STALKER ON THE FENS a gripping crime thriller full of twists

by Joy Ellis

  Nikki’s heart sank. What on earth had he got himself mixed up in? ‘Can I see him? Is he conscious?’

  ‘He’s heavily sedated, but he’s been asking for you.’ Lisa smiled sadly at Nikki. ‘You know, I keep thinking that his Helen is still here, in a drawer in the mortuary refrigerator, and there’s not a damned thing I can do to stop Andrew joining her.’ She gave a loud sigh. ‘You and I picked some really great careers, didn’t we?’

  ‘We picked the best, Lisa. It just at times like this that it feels like a really shitty mistake. Come on.’ They moved back towards the resus room. ‘By the way, has there been another detective here with him? A DC Barnes?’

  Lisa Campbell looked worried. ‘Yes, but I had to send him away. For some reason Andrew Gregory didn’t want him near him. I don’t know why, after all it was Barnes that got him here. He’d have died alone out on the marsh if your man hadn’t called the air ambulance.’

  Nikki shrugged. She had no answers. Yet.

  She sat beside Andrew and waited for him to wake. She wanted to hold his hand, but the deformed fingers looked too painful to touch. Lisa’s opinion was that he would be lucky to see out another hour. His vital organs were shutting down, and the best they could do was make him as comfortable as possible. Nikki needed to know who had done this, and she didn’t have long.

  ‘Andrew? It’s Nikki. Can you hear me?’

  He did not move.

  ‘Andrew, please listen to me. Andrew, you must wake up.’

  ‘I . . . Nikki?’ He swallowed and blinked several times. ‘Thank God! You have to help me.’

  ‘Oh, Andrew, I’ll help you all I can, but . . .’ she touched his face gently, not sure how to go on.

  ‘I’m not stupid, Nikki.’ He coughed painfully then gasped out. ‘I know the score. I could have let go in the night, but I held on because of Helen. What they, what they did . . .’ His voice was little more than a whisper. ‘Listen, I need to know something.’

  Nikki waited.

  ‘Do you think I killed Helen?’

  She stroked his cheek, careful not to touch any of the bruises or abrasions. ‘Not for one moment, Andrew. I know you wouldn’t hurt her.’

  Tears formed in his eyes. ‘Thank you. Now, can I ask you one last favour? This is why I’m still alive and not dead out there on the marsh.’

  ‘Anything in my power, but please, please tell me all you can about whoever did this. I have to catch them. You do realise that, don’t you? Just like I have to catch whoever killed Helen.’

  ‘I’ll tell you all I know, if you’ll just take me to see Helen.’ His tears flowed freely and his breathing was becoming ragged. ‘I never got to see her. I was such a fool to run away, but I panicked, and now I really need to see her. Please, Nikki, can you do that for me?’

  Nikki took a deep breath and stood up. ‘I’ll be straight back. You hang on in there.’

  She found Lisa Campbell discussing Andrew’s case with another doctor. ‘Can I have a word, Dr Campbell? It’s important.’

  Lisa quickly introduced her to the consultant, then moved aside. ‘What can I do?’

  Nikki explained Andrew’s last wish. The doctor puffed out her cheeks in concern. ‘There’s no guaranteeing he’ll even make it down there.’

  ‘Oh, he will. I could almost promise you that. And he’s our only link to what will be a triple murder. Listen, I can page Professor Wilkinson and have Helen taken to the chapel of rest, if you would sort out this end? Please, Lisa? It’s why he’s still alive, the only reason he is holding on, but we both know he can’t last much longer. Can we do it?’

  Lisa Campbell bit her lip, then nodded. ‘Yes, we can do it. But I have to tell you, the amount of morphine we’ll be giving him will make him high as a kite. You’ll have to sift the wheat from the chaff.’

  Nikki grabbed the doctor’s hands and squeezed them. ‘Thank you.’

  * * *

  Nikki sat on a metal-frame chair and stared at the only decorated wall in the room. It was a modern depiction of a stained glass window. In the bright mix of colours and undefined shapes, she noted a white dove, a rainbow, a bridge and a waterfall surrounded by tall dark green trees under an impossibly blue sky. She felt like an intruder, but she had to be there. She had to find out what had happened. It was just a relief that Andrew had asked her to stay with him, while a worried Dr Lisa Campbell waited outside.

  If Nikki thought the painting surreal, it was no less so than the scene in front of her. Two trolleys lay side by side. One supported the lifeless form of Helen, carefully and neatly dressed. The other was a tangle of drips and drains and temporarily silenced monitors, a deathbed for Andrew.

  Nikki was not sure what she had expected from this strange reunion, maybe something dramatic, something Montague and Capulet. Instead, she discovered a deep sense of peace.

  After a while, Andrew sighed and turned his head in her direction. ‘Come and sit with us.’

  Nikki pulled her chair across.

  ‘She still looks beautiful, doesn’t she, Nikki?’

  ‘She wouldn’t know how to look any other way.’

  ‘I asked her to marry me, you know that?’ There was a slight giggle in his voice.

  ‘She told me, although I knew it was a secret. She was really happy about it.’

  ‘She loved me, didn’t she? I mean, really loved me?’ The voice quavered.

  Nikki wondered how long they had. ‘With all her heart, Andrew.’

  ‘But we had our moments, didn’t we? Do you remember when she tipped that bowl of . . .’ A rasping cough racked his body and he fought for breath. ‘I’d forgotten her birthday.’

  It broke her heart to do it, but Nikki knew that she had to try to focus his mind. ‘Andrew, listen, we have to find out who hurt her, and who hurt you and killed your friends. Will you help me?’

  He sighed, a ragged jerky sound. ‘I don’t want to go back there, but for her,’ he looked fondly at Helen’s cold body, ‘I will.’ He shivered and Nikki carefully drew the cover closer around him. ‘It was Teresa’s idea.’

  Nikki almost jumped at the strength of his voice. The morphine must have really kicked in.

  ‘And it was a bloody good one. She was a whiz, a real ace. I told her that she was probably born with a USB cable instead of an umbilical cord!’ He barked out a staccato laugh. ‘Alex and I were pretty bright, but by comparison . . . whatever, we decided to form a trio, and do a little moonlighting. Private work, done in SKS’s time. And we started to make some serious money, Nikki! I mean serious! I was chuffed! For once in my life I could pull my weight, I could help Helen.’

  ‘And did she know about it?’

  ‘God, no! I said I’d got a promotion, with lots of overtime.’

  ‘And it escalated?’

  Andrew tried to move, and swore loudly. ‘You could say that. We became a very valuable commodity to some very powerful companies. They wanted more and more, and we finally came up with a stunner, a really cracking piece of kit.’

  ‘Liberator? We found it under Telstar, on Helen’s computer.’

  ‘How . . . ?’

  ‘We have it, Andrew. It’s safe.’

  His pupils were dilated as he stared at her. ‘Then don’t let your IT boys play around with it. A few days before all this blew up, Teresa changed it. I always thought she was a genius, but she was a hacker too, and if she’s done what I think she has, no system that you run it through is safe. It’s a scavenger, it steals information. It’s not a game, Nikki, it’s deadly serious. I believe Teresa may have altered the patches without my knowing. Made things . . .’ he groaned and closed his eyes.

  ‘Too hot to handle?’

  ‘Too clever. I know we don’t have artificial intelligence in this kind of software yet, but if anyone could have taken us a step closer, Teresa could. Oh God, if it falls into the wrong hands!’

  ‘Okay. I hear you and I’ll make sure it’s dealt with properly. I promise.’

  ‘Destroy it, Nikki. It�
�s already killed Teresa and Alex.’ He sighed, his voice much weaker now ‘. . . and me, I guess.’

  ‘Did you recognise the people who hurt you? Do you know who sent them?’ Nikki asked gently.

  He shuddered and swallowed hard. ‘No, I’d never seen them before, but I suppose they were sent by rivals of the Swiss company we were moonlighting for. There were three men. And they used their names, so I guess they didn’t expect any of us to survive.’

  Nikki sat up. ‘Names?’

  ‘Yeah. They called themselves Mr Venables and Mr Fabian. He stuttered out the next words. ‘They did the hands-on work, and their boss asked the questions. They wanted Liberator.’

  ‘And none of you told them about it?’

  ‘They hadn’t reckoned on Teresa’s health problems. She died quite early on in their interrogation. Poor Alex actually didn’t know where Liberator was stored, so the kid couldn’t have told them even if he’d wanted to. I gathered that much at least from my night with Mr Venables and Mr Fabian.’

  He began to cough again. Nikki gently wiped bloody saliva from his lips, and somehow he managed to continue. ‘And I had one thing left to do before I died.’ He reached out his broken hand towards Helen. ‘I had to stay alive. Oh, Nikki, you’ll never know what I went through in the darkness. I thought day would never come, and I’d never get to be with my Helen again.’ His eyes filled with tears. ‘But I’m here, aren’t I?’

  ‘Yes, you’re here, with Helen.’

  ‘And now, I can let go?’

  Oh no, Please! You can’t, not yet! ‘Andrew! The man you called the boss? What did he look like?’

  Andrew’s eyes tried to focus. ‘From a distance he looked handsome, then he turned and I saw his face was all scarred. Tall. Dark hair. Cruel eyes. Evil.’

  Nikki drew in a sharp breath. Scarred face? Surely not! Stephen Cox? She would make guesses later. Time was running out.

  ‘And Helen? Did they mention Helen?’

  ‘No. I don’t think they even knew about her. I begged them to tell me if they’d killed her too, but — nothing.’ He turned to Nikki, his eyes suddenly clear and angry. ‘But there’s something you really should know. About one of your officers. The one that found me?’

  ‘Eric Barnes?’

  ‘That’s the name he gave when he finally called for help.’

  Nikki’s jaw clamped tight, dismay quickly turning to anger, then to white-hot rage as she listened to what had happened. She bit back her disgust. She would deal with Barnes later.

  ‘Nikki? I guess I’ll never know if was my fault, but you will catch who did this to her? Get the person who killed my precious Helen?’ He laid a twisted finger on his dead lover’s cheek.

  ‘Oh, I will. I promise you, Andrew.’

  He murmured a reply.

  ‘Andrew?’

  He sighed again. Then he said softly, ‘When Helen was injured in that crash, she told me afterwards that the most scary thing was the darkness. When she heard that man call out to her, she said it felt like a ray of sunshine bursting in.’ He paused, and a bubbly cough caught in his throat. ‘Then he told her what he’d done, and the light went out. I just hope she wasn’t frightened of the dark this time.’

  Nikki laid her hand on his. She was worried about the sudden uneven pattern of his breathing. ‘She would have felt nothing, known nothing, Andrew. The doctors have assured us of that. But, listen, you try to rest, I’m going to get the doctor in to check on you.’

  ‘Don’t go, Nikki. I feel so much better knowing Helen didn’t suffer.’ He gave her a crooked smile. ‘Funny, isn’t it? How quickly it gets dark. Maybe it’s my turn to offer a prayer for light.’ His voice was now little more than a whisper. ‘But perhaps I have no right to ask for anything. No matter how she died, or who killed her, I’m to blame. I’m guilty.’

  As Nikki moved her lips to speak, she saw that his eyes were closed. She ran to the door. ‘Lisa!’

  A moment later, the doctor glanced at her watch, then whispered to her that he was dead.

  ‘You won’t try to resuscitate him?’ Nikki asked, although knowing what the answer would be.

  ‘His injuries were catastrophic, there would be no coming back from that.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Nikki reached for the doctor’s hand and held it tightly. ‘Thank you for granting his last wish.’

  Lisa squeezed back. ‘I need to go and make some arrangements, Nikki. Will you be alright to stay here until I get back?’

  Nikki stayed. She pulled the chair closer and sat down. She spoke softly to them, made promises, and prayed she would be able to keep them. Maybe she was making promises to herself. This was how she would always remember them, side by side in the mortuary.

  Was it Stephen Cox who had done this to them? Nikki felt a tightening in her chest. This time he wouldn’t get away.

  When Lisa returned, she had said her goodbyes. She couldn’t wait to leave the chapel. The woman that closed the door and marched down the corridor was a very different person to the one who had just wiped tears from her eyes. Cold and hard, all she wanted was to get hold of Eric Barnes and place her hands tightly around his neck.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  She found him waiting outside the entrance to A&E. He was slouched against a wall, kicking aimlessly at a tuft of grass that had bravely made its way through a crack in the concrete pathway. His bearing lacked its usual cockiness, and she saw him grow pale as she approached.

  ‘Walk with me.’

  They continued along the side of the hospital until they came to a service area where delivery lorries unloaded. It was empty, which suited Nikki perfectly. In a single movement, she spun round on Barnes and pushed him hard against the wall. When she spoke, her face was inches from his, and she could feel the chilly blast from her cold, cold eyes strike the man like a blow.

  ‘Andrew Gregory is dead.’ She saw Barnes swallow, but he said nothing. ‘Sadly he wasted some of his last precious moments telling me about you.’

  Barnes’ mouth worked soundlessly.

  ‘Now, before you utter a single word, do not, I repeat, do not insult me by trying to tell me that man lied about your actions.’ She was finding it hard to keep her hands off him. She wanted to push his head into the brick wall and watch him bleed. Instead she stepped back and stared at him, saying very slowly and carefully, ‘DC Barnes, can you tell me the description of a police officer’s duty?’

  His voice was almost inaudible. ‘The protection of life and property, ma’am.’

  ‘And did you protect Andrew Gregory?’

  ‘I called the air ambulance. I got him out of there.’ His voice gained strength. ‘And it was me who found him. If I hadn’t gone there he’d still be writhing in agony on the floor, or dead before anyone got to him.’ Then his bravado wilted beneath her relentless gaze. ‘I . . . I said I was sorry. I tried to help him, honestly.’

  ‘Listen to me very carefully, DC Barnes. I have been told by my sergeant that you are a good detective. You are certainly bright, but your intelligence means nothing if you are an uncaring, spiteful and cruel person. If you spend all your time calculating how to get a fellow officer in the shit but come up smelling of roses yourself, then you’ve lost sight of your objective, and you are no damned good to me. You flatly ignored my order to keep me updated on anything concerning Andrew Gregory, because you wanted the kudos. Well, okay, you found him. Congratulations.’ Her eyes narrowed to slits. ‘When exactly did you work all this out, DC Barnes?’

  ‘I . . . I had the numbers last night. I completed my checks this morning.’

  ‘Then think about this, and think carefully. If you had told one of us immediately, we could have made the link and had an armed unit out to that godforsaken marsh last night. Your quick action could have saved three human beings from being tortured and killed. But it didn’t, did it? Because you’re not a team player, and you wanted the glory all for yourself.’ She watched as the thought sunk in and his pale face turned completely white. ‘C
an you blame me for not wanting an officer like that on my team?’

  Barnes hung his head.

  ‘Well? Would you?’ Her voice echoed about the yard.

  ‘No,’ he whispered.

  ‘Louder!’

  ‘No. I wouldn’t.’

  Suddenly she couldn’t bear him near her. ‘Okay, DC Barnes. I’m going to make a suggestion. It’s up to you whether you act upon it, but if you want to keep your warrant card and go on working, I suggest you listen rather carefully.’ She leant closer and spoke clearly and concisely into Barnes’ ear.

  She listened to his reply, and then she nodded and said, ‘Okay. Now get out of my sight.’

  Walking back to her car, she realised her hands were shaking and her jaw was clamped shut. It took a lot of deep breaths to calm herself. Part of her was glad that Andrew had told her about Eric’s behaviour, and another part wished that the whole thing hadn’t happened. She didn’t enjoy coming down on an officer the way she had, but it was better to know what he was capable of. And the bottom line was that he had no place on her team. The sad thing was, the idiot was not a bad detective. It was just his attitude and his manner that was crap.

  She smiled bitterly as she unlocked her car. Both she and Barnes knew that if he wanted to make a disciplinary case against her, he’d win. She had assaulted him and had only the unsubstantiated word of a dead man to accuse him with, which wasn’t anywhere near enough to warrant an official warning. She was counting on the fact that Barnes really was ashamed of himself, and that he would take her advice.

  As she drove back to the station, she wondered if she’d gone too far. She had wanted him to hurt. She wanted him to see the devastation that a huge ego in a small office could cause. But she’d finished up placing the responsibility for three deaths entirely on his shoulders, and that was wrong. They were all to blame. And she of all people had no right to judge anyone. Just because she still had nightmares about the past, she shouldn’t wish them on others. She jammed her foot down on the accelerator. Right now, in Barnes’ case, she was prepared to make an exception.

  * * *