Echoes of Guilt

by Rob Sinclair

  The man was writhing and groaning in pain, clutching his leg which was all twisted. Not a nice sight, but he certainly wasn’t dead, at least.

  In the process of the crash, the man’s hood had come down, revealing his meaty face that was now creased in both pain and anger.

  Even in the dark, Dani recognised him.

  ‘Silviu Grigore? I’m arresting you on suspicion of murder.’

  Chapter 43

  Dani’s endless, tiring day was finally over. Midnight had long passed as she headed away from HQ and along the Aston Expressway towards Sutton Coldfield, the traffic on the roads as light as Dani was weary. She’d spent the best part of the last two hours with Easton in an interview room with Silviu Grigore. Easton had left the office some forty-five minutes ago, while Dani tried in vain to think of anything else she could usefully do before heading home. The time spent with Grigore had been next to useless. Grigore was giving nothing away. Had answered everything put to him either with ‘no comment’, or by pretending that he didn’t even understand the question. In the morning Dani would source a translator so that next time around he wouldn’t have that excuse.

  For now, though, they were at an impasse. Dani was sure they had enough evidence to charge Grigore with murder. Both in relation to Jane Doe and Clara Dunne, the circumstantial evidence was strong. But that wasn’t good enough for Dani. She wanted to know the full truth. What had happened to the two women? What had happened to Liam Dunne? What was the involvement of Victor Nistor and Alex Stelea and Nicolae Popescu and the second man that Grigore had been with the night he’d been stopped with Jane Doe’s mutilated body in the back of his van?

  And perhaps the most troubling unanswered question in Dani’s mind: what was Ben’s role in it all?

  As Dani passed over a junction her eyes fell on a sign for Good Hope Hospital, the largest hospital in the North Birmingham area. Not the hospital that Jason was at, but spotting the sign still led to a knot tightening in her stomach. Stuck in the thick of an ever-changing investigation, she’d barely seen Jason since the weekend, and when she had seen him, it had mostly been late at night or at a horrendously early hour in the morning when he’d still been asleep.

  Her tiredness now made the situation feel all the worse. Friday was supposed to be the first of their home ‘trials’, where Jason would stay the night, just the two of them. A normal couple, doing normal coupley things, if only for a day or two. For months Dani had longed for that moment to arrive. Now it felt like it was too much too soon, a burden almost, and she hated herself for thinking that way.

  Unfortunately, with the melancholy thoughts taking hold, Dani could think of little else for the remainder of the drive. She’d been intending to get home, strip off her work clothes and dive straight into bed, rather than faffing with sorting out work clothes for tomorrow and heading back to the hospital to see Jason. But now she wasn’t so sure, despite the late hour.

  Her street was deserted. Not a soul in sight, no lights visible inside most of the properties except for the odd one where the security-conscious owners had left a porch or hall light on to deter burglars.

  Dani’s house was encased in darkness, not just because of the lack of interior lighting, but as a result of the layout of the street’s lampposts which meant there wasn’t one within thirty yards of her home, creating something of a black void around hers and her neighbours’ properties. It was only when she turned onto the drive, and her headlights lit up the brickwork, that she was able to confirm that indeed her house remained standing.

  She shut down the engine and the lights flicked off and she was plunged into darkness once more. Dani tensed. Her eyes darted nervously as she stepped from the car. She trod carefully through the dark towards the front door, because she couldn’t see the path at all, and also due to the rapidly forming frost making the surface treacherous.

  The street was silent, except for a gentle breeze rattling the bare branches in the trees. But then a faint scraping sound behind Dani, back towards the road, caused her to jerk and she whipped her head around to stare back at the street, nearly losing her footing in the process.

  Of course there was no one there. The noise was mostly likely to be a cat or a fox or even just a frozen twig blown from a tree.

  What the hell was she expecting to see anyway? A bloody vampire or something?

  She carried on to the door, already shivering from the cold, but not helped by the dark thoughts now swirling in her mind.

  Did she really want to stay here alone tonight?

  She unlocked the door and took a half step into the porch and quickly reached out for the light switch before she’d even taken the key from the lock. The two spotlights overhead flicked on and Dani stepped fully into the porch as she pulled out the key.

  That sound again.

  Definitely not a twig.

  Dani spun around. One hand on the door, ready to slam it shut.

  That was her intention at least.

  Except she hadn’t expected to be paralysed by fright when she saw the blacked-out figure standing just a few yards from her.

  Dani gasped, but she couldn’t move. Brigitta Popescu’s ominous words rattled in Dani’s mind. Bodies, bones, Strigoi.

  The figure, dark clothing, hood shadowing their face, took a step forward. Dani could see only a glimpse of skin and it glistened from the porch lights. Glistened red.

  Blood.

  Another step and the figure pulled down the hood.

  Dani was left wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

  ‘Ana?’

  Chapter 44

  ‘Please… help me.’

  Dani reached out and grabbed Ana’s arm. The young woman flinched but then acquiesced as Dani pulled at her and coerced her into the porch. Dani quickly opened the porch door and flicked on the hall lights and soon she and Ana were both safely inside with both the front door and the porch door closed and locked behind them.

  Yet Dani wouldn’t feel relief yet. Was the house really empty?

  ‘Ana, whose blood is that?’

  Dani looked her up and down. The red on her face and her neck and her hands was dried and cracking. The black puffer coat she was wearing – surely too big to be hers – also had several large patches on it where the material looked duller than the rest – stained?

  Ana didn’t answer the question but a tear rolled down her cheek.

  ‘You have to help me,’ she said.

  ‘I will help. But you need to talk to me. Are you hurt?’

  Another tear escaped and Ana shook her head, but the shake slowly turned into a nod.

  ‘It wasn’t my fault,’ she said. ‘I had no choice.’

  ‘Had no choice? Ana, what’s happened?’

  ‘Alex. I think… I think he’s dead. I think I killed him.’

  * * *

  What was Dani supposed to do in that situation? Perhaps the sensible thing would have been to arrest Ana and take her to the local station, and then sleep on it. Or even to call the cavalry in and get them to take over while Dani gathered her thoughts and waited to brief Easton, McNair, Jason – whoever – in the morning.

  Dani hadn’t done any of that. The simple fact was that Ana, for some reason, had sought out Dani in her hour of need. Whatever she’d done and for whatever reason, she hadn’t run away, she hadn’t gone to anyone else, she’d come to Dani for help. And Dani would give it, because Ana could be the key to the police unravelling everything.

  * * *

  The clock on the dashboard flicked over to two a.m. Ana, in the passenger seat next to Dani, was still shivering, despite the multiple layers of clothes that Dani had given her after her quick shower to remove the dried blood. But not before Dani had taken swabs of the blood, along with the bloodied clothing, which she’d packaged away to give to the Forensics team when she caught up with them.

  Dani still didn’t know for sure whose blood it was, or what injuries Ana herself was suffering from. Her face was bruised, she had a thick and cracked l
ip, and her right eye was black and badly swollen. Plus she had hobbled through the house like she was several decades older than she really was, clearly in pain with each step, but she was still yet to explain to Dani exactly what had happened. Although she had given enough. Which explained why they were now on the road.

  Not that Dani was doing this completely gung-ho. She’d already called for back-up, and they’d be meeting with them sooner or later. The car Ana had arrived in remained on Dani’s street. Alex’s car, apparently. The FSIs would get their chance to comb over that. But not yet. Dani had a bigger priority.

  ‘How did you know where I lived?’ Dani said. A question which had been bugging her since the moment she saw Ana.

  ‘Alex. There was a message on his phone from Victor. Victor was finding out about you. I think because he knows you’re investigating him.’

  That made sense. Though it did also worry Dani. She was a target of Victor’s now too.

  They rattled along the A5 dual carriageway at speed. She didn’t have lights or sirens but the roads were dead and she wouldn’t waste time sticking to the speed limits now, despite the many speed cameras.

  ‘You came this way?’ Dani asked.

  ‘I… I think so,’ Ana said. ‘It’s hard to remember. I was… I was too scared to think properly.’

  With Ana remaining scatty, so far Dani was working largely off instinct. Ana had said she’d driven for about half an hour. Had followed signs for Sutton Coldfield. She’d claimed the road signs she’d seen along the way – on the main roads at least – also included Lichfield, Birmingham. Had remembered that the nearly full moon, big and bright on a night with intermittent cloud, was up in the sky to her right.

  That was enough for Dani to figure the basics. Ana had travelled from the north and west of Sutton Coldfield. A pretty vague area still, although it was consistent with the location, between Brownhills and Cannock, where Silviu Grigore and his as-yet-unknown accomplice had been stopped three days previously, on their way to dispose of Jane Doe’s body.

  That spot was only a mile ahead of them now.

  ‘What else can you remember?’ Dani said to Ana without taking her eyes from the road. ‘Tell me from the beginning. Whatever you can.’

  ‘It was… underground. I think. Or at least inside the ground. Like in the hill.’

  ‘A cave?’

  ‘No. Maybe. A bunker? The entrance was tiny. Wet and cold. A tunnel.’

  ‘A tunnel? But of earth, mud? Or brick? Concrete?’

  ‘Not brick. But hard. Concrete, I think.’

  ‘And when you came out into the open?’

  ‘I had to squeeze through the branches. It was dark. I just remember trees, everywhere. I followed a path.’

  ‘Tarmac? A hard path?’

  ‘I don’t think so. It brought me to the car. Alex’s car.’

  ‘Were there other cars?’

  ‘There was space for others. But it wasn’t a car park.’

  ‘Just a clearing in the woods?’

  ‘I… think so.’

  ‘And then what?’

  Ana shook with terror. Dani frowned.

  ‘That was when I saw him. It.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘There was a hill. Off to my right when I came to the car. A figure standing right at the top, looking down on me.’

  ‘But you didn’t see his face?’

  ‘It was too dark. He was too far. All I saw were his clothes, moving in the wind.’

  ‘Clothes? Like what, a scarf?’

  Ana looked confused. As though she couldn’t explain what she’d thought she’d seen. Or at least not without sounding like a lunatic.

  But what had she seen?

  ‘I just knew I had to escape.’

  ‘Then you got onto a road?’ Dani said. ‘What did you see first?’

  As Dani asked the question they passed over the spot where Jane Doe’s body had been recovered.

  ‘Some signs. But I can’t remember where to. I wasn’t thinking properly. Then there were houses. But not for long.’

  ‘What about this road we’re on now?’ Dani said. ‘Do you recognise it?’

  She slowed down. Past the spot they’d recovered Jane Doe’s body, they were now entering the unknown, and Dani didn’t want to risk making a wrong turn and throwing the whole search off-course.

  ‘I don’t think… wait, yes!’ Ana said, pointing into the distance. ‘That roundabout. I came from that way. I saw that pub.’

  Dani turned right at the roundabout. The small village of Norton Canes lay ahead of them. The start of the sprawling Cannock Chase was only a few miles further ahead – twenty-six square miles of rugged countryside and forest. Ana’s description thus far, and the fact that Silivu Grigore and his accomplice had been carting Jane Doe’s body in this direction, convinced Dani that they were on the right track. But would Ana remember enough to get them to the exact spot? If not, how on earth were they going to find what they were looking for in such a vast area?

  Unfortunately for Dani, she was left with that exact issue a little over ten minutes later as she pulled the car over to the side of the A460, one of several roads which bisected the Chase. Dark forest surrounded the unlit road, the car’s headlights struggling to make an impression.

  ‘Ana?’ Dani said.

  ‘I’m sorry. I just don’t know.’

  Dani thought for a few moments. Ana said nothing more. Dani sighed, then took out her phone to make the call.

  Chapter 45

  An hour later the area was slowly being overrun by blue lights. Three police cars, a dog van. Ana remained in the car while Dani organised the troops and set them off on their search. The dogs were the best bet, Dani believed, though only if they were somewhere near where Ana had come from so that they’d be able to find a scent trail to follow.

  With the help of a little-used OS map, which Dani had in the car, she’d identified two areas not far from where she had pulled over which she believed could be the hill Ana said she’d seen, even though there was no indication on the map of any buildings nearby – whether old or new, or even remnants of something from days gone by like mines, bunkers, quarries, whatever.

  Still, Dani wasn’t giving up easily. And after travelling another mile to a spot equidistant between the two hills, where the other officers had met them, she’d now set them on their way. The officers would do their best to search in the dark. Come daylight, if they hadn’t found the trail, Dani would bring in extra bodies. As many as it took until they’d scoured all twenty-six square miles of Cannock Chase.

  As soon as she was able to, she’d also set up the team back at HQ to scour CCTV to retrace Ana’s journey. The team would be back online within six hours, though Dani was more than tempted to ring them all and get them into the office in the middle of the night.

  She held off for now.

  With the late-night help all busy with their tasks, Dani headed back to the car where Ana was sitting shivering. Cold or scared or a combination of both?

  ‘We’ve got some time on our hands,’ Dani said. ‘Unless you want to go out there into the cold and dark forest, perhaps you can start telling me what’s actually going on.’

  She looked over at Ana whose face twisted a little with apprehension. Perhaps Dani’s tone had been slightly harder than she’d intended, but so what? Ana needed to start talking. Not just about what had happened tonight, but about everything she knew of Victor and Alex and their dirty deeds.

  ‘We’ll find where they took you,’ Dani said. ‘We’ll find Alex, Victor too. What I want to know is why?’

  Ana looked even more unsure now. Her shivering had turned to trembling. ‘Alex was… he would have killed me.’

  ‘But why, Ana?’

  ‘Because! Because I called the police. About Maria.’

  ‘Maria?’

  ‘She was only eighteen.’

  ‘She was the body we found—’

  ‘I made that call,’ Ana said. ‘I couldn’t sit
and watch any longer.’

  ‘Who killed her? Silviu?’

  Ana frowned. ‘Who’s Silviu?’ She paused. Looked even more scared now.

  ‘Ana, who killed Maria? We tried to catch the men transporting her body. One was called Silviu Grigore. We’ve arrested him now.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I really don’t know him. But those men… they didn’t kill her. They just…’

  ‘Took the bodies away?’

  Ana closed her eyes and kept them closed, even as she started to speak. ‘You must know what that house is. I know the police were there. You traced the call I made.’

  ‘A brothel?’

  Ana shook her head, not in disagreement, Dani thought, but in disgust.

  ‘I don’t know who killed Maria,’ Ana said. ‘A man who came to see her. She wasn’t the first, but I told myself she had to be the last.’

  ‘What about Clara Dunne? She wasn’t a prostitute.’

  ‘I don’t know anything about her.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘I don’t! You must believe me.’

  ‘And Liam Dunne?’

  ‘I’m sorry. Victor doesn’t tell me anything. If you’re saying Victor killed them… maybe it’s true, but I don’t know anything about it. I only know what I see.’

  ‘Which is what?’

  ‘The women. They bring them into the country all the time. Force them into work. I have to…’ She trailed off and clenched her fists. ‘I have to help, make them feel comfortable and safe. Even as I’m taking away their passports, their phones, their freedom. Their lives.’

  ‘How many women? We need to find them. To make them safe.’

  ‘I don’t know. A hundred. Two hundred, since I’ve been here. But Victor and Alex send them all over the country to other handlers. It’s not just for them.’

  A transport business. Dani shivered.

  ‘So there are other houses like the one in Wednesbury? Others that you know of?’

  She hung her head. ‘Yes.’

  ‘I need the addresses.’

  Ana flinched as Dani reached over and opened the glovebox. She dug around and found a pen and a scrap of paper.