The Blackness (The Mac Maguire detective mysteries Book 4)

by Patrick C Walsh

  Again the light told of his coming and again he came in a dressing gown with the baseball bat in one hand and the scalpel in the other. Again he cut her first to prove the keenness of the scalpel, not once but twice this time, and then he ordered her to lean against the wall.

  ‘Take a step back,’ he ordered.

  She was so scared that she couldn’t make sense of his words. She heard a swish and then felt an overwhelming surge of pain emanate from her upper back. He’d hit her with the baseball bat.

  ‘Quicker next time,’ he whispered in her ear.

  He grabbed her hair and positioned the scalpel at her throat. He then took her roughly from behind.

  Next time. The words went around her head. Would there be a next time? She hoped he’d do it now. She was tired of being afraid.

  Then he noisily came and the scalpel blade ran across her throat. Her eyes were tight shut but she felt the warmth of her blood flowing down her breasts. She was sure that the blackness would now take her and she welcomed it with open arms. She was disappointed when she once again heard his laughter and opened her eyes to find that he had used the blunt side again.

  She hadn’t had to fake her fear, it was real enough, but somehow, sitting alone in the darkness, she’d found some steel inside herself. She decided that there must be a way out and, if there was, she’d only have a brief time to find it.

  She quickly scanned the room while the light was still on as he made his way out. It was featureless with the walls, ceiling and floor being made up of plasterboard panels. Featureless, that is, with the exception of two ancient wooden ceiling beams that ran across the width of the room.

  It was there that she spotted it. Her way out.

  The light went off but she’d memorised its location. There was only one thing she needed now.

  The courage to do it.

  Chapter Twenty

  Seven days missing

  When he awoke the room was dark. For a while he had no idea where he was or what day it was. His memory returned in instalments. He eventually turned on the bedside lamp and looked at the clock. It was four thirty. He’d been asleep for well over ten hours but he still felt exhausted.

  He turned off the light and lay back hoping that sleep might overtake him again but his brain had gotten into gear and the memories of the abortive raid and the interview with Mrs. Barker paraded through his head. He sighed and turned the light back on.

  He went through his morning ritual of first sitting up and then standing up to see what the pain was like. The pain wasn’t that bad so he decided to have a shower and a shave and see how he felt afterwards. The shower, followed by a cup of strong coffee, helped to make him feel a little more alert. It was still only five fifteen. Not knowing what else to do he decided he might as well drive into Hitchin and see if there was anything he could do in the incident room.

  The sun was just beginning to rise over the town as he drove down the hill through a thin morning mist. He ignored the speed limit but still stopped at the red light even though he could clearly see that the gates to the site were locked. It was Sunday and Mac wondered if anyone would be working today.

  When he pulled up outside the incident room he was mildly surprised to see a light on inside. The door was unlocked. There was no-one inside except for Martin who was clicking away at his laptop in the corner. The smell of freshly made coffee welcomed him in.

  ‘You’re early today,’ Martin said without turning around.

  ‘So are you,’ Mac replied.

  Martin turned and gave Mac a disappointed look.

  ‘I couldn’t sleep and I was hoping that someone might have reported something overnight, you know from the reconstruction.’

  ‘And I take it from your face that they haven’t?’

  Martin shook his head.

  ‘Did you go?’ Mac asked.

  ‘No, I stayed here just in case any contacts came through but I heard all about it from Dan afterwards.’

  ‘How did Amanda do?’

  ‘Really well, so Dan said. I saw her on the news afterwards, she looked quite confident even when all the photographers were taking pictures of her.’

  ‘Anything interesting happen?’ Mac asked.

  ‘No, not really. Oh, apart from Jo catching a glimpse of Jonny Aldis in the crowd that is.’

  ‘What happened there?’

  ‘Well, Jo had this idea that Jonny might be curious enough to turn up to see what was going on. So she, Gerry and a couple of uniforms spent the whole time scanning the crowd watching the reconstruction and they got lucky. They saw him looking at Amanda as she walked towards Purwell Lane. They tried to follow him but unfortunately they lost sight of him near the Millstream pub.’

  ‘That was really good thinking on Jo’s part, pity they lost him though.’ Mac said.

  ‘Well it seems to have given Gerry an idea. He said he thinks he knows where Jonny’s been hiding out.’

  ‘Any idea where exactly?’

  Martin shook his head.

  ‘No but Jo and Gerry are meeting up here in around thirty minutes so you can ask them yourselves.’

  ‘Thanks, I’ll do just that.’

  Mac helped himself to a cup of coffee.

  ‘By the way did you ever get anywhere with the medical records of the ninety two? No sorry, it’s the ninety one now, isn’t it?’

  ‘I did get some information but I’m afraid that it’s a bit patchy,’ Martin replied. ‘Only forty six had Summary Care Records and none of them mentioned Fentanyl.’

  ‘So how come the other forty five don’t have records then?’

  ‘Well apparently you can opt out of the system if you want and I believe some doctors never bought into the idea in the first place. Bit of a mess really,’ Martin explained.

  ‘I see and I suppose we can’t really rule out any of those who have records in case they’re carers and getting Fentanyl that way.’ Mac sighed. ‘We desperately need something to whittle down the number a bit, any ideas?’

  Martin gave the question some thought.

  ‘I’ve been thinking and thinking but I’ve not come up with anything that might help. I thought the house idea might work but there was only Wayne Turnell who bought a house locally as far as we can tell. There are around twenty or so who bought flats while the rest seem to have either rented flats or they’re commuting from London. We need a new angle. What about using a criminal profiler?’ Martin suggested. ‘You see them on TV all the time.’

  ‘Yes, you see a lot of things of the TV but they don’t always get things right, do they?’

  ‘Have you worked with profilers before then?’

  ‘Just the once, he was foisted on me by one of my more gullible bosses and it turned out to be a total waste of time. He came up with some ideas but in the end they all proved to be way off the mark, so it was just as well that none of us took any notice of him. A friend of mine, a professor of criminology, did a study not long ago and he challenged anyone to come up with a case where profiling had led directly to an arrest. Unsurprisingly no-one did.’

  Martin looked surprised.

  ‘So it’s all just rubbish then?’

  ‘No, not totally. It’s not profiling really but I think it can help if you think about the man behind the crime. On a case by case basis you can learn a lot about someone but I guess where profiling in general falls down is trying to force all criminals into particular categories. People can be very different to each other and murderers are no exception.’

  ‘So what do you think our man’s like?’ Martin asked.

  ‘The old cliché about being a loner, living alone and not being good with people always stands a good chance of applying.’

  ‘It looks like a good proportion of the ninety one are single or divorced anyway.’

  ‘‘I suppose it’s all that working away from home, so not much help there then. Even so you can’t even rule out the married ones. Think of Fred West whose wife was a willing accomplice and Gacy who wa
s married and quite sociable, so with serial killers you can never ...’

  Mac didn’t finish the sentence. He had an idea.

  ‘Are you alright Mac?’ Martin asked, worried by his sudden silence.

  The door opened and Jo walked in. She looked tired and grumpy.

  ‘Morning,’ she said. ‘I thought that Bear Grylls would be here by now. We need to start looking at first light he said. So where is he then? Anyone had breakfast yet?’

  Mac and Martin shook their heads.

  ‘I’ve got some nice spicy beef patties if anyone’s interested. Best patties in the world, my mum dropped them around last night. I’ll need one to keep my strength up if I’m going to be poking around in the undergrowth all day again.’

  She produced a big plastic tub that was stuffed full of yellow half-moon shaped pastries. Mac loved Caribbean food and the patties especially.

  ‘I’ll have one,’ he quickly piped up.

  ‘Yes, me too,’ Martin said.

  ‘I’ll heat them up then,’ Jo said with a smile.

  While she was at the microwave Gerry walked in.

  ‘Morning all,’ he said cheerily. ‘Morning Jo, looking forward to another day in the great outdoors?’

  ‘No I am not!’ she snapped. ‘I’ll be glad when I can start wearing my heels to work again. Mud and bloody spiders, how can anyone like that? Want a pattie?’

  ‘Oh God yes, they smell fantastic!’ Gerry replied. ‘Okay if we eat them on the way? The uniforms are going to meet us in the Millstream car park in fifteen minutes or so.’

  ‘No problem, I brought some napkins as well,’ Jo replied.

  ‘I believe you’ve got an idea of where Jonny Aldis might be holing up?’ Mac asked as Jo gave him and Martin a piping hot pattie each.

  ‘Yes, it looks like he went into the Millstream car park which puzzled me until I had a look at Google Earth,’ Gerry replied. ‘We searched Walsworth Common but there’s a little neck of land that somewhat hidden away when you look at it from the common and I’ve been wondering if it might be easier to get to from the back of the pub. There seems to be a lot of trees and bushes there so plenty of cover for him to hide in. Well worth a look anyway.’

  Mac took a bite out of the peppery pattie. It was wonderful, the pastry was flaky and the chunks of steak and brightly coloured vegetables coated his mouth with spices. His face must have shown it because Jo gave him a wide smile.

  ‘So you think he’s been hiding behind the pub all this time?’ he asked once he’d swallowed his first bite.

  His mouth was tingling in the nicest possible way.

  ‘Yes and it would make sense,’ Gerry replied. ‘It’s not too far from home and, close as it is to the pub, you wouldn’t know this bit of land was there if you didn’t look at an aerial view.’

  Jo handed Gerry a pattie wrapped in a napkin.

  ‘Come on, let’s not keep the spiders waiting,’ she said as she headed for the door.

  ‘See you,’ Gerry said with a smile as he left.

  ‘It’s a wonder those two haven’t killed each other by now,’ Mac said once they’d gone.

  He then returned to the serious business of putting away his pattie.

  ‘I know what you mean,’ Martin replied. ‘I’d bet that Jo will ask for another partner as soon as this case is over.’

  ‘Yes, it does appear as if Gerry actually enjoys annoying her.’

  The door opened and Dan walked in.

  ‘What is that wonderful smell?’ he said.

  ‘Patties,’ Martin replied in between bites, ‘in the box over there. Absolutely fantastic.’

  Dan went and helped himself to one and put it in the microwave.

  ‘I take it that Jo and Gerry have been in then?’

  ‘Yes, you just missed them. They’re still hoping to track down Jonny Aldis,’ Mac replied.

  ‘Let’s hope Gerry’s right, we could do with some good luck. What’s the betting that even if they do find him he won’t be able to tell us anything new anyway?’

  Dan’s grumpy expression returned.

  ‘Ninety one suspects and I haven’t got a clue where we go next. What about the Fentanyl, nothing there?’ Dan asked hopefully.

  ‘We were just talking about that before you came in,’ Mac replied. ‘Apparently not all of the ninety one’s medical records are available and, even if they were, our man might be a carer so not much help there I’m afraid.’

  Dan’s face got a notch grumpier.

  The microwave signalled that it had finished. Dan wrapped the pastry in a napkin and took a bite.

  ‘God these are bloody good! Did Jo do them herself?’

  ‘Her mum,’ Martin replied.

  ‘I wouldn’t mind inviting myself around for dinner when she’s next cooking then,’ Dan said.

  ‘How did the press conference go?’ Mac asked. ‘Sorry but I never got to see it, I was asleep not long after you dropped me home.’

  ‘It went better than I expected if I’m honest. I had a look at it later on the news and my reporter friend made me look a right idiot which, of course, was the plan. I even got him to ask a question about Tony Hamilton so everyone would know that the newspaper story about him was just a pack of lies.’

  ‘Thanks for that but unfortunately I think the horse has already bolted on that one,’ Mac said sadly.

  ‘So we got nothing new from the reconstruction, not that I was expecting much, and here we are. We’ve whittled it down from millions of suspects to ninety one and now we’re stuck. If I’m honest I just haven’t got a clue where we go next. I’m beginning to think we should just raid them all at the same time.’

  ‘It would be a hell of a gamble and quite difficult logistically but I agree that it’s something we might need to think about before long,’ Mac said. ‘We stand a chance of being able to hush up a single raid, like we did with the Turnells, but the cat would be well and truly out of the bag if we raided them all. We’d have one shot at it and if that went wrong then…’

  ‘I know, it’ll be Natasha’s body that we’ll be looking for.’

  ‘For now it might just be best to keep patient and see what we can turn up. Based on what we know he might keep Natasha for at least another couple of weeks, we’ve still got a real chance,’ Mac said, hoping his words might cheer Dan up a bit.

  ‘God I hate being patient though!’ Dan said with some exasperation. ‘I just want to get going and knock some heads together but I know you’re right.’

  He took another bite from his pattie.

  ‘Oh well, we’ll just have to wait until everyone gets in and hope that someone’s had a brainwave overnight.’

  ‘There was something that just occurred to me, a bit of a long shot perhaps, but it might be worth a try,’ Mac said.

  Dan’s face lit up.

  ‘Go on, right now I’d settle for any type of shot at getting our man, long or otherwise.’

  ‘Just before you came in we were talking about John Wayne Gacy and it gave me an idea. Most serial killers I’ve been involved with or that I’ve read about have had quite traumatic childhoods in one way or another. It would take a lot of digging but if we’ve got nothing else…’

  Dan’s face turned thoughtful.

  ‘Gacy, yes he killed a lot of young men didn’t he? What happened to him then?’

  ‘He had an alcoholic father who beat him from the age of four and belittled him constantly, even when he was ill and in hospital his father accused him of faking it. I’m not saying that everyone who has killed has an obviously traumatic childhood but I’d bet that a very high proportion have. It’s just an idea.’

  ‘Martin how could we get information on the early years of the ninety one?’ Dan asked.

  Martin thought for a moment.

  ‘Well the obvious sources would be schools, hospitals, social services and the local papers I’d guess. We know where each of them was born and went to school from their work records so that could be our starting point. The only
problem is that some of the data might be thirty or forty years old so it might not be easily available, if it’s available at all that is.’

  ‘Okay but still worth having a go perhaps?’ Dan asked.

  ‘Absolutely, especially as we’ve nothing else worth following up at the moment,’ Martin replied.

  ‘Yes we need to keep the team working away at something. Okay then, start thinking about how we’ll need to organise it. Bloody hell, it’s Sunday, that’s not going to help much is it?’ Dan exclaimed.

  ‘The schools and social services probably won’t be available until tomorrow but we could try the hospitals and local papers in the meantime. They might have someone around who could get us the information,’ Martin suggested.

  ‘Okay then, that’s what we’ll do for now.’

  Dan looked much happier now.

  The rest of the team dribbled in over the next forty five minutes or so. They all looked more than a little disheartened when they heard the news that the reconstruction hadn’t provided any further clues.

  ‘However Mac’s come up with an idea and it will give us something to have a go at for the next couple of days unless anyone’s come up with something else?’ Dan asked with more hope than expectation.

  No-one had.

  ‘Okay so what we’re going to be doing is seeing what we can find out about our ninety one suspects’ childhoods. If we assume that something traumatic might have happened to our man to turn him into a killer then that information might still be out there.’

  Dan looked at the team’s faces.

  ‘I can see that one or two of you aren’t quite sold on this idea but I want you to give it your best shot. Even if it doesn’t give us a killer clue we’ll end up knowing more about the suspects and that can’t be bad. Are we all okay with that?’

  Apparently the team were.

  ‘Okay then Martin’s going to give you a sheet of paper with a suspect’s name on. It will also give you the location where the suspect was born and brought up. As it’s Sunday concentrate on local hospitals and newspapers as they might have someone on duty. Oh and warn anyone you speak to that they should keep the fact that we’ve called to themselves. Our man might still have friends and relatives in the area and if they go blabbing around it might stand a chance of getting back to him. If we’ve gotten nowhere by tomorrow we’ll start contacting schools and social service departments. When you’ve finished go back to Martin and he’ll give you another suspect to look at. If you find anything, no matter how insignificant it might seem, note it on the sheet of paper and return it to Martin. He’ll be collating everything we find and, hopefully, by the end of the exercise we might know a bit more than we do now.’