THEIR LOST DAUGHTERS a gripping crime thriller with a huge twist

by Joy Ellis

  The superintendent let out a long breathy whistle. ‘This takes some getting your head round. I’ll have to make an emergency call, Rowan. I’ll get some professionals out here immediately. And well done to you and your team. This is not the kind of result anyone ever dared to even dream about.’

  Grace Black did. She never gave up hope, thought Jackman. Then before he could speak, he heard noises coming from the stairs, a muffled crashing, and shouting.

  Marie had told Kenya that they wouldn’t hurt Asher, but Jackman had a bad feeling that they might have done just that.

  He waited, dumbly, gnawing on the side of his forefinger. He really didn’t want to go back down to the cellar. If Asher had been hurt, then he didn’t want Kenya to know about it, not yet. The poor kid had had enough shocks.

  ‘Sir?’ Gary hurried in through the front door of the lodge. His ashen face told Jackman everything.

  ‘They’ve shot him, haven’t they?’

  ‘He’s in a bad way, boss.’ He shook his head. ‘I was there. It was horrible. He just ran. They gave him all the warnings, but he still ran.’

  ‘But he wasn’t armed, was he?’

  ‘No. He did have something in his hand, although it didn’t turn out to be a gun. For a moment I thought he would just give up, he seemed so . . . so lost, and so desperate. Then he just ran headlong at our armed officers.’ Gary swallowed hard. ‘Even then they tried to apprehend him, but a warning shot ricocheted off the wall and hit him in the head. I thought it was game over, but the medics say he’s hanging on by a thread.’

  Jackman groaned, thinking of the impact this would have on Kenya Black. They didn’t know the exact situation yet, but everything indicated that Asher Leyton had been the only living person Kenya had had contact with for almost a decade.

  Then they show up — and shoot him!

  Jackman closed his eyes and fervently wished things had turned out differently. He knew a little about the strange bond that could form between hostage and captor.

  Gary was looking at him. ‘They say you’ve found a girl alive, sir. Is that true?’

  Despite the way things had turned out, Jackman couldn’t hold back his smile. ‘Yes, it’s true, Gary, and believe it or not, the girl is Kenya Black.’

  Tears welled up in Gary’s blue-grey eyes and he wiped them with his sleeve. ‘Well I’m damned! After all this time. I just can’t believe it.’ He looked at Jackman. ‘And is she . . . ?’

  ‘Amazingly, she seems fit and well. When they’ve brought her out, go down and see her room, and where she’s been living for the past ten years. You’ll be as utterly gobsmacked as I was.’

  ‘It’s going to be a while before we piece it all together, isn’t it? I mean, everything that happened to her.’

  ‘Let’s hope Asher pulls through. The biggest question is, why is she not dead? I cannot understand why she was not lying in a bed in the Children’s Ward, along with the others. What made her different?’ Jackman shrugged. ‘I’d better get back down there and see how Marie is coping. Gary? Would you go to the hospital and keep a close watch on Asher Leyton? If he wakes, and let’s pray that he does, ring me immediately, and then write down every word he utters, got it?’

  ‘On my way, boss.’

  As he left, Jackman called after Gary. ‘You said that Asher had something in his hand? What was it?’

  ‘A child’s toy, sir. A little teddy bear.’

  Jackman breathed in slowly. When Kenya went missing, she’d had a teddy bear with her. A jointed one, with arms and legs that moved. So it had stayed with her throughout her captivity. A comfort. Something she loved.

  And Asher had taken it with him when he tried to get away. A memento?

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Jackman read the memo that the super passed across her desk.

  Kenya Black has been taken to a safe place. She will be cared for while slowly preparing her to be debriefed about her life at the hands of her abductor. It is imperative that she be able to contextualise her experience, for her own sanity and for the sake of others. All relevant information will be available to you, as and when it becomes available to us.

  He didn’t recognise the signature.

  ‘Rowan, you are something of a hero to Grace Black.’

  ‘I’m no hero. My team just did their job, that’s all.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s how she sees it. There have been a lot of empty promises made to that woman over the years. Between you and me, I believe that we let her down badly. She told me that you and your sergeant, Marie, were the first police officers that she actually trusted. She felt certain that you would be the ones to give her closure. The fact that you have given her back her daughter has exceeded her wildest dreams.’

  ‘I just wish I knew how much is left of her daughter after all that time in captivity.’

  ‘Early indications are good, Rowan. That is the main reason I asked you up here now.’ Ruth gave a rare smile, ‘Considering Asher Leyton’s psychological problems, in other words his sex addiction, it will probably come as a pleasant surprise to hear that Kenya Black suffered no sexual abuse during her confinement. The medical examination confirms that he never touched her, not once. She’s still a virgin.’

  Jackman thought about the room in which Kenya had been held. He certainly didn’t understand it, but he believed what Ruth Crooke had told him.

  For a while neither of them spoke. In their job they were always prepared to expect the very worst, and something as astonishing as this was hard to comprehend.

  ‘And the psychologists are not attributing her affection for Asher to Stockholm Syndrome either. She says that he has been kind to her. And, abductor or not, he has been her whole world for most of her life.’ Ruth raised her eyebrows. ‘She says he rescued her. We don’t know any more than that — after all, it is very early days — but it seems that, considering everything that has happened to her, Kenya is incredibly well-adjusted.’

  ‘So, did he rescue her from Toby Tanner, I wonder?’

  ‘That is one of the first questions she will be asked. We need to piece together some sort of sequence of events. It does not look as though Asher Leyton abducted her for his own ends. He certainly incarcerated her for almost a decade, but for what reason? We now know that she was not a sex toy, and on examining her clothing, we suspect that he took her outside to play. There are traces of soil and plant material in the grooves of her trainers, and our officers discovered newish Wellington boots and a rain jacket in a closet.’

  ‘Kenya is alive, and twelve others are dead. Why?’ Jackman mused.

  ‘Bizarre, isn’t it? Kenya obviously never entered that nightmare of a caravan. And Philip never took her on that awful last trip down the tunnel to the Children’s Ward.’

  ‘Maybe I need to speak to Philip again, ma’am. He could know something about this, although I’m pretty certain that Asher was the only person who knew that the little girl was there.’

  ‘I agree, but go ahead and talk to him if you want.’

  ‘It’s Asher I’d really like to talk to.’

  ‘Wouldn’t we all, but he’s still hanging between life and death. I’m afraid it will have to be Kenya herself who tells us her story.’

  ‘Which will take time,’ added Jackman.

  Ruth Crooke tilted her head. ‘I’m not so sure. She’s already talking, something nobody expected. She’s confused and fragile, but she’s not in serious traumatic shock, as she would have been if she had been regularly assaulted. It’s almost as though she believes she has led a perfectly normal life, and only now has found out that it was quite different to that of other children.’

  ‘He did keep her mind stimulated. You could tell from the things in that room. Games, toys, puzzles, and books by the score.’ Jackman drew in a deep breath, and let it out very slowly. ‘I’m still having trouble getting my head around the fact that she is actually alive. Her case has been in the background for a decade. Most of us believed that her mutilated
body would turn up one day simply by chance. No one imagined that she would one day walk unaided out of her own little underground world!’

  ‘When I asked you to tie this case up once and for all, never in a month of Sundays did I think that it would end like this!’

  As Jackman reached for the door handle, Ruth Crooke added, ‘I forgot to mention, Chief Superintendent Cade is moving to another county, somewhere out near the Welsh borders, I believe.’

  Jackman froze, his hand still gripping the cold brass handle. ‘He’s getting out of it! The bastard!’

  ‘I never heard that, Rowan. But it’s the best we could hope for.’

  It wasn’t the best that he could have hoped for. Jackman had hoped that the evil sod would be hung out as food for the vultures. ‘How did he manage that?’ he asked through gritted teeth.

  ‘He declared to the investigating officers that he had deliberately infiltrated the club in the hopes of bringing in the men at the top. He said that you and your team ruined his undercover operation.’

  Jackman swallowed hard and felt his cheeks grow hot. ‘But there was hard evidence! Forensic evidence. Photographs, witnesses.’

  ‘Nothing that would hold up in court. And some of the things that you mentioned don’t seem to exist anymore.’ Ruth seemed to deflate as he watched. ‘He is a powerful man, and a dangerous one, Rowan. As I said, the outcome is the best that we could hope for, and I suggest you leave well alone.’

  Jackman thought about how devastated Marie would be at the news. He quietly said, ‘So some other poor innocents in a different area get the benefit of his filthy attentions?’

  ‘Maybe not.’ The super smiled like the Mona Lisa. ‘He’s not the only one with friends in high — and low — places.’ The smile broadened. ‘I have taken it upon myself to put a few influential people in the know, so to speak. If you check the Police Gazette, I would be expecting to see news of an early retirement in the next few weeks. It’s not the result you would have liked, Rowan, I know. And it’s far from what he deserves, but at least it will remove him from a position of influence on the force. It’s the most I can achieve without opening Pandora’s Box.’

  Jackman relaxed his grip on the door handle. He knew how things worked. ‘Thank you, ma’am.’

  ‘My pleasure, believe me.’

  * * *

  Marie listened to what Jackman had to say, then gave him a resigned smile. ‘I should have known that whatever I did it wouldn’t be enough. Not with a snake like that.’

  ‘If Ruth Crooke is true to her word, and I believe she will be, that man will not be able to glance out of a window without spotting someone from Vice looking back at him.’

  ‘I hope he burns in hell.’

  ‘Ditto,’ said Jackman, picking up his phone. ‘Gary? Yes . . . yes . . . Right! Excellent, we’ll see you in ten.’

  He stood up. ‘Asher has regained consciousness and he wants to see us.’

  They ran down to the yard, and in less than ten minutes were looking down at the sleeping form of Asher Leyton.

  ‘The doctors say he is very lucky,’ Gary whispered. ‘The damage was not as severe as first thought, and since he woke up all he has done is ask about his sister.’

  ‘Which one? Elizabeth or Fleur?’ asked Marie.

  ‘Kenya. He says that she is his baby sister.’

  They sat at the bedside, waiting for Asher to wake up.

  Jackman grinned at Gary. ‘We’ve been told that Harlan Marsh Police Station has hung out the bunting and is planning a massive party now that Cade has gone. But I was rather hoping that you might like to stay on here in Saltern-le-Fen?’

  Gary broke into a smile. ‘Really?’

  ‘There is a place for you in our team, if you’d like it?’

  Before Gary could answer, Asher moaned and opened his eyes.

  ‘She is safe, Asher,’ Jackman said softly. ‘Kenya is being cared for, and she’s perfectly safe now.’

  Tears fell from the young man’s eyes. ‘That’s good, that’s good.’

  ‘She says you saved her. Is that right?’

  Asher gave an almost imperceptible nod.

  ‘From Toby?’

  ‘He found her playing on a beach. He brought her back to Windrush, but I saw him.’ Asher swallowed loudly.

  ‘So you took her and hid her away?’

  ‘My sister Fleur died, and I missed her so much. I was only a baby but I remembered her and I always loved her. She had such a terrible life. I thought that the same was going to happen to Kenya, and I couldn’t let that happen, could I?’

  Tears flooded down his cheeks. One of the nurses bustled in, declaring that her patient should rest.

  Jackman stood up. ‘We’ve heard enough.’

  ‘I’m so tired,’ yawned Marie.

  ‘I’m exhausted,’ Gary added.

  ‘Is it any wonder?’ Jackman shook his head. ‘Who in their right mind would choose to do this job?’

  ‘We would!’ said Marie and Gary in unison.

  Jackman just nodded.

  EPILOGUE

  Jackman and Marie walked across the marsh at Roman Creek. Apart from the wind rustling the reeds and the cries of the seabirds, all was quiet. No one sang beneath the ground, and no one ever would again. The tunnel had been sealed, closed up forever by experts using a very large amount of hardcore, best-quality cement.

  ‘I cannot believe that a year has gone by, can you?’ Marie pushed a hand through her thick chestnut, windblown hair.

  ‘I don’t know about that. All I know is that I’m still wading through the sodding paperwork.’ Jackman looked back to where the brooding old Victorian Gothic house called Windrush had once looked out over the marsh towards the Wash.

  Jackman leant back against an old weather-worn cattle trough and gazed out to where the horizon met the sky. ‘Speaking about reports, Ruth Crooke heard from CID at Harlan Marsh just before we came out. One of their crews had a shout to a small fire in a deserted old public house on the edge of the marsh. When they broke in, guess what they found?’

  ‘Go on, surprise me.’

  Jackman smiled. ‘Let me just say that the beer cellar had been used for other purposes.’ He gave a little nod of satisfaction. ‘The last missing link, I believe. It completely ties in with Toni Clarkson’s description of the place she and Emily were abducted from. Forensics will confirm, but it’s almost certainly the missing drinking club venue.’

  Marie grinned. ‘I knew we’d find it one day! Well, it’s taken a while, but now that whole nasty episode is finally sewn up.’

  Jackman smiled grimly. ‘And about time too.’ His eyes widened. ‘But hey! Have you seen the memo regarding Asher Leyton?’

  Marie puffed out her cheeks, ‘Now if ever there was an argument for karma, that’s it. A man with a serious addiction to risky sex takes a bullet in the head, against all the odds he survives, only to find that he has totally lost his libido! If he wasn’t partially paralysed and spending a very long time in a secure psychiatric hospital, it would be really funny.’

  ‘Something the report didn’t mention was the fact that Kenya was encouraged to write to him. Grace Black told me. It was decided that if all ties were severed, she would have to go through a full-blown grieving process, and on top of everything else, it could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. So she writes.’

  ‘Well, she’s confirmed what he told us about saving her from his psychopath brother, Toby. Asher seemed to lose touch with reality at that stage. If he’d gone to the police, he’d have been a hero.’

  ‘And his brother would have been locked up in a tiny space, just like when he was a child. Asher couldn’t let that happen again, and although I’m sure he’ll never tell us, I think he saw an opportunity to try to recreate the perfect childhood with Kenya, something he never had with his real brothers and sisters. Grace says she signs her letters, “Little Sis,” and I think he honestly wanted for them both to be happy, to be a proper little family. I bel
ieve that is why he never touched her.’

  ‘Sounds about right, as long as he got his jollies elsewhere. The evidence that was taken from her room showed lots of children’s games for two, all well-worn and apparently well-loved. He taught her to read, for heaven’s sake! And from the waste left there, it looks as if he even tried to make sure she ate well.’

  ‘And they did go outside sometimes, Kenya confirmed that. It must have been when Micah was not working on Windrush, and when Asher knew that Toby was busy on his farm.’

  ‘Sounds almost idyllic, if you ignore the fact that Grace Black and her family were torn to shreds by his actions. Her marriage failed and she lived in purgatory for all those years. He saved Kenya, and condemned her mother to hell on earth.’

  ‘Which is why he is in secure psychiatric care.’ Jackman frowned, ‘It’s a wonder that Philip never saw them. He said that he went out to Windrush every single day.’

  ‘He spent his time below ground, and you wouldn’t see the lodge house from the tunnel entrance. Asher would have been very careful indeed with his “little sister.”’

  Marie looked back towards the end of the marsh path. ‘We’ve got visitors.’

  Four figures were making their way towards them. ‘I thought the team should all be together out here for one last look around.’

  Marie looked at him. ‘Why?’

  ‘Wait for the others and I’ll tell you.’

  He watched as a black and white oyster-catcher winged its way low over the lagoons.

  Marie waved at Max, Rosie, Charlie and Gary, trudging along the uneven path. Jackman and Marie noticed that Rosie and Max were holding hands.

  ‘So where’s the picnic?’ asked Max. ‘Boiled eggs and pork pies. Love them.’

  ‘Sorry, guys, the pork pies are off. Will this do?’ Jackman leaned down and took a bottle of champagne from a bag at his feet. He pulled out six clear plastic glasses and offered the bottle to Marie. ‘You do the honours, Sergeant.’

  When everyone had a drink in their hand, he raised his in a toast. ‘To you all. I can’t begin to thank you for all the work you’ve put in over the last twelve months.’