by Joy Ellis
‘No. The whole thing. The day, the month and the year.’ Toni took a tissue that Gary was holding out to her and she wiped her nose. ‘He did the same to Emily.’ The tears welled up again. ‘Then I found myself out in the fields! I was so scared. I felt sick, Emily had gone, and I was lost.’ She looked at them pathetically, no trace of the bombastic teen who had leapt from the window to run away. ‘I wanted my Dad and my Mum, and I wanted to go home.’
‘Who is Emily, Toni? You have to tell us.’ Kate’s concern for the second girl was coming through as anger, and Jon gave a sharp cough to try to alert her to the fact that she may just be about to blow it with Toni.
‘I think my patient has had enough for now, Chief Inspector?’ The young doctor was standing in the doorway but he was no longer smiling.
Kate nodded brusquely, patted Toni’s hand and smiled tightly at her, then they reluctantly left the room.
‘I’ll hang on here, ma’am.’ said Gary. ‘Until you can organise some uniforms to come and take over from me.’ He gave them a conspiratorial wink. ‘But there’s no rush, because I’ll do my best to get another word with her when she’s calmed down.’
Kate drove back to the station, allowing Jon to read through his notes. Two things bothered him. ‘What was all that about exactly when she was born? I mean, if they were checking her age with sex in mind, she’s sixteen, so…’ he shrugged. ‘So why ditch her and take the other lass?’
Kate shook her head. ‘Maybe they wanted underage girls, and Emily may be younger than Toni. Or perhaps Toni was hallucinating by that time? Then again, if someone was looking for a particular girl, then he’d need an exact birth date.’ She pulled a face. ‘But nothing really makes much sense, does it?’
‘And another thing, what the dickens did she mean by saying that the club she went to, “wasn’t that straight-forward”?’
‘Well, I think I can answer that.’ Kate muttered a curse then accelerated past a slow moving vehicle. ‘Harlan Marsh officers have been chasing a venue that constantly changes location.’
Jon sat and listened with growing distaste as Kate told him about the drinking club. When kids became victims, he could get very angry indeed. ‘Sounds like a pretty nasty set up, ma’am.’
‘It does. But because the venue moves about, nailing them has proved tricky.’ Kate raised an eyebrow. ‘Every time the law get close, it all moves off again.’
‘I see, so that’s what Toni meant. Maybe she’ll feel like telling us a bit more about it when she gets over this. She could be more inclined to talk when the gravity of what happened finally hits home. It might even be something of a turning point for her.’
‘Let’s hope so. I think it’s scared her senseless.’ She gave him an enquiring glance. ‘I suppose you didn’t manage to ‘pick up’ anything whilst we were in there with her?’
Jon closed his notebook. ‘Yes, but I don’t know what it was.’ He saw Kate’s fingers grip the wheel tighter.
‘And?’
‘How do I explain what I don’t understand myself?’
‘Well, was it a sighting? Or a message? or…’
Jon held up his hand, ‘Whoa!’ He smiled at her. ‘I think it was background noise. As soon as she mentioned the cellar there was a rush of odd noises, then finally I seemed to hear this.., this singing. Yeah, some kind of song, and it echoed. As if it were being sung in..,’ he paused, ‘somewhere like a cave. I didn’t recognise it, but it was vaguely familiar.’ He looked at her apologetically. ‘Sorry, but you are going to have to leave that one with me to fathom out.’
Kate shrugged. ‘Oh well, let’s hope Gary gets a lucky break with the kid. He’s a good bloke, isn’t he?’
Jon nodded. ‘He’s not that old, but he reminds me of the old-style proper coppers.’
‘Exactly.’ said Kate, ‘Give me that sort of approach any day over the lads who go in with one finger already on the CS gas canister. By the way..,’ she added, ‘...if you agree, I’m going to be asking the Super if we can have Gary temporarily transferred to our team. What do you think?’
He nodded. ‘Excellent idea, ma’am. His local knowledge could be invaluable.’
Jon knew why Kate had mentioned it to him. His approval was important to her. They’d moved heaven and earth in the past, not to have additional officers work with them. With all their secrets, the team was too close and too special to spoil, but there was something about PC Gary Pritchard, something they both instinctively trusted
It was dusk by the time that they got back to the incident room, but Scott and Rosie were still heads down at their computers.
Kate grinned at them. ‘Okay, you guys. Get home, get some rest, get back early.’
Rosie looked up. ‘I’m happy to give it another hour, Guv?’
Jon smiled at her. Why did that girl have to look like an eighteen year old school prefect when she was a grown woman and sharp as a butcher’s knife?
Kate shook her head. ‘Thanks, but no. You get away. Take the opportunity while you can.’
Rosie gathered up her coat and bag. ‘Okay. See you tomorrow.’ She glanced across to where Scott hunched over his keyboard. ‘Are you coming?’
Scott Verdun leaned back, stretched his arms above his head, and groaned. ‘I guess. This last search is going nowhere.’ He stood up, ‘Hang on for me Flower, and I’ll walk down to the cark park with you.’
Kate watched them go, then went off to see if Clive had left her any messages before he went home, and Jon was left to think over what had happened in the last few hours.
One thing was for sure, he was damned certain that Emily did exist.
He exhaled. Toni was safe, but Emily clearly wasn’t, and they needed to find her fast, before she became just another statistic.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Kate was just hanging up the phone when Jon entered her office. She yawned and said, ‘That was Gary. Toni has calmed down considerably, and when her parents went for a coffee, they had a bit of a natter, as he put it.’
Jon smiled to himself and felt glad they’d chanced upon PC Pritchard. ‘And?’
‘Toni remembers Emily. She does exist. They’d never met prior to that night, and because of the drink and the drugs, her description of the girl was scanty. Long, dark hair and beautiful eyes was the best she could do, but she believes that Emily was taken away because of her birth date. Apparently, the man who was getting physical with them got very excited when he heard Emily’s date of birth, and it was not long after that that the girl was dragged away. After that, Toni only has vague memories of being manhandled into a car, then being dumped miles from anywhere.’
‘Well at least we know we’re not chasing shadows.’
‘That we do. And the uniforms are there with Toni now. Gary’s going to hitch a lift home to Harlan Marsh with a mate of his who is a porter in A&E. He said he’ll stay with Toni until his friend’s shift finishes.’ Kate leaned back in her chair and Jon saw tiredness darkening her eyes. ‘The main thing is that we now know that Emily is real. And it looks like she’s been abducted.’
A shiver rippled across Jon’s shoulder blades. When you’d seen the very worst that supposedly civilised men and women were capable of, it was almost impossible to stop your imagination taking hold.
Kate stood up. ‘I know it goes against the grain to walk out when there is a girl missing, but we have uniform both on the streets and checking out any ‘old and creepy properties’, as Toni put it. We have officers keeping watch over Toni..,’ She threw Jon a half-hearted smile. ‘…I really don’t think we can do any more tonight. Let’s go home to our beds and start afresh in the morning.’
Jon nodded. She was right. They were going to need to keep their wits about them, and you couldn’t do that without sleep. Plus he needed some quiet time to try to get his head around that weird singing he had picked up on when talking to Toni Clarkson. It was bothering him, and he couldn’t lose the idea that it was in some way vaguely familiar. When he got home, maybe he’d
try a meditation. Totally relaxed, what ever it was that was lurking in the dark recesses of his mind might just show itself. Jon gave a little shiver, and hoped that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be too dark.
Asher Leyton pushed back his office chair and stretched. He had intended to work on for an hour or two, but he was having trouble concentrating. He kept seeing the face of the kid on Brewer Street. And now she was dead, and it was bothering him deeply.
He picked up his Parker Duofold pen from the polished desk, tucked it safely into the inside pocket of his jacket and stood up. He should go home. It would be nice to surprise Lynda. Maybe he’d take her to supper at Lorenzo’s. She’d like that. She liked the finer things in life. And he knew that was why she had got engaged to him. Why she had allowed their living together, even though they were not married.
Because Asher Leyton was a perfect gentleman and her knight in shining armour. He did things properly. He did things the way she believed they ought to be done; honourably and with old world decorum.
Asher closed his eyes and groaned. And it was killing him. He had needs, and right now they were threatening to overpower him, to drown him.
He adored Lynda. Worshipped her, and most of all, he wanted her. But he knew her very well, and the only way he could keep her close, was to respect her Victorian puritanical wishes, no matter how painful they were to him.
With another deeper groan, he drew his wallet from his desk drawer and checked its contents. With a satisfied little grunt, he pushed the leather purse in with the pen and made for the door.
Oh yes, he’d take Lynda to supper, he’d buy her champagne and then he’d escort her home in the most moral and virtuous manner, but before he did, in fact before he even saw her again, saw that flawless porcelain skin and that shimmering soft hair, he would have to keep another appointment.
With someone who expected nothing of the kind.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jon was already at his desk when Kate arrived at the office.
‘Got you a coffee, ma’am.’ He placed it in front of her. ‘Nothing from uniform, I’m afraid. None of the places that they checked out last night had a cellar with signs of recently being used for a party.’
Kate picked up the mug gratefully. ‘Either they tidied up really well, or there’s somewhere out there that uniform have missed.’
‘I’d go along with the second of those suggestions, ma’am. It’s a massive area, and when the wind’s in the right direction, most of it stinks of cabbage. My bet is on somewhere we’ve not covered yet.’ He sat down and stared up at Kate ‘And we’ve had a call from the hospital. They have identified the drug given to Toni, and it’s definitely not one that she would have ingested herself. It’s a new kind of ‘roofie’, a benzodiazepine tranquiliser that can begin to affect the victim in under ten minutes. It’s tasteless and odourless, and can be easily crushed to a powder. It suppresses the central nervous system and the respiratory system. The poor kid could easily have stopped breathing. It’s a prescription drug, but incorrectly used it’s lethal, a new generation Rohypnol, and when mixed with alcohol, very nasty indeed.’
‘Called?’
‘No confirmed street name as yet, although there has been a whisper about something called, Ooblie. They’ve only come across a few cases. Oh, and it clears the system in twenty four hours, and if they are unlucky, it can leave the victim with permanently impaired memory.’
Kate’s face puckered up in a scowl. ‘Honestly, Jon, it will be a bloody miracle if I manage to steer Marcus and Eddie through to adulthood unscathed. Ooblie?’ she muttered. ‘A corruption of the French, to forget. Very apt.’
Jon nodded. ‘But at least Toni is recovering. She may be discharged later today if her levels are back to normal.’ He handed her the tox report from the hospital. ‘Maybe we should call in on her this morning and see if she’s remembered anything else?’
‘Mm, I agree. Not that I expect too much. We’ve all seen ‘date-rape’ victims before and they rarely recall much about their ordeal.’ She stared at the report, ‘I’ve asked Rosie to get a list of all the areas that uniform checked out last night. I was thinking about visiting a couple of places myself, but I don’t want to cover the same ground.’
Jon walked to the door. ‘I’ll see if she has them, ma’am.’
Two minutes later he was back. ‘Uniform were busy last night, by the look of this list.’
Kate took the print-out from him and skimmed through it. ‘Mm, there’s no mention of that obsolete Pumping House on the river at Pear-tree Corner or the ruined chapel out near Fendyke Village. We could check that one ourselves and pay a call on young Ethan Barley at the same time.’
‘Toni’s ex? Do we need to see him, now that she’s safe?’ asked Jon.
‘We still don’t know what happened to her, do we? And I’m thinking of Emily too.’ murmured Kate. ‘There’s an outside chance he knows her, or he’s seen her around. Harlan Marsh doesn’t have a lot of places for kids to hang out, does it?’
‘True, and a red-blooded boy is likely to remember seeing a pretty girl. Okay, we go see him and the chapel. And where else were you thinking of?’
‘Well, there’s a derelict old property out on the borders of our patch and Harlan Marsh. It’s not too far from where we were yesterday. If it doesn’t have a cellar, then I’ll eat my warrant card.’
‘Not the old sanatorium at Roman Creek?’
‘That’s the place. ‘Windrush’ I think it’s called. I see it’s not on uniform’s list, and I’d call it creepy, wouldn’t you?’
‘Absolutely.’ Jon gave a theatrical shiver. ‘And I know it pretty well. I read up on its history years ago.’ He sat on the edge of Kate’s desk and looked down at her. ‘It has a bit of a chequered past. It started out as a very imposing manor house, fell into disrepair, then became a billet for the Army during WWII. After that it was a TB Sanatorium until it closed in the mid fifties when it was bought privately, but the owner went bankrupt, and guess what? It fell further into disrepair, and was finally won by a local man in a wager. Now, would you believe that?’
Kate looked up at Jon in surprise. ‘And no doubt you do Guided Tours in the summer months?’
‘Reckon I could. I found myself stuck out there for a couple of weeks when I was a probationer. The owners rented it to us for training purposes. Search and rescue, and fire safety stuff. Didn’t you do a course there?’
‘The Force never used Windrush in my time, but I know it from when I was a kid. The older children would tell us it was haunted and scare the shit out of us.’
‘Right, so where first?’ Jon stood up and ran a hand through his dark hair. ‘Toni Clarkson?’
‘Yes, but before we go, would you liaise with Gary Pritchard. Tell him to keep on looking for that mobile drinking club, okay?’
Jon left and Kate called Scott to the office, briefly wondering how long he spent in the bathroom of a morning in order to look that well brushed up. ‘Ever heard mention of a clandestine watering-hole that caters for underage drinkers?’ Kate asked.
Scott looked grim. ‘If I did, I’d get it closed down before you could blink, ma’am. I don’t drink much myself, and seeing kids legless and barfing up in the street is just gross.’
Kate silently agreed, but it was refreshing hearing a young man with similar views. ‘Any luck with the search for Emily?’
‘Nothing, ma’am, but I’ll keep at it.’
‘Good, and perhaps you’d support Clive running the office? At present, there’s little we can do to find Emily that isn’t already being done by uniform. So, you’re in charge here, Scotty.’
‘No sweat, ma’am.’ Scott turned to go then said, ‘And I’ll let you know if I come up with any one who fits her description.’
‘Please do. And ask Clive to keep me updated with anything that comes in. After visiting the hospital, the sergeant and I will be going out to Harlan Marsh.’
‘Very good, ma’am.’
The tr
ip to the hospital was a waste of time. Toni had been fretful and frightened, and couldn’t, or wouldn’t, tell them any more than they already knew. In less than a quarter of an hour they were on their way to Fendyke Village.
‘Where to first, ma’am?’
‘The chapel. It’s en route in to the village.’
Fields full of deep green Brussels sprout plants stretched out on either side of the narrow road down which Jon drove.
‘Ah, stinking brassicas. That’s a start.’ said Kate.
‘Don’t get too excited. You can’t walk more than fifty yards out here without falling over some kind of cabbage or another.’ Jon braked to avoid hitting a brightly coloured and idiotic looking pheasant that was running erratically across the road ahead of them. ‘Stupid bloody thing!’ he muttered loudly.
As the bird ducked through the long grass along the side of the road, they caught sight of the chapel.
If it had ever been pretty, it wasn’t now. It lay back from the road some 500 metres down a tree-lined lane. The decorated windows had long since been removed and boarded up, and over the years the biting east winds had done considerable damage to its structure. But the core still remained, and Jon thought that there were probably still a few old locals who would have remembered walking up the leafy lane in their best suits and dresses to Sunday service.
He drove up the narrow track and parked a little way from the old building. ‘Quite a few tyre tracks,’ he murmured as he locked the car.
‘Probably dog walkers or bird watchers.’ said Kate. ‘There’s a footpath runs alongside the chapel that leads right across to Fendyke and on to the marshes.’ She walked across to the main door and tried the handle but nothing gave. The door was solid oak, scuffed and weather-worn, but still strong and firmly locked.
‘I’ll check the back.’ Jon walked off around the old church and saw Kate look around cautiously before following him. He wondered if she were feeling the odd sensation that he was; the feeling you get when you go somewhere old, somewhere ancient. Somewhere that leaked history into the very air that surrounded it.