by M A Comley
“Ma’am, it’s Don on the front desk. I think I have something for you.”
Her breath hitched in her throat. “Go on, I’m listening.”
“Two of my lads have spotted a white Golf. They’re following the car now.”
Sara sat upright, her attention on full alert at the news. “Sod that. Get them to pull it over. Have they checked if the reg number is the same?”
“I’ll get back to them now. Hold the line, ma’am, or shall I call you back?”
“Get on with it. I’ll hang on.”
He contacted his men via the radio. A siren started up and a male voice said, “I think she’s cottoned on that we’re following her, sir. We’re heading along the A438 from the Swainshill area.”
“All right, Connors, keep up with her. Stop that car when you think it’s safe to do so.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you hear that, Inspector?” Don asked.
“I did. I’m searching for a specific building where Amanda Smith was being held.”
“Can I ask what the building looks like, ma’am? Maybe I know it, or I could ask uniform if they do.”
“Okay, I don’t have much.” She gave him the information, the fingers on her right hand firmly crossed as she spoke.
“Sounds like some form of storage unit to me. Not a barn. Let me do some digging and I’ll get back to you soon.”
“Cheers, Don. That would be great.”
Sara concentrated her Google search in the area where the Golf was spotted and called Craig at the same time. “It’s me. We’re close, she’s been spotted, they’re trying to stop her now.”
“That’s great news, boss. Where was she?”
“Currently she’s in the Swainshill area on the A438. Does anything ring a bell around that area?”
Craig issued a few sighs. “Wait, there’s a storage facility out that way. Let me try and find the right location. Bear with me.”
Sara put the phone on speaker, tapped her pen with one hand and used the mouse to search the area with the other. “Christ, it could be anywhere out there.”
“No, I know where it is. Give me a sec… Found it.”
“Good man. Where?”
“Kenchester.”
Sara zeroed in on the location stated and immediately saw the building. “I’ve got it. Join me out there, Craig. I’m leaving now.”
“On our way. Drive carefully. Sorry, boss, that slipped out.”
“I will. Thanks for caring.”
Sara shot out of her chair and blazed down the stairs.
Don looked up from behind his post. “Everything all right, ma’am?”
“I need a few men as backup. We believe we’ve located the unit, at least via Google. We just need to get out there and take a gander for ourselves.”
“I can get four cars to accompany you, if you like?”
“It’s out at Kenchester. Tell them to head that way. I’ll give them the proper location when possible. Don’t let your guys lose the suspect, you hear me?”
“They won’t, they’re my best team. Good luck, ma’am.”
“Thanks.” Sara tore through the main entrance out to her car. She revved the engine and secured her seatbelt in readiness for her dangerous mission. She had a sudden pang that her partner wasn’t with her. At least Will and Craig will be there with me.
With very little traffic on the road, she showed up at the unit within fifteen minutes to find Will and Craig already sitting outside. Sara flung her door open and studied the building. “It definitely appears to be what Amanda described. Okay, backup is on the way. Craig, ring the station, tell Don the specific location for me and then we’ll see about rescuing these ladies. Last I heard, they were hot on the suspect’s tail.”
“I’ll do that, boss. Let’s hope they grab her soon and that she hasn’t got anyone else in the car with her.”
“Damn, I never thought about that scenario.”
Craig walked back to the car to make the call.
“Are we really going in there?” Will asked, a deep frown appearing on his lined face.
“Problem?”
“It’s just that, well, what if she’s rigged the place?”
“What? With a bomb, is that what you’re saying?”
He nodded. Sara knew he was right and mentally kicked herself for not putting something in place before she left the station. She rang Don and asked him to contact the emergency number for the bomb squad to get a team out there.
Sara was fed up of standing around, waiting. It had been an hour since she’d put in the call. In that time, she’d received the welcome news that Libby Johnson had been caught. The officers chasing her had forced her into a ditch on a country road. She’d got out of the car brandishing a large knife. One of the officers had been forced to Taser the suspect. She was now back at the station, reflecting upon her actions while sitting behind bars.
The truck arrived, and two men approached to find out what Sara needed. She explained the situation and asked them to hurry.
“We’ll be as quick as we can,” the man in charge told her.
By the time they had carried out their tests and procedures, and given the all-clear for Sara and her team to enter the property, the sun was rising over the nearby hills. A sight to behold when the women are set free. “Come on, let’s get in there.”
Craig followed Sara through the front door, a set of bolt cutters to hand should they be needed to release the women from their confined spaces.
“Hello, is anybody here?” Sara called in the darkness.
A timid voice responded, “Yes, we’re here. Please help us.”
“You’re safe now. She won’t be coming back. We have her locked up. We’re trying to find a key to open the doors. Hang in there.” Sara shone her torch around the room, and there, hanging on the far wall, was a bunch of keys. “Bingo!”
Craig marched over to collect them. He circulated the room, trying every key in each of the doors he approached. It wasn’t long before he had all the cells open and revealed the horrid conditions the women had been forced to live in.
Once they were released, all the girls sobbed and hugged each other.
“We’re so grateful. I’m Jennifer Moore, I was the first to be kidnapped.”
Sara gave them all a reassuring smile. “You’re safe now. How are you all? We should get you checked out at the hospital, are you all okay with that?”
Jennifer glanced down at the fingernails missing on her hands. “I think I’m okay, they’ve begun healing now. All I want to do is go home and be with my husband.”
“We can arrange that, of course. But I must insist you all seek medical advice in the morning, okay?”
“I will. Thank you for not giving up on us. I didn’t think we’d ever survive this. Umm… how’s Amanda? And the baby?”
“Amanda is safe and well.” Sara smiled.
“Oh dear, does that mean her baby didn’t make it?”
Sara shook her head. “Unfortunately not.”
“How cruel and callous Libby was to her, to all of us.”
Sara bit down on her tongue. “We’re going to need to take a statement from each of you in the next few days.”
All the women nodded. Craig and Will led them out of the building. Sara stood in the middle of the corridor surveying the scene. On the floor, by the two chairs, were several pools of blood. She glanced up to see blood sprayed across the ceiling and spattered across the nearby wall. Horrendous to think what these women had been subjected to, but in her mind, Amanda had come off the worst.
Sara headed up the convoy of cars on their journey back into Hereford. There, the cars drifted off in different directions to ferry the women home to their loved ones. Sara continued back to the station with Craig and Will behind her.
Inside, she told them to go on ahead while she stopped off at the cells. She opened the hatch in the door and peeked inside at Libby who was sitting on the edge of the bed with her head in her hands, saying
, “Why? Why? Why?” over and over again.
Sara left her to it, without saying a word. Too many times in the past she’d felt sorry for a killer; she was hoping this time would be different.
Craig handed her a cup of coffee when she entered the incident room. She raised her cup to Will and Craig on a job well done. “Thanks for your input today, guys. Have this and go home.”
“Will you be doing the same, boss?” Craig asked.
“No. I have a full-on day ahead of me. I’ve got a suspect to interview for a start.”
“I’ll hang around, if it’s all right with you,” Craig replied with a smile.
Sara was jealous of how fresh-faced he looked at this time of the morning after being on duty almost twenty-four hours. “Thanks, I’d appreciate the company.”
“Sod it, now I feel bad for needing my bed,” Will grumbled.
“Hey, there’s no need. You go. I would be on my way home as well if I didn’t have the suspect to interview.”
“If you’re sure. I’ll see you tomorrow then, boss.”
“Yep, the dreaded weekend shift is upon us again. Thanks for all your effort today, Will.”
“My pleasure. Glad we caught the suspect and found the women.”
They watched him leave the incident room.
“Okay, I reckon the café around the corner should be open by now. Fancy nipping out for bacon sarnies? On me, of course.”
“Thought you’d never ask. I’ll get these, though, boss, I owe you after all the lunches you’ve bought me lately.”
“I won’t argue. Thanks, Craig.”
After gobbling her sandwich and ensuring she’d wiped the grease from her chin, Sara went downstairs to interview the suspect. The duty solicitor was on hand and joined them. Sara conducted the interview at seven-thirty that morning, with another officer present at the back of the room.
“Elizabeth Johnson, you are charged with abducting five women in the last week. Holding them captive against their wills. A further charge of attempted murder is also being considered. Plus, the murder of an unborn infant. Is there anything you wish to add?”
“No.”
“I need to ask you a few questions to fill in the blanks for us. Are you up to answering them?”
Libby shrugged. “Whatever.” She continued to stare at her hands, clenched tight in front of her.
“The main question is why, Libby? Is it all right if I call you that?”
“Yes, it’s the name I prefer to use. They deserved it. You have no idea what those bitches put me through when we were at school together. They terrorised me every day for three to four years. Why don’t you ask them why they did that to me? I know I wasn’t the most popular girl at school but…” She paused and sucked in a breath. Her gaze rose and met Sara’s. “They shouldn’t have picked on me, they had no right to.”
“Did you seek help, you know, from the head?”
“The staff didn’t want to know. A total lack of interest in those days as to what went on after school. I despised those girls so much, but at the same time, I admired them for having the strength to be forthright bitches.”
“I’m confused. Why admire someone who was bullying you?”
“They weren’t restricted. Not like I was.”
“Am I right in thinking you cared for your disabled mother from a young age?”
“Yes. I didn’t mind at first. But once the girls started picking on me it took its toll in ways I could never imagine. I’ve lived a life of hell.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that. Why didn’t you seek help from professionals when you were older? How did things escalate to this, Libby? I sense you’re not a bad person, deep down.”
“I’m not. They deserved what I did to them. It was nothing in comparison to what they did to me, a teenage girl with no friends to back her up. Who was lost, all alone in the world except for her disabled mother.”
“But why now? What’s changed after all these years?”
Libby shrugged, and her gaze dropped to her hands once more. “Why not?”
“Come now, something must have triggered it?” Sara sensed it was the loss of her mother, but she needed Libby to confirm the fact.
“Nothing.”
“How’s your mother these days?” she probed, scratching the surface of the scab.
“Leave her out of it.”
“I know the truth, Libby.”
“Good, then there’s no need for me to tell you, is there?”
“It must have been tragic, losing the only person in the world who knew what was going on in your head.”
“She didn’t. You’re talking shite!”
“Am I? My guess is you’ve been planning this for a good few years until your mother’s passing. That was recent, wasn’t it? It must have been intolerable for you to handle, alone.”
“It wasn’t. I’ve always handled my mother’s care, from the day my father walked out on us because he couldn’t cope. It was always me and Mum against the world, until her death.”
“And her death triggered your revenge tactics, right?”
Libby threw herself back in the chair. “Yes, yes. For the first time in my life, I experienced freedom, a freedom that I found liberating. It gave me the courage to right the wrongs people had done.”
“How far would you have gone if we hadn’t caught you?”
She sat forward again and smiled. “All the way, except they would have ended up killing each other. I was building up to that.”
“What happened to prevent your plans being successful?”
It was a long time before Libby responded. With tears in her eyes, she whispered, “I killed the baby.”
“Why did you do it?”
Libby gulped, and the tears fell onto the table. “At first, I was sorry I’d hurt her and the baby but then, oh, I don’t know, maybe I thought it would be better off.”
“What? Because of who the mother was?”
Libby nodded, and Sara shook her head, dismayed to hear her excuse. What a mixed-up young lady you must be. All because of the way society has treated you, or these women in particular.
Sara’s heart ached. She decided to end the interview there.
She asked the uniformed officer present to return Libby to her cell. Libby mumbled an apology before she left the room.
Sara showed the solicitor to the main entrance and slowly ascended the stairs. She entered the incident room to find Carla and the rest of the team, bar Will, all waiting to hear what the suspect had to say. Sara filled them in then flopped into a nearby chair, exhausted.
“Hey, why don’t you go home and grab a few hours’ rest?” Carla dragged her chair beside Sara.
“I’ll be fine. Let me tackle the post and fill the chief in then, and only then, I’ll consider going home. Enough about work, how was your date last night?”
Carla’s cheeks flared up. “Our dinner was fabulous. I think I’m going to enjoy getting to know Inspector Williams.”
Sara leaned forward and whispered, “Is he a good kisser?”
Her question prompted Carla to slap her arm. “That would be telling.”
“Bugger off. Look at the bloody smile on your face. I’m so happy for you, love. Genuinely happy.”
“Baby steps, remember?”
“I know. Right, back to work. Can you organise the statements for me? Also, can you ring each of the women? Leave it an hour or so, let them rest some more, find out how they’re bearing up and see if any of them need any medical treatment. They were determined to get home last night, and who could blame them?”
“Leave it with me.”
Epilogue
Over the next few days, Sara and Carla visited all the women to ensure they were coping with what they’d been subjected to. They all had their own tale to tell about their abduction and they were all devastated by the way Amanda’s life had been traumatised.
Upon reflection, they all insisted they deserved what Libby had done to them. Each of them had regr
ets for the callous way they’d treated Libby during their schooldays.
Their attitudes surprised Sara. She had expected at least some of them to have been angry and vengeful, even. But the opposite was true.
The court case had been set for four months’ time. Libby, whilst on remand, had gone into her shell, and the staff were very concerned about her mental state. So much so that they’d put her on suicide watch. Sara was mystified by Libby’s behaviour.
She reflected on the case over dinner one night with Carla. Mark was working late, carrying out an emergency operation on a terrier.
“You think this all came about when her mother died, is that it?” Carla said, tucking into her salad.
“It has to be the trigger. I had a word with the doctor. Her mother was given six months to live. Long enough for Libby to make all the necessary preparations.”
“Like find the lockup?”
Sara nodded. “Something tells me when we look into who owns that place, a relative’s name is going to crop up. Otherwise, how else would she get her hands on it?”
“Yeah, maybe. She must have a truly devious mind to have followed the women for months, studying each of their routines.”
Sara picked up a stick of celery and took a chunk out of it. “Hey, enough about that, tell me about this flat you’ve seen. Is it one bed or two?”
“One. It’s in the centre of town, close to all the amenities. I’m going to pick up the keys on Wednesday. I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay here, Sara. Not sure what I would have done if you hadn’t stepped in to save the day.”
“You would have coped. Are we going to mention the elephant in the room?”
“Which one? Gary or Des?” Carla asked warily.
“Both. Let’s start with the bad first. How are you doing getting over him?”
“You’ll be pleased to know I’m free of him now, well and truly over him.”
“Fantastic. Let me think what the contributing factor can be for that.” She placed a finger and thumb around her chin and pensively looked at the wall.