He’d hoped to have some news for her by now but he had nothing. As Finn followed Jamie into her kitchen and faced her, he could tell she hadn’t slept. Her eyes were swollen from crying and they were ringed with dark circles.
“I’m sorry, Jamie. We’re doing everything we can but there’s no sign of them yet.”
“You must have something to go on!”
“We’ve had a couple of leads from some surveillance footage that we’re following up, but so far we’ve drawn a blank.”
“Well, they can’t have just vanished. They’ve got to be out there somewhere.” Tears were spilling out of her eyes now.
“And I promise you, I won’t rest until we find them.” And he wouldn’t. They were doing everything they could at the moment, though. The whole department was out there, searching. The surveillance footage had all been checked now and the only leads were the ones they’d found on the footage from the therapist’s office and the coffee shop. Until he could go back and speak to the farm hand tomorrow, that was a dead end, too. They were still waiting for the forensic report but that was going to take some time. The analysis of the paint had to be sent out to a specialist lab, one that took cases from all over the state, so it would be several days before they got any news on that front.
Leaving her with a promise that he would get in touch the minute he had any news, he drove back into town. John had waited in the car while he spoke to Jamie and, once they’d parked the car back at the station, he told him to go home and come back first thing in the morning. He’d already cleared it with his boss that he could use him for another day and though it was only mid-afternoon, he’d been up all night and needed some rest.
He wasn’t heading home yet, though. As he walked into the station, Sandy handed him a big envelope. “This got delivered when you were out.” Momentarily confused, he suddenly remembered. The missing boys’ case files. Taking them into to the chief’s office, he opened the envelope and slid them out.
The next few hours were spent examining them for anything that connected the two cases or anything that connected them to Daniel’s case, but he couldn’t find anything. The combination of spending the night before staring at surveillance footage and the hours spent combing over the files had given him a terrible headache, and when he saw that the night shift deputies had arrived he decided to call it a day. Tomorrow they would go back to Flint’s farm and speak to the farm hand and maybe, just maybe, something would break.
Thirty-One
As Finn drove his cruiser onto the farm, he was struck by the silence. When they’d been up here yesterday, the yard had been a flurry of activity as it was a working farm. This time, though, there was no movement. Pulling up outside the main farmhouse, Finn and the deputy from Carlton stepped out of the car and looked around.
“Quiet here.” John said exactly what Finn was thinking.
“Yeah, too quiet.”
Walking up the steps to the porch, Finn knocked on the door and waited. Hearing no movement inside, he looked through the window to the left of the front door. Through a gap in the drapes he saw that everything looked normal. “Strange. Let’s go and take a look in the barn.”
Finn was getting worried now. What if the farm hand did have something to do with this? What if he’d found out they were looking for him and he’d harmed Mr. Flint?
As they approached, they could see tire tracks in the mud that ended at the barn doors. “Let’s get this open.” With John’s help, he lifted the heavy metal bar and pulled the door open. They walked in and paused, taking a few seconds to allow their eyes to become accustomed to the gloom. It soon became apparent that the barn was empty, though from the tracks on the ground it was clear that it hadn’t always been.
“These tracks look recent to me,” John said, crouching down to take a closer look.
Finn nodded. “Agreed. It doesn’t help us, though.” He looked around. “Something is very wrong here. Have you ever seen a farm this quiet?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
“I think we need to get into that house. I think we’ve enough to justify it without a warrant. For all we know, Flint could be laying in there right now, injured.”
“You’re the boss,” John replied, standing up. As he did, he disturbed some of the hay and other detritus that lay on the barn floor and something glinted, catching Finn’s eye. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
But Finn didn’t reply, bending down and pushing the dirt aside with his finger. There, lying in the mud, was a gold stud earring. “Quick, go and grab an evidence bag from the cruiser.” He’d need to show Jamie to be sure, but it looked just like the studs that Kat wore.
As he waited for John to return, he stood up and with his foot started clearing the area around the earring to see if there was anything else lying there hidden. He had cleared a good-sized area by the time the deputy returned and he was just about to stop when he felt the surface underneath his shoe change. Immediately intrigued, he noticed that part of the floor appeared to be made out of wooden planks.
“Come here and give me a hand with this,” he called over to John and they both knelt and started clearing the area by hand. It quickly became clear that what they were looking at was some kind of hatch, locked from the outside.
“Damn, it’s locked,” Finn said as he rattled the now visible padlock.
“We could go into town and get some tools and come back later,” the deputy suggested.
“No, that will take too long.” Finn looked around the barn. “It’s a farm. There must be an axe or something we could use to smash the wood around here somewhere.”
Going in different directions, they checked the rest of the barn.
“Over here. I’ve got one!” Finn looked over to where John held up a large axe.
“Great, let’s get that hatch open.”
Finn realized he was holding his breath as he watched John bring the axe down on the hatch. It splintered with the first blow and the second separated it from the metal padlock. Having no idea what they would find, they both drew their weapons before Finn carefully reached down and lifted the hatch. Taking his flashlight from his belt, he aimed the beam down the hole. As nothing came flying up to meet them and take their heads off, he risked leaning over and looking down, following the beam of light.
Secured into the fairly narrow square shaft was a metal ladder which, from what he could see, dropped about twenty feet before meeting the ground. “How are you with small enclosed spaces?” he asked wryly. He wasn’t about to admit it himself, but it was one of the few things that actually bothered him and looking down the hole, he could feel himself start to sweat.
“You okay, boss?”
He must have looked worried because John was looking at him as if he was about to faint. “I’m fine.” He gestured toward the hole with his gun. “After you.”
Keeping his gun aimed down the hole, he watched as the deputy tested the first rung of the ladder before, satisfied that it would hold his weight, he gingerly made his way down. Once at the bottom, he disappeared from sight briefly before Finn heard him shout excitedly. “Boss! Get down here, you need to see this!”
Taking a deep breath, he stepped on to the first rung. Here goes, he thought as he lowered himself down, the light from above becoming dimmer and dimmer the further down he went. Once at the bottom, he noticed a door that hadn’t been visible from above which now stood open, spilling a faint light at the bottom of the shaft. Going through it, he saw what had gotten John so excited.
The room took his breath away. Partly because it was so unexpected, but also because of its sheer size. It was huge. It was an amazing feat of engineering, carved as it was out of the ground, and must have been a long time in the execution. There were supporting pillars at regular intervals except at the very center of the room where there was a clearly marked boxing ring, around which was seating for approximately fifty people. On the far side of the room was another door; this one, th
ough, was locked from the outside. Skirting the ring to get to it, Finn was pleased to see that this one was also made of wood.
“We’ll need the axe again.” Looking around as he waited for the deputy to return with it, details that he’d missed on first glance were now jumping out at him. The floor of the ring was covered in dark, coppery stains that could only be blood and the floor was scattered with bits of paper. Dropping down to one knee, he picked one up. It was what was left of a betting slip. Finn felt sick to his stomach thinking about what must have gone on in this room. It was one thing hearing Daniel describe it; it was quite another to stand in the room where it all happened.
***
The smell hit him first as he opened the door. A wave of stale air swept out of the room as he let the fresh air in and on it was carried the stench of unwashed bodies and what could only be described as sewage. It was pitch black behind the door but his flashlight soon revealed a cord dangling from the ceiling. Pulling on it, a single bulb swinging from a wire lit up, casting a faint glow.
The sight of the rows of empty cages shocked him and his feet felt as though there were rooted to the spot. A noise to his left made him jump and he quickly swung round, holding his gun out in front of him. “Stop! Police!” he shouted, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
“Finn? Finn! It’s me, Kat! Over here!”
The voice sounded like it came from the far end of the room and Finn and the deputy, who had followed him, quickly dashed over. They found them in the last two cells on the left hand side and Finn couldn’t help but flinch when he saw them. Both were filthy, their clothes torn, and a terrible smell was coming from buckets in the corners of the cells.
“Go topside and call an ambulance. Tell them to put their foot down. See if any of the other cruisers have any bolt-cutters and tell them to get here, too,” he told the deputy as he looked at the metal bars and locks. “We’re not going to be able to get these open with the axe.”
“Are you hurt?” He turned his attention back to Kat and Daniel.
“No, not hurt. Just very thirsty and hungry,” she replied, her voice raspy from lack of water. “Thank God you found us.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of here soon.” He looked around the room again, taking it all in. “Have you been down here since you were snatched?”
Kat nodded. “Yes. But Finn, there were others, kids. I don’t know how many. They came and took them all and never came back.”
***
Finn stood back and watched as the paramedics and deputies helped them climb the ladder and out of their underground hell. They were both weak, dehydrated and hungry and had to be helped into the back of the waiting ambulance. Three other cruisers were parked just outside the barn now along with the ambulance, and he could see the shock on his men’s faces. None of them had ever come across anything like this before. Once Kat and Daniel had been safely put in the ambulance, he gestured for his deputies to gather around him.
“No one is to go downstairs until CSI says it’s okay to do so, but we need to find out where this bastard has gone so I want the house turned upside down. Rip up floors if you have to, but give me something.”
As they left to follow his orders, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Hi there,” Sally replied.
“Look, are you at work?”
“Yep, in the middle of a twelve-hour shift. Did you want to get together? I can take a break if you want to meet me in the canteen later.”
“I’m sorry, Sally, I can’t. I’ve actually called to give you the head’s up.” He briefly filled her in. “Could you make sure you get security to stay with them when they arrive? I don’t think they’ll try and snatch them again but I haven’t got a deputy to spare at the moment to come over there with them.”
“Sure I will, and I’ll make sure I’m there when they arrive. It might make them feel better to see a friendly face.”
“Thank you, I’m sure it will. After this is all done, I promise we’ll get together and catch up.” As he put the phone down, he felt lucky. There weren’t many women who would put up with the hours he put in in his job and the fact that he couldn’t ever make plans. It was about time he started appreciating her a bit more. Walking over to the ambulance which was packing up to leave, he popped his head inside. From the expression on Kat’s face, she was none too impressed to be strapped to a gurney. “Hey guys, Sally is going to meet you at the hospital.”
“I don’t need to go to the hospital, Finn. I’m perfectly fine.” She frowned at him. “I want to help you catch this guy. Deputize me, give me a gun and let’s go nail the bastard.”
Finn shook his head. “Not a chance. We’ve got it covered.”
“We need to go now, sir,” the paramedic said, appearing beside him to shut the doors.
“I’ll call Jamie and let her know what’s happened,” he said, stepping back to let them close the doors.
Thirty-Two
It felt like he hadn’t had any sleep for days and his eyes felt gritty as he pulled his hands down across his face. I need a shave, too, he thought as his stubble scratched at his hands. He didn’t have time to worry about that right now, though. Despite bringing Kat and Daniel home safely, there was no time to celebrate. The monster was on the run and they needed to track him down before he had time to go underground again.
It had been a shock for the whole department when they’d discovered who had been responsible, most of them having known Mark Flint at some point in their lives, and it was almost as if they felt even more determined to bring him to justice now, as if he’d wronged them personally.
He had a meeting scheduled in a couple of hours with them all to once again go over what they knew so far, and to establish the next course of action. The problem was, he didn’t know what the next course of action should be. Whether it was because he was too tired, or too personally involved, he just couldn’t seem to think straight. This case was getting more complicated by the day and, he admitted to himself, he was out of his depth.
Grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair where he sat in the chief’s office, he slipped it on. He had a couple of hours before he needed to be back. Time to go and speak to the one person whose advice he trusted.
The chief lived in a house in town, about ten minutes’ walk from the police station. While most people chose to live on the outside of town where the houses were larger, the chief had always told Finn that with his job he wanted to be close so he could get to the station in minutes if he needed to. The storms of the previous days had cleared and the sun was shining so he decided to walk the short distance rather than take the car.
As he pressed the doorbell, he wondered if he should have called ahead. The chief had only just been released from the hospital and the last thing Finn wanted to do was disturb his rest. He needn’t have worried though. As his wife ushered him into the living room, he could see that the chief was pleased to see him.
“How are you feeling?”
“Bored.” The chief rose to shake his hand. “Please tell me you’ve come with some interesting news. The warden,” he indicated the kitchen where his wife was making coffee, “has banned me from getting over-excited so I’m limited to watching daytime TV and a bit of gentle gardening.”
“Well, I’ve come for your advice, actually.” Finn spent the next few minutes filling him in on everything that had happened since he had been taken in to the hospital and where they now stood in the investigation. “So that’s where we’re at right now. And, to be honest, I’m not sure where to go next.” It felt good to share the load with his boss and he felt a bit of the tension leave his shoulders.
“You’ve done everything I would have done, so don’t beat yourself up. I still can’t believe this has been going on under our noses all these years.” He shook his head. “But you’re right. I think this is too big for the department now, Finn. We just don’t have the resources. And besides,
there’s no telling if he’s even still in the state.”
“You think I should call in the Feds, don’t you.”
“I think you have to. They should have been called in earlier and I take full responsibility for that, but if you don’t call them in now there are going to be a lot of questions if this turns out bad.”
Finn knew he was right; he just needed to hear someone else say it. “So, when are you coming back to work?” he laughed. “Or are you going to wait until I’ve sorted this mess out before you do?”
“Well, we need to talk about that. But now is not the time. Once this is over, we’ll have a chat.”
“I don’t like the sound of that. You are coming back, aren’t you?” Finn could tell that he was keeping something from him.
The chief sighed “Well, I wanted to talk to you about this when you didn’t have so much on your mind but no, I’m not coming back. I’m old, Finn, and this heart attack was a warning sign telling me it’s time to hang up my badge.”
“You’ve got to come back. The department won’t be the same without you.” Finn tried to make himself smile. “Besides, I don’t want to have to train a new chief. It took me forever to get you just the way I like you.”
The chief laughed. “Thanks! But no, I don’t think you’ll need to train a new chief. I think you should put yourself forward for the job.”
Finn shook his head. “No. I’ve told you before I don’t want the responsibility, and this case has reminded me why.”
“Well, promise me you’ll think about it? You’ve done a great job on this one, Finn, even if you don’t think so and the town would be lucky to have you. And you know, with my backing, it’s practically yours for the taking.”
“I’ll think about it but I’m not promising anything, okay? I’d better get back. I’ve got a phone call to make.”
***
He felt somehow lighter as he made his way back to the station. The fresh air and sunshine had done him good, leaving him feeling invigorated. Settling behind his desk, he found the number for the local FBI field office in the chief’s rolodex and made the call. He knew he should have called them earlier; anything involving a kidnapping was under their jurisdiction, but it wasn’t a straightforward case. They wouldn’t see it that way, though, he was sure, and he fully expected to have to explain himself.
The McKays Box Set - To Kill For, Blood Sport, Hard Time & Gang Land Page 23