Captives

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'You were right about the killers being linked,' said Phillip Barclay.

Gregson smiled to himself.

'But not just in the way you said,' Barclay continued. 'The MO's they used may have been copies of earlier killings, even this latest one. And the fact that they all burned themselves, or tried to. But there's something else, something more conclusive to link them, but it's more puzzling, too. That device - whatever the hell it is - that I found in Magee was made of the same material I found melted in the other bodies.'

'And I checked his fingerprints against the files on screen at Hendon,' said Steve Houghton. 'There's no doubt about it, the man is Trevor Magee.'

'And number one?' asked Finn.

'Going almost solely on your files and his MO, I'd have to say it was Peter Lawton,' the Records Officer told him.

Finn looked at his colleague, then at Houghton.

'Which we know is impossible, right?' he said, almost laughing. 'Lawton and Bryce are banged up.'

'So is Magee,' Gregson told him, flipping open the file. 'According to this.' He jabbed the file with his index finger.

Houghton crossed to the wall behind him and flicked a switch. Panels lit up and he reached for a number of X-ray plates which he attached to the luminescent plastic. They were skull X-rays.

'Now look. These are of Magee,' he said. 'Taken when they brought his body in.'

Barclay pulled a pen from his pocket and prodded part of the first plate. It showed a dark mass close to the front of the skull. On other angles it was also present. 'See it?' he said.

'What is it?' Gregson wanted to know.

'Wait,' Barclay told him. Houghton reached for another set of plate. The shape was far less well defined. 'These are X-rays of Mathew Bryce's skull,' said Barclay, 'at least what was left of it. Unfortunately he'd been burned, but not badly enough for the bone structure to be altered as it was in Lawton's case.' He jabbed his pen at a dark area on Bryce's X-rays too.

'Come on, Phil, what the fuck is it?' Finn muttered, reaching for his cigarettes but deciding not to light one when he saw the look of disapproval on the pathologist's face.

'Both men were suffering from brain tumours,' Barclay said.

'How can you be sure?' Gregson demanded.

Barclay sighed.

'It's on the plates, you can see it,' he said, motioning to the X-rays again. 'And, if you'd care to look at Magee, I haven't replaced the cranial cap yet and you'll see the tumour. Come down to the morgue and I'll show you.'

'I'll take your word for it,' Finn said. 'What you're saying is, these three fucking murderers we've got in cold storage have all committed crimes identical to ones committed by Peter Lawton, Mathew Bryce and Trevor Magee, right? Three blokes we know, for sure, are locked up, doing time in Whitely nick, yeah? Now, you're trying to tell me that this is the real Trevor Magee lying downstairs? That the real Peter Lawton killed six people and then killed himself on a motorbike less than two weeks ago? That the real Mathew Bryce cut up a girl, then torched himself? And tonight the real Trevor Magee murdered a tramp and a cabbie and then smashed his car into the Centre Point fountains? You're telling me that blokes we arrested, blokes we stood in court and saw sentenced, blokes we saw driven away in fucking armoured vans, have committed the exact same crimes that they were put away for? That's what you're telling me?'

Houghton looked almost helplessly at Gregson.

'It's bollocks,' said Finn angrily. 'Absolute bollocks.' He looked at Gregson. 'You said yourself it was impossible. If one of them had escaped from Whitely we'd have known about it, but three of the cunts? Do me a favour.' This time he did reach for a cigarette and light it up.

Silence.

'Somebody say something, for Christ's sake,' snarled Finn in annoyance. 'Somebody tell me again what all this shit is supposed to mean.'

'Could there be a mistake with the identification?' Gregson said.

'It's possible with Bryce,' Houghton admitted. 'I found fourteen matching characteristics in the ridge patterns of his fingerprints. There should have been sixteen, but I think my figure is conclusive enough. But even if I was wrong about Bryce, it's impossible I could be wrong about Magee. His prints match those on file. His dental records match. His blood type. Everything. Unless he's got a twin identical in every way, then that man is the same one you arrested.'

Finn shook his head.

'I don't fucking believe this,' he said, an incredulous smile on his face. 'It's not possible.'

'Then what's your explanation?' Houghton challenged him.

'You're telling me that you believe three convicted killers just walked out of Whitely prison without anyone noticing and now they've come back here to duplicate their original crimes? Do you believe that? Really?'

'I believe what I see here, Stuart, and this man is Trevor Magee,' Houghton said quietly. 'If it helps I'm as sceptical as you, but the evidence is here.'

'Evidence for what?' Finn snarled. 'That we're all going fucking crazy? They're inside.' He shouted the last two words.

Gregson crossed to the phone and jabbed the button. He asked the switchboard operator to connect him with Whitely Prison and waited.

Finn turned to his colleague.

'Frank, for Christ's sake…' he began, but Gregson held up a hand to silence him.

'Hello,' he said finally into the phone. 'My name is Detective Inspector Gregson. I'm calling… Yes, Gregson.' He spelt it out. 'I'm calling from New Scotland Yard. I'd like to speak with the Governor please. It's very important.' He sucked in an angry breath. 'Yes, Gregson.' He spelled it out again. Then he waited. The other men watched as he tapped gently on the desk top.

'When will he back?' he said finally. 'Can you get him to call me as soon as possible? It's very urgent. It concerns three of the inmates there.' They saw Gregson's features harden. 'Who are you, anyway?' He sighed. 'All right, perhaps you can help me. Their names are Peter Lawton, Mathew Bryce and Trevor Magee. I need to speak to Governor Nicholson about them as soon as possible, do you understand?' The other three saw a flicker on the DI's face. 'Say that again?' He looked across Finn, a look of bewilderment on his face. He shook his head slowly. 'Can you tell me when?'

'What the fuck is this?' Finn whispered, still watching his superior.

'Thank you,' said Gregson. 'Tell Governor Nicholson to ring me on this number as soon as possible.'

Gregson put down the phone.

'Well?' said Finn.

The DI looked at Houghton.

'Are you sure that's Trevor Magee?' he said, the knot of muscles at the side of his jaw pulsing.

Houghton held up his hands.

'Frank, for God's sake,' he sighed, if I had children I'd swear on their graves. It is Magee. There's no question of it.'

'And you're sure about the others as well?'

Houghton nodded.

'According to that guy I just spoke to,' said Gregson quietly, 'Trevor Magee died six months ago. As a matter of fact he's buried in the same piece of ground as Peter Lawton and Mathew Bryce. They never left Whitely. All three of them are buried there.'