THE WEST LONDON MURDERS an absolutely gripping crime mystery with a massive twist (Detective Rob Miller Mysteries Book 2) by BIBA PEARCE

Author:BIBA PEARCE [PEARCE, BIBA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thriller, mystery and suspense
Published: 2021-06-06T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

“If his number is on that website, anyone could have contacted him,” said Rob once they were back at the station. “I’ll bet Christy wasn’t the only woman he roughed up.”

“Do you think our killer is targeting violent men?” Jenny had her tablet open and was trawling the SAAFE forum in search of the warning posted by PinkFlamingo556.

“It’s a possibility,” Rob replied. Tony had said the killer could be going after a type. “Check if Yousef’s or Patterson’s name is mentioned on that site.”

Mallory was shaking his head. “I can’t see Patterson as someone who assaults women.”

Rob agreed. “Patterson is the one victim that doesn’t fit. Yousef was a drug dealer, he exploited kids and vulnerable adults to distribute crack and heroin into the Home Counties. He wasn’t a nice bloke. It’s conceivable that he hired escorts. Bartlett had a history of violence. He’d been in prison for assault and we know he used prostitutes. But Patterson . . . ?” He let his sentence fade.

“I double-checked Patterson’s laptop,” said Mallory. “And according to his browser history, he’s never visited any dodgy sites. He’s squeaky clean.”

“The killer must have had something else against him then,” mused Rob.

Mallory stroked his chin. “Like what? A bad sales deal? A faulty dental drill?”

Rob shook his head. Patterson was a mystery, the missing link in the chain.

“Will, can you get a list of escort agencies operating in the London area? Let’s contact them and find out if Yousef was one of their clients.”

“I doubt they’ll give us that kind of information without a warrant,” he said. “I remember how tight-lipped they are from my time in Vice. We couldn’t get a thing out of them. If it came out that they give away their customers’ info to the cops, they wouldn’t be in business very long.”

Rob sighed. “Okay, but get the list anyway. We may need to get warrants if it comes to it.”

* * *

Jeff came in, looking flushed. “Guv, we’ve found something. Come and have a look at this.”

Rob followed him into the warren where Mike was sitting in front of a large screen showing black-and-white CCTV images of the street outside Bartlett’s council block in Southwark. The ugly, bulky building looked even more oppressive in monotone.

“We’ve found this woman arriving at the block at 6.27 p.m. the night Bartlett was murdered.” Mike pointed to a dark figure approaching the block. She was wearing a short skirt, high heels and a trench coat, which was tightly wrapped around her. She had dark hair and was looking down, so the camera didn’t pick up her face, only shadows.

“That’s her, right?” said Jeff, slightly out of breath.

Rob nodded. “That’s her, but we can’t see her face. Do you have anything clearer? Anything we can run through facial rec?”

Mike grimaced and moved the video on a bit. “Not really. Here, she looks to the side and we can see her cheek, but the rest of her face is still in darkness.”

Damn it. They were so close.

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