23 Cold Cases (The Mac Maguire detective mysteries Book 5)

by Patrick C Walsh

  Dan gave Tommy a glum look.

  ‘I’m just about to give up on that one. We’ve got one last chance, a professor up north who can put faces on dead people’s skulls. It’s worth a shot anyway.’

  ‘Yes I’ve seen that done on the TV, best of luck with that,’ Tommy replied.

  ‘We’ll need it. Anyway we’ll know in a couple of days when we get the results. Go on then, see you later,’ Dan made his way over to talk to the Inspector.

  Tommy gave Adil the key to the flat.

  ‘Don’t worry I’ll look after Martin’s camera,’ Adil promised.

  ‘And don’t forget my laptop. You can rewind the video and see what happened for yourselves. Believe me it’s well worth a look.’

  ‘Sorry Tommy,’ Kate said as he drove her home.

  ‘For what?’

  ‘For volunteering you back there, I could see that you didn’t think much of the idea.’

  ‘Well I’m late as it is and Bridget will be waiting.’

  Kate wondered what it must be like to have someone to go home to, someone you loved. All she had was an empty flat that she hated being in. It wasn’t home it was just somewhere to sleep. She stopped herself, it was beginning to taste like self-pity and she didn’t want to go down that road.

  ‘What’s the Priory Park case?’ she asked, changing the subject.

  ‘Oh a body was found in the lake in Priory Park in Bedford, it’s a pleasure lake and right in the centre of the town, and at first they thought it was just a drunk who’d fell in and drowned until they did the autopsy. Then they found that he’d been strangled. Dan and the team have been working flat out on the case but nothing’s turned up so far, they still have no idea who the victim was.’

  ‘So he’s going to try facial reconstruction? He must be desperate.’

  ‘I think he is,’ Tommy replied. ‘I’ll say one thing for Dan though, he never gives up a case without a fight.’

  Kate’s phone went off. Tommy heard her say ‘yes’ and then ‘we’ll be with you in less than thirty minutes.’

  Tommy, hearing the ‘we’, gave her a look a mild annoyance.

  Kate smiled at him and said nothing for a moment.

  ‘Okay then. Where to now?’ he asked with a resigned expression.

  ‘Home, for you anyway. That was Mac and he wants to see us straight away.’

  ‘Oh, good,’ was all Tommy could think in way of a reply.

  Mac had been working hard on the files that Martin had sent over. He was amazed at how much information someone could cram into a phone.

  The vital evidence turned out to be the call logs and a video, in fact the very last video that Adeline ever made.

  She’d left a suicide note.

  Chapter Nineteen

  ‘I don’t know Mac that well but it sounds as though he’s on to something,’ Kate said.

  ‘I wouldn’t be at all surprised,’ Tommy said in a matter of fact way.

  Kate glanced over and thought Tommy looked tired, she suddenly felt tired herself. She looked at the car’s clock as they pulled into Mac’s road. It was nearly nine. It had been a very long day indeed.

  Mac, on the other hand, looked alert and quite pleased with himself.

  ‘Sorry for dragging you all the way back here but I think we might have just cracked the case.’

  This certainly woke Kate up.

  ‘What have you found?’ she asked urgently.

  ‘This,’ Mac said turning his laptop screen around. ‘I’ve got it on speakers.’

  The screen showed a still image of Adeline. She looked sad and desperate. Mac pressed play.

  ‘I’m sorry but I can’t go on like this, I haven’t got any money or friends or even family now. I had friends but I lost them all when I got them hooked on drugs, they’re just customers now. I can’t even go to the police, I wish to God I could but if I did I know they’d kill them, little Hadya and Hussain. Ashley said we should go to the police and look what happened to her. I don’t want to die like that. We’re all stuck, all of us even Doctor Eman. There’s no hope, no way out except for one. Goodbye I love you all.’

  There was a moment’s silence before Kate said, ‘Poor girl,’ with some feeling.

  ‘Who are Hadya and whoever the other one was?’ Tommy asked.

  ‘Hadya and Hussein, they’re Arabic forenames and obviously children as she said they were little. I’ve got an idea about that,’ Mac replied.

  ‘And who’s Doctor Eman?’ Kate asked.

  Mac smiled widely.

  ‘Yes that had me puzzled too until I had another look on the Al-Faran Clinic’s website where there’s an article that mentions the ever-caring Dr. Eman Al-Faran.’

  ‘Oh it’s her first name then,’ Kate said.

  Mac waited as he watched Kate think her way through it. Then the penny dropped.

  ‘Oh God yes, dre man!’ Kate finally said, ‘that’s her, isn’t it?’

  ‘Well done,’ Mac said. ‘People go on about how incorrect punctuation can change the meaning of things but texting on a mobile phone and misplacing a space can achieve exactly the same result.’

  ‘Sorry what’s that?’ Tommy asked.

  ‘Remember the text she sent to her friend Trina? It mentioned that ‘dre mans men were coming’. What she really meant was ‘dr emans men are coming’, she just got the spacing wrong. I supposed she was scared at the time and that didn’t help.’

  ‘Yes, I see,’ Tommy said excitedly. ‘So do you think that it was the doctor’s guards who did this?’

  ‘I’m not so sure. I found a security company online who claim that the Al-Faran Clinic is one of their clients. They seem reputable enough. Anyway if that had been the case then Ashley wouldn’t have had any defensive wounds, would she? No from everything I’ve read I think it’s likely that there was just one person involved in the attack and I’m beginning to think that person might be the doctor herself.’

  ‘Why’s that?’ Kate asked.

  ‘Well let me take a guess and say that the guards were all dark skinned, possibly Middle Eastern in appearance.’

  Kate and Tommy looked at each other as they thought.

  ‘You’re right but how could you possibly know that?’ Kate asked.

  ‘I’ve got a feeling about the doctor and, if I’m right, I’ve come across quite a few like her before. They think that the world revolves around them and other people are there just to be used. Anyway Adeline certainly kept up contact with Dr. Al-Faran, she phoned her every few days. However, the day before she killed herself, she rang the doctor’s number twenty two times. The doctor never replied, she’d probably blocked Adeline’s number I should think.’

  ‘So what do you think was going on?’ Kate asked.

  ‘Let me tell you my theory…’

  After Mac had explained it all Kate said, ‘Well it all makes sense but we’ve no real evidence at the moment.’

  ‘That’s true but knowing where to look for evidence is always the first step, however, there might be another way. There’s a Sherlock Holmes story where he mentions a strategy they used to use when tiger hunting in India.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Tommy asked.

  ‘They’d tether a goat under a tree and then they’d hide in the tree and wait for the tiger to come for its dinner. While it was eating the goat they’d shoot it. I think we should tether a goat too.’

  Mac explained his idea.

  ‘Are you sure Mac? It could be dangerous,’ Kate asked, looking concerned.

  Mac looked at Tommy who also looked worried.

  ‘Yes I’m sure. You two go and get yourself a coffee or something stronger while I ring Dan and Tommy not a word to Bridget about any of this.’

  Tommy nodded but Kate could hear him mutter something about ‘A rock and a hard place.’

  Bridget sat up when they walked into the living room. The TV was on and was showing a somewhat gory operation being performed.

  ‘Oh please,’ Tommy said, ‘I’ve seen enoug
h blood for one day.’

  ‘Bad day was it?’ she asked.

  She could tell from his expression that it had been.

  ‘Want a beer and I could do you some sandwiches too if you like?’

  ‘Oh please, that would be great,’ Tommy said with a smile.

  ‘Can I get you anything Kate?’ Bridget asked.

  ‘A beer and a sandwich would be more than fine.’

  ‘Okay two sandwiches and three beers,’ Bridget said as she went into the kitchen.

  She saw Tommy’s eyes follow Bridget as she walked out of the room. When she’d gone he turned towards Kate.

  ‘What a day!’ he said as he sat back.

  ‘Yes and to think that not all that long ago I used to feel that my job wasn’t exciting enough, of course that was before I met Mac.’

  Kate looked around the room. She’d never been in a prefab before and she found it much roomier and warmer than she’d have thought.

  ‘These places are like the Tardis aren’t they? You know bigger on the inside. How come Mac is living here though? I’d have thought a DCS might have had something a bit grander.’

  ‘Apparently that was down to Bridget’s mum Nora. This was the first house she ever had and she loved the garden and the countryside around here so much. Mac had only thought they’d be here a couple of years but she wouldn’t move and that was that,’ Tommy explained.

  ‘Where is she then, this Nora?’

  ‘She’s dead,’ Tommy explained, lowering his voice a little. ‘She died last year and I know Bridget’s still grieving. It really hit Mac very hard too from what Bridget’s told me.’

  ‘Oh,’ was all that Kate could say.

  Her own mother came into her mind and she felt like crying, her loss was suddenly as sharp as the day she died. She was more than glad when Bridget came in carrying a tray.

  The beer was crisp and cold and the sandwiches were good, made even better by a sudden hunger. Bridget sipped at her beer and smiled while she watched the two of them eat.

  When they’d finished Bridget asked, ‘Where do you live Kate?’

  ‘Oh Hatfield, I’ve not lived there long. Oh bloody hell!’ Kate said, clearly annoyed with herself.

  ‘What is it?’ Bridget asked.

  ‘I’m forgetting the time, I’ll need the catch the train soon. Will you be able to ring me a taxi?’

  ‘I’m under instructions from on high, in other words my dad, and he says you’re to stay the night. We have a guest room so there’s no point in going all the way home when you have to be back here again tomorrow morning anyway. Is that alright?’

  Bridget knew it was as she could see Kate visibly relax.

  ‘Thanks Bridget, really thanks.’

  ‘It’s nothing. Just relax and we’ll have a few more beers and when you’re ready I’ll show you to your bed.’

  Kate did have a few more beers and had a surprisingly good evening. She even laughed once or twice.

  She woke up some time during the night to go to the toilet and passed outside Mac’s room on the way. The light was on and she could hear sounds like those an animal might make. The idea of anyone being in so much pain frightened her. She could still hear the sounds echoing in her head as she lay back down before sleep overtook her once more.

  Chapter Twenty

  Kate once again found herself in the windowless room in the Al-Faran Clinic waiting for the doctor to show up. She took out her phone and called Dan.

  ‘Hi Dan just thought I’d give you a quick update…

  Yes I’m at the clinic now…

  If I’m honest I’ve no idea what I’m doing here, I honestly feel I’m wasting my time…’

  The doctor was in another room, watching Kate on a TV screen and listening to every word she said. She was very interested to hear what Kate had to say.

  ‘Look we both know it’s the drugs gang, especially after Leah Whyte’s murder yesterday but as you know Mac has this bee in his bonnet about the clinic…

  Well he’s saying that he has some evidence that will implicate the clinic but of course he won’t tell anyone else what it is until he sees you tomorrow…

  Okay boss I’ll go along with it but only because you say so…

  God, I’ve got to babysit for him this evening as well, his nurse has to go early and his daughter has a late shift at the hospital…

  Well okay if you say so, I suppose I’ll have to go along with it. I’ll let you know if I come up with anything…’

  ‘See you later,’ Kate said just before she ended the call.

  The doctor sensed a threat. She’d listen to the one sided conversation again in more detail later. She looked at herself in the mirror, smiled and went to be interviewed.

  ‘By yourself today DS Grimsson?’ the doctor asked as she entered the room.

  Kate noticed that she had another black ensemble on today, a silk blouse and lace trimmed trousers. Black must be her colour.

  Gucci perhaps? Kate thought, with just the slightest tinge of jealousy.

  ‘Yes, my colleague is following up another lead.’

  The doctor sat down and smiled professionally at Kate.

  ‘So how can I help?’

  ‘Just a couple of questions, we were wondering if you’d ever heard of someone called Trina Derbyshere?’ Kate asked.

  The doctor gave it some thought but her reaction, just a split second after she’d mentioned Trina’s name, convinced Kate that it was a name she’d heard before.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ the doctor replied. ‘Who is she?’

  ‘She was a friend of Ashley’s, someone we think she might have confided in.’

  ‘No, I don’t remember meeting any of Ashley’s friends.’

  ‘What about Adeline Smyth-Stortford?’ Kate asked.

  ‘Oh yes I was forgetting that she was a friend of Ashley’s. That’s probably because they were here at different times. I never saw them together but I do remember Ashley saying that she knew Adeline, from school I think it was.’

  ‘One of my colleagues has asked me to ask if you’re aware of anyone in the clinic who might be dealing drugs,’ Kate asked.

  ‘We don’t allow drugs of any sort on the premises, not even alcohol. If we were aware of anything like that we’d let you know immediately. The whole thrust of the treatment programme here is to totally separate the client from their usual environment for a while and to separate them from their addictions too.’

  ‘Okay just one more question,’ Kate said.

  The fact that Kate didn’t pursue this surprised the doctor, in fact she was beginning to feel that Kate was just going through the motions.

  ‘Have you had any further thoughts about the man that Ashley met at the back gate?’

  It was the first time that the doctor thought that Kate looked interested.

  ‘No, I’m sorry,’ the doctor replied.

  ‘Shame, I think that finding him would help us enormously. In the footage you sent us he hands Ashley something, we’ve processed the video and it looks like drugs to us. Most of us think that the drugs gang might have had some sort of contact in here and that they were dealing drugs at your back gate.’

  ‘Oh dear, I’ll make sure that we keep more security out there and if we spot anything I’ll let you know.’

  ‘We’d be grateful if you could. I’m convinced that the drugs gang are behind all this especially after Leah Whyte, Ashley’s sister, was murdered yesterday,’ Kate said.

  Although this wasn’t news to the doctor she feigned a look of surprise.

  ‘Ashley’s sister? Do you know who killed her?’

  ‘Yes a prominent member of the drugs gang. We’re sure they’re in it up their necks. Well most of us do anyway.’

  Kate gave the doctor a card with her mobile number on it and said her goodbyes.

  Now we wait, she thought as she was escorted from the clinic.

  She waited for an hour and a half. The caller was a man who said that he had some vital info
rmation about drug dealing at the clinic. He could only see her at five o’clock and in a pub in Hemel Hempstead. Kate tried to negotiate a different time but agreed in the end to meet him.

  ‘We’re on!’ she said when the call had ended.

  Dan smiled, ‘Well done Kate, you’d make a good actress.’

  He turned to the team who had all been listening in to the call.

  ‘Come on, we’ve got some preparations to make.’

  For once Mac was totally alone in the house. It was so quiet he could hear his alarm clock ticking. Mac jumped slightly when the door to his bedroom opened.

  ‘I can see that you’re surprised to see me, Mr. Maguire.’

  ‘Dr. Al-Faran I take it? And yes I am surprised. What in God’s name are you doing in my house?’

  ‘This has nothing to do with God, believe me,’ the doctor said with a smile. ‘I’m here to kill you.’

  ‘I’m expecting someone any…’

  ‘Oh yes of course, the unusual looking DS Grimsson. Well I can confirm that right at this minute she’s sitting in a pub in Hemel Hempstead waiting for someone who’s never going to turn up,’ the doctor said with a confident smile. ‘I’ve also got people watching your daughter, who at this very moment has an emergency on her hands, so it would seem that she won’t be coming either. Her boyfriend, DC Nugent, is also in the pub in Hemel Hempstead, keeping guard on Miss Grimsson no doubt, and your nurse is on her way to Addenbrooke’s Hospital where she’s just heard that her husband has had an accident. I think I’ve covered everyone.’

  Mac frowned, she had indeed, well except for one perhaps.

  ‘My daughter will have called…’

  ‘Your friend Mr. Timothy Teagan no doubt but unfortunately he’s already in Norfolk to discuss a lucrative deal to renovate some Regency furniture. Even if he turned around straight away we’ll still have a good hour or more. It’s just me and you Mr. Maguire. And this of course,’ she said pulling out a syringe from her pocket.

  Mac looked at it but said nothing.

  ‘You’re not curious Mr. Maguire?’ she asked with a complacent smile.