The Blackness (The Mac Maguire detective mysteries Book 4)

by Patrick C Walsh

  ‘And one who gave him permission to do terrible things.’

  ‘That’s exactly what the psychologist said. He said that Moncrieff as himself would never have been able, either physically or psychologically, to kidnap the girls. His back wouldn’t have allowed it and the psychologist felt he wouldn’t have had the nerve anyway. His sister on the other hand certainly did. So she contributed by not only kidnapping the girls but consenting to what was to happen to them afterwards.’

  ‘That explains so much. How he could get so close to the girls, watch their every move without any suspicion. It explains the house too.’

  Mac suddenly remembered the shoes in the wardrobe. They only had medium heels but Mac couldn’t even imagine himself wearing anything like that. It would throw his back out straight away.

  ‘But how could he do it with his back being the way it is? You know wear heels and walk without a crutch? And how did he manage to get all that work done in the cellar? He couldn’t have done it himself.’

  ‘Well the psychologist said that the answer was simple, Nicola doesn’t have a bad back. While he was Nicola he simply didn’t feel any pain. He thought that Moncrieff might also have been using Nicola as a sort of pain relief.’

  ‘A very extreme way of doing it though,’ Mac said.

  Mac wondered if he would dress up as a woman if it would relieve all his pain. He decided that he probably wouldn’t but he had to admit that he’d definitely think about it for a while first.

  ‘I’d have to agree there,’ Dan said. ‘As for the house Nicola got one lot of builders up from Kent to soundproof the cellar. She said her husband wanted to use it for a recording studio. Then she got another lot of builders from Peterborough to block off access to the cellar and re-lay the drive so the entrance to the coal-hole would disappear. All they had to do then was saw through the floorboards so they could access the cellar.’

  ‘Very clever. So I take it from what you’ve said that that he’s most likely to end up in a secure hospital?’

  ‘Odds on the psychologist said. He’s rubbing his hands together though, he reckons there’s a book in this for him.’

  ‘It’s such a strange case that I wouldn’t be at all surprised. By the way what was the ‘other way’ that they found to get rid of the bodies?’

  Mac was surprised that he’d actually said ‘they’.

  ‘Well he just had a big truck come along and fill up the cellar with a couple of feet of cement. Damp proofing or so he claimed.’

  ‘So I take it that they’re already tearing up the cellar floors at his previous addresses?’

  Dan nodded.

  ‘They’ve found two bodies already. The families are really grateful, at least they can hold a proper funeral at last.’

  Mac had been involved in returning bodies before and he knew how important it was to the victims’ families. It gave real closure.

  ‘Talking of bodies we also found out about that body we found in the field,’ Dan said.

  ‘Was it a murder?’

  ‘No far from it, more like a very cheap funeral. The team we passed it over to found out who was behind it quite quickly when they started interviewing people in the houses overlooking the burial site. A man in his mid-twenties told them it was the body of his old next door neighbour. She’d had a heart problem and made her husband promise that when she died he would bury her in the field. So she could keep an eye on him, she said.’

  ‘How did the neighbour know all that?’

  ‘Apparently he helped the husband bury the body. He was only fourteen at the time and was apparently very close to the old couple. He also said he was glad that we’d found the body as her husband had died just a few months ago and he’d been buried at Icknield Way Cemetery. Now they could be together again.’

  Mac shook his head.

  ‘No matter how many times you’ve been around the block the things people do will always surprise you.’

  ‘I heard you saw Natasha, is that right?’ Dan asked.

  ‘Yes and Jonny Aldis was in attendance too. They look a real couple now.’

  ‘How was she?’

  ‘Worried about how she was feeling I think but I put her in contact with someone who should be able to help her with that.’

  He suddenly felt a little sleepy and yawned. Dan stood up.

  ‘Well, I can see you’re tired so I won’t keep you. I’ll pop in later on this week and see how you’re doing. Thanks again,’ Dan said as he offered Mac his hand. ‘We couldn’t have done it without you.’

  ‘And you wouldn’t have done it without Jo and Gerry who found Jonny Aldis and Martin who remembered that crucial fact about the house sale and yourself for getting Jonny to do the drawing and then acting so quickly on it. Even those on the team who were only able to rule out possible leads did a vital job. It was a real team effort, Dan,’ Mac said with some feeling. ‘The team is the reason that Natasha’s alive today.’

  ‘Thankfully that’s what my bosses seem to think too, although I believe that not all of them were in favour of the team in the first place.’

  ‘Well I’ll bet they are now. Anyway don’t forget me if you anything else comes up. I know I’m an old crock now but I’ll be better before long,’ Mac said hopefully.

  ‘Don’t you worry about that,’ Dan replied.

  They shook hands firmly.

  Tommy waited behind after Dan had left.

  ‘How are you doing Tommy?’

  ‘Great, well really great actually. I was just wondering if Bridget’s told you yet?’

  ‘Told me what?’

  ‘The flat, we’ve got it!’ he said with a big smile.

  ‘Now that’s good news indeed.’

  Mac and Tommy shook hands. It was great news indeed to Mac. Knowing his daughter would be living only a short distance away cheered him up even more.

  Tommy was about to go when Bridget joined them.

  ‘I told him about the flat,’ Tommy said.

  ‘God, I’d almost forgotten all about that. It’ll be a few weeks before we can move in though. I can’t wait,’ she said as she smiled in Tommy’s direction. ‘Plus I’ve got some other good news.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘You won’t need to stay in hospital for six weeks.’

  ‘Really? How did you wangle that?’

  ‘Us doctors stick together you know. Anyway Dr. Patel has agreed to you going home in a couple of days so long as you promise to strictly follow his orders and so long as I get a qualified nurse to look after you. I’ve got a good one lined up too. Nurse Amrit used to be a senior nurse on one of the wards where I did my training. She’s recently retired but she’s willing to help out until you’re back on your feet. Not only that but she’s been trained as a specialist pain nurse as well. She could really help you dad.’

  Mac smiled broadly. The thought of escaping six weeks in hospital felt like being acquitted from a long prison sentence.

  Suddenly life didn’t look so bad after all.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  A couple of days later two very nice paramedics transported Mac back home and deposited him gently in his bed. It was a real comfort to him to be back in his own house and with his own things all around him.

  His nurse was a woman in her mid-fifties with jet black hair who was wearing a brightly coloured sari and sandals. She had a kind face, a face that Mac immediately warmed to.

  The thing that really scared Mac wasn’t the pain as such but how he was going to fill the yawning six week stretch that lay before him. Boredom was the enemy now and he’d decided to attack it all fronts.

  Bridget had bought him some books that he’d wanted to read for a while but had somehow never found the time. She’d also bought him a special tray that would hold a book at forty five degrees so he could read it easily while lying down. She said it would also be good for holding his laptop if he wanted to use it. She’d hinted that now was perhaps a good time to start writing down some of his experie
nces as a policeman. He also had his tablet to hand so that he could access the internet and keep up with all the latest news and sport.

  So why was it then that less than two hours later he found himself staring up at the ceiling and feeling bored rigid? He picked up his tablet and looked at the news again. It hadn’t changed in the last three minutes.

  In desperation he picked up his phone and called Dan Carter.

  ‘Mac, how’s it going now you’re home?’ Dan asked.

  ‘It’s better than the hospital that’s for sure but I’m still bored stiff and on the edge of going doolally. You’ve got to help me Dan,’ Mac pleaded.

  ‘You must have been reading my mind. My bosses, as they now recognise that we’re such a superior team, have just lumped a ton of cold cases on us just in case we run out of things to do. I was thinking of putting Jo and Leigh on them, as we’re a bit quiet at the moment, but I haven’t asked them yet. Want to have a shot at them yourself?’

  ‘Absolutely! When can you get them over to me?’

  ‘I’ll send someone over with them now,’ Dan replied. ‘Take care of yourself Mac and let me know when you’re up and about. Oh and if you do think of any new leads for any of the cases let me know and I’ll get Jo and Leigh to follow them up.’

  Half an hour later a uniformed policeman delivered a memory stick. Nurse Amrit brought it to Mac who gratefully took it from her and inserted it into his laptop.

  He counted the files, twenty three in all. Mac looked over the titles and almost salivated. For him it was like opening the most sumptuous box of chocolates and being unable to make up your mind which of the wonderful treats inside you should try first.

  The binman who was run over? The university lecturer who was robbed and presumed murdered? The young girl murdered in what looked like an ‘honour’ killing?

  He smiled broadly and dived in.

  Nurse Amrit didn’t want to interrupt but she began to get a little worried when she hadn’t heard anything for well over an hour and a half. She gently opened the door a couple of inches and peeped inside. She could see that her patient was fine and obviously deeply engrossed in whatever was on the memory stick.

  Bridget had warned her that her father might be a bit difficult and grumpy at being confined to his own bed but now the nurse wondered about that.

  He was absolutely no trouble at all.

  THE END

  I hope you enjoyed this story. If you have please leave a review and let me know what you think. PCW

  Also in the Mac Maguire series

  The Body in the Boot

  The Dead Squirrel

  The Weeping Women