The Swap Skills Killer Read online

  As Jake meandered into the kitchen to update his parents what was happening Amelia whispered softly in Jeremy’s ear.

  “Look Jeremy, I can tell you this, you will feel better soon, the pain does go away and you will never forget your Penny. Soon this will all end and will be put to the back of your mind, the pain will go away, but you will always have good memories of Penny, your wedding, your holidays, your time together. I know this because I have gone through the same. I’ve lost people who were very dear to me; my parents murdered, so tragically. I have lived through it. I am a survivor too, left for dead. Remember these words, and you will be able to cope better with your loss,” Amelia said.

  “Thank you Amelia, it must have taken great courage for you to share that information,” Jeremy said compassionately knowing the guts it must have taken to divulge that information to a stranger.

  At that point, Frank, Maria and Jake walked into the room and Jake asked for the keys for his house off Jeremy so he and Amelia could go and check out his house to see whether there were any clues.

  Frank and Maria sat with Jeremy and comforted him as only parents could.

  CHAPTER 9

  Jake and Amelia drove over to Jeremy and Penny’s house. The house appeared to be in order, no signs of a break in or foul play. They strolled into the kitchen and Amelia noticed that there was a meat pie and fruit loaf placed on the counter top that Penny must have taken out of the freezer for tea.

  The house was eye opening, and a lot different from last time he saw it. There were modern pieces of furniture instead of the old second-hand furniture to ‘make do’ when they were living together. Jeremy had done well for himself, although his mother said he did struggle to make ends meet some months. Jeremy had gone on the Sales course to try to put in for a local area manager job so that they could afford to go on holidays, and start a family.

  Jake decided to look upstairs, as nothing was amiss downstairs and leave Amelia to search the living room.

  As Amelia scanned the living room looking for anything out of the ordinary, she noticed a little yellow post-it note pad at the side of the computer with a scribbled note on it that said Grange Coffee Shop, 1.30pm Friday, re Swap. Was she meeting a friend for a coffee, a lover as her husband was away, or did she have an appointment with her killer, but didn’t know it.

  Amelia hollered, “Jake come down here, I think I might have found something.” Jake came bounding down the stairs.

  “Well there doesn’t seem to be anything out of place upstairs, no robbery, signs of struggle or anything.” Jake said.

  She showed Jake the note and asked whether he knew of the Grange Coffee Shop.

  “Of course I do: it’s on my ground. They do a grand cream tea and a huge assortment of cakes and buns and home baked muffins to die for, you will see. It will be closed now, but we could go first thing tomorrow.”

  “Yes that sounds good, and now you’ve told me about the muffins we will have to give it a go, I’m quite partial to muffins, especially double chocolate ones,” Amelia revealed.

  “Do you know that is my weak spot, any kind of muffin, I like them all. I cannot walk past any shop that has muffins in the window, that’s why I know where it is. I just have to go in and buy half a dozen, so it’s worth a visit anyway.

  Can we fire up this computer to see if there’s any clues as to what this swap is before I get hungry, all this talk about muffins.

  Amelia promptly sat herself down at the desk and switched on the computer, and looking at the screen said “Good there’s no password, let’s see what we’ve got in the history, perhaps it will give us a clue as to what she’s been looking at.”

  “Look here Amelia, in recent history; this is only the Swap Skills site that’s linked to the project that my sister Rachel set up two years ago to help with the recession. It’s a project funded through the Forum to swap skills with others, you know a favour for a favour, like one person cutting your hair for a swap, or a few cooking lessons, or a manicure or ‘What Have You’ to swap.”

  “Oh you mean like a gardener doing gardening for his windows cleaned, or a consultancy company doing consultation for another company in exchange for doing their payroll or invoicing. We will have to go to the Forum and talk to Adam and your sister Rachel to see if we can find out more about it. You don’t think that she was meeting someone from the site to do a swap and he turned out to be her killer.” Amelia asked.

  Jake nodded in agreement and said, “If that’s right it opens up a whole new can of worms because there could be thousands of potential victims on that site, he could take his pick.”

  CHAPTER 10

  The next morning Jake and Amelia went to the Grange Coffee Shop to question the staff. It was a delightful little country coffee shop, with red and white check gingham table cloths and petite vases of fresh flowers, which looked like carnations or pinks, he could never tell the difference but his mother could.

  The aroma of fresh brewed coffee and ground beans wafted through the air to pull and tempt you in from outside. Shakers full of cinnamon, chocolate and tiny little chunks of marsh mellow to tempt your taste buds placed strategically on the counter.

  He ordered them both a coffee, and an assortment of freshly baked muffins, which he was a sucker for when he saw them in the glass cake keeper.

  Which ones should I have, caramel and chocolate chip, strawberry shortcake with a swirl of fresh cream and a strawberry on top, fudge brownie topped with walnuts, vanilla surprise but he couldn’t see what the surprise was. Oh, and ginger and carrot, and coffee with cappuccino frosting. He would take half a dozen; after all, he had to keep his sugar levels up all this rushing around.

  The warmth of the coffee cascading down his throat felt as smooth as silk as he took a glance around the room, observing the staff and entranceway.

  Amelia was happily chewing on her muffin and listening to the ding of the cash register and whispers of other customers at nearby tables. Jake was leaning with his eyes shut, munching away on his muffin. Although Amelia had flirted with the idea that he was away with the fairies, he was deep in thought trying to get his senses to tell him what Penny was doing here on Friday.

  He got the photo of Penny out of his pocket. He glanced at the photo remembering her lovely smile and could not believe that she was dead. Thoughts went back to Jeremy and what he must be going through, making a flash of guilt prick his conscience as he had not phoned or messaged him to see how he was. A hug or two next time he saw him would not go amiss he decided. He would be well enough with his mum and dad, mum is bound to be mothering him, and she could be very emphatic towards people in times like this.

  He asked Amelia to choose another muffin, and she chose the fudge brownie. If Amelia had fixed her gaze on Jake, she would have seen Jake’s eyes narrow, the scowl on his face. Disappointment crossed his face, as she leaned over to take the fudge brownie. He wished that she had not chosen that particular one, as she had also eaten the caramel and chocolate chip muffin. He could have done with a chocolate boost, but he would have the cappuccino-frosted one instead and take the other two back with them for afternoon break, that’s if the pilfering prats back at the nick did not help themselves to them before brew time.

  Who would have thought that you would have to lock your goodies or snap away at the nick, but there were many light fingered pilferers about especially where cakes or sweets were concerned. If you went away from your desk for more than a couple of minutes, they would have had your brew away too.

  He wet his finger and carefully picked the last crumbs of muffin off his plate, all the sweet flavours of vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, mixing in together on his palate and another spice that he could not quite put his finger on, maybe that was the vanilla surprise.

  It was quite a romantic little place if he was in the mood for romance that is.

  After he had drunk the last dregs of his coffee, he went to question the Café Manager and handed the photo of Penny around the staff but no one remem
bered anything. Then just as they were about to go one of the staff, a pretty blonde waitress looking extremely sexy in her little black and red uniform, hurried across to the door and stammered….

  ‘W-Wait a minute please, I did see the woman last week, I think it was a Friday as Annie was working. The lady sat on her own, as if she was waiting for someone, and she kept looking through the window and at her watch and tapping her fingers nervously on the table.”

  “Think carefully; was it the lady in this photo?” Amelia said.

  “Um, well, I-I’m not sure, I was ever so busy with it being a Friday, we’re hard at it Fridays, especially at lunchtime. They were all on their dinner breaks, but I think it was her,” the blonde-haired woman gibbered scratching her head.

  “I don’t suppose you recall what time she left. Did she meet up with anyone?” Jake asked.

  “No, she didn’t meet anyone. She sat tapping her fingers as if she was waiting for someone. However, when she left I saw a white van pull up alongside her, and after a minute or so, she got into the van and it drove off. It was about one thirty because Annie had just returned from her lunch break,” the blonde-haired woman enthused pleased she could help.

  “You didn’t happen to recognize the make of the van, any advertising signage on it, or get a glimpse of the person driving it?” Jake said.

  “Well I do know that is was a White Ford Transit Connect van as my boyfriend has the same. I saw that it was a man but he had his head bent down, I couldn’t see his face, so could not give a description really. I did notice he wore grey trousers, black jacket and grey woolly hat,” she said.

  “OK, thanks if you remember anything else ring this number, Lincoln Police and the names Detective Chief Inspector Jake Hammond or Detective Sergeant Amelia Saunders. Your boyfriend doesn’t have a grey woolly hat does he?” Jake queried.

  “Ha Ha, very funny. Don’t you think I would recognise my boyfriend, I’m not that much of a dumb blonde?”

  “Only joking madam,” said Jake with a sheepish grin.

  CHAPTER 11

  The weather the next morning was overcast, cold and damp, having rained torrential all night. This set Jake’s mood, and he was getting annoyed with himself because the investigation was not progressing fast enough for his liking. Jake had a plan of action for today. He intended to go to the station, pick Amelia up, and go to visit Gemma Fletcher at the hospital as she had made a complaint about DSupt. Douglas Farmer and refused to speak to him because of his attitude.

  When they arrived at the hospital, Gemma was looking better and far chirpier. She told them the story about her interview with Farmer.

  “Hello Gemma, we hear you had a bit of an argument with DSupt Farmer, and don’t want to deal with him, so he has passed the case back to us?” Jake said.

  “I could not stand the man; he more or less said I was asking for it with the clothes I was wearing. Can’t a young girl dress young and trendy without being raped. Mum and dad don’t have lots of money and I have to buy clothes in the sales, and you don’t get many long and flowing clothes in the end of season sales, you get more like short skirts that no one else dares to wear because they are up their arse,” Gemma said

  “I am sure that he did not mean to offend you Gemma, sometimes when you are feeling sensitive words can be taken the wrong way,” Jake said.

  “No. I could tell with the way he looked at me, he thinks I’m a slapper and I don’t want to have to talk to a copper that thinks that way,” Gemma said.

  “Well Amelia and I are looking after you now. Is there anything else you’ve remembered that you think might help the case?” Jake said.

  “Yes, he did mention that he liked the thrill of the fairground, and there were always lots of talent at the fair,” Gemma said.

  At that time Gemma’s family turned up so Jake and Amelia told Gemma that they would call to see her later in the week and left to go see Adam Forrest the Development Manager at the Forum.

  He and Adam went back a long way, friends from Nursery school to High school. They had both grown up in Horncastle. Jake’s father was a retired Police Superintendent and his mother a retired School Teacher. Jake and Adam’s parents were good friends and went on holidays together, and often as they were growing up had camped together in the South of France.

  Whereas Jake is an introvert, Adam is more of an extrovert, and this is the reason why he is one of the best development workers in the Lincolnshire area, and very well respected.

  When they were boys, they would wind their dads up a treat. They would wait until one of their dads were either out mending their cars or doing repairs indoors and wait until they put their tools down and scramble out and hide them, or move their cuppa to the other side of the car. They would sit there giggling at their funny pranks and end up being caught with the sounds of their laughter.

  Adam had helped the police and social workers many times, as he knows all the community groups, health workers, police and youth in the area, and has the expertise to get things moving in the right direction to solve problems.

  Adam had already heard the sad news about Penny when Jake arrived at the offices because Rachel had mentioned that her sister in law was dead. Adam gave his condolences and patted Jake on the back, at the same time gave him a one-shoulder hug and asked whether Jeremy was coping all right. It brought terrible gloom and sadness to the usually happy office.

  It might just have been a co-incidence about the swap skills site but Jake needed more details, such as how many people were on the database and why had Penny met with someone at the Café and drove off with them in a van. He could not imagine her having an affair; she was not that kind of woman. He still mulled over the fact that she had an appointment with the killer, and a date with death.

  “What sort of information can you give me; anything like ACCESS database where you can run different queries,” Jake said.

  “Of course you can get all the usual, names, address, DOB, car registrations, references, I can get you as little or as much information as you want mate,” said Adam.

  Jake cocked his head. “Okay mate, just do what you’re best at. Let’s sit down and have a cup of tea and see what you can bring up.”

  “Tea sounds nice, what about Becky nipping out for a few muffins, the treats on me if Becky can fetch them,” Jake said and passed him a crisp ten-pound note out of his wallet.

  Jakes phone rang; he saw on the screen that it was DSupt. Oliver Blackwell.

  “Jake, can you come to the Incident room, and bring Amelia; we’ve got another body dumped in a field off the Horncastle Road, a woman walking her dog through the fields found her.”

  “OK Oliver I’m on my way.”

  “Sorry Adam I have to go, there’s another body off the Horncastle Road, you will have to look through the web site and get me the database list and information on the swaps and services as soon as you can because we’ve all been called to the Incident Room.”

  “Will do mate do you want me to save you a muffin in the cake tin for later.”

  “No Adam, I don’t have time to come back. Enjoy, you buy them next time.”

  CHAPTER 12

  A short while later when they arrived back at the Police Station an Incident Room had been set up and Detective Chief Superintendent Blackwell was giving an update on the other murder to the team.

  The police station was quite modern, the old wooden desks replaced with trendy modern IKEA ones, with all new chairs and blinds. Some of the police fought badly to keep their old, battered ones, which had bottom moulds etched into them. The Guv demanded that they had to go, so they had to look through the catalogues and choose new ones for themselves.

  The Incident Room was busy; the storyboard was up to date with the new murder. There was a cacophony of noise, shouting across the office, and the sounds of drawers opening and closing and people going in and out of the filing cabinets.

  The smell of sweaty socks and body odour was rife, and mixed in with the aroma of stal
e coffee from the coffee machines, it was not welcoming, neither was the look on Blackwell’s face.

  DSupt. Oliver Blackwell bellowed for them all to get their bums on seats, and stop all the damn noise as they had to have their afternoon update, and he wanted them alert and listening.

  He was of the ‘old school’ and the saying that you knew you were getting old when the coppers looked like teenagers was true. He was coming up to retirement, an ‘Old Sweat’ his colleagues called him as a term of endearment, and he was looking forward to retirement and spending time fishing and trips to the seaside; and he was hoping he might spend a few more holidays with his grandchildren.

  He was sure that the same person did the murders. He had left the same calling card, had staged the bodies out, opened legs placed on rocks to make the scene as sexually explicit as possible. The same earth filled mouths. Dump site, same area within a mile.

  “Let’s take a look at the storyboard, shall we. We have photos of the other woman, as you can see not a pretty sight. She has earth shoved in her mouth, staged with leg’s apart to make the scene look sexually explicit, to shock, and the woman that found her was very upset. This body was dumped a few days ago; we will get a further update when Jake and Amelia go to the autopsy, but I wouldn’t build your hopes up for DNA as it’s been pissing it down intermittently and he didn’t bury or cover them, he wanted the ultimate shock staged.”

  Jake said, “This person has been busy, two bodies in such a short space of time, so as soon as we have identified this victim we will have to see whether they are linked and check the name against the Forum’s project database and missing persons. The Press are going to be having a field day, if we don’t give them something soon.”

  DSupt. Blackwell had an awful nagging feeling in the back of his mind, the crime scenes were very familiar to him, and he felt like he knew the MO and signature of this killer. If it is the same killer he remembered, fifteen years he had been off the scene. Why come back now?