Jim shook his head vehemently. “I’m against you doing that, hon.”
“I really can’t see that we have a choice if we want to catch the bastard.”
“Leave it with me, and I’ll get back to you by midday, at the latest, tomorrow.”
“Okay, if I must. What’s for dinner, chef?”
“Roast lamb and all the trimmings.”
Impressed, Ellen whistled. “Wow! On a weekday. What’s the special occasion?”
“There isn’t one. I just fancied roast lamb for dinner. And what I say goes in this house, with regard to dinner, anyway.” His smile faded when he asked, “I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Mum, have you?”
Ellen’s gaze dropped down to the table. “Nope. Do you think I should give her a call? I’m almost scared to, in case he bloody answers the phone.”
“Do you want me to do it?”
Ellen gave him a relieved smile. “Would you? I think we should see how she’s healing after their little contretemps.”
“I’ll do it now, while the dinner is cooking. Probably won’t be on there long.”
“I’ll leave you to it and go and jump in the shower if that’s okay?”
“No problem.”
They both finished their glasses of wine and left the table.
Ellen leaned against the lounge doorway, watching the other three members of the family playing cards and listening to her brother talking calmly to their mother on the phone in the kitchen.
“Yes, Mum. I’m just checking in to make sure Colin is behaving himself… Yes, Ellen is still with us. It was her idea to ring you. Maybe you could give her a ring at the office tomorrow… All right then. I better go and finish the dinner now… Call if you need us. Love you.”
Ellen didn’t turn back as her brother ended the call. Instead, she walked with heavy steps up the stairs and eased the day’s stresses under a hot shower. After slipping on her sweatpants and a fresh T-shirt, she went back downstairs for dinner.
Jim winked at her and nodded, letting her know that their mum was all right and that he would rather not mention it in front of the children.
Feeling full enough to burst, Ellen turned in for an early night and took her notepad and pen with her. She planned out what she needed to purchase the following day. At the top of the list, she wrote “blonde wig.” Whether Jim or Brian liked it or not, she was about to embark on an undercover role.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Brian was jumping around like a kiddie in a sweetshop when Ellen arrived at work the next day. She felt like beating him up for his overkill enthusiasm. She’d had a rough night and had managed to grab only around two hours of sleep because she had been busy making notes about her forthcoming outing into the abductor’s domain.
“What are you so damn cheerful about?”
“You’ll need to sit down before I tell you.” He pointed at her seat and settled himself on the edge of her desk. His smiling eyes connected with hers.
“Well?”
“I set up alerts all over the place. When someone mentions the keywords over the Internet, I get a Google e-mail alert.”
“You know I don’t understand all that crap. Just get to the point, man.”
“The alerts I set up were all linked to the girls who have recently been abducted, supposedly by Fallon. This morning, I came in to this.” He moved to his desk and read from the screen, “Sandy Cox, who went missing six days ago, has been found safe and well.”
Ellen’s fuzzy head cleared in an instant, and she pushed out of her chair to join Brian. “You’re kidding. Really? She’s been found. Where?”
“Apparently, she was walking along a narrow country lane at two o’clock in the morning.”
“Wow! So how did you get an alert that quickly?”
“Like I was saying, I put in keywords. Someone at the local newspaper must have used one of the keywords, and bingo.”
“My God, this is fantastic news. Do you think we’ve scared him into releasing the girls?” Ellen asked hopefully.
“I wouldn’t get carried away just yet. Why don’t you give Jim a call? To see if he can shed any light on this.”
“Great idea. I’ll call him while you put the kettle on.”
He tutted as his eyes rolled up to the ceiling. “Now how did I know you were going to say that?”
Ellen’s mood lifted considerably as she returned to her desk, where she telephoned her brother. The girl on control patched her through.
“Hi, Jim. Have you heard the news?”
“Hi, Sis. I’ve only just got into the office myself. What news?”
“Brian has heard on the grapevine that the last girl who was abducted, Sandy Cox, has been set free.”
“What? That’s brilliant news if she has. Hang on a minute. I’ll check.”
Ellen tapped her pen on the desk and waited for what seemed like an eternity for Jim to return.
“Bloody hell! Yep, you’re right. She was rushed to the hospital. She was found wandering a lane out near the St. Johns area. She had very few clothes on. I suspect they weren’t the clothes she went missing in, from what I can gather. Christ, who cares? She’s safe. That’s all that matters, right?”
Ellen let out a relieved sigh and gave a thumbs-up to Brian as he placed the mug of coffee on her desk. He punched the air and sat down at his desk.
“Will someone be following up on it?” Ellen asked her brother.
He lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “I suppose I could go and visit the poor girl if I get five minutes.”
“You’re a star. Any chance I can tag along for the ride?”
“Let me organise things here, and I’ll get back to you within the hour. How’s that?”
“Brilliant. I’ll be waiting.”
She hung up and noted the worried expression lining her partner’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“I was just wondering how the baby has fared in all of this. She is the one who is pregnant, isn’t she?”
“Good point. I’m sure you’re worrying unnecessarily. We’ll find out soon enough anyway, once she’s been checked over at the hospital. Jim’s going to get back to me once he’s sorted things out there.”
Brian seemed thoughtful, and Ellen wondered if he was placing himself in Sandy Cox’s shoes, feeling her concern about the child’s welfare. His paternal instincts were obviously kicking in. “Are you all right, Bri?”
He nodded and gave her a taut smile. “Yep, just thinking.”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking, too. Why do you think he’s let Sandy go? What if he’s released the other girls, and they haven’t been discovered yet? What if they’re wandering the streets at different points around the county?”
“Hold on a second. Don’t go thinking all sorts. If any of the other girls had been released, I’m sure we would have heard about it by now.”
“So why Sandy Cox?”
They both sat back in their chairs and considered the question for a moment or two, until Ellen snapped her fingers. “I bet it’s because of the baby.”
“Doh, I would’ve thought that was a given.”
“All right, smartarse, but why?”
“I’m not with you?”
“Do you think he has developed a conscience all of a sudden? Maybe the thought of harming an innocent unborn pricked his conscience in some way. Stirred up a childhood memory, perhaps?”
“Could be. Do you want me to look into his background, delve a bit deeper into his school years?”
“I think so. Maybe we’re missing something obvious.”
Brian snorted. “Apart from the fact that he’s an obvious psycho!”
Ellen laughed at his off-the-cuff statement. “Yeah, apart from that.”
“Leave it with me. I’ll get back to you.”
“I think I’ll ring Sandy Cox’s mother.”
“I wouldn’t just yet. Go and see the girl first. I think the police would’ve contacted her mother by now anyway.”
�
�Yeah, you’re probably right. Ugh! I hate hanging around waiting for people to call back.”
“You don’t say… Hang on. What’s this?” Brian beckoned her over to see what he’d found.
“Wow! So the good doctor’s husband was a child beater, was he? That’d make sense. I know it’s not a defence for the terrible things Fallon has done, but the statistics are hard to argue with. How many times do we hear about abused children later going on to do unthinkable things to others in adulthood?”
“It does seem incredible. You’d think it would work the other way, wouldn’t you? I know if I’d been abused as a child—thank God I wasn’t—but if I had been, I’m sure I would have gone out of my way to treat people better than I’d been treated.”
“To over-compensate?”
“Yeah. Obviously not everyone is like me, though.”
She smiled at him and said quietly, “The world would be a better place if there were indeed more people like you around, Bri. To me, you’re one in a million.” For some reason that Ellen found hard to fathom, her cheeks warmed. Blushing was a trip into the unknown for her. She coughed to clear the swell of emotion that had lodged itself in her throat and then changed the subject. “Was he taken away from the family home?”
Brian winked at her before he turned back to his computer screen. “Not that I can see.”
“Were there any more reported incidents of child abuse?”
He shook his head. “Again, not that I can see.”
“Might be worth paying his mother another visit, to try and find out what makes this guy tick, huh?”
“Not sure about that. She probably won’t tell you anything private. Don’t forget, she kept the fact that Fallon is her son hidden from you.”
“Yeah, I suppose.”
The phone rang, and Ellen pounced on it before Brian could grab it. “Hello, Worcester Missing Persons Hotline.”
“It’s me, Sis. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.”
“That’s fantastic. Thanks, Jim.”
After hanging up, Ellen jotted down a few questions she wanted to put to Sandy Cox—if she wasn’t too traumatised to answer them, that is.
Brian called over, “Don’t forget to ask about the kiddie angle with her. See if he treated her differently from the other girls?”
“Good point. I wonder if the girls are kept together or if he keeps them at different places?”
“Logic tells me that they would be kept in the same location. More convenient for him to feed them. If he feeds them.”
“We’ll soon see. Let’s hope she hasn’t gone into her shell and is willing to work with us when Jim and I get there.”
“I’m sure if she knows about the other girls, she’ll want to help them get out of Fallon’s psychotic clutches.”
“Let’s hope so.”
________
Jim picked her up as promised and drove her out to the hospital. They bounced ideas off each other as to how best to handle questioning Sandy.
“Maybe it would be better if I questioned her. Me being a woman, I mean.”
“As opposed to me being the same gender as her abductor?”
Ellen nodded. “Makes sense. Don’t you think?”
Reluctantly, Jim agreed. He parked the car and showed his ID to the parking attendant, who looked as though he were about to doze off in his little hut. They took the lift up to the fifth floor and approached the private ward where Sandy was recuperating.
A nurse was taking Sandy’s temperature when they walked into the room. Instantly, Ellen could sense that Sandy was fearful of Jim’s male presence. She walked up to the bed and introduced them, hoping to alleviate the woman’s understandable fear.
Sandy’s bright-blue eyes were raw and red through the tears she’d shed. “Hello, Sandy. It’s good to finally meet you. How are you doing?”
Sandy’s gaze shifted to the nurse, then back to Ellen. “It all seems such a blur to me.” Fresh tears filled her eyes, and she clutched the hospital gown to her chest. Her eyes never strayed to Jim. Ellen wondered if the girl would speak more freely if her brother wasn’t by her side, but she knew that Jim had no intention of leaving. This was intentional, and Ellen felt sure that once Sandy had recovered, she would be grateful to Jim for helping her cope with the stress of being in another man’s company so soon after being released by a madman.
“There’s no rush. Just tell us what you can. Did you see any of the other girls?”
Sandy shook her head slowly. “No, but I did hear them. Don’t ask me how many, as I just don’t know. The girls told me… he… umm… he… constantly rapes them.” Sandy started crying hard.
They were patient and respected the girl’s anguish, which Ellen suspected was edged with guilt. The nurse patted Sandy’s hand to comfort her, and Ellen waited until the patient had calmed down a little before she asked another question. “Do you know where he kept you?”
“There was straw. It smelt musty. I think it smelt like animals had lived there.”
“A farm, or stables maybe?”
“Perhaps. I’m not sure. I was blindfolded… and… stripped. He removed all my clothes while I was asleep. I woke up freezing and asked to be covered over.”
“Asleep, you say? Did he drug you in some way?”
“I can’t be certain of that. One minute, I was dancing at the club. The next, I was in the back of a car, going to God only knows where. But then, once we reached our destination, he hooked me up to some kind of drip. I think he used a drug of sorts to keep us dopey, so we didn’t try to escape.”
Ellen glanced at her brother. “A sedative, perhaps?”
Jim nodded, but said nothing, as they had agreed he would when they had discussed it in the car.
“I’m sure the hospital would’ve run some blood tests when Sandy was admitted. Can you get a sample to see what kind of thing we’re dealing with, Jim?”
“They did,” Sandy interjected.
Ellen smiled. “Did he feed you?”
“Not that I can remember. I wasn’t there long, compared to the others. Why do you think he let me go and not them?”
“We think it’s because you’re pregnant. I’m presuming you made him aware of that when he abducted you?”
“I did it as soon as I was conscious enough.” Sandy fell quiet for a few moments before adding, “I’m praying that he didn’t… interfere with me when I was asleep or give me anything too dangerous. According to one of the other girls, he does that sometimes.” Sandy shuddered, and the nurse threw a comforting arm around her shoulder and pleaded with Ellen to stop questioning her patient.
“We’ll leave you to recuperate, unless you can think of anything else that you think might help our investigation?”
“I can’t, I’m afraid. The drugs he gave me have sort of addled my brain. I’d like to forget about the incident and just look forward.” She touched her tummy. “The doctor said it could be bad for the baby if I dwell on things. I don’t want that to happen, so I intend thinking positive thoughts from now on until the baby arrives. I will not let what that man did affect my life any more than he has already.”
“That’s a great attitude to have, Sandy. Let’s hope what you’ve told us leads us to this man so that we can help save the others. Take care of yourself and the little one.”
“Thank you. Good luck hunting the bastard down.”
Ellen and Jim left the hospital and sat in the car, discussing what Sandy had told them.
“I’ll get forensics to look at the blood sample when I get back,” Jim said.
“If he’s not feeding the girls proper food, could he be feeding them via the drip?”
“That’s more than a possibility. I’d say it was a certainty. Maybe he doesn’t visit them every day. Feeding them intravenously would be a way around that.”
Ellen clicked her fingers together. “His place of work.”
“What about it?”
“Don’t you see? He could he getting what he needs from t
he drug supplies at the private hospital. Maybe his mother knows much more than she’s letting on about her son’s activities.”
“We can’t barge in there and accuse her of that just yet. We’ll need to get the toxicology results back first.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. Will it be all right if I contact the other missing girls’ families? You know, to let them know that Sandy had contact with some of them.”
“I don’t see what harm it can do. These families must be going out of their minds with worry.”
“Is there a chance your guys will get involved now?”
“I’ll check when I get back. There’s every reason we will. At least we have something to go on now. What are you going to do next?”
“Well, I have an appointment to keep down at the gym tomorrow. I have every intention of keeping that. The last thing I want to do is not turn up. Fallon might think the trail on him has gone cold. I want to show him that, at this particular moment, the trail leading to his door is on fire. Maybe we should be looking for hideaways, such as farms et cetera?”
“I’ll get on to it this afternoon. Come on. Let’s get you back to the office.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Fallon watched the PI and a man drive away from the hospital and then drove back to the farm in a pensive mood. At one point, he avoided one of the ditches on the narrow back lanes by mere inches. Ellen Brazil’s pretty face was etched in his mind. Hmm… Blondes are usually my preference, but for her, I could definitely make an exception. After she had turned up at his workplace, he’d decided he would set the pregnant girl free and take a few days off work. He rang his mother personally to let her know how ill he was. She’d been gullible enough to not ask questions as to the timing of his mysterious illness.
He’d been left wondering if he’d done the right thing by releasing the girl. For a start, she could inform the police of what happened during her captivity, which in retrospect, he figured wouldn’t be of much use to them without a definite location to search. Moreover, he was left with a gaping hole in his harem that needed to be filled. “Now, I wonder who I have in mind for that role.” His laugh came out as tormented as his thoughts.
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