by Jay Nadal
“And how long has this been going on?” Abby pointed her pen in Lucy’s direction.
Lucy rolled her eyes towards the ceiling as her mind reflected. “A good few months, six, maybe more. I hooked up with Freddie first. But Freddie being the insatiable type couldn’t keep his hands to himself.”
“Has anything happened between the three of you that perhaps could account for Hailey’s sudden disappearance?”
Lucy shook her head vehemently. “Erm…I don’t think so.”
“You don’t sound so certain,” Scott probed. “We haven’t really got time to mess about any more. Hailey’s disappearance is causing a lot of heartache for her friends and family. You need to tell us anything that you may know. We take a dim view of withholding information,” Scott said firmly.
“Hey, listen. I’ve got no beef with anyone. It’s Hailey that has the problem. I think she was getting a bit too clingy and thought this relationship she had with Freddie was a big deal. The fact is Freddie and I are free spirits. It just so happens that we both really love sex.”
“Hailey is a very attractive girl, and we both fancied her. She was very willing to please Freddie. He suggested getting it together with me as well. Hailey was a little reluctant, to begin with, but with a few drinks inside her she was game.”
Scott’s phone beeped. He pulled it from his chest pocket and gave the message a cursory glance before raising an eyebrow and tutting. Abby glanced at him curiously and pursed her lips.
“That’s nearly all, for now. Just a few last questions. Did you and Freddie ever fight?”
“No. We were either too pissed or off our faces to bother getting angry.”
“How about with Hailey. Did you fight with her? Or have any disagreements with her?”
“I had no need to. She did phone me a few times a little upset, to tell me how much she loved Freddie but I didn’t really have time for her sob stories.”
Scott and Abby strolled back through the campus grounds. The calm open space and shaded greenery offered a stillness and serenity that was in marked contrast to the notions and theories that rolled around inside Scott’s head.
Freddie was a darker character than Scott initially assumed. Whilst interviewing Lucy, a message from Raj had informed him that Freddie had kicked off in the cells and had needed restraining. His aggression had escalated towards one of the female officer’s restraining him. From Raj’s observations, Freddie had shown a particular aggressive tendency towards the female officer than her male colleagues. He had referred to the female officer as a slag just like his girlfriend, and that they were all worthless pieces of shit.
Why had Hailey got mixed up with someone like Freddie, a man who showed very little loyalty or respect towards women?
10
He reflected on his last acquisition. “Hailey, Hailey, how sad, how tragic that you had to leave us so early. We were only just getting acquainted, but needs must, and I needed to move on. I hoped you would have stayed a bit longer. We both did, didn’t we, Sally?”
The laptop screen was awash with dozens of Hailey’s photos taken as he’d stalked her. She’d been unaware of the stealth tactics he’d employed, as he moved in the shadows, blending into the surroundings until the ideal opportunity presented itself.
He’d tracked her for weeks, monitoring and recording her every move. He’d enjoyed watching her many visits to Charcoal Grill and Perfect Pizza Express on Lewes Road to grab the student special deals. She’d never seen him on the many occasions that he’d hunched on the floor. To the average person walking past, he was just another homeless vagrant begging for spare change. He’d dressed in tatty jeans and an old overcoat that he’d bought from a second-hand clothes store in Trafalgar Street, in the heart of the North Lanes.
Her every move had been captured on camera, especially her weekly visits to the nail and beauty bar opposite the Spar. He loved the fact that she took so much pride in her appearance. Her eyebrow appointments, manicures and pedicures just made her even more delectable. He hadn’t been disappointed when he’d finally captured her. His mind spun faster than a washing machine spin cycle as he’d carefully removed her sandals to reveal her slender toes with painted toenails. The deepest of red shades glistened under the light.
The box was almost ready to receive its next resident. A thin rubber hose hung through a hole he’d drilled in the lid of the container. It would be connected to an inverted water bottle allowing water to empty into the mouth of his next captive if he felt generous. This would allow him to keep his captive longer if Sally liked her. He liked to learn. He wanted the container to evolve and extend his pleasure. For that reason, he’d drilled a few holes in the metal sides. They’d allow air in, but he would enjoy the pleasure of inhaling the pungent odours of human sweat and bodily fluids that would no doubt escape. He looked forward to taking in their smells, their sweat, piss and shit.
He wanted a new friend to touch, to stroke, to hold. The excitement swirled in his mind and sent shivers like 240-volt lightning bolts racing down his spine. He wanted to watch the way his next victim would squirm away from his hands as he reached out to them. He liked that thought. He liked it a lot. Pain for her, pleasure for him. Captivity for her, a release for him.
He laughed at Hailey’s final moments. Robbed of lucid thought; she relented, allowed him to worship her body one last time. He couldn’t wait to lie down and smell the fresh scent of a woman, and to feel her smooth skin on the tips of his fingers. There would be no one to hear her except him, no one to understand her plight except him.
He knelt down by the container and felt the raw excitement swell within him. His hands shook as he leant forward and stroked the cold metal. It was now ready to receive its new guest. Every square centimetre inside and out had been meticulously cleaned twice over with bleach wipes, the faint smell of ammonia lingered and tightened his lungs. “I’m glad you like my creation, Sally. After all, you helped me to get here. I did exactly as you asked, and now we’ll receive new blood, the nectar of life, and I promise that this one will be even better than Hailey.”
His eyes widened as he stared into the darkness of the box, the emptiness teleporting his mind back in time. “Fuck you, you little bitch.”
His voice was low, guttural and consumed with rage. “I love you, fuck you. I love you with all my heart, no one understands me like you, no one has ever listened to me like you have. You’re mine forever.”
He climbed in, and slowly pulled the lid down over himself and inhaled, closing his eyes and embracing the darkness. He curled his legs up to his chest and clung onto them, pulling them tight into his body. Light punctured through the holes that he’d drilled in the walls, a tantalising treat that offered a connection with the outside world.
It was the only place he could hide from those who should have loved him. Their voices filled his head. “We’ll show you. You think you can spy on us, you little shit.” And then he was falling, falling down the stairs. Two hands had firmly connected with his back. Pain raced through his body, and then she was sitting on his back, laughing, slapping him. “You pervert.” Laughter echoed around him.
He remembered the nice teacher at school that had kept him warm with a blanket whilst they waited for the ambulance to arrive. The weeks in hospital were nothing more than a shadowy recollection. It had taken many months of rehabilitation to help him walk again. His parents had been told about a brain trauma, and how some of his critical thinking would never return. They had spoken about neurochemical imbalances, but he had never really understood what it all meant.
The darkness of the container and the eerie chill jolted him. He could feel the anger surge once again deep within his belly, the rage that stiffened every muscle as he lay in the box. He forced himself to think of his next captive, smiling as he touched her, smiling as she gave herself to him.
The next opportunity couldn’t come quick enough. He needed to prove to Sally that he loved her and would do anything for her. She had always
told him to be more expressive in how he felt, and to find new ways to connect with people. “If you’re happy, then I’m happy,” she had told him. Sally always knew what to say to make him feel better.
He reached and felt the stiffness in his groin. He throbbed and twitched, desperate to be touched, desperate to feel skin on skin once again. He would show them all the closeness he was capable of giving. He wasn’t a pervert. He’d loved girls as he’d grown up. He loved women; he loved Sally.
He’d show them time and time again. The process needed to start soon, Sally demanded it, and he was keen to please.
11
It was news that any investigating team never wanted to hear. The team had been scrambled late in the evening following the reports of a body being discovered.
Scott’s mind buzzed as he approached the scene. The headlights from his car danced in the blackness as he cautiously drove down the single lane track. Tall shrubbery lined his route, occasionally breaking to expose fields beyond. With his headlights providing the only illumination, the road felt claustrophobic, as darkness wrapped around him from all sides.
He had been preparing a meal for the evening. Cara was due to join him following an extended shift at the mortuary. An evening of good food, wine and amazing company had been something Scott was looking forward to. He’d gone to the effort of preparing his signature dish, piri-piri marinated butterfly chicken and wild rice, to only throw it back in the fridge disappointed.
Blue strobe lights punctured the darkness ahead of him. The rhythmic pulses of blue light bounced off the surrounding trees and woodland, momentarily shaping the blackened wilderness.
Scott pulled up behind a long line of emergency vehicles. A fire brigade appliance, an ambulance, a paramedic car and several police cars formed an orderly queue on the grass verge ahead of him.
Mike and Helen had been on the late shift when the call had come through. They were the first members of the team to be on-site. Scott stood by the scene guard just as Abby pulled up behind his car. Scott signed in on the scene log and grabbed a packet that contained the white paper disposable overalls, gloves and blue plastic overshoes.
“I was literally just nagging the kids to have their showers and get ready for bed. Any more on what we’ve got?” asked Abby as she signed in and grabbed a pack.
“I know as much as you. Cara was due to head over to me this evening. She’s somewhere over there,” he said, nodding in the direction about twenty yards ahead where a series of bright arc lights lit up the darkness in amongst a group of trees.
A section of wired fencing by the side of the road had been cut by the fire service to enable easy access to the wooded copse and the body. They climbed the shallow grassy incline that led further into the distance. In the absence of street lighting and housing, Scott’s and Abby’s torches barely punctured the blanket of darkness.
Scott squinted as they came under the piercing glare of the arc lights that had been set up by SOCO. Matt Allen the crime scene manager was overseeing the evidence gathering, whilst Mike and Helen compared notes and observed from a distance.
Scott could see the figure of a slim woman slumped between two trees. The tightness of the ropes had stopped her body from falling forward, her knees hovered a few inches above the ground. Her head hung forward and matted dark hair hung over her face like an ill-fitting wig, obscuring her face.
“What have you gathered so far, Mike?”
Mike adjusted the mask over his mouth. “Guv, the local farmer discovered her a few hours ago. Well, to be precise his dogs did. He’s pretty cut up, to be honest. He doesn’t come over to this part of his land that often, but was doing a quick sweep for fly tippers who’ve been getting onto his land recently.”
“What have we got in the surrounding area, other than his farm?”
“Local officers have said there’s the Happy Valley riding school on the other side of the road a bit further up, and that’s about it. It’s a single lane track, primarily used for people to access the riding school and for the farmer and his staff.”
The irony didn’t go unnoticed as Scott looked around. Happy Valley…hardly. “Is it Hailey?”
“We can’t be certain yet, Guv. She’s too messed up. But my hunch is it could well be.”
Scott nodded in agreement. From his vantage point she certainly seemed to match the height weight and description.
“Helen’s already lost a dinner tonight,” Mike said as he looked at a sheepish Helen who hid behind her face mask. “You need to go around the front and have a look.”
Abby had already gone round to the front and stood from a distance to look at the victim. Her eyes winced and narrowed as she saw Scott approaching. She shook her head in disgust. The woman’s body was peppered with small random flesh wounds. The majority of them appeared to be confined to her legs. Scott stopped in his tracks as he caught sight of a huge laceration wound across the front of her abdomen and parts of her intestinal tract hanging down towards her pelvis. His eyes tracked up from her navel to her shoulders. Dark rivers of blood had congealed and dried to form streaky trails that snaked down her body.
Any thoughts of a cosy dinner with Cara were well and truly extinguished as his stomach swirled.
“What the fuck!” Scott folded his arms as he tightened his fists deep into his armpits. The positioning of her body and the way in which she had been bound suggested some form of torture or crucifixion.
Two scenes-of-crime officers covered head to foot in white gingerly made their way around the body. One officer took swabs and samples, the other marked out crucial markers of evidence on the earth before the bright flash of her camera captured the area in detail.
Scott watched Cara go about her meticulous review of the body. She moved gracefully and respectfully around the body as if she endeavoured to avoid rousing the deceased. She took a few steps closer to the body before stepping back to add further notes to her records. She circled the body several times, paying attention to the smallest of details, giving her utmost best in deference to the life lost.
Matt Allen joined Scott and Abby. “Sometimes you think you’ve seen it all, and then life throws a curveball like this. I guess you want the initial findings?” Matt asked not looking up from his notes that he’d written in partial darkness.
“Well, we’re hardly waiting for a bus, are we mate?” Scott said on a heavy sigh.
“No. I guess not, Mr Grumpy.”
Matt’s assessment of Scott’s mood was accurate, to say the least. On a night off, getting called out to a job was an accepted but unwelcomed norm.
“Dr Hall can properly confirm this during the post-mortem, but early indications suggest the victim has been here for more than twelve hours. More likely she’s been here nearer to twenty-four. The lacerations and damage to the skin’s surface on the lower half of her body look like they’re primarily due to animal activity. There is evidence of puncture wounds, bite marks, small bits of flesh have been torn off.”
“So foxes, rats and other yucky creatures have been getting a free meal?” Abby asked as her shoulders shuddered at the thought.
“Yep, pretty much. The laceration marks around her shoulders and arms are more likely from birds.” Matt chewed on the top of his pen before pointing in the direction of the body as he allowed his thoughts to process the scene.
Cara gingerly retraced her steps out of the immediate crime scene to join the others. She pulled her shoulders back and took in a large lungful of air. “Not a pretty sight, unfortunately, Scottie. I can examine her properly when I get her back. Early indications suggest death more than twelve hours ago. Livor mortis is present in the lower limbs, primarily the thigh and knee section where they’re bent back at near ninety degrees. There’s also some present in the shin region. The primary cause of death was excessive blood loss. You can’t see too well from here but she’s got a deep wound to her neck. I’m almost certain her artery has been severed judging by the amount of blood loss.”
“Age?” Scott asked.
“Hard to tell,” Cara pondered. “Late teens to early twenties. Again, I can’t be certain under this light, but she does look young.”
Can we glean anything from the way in which she’s bound? Abby asked.
“That’s hard to tell at the moment. We’ll look at rope fibres once she’s down,” Matt replied.
“Helen, first thing tomorrow, contact the Happy Valley riding school, and see if they’ve noticed anything suspicious in the last twenty-four hours. Find out if they have CCTV covering the front. Is there anyone over there now?”
“Yes, Guv. Uniform have already checked. It’s locked up at night. The owner lives on-site around the back of the main unit. She’s not heard a thing and was visibly shaken on hearing the news.”
Other than the illumination from the arc lights and blue strobes from the road, the darkness offered few clues. From their location, Scott found it hard to survey the full crime scene in relation to its surroundings. He deduced, whoever had disposed of the victim knew the area well or had spent some time looking for sites where concealment would delay the discovery of their handiwork. SOCO would be there throughout the night and into the next day gathering evidence and recording the scene. The scene would be secured which would give him and the team the opportunity to review the site in daylight.
Scott stared at the body for some time. Random reasons raced through his mind. Was this a random killing? Or did it have an undercurrent of some type of ritualistic behaviour?
12
A renewed energy reverberated amongst the team as they gathered around the incident board. At first light, Scott and Abby had met at the location where the body had been discovered. It had given them both an opportunity to review the crime scene in much greater detail, and its proximity in relation to the surrounding landscape and buildings.