by Helen Phifer
Forty-One
Morgan felt like a criminal sneaking into the station. She used the door that the office staff tended to use, which wouldn’t take her past the parade room, duty sergeant and inspectors’ office. She slipped up the fire escape staircase to the third floor, where the CID office was located – on the second floor the major enquiry room was now being utilised, and she saw the back of Claire’s head and heard Tom’s voice as she passed. Keeping her head down, she carried on upstairs to their office. Amy and Des were the only ones in there. They both looked up at her.
‘How’s Ben?’
‘Okay, broken ribs and bruised but he’s in good spirits. He wants us to concentrate on the area where Charlie and Macy lived. He doesn’t think that Macy, or her body, is in the woods and neither do I.’
Des blew a long breath out. ‘It’s supposed to be all hands on deck downstairs. They have their knickers in a twist about Ben, and the girl still being missing.’
Amy looked at him. ‘Tough, they have enough officers. We’re doing what Ben, who is our superior, has asked us to do. Morgan, I know this is a bit of a sore point but how well do you actually know that Fin guy?’
‘Why?’ Morgan didn’t know where Amy was going with this, but already she felt defensive.
‘Well he’s not from around here, is he? He made a beeline for you, and it’s a bit funny how he turned up and we had a dead girl turn up and another missing. Has anyone checked him out on the system? For all we know he could be an RSO.’
‘He’s a journalist and an arsehole, Amy, but I don’t think he’s a registered sex offender, if he’s all over the front page of the newspapers celebrating his crappy book deal. Don’t you think they’d bring it up?’
‘Not if they didn’t know that he was. Maybe he’s left a string of dead kids around the country and he’s clever.’
‘Oh God, I hope not, please let this be way off the mark. I can’t do anything. If I look him up or were to speak to him, he’d put a complaint in before I’d left his street. We didn’t part on the best of terms last night.’
Amy giggled. ‘Jesus, you did have a busy night. No, you better not look him up, cos if he makes a complaint they’ll suspend you without a second thought, but I can, or Des can. We’ll do some digging and go speak to him. When was the last time you were actually in his flat? Could he be hiding Macy there?’
The room was starting to spin and Morgan felt as if she was going to pass out. This wasn’t the time for her hangover from hell to kick in. ‘A couple of days ago.’
‘Did you go there after Macy went missing?’
‘I don’t think so. No, I didn’t but I was with him when Ben rang about her, although not for long.’
Amy looked over at Des. ‘What do you say, Desmond? It can’t hurt to go and pay him a visit, can it? We can ask him what he was doing last night as well, and where he was when Ben got attacked.’
Des shrugged.
Morgan began to log on to her computer and brought up a map of the area where Charlie had gone missing from; the alleyway where Macy disappeared from was on the same street. She crossed the room and plucked the printout from the tray and walked to the whiteboard, where she Blu-Tacked the zoomed-in map.
‘I agree it wouldn’t hurt to check him out. After all he is a newcomer, but I think whoever took Charlie and currently has Macy lives locally and knew both girls. Both girls come from similar backgrounds: single mothers, absent fathers, no close family or friends keeping an eye on them. Charlie we know spent a lot of her time out in the front street; Macy went to the shop. She walked the long way around on the way there but chanced it through the alley on the way back, which is dark and has broken street lights. Someone managed to take Macy without her kicking up a fuss and causing a disturbance. I don’t think that they would have been able to take her far without being caught. Killers quite often kill close to home the first time they actually choose a victim. We have Cloisters Lane, Bay Fell Grove and Peel Street all within close proximity to each other, all of them connect to each other. I think we need to focus our attention on Cloisters and then spread out from there. We need to physically go inside each house and check them from top to bottom. I know we checked some of the outbuildings and garages when Charlie went missing, but I’m saying that we need to actually have officers, PCSOs, us, special constables – whoever we can draft in – to go in and search every single house.’
She drew red lines along each of the streets to show them where they needed to begin, then looked around at Amy and Des.
‘What other option do we have? We all know that Macy is on borrowed time. We have to do something before it’s too late.’
Des answered. ‘But every house? That will take some manpower and time, and everyone is tied up with the search of the woods.’
‘So, we can make a start until Madds can free up officers from the next shift.’
‘We can’t possibly get search warrants for all those addresses; it would take forever,’ Des muttered.
‘We don’t need them; we’re relying on people’s good nature and willingness to help find a missing girl. If they won’t let us in to search, then what are they hiding? Those are the ones we’ll get a search warrant for. Look, time is running out, Des. I don’t see that we have much choice.’
‘I suppose not, but we better run this by the DCI and see if it needs to go higher.’
‘Can we not make a start right now, after you’ve paid a visit to Fin?’
‘Morgan, whilst I fully appreciate your input and this is an excellent idea, there are certain rules and regulations we have to abide by. I’m not sure demanding to be let in by everyone who lives in the areas you’ve marked out is going to be the most productive use of our time.’
Morgan sighed, and Amy smiled at her.
‘Well, I think it’s a great idea. I don’t see why we can’t do this. Have you got a better idea, Des?’
Des shrugged. ‘Christ knows, someone needs to run it by Tom though.’
Both Morgan and Amy said, ‘No,’ at the same time.
‘Don’t say anything to them. They won’t let us. Come on, Des, let’s get this visit to Fin Palmer out of the way. Who knows, we might find Macy there and arrest his arse without the need for knocking on all these doors.’
Des stood up. ‘I don’t know why I’m such a pushover and let you talk me into these things, Amy.’
She shook her head at him. ‘It’s called using your initiative. Ben isn’t here to give us the okay so we’re taking it on ourselves. What can go wrong? It’s just good, old-fashioned police work.’
‘What could go wrong? We could all get suspended for sneaking around.’
‘When did you turn into such a fanny, Des? Why don’t you go downstairs to the incident room and go offer to help them, if you’re that worried about it?’
‘I don’t want to; this is our team for what it’s worth.’
‘Yeah, so there you go, take it or leave it.’
‘Come on, the sooner we get this over with the better.’
They headed for the door and the same fire escape that Morgan had come in via. Amy turned to Morgan. ‘What’s his address then and what are you going to do? Why don’t you take a car and park up, wait for us to get back then all three of us will start door knocking. Grab yourself something to eat and some paracetamol. By the time we get back, you’ll feel a lot better than you look right now.’
‘He lives in a house on Steel Street near to the Co-op, number fifteen; it’s been converted into flats and he lives on the top floor and yeah, thanks. That’s a good idea, I will.’
She watched them go and then grabbed the map and a set of keys from the whiteboard. She was happy to head to Cloisters and start door knocking on her own. There was no way she was sitting in the car for however long it took them to speak to Fin and search his flat. She could have been inside and searched half of the houses by then. Opening the desk drawers, she found a packet of ibuprofen and popped two out, dry swallowing the small p
ink tablets. She hoped they wouldn’t make her throw up. She wasn’t wasting time going to get something to eat though, she was itching to start checking houses. Just knowing that she was doing something useful had already made her feel a little better. Hopefully, the tablets would kick in soon and before she knew it she’d be back on top form.
Forty-Two
Des never spoke a word to Amy all the way to Steel Street. She kept glancing at him but he was staring straight ahead at the road, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tight they looked as if the circulation had stopped.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘This, all of this, we should have run it by the boss first and got his permission. I like Morgan, she’s a good kid but she’s a walking disaster magnet. Look at Ben, he could have been killed last night. Everything that goes wrong always links back to her; she’s bad luck, Amy.’
‘Are you for real? Tell me you didn’t just say that crap and actually mean it, Des. Things have been a bit intense since she joined the team but you can hardly blame it all on her. Do you think she likes that her entire family are psychopaths? She didn’t ask for any of this. I feel sorry for her.’
‘You feel sorry for her? You don’t feel sorry for anyone.’
‘I do, I felt bad about you getting strangled. Did I not save your arse?’
‘I suppose so. I’m still blind in one eye though, because you’re a rubbish aim with the CS.’
‘God, you really are ungrateful.’
He parked the car outside number fifteen. ‘Did you see this morning’s paper?’
‘Yes, I did, and she was horrified when I told her about the story that reporter wrote about her.’
‘What if it’s her, Amy? What if Morgan’s the one kidnapping and killing kids?’
‘Why the hell would she do that, Des? Give me one good reason why you even just spoke such bollocks.’
‘You just said her entire family are psychopaths. Who’s to say she isn’t but is good at hiding it? I mean, did the killer attack Ben, or was it her?’
Amy held her hands up. ‘Stop it now, you are talking absolute rubbish. The girl who lives above Morgan witnessed it. She saw a man running away, and she had to knock Morgan up because she was sleeping off a hangover. For the love of God, if you say anything else so stupid I’ll strangle you myself.’
She got out of the car, slamming the door so loud it echoed around the deserted street. Des scrambled out after her.
‘Amy, it was just a thought.’
She held up her hand, and he didn’t speak again. She didn’t bother ringing the doorbell of Fin’s flat, instead she rang the one on the bottom and middle, not wanting to warn him they were there. After a few moments, a voice came through the intercom.
‘Yes, who’s there?’
‘Police, can you let us in, please? We’re making some enquiries.’
‘Hold on, I’ll buzz the door open.’
The door did buzz and she pushed it off the latch, walking inside with Des following behind her. The door opened on the ground floor and an elderly man poked his head out.
Des asked, ‘Thank you for letting us in. We’re trying to find a missing child. Does anyone here have children?’
‘Oh, that poor girl, her mother must be beside herself. No, not that I know of. My children are all adults with kids of their own. The middle flat is a young woman who works at the hospital, and the top flat has a posh bloke from down south in it; he doesn’t speak much.’
‘Does he have kids?’
‘No, I’ve never heard any. These flats aren’t really big enough for kids, although I suppose there are worse places.’
‘Thank you.’
Amy was already hammering on Fin’s door, and Des had to take the stairs two at a time to reach her. The door opened and standing on the other side was a semi-naked man.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Police, we’re looking for a missing girl. Can we come inside and take a look?’
He shook his head. ‘Yes, you can, but why would you think she’s here?’ He crossed his arms. ‘Did Morgan send you?’
‘Who? No, we’re here because you’re new to the area, and since you arrived we have a dead girl and one that’s been missing for over forty-eight hours. You can let us in now or we can come back with a warrant, either way we will be searching your flat, Mr Palmer.’
He opened the door wide and stepped to one side. ‘Help yourself.’
Amy walked in, tugging on a pair of nitrile gloves. Des followed her inside, apologising to Fin who was standing watching them both with a bemused expression on his face, but he said nothing. Amy opened every cupboard, drawer, wardrobe; she checked under the bed and in the bathroom.
‘Do you have an attic space, with access to it?’
He shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea, it’s not something I’ve thought about.’
Des glared at Amy, who was enjoying making Fin uncomfortable. She ignored him and carried on searching for any clues that might give them something they could use to drag him to the station for further questioning. After a thorough search of every single square inch of the small flat she had to concede.
Des smiled at him. ‘Thank you, Mr Palmer, for your cooperation, it’s very much appreciated. One last thing, where were you the early hours of this morning?’
Fin shrugged. ‘I was here, on my own. I’m not a bad person. I’m a journalist; it’s my job to write stories.’
Amy shrugged. ‘That’s your opinion, Mr Palmer.’
She walked out of the flat, annoyed that it had been clean and she hadn’t found Macy tied up in the bedroom. Neither of them spoke until they were back inside the car and Des asked, ‘What was that? Did you really think we were going to find her in there?’
‘No, but I wanted to. I wanted it to be him. Aren’t you not the least bit sick to the teeth that we haven’t found that little girl?’
‘Of course I am. It makes me feel like shit.’
‘Good, I’m glad it does.’
Amy’s phone had been ringing the whole time they had been inside Fin’s flat, but it was on silent and she’d ignored it; now Des’s was ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket.
‘It’s Tom.’
‘Don’t answer.’
‘Morning, boss.’ There was a pause. ‘Where are we?’
Amy was shaking her head at him. He shrugged.
‘In town following up on a lead; yes, I know about Ben. Oh, okay that’s fine. We were on our way back anyway.’
He slipped the phone back inside his jacket pocket. ‘Don’t glare at me, we have to go back. Tom is fuming we missed the briefing, and he said if we knew where Morgan was we are to get hold of her and tell her the same.’
‘I’ll text her. You drive back. I can’t believe you answered him.’
‘I like my job, Amy, and I want to keep doing it for a good few years yet. It’s the only thing I have in my life that makes me want to get up in a morning. If you want to throw it all away that’s down to you, but don’t drag me down with you, please.’
Realising she’d been a bit harsh, she elbowed him in the side. ‘Sorry, I like my job too. I got a bit carried away. I just wanted to find her, you know, and put an end to it all. He seemed like such a good lead, and after what he did to Morgan, writing that story about her for the papers.’
‘The man is an arse, no doubt about it, but we can’t let that distract us from doing the right thing, Amy. Claire is in charge and Tom is her second in command; they’re both experienced and have families, and I’m pretty sure they want to find Macy as much as we do. We’re on the same side so we have to work together.’
‘Yes, we do. You’re right, take us back to face the music.’
She waited for Des to start driving then sent a message to Morgan.
Nothing at Palmer’s flat. We’ve been summoned back to the nick for a briefing and Tom is on the warpath looking for you to go back as well. You have been warned, but if you want to keep watch I’ll be there as soon as I
can.
She sent it not expecting for one moment that Morgan would abandon her lookout and return for another briefing, but at least she’d warned her, and they could cross Palmer off the list.
Forty-Three
Morgan drove along Cloisters looking for a place to park. She had made up her mind to start close to Charlie’s house. Ben thought she hadn’t wandered far and neither did she. She parked the car and took out her work phone. Had anyone been and revisited the houses where there had been no reply? She scrolled through her emails on the subject and realised that there were nine houses that still hadn’t been accounted for. How had they missed this? She was furious: this had been such a simple oversight. It was a huge investigation for a relatively small police station and finding Charlie’s body had thrown them all for six, but still, what if it could all have been avoided by following up on one of these houses? Her phone was almost out of battery, so she wrote the house numbers she needed down on the back of her hand and plugged her phone into the charger and hid it in the glove compartment. She had no idea whether it would still charge or not when the engine wasn’t running but hoped that it might do something. She got out of the car. The slush around here had turned into a dishwater grey sludge and she was glad she’d worn her boots, otherwise her feet would be sodden in minutes and there was nothing she hated more than wet, soggy feet.
Pulling her lanyard out of her coat and tugging her hat down, Morgan walked to the first house on her list and knocked on the door. The occupant was an elderly woman who shuffled to the door with her hair in rollers and a big smile on her face.
‘Hello, sorry to bother you, I’m Detective Constable Morgan Brookes. We’re looking for a missing girl called Macy. Do you know anything or have you seen her?’
‘Hang on let me turn my hearing aid up. Ah, that’s better. A missing girl? Oh yes.’
Morgan held her breath in anticipation of what she might say, crossing her fingers she was going to say yes, she’s here.