by Anita Waller
‘I’ve told Brent everything I know, which, believe me, is very little. I certainly didn’t know about these six properties I apparently own, unless he’s left them to some bloody dog’s home, or something.’ Her voice became more strident. ‘I knew nothing, Liz, nothing. And I certainly didn’t know he was a murderer.’
‘Julia, go. I really don’t want to know how hard it is for you. And don’t come anywhere near the funeral service tomorrow.’
Liz looked at her one-time friend, unable to say anything further. Julia turned and left, and Liz watched as she drove away. There was a squeal of brakes, a strident honking of at least two car horns, and Liz knew Julia was probably trying to drive through her tears. Liz turned away from the window, and felt a surge of anger towards Oliver Hardwick, it almost blotted out every other emotion in her.
‘Bit harsh, weren’t you?’ Dan was standing in the doorway watching her.
‘Harsh? She’s lucky I didn’t stab her.’
‘Mum, come on, this isn’t you.’ He moved into the room, and put his arms around her. ‘You’re not nasty, never have been.’
‘And I’ve never had my baby stolen before, either.’
They stood for a while, holding on to each other, lost in their own individual thoughts.
‘I’ll be so glad when tomorrow is over,’ she eventually said.
‘Me too.’
There was a knock at the door, and she spun around, expecting to see Julia once again.
It wasn’t. DI Brent was there, on his own.
Dan went to let him in, and whispered, ‘Don’t upset her. She’ll bite your head off.’
DI Brent smiled. ‘She usually does. I’ll let you into a little secret – I don’t think she likes me much.’
‘You want a drink?’
‘I’ll have a water, Dan, thanks. I’m only here because I was passing, and I thought I’d see how you’re both doing. Tomorrow will be hard.’
‘Mum’s in the lounge. I’ll bring your water through.’
Liz didn’t say anything, just waited for him to speak.
‘We had six properties to check, Liz. Six damned properties, and I felt sure we would find them, but nothing. A complete waste of time.’
She sighed. ‘No, it wasn’t. You ruled them out. And I am really grateful for everything you and your team are doing. I know I can be a bit of a cow, but it’s only when I get defensive where my family are concerned.’
‘He never mentioned a holiday home, or anything like that? I asked Mrs Hardwick, but she looks blank. I think he kept her in the dark about everything, but you were in a unique position at work. He never asked you to do any work on another home, might not even be in this country?’
She shook her head. ‘Nothing. He really was a private man, spoke only about work. Totally different to Tom, and yet I liked him. It’s why I’m having such a problem coming to terms with what he did. And it’s why I didn’t recognise him on that CCTV footage. He would never dress like that, for a start. And yet the figure was him, I see it now. Right size, right way of walking. It was the hoodie that threw me. If only I’d seen it at the time…’
‘None of us saw it, and yet we’d all met Oliver Hardwick by then, so don’t beat yourself up about it. His wife even went so far as to say we’d got the wrong man, he would never have worn leisure wear, and definitely not a hoodie.’
Dan brought in the glass of water for Brent. ‘Mum? Drink?’
‘No, I’m fine, thank you, sweetheart.’
She watched as Brent took a strip of tablets from his pocket, and popped two into his hand. ‘Not well?’ she asked.
‘Stinking headache. I can’t remember the last time I slept all night, and the last three nights have been virtually sleepless, hence the headache. It’ll soon go.’
‘You’ll be there, tomorrow?’
‘I will. Lynda and Tanya are both going to be there, as well. Can I suggest you take it easy, today? Spend time with Dan, make it the two of you. It’s going to be hard tomorrow, you’ll be leaning on each other.’
‘Do you know, DI Brent, you can be quite nice when you’re not shouting at me,’ she smiled.
‘And I could say the same about you,’ he responded, with an answering smile. He finished the glass of water and left.
‘Dan,’ she called. ‘Don’t make anything for tonight’s meal, we’ll go out to eat.’
‘Yeah!’ she heard, from somewhere distant. Right answer, Dan, she thought, right answer. Just don’t suggest KFC.
Chapter 52
The sun had no warmth in it, but it was a bright, spring-like morning. Liz and Dan sat either side of the back seat of the car following the hearse, both of them feeling as though the gap between them was a million miles. In the end, Liz reached across and clasped her son’s hand.
‘Be brave, Dan,’ she said. ‘There’ll probably be the press there, and it’s okay. It’s their job. If they get too much in your face, I’ll step in. I’m used to their invasive tactics.’
Liz saw his nod, telling her that he understood, but he didn’t say anything. She accepted that he didn’t want to speak, simply wanted his dad back again, not lying in that box in the hearse.
The cars pulled up at the crematorium, and they were both helped out. There were cameras clicking, but they ignored them, and went to take their places behind the coffin, as it rested on the shoulders of the smartly dressed men from the funeral directors.
Liz was quite shocked by how many people turned up – they had little family, and yet she recognised several people that she wouldn’t have thought to invite. They had simply come to say goodbye to Gareth, and to show support for her and Dan.
It was a beautiful, deeply moving service, and as they congregated outside after it was over, she felt a touch on her arm. It was Tom.
‘I can’t stay, Liz, I’m due in court later, but you know, don’t you? Anything you want…’
She nodded. ‘I know, Tom. And thank you.’
She watched as he went to retrieve Chloe from a lady with blue rinsed hair who she didn’t recognise, and then it was over. They were driven back to the local pub, where Liz had arranged for food to be served to anyone who returned with them, and many did. Gareth had clearly known lots of people, and they all wanted to talk about him.
Tom arrived at court with three minutes to spare, planned that way to stop anyone talking about Oliver. Word was out, but details were sparse, and Tom realised everyone would be curious. The case didn’t last long, once the prisoner changed his plea to guilty, and Tom arrived back at the office by three, intending to show his face, then depart for home. It had been a difficult day.
He went into Karen’s office, and she looked up, startled. ‘Goodness, I didn’t expect to see you back.’
He waved a file at her. ‘Can you put this for archiving, please. I think Liz uses the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet, then when she’s built up a fair number, she does them all at once.’
Karen took the file from him, and crossed the room. She opened the bottom drawer and slid it in. Then stopped.
Deeds. She’d seen enough deeds to last her a lifetime, during the long night of searching through them, and this bundle definitely looked as though it contained deeds. She pulled them out, and carried them to her desk. Tom paused in the doorway.
‘What’s that?’
‘Deeds. For a place at Mosborough. Oh, not to worry, it’s the new offices you’re going to be opening, isn’t it? I’d forgotten.’
It was as if a light bulb had exploded in Tom’s brain. He walked slowly towards her, his face set in a hard mask of rage. He was mortified when he realised he had scared Karen; his next words told her that he wasn’t directing the temper at her, but at his dead partner.
‘The bastard,’ Tom growled. ‘No wonder he said he’d take on the building work, see to everything. Get me DI Brent, quick as you can.’
Brent lay back in his swivel chair, thinking about the morning. As funerals went, it had been a good one. Not too mushy
, like a funeral should be. He briefly closed his eyes, and tried to think about what to do next. They could end up going around in circles, looking for Latimer and Jake. It needed one small break, somebody to hear a child crying in an empty house, somebody to hear shouts for help…
His phone rang.
He reached out without opening his eyes. ‘Brent.’
‘We’ve found another property.’
His eyes flew open, and he brought the chair up to its vertical position.
‘Where?’
‘Mosborough. It’s the new house we’ve bought to expand our business. It’s been Oliver’s baby from the start. I saw it once, gave him the go ahead, and let him get on with it. I’ve got keys…’
‘Meet me there. Text me the address, I can be there in five minutes.’
‘Then don’t wait for me. I’ll still come out, but get in any way you can. I’ll see that it’s made secure afterwards.’
The address came through while he was putting on his coat, and he dashed into the briefing room. ‘Right, we’ve another property to search. Tanya, Lynda, Steve, and Dave, come with me please. Steve we’ll need the Enforcer. We’ve got permission to get in any way we can.’
They were on their way two minutes later, heading down Moss Way at considerably more than the permitted forty miles an hour.
‘Where are we going?’ Lynda’s voice came from the back seat. Steve was driving, with Will Brent beside him. Tanya and PC Dave Harmer were following in a second car.
‘It’s a house owned by Banton and Hardwick as a company. It’s why it wasn’t found when they went through all their deeds. The deeds to this place were still in the office, not archived, because it’s an ongoing project. It seems Hardwick had full responsibility for it, once they had bought it, and nobody else has been near it.’
The trees flashed by, and then Steve slowed for the bad bend at the end of the road, before cruising down to the road junction.
‘Turn left,’ instructed Brent, ‘then left again at the roundabout. If you take your first left after that, we’re on the right road.’
Steve nodded without speaking, and drove at speed.
They pulled up at the bottom of a drive, and Brent got out to open the gates. They were padlocked, and he looked around for something big enough to use to smash the lock.
Steve jumped out. ‘Hang on, sir, there’ll be something in the car.’
He opened the boot and removed a small lump hammer. One blow and the padlock fell to the floor.
They were soon outside the house, with the second car following them up the short drive.
‘Right, before we go damaging the property, let’s separate and go right round the house. We’re looking for the easiest way to get in.’ The house was large, and had several outbuildings. They ignored them, choosing, for the moment, to concentrate on the house.
No windows were open, and all doors were locked. They met up again at the front door, a solid-looking piece of wood that could be difficult to breach.
‘Right, I think we should probably go through the back door. It’s not flimsy, but it doesn’t look as hefty as this brute does. Yes?’
They were all in agreement, and Steve carried the Enforcer round to the back door.
‘Right, go for it Steve. Let’s get in here.’
It took two massive swings to get the door to burst open, and bang into whatever was behind it. They looked at each other, and Brent stepped through the doorway. ‘Let’s see what we have, then,’ he growled.
Jake was asleep, and Phil was thankful. He felt drowsy; he knew he was ill, and had collapsed on to his own bed to try and clear his head. He realised it was lack of nourishment, but he would have to hope his body could get used to it. He daren’t increase his own consumption of the baby pouches, he needed them for his little boy. And while Jake was sleeping, the baby wasn’t feeling hunger pangs.
He closed his eyes and drifted into a deeper sleep. He didn’t fight it, had nothing in him left to fight anything. From a distance he heard a bang, and he stirred. He drifted off again, unable to stay awake.
Jake mumbled in his sleep, and his daddy didn’t hear him. Too many months of deprivation of everything had finally taken its toll on his body, and he lapsed into unconsciousness. His carefully worked out plan hadn’t considered his own weakness.
Brent stared around the kitchen, just looking. Oliver had proved to be a devious calculating man, and he didn’t want any surprises for his team. Brent led the way cautiously into the hall. It was dark, the only daylight coming from a small sunlight set above the front door. There were three doors leading off the right-hand wall, as far as he could see, and two doors leading off from the left. He held up a hand, and the team behind him stopped.
‘Just listen,’ he whispered. They all stood for a few seconds, and then he opened the first door on the left. It was small room, measuring no more than ten feet by ten feet, but it was lined with screens. There was other technical stuff, and Brent cautiously entered. He leaned forward to one of the monitors and clicked it on.
They sprang to life and they stared in horror at the pictures on the brightly illuminated screens. Phil Latimer was lying, unmoving, on a bed, and Jake Chambers was in a travelling cot, asleep. His arm moved, and there was a collective exhalation of breath.
‘Lynda, get me an ambulance.’
She took out her phone, and could be heard giving instructions to the operator. Lynda stressed the urgency, explaining who the victims were, and repeated the address twice.
There was a sound from the back door, and all five of them jumped, so intent were they on watching the screens.
‘DI Brent!’ Tom called, not wanting to go over the threshold without somebody saying it was okay.
‘Tom,’ Brent called. ‘Get Liz here, can you? We’ve found them. She should be at home now; the wake will be over.’
Tom backed outside and dialled Liz’s number. She answered immediately, and he quickly explained that Jake and Phil had been found. He told her where he was, and disconnected.
He re-entered the kitchen, and followed the sound of the team’s voices. They had stepped back out into the hall, and realised that the next door along was made entirely of metal.
It was locked, and had additional security of two bolts. They had already slid the bolts back, but had no way of opening the door.
‘Did you bring the keys?’ Brent asked, and Tom nodded.
‘I did, but there’s only a front and a back-door key on them. Nothing that will open that.’ He moved forward and unlocked the front door, ready for the arrival of the emergency services.
‘It must be somewhere. There were no keys with him when we found his body, so they must be here. Lynda, Tanya, can you check through that room with the monitors? Dave and Steve, can you go through the kitchen? It’s bound to be a fair size key, this is a hefty lock. I’ll head upstairs. Tom, can I ask you to go outside and look for the ambulance, and Liz.’
Tom nodded again. He walked out of the front door and continued down the drive. He heard the approach of the ambulance, and waved as it drew close. The driver stopped.
‘Front door, mate?’
‘Yes. Go straight in, but they’ve not managed to get to the prisoners yet.’
‘Prisoners?’ he looked shocked.
‘Sorry, they’ve been imprisoned. The missing man and the baby? They’ve been found, but the door is still locked. You’ll see when you get inside.’
The driver nodded, and drove to the front door. A second ambulance pulled up and Tom gave the driver the same details, watching as they moved things into the house, ready for ministering to their patients.
Tom stayed at the bottom of the drive, and less than a minute later, Liz and Dan arrived. He pointed to the side of the gravelled area.
‘Park over there,’ he said, through her window. ‘There’s half a chance we may have to send for the fire people to get through a metal door.’
She nodded, couldn’t speak.
Dan
grabbed hold of the hand nearest to him. ‘Come on, Mum, we can do this. Jake’s going to need us.’
She turned and flashed a brief smile, then drove the car to where Tom had directed.
He waited for Liz and Dan to reach him, then took them through the front door.
‘We can see Jake and Phil,’ he explained, ‘but can’t get to them unless we can find the key. They’re searching for it now.’
Liz saw Brent as she walked through the door. ‘You’ve found the key? And Oliver was definitely here. I can smell his aftershave, Creed.’
‘No, not found it yet. I’ve already called the fire service in, I think they’ll have to cut through it. Come here, Liz.’ He took hold of her hand, drawing her gently into the room with the monitors.
She watched her son, still sleeping, for the first time in what seemed an eternity. ‘Jake,’ she breathed his name.
As if in response to her voice, the baby moved his arm. Liz’s smile lit up the room.
‘And Phil? He’s not woken?’ She could see him lying on the bed, unmoving.
‘No. The ambulance men are waiting to get to him, but we can’t do anything without that damn door opening.’
Her heart lurched. She couldn’t lose him, not again. This man who had been keeping their child alive, he had to get through this.
‘This is the dumb waiter,’ Brent said. ‘This is how he managed to keep Phil and Jake alive without Phil knowing who he was. Clever little contraption, could only be operated from up here, not down in the cellar.’
He led Liz to what appeared to be a small cupboard in the corner of the room. ‘I know this is a Victorian house,’ he said, ‘but this looks like a new construction. I don’t think for one minute it’s an original feature. He certainly planned this well.’
‘I’m still struggling to believe it. This isn’t the Oliver I’ve known for all these years.’ She turned to look at Tom. ‘Tom?’
‘I agree. And the worst part is, I didn’t notice any changes in him, not even these last few days when he clearly knew he would be dead shortly. I can’t begin to imagine what must have been going through his mind, because nothing showed outwardly. He said no goodbyes, not even in his letter – what caused such a massive personality change? I know he blamed you, Liz, but really you did nothing.’