Killer on the Fens

by Joy Ellis

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Simon Flower was grey, unshaven, and walked with his shoulders drooping forward and his head bowed.

  In the long corridor, the superintendent took him to one side. ‘You are here because I thought it best.’ He looked deep into the other man’s eyes. ‘If I’m wrong, tell me. You don’t have to go in.’

  To Nikki and Joseph’s surprise, Simon said, ‘I need to see for myself, sir. I have a very vivid imagination and I don’t want to spend my life speculating about the manner of his passing.’

  ‘Good man.’ Greg indicated for Nikki and Joseph to leave, and led Simon into the passageway. It was a few minutes before they appeared again. If Nikki thought he looked pale before, what he looked like now was beyond description.

  ‘Can we get out of here?’ His voice cracked with emotion. Nikki was more than happy to get him back to the surface.

  The three of them leaned against the wall of the old watch office.

  ‘I’ve seen it, but I can’t believe what I saw. Joshua couldn’t have done such terrible things.’

  Nikki answered, her voice soft and full of compassion. ‘We are so sorry, Simon, but there is evidence, and more is coming in every hour. And the worst thing is that Joseph’s daughter has still not been found.’ She touched his arm. ‘I know this is a lot to ask after what you’ve just seen, but have you any idea where Joshua might have taken her?’

  Simon shook his head and said nothing.

  Joseph added, ‘Have you got anyone to talk to, any other family or close friends?’

  He remained silent.

  ‘We do have counsellors, Simon. Victim support has specially trained bereavement officers. It will help to talk, you know.’

  ‘I know, I know.’ He gave a mirthless laugh. ‘I’m with the fire service, aren’t I? Not only have I offered just that advice to families who’ve lost loved ones, but I’ve been there before, when our mother died. It didn’t help my brother and me then, and I don’t think it’ll help now. Thanks all the same.’ He turned to Nikki and added apologetically, ‘I’m sorry, I know you mean well, but no one, no one, could understand. How could they?’

  Simon turned to Joseph. ‘I’m sorry about your daughter, really I am, but I don’t know how I can help. I thought I knew everything about this place, but my brother’s knowledge . . .’ He shrugged. ‘It seems I’d barely scratched the surface. I’d help you if I could, really I would.’

  His gaze wandered towards the door of the building below which his brother lay. ‘DI Galena? You said the pathologist would be seeing Joshua soon? When I went down there to identify him, it was such a shock that I couldn’t stay. But now, do you think I could spend a few moments with him, before forensics take over?’

  Nikki looked at Joseph before saying to Simon Flower, ‘We really shouldn’t. It’s completely against protocol . . . Hey, you know about contamination.’

  ‘Please.’ There was a world of pain in that single word.

  Joseph raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

  Nikki grimaced. ‘Look, since you’re part of the emergency services and you do understand the score, I’ll take you back down, but I’ll need to stay in the background, okay?’ They walked back towards the old weather-beaten door. ‘Just keep well outside the cordon.’

  * * *

  Dave walked over to some of his colleagues, realising too late that Dice, the fireman-cum-amateur-detective, was giving them the benefit of his extensive knowledge of serial murder.

  ‘Davey-boy! My old mate! This is a good one, huh?’

  Dave smiled weakly and nodded feebly. ‘Sort of, Dice, sort of.’ In order to deflect the man’s impending disquisition, he said, ‘Hey, Dice? How did you get your nickname?’

  ‘Me? Yeah, well, it’s all about risk, isn’t it? Dice with death, and all that. Had my share of close shaves, I can tell you. Dangerous game, fire-fighting.’

  ‘So you’re a risk-taker, are you?’

  ‘Only calculated ones.’ Dice looked hurt. ‘I’m a professional, not like Schizo. He was worse, made Rambo look like Bambi.’

  ‘Who’s Schizo?’

  ‘I worked with him years back. I swear he didn’t know the meaning of fear. I’ve seen him do things you would not believe.’ Dice shook his head. ‘Some of the guys thought he was some kind of superhero, others just wouldn’t work with him.’

  ‘And you?’

  ‘I thought he was dangerous, and weird with it. Nothing fazed him. Burns cases that would turn the strongest stomach, they were nothing to him. Bodies trapped in burning cars and spitting like a hog roast, no problem.’ He stopped suddenly and stared at Dave. ‘But you must know all this?’

  Dave frowned. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘He was here earlier. You know him. He caught a lungful of toxic fumes and got slung off the appliances, stuck out to grass as an investigator. The bloke you were just talking to, Simon Flower. He’s Schizo.’

  * * *

  Dave moved away from the group, thinking about what he had just heard. Simon Flower certainly did not come across as some heroic Red Adair, or even as reckless or irresponsible. Dave bit at his thumbnail. Now why was this information troubling him? Slowly he walked back towards the entrance to the bunker, then stopped. This was hardly the right time to tackle the poor blighter about his career. Maybe it would be better if he offered to chauffeur Flower home again, then perhaps he could throw in a mention about the fire service . . . On the other hand, to hell with all that! He needed to tell the boss.

  * * *

  ‘Sir?’ Nikki stood in the opening into the tunnel and looked hopefully at Greg. ‘Don’t quote the rule book at me, because I know this is unorthodox, but Simon wondered if he could have a moment with his brother before the pathologist arrives. I’ll stay close by.’

  ‘I don’t see why not, since he’s used to crime scenes. After all, we’re stuck here until bloody Wilkinson gets here.’ He frowned and took her to one side. ‘But wouldn’t he rather wait until later, when his brother’s tidied up and ready for the chapel of rest?’

  ‘He seems pretty adamant, sir. I think he’s beating himself up about running out just now. ’

  ‘Oh well, as long as he knows that he must not cross the cordon.’

  The superintendent stood back, and Nikki beckoned to the drooping figure of Simon Flower.

  A moment later, Nikki returned and stationed herself at the end of the tunnel where she could keep a watchful eye on the grieving man. ‘He knows not to approach the body, sir. He just wants to say goodbye.’

  Greg nodded. ‘Fair enough.’ He stared at her solemnly. ‘We’ve still no news on Tamsin Easter, and it’s critical that we locate her soon. God knows what state she will be in. That stuff he used on her sounds horribly unpredictable.’ The superintendent let out a disbelieving sigh. ‘It’s not something that a modern young abductor would use, but you can just imagine that potty old professor and his bottle of poison can’t you?’

  Nikki agreed. ‘It is all very Dr Jekyll.’ She glanced down the tunnel towards the man who stood motionlessly in the opening to the chapel. She noticed that his shoulders shook slightly. She supposed that he was finding his last words to his dead brother very difficult indeed. She began to feel like a voyeur, and she lowered her eyes. ‘When can we resume the search, sir?

  ‘A massive sweep is being organised now, Nikki. We have all those guys upstairs, plus a search and rescue team that has just arrived from the Peak District.’

  Nikki sighed. They couldn’t do any more. She just hoped they would be in time.

  ‘Greg! Nikki! A word, please.’ The uniformed chief inspector was marching down the corridor with Dave hurrying along in his wake.

  ‘Listen, is Simon Flower still here?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ She glanced back down the passageway to the tall shadowy figure. ‘He’s with his brother. I was just about to go and get him.’

  ‘Hold on.’ He held up his hand. ‘Dave was telling me that Simon Flower had som
ething of a reputation during his fire-fighting career. Has he ever mentioned anything to you?’

  ‘No, sir, what kind of reputation?’

  ‘Two schools of thought, apparently — intrepid hero or foolhardy maniac.’

  ‘That Simon Flower?’ Nikki indicated towards the tunnel. ‘Are you quite sure, Dave?’

  Dave nodded. ‘His tag was Schizo. And the fire chief has just confirmed it,’ he added quickly.

  ‘Fire service?’ Nikki clamped her jaw together tightly, as a sickening cramp twisted her gut. ‘Flower? Oh shit! Simon Flower!’

  The corridor went silent and everyone looked at her. Her voice dropped to little more than an urgent murmur. ‘The bogus SOCO? Rory Wilkinson said his identity card was official, but not one of ours. It could have been a fire service ID card! And the man told Rory his name was Sean Fowler, but you’ve seen the size of the print on our passes! It could easily have been Simon Flower! And in that poor light, who would have known?’

  ‘Are you absolutely sure, Inspector?’ the chief demanded.

  Nikki closed her eyes. ‘Yes! Oh God! I think we’ve been blaming the wrong brother! Simon Flower killed his brother Joshua, and made it look like suicide!’

  ‘Right! Let’s get him out of th—’

  The chief’s voice was cut off by a dull thud that echoed and reverberated through the corridor like a minor earthquake, throwing the group of officers to the stone floor.

  Amid the groans, Dave managed to extricate himself from the tangle of arms and legs. ‘Okay! Who’s hurt?’

  Nikki gasped out, ‘Just winded, I hope. Dave, if you’re not injured, take whoever’s left standing and go find Simon Flower! Then we evacuate this hellhole!’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  ‘Rory! This is madness.’ Stuart Bass tried to force his considerable bulk through a gap between a stone pillar and a rotting wooden door frame.

  ‘How come no one found this before? Half the force has been tramping around these tunnels for days, and we just stumble blindly into it! It beggars belief!’

  ‘Rory! I mean it! We shouldn’t be wandering around here. This place is a bloody labyrinth! No one knows where we are, and you’ve said it yourself, this part was undiscovered until you fell, arse over tip into the opening. The search commander is going to make mincemeat out of us if we don’t get back. And for the last time, I can’t get through this bloody gap!’

  ‘You do whine, Stuart.’ Rory shone a torch down the long, wide passage in front of him. ‘This is awesome! You could drive a tank down here!’

  ‘Probably the original idea, but sadly as I’m not built like a stick insect, I’ll never see it, and I’m def—’

  A dull, bone-jarring thud shook the ground.

  ‘Christ! What the hell was that?’ No longer wedged, Stuart pushed himself up from the floor and brushed a thick coating of dust from his jacket. ‘Come on, Rory. I’ve had it. Enough is enough. Rory? Oh shit!’

  The gap through which he had endeavoured to fit himself was no longer visible, and a great pile of loose rubble and timber had taken its place. He began to claw at the blockage, then stopped and smiled with relief. From the other side, he could hear a string of colourful curses. ‘Glad to hear that you’re not buried under this impromptu cairn, Wilkinson.’

  ‘Likewise, Bass. But I think I’m a fraction too late in heeding your sage advice to get out of here. I’d need a JCB to get through this lot. Can you get back okay?’

  Stuart looked around. ‘Yes, the tunnel behind is undamaged. I’ll go for help.’

  ‘Okay, and meanwhile I’ll check this place out. Maybe I can get out from this side.’

  ‘For God’s sake don’t wander off, you prat! Just stay put! I’ll be back before you know it.’

  * * *

  ‘Are you alright, Nikki? Let me help you up.’ Joseph was kneeling by her side.

  Nikki gasped her thanks and leaned heavily on her rescuer. The pain knifed through her chest as she breathed, but she was pretty sure it was nothing life-threatening. ‘Jesus! That hurts!’ She looked around her and saw Greg, blood dripping down his face, making his way toward her.

  ‘You okay, Nikki? Joseph?’

  ‘We’ll live. You?’

  ‘The same.’

  ‘And everyone else, sir?’

  ‘The chief’s taken a bang on the head. He’s out like a light. It looks like just cuts and bruises for the rest of us.’ He wiped his bloodied forehead with the back of his hand. ‘Are you sure you’re fit to walk back to the surface? One of the men has gone up top to get a paramedic for the chief. Maybe they should check you out too?’

  ‘I’m fine, sir. Just winded and maybe a cracked rib, but what the hell was that?’

  ‘I dread to think.’ Joseph’s face was ashen. ‘But we should get out of here as quickly as possible.’

  ‘Not until Dave’s back. Let’s pray he managed to get hold of Flower.’

  ‘I don’t think he was that lucky.’ Greg’s face was grave as he looked along the dust-filled tunnel, to where Dave was limping back. Alone.

  * * *

  Flaxton Mere seemed to have been thrown into confusion, and the watcher on the fen took advantage of it. Dressed in dark clothing, there was little to differentiate this figure from the others, so it was easy to move unobtrusively through the undergrowth and slip into the now unguarded pillbox. In moments, the shadowy form had disappeared down the stone steps and into the darkness below.

  * * *

  ‘It looks as if two of the marsh tunnels have collapsed, sir! And part of the big storeroom has come down. One wall has completely caved in, and water is slowly making its way through.’ A uniformed officer, caked in mud and slime, sat heavily on a low wall.

  ‘Is the fire service down there?’

  ‘Yeah, they are trying to staunch the flow by blocking it further back up the tunnel, but it’s pretty useless. The force of the water is becoming too much for them.’

  ‘Okay, well done, now get yourself back to your original team, constable. I want all units out from underground and accounted for.’

  As the officer limped off, Nikki looked anxiously at Greg. ‘If the tunnels are flooding, what about Tamsin? And Rory and his friend? They’ve been missing for hours. They might all be in serious trouble.’ She coughed and winced.

  ‘I know, but the fire service are pumping the water, and we’ll get everyone back down there as soon as we’ve done a head count.’

  ‘I’m not thinking about the tunnels, but the danger from Simon Flower. If he’s holding them prisoner and they’re not already dead, God alone knows what ideas he might have for them!’

  Dave and Joseph joined them.

  ‘Dave found something when he went after Flower,’ said Joseph.

  ‘When I got into the chamber, it was empty, apart from the body.’

  ‘But there was only one doorway! What is he, bloody Houdini?’ said Greg.

  ‘Sir, everyone was so intent on preserving the scene, they assumed it was a dead end. There’s a small opening behind one of those two columns, right behind the body. You can’t see it from the front of the room. I saw footprints through Joshua Flower’s blood and they disappeared behind the pillar.’ Dave rubbed at his leg. ‘There were some steep steps. I started to go down, but there was no one in sight so I thought I should get back up. A team of uniforms with an armed unit are down there now.’

  ‘Then let’s pray he leads them to Tamsin.’ Joseph’s voice cracked with emotion, and Nikki grasped his arm.

  ‘Hang on in there, Joseph. We’ll find her. I know we will.’

  * * *

  Stuart Bass reported to the superintendent exactly what had happened, and a group of men were sent to try to clear the blockage and rescue the pathologist. As Stuart had feared, Rory, who was not renowned for his patience, had not waited to be rescued.

  ‘This is not going to be easy, Mr Bass.’ One of the men stood with his hands on his hips. ‘If we attempt to move that stone pillar, we could have
the whole roof down, along with half the marsh.’ He drew in a lingering breath. ‘And as the obstruction is on the other side, it looks like we need specialist equipment to shore this up before we chip our way through.’ He shrugged. ‘I hate to say this, considering the circumstances, but I’m going to have to ask the fire department for help.’

  * * *

  ‘Attention, please! This area is being evacuated! Would all personnel and their vehicles move away from the buildings! Repeat, move away from the buildings! The RV point is now the hangar area near the main gate.’

  Nikki, Joseph and the superintendent looked at each other.

  ‘What’s this all about? We still have Tamsin, and our idiot of a pathologist, along with a serial killer, down in the bowels of the earth. Why the hell are we pulling out?’ Nikki felt her stomach churn with fear.

  A uniformed inspector hurried towards them. ‘We are evacuating for a very good reason, Superintendent Woodhall. The fire crews have found timers, charges and detonators. The collapse of the tunnels was not a natural disaster. Someone has invited half the North Sea into Flaxton Mere!’

  Nikki swallowed hard. In her mind she saw Yvonne Collins’ report of her conversation with Joshua Flower when they first checked out the pillboxes. Simon Flower, ex Royal Engineers. Her mouth went dry. She looked at Joseph, and saw his jaw had dropped in horror. He was whispering his daughter’s name over and over.

  Greg Woodhall clapped his hand on Joseph’s shoulder. ‘Hold on, man. We don’t even know for sure that your girl is down there. And if she is, we’ll do our damnedest to get her out, you know that.’

  ‘If he can’t have his sanctuary, then he’s going to make damned sure no one does!’ Joseph bit back an oath, then turned and walked away, leaving Nikki with the two other officers deciding on an emergency evacuation plan.

  * * *

  Joseph was on a knife-edge. It was like being back in the battlefield, but with Tamsin caught in the crossfire. He sat on a half demolished wall and tried to collect his thoughts.