Chapter 8: Wanted for Murder

MONDAY - SPECIAL GROUP

A month had passed since the garage attack. Margery, the lady who had been stabbed had left hospital after a couple of days and had now made a full recovery.

DI William Dodd had followed every lead he had with no success. He reached a point when he had to reluctantly decide there was nothing more he could do unless new evidence appeared, or another attack took place. He turned his attention to other cases.

A week later, there was an attack on an eight till late corner shop just a few blocks away from the garage. It was just gone nine pm when the shopkeeper brought a box in from the storeroom. He put it under the counter, then stood up to find a masked man up against the opposite side of the counter.

He was holding a large knife out in front of him and demanded the money out of the till. Mr Patel, the elderly shop keeper, took the bag he was holding out and started putting the contents of the till into it. Ordered to hurry up, he became flustered and dropped the bag. After bending down to pick it up, he stood up to see the knife heading straight for his chest.

As he watched terrified and spell bound, the knife entered his chest, thrust in hard by the robber. ‘I dropped the bag,’ where the last words he spoke. The knife went between his ribs into his heart. He died instantly.

As he fell to the floor in a pool of blood, the robber calmly came round the counter, picked up the bag of cash, then as he walked towards the door, he added items off the shelves to his bag.

A few minutes after he left, a customer entered, he looked around and selected a few items off the shelves, then came to the counter to pay. He stood waiting for a few moments, then called out, ‘Hello.’ As he stood waiting, his eye fell on what looked like splashes of blood on the back section of the countertop.

The customer was an off-duty policeman, so he leaned over the counter to check, seeing Mr Patel’s body. He went round the counter carefully and checked the body. Finding that it was dead, he retraced his steps, then dialled 999. He had a quick look round to make sure the premises were empty, then went and stood outside the front door.

When any customers arrived, he turned them away, telling them it was a crime scene. A few minutes later a police car arrived followed soon after by a doctor. The policemen who arrived recognised their colleague right away. He alerted them to something he had spotted behind the counter. In the edge of the pool of blood on the floor was part of a footprint.

Whilst they took over, Sergeant Keen went and sat in his car, writing out his statement whilst everything was fresh in his mind. He had taken a photo of the footprint on his phone, although he felt sure it wouldn’t be needed now there would be no nonemergency service feet behind the counter.

He added his phone number to his statement, tore it out and left it with the bobby guarding the door. ‘I’ll sign a proper one at the station tomorrow,’ he told him, ‘My numbers on the page if you need me in the meantime. I’m going home. ‘

The Dr confirmed Mr Patel was dead, so then the forensic team took over. In the early hours the body was removed to the mortuary for a post-mortem. Meanwhile, a check of the shops CCTV showed a masked man of similar description to the garage attacker. The outside CCTV showed him approach from round the corner already wearing his mask.

But at last, a breakthrough. The CCTV also showed a man of similar build walking past the shop twice in the half hour prior to the attack. His picture was checked against the police data base which gave them their first hope. Keith Brown was nineteen and had a police record for theft and burglary going back years, plus one for grievous bodily harm when he attacked a mate who had upset him.

A car was sent to his last known address immediately. His parents told them that their son still lived with them, but he hadn’t been home for a few days. When questioned further they said he often stayed at his girlfriends and sometimes with his mate Billy. Collecting both addresses, the car first went to his girlfriends, to be told that he had stayed there the previous night and had gone back to his parent’s house half an hour ago. When asked if he had left anything in her flat that he had brought with him last night she told them that she hadn’t seen anything but refused to let them in to look.

The car returned to his parents, who told them he had returned just after they had left. When they told him about their visit, he immediately went out again. They told them that their son had not had anything with him.

Going to his mate’s address, they roused a sleepy male from his bed who admitted he was Billy and a mate of Keith’s who did occasionally stay with him, usually when he had had a row with his girlfriend, but he hadn’t seen him for over a week. He let them in to check his flat, then went back to bed as they left.

A warrant was applied for, for the parent’s house as well as the girl friends flat.

Keith was listed as wanted, whilst the special builder’s car was parked near enough to Keith’s girlfriends for the camera to see her front door.

Later that morning, a garage near Keith’s Girlfriends flat was held up by a man with a large knife. DI Dodd got the call and arrived not long afterwards. There was a body on the floor just inside the entrance, covered up with a sheet. A lady who had been in the shop near the till at the time, told him that the cashier had frozen at the sight of a masked man pointing a knife at her. She heard his demands to empty the till, but the cashier simply couldn’t move. ‘She tried to speak, but clearly couldn’t get any words out.’ She told him.

William discovered later that she had just had her eighteenth birthday two days ago.

‘It was obvious that she was no threat,’ the lady told him, ‘He could have easily gone round the counter and taken the money, but he just lunged at her with the knife. As the knife went into her chest she screamed and fell behind the counter.’

‘The man just turned away as if he hadn’t a care in the world. He headed towards the door, just as one of the garage staff ran in responding to the scream. The masked man just stabbed him and walked out.’

‘What happened then?’ William asked her. ‘I rushed behind the counter,’ she told him. ‘The girl was sitting on the floor holding her chest. Blood was all over her hand. I grabbed a cloth and pushed it between her hand and chest, then sat with her. She was in pain and crying but seemed able to breath ok.’

‘I could hear other people in the shop now, so I stuck my head up and shouted, ‘I need an ambulance.’ I heard someone on their phone ringing police and ambulance, then another member of staff who knew the girl well appeared, so I moved away so she could sit with her.’

Her description of the attacker was similar to the previous ones, same age and height and nothing else. Then as he was about to move away from her, she added, ‘Oh by the way, he had green socks on.’

When asked how she knew, she told him that when he had lunged forward to stab the girl, he had stretched upwards which had lifted his trouser legs just enough for her to see them. William complimented her on her observance. He gave her his card in case she remembered anything else. Then he passed her on to one of the bobbies to take her statement.

One of the other employees came over to speak to him. He was looking a bit white. One hand was covered in blood. He introduced himself as Christopher Wood, an apprentice mechanic. He told William he was seventeen and had been working on a car in the garage with Roger who was eighteen. ‘I was lying under the car,’ he said, ‘So when we heard the scream, Roger raced out to see what had happened. By the time I got out from under the car to follow, Roger was lying inside the entrance door in a pool of blood.’

‘I tried to find a pulse in his neck,’ he told William, ‘I’ve had some first aid training, but there wasn’t one. I put my hand on his chest to see if I could feel him breathing. He wasn’t but I felt my hand go wet.’ He looked at his hand, shuddering at the sight. ‘Then I realised all his clothes were soaked in blood, and he was lying in a big pool of it. I was sure he was dead. I knew if I tried CPR, I’d just make more blood pump out.’