by Joy Ellis
Lee was now struggling to breathe. Yvonne suspected either a pneumothorax or a haemothorax as a result of a chest injury. Probably broken ribs after a vicious kicking. She relayed that to control and spoke softly to the boy, telling him that help was on its way.
‘Lee? Who did this to you? You have to tell me.’ Yvonne was seriously worried that this might to finish up as a murder inquiry. ‘Come on, son. Who was it?’
A look of terror passed across his battered face. ‘Can’t.’ He gagged. ‘Daren’t.’
Somehow she managed to keep him conscious until the paramedics arrived.
‘Good job you found him, Vonnie,’ said one of the technicians. ‘Biddy’ Baxter had been on the ambulances almost as long as Yvonne had been a policewoman. ‘He’s in a pretty bad way.’
‘Well, he’s a pretty bad boy, but he didn’t deserve this.’ She paused. ‘Well, I hope he didn’t. You can never tell with some of these tearaways.’
As the ambulance moved off, Yvonne began to think about the boys he’d been talking to. One of them was a teenager, a bit younger than the others, a boy called Tiger Boxall. She knew where he lived and had noted which way he’d gone.
Yvonne returned to her car and turned it around. Not far from the town centre she found Tiger talking to another group of teens. Again, there was no banter, no bravado, just earnest, hushed conversation. She parked the car, walked over and the little gang dematerialised like fen mist. But she only wanted Tiger, and one commanding yell, something she had perfected over the years, brought him to a sharp halt.
‘You do know your mate Lee’s on his way to hospital and is fighting for his life?’
Tiger suddenly found something terribly important under one of his fingernails.
‘Who hurt him, Tiger?’
The finger still held his attention. Yvonne took a step closer.
The lad pulled his hoodie tighter round his face. ‘Dunno, Constable Collins, honest.’
‘Tell me, because I’ll find out one way or another, but if it takes too long, someone else could finish up with blood pouring into their lungs and choking up on the pavement. Someone just like you, Tiger.’
His face paled, making the spots stand out. His Adam’s apple rose and fell. ‘I don’t know! That’s the truth! I promised not to say, but it was a warning, right? They threatened his family too. He said they told him to back off or, yeah, you’re right, the same thing could happen to us.’ He looked at her with wide eyes. ‘Can I go now?’
She nodded and stared after his retreating figure. Why was she thinking about the Black House? Surely that wouldn’t be their way? They said they hated violence, and neither of the Black brothers looked the type to send the boys round.
She walked back to her car, deep in thought. Whatever had happened to Lee Brown, the Black House meetings should now take place in safety. Was that just luck? Or had something more sinister happened?
Too late now to start hunting for white van man, Yvonne drove back to the station full of a nagging doubt about the peaceful followers of Lucifer, supposed bringer of light.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Nikki exploded. ‘Only we could inherit a problem like this! For heaven’s sake, what kind of police force have we become? Our hands are tied tighter than a bloody villain in cuffs!’
They allowed the rant to subside. ‘No one here is disagreeing with that,’ Cam said. ‘We just need to work out a way to proceed that won’t bring someone barging in and shutting us down.’
Nikki shuddered. That very thing had happened only too recently, right here in this station. ‘Okay. John, can we run though the basics again? I need to get this straight in my head.’
John nodded. ‘It starts with a 999 call on November fourth, to a fire in the grounds of a big rambling old house on the borders of the Fens and the Wolds, a village called Cassington. When the fire service get there, they find an extensive Victorian summerhouse on fire and five young people out on the lawns. One has serious burns. It’s clear they were using the summerhouse to hold a clandestine party. Most of the survivors are the worse for drink, or maybe drugs. By the time the firefighters bring it under control, the owners of the house have taken the teenagers inside and are caring for them. One is taken to hospital and subsequently transferred to Nottingham.’
‘And we think we’re talking about Michael Porter, right?’ Nikki said.
‘I believe so, although there are no records of the names of those that were present. The owners didn’t want to press charges and had the youngsters driven home as soon as they’d been checked over and were fit to leave. The owner was a very rich man with a lot of clout. He had three children himself and said they often allowed their friends to use the summerhouse. He maintained it was his fault for not making sure that the old place was better secured.’
‘So no one died in the fire?’ Nikki asked.
‘No. There was no evidence to suggest that,’ John said.
‘And none of the owner’s children were actually at this party?’ Joseph queried.
‘All away from home that night. In fact, they were out of the country — some annual family thing in Switzerland. The parents were supposed to have flown out the following day to join them, after some important meeting that the father had to attend.’
‘But we aren’t allowed to know the name of the family,’ Nikki growled. ‘Or where exactly this took place.’
‘As someone was injured, my friend from fire and rescue was sent along as a matter of course, but found himself suddenly taken to HQ and told no further action was to be taken. Even though it appeared that the youngsters had broken in, the owner assumed responsibility. The fire was a simple accident. Case closed.’ John raised his eyebrows. ‘He wasn’t happy. He was a good investigator and sensed that something wasn’t right about the situation. A small area, a kind of anteroom with a couch and some bookshelves was relatively undamaged, and there he found several brightly coloured packets with odd names like “bath salts” on them.’
‘NPS. Bloody legal highs,’ Nikki said angrily.
‘We think that’s the reason the owners were anxious to hush it up. As I said, he was an influential man, although I don’t know what in exactly.’
‘A whitewash to keep his family name untainted by association with drugs,’ Joseph added.
‘And if we tie all this in with what we’ve just learned from Leon Martin, we have an even bigger mystery — and a dilemma. Because we know the name of the family. It’s Applegarth, and Daddy Applegarth is, if Leon is correct, a diplomat.’
‘But Michael Porter told the curate that a teenager had died in the accident where he was burnt. Said it wasn’t his fault, but he felt guilty.’ Joseph was struggling to make sense of what they knew. ‘It had to be the same accident. He said drink and drugs were involved. In fact, he mentioned legal highs by name.’
‘Plus he said it happened on Mischief Night, which is November fourth,’ Nikki added.
‘And on that night, no other serious injuries were reported across the county, no fires, no fatalities,’ concluded John. ‘I think you’re right. It had to be that particular incident.’
‘So who died?’ asked Cam, rubbing at his temples.
‘My money’s on the girl Leon had fallen in love with, Natalie Applegarth.’
‘But she was out of the country, according to her father,’ said John.
‘Diplomats have silver tongues. Maybe Natalie was at the party. Someone had to invite the other kids. Maybe the family covered it up rather than have their daughter labelled a drug addict.’ Nikki grimaced. ‘We’ve seen far worse things happen to protect some precious family name.’
Cam shook his head. ‘How could they possibly magic her body out of a burning building, and then make it disappear before the fire service arrived? That’s pushing the bounds of possibility a bit too far, don’t you think?’
‘Then show me Natalie,’ Nikki said flatly.
‘If her father finds out that we’re looking into his family in an
official capacity, we’ll end up with no jobs.’ Cam gave Nikki a long, knowing stare.
‘Ah, so we look into them in an unofficial capacity!’
‘I never heard that.’
‘Good, because I never said it.’ Nikki rubbed her hands together. Two things bother me, John. You said there were five teenagers when your colleagues got to the fire, didn’t you?’
‘Yes. The injured boy and four others.’ He glanced down at some notes he had scribbled. ‘My friend thought the fire crew said there were three boys and two girls.’
‘Ronnie, Michael, Jez and Clary. Only four deaths so far, so if someone is trying to murder all the kids at the party, then there’s one more to come.’ She exhaled loudly. ‘Probably another female.’
‘And the other thing, Nikki?’ asked John.
‘The Applegarth children. Any idea how old they were at the time?’
‘No one said. Although if they were bringing their mates around to hang out, I’d say a similar age to the kids at the party — seventeen, eighteen, nineteen?’
Nikki turned to Joseph. ‘We need to see Leon again. We need every bit of info about Natalie that we can get. Then we dig deeper.’ She looked at Cam and smiled sweetly. ‘And do it very, very quietly.’
* * *
Nikki phoned her mother to find out if they’d dropped Leon off yet. Eve said he was still with them.
‘Where are you, Mum? We have some more questions for Leon, and it’s pretty urgent.’
‘Café des Amis, just round the corner, Nikki. Poor chap seemed so low we thought we’d treat him to a coffee and a chocolate éclair before we took him home.’
‘Stay there, Mum. We’ll come and join you.’
‘Any excuse for a slice of cake,’ muttered Joseph.
‘Actually I thought he’d be more relaxed talking away of the station. That’s all.’ Nikki sniffed.
‘So you won’t be having your usual apricot Danish while you’re there?’
‘I hadn’t even thought about it, but now you mention it, bring some money, will you?’
‘Me and my big mouth.’ Joseph checked he had his wallet and followed her out. ‘Your mother looks so much more relaxed, doesn’t she?’
Nikki nodded. ‘I just hope it was a temporary wobble, a bit of a delayed reaction to what happened to her friends.’
‘It wouldn’t be surprising, would it? Everything happened so quickly and Eve was heavily involved. She never had the chance to grieve at the time.’
‘And neither did Wendy and the others. Maybe that’s why they all feel so shaky.’ Nikki paused. ‘Oh, don’t let me forget. Rene and Lou are going to be at Monks Lantern this weekend. If we can steal half an hour, I’d love to see them again.’
‘Me too.’ Joseph chuckled. ‘What an amazing group of women! If it hadn’t been so terrifying, it would have made a great film comedy.’
‘Ladies in Lavender meets The Dirty Dozen? Something like that?’
‘Or Cocoon — the 2018 version.’
* * *
Joseph placed their coffees on the table, and Nikki was relieved to see a Danish pastry. She smiled at Leon. ‘I know it’s late and I’m sorry to have to take more of your time, but there are some things we are very anxious to know.’
Leon sipped at his second coffee. ‘What can I tell you?’
‘I know this will be painful, but we have to learn all we can about Natalie Applegarth.’
Leon looked at them apprehensively. ‘I’m not going to ask why, because I think I can guess.’ He sighed. ‘So, what do you need to know?’
‘Well, we understand she has siblings. Would you know their names and how old they are?’
Leon frowned. ‘Let’s see. The oldest was Polly, her sister. She’d be around thirty-one by now. Then there was Natalie, the middle child, and then Lyndon, her brother. He was two years younger than Nat, so he’d be twenty-seven, I think, or thereabouts.’
‘And were they close?’ asked Joseph.
‘Very close, although they were all completely different. I’ve told you what Nat was like. Polly was the complete opposite. She was very good with figures, down-to-earth but not a people person. Lyndon was clever with his hands. He liked the natural world and exploring. Nat used to say she could see him in one of those natural history documentaries, striding through rainforests or trudging through snow to find some rare plant or bird.’
‘We need to trace them, Leon, but we have a big problem.’ Nikki looked at him.
‘Don’t tell me — Daddy! Richard Applegarth.’
‘Kind of. He’s a diplomat, and they have certain privileges—’
‘And they also have the ability to talk their way out of anything,’ interrupted Leon, his tone bitter. ‘It’s what they do. They protect interests, they facilitate strategic agreements, they resolve differences. DI Galena, this man is no ordinary citizen, and he has the state behind him all the way. He’s their spokesman, and a member of a very exclusive profession.’
Nikki mulled this over, chewing a mouthful of pastry. ‘It’s true. We’ve already been told not to proceed with any investigation into the Applegarth family. That’s why we need your help, Leon, and why we are not climbing all over his stately home and gardens. Anything you can tell us could help. Any small thing that she mentioned to you, no matter how insignificant it seemed, could be vital.’
Joseph leaned closer, adding, ‘We are sure that Natalie is the key to everything.’
‘You think Natalie is the girl who died, don’t you? If what Michael Porter told me was true, then she was the girl who died in the fire that injured him.’ Leon’s voice shook. ‘You think she’s dead.’
‘I hate to say it,’ Nikki felt a wave of sadness for Leon, ‘but I’m afraid we do.’
‘Leon? Would it have been unusual for the three siblings to bugger off to Geneva for some family bash?’ asked Nikki.
‘Not exactly. As you know, her father spent most of his time abroad, and his brother lived in Geneva. Natalie went there on several occasions in the time that I knew her.’
‘But at such short notice? What did he have? A private plane?’
‘Actually, yes. I don’t know about now, but he used to fly out of Greenborough Airfield on a regular basis. A six-seater Beechcraft Bonanza.’
Nikki glanced at Joseph. ‘So they could have gone to Switzerland.’
‘But if she was as nice as Leon says, she wouldn’t have gone away without telling him, would she?’ Joseph said.
‘You’re right, she just wouldn’t.’ Leon looked close to tears. ‘I didn’t say before, but it wasn’t just the Salvation Army soup kitchen that we were meeting to help with that day. She was going to answer a question I’d put to her the day before.’
‘You’d asked her to marry you,’ said Eve softly. She and Wendy, both signatories to the Official Secrets Act, had been listening quietly.
Leon nodded. ‘It was a huge step for both of us. I mean, marriage is a big thing for anybody, but with my calling and her high-profile family . . . We were both young, and we had a lot to take into consideration. I didn’t want to rush her, but I did suggest it.’ He stared into his coffee. ‘Now I wish I’d spoken earlier, said, “Be damned, let’s just do it.” If only are the saddest two words I know.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Eve placed her hand on his arm. ‘It’s very hard to lose the one you love.’
Nikki avoided looking at her mother, not wanting to see the hurt that Eve still felt over Nikki’s father.
With his usual sensitivity, Joseph broke the silence. ‘We need to know the truth. And you do too, don’t you, Leon? Will you work with us?’
Leon nodded. ‘Of course. And you’re right. It’s time for me to move forward, and that means finding the truth, for Natalie’s sake as much as mine.’
‘Good man.’ Joseph gave him an encouraging smile. ‘We’d rather not talk at the station — walls have ears even there. Would the church be a good place?’
‘I can’t think of anywhere better,
although,’ he paused, ‘there are a couple of meetings going on there this evening, so maybe . . .’
‘Come to Monks Lantern,’ Eve said, with an enquiring look at Wendy.
‘Of course,’ said Wendy. ‘We’ll take Leon and go on ahead. See you two there.’
* * *
Eve and Wendy left them to it, and Nikki, Joseph and Leon sat in the lounge. ‘How did Natalie view her father’s career?’ Joseph asked. ‘Was she proud of him? Did she resent his living abroad for so long?’
Leon thought about this. ‘She loved him very much, I know that. But, she didn’t love a lot of the people he mixed with, the hangers-on, the ones who wanted to bask in his glory or take advantage of his position. And I think she did come to resent his work as she got older. She said it was great fun living in foreign countries when she was a kid, and she learned several different languages, but later she wanted to settle here.’
‘So they were pretty solid as a family, even though they were privileged and very wealthy? No weak links in the chain?’ Nikki asked.
‘Absolutely none. I was the problem. I was not in their class, plus I was, and still am, totally dedicated to God and the Church.’
‘Don’t have a go at me, Leon, but I have to ask. Was Applegarth a Satanist? Or one of these Luciferians?’
‘I don’t honestly know, DI Galena. I assumed that he was because of his relationship with the Black family. They were very friendly. And he just didn’t like the fact that I was ordained into the church. That was why I wanted Natalie to think carefully about marrying me. She loved her family, and I know she loved me, but I couldn’t make her choose between us. It wouldn’t have been fair.’
‘Have you ever seen any of her siblings since Natalie supposedly went abroad to live?’ Joseph asked.
Leon frowned. ‘No, I haven’t. I’ve seen the father and the mother, but not Polly and Lyndon.’
‘You actually met them, did you?’ Nikki said.
‘Yes, on the one or two social occasions when her father actually tolerated my presence.’