Chapter Fifty-Seven
D
orie and her sister, Marla, sat down on the sofa and stared at Theo and Dorland. The two women did not seem impressed that the officers were making another visit. Dorland stood up and went over to the mantle above the faux fireplace. He picked up one photo of Charlotta. She was extremely beautiful, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and trying to hold her flowery dress down. Another photo showed Dorie and her sister Charlotta at the market buying clothes. They were so happy.
That was when he saw the earrings. Dorie was wearing the earrings. The exact earrings from Doc’s collection, the ones that were missing. They had her. Dorland handed the photo to Theo and tapped the spot. It took a few moments for Theo to understand the point.
“We have found out a lot about Doc Tipring in the last few days. For instance, we have discovered he may have murdered over thirty women.”
Dorie didn’t move or say anything.
“Who is this Doc Tipring?” Dorie’s sister asked. “What does he have to do with us?”
“Your sister worked for him, did she tell you? For a total of three days. However, it was long enough for her to discover that the man killed her sister, your sister.”
Marla turned to Dorie. “What are they talking about? You found the man that killed Charlotta?”
“How would I know he murdered my sister?” Dorie asked.
“Because of the earrings. The missing earrings. These missing earrings.” Theo held the photo up to Dorie’s face and pointed directly at the emerald earrings.
“If they are missing, how do you know that those are them?”
“Because they were extremely important to Tipring. Not only did he fire a nurse over them but ahead of time, he had each set photographed and gave them to his solicitor. We know the exact set that was missing.”
“Even if what you say is true, there’s no way I knew Doc killed my sister. And there is no way I killed him. I have an alibi, remember?”
Although her sister was meant to step in and protect her, Marla seemed too shocked by what she heard.
“We know, but even though you may have an alibi, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t hire someone to kill him. Do you know a woman named Marjorie Peters?”
Dorie squinted at him and studied his eyes. For a moment, Theo thought she would just come out and admit the truth, but finally she leaned back in her chair and smiled at him.
“No. Who is she?”
“She died recently. On the same day another victim—Sharon Yoder—died.”
“I don’t know who either of those people are.”
“I think you do.”
“We found a journal belonging to Mrs. Peters in which she tells the story of three women trapped in an elevator.”
Theo watched Dorie waver but she didn’t say anything. He gave a brief summary of the journal.
“Does it mention my name?”
“No, but it does mention a nurse with the first initial D.”
“That doesn’t prove anything,” said Marla.
“I hired no one,” Dorie said quickly. “You can search my bank statements all you want.”
“We are searching through your financial records. So, my suggestion is, if you have information that could help us catch Mr. Tipring’s killer, it would be in your best interest to help us.”
“Just a minute now,” her sister stepped in, “are you charging my sister with murder?”
“Not yet, but we are close to finding all the missing pieces.”
“Well then, in the meantime I want you both to leave. What you’re insinuating is horrendous. I just found out my other sister has been found and you dare accuse my family of murder? I don’t know what evidence you think you have but—” She stopped. She turned to Dorie, but Dorie was looking at her hands in her lap. “Just leave. And don’t come back until you have something concrete. If you ever find anything.”
As soon as Theo stepped from the house, he turned to Dorland and said, “I want that woman watched. I want to know everything she does; I want to know who she sees. I’m not going to let her get away with murder—no matter who the victim is. We’re missing something.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dorland’s mobile rang. Theo stopped while his partner took the call.
“They have talked to Maddock’s sister,” said Dorland, placing the mobile against his chest, “but she doesn’t have any idea where her brother and uncle went to hunt. There are many different hunting spots near the house, but she said it would depend on things such as where the game was found that year and party preference. As for irises, there are a few places they grow in the area and on the property. It may take a while to make a search through it all. What do you want us to do?”
Theo looked up at the sky, perhaps for a sign. There was no way he had the manpower or resources to handle a search of that magnitude. He needed help. Someone who had the resources he didn’t.
“Tell them I’ll let them know,” said Theo.
Theo rang Sophia. She answered on the first ring.
“It’s not a good time, Theo,” she answered.
“Listen, Sophia, I actually really need some help. I have a large area of land to search and I can’t possibly ask for the manpower.”
“What do you want me to do?”
He had no idea. “I’m not sure.” He explained what happened during the interview with Dorie and Dorland’s previous phone call.
“I’ll see what I can do. Let me ring you back.” She rang off before he could say anything.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
T
en detectives and Sophia filed in to Diane Tipring’s living room. Theo watched the host take deliberate steps back and forth across the room, the search warrant shaking in her hand. She wasn’t impressed by the commotion in her house and the many patrol cars in her driveway, and she told them so.
“What is this about?” she asked again. “You can’t be serious about Maddock. I’ve received quite a few phone calls over the last few days. I don’t know what you hope to find here.”
“It’s true, we may not find anything on this property. But we have to check,” said Theo. He took a deep breath. There would be no easy way to explain. “We have found evidence that your brother had committed murder, perhaps multiple murders.”
Diane sat down on the sofa.
“He may have buried the bodies here, on the property somewhere,” continued Sophia.
“Bodies? How many people is he accused of killing?”
“We don’t know for sure but it could be over thirty,” said Theo.
“Why does it matter now?” She sighed. “He’s dead. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
“There are families out there that need closure. Their daughters have been missing for years. Years. We are going to search the bodies of water and anywhere he could have buried the bodies on your property.”
“Well, I can’t see him burying anyone on this property. When would he have done it? I haven’t seen him in this house in many years. In fact, we had the small pond drained about fifteen years ago because we had some livestock fall in and get stuck. We did not find any bodies in the pond, officers.”
“What about the pool?”
“That’s man-made and only three feet deep. If he did throw thirty plus bodies into it, we would have noticed. The fish would have nowhere to swim.” She looked smug. In two minutes, she had reduced two of their choices.
“Do you like irises?” Sophia asked as she stepped forward.
“What?” Diane turned to her. “No.”
“Well, someone liked irises.” Sophia pointed to a small painting of a vase with yellow irises.
“My mother liked them, but she is dead now.”
“Did she ever have them in the house?”
“Of course.”
“Where did she get them? Did she buy them or did they grow naturally nearby?”
“Well, they grow along the river.”
“Does that river run through your property?” asked Theo.
“Just outside, they grow wild. But they are not blooming now. When they bloom, the yellow stretches on for miles.”
“We should search there,” suggested Sophia. “The poem mentioned irises.”
“You believe he would bury the bodies by the river? Not on his own property?” asked Dorland.
“Do many walk near the river?”
“It’s not really accessible to the public.” Then she perked up. “However, I know the neighbors often walk their dogs along the river. I’m sure the dogs would have picked up something if there was something to find.”
Theo knew this to be true, especially if a body had been recently buried. However, the bodies were not and perhaps they were deep underground. It didn’t matter though. It was enough to crush the spirits of the officers in the room. Even Sophia bit her nails—she knew it too.
“We should do a quick search anyway,” Sophia whispered to him.
“Of course. I just hope we find something soon we can’t use the man power for long. Do you understand?”
She nodded.
A large crowd of officers and a few
MI5
agents gathered by the river which ran alongside the property line. Theo gave directions, one team of officers would head left and another right. The last team would cross the bridge farther down and make their way along the other side. All teams had dogs and metal detectors, but the search would be slow and arduous. Theo walked along the river, hoping to find bones or anything that the river might have eroded away. Sophia walked along the property line making marks on the map as she went along. She didn’t seem interested in the river at all.
After a quarter mile, she stopped and called out to Theo, “I’m heading the other way now.”
“Why?”
“This is the end of the Tipring property line. So I’m going back to search the other direction.”
“I thought you believed the bodies were buried in water. Why aren’t you looking in the river?”
“You have to understand, not everything in the poem is to be taken literally. Water may be involved but it may not be in the way you think. I come across this type of thing in my codes all the time.” With that, she turned on her heels and quickly walked the other way. Theo left Dorland in charge of the team and followed her.
She walked a lot faster now, even past her start point. What exactly was she looking for? For almost half a mile she kept at the pace until she came across a part of the property fence that was protected with wire. No one, including animals, would be able to cross. She returned to the part of the wooden fence before the wire started and climbed between the slats. On the other side was grass as far as the eye could see. Theo didn’t understand what the barbed section was used for, but Sophia seemed excited. Again, she ran on farther and then suddenly stopped.
“What is it?” he asked her.
“That.” She pointed to the field. He saw nothing but grass.
“The irises,” she continued.
“The irises are supposed to be along the river.” Besides, he didn’t see any irises.
She took him over to a few boxes—planters—partially hidden in the tall grass. Overgrown grasses surrounded the almost dead leaves of the irises. “These ones are better, they’re planted.”
“How did you see this?”
“I was searching for it. I was looking for planted irises. If our Doc was to find the bodies again, he would need a subtle sign as to where he buried them. Iris surrounded by stone would not attract notice from an outsider walking along the fence, especially a fence with added barbed-wire. Even if a dog smelled something on the other side, he wouldn’t be able to dig anything up. And, I suspect, the bodies were nicely wrapped before burial in plastic of some sort.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Isn’t that what they all do? You know, on the telly.”
Theo laughed. “Maybe you watch too much telly.”
“Or not. It’s a bit cliche, don’t you think?”
Theo managed to call an officer over and after going back to the part of the fence he could cross, brought a metal detector over. Slowly they searched the ground for anything that could give them hope.
“How deep do you think he buried them?”
“I wouldn’t imagine he would go far because he was secluded and on his own land. This man had the perfect place to bury the bodies. Who knows how many years it would have been before we discovered what he had done. It took twenty years for someone to come across the earrings and if they hadn’t, he would still be alive and continuing to mock us.”
“I doubt he suspected a code-breaker would take interest in his art and decide to decipher them.”
“Sounds a bit fantastic.”
He laughed until the metal detector went off. Everyone leaned in close to the screen and a round metal object came into view.
“What is that?” he asked. “A bracelet?”
“We need to dig. If it is a bracelet, there could be an arm attached.”
They began to dig, carefully as to not break anything below the ground. Slowly a bone came into view, with a bracelet attached. Theo called the rest of the teams over and they uncovered the body.
“Notice the kneecaps are missing,” Theo remarked.
“I noticed,” Sophia replied.
One by one, the bodies were laid side-by-side on plastic. Theo wasn’t sure whether he should be excited or sickened. He knew it would provide a sense of closure for each of the victim’s families. And although Doc would never be brought to a court of law for his wicked crimes, in a way, justice was already served. If only he could prove Dorie had done murdered him and then all his cases could be wrapped up.
Sophia came and stood by him. The housekeeper had brought coffee out for the detectives, and Sophia accepted one without hesitation. The sun was beginning to fall and the wind bit at Theo’s face. Sophia held her hand against one cheek and the coffee cup against the other. The team of coroners were setting up a tent in order to protect the bodies from potential rain.
“I’ve seen too many mass graves,” Sophia said quietly and took another sip of coffee.
“What? What did you say?” Theo asked.
She looked at him.
“Do you ever get tired of this line of work? People believe England is this wonderful country and that nothing like kidnapping or organ-harvesting happen here, and yet . . .” She patted his arm. “I may have to go away for a while.”
“Why?”
“My life has recently become a lot more complicated.”
“Anything I can help with?”
She studied his eyes. “Theo, I don’t know. I may ring you for help sometime in the future, but—”
“My brother did this?” Diane Tipring asked from behind them.
Theo and Sophia turned around. Up to this point Diane chose to stay in her house rather than survey what was happening on her property. She guarded her doorway, reluctantly letting the officers in or out to use the toilet or remove bagged items from the house. Perhaps she knew this could only tarnish the family name. How would he feel if one of his family members was suspected of committing so many brutal crimes? How could one hold their head up in public?
As another body was laid beside the seven already pulled from the ground. Theo could hear Diane’s sharp inhale and wondered what went through her mind. “My brother did this?” she asked again.
“We believe so,” Theo replied.
“The bastard. He’s dead and he’s still able to ruin my bloody life.” She stomped back into the house.
The coroners all agreed on one thing: all the knee bones were missing.
“What did Tipring do with half of them?” Sophia asked.
“What do you mean?” Theo asked.
“Well, we only found thirty-two patellas buried in his garden and we know there should be two kneecaps for each body, so what happened to the other thirty-two bones? Do you think he’s kept them elsewhere?”
“I don’t know if we’ll ever find out what he has done, not completely. I can’t believe we never connected any of the murders, or came close to finding the killer of all these women. I want to go back and search through all the missing person’s files after we identify these women. I want to see why no one looked further into the cases. Someone had to have questioned him or their disappearance.”
“How could no one suspect a serial killer was loose in the streets of London?” she asked. “Twenty years or more these women lay in the cold ground. Who knows if the families ever found closure.”
“And all these women may not have been from London. We don’t know if he traveled around England collecting bodies.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“I’m just happy it’s over and that you’ve found the missing girls,” said Sophia. “If Dorie—or whoever murdered Doc—doesn’t get charged with murder, I can’t say I’d be sorry. He deserved to die, and maybe worse.”
“I’m not sure I could find anything to charge her with. They played the game well: the strangers on a train, or in this case, lift. How they ever convinced each other to kill for one another, I’ll never know.”
“Sometimes the desire for revenge is really strong. Wouldn’t you want to kill the person who killed your wife?”
“Who killed my wife?”
“Well, you know what I mean. If you think you’re killing your sister’s murderer, you couldn’t say you wouldn’t want revenge.”
“I would want justice and not revenge. I couldn’t murder someone in cold blood. Could you?”
She looked away. Shit. He had forgotten that she had killed Marcus Masters. That must be what she was so upset about.
“I wouldn’t think anyone I knew was capable of murder but I guess we all could be. Oh, Theo, why does life have to be so complicated?”
“I don’t know. What I do know is this,” said Theo, “I now have thirty-two more cases to clean up. I hope the families can find some peace in all this.”
“I hope so. We all could use a little peace. I could be—” Sophia’s mobile let off a chime. She pulled it from her jacket pocket and stared at the screen for a few minutes. Her eyebrows creased. “I have to go.”
“Oh? Is everything all right?”
“I have something to deal with,” she said, and gulped down the last of her coffee. “I hope you find all the bodies.”
She made a fast sprint toward her car.
“Do you—” he started but she didn’t turn around.
“Well, good-bye until next time,” he said to himself and walked over and stood by Dorland.