Dead Like You

86

Friday 16 January

Ellen Zoratti picked up a remote control and pressed a button. A white screen lowered, covering Julius Proudfoot’s map.

‘We know that the room where the first victim of the Shoe Man was raped, in the Grand Hotel in 1997, was booked in the name of Marsha Morris,’ she said. ‘We also know that the room where Nicola Taylor was raped in the Metropole on New Year’s morning was also booked in this same name. I’ve now got the CCTV footage from the front desk at the Metropole and I’d like you to see it. Unfortunately they don’t have sound.’

Ellen pressed the remote again. A time-delay sequence of grainy black-and-white images appeared. They showed several people with luggage queuing at the front desk of the hotel. She put down the remote, picked up a laser pointer and shone the red dot on the head of a female figure standing in the queue. She had bouffant, shoulder-length blonde hair, huge dark glasses masking much of the top half of her face and a shawl wound around her neck that concealed most of her mouth and chin.

‘I believe this is Marsha Morris, checking in at the Metropole at 3 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, just over two weeks ago. Now, look very closely at her hair, OK?’

She pressed the remote and the scene changed to a time-delay sequence of CCTV images from one of Brighton’s premier shopping areas, East Street.

‘I came across this in a trawl of CCTV images from all cameras in close proximity to shoe shops in the city. There are several within a couple of hundred yards of this particular camera. They include Last, L. K. Be

In the next sequence of frames an elegantly dressed woman in her forties, with flyaway blonde hair, wearing a long dark coat and high-heeled boots, strode confidently along towards the camera, then passed it.

‘That’s Dee Burchmore, who was attacked yesterday,’ Ellen Zoratti said. ‘This footage was recorded last Saturday, 10 January. Keep watching!’

Moments later a slim woman with light, bouffant hair, wearing a long camel coat, a shawl around her neck, a shoulder bag and shiny wet-look boots, strode into view. She had a determined air, as if on a mission.

An instant later she collided with a man walking in the opposite direction and fell sprawling to the ground. The bouffant hair, which was a wig, rolled on to the pavement. A pedestrian stopped, blocking their view of the man’s exposed head.

Within seconds she – or, as looked more likely, he – had grabbed the wig and jammed it, slightly crookedly, back on to her head. Then she scrambled to her feet, checked her handbag and an instant later hurried out of frame, hands up, adjusting the wig.

It was impossible, from the angle of the camera and the poor quality of the image, to make out the person’s features. Other than that they were distinctly masculine.

‘Marsha Morris?’ said Michael Foreman.

‘You can always tell them shemale poofs by their Adam’s apples,’ Potting said. ‘That’s the giveaway.’

‘Actually, Norman,’ said Bella Moy, ‘I’ve read that they can have them surgically removed now – or at least reduced. And I’m not quite sure why you’re calling them poofs?’

‘This person was wearing a roll neck,’ Nick Nicholl said, ignoring them. ‘Whether he – or she – had an Adam’s apple or not, it couldn’t be seen.’

‘Is that the enhanced image, Ellen?’ Grace said.

‘I’m afraid so, sir,’ she replied. ‘It’s the clearest I could get from the lab. Not great, but it tells us a couple of important things. The first is that the Shoe Man might stalk his victims in drag. The second is that Mrs Burchmore bought an expensive pair of shoes that day. Take a look at this next sequence. I’m afraid the image quality is also poor, it was taken from the shop’s own CCTV.’

She pressed the remote control and on the screen appeared the interior of a shoe shop, again in a sequence of frames from a static camera.

‘This is one of the Profile shops in Duke’s Lane,’ Ellen said.

A blonde woman was sitting on a chair, hunched over what looked like her iPhone or BlackBerry, pecking at the keys. Ellen pointed the red laser dot on her face.

‘This is Dee Burchmore, five minutes on from the footage you just saw in East Street.’

An assistant jerked into frame, holding a pair of high-heeled shoes.

In the background, the camera showed a woman with bouffant hair, in a long coat, dark glasses and a shawl covering much of the lower part of her face, entering the shop. It was the same person they had just seen fall over.

Ellen pointed the laser dot on her.

‘It’s good old Marsha Morris again!’ DC Foreman said. ‘With her wig back on the right way around!’

They watched the transvestite jerk left and right across the frame in the background, while Dee Burchmore purchased her shoes. She then appeared to chat to the assistant at the counter as the young woman entered details on her computer keypad. Marsha Morris stood close by, appearing to examine some shoes, but clearly listening.

Then Dee Burchmore left with her purchase in a carrier bag.

After only a few seconds, Marsha Morris also left. Then Ellen halted the tape.

‘Do we know,’ asked Norman Potting, ‘if the person who attacked Dee Burchmore yesterday was in drag?’

‘He was wearing a dark hood with eye slits,’ Claire Westmore said. ‘It’s the only description she’s been able to give so far. But historically the only two attacks in which the Shoe Man wore drag were at the Grand Hotel, in 1997, and early on New Year’s Day, at the Metropole. None of the subsequent victims has mentioned drag.’

‘I think he’s wearing it as a disguise,’ Proudfoot said. ‘Not for sexual gratification. It’s gets him into ladies’ shoe shops without suspicion and it’s a good disguise at the hotels.’

Grace nodded in agreement.

Proudfoot went on: ‘Looking at the case file from 1997, the victim who was attacked in the Churchill Square car park was a creature of habit. She always parked in the same car park, on the top floor, because it was the emptiest. There’s a parallel with Dee Burchmore, who always parked on Level 2 of the car park behind the Grand Hotel. They both made it very easy for someone stalking them.’

The SOLO added, ‘Dee has told me that she regularly posts her movements on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. I’ve had a look at some of her posts over this past week and it wouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist to plot her whereabouts on an almost hourly basis. All three previous victims have had a Facebook presence for a while also, and Mandy Thorpe Tweeted regularly as well.’

‘So,’ Nick Nicholl said, ‘we’ve narrowed the Shoe Man’s next victim down to someone who’s bought an expensive pair of shoes in the past week and has a presence on either Facebook or Twitter, or both.’ He gri

‘We might be able to be more specific than that,’ Ellen Zoratti said. ‘The age of the victims could be significant. Nicola Taylor is thirty-eight, Roxy Pearce is thirty-six, Mandy Thorpe is twenty, and Dee Burchmore is forty-two. These four ages correspond closely to the age range of the Shoe Man’s victims back in 1997.’

The Crime Analyst paused to let this sink in, then went on: ‘If Detective Superintendent Grace is correct that Rachael Ryan was the Shoe Man’s fifth victim back in 1997, maybe it can help us narrow down who his next will be now – assuming there will be another one.’

‘There will be,’ Proudfoot said confidently.

‘Rachael Ryan was twenty-two years old,’ Ellen said. She turned to the forensic psychologist. ‘Dr Proudfoot, you’ve already told us you think the Shoe Man could be repeating his pattern because that’s his comfort zone. Might that comfort zone extend to the age of his next victim? Someone of corresponding age to his fifth victim in 1997? A twenty-two-year-old?’