ringing round the women’s refuges and rape crisis
centres. I know they’re confidential but it’s worth a try. When that’s done you
can all have a go chasing up the investigating officers, see if they’ve
anything promising to say.’
    ‘What
about the victims?’ Jeff asked.
    ‘Only
as a last resort,’ Zoltan said. ‘We don’t want to dredge up bad memories if we
can avoid it.’ He paused. Taking it he’d finished, they started to get up. Over
the scraping of chairs he added, ‘Let’s all keep our eyes open. Chances are
there’ve been other attacks that either weren’t