Blood & Guts by Ed James (best books to read now TXT) 📕

showing Ms Gordon photo exhibit A.’ Vicky held it out for Catriona, side-on to fit them all in. ‘I am going to show you some photographs and if you recognise any of them, please say so and tell me from where you recognise them.’ She flipped the first one.

Catriona shook her head.

Vicky flipped the page.

‘Him.’

Vicky took the phone back. That was Dougie McLean, the taxi driver still at large. ‘You’re sure?’ She held it out again.

Catriona looked at it much longer, her eyes shooting between the faces. ‘Positive. Dougie. He raped me.’

‘Thank you.’ Vicky held the phone between them. Her stomach clenched at the thought of McLean doing this to Catriona, then murdering Carly. Escalating from rape to murder in less than twenty-four hours. ‘Miss Gordon identified photo four of six, reference evidence set B.’

Catriona was frowning at Vicky. ‘Will you prosecute him?’

‘Once we’ve found him, we’ll try to.’

‘You mean, you haven’t got him?’

Vicky didn’t want to derail her, and didn’t want her to even consider any blame on herself. It happened so many times. And yet it never seemed to happen to men like Douglas McLean. Their sleep was always okay. No guilt, all transferred to their victims. Still, at least Catriona was alive to help them out.

‘I met him on an app. A dating one. Hook-up. Whatever it is. Thing called Poggr. You know it?’

‘I’ve heard of it, aye. What happened?’

‘That was the first time I’ve used that app.’ Catriona rubbed at her eyes and sniffed. ‘One of my friends uses it all the time. Casey. She swears by it. I did what she suggested and I liked lots of men. You know, you star them? So I liked his photo.’ She shut her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. ‘He had a nice smile. That was it, just that. Then I got a message back that he’d liked my photo. He was the first who liked me back. And we messaged. He seemed nice. Friendly. Flirtatious, but respectful.’ She shook her head slowly, gasping for air. ‘We went for a drink yesterday afternoon, then he took me out for dinner to that restaurant in the new hotel on Dock Street. You know it?’

‘I know it.’ Vicky had an idea which one it was, but couldn’t remember the name. It was something to get Considine to look into.

‘Thing is, when we were eating? I liked him. A lot. So I invited him back to my flat. He drove and… When we got back, I changed my mind. But he… He kept insisting on coming in for a coffee.’

‘Did you let him in?’

Catriona scratched at her face again. ‘I told him no. Told him to leave.’

‘Did he?’

‘Acted all gentlemanly about it. Hands up, you know how it is? And I thought that was it.’

‘But?’

‘But I got a knock on the door. Maybe fifteen minutes later. It was dark, and I didn’t see who it was, just got punched. Again and again. Kept on doing it.’ She leaned forward in the bed, hands covering her face. ‘I tried screaming, but he covered my mouth with his hand. And he forced me inside my flat. I kept saying no, but he didn’t listen.’ Snot bubbled in her nose. ‘He tried to strangle me. With his belt.’ She lowered her gown to show a dark brown line biting deep into the flesh around her neck. ‘Then he got the charger cable from my laptop and tied my wrists together. And then he raped me.’

The room was deadly silent.

Vicky felt her heartbeat throbbing in her neck. ‘Did you see him at all?’

‘It was dark.’

Shit.

Vicky stood up and cleared her throat. ‘But you think it was the man you identified?’

Catriona needled fingers into her eye sockets. ‘I don’t know if it was.’

‘And you haven’t seen him again?’

‘I never want to.’

‘Okay, Catriona.’ Vicky didn’t add that she’d have to when it came to court.

Catriona was looking up at Vicky with doe eyes. ‘You think it was someone else, don’t you?’

‘No. But we’ve got forensic evidence from your attacker. If it wasn’t him, we will find who it was. We’ll do everything we can to track him down.’

Catriona nodded. ‘Thank you.’

‘Okay.’ Vicky ended the recording, but held her phone. ‘I’m going to get back to the case now, alright? There are two officers guarding your flat, waiting for our forensics officers to attend.’

‘He’s going to get away with this, isn’t he?’

‘No, Catriona. He’s not. Everything he touched in the house is being swabbed. Part of the Sexual Assault Evidence Kit, as well.’

‘But he wore a…’

‘Even wearing a condom, he is going to leave epithelial cells from his chest and abdomen on you, okay? They will contain his DNA. And there is other evidence. Your laptop cable, for instance, will contain fingerprints at the very least. But I won’t rest until we find who did this to you.’

‘Thank you.’

Vicky gave her a kind smile, then left the room. The cleaner was outside the room now, a skinny wee guy pushing the machine around, massive hi-fi headphones clamped to his skull. He was small enough he could ride on it.

She charged off down the corridor, putting her ringing phone to her ear.

Jenny answered it super-quickly. ‘Vicks, I’ve just got off the phone to that nurse, so how the hell do you expect me to have even got the sample, let alone processed it? Besides, I’m—’

‘That’s not why I’m calling.’

‘Oh?’

‘Are you at Catriona Gordon’s flat?’

‘It’s more a house than a flat. It’s got stairs and—’

‘But you’re there. Good. Can you look for a laptop cable? Her attacker used it to secure her.’

‘Okay.’ Jenny’s voice became muffled, just a shout. All Vicky could make out was the word “Jay”. Then she was back. ‘Vicks, just got a notification on your guy.’

‘What guy?’

‘McLean’s phone’s just been turned on.’

12

Vicky turned onto the main road leading towards the Law, hitting the accelerator hard, desperate to get there first. The car slid on the ice and she had to drag the wheel to