by Lee Weeks
‘Dee Ellerman?’
‘Yes. Who’s this?’
‘Megan Penarth.’
‘We talked before . . . You said you were Paula.’
‘Yes. I’m sorry.’
‘What do you want?’ Megan was thinking what a difference a few days made. This sounded like a different woman. She was also trying to work out how Dee could possibly have known she was lying about being Paula.
‘I have a proposition to put to you.’
‘Go on.’
‘I’m inviting you to Devon to meet some of the women who have been having a relationship with your husband.’
‘I don’t get it. Why would I want to do that? It sounds like a sick joke. Don’t call me again. Leave me alone.’
‘No – Dee, please don’t hang up; just hear me out . . . we are all in this together. Even you. We can help one another. Come and meet us.’
‘Everyone will hate me. I’m the reason why you all can’t have JJ. Everyone will wonder why I don’t just leave him. They will hate me.’
‘No one has the right to judge you. We all just blame JJ. We know he’s a past master at lying. I’ve invited him down here, Dee. He has no idea that there will be other women here. He thinks I never got the letter. I think you should come – we will all support you. We are all in this together after all.’
‘How many of you will be there?’
‘About four of us.’
‘I can’t possibly come. I can’t do that. I won’t tell him that I know where he’s going and I wish you luck in confronting him but I can’t do it, sorry.’
‘All right, I understand it must be worse for you than anybody. If you change your mind you know where we are.’
Dee walked back into the house and heard Ellerman still hard at it. She went upstairs and stood in Craig’s doorway. Her husband stopped work and looked at her in amazement. He shook his head in disbelief but he didn’t look pleased. That night he tried to make love to her. She went to sleep in the spare room.
Carter and Willis drove straight to the hospital to check on Toffee. Zoe was working on her laptop outside his room. She closed it and stood as they approached.
‘Any change?’ asked Carter.
‘Very slight improvement, sir.’
Carter looked through the window at Toffee. He was sleeping, but he was no longer encased in a tangle of wires and tubes. He was breathing on his own. ‘Have you managed to get near him?’
‘Yes. I went in there with Simon Smith. He seemed to respond to his voice well.’
‘What did Smith ask him?’
‘He just asked him if he remembered what happened. Toffee just shook his head. We have to presume he doesn’t know where he is right now.’
‘Did he say anything at all?’
‘He said something about loving Mimi. I asked Smith who that was and he said it was his sister.’
‘Who’s taking over for you tonight?’
‘Gardner, sir. I’m going to pick up my mum from the hostel.’
‘Any sign of Mahmet Balik?’
‘We got an address for him; he’s on one of the blocks towards the other end of the estate.’
‘We’ll get a search warrant issued tonight and get in there.’
‘Okay, sir. I’ll wait for your instructions and I’d like to come in with you.’
‘We’ll phone you when we have it.’
Zoe Blackman waited for Gardner to come and relieve her, then she drove to the hostel and parked up on the road outside. She was early but she wanted to go inside tonight and see how things were. Diane had said that particular clients were missing the PCs. Zoe wanted to see who she meant. As she walked across towards the hostel, she heard the sound of a chain dropping on tarmac. She stopped to listen and, instead of going inside the building, she followed the path around the church to the back, where the commercial buildings were. She saw Simon stepping into one of the buildings. He didn’t see her as he flicked on the light switch and was about to close the door behind him when she managed to sprint the last few steps and catch it before it closed.
‘Hello. Is everything all right?’
‘Yes.’ He tried to step back out quickly.
‘What are all these?’
‘My family’s business, not mine. Nothing to do with me.’
Zoe took a few paces inside.
‘Do you mind if I take a look?’ Inside the building were ten cars under insulated covers.
‘Well, yes – I was just checking that their battery leads were still okay.’ Zoe lifted the corner of the cover nearest to them. A red Ferrari was beneath.
‘What is this place?’
‘It’s just a storage facility for luxury cars. It means people who haven’t the space or right conditions to take care of their cars leave them here under heated covers and I make sure they are kept ticking over.’
‘You get to drive them?’
‘I start them up. Shall we go?’
Zoe walked further into the facility. ‘Do you mind if I take a look at some of the other cars? I find it really fascinating.’
‘Maybe another time. I’m going to shut up here for the night.’
Zoe ignored him and lifted the cover of another car – an Aston Martin. She moved round the front to see the number plate: MER 100.
‘I think I know this number plate – it belongs to a man named Ellerman, Mermaid Yachts. Do you know him?’
‘I’ve heard of him. I’ve never met him.’
‘Where do they come from, these cars?’
‘Different owners. I have very little to do with it. It’s a family concern. I just make sure they’re all in working order.’
‘Ready to use?’
‘Yes, that’s it. We finished?’
They walked outside. ‘Have you had any more trouble from the gangs?’
‘Not for a couple of days.’
‘You haven’t seen Mahmet Balik?’
‘No.’
‘Simon, the other day, when they were in the car park, I saw you give something to him; what was it?’
‘I don’t recall giving him anything. Excuse me, I’d better go and check that your mum is okay.’
‘Why wouldn’t she be?’
‘Well, we have to watch the clients sometimes. Gangs get in and cause problems, injuries, people get hurt.’
Zoe phoned Carter from the car after she dropped her mother home.
‘Ellerman’s car is in the building at the back of the church. It’s being looked after there. Smith gets cagier by the minute.’
‘Okay, we’ll bring him in after we search Balik’s place. Get some rest and then join us at five in the morning. We’ll catch him asleep hopefully.’
Chapter 56
At 4.30 in the morning the police van parked at the entrance to Hannover Estate and Carter briefed the officers inside.
‘This is Mahmet’s address,’ said Carter. ‘It’s the one he is said to use most. Now that his grandfather is dead, we may have a chance of finding him at home. If not him, then one or two of his deputies. We are looking for weapons. We are looking for a connection to the crime scenes. A tool provided by Fiat, a jack with a bolt opener on the end, was used to assault and kill Olivia Grantham and used at the time that Lolly was killed in the lorry park. If you find it then handle it as little as possible; we want prints. Gloves also used during the attack. We are looking for drugs, at least we can take the occupants in for questioning – find me something to arrest Balik for.’
‘It’s the middle of the night for Christ’s sake!’
The sound of the door being bashed in woke the neighbours, most of whom cared more about the early hour than helping the police to make an arrest.
Carter went inside with Blackman. Willis watched from outside to make sure no one got out.
Blackman had Balik dragged out of bed, face down on the floor and handcuffed before he even had a chance to object. He wasn’t alone in bed. The young woman with him tried to brave it out but she looked terri
fied.
‘What’s your name, miss?’ Blackman asked.
‘Rochelle.’
‘How old are you, Rochelle?’
‘Eighteen.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yes.’
‘We will check, you know.’
‘She better be eighteen. She told me she was.’ Balik’s face was pressed against the carpet.
‘Quiet.’
‘I’m fifteen. I don’t want to be here. They forced me to stay.’
Blackman looked at Balik. ‘You’re under arrest.’ She read him his rights.
Carter was called into the lounge area. Two more men were handcuffed and complaining.
‘Sir?’ A call went up from the bedroom. Carter walked into see the officer holding a small jack for a car. Outside, Willis was busy arresting a gang member who’d climbed over the balcony and was trying to make his way to the ground from there. He’d dropped ten feet and had a suspected broken ankle.
Carter came outside to join her – he looked at his watch.
‘That’s a good morning’s work. I’m going back to bed, Eb. If I hurry back, Cabrina may never realize I wasn’t there. Then I’m going to my mum’s for lunch but I’ll be in contact all the time. After what Blackman saw at the hostel we need to consider bringing Smith in for a chat.’
‘I think we should, guv, after we talk to Balik.’
‘Okay, we’ll interview him at three this afternoon and then decide about Smith.’
Carter drove home; it was just gone seven. The house was silent as he took his shoes off and crept up the stairs. He was so tired but his mind was still racing. As he passed Archie’s bedroom door, he could hear him playing in his cot. Carter crept into the bedroom; it had the lovely smell of sleep. He undressed and got in beside Cabrina. He snuggled up to her and for a moment she was irritated because he was so cold and then she sighed and turned to wrap her arms around him.
Willis arrived at work. Robbo was pleased to see her. He had laid out his Haribo in colour groups. Willis knew why. He would allow himself one from each group, every ten minutes or so.
‘Has Harding phoned you, Robbo?’
‘Yes. She wants to chat to you.’
‘Okay, I’ll phone her now.’
‘Be sure she understands she’s not to take over the running of the group. She’s only a spectator.’
‘I’ll tell her. Dr Harding?’
‘Ebony? I’m packed up, just waiting for your call then I’m hitting the road. How long does it take to get there?’
‘You have to allow four hours. Four and a half if you stop for coffee. You have a satnav?’
‘Of course. I should be there by five then. Perfect.’
‘Okay. If you run into any trouble, I’m going to be here in the office. Megan Penarth lives at the end of the village up a lane on the left. Ask in the pub if you can’t find it.’
‘Okay – will do. Now what is my objective?’
‘To observe the other women. We want the truth about their investments. We want to know what Ellerman promised them. We want to know why they’re not keen to tell us anything. But this is the first time, Doctor; the main thing is that they accept you, that they like you.’
‘Why wouldn’t they?’
‘No reason at all. In fact, you must all be quite similar types in some ways; but that’s not always a recipe for friendship, is it?’
‘I get what you’re saying.’
‘Please take care when you’re driving – the roads are icy.’
‘I had them put winter tyres on my hire car – it’s a four-wheel drive; I’ll be fine.’
‘Great. Any problems, I’m here.’
Willis came off the phone to Harding and looked across at Robbo. He was waiting to tell her something.
‘Just got word from Intel. They found evidence that someone had been signing into the Naughties site from one of the hostel’s computers.’
‘How recently?’
‘In the last week.’
‘It can’t be Toffee then.’
‘Is Smith our man?’
‘Looking possible. Smith and Ellerman together? A strange team. Is the only thing they have in common the fact that Ellerman keeps his car there?’
‘Could Smith have taken the car and driven it down to Gillian Forth’s?’
‘I don’t see why not. We need Balik to talk. We can put him in 22 Parade Street when Olivia was murdered; he had the weapon in his house. Harding saw someone matching his description attacking her car the night Lolly got killed and it’s the same instrument.’
‘Where is he now?’
‘He’s in Archway, waiting to be interviewed. Carter is coming back here at three.’
At three in the afternoon, Ellerman packed his bag in the boot of his Range Rover. He was whistling some tune that Dee didn’t recognize. Dee had said nothing as she’d watched him go through the usual ritual. Suddenly he was not interested in redecorating Craig’s room. From breakfast time on he had been coming up with reasons why he might have to leave today: this client, that client. The yachts had hit a problem in production. The client in Devon wanted clarification of this, modification of that.
‘Bye,’ Dee Ellerman said to herself as she watched him go from her place at the window in Craig’s room, standing in the middle of the mess. She watched him go then she turned on the wallpaper steamer and began stripping off the last of the paper.
Mahmet Balik sat opposite Carter and Willis. His lawyer, Chapman, was sitting beside him. Carter asked the questions. But it didn’t matter how many questions Carter asked, he got the same reply:
‘Did someone pay you to go into 22 Parade Street?’
‘No comment.’
‘Does the name JJ Ellerman mean anything to you?’
‘No comment.’
‘You are facing charges relating to drug dealing and rape of a female under the age of sixteen. Do you want to add murder to the list of charges? Now is the time to speak out. The murder weapon was found in your possession.’
‘No comment.’
‘What is your relationship with Simon Smith?’
‘No comment.’
‘Your own grandfather was mauled to death by a dog that you set on a woman named Olivia Grantham. We have the proof. We have a match with the bite cast from your grandfather’s body and that of Olivia’s. Your dog. Your cowardly way of killing your own grandfather.’
‘I object to your line of questioning,’ Chapman said.
‘I’ll reword it. . .’
Balik’s eyes burnt with hatred as he looked across at Carter.
‘Don’t bother . . . No comment.’
They terminated the interview at four and headed back across to the Dark Side.
‘He’s not going to say anything unless we get him really angry,’ said Willis.
‘He’s going to wait and see if the case crumbles around him first.’
‘How can it crumble? The girl will testify.’
‘Maybe. She will have to be moved, otherwise her family will be intimidated as part of the gang culture. Plus, the Fiat car jack needs his prints on them to make it happen. The drugs belong to his crew. In other words – we need him to want to talk.
Robbo was just calling them as they walked back into his office.
‘The surveillance team have lost Ellerman.’
‘Where was he seen last?’
‘Headed towards the M3, south-west. He’s definitely going on one of his overnight trips. They said he had his bag.’
‘Okay.’ Carter took a deep breath. ‘We’ll hit the road again, just in case he turns up uninvited on Dartmoor. We can’t afford to put Harding at risk.’ He turned to Willis. ‘Ring Scott and tell him we need him on stand-by.’
The roads were empty of traffic. The gritters were out. It was cold and bleak as they hit the road to drive south-west at 5 p.m.
Chapter 57
Harding pulled up outside the house and, before she had a chance to get out of the car, a wom
an appeared at the driver’s window. Harding wound it down.
‘Megan Penarth?’
‘That’s right. You must be Jo Harding?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you have a good journey?’
‘Not bad – it’s blowing a gale down here, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. It’s due to be bad tonight but it’ll be still by the morning. Would you mind pulling in around the back of the house? There’s plenty of parking there.’
‘Of course not.’ Harding drove round the side to the back of the house and parked up next to two other cars. Then she walked back round to the front of the house. She had a present for Megan, two bottles of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
‘I took the liberty.’ She handed them to Megan. ‘It seems rude to come empty-handed when you’re being so generous as to host this.’
‘How kind. Thank you.’
Harding stepped inside and saw two other women sitting at the kitchen table. She saw Megan set the wine next to two other gift-wrapped bottles and she smiled.
‘Great minds, hey?’
Megan chuckled. ‘Yes, as awkward as this is, meeting JJ’s other women, you have to find it slightly funny that we must have a lot in common that we don’t even realize.
‘Okay – we’re all here now. This is Jo Harding. Jo – here we have Emily there at the end of the table and Paula nearest.’
Harding smiled. ‘Hello.’
‘I have been waiting to announce another guest until you got here, Jo. We also have JJ coming.’
Emily looked down at her mug of tea. Paula looked up, panic-stricken. Jo Harding laughed.
‘I’d better go,’ said Paula, standing up. ‘We can’t all be here when he comes.’
‘Yes, we can. This is the perfect solution to it all, Paula,’ said Emily. ‘Megan told me he was coming and I almost didn’t come but then I thought – all together. A showdown.’
‘Does he know we’re here?’
‘No.’ Megan smiled. ‘Do you really think he’d come if he knew?’
Paula sat back down. She chewed her lip nervously. ‘I need a drink,’ she said.
‘Red or white?’ Megan asked.
‘Both.’
Megan opened a bottle of wine whilst Harding made herself comfortable. Megan put the open bottle on the table together with glasses for people to help themselves.