by Helen L Lowe
‘There’s a phone in the hall,’ Charlotte said.
They were moving away from the door when they heard shouting and a howl that sounded like a wounded animal.
Charlotte grabbed her hand. ‘Come on, we need to get out of here.’
They rushed back into the garden and were safely behind the bins again when someone came into the kitchen.
‘Damn, I forgot to lock the door,’ Charlotte said.
‘That’s Harriet isn’t it?’ Lizzie said. ‘But she’s got short dark hair and she’s wearing a nurse’s uniform.’
Harriet came closer to the window to wash her hands in the sink before leaving the kitchen and walking through into the hall.
‘Did you see the stain on her apron – was that blood?’ Lizzie said.
‘Come on, we’ll have to move fast. You go and make the phone call, I’ll wait here,’ Charlotte said. ‘There’s a public phone box on Sussex Gardens at the junction with Sussex Place.’
‘Alright – but I’m not happy with you going back into that house alone. Promise me you’ll just wait here until I come back.’
‘Ok, I promise.’ Charlotte watched Lizzie go back down the garden and then turned her attention to the light in the cellar window. She had crossed her fingers when she made the promise because she had every intention of breaking it.
CHAPTER 52
Sussex House
9:37 p.m. Tuesday 11 April
Harriet had gone back to the cellar immediately after Harry told her he had already started the final phase. She was furious with him because he always wanted to move too fast, but when she saw Julian, she was relieved to see that all Harry had done was to complete his tattoos and drawn lines where he intended to amputate. Julian was still alive but completely naked, shivering and dehydrated. The bed was cold and wet.
His eyes locked onto her as she walked up to him. She removed the tape from his mouth and stuck it onto the iron bedhead. She was expecting his usual attempts to talk his way out of the situation. But he remained silent. Standing close to him, she could hear his lungs wheezing with every breath. She went over to the sink, and picked up a scalpel and his inhaler. She held the inhaler to his lips and counted down from three, prompting him to inhale. He didn’t respond.
‘Take the inhaler, Julian – you know you need it.’ She counted again but he refused to co-operate so she stabbed him in the right side, just under the ribs, and forced the blade down and along, slicing through his insides to do maximum damage.
He yelled out. ‘You crazy bitch . . .’
She clamped a bloody hand down on his mouth. ‘You’d better believe it.’
A soft thud came from the other side of the cellar. She quickly slapped the tape back over Julian’s mouth and with the scalpel in her hand she cautiously walked towards the sound.
Her first thought was that Sam had woken up. She had given him a heavy dose of morphine and wasn’t expecting him to wake up for hours, if at all, but he hadn’t moved a muscle.
A quick glance at the stone steps and the closed door at the top made her doubt her usually good instincts but as she turned to go back to Julian, she kicked a box of sterile surgical gloves on the floor. It must have fallen off the shelf. She always stacked them neatly but Harry could be extremely careless at times.
Back at Julian’s side, she removed the tape from his mouth. ‘Because I once had feelings for you, I’ll give you a choice. You can decide which one of you will die first - you or your son?’
He glared at her with a look of hatred that made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Now it was plain to see that she had made the right decision. There was no way she could ever have a relationship with this man.
‘Perhaps you would prefer to die first – I know parents get very upset if they outlive their children.’
‘Kill me but not Sam – he’s just a kid.’
‘I’m sorry, Sam has to die but I could make it quick – unlike yours. I could give him an overdose – he is a junkie, after all – it would be a painless death and it would save us the bother of chopping him up – we could just dump him in an alley somewhere.’ She cut a fresh strip of tape for his mouth. ‘I’ll give you time to think about it.’
‘I thought Harry made the decisions.’
‘No, I do, but sometimes he interferes.’
‘You mean - you get an erection.’ He chuckled softly. ‘Did you really think you could be convincing as a woman? I knew you were a tranny the first time I set eyes on you.’
Harriet screamed at him, horrified that he had dared to call her that hateful name. She thrust the scalpel twice into his chest.
He gasped and coughed. Blood splattered out of his mouth, covered his chest and Harriet’s white apron.
‘I suppose you’re expecting me to clean you up – there’s nothing I hate more than a patient who disrespects us hard working nurses.’
She turned away from him, furious that he had forced her hand. He had deliberately goaded her into violent action that would undoubtedly hasten his death. She went over to the sink and prepared a bucket with a solution of disinfectant and cold water. When she emptied the contents of the bucket over him, his reaction was of complete indifference. He just rested his head back against the wet pillow and closed his eyes.
CHAPTER 53
Paddington Green Police Station
9:45 p.m. Tuesday 11 April
DCI Chase sat down at his desk with a stack of overtime forms. He should have gone home hours ago but with Erikson still sticking to his story and Julian Hartmann missing, he was on tenterhooks. He waded through the forms from the officers working on the Thames murders, checking and countersigning. It was a painfully slow process. The phone on his desk rang.
‘Gov – there’s a call on line one – Elizabeth Harrison. She’s says it’s urgent.’
‘Ok, put her on.’ Chase waited for the line to click over. ‘Mrs Harrison, how can I help?’
‘We think we’ve found Julian – and he’s in trouble.’
‘What d’you mean in trouble – where is he?’
‘At Sussex House – we got in and searched the house and we found a typewriter in the landlady’s office. It’s Julian’s – it had a lot of sentimental value – he would never leave it behind.’
‘You mean she may have stolen it?’ He heard her let out a sigh of frustration. ‘Ok, calm down - just tell me where he is?’
‘In the cellar at Sussex House – we think Harriet, the landlady, has him in there – except that Harriet is a man – and we saw him at the kitchen window. He was wearing a nurse’s uniform and it was covered in blood. Please, you’ve got to get there fast before he kills Julian.’
‘You said “we” - who’s with you?’
‘Charlotte, a friend of Julian’s - she’s waiting at the house, hiding in the back garden.’
Chase had to think quickly. It could be just two women getting hysterical about a man they both loved or it could be genuine and Hartmann was really in danger. The idea that the poor man had actually managed to get abducted by the real Thames Butcher in that house was crazy but he was prepared to take the risk.
‘Don’t go back into the garden – I want you to stand on Sussex Gardens by the access road. My men will look out for you.’
‘But Charlotte’s on her own waiting for me.’
‘Or she could have been spotted and is now in trouble – getting yourself in danger as well won’t help either of them.’
* * *
Julian didn’t open his eyes until he heard Harriet leave. He knew he was dying but he didn’t want her hideous face to be the last thing he saw. He was getting weaker by the second and he didn’t try to fight it. Instead, he thought of Lizzie and tried to relive the heavenly moments they had shared in his room. He was drifting off when a sound close to him brought him hurtling back to reality.
Charlotte was staring at him with wide frightened eyes. There was a large kitchen knife in her hand.
‘Charlotte, how did . . .
’ he stopped as he struggled to breathe.
‘I hid under Sam’s bed - she’s gone back up to the kitchen.’
‘You must get out of here . . .’
She ignored him and started cutting through the thick straps on his wrists.
‘How’s Sam?’
She blinked back tears that were filling her eyes. ‘He’s alive but looks unconscious.’
Julian tried to sit up when his hands were free but a bolt of pain ripped through him and he fell back against the bed. When she had released his ankles, she tried to help him sit on the edge of the bed but he stopped her.
‘No, leave me – give me the knife and make it look like I’m still strapped down.’
‘The police will be here soon,’ she said. ‘Lizzie and I were watching the house – she went off to call the police.’
‘Harriet will be back – hide.’
‘But I can help.’
‘No - you must hide.’
She kissed him on the cheek. ‘I love you,’ she whispered. ‘Please, don’t die.’
The demonic creature at the top of the steps rasped a warning cry as Charlotte ran back behind the chimney breast. Julian had accepted his own death but knew that he must kill Harriet if Sam and Charlotte were to survive. He closed his eyes and rested his head back on the wet pillow, now a sharp contrast to the warmth from the blood pooling in the sheet beneath him. His wrists and ankles were in the same position as when strapped to the bed, and the knife in his right hand was hidden by the bottom sheet that Charlotte had carefully arranged.
Harriet bustled into the cellar. He could hear her at the sink and peered through half-opened eyelids. She was wearing a long rubber apron and was taking rubber sheets off the shelves. With his eyes closed again, he could hear her moving around the bed and when he heard her groping around on the floor behind the bed he opened his eyes to see the whole area around him covered in rubber sheets . . . so this is it . . . that crazy bitch thinks she’s going to finish you off but boy, have you got a surprise for her.
CHAPTER 54
Chase was the first to arrive at Sussex Gardens but within minutes the access road was blocked by police cars and two ambulances. Chase made sure the ambulance crews, the Police Surgeon, Joe Saunders, and a second doctor Joe had brought with him from St Mary’s, had room to get their equipment close to the house.
He could see that Lizzie was anxious to help and in the car she had told him she was a trained nurse, so he allowed her to come in with the doctors. From what Lizzie had said about the sounds from the cellar, Hartmann could be in a bad way. Chase was just clinging on to the hope that he was still alive. He sent three officers around the back of the property to find Charlotte and to get into the house through the back door.
The front door was forced open and two men went upstairs to check on the bedrooms while the rest of them, four officers and Chase, went through into the kitchen. Lizzie, the doctors and ambulance crews were told to wait outside.
He drew out his gun before opening the cellar door. The door wasn’t locked and shouting could be heard below. With a strong smell of disinfectant assaulting their senses, Chase and the uniformed men quietly descended the stone steps. Chase walked passed some shelving units and peered behind them. He could see someone lying in a hospital bed but all the commotion was coming from the back of the cellar.
He signalled to the men to spread out behind him while he followed the noise. The sight before him shook him to the core. Nearly every surface was draped in rubber sheets and a naked man and a nurse were getting caught up in them as they wrestled on the floor. Hartmann was barely recognisable. He was completely bald and covered in blood. The nurse was screaming like a banshee and trying to stab Hartmann but she ended up on her knees in front of him while he held her in a rear chokehold.
Chase rushed towards them. ‘Don’t kill her.’
Hartmann made no sign that he had heard or even knew Chase was there, and he continued to squeeze the life out of her until her face turned blue. Chase went up to him and laid his hands on the man’s arms.
‘Julian, it’s alright now – we’ll take over.’
Hartmann looked up at him with glazed eyes. ‘Sam’s here.’
‘It’s ok – we’ll look after him – let go of her, now.’
Hartmann released his grip and she dropped to the floor. ‘I had to kill her.’ His voice was just a hoarse whisper.
Chase caught Hartmann before he hit the floor. ‘Get the doctors down here.’
The doctors and ambulance crews were let through and they rushed down into the cellar. While they were giving emergency treatment to Hartmann, Chase went over to check on the nurse. She was unconscious but still alive.
‘There’s a woman back here, Gov.’
He walked around the brick wall and saw them helping a young woman come out from under the bed. The young man in the bed, who Chase thought looked like he was already dead, was being resuscitated. Chase couldn’t see him clearly but guessed it was Sam, Hartmann’s son.
Chase watched helplessly as they tried to save Hartmann. Lizzie and the two doctors were working flat out to stop the bleeding and get him stable enough to move to an ambulance.
By now, the nurse was surrounded by policemen. She was fully conscious and trying to wrestle with three officers.
‘You don’t deserve to wear that uniform.’ Chase took hold of the nurse’s cap and pulled it off; with the cap came the wig and the short dark hair underneath surprised them all.
‘So, you’re a man after all.’
‘My name is Harriet Johnson.’
’Male or female or something in-between makes no difference to me, Johnson – you’re under arrest.’
Johnson was handcuffed and then examined by one of the doctors because of blood coming from under the rubber apron. He had a stomach wound but his condition was not thought to be critical and they decided to get him out before they gave him medical treatment. Two officers took Johnson up the steps but he fought them all the way – kicking and screaming profanities.
‘Don’t think this is the end, Julian.’ Johnson yelled. ‘I’m going to kill you one day – cut off your fucking dick and shove it up your arse.’
* * *
While Lizzie had waited outside the house, she recognised one of the doctors.
‘Joe, I’m glad you’re here – I’m so scared that we’re too late.’
‘Try not to worry – he’s strong and I’d bet on him in any fight.’
There was a shout from one of the police officers, and the medical teams were rushed through into the kitchen and down into the cellar. The first thing that hit her was the smell of disinfectant but as she walked through the cellar, she saw Charlotte standing beside a bed watching them resuscitate Sam. She had to drag her eyes away from her son and walk on through to the back of the cellar, where she saw three policemen standing over Harriet. She was lying on the floor wearing a nurse’s uniform.
Lizzie looked over at DCI Chase who was kneeling beside a naked man covered in blood. When she went closer she recognised Julian. She was so shocked that she froze to the spot.
‘Lizzie – we need your help.’ Joe gently took her arm and led her to Julian’s side. He directed her to press her hands over two abdominal wounds to slow down the blood loss. ‘It helps if you focus on a task.’
She nodded and followed his instructions while she tried to hold back tears that were blurring her vision.
Julian was looking at them like a man seeing a mirage. ‘Am I dreaming this?’
‘No – you’re not dreaming,’ Lizzie said. ‘Don’t worry, everything will be fine now.’
‘I thought I wouldn’t see you . . .’ his voice trailed off as he shut his eyes.
‘Julian, stay with me – please, stay with me.’
They were giving him pain relief and intravenous fluids, and they managed to clamp off a severed artery but his blood pressure was only 70/40 and dropping.
‘We need to get him to hospital as
quickly as possible,’ Joe said. ‘Lizzie, I need you to keep that pressure steady. Can you do that?’
Lizzie was distracted by Johnson yelling abuse at Julian as they dragged him up the steps but Julian was now unconscious.
‘Lizzie?’ Joe said.
‘Yes, yes, I think so.’
Chase walked over to them. ‘How is he?’
‘We’ll know more when we have him in surgery,’ Joe said.
Lizzie walked beside the stretcher with her hands held firmly over the wounds. They were still bleeding but it had slowed down. They manoeuvred the steps carefully. At the top of the steps, while going through the door, the stretcher jolted when one of the ambulance men caught his foot. Julian opened his eyes wide with alarm and tried to sit up.
‘It’s ok, Julian,’ Joe said, pressing him gently back onto the stretcher, ‘we’re taking you to hospital.’
Julian focussed on Joe’s face. ‘Joe – is that you?’
Joe grinned at him. ‘I couldn’t keep away when I heard you were up to mischief again.’
Julian smiled as he dropped his head back on the stretcher. His eyes closed again.
Lizzie was upset that Sam was taken to hospital in a different ambulance. They had been successful with the resuscitation but he was still unconscious. They persuaded her that Sam wouldn’t be aware of her presence and so she stayed to help with Julian
Once they were in the ambulance, Joe took over from Lizzie to give her a rest.
‘Keep a check on his blood pressure – we have to keep it low to slow the bleeding but we need the systolic to be no lower than sixty to preserve brain function.’
She did as requested and had a reading of 65/40. ‘You can’t die,’ she whispered in Julian’s ear, ‘I need you more than ever.’
CHAPTER 55
They were taken to St Mary’s in Paddington, and Julian was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit where they took an hour to stabilise him for surgery. Sam was also admitted to Intensive Care, his bed just a few feet away from his father’s. Although the resuscitation had been successful, Johnson had given him a massive dose of morphine and his condition was still critical.