7) – The Detective Whose Eyes Were Blue
It was now March the 17th, and during the weeks between now and Ada’s encounter with the killer they had visited the scenes where Denise and Dulcy Tweed had been murdered – although there were supposed to have been at five murders, it was determined that the fifth one, Miriam Turner, was not one of the victims of the Wonderland Murders. Ada had moved back into Leo and Carol Pilkington’s house, which made it easier for her to actually get to Inkblot. Pilkington could drive her instead of her having to get a taxi – the taxis around the area were very slow.
Denise and Dulcy Tweed had been found dead in a children’s playground just north of London. Their uteruses had also been removed.
Ada chewed on a slice of apple while Clarke gave them the rundown of what his team had concluded.
‘We’ve d-d-decided that a-all of the organs – including K-Kael Reade’s – were r-removed with a s-sc-scalpel,’ Clarke stammered, embarrassed by the impatient expressions on his colleagues’ faces, ‘j-j-judging b-by how precise the i-incision were, we thought th-that it m-might be a p-p-possibility that the k-killer is trained in m-m-medical science...’
‘No, that’s incorrect.’
Everyone turned and looked at Ada. She was staring down at her cup of tea as though lost in thought.
‘I’m no scientist, Dr. Clarke,’ she said quietly, ‘but even I can tell that a lot of those incision marks were messy. She seemed to have improved somewhat in the removal of the Tweed twins’ uteruses, but even then you could see that the cuts were quite jerky, as though the hand were trembling. However, I do agree that a scalpel was used – perhaps one of her accomplices provides her with the tools she’ll need.’
She took a long sip of her tea.
‘But then again, I have had no proof so far stating that she actually has an accomplice. Thinking about it, if she did have one, she would have used them to meet me in the confessional booth on February the 27th. But instead she chose to meet me in person,’ Ada paused, ‘I don’t know what you’re playing at, Clarke, but if I can tell that the killer wasn’t a professional, then you should be able to.’
Xenos laughed quietly at the expression on Clarke’s face. It was like a mixture of frustration and guilt. He rose unsteadily to his feet and walked out of the room.
Koslovski frowned.
‘What was all that about?’ He murmured.
‘Maybe the investigation’s getting the better of him,’ Pilkington sighed, ‘it’s a nasty case to look at, and maybe it’s just making him nervous.’
‘Hmm,’ Xenos scowled.
‘I wanted to ask you something, Koslovski,’ Ada said, looking up from her tea, ‘why is it that the case has been called the Wonderland Murders?’
‘That’s the media’s work, not Inkblot’s,’ Koslovski replied, ‘probably to do with the victims’ names.’
Ada paused for a moment, and then nodded in understanding.
‘But at the same time,’ she retorted, ‘how can they name an entire case based on just four victims?’
‘I’ll never understand the press, Ada,’ Xenos chuckled, ‘I don’t think you will either.’
Pilkington had a very confused expression on his face.
‘Oh,’ Xenos looked at him with sympathy, ‘sorry, Leo. Do you know someone in the press?’
‘No, it’s not that. I just don’t...’
‘He doesn’t understand what Wonderland has to do with the victims’ names,’ Ada explained.
‘Oh,’ Xenos laughed, swiping a loose dark red hair out of her eyes, ‘the Tweed twins should be easy enough.’
‘Denise and Dulcy – Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Yeah, I get that, but what about Kael and Queenie Reade?’
Koslovski frowned.
‘I wasn’t sure about that one,’ the Polish man admitted and glanced at Ada, ‘you know, don’t you?’
She nodded silently.
‘Hey, I know too,’ Xenos cleared her throat.
‘K.R and Q.R are their initials,’ Ada said quietly, ‘does anything spring to mind?’
‘Not really, no,’ Pilkington confessed.
‘K and Q,’ Koslovski muttered, ‘king and queen?’
Ada nodded.
‘And R..?’ Ada prompted.
Pilkington had a blank expression on his face. Xenos sighed and walked over to the chest of the drawers in the corner of the room. She withdrew a book and chucked it at Pilkington’s head.
‘What was that for?’
‘Leo, have you even read Alice in Wonderland?’
‘No, but...’
‘There, have your own copy.’
‘Reade,’ Ada echoed, ‘red. Queenie Reade – red queen. Kael Reade – red king.’
‘Oh,’ Pilkington sighed, ‘that still means nothing to me.’
‘I know,’ Ada exhaled, and was about to say something when everyone’s phones went off at once.
‘This is Ada,’ she murmured into the phone.
‘This is Officer Matthews, remember me now?’ A voice spoke dryly on the other line.
‘Cut the crap, Matthews, what is it?’
‘There’s been another murder,’ he sighed into the phone, ‘the police suspect that it...’
‘Where?’
‘If you’d just let me finish...’
‘Where?’
Matthews sighed.
‘Radford Farm, Scot Lane, Oldbrook...’
She hung up – that was all she needed. When the rest of the team saw that she’d hung up, they hung up too.
‘Koslovski, we’ll take your car,’ Ada said.
‘One of the seats is broken, we won’t get all four of us in there.’
‘That’s ok – I’ll get my motorbike,’ Xenos waved it off.
Pilkington watched Ada as they sat in the back of Koslovski’s car. She was partly turned away, so he could only see the left side of her face and her staring blue eye. He wondered whether she realised how stunning she actually was.
They pulled up in the driveway. It was a beautiful old farmhouse with a thatched roof, but it was also falling apart. The walls were crumbling and areas of the roof were missing altogether. Koslovski opened his door and walked out as they were immediately approached by the media. Ada was about to get out when Pilkington grabbed her arm to stop her.
‘Ada, Sergeant Beckman told me on the phone that it’s much worse than all the others,’ Pilkington said quietly, ‘you don’t have to go in there, me and Koslovski can...’
She turned and stared at him. He froze. For a moment the wind through the open front door shifted the blonde hair on the other side of her face, leaving him unsure as to what he had seen.
‘I can go in there, Leo,’ she said quietly, surprising him by using a first name, ‘you don’t need to worry – I can promise you I’ve seen at least the same grotesqueness as this.’
She hesitated – she could see he wasn’t convinced.
‘I’ve known some grotesque people in my life,’ she told him, her lidded blue eye refusing to blink, ‘I promise you that I won’t be in the least bit effected by what I see today – and if anything, it’s just going to get worse if we don’t stop her.’
Pilkington nodded reluctantly and let go of her.
‘Yuck,’ Xenos said, as they all stared at the scene before them. They were in the basement – the stairs down to it had been slippery with blood. What was worse is that they had to step over the corpse to actually get down to the basement.
‘This bitch is a real psycho,’ Pilkington whispered.
Whitney Radford’s corpse lay at the foot of the stairs, her dead eyes staring up at the ceiling. She was very beautiful, and her blonde, curly hair was spattered with stars of blood. She was lying at an odd angle, as if to hide the side of her body. She wore an olive green dress that was also stained dark red in places. At her abdomen was a gaping hole pouring with blood – this was where her uterus had been removed.
Ada walked up to it and seemed as though she was about to roll it over when Koslovski stopped her.
‘Ada, we’re not supposed to touch the corpse yet.’
Ada looked at him.
‘I just want to see the rest of her body,’ she said, ‘I won’t damage it.’
Koslovski hesitated, and then sighed. She slowly rolled the body over. Xenos coughed behind them.
‘So,’ she chuckled, ‘where’s her arm gone?’
‘How would we know?’ Koslovski snapped. The limb had been sawn off rather messily, with pieces of muscle and tendons hanging out.
It was then that Clarke stepped over her and down into the basement.
‘I-i-is this th-the v-v-victim?’
Xenos gave him an incredulous look.
‘Who else could it be?’ She asked. Clarke attempted a glare and failed miserably. His downturned, dark blue eyes were too soppy and his face too humble to manage such a hostile expression.
‘You’re late,’ Ada said, not bothering to look up at him, ‘where have you been?’
Clarke did manage to glare at Ada, though.
‘With m-my w-wife,’ he answered her through gritted teeth, ‘she’s b-been diagnosed w-w-with thyroid c-cancer.’
The whole group hesitated. They hadn’t heard of this. Ada looked as though she was about to question him as to why that gave him any right to be late, when Koslovski gave her a look. She took the hint and changed the subject.
‘Alright,’ she continued, ‘Clarke, I want you to look at Radford’s body and see whether you can determine what happened to her and when. Pilkington, how many floors are there in this house?’
‘Two. The basement and wine cellar and then the floor above.’
‘You can look down here with Xenos, while Koslovski and I will search upstairs.’
They all nodded and began searching.