CAPTIVE ON THE FENS a gripping crime thriller full of twists

by Joy Ellis

  CAPTIVE ON THE FENS

  A gripping crime thriller full of twists

  (DI NIKKI GALENA BOOK 6)

  JOY ELLIS

  First published 2017

  Joffe Books, London

  www.joffebooks.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The spelling used is British English except where fidelity to the author’s rendering of accent or dialect supersedes this.

  ©Joy Ellis

  ­

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  THERE IS A GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH SLANG IN THE BACK OF THIS BOOK FOR US READERS.

  PLEASE NOTE SOME OF THE CHARACTERS’ SPEECH IS RENDERED TO INDICATE THE LOCAL DIALECT (THESE ARE NOT MISSPELLINGS!)

  DI Nikki Galena books available now

  CRIME ON THE FENS

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/CRIME-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01H98SG5G/

  https://www.amazon.com/CRIME-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01H98SG5G/

  A NEW CRIME THRILLER WITH A COMPELLING DETECTIVE WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO AVENGE HER DAUGHTER

  DI Nikki Galena Book 2

  SHADOW OVER THE FENS

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/SHADOW-gripping-crime-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01HHA49SY/

  https://www.amazon.com/SHADOW-gripping-crime-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01HHA49SY/

  TWO BRUTAL KILLERS ARE LOOSE ON THE FENS BUT WHO CAN DI NIKKI GALENA TRUST?

  Detective Nikki Galena’s friend and neighbour meets a tragic end but there’s more to his death than meets the eye . . .

  And someone terrible from DS Joseph Easter’s past is back . . .

  NIKKI GALENA BOOK 3

  HUNTED ON THE FENS

  A vicious criminal is targeting DI Nikki Galena and her team. One by one he will hunt them down and destroy their lives, unless she can stop him first

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/HUNTED-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01IYIDWCM/

  https://www.amazon.com/HUNTED-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01IYIDWCM/

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  EPILOGUE

  The DI Nikki Galena books

  Character List

  Glossary of English Slang for US readers

  For Doreen Wells and Mary Godwin.

  With love and thanks for your friendship and constant encouragement.

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘What is this place?’ Joseph pulled on his all-in-one protective suit and shivered.

  ‘A selection shed. It’s where they size and grade the potatoes before bagging them.’ Nikki pulled up her zip and eased the hood over her head. ‘Stan Ruddick and his family have been growing vegetables here on Carter’s Fen for decades.’ She looked across the big sorting machine with its rollers and hydraulics, towards the back of the gloomy wooden barn. ‘I guess she’s over there.’

  Lights emanated from the far corner and dark figures moved to and fro.

  The call had come in at around two in the morning, and DI Nikki Galena and DS Joseph Easter had responded. It was early October and although the weather had remained unseasonably warm, the nights were becoming chill and damp. And being out on a muddy Fenland farm at night did nothing to warm either their bodies or their spirits.

  A phone call earlier to Greenborough police station had stated that a local lad, on the look-out for somewhere quiet to bring his girl, had entered the shed at the back of Ruddick’s Farm, and found a body. As the station had been inundated with hoax calls recently, a lone bobby called PC Mick Manners had been dispatched to check it out, but as soon as he had stepped into the barn he had realised it was no hoax. He knew the “local lad” in question as the sort of little scrote that would sooner eat broken glass than talk to the Old Bill. If he said that he’d wandered into this stinking barn on the promise of a shag but found a dead body, then a dead body was exactly what Mick would find. He had rung it in immediately and now the long, sad process had begun.

  ‘Is the pathologist here yet?’ Nikki asked the young PC.

  ‘Yes, ma’am. He arrived about fifteen minutes ago. The doctor has pronounced life extinct, and we’ve cordoned off the whole area.’

  Nikki thanked him and moved towards a small gaggle of uniformed officers talking softly as they waited behind the blue and white tape.

  Thick plastic duckboards had been placed on the soft ground to prevent policemen’s boots contaminating the area and in the glare of a halogen lamp, Nikki could see the tall, thin form of Professor Rory Wilkinson, the Home Office pathologist.

  ‘Good evening, uh, morning, uh, night, whatever it is, Detective Inspector. Ah, and Joseph too, I’m honoured.’ Rory rubbed his eyes sleepily. ‘But I believe this particular death does indeed warrant the presence of a full contingent.’

  ‘That does not sound good, Rory.’

  ‘Indeed it is not. I think you have a very unpleasant case on your hands.’

  Nikki frowned. Rory’s trademark high camp and black sense of humour for once seemed to be absent. ‘Now you are worrying me. No wicked wit, no graveyard humour? Are you ill, my friend? Or are we dealing with something truly horrible?’

  ‘I’m in the rudest of health, my dear Inspector, and you are quite correct about the horrible bit. I can’t say much at this early stage, I’ll need the PM to confirm it, of course, but if I were you I’d start checking on the Police National Computer for kidnap victims and hostages. This youngster’s injuries have been inflicted over quite a long period of time.’ He pushed his wire-rimmed glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. ‘I think you’d better take a look.’

  ‘Any idea how long she’s been here?’ asked Joseph quietly.

  Nikki noticed that her sergeant was trying hard not to look at the young woman. Maybe it was because he had a daughter of his own, and it was almost impossible not to think of your nearest and dearest at a time like this.

  Rory screwed up his face and puffed out his cheeks. ‘Estimated time of death, damned difficult to nail until all the factors and decomposition changes are duly noted.’

  Nikki glowered at him. ‘We all know that you are the most accurate pathologist in the county, no, country, no, the world, so come on, give!’

 
; He grinned sheepishly. ‘Actually, I’m pretty sure she didn’t die here. It’s such a mess it’s hard to tell, but the body has certainly been moved, and I’d say, considering the temperature, the gross swelling, and the discolouration and condition of the skin that she’s been dead, oh, approximately three days.’

  ‘Thank you, Professor! Now that wasn’t too difficult, was it?’

  ‘Not difficult at all, but you know how I enjoy making you ask. It’s such fun.’ His attempt at light-hearted humour was short-lived. A moment later his expression was once again sober. ‘Anyway, I must get on. I have all my preliminary notes to make and she has yet to be photographed in situ. My SOCO has started a meticulous examination of the place for trace evidence, so as soon as I’ve finished, I’ll leave you to seal it up until the findings are known.’

  Nikki nodded. ‘And from the look on your face, I guess you are going to make this a priority?’

  ‘When you know all the details, I think you’ll be itching to get your hands on the bastard who did this. Never fear, she’ll be first on my list in the morning.’

  Outside, Nikki sighed. ‘Better go talk to the Ruddick family.’

  Joseph was slow in walking from the shed. ‘Poor little devil. She can’t be very old, can she?’

  ‘Not long out of her teens, I’d say. How on earth did she come to be in that state?’ Nikki frowned.

  ‘Down to us to find out, isn’t it? And we will.’ Joseph’s voice had a hard edge to it.

  Nikki gave him a little nudge. ‘Come on, Joseph, let’s get this over with. After that, there’s little more we can do here tonight. Uniform have it in hand. We’ll speak to Stan and his family and head off home, okay?’

  They found Stan, his wife Betty, and one of their sons, a tall, well-muscled lad called Ryan, all sitting round the kitchen table. Nikki glanced around. The old place had changed beyond recognition. She’d come here often as a child to collect vegetables with her dad, and then the kitchen had been a glorified scullery with a coal-hole attached, and water had to be brought in from the well. Now it was all granite worktops and gleaming stainless steel appliances, everything in a brasserie style with more features than a glossy magazine. Briefly she wondered how a few bags of taties could generate such luxury. Then she saw their shocked faces and fell back into police mode.

  ‘Can you give us an account of what you know, Stan?’ Nikki accepted a chair, but Joseph remained standing.

  Stan Ruddick was a ruddy, muscular man in his early fifties. He was the image of his father and Nikki felt very much like a small child again.

  ‘It was around midnight I s’pose, won’t it, Bet?’

  His wife nodded and wrung her hands in her lap.

  ‘Lad came hammering on the door, screaming up at the bedroom winders.’

  ‘I thought it was an accident,’ said Ryan slowly. ‘Some idiots use the fen lane here to cut out the village, offen finish up in the dykes.’

  ‘I went down,’ continued Stan, ‘Asked him what were wrong and he kept babbling about a body. Couldn’t make any sense of it, then he said about the shed, so I take Ryan, and we goes and looks for ourselves. And he were right.’

  ‘Who rang the police?’

  ‘Boy said he had already rung on his mobile, but he were in such a state that I rang too, in case they dint get the right address. Oh, that poor little kid, I keep seeing her in me mind’s eye. I’ve seen some dreadful things, Nikki, working the land — accidents with farm machinery and the like, but I’ve nivver seen anything like that.’

  ‘Like something off the late night Horror Channel,’ added Ryan grimly.

  ‘That’s enough, son. Show some respect.’ Betty spoke for the first time. ‘Is she still out there?’

  Joseph nodded. ‘They need to follow a careful procedure, Mrs Ruddick, but she’ll be taken away and looked after just as soon as they have finished.’

  Nikki didn’t expect a lot from her next question, but she didn’t get anything at all. ‘Did anyone hear anything out of the ordinary last evening?’

  Stan shook his head. ‘Wunt, would we? It’s harvest. Machines are churning up the fields day and night. Denis and Clive are out now with the tatie harvester in the lower field. And anyway, that shed is a fair way from the farmhouse.’

  ‘Any cars up and down the lane that you didn’t recognise?’

  ‘Plenty. The pickers are out all hours. Cars and transits all over the place.’

  ‘Thought that would be the case,’ said Nikki. ‘Busiest time of the year, isn’t it?’

  Stan sighed. ‘You can say that again. I don’t think I’ll ever go in that shed again without seeing that poor lass.’ He paused. ‘In fact . . .’

  ‘Come on now, Stan. Let’s not start that again, not now.’ Betty sounded exhausted, she looked at Nikki and gave her a hopeless smile. ‘He wants to sell up, move away.’

  Nikki’s mouth dropped. ‘But your family has been here for generations, Stan! Surely things aren’t that bad, are they?’ She couldn’t stop her eyes moving around the bespoke kitchen.

  Betty had seen Nikki’s glance. ‘All this dint come from the farm, Nikki. My father died and left me his house in Norfolk. I sold it and used the money to renovate Ruddick Farm. Now this old fool wants to move. Can you believe it?’

  Nikki shook her head. ‘Carter’s Fen would not be right without the Ruddicks.’

  Stan threw an accusatory glance towards his son. ‘Don’t rightly think there will be any Ruddicks left here before long, if these here boys have their way.’

  ‘Stan! This is not why Nikki and the sergeant are here. They don’t want to hear our problems. Now concentrate on what has happened to that poor child and don’t waste their time.’

  Nikki decided that shock had a lot to do with all this. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll get some officers to come back tomorrow and get written statements from you. You try to get some rest. I’m afraid our people will be out there for the duration.’

  Betty stood up and went to fill the kettle. ‘Then they’ll be wanting some hot tea and biscuits, won’t they?’

  ‘You’ll be very welcome out there, Betty. Coppers and their cuppas! Need their brew to keep them going. Thank you for your time. We’ll be off now, and believe me, I’m really sorry for what has happened here.’ Nikki stood up to leave.

  The faces looking back at her told her that what had “happened” would stay with the Ruddick family for a very long while.

  * * *

  ‘First thoughts?’ asked Joseph, as he manoeuvred the car through the dark fen lanes.

  Nikki leaned back in her seat. ‘Well, Rory is sure that she was not killed in the shed, and given that that part of Carter’s Fen is in close proximity to the main Greenborough to Spilsby road, it probably isn’t a local killing. Probably someone drove off the road, out onto the farmland, and dumped her in the first available deserted spot they came across.’

  Joseph grunted. ‘Like they do with their rubbish. Tip it in a lonely stretch of dyke, rather than drive it the same distance to the official landfill site.’

  ‘I don’t want to liken her to rubbish, but yes, exactly like that. And if it hadn’t been for that young bloke and his girl, Stan probably wouldn’t have found her immediately. That shed is no longer used. He said they are using the bigger, newer one that’s just off the main farm entrance.’

  ‘Mmm, so was she dumped by design? Or was it just a random choice?’ He yawned.

  ‘You were very quiet tonight, Joseph. Were you thinking of Tamsin?’

  Joseph let out a long sigh, then gave her a weary smile. ‘Of course I was. She’s been on my mind constantly for the last few months, what with the engagement and all that. Then you see some lovely kid brutally murdered, and oh, I don’t know, you just realise how fragile life is.’ He paused, then groaned out loud. ‘Oh God! Me and my big mouth! I’ve done it yet again, I’m so sorry, Nikki, I don’t know what I was thinking!’

  Nikki reached across and squeezed his arm. ‘It’s alright, you kno
w. Every chance comment about daughters or children does not bring me crashing to the ground in spasms of uncontrollable grief. Well, not any more. My darling Hannah is where she belongs, in my heart. So don’t walk on eggshells, okay?’

  Nikki’s only child had died as a teenager, and although the pain would never leave her, she had found a way to cope, and that was work, work and more work. Working to stop what happened to Hannah from happening to other young girls. And when inevitably it did, like the girl in the potato shed, she would move heaven and earth to find the killer.

  * * *

  As Nikki and Joseph drove away from Carter’s Fen, not too far from them in a more remote area of the Fens, another girl lay awake and frightened.

  She wished he would come back. He had forgotten to leave her any food again, and she was scared to eat her two last biscuits, the ones she had hidden under the mattress. At least he had remembered to leave her some water and her medication, so she could have a few hours with a little less pain. What if something happened to him? What if he had an accident? No one ever called. No one knew where she was. She shuddered and pushed the thought away. It was too awful to contemplate.

  The room was full of shadows and the sound of rushing water was louder than usual, perhaps it was one of those exceptionally high tides tonight. Her stomach grumbled loudly, and as if in answer, somewhere out in the twilight, an owl screeched. Earlier, she thought that she had heard the sound of an engine, but as no one ever visited and it seemed as though he may have sold his car, perhaps it had just been an airplane. Then when the darkness seemed almost too much to bear, she heard the familiar squeak of his old bicycle, and with a sigh of relief, she gobbled down the two remaining biscuits.