by Ellis, Tim
He saw the gun, picked it up, and put it in his pocket.
‘Mr Randall?’
His heart missed a beat as he spun round to see Athena with her flunky, and Malachi Pike. The flunky forced Pike to his knees using a hand lock.
‘I thought I told you to go?’ he admonished her.
‘Yeah, like you give the orders. We heard the gunshots…’ She rushed over when she saw Molly, took off her Eskimo coat and wrapped it around her. ‘What the hell happened here, Mr Randall?’
‘You don’t want to know. Phone for the police and an ambulance, and then go. And I mean it this time. You haven’t seen anything, and you don’t know anything. Are we clear?’
‘Do the honours, Garth,’ Athena said. Her flunky pulled out a mobile phone and did the honours. She cocked her head at the kneeling man. ‘He came running out of the building like a rat up a drainpipe, what do you want us to do with him?'
Randall pulled out his gun. ‘Leave him here. Now go before the police arrive. I don’t want them asking you to explain your involvement in this.’
Athena stood up. ‘You heard Mr Randall, Garth. Let’s go.’
‘Thanks, Athena, I’ll be in contact.’
‘I know you will, Mr Randall.’
Athena and Garth left.
Randall knew he didn’t have long. He propped Molly up against the thick wooden leg of the table and went to stand over Malachi Pike. He kicked him. ‘Is there any more of you bastards?’
‘Please don’t kill me.’
‘Is that what my wife and two children said before you butchered them, you bastard?’
‘Please…’
Randall aimed the gun at Malachi’s head, but before he could pull the trigger Molly said, ‘No.’
He turned. ‘What, you’re going to take him in for questioning?’
She struggled to stand up.
He backed up with one eye on Malachi, and gave her his arm to cling to.
Once she was steady on her feet, she put her arms into the sleeves of the Eskimo coat and zipped it up. ‘As if. Give me the fucking gun.’
He passed her the gun.
She said, ‘You’d better go, you don’t want to get caught here, do you?’
‘Are you sure you’ll be all right, Molly?’
‘I have one last thing to do, then I’ll be fine… Go.’
Randall edged out of the door. Malachi’s eyes pleaded with him. As he hurried along the corridor towards the exit he heard a final gunshot.
Outside, at the end of Blood Alley, he saw the blue Astravan with the engine running.
Athena wound the window down as he approached. ‘Do you want a lift, Mr Randall?’
‘I thought I told you…’
‘Health and safety regulations stipulate that I’m required to look after the psychological and physical wellbeing of my employees.’
He squeezed in beside her. ‘I’d hate working for a know-it-all. What about a partnership?’
Athena said, ‘Do the honours, Garth.’
Garth did the honours.
‘I’m sure we can work something out, Mr Randall.’
***
Molly didn’t need to think too long about the rights or wrongs of executing Malachi Pike after what he’d done to her; she simply pulled the trigger. The back of his skull disintegrated and his face became unrecognisable.
She sat back down on the floor and waited. Tiredness, like she had never known before, seeped through her whole body. And now she had time to think about what had happened, she was ashamed. Tears streaked the dirt on her face. She had been raped, not just once by one man, but dozens of times by three men. God, how could she live with herself? How could she ever look people in the eyes again?
Her eyes began to close, and at the edge of her consciousness she heard someone walking along the corridor outside the room and a door closing. The next thing she knew, there was an intravenous canula pumping a clear liquid into the back of her left hand, and two paramedics lifting her onto a stretcher.
‘What’s happening?’ she asked.
‘It’s all right, love, we’re taking you to Hammersmith A & E.’
She saw a uniformed policeman. ‘Wait...’ she said to the paramedic. ‘Constable?’
‘Yes, love?’
‘I’m Detective Inspector Molly Stone from Hammersmith Murder Investigation Team.’
‘Oh sorry, Ma’am.’
‘Get on your radio and ask despatch to contact DS Frank Lowen at Hammersmith. Tell him to get his arse down here, and to bring forensics with him.’
‘Yes, Ma’am.’
‘In the meantime, you’re to secure the area. And don’t let anybody fucking touch anything. Where’s the gun?’
He pointed to a spot on the floor a short distance away. ‘I moved it.’
‘Okay good, what’s your name, Constable?’
‘Lampard, Ma’am.’
Nodding at the paramedic she said, ‘You can take me away now.’
The two green-suited paramedics lifted the stretcher and took her out into the corridor. It was the first time she had seen the building beyond the room, and realised that it was an abattoir. She began crying again, but in the end she was just too tired to stay awake.
She remembered nothing of the journey to the hospital. The next thing she knew was a young white-coated doctor with long black hair who smelled of her favourite perfume – Chanel No 5 – waking her up. ‘Hello Molly, I’m Dr Juliet Aspinall, I’ve carried out a full medical examination, taken photographs, and vaginal samples. I’ve also taken blood and sent them for analysis to test for Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Can you tell me what happened?’
Molly told her all that she could remember. ‘I don’t want to get pregnant, Doctor?’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll give you an injection to make sure that doesn’t happen.’
‘What about… down there, have they damaged me?’
‘No. Physically, you’ll be fine. You’ve suffered cuts and bruises. It’ll take some time, but eventually you’ll be as good as new. I doubt I can say the same for your mental condition. I’ve asked Dr Terri Roberts to come and see you, she’ll visit you on the ward later today. Terri is a gifted psychiatrist.’
Molly’s swollen eyes closed to slits and her jaw set hard. ‘I don’t need a psychiatrist. I killed the bastards who raped me, and that’s an end to it as far as I’m concerned.’
‘If you don’t want to talk to her that’s your decision, but I would recommend it.’
‘And I don’t want any visitors either. I can’t see anyone looking like this.’
‘We can put them off for the time being, but sooner or later, Molly you’ll need to see people.’
Molly burst into tears. ‘I’m so ashamed.’
‘Remember Molly, it wasn’t your fault. You’re a survivor not a victim.’
A nurse came into the cubicle with a syringe and needle. ‘Oh God, they kept me drugged.’ She felt her upper arm. ‘Don’t inject me there.’
The nurse injected her in the left thigh.
‘Do you know what they gave me, Doctor? I had trouble separating dreams from reality, and remembering things.’
‘Flunitrazepam seems the likely contender, which you would probably know by the trade name Rohypnol. Amongst other symptoms, it causes amnesia and tiredness. I need you to provide a sample of urine when you get to the ward, so that we have evidence you were drugged. I expect questions will be asked about the men you killed, and you’ll need objective evidence to support your story.
‘Fucking bastards.’
‘I’m going to send you for x-rays now, and then you’ll be taken up to the ward.’
‘I’m booked in for an MRI tomorrow at three o’clock.’
‘Oh, we don’t want two trips there, I’ll ring them and see if we can fit everything in now.’
‘Thank you, Doctor.’
‘Look after yourself, Molly Stone.’
Epilogue
Friday 13th November
Chapter Fifty-Six
‘You look like shit, Inspector,’ the Chief said sitting down on the visitor’s chair by Molly’s bed.
Thanks very much, you ugly fucking cow. ‘Thanks, Chief.’
The Chief was right though she did look like shit. The bruising had turned yellow, and the swelling hadn’t shifted. She looked like a boxer who’d been knocked out in the fifteenth round. This was the first day she’d felt able to face visitors. She’d been seeing the psychiatrist – Dr Terri Roberts – twice a day, and was coming to terms with what had happened.
‘The Commissioner says, "Hi".’
‘Say, "Hi" back, Chief.’
‘He’s pleased that you caught the killers, but not pleased that you were injured, or that you had to shoot everyone in sight.’
‘I told the…’
‘Oh, I know what you said to Professional Standards, but one thing doesn’t add up.’
‘Only one thing, Ma’am?’
‘If you’d shot everyone in self-defence, as you claimed you had, who rang 999? I’ve listened to the tape, and it’s a man’s voice.’
Molly shrugged. ‘I must have been unconscious, Chief.’
‘Very convenient. Well anyway, I’m glad you’re on the mend, Inspector.’
‘Thanks, Ma’am.’
‘Two further nuggets of information before I go. First, the Commissioner says don’t bother coming back to work until Monday 5th January next year…’
The least he could fucking do. ‘Tell the Commissioner, "Thanks very much," will you, Ma’am?’
‘Of course. And secondly, I’ve been confirmed as the new Commander of Hammersmith Murder Investigation Team.’
Oh for fuck’s sake. ‘That’s excellent news, Ma’am.’
‘I thought you’d be pleased, Inspector.’
Fucking ecstatic. ‘What about a DCI?’
‘Someone will be appointed in due course.’
‘Oh.’
‘Well, I’d better go, and don’t worry about the team while you’re away, DS Lowen can keep things ticking over.’
‘See you in six weeks, Ma’am.
***
‘How are you feeling, Gov?’
‘I feel much the same as I look, Tony, like shit.’
‘The others wanted to come, but the jobsworths here said only one person, and I drew the short straw. I’m on the fucking clock though.’
‘It’s because I can’t stay awake longer than…’ Molly’s eyes closed, and her head crashed to the pillow.
Tony laughed. ‘Yeah, good one, Gov. I see you’ve not lost your sense of humour.’
‘How are things going, Tony?’
‘We’re busy tying up the loose ends, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about the four half-brothers. Perkins and his team are still going through that abattoir. We found the room where they kept everything.’
‘Oh?’
‘Did you see much when…’
‘I didn’t see anything, Tony, just the one room they kept me in, and that’s a blur.’
‘I feel like shit as well, you know. I should have been there to protect your back.’
‘Don’t even go there, Tony. There was nothing you could have done. It was my own stupid fault. A man I thought I was in love with tricked me, and I must live with that.’
‘I still feel guilty.’
‘Anything else?’
‘In the room we found, they had a box of butcher’s axes, a stash of all in one forensic suits, Tarot cards, and some religious books. There was also a drawing on one of the walls.’ He stood up, took a handful of Polaroid photographs from his jacket pocket, and began to spread them out on the pink bedcover over her legs – there were twenty-five photographs in all. ‘It’s a ladder with twenty-two rungs.’
‘I’m not blind and stupid now, you know.’
‘Sorry, Gov.’
She started at the bottom row of photographs, picking up each one to examine its contents more closely. Underneath the ladder, the whole length of the wall, a passage from the Bible had been written:
Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! …Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it." And he was afraid and said, "This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
‘Genesis 28, 10 to 17,’ Tony said.
‘You think I didn’t know?’
‘Did you?’
‘No, but I could have done. This talks about a Stairway to Heaven…’
‘Apparently, it’s called Jacob’s Ladder.’
‘And you found no trace of Jacob Hansen?’
‘No, Gov. Forensics only found fingerprints belonging to the three that are dead, but all of them had mobile phones with Jacob in their phonebooks. We rang the number, but it’s no longer active.’
‘He was there, but I don’t think he looks anything like the photograph we had of him.’
‘And you can’t remember what he did look like?’
‘I’ve tried, but it’s just a blur.’
‘Oh well, maybe it’ll come to you when you’re least expecting it.’
‘Yes, maybe…’ She looked at the photographs again. ‘…and behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! Crap, Tony… The girls on the stairs were the angels.’
‘Yes, but look at the rungs on the ladder, Gov.’ He picked up one of the middle photographs from the second row.
She snatched it off him. ‘Has the Doctor told you I need help picking things up and connecting bits of information?’
Tony looked sheepish. ‘No, Gov.’
‘Well, sit fucking down and stop pestering me then. So, on the left of the ladder at each rung is a Hebrew letter and the corresponding Tarot card, and on the right… What are these addresses after the first…?’ As she was saying the words she realised what they meant. ‘Jesus, the bastards had already identified where their remaining victims lived, hadn’t they?’
‘Yes, Gov. All of them are two-child families – a boy and a girl.’
‘Are we’re keeping an eye on them?’
‘Yes, but for how long? The Chief thinks we’ve seen the last of Jacob Hansen.’
‘Let’s hope so, Tony.’
‘Frank asked Father Ignatius to come into the station again, and he suggested that they were creating their own Stairway to Heaven.’
‘Inspired by Jacob?’
‘He should never have been released from Broadmoor.’
‘No. I hope somebody holds the Board of Trustees accountable for their stupid decision.’
‘The Chief said your actions saved seventeen families. I’m not meant to tell you this, but you’re being put forward for a medal or something. And that reporter, Catherine Cox from the Hammersmith Herald, is turning you into a hero… or is it a heroine?’ He pulled a folded page from a newspaper out of his coat pocket and opened it up on the bed. A full-page spread about Molly Stone stared up at her.
‘Crap.’
‘I thought you’d be pleased.’
‘I don’t want people knowing my business. And the idea that I’m a heroine is ridiculous. I was only there because I was acting like a stupid lovesick teenager.’
‘Well, that’s what’s going to happen, but don’t say I told you, Gov. Act surprised when they give you the medal.’
‘Okay, what else?’
‘Doc Firestone has been examining the bodies. He says that the sexual addiction was hereditary and passed down from father to son. We also investigated Andrew Harvey, a
nd it seems that Gabriel Myers killed him and his family, and then simply stole his life.’
‘I’m feeling tired now, Tony.’
‘I don’t think I have anything else to tell you anyway, Gov.’ He stood up. ‘I’ll let you get some rest now.’ He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
‘Don’t you go telling the others you kissed me in bed, Tony Read.’
He grinned. ‘It’s a tempting offer, Gov, but I saw a nurse on my way in who looked as though she might need some Tony love.’
‘Tell everyone I’ll see them in the New Year.’
‘I will, look after yourself, Gov.’
***
‘You look like shit, Molly,’ Cole Randall said.
‘And you’re a fucking bastard. I don’t think I ever want to talk to you again.’
‘What, you’re blaming me for what happened?’
‘If you hadn’t stood me up again…’
‘It wasn’t my fault.’ He told her what had happened at Viking Wharf and she laughed until it hurt.
‘All right,’ she said wiping the tears from her eyes. ‘I’ll let you off this time. So, did you give Philly a baby?’
‘No I did not.’
‘You’re a mean bastard. Who’s this?’
‘This,’ he said waving his hand at the girl standing behind him with short black spiky hair, heavy blue eyeliner, and cherry red lipstick, ‘is Athena Izzard.’
Athena smiled. ‘Hello.’ She had on a bright red Eskimo coat with a fur-lined hood and a pair of yellow snow boots.
‘I have a coat just like that in the cupboard over there,’ Molly said.
‘I know, it’s mine.’
‘You were there?’
‘Briefly.’
‘I don’t remember, but thank you.’
‘You’re welcome.’
‘I’ll get the coat cleaned and return it to you as soon as I get out of here.’
‘No need. Keep it or throw it away, I have a few of them.’
She wondered who the girl was, and turned to look at Randall.
‘Athena is my new business partner.’
‘Excuse me?’ Molly thought she might be dreaming and shook her head.