‘So, Ellen Devlin,’ he says. ‘If I give you their address, what’s in it for me?’
51
‘How about if I said I had a story for you?’ I say. ‘A great story, an incredible one.’
‘About the Ghost?’
‘I can’t tell you right now, but I promise you it will be worth it. Soon.’
Simms lifts his glass to his lips. He’s well into his second pint now and I can sense the alcohol starting to kick in, the gentle loosening of his shoulders, a relaxation in his jaw. He glances at the bar, where a crumpled middle-aged man is hunched alone on a stool, nursing a pint of his own. The guy looks at Simms, then at me, then at Simms again, before going back to his own drink with an envious shake of his head. Simms notices it too and smiles, returning his attention to me. He takes another sip of beer, puts the glass down so close next to mine that our hands almost touch.
‘All right, if you mention this to anyone, I will deny ever having this conversation. I will deny ever meeting you.’
‘Understood. But I won’t say a word, I swear.’
He checks that no one is in earshot before leaning forward again.
‘The third victim was Zoe Clifton, eldest daughter of Gerald and Angela Clifton.’ He picks up his phone, scrolls through a few screens, lays it face down on the table and pulls a pen from his jacket pocket, scribbling on the edge of his beer mat. ‘That’s where you’ll find them.’
I turn it around, study what is written there and tuck it into my handbag.
‘Thanks, Matt. I really appreciate it.’
‘So, this great story – give me a clue,’ he says. ‘A starter for ten.’
I lace my fingers together on the table in front of me. ‘In your piece, it doesn’t mention if there was a . . . sexual element to the attacks.’
He frowns at me over the top of his glass. ‘Because there wasn’t. According to the police, anyway.’
‘But you would have included that? I mean there wouldn’t have been a reason to leave it out of the story, would there?’
‘Godyes, I would have included it,’ he says. ‘Absolutely. Why do you ask?’
‘Tara said victims of sexual offences get lifetime anonymity. So I assumed that because victim number three wasn’t named in the media, she had—’
‘No, the granting of anonymity was a police decision, because of the circumstances of the case and the nature of the attack, she was deemed to be an especially vulnerable witness. The Met line was that putting her ID out there would jeopardise her safety, and therefore jeopardise their ability to bring her attacker to justice.’
‘Because the Ghost might come for her again?’
‘If he knew where to find her. The family got an injunction as well, preventing her from being named in the media. Belt and braces job, kind of overkill really. Excuse the pun.’
‘Do you know much about the women he attacked?’
‘Well, victims one and two were street prostitutes working in and around Uxbridge. Both involved with drugs, both users, and Louise Taggart had been nicked a couple of times for low-level supplying as well. I was never able to nail much down about Zoe Clifton, but she had a flat in the same area. Some suggestions she was also on the fringes of sex work, but I couldn’t stand that angle up. Family never wanted to talk, but let’s just say it had the makings of a cracking story for us.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Mr and Mrs Clifton are loaded – their house is like something out ofCountry Life. It’s the kind of story my editor loves: pretty, posh, privately-educated girl, the apple of her parents’ eye, drawn into a life of vice. A shame the parents never wanted to play ball on an exclusive – fully anonymised, of course. Thought I’d wear them down eventually but they blanked me every single time. Thankfully, no one else got the story either.’
I take a small diary out of my handbag, flip to a blank page at the back and write the wordsUXBRIDGE FLAT?in capitals.
‘Was there ever a suggestion that the Ghost was linked to any other attacks?’ I say. ‘Any other murders?’
‘We had a couple of sniffs here and there but never anything definite. Nothing the cops would even go near confirming.’
‘Not even off the record?’
Simms gives a definitive shake of his head. ‘Nope. Not even then.’
