by Conrad Jones
“Excellent,” Annie nodded. She was anxious to get into the service bays. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
“I hope you have a strong stomach,” Norris said. He gestured to the hallway and Annie followed him. Armed officers stood on each doorway making sure that the scene remained secure until the DI was ready. “Between their bowel movements and straightening things out with their captors, our female guests have made quite a mess.” He tried to make light of the situation but his expression belied the dark humour in his words. It was a coping mechanism for many in the force. They walked down a dark corridor, the walls scuffed with oily handprints. A door on her right led into the converted barn. The roof was arched and high, clear Perspex sheets allowed daylight inside. “Under normal circumstances, it would be prudent to handcuff their hands behind their backs but in light of their stomach problems I am not so sure that it is helping the situation.”
Annie stepped inside and immediately recoiled. The stench was revolting. Miranda took a small pot of vapour rub from her coat pocket, smeared a dab beneath her nostrils and then handed it to Annie as she looked around. The eleven Africans were lined up against a long workbench that ran the length of the wall, hands cuffed in front of them. Their heads were bowed, eyes darting left and right full of fear and trepidation. Blood spatter stained their dark skin. She could smell them. It was the thick cloying smell of the unwashed. It mingled with another more familiar aroma. Death. The Volkswagen was the same make and model that they had seen on the CCTV. The side loading door was open; as were the doors at the rear. Three bodies hung from the bumper and towbar like the bloody carcasses of slaughtered game. A puddle of blood, the circumference of a paddling pool had spread around them. Green clad paramedics exchanged shakes of the head as they checked the men for signs of life.
“These two are dead. This one has a pulse,” one of them said in a monotone voice. There was no excitement in his tone and as Annie looked at his injuries, she could see why. He looked towards Annie. “Its faint but it is there.
“Any ID?”
“Nothing. Can we get him set free of the van, Inspector?”
Annie nodded although her facial expression showed that she didn’t hold out much hope for the injured man, pulse or not. His head was swollen out of all proportion, the face unrecognisable as human. She looked at Norris and he signalled to two of his men.
“Make sure he has a two-man escort. He’s not to be left alone at any point.”
“I want all three fingerprinted ASAP,” Annie added.
“We need to move him now,” the paramedic shrugged. “Or he has no chance at all.”
“Move him. We’ll have him printed in the ambulance.” Annie offered. “It’s the best I can do.”
“You’re all heart.”
Annie ignored the jibe. Her sympathy for traffickers and the like was nonexistent. If the man lived, he wouldn’t talk. If he died, he wouldn’t talk so she simply didn’t care. He had had no compassion for his victims when he was healthy and she had none for him now that he was broken.
“Who chained them to the van?” Miranda asked cryptically.
“I don’t know,” Annie said with a shake of her head. “Is this a double-cross by their own people or were they hit by a rival mob?”
“They left the mules behind,” Miranda mused. “They left the men alive too. This was not the Russians.”
“They don’t leave anyone behind to tell the tale.”
“Exactly.”
Miranda circled the Volkswagen and searched the driver’s cab. Annie studied the bodies of the men. She knew that Miranda was desperate to find the zombie. Stopping a delivery of this new narcotic would be a huge coup for the Drug Squad but it would also stop the collateral damage caused when a shipment of such a powerful substance hit the streets. It would be her teams of detectives that would be left cleaning up the mess after all. Preventing it from being distributed at all was the ideal scenario but Annie had the feeling that others wanted the shipment even more.
“There’s no sign of the zombie,” she cursed. “We can take our pick for murder weapons though,” Miranda said as she noticed a number of bloodstained tools scattered across the floor. Annie walked to the back of the van and looked inside. The smell of excrement became stronger. Miranda pointed to one of the buckets inside. “There are parcels in here. I’m guessing there is cocaine in them so why leave them behind?”
“Maybe they have passed them since being here. Whoever hit them knew exactly what they wanted,” Annie said, glancing at the women. “Do any of you speak English?” One of the women nodded. She had shoddy trainers and jeans that looked like they hadn’t been washed for seven years or more. “What is your name?”
“Una,” the woman replied. Her eyes were full of fear.
“Where are you from, Una?”
“The Congo.”
“Where did you meet these men?” Annie pointed to the back of the van.
“Calais,” Una said. “They tell us if we swallow their drugs, we can be taken to England. They beat us and rape us and they kill my friend.”
“I know they did,” Annie nodded. “They can’t hurt you anymore. We will take care of you now.” Annie smiled and turned back to Miranda. “I think that a rival crew targeted the vehicle switch,” she pointed to the butchered men, “they cuffed them, took the zombie and scarpered, leaving them restrained, but alive.” She gestured to the mules. “They realised that their captors were incapacitated and took advantage of the situation. Beat them to death.”
“Karma is a bitch.”
“It is indeed,” Annie agreed. “We know Barrat witnessed a handover this morning, which was compromised by a leak and now this. This tells me that the leak is high up in the organisation.”
“I agree. I think they told their bosses that the mill was compromised. They have a witness. Their bosses shit themselves and tell them to move the cargo from Aigburth in a hurry. They arranged a plan ‘B’ in a hurry and tried to lose the Volkswagen. With the vans swapped, they were going to take the mules to a safe location but someone knew exactly where and when the switch was going to be.” Miranda frowned. “This gang has an informant in the hierarchy and they are going to be desperate to find out who it is.”
“Which leads us back to Antonia Barrat,” Annie agreed. “If I was running that operation I would make it my number one priority to question her and I wouldn’t stop until we had.”
“You’re having her brought in though, right?”
“Yes,” Annie nodded. Her lips thinned. “But we can’t protect her forever.”
Miranda shook her head. “How do you want to do this?”
“Your team is going to be busy here so I’ll arrange taking prints from them,” Annie pointed to the bodies, “and see what pops up on the system. I’ll have the interview with Fletcher organised and follow up on whoever set this vehicle switch up.” She paused. “You take the paperwork from here and chase up the Mercedes that they left in. As for the mules and the cocaine, you’re the Drug Squad detective so you’re welcome to them.”
Miranda nodded and half smiled. “I’ll get some interpreters down to the hospital and the station when we process the mules. They may be able to tell us something more about who brought them here.” Her mobile rang and she waved at Annie and walked away leaving her to have one more look around the van. Annie avoided looking at the bodies again. There was nothing to be gained from that. She needed to escape the vile mixture of odours although she knew that she would be able to smell them long after she had showered. It would cling to her nostrils for days.
CHAPTER 16
Jim Stirling felt like his eardrums would explode as the three drills whined incessantly against the metal. Their progress was painfully slow and the air was filled with the smell of scorched metal and boiled milk. There was a pile of blunted drill bits growing ever higher in the middle of the room and he was seriously concerned that they would blunt them all before they could penetrate the safe. The dia
mond tipped bits were doing the most damage and the side wall appeared to be weaker than the door but they were still a long way from penetrating it. His mobile rang and he reluctantly left the office to take the call. Kayla’s Emporium was busier than it had ever been, unfortunately everyone was in uniform and they weren’t buying.
“DS Stirling,” he answered.
“Sarge, its Max,” Maxwell used his nickname. “Listen, I am with Antonia Barrat at her house.”
“Good. Is she okay?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t take any messing about from her. She’s in danger.”
“That’s not why I’m calling, Sarge.”
“What’s up?”
“Antonia Barrat and Kayla Yates are in a relationship.”
“What?”
“They’re partners, Sarge.”
“What?” Stirling frowned. “In the pawnbroker business?”
“No, Sarge. They’re partners, as in they live together.”
“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” Stirling mumbled a little embarrassed. “That explains why she came straight here this morning.”
“It does. It never crossed my mind.”
“Nor mine.”
“She wants to know what’s happened to Kayla.”
“What does she know so far?”
“Nothing. I said there had been an incident at the shop involving Kayla and now she’s panicking. She’s ringing her mobile constantly.” Maxwell lowered his voice. “She’s demanding to be allowed to drive to the shop.”
“Don’t let her go anywhere alone.”
“I have told her that we can’t take her there yet but she’s kicking off. Unless we physically restrain her I can’t see how I can stop her?”
“Jesus,” Stirling sighed. He shook his head and then a thought occurred to him. “Ask her if she knows the combination to the safe.”
“The safe?”
“Just ask her.”
“I’ll have to go back into the house. Give me a minute.”
“Hurry up, Max. This is urgent.”
Stirling heard him muttering and the sound of his footsteps. Then a door opened and he could hear a woman’s voice. She was angry and upset. He heard Max ask her about the safe combination followed by Antonia launching a string of expletives which he couldn’t make out but it ended with ‘you fucking idiot’.
“Did you hear that?” Max moaned.
“Put her on the phone.” He heard shuffling and more swearing from her.
“Who is this?”
“DS Stirling, Toni. We met this morning.”
“Where is Kayla?”
“She is at her shop.”
“The phone is engaged and she’s not answering her mobile.”
“She can’t answer it right now.”
“Is she hurt?”
“I think so.”
“You think so?” she snapped. “What does that mean?”
“Exactly what I said,” Stirling remained calm. “I think that she is hurt. Do you know the safe combination?”
“Is this some kind of joke?”
“It is no joke, Toni.” The irony of asking the author of a book about police corruption the combination of her safe wasn’t lost on Stirling. “Kayla is in dire trouble. I need the combination to her safe.”
“Are you mad?” she hissed. “Why would you need to open the safe? I demand to know what is going on.”
“While you’re arguing with me, Kayla is dying!” She was stunned into silence. “Now do you know the combination or not?” the big detective snapped. She remained silent. Stirling could almost hear the cogs in her brain winding. She was running through every possible scenario as to why the police would need the safe combination. “You need to trust me. I am trying to save Kayla’s life. Do you know the combination?”
“Yes.”
“Then give it to me before it is too late.”
She paused unable to see why he was so insistent. “I don’t understand why you would need to open the safe.”
“It is best that you don’t for now. I need that number and I need it now.” His tone became more urgent almost pleading.
“Have you got a pen?”
“Yes,” Stirling scrambled in his jacket pocket for a pen. “Go on.”
“Zero, five, one, four, two, eight, two, six, five.”
“Thank you, now I need you to go with Detective Maxwell and do everything that he says,” Stirling said quickly. He hung up and ran to the office. The incessant whine of the drills grew louder. “I’ve got the combination, Charlie,” he shouted to the builder. The three men stepped back while Stirling bent to enter the combination. His index finger was shaking as he punched the numbers into the lock.
Zero, five, one, four, two, eight, two, six, five. As the last digit was entered, the mechanism whirred and clicked and the door opened.
CHAPTER 17
The Past
Antonia Barrat remembered the night that her mother didn’t come home as if it had happened a few days ago. Her memories of painful times had such clarity. Coming so soon after watching her father burn to death, it was a crushing blow. After the funeral, her mother had tried to return to her job as an accountant, part time. She did a half day here and there at first not wanting to leave Antonia for too long. It was her intention to build up to a three day week but she never had the chance. One Thursday afternoon, she kissed Antonia on the cheek and left home for the office to meet with an important client. She never turned up and when she was late coming home, Antonia panicked. She had spent that first night nervously biting her nails and looking out of the curtains much to the annoyance of her aunt, who was equally as concerned but tried hard not to show it.
“Come away from the window, Antonia. The neighbours will think we’re spying.”
“Have your bath, Antonia. I’m sure she’ll be back by the time you’re ready to get out.”
“Drink your milk and eat your biscuit while we wait. I’m positive that she won’t be long.”
“Come on to bed, Antonia, I’ll read you a story until she comes home.”
“Now you sleep tight and don’t have bad dreams. When you wake up, Mummy will be home, you’ll see.”
Antonia didn’t sleep tightly and she did have bad dreams and when she woke up her mother wasn’t home. She never came home. The police were at a loss. They explored every possible avenue but as the days turned into weeks and weeks became months they scaled down their search. Her mobile phone and bank accounts had shown no activity since the day that she disappeared; apart from her salary being paid in. They never actually said that they thought that she was dead but Antonia knew that they were thinking as much. First, her father was murdered and then her mother vanished and there was no tangible explanation why. Not that an explanation would have mattered back then; all that mattered was that they were gone and Antonia was heartbroken.
Her aunt had done her best to look after her under the circumstances; she had recently had her own tragedy when her husband had drowned. She did her best to keep her positive but no amount of promises or reassurances could have comforted her. She was a child robbed of her parents. Her world had disintegrated in the space of a few months. She had been loved, truly loved. She had felt loved every second of the day and only when that love was cruelly snatched away did she realise how all encompassing her parents’ love had been. They had protected her, wrapped her in a blanket of unconditional love as parents do and when the blanket was ripped from her, the world had become a frozen desolation. The emptiness that she felt was infinite. Her heart had become a void; a black hole. Nothing could console her grief, stop her tears, or mend her broken heart. She was simply shattered. Her loneliness was debilitating. At night she begged and pleaded to God and to Jesus and to all the saints to bring back her mother and father but they didn’t listen. They were gone and she wanted to be with them even if that meant dying. She didn’t want to live without them.
As the years went by, she stopped be
gging God to make things right. He wasn’t listening and if he was, he didn’t care. She stopped waiting for her mother to appear and her tears became less frequent. Not because the pain eased but because she had nothing left. The emptiness inside remained and she spent her early years searching for something to replace the love that she had lost. She found it hard to make friends. Relationship after relationship failed and the void could never be filled. She fell in love in her early twenties, married quickly and had two beautiful children but her insecurities drove him away and he left in the third year of their marriage. His abandonment of their home only reinforced her belief that everyone that she loved left eventually. She loved her children, Charlotte and William and shared custody with her ex-husband. He worked from home and had them Monday to Friday, when Antonia picked them up from school. She had them every weekend and every school holiday but when she took them back to their father her world became empty once more.
In a crowd, she was still a lonely woman. At work, she had few friends and found it difficult to fit in at social events. She tried and failed to feel the warmth from another’s embrace. In the arms of a lover, she remained ice at her core. She could go through the motions, smile at the right moment and laugh politely at the right time but nothing truly satisfied; nothing filled the endless void inside her. Toni had never questioned her sexuality until life led her down a road where she met her soul mate. Nothing had made her complete, until she met Kayla Yates.
CHAPTER 18
Antonia ran up the stairs taking them two at a time. Anger and frustration bubbled away beneath the surface, driving her to the edge of insanity. Why did that big oaf demand the safe combination? What the hell could they possibly need that for? It was the not knowing. Kayla was in trouble, life threatening trouble but they wouldn’t tell her what was wrong. How does that work? Here she was again with a loved one in peril and she knew nothing about it until it was too late for her to do anything about it; helpless and hopeless.