Jonty interrupted. ‘Listen, can we do a deal?’
‘A deal? What kind of deal?’ Dan said as he looked suspiciously at Jonty.
‘You’ve got my wife here, she’s nothing to do with…all this. Let her go and I’ll tell you everything.’
‘Everything?’
Jonty nodded.
Dan gave it some thought.
‘She’s not been questioned yet, so I can’t let her go, but I promise if you tell us what we need to know I’ll keep the questions to a minimum and send her home in a police car.’
‘Okay, that’s near enough. Old Marcus here doesn’t want me to tell you anything but I honestly can’t see the point. Your forensics people aren’t idiots, they’ll know soon enough that it was me in that room with the girl. My prints are all over the place and they’ll probably find some semen too.’
‘Semen?’ Dan asked, looking even more appalled.
Jonty nodded again and the smile widened, ‘Well she was a pretty little thing and I’m only human after all.’
Mac somehow doubted that last part of the statement.
‘So what do I say now? You’ve got me bang to rights guv’nor or something along those lines?’
Dan stared at him like he just landed from another planet. His solicitor buried his head in his hands.
‘Carry on. No start from when you were in Budapest,’ Dan ordered.
‘Nice city, very cheap too. I had an idea about a revolutionary new drug but not as much money as I would have liked so Hungary seemed like a good option. I was so happy when we discovered HDE 1078, I thought that I’d found a wonder drug, which of course is what it was, but we just couldn’t get rid of the side effects. Then we found HDE 1134 and, while it wasn’t anywhere near as potent as 1078 it did lower blood pressure very effectively and it didn’t seem to have any serious side effects. However animals could only tell us so much, the effects in humans might be more subtle but still severe enough to make the drug unusable. I mean no-one wants Alzheimer’s as a side effect do they?’
He smiled as though they were all having a friendly cup of tea together.
‘Anyway I knew we only had one shot with the drug as I was running out of money so I decided we needed some guinea pigs. I persuaded Sandor to get me some girls and he wasn’t too keen at first but he soon got into it, especially as he got some perks out of it, lots of free sex. We kept them in a cellar under the lab, very convenient too. At first Sandor wasn’t too keen on being involved with disposing of them afterwards. I had to bully him a bit to get him to inject the first one with heroin but he seemed to get the hang of it afterwards. The trials went very well and I was sure when it came to the real tests that the drug would go through with flying colours.’
‘How many?’ Dan asked tersely.
‘How many what?’
‘Girls.’
‘Oh them, seven in all. I’d worked it out. We needed six to test the side effects at various doses.’
‘And the seventh?’
Jonty’s smile never left his face as he said, ‘Oh! that was to test for the lethal dose. It only provided a ballpark figure of course but still bloody useful information.’
Mac felt his blood run cold as he said those words.
‘Anyway the drug was a big hit, high blood pressure is an epidemic at the moment, over sixty million in America alone. It saved thousands of lives,’ Jonty said trying to look sincere. He just looked grotesque.
Mac also guessed it had made him a lot of money.
‘So I moved back to the UK and started a new company, new premises. I was really going somewhere but we needed another hit drug to be sure of keeping it all afloat. And we did, HDE 1265. In animal tests it slowed heart rate dramatically, not hibernation but part of the way there, and with apparently no side effects. Again, as the side effects might be subtle, I decided we needed to run more trials.’
He made it sound so matter of fact, Mac thought, when he was really talking about kidnapping and murdering human beings.
‘Sandor helped me out again. He got the girls from Luton, as he knew the town well, and all was fine until he had that stupid collision, the prat!’
‘The collision wasn’t his fault,’ Dan said flatly. ‘Someone ran into him.’
Jonty shrugged his shoulders.
‘Whatever. I knew I had to get rid of him and so I told him once we got rid of the last girl that I was going to get him out of the country, get him somewhere safe and he believed it. However I didn’t plan on him settling some old scores before he left. When he told me about killing that professor and the taxi driver I knew I had to get rid of him immediately and so I shot him full of 1078 and staged his suicide. Quite good I thought it was too. Did you like the touch about the biomed conference? Lots of suspects there for you to get on with.’
His grin widened and Mac was rapidly reaching the conclusion that Mr. Hart-Tolliver was barking mad.
‘So that was that, except I needed a girl for the lethal dose test. I suppose I could have left that one out, I was fairly certain I knew anyway, but it bugged me so much that I thought why not? Getting a girl was far easier than I thought, made me wonder what I was paying Sandor all that money for. The only problem was that she didn’t die when I thought she would, it took two days longer at the end of which you, unfortunately, turned up. If you’d left it until tomorrow I’d have been fine.’
Jonty smiled a rueful smile.
‘What do you mean?’ Dan asked.
‘I was going to torch the place tonight. I’d bought the factory so we could expand, we’d need the extra space for the new drug. So torching it would not only get rid of the evidence but also clear the site for the new buildings and I’d get a bit of a pay out from the insurance to boot.’
‘How come?’
‘Well I was going to stage it so it looked like squatters were using the place, junkie squatters. I’d already mentioned to some people at the company that I thought someone was squatting there, just to set the scene. I’d carefully place some drug paraphernalia around the place and there’s lot of cardboard still in the building so it would burn very nicely.’
‘Is that how you originally planned to dispose of Sandor?’ Mac asked.
Jonty laughed.
‘You’re very perceptive, yes that was the plan. Sandor would go in with the last girl and they’d both burn nicely together, poor little junkie lovers. Unfortunately he jumped the gun.’
‘Okay that’s enough for now,’ Dan stood up. ‘Jonty Hart-Tolliver I’m charging you with the murder of Chanelle Burdon, you will be questioned further and other charges will follow in due course. You’ll be kept in custody until any court hearing takes place.’
Dan turned off the recorder and then ordered a uniform to take Jonty to the cells. He picked up the phone to tell the DCS the news.
Mac went into the corridor and saw the back of Jonty Hart-Tolliver as he walked towards a lifetime behind bars. Dan came out of the interview room, he jumped up and punched the air. The look on Dan’s face told Mac that it wasn’t done in celebration but out of absolute frustration.
‘I so wanted to smash that bastard’s smile right down his throat!’ Dan exploded.
Mac knew exactly what he meant.
‘You know I used to see all those programmes on the TV about the Nazi death camps in the Second World War, about how they experimented on people and all the terrible things they did. I often used to wonder what type of human being could do such a thing. I think we’ve met one of them tonight.’
Dan nodded grimly.
Mac laid his hand on Dan’s shoulder and said, ‘It’s a win Dan, a real result. You’ve caught a serial killer, one of the most cold-blooded ones I’ve ever come across, and you’ve taken him off the streets. If it hadn’t been for your decision to go tonight we’d have lost him but you chose right Dan, it’s a win, a bloody massive gold-plated win.’
A wide smile slowly broke over Dan’s face.
‘Yes, it is a win, isn’t it? Come o
n, let’s go tell the team.’
Dan told the assembled team that Jonty had confessed everything. They all stood up and applauded loudly.
‘Now all of you get down the pub and start getting drunk,’ Dan ordered. ‘I’ll be along later.’
He turned to Mac.
‘Off to see the boss now. He’ll want to hold a press conference as soon as possible, tell everyone how he cracked the case. Oh well, I’ll see you down the pub.’
Mac shook his head.
‘Sorry Dan but I won’t be going. I have to drive home plus, if I’m honest, I’m deathly tired and I need my bed. However I would like to meet your boss.’
Dan looked puzzled at Mac’s request.
‘Sure, follow me.’
The DCS was straightening his tie and looking himself over in the mirror when they walked in.
‘Bloody good work, well done Dan. The conference is arranged for an hour from now, nice timing for the evening news. This will really show us in our best light. Who’s this?’
‘Boss let me introduce you to Mac Maguire, who used to be DCS Maguire from the London Murder Squad. We wouldn’t have cracked the case without him.’
The DCS shook Mac’s hand limply.
‘Nice to meet you at last and thanks for all your help. I’ll bet you’ve done hundreds of these press conferences, we don’t get the chance so much out here.’
‘Yes I must have done hundreds I suppose but I never liked doing them that much. However I must admit I think you’re being very brave.’
The DCS stopped fiddling with his tie and turned around.
‘Brave, how?’ he asked with a concerned look.
‘Well you gave another conference not that long ago more or less saying you’d got the man who’d carried out the murders. Now you’re going to have to say that there was someone else involved. If I know the press, they’ll pounce on that and all of the questions will be about how come you told us one thing then and another now. I know we’ve all had to do it in our time but it’s really not nice is it? The press, they’re like a pack of wolves when they get going. As I said it takes a brave man to turn up and take a savaging like that and on prime time news too. You have my admiration.’
The DCS gave this some serious thought.
‘Er Dan, I think perhaps on balance you should take the conference, I mean after all it was you who caught the perpetrator so perhaps you should get the credit.’
The DCS limply shook Mac’s hand again and said conspiratorially, ‘Many thanks Mac, we people at the top should always look out for one another.’
‘Absolutely,’ Mac replied, giving him a wink.
In the hallway outside Dan and Mac looked at each other and laughed.
‘You have my admiration!’ Dan exclaimed. ‘You cunning devil, you persuade him out of heading the most important press conference this station will see for years and then he thanks you for it. God but it’s been a bloody pleasure working with you Mac.’
‘Me too.’
They shook hands firmly, with feeling.
‘If I need you again, would you?’ Dan asked.
‘You’ve got my card,’ Mac replied with a wink.
‘Yes I have.’
Dan laughed again as he thought of their first meeting.
Mac went by the incident room and said his goodbyes to the team, although he had a feeling he’d be seeing Tommy again before too long and probably in the company of his daughter. He did indeed feel dog tired and was glad when he reached home. He made himself a cup of coffee and sat down in front of the television and turned on the news.
A few minutes later the announcer said, ‘We have some breaking news. A press conference is being held at Luton Police Station and we’re going over there right now.’
Mac could see Dan standing at the microphone. He spoke clearly and simply and Mac thought he did exceptionally well. He was glad that it would be Dan’s face on all the newspapers tomorrow, he deserved it. When the conference ended Mac washed his cup and gratefully slipped in between the sheets. He slept long and dreamlessly.
Chapter Twenty Four
Sunday January 18th
Mac awoke in stages, finally drifting into a state where he knew he was awake rather than wanting to be awake. Eventually he got out of bed, checked his pain levels and found then tolerable. He stepped into the hallway and immediately noticed a white rectangle lying near the doormat by the front door. He picked up the envelope and looked at the front.
There was no stamp and just two words were handwritten there, ‘Mister Mac’. His heart started thumping wildly. He left it on the table in the living room unopened, went to the toilet, washed and made coffee. He wondered if it had been delivered this morning but he thought it just as probable that it could have been there on the mat when he came in the night before. He’d been so tired he probably wouldn’t have noticed.
He kept glancing at the envelope trying to get his courage up to open it. Eventually, and with a huge sigh, he tore the top off and pulled out a single sheet of paper. The printed header said ‘Dempsey’s Electricals’ and gave an address and phone number. His pulse was still racing as he read -
Dear Mr. Maguire,
I hope you don’t mind me contacting you. I wonder if you remember me, it’s been a long time since we last met.
Laura has told me about hiring you to follow Georgy. I’d be really grateful if you could contact me by phone but only if you want to. I’ll understand if you don’t want to contact me and will make no further contact if that is your wish.
Yours in hope,
Pauline Dempsey (nee White)
Mac found himself picking up the phone and dialling the number without consciously thinking about it. He held his breath as the phone at the other end rang.
‘Hello, Dempsey’s Electricals, how can I help?’ a woman said in an attractive sing-song tone.
Mac found he couldn’t speak for a few seconds.
‘Hello is that Pauline?’ he asked at last.
Silence fell at the other end too.
Eventually a tremulous voice said, ‘Is that you Mr. Maguire?’
‘It is Pauline. Can I come and see you?’
‘When?’
‘Now would be good, I’ve waited so long.’
‘Yes, come now,’ she said and that was that.
He looked at the clock, surprised that it was already gone noon. He showered and had toast and more coffee and was just about to set off when the doorbell rang. It was Tim. Mac let him in.
‘I saw the press conference this morning on the news and when you didn’t call I thought I’d see how you are. How are you?’ Tim asked, concerned as ever about his friend.
‘I’m not too sure to be honest, something’s happened.’
‘To do with the case?’
‘No, no, something from the past.’
Tim could see a bemused look on Mac’s face and he had to know more.
‘Tell me about it.’
Mac poured Tim a cup of coffee and said, ‘Okay let me quickly tell you the story…
One Saturday in November over sixteen years ago my team had gotten a call. I remember that it had been cold and drizzling for days and that somehow set an appropriately sombre backdrop for what was to follow. In a working class street in Haringey a neighbour had called on a Mrs. Diana White and found that the front door was open. She went in calling Mrs. White’s name but there was no reply. She found out why when she went into the kitchen at the back of the house. Mrs. White was lying spread-eagled on the floor and there was blood everywhere. The neighbour called 999 and we turned up fifteen minutes later.
I’ve never seen a scene like it before or since, blood had sprayed all over the kitchen cabinets, the work surfaces, the sink, the cooker, it was like an abattoir. You’d never think a single human being could hold that much blood. We found out later that she’d been stabbed seventeen times and had also had her throat cut. It had been a frenzied, brutal attack. The neighbour kept going on about ‘the kids
’. When we calmed her down she told us that Mrs. White had two children, Pauline, who was fourteen, and Georgy, who was eleven, and that they were both missing. Also missing was Mrs. White’s boyfriend, a man called Michael Jeremiah. The neighbour was certain it was the boyfriend who’d killed Mrs. White, she said she’d seen Mrs.White with black eyes and bruises all too often recently.
Criminal Records told us that she was probably right. Michael Jeremiah had a hefty criminal history, mostly for violence against women. It turned out later that he’d been sexually abusing Pauline for quite a while as well. Her mother found out and she’d confronted Jeremiah and that’s what had led to her death. Not long after someone who knew the family came forward and told us that they’d seen Pauline and Georgy running for a bus along the High Street. They just made it, jumping onto the platform as the bus took off. They also saw a man running after the bus who fitted the description of Michael Jeremiah. Luckily he was too late to jump on the platform and tried to run alongside the bus. Fortunately for Pauline and Georgy he collided with a bicycle and lost them.
We now knew that we were in a race, a race for the children’s lives. It was likely that they’d witnessed the murder and that was why the boyfriend was after them. We worked non-stop for a day and a half following every ghost of a lead but there was no sign of Pauline and Georgy or the boyfriend. We were doing everything we could think of but I was getting really worried that we might have already lost the race.
We got our break when I was interviewing Diana White’s mother, Elsie, one more time.
I’d finished the interview when she said, ‘Those poor kids. They were only happy when their Dad was alive. I’m afraid my poor Diana wasn’t much of a mother’.
This gave me an idea. I asked her where they used to live when Pauline’s father was alive and she gave me an address only a few streets away. She also told me that the houses there were being demolished. I still thought it might be somewhere Pauline would go, as it was somewhere she’d felt safe in the past. So my Sergeant and I ran to the car, I could actually run in those days although I didn’t make a habit of it. We ran into a block of terraced houses that were half demolished and looked for the number Elsie had given me. Unfortunately none of the houses had numbers left on them so I just took a flying guess and went in the nearest house.
The Body in the Boot: The first 'Mac' Maguire mystery Page 23