Silent Scream: An edge of your seat serial killer thriller Book 1

by Angela Marsons

  She had to call for back up. She now had the pieces to finally solve this case. One last visit and her girls could rest peacefully.

  Too late, Kim saw a shadow in the hallway cast by the streetlamp.

  And then she saw nothing.

  Sixty-Eight

  Kim opened her eyes to find a strip of fabric jammed into her mouth, tied in a knot at the back of her head.

  She had been laid on her side and her hands and feet were bound together in a bunch of limbs, her knees wedged beneath her chin.

  The pain throughout her body faded in comparison to the thudding in her head. It originated from the crown and spread like tentacles around to her temples, ears and jawbone.

  An icy coldness from the concrete floor was seeping through her clothes and into her bones.

  For a moment Kim couldn't recall where she was, or why. Gradually, flashes of the day started to come back to her but it was like a collage. She had a vision of Richard Croft lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood. She vaguely remembered the briefing but couldn’t recall if that had happened the previous day. She sensed, more than remembered, that she’d returned to the site and spoken with Cerys.

  As the snapshots began to arrange in chronological order Kim recalled that she had returned to Crestwood to find the denture.

  Through the haze, she remembered that she'd found it ‒ before the blackness descended.

  She had no idea how long she had been unconscious but she knew she was in the manager’s office. Dust and soot were caked to her skin.

  Her vision started to clear and her eyes adjusted to the light. The room was unchanged and the street lamp outside threw a hazy light into the room.

  The silence was broken only by the sound of water dripping somewhere in the distance. The noise offered an eerie presence in its continuous regularity.

  Kim pulled at the ties that bound her. They held fast but scored into her flesh. She tried again, ignoring the pain, but the rope burned into her broken skin.

  She searched her memory for anything she may have seen in the room that might help her. Nothing came, but she knew she couldn't just lie still and wait.

  Something scurried past her head, which galvanised her into action. She tried to inch forward, wriggling like a scorched worm. The effort brought fresh waves of pain emanating through her skull and bile burned the back of her throat. She prayed she would not throw up and choke.

  Suddenly she heard a noise and stopped squirming, her senses alert and keen.

  She craned her neck towards the doorway. A figure appeared. The form was familiar to her.

  Kim blinked through the darkness as her attacker stepped into the shard of light illuminating the room.

  Her gaze travelled from the feet, up the legs, torso and shoulders ‒ right into the eyes of William Payne.

  Sixty-Nine

  William Payne stepped towards her slowly. His eyes held no expression and her head began to move involuntarily from side to side. No, this was not right. Her stomach muscles revolted at the scenario before her. This was not who she’d been expecting.

  He leaned down beside her and started trying to undo the knots that bound her like a piece of cattle. His fingers worked quickly but clumsily.

  She tried to speak but the fabric in her mouth made her question unintelligible.

  He shook his head. ‘We don’t have much time,’ he whispered.

  His mouth opened to say more but a low whistling sound came from the top of the corridor.

  William put a finger to his lips and stepped back into the shadows of the room. As she couldn’t make a sound because of the gag, she guessed he was telling her not to disclose his position.

  The humming continued and grew louder. The gait of the visitor was not similar to that of William Payne. These steps were definite, assured, purposeful.

  Again, the doorway filled with a shadow, but this time Kim did not have to wait for the owner to step into the beam of light.

  This was the one she'd been expecting.

  Seventy

  ‘Bryant, you've gotta find the Guv,’ Stacey barked into the mouthpiece. ‘It's the Pastor. It's Wilks. He killed the girls and I can't get the Guv on the phone.’

  ‘Slow down, Stace,’ Bryant said. The sound of the television in the background was receding. She guessed he was taking the phone to another room. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Them emails I sent out just for a punt. There was a hoohar in Bristol twelve years ago when a family got a metal pin in the ashes of their relative. The crematorium was accused of mixing up funerals but after the incident Wilks left in haste.’

  ‘Stace, no offence but that doesn't mean he's guilty of ...’

  Stacey held her frustration. She didn't have the time. ‘I've checked the archives and two weeks before a kid named Rebecca Shaw ran away from Clifton children's home ...’

  ‘Why would that make the papers?’ Bryant asked.

  ‘Because she'd already been in the news when she got run over. Really bad damage to her knees ...’

  ‘That would have required pinning,’ Bryant finished.

  Stacey could hear the slotting of pieces into place.

  ‘That's how he disposed of ‘em before,’ Stacey said. ‘But he couldn't risk it again.’

  She heard Bryant sigh heavily. ‘Jesus, Stace, how many are we ...’

  ‘Bryant, you gotta find the Guv. Her phone died when I spoke to her earlier and she didn't sound right.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Dunno, she was distracted, agitated. I don't think she was going home. I'm worried that ...’

  ‘Stace, get it circulated that she's missing. It's a bollocking I'm happy to take if she's safe and sound.’

  ‘I will, but Bryant ...’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Just find her.’

  The word alive went unspoken between them.

  ‘I will, Stace, I promise.’

  Stacey replaced the receiver. She believed him. Bryant would find Kim.

  She just hoped that he wasn't too late.

  Seventy-One

  He stepped inside the room and placed a shovel against the wall.

  Kim watched as his feet moved closer towards her. She could not crane her neck to look up although she desperately wanted to. She wanted to look straight into the eyes of the evil bastard who had tried to saw a girl in half.

  His voice was low and jovial, as though discussing where to dine out that evening. ‘So kind of your colleagues to dig a few holes for me. That last one was very easy to re-dig. I think you’ll be very happy there.’

  Kim strained against her ties and tried to spit out the gag.

  She felt the tie around her right wrist loosen slightly but not enough.

  Victor Wilks laughed out loud. ‘This must be a novelty for you, Detective. You’re normally the one in control, but not anymore.’

  Kim felt the frustration grow inside her. One on one she could take him. She’d beat the living shit out of him. His only method of controlling her was to truss her up like a damn turkey.

  He knelt down beside her and finally she could see into his eyes. They were warm with triumph.

  ‘I’ve done a lot of reading about you, Detective. I understand your passion, I understand your drive. I even understand the affinity you might feel towards your young victims.’

  His voice was melodic as though conducting a service for the recently deceased. ‘You were one of those girls, weren’t you, my dear ... but unlike them, you made yourself into a decent human being.’

  Kim strained against the rope. She wanted so badly to wring Wilks’ neck and pummel the smug expression from his face.

  He stepped back a pace and laughed. ‘Oh, Kim. I knew you’d be a fighter. I could sense your spirit the first time I saw you.’

  Kim gurgled against the rag.

  He tipped his head and read the rage in her eyes. ‘You think I won’t get away with this?’

  Kim nodded and gurgled again.<
br />
  ‘Oh, but I will, my dear. You see, this ground will never be touched again. Certainly not in my lifetime.’ He chuckled. ‘And most definitely not in yours.

  ‘This land is now the original burial site of three murdered teenage girls. No one will be allowed to disturb it again. Now, remind me again who knows you’re here?’

  Kim squirmed towards him. The shadow of William Payne standing behind the open door was visible to her. She needed the minister to move around so that he would not notice the anomaly in the light.

  The movement only prompted Victor to change the leg he was resting his weight on. He was still side on to the doorway.

  ‘And you forget one vital detail, my dear. I have done this before. At least three times – so I think you’ll find I’m relatively good at ...’

  His words trailed away as the shadow to his left stepped out of the darkness.

  Kim groaned as she heard the rush of air. She knew that William had made his move too early. The three steps it had taken him to get to Victor Wilks had offered the minister time to stand and get his footing.

  The first strike from William was deflected easily. Although William was younger and taller, Victor Wilks hid pure strength behind his considerable girth.

  Victor seized the momentum of William stumbling backwards and was upon him in a second. He raised his fist and struck William to the side of the head. William’s head flew to the side.

  Victor then gave him a left hook, sending William’s head travelling in the other direction. The stance of the minister told Kim that she'd been right about his time in the boxing ring. William didn’t stand a chance.

  She tried to wriggle further into the middle of the room, hoping to place herself as an obstruction that might cause Victor Wilks to trip and give William the upper hand.

  Kim had never felt so damned useless in her life.

  ‘You should be grateful for what I did, you pathetic little shit,’ Victor said as William slid down the wall. ‘After what those little bitches did to your daughter. You should be bloody thanking me.’

  William was halfway down the wall but he lunged forward, aiming for Victor’s genitals with his hand.

  The motion caused Victor to step backwards out of reach. His right foot kicked her in the head, causing an explosion at the back of her eyes.

  It took a few seconds for Kim to blink away the stars but she watched as Victor grabbed William by the throat and lifted him back to a standing position. Victor pinned him against the wall with his left hand at William’s neck. She watched in horror as William’s eyes rolled in his head.

  Victor aimed one last punch at William’s head, then released him.

  Kim cried out loud as William Payne clutched his chest and fell to the ground.

  Seventy-Two

  Having being felled by Wilks’ punch, William’s face rested inches from her own. Kim quickly looked for signs of life but in the limited light she was unable to tell.

  Victor Wilks leaned down between them, then dragged William’s inert form away from her as though he was a sack of potatoes.

  She watched as he put two fingers to William’s neck. ‘He’s alive. For now.’

  Kim breathed a sigh of relief.

  Victor came and knelt beside her. He took a knife from his pocket and rested the blade against her throat.

  ‘I’m sure your last wish is to talk to me, Detective – and I’ll grant that wish, but if you scream, I’ll cut his throat. Are we clear?’

  Kim made no movement but continued to stare into the soulless eyes. He was no longer the affable pastor speaking softly to a congregation of mourners, eager for comfort. The smug triumph had disappeared, leaving in its place the blackened heart of a killer.

  Wilks pulled the gag from her mouth. It fell and rested around her neck.

  ‘You’re gonna pay for what you did, you bastard,’ she spat. The words rasped from her throat. The gag had dried the inside of her throat to sandpaper.

  She swallowed three times to add moisture to her dry mouth.

  He knelt beside the body of William, the blade resting above his carotid artery.

  ‘Oh, I think not, my dear. There is only you that would get close to suspecting me. I saw it in your face the other day. Even if you didn’t know it yourself. I knew it wouldn’t be long until you put it together.’

  ‘You murdered three innocent girls?’

  ‘I’d hardly call them innocent.’

  Kim knew she would have to delay him for as long as possible. No one knew where she was. He was right that no one was coming to help her. Her one chance for escape lay unconscious, six feet away.

  But she had to keep him talking. While he was talking, she was breathing.

  Kim cursed herself for not putting it together quicker. Something Nicola had said had not rung true. Tracy Morgan would not have said she was going to get money from the father of the child. She would have used the term ‘baby’s dad’ or the man’s name. She had meant she was going to get money from The Father.

  ‘Tracy’s child was yours?’

  ‘Of course it was mine. The stupid little bitch thought she could blackmail me. She even wanted to keep the child and make a new life for herself.’

  ‘Did you rape her?’

  ‘Let’s just say she played hard to get.’

  Every cell of her being ached to take that knife and drive it deep between his eyes.

  ‘You evil bastard. How the hell could you do that?’

  ‘Because she was a nothing, Detective. Like many of the others, she had no one. There was no purpose to her life.’

  ‘Why didn’t she report you?’

  Kim already knew the reason before the sentence was out of her mouth.

  ‘Because it’s what she felt she deserved. Deep down inside herself she also knew she was a nothing. Her life ‒ or lack of it ‒ affected no one. Her presence affected nothing. No one cried, no one grieved. She was worthless.’

  Kim’s own rage began to build. She understood that feeling. Knowing that the only people in your life were being paid to be there ate away at you. The feeling of worthlessness, once absorbed, never went away. Daily, events would occur to reinforce that belief.

  ‘So, Tracy was first?’ Kim asked. She had to keep him on track while she worked out how to get herself free.

  ‘Yes, Tracy was first. Her little cronies would have been fine if they hadn’t been so persistent. They would keep insisting that Tracy had not run away.’

  ‘But you buried her alive,’ Kim said, incredulously.

  Wilks shrugged, but Kim saw something pass through his eyes.

  ‘You couldn't kill her yourself?’ she asked, with surprise. ‘It wasn't intentional to bury her alive. You were going to kill her but you couldn't do it. Oh my God, you actually felt something for that girl.’

  ‘Don't be ridiculous,’ he barked. ‘I felt nothing for her. I simply gave her vodka so she’d be easier to handle. I had already decided on my course of action.’

  Kim felt the bile rise in her throat. A vision swam before her eyes of Tracy Morgan; intoxicated, pliable. It would have proven too tempting for the evil bastard to resist.

  ‘You raped her again, didn’t you?’

  She saw his smile. ‘See, Detective. I knew I was right about you. You certainly know how to use that head of yours.’

  ‘But you’re a man of God?’

  ‘And He knows me better than anyone and yet He has afforded me these opportunities. If He felt I was wrong in any way He would have stopped me.

  ‘The other two didn’t believe she’d run away. Everyone else did. The rumour was out there that she was pregnant so everyone just felt she’d either run away with the father of the child or gone somewhere to get it taken care of.’

  ‘But not her friends?’

  ‘No, they were persistent little sluts who just wouldn’t leave it alone.’

  ‘Did you deliberately frame William Payne?’

  ‘Not with Tracy. I just wanted her gone.
But I eventually realised that the same three girls that were a problem for me had done something despicable to his daughter so I decided to take out a little insurance.’

  Kim understood. From that point on he had cleverly decided to visit on William’s night shifts and offer the caretaker some extra time with his daughter. If the permanent staff knew about it, they turned a blind eye because of Lucy’s illness. Victor knew that by doing so the first finger of blame would be pointed at William Payne.

  ‘Who found the denture?’ Kim asked.

  ‘Teresa Wyatt. She knew that Louise would not have gone anywhere voluntarily without that denture. She only ever took it out to sleep. So, she put two and two together and got the exact number I’d intended. She checked the night rosters and found that all three girls had gone missing on William’s watch. Of course, they all knew about the incident with Lucy. It wasn’t much of a leap to believe that he had committed the crimes.’

  ‘So, they covered it up?’

  Victor chuckled. ‘Oh yes, Detective, they certainly did that.’

  ‘To protect William?’

  ‘Not even for a minute. Oh, on the face of it they all felt for him. His life was unenviable. He watched his child decay more every day and there’s nothing he could do about it. Without him, Lucy will have no one. But they did it for themselves.’

  Kim didn’t like how he was now referring to William in the past tense. She wondered if the grave had been dug wide enough for two.

  ‘I'm sure you already know their secrets. Any kind of official enquiry would have destroyed them all. Richard's embezzling would have been uncovered. Teresa would have faced charges of assault and sexual assault from Melanie. Tom would have been exposed for sleeping with Louise and who would have believed that it was consensual? And Arthur hated all three of them with a passion. They made his life a misery. And the girls were already dead, so there was nothing to gain.’

  Kim heard a siren in the distance but knew it could not be for her. Her mind wondered if she could find a way to use it to keep herself alive. She forced herself back on track.