Concrete Evidence (26 page)

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “I admit that I had sex with both women,” he mumbled. “But I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Is that the best that you can do?”

“It’s the truth.”

“Fine,” Annie smiled thinly. “Then we’ll charge you with both murders.”

“Just a minute, Inspector. Tell them what you told me,” Bartlet said coldly. “It’s your only chance.”

“Five seconds, Tod and we’re out of here,” Annie snapped.

“Wait a minute!” he turned to his brief but she didn’t offer any more advice. “Useless bitch!” he whined. “Okay, okay! I was working with someone else,” he sighed, “we drugged them but I had nothing to do with killing them!” he said pointing to the photographs. “He must have done that later. He’s a weirdo, a proper nutcase!” Tod shook his head as he rambled. “I’m sorry that I got involved with him. He scares the crap out of me. If he knew that I was talking to you like this, I’d probably end up like them.” He looked from the detectives to his brief and back again. Their baffled expressions told him that he wasn’t doing himself any favours. “I had sex with them. I took those pictures of them in bed and I took their underwear and that’s it,” he emphasised ‘that’s it’.

“What is this man’s name?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No!”

“Charge him.”

“Wait, wait, okay!” Tod went very pale. “He threatened to visit my mother if I said anything. His name is Rob something.”

Annie shook her head in frustration. “Okay,” she took a deep breath. “Take me back to the beginning,” Annie said. “You said that you were ‘working’ with someone called Rob. What did you mean ‘working’?”

Tod shrugged and shifted awkwardly. The chains on his wrists rattled beneath the table. “I mean that we were a team,” he blushed. “We planned to take two women back to their place and, you know,” he gestured with his head.

“No, I don’t know,” Annie said flatly. “Enlighten me.”

“We planned to take two women back from the club and have sex with them,” he shrugged, “and then swap them over so we both had a go with each.”

“You drugged them?”

“Yes.”

“How did you pick which women you attacked?”

“He picked them,” Tod shrugged. “He always picked them.”

“Randomly?”

“Sometimes.”

“I’m asking about this time,” Annie pushed the photos closer still. “Jackie Webb and Jayne Windsor. Were they picked at random?”

No,” Tod shook his head. “He knew their names.”

“How did he know them?”

“I don’t know.”

Annie shook her head and looked at Kate Bartlet. She couldn’t hold Annie’s gaze for more than a moment. “So you admit to drugging Jayne Windsor and Jackie Webb, taking them back to Jayne Windsor’s house and raping both women?” Tod tilted his head sideways and nodded. “I need it for the tape please.”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes!” Tod snapped. “I drugged them and raped them.” He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. “When I left that house, they were alive. I swear they were alive.” His eyes darted from Annie to Stirling. “You have to believe me.”

Annie steepled her hands and thought about her next words. “So you’re telling me that you last saw the women at Jayne Windsor’s house?”

“Yes.”

“Jayne Windsor was found in Jackie Webb’s flat with her head cut off,” Stirling interrupted him. “Are you telling us that you had nothing to do with that?”

“Yes!” he stressed. “I don’t even know where you’re talking about. I have never been to her house. I certainly didn’t cut anyone’s bloody head off for God’s sake!” His eyes darted from one detective to the other. “I’ve slipped roofies to a few women,” he said gesturing to the file. “But I am not a killer.” He looked at them open mouthed. “I couldn’t do that!” 

Stirling sat back and sighed loudly. “This is getting boring,” he growled. He tapped the photos as he spoke. “You have a DVD of the dead women in your possession.” He paused and pointed to the image of the jawless woman. “Jackie Webb. After she was dead, Tod!” he picked up the image again. Tod looked flummoxed. “Explain that.”

Silence.

Stirling continued. “The knife that cut off Jayne Windsor’s head was found in your mother’s shed,” he paused to gauge the response.

Silence.

“Your thumbprint was on the mirror in Jackie’s bedroom, at the house you say that you have never been to,” he paused again.

Silence.

“Your DNA was inside her at that house.”

Silence.

“Yet you were never there?”

“Yes. He’s framing me.” Tod looked down and tears ran from his eyes. “I had nothing to do with killing them.”

“So your accomplice did all this once you had left?” Stirling pressed him. “He’s trying to set you up and all you can give us is that his name is Rob ‘something’.”

“You need to explain that, Tod,” Annie added. “We need his name and we need it now!”

“Rob Derry,” Tod sat back and sighed heavily, his head in his hands. “Rob Derry is his name.” he closed his eyes and Annie thought he looked almost relieved. “That’s who must have killed them. He did all this.” He nodded his head frantically. “I helped get them back to their house, I admit that.” He looked at the detectives, his eyes pleading. “I had sex with them while they were drugged but that is all that I did. When I left, Rob Derry was still busy. He had dropped a Viagra tablet. There was no talking to him, he’s nuts. I said that we should go but he wanted to stay.” He squeezed his eyes closed. “The last time that I saw him, he was still with those women and they were alive.”

“Rob Derry?” Annie wrote the name down. She looked at Stirling and grimaced. “Where did you meet this Rob Derry?” she smiled sourly. “If we run his name, is he going to come up or is he another figment of your imagination?”

“You’ll find him,” Tod said aggressively. “He’s got form I’m telling you. He must have a record. He’s a nutcase!”

“So you’ve said,” Annie said sarcastically. “Where did you meet him?”

“In a club.”

“Which club?”

“The State,” Tod answered reluctantly. “I had just spiked a girl’s drink and it turned out that he was watching every move that I made.” Tod sounded almost offended. “He knew what I was up to. He came over to me and made it very clear that if I didn’t invite him along with the girl, he would call the police. That was it. That was how we met.”

“So you took this girl where?” Annie said angrily.

“To a crappy hotel on the docks.”

“When was this?”

“A few years ago.”

“Her name?”

“Claire something.”

“Then what?”

“He had pictures of me,” Tod looked ashamed. “He said he would show my mother and if that didn’t work, he would hurt her.” He shook his head and sighed. “We met up every now and then and went for a few drinks. One thing led to another and we worked as a team. I didn’t want to go out as often as he did but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He’s a psycho. I was terrified of him.”

“You obviously had a lot in common,” Stirling said. “Where does this scumbag live?”

“Formby somewhere,” Tod shrugged. “I never went there. I didn’t want anything to do with his private life like where he lived. He’s a very scary man.”

“But you chose to hunt and drug women with him in order to rape them.” Annie scoffed. “I would say you’re two peas from the same pod.”

“I can see how it looks,” Tod sighed. “You have to believe me. I didn’t kill anyone.”

“I don’t have to believe anything,” Annie said slowly. She pointed to the photographs again. “I believe what the evidence says and it tells me that you did kill these two women.”

“No, no, no!”Tod shook his head. “Rob Derry did this.”

“Have you got a number for him?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“He calls me from payphones, he doesn’t use a mobile.”

“Do you have the number of the payphone?”

“Maybe, if I do it’s in my mobile.”

“How old is this Robert Derry?”

“I don’t know, fifties, maybe” Tod shrugged. “His name isn’t Robert.”

“What is his name?” Annie tutted. “You said he was called Rob.”

“Rob something,” he shrugged again. “I can’t remember. There’s a double ‘B’ or a double ‘R’ in it somewhere but he shortens it to Rob. He used to go on about it being an unusual name. I didn’t listen to him at times. Like I said, he was nuts.”

“We’ll take a look but I’m not convinced that he exists,” Annie said. “Was he in the club with you that night?”

“I don’t know to be honest.”

“You don’t know?”

“He said that he would make sure that Jackie Webb was in the car park,” Tod shrugged. “When I got there, she was in the stairwell.”

“How do you think she got there?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Where did you meet up?”

“I picked him up further up Brownlow Hill.”

Annie and Stirling exchanged glances. The CCTV from the wine bar on the hill showed the car stopping. “You didn’t see him in the club?”

“No.”

“Come on, Tod,” Stirling pushed. “Why are you lying to us?” 

“I’m not lying. I didn’t see him in there. I was focused on getting Jayne out of the club but I had no idea any of this was going to happen,” he pleaded. His eyes filled with tears again. “He must have done all this and then planted evidence,” Tod said angrily. “He’s setting me up!”

Stirling shook his head. “The evidence puts you at both scenes and you have the murder weapon and video evidence from the second scene at your home.”

“I wasn’t there. I’ve told you!” he raised his voice. “He must have broken in and planted the DVD in the player.” Tod looked at their faces in desperation. “It’s the only explanation.”

Sterling shook his head. “And the prints on the knife?”

“I don’t know.”

“Thumbprint?”

“I don’t know.”

“Semen?”

“I don’t know how my semen was at the second house!” Tod shouted in frustration.

“But you admitted having sex with them,” Annie pushed.

“I used a condom,” he said sarcastically. “I always use one. I’m not stupid.”

Annie looked at Stirling and smiled. “You’re not stupid?” she sat back and folded her arms. Tod glared back at her. “If you expect us to believe your story, you’re beyond stupid, Tod.”

“My client is admitting to the rapes but he’s denying murder, Inspector,” Bartlet interrupted.       

“You have heard of the term ‘concrete evidence’?” Annie sighed. “We’ve got it and your client is going down.”

“I’m being set up! Rob Derry killed them.”

“You’re throwing up shadows, nothing more.”

“I’m innocent!”

“Innocent?” Annie frowned and sat back. She folded her arms. “Are you tripping?” she snapped. “How many women have you slipped roofies to and raped, Tod?” Annie asked changing the direction of the attack.

“I don’t know.”

“Oh come on!”

“I don’t know.”

“There are eighteen pairs of underwear in that file and we’ll find out who they belong to,” she frowned, “if it takes me the next ten years we’ll find them.” Tod looked angry and confused. The pain from his back was becoming unbearable. His hands were shaking visibly. Another tear trickled from the corner of one eye. “You’re a sick rapist, Tod.”

“I’m not a murderer. Those pictures are just twisted.”

“Drugging women for sex is about as twisted as you can get but I have to say that I was surprised by the young boys’ underpants,” Annie flicked to the back of the file and placed it in front of Bartlet. She turned pale and threw Tod a glance that expressed her disgust for him. “Raping adults is one thing but kids?”

“What?” Tod closed his eyes and then opened them again to look at the file. He blinked as if he was seeing something that he couldn’t fathom. “I have never seen those before in my life,” he snarled. “You’ve planted them in there!” his face twisted in anger. “Now that is just wrong!” he shifted awkwardly in his seat. “I am not a paedophile, young boys?” he asked incredulously. “Never!”

“Explain it then, Tod.”

“I’m being set up, that’s what it is,” he stammered. “Rob Derry has set me up.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know!”

“How would he know about your precious collection of underwear?” Stirling asked.

Tod thought for a few seconds, a look of confusion on his face, “I honestly don’t know.”

“Did you ever show him this file?”

“No.”

“Did you ever talk to him about it,” Stirling pressed, “You know, bragging about your souvenirs?”

“No!”

Annie took a photograph of Peter Barton and placed it on the table. “Do you know this man?”

Tod glanced at the picture and then leaned over to look closer. “His face is familiar,” he muttered. Recognition sparked in his eyes. “Wait a minute, I know him. Didn’t he kill that kid from Halewood a few years back?”