‘Mr McCall,’ Harry cut in with his growling tone and James McCall lifted heavy eyes. ‘We think Andrew might have moved on from animals. We think he is getting his kicks from hurting young women and we need to find him before he hurts anyone else. We don’t have anyone else we can talk to. We don’t think anyone knows him better. Please, now you know the stakes here, if you can think of anything that might help.’
‘Women! You said . . . has he . . . has he killed someone?’
‘He might have,’ Maddie said. ‘We need to find him.’
‘Oh God!’ James’s hand shot to his mouth. Maddie heard movement behind her. Simon walked round behind where James sat and pushed his hand over his shoulder where it rested on his chest. James patted it. ‘I always feared that he was some sort of psycho, that he was dangerous. All the signs were there — I told mother that. She must have known it, too, but everyone was so scared of him. We were on eggshells with him, the whole time. The house was such a different place when he left for the army.’
‘Your brother knows we have been at McCall’s,’ Harry said. ‘He might assume that we know about the sites he has proposed and he has moved on. Is there anywhere else that he might use? He seems to favour derelict locations — sites that he knows are going to sit unused for a long time. Is there anywhere else he ever proposed or talked about?’
‘The tunnel!’ James suddenly snapped straighter in his chair. He pushed Simon’s hand off. ‘Ryan — the fleet manager — he mentioned a site to me, but it was a little while ago. He said he had been tipped off by one of his contacts that it might be sold off but there were big issues with access. If they could be overcome then it might be possible. I looked at it and I said no. The access issue there is never going to be resolved.’
‘Where? What tunnel?’
‘The channel tunnel!’
‘In Langthorne?’
‘Yes. The Eurotunnel site. It’s a huge site, but it’s also a mess of ownership. They built these huge reservoirs and put them on the outskirts of the site. It’s like a bowl, you see . . . all the water runs off the steep hills of the North Downs and collects in these reservoirs. Apparently they needed these things as a contingency in case they ever got a fire in the tunnel. They can flush it through using the water from these reservoirs. I don’t know how.’
‘And they don’t need them now?’
‘No. Technology moves on, I guess.’
‘So the land is up for sale.’
‘No. Eurotunnel are haemorrhaging money. This reservoir site has an old school right in the middle of it. It was the village school for Peene originally. Then it was a family home, beautiful I would imagine, and then a horse-riding school, where it was extended quite extensively. It’s a lovely building. If it was on a country plot it would be just our sort of thing, but it was a non-starter. I put my foot down on this one. I did a little bit of digging around. It’s well within the inner perimeter of the site. It’s gated and fenced and the only access is through the Eurotunnel site’s own access roads. You couldn’t create access to it either for national security reasons. Apparently the tunnel is deemed a primary target for terrorist attacks. Makes sense, I suppose.’
‘And Andy knew about this?’
‘If Ryan knew, Andy would know. Ryan was normally the man he would send to sound me out. Then, when I told him no, it would get back to my brother and the abuse would start . . . the intimidation . . . the general unpleasantness. Because I needed Andy for the money to grow the company he seems to think I owe him. He thinks he owns half of the company and starts demanding his share. It doesn’t work like that. Construction companies are like a lot of companies . . . all our worth is tied up in buildings, equipment, plant and projects we haven’t completed yet. Giving Andy half what the company is worth would mean selling it completely.’
‘But you didn’t relent on the Eurotunnel site?’
‘No.’
‘When was this?’
‘Like I said, it was a while ago. Eighteen months, maybe. Long enough that I’d forgotten about it.’
‘And he was upset about this one?’
‘No, actually. He seemed to accept it for once. Maybe he saw how impossible it was too. All the other sites would be extremely difficult but there are possibilities at least. There’s no such thing with this site — we couldn’t even get to start negotiations.’
Maddie looked at Harry. He stood with his arms crossed. ‘There is another theory . . .’ she said. ‘That he finally found a site where he knew no one was going to bother him. Not ever. He might even have regretted mentioning it.’
‘His plan B,’ Harry said. ‘We need to go.’
Maddie was already on her feet.
‘You’ll keep me informed?’ James said.
‘I’ll do my best.’ Maddie gathered up her things. Harry was already walking across the kitchen towards the door.
‘I hope you’re wrong!’ James called out. ‘About my brother!’
Maddie pulled the door open. She peered back over. James was on his feet and Simon stood next to him. ‘It’s you that would have to be wrong about him, Mr McCall. Thank you for your help.’ She pulled the door shut and jogged to the car.
Chapter 43
Sergeant Oliver ‘Ollie’ Craddock leaned back in his office chair and lifted his boots onto his desk in the Ports Control Room at the Channel Tunnel. He led a team of ten officers who manned five armed response vehicles. His team were tasked with covering the whole county and they were the first response to emergency shouts where an armed presence might be required. It was a busy job; the area was large and they were stretched thin. The exception was the shift at the tunnel. Most of the officers hated it, but Ollie didn’t mind it at all. He would try and put himself on the rota for covering the site at least once in a set of shifts. It was always a brief respite for him. The Home Office demanded that there was a constant armed presence at the port and who was he to argue with the Home Secretary? The Operational Order stated that they should be ‘visible,’ which meant walking the platforms and ticket booths, interacting with members of the public as they got off their international trains. But Ollie Craddock had fifteen years’ experience in the job and had realised some time ago that interacting with the public was his least favourite part of it. And it inevitably led to having to do some police work.
Today he was crewed up with PC Alan Edmonds, a man with an even longer service record and a very similar attitude. Ollie would always take Alan when he was covering the tunnel. They had brought a deck of cards and Sue Revell, one of the girls covering the desk, had just made them a brew.
The office was dimly lit compared to the bright furnace outside. The blinds were turned inwards and the bank of monitors was providing the main source of light. The control room desk phones were incessant. Ollie supped at his tea then called over.
‘Sue! Can you turn them phones down? Can’t hear myself think over here!’ He splayed out his cards. He’d been dealt a good hand. He peered over at Alan to try and read any reaction. He knew he was wasting his time. Alan never gave anything away.
‘It’s for you, Ollie.’ Sue stood up and held out the handset.
‘Who is it?’
‘Said it’s a detective someone-or-other. He wants a favour down here I think.’
‘Has he asked for me by name?’
Sue shook her head. ‘Well . . . no. He said he wanted to speak to the firearms patrol at the tunnel. I figured he meant you.’
‘Ah!’ Ollie beamed. ‘He meant Alan then! That, you see, is the virtue of rank. Alan, go and fob off the nice man, would you? The late turn will be on in two hours. This already sounds like something that can wait.’
‘Too right it can.’ Alan closed up his fan of cards and was careful to lay them face down. ‘Don’t you go peeking now, Sergeant.’
‘What? And ruin the surprise?’ Ollie said.
‘PC Edmonds,’ Alan huffed down the phone. Ollie saw him stiffen almost immediately. He reacted to the change in h
is colleague by pulling his feet off the table and sitting up straighter himself. ‘Okay, sir. Understood.’
Sir. Shit! This already sounded like work and it was going to be tough to avoid an order from a senior officer. Ollie heard Alan make a few more listening noises and agree to a few more things. The phone call didn’t last long. Ollie was expectant as Alan returned to his seat.
‘Detective Inspector Blaker . . . do we know him?’
Ollie shook his head. ‘The name rings a bell but I don’t think I know him.’
‘He’s on his way.’
‘Here? What’s he coming here for?’
‘They’re looking for somebody. Apparently they’ve got search teams out at a few addresses across the county and they’ve just identified another location that’s on site here. They want a perimeter around it until they can get a full team.’
‘A perimeter? Shit, Alan, that’s us late off. What makes them think he’s here?’
‘I don’t know. He said it wasn’t certain but it needed to be checked. I think they just want us to make sure no one leaves until the team get here and this guy’s supposed to be dangerous.’
‘Did he say where exactly?’
‘Yeah, the old riding school.’
Ollie smirked. He knew that location well. It was on the bank of a large reservoir and in summers past they had spent time sat up there on its banks with disposable barbecues. That was before they put some senior management on the site. He couldn’t imagine the fallout if they were seen up there now with sausages on a barbecue. Certainly it would be the end of cushy shifts at the tunnel for him.
‘What, they think he’s in there?’
‘They think he might be.’
‘I saw a briefing this morning that went out to the armed search teams. They had four or five places to do. It was looking like a long day. I can’t imagine they’ll have done them by now. If we get up there on a perimeter we could be stood there most of the night.’
‘What about lates?’
‘They’ll keep us on for something like this. It sounded like quite a big deal this morning.’
‘Nothing we can do, though, sarge, surely? He said he’s half an hour out. He wants us to identify a rendezvous point and to let him know. He’ll meet us there.’
‘I bet he will. These shiny arse detectives . . . that’s how they work. It’s all slow time meetings and risk assessments. I bet you, we can head up there, have a recce round the place, work out there’s no one about and hasn’t been for months and then call him with the update. He certainly won’t mind if we save him a trip down here, trust me on that.’
‘I dunno, sarge . . . he seemed grumpy.’
‘Grumpy? He hasn’t seen me late off, has he? Especially when we end up getting kept here for no reason. We’ll head out and do the check. We can be back here before the tea’s gone cold.’
Alan shrugged. ‘Alright then, if that’s a lawful order.’
‘It is!’ Ollie chuckled. ‘And if there really is a big, dangerous man up there, you can go first.’
The two men called out their goodbyes and stepped back out into the furnace.
Chapter 44
Maddie stepped out into the low roar of the Channel Tunnel site and took a moment to take in her surroundings. It was a cacophony of noises in truth, but the individual sounds of mechanical movement mingled into one constant tone.
Harry was already stomping across the hard standing towards the entrance door to the Ports Control Centre on the tunnel site. He was not happy. He hadn’t received the call back with an RVP that he had requested and, according to him, they had now wasted another ten minutes going to the PCC, when they should be heading directly to meet the two officers. She wouldn’t want to be in their shoes right now. Just a few seconds after walking into the building, she could tell that his mood wasn’t about to improve.
‘How long ago did they leave?’ Harry was talking to a young woman wearing the standard civilian outfit of a white shirt with epaulettes tucked into blue trousers. She stood behind a busy-looking desk. Maddie counted four monitors and at least two desk phones. She looked over at a bank of clocks. Maddie could see she was wearing ID round her neck that said Susan.
‘About twenty minutes ago.’
‘So, straight after I called? Did they have their phones on them?’ Harry growled.
‘They usually do. We call them at all times.’
‘Can you try now? I’ve been calling them for the last ten minutes and I’ve not got a thing.’
‘Yes, of course. Hold on.’ The woman fidgeted over a phone. She stared into space with the phone at her ear. After a short delay she made eye contact with Harry. ‘They’re not answering me either.’
‘What CCTV have you got covering the site?’ Harry demanded.
‘It’s really well covered. Where do you need to see?’
‘There’s a big reservoir, I’m told. There’s a building next to it. Would that be covered?’
‘The old school, you mean? Oh, no, that’s not really part of the operational site. We used to have something from a distance, but I don’t think we even have that anymore. It’s not in use out there. None of it is.’
‘Do you know where the school is from here?’ Maddie’s question was aimed at Harry but the woman answered.
‘There’s a map of the site on the wall there. I know it well, you can get to it by the service roads.’
Harry turned to her. ‘Could you get to it if you were off-site?’
‘Well, no. The old road to it was blocked off.’
‘Blocked off how?’ Harry said.
‘I’m not entirely sure. You used to pick it up from the A20 roundabout, just off the main motorway. You could see a gate from the road when it was first blocked. You can’t anymore. I think it’s just further up. That road used to be Castle Hill. It was the village school before, so you would have needed access. Then it was a horse-riding school before the tunnel took it on.’
‘I know where you mean. The A20 roundabout. We had some gypsies pitch up there before. They snapped the padlock on the gate. It wasn’t difficult.’
‘You think that’s how he’s got in?’ Maddie said.
‘If he’s there, it’s exactly how he’s got in. We’ll go that way. If the gate’s still secure, it’ll be an indicator that we might be wasting our time. And I would suggest that to be a good RVP. Who knows, maybe our mute firearms colleagues are there waiting.’
Harry was walking back towards the door. Maddie called out her thanks to the woman who lifted a radio in response.
‘I’ll try and raise them on air. They’re not always good on their radios, though.’
Maddie gestured with a thumbs up and strode through the door. Harry was already in the car. She took the opportunity to open the rear door and pick out her kit belt. It felt cumbersome in her hands. She couldn’t remember the last time she had worn one, let alone used anything off it. She wasn’t going to wear it now either. She climbed into the front passenger seat and they moved off immediately.
‘How far?’ Maddie said. Her handcuffs banged against the interior as she dropped her kit belt into the foot well.
‘Couple of minutes.’
It felt like less than that. They joined the motorway until the next exit. It was a small stretch. The roundabout offered three options: you could re-join the M20, take a right towards Langthorne or take a left up a slight gradient that seemed to be blocked by a metal farm-style gate. The gate was a little further up, just out of site from the roundabout. There was a chain wrapped tightly around its right side.
‘I can’t see a lock, though,’ Maddie said. She pushed her door open and walked to the gate. Her suspicions were right. The chain unwrapped with no lock and little resistance. She pushed it open. It juddered and skipped over the tarmac. She had to use her body weight for it to scrape open the last few metres. Harry pulled the Land Rover up level and they continued on.
The road soon got much steeper and narrower. It was closed in
by high mounds of mud and low hanging trees, their branches fidgeting to give the sunlight a freckle effect on the dusty surface.
‘This wasn’t what I was expecting. You think of the Eurotunnel site and you don’t picture country lanes. It’s a huge concrete slab.’
‘These are the parts you don’t see.’
A turning appeared on their left. There was another gate, but this one looked much sturdier. It was ten feet tall and topped with coiled razor wire that glinted in the bright sun. A prominent sign with angry red lettering on a white background warned against trespassing. There was the silhouette of a German shepherd dog to hammer home the point. But this gate wasn’t secure either. Even from her vantage point in the car, Maddie could see the gap on the right side of it.
She stepped back out, pushed her fingers through the steel mesh and leaned on the gate. The midday sun was directly above her. The trees held their shadows close so there was nothing to shelter her from its glare. There was a breeze, but the air it moved was too warm for it to be pleasant. She couldn’t see much on the other side, just a lot more green trees and a grassy track that wrapped around to the right and quickly out of sight. This gate was far easier to move.
‘This doesn’t feel right,’ she said when she stepped back up into the car. Harry didn’t reply. The car moved forward. The scenery opened up immediately and she could see small buildings to her left. The first was circular and made of breeze blocks. It had numerous signs warning of electrocution. The next reminded her of a pump house for a swimming pool. As they pressed on and got clear of the trees, the reservoir that James McCall had mentioned came into view on her right side. She could actually see two of them. The closest was the biggest. Its water level looked low and was a lurid green where algae had formed in the standing water. There were metal steps like those you might see on the side of a swimming pool that dropped out of sight.
‘I can’t say it looks inviting,’ she said. ‘Even in this heat.’ Harry still didn’t reply. She was looking across him at the reservoir. He was looking straight ahead. There was an intensity in him as he brought the car to a rough stop.
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