1911021494

by MICHAEL HAMBLING

‘What you’re in fact saying is that you’d prefer to wait rather than use someone in whom you had little confidence?’ Dr Porter said.

  Sophie nodded again.

  ‘I’d like to regain your goodwill, Chief Inspector, if I can. You won’t regret using me, I promise.’

  ‘This is another murder inquiry, Doctor Porter. Please realise that you will be bound by absolute confidentiality. Not a word of what you learn can be spoken outside these walls without my permission. And the confidentiality extends to chatting with your husband. Not only no mention of what you hear, but no mention of the fact that you have even been here until I say otherwise. It won’t be easy.’

  ‘I think I can understand that.’

  ‘It’s probable that the girl in question has been gang-raped, Doctor Porter. I also believe that she was forced to witness a sadistic murder. I need the details from her, but she must be treated with the utmost delicacy. I found her last night, so she hasn’t had much time to recover. She was naked, nearly dead from exposure and absolutely terrified. Knowing all this, are you sure you still want to continue?’

  Mary Porter was silent for a few moments.

  ‘Yes,’ she said finally. ‘I want to make amends. To show you that I’m a better person than you think I am. And, if you do decide to use me, will you please call me Mary?’

  ‘Okay, we’ll give it a go, Mary. We’ll do it gently and calmly. If necessary take your time to get the translation exactly right. Nadia speaks a little English, and may think that she understands my questions. I want you to translate even if it looks as though she understands what I ask.’

  The desk officer called across. ‘Ma’am, Barry Marsh just phoned down. You can use Inspector Rose’s office. He’ll be out of the station for the next hour or so.’

  ‘Thanks, Tony.’

  Sophie left Mary Porter in Tom Rose’s office while she went to fetch Nadia and Marsh. She had begun to care about Nadia as if she was her own daughter. She could not easily forget how careless Mary Porter had been the previous year. Donna Goodenough had also been subjected to abuse, which Mary Porter had chosen to ignore.

  ‘The chief inspector’s very focused, isn’t she?’ Porter said to Marsh.

  Marsh was arranging the chairs for the interview. He pointed to one of them. ‘That’ll be yours.’

  ‘Do you know about me?’ she asked.

  ‘No. All I know is that you met when we were investigating Donna Goodenough’s murder. She never told me what happened between you. My DC was there, but he was told never to talk about it. So no one else knows in case it’s worrying you.’

  * * *

  The first stage of the interview lasted for over an hour. Sophie sat beside Nadia and held her hand, occasionally stroking her arm. Barry Marsh took notes. Nadia described a chilling scenario. She was one of a group of six teenage girls and young women. They were lured away from college or jobs in Romania with the promise of work in the hotel industry in Britain, attendance at local colleges and the chance to study for a degree course at a British university. They and their families had paid for the transport to the UK. Things were wrong from the outset. The promised luxury coach had been replaced with a minibus. Conditions during the drive across mainland Europe deteriorated rapidly. By the time they stopped at a remote farm on the Normandy coast, their documents and passports were in the hands of the two drivers. Nadia did not know how many trips the men had made before hers, but she suspected there had been many. Conditions deteriorated further after they were transferred to an old motor launch for the cross-Channel trip. They travelled overnight, and the girls were locked in a cabin. They had waited in France for several days until stormy weather cleared to a patchy mist.

  They moored to a small, rickety jetty in Poole Harbour, where they were let out of the cabin and led ashore. Nadia recognised one of the trio of men who met them. He was Stefan, her second cousin. They were roughly bundled into the back of a van. It was then that the girls knew they had been duped. When one of them objected to their rough treatment a man punched her twice in the face. The girl spent the short drive to their final destination sobbing in the corner of the van, while the others tried to clean up her face with paper tissues. They were all hurried inside a farmhouse and taken to a room on the first floor, furnished with three old double beds.

  Nadia stopped talking and began to cry. After a while she continued speaking, her voice catching, shaken with sobs.

  The rapes started that night. After they had eaten, the girls were hauled out and taken to a larger room on the ground floor. Five men were waiting for them, including Stefan. The girls were each given a drink of fruit juice. Nadia refused hers and spat it out. One of the men slapped her hard across the face and Stefan tried to intervene. She couldn’t follow everything they said, but she thought Stefan was trying to protect her. An argument ensued, and Stefan left the room, slamming the door behind him. Then the horror began. Each of the men grabbed a girl and hauled her to his room. The man who took Nadia had a gap between his teeth.

  Sophie glanced across to Marsh. The man at the farm.

  When her ordeal ended, this man led Nadia back into the first floor room. One by one the others joined her. All of them were shocked, confused and tearful. The girls who had finished their drink seemed distant and unfocused. They comforted each other and tried to rest. A short while later they were disturbed again. Two men they hadn’t seen before entered the room and looked around at the girls cowering in their beds. They selected Nadia and hauled her out, kicking and screaming. They took her to a warm, well-furnished bedroom. And then her real nightmare began.

  ‘Had you seen these two men before?’ asked Sophie.

  ‘No. And except for the next morning, I didn’t see them again.’

  ‘I think we all need a breather,’ said Sophie. ‘Nadia, you have given us a great deal. You’ve done so well. I’m proud of you, and you should be proud of yourself. We will bring all these men to justice. Would you like to go for a walk? The fresh air might be good for you. We could go to the seafront for a few minutes. It won’t take long to drive there.’

  The three women walked along the front, and then out onto the stone jetty. They sat on a seat facing towards Ballard Down and the chalk cliffs.

  Through Mary Porter, Nadia said, ‘It is so beautiful here. Romania only has a small coastline. I think you are lucky in your country to be surrounded by water. And to have such peace. I think I would like to remain here in Britain to study if it is possible.’

  ‘Don’t you want to go home and see your family?’ Sophie said.

  ‘Oh yes. More than anything. But I mean after that. I don’t want what those men did to stop me doing the things I want. If they do, they will have won.’

  ‘We will arrange for your family to fly across to see you soon,’ said Sophie. ‘I would like you to stay while we hunt for these men and bring them to trial. I need you to be safe and secure. But only come back if you are sure it is really what you want to do. You can rely on me if you do decide to come back. I will always be your friend if you need me.’

  The young girl gave Sophie a wonderful smile and threw her arms around her.

  * * *

  The three women returned to the police station to continue the interview.

  The next morning the girls, all of them naked, were taken out of the farmhouse, and across the yard into a shed. They stood huddled against a wall, cold and fearful of what might happen next. The two men who had taken Nadia came into the barn. They were followed by a Romanian man, dragging Stefan. Stefan’s hands were tied behind his back and he had clearly been beaten about the face. He was forced to kneel in the middle of the floor. What happened next was so rapid, and so horrifying, that at first Nadia thought she was hallucinating. One of the men lunged forward and grabbed Stefan’s tongue, pulling it out as far as he could. He then sliced it off with a knife blade. In the horror-stricken silence that followed, he stepped behind Stefan’s back and sliced the blade across his throat. Blood spurted out
across the stone floor and Stefan toppled forward. Several of the girls fainted and all of them screamed. Nadia fell to her knees and vomited. Then she blacked out. When she came to, she was back in the girls’ room in the farmhouse.

  The girls were left alone for the rest of the day and that night, but their clothes were not returned. Food and water was brought to them, and they were allowed to go to the bathroom, but only one at a time and under guard. The two men who seemed to be in charge were not seen again. The girls were left with the gap-toothed man and two Romanians.

  The following day three of the girls were taken out and raped in the middle of the afternoon. Nadia was left alone. In the evening the girls could hear noises in the rooms below, as if objects were being moved. They also heard the sound of vehicles coming and going outside. None of the girls were taken out of the room that night.

  The next day the sounds of activity continued until the middle of the morning when the noises suddenly ceased. One of the Romanian men came in and stood guard. He kept looking through the net curtains that were draped across the window. He told them he would kill anyone who made a noise. In the early afternoon, the men collected the girls and pushed them out down the stairs. They seemed nervous. Nadia pleaded to be allowed to pay a visit to the toilet. Inside, she grabbed a face flannel and a towel. She forced open the fanlight of a window above the sink and, clambering onto the basin, was able to haul herself up and force her thin body through the gap. She stood on a narrow outside ledge, clinging to the window-handle and listening to the noises from the yard at the front of the house. She realised that she couldn’t escape by going down. Instead, she began to climb up. She rested for a while on a small dormer roof above the bathroom window, and deliberately dropped the small flannel onto the ground below. She returned to the vertical rainwater pipe and inched up, finally managing to haul herself onto the roof and into a drainage gulley. She crept forward up the gulley until she reached the top ridge and crawled along it. She settled against the chimney-stack, and lay in the deep shadow at its base.

  Not long afterwards she heard raised voices. Someone ran around the outside of the farmhouse and a shout told her that the flannel had been found. The sounds of running feet below continued for some time, but at last she heard the vehicles driving away. It was silent now, but Nadia decided to remain where she was until dark. She was terribly cold.

  Nadia saw Sophie and Marsh arrive in the early afternoon. She sat huddled with her back against the chimney breast, trying to catch some warmth from the weak midwinter sunshine. She lay down again when she saw the pick-up truck return. She waited while the two men carried out a hurried search of the house and its immediate surroundings. One of the men was the younger of the two who had raped her. The other was a short, heavily built man she hadn’t seen since the boat trip across the Channel. The men carried some boxes into the trees, and Nadia caught sight of the fire. In the late afternoon the two men hurried down the track and Nadia saw a small boat move away from the jetty. No one came, but the pick-up truck still stood in the middle of the yard, and Nadia was afraid to move.

  The temperature dropped further as the sun began to set, and Nadia realised that she would die if she stayed on the roof for much longer. She slid back down the roof gulley and found a handhold that allowed her to drop her legs over the gutter to the drainpipe. Somehow she found the strength to hold onto the pipe as she slowly lowered herself to ground level. She could hear no sounds. She made her way through the copse to where she’d seen the fire, and crept as close as she could. She knew she would be silhouetted if she came too near the fire, so she stayed behind a bush for most of the time, occasionally venturing closer to gain a little warmth. But the fire was dying. She was wondering whether to return to the farmhouse when she heard the three detectives approach. She recognised Sophie and Marsh from their earlier visit. She listened to their conversation, but couldn’t understand much. She was sure they were police officers, but didn’t know what would happen to her if she showed herself. Then Sophie spotted her.

  * * *

  It was late afternoon when Nadia finished. She described the other girls and what she remembered of their captors.

  Sophie thanked Mary Porter for her careful interpretation.

  ‘It’s a privilege, Chief Inspector. It’s probably been the most harrowing afternoon of my life, and I won’t forget it. I did try my best.’

  ‘I know, Mary. Thank you. Can you make it back tomorrow morning? I need to find out more about her life in Romania. Family, friends, that kind of thing. But I now need to get Nadia to somewhere safe and secure for a few days. Barry and I will get our heads together to work out where we go from here.’

  Mary Porter left.

  ‘Barry, I’m taking Nadia away with me now. She’s too tired to wait around here. We’ll make a fresh start in the morning. Can Jimmy keep trawling through the records for a while? I also wonder if any of the coast watch organisations have records of boat movements. These men probably sneak across under cover of darkness or mist, but someone may have spotted the boat at some time. It’s not urgent but if you have any ideas, that would be great. Call me if you find anything. But don’t stay late. It’ll be better if we’re all fresh in the morning.’

  Chapter 6: Bodies in the Field

  Thursday Evening & Friday, Week 1

  Jade Allen was chopping vegetables in the kitchen when her mother arrived home with Nadia.

  ‘Hi, Mum. Hi, Nadia. I’ve just made a pot of tea for you, and thought I’d start on the dinner. I’ll show Nadia her room if you want, Mum.’

  Jade hugged them both and held Nadia’s hand as she led her out of the room. Sophie could hear her chattering fade as they went up the stairs.

  Sophie set out cups and saucers and poured the tea, adding a plate of chocolate biscuits. She carried the tray through to the lounge, kicked off her shoes and settled into one of the comfortable armchairs. She shut her eyes, trying to dispel her fatigue. She took a sip of hot, refreshing tea. She’d always thought that Jade was the less sensitive of her two daughters, more likely than Hannah to blunder into situations. Today she had revealed a completely new side to her character. Maybe she might become a good doctor after all. Sophie was annoyed with herself for underestimating her own daughter.

  The sound of girls’ voices came through from the hallway. Goodness, she’d drifted off to sleep. She took another sip of tea. It was still hot so she hadn’t slept for long .

  The two young women came into the lounge. Nadia was a good three years older than Jade, but they looked almost the same age. Jade’s sleek, dark hair was tied back into a ponytail and she was a couple of inches taller, but they were both slim.

  ‘Nadia’s offered to help me with dinner, Mum. We’ll take our tea through to the kitchen if that’s okay.’

  ‘Of course.’ Her daughter just went on surprising her.

  ‘You can doze off again, if you want to,’ said Jade.

  ‘Was it that obvious?’

  ‘Slightly pink cheeks, Mum. And you’ve been doing it for a few months now. But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I don’t think Dad’s noticed. He does it himself. Either that or he keeps quiet about it.’

  ‘We’ve struck a deal, Jade. Neither of us reminds the other about the onset of middle age. The one who breaks the deal first gets to pay for the next meal out.’

  ‘Cool.’

  Sophie finished her tea and settled back into the chair. She picked up the daily paper. It wasn’t often that she managed more than a quick glance at the headlines. She yawned again. The emotional turmoil of the last few days had affected her sleep. She was James and Florence’s closest living relative and this unexpected discovery, wonderful as it was, meant that she now had their health and wellbeing to think about. But discovering the circumstances of her father’s disappearance had stunned her to the core. She turned the pages of the newspaper without reading them. She put it aside and thought about the coming Sunday and the planned visit to Gloucester. Maybe she
could ask Lydia to come across and spend the day with Nadia. The young detective would be home from her training course by then.

  She finished her tea and walked through to the kitchen. Nadia was showing Jade how to chop an onion at high speed.

  ‘I learn in hotel kitchen,’ she explained.

  ‘Nadia is doing a hotel management degree, Mum. Sounds interesting.’

  ‘Well, if there’s food involved, Jade, I can understand your interest. What are you making?’

  ‘Mixed grill. I’ve halved the steaks, there’s some bacon that needs to be used up and I’ve decided to introduce Nadia to the joys of black pudding. Dad bought some at the weekend.’

  ‘I might have known. Any excuse for you and your father to eat that foul stuff.’ Sophie laughed.

  ‘There’s white wine in the fridge, Mum. But I think Dad would have a fit if we had it with this. Do you want to open a red so that it’s ready?’

  ‘You’re too young to know all these things, Jade. We’ve ruined you.’

  ‘Yeah, well, don’t worry about it. It’s all cool.’

  * * *

  Martin did his best to appear relaxed when he arrived home, but Sophie could sense his tension. He was too conscious of Nadia’s story, she thought. And she was aware of the frustrated anger he felt towards abusive men.

  ‘Jade’s chosen some wine that she claims will be appropriate for black pudding,’ she told him. ‘She sounded like a real expert.’

  ‘It’s all Dad’s fault. He’s the one who tells me all about choosing wines to go with the food. All that stuff about real ale and getting the hoppiness right. I could never be a binge drinker. All my mates’ll be knocking back the booze by the pint, while I’m still sniffing the bouquet. Do you realise how much you’ve ruined my future? I’ll be mentally scarred for the rest of my teenage years. I’ll get to my mid-twenties and all my friends will have passed through the binge drinking phase. I’ll have missed a whole important phase of my development, and he’ll be to blame. Wine-tasting. Huh.’