Dead of Night

by Deborah Lucy

  ‘That’s it, slowly does it.’ The man was encouraging her to walk. ‘Let’s go down this way.’

  All she could think of was at last seeing her parents. She thought of them putting their arms around her, she thought of that first hug and how warm she would feel. This man was taking her to them. He had seen them, spoken to them, knew they were looking for her. At last they would be together. What was it people said? The kindness of strangers.

  ‘Where did you say you saw them again?’

  ‘They were in the main concourse but said they would move up towards the outlet village, ready to catch the morning commuters. If we go down this way there’s a shortcut and we’ll be able to just drive a short way to where I think they said they would be. It’s not far now. You’ll soon see my car and I’ll take you straight to them.’ All the time he spoke he kept his voice soft and even, making full use of the Geordie accent. It had been a good choice. Very non-threatening, soothing even.

  She started to move a little quicker, the blood circulating through her cold body with the motion of her steps. It was still dark and the man was guiding her through unlit walkways. They had passed no one. They then appeared at the end of an old, empty cobbled street, which was shut off at one end by bollards. He could see his car. He just had to get her a few more steps down the dead end road and into it. They were nearly there. Just then, Megon caught her foot on a sharp stone. It felt as if it had cut through her pumps it was so hard. She wobbled and grabbed out to steady herself, having to hold onto the man’s arm.

  ‘That’s it, you hold on to me. We’re nearly there. That car over there’s where we’re going.’

  They made the last few steps along the road and reached the car. Just as Megon put her hand on the door handle to open it, a voice in the distance bellowed out.

  ‘Oi!’ She looked up and saw the unmistakeable outline of one of the dealers. Although it was dark, she still knew it was the man with the clouded eye and scar on his face. He was running fast towards her.

  Chapter 43

  Temple pulled into the car park at Tesco. It was a 24-hour store so he made his way to the more remote part at the end and saw Gary Lewis’s car parked up.

  ‘I’m just going over to see Lewis and I’ll be back.’ He left Paul Wallace with Sloper in the car. As Temple walked over to Lewis’s car, he made a call to Mendoza. He could now clearly see Lewis in the front seat and two girls in the back. He leant down by Lewis’s open window and looked inside. He saw Amy and China sitting in the back.

  ‘How are you, girls?’ For the first time, Temple had China Lewis in his sight.

  Amy spoke up. ‘We’re OK, I just want to go home. We were going home when this arsehole stopped us.’

  ‘I need to speak to you both – where’s Megon?’

  ‘We left her in town, she wouldn’t come with us. She wanted to wait until morning and then go looking for her dad. She saw him looking for her in Swindon so she knows he’s about. We tried to get her to come back to mine but she wouldn’t.’ China told Temple where they’d left her. She was smaller than he had imagined but he could see that her attitude made up for what she lacked in size.

  Gary Lewis was listening to the exchange. ‘This is all very nice, but if you want them out of this car, you’re going to have to stick to the arrangement we have.’

  ‘I have the money, Gary. Let the girls out of the car.’

  ‘I need to see it first.’

  Temple opened the inside of his coat and showed Lewis a wedge of notes. ‘It’s here. Let them out.’

  Lewis clicked the central locking and Megon and China got out of either side of the car.

  ‘Stand over there, girls, out of the way,’ Temple instructed them. He knew he had to play for time and he started to get the money from his coat.

  ‘You know how much. I said ten grand,’ Lewis chirped.

  From the corner of his eye, Temple could see a dark blue saloon slowly approaching. Suddenly the car moved forward quickly in front of Lewis’s car, effectively blocking him from moving. Lewis started gesticulating from behind the windscreen. The car turned on flashing lights in the grill and Lewis knew then it was an unmarked police car.

  Mendoza walked towards them with another officer and directed Lewis to get out of his car. Lewis refused, clicking on the central locking and glaring out of his window at Temple. The officer accompanying Mendoza drew his metal baton and smashed the driver’s window. With Lewis trapped in the car, the officer barked at him to get out. Threatening him with being tasered if he didn’t let himself out of the car, Lewis saw the futility of his situation and dropped the central locking. He got out, swearing at Temple as he did so.

  Mendoza read him his rights and Gary Lewis was arrested and put into the police car. While this was happening, a marked patrol car had turned up and Temple walked the two girls over to it. Amy relayed her address to the driver, Temple opened the rear door and they both sat inside.

  ‘Now both of you go home and stay there. I’ll go and find Megon. Then I’ll come back and see you both and take a statement.’ He spoke to the driver. ‘Make sure they go inside.’

  Temple walked back to his car. Finding Megon had to take priority over ensuring Sloper was taken into custody. And he was indebted to Paul Wallace; he’d kept his side up and they still hadn’t found Megon. He owed it to him to keep looking until they found her. He got into the car and anticipated his question.

  ‘We’re going to find Megon, they’ve told me she’s in town.’ He drove back to the town centre. Sloper had been fully expecting to be handed over when he saw the patrol car pull up in the car park. He didn’t know what was going on, but all the time he could stay out of custody and remain at liberty, he could plan and think. They were now going back into town. If he could just get back home, if he could just make a few phone calls. But for that he had to get away from Temple. Away from this surveillance job.

  And suddenly Sloper started to join the dots. They hadn’t had any comms for some time now. The DI in front seemed to have an earpiece in at one point but that seemed not to be working anymore. They didn’t appear to be part of a surveillance unit as they hadn’t been approached by any other cars or officers. Sure enough, Mendoza was in on it and he worked with Temple at HQ – but there was something about all this that wasn’t right.

  He’d be in custody now if this was a job, not being driven around. He’d helped find the girl who was ill, so why hadn’t he been arrested? They hadn’t asked him for any further help. What was Temple up to? Before he could think further, Temple started talking to him, looking at him in the rear-view mirror.

  ‘So, who does the drugs money you took belong to? You haven’t given us any names yet. Who are they?’

  ‘Like I said, names won’t be any use to you. They change their names, they have no names, no one knows who they’re dealing with. All deals are set up in person, face to face. Whatever name they give you isn’t their real name, it’s just something to call them at any given time. You’re not dealing with people with identities. They morph. It’s easy for them. Not having a name or a number keeps them safe.’

  ‘They have telephone numbers.’

  ‘That’s as far as they go and even then, those aren’t widely circulated and they chop and change them regularly. As I said, deals are done in person, so everyone can see who they’re dealing with.’

  ‘So, tell me about the faces. I followed someone from Swindon station with a girl and then I saw you coming out of a house where I lost him. Whose face was that?’

  ‘Yes, that would have been a dealer, although not a foreigner. He was showing a girl the ropes that night, taking her through the routine.’

  ‘We’re just going to search for a girl called Megon and you’re coming with us. If we can’t find her on the streets we’re going to use you like a bloodhound and you’re going to take us to all the trap houses and dealers in Swindon until we find her.’

  Temple parked up. Paul Wallace was ready for the search for M
egon. He’d rung Leonie and told her he wasn’t going to make it home, that he was staying out to look for Megon. He didn’t tell her about Temple as he didn’t want to get her hopes up unnecessarily. The next time he went home, he wanted it to be with Megon.

  He’d put all his trust in Temple. He had become so desperate to find her that he’d trusted him eagerly when he’d said he may know her whereabouts. Paul had nothing else to hang on to now. He had to believe he was going to find Megon tonight.

  They split up for the search, Temple taking Sloper with him one way, Paul Wallace another. He was well used to this and could cover the town in a few hours. She was on the streets of Swindon and now he was going to find her. Friends she had been with had left her in town so he knew she was there. She was there! All he had to do was find her. Find his baby, his Megon. He started to repeat her name under his breath, ‘Come on, Megon, where are you, sweetheart? Come on, Megon, I’m here.’

  The rain was getting heavier. It had been a long night, a night Temple thought would never end. He just needed to repay Paul Wallace by finding Megon. He knew he wouldn’t rest until she was found. He couldn’t return home to see his own daughter before he’d found Megon. They had to find her.

  As soon as they found Megon, Temple would take Sloper straight to custody. He had all the evidence he needed. In under an hour, he hoped he’d be there. He just had to help Paul find Megon.

  Sloper was glad to get out of the car. When Wallace went off in the opposite direction, he couldn’t believe his luck.

  Chapter 44

  Megon had to make a split-second decision. Could she risk getting into the man’s car and him not pulling away quickly enough before she was caught and dragged out? No, she had to run. Run away from someone who wanted to help her. She also felt she couldn’t risk her kind helper. By the looks of him, he wouldn’t be in a position to protect her. He would be no match for Tarek. She’d seen the way he’d attacked China, she’d seen the twisted look on his ugly face. Tarek was now running towards her. She looked at Porten and pleaded with him.

  ‘Find my parents and tell them I’m looking for them.’

  Then she ran. She was wet through and the cobbles on the tiny street bit through her pumps and into her feet as she ran as fast as she could. She had been so close to finding her dad and she had been chased away from the man who was trying to help her.

  She knew if Tarek got hold of her he would hurt her badly; the image of him with his hands around China’s throat was fixed in her mind as she ran. China had also told her he carried a large knife that he used to terrorise girls, cutting their faces, their arms and legs to make them do what he wanted. The fear of that nearly choked her.

  She had come so close to being reunited with her parents and now she was running again. But this time she was running for her life. She needed to get out into the town centre, where there were people, perhaps even a police officer, but she could hear him behind her. She needed to run before he caught her. As her heart pounded, she headed for cover into a nearby multi-storey car park. She had a chance of hiding in there.

  She ran inside and hid herself behind some parked cars. It was a 24-hour car park, but at that time of the morning, it was quiet. She crouched down beside a car, hiding behind a wheel, trying to still her heart that was banging against her chest from the effort of running so hard and from fear of being caught. The sound of her heart beating filled her head. She had to be quiet and careful, listening and watching on the ground for his footsteps as she literally crawled along the floor. She had to keep moving.

  She had made her way from the ground to the first floor where there were only a few cars parked. She made sure she was ducked down behind a wheel, using it to shield her feet from sight. She was terrified of getting caught and wished there were more cars to help her hide.

  She knew he’d followed her into the car park. It was merely a matter of avoiding him for as long as she could and then running back outside. It wouldn’t be long before the first cars started coming in, and they would provide her with more cover. Perhaps she could even approach someone to help her.

  * * *

  Sloper went with Temple to where Amy and China had told him they had left Megon. Temple felt sure she would have kept moving around the town and hoped that with Paul going one way and them another, they would find her.

  ‘As soon as we’ve located this girl, I’m taking you in to custody,’ Temple informed Sloper as they walked.

  It was dark and dank and the rain sat in pools on the ground. They walked to the spot where Megon and China had been hours earlier, China describing the recess where they had sat. Temple looked up and down the street – there was no one around. He called out her name and drew no response. It didn’t surprise him. He hoped Paul had found her by now. Sloper was standing just behind him, outside of his vision. He had only moments to feel the crashing pain before falling to the ground. Suddenly, Temple’s world turned black.

  Sloper had spotted the half-brick as they approached the recess. It was now or never. He had to take his chance and there might not be another. He brought it down hard onto the back of Temple’s head. As Temple fell onto the wet ground, Sloper looked about – there was no one around. Quickly, he crouched beside Temple and rolled him over. Searching his coat, Sloper found a wad of bank notes and his phone and took them. Giving one last cursory glance around to make sure no one was watching him, he stood up and walked away with the brick still in his hand.

  Sloper knew there was no CCTV in the area and knew where he needed to go to avoid it through town and back to his home address. He threw the brick into a waste bin, ensuring there was enough distance between it and Temple to make it unlikely that it would be found. He continued on, walking in amongst the early morning workers, away from the scene.

  * * *

  The pain in Temple’s head was like nothing he’d experienced before. His head felt twice its size and there was ringing in his ears. The searing and sharp nature of the pain made him feel overwhelmingly nauseous. He lay on the wet ground with the rain pouring down on him. He couldn’t lift his head in order to get up. He felt so sick. He knew if he didn’t move and he vomited, he was likely to choke to death. But he couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t get up. He managed to turn his head to the side before he was violently sick. His world went black again.

  When he came to, he was sure he could feel motion and yet he couldn’t quite understand how. He was definitely moving and he was in a vehicle. He was in an ambulance. Suddenly, the feel of it was making him feel sick again. All he wanted to do was sleep. He wanted to go back to unconsciousness. There was no pain there. But it seemed as though a fight was going on between his mind and body. Half of him wanted the safe blackness of unconsciousness but the same mind wanted him to waken. He wanted to be left out of it. He couldn’t care less. He felt so sick and in pain, he only wanted to be left alone. Right then the pain was so bad, he didn’t care if he lived or died. He wanted relief from it in whatever form that took.

  Then suddenly a kaleidoscopic jumble of pictures flashed in his mind. He hadn’t put his little boy to bed. He had to get home. Who would look after him if he wasn’t there? He thought of him alone with no one to care for him. The pain was back. It was sickening. He felt as if he wanted to vomit.

  He saw his mother, dead on a makeshift bed. He saw Daisy, his lovely Daisy. She was giggling and he held her, her arms around his neck. Then he could hear voices. He tried to prise his eyes open but they were nailed down. Still the images went round and round in his mind, like a mad merry-go-round, going faster and faster. The pain, the sickness and the images were forcing him to a consciousness that he didn’t want. He wanted the pain to go away. To leave him in peace.

  Slowly he forced his eyes open. It was a mammoth effort. And that simple act of his eyelids flickering open seemed to turn a screw, increasing the pain in his head. It was warm, too warm. It was dark. He realised that he wasn’t in an ambulance. He was in a car. He was facing the windscreen
and the darkness and the rain were broken by shards of light from oncoming car headlights. He closed his eyes against the piercing pain.

  Chapter 45

  Paul Wallace was in the town centre. Like all the other times since he’d started coming here, he could almost feel Megon’s presence. ‘Where are you, Megon?’ he continued to chant to himself, to her, as he walked.

  He knew he would have to ring Leonie in a few hours and he wanted to give her good news. He wanted to tell her he’d found Megon; he wanted her to hear the sound of Megon’s voice again. He couldn’t bear the thought of going home without her. Another journey home on the train on his own.

  It would be daylight in an hour or so, then he would be able to find her, he was sure of it. Her friend said they had left her in the town centre, so where was she? She wanted to find him and he wanted to find her. Where would she go? Would she be at the railway station? Would she go there, would she wait for him to find her there? He’d been around the town and couldn’t see her. He would try the station and if she wasn’t there, he’d come back.

  * * *

  Megon’s heart refused to be silent. It continued to bang in her ears, making it difficult for her to listen. She no longer thought Tarek was on the same parking level. She was going to move down to the ground level so that she could make her way out. Perhaps he had given up on finding her. Perhaps she’d managed to shake him off. She just needed to get back out into the town centre.

  She dared to raise her head enough to look through the windows of the car she was hiding behind. She scanned round as far as she could see. No one. It seemed like she was alone. Quietly, she started to move across the back of the car. There was another car that she needed to get to in order to make her way down. She’d thought about going down the stairwell but the thought of him being there, being caught with him in such a confined space, scared her. At least out here there was room to run. If he caught her in the stairwell, she’d be trapped.