Crimesight

by Joy Ellis

  But tonight was different.

  Tonight Kate never even noticed the sky. Every shadow concealed a hidden threat, and there was something dark and menacing approaching with the wind off the sea.

  Jon and Gary were checking the security status with the uniformed sergeant, and Rosie and Scott were speaking to some of the foot-soldiers about the chance of Micah Lee being in the area.

  Kate walked across to a low wall that edged the garden. It looked over the wetlands and out to where the marsh met the Wash. She could see dozens of lights and a plethora of police officers silhouetted against the evening sky-scape, all returning from scouring the area for the murderer’s killing ground.

  She sat down on the wall, in the shadow of one of a line of huge old oak trees that formed a barrier between the garden and the marshy countryside, and wished that this awful case were over. She glanced back to where Jon and Gary were in deep conversation, and wished that she could make some sense of things. More than anything she wished they could identify Fleur.

  With an irritated grunt, Kate shook her head, trying to unscramble her thoughts. And at that point her phone started to blare out some strange anthem, a ring-tone obviously added by one of her darling sons.

  Marcus spoke first, feigning huge surprise at hearing her voice, and gave her a brief description of himself, just in case she’d forgotten what he looked like. He then gave his signature laugh, a funny little chortling sound, and handed her over to David, saying, ‘See, Dad, I told you she hadn’t emigrated and forgot to tell us.’

  ‘He’s on good form. Have you been slipping magic mushrooms into their spaghetti again?’

  ‘Nah, we’re clean out of mushrooms. I must have left them off my shopping list this week.’ His voice became serious. ‘I hope you’re not mad at us for ringing. The kids wanted to know that you’re alright. Is it a bad time?’

  ‘It’s fine. There’s no-one I’d rather have had a call from, believe me. Are you coping?’

  ‘Don’t I always?’ he said. ‘Everything here is running like a Swiss-made clock. We’d just like you home, then everything would be hunky-dory.’

  ‘No one wants to be home more than I do. But this case is a bad one.’

  ‘Then take care, won’t you?’

  ‘Don’t I always?’ Kate echoed. ‘Love you.’

  ‘Love you too.’

  She heard the sound of a theatrical kiss being blown down the phone, followed by a chorus of imitation retching noises in the background. She smiled and began to close the phone. Murder needed little moments like that to keep you from accidentally wandering into the dark realms of even darker minds. And thinking about little moments; the next one was directly from a very dark and twisted place.

  Kate had good instincts, good peripheral vision, pretty fair hand/eye co-ordination and an ability to make an instant evaluation of a situation and act accordingly. In other words, she was a copper. Without those attributes she’d have been scuppered years before. So, when she saw the slightest flash of a reflection in the picture screen of her mobile as she closed it: the reflection of something close to her shoulder, she knew that all was not well.

  A second prior to that, she had noticed that Jon was some way away talking to some uniforms, and Gary was leaning on a car and speaking into his mobile. Rosie and Scott were over by the house, so she was alone. Or she should have been.

  As the phone snapped shut, Kate made a sideways dive, hopefully away from whoever was closer than they should be.

  And something cannoned into her with all the force of a charging rhino. If he had landed on top of her, she would have suffered crush injuries, but as it was, her swift movement had unbalanced him, and they both found themselves on the ground at the base of the wall.

  Micah was first up, surprising her with his speed, and then he flung himself back at her, hands outstretched towards her throat.

  She twisted away from the ferocious face and rolled onto her side. She had avoided the initial impact, but he still managed to grab and hold onto her wrist.

  The grip was like molten metal searing into her flesh; a vice locked shut on her paper-thin skin.

  Kate let out a cry, but it was cut off before she could muster any volume, cut off by his other iron-strong hand across her mouth. She felt skin split and bleed as her teeth sliced into the soft flesh inside her lips and cheek.

  ‘You bitch! You’ve destroyed everything!’ The voice was husky with emotion and as low as an attack dog’s growl. ‘Now let’s see how your family likes being torn apart.’

  Kate heard him, but as the hand that had clamped her mouth shut was now severely restricting her breathing, she was in no position to reply.

  And she was going to die. Just like that.

  Already she was experiencing a wave of dizziness that heralded blacking out, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Her hands, beating against him, must have seemed no more bothersome than a moth in candlelight. And for the first time ever, Kate was going to miss Eddie’s evaluation. She was going to let her family down. Eddie’s face filled her thoughts and the tears that came to her eyes had nothing to do with the fact that her throat was being crushed.

  Then the grip slackened, just a little, and a little more. The blood rushing through her veins made a roaring sound in her ears, like a great tide rushing through a channel. Then the hand across her mouth began to shake and loosen, and air finally made its way down into her starved lungs.

  She choked, fell away from the man, and looked up to see Gary hauling him to the ground and snapping cuffs around his wrists. And then she noticed Micah’s face, and it was mask of pain and confusion. Kate was obviously of no concern to him anymore. He was rocking backwards and forwards and moaning as if in terrible anguish.

  She crawled as far away from him as she could, then sat and stared at him.

  Kate knew that he was crying, and through her own pain, something inside her felt a desperate sorrow for the repugnant-looking giant who had undoubtedly wanted to kill her a few seconds before.

  As far as the cuffs would allow, Micah curled up into a tight ball. A weeping, foetal monster, that dribbled, sobbed, and repeated over and over, ‘Oh no. Please, please no.’

  Kate was sure that he never felt Gary lifting him up and calling for Jon to help him. Micah was on another planet. He clearly knew nothing about being frog-marched away from her, or that he was being placed into the back of a police car and driven away. And this time, Kate insisted that it would not be to Harlan Marsh Police Station.

  She sat for a moment, getting her breath back, mopping at her bloody mouth with a handkerchief, and trying to understand what had just happened. He had been intent on killing her, and then when Gary got hold of him he dissolved into tears. Hardly the reaction that she would have expected?

  ‘Jesus! I think we know who our killer is, don’t you?’ said Jon, as he knelt beside her and put a comforting arm around her shoulder. ‘Oh Kate? I’m so sorry. I should have stayed closer when we knew he could be out there somewhere. Are you alright?’

  ‘My fault.’ she croaked. ‘I wandered off. I asked for that.’ She coughed, and it felt like she had hot coals in her gullet.

  ‘Can you stand?’ Jon gently helped her up. ‘I’ll take you to A&E.’

  ‘No hospital.’

  ‘You really should get checked over by a medic.’ His voice held real concern.

  ‘Since when have you ever done what you’re told?’

  ‘Touché! But then I only went to meet dead people, I didn’t have a lip that made me look like I’ve O-D-ed on Botox. You may need stitches in that.’

  ‘I don’t have time, Jon. Something about all this isn’t right. I need to get back to the CID room, and for someone to make me a very strong coffee with enough sugar in it to rot every tooth in my head.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

  Bill Hickey was behind with his work. With the boss away, things had backed up, especially the paperwork.

  He had a small office area i
n a converted store attached to one of the barns, and although it was late, he decided to stay on and check the invoices. Bill was a methodical man, and the heap of unopened mail was offending his tidy mind.

  It didn’t take him long, but just as he was throwing the last torn envelope into the bin, he glanced out of the window, and saw a pinpoint of light inside the farmhouse.

  The police had left some while ago, telling him that Micah Lee had been apprehended again, and Tanner wasn’t home yet, so who the blazes…?Bill jumped up, grabbed his key-ring from the desk, and ran silently around the outside of the barn and across to the house.

  The front door was unlocked, and Bill had checked it himself after the police left. He frowned, took a deep breath, and slipped inside.

  He stood just inside the door and heard soft sounds coming from the upper floor. And from the direction they came, it sounded as if the intruder was in Tanner’s room. For a moment Bill was undecided what to do. He should call the police, but he was curious to know who it was in the boss’s bedroom. He smiled in the darkness, and he certainly wasn’t frightened. Bill had done a stint in the Army and he still looked after himself. As he stepped towards the stairs, he decided he would call the old bill, but not until he’d got the burglar by the scuff of the neck.

  Bill carefully moved along the landing. He had been right about the location of the thief. Tanner’s door stood open, and he could see a hunched figure and a torch beam being directed towards a large wooden desk in the far corner of the room.

  Bill was across the floor and had the man in an arm lock, before the intruder even realised what was happening.

  The man screamed in shock and tried to wriggle away from Bill’s powerful grip. But he was no match for Bill, who dragged him up and across to the doorway, where he threw on the light.

  ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Bill growled, staring at the terrified face of a young man.

  ‘I, I..,’ The man began to shake all over, his terror seeming to be far greater than it should be, but he said no more.

  Bill frowned. This wasn’t exactly your stereotype robber. He loosened his grip a little. ‘Okay, what were you after? Money?’ He pointed with his free hand towards the jumble of papers and items on the desk. ‘Because you clearly were looking for something?’

  Again he received no answer, and now the man seemed to be fighting back tears.

  Bill’s frown deepened. The man had no bag with him, had nothing stuffed into the pockets of his old check jacket, and seemed totally unequipped for a burglary.

  Then Bill remembered the front door. Unlocked, but not forced.

  He pulled the man closer to him, thrust a hand into his jacket pockets, and pulled out an old-style door key. Exactly the same design as the one on his key-fob.

  ‘Who the devil are you?’ asked Bill, as he pushed the man ahead of him towards the desk. ‘Why have you got a key? And what were you doing with the boss’s things…?’ He stopped talking as his eyes fell on the items lying on the desk.

  Credit cards, an open wallet, a Filofax, a signet ring. And a passport?

  As soon as he saw the name Tanner, Bill tightened his hold on the man, and picked up the telephone.

  ‘It’s Bill Hickey, ma’am, he’s asking for you, Guv.’

  Kate licked at her torn lip, and wondered if she had any paracetamol in her desk drawer. ‘DCI Reynard.’

  She listened carefully to the hurried message, then said, ‘Stay there. I’ll get some officers over to you straightaway.’ She hung up and looked at the others. ‘That’s the farm manager at Micah’s lodgings. He’s caught an intruder.’ She downed her coffee, winced, and grabbed her jacket. ‘Jon? With me. Gary, ask uniform if they could get a car over there. From what Hickey told me, we need to see this for ourselves.’

  The intruder sat on the end of the bed, his head bowed. But they recognised him immediately.

  ‘Asher Leyton?’ Kate said incredulously. ‘I think you have a lot of explaining to do, don’t you?’

  Asher slowly looked up at her. His face was a sickly pallor, his hair unkempt and his eyes, red and sore. ‘I’ve nothing to say.’ he whispered.

  ‘Well, I think otherwise.’ said Kate grittily. ‘What is your connection with Toby Tanner? And what were you doing with his belongings? Particularly his passport.’

  Asher shook his head, but stayed silent.

  ‘Ma’am?’ Jon was checking the items on the desk. He lifted up the Filofax and turned the pages with gloved fingers. ‘There’s no entry in his diary about travelling abroad.’ Jon looked at everything carefully. ‘And no boarding cards or flight information either.’

  Kate’s gaze travelled from Asher Leyton to Bill Hickey. ‘You said he’s gone to Germany.’

  The big man shrugged and looked puzzled. ‘That’s what he told me. And he always made his own arrangements for things like that, so…?’ He shrugged again. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Do any of us? Perhaps you could explain, Mr Leyton?’ asked Kate icily. ‘Oh yes, and your lovely fiancée has been to see me. She’s worried sick. She begged me to find you, now she’ll be so pleased when she knows that you’re safe.’

  Asher sank lower into the chair, stared at his hands, gripped tightly together in his lap, and miserably said, ‘I’ve nothing to say.’

  As Kate tried to coax him into talking, Jon checked the Tanner’s belongings again, but there was nothing to indicate a trip. He carefully replaced everything in its original position, ready for the SOCOs to bag and tag it, then looked at the gold signet ring. He lifted it, slipped through the end of his pen, and as he did, he felt the slightest of vibrations pass through his hand.

  Jon closed his eyes, and a vivid picture filled his mind. It was all he could do not to exclaim, but he covered it swiftly with a little cough. The picture was extraordinary; it seared itself into Jon’s memory, and then was gone in a flash. But Jon recalled every detail. A row of cages, in a dark, dirty room. Cages with big, crudely painted name plates on them.

  ‘Jon?’ Kate’s voice echoed in his head.

  ‘Sorry, ma’am,’ he muttered, placing the ring back on the desk.

  She looked at him shrewdly, then beckoned to two uniformed constables who were waiting by the door. ‘Take Mr Leyton to the station.’ She shot Asher a cold stare. ‘He may feel more like talking when he sees the quality of accommodation that we have on offer. Hardly Granary Court, I’m afraid.’ Kate turned to Bill Hickey. ‘We’ll be closing this room up, and I’ll need you to call at the station to make a statement, sir.’

  The man agreed, and went down stairs with the two policemen and Asher Leyton.

  When they were alone, Kate frowned at Jon. ‘What did you see?’

  Jon told her. ‘But I don’t know what it means.’ He stared at the passport. ‘Tanner never went abroad, did he?’

  ‘No. And he disappeared just around the time we made the discovery at Windrush. I think Mr Toby Tanner and Micah Lee were in this together.’ She shook her head. ‘But what on earth has our little curb-crawler got to do with it?’

  Jon suddenly blinked. ‘Hey! What if they are all members of the drinking club?’

  ‘They could be, couldn’t they?’ Kate tried to smiled, then yelped and dabbed at her bloody lip. ‘And in Leyton’s case, that would tie in with the fact that one of the prostitutes down at Dock Street confirmed him as a regular. Maybe life with Hannah Montana isn’t fulfilling enough for Mr Leyton?’

  ‘So he gets his jollies with old Toms and at illegal sex parties.’

  ‘Mm. And Tanner?’ Kate looked at the ring, her eyes narrowing in thought. ‘I wonder..,’ she looked at Jon, and he saw what he could only describe as light dawning.

  ‘Earlier on, I saw a dead man. A hanged man. He was dressed in tough, outdoor clothing, strong boots, had no ID on him and no jewellery. Although I did see a pale line in the weathered skin around his little finger.’ She pointed to the signet ring. ‘A pinkie ring maybe?’

  Jon exhaled. ‘T
anner didn’t go to Germany, he bloody killed himself! Either because he couldn’t live with the shame of being branded a pervert, or…’

  ‘Or because he knew what was beneath the ground at Windrush.’ Kate’s eyes were bright. ‘Time to get back to the station, my friend, but before we go..,’ She walked to the bedside table and picked up a small alarm clock. ‘I’ll get Prickles to cross-check the prints on this with those of the hanged man.’ She looked at him earnestly. ‘If we get a match, then I’m willing to bet that Tanner contacted his pervy little friend Asher Leyton, and let it slip that he was planning on topping himself.’ She frowned. ‘God knows how Asher knew he’d be at the mill, but I’m sure he’ll tell us in the fullness of time.’

  Jon took one last look around the room. ‘Asher took Tanner’s ID to slow down the identification process. Naming a John Doe can take forever, so I kind of understand that, but why bring them back here?’ He walked to the door.

  ‘Are we sure he was bringing them back?’ Kate shrugged. ‘He may have been looking for something else, and then taken everything with him when he left.’ She walked after him. ‘I want this place searched from top to bottom.’

  The CID room was thinning out as officers went home, but Rosie, Scott and Gary still worked on.

  ‘The boss is on her way back,’ Rosie hung up the phone. ‘I’ll order the pizzas now, shall I?’

  ‘May as well,’ said Scotty. ‘Extra cheese and no anchovies for me, please.’ He turned to Gary, ‘How about you, Gazza?’

  ‘Eh, yes, whatever you’re having is fine.’

  As Rosie ordered the food, Scott smiled at the older policeman. ‘You’re quiet tonight, mate?’

  Gary leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms out in front of him. ‘I’m missing something, Scotty. And it’s driving me nuts.’ He looked around the office. ‘Why would you dig up a body, and move it somewhere else?’