The Blackness (The Mac Maguire detective mysteries Book 4)

by Patrick C Walsh

  ‘I’ve got a feeling that it’s all coming together Mac,’ Dan said.

  Mac had exactly the same feeling.

  Dan turned to face the team.

  ‘Has anyone gotten any information on a Nicholas Moncrieff yet?’ he asked.

  Chris put his hand up.

  ‘Just got this five minutes ago from a local newspaper in Scotland, the Edinburgh Evening News. An elderly reporter there remembered it because it was the first story he’d been involved in.’

  He handed a tablet to Dan who held it so Mac could read it at the same time. It was a copy of an article from just over forty two years before.

  Boy found with dead mother

  Six year old Nicholas Moncrieff was found in a flat in Leith three days after his mother, 21 year old Jennie Moncrieff, had killed herself. She was a single mother and she hanged herself after suffering from depression for some years. Police found the boy cowering in a cupboard in the kitchen. They initially thought that Nicholas was a girl as he was dressed in girl’s clothing, however, it was discovered he was a boy when he was later bathed at the children’s home….’

  ‘Here look at the photo,’ Dan said excitedly.

  Jennie Moncrieff was the dead spit of Natasha and all the other girls.

  ‘That settles it, we’re going in,’ Dan said. ‘We don’t need a warrant as we have good reason to believe that Natasha’s life is at risk.’

  ‘What about an entry team?’ Mac asked.

  ‘Well we’ve got Adil’s size twelve boots and I hope you’ve got your lock picks?’

  Mac produced them for Dan.

  ‘Then we’ve got our entry team.’ He turned to the team and raised his voice. ‘We’ve now got a good suspect, his name is Nicholas Moncrieff and he lives on the Ickleford Road. We have no idea how long he’s likely to keep Natasha so we’re going in right now. Martin what can you tell us about the property?’

  ‘It’s a Victorian detached house, one of three that look the same. It has a side entrance and a large back garden. There’s quite a good sized shed or outhouse in the garden so that might be worth having a look at. I’m afraid that there’s no way you’ll be able to disguise the raid like you did for the Turnells, the only way you can get to the property is from the street.’

  ‘I’m not worried about that, Moncrieff is our man, I’m sure of it,’ Dan said with conviction. ‘Okay I want everyone except Martin and Amanda in on this. Once we get access Andy, Adil and myself will go in first and detain Moncrieff and whoever else might be there. The rest will guard the other entrances. If you have to go inside the property try not to disturb anything as hopefully there’ll be something from forensics to look at. Is that understood?’

  ‘I see that the men are getting all the fun again,’ Jo said as she pulled a face at Leigh.

  Dan ignored her.

  ‘I’ll get some uniforms to attend the scene but they might take a little time to arrive so we’re not going to wait for them. Get your stab vests on and let’s get going.’

  Tommy came back just as they were about to leave. He’d not found out any more about the mysterious Nicky.

  Mac got a lift with Dan, Tommy and Adil. It took less than two minutes for them to reach the house on the Ickleford Road.

  So close, Mac thought.

  The house itself was strange, being one of three detached properties, whereas most of the street was made up of terraced or semi-detached buildings. They were all rendered a grey colour and Mac couldn’t help thinking that they looked like giant tombstones. The Moncrieff house was the middle one of the three. The tarmac in the parking area in the front of the house looked like it had been re-laid fairly recently.

  ‘Tommy, Chris and Martina guard the back door just in case he’s in and he decides to make a run for it,’ Dan said. ‘And keep it as quiet as you can. If he knows we’re here he might decide to kill Natasha anyway.’

  The side gate was locked so Tommy quietly clambered over and unlocked it from the other side.

  While this was going on Mac had a look at the front door. It was new, a security door with multiple locking points.

  ‘Any chance you can open it?’ Dan asked softly.

  Mac shook his head.

  ‘I’m afraid that will take even more than Adil’s size twelves to open that,’ Mac said. ‘Shall we try the back door? We might have more luck.’

  ‘Come on Jo, slight change of plans. You can come with us.’

  Jo smiled broadly, ‘Yes, that’s one for the sisters!’

  Dan walked quickly around to the back of the house and asked Tommy, Chris and Martina to join Leigh in guarding the front door.

  The brick built shed immediately caught Mac’s attention as he walked into the back garden. It had a big padlock holding the door shut but Mac was confident he could open it.

  ‘Shall we have a look in here first?’ he suggested.

  The lock was fairly new and so was relatively easy to open. The team held their breath while Mac opened the door but all the shed contained was various bits of gardening equipment. Mac then turned his attention to the back door.

  He smiled. It was an older wooden door with a single standard five lever mortice deadlock. Mac was sure that it wouldn’t pose any problem. It took him less than two minutes to unlock. The door still wouldn’t open though. Mac pushed on the top of the door, which went in quite a bit, and then on the bottom which went in a lot less.

  ‘There’s a bolt holding the door shut. It’s just about here I’d guess,’ Mac said pointing to an area of the door about two inches below the deadlock.

  Dan turned to Adil, ‘Looks like you’ll be needed after all.’ He then turned to Mac. ‘Mac can you wait here with Jo? If there’s any rough stuff Adil can handle it, he’s used to it being a rugby player.’

  ‘Sure,’ he replied looking slightly disappointed.

  Adil set himself and then kicked out hard with the sole of his right foot flat against the door. It sprang open with such force that it rebounded almost all the way back.

  Adil led the charge inside followed by Dan and Andy.

  ‘And here was me thinking I was going to be part of an entry team after all these years,’ Jo said looking just as disappointed as Mac had.

  They looked at each other and laughed.

  In less than two minutes Dan returned.

  ‘It’s clear, there’s no-one in there. No Natasha either unfortunately,’ he told them with obvious disappointment. ‘Want to have a look around?’

  ‘Sure but Dan you go ahead, I’ll follow if you don’t mind,’ Mac replied.

  ‘Is the back playing you up?’ Dan asked with some concern.

  ‘It’s fine, just feeling a bit slow today that’s all.’

  Dan took him at his word and went ahead. Mac slowly followed. In truth he always preferred to be alone when he was examining a potential crime scene. He found he could concentrate better that way.

  The sink was just under the kitchen window. On the draining board there was a single cup and a single plate. In the cutlery holder there was a single knife and a teaspoon. He looked in the wall cupboards, most of them were empty. One cupboard had a few cans of beans and peas and a single package of corn flakes on one side and on the other it held just a single large plate and a cereal bowl. The small fridge had some butter, an opened packet of sliced cheese, a half used pint bottle of milk and a carton of orange juice. The even smaller freezer was chock full of frozen ready meals and bread. The bread was in several sandwich bags which contained just two slices each.

  Mac was immediately puzzled. From what he’d just seen it was obvious that it was a single person that lived here and not a couple. He moved on into the living room.

  A small fairly new two-seater sofa faced a large flat screen TV. In front of the sofa on the right hand side there was a small foldable table. Whoever lived here must eat their meals watching the TV, Mac guessed. He looked closely at the sofa. It looked like the seat cushions had only been used on the side where the table
was. Again it pointed to the house only having a single occupant.

  He looked around the room and he felt its strangeness seep into him. There was something very, very wrong here, Mac thought, but he wasn’t quite sure why. The only piece of furniture besides the sofa was a single cabinet that was against the wall in the far corner of the room. Why there? Mac immediately thought. It would surely be more convenient in the other corner.

  The décor puzzled him too. Three walls of the room were a cream colour while the fourth, the one on the left of the room as he walked in, was painted black. The floor was also covered in large square black carpet tiles. The impression of something being way off kilter hit him even harder.

  He let Adil, Andy and Dan come down the stairs before he went up.

  ‘Anything?’ he asked hopefully as they passed by.

  Dan shook his head. He didn’t look happy.

  Mac slowly went up the steps. He looked into the room on the right first. Inside there was a single bed, a small chest of drawers, a side table and a wardrobe. He opened the wardrobe. It contained men’s clothes and, from the style, he guessed the owner was in his forties. He looked at the size labels. Thirty two waist with a thirty two inch leg. So he wasn’t all that tall then but definitely a lot slimmer than himself. Mac guessed that the last time he’d worn a thirty two waist was when he was a teenager.

  He looked in the bathroom but this did nothing to reduce his puzzlement. It was a couple’s bathroom, men’s aftershave and shaving foam, a pink woman’s razor, scented shower gel and a bottle of handwash with little flowers on. There was only one toothbrush though.

  The second bedroom was the strangest of all. It held a single bed, a new single bed. Mac knew it was new because the mattress was still in the plastic wrapping. There were no pillows, duvet or sheets in evidence. Obviously no-one slept in this room. He opened the wardrobe. It was full of women’s clothes, neatly arranged in sets. On the floor of the wardrobe were several sets of medium heeled court shoes in different colours.

  Mac sat on the bed and tried to think it through. He quickly came to the conclusion that this house was schizophrenic, some things implying a couple lived here while other evidence clearly showed single occupancy.

  For some reason the living room was the one that he found most disquieting. But why?

  Mac sat there for a few minutes before making his way carefully back down the stairs. The door to the living room was open and he stepped inside. The blackness of the wall was trying to tell him something but what?

  He stood there and tried not to think at all.

  She heard some muffled noises upstairs and she knew it had to be now or never. It had taken her a while to summon up the courage but as she went about arranging her escape she now felt icy cold inside.

  She smiled at the thought that she might be taking his little toy away from him. She would have loved to see his face when he found that she was gone.

  She located the bucket and emptied it into the corner where she normally sat. She then turned it upside down and stood on it. Her hand raised she felt along the ceiling beam.

  There it was!

  She held the chain taut and then placed a link over the head of the nail. It was only sticking out a quarter of an inch or so but she felt that would be enough to securely hold the chain. She stood teetering on the bucket.

  I love you mum, she thought, and then kicked the bucket away.

  Her feet hit the floor. She had allowed too much slack in the chain and she’d have to try again. She felt around and located the bucket and located the nail once again. She measured the chain more carefully this time and placed a link over the nail. She didn’t pray or think this time but kicked the bucket immediately away.

  Her feet dangled in mid-air and she could feel the collar biting into her windpipe.

  It won’t be long now, she thought.

  She managed to picture her mother in her mind before the blackness descended.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Dan stood outside looking at the house. He’d ordered a forensics team but in truth he was worried. Had they got it wrong again?

  Adil knew that expression well and he knew it was highly likely that his boss would explode any minute.

  Dan looked around for something to kick and, seeing nothing nearby, let off a loud volley of expletives instead. He felt better when he’d finished and, after he’d calmed down a bit, a thought occurred to him.

  ‘Where’s this bloody cellar then? Martin said there was a cellar but there’s no sign of it in there.’ He turned to Andy and Chris. ‘Go and interview the neighbour on that side and ask if they know anything about Moncrieff and check to see if they’ve got a cellar. Adil and I will take the neighbour on the other side.’

  Dan walked towards the house next door noting that it had a grating in front of the bow window. Where there’s a coal-hole there’s a cellar, he thought.

  The neighbour proved to be a man in his mid-seventies named Albert Halsall who had lived there all his life. He showed them where the door to the cellar was and confirmed that all three houses had a cellar as they’d been built to the same plans.

  ‘What can you tell us about Mr. Moncrieff?’ Dan asked.

  Mr. Halsall shrugged.

  ‘Not much, I only ever see them as they walk by. They only ever say hello, they never seem to have a minute spare to pass the time of day with you.’

  ‘They? Who are they?’

  ‘Why Mr. Moncrieff and his sister. I see him in the morning going to work but I’ve only ever seen her at night when she goes out. She’s always by herself too.’

  ‘Do you have any idea where he might be now?’

  ‘At church I’d guess. He always goes out every Sunday morning at ten thirty and comes back a couple of hours later. A friend of mine said she’s seen him at the Catholic Church in Nightingale Road. She’s seen him at the sung mass at five in the evening too, very religious man apparently. Obviously his sister doesn’t take after him though.’

  After thanking Mr. Halsall Dan compared notes with Andy and Chris. The neighbours on the other side, a young couple with two kids, knew even less than Mr. Halsall, in fact they didn’t even know their neighbour’s name. They too had a cellar but they’d had it blocked off as they were never going to use it.

  ‘Okay, so we know there’s a cellar but has Moncrieff blocked it off too or has he done something else?’ Dan looked around. ‘Where’s Mac?’ he asked.

  ‘Still inside I think,’ Andy replied.

  Dan gave it some thought.

  ‘Okay the cat’s well and truly out of the bag now. Andy take Adil and Chris and get up to the Catholic Church on Nightingale Road. Pick up Moncrieff and we’ll see what he knows. I’ll wait here for forensics to turn up.’

  Dan stood there just looking at the house. If only there was something he could do.

  Mac stood looking at the black wall in the living room. Think logically, he said to himself. Why is it black? Of course Moncrieff might just like the colour but Mac doubted it. So why black?

  The only reason he could think of was that it would easily disguise any marks. Then it came to him!

  The reason for using the carpet tiles became clear too. Mac used the end of his crutch to try and move the tiles that ran next to the black wall but he had no success until he came to the last tile, the tile in the corner. It only moved a fraction of an inch but it moved. It was stiff, the carpet appeared to be glued to a thin piece of wood. Mac got down on his knees and tried to manipulate the piece of wood, eventually managing to slide it and the tile out of place. Below the tile he could see the floorboards. He could also see a line where five of the floorboards had been cut across. He put his fingers into a gap and pulled the boards out in one piece, they had been glued together. Below he could see a metal ladder strapped to the cellar wall and a light switch on the right hand side.

  He was about to go and let Dan know what he’d found when he heard a sound, a sound he’d only heard once before in his
life. He knew instantly what it was and he reacted as quickly as he could. He leant against the black wall, black so that no hand marks would show, and stepped down onto the ladder. Once he was down far enough he switched on the light and, putting his feet either side of the ladder, slid down the rest of the way into the cellar. The jolt at the end sent a wave of pain radiating outwards from the base of his spine but Mac ignored it. His whole mind was concentrated on one thing only.

  Natasha.

  She was dangling from a ceiling beam with her feet no more than six inches off the floor. Her legs were still twitching so Mac prayed that he wasn’t too late. He ran over and grabbed her legs and sat her on one shoulder. He then stood up so that the chain was slack. The only problem was that he found it hard to keep her erect as she kept flopping over and he had to keep changing position.

  ‘Natasha, Natasha wake up!’ he shouted.

  She didn’t respond. Mac knew that she was either unconscious or dead. He prayed that it was the first.

  The extra weight and the sudden movements caused an intense grinding pain in his lower back. He somehow managed to keep any thought of it at bay and shouted as loud as he could.

  ‘Dan, help, help! Someone please help!’

  Natasha nearly slipped from his shoulder and he had to quickly readjust again. The sudden movement made it feel as though his spine was collapsing and he knew he would only be able to keep her in this position for a few seconds longer. She flopped to one side again and Mac had to change position once more. Unbearable pain flared up but he somehow managed to stop himself from blacking out.

  ‘Help, help!’ he shouted desperately.

  He was nearly spent. His head was buzzing and he could feel the blackness hovering but he pushed it away and got the best grip he could on Natasha.

  ‘I won’t let you die, I bloody well won’t!’ he shouted.

  He said a little prayer. If God would let her live he could give Mac all the pain in the world, if he would just let her live.

  Dan stood looking at the house and finally decided that he might as well see what Mac was doing. He went and looked at where the door to the cellar should be. There was just a blank wall. He didn’t hear anything until he opened up the living room door. Then he heard it clearly enough and at the same time saw the gap in the floorboards.