Trial by Execution

by T. M. E. Walsh

  Everyone in the incident room remained quiet as she spoke, with only a television, volume low, playing in the background. A news channel was displaying a photograph of Skye, and a further plea for Sean Clarkson to come forward and help with their enquiries followed swiftly afterwards.

  ‘Is Sean Clarkson a suspect now?’ Elias said.

  ‘He lied about his whereabouts the evening Knox was killed,’ Claire said. ‘Danny Castle has confirmed that his company designed the Clarksons’ interior soft furnishings ten months ago. Skye had direct contact with Sean.’ She paused. ‘Danny said Skye had admitted yesterday night what he had suspected for weeks… that she had been having an affair. She wouldn’t say who with, though.’

  Elias gave her a knowing look.

  Claire then turned to Stefan. ‘We need those mobile records ASAP.’

  ‘We’re on it, Guv.’

  ‘If Sean Clarkson is her lover, I need to know about it… Come on, Skye’s been gone nearly twenty-four hours now.’

  DSI Donahue came into the incident room then and stared at the furore this latest news had brought with it. Everyone had a look of dread etched on their faces. Everyone had seen photographs of Danny and Skye’s home – the blood in the bedroom, the sinister Glasgow Smile drawn on the glass of the couple’s otherwise happy photograph.

  Donahue motioned Claire over.

  ‘I’m being told that Skye Bradshaw is pregnant.’

  ‘Might be pregnant, Sir.’

  ‘And Sean Clarkson?’

  Claire shot him a nervous look.

  ‘Guv,’ Elias said. ‘Danika’s on the line for you, says it’s urgent.’

  Claire half ran to her office. ‘Transfer it through,’ she said.

  ‘Thought you should know this as soon as possible,’ Danika said, when she heard Claire on the other end of the line.

  ‘That chalk residue found on Helena and Tilly’s clothes?’ she continued. Claire didn’t answer her, but instead waited, holding her breath. ‘It’s not blackboard chalk, there are no added chemicals. I think it has come from a more natural source. I found particles of soil and plant extracts among the chalk residue, but it will take time to try and pinpoint a rough location for the areas it’s likely to have come from.’

  Claire sighed at the mix of news. ‘Okay, Danika. Thank you.’

  ‘Thank me later, when you find that woman.’

  Claire hung up and came out of her office.

  ‘Do we know if Skye had any dealings with Adam Crowley?’ she said to no one in particular.

  ‘Crowley?’ Stefan said. ‘Has he got anything to do with this? Skye’s disappearance?’

  ‘He’s been close to this investigation. I’m not ruling anybody out. Have we sent an officer to the Clarkson house? To see if Sean’s turned up there yet?’

  ‘We did,’ Elias said. ‘Sean’s not turned up, but Raja had received a text message from him. It reads like he’s contemplating doing something stupid.’ He pulled a face. ‘Here.’ He handed her a screenshot taken from Raja’s smartphone.

  I did what I did for us, for you. I’ll make this right, but please don’t try to find me, it’ll be too late by then. I’m sorry, baby xx S, xxx

  Claire read the words on the page.

  ‘His mobile is switched off still,’ Elias said. ‘Whatever he’s planning on doing, he’s making sure he does it on his own terms.’

  Panic gripped Claire inside, but she held her resolve. She stared at the faces of the dead. Her ice-blue eyes then crossed to the photograph of Raymond Knox, the man who’d been the catalyst for each death that’d come since he’d been back walking the streets of Haverbridge.

  She was searching his eyes, dark pits in his pale face, silently cursing him and the hell he’d unleashed on her city, when they got the call she’d been anxiously praying for.

  ‘Guv,’ said Jane, pressing the phone receiver against her chest. ‘The call just came in. A family in Lower Sundon have found a girl collapsed in their back garden.’

  Claire tore across the incident room towards her. ‘Is it her?’

  ‘She matches the description but they can’t be sure due to the state of her.’

  Claire played Jane’s words back through her head. ‘You said she collapsed?’

  ‘Yes, Guv, she’s alive… just about.’

  Claire’s eyes shot to the photographs of the victims again and stared at their mouths.

  A Glasgow Smile…

  This was the killer’s calling card – like Batman’s fucking Joker.

  Except these women had then been finished off – Skye Bradshaw was different.

  ‘I need to see her.’

  ‘She’s being airlifted to Haverbridge Hospital for emergency surgery. You won’t be able to see her.’

  Jane’s voice echoed in her head and she realised, in that moment, that, despite Skye Bradshaw being found alive, there was still a good chance she might die on the operating table.

  Claire signalled to Stefan and he propelled himself out of his chair.

  ‘I’ll drive,’ he said.

  Elias got to his feet. ‘Guv,’ he said. ‘Skye will be in ICU.’ He paused when her eyes met his. ‘Don’t let your heart rule your head.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Only doctors can save Skye. The best way for you – us – to help Skye now, and bring justice to Helena and Tilly, is to find the killer. We need to find Sean. He’s the key to all this.’

  Claire knew he was right. She gave a clipped nod and Elias returned to his seat when he felt everyone’s eyes on them both.

  ‘Let’s start with Sundon,’ Claire said, regaining her composure. ‘It’s twenty miles away over the Beds border. I need to know if any of the victims had any connections with the area and what’s in the immediate vicinity.’

  Elias’s fingers moved rapidly over his keyboard. He stared at his computer.

  ‘Sundon is a small village, not much there.’

  Claire leaned in over his shoulder and saw Google Maps on the screen.

  ‘Change that to satellite view,’ she said.

  When Elias clicked to change the view, Claire paused, seeing it instantly.

  An aerial view immediately highlighted the lush, green countryside, intercut with white lines, carving their way through the landscape, leading to vast patches of white wasteland.

  Claire’s face dropped in realisation as she remembered her phone conversation with Danika. ‘Sundon Chalk Quarry…’

  Elias saw the other location on the map. ‘The family that found Skye – the quarry is only a mile from them.’

  Claire’s heart almost skipped a beat.

  ‘The quarry bunkers! There’re hundreds of bunkers under the ground, hidden entrances everywhere all over the hills and pits,’ she said.

  ‘That’ll explain the chalk residue found on Tilly and Helena’s clothes,’ said Stefan.

  Claire nodded. ‘That’s got to be where he’s taking them.’

  ‘Yeah, but where the hell do you start looking?’ Elias said. ‘The site is privately owned but there is free public access, although it’s supposed to be restricted. People caught on it are prosecuted. Not to mention the entire site is an expanse of lakes, chalk grassland, woodland and scrub.’

  He turned in his chair to look at her.

  ‘The quarry starts on the outskirts of Upper Sundon, and ends shortly after Lower Sundon. That’s a lot of ground to cover, and in the dark, well… talk about a needle in a haystack,’ he said.

  ‘We can narrow it down,’ Claire said. She pointed at the screen. ‘The family who found Skye…’

  ‘The Cains,’ Elias said.

  ‘The Cains – they live in the Lower Sundon area, here,’ she said, tapping the screen with her finger. ‘It’s late. There wouldn’t be any lights in the quarry, so Skye would’ve likely run to the first set of lights in the distance that were closest to her.’

  ‘An educated guess,’ said Stefan, ‘would put her here.’ He point
ed to the section of quarry that ran parallel to the lower part of the village.

  Claire paused. ‘What else do we know about what happened?’ She looked at Elias.

  He shrugged. ‘Not a lot right now, but officers who attended the Cains’ house said Skye was covered in mud. It was thick up to her shoulders, caked under her nails, like she’d been crawling, or digging with her hands. But Skye can’t talk, can’t tell them where she’s been.’

  ‘We need to get officers and a dog unit to the quarry.’

  He looked at her, bemused, as she moved away from his desk towards her own office. ‘Now?’

  Claire looked around at him, then at Donahue, who had wandered back into the room without her noticing.

  ‘Sean Clarkson is still missing and a person of interest… we need to find where Skye was kept. I’m in no doubt that’s where Helena and Tilly were killed, too.’

  Donahue nodded. ‘I agree but this will take time. It’s not something we can do immediately. It’s a wide area to search and co-ordinate, not to mention blocking public access.’

  Claire knew he was right but doubts pulled away at her. ‘I know what you’re saying but it doesn’t feel right to just sit here, to do nothing.’

  Donahue was losing patience. ‘We’re not doing nothing. We’re trying to use the resources at hand and, right now, that’s going to take time.’

  ‘Time we don’t have, Sir. How many more have to die? This killer is not going to stop and we don’t know who might be next. Sean Clarkson could be there for all we know.’

  Donahue raised his finger at her. ‘Enough.’ He headed towards the door to the incident room. ‘My office.’

  Claire stared after him, and when he’d disappeared through the door, she closed her eyes and slowly counted to ten in her head.

  One, two…

  She saw Raymond Knox, heard the grateful voices of the community that he was gone.

  Three, four…

  Helena Daniels smiled at her, a woman in need of help, left to bring about her own demise.

  Five, six…

  Tilly Hartley was with her mother, smiling, waving, but her innocence was lost to the dark underworld of an illness she would never be rescued from.

  Seven, eight…

  Skye Bradshaw had her back to her, turned, smiled, right before her mouth tore open in a gaping wound.

  Nine, ten…

  Claire opened her eyes.

  ‘No,’ she said to herself.

  Instead of following Donahue, she turned on her heels and marched back into her office and started gathering her things together.

  While everyone else went back to what they were doing, Stefan followed her. She looked up as he entered but didn’t speak. She rifled through a drawer in her desk, pulling out a torch.

  Stefan’s eyes widened.

  ‘What are you doing?’ he hissed, closing her office door behind him. She just looked at him, face stony, as she brought up a Google map on her own computer and, after typing in a location, hit Enter and sent it to the printer.

  Realisation hit him then.

  ‘Claire, tell me you’re not doing what I think you’re doing?’

  She retrieved the map of the chalk quarry from the printer and put it in her bag. She swung it over her shoulder. ‘Don’t try to talk me out of it.’

  Stefan stood in her way. ‘I can’t let you do this; you could be suspended if Donahue finds out.’

  ‘Fuck Donahue, Fletch. He’s wrong and I’m doing this, so don’t try to stop me.’

  He stepped in front of her and she stared at him.

  She cocked her head to the side. ‘Really? You’re hardly a deterrent, Fletch. You’re the brains, not the brawn.’

  He rolled his eyes at her. ‘I’m serious,’ he said as she tried to push past him. He rested his hand firmly against her shoulder. ‘It could be dangerous and you want to go running around in the bloody dark, with some Google printout and a torch. Do you have any idea how hard these bunkers are to find?’

  She sighed.

  ‘You’re going in all half-cocked,’ he said. ‘Look at the images we’ve seen of these bunkers. Blink and you miss them, even more so in the dark. You could get lost, stuck out there alone.’

  Claire stared at him, defiant. ‘Stand aside, Fletch.’

  He sighed, removed his hand. ‘All right, all right.’ He took a step away from her. As she went to go past him, he crossed her path again. ‘I’m going with you.’

  ‘Fletcher!’

  ‘No, Claire,’ he snapped back. ‘You go alone, I’ll go straight to Donahue, I swear.’

  ‘It wouldn’t just be me facing a bollocking from Donahue, Fletch. Worst-case scenario, he could get Professional Standards involved.’ Her face was serious. ‘Trust me, you don’t want that.’

  Oblivious to her words, he said, ‘You’re not hearing me; you are not going alone. It isn’t safe.’

  He saw the reluctance in her face but he didn’t care. This was an argument she wasn’t going to win.

  ‘I need you here,’ she said. ‘I’m not asking you to cover for me exactly, just… buy me some time.’

  He lowered his face so his eyes were level with hers. ‘You’re not going alone.’

  She went to speak but stopped herself as a new thought crept into her head. As much as she hated the idea, in theory it made sense and it would get Stefan off her back.

  ‘I won’t be alone,’ she said.

  Stefan eyed her with suspicion. ‘Bullshit. What are you up to?’

  ‘Fletch, trust me on this.’

  He folded his arms. ‘Who is it?’ He glanced around him, out through the glass partition wall. ‘Can’t be anyone out there, it’d be noticed.’

  ‘It isn’t anyone from the team.’

  He frowned. ‘Who then?’

  Claire looked sure of herself then. ‘Someone who won’t be able to refuse me when they hear what this could mean.’

  CHAPTER 48

  The drive to Sundon took about half an hour from Haverbridge. When Claire had made the call and asked for him to pick her up from the street near the station, he’d been suspicious as to her motives.

  When the full realisation of what this could mean, for him and for the victims, had hit him, he’d taken a mere twenty minutes to drive over.

  Claire had been avoiding eye contact for most of the journey, but she couldn’t help her curiosity. She slowly raised her eyes to watch him, see if she could tell what emotions he was going through right now.

  She’d asked for his help for a third time now, and here he was, but she was under no illusions as to his real reasons for being here. She’d exploited his need for justice once and for all. For closure and to put to bed the secrets of the past.

  Simon risked a glance her way when he felt the weight of her stare. This time she didn’t look away and to avoid his scrutiny.

  ‘It’s not too late to turn back,’ he said, returning his attention to the road. ‘You don’t know what’s there. The quarry… it’s dangerous, especially at night.’

  Claire smiled. ‘You don’t want that any more than I do. To turn back, I mean.’

  ‘I don’t want to see you hurt, that’s all.’

  ‘Rubbish,’ she said. She saw him flinch at her words. ‘Let’s face it, Simon, you were never going to say no.’

  He shot her a look.

  ‘A chance to put the past right… or something like that, anyway.’

  A tense silence hung between them then, both knowing they were firmly in this together, on the same page for the first time in years.

  Thoughts on her last conversation with Adam Crowley were at the back of her mind.

  Had Simon made comments to Crowley about her past history with her father?

  After all, Simon had known about the situation with Peter. He had even been down as a contact for Peter when he was receiving care because Peter had maintained a fondness for him, despite everything.
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  Claire knew people talked. It wouldn’t have been too hard for Simon to have found out the full details surrounding her father’s death.

  Claire wanted to mention it but decided now wasn’t the time to dredge up her past, not when she still needed his help.

  A heavy silence hung between them, shattered only when Claire’s mobile started to ring. She hesitated before checking the caller ID.

  Simon saw her face. ‘Is that the station again?’

  She nodded. ‘Donahue’s number this time.’

  Claire had managed to slip from the incident room unnoticed, although she’d thought Elias hadn’t been totally unaware something was up. If he did know, he’d made no attempt to alert anyone.

  This was the third call Claire had received, all left unanswered thus far. Stefan had left a voicemail, but she sensed it had been for the benefit of others since he’d acted like he had no prior knowledge of her plans or her whereabouts.

  Simon leaned over and plucked the phone from her while his other hand retained a firm hold on the steering wheel. He switched the phone off.

  He handed it back to her and saw the trepidation on her face.

  ‘Feels good to be bad sometimes, doesn’t it?’ he said. When she looked across at him, he smiled.

  ‘We’re not teens acting out. Going like this, me against Donahue – it’s serious.’

  ‘This was your idea, remember?’

  She was too apprehensive to respond.

  Soon they saw the sign for Sundon come into view.

  Simon followed the road down towards Lower Sundon and saw the house where Skye had run to. They knew a police cordon was in situ around the perimeter of the house, where Skye had run from the open fields and into the back garden.

  A lone police car was parked outside the house.

  Simon slowed the car as they passed and Claire leaned over towards him, craning her neck to get a look through the windows. There were no net curtains, and the lights were on inside. Momentarily, they saw into the living room.