‘Sergeant Morris?’ Dan asked.
‘Detective Superintendent Carter, come in. Just follow me.’
‘Tell me, do you know if your house is similar to the one we’re going to visit today?’ Dan asked.
‘Yes, I’ve been inside a few houses on that street and I think they’re all pretty much the same as mine.’
Dan had the sergeant show him where the door to the cellar was before he led them through the house and into the back garden. He unlatched a wooden gate at the back and let them into the entryway.
‘That’s Turnell’s house there,’ the sergeant said pointing to a green coloured gate. ‘Good luck.’
‘Thanks,’ Dan replied. ‘Hang about though, we may need to come back this way.’
Dan made sure that everyone was in the entry way. He then let the two firearm officers lead. Thankfully the gate wasn’t locked and was only held shut by a latch. The garden was being worked on. A large part of it had been dug up and in one corner there were bags of cement and packs of wooden decking. The fencing on both sides was new, solid wood and around six feet high. Mac thought that it should help shield them from the gaze of the neighbours.
A firearm officer looked in the kitchen window and then signalled at the rest to come forward. He tried the kitchen door and they were in luck again, it wasn’t locked. As planned the firearm officers went in first and the rest waited. One came out a minute later.
‘Clear downstairs,’ he said softly.
The team made their way inside as quietly as they could. Mac went in last.
The kitchen was new and well laid out. Mac thought that someone had put some real work in. The room beyond the kitchen had a sofa, a big flat screen TV on the wall and a pile of taped up boxes in one corner. By the time they got to the stairs they met a firearm officer coming down.
‘Clear upstairs too,’ he whispered.
Dan pointed towards the cellar door. One of the firearm officers quietly opened the door. A narrow staircase ran down to a single door, the door to the cellar. Behind the firearm officers the entry team followed on tip toe.
They stopped and listened. They could all clearly hear a man grunting and then loudly saying ‘Yes, yes’. They looked at each other, the disgust showing on their faces. If Natasha was inside then it was absolutely clear what was happening to her.
One of the entry team carried a small orange coloured Enforcer. He swung the battering ram at the door and it flew open. The firearm officers went in first. A few seconds later they shouted with some urgency to the entry team to come and help.
Mac and rest of the team stood at the top of the stairs wondering what on earth was going on. Had they finally found Natasha?
Chapter Nineteen
A short while later one of the firearm officers came out and shouted up the stairs.
‘All clear, you can come down now.’
Mac let the rest go first and then gingerly made his way down the steep staircase. He walked through the door and into a gym. A set of free weights was neatly arranged on a rack; dumbbells, bars and round metal discs of varying sizes. Two padded benches took up most of the space, one was raised up at a forty five degree angle while the other one was flat. Wayne Turnell was seated on the flat one. He was holding his head with both hands and moaning.
‘Christ that hurt!’ he exclaimed.
‘What happened?’ Dan asked one of the firearm officers.
‘He was lifting weights when we broke in, you know bench pressing. We surprised him and he nearly lost control of the bar. That’s why I shouted for the entry team to come and help. It took all of us to get the bar back on the stand.’
Mac looked at the bar now nestled in its cradle. There was a very impressive amount of weight on it. Mac wasn’t surprised that he nearly lost control.
‘How did he get hurt then?’ Dan asked.
‘I sat up too quick and banged me bloody head on the bar,’ Wayne helpfully explained.
He stood up and his head was only half an inch or so from the ceiling. Mac decided that he really wouldn’t like to see Wayne when he was angry.
‘I hope to God you lot are from the police,’ he continued, looking suspiciously at the two rifles.
Dan showed him his warrant card.
Wayne handed it back.
‘Mind if we talk upstairs? I could do with getting some ice on this,’ he said pointing to his forehead which was already reddening.
Dan nodded to the firearm officers. One went ahead of Wayne and one behind. Again Mac let everyone go ahead of him and took his time getting back to the ground floor. His back was starting to feel somewhat tender.
By the time he got into the kitchen Wayne had applied a bag of peas wrapped in a tea towel to his head.
‘So what’s this all about?’ he quite reasonably asked.
‘Sorry but I need to have a word with my colleague first,’ Dan said.
Dan glanced over at Mac and nodded at him to follow him into the living room.
‘It’s not him,’ Dan stated.
‘I think you’re probably right there. As you said everything we had was circumstantial. At least now we know why he wanted a cellar,’ Mac replied.
‘So what now? I think we’re going to have to come clean with Mr. Turnell. At least if we explain why we needed to carry out the raid it might persuade him to keep quiet. What do you think?’
Mac could only agree. He followed Dan back into the kitchen.
‘We’re sorry for breaking in like this but we’re investigating the disappearance of Natasha Barker,’ Dan said.
Wayne’s face creased with puzzlement.
‘She’s that girl that was in the news, about a week ago wasn’t it? Was it because I was in the pub that night that you thought I might have something to do with her disappearance? I’ve got an alibi you know, you could have just asked.’
‘Yes there’s that plus we’ve also had information that links someone who is currently working on the rail project in Hitchin with Natasha’s disappearance,’ Dan explained.
‘And you really thought that someone was me!’ Wayne said with some indignation.
‘Yes we did. Look, I’m being totally honest with you now, we also think that Natasha wasn’t the first. When you were in Birmingham do you remember a girl called Sheila Matthews?’ Dan asked.
‘I’m not sure but the name sounds familiar for some reason,’ Wayne replied.
‘She disappeared, just like Natasha did, in 2003. You were both members of the same gym.’
Wayne gave it some deep thought.
‘Yes I think I remember now. People were talking in the gym about a girl going missing and then the police turned up showing everyone her photograph and asking if we’d ever met her.’
‘And had you?’ Dan asked.
Wayne shook his head.
‘Not as far as I remember. I was working odd shifts those days so I wasn’t usually there during the busier times. So you think this ‘someone’ from where I work has abducted other girls, how many are we talking about?’
‘Ten in all.’
‘Ten!’ Wayne exclaimed, looking somewhat shocked. ‘God almighty and it’s someone I might know too.’
‘We also think that he keeps the girls for a time that’s why we were interested when your estate agent let us know that you were interested in properties with cellars.’
‘I can see now how all that might have made me a suspect. I thought at first that it might have been to do with that charge that was made against me.’
‘The sexual assault charge?’ Dan asked.
‘So you did know about that then. I was told that was going to be wiped and it wouldn’t be on the record.’
‘Tell us about it.’
Wayne put the bag of peas down. He looked up at the clock.
‘Would you mind if I let the person who made the charges against me tell you the story instead? Believe me it’ll make a lot more sense.’
Dan and Mac looked at each other in puzzlement.
‘She’ll be back in about ten minutes or so,’ Wayne continued. ‘You lads fancy a brew while we wait?’ he asked with a smile while filling the kettle with water.
Seven minutes later a very pregnant young woman walked into the kitchen and froze at the sight of the crowd. She quickly noticed that two of the crowd had semi-automatic rifles.
‘What the…’ she said, her mouth opened but no sound came out.
Dan quickly showed her his warrant card. She then noticed the red mark on Wayne’s forehead. She put her hands on her hips and, bump sticking out, fearlessly faced down the entire squad of policemen.
‘What have you been doing to my Wayne? If you’ve been knocking him about him I’ll make sure you lot never work again!’
‘It’s alright love,’ Wayne said, ‘calm down. I did it myself. I sat up too quick and banged me head on the bar.’
‘You ninny,’ she said. ‘I keep telling you about that.’
Mac looked at the two of them, him six feet five and broad with it, while she was blond, slim and five feet five in high heels. Next to each other they didn’t even look like they belonged to the same species.
‘And you are?’ Dan asked.
‘Belinda Martens, I’m Wayne’s partner.’
Dan explained once again why they’d all ended up in her kitchen.
‘Wayne was in the pub on the night Natasha disappeared. He said he had an alibi, was that you?’ Dan asked.
‘Yes I picked him up about quarter to ten outside the pub.’
‘What did you do then?’
‘We went for a curry, the one on Nightingale Road. We always go for a curry after he has a rugby day,’ Belinda explained.
‘Okay then that’s something we can easily check. Wayne’s not exactly someone who would blend into the background. Did you see anything out of the ordinary when you picked Wayne up?’ Dan asked.
‘No, not that I remember. Wayne was a bit the worse for drink but then he always is on rugby days.’
‘We also found that Wayne had been investigated for a sexual offence and that the charges were dropped. He said you could tell us all about it.’
‘Oh that,’ she said, her face clearly showing that this was a subject that she really didn’t want to talk about.
‘I’m sorry love but they knew all about it,’ Wayne said, holding her hand. ‘I thought it would be better coming from you.’
She looked down at her bump and then pulled out a chair and sat down.
‘It was just over four years ago. I was pregnant just like I am now. God I was so desperate for a baby, still am,’ she said giving them a sad smile. ‘Seven months is all it lasted and then I had some rare complications, that’s what they told us. Anyway we lost her, we lost our little Juliet. That’s what we’d decided to call her. Anyway I went mad, not angry, I mean mad, totally potty. The doctors said that it was partly down to my hormones going all over the place, that and the grief. I was having delusions that everyone was after me, even poor Wayne here. I went to the police, said that he was a total stranger and that he’d tried to rape me. They investigated and did their job but they quickly came to the conclusion that it was me that needed help. I got it eventually but only after I’d stabbed Wayne.’
‘You stabbed Wayne?’ Dan echoed with some disbelief.
‘Yes, hard to believe isn’t it? The poor man’s got the scars to prove it too. I mean, look at him, he’s massive but he’s just a big jelly baby really. I suppose that’s why I fell for him in the first place. Anyway I was committed and spent three months in a hospital where they managed to sort me out. Wayne here stuck with me through it all though. He’s even persuaded me to have another go, can you believe it?’ she said, her hands caressing her bump. ‘Another girl but we’re not going to pick a name until...well you know.’
‘Thanks Belinda, I know that must have been difficult. Can I ask you both to keep what’s happened totally to yourselves for now? If word gets out to whoever’s holding Natasha that we’re closing in he might kill her,’ Dan said.
‘I saw her on the news, that girl’s mother,’ Belinda said. ‘I saw the pain in her face. I only carried my girl for seven months while she’s had hers for eighteen years but I knew what she was feeling. I knew. Don’t worry, no-one will hear about this from us.’
‘Thanks and the best of luck,’ Dan said. ‘Oh, by the way, when you get your door fixed just send me the bill.’
‘What do we say if any of the neighbours have seen you?’ Wayne asked. ‘They can be a nosy lot.’
Dan thought for a while.
‘If anyone mentions seeing us just say we’re filming a pilot for a police TV series.’
Mac smiled at Dan’s quick thinking.
They made their way out as quietly as they did coming in. The sergeant was waiting for them and escorted them back through his house.
As they drove back Dan said, ‘I think we just got very lucky back there.’
‘Yes it could have turned out a lot worse,’ Mac said. ‘So what’s next?’
‘I was nearly forgetting that I’ve got the press conference and this bloody reconstruction this evening,’ Dan said with some exasperation. ‘Tommy can you drop me and Mac at Mrs. Barker’s and then pick us up in about half an hour?’
‘Sure no problem,’ Tommy replied.
‘I just want to explain to her that she shouldn’t take any notice of what she might see on TV tonight. I’m hoping that we’ll come over as a bunch of complete idiots but I don’t want her thinking that.’
‘Good idea,’ Mac said.
He wasn’t sure it was such a good idea when he was struggling up the stairs. He realised that he was very nearly spent but he was trying desperately not to let it show.
Dan waited for him at the top.
‘What do you think we should tell her Mac?’ Dan asked.
Mac leant against the wall and thought it through.
‘Perhaps the truth would be best. It might get her hopes up but there is real hope, isn’t there?’
Dan nodded.
‘I agree. The truth it is then.’
Once again Stella opened the door and she had the same question on her face.
‘We’ve made some progress but I need to speak to Mrs. Barker about the reconstruction tonight,’ Dan said as he walked inside.
Mrs. Barker appeared at the living room door. The worry lines on her face had deepened.
‘I heard voices,’ she said. ‘Is it….?’
‘We’ve not found Natasha yet,’ Dan said quickly, ‘but we do have some news.’
Stella sat beside Mrs. Barker. Mac noticed that Mrs. Barker’s hand immediately reached out and grasped Stella’s. They had obviously become friends.
‘It’s been a week to the day since Natasha disappeared so we’re going to do a reconstruction,’ Dan said. ‘A police officer is going to dress like your daughter and then take the same route home that she took. We’re hoping that it might jog someone’s memory but there’s another reason why we’re doing it.’
Dan paused and looked at Mac.
Mac nodded.
Dan licked his lips and took the plunge.
‘We’ve made quite a bit of progress with the case and we think there’s a good chance that your daughter might still be alive.’
He paused again, waiting for Mrs. Barker’s reaction. It took quite a while to come.
She looked at Stella, then at Dan, then at Mac and back to Stella again. It was clear that she still didn’t believe a word of what she was being told.
‘We believe that the man who abducted Natasha has done it before, several times before in fact. We also believes that he…well, he keeps the girls for a while,’ Dan said.
He didn’t want to dwell on what might be happening to Natasha while she was being kept so he raced on.
‘The main point of the reconstruction tonight is to make her abductor feel secure. I’m going to admit, under some very critical questioning from a friend of mine in the local press, that we hav
e absolutely no idea what’s happened to Natasha. To be honest we’re going to make ourselves look a bit foolish, all in the hope that this encourages him to keep Natasha for a good while longer. The real truth is that we’ve got some very good leads and I’m hopeful that we’ll have him before too long.’
Mrs. Barker said nothing but the tears streaming from her eyes and the half-smile on her face said it all.
Dan stood up.
‘We’ll be in touch if anything happens but please don’t tell anyone else what we’ve discussed,’ Dan said. ‘We don’t know who he is yet and we want to make sure he has no idea that we’re on his trail.’
Mrs. Barker stood up and grasped Dan’s right hand in both of hers.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’
Stella saw them out.
‘Is that true, that we really might be close to identifying him?’ she asked.
Dan nodded.
‘We’re fairly certain he’s one of ninety one suspects. The only problem we’ve got is figuring out which one is him.’
‘Good luck with that sir,’
‘Thanks Stella, we’ll need it.’
Tommy was waiting for them when they got back downstairs. Mac’s back was screaming at him now. There was no point in covering it up any longer.
‘Sorry Dan but would you mind if Tommy dropped me home? It’s only up the road and, if I’m honest, I’m not feeling so well.’
‘Sure, of course,’ Dan said with some concern. ‘Will you be okay?’
‘If I get some rest now I should be fine for tomorrow,’ Mac said with a lot more confidence than he felt.
Before he got out of the car he said, ‘Best of luck tonight with the reconstruction.’
‘Thanks. We’ll need it,’ Dan replied.
Mac changed patches and took his other medication then made his way straight to his bedroom. He let his clothes drop to the floor and gratefully crawled between the sheets. He lay back and grunted when the expected spike of pain hit him. Sleep was what he needed and he was fairly sure it wouldn’t take too long in coming.
With luck the two little blue pills he’d just taken would see to that.
The Blackness (The Mac Maguire detective mysteries Book 4) Page 18