by Diana Launt
Harry roared. “No, I saw with my own eyes that she was pilfering, she is nothing but a thieving little toe rag.”
“Calm down Harry. Tell me exactly what you saw then” she said sneakily looking at the clock again. It was seven fifteen, her dad would be here soon, and so would Jake. “Mum can you go and get the cream scones that I prepared and put in the fridge earlier, I am sure Harry would like to divulge in one of them,” Rachel said stalling.
CHAPTER 40
Jake had just climbed into the bath when his mobile rang. He cursed and intended that whoever it was could bloody well wait, as he would have no interruptions.
He lay there wallowing in the relaxing spa mineral salts, the aroma like heaven to him, just what the doctor ordered. The ringing went on and on then suddenly stopped. Then it started again just as he began to wash his hair with the shower attachment. Now he was getting mad and wanted to strangle the person on the other end and tried to ignore the phone whilst he rubbed shampoo into his hair.
He rinsed his hair, stepped out of the bath, wiped himself down with a soft white fluffy towel, wrapped it around his waist, and mumbled to himself that he had better answer the phone now as it had been ringing for going on ten minutes.
“Hammond here.”
“Jake it’s dad, where the hell have you been, we have a full blown crisis at home and your mum and Rachel are in terrible danger.”
The blood drained out of Jake’s face, and he felt embarrassed that he had not answered Frank’s frantic call. “Bloody Hell dad, what are you talking about, have you been on the Cider again out there with the lads.”
“Right listen carefully; don’t interrupt me because we don’t have time. It has come to me, after all these years, unexpectedly. You know I said there was something about the serial killer fifteen years ago, I could not pinpoint. It is the smell of aniseed rock. I could smell it when he was battering me and bent over to see if I was dead. I was on the edge of unconsciousness but the smell of aniseed rock brought it back to me because I have smelled the scent of it again on Harry the volunteer and it’s brought it all back. I told Rachel he was no good. To cut a long story short he is at the house now with your mum and Rachel.”
“Bloody Hell dad, what a nightmare, I have just stepped out of the bath, I have to get dressed, I’m on to it now.”
Go now Jake, they are in peril. It is too much of an incident; he has turned up unexpectedly. I am sure he’s targeting them, he’s the killer.” Frank said.
“Well, I don’t know whether you heard it on the news, but a body was found on the Horncastle Road and it turns out to be Reggie Brown,” Jake said.
“Oh. He’s the one that had the argument with Harry, Rachel rang me for advice, and I told her to get rid of him,” Frank blurted.
“Dad you know I sometimes see things in the morgue, Penny stood there and was sending me a message, offering me a sweet and the smell of aniseed assaulted my nostrils, she was trying to tell me the man reeked of aniseed I’m sure. It is all coming together now. Right dad I am on my way.”
“Be careful son, I’ve rung Oliver, he’s on his way as well but I am five minutes away now so I will catch him first.”
Jake warned. “Dad you be careful you know what happened last time you went rushing off on your own on a hunch. You’re a bit long in the tooth and too old now to be Fearless Frank, that was fifteen years ago. Be careful old man.”
CHAPTER 41
Harry bantered with an inquisitive voice, “Are you waiting to get rid of me Rachel you keep looking at the clock. Do you have to be in bed before midnight like Cinderella?”
“No what gives you that idea; it’s been a long day doing the car boot,” Rachel replied a bit too quickly.
“I don’t know about you but I think we ought to open another bottle of wine, it will make us chill out a bit after our long day, and I’ll go and get another bottle.” Maria said.
“No mum, you stay there I will do it,” Rachel replied.
Rachel went through to the kitchen, got the corkscrew out of the drawer, and another bottle of red out of the wine rack, and carried it through to the living room where they had retired to after their tea.
She pulled the cork out, twisted it off the corkscrew, and passed the cork to her mother to throw in the bin at the side of her. Rachel asked Harry for his glass and poured him another drink. When he took a sip of his wine, she slipped the corkscrew into her trouser pocket.
“Now let us drink to Penny Hammond, I am sure she would have loved to have been here,” Amelia announced raising her glass.
At that point, Harry was sipping his wine and he spluttered at her words and spilt his wine down his shirt.
“Oh did I say something that shocked you Harry.” Rachel retorted.
Maria declared, “Well it was rather a strange toast, you usually wait till the wake to do the toasts, and we’ve not had the body released from the morgue yet.”
“Look Harry you had better go to the bathroom, you know where it is, and sponge your shirt and jumper off otherwise the stain won’t come out,” Rachel said.
Harry nodded. “Yes I think I will do that, I can’t believe I missed my mouth,” and he made rapid strides towards the bathroom cursing under his breath.
Suddenly, they heard the front door fling open. Frank rushed into the room flustered, his eyes darting round the room. Maria looked astonished that he had cut his fishing trip short.
“What are you doing back Frank, I thought you were away until tomorrow evening,” Maria said.
He held his fingers to his lips, shushed her to be quiet, and turned to Rachel and she pointed a shaky finger to the bathroom. He whispered to Maria that they were all in danger because Harry was the killer, they had to play it cool until Jake, and the police turned up.
Harry came out of the toilet and his jaw dropped, he was astonished to see Frank hunkered down having a glass of wine with the others.
“Hello Frank, what a nice surprise, I thought you were away until after the Bank Holiday, fishing trip wasn’t it?” Harry asked.
“Yes we expected to be back tomorrow evening, unfortunately we went out for a meal the other night to celebrate our catch, the others had seafood and I had steak. They must have eaten something dodgy because they were up all night with the trots and vomiting. I am so glad that I did not opt for scampi and chips too. They could not face going out on the boat the next day and went home,” Frank gushed.
“What a shame, dodgy food spoiling your holiday,” Harry scoffed with a hint of sarcasm.
“I decided it wasn’t much fun on my own so came back to spend time with my darling daughter before she went home. I’m sure she will want to drag us through watching Mary Poppins or something like that.”
“Yes, it’s amazing when they visit their mum and dad their old childhood favourites come out, old videos, monopoly, and scrabble,” said Harry.
Frank didn’t want him to go, it was payback time, get him to talk, place the pressure on him a bit, as it would not be long before Jake and Oliver got here, he could keep him under control till then, after all there were three of them.
Frank had no intention to let him relax and asked. “So you have a family Harry, tell us a bit more about yourself, we hardly know anything about you.”
“Not much to tell really, my kids have grown up and gone to University. My wife died last year, bless her, not a nice way to die, cancer, I nursed her for six months and then it took her,” Harry said.
Harry raised an eyebrow, “So sorry to hear that Frank. Is that why you came back?”
“Yes, I came back to Horncastle.” Harry said half-aloud, realizing then that he had given Frank information he did not mean to divulge, and his body stiffened.
Frank did not attempt to stop his questioning. “Yes, fifteen years later to carry on your slaughtering you ruthless psychopath. Do you want to know how I knew Harry? The aniseed rock gave you away. I could smell it when you bent over me to see whether I was dead fifteen years ago. I have
been racking my brains since I met you, what it was about you that was strangely familiar, but I had never met you before so what could it be that I remembered, it was the smell of you. A policeman’s hunch is what they call it.”
Harry brooded, this was disastrous and he was incensed that Frank remembered him; he grabbed the wine bottle and pounced forward smashing Frank over the head with it. Rachel and Maria screamed when they saw Frank had collapsed back into the chair, blood squirting out of a deep gash on his head.
“There you old buffoon, I hope it cripples you this time and you deserve it with your bumbling ways you just can’t keep your schnozzle out of it can you,” Harry said.
Rachel lunged at him with the corkscrew, stabbing him in the shoulder. He smacked Rachel in the face and she fell to the ground dizzy. He procured some tie wraps out of his pocket and tied her arms behind her back, and her legs he tie wrapped to the coffee table. Maria was pummelling him to make him let go of Rachel so he knocked her out of the way and she fell to the floor. Frank had nearly caused a catastrophe with his bumbling ways. He had to act quickly because he was sure the old fool would have rung the police and got back up coming.
He punched Maria in the face, knocked her clean out and carried the small woman to his pick-up truck and drove hastily away cursing that his shoulder hurt.
***
Five minutes later Jake arrived at his parents place. He was worried sick because he saw his dad and Rachel but his mother was missing. Rachel was screaming, “Jake, over there, check dad’s okay, he’s been smashed on the head with a bottle.”
“Look Rachel, dad is fine, it will take more than a wine bottle to kill him. Oh this is a nightmare, where’s mum? Did the lunatic take her?” Jake growled.
“Yes, he punched her and knocked her out and carried her off to his car. I heard it start and screech off. I cannot have been more than five minutes before you came. Ring Adam and tell him to go into the Swap skills database as Admin and look into the database and get his address. I know he lives in a farmhouse about ten minutes out of Horncastle. I can’t believe dad, he told us to play it cool and he goes off on one like a mad man.” Rachel said.
“Well that’s dad for you. Anyway I got Harry’s address when we interviewed him earlier,” Jake said.
He rang Adam and expected a return call with car registration from the database by return.
At that point, DSupt. Oliver Blackwell turned up with the task force. Amelia went running into Jake to see whether he was all right, and scorned him for turning up on his own, and not calling for her, but he explained he did not have time with his dad ringing and it being an emergency.
Adam rang back and gave him the address and registration number. Oliver radioed in to get the car registration out to all the uniform patrols, so that if he tried to get away they would catch him.
“Come on Amelia you can cover my back, we have arms and we are going to get him. Quick we have to go it’s my mum the maniac seized her.”
“Any idea which way he went Rachel.”
“It sounded like he turned right out of the drive, and you didn’t see an old green Land Rover speeding off with mum in it going your way, so I think he went to the right,” Rachel said.
“Don’t worry about dad he’s a tough old stick. The ambulance has been called and they will be here soon, meanwhile Gary Nolan our first aider is taking a look at him, and says he will be fine,” Jake said.
After that, he rushed out to the car and drove off like a mad man to the address. The task force were fully armed. Jake was running through his head how he was going to do this.
If Harry had took her to a farmhouse he would have had her hidden outside, in a barn or shed if he intended to kill her, he would not want blood splattered walls in the house as he was too much of a control freak, doesn’t like mess.
He killed them elsewhere and drove them to the dumping ground, but then again he could take them to a garage or lock up somewhere. His blood was boiling in anger, and he was in a state of panic with it being his mother.
Amelia could see that he was worried, sweat was pouring down his face.
“Are you okay, you’re terribly quiet, and you don’t look so good,” Amelia inquired.
“I’m bloody thinking of mum and what she might be going through,” Jake stammered.
“Try not to worry, he might dump her somewhere while tomorrow, don’t forget he has had a busy day at the Car Boot, plus we had a big meal and a couple of bottles of wine between us. He will probably not do anything tonight; he will want to have a clear mind to kill, as they enjoy the sadistic pleasure of it. That pleasure would be numbed with a good bottle of wine down him, it would spoil the effects,” Amelia said, trying her best to calm him.
“Yes, but he knows that we have him now, might just bugger off back to where he came from knowing that we are on to him. He could have a back-up place in case we ever did latch on to him, these people plan ahead,” Jake said alarmingly.
“Oh come on let’s think positive, he must have to sit down and plan the way forward, and he is probably sat there mulling over what to do with himself.” Amelia exclaimed.
“What if he has just slaughtered her and dumped her because we have spoilt his plans.” Jake retorted.
“Yes Jake, sometimes they do change their modus operandi if caught in a crisis, but most times they do stick to the same plan, we both know that. Come on the satnav says we are five minutes away; let’s wait for DSupt. Blackwell and the rest of the team.” Amelia said.
CHAPTER 42
The lane appeared eerie as it was now dark and there was no street lighting on the country lane. There was a nip in the air and Jake zipped up his jacket to keep the chill out. He waited at the end of the lane before it forked off onto the dirt track. He was very tempted to go off on his own and rescue his mother, but knew that his dad did that and nearly ended up dead, so slowly, slowly catch a monkey it was to be.
A couple of minutes later DSupt. Blackwell turned up with the uniforms, and who should come teetering out of the car but his father with his head bandaged up.
“Flipping heck dad what are you doing here, are you nuts? I keep telling you that you’re not Dirty Bloody Harry any more blundering about, you’re retired and getting on a bit, and you should go straight to hospital get that head seen to. You can’t take many more knocks like that; it’s going to send you silly.”
“Jake you don’t think I am going to let that depraved animal try to kill all my family without me having a pop at the sick bastard. Your first aider did a good job on me so don’t worry yourself unnecessarily.”
Jake barked, “If you think you are going anywhere near him with that head you have to think again. Whatever possessed you to let him even get in the car Oliver?”
“Have you ever tried telling your dad, NO?” Oliver barked.
They all got their heads together, and with no further arguments decided the best way forward was to get one of them up to the house and outbuildings to figure out the plan of the house, as they didn’t have time to go to town planning.
“I’ve a devious plan Amelia gushed, Harry does not know me, and we’ve never met. I will go to the house and say that I’ve broke down and ask whether I could use his phone to ring the garage as my mobile had gone flat, and then I’ll ask to go to the toilet and have a sneaky look around.”
“Yes Oliver said, he would feel less threatened by a woman, and you could have a look round the place and ask to go to the toilet and have a peep round upstairs.”
Jake harangued, “That would be a spectacular plan but it won’t work.”
“And why not,” said Amelia haughtily.
“Because he does know you Amelia, he is the dodgy man with the big nose at the fairground; you said he was watching us on the bench. I recognized him but he did not recognise me when we were interviewing him,” Jake said.
There was a good chance that he would not recognise Amelia too so they decided it was best that Amelia tore along to the house to
ask to use his phone.
Amelia trekked along the dirt track road, nearly coming a cropper twice when her ankle twisted to one side trying to avoid the potholes. She approached the house and immediately she knew it was the right place because there was a green tatty pick-up parked outside, it had a pitted windshield and a dusty and faded dashboard, obviously mostly used for running along the land and in the evening to dump the bodies.
The farmhouse was well lit up so she had to be careful. She glanced around the place and saw that it was well tended, a couple of goats in a field, vegetables growing, daffodils popping up around the fruit trees. There was also a cockerel, and a few chickens getting themselves ready for bed and scurrying into the hen house.
It was dark now and as she moved along the front of the house crouching down to avoid the windows, her hands pressed to the walls giving her comfort. She could not see so well, there was a sliver of light coming through the closed curtains that showed someone was in. She could make out the shape of a barn and as she approached it the leaves and kindling underfoot sounded like thunder, and she had visions of him coming out because he had heard her.
She made her way back to the house and knocked on the door, rap, rap, rap. When Harry opened the door, she recognised the humongous hooter, and hoped that he would not recognise her. He was the same man that was leering across at them sat on the nearby bench that day when they went to Skegness. The same man that was skulking around the girls at the fairground. The cogwheels in her brain were turning, thinking back, had he seen Jake at the Forum on his visits to Adam. Was he watching them because he knew he was Frank’s son and wanted to seek revenge? Was all this planned, a vendetta against the Hammond family?