by Ellis, Tim
Once she’d worked out how she was going to catalogue all the files, she began putting them on the shelves in the back room. To her surprise, she soon realised that they would all fit in there.
At ten o’clock she stopped what she was doing, and went outside to the door of the upstairs flat. Charlie had given her a key, and she let herself in.
As soon as she opened the door she knew she was in for more of the same. The smell nearly bowled her over, and there was so much rubbish cluttering up the stairs that it was difficult to see how anyone could climb up and down.
‘Oh, Charlie,’ she said under her breath. The man was a danger to himself. Who had she hired? How could anybody work and live like this?
***
As instructed, Xena and Stick were sitting in the incident room at nine o’clock.
‘You should have called me, Sergeant Blake,’ SDI Pollock said. She’d just told him about the other three samples of DNA that Doc Paine had found on Hayley Miles besides Alan Morrison’s, and the database match to Donald Tumbell.
‘I didn’t see much point, Sir. You made it quite clear that you don’t work past five o’clock...’
‘That’s not what I said, Blake, and you know it.’
Stick put his hand up. ‘I was there, Sir. Your exact words were: “It has to be a major emergency for me to work past five o’clock”.’
Xena was enjoying watching Bollock squirm. ‘And I didn’t consider a DNA match to be a major emergency, Sir.’
‘Did you really say that, SDI Pollock?’ DCI Colville asked. She’d come in to get herself up to speed on the case instead of the information being passed from hand to mouth.
‘Well yes, but you’re hearing it out of context. Sergeant Blake...’
‘It’s got nothing to do with me, Sir. I don’t know about DC Gilbert, but I didn’t get home until twenty to ten last night.’
‘Is that your idea of leadership, Pollock? You go home, and your people are out until all hours working on the case that you’re meant to be in charge of. I think you and I should have a little chat in my office.’
She left the incident room. SDI Pollock hung his head and slunk out after her.
‘I think Pollock is going to get his just desserts,’ Xena said.
‘Do you think the DCI will sack him?’
‘I bloody well hope so.’
‘So do I.’
After fifteen minutes DCI Colville returned and shut the door. ‘Okay, you’re now in charge of this investigation, DS Blake. You’ll report directly to me.’
‘What about SDI Pollock?’
‘Unfortunately, he was called away urgently. We won’t see him again.’
‘How sad.’
‘Do you want to brief me about where we are with this case?’
‘I think I can do that, Ma’am.’ She told the Chief what had happened last night – about the post mortem, Alan Morrison’s testicular cancer, the three other DNA samples again, the match to Donald Tumbell, the anointing oil and the churches, and the map that Toadstone had made.’
‘And your plan is?’
‘It’s all getting a bit murky, Ma’am. As Dr Toadstone pointed out last night, we have two crimes going on here. First, the people that are being abducted, tortured, and killed are paedophiles. Secondly, these MAPs – whoever they are – have taken the law into their own hands. They’re acting as judge, jury, and executioner. Have you read the papers this morning?’
‘Yes, I have a selection of them on my desk.’
‘The majority of the public support is for the MAPs. They’re calling it self-defence. The law states that: "It is both good law and good sense that a man who is attacked may defend himself.” Sorry to throw the law at you, Ma’am, but they have a point.’
‘So, a DS who’s done her homework. You’ve conveniently omitted the end of that sentence: “It is both good law and good sense that he may do, but only do, what is reasonably necessary." Abduction, torture, and murder are hardly reasonably necessary.’
‘Many would argue that they are.’
‘Happily, we don’t have to wrestle with moral dilemmas. Our job is to catch criminals.’
‘That’s my point, Ma’am. The paedophiles are the criminals. The MAPs are merely protecting themselves – or at least their children. It doesn’t matter how many times we arrest paedophiles and lock them up, as soon as they’re released they return to what they were doing. The only defence against them is to lock them up forever, or kill them.’
‘I understand what you’re saying, DS Blake, and to a certain extent, I share your views...’
‘They’re not necessarily my views, Ma’am. I’m merely regurgitating the arguments put forward in the media.’
‘Well, whatever your views, our job is to find and arrest these MAPs. Others can decide whether they acted in self defence or not. So, let’s go back to the original question: What’s your plan?’
‘We have two possible leads. After we’re finished here, DC Gilbert and I will go back up to forensics and see how much progress Erin Donnelly has made in tracing the location of their website... and talking of which, I’m expecting another video confession from Donald Tumbell on there this morning, which I’m sure will bring its own problems. After that, we’ll carry on investigating the churches identified by Dr Toadstone – we might get lucky.’
There was a knock at the door. It opened, and Constable Bryn Meyrick stuck his head in. ‘Sorry to bother you, Sarge, but another naked dismembered body has been found.’
‘Thanks, Constable. We’ll be out in a minute to get the details.’
He nodded, and shut the door.
Xena closed her notebook and slipped it into her pocket. ‘Well, I suppose that’s our cue to get going.’
‘You have a chance to sink or swim with this case, DS Blake.’
‘I wish you’d say what you mean instead of giving me cryptic messages, Ma’am. I want to be a DI, can you make that happen?’
‘If you put this case to bed by Monday, I’ll speak to the Chief Constable. That’s the best I can do.’
‘Talking of the Chief Constable. Nobody actually believes that Chief Kowalski did what they’re saying he did, do they?’
‘It’s not our place to discuss DCI Kowalski and the Chief Constable, DS Blake. I’m quite sure there are things we know nothing about. Your focus is on bringing these MAPs to justice before we become a laughing stock.’
Xena stood up. ‘Come on, Stick, we have work to do.’
***
Dinner had been difficult. Angie barely spoke to him, Richards had frozen him out, and Jack was sleeping. The only person who was reasonably pleasant to him was the waiter. He could have pleaded, put his case across in a more coherent manner, but in the end he decided to leave well alone. It wouldn’t do any of them any good to keep poking an open wound.
After dinner he rang King George Hospital, and finally tracked down the ward Kowalski was loitering in.
‘I’m Detective Inspector Parish from Hoddesdon, but I’m ringing from America. Is it possible to speak to DCI Kowalski?’
‘He awake, very good.’
‘Could I speak to him, please?’
‘You in America?’
‘Yes, but I’d...’
‘Near Disneyland?’
‘No. I’d just like...’
‘Cobbolowski sleeping now.’
‘Can you wake him? I’m ringing from America.’
‘No wake. You got tornados?’
‘No we have no tornados. Has he got a phone in his room?’
‘Patients not have phones.’
‘Can I speak to him then?’
‘You a relative?’
‘Yes, I’m his brother.’
‘You not brother. When date of birth?’
‘I was snatched at birth by aliens. Now, I live in America.’
‘Near Disneyland?’
He sighed. ‘So, you’re not going to let me speak to DCI Kowalski?’
‘I already s
ay no. You hard of hearing?’
‘Thanks for all your help.’
‘Hey, no problem, Mister. Say hello to Mickey Mouse.’
The phone went dead.
After getting undressed, he climbed into bed with Angie and switched off the light. He was surprised that she hadn’t opted to sleep in Richards’ room, but she hadn’t, and he was glad. He began to think that maybe there was still a chance he could rise from the ashes.
In the dark, just as he was drifting off, she said, ‘Aren’t you going to make love to me?’
It was an invitation he couldn’t refuse.
Now, this morning, everything was as if Carrie and Melody didn’t exist. He didn’t profess to understand the convoluted minds of women, but it was all a bit strange. He was just glad he was out of the dog house. It was all right for Digby, but he hated it.
‘Have you forgiven me?’
‘As you said, it’s hardly your fault, so there’s nothing to forgive.’
‘Then what was all the cold shoulder last night?’
‘We didn’t want you to get off Scott-free.’
‘But if I was innocent of all charges...?’
‘You were hardly innocent, but it wasn’t your fault.’
‘And Mary knew about this?’
‘It was her idea.’
‘I might have known. So what now?’
‘Nothing’s changed, I hope. You’re my husband, the father of my child, and we carry on with our lives.’
‘What about Carrie and Melody?’
‘It looks like Melody will have two families, but don’t think that means you’ll have two wives. You have one wife, and that’s me. If you want that bitch instead of me, you’d better say so now.’
He pulled her down onto his lap. ‘The only woman I want as my wife is you. You’re the love of my life. I chose you eighteen months ago, and I didn’t make the wrong decision. I love you, and a battery of children won’t change that.’
She pushed herself away from him. ‘A battery! How many children have you fathered?’
He swung her onto the bed and began to move his hands up over the silk nightdress. ‘Well, let me see...’
There was a firm knock at the door.
‘Can’t a man get any privacy?’
‘Saved by the knock,’ she said, and hurried into the bathroom.
He opened the door.
Richards flounced in. ‘Good morning, Lothario.’
‘You have a lot to answer for.’
‘I know. I saved your bacon last night.’
‘Meaning what?’
‘I convinced mum that it wasn’t your fault. So, you should be showering me with gifts.’
‘I see. Anyway, why are you ready to face the day, and knocking on our door? You never get out of your coffin before midnight.’
‘I’ve found something.’ He hadn’t noticed the DVD in her hand, but now she waved it at him.
‘I knew that if there was anything to find – you’d find it.’
‘Did you?’
‘I have every confidence in you.’
‘Do you?’
‘Most definitely. Why do you think I keep trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear?’
‘You had to spoil it, didn’t you?’
He smiled. ‘Come on then, what have you found?’
There was another knock at the door.
‘It’s like Paddington station in the rush hour this morning.’ He open the door to find Harry standing there.
‘Just in time, Harry,’ he said. ‘Richards has found something on the DVD you gave her.’
‘I find that hard to believe. If I thought she was going to find something, I wouldn’t have permitted her to have the files and DVD. You’re doing your best to embarrass us young lady, aren’t you?’
‘It’s only a little something.’
They both looked at her.
Angie came out of the bathroom all wrapped up in hotel towels. ‘Nobody said I’d have an audience when I was getting dressed in the mornings.’
‘Sorry, Mrs Parish,’ Harry said. ‘I am a shade early this morning.’
‘We’ll go to my room,’ Richards said.
Parish nodded. ‘Good idea.’
‘I’ll leave these here,’ Harry said, putting a large lumpy yellow plastic bag on the floor next to the coffee table. ‘Alicia Mae’s personal effects.’
‘Great, thanks,’ Parish said. ‘We have a problem with Alicia Mae.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe the Director can help...’
‘It’s not that kind of problem.’ He told Harry about the telephone number, the address, and how Alicia Mae Carter was a dead child from thirty years ago.
Harry grinned. ‘We got the real deal when we got you, Inspector Parish.’
‘We don’t do anything by halves in England,’ he said. ‘What I was thinking, was that we might discover something if you send her photograph, prints, and DNA to Interpol for them to run through their databases.’
‘Yeah, I guess we can do that for you. The Painter seems to have opened up a can of worms.’
‘I thought I was being left in peace,’ Angie said.
‘Come on you two,’ Richards said, opening the door.
Angie stood with her hands on her hips. ‘That’s right, Mary Richards, let the whole of Richmond in. You could start charging an entrance fee. Roll up, roll up! One dollar to see the English woman in room 316 getting dressed.’
‘See,’ Richards said to Parish and Harry as they followed her into the corridor. ‘Now you can understand where I get my overactive imagination from.’
Chapter Fifteen
Cookie sat up in bed and stretched like a cat. The wheels of the jalopy were already turning. Her meeting with the others last night had been a great success. When she mentioned that their target was the Chief Constable of Essex, the fire of fanatics burned in their eyes. She didn’t even have to tempt them with some of the money she’d received from Charlie, but she’d give them a small something anyway.
Of course, she didn’t mention Kowalski, or that their efforts would help keep him out of prison. What they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them – or her.
Romeo and Harley were following Barrett-Croft in Harley’s 1979 Yellow Citroen 2CV Special. Romeo only had a bike. And as Harley said, ‘Nobody follows anybody in a 2CV.’
Shrek was doing a library search, and after two pieces of cold crispy toast with dollops of butter spread on them, she was going to do an Internet search and find out just what Barrett-Croft was hiding.
By the end of the day, she’d know everything there was to know about the incumbent Chief Constable of Essex.
She slithered out of bed, and traipsed to the communal bathroom in her boxer shorts and bra. If there’d been anyone in, she would have put her dressing gown on. She didn’t let anyone see the marks on her back. As soon as she had been physically and psychologically able, she’d run away from home. One day, she was going to go back and kill the bastard, but not yet. Even thinking about her father made her want to curl up in a ball and never come out again. She knew she’d left her mother and two younger sisters to be abused and tortured, but what could she do? She’d been fifteen and unable to protect herself, never mind anyone else – it was everyone for themselves.
After breakfast and two painkillers she logged onto the computer, and saw the news about a second paedophile being abducted and killed. She clicked through and watched the video of Donald Tumbell confessing. Her father would look good strapped into that chair and bleeding out from a dozen knife cuts, she thought.
Then, it occurred to her that here was the very answer to her problem. Who were these Mothers Against Paedophiles? She quickly located the website – once she’d disabled the hopper program – and then sent them a message:
Make sure Gareth Bunyan is your next victim, he has a very interesting confession to make. He has a wife and two daughters, and his address is 77 Nursery Road, Hoddesdon: Failure to do this, will r
esult in the police finding out where you are, and who you are.
There, that should make sure the bastard gets everything he deserves. She didn’t smile. There was no joy in what she was doing. The memories were too painful, and the marks on her back still hurt like crazy.
Now, to get Barrett-Croft.
***
Erin Donnelly had opened a numbered account – Jerry Kowalski’s birth date – at the First National Bank of the Cayman Islands under the name of Mr Raymond Kowalski, which was dated six months ago. She had then transferred one point five million pounds from a Columbian Drug Cartel’s account to his account.
She smiled. It wasn’t much good having one and a half million pounds if nobody knew you had it, so she made a small transfer of fifty thousand pounds from that account to Mr & Mrs Kowalski’s main account in Chigwell. The transfer was dated three months ago, and was just one more nail in Kowalski’s coffin.
Soon, she’d have him trussed up like a pig for slaughter. Once he was inside the prison... Well, he’d be a walking dead man.
And who could blame her? Kowalski had been a Sergeant at the time, and she had been five years old. Her father had killed his partner in a pub with a knife. It was an accident, everyone knew her father hadn’t meant to kill him, but Kowalski had convinced the jury it was murder. Her father had taken his own life in prison shortly afterwards.
Well, now it was Kowalski’s turn to die in prison. His children could grow up without a father just like she had done.
***
‘I have a couple of questions,’ Stick said.
They were walking down to despatch to find out the details of the second body, which presumably was Donald Tumbell.
Xena was excited. She had a clear line of sight to becoming a DI, but the MAPs were standing in her way. Didn’t they know who they were dealing with? Who were the other two paedophiles? Had the MAPs already abducted them? Had they tortured and killed them on video already? Were they going to stop at four, or were there more victims being lined up?