DARK HOUSES a gripping detective thriller full of suspense

by Helen H. Durrant

  “Who is Dan?”

  “No one now. He’s dead.”

  “Neville? Did you have anything to do with that?”

  He shook his head. He wanted to tell her the truth but he couldn’t. If he told her about Dan, then he’d have to talk about the girls. She couldn’t find out about them. If she did, Edna would hate him.

  “Are you sure? Have you hurt somebody?”

  Where to start? There was a thundering in his head. He got to his feet and began pacing again. He was wound up, confused, and the thoughts wouldn’t go away. A little voice hammered away at him. Tell her. Tell her, before it’s too late — before you hurt someone else.

  He’d had enough.

  “I’ve done something bad.” He stopped pacing and hung his head. Edna stood up and put her arm round his shoulder.

  “I’ll get Doctor Fielding. You wait here. Come on, sit down. It’ll only take a minute.”

  As soon as she left, Neville realised he’d be mad to tell her all that stuff. He’d been right. They’d lock him up. He got to his feet, yanked open the front door and did one.

  * * *

  It was dark. Suzy Greco blinked a few times, trying to clear her eyes. She couldn’t remember what had happened. The hours since the morning seemed to have disappeared. Panic gripped her. Where was she? She had to be dreaming. She wasn’t properly awake yet. It’d be okay in a moment. She’d wake up properly.

  But something was wrong. Her limbs were cold and stiff. Why couldn’t she move? When her eyes became accustomed to the gloom, she looked down and saw that her wrists were taped to the arms of a chair, her ankles to its legs. More heavy tape had been wound around her middle to keep her immobile. But worse than that, she was naked. She tried to scream but no noise came.

  Chapter 15

  Day Four

  “My mum will take them both to school. I ran her things through the wash last night with Holly’s.”

  “Thanks. I’m really grateful for what you’ve done. Tell Matilda I’ll be there to pick her up later.” He was speaking to Grace on the phone.

  “Suzy?”

  “I’ve been trying her mobile all night, but nothing. It’s turned off.”

  “Surely she wouldn’t just go off and leave Matilda without saying anything? Sir?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. She’s changed recently. I can’t read her anymore. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed she’d cheat on me with another man.”

  “Don’t worry about Matilda. I’ll sort the girls and then come in. How did your meeting go with Wilkes?”

  “He wants results. He appreciates we’re up against it but like he pointed out — that’s the job.”

  “Did he offer anything that would help?”

  “No. Scarlett is the sum total of what we’re going to get.”

  “Well, let’s hope we get a breakthrough soon. See you later, sir.”

  Greco was worried, not only about his daughter but about Suzy’s welfare. He’d spent the night wandering around his flat, thinking about her. He didn’t believe she’d take off on a whim. She wouldn’t do something like that without making arrangements for Matilda. Something had happened, something she had no control over. Reluctantly, he’d rung round all the hospitals on the off-chance she’d been involved in an accident. As the hours ticked by, he wasn’t sure if he was pleased that she hadn’t been.

  He showered and dressed. His first task would be to visit the college. He wanted to know when she’d last been seen, and what sort of mood she’d been in. If he got nothing and she didn’t contact him, he’d be forced to ring her parents in case she’d gone there. But that would be a last resort. If she wasn’t there, they would only worry.

  * * *

  On arriving at Oldston College, Greco went up to the staffroom. One of her colleagues, Jill Brayshaw, recognised him.

  “Is Suzy here?” he asked her.

  “No, and she hasn’t rung in either. Is she ill?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t find her,” he admitted. “When did you see her last?”

  “She was here yesterday morning. She took the National Diploma group.” She paused. “Is everything okay with you two? I ask because Suzy’s behaviour has been a little odd recently.”

  “In what way?”

  “She’s been going out for lunch a lot and dropping hints. We work together and we are quite close. I thought perhaps she was trying to tell me something. I teased her about it. At first I thought she must be meeting you. But that wasn’t the case, was it?”

  Greco shook his head.

  “To be honest, I sort of guessed that she was seeing someone else. She had that look about her — more make-up, always at the hairdressers and she’d been buying new clothes.”

  How come he hadn’t noticed any of that? Perhaps Suzy was right — he was too engrossed in the job.

  He saw the flush of embarrassment on her cheeks. “In the end I asked her and Suzy admitted as much.”

  “Do you know who he was?” he asked.

  Jill Brayshaw shook her head. “But I think it must have been him that kept ringing her. She went off at lunchtime yesterday. Said she had something better to do than eat the rubbish they dish up in the canteen. Sorry — I don’t know anymore.”

  “Thanks — it’s something to start with anyway.”

  Greco went downstairs to the reception office. He knew that there was CCTV at the front of the building. He wanted to know exactly when Suzy had left and who she was with.

  * * *

  “Where’s the boss?” DC Scarlett Seddon asked.

  “He won’t be long,” Grace said.

  “Right little teacher’s pet, aren’t you? Running after his kid like that. Do that a lot, do you?”

  “It isn’t like that.”

  “Oh, it is.” Craig Merrick butted in. “She fancies the pants off him, but he isn’t having any.”

  Scarlett giggled. “That’s how you intend to climb up the greasy pole, is it?”

  “You’re one to talk. What about you and that new bloke at the Duggan? Threw yourself at him, you did. Shameless piece of work!”

  “Pack it in you lot. We’ve got stuff to do, remember?” Speedy was trying to concentrate. He was going through the report George had printed out for them earlier.

  “Results of the prints on that beer can are in. No match on the database,” said George.

  Speedy threw his pen onto the desk and stood up. “What is it with this bastard? No one’s that good.”

  “Well, this one is. He’s someone new and he’s got no record,” said Scarlett.

  “That doesn’t help.”

  “Would you like me to go over the reports and the statements? A fresh pair of eyes,” she said.

  “If you want to, but we should be out there.”

  “If we knew what it was we were looking for,” Merrick added. “The press are right. We haven’t got a clue.”

  “In that case we need to up our game. You didn’t see those girls.” Speedy shuddered. “Bloody maniac.”

  “Anything on the tweets?” Grace asked George.

  “Nope. They’re still working on them.”

  “Tell them to get a bloody move on. Don’t they know what we’re dealing with?” Speedy said.

  Grace’s mobile beeped. It was Greco. He’d sent her a text to say he’d be late in. He was looking at CCTV footage at the college.

  “I think the boss has a problem,” she said to the others.

  “What problem?” Merrick asked.

  “He’ll tell you himself.”

  Speedy saw Scarlett and Merrick exchange looks. This was how gossip started. “Spit it out or keep it to yourself,” he snapped at Grace. “We don’t have time for this bickering. We need to find something we can work with.” He held up a file and shook it at them. “Before this character does it again.”

  Grace was annoyed with him. Speedy could see it on her face. The atmosphere in the office was tense. She’d just opened her
mouth to retaliate when a uniformed officer stuck his head around the door.

  “We’ve got a bloke downstairs who says he’s responsible for killing those girls.”

  “It’ll be a bloody weirdo,” said Speedy. “As if we didn’t have enough to do.”

  “You’ll still have to see him though,” said Grace. “Greco won’t be in for a while, so it’s down to you.”

  Speedy strode off after the officer. He needed a break from the incident room anyway. “What have you done with him?”

  “I’ve stuck him in an interview room. I’ve left someone on watch.”

  “Waste of time. This is how it gets sometimes. Every now and again we have a case that attracts the dross.” Speedy was only surprised there hadn’t been more.

  Speedy observed the young man through the two-way glass. He was young, twenty-one or so, and big — at least six foot, and hefty with it. He looked dirty, unshaven and was scruffily dressed in jeans and a hooded top. He looked as if he’d been sleeping rough.

  “He’s after a hot meal and a bed for the night,” Speedy said. He’d seen it before. They got any number of homeless chancing their arm. “What’s he said?”

  “Nothing to us. Wants to speak to CID only.”

  Speedy shook his head. This was a waste of time. He went into the room and sat down opposite the man with a notepad and pen in his hand.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Does that matter?”

  “Yes, it does.” Here we go, thought Speedy. The dragging it out, the fairy tales leading to endless cups of coffee and eventually, if this lad was lucky, a room for the night. “Look, have you got anything to tell me or not?”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  He looked Speedy in the face. His eyes were wild, bloodshot, and he was nervous. He played with the frayed edge of a cuff on his hoody constantly as he spoke, winding the thread around his finger.

  “I didn’t want to. It was the voices.” He leaned forward. “You’ve no idea how they get.”

  He’d been right, thought Speedy. Nutjob.

  “The girls,” he said. “How did you meet them?”

  “They were there, at the houses.”

  “Yes, but where did they come from?”

  “I dunno.”

  “If you are responsible for their deaths you must know.” Speedy paused, watching the confusion on the lad’s face. “This is a wind-up, isn’t it? You know bugger all.”

  “The voice said I killed them.”

  “The voice could be wrong.”

  “No. It was me. I made a mistake, you see. I only wanted to kill their hearts. They didn’t love me. Love comes from the heart, doesn’t it?”

  “Tell me how you did that — killed their hearts?” Faint bells began to ring in Speedy’s brain.

  “It was easy. I just stuck the hot poker in deep.”

  * * *

  “You okay, sir? You look a bit rough if you don’t mind me saying.”

  “I’ve got a lot on, Craig,” he said.

  “Speedy is downstairs interviewing a bloke who’s come in and confessed,” Grace told him. “He thinks it’s a joke, but you never know.”

  Greco wasn’t listening. He’d logged onto his computer and was accessing his email. The man in the security lodge at the college had promised to seek out yesterday’s video and email him a copy. There it was in his inbox.

  He studied the video. It showed the usual comings and goings of dozens of students through the main entrance. He moved it forward to about twelve noon — the time Suzy would normally break for lunch. A van pulled up outside. He watched the security man wave it in. Then he spotted it. A dark blue Ford Focus.

  Greco began to sweat. He tore at his tie, loosening it. The thing was choking him. This wasn’t good. He couldn’t see the man’s face, the sun was shining on the car’s windscreen. But he did see Suzy walk out of the entrance. She waved, smiling at the driver. Suzy obviously knew him. He opened the passenger side window and they spoke for a few moments. All Greco could see was the back of his head. Finally Suzy laughed and got in beside him.

  The panic was back. Suzy was in mortal danger. For reasons he couldn’t work out, the killer had targeted her.

  “How are you doing with the car?” His voice was raspy, the words sticking in his throat.

  “No luck yet, sir,” Craig replied.

  Greco looked at the film again. The full registration was visible. Why hadn’t he spotted it moments ago? Because he’d only seen Suzy, that was why. He jotted it down on a piece of paper and handed it over. “Try that.” He didn’t explain. As Craig was about to open his mouth, Greco silenced him. “Just get on with it. I want to know who owns that car — now.”

  Chapter 16

  “I’ve had him taken to the cells,” Speedy told Greco. “At first I thought he was a hoaxer, but after what he said I don’t think he is. He told me what he’d done to the hearts. He even mentioned the poker. He’s also given me this.” He held up a mobile phone. “I think it was used to send those tweets. I’ll get it to the techies, see what they think.”

  “What’s he like?” said Greco. Coupled with the sighting of the car, this was finally something they could use.

  “He’s not what I expected. He’s nervous as hell, frightened of his own shadow. And a bit on the odd side. Says he hears voices.”

  Greco sighed. “Is he saying the voices made him do it?”

  “Yep, that’s it. It wasn’t me — they told me to. You know the type.”

  “We’ll have to speak to him properly, but the thing with the voices could complicate the issue.”

  “What are you thinking, boss?”

  “These voices — he could be schizophrenic. If that’s the case, we can’t interview him again unless an appropriate adult is present.”

  “Want me to ask him?”

  “What do we know about him already?”

  “Nothing, other than that he killed the girls because the voices made him.”

  “Have him taken to the soft interview room. Tell uniform to watch him like a hawk. Get him some tea and I’ll have a word.”

  It was frustrating but, schizophrenic or not, he obviously knew something. Greco went back to the incident room. “Grace, I’m about to talk to that young man about the case. I want you in on it. Five minutes, okay?”

  Grace nodded.

  Greco left the room, walked down the corridor and knocked on DCI Green’s door. Something was niggling him but he couldn’t put his finger on it. It wasn’t Suzy. Suzy was no niggle. The fact she was missing was huge. He was overtired. He’d hardly slept a wink in two nights, and it was taking its toll. His mind was not as sharp as it should be.

  “The custody officer has just rung me,” Green said.

  “That’s not why I’m here, sir. I think whoever took those girls has taken Suzy. She’s missing. No one has heard from her since yesterday lunchtime.”

  Green got to his feet. “What makes you think that?”

  Greco told him about the Focus. “It was seen at the club and forensics is looking at paint scrapings from one that left Arnold Street in a hurry.”

  “Has this got anything to do with the young man in custody?”

  “We know nothing about him other than he’s confessed, and he does know pertinent details about the killings.”

  “If he is implicated, you can’t be involved in the interviewing.”

  “I have to talk to him. I need to know if he’s seen Suzy. It could be her only chance.”

  Green paused. “Despite what he’s said, he could be fantasising. He could have spoken to someone from the press, overheard something. He still might not be genuine. And you don’t know his name?”

  “Not yet, sir.”

  “Okay, speak to him. But if you think he really does have anything to do with the murders, then you back off — understand?”

  Greco nodded.

  “And make sure you follow procedure to the letter.”

  * * *


  “This is Grace,” Greco said, “and I’m Stephen.”

  He watched the lad’s eyes swing to Grace. He was looking at her hair, her face.

  “You coppers?”

  “Yes. We want to have a chat.” Greco smiled. “Drink your tea. There’s more if you want it.”

  Neville smiled. He liked that. Edna always kept the tea coming. “You’re pretty for a copper,” he told Grace shyly.

  “What’s your name?” she said gently.

  “Promise not to laugh?”

  Grace nodded.

  “Neville. Neville Dakin. I get a lot of stick because of my name. They call me Naff Nev.” He hung his head.

  “We’re not like that,” she said.

  “Neville, you told our colleague about the voices. Do they bother you a lot?” Greco asked.

  He nodded.

  “Are they bothering you now?”

  Having to tread on eggshells like this was killing Greco.

  “A little bit. They don’t want me to stay here.”

  “We can get someone to sit with you while we chat. Someone you know, who knows you — perhaps a friend or a relative. That will make it easier for you,” Grace said.

  “Can I choose?”

  She nodded.

  “Anyone I want?” He asked, looking surprised.

  “Yes.”

  “Can Edna come? She won’t mind.”

  “Where can we find Edna, Neville?” Greco asked.

  “Springbank House. It’s near the park.”

  “Yes, I know where it is,” Greco told him.

  “We’ll leave you with the officer stood over there while we speak to her,” said Grace. They left the room.

  “What is Springbank House?” Greco asked.

  “It’s a rehabilitation centre for people with psychiatric problems who have recently left hospital or have ongoing issues. Usually they don’t have a stable home life to return to.”

  “We need to move fast on this. If he’s got Suzy, he won’t hang about. All this working around his condition is wasting time. I’d like to just beat the truth out of him.”

  “That is definitely not like you, sir. Are you sure she’s actually missing?” Grace asked as they walked back to the office.