Echoes of Guilt

by Rob Sinclair

  ‘Were self-sufficient?’

  ‘Not so much in my day, maybe, but yes in Brigitta’s time, of course. And so when something happened which couldn’t be explained… that’s where witches and Strigoi and superstition come from.’

  ‘Brigitta is certain Strigoi stole her daughter.’

  ‘Who knows what happened to her?’ Stef said shaking her head. ‘Or her granddaughter.’

  ‘Her granddaughter?’

  Stef waved the question away. ‘Family problems.’

  ‘You’re sure?’

  Stef said nothing.

  ‘Brigitta seems convinced that women are still going missing. Here, now, in England. And that—’

  ‘What are you trying to tell me?’ Stef said, anger evident. ‘That you believe the crazy words of an old lady? Vampires and werewolves, and whatever?’

  ‘No,’ Dani said. ‘I’m not trying to tell you that at all.’ Even if she couldn’t escape the feeling of a malicious presence in this house. Was Stef’s overreaction moments earlier not further demonstration that something wasn’t right here? ‘But I am telling you that we have more than one unexplained death we’re investigating. I also have Brigitta telling me there may be more bodies. A place filled with bones. Does that mean anything to you?’

  ‘I have no idea what you are talking about,’ Stef said, and the confusion and doubt on her face seemed genuine enough.

  The conversation took a pause as Dani tried to gather her thoughts. She couldn’t escape the idea of her being watched, and her eyes flicked to the dark window every few beats. Was someone out there still?

  ‘I’ve looked into you,’ Dani said.

  Stef looked disgusted. ‘Why? Were you hoping you’d find something bad? Something so you could send me back to Romania?’

  ‘Where does your animosity come from?’ Dani said. ‘Is it just against me? The police?’

  Stef tutted. ‘You don’t know what it’s like for us here. So unwelcome. This town is my home. It has been for years, but every day I’m made to feel like I don’t belong. It’s the same for us all.’

  ‘I’ve never done that to you.’

  ‘No? Then why are you here? Again. You won’t leave us alone. You’ll do anything to prove your point. That there’s something bad about us. That we’re all criminals.’

  ‘I’ve never accused you of anything.’

  ‘Not to my face. Yet here we are again. And you’ve been spying on me, behind my back. So what did you find?’

  Was now the wrong time to say that Dani had found out that Stef had lied to her? But was it a lie or just withholding information?

  ‘I’m not saying you’ve done anything wrong,’ Dani said. ‘But I do think that people you know have. Your brother included.’

  That shut her up.

  ‘Believe me,’ Dani said. ‘I know how easy it is to get tarred because of the actions of a sibling.’

  Stef clearly didn’t have a clue what Dani meant by that. A refreshing change for someone to not know of her and her brother’s notoriety.

  ‘I barely even speak to Alex any more,’ Stef said.

  Alex Stelea. Her older brother. Victor Crisan’s accomplice.

  ‘And why’s that?’ Dani asked.

  Stef scoffed.

  ‘I’m just trying to understand,’ Dani said. ‘Understand you. Him. What’s happening here.’

  Stef kept her mouth shut.

  ‘You came to England very young,’ Dani said. ‘You were only nineteen, weren’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You came alone?’

  ‘I travelled alone. I came here to stay with Brigitta.’

  ‘And Nic?’

  Stef paused for a moment, as if she believed answering the question might incriminate her somehow, simply by association.

  ‘Nic was here then, too, yes. But only for a few months before he was sent to prison. And before you ask, I know nothing about what he did or why. That’s not my life, and it all happened before I even arrived.’

  ‘How do you know his family?’

  ‘Our families are close back home. That’s all there is to it. I used to call Brigitta my aunt. She was a kind lady who everyone looked up to. We respected her. I still do.’

  ‘So you came over here, on your own. And then what? Alex followed?’

  ‘About two years after me.’

  ‘To work with Victor?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And how does Victor fit into this? The family dynamic.’

  ‘He doesn’t. Victor is just someone Nic worked for here. Then Alex worked for him too.’

  ‘Nic worked for Victor?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Dani was a little surprised by that, for some reason. The impression she’d always had was that Nic had been the more senior, but was that simply because he was older?

  ‘And what exactly is it that Victor and Alex do?’ Dani asked.

  ‘They own a transport business,’ Stef said, face deadpan.

  Dani said nothing. Over the next few seconds of silence Stef became more and more fidgety.

  ‘What?’ Stef said.

  ‘Sorry, I was waiting for you to answer my question.’

  ‘I did.’

  ‘Not properly.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘You know exactly what I’m talking about. You don’t need to bullshit me. Victor and Alex are crooks. My best guess is they run prostitutes. Young Romanians and other foreign girls who are easy to coerce. Drugs, extortion, too, usually go hand-in-hand with these types. I will get to the bottom of everything they’re doing.’

  ‘Whatever it is you think they do, it’s not my business.’

  ‘I don’t doubt that. But if you know anything—’

  ‘I already told you that I don’t.’

  Yet Dani didn’t believe a word of it. One thing she knew for sure was that Stef was bright, and she was no shrinking violet. There wasn’t a chance that she’d never at least suspected her brother and his business partner of criminality. Would she not admit to it because she was afraid, or was it due to complicity?

  ‘I asked you before about Clara Dunne, and her brother Liam.’

  ‘And I told you I don’t know them.’

  ‘You did. But do you know this woman?’

  Dani reached out with her phone, the screen lit up with the photograph of Liam Dunne and the mystery woman. Dani was sure there was a twinkle of recognition in Stef’s eyes.

  ‘Stef?’

  ‘I don’t know her.’

  ‘Bullshit.’

  Stef flicked a glare Dani’s way. ‘I don’t know her.’

  Dani stared right back, waiting to see if Stef would change her answer, or at least add to it. She didn’t.

  ‘Tell me about Ana,’ Dani said.

  The curveball threw Stef for a moment.

  ‘You do know Ana Crisan, don’t you?’ Dani asked.

  ‘I know her, yes.’

  ‘She’s Victor’s girlfriend?’

  Stef scoffed once again.

  ‘I get the impression that you don’t like Victor much?’ Dani asked.

  ‘Do you?’

  Dani held back a slight smile at that. Whatever Stef’s motives for her not opening up, there was something about her that Dani liked.

  ‘What’s the deal with Ana?’ Dani asked.

  ‘The deal?’

  ‘She’s young, intelligent. Like yourself. Yet here you are working away, earning a living, while Ana… she seems tied to Victor’s side, and I’m not sure it’s by choice.’

  ‘Victor gets what he wants. And he wants Ana.’

  ‘What if he wanted you?’

  Dani could tell Stef was now clenching her jaw. Disgust?

  ‘Would you run away to another city too?’ Dani asked. ‘Like Ana did?’

  ‘I’d run further.’

  Both of them smiled at that.

  ‘But there is a problem,’ Dani said.

  That wiped the short-lived smile from
Stef’s face.

  ‘Ana is missing.’

  Stef said nothing.

  ‘We’ve had surveillance on Victor and Alex—’

  ‘Pretty obvious,’ Stef said. ‘They were hardly well hidden.’

  ‘No. Maybe not. Yet Ana has still gone missing.’ Dani paused to let that sink in. ‘She was last seen leaving Victor’s warehouse last night, with both Victor and Alex. They got into Alex’s car. Later in the night when that car arrived back at Victor’s house, Ana wasn’t in it.’

  Stef was looking more and more worried now.

  ‘She didn’t run away,’ Dani said. ‘Not this time.’

  Stef said nothing.

  ‘Do you have any idea at all what’s happened to her? Where they took her. Why?’

  ‘No, I don’t,’ Stef said, shaking her head. She looked far more solemn now than before. ‘I honestly don’t know.’

  And the worst thing was, this time Dani believed her.

  Chapter 38

  The risks had always been clear in Ana’s mind. Not just in taking the phone, but in using it. Not just in using it, but in using it to call the police in order to try and help them ensnare Victor.

  She’d known the risks, yet she’d done it all anyway.

  What did that say about her? About how desperate she was?

  Yet there was no doubt that she’d still been in absolute, almost paralysed shock back in the warehouse when she realised Victor had rumbled her secret. Had been so scared, so numb, that she hadn’t attempted to escape, to fight either physically or verbally. She’d simply acquiesced, and walked fatefully out of there with Alex and Victor, both of them keeping close watch as if even they were surprised by her lack of overt reaction.

  Had there been any other choice?

  At the time she’d thought not. Now? In this place? She wished she’d fought back with every ounce of strength and resolve. She should have done whatever it took, because she surely wouldn’t get another chance now.

  ‘Do you know Alex tried to talk me out of it,’ Victor said as he paced up and down in front of Ana. Alex was resting on the workbench behind. Ana was in the middle of the grotty and damp room. Rope tied her hands behind her, and to the bolted-down chair she was sitting on. ‘Perhaps it was a little unnecessary. Setting up the camera. Waiting for you to reach for that fucking thing. But I wanted to see. I wanted to see your deceit for myself.’

  Without even thinking, Ana was pleading and begging. She’d wanted to stay strong, to show no weakness, but how could she do that now?

  ‘Shut up,’ Alex said. Not loud, but stern enough to cause Ana’s pleadings to die down to a feeble whimper.

  ‘I just want you to tell me why,’ Victor said.

  He stopped pacing and looked down to Ana. She tried to avoid his eye but after a few seconds of awful silence she found her gaze slowly lifting until it met his. He wasn’t angry. Not now. That was the strangest thing to Ana. Victor wasn’t angry at all. He looked hurt. Almost defeated. Like her treachery had really broken him. Despite everything, she even felt bad because of that.

  ‘Why, Ana?’ he said. ‘After everything I did for you.’

  She wanted to retort to that, but thought better of it. Everything he’d done? Kidnap, rape, abuse. What had he done that was actually good? Did he really not see it?

  ‘Tell me why!’ he boomed. His sudden outburst was enough to cause Ana’s whole body to flinch and then tense. She held her breath.

  Then spoke.

  ‘Because I hate you,’ she said, barely louder than a whisper. ‘You disgust me.’

  Now he wasn’t broken. Now he wasn’t defeated. He was absolutely livid. Even as he remained rooted to the spot, Ana could tell that anger seeped through every pore.

  ‘Victor, it’s time for you to go,’ Alex said, straightening up from his perch, and glaring down to Ana like she was nothing but a piece of dog muck stuck to the bottom of his most expensive shoes.

  ‘Goodbye, Ana,’ Victor said through clenched teeth.

  Then he turned and stomped past her. She craned her neck as far as she could. Saw him opening the thick metal door in the corner of the room. A moment later it clattered shut behind him. The force made the whole room vibrate, the sensation reached ominously up through Ana’s bones.

  Silence followed. Ana soon found herself staring to Alex who glared back at her with sinister relish. But he said nothing. Barely even moved.

  ‘Now it’s just you and me,’ Alex said eventually, as a horrible grin spread across his face.

  He took a step towards Ana. Once again she held her breath. She was frozen. Too scared to even breathe. As his face was caught under the orange light hanging above them, there was a devilish twinkle in his eye.

  ‘He really loves you,’ Alex said. ‘I’ve never seen a man so weak because of a woman.’

  ‘He loves me? Then why am I here!’

  Her sudden defiance only added to Alex’s menace and amusement.

  ‘You think Victor is strong. But he loves you so much he couldn’t go through with this himself. He couldn’t even bear to watch. But I can do it. I’ll do it gladly.’

  ‘Please,’ Ana said, but her voice was now weak and pathetic.

  ‘It could have been so different for us. I would have treated you like a queen. You would never have wanted anything more.’

  She screwed up her face at the thought. Alex revolted her. Even more so than Victor did. Yet she’d always known that Alex had liked her. How could she not have noticed the way he looked at her. The way he forever eyed her up and down, tongue practically dragging on the floor at times.

  She’d even teased him over it in the past.

  Why had she done that?

  He laughed. ‘I know what you’re thinking now. If only. If only you’d been nicer to me. If only you hadn’t been such a bitch. Maybe you wouldn’t be here. Maybe I wouldn’t make you suffer the way I’m going to.’

  He turned to the table behind him and unrolled a utility belt. The metal tools inside clinked and clanked as he did so. The sound alone made Ana’s insides curdle.

  He turned back to face her. A gleaming metal object now in his hand. What was that? Pliers? Cutters?

  Ana swallowed down bile as grim thoughts swirled.

  ‘And believe me, my dear Ana, I will make you suffer.’

  She could do nothing but cower down and cry out desperately as he came towards her.

  Chapter 39

  It had been many months since Dani had last made the trip to this part of Worcestershire. The population of the sleepy village known as South Littleton was barely twice that of the nearby Category A prison – Long Lartin – a sprawling and depressingly bland 1970s construction. Unfortunately, it was to the prison that Dani and Easton were headed.

  Dani parked up her car, shut down the engine then took a deep breath before she stepped out.

  ‘Don’t look so worried,’ Easton said to her as they closed their doors.

  Dani didn’t respond. Why was she feeling so anxious anyway? It wasn’t like she hadn’t been here to see Ben before. Though this was the first time since she’d tried and failed to find the evidence that would prove that he was behind Damian Curtis’s killing spree, and the first time since Curtis’s trial had started.

  Was it because of what she saw as her own failure that she felt so daunted now? Knowing Ben he certainly wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to taunt her.

  Not that Curtis was top of the agenda for today.

  There’d been a fresh smattering of snow overnight, though the freezing temperature had turned the thin layer into ice. Dani carefully crunched across it as they headed through the car park to the visitor entrance. She checked her phone on the way, noting the missed call from McNair. Dani was holding off speaking to the boss as long as she could. Undoubtedly, she was in for a reprimand – at the least – over her decision to hastily pull Easton away from the mess at his home the day before. She’d already had the update from him in the car that Wesley had been charged
– while still in hospital – with assault and breach of the peace, but had since been discharged and was now out on bail. Easton would still have to answer questions about his role in the events, and Dani couldn’t stop the big machine if it was determined that he too should be charged, but for now she wanted him by her side.

  ‘I feel bad coming here,’ Dani said.

  ‘I already said, you—’

  ‘I don’t mean because I’m apprehensive about seeing Ben. I mean because I’m worried about Ana. The more time that passes—’

  ‘We’ve a whole team back at HQ following up, trying to find her.’

  True enough. Though that still didn’t make Dani feel any better. Any delay could prove disastrous for Ana.

  Perhaps they were already too late.

  * * *

  Dani hadn’t expected they’d be meeting with Ben alone. Not after everything that had happened. So it was no surprise when the prison guard opened the door to the interview room and Ben was sitting behind the table in the middle of the room with his slimy lawyer Gregory Daley by his side. Daley was dressed immaculately, as always, even down to the finer details including his designer glasses, gleaming cufflinks and tie-pin. Though he was also now sporting a goatee beard that Dani hadn’t seen before and which added at least a decade to his age and didn’t suit his rounded face at all.

  Ben… well, he looked older too, his hair wiry and almost entirely grey, his face more lined than before, his cheekbones more jagged from loss of weight. The ageing hadn’t come across properly when she’d seen him at distance on the video link the other day, but every time Dani saw Ben up close and in the flesh he seemed to have aged several years, as though the prison was in a time-warp where the days, weeks, months and years passed by more quickly than on the outside.

  Not that she felt sorry for him at all.

  ‘How’ve you been, Dani?’ Ben said with a warm smile as she and Easton took the seats opposite Ben and Daley. The interview-room door was shut and locked behind them.

  ‘All the better for not seeing you,’ she said, though she chastised herself for her churlish response, which only added to Ben’s smile.

  ‘We weren’t given much notice for this meeting,’ Daley said. ‘So you can appreciate if we’re under-prepared, but I’m assuming this is going to be related to Damian Curtis?’