Blind Alley

by Danielle Ramsay

  ‘It’s definitely her car?’ Brady asked, breaking Gates’s thoughts.

  Gates nodded. ‘I’m sorry.’

  Brady looked at him. It was genuine. Gates had always had a soft spot for Claudia.

  Who didn’t? She was so unique. So fucking special that it hurt. It hurt so bad . . .

  Brady stood up. His hands were clenched by his sides. His face rigid as he tried not to get emotional. Not here. Not now in front of Gates. He still had some pride left.

  ‘I . . . I can’t do this, sir. Sorry,’ Brady said, turning to leave.

  It took all his self-will not to break into a run.

  ‘Jack? There’s something you need to know,’ Gates called out after him.

  Brady continued walking. There was nothing left to interest him. He reached the door and was about to open it when Gates threw him a lifeline.

  ‘Jack! Wait! It’s not her. Claudia wasn’t in the car. I found out just before you got here,’ Gates explained. He wanted Brady to hear it from him first. Soon enough it would spread like wildfire around the station. Everyone was desperate for news about Claudia.

  Brady spun round. His expression a mixture of disbelief, hope and anger.

  ‘What? What did you say?’

  ‘They’ve just recovered her car from the rocks. Bentley’s team’s there.’

  He felt sick at the thought of Bentley overseeing the crime scene. But he wasn’t surprised. Tynemouth came under the jurisdiction of North Shields police station.

  ‘I thought there were no survivors?’

  Gates nodded his head.

  ‘There aren’t any.’

  Brady walked back to his chair. He needed something to hold on to.

  ‘Who was in her car then?’ Brady asked, not quite believing what he was hearing.

  ‘DCI James Davidson.’

  ‘What?’ Brady questioned. ‘Why would he be in Claudia’s car? I mean . . . she stayed at mine last night and . . .’ Brady stopped himself.

  The look in Gates’s eye told him he wasn’t surprised by this revelation.

  Everyone knew about his failed marriage. Worse still, they knew why it had failed. They also all knew that she had moved on. That she had left Brady in the rear view mirror. Until last night. So why did Gates not look surprised?

  ‘Her mobile phone was stuffed into DCI Davidson’s mouth. The last call she made was to your mobile at 11:02 p.m. last night. The details of that call were left on the screen. Whoever did this to DCI Davidson wanted us to know that.’

  ‘Did what? What did they do to him?’

  Brady felt like he had a noose around his throat. And then he realised why.

  Gates was weighing Brady up. He was determining whether Brady already knew what had happened to Davidson or if he was lying.

  ‘Sir?’ Brady asked.

  ‘Davidson was found bound and gagged. It appears that he had taken quite a beating. His ID badge had been shoved into his mouth, along with Claudia’s mobile phone before he was gagged.’

  Brady’s shoulders slumped forward as he gripped the back of the chair.

  ‘What happened? How did he die?’

  ‘He either drowned or the impact of the crash killed him. We can’t say until Wolfe has carried out his autopsy.’

  Brady weakly nodded. He felt sick. His mind was in turmoil. He clung on to the fact that Wolfe was carrying out the autopsy. He was a cantankerous old bugger who drank too much, but he knew his job. He was the best Home Office pathologist the force had ever had, and they’d had a few. Even Chief Superintendent O’Donnell was aware of Wolfe’s foibles, but since he was the best pathologist around, everyone turned a blind eye.

  But Wolfe was also a personal friend of Brady’s – of sorts. He knew that if push came to shove Wolfe would talk to him. Brady was certain about one thing: the shit was about to hit the fan. Gates had not said it yet. But it was coming.

  ‘I’m sure you agree that it’s not a pleasant way to die. Bound, gagged and beaten and then locked in the boot of your girlfriend’s car, which is then rammed by a second car until it plummets over the cliffs.’

  Brady was speechless.

  ‘No driver. Just Davidson’s body in the boot. The water and cliffs are currently being searched by the Coast Guard and the Marine Unit. But so far, there’s no sign of Claudia’s body.’

  Brady felt winded. Gates had said that she was not in the car. That she was still alive.

  Or had Brady just imagined it? Fuck . . . please let her be alive?

  ‘I thought you said she wasn’t in the car?’ Brady asked, his voice shaking.

  ‘I did. All the doors were locked and the windows were fractured but intact. She couldn’t have been in the car when it went over the cliff. But Bentley is looking at the possibility that she might have been thrown or jumped into the water.’

  Brady breathed out. It was too much to take in.

  He dragged his head up and was met by Gates’s cold, clinical gaze. He was watching Brady. Studying each reaction as if he were a suspect.

  ‘You don’t seriously think . . .’ Brady stopped himself. He couldn’t even put it into words. It was too ridiculous.

  ‘What? That you’re a suspect in your ex-wife’s partner’s brutal murder? A man you made no attempt to hide your hatred for? Because he was sleeping with your ex-wife. A woman who even a fool could see you still loved.’

  Brady just stared at him. Unable to comprehend what he was implying.

  ‘You admit that she spent the night with you last night?’

  Brady nodded.

  ‘She . . . Yes, she stayed the night. But when I woke this morning she had gone.’

  ‘So, Claudia just vanished, did she? What time was that?’

  Brady shrugged. ‘I don’t know. When I woke up it was around eight. Her part of the bed was cold so I assumed she’d been gone for a while.’

  ‘Her car was seen being rammed over Tynemouth cliffs on the corner by the Gibraltar Rock pub shortly after six thirty. And you say you didn’t wake up until eight o’clock?’

  ‘Yes,’ Brady answered, unable to keep the anger out of his voice.

  ‘Look, Jack, I’m only trying to get the facts straight in my head. All right? I’m sorry if you don’t like what I’m asking. But you better prepare yourself because DI Bentley will want to interview you,’ Gates informed him.

  It took a second for Brady to realise the magnitude of what Gates had just said.

  ‘Why?’ he thundered, unable to rein in his anger.

  ‘Because he is the SIO in charge of this murder and missing person investigation. You were the last person to see her before she disappeared. You, better than anyone, should know the significance of that.’

  Brady thought about Bentley. He would crucify Brady. He had a score to settle, as Gates had pointed out. Brady had closed Bentley’s investigation without even consulting him. Now Bentley had a chance to do some kicking of his own where Brady was concerned.

  ‘I want you to go home. Wait until Bentley contacts you. But as of this moment you are suspended, DI Brady,’ Gates informed him.

  ‘What?’ He looked at Gates in disbelief. ‘You can’t be serious. Claudia is missing, for fuck’s sake! You can’t expect me to go home and wait for a phone call. God knows who has her but if they murdered Davidson I don’t hold out much hope of her coming back in one piece. Not if Bentley’s in fucking charge! You need me. You need me here working on this. She needs me.’

  Gates said nothing. Instead he waited for Brady to finish his tirade.

  ‘You can’t just sit there. She’s been abducted!’

  ‘By who, Jack?’

  Brady shook his head. His eyes were wild.

  ‘I don’t know! No . . . last night,’ he paused as he remembered.

  How could he have been so stupid?

  ‘That’s why she came to see me. She was scared. No. Terrified that the Dabkunas brothers were back in the North-East. Marijuis and Mykolas Dabkunas. Claudia said that Nicoletta had go
ne missing. That nobody had seen her since last Thursday. She feared that the brothers had kidnapped her and that they would kill her for giving information to the police about their sex-trafficking operation.’

  Gates nodded but there was nothing in his expression that told Brady he believed him.

  ‘Very interesting, Jack. I’m sure Bentley will want to hear all about your theory.’

  ‘Why don’t you fucking believe me?’ bellowed Brady.

  He didn’t care if he lost control. After all, Gates had just suspended him.

  ‘Two reasons. Firstly, why did Claudia not report her fears about Nicoletta?’

  ‘She did. To Davidson,’ Brady fired back, cutting Gates off.

  ‘But he’s dead, Jack, so he can’t substantiate that. Also, Intelligence have no further information on the Dabkunas brothers. If they did, we would be the first to know. But they’re clear that the brothers haven’t returned to the UK.’

  ‘That’s if they ever left the UK in the first place,’ said Brady.

  ‘Come on, Jack. You’re clutching at straws.’

  Brady was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Did Gates really believe he was making all this up?

  ‘Get Conrad to take you back home. And stay put. I don’t want you doing anything stupid. Understand me? Bentley will find Claudia. That is . . . if she’s still alive.’

  Brady didn’t respond. He just stood there trying to get a grasp on what was happening.

  She was with me last night . . . She was with me . . . How? How could he say that? ‘If’ she’s still alive? This is Claudia he’s talking about . . . Claudia!

  ‘Jack? Are you listening to me?’

  Brady looked at Gates.

  ‘Fuck you, sir, and fuck Bentley!’ he replied as he turned and left.

  He had nothing to lose. Not now.

  ‘Don’t make this any more difficult than it already is!’ Gates called out after him.

  But he was too late. Brady was already slamming the door behind him.Gates hadn’t expected Brady to take it well. He just hoped that Brady did as instructed, kept his head low and Bentley sweet. It wasn’t a lot to ask. But he knew, where Brady was concerned, it would be impossible. His ex-wife had gone missing, presumed abducted, and her ex-SAS officer boyfriend had turned up dead after being beaten, bound and gagged. Davidson was a man who had hands-on combat skills. It would have been no mean feat to overpower him. Never mind murder him.

  Whoever had done this was dangerous and well-organised.

  Precisely the reason why Gates had wanted Brady to lie low. The last thing he needed was him becoming a casualty of something that Claudia and Davidson’s team had uncovered. Gates was sure it was connected to one of their covert investigations into sex crimes against women and children. They dealt with a lot of dangerous criminals making money out of this kind of business. Gates had already talked to Claudia and Davidson’s boss and had been told enough to know that much.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Brady stormed out of Gates’s office and headed straight for his own. He needed some time to calm down and collect his thoughts.

  He opened the door and then just stood there, unable to move. This office had been an integral part of his life for so long. The bulky old wooden desk that was his workspace. The leather couch by the window that many a night had doubled up as his bed. He looked over at the large Victorian sash window with its dusty Venetian blinds. Below it was a leaky cast-iron radiator that religiously clanked and clunked its way through winter. It had always irritated the hell out of him but right now he would give anything for things to return to normal. For James Davidson to still be alive and for Claudia to be safe. He would have given anything for that to happen. Anything.

  He breathed in slowly, trying to steady the waves of crippling nausea that had been coursing through him from the moment he had heard. What panicked him the most was the fact that he had no idea what was going on. Why had they taken Claudia? For that was what he was counting on. Every atom in his body prayed that this was the case. That she had been kidnapped and was being held hostage somewhere. The alternative was unbearable.

  Brady nervously dragged a hand through his hair. He needed to figure out what to do. But Gates was right. First he had to get out of the station. The day would soon disappear and with it Claudia’s chances of survival.

  He walked over to his desk and picked up his Che Guevera mug. He pulled open his top drawer and took out two framed photographs that used to sit on his desk – both of Claudia. He collected a few other personal effects and put them in a cardboard box.

  He cast his eyes one last time around his office before going to find Conrad.

  Instead he found Amelia.

  She was walking along the corridor. When she looked up and saw Brady it was too late to change direction.

  ‘I’m sorry—’ Brady began.

  ‘Forget it. I have,’ she interrupted him.

  But her face told Brady she was lying. That she would never forgive him for running out on her. Regardless of the reason. And Brady knew that Claudia was not the best reason to give.

  At the thought of Claudia’s name panic welled up inside him. A sudden reminder of what he’d had so briefly and what he stood to lose: everything. Sure, he felt bad about DCI Davidson. But he was the least of Brady’s concerns right now. His only focus was on finding Claudia.

  ‘Leaving?’ Amelia asked, gesturing at the cardboard box in his arms.

  Brady automatically covered the contents with his right arm while he supported the box with his left.

  ‘DCI Gates has suspended me temporarily,’ Brady said, deciding that she might as well hear it from him. Soon the news would be all around the station, as well as the other Area Commands.

  ‘I see,’ Amelia replied, her voice flat.

  She could barely bring herself to look at him.

  ‘Amelia, if I had time to explain I would. But . . .’ he faltered, not knowing what to say next.

  ‘Don’t let me stop you.’

  ‘See you around. Yeah?’ Brady asked, wanting some kind of confirmation that things would be all right between them again.

  But Amelia wouldn’t give him the answer he wanted. She simply looked away.

  He could see the hurt in her, despite the fact she wouldn’t look at him.

  He sighed heavily. He felt bad enough without feeling like a total bastard to boot.

  ‘Take care,’ he said, before walking away.

  Amelia turned and watched him. His head was down and his body slumped over the box he was carrying. He looked like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. And he effectively was; he had just found out his ex-wife was dead. She realised that she was being childish letting her personal emotions get in the way of something so devastating.

  ‘Jack?’ she called after him.

  He stopped and turned around.

  She ran up to him. ‘I’m sorry . . . about Claudia.’

  This time it was Brady who could not look her in the eyes. He dropped his gaze to the box he was holding protectively.

  ‘Thanks,’ he muttered.

  She gently touched his arm.

  ‘Really, I’m genuinely sorry, Jack.’

  He knew he didn’t deserve her sympathy. If she had known that he’d left her standing for Claudia, she wouldn’t be feeling sorry for him. Not to mention the fact that he had spent the night with his ex-wife, instead of her.

  In that moment Brady wondered if the outcome would have been any different if he had not responded to Claudia’s call. If he had ignored it instead. Where would he be right now? He was sure he wouldn’t be feeling as if the world had exploded around him and he was the only one left standing – with a box of memories.

  ‘Thanks, Amelia. But I don’t deserve it,’ Brady said.

  With that he walked off and left her wondering what he meant.

  Brady had gone voluntarily to North Shields police station to make a statement. He had no choice. Rather
that than Bentley turning up at his door with an arrest warrant. But for what? Nothing. He had done nothing. But that was the problem. That was the bit that was killing him inside.

  Claudia had come to him terrified and what had he done? He’d taken advantage of her. Then she’d left without a word, leaving him to wake up in a world that he did not know, or trust. A world that had no meaning without her in it.

  Brady got Conrad to drive him home afterwards. Conrad had tried to insist on staying but Brady was adamant that he needed to be on his own. He had spent the last few hours pacing up and down like a sane person locked inside a mental sanatorium. But the worst part was he felt that this was his doing. That he had a part to play in all of this. He didn’t understand what or why. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was somehow involved.

  He looked at his mobile phone, willing it to ring. He had it clutched firmly in his right hand. There was only one person in the world he trusted to help him find Claudia, to understand what was happening, but he couldn’t get hold of him.

  Where the fuck are you when I need you, Nick? Where?

  Then it hit him. The sickening reality. That he was deluding himself that Nick would hear the voicemail that Brady had left on his mobile – the only means of contact he had. Why had he left the message when he had a really bad feeling something had happened to Nick as well? That he had disappeared, just like Claudia?

  Why? Nick, what the fuck’s happened to you? Was Claudia right? Have those Dabkunas bastards come back to the North-East? Had they ever really left?

  If they had Claudia then what about Nick? What about him? Oh shit . . . They would slowly torture him before . . .

  Brady couldn’t bring himself to think about it.

  Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

  He threw his phone on the ground. He couldn’t stand this any longer.

  He walked over to the bay window and looked out. It was 8:33 p.m. and pitch black outside. But the time was all he noticed. He had been counting it down since he got back to the house.

  Brady sighed heavily and crouched by the window. He cradled his head in his hands as he tried to think straight. He knew from Conrad that Claudia’s house in Jesmond had been ransacked. Conrad had made use of his contact at North Shields. The police had established that Claudia had gone back there after she had left Brady’s. The house had been turned upside down. Forensics had found blood, lots of blood, mostly in the bedroom. It was clear a struggle had taken place. Whether the murderers had turned up there looking for Claudia and had instead found Davidson, Brady had no idea. Had Davidson calmed down after his argument with Claudia and returned home to find himself overpowered by whoever it was that Brady was about to meet? They would have held Davidson and tortured him to find out where Claudia was. Brady assumed that would have taken place in the bedroom, accounting for all the blood. But Davidson would never have talked. Even if he’d wanted to, he would have had no idea where Claudia had gone. The last thing he’d have assumed was that she was with Brady. If he’d known that, they would have turned up on Brady’s doorstep. It would have made things a lot easier for them. They would have captured Brady and Claudia without the complication of murdering Davidson. Brady hated to imagine Claudia returning to the house with them waiting for her and Davidson beaten within an inch of his life.