4
Steve stepped into the chaotic house just behind Sasha. He had no idea why the woman appeared to be so agitated around them. To him it meant guilt. If she was feeling guilty about being a Brothel madam then that was one thing. He very much doubted it was that. Maybe she just didn't want the young children she was caring for to find out their grandmother used to obtain prostitutes and two women had died at the time. Sasha remained silent as the children were ushered into the next room.
"Our Stacey's pair." Brenda explained. "She's in work."
"Grandma duties?" Steve smiled as the older woman nodded.
"Yeah well. Cost of childcare these days is daylight robbery. No wonder people claim benefit when they could be in work. They're good kids really. Peter doesn't seem to have an off-switch. You know what kids are like." She smiled as she turned back to Sasha and Steve. "Now, what do you want?"
"1981 and 1982 you were arrested for living off immoral earnings." Sasha stated. The dislike of the woman laced through her words. In that moment Steve wished she had brought Ted with her. He was usually able to keep everyone calm. Sasha had a knack for getting on the wrong side of potential suspects. The older woman glared at her
"We all gotta make a living." She glared. "Why are you ere?"
"Karen and Lucy? Remember them?"
"Those poor girls." She crossed herself before sitting down. "I wasn't much more than a kid myself. Thirty. Had progressed from being on the Game to running girls. All I ever asked them was for money to pay the light and heating bills. I never made a profit. Not really." She sighed as she dabbed the cigarette out. "Our Diane will have a heart attack if she knows I was smoking with those two ere. What about Karen and Lucy? They were not on the game. If that's what you are trying to make out. I know they weren't angels. Who is? But they were not working for me that way."
"Brenda?" Sasha sat on the sofa opposite here. "I'm not here to drag your criminal record up. We are re-opening the case. We have some new evidence about their deaths so we are looking into the case again."
"You think you are going to find the scum-bag who did it?"
"We intend to." Sasha stated firmly. "We are re-interviewing everyone that was involved in the initial investigation. Starting with you."
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Ted tapped his pen on the desk as he read the post mortem reports on both girls. He knew the women had been brutally murdered but he also knew there was no way they couldn't look through all the forensic evidence again. He frowned as he read the reports.
"Brew?" Brian asked as he headed towards the kettle.
"Yeah. Ta." Ted absentmindedly carried on tapping his pen as Jack snapped at him. "What?"
"Give it a rest." Jack snapped. Ted dropped the pen.
"Both girls were doing really well at uni. Karen was on the way to getting a first." Brian stated. "Lucy was looking at a 2.1. Neither of them had any real issues at university. Well liked, nice group of friends. Karen had a boyfriend while Lucy was engaged. How do girls like that end up in the Sex Trade?"
"No idea. Karen's father died of a heart attack last December aged 82. Her mum is in a nursing home with dementia. Cant talk to them. Not know. I do have David Spaulding's original statement." Jack replied. "He was totally unaware of what his daughter was up to during term time. She kept everything to herself."
"Not the sort of thing you run home to tell Mum and Dad about." Dan interjected as he walked back in. "I've been through the whole records department looking for the files from the lab. Apart from the official post-mortem reports on both girls there isn't anything on line. I'm guessing back in the 1980s evidence was routinely destroyed when cases were either closed or deemed hopeless."
"Not always." Jack sighed. "Forensic science was still seen as a bit arty farty compared to the donkey work of going through all the traditional methods."
"True. But there have been so many advances. If we could just get the stuff retested with 21st century techniques."
"Have to find it first." Brian sighed as he headed back to his computer, hoping that Sandra and Gerry were having more luck.
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Sandra headed back to the car feeling more angry than she had done in a while. Gerry was clearly concerned about his involvement in the original case and visiting Guy Michaels had clearly been a little too close to home. "Guy Michaels."
"Has to be older than Jack. Pushing 90? Was a good DS back then. Taught me a lot." Gerry got in the passenger side of the car.
"You trusted him?"
"Yeah. He was real old school. I was just a kid really. Like I said, I was only seconded to cover sickness. Paul Davies, the DC at the time had fallen down stairs, broke a bone in his back. Poor sod." Gerry shook his head. "I was there six months."
"Right. So he did things by the book?"
"Like I said. Old School."
"Um, ok." Sandra started the car engine as Gerry shot her a sideways look. He knew how her mind worked but whether a 90 year old man was deliberately trying to catch them out and hide his actions of almost 40 years ago or genuinely didn't remember was another thing.
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