by Lee Shepherd
Charles sat and watched over the funeral proceedings through binoculars from his parked car, a fair distance from where the coffin was being hoisted down into the freshly dug grave. And just as he expected, he immediately spotted the Chief Inspector. He also recognised another face, one he hadn’t given thought to for a very long time. It was that of his old Social worker, Brian. Although Brian had never actually physically abused him, he knew that the ex-Social worker knew all about Jim’s ways and habits, and the atrocities that were committed at the farm, yet chose to do nothing to prevent it from happening, which in Charles’ eyes made him just as guilty as Jim.
After the funeral proceedings had finished, Charles decided to follow the man and see where he would go to next. He followed him in his car all the way from Wigton to somewhere he had not been for a very long time — Whitehaven, the place in which he spent his earliest years, the place that held so many mixed emotions and memories for him. Charles barely recognised the place as he drove through it and onto the outskirts of town. He pulled up by the side of the road and sat and watched as a now portly old Brian pulled into his driveway and entered his house.
Got you, you bastard.
Charles smirked and pulled away, heading towards home.
Chapter 15
Back at police headquarters, Detective Taylor and his team, including Georgie, were working tirelessly, trying to contact the extensive list of names they had received from Social Services regarding the children that came and went from the Beattie household over the years.
As they tracked down one victim after another and questioned them over their stay with the Beattie’s, a pattern started to emerge. Nearly every one of them explained how beatings and sexual abuse were the norm in the household at that time and that, although she wasn’t a part of it, Edna knew it happened and chose to do nothing about it out of fear of her husband.
Apparently it wasn’t just Mr Beattie who was part of the systematic abuse; many of the victims informed him and Georgie how they were often given alcohol and sometimes drugged before being passed around to many visiting men at that time. Taylor was shocked to hear how some of them mentioned that the police were involved also, and stopped many of them coming forward with their allegations. The one common denominator in the majority of the children being placed into the care of the Beattie’s throughout that period seemed to be that most of them were referred there by one Social worker in particular, Mr Brian Jenkins. Detective Taylor decided that now would be a very good time to locate and speak with Mr Jenkins to find out exactly what he knew, and investigate his direct involvement with James Beattie at the time that this horrendous abuse was taking place.
***
Taylor turned and spoke to Georgie as they headed out of the station the following morning and made their way towards Whitehaven to speak with the ex-Social worker Brian Jenkins. ‘I think the minister might be onto something.’
Georgie looked at him and nodded her head. ‘It would appear so.’
She desperately hoped they may get some answers from Mr Jenkins as to why this abuse was allowed to happen, and also to see if he could point them in the right direction of who may be responsible for Jim’s death. By this point, Taylor and Georgie had managed to forget about the night they spent together at the hotel, and were now concentrating solely on having a professional working relationship until this whole case had been resolved.
As they pulled up and knocked at Brian’s house, they were greeted by him at the front door in a warm and pleasant manner. Brian informed them he would try and answer any questions they might have to the best of his knowledge, then added that what they had to remember was that it was a very long time ago so his memory may be a little hazy. Taylor, immediately sensing his evasiveness, got straight down to business and directly to the point.
‘So, Mr Jenkins, tell me exactly in what context did you know the Beatties, and why was it that you referred so many young people into their care during your time with Social Services?’
‘Well, Detective Taylor, is it? I will start by saying that I can assure you that the Beatties were thoroughly vetted before any children were placed in their care, and all manner of safeguarding measures were put in place by myself and my seniors to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the young people we cared for. As for my involvement with the family, I would regularly visit the farm to check on all the young people, who always appeared to be well looked after and nourished during their stay with the Beatties. May I ask what exactly has this got to do with Jim’s death, Detective? You said on the phone that you wanted to speak with me regarding that matter.’
‘Without going into too much detail, Mr Jenkins, fresh evidence has come to light in the wake of Mr Beattie’s death regarding the happenings in the Beattie household over the years that would suggest that Jim was perhaps part of some sort of paedophile ring, and after speaking with numerous people who stayed with the Beatties over this period, many of them claim that they were subjected to serious sexual abuse and beatings.
‘With that in mind, Brian — do you mind if I call you Brian? — this leads us to suspect that maybe one of these victims has resurfaced to exact revenge. I wondered if you could provide us with any information as to which one of the many children you looked after, so well I might add, and help us find this person before he goes looking for other people involved in the abuse?’
Brian’s voice was shaky and broken as he replied. ‘I hope you are not suggesting that I had anything to do with the abuse, Detective Taylor? Should I have a solicitor present right now?’
Georgie, who until now had sat quietly, decided to interject as she could tell Taylor had no time for this man, and strongly suspected that he knew far more than he is letting on. ‘No, Mr Jenkins, that is not necessary. What Detective Taylor here is merely trying to establish is A, How well you knew the Beatties, and B, if you can shed any kind of light on any incidents you may be aware of as to who could have possibly committed Jim’s murder, and possibly the reasons behind it so we can bring the perpetrator to justice?
‘The thing is, Mr Jenkins, you obviously would have worked closely with the young people you looked after, and we were just wondering if you could possibly remember any incidents, no matter how insignificant you think it may be, that may trigger your memory. I understand it was a long time ago as you have already stated, but was there anyone or any particular incident whatsoever that you can think of that might lead us to something we can work with?’
Before Brian could speak, Taylor added, ‘In other words Brian, is there anyone you looked after that you think could have wanted to come back and kill Mr Beattie?’
Brian sat and thought about what he had just been asked.
‘No, nobody stands out.’
Just as Taylor and Georgie were about to get up and leave, Brian spoke up.
‘Wait.’
Taylor and Georgie sat back down in their seats and awaited Brian’s next words with baited breath.
‘There was one incident I do recall, now I think about it.’
‘Please, continue,’ Georgie quickly followed up, in doing so not giving him time to concoct his story if he was making it up.
‘Yes now I remember. There was an incident involving a young boy by the name of Jonathon McMullen, who I had to go and collect from the Beatties’ farm one morning after he had beaten Jim in an apparently unprovoked attack.
‘Yes, we have his name and are waiting to make contact with Jonathon McMullen soon hopefully, but at present we don’t seem to be able to locate him, maybe you might be able to help us with this matter, Brian?’ Taylor then asked.
‘Oh, I haven’t seen that young man since not long after that day, Detective Taylor, and to be honest with you I’m glad of that fact; if I remember correctly, he was an extremely disturbed young man with a bit of a temper. He also seemed to be a bit of a fantasist as well, often making up lies about the Beatties, and accused Jim of beating not only him, but his own wife Edna also.’
; Brian knew straight away he had said too much, and quickly started to back pedal on what he had just said. But it was too late, as Taylor and Georgie picked up on it instantly.
‘So, Mr Jenkins, what you are telling us is that you had a young person in your care who actually came forward and told you about the goings on in that household and you chose to do nothing. Is that what you are telling us?’
‘Er, er, I mean, like I said to you before, we had no reason to suspect anything untoward was happening in the house, and they were extremely well vetted and respectable members of the community. They were God fearing, Christian churchgoers for heaven’s sake, and we had no reason to doubt them.’
‘So you simply chose to do nothing, and ignore the pleas of a desperate young boy,’ Taylor snapped back. ‘And in doing so, condemned many more children to the same fate!’
He then got up and made his way towards the front door, blood boiling from what he had just been told, with Georgie following closely behind. But before Taylor exited the house he offered one final comment to an extremely riled and shaken Brian.
‘I hope for your sake that you had nothing to do with the abuse, because if I find out otherwise Brian, I will be coming back for you, and I will not be held responsible for my actions! Do you understand?’
All Brian could do was nod his head; he had been left speechless and petrified after what Taylor had just told him, as he knew he had meant every word of the threat he had just made.
‘That was a bit unprofessional don’t you think?’ Georgie asked him as they made their way back to the car.
‘Not at all,’ he replied. ‘I was just trying to scare him to see what he does. I want a team put on him around the clock to see what he does next, because if he was a part of the network, it will be interesting to see who else he contacts from hereon in.’
Georgie hadn’t thought about it this way, and started regaining admiration for the man she had been working closely with over the past month.
‘Now, I want you to see exactly what you can find on Jonathon McMullen and the other few names we have been unable to make contact with on the list, Georgie. Concentrate mainly on Jonathon, as I think that might just throw something up, as Brian was reluctant to give us anything useful.’
‘No problem, I’ll get on to it as soon as we get back.’
***
With the search for Jonathon McMullen in full flow along with the other few remaining names on the list, Taylor strongly believed they were actually getting somewhere, but stuck with his instinct and placed another team of detectives on around the clock surveillance of Brian Jenkins, as he was convinced he was hiding information from him. He even went as far as getting a judge’s permission to monitor all his phone and internet activity, as he knew it wasn’t just the case of the three girls, or the murder of James Beattie; he was now starting to think even bigger than that. He thought he might even be able to bring down a paedophile ring that had had upper echelons in positions of authority for possibly the last thirty years, and he thought he could maybe expose these people that had remained hidden in plain sight for all that time. Taylor’s mind was working overtime right now, and he had even started to distrust his own officers in his CID division and above, and urged his small team of officers to bring any new information directly to him and keep it “hush hush” — although he did not explain his reasons why.
No matter which way she turned, Georgie could not gather any information on Jonathon McMullen whatsoever since he left the care of the local authorities when he turned sixteen years old. It was as though he had just miraculously disappeared; there wasn’t a single record of his existence after that time, and she was at a loss as to where to go from here. She had contemplated that he had possibly changed his name, but was told by staff at the deed poll department that they had no record of anybody by that name. Georgie just could not understand how a person could disappear without a trace; she had thought that maybe he had left the country, but that avenue of enquiries had also come back without success. She had nothing to offer Taylor that could help find his whereabouts.
The following week one of Taylor’s staff brought him a list of all Brian Jenkins’ phone calls from the past five days and handed it to him in his office. As he perused this new information, one of the numbers kept popping up day after day, sometimes numerous calls in a single twenty-four hour period. Taylor decided to get records on all of the numbers and was shocked at the list of names that showed up. There was a doctor, a magistrate, even a local MP, but none of that shocked him as much as the number that was dialled most frequently. He was rooted to the spot as he read the name in front of him: Mr Ian Messenger!
Taylor quickly whipped out his phone and double-checked the number; he was saddened to see that the number matched the one he had for his Chief Inspector. Right at that very moment Chief Inspector Messenger appeared, and was keen to get an update on any recent developments in the case.
‘Well sir, we have managed to track down the majority of the people who were looked after by the Beatties, and they all seem to be giving us the same story by saying that Mr Beattie was a bully and a sexual deviant.’
‘Is that all?’ Messenger asked.
‘Well, we can’t seem to locate one of the names on the list, and due to the fact that he had a history with Mr Beattie whereas he apparently beat the man, we think it may possibly lead us in the right direction if we were to find him, sir.’
‘What was the name?’
‘It is, or was, a Jonathon McMullen, sir. But we can’t find any records of him whatsoever.’
‘Jonathon McMullen you say?’
‘Yes, sir,’ Taylor replied. He could see the Chief Inspector delve into his memory, trying to place a face to the name.
‘Well, just keep me informed Taylor, and keep up the good work. Let’s get this over and done with sooner rather than later, yeah?’
‘Yes sir, anything we find I will bring to you immediately.’
Messenger headed towards the door and out of his office. Taylor had no intention of sharing any information with the Chief Inspector, as he strongly suspected that the man he looked up to and admired, the person responsible for giving him the chance to run this department ahead of all the qualified local detectives, was heavily involved in this systematic abuse of children throughout the Cumbrian area for the past three decades. Taylor was now not only desperate to expose these people, but he was now hell-bent on bringing everyone involved to justice — including Chief Inspector Messenger. He was now more determined than ever to track down Jonathon McMullen!
Chapter 16
Charles had decided that the time had now come to pay Brian a visit. It had been two weeks since Jim’s funeral, and in Charles’ eyes the search had quietened down enough for him to operate in the area without raising suspicion and he thought the time had now come for Brian to meet his fate. Charles’ initial reasons for his murderous crime-spree stemmed from the resentment and hatred he felt towards his mother for abandoning him to the traumatic childhood he had to endure, hence he took the three girls. However, he had totally pushed those feelings to one side and was now completely overcome with rage and anger; he was determined to exact revenge on the people who had hurt him, including Brian who simply sat by and did nothing! As darkness fell and Charles locked up the surgery behind him, he rang his wife to tell her that he had been called out to an emergency and to just put his dinner in the microwave as he was unsure what time he would make it home. Rebecca just accepted this as the truth and never gave it a second thought.
***
As Charles made his way from Carlisle to Whitehaven, once again his adrenaline kicked in and his heart worked overtime. He started to plan over and over again in his head how he was going to kill Brian, as he hadn’t initially intended to do so, unlike the careful planning he’d put into Jim’s death. This just added to his excitement, and he sensed the thrill of the unknown the closer he got.
Charles pulled up a few streets away from wher
e Brian lived and made the remainder of the way on foot with only his rucksack with him; the one that he had previously used when he’d visited Haywood farm. He thought about sneaking around the back of the semi-detached house and trying to force his way inside but stopped and thought again. Brian hadn’t seen him in twenty-six years; Charles doubted he would be recognised. He decided instead to just knock on the door and take it from there.
Charles then brazenly walked up to the front door of Brian’s house and rang the bell. He could see through the window that somebody was home as the TV and lights were on, he casually placed his hand into his jacket pocket and fingered the chloroform-soaked handkerchief as he awaited an answer. Charles gathered his nerve, as he could clearly make out a figure approaching through the stained-glass window.
‘Hello,’ Brian said, as he set eyes on the unfamiliar man standing in front of him. ‘Can I help you?’
Charles’ mind went blank. He wanted to just kill the man where he stood, but knew it was too risky and needed to gain entry so he had to think on his feet. Quick as a flash he responded.
‘Hi, sorry to bother you at this hour, I was just wondering if … if …’
Oh, fuck it. He delivered a swift and precise left hook which connected with Brian’s jaw, instantly knocking him off his feet, leaving him unconscious. Charles looked all around him to make sure nobody had witnessed the punch and, happy in the knowledge they hadn’t, he swiftly entered the house and closed the door behind him.
As Brian awoke and regained his senses he noticed straight away that his limbs were restricted and his mouth was taped shut. He looked down from his seat where he had been positioned, and panicked as he spied the cable ties that bound his hands and feet. What the fuck was happening? A man sat near him, staring intently at him. After a few moments the strange man spoke.