The Killing House

by Claire McGowan

  ‘I promise. You’re doing the right thing.’ She wanted to ask more about the dead girl, her resemblance to Carly, but remembered Corry’s advice about not pushing, and held off.

  Corry was waiting in the corridor when Paula went out, shutting the door gently behind her. ‘Well?’

  Paula gave a subtle thumbs up.

  ‘You’re kidding me.’

  ‘Nope. She’ll do it.’

  ‘Maguire, whatever they’re paying you in London, I hope it’s enough. Let’s go and order a helicopter.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Since Paula was the one who had persuaded Mairead to go ahead with the meeting, Corry allowed her to go out on the operation. ‘But stay with the second team, OK? Willis Campbell would have my hide if he thought I’d put you in the front line. You can observe but you’re to stay in the van at all times.’ The first team would be shadowing Mairead to her meet-up with her brother, scheduled to take place in a quiet clearing in the woods near the Red Road farm. The second would swoop in once the helicopter, hovering over the border area, had identified Paddy leaving from one of the farmhouses they had under surveillance. They’d found five in the vicinity that seemed promising, and one, abandoned after its elderly owner went into a home, that was the most likely bet.

  Mairead was in the incident room, her face like a sacrificial victim’s. Paula felt a stab of terrible guilt – how could they make the woman do this? At least she was going along too. That seemed only right, that she wouldn’t sit back here and wait in safety while Mairead went out to meet him. And it was the only way to get Carly back. Mairead wore trainers and jeans, a black zip-up hoody, no make-up. As if trying to make herself as small and pale as possible. ‘What’s going to happen?’ She looked round nervously at the Tactical Support team gearing up, the room reeking of machismo and banter. The women on the team were just as bad as the men.

  Corry spoke soothingly. ‘You’ll drive yourself as near as possible to where you said you’d meet.’ Mairead had texted Paddy in a carefully worded message the night before. No reply. He’d know they could trace the phone if he used it again. ‘We’ll be following behind from a safe distance, and officers will also fan out through the woods. Meanwhile, once we get confirmation of which farm he’s at, our second team will move in and hopefully get Carly back.’

  ‘And if we don’t?’

  There was no good answer to that. ‘We’ve planned it as carefully as we can. I’m confident we’ll succeed.’

  ‘Do you have guns?’ Mairead asked.

  ‘We all have them as a matter of routine here, as you may know. Not like in England.’

  She nodded, as if slightly appeased. ‘He’ll have one, I bet. He was always into guns. Like some kind of gangster, he thought he was.’

  ‘We’ll be just nearby. I promise.’

  Mairead took a deep breath. Paula knew she was witnessing someone about to go through the most terrifying ordeal of her life. Meeting her own brother. Again she wondered what had happened between the Wallace children. To scatter them like this. To make Mairead run and hide herself, and Aisling too, if she was even alive. She dropped a hand on Mairead’s shoulder and the woman flinched. ‘You’re very brave,’ she said quietly. Mairead set her jaw and looked away.

  ‘It’s time,’ said Corry, who was also dressed in her field clothes, a stab vest and black hat hiding her blond hair. ‘Maguire, you stay behind and go with the next convoy.’

  Paula watched them walk out, Mairead’s slight figure lost in the crowd of officers with their guns.

  Not long after, she too was on her way with the second team, driving in an unmarked minivan out of town, through the weekday traffic and quickly out into the wilds, the fields and bogs and forests that surrounded Ballyterrin. A million places to hide a body, bury it so it might never be found again. Gerard was beside her, disgruntled at being sent away from the action, compensating for it by trying to tell the police driver, a huge country fella, the quickest ways out of town. There were also three other officers Paula didn’t know, all burly and grim-faced. She felt very out of place.

  ‘You’ll want to take the bypass, Market Street does be bunged at this time.’

  Paula nudged Gerard. ‘Leave it, Monaghan, or you’ll be out and walking.’

  Gerard scowled. ‘This is the crappy assignment. We don’t even know if the girl will be there.’ They were waiting for the radio to come to life with info from the helicopter team. ‘Dunno why Corry put me on this. I’ve proved myself over and over to her. Cool head, good shot, what more does she want?’

  ‘Relax, would you? If we find Carly you’ll get all the glory, saving the missing girl and all that.’

  He pouted a bit more. ‘Suppose.’

  ‘Anyway, you’re getting married soon. Maybe she wanted you safe and sound, you know.’

  ‘She’s not my mammy, Maguire.’

  ‘Ah, but you’re her wee darling boy all the same,’ she teased. The other officers chuckled softly. Gerard slumped, cross. The radio crackled and he sat bolt upright but it was the driver who answered, slow and steady.

  ‘Unit Two. Aye. Aye. Copy.’ Then he started the van. They’d been idling in a siding off the motorway, cars whizzing past at way past the speed limit, then slowing down ostentatiously when they saw the van. Everyone knew the police sometimes sat in unmarked vehicles to catch motorists – but today they had another agenda.

  ‘What did they say?’ Gerard demanded of the driver.

  ‘It’s where we thought. That ould farm out the Dundalk road. Van left there three minutes ago heading towards the forest.’

  ‘Let’s go then.’

  They were already going, of course. The driver raised his eyebrows at Paula in the mirror, and Paula smiled indulgently to herself. She’d missed Gerard and his Miami Vice antics. She’d missed a lot of things about working here, she realised.

  The abandoned farm was only a few miles away, down a twisty dirt track and over a cattle grid. There were no other houses anywhere near, just fields and trees sighing uneasily in the breeze. She could see why Wallace had chosen it. ‘Careful now,’ said Gerard, as the team climbed out. ‘He might not be acting alone. Maguire, stay in the van.’

  She’d known she’d have to do that, but it still stung, watching them move out in formation across the farmyard, towards a series of dilapidated barns. The farm looked dead and abandoned, but the smell of animals still permeated it. A sad and barren place, the wind blowing right off the mountain. The driver in the front was a solid, silent presence she was glad of. She nodded to the silent radio. ‘Anything from the other team?’

  He just shook his head, calm, and she sat back, drumming her fingers on the side of the car. It was hard, to be caught up in the adrenaline of a raid, but not allowed to join in under pain of the worst Corry could come up with.

  Jesus! A hand banged against the window, and Paula looked out, startled, to see a white face staring in at her, and a figure shivering in a cheap denim jacket. ‘Carly! Can you . . .’ The driver unlocked the door and she opened it. ‘My God, get in, get in! Where did you come from?’

  ‘Over there. The shed.’ Her teeth were chattering. ‘He left it open. He didn’t lock it this time. I thought, the van – I thought it was him coming back. Then I saw you and I ran. Please, get me out of here!’

  ‘You’re safe now. In you get.’ The driver was already on the radio as the girl huddled down in the back of the van, murmuring in his unhurried way, while Paula’s heart was hammering. Carly looked unhurt, no obvious injuries, no blood on her clothes.

  ‘What do you mean, she’s there?’ Gerard crackled, over the radio.

  Paula shouted, ‘She came up to the van! She’s fine.’ Paula looked at Carly again. ‘Are you fine?’

  She nodded, still shivering. ‘He just locked me up. It was horrible, and freezing at night, but he didn’t like, hurt me.�
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  Gerard’s voice, over the crackling radio, sounded almost disappointed. ‘There’s nobody here. Some food and stuff in the kitchen but otherwise no one’s been here in years, by the looks of it.’

  ‘Let’s get Carly back home so Forensics can go in. She’s freezing, poor girl.’

  Carly looked up at Paula, her blue eyes burning. ‘Where’s my mum?’

  Chapter Eighteen

  The ride back to the station was tense. The radio remained stubbornly silent, giving out nothing but static. Paula told herself this was normal. Sometimes, in an evolving situation, a team didn’t have time to check in. But it should have gone smoothly. The forest had been crawling with cops. They should have been easily able to swoop in and lift Paddy Wallace as soon as he and his sister made contact, bring Mairead back to safety and her daughter.

  ‘Where’s my mum?’ said Carly again. Paula had given the girl her own jacket to wear but she was still shaking, though it wasn’t particularly cold. Shock, probably.

  ‘She went to talk to your uncle. He said he’d give you back if she did.’ Paula glanced at Gerard. ‘We . . . we’re just waiting to hear from the other team who went with her.’

  ‘Why did he even take me?’ Carly burst out. ‘I just wanted to find my family – she’d never tell me anything about them. He got in touch, he was nice. My uncle. And he came to the house and I made him tea, and next thing he pointed a gun at me.’

  Paula gently lifted Carly’s sleeve and nodded when she saw the healing gash on the girl’s wrist. The blood in the lift had likely come from that. ‘You tried to run?’

  ‘Course I did. I saw he was weird. What’s the matter with him?’

  ‘Carly, the reason your mum took you away from all this, from Ireland, from this town – well, it’s because her family were mixed up in some pretty bad things. Your uncles were both involved in the IRA. One’s in prison here in town, and Paddy, he’s been on the run for years now. This is the first time he’s surfaced since the nineties.’

  Carly looked baffled, as well she might. ‘So where’s my mum now? Did you go with her to meet him? Because he’s not right in the head, you know.’ Her Liverpool accent rose, panic suffusing her voice.

  Paula was aware of the uncertainty in her own tone. ‘We shadowed her. He was very clear she had to go alone. We planned to tail them, then monitor the situation and arrest him.’

  ‘And? Did you?’

  Paula and Gerard exchanged another glance. ‘I . . . we’re still waiting to hear, Carly.’ She managed not to tell the girl none of this would have happened if she’d stayed put like she was supposed to, accepted her mother’s lies as the protection they were, not gone seeking the family Mairead had done everything to run from. She had to try and understand. What if Maggie had questions one day, like Carly had? About who her grandmother had been, and where she’d gone? About exactly who her father was, and what had become of the man who’d been her daddy for two years? ‘I’m sure we’ll hear something soon. Look, we’re almost back at the station. You’re safe now. Let’s get you some clothes and something hot to eat, how about that?’

  Carly was panicking. ‘I don’t care about that. Where is my mum? What are you not telling me?’

  Just then the radio went and the driver spoke, so low Paula could not hear what was said. ‘Is that . . .’

  ‘It’s the station.’

  ‘And . . .’

  He met her eyes in the mirror, glanced at Carly and shook his head. A warning. Whatever had happened to the other team, it was not something they should say in front of the girl.

  They just had to wait. The control centre would tell them very little, and gradually rumours filtered in. Something had gone wrong. Someone was shot. The team had gone out of contact. Paula and Gerard paced the floor of the office, clock-watching. An hour had ticked by, and Carly had been despatched to hospital for a check-up, when finally the incident room door opened and Corry limped in. Paula could see from her face things were bad. ‘What happened? Oh my God.’ Under the body armour, her boss’s white shirt was spattered in blood.

  ‘Calm down, it’s not mine. Poor Hanrahan. God love him. We had to drop him off at hospital. He’s a bullet through his chest.’

  ‘What happened?’

  Corry sighed. ‘An almighty fuck-up, that’s what. I have to go and brief Willis in a minute. A few of the other lads are injured too.’

  ‘He had other people with him?’ She couldn’t imagine one man doing all this damage, not to a team of six officers.

  ‘That’s the worst of it, Maguire. He didn’t. Just that one fella. He was waiting for us – he’d guessed what we were planning. Mairead was hardly even out of the car, but as soon as we pulled up there he was. Put a bullet in Hanrahan and before we could track the source he’d got Mairead. Must have dragged her off into the forest, under our noses. We looked everywhere but they’d vanished. We had no one to stay with the van, Hanrahan was the driver, so we couldn’t radio. It was . . . a difficult situation. We had to rush him straight to hospital.’

  ‘Jesus Christ.’ She’d done this. She’d convinced the woman to go through with it, and now she was gone. ‘But how could Wallace just disappear? We had officers all over the place.’

  Corry grimaced. ‘The Ghost. That’s what they used to call him, aye? Well, I can see why. He knows that land inside out – he’ll have spent most of his life hiding from Army patrols out there. We underestimated him, Maguire.’

  ‘This is bad.’ Paula shook her head. ‘We walked her right into it. Willis will want to see all the risk assessments. We might even be looking at suspensions.’ And it had been her persuasion that made it happen.

  ‘I know. The press will crucify us for this too.’ Corry heaved a sigh, easing off the straps on her armour. ‘I hear Carly’s safe and sound, anyway.’

  ‘Well, yes, but she’s pretty worried about her mum. She knows something’s not right.’

  ‘I don’t get it. Why would he let us take Carly back so easily? She wasn’t even locked in, I heard?’

  ‘No. He’d been keeping her in one of the outbuildings, giving her food and a mattress, not mistreating her. Then when he went he unlocked her.’

  ‘Why?’

  Paula had been thinking this over. ‘He was one step ahead of us the whole time. It was Mairead he wanted all along, and he was prepared to give Carly up to get her. Maybe Carly was just the lure in bait and switch – no real interest to him. It was his sister he was after.’

  ‘The question is – why? What is it about that family?’

  Paula just shook her head, imagining what she’d say to Mairead, if she ever saw her again. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. She’d thought it would be safe, that he’d be outnumbered, that they could protect Mairead with their firepower and tactics and back-up teams. Stupid. She’d forgotten the number one rule – it was those closest to us who could hurt us the most.

  The indignant figure of Willis Campbell appeared in the doorway, bristling from his shiny shoes to his even shinier hair. ‘DI Corry. My office, please.’

  Corry didn’t even roll her eyes. Paula had never seen her so broken down. ‘Will you do me a favour and call your wee pal at the hospital? I need to know how Hanrahan’s doing.’

  Margaret

  ‘Aisling?’ She whispered the name as the door opened, the noisy clunk of it making her stomach contract in terror. Light flooded in, letting her see the full squalor of the place she was in. Bare ground, and over in the corner some dark rusty stains she knew in her stomach were blood. People had died in here, many times. Soon it would be her turn. But no. She was still alive, she had to focus on that.

  A figure stood in the doorway, silhouetted against the light so she couldn’t see who it was. A young girl. ‘Aisling, is that you?’

  It wasn’t, she knew it already. Her spine bristled with fear. The new girl moved forward, p
ulling the barn door closed behind her, tugging on the string so the bare overhead bulb lit up. It was worse than nothing, these little snippets of the outside she got when someone came in. The smell of grass and cows, sometimes the roar of an agricultural vehicle. Out in the country somewhere, on a farm. She heard the rattle of cattle grids sometimes. She couldn’t be that far from town, she kept telling herself; surely they’d find her. Surely any minute now Edward and his lot would come bursting through the door, soldiers in camo coming to rescue her, all guns blazing. Funny how she’d started thinking of the Army as her side. To everyone else round here they were the enemy, the ones who might shoot your kids if they drove or ran too fast past a checkpoint, kill them and then face no consequences. But she’d aligned herself with them. And now here she was.

  She could see the girl now. Younger than Aisling, no more than thirteen, but they must be sisters. The same dark, shiny hair, strong nose, ice-blue eyes. Same eyes as the man who asked the questions. A family, then. How many siblings were there? ‘Hello,’ she tried. ‘I’m Margaret.’

  The girl just stared, a curious expression on her face, interested and almost excited. ‘I wanted to see you. I didn’t believe they’d a woman in here.’

  ‘Yes, and I have a wee girl just your age, and I really need to get back to her.’ A lie. Wasn’t it? She couldn’t go back to her old life now, no matter what happened. ‘So if you could help me, pet, I’d really appreciate it.’

  ‘Help you?’ She wrinkled her nose.

  ‘I know it’s your family keeping me here, but honestly I don’t know anything. I’m just a mammy, same as your mammy probably. You wouldn’t like it if someone took your mammy away, now would you?’ Had she judged it right? Maybe the girl was older than she looked. There was a hardness in her eyes that wasn’t there in Paula’s, who was always crying about something and mooning over boys or that fella off that TV show she loved, the one with the aliens. ‘Maybe you could just call someone for me, the police or—’