by Anne Bone
He opened the door and looked into the room. Heather was lying on her bed and she looked as though she was asleep. She hadn’t eaten her sandwiches and, given she was asleep, it didn’t look as though she had undertaken the task he had set her. He would leave her for the moment, and unpack the shopping and get himself some lunch before he woke her up.
Chapter 38
19th December Police Headquarters Aberdeen
Jane Lewis was back at her desk in force headquarters in Aberdeen. Just under a week ago her boss had requested that she stand down the team in Elgin, and return to her desk to take up her duties. It had been with a heavy heart that she had packed her bag and left Elgin without finding Shona. She couldn’t help but consider that this case was a greater failure even than Mary’s case, as they hadn’t come up with any successful leads at all. Shona had just vanished into thin air.
As she was drinking her coffee and scanning the numerous reports on her desk, her phone rang. She picked it up, but before she could even say her name, she heard Dave Rogers, voice boom over the line. ‘Boss, you’ll never guess, we’ve just had a treble nine from a girl who said she was called Mary, and she is with Shona. Boss, you better get yourself up to the control room, I’m heading there now.’
She didn’t need a second telling or ask any questions, she leapt up from her desk knocking over the dregs of her coffee as she ran out of her office. She belted along the corridor and ran straight past the lift to take the stairs. She flew up the four flights, adrenalin pumping through her veins. She was at the top of the stairs hardly without drawing breath and rushed into the control room which was buzzing. Dave Rogers was already there, looking over the shoulder of the officer who had taken the call.
‘What have we got?’ she asked, taking short breaths, in an attempt to get her normal breathing rhythm to restore itself.
Dave outlined the information. ‘What we have is this.’ He nodded so that the control room supervisor pressed a button to start the recording of the call. They listened carefully, taking every word into their minds; it wasn’t a hoax, that they were sure of. It sounded very much like a frightened kid.
When the recording finished, Jane looked at Dave, his face said it all, and it was full of anticipation and eagerness. ‘Dave,’ she said, ‘set up a room next door, and call in a team, tell them to drop whatever it is they are doing and get themselves upstairs.’ She turned to the control room supervisor. ‘Were we able to trace the call?’
‘Sorry, Mam; wasn’t on long enough, but we have the number the lassie gave us, although we don’t know what the area prefix is though. I’ve got a couple of the lads working on that as we speak.’
Jane went into the room next door that was filling up with officers, and there was already an atmosphere of excitement and optimism that she hadn’t felt for some time. She could feel the energy surging around the room. ‘Right, Tam and Sid,’ she instructed two of the detectives, ‘I want you to get on to DVLA and get them to check out whether there is a blue Land Rover registered to someone called Don, and if so get an address.’ She turned to Dave, ‘Get a large detailed map of the region sent up will you.’ The door opened and the control room supervisor rushed in, ‘We got two places with similar phone numbers, Mam, one is in Nairn, just outside of Inverness, and the other is upper Deeside.’
‘Where about exactly?’ she asked, ‘looking over Dave’s shoulder as he peered at the map that had just been pinned on the wall.
‘It’s up there see, just about fifteen mile east of Glen Shee, and it covers a wide rural area, just a couple of villages in and around it. The prefix covers not only Ballater, but Braemar as well and there numerous farms, crofts and plenty of hills, so could be miles apart.’
‘Well, at least that narrows it down from what we had before,’ she told him. ‘Thanks, sergeant, that’s a start.’ She nodded to the sergeant who waited for further instructions.
‘We think it would probably be Deeside rather than Nairn,’ stated Dave. ‘Especially given that the lassie said that it was on a hill. It’s a punt, but we can’t risk phoning the number, as we don’t want to alert him until we are ready.’
‘Can you get on to BT and see whether we can trace the address from the number?’ she asked him. He nodded and left the room.
It was just fifteen minutes later when Sid put down the phone and shouted, ‘Got it Boss!’
‘What have you got?’ she asked him, walking over to his desk, her senses vibrating as she did so.
‘DVLA have come up with a blue, 1979 Land Rover licenced to a Donald Beam, Torres Croft, Inverdarroch.’
‘Where’s that exactly?’ Dave asked. They returned to the map and several pairs of eyes peered at it to try and locate the actual place. After a couple of minutes they pinpointed a small dot on the map, where the village of Inverdarroch was sited. ‘Right, we need an even more detailed map, to get the exact location of this croft.’ He motioned for another officer to go in search of one.
‘In the meantime, Dave, can you organise a search warrant, and Sid, get onto the local station and see whether the local lads know the whereabouts of this croft. Tell them to keep schtum for the moment, we don’t want one of them charging off and giving him warning before we get there.’ She thought for a moment and then said, ‘Right,’ as she turned to the other officers in the room, ‘I will need a team, we don’t know what we will get when we arrive so make sure we have some dogs and at least three cars.’
Dave returned from making his call to the local police office. ‘We might need a couple of four by fours ourselves, Boss, its dinging it down with snow out there according to PC Michie. He knows exactly where the croft is, but doesn’t know anything about the occupant.’
Another officer shouted over, ‘I’ve just checked criminal records, Boss, and there’s no one called Donald Beam known.’
‘Okay then, we need to get going, and from what you said about needing a four by four, can you phone down to the country division and see whether they will meet us with a couple of vehicles, so we can use them if necessary.’
They moved quickly. Jane and Dave drove in an unmarked car, leading the way. They were followed by two further police cars and, lastly, two police vans with their handlers and dogs in them. As they left the city and headed out towards Deeside, they soon found the snow hitting the front of the car. It was dusk and this made the drive even harder. It would take them over an hour to reach the hamlet of Inverdarroch, and they were thankful that they had made the call to their rural colleagues, who met them in the larger village of Ballater. They were happy to transfer into the four by fours, which were a much better bet in making the journey to the small rural hamlet.
It was dark now and the headlights hitting the snow made it hard to see in front of them. At least the local officer knew the road, and led the procession of vehicles along the narrow and winding country road. They came to the Welcome to Inverdarroch sign, and it was partly hidden by snow. The hamlet was tiny and consisted of a small post office come village shop, a small public house and a village hall. There were a few houses dotted around, but clearly the houses and inhabitants of the village were scattered far and wide.
The local officer knew the way and slowly the vehicle continued along the road, until they made a sharp right turn which took them up an even narrower road. It twisted and turned, and they only passed one house before he told them that they had arrived at the bottom of the track that led to Torres Croft. ‘Right,’ Jane told Dave, ‘radio through to the others and tell them to follow us. Tell the dog handlers to wait until called if needed; we don’t want to scare the kids when we get there.’
They started the slow journey up the snow covered track, their headlights searching in the snowy darkness for the ruts of the track. As they passed through a bunch of pine trees that was on either side of the track, they caught sight of the house which sat up on the hill in front of them.
Donald Beam had just unlocked the door to go out and fill the coal scuttle up, it was sno
wing heavily and blowing the snow around him. It was more than likely that they would be snowed in by the morning, so he would make sure he brought plenty of fuel in. It was just as he was crossing the yard when he saw the headlights, not of one car, but at least three. He felt his heart start to beat fast, and guessed immediately that these were not welcome guests coming to visit him. He dropped the scuttle and raced back into the house, slamming the door and locking it quickly behind him. He tore along the corridor and opened the door to Mary’s room; she was sitting on her stool reading her book. He shouted at her to follow him, which she did, when they got back into the kitchen he reached up to release the latch behind the bookcase, grabbed Mary by her shoulder and unlocked the doors. Startling Shona who was lying on her bed, he pushed Mary into the room and locked the door behind her. Locking the second door ensured that the room remained soundproofed, he pulled the bookcase back into it place, just as the knock came at the door.
He drew himself up, and poised himself, inhaled deeply and walked to the door to unlock it.
The door opened and Jane and Dave flashed their warrant cards, ‘Donald Beam,’ she looked at this quite insignificant man who looked a bit shell shocked, ‘my name is Chief Inspector Jane Lewis, and his is Detective Inspector Dave Rogers, can we come in please to speak to you about a matter?’
‘What matter would that be?’ The voice was cultured, and not from this area. ‘I am afraid, whatever it is it is not convenient at this time,’ he smiled at them but the smile didn’t reach his eyes, ‘perhaps you could come back another time?’
Jane pulled herself up to her full, five foot eight height. She didn’t like him on sight, nor did she think much of his attitude. ‘I am afraid that will not be possible, we have, she pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and flashed it at him, a search warrant to search these premises in connection with two missing children, so please move aside.’ She noticed that the attempt at a smile disappeared, and in its place a look of fear infiltrated his face.
‘Well, I don’t know why you would think I have anything to do with a missing child, but come away in,’ he blustered. He stood aside to allow the officers to pass by him.
They went into the kitchen, followed by two detectives while two uniformed officers waited at the door way, sheltering from the snow that was gusting around them. Jane looked around. What she saw was a large homely room with a coal fire in one corner giving off a warm glow. She looked around and noticed that this man undoubtedly liked books as there was a large bookcase, full to the brim with books, another smaller one was beside the sofa and chairs.
‘Can we move through now to the other rooms?’ she requested. They went along the corridor: the bathroom was empty and then, on the right hand side, was a room with a door half opened. Jane pushed the door fully open and what she saw brought a sense of achievement, because here was a child’s room, bathed in the light of a bedside lamp. It was a pink-painted room that had a bed on one side and a bookcase on the other; it appeared to be full of children’s books and a number of jigsaw puzzles were also on the shelves, one was on the table, its pieces scattered. Clearly someone had been in the process of completing it. In the corner was a chemical toilet. She turned. ‘So where is she?’ she asked him, her tone conveying that she wasn’t going to mess around.
‘I am sorry, but I don’t know what you mean. This is my niece Heather’s room, she has been staying with me for a holiday and her parents collected her today. I just haven’t got round to tidying it up yet.’ As he imparted this information, he scratched his head and looked nervous.
‘Oh really,’ she said, not believing a word he said. She turned and tried the door opposite; it was locked. ‘Where is the key to this room?’ He took a key from his pocket. ‘Open it please.’
He could hardly put the key in the lock his hand was shaking so much. He managed it, and Jane pushed passed him and put her hand on the wall to find the light switch. The room flooded with light, this was plainly his room. There was no sign of either of the girls, so she motioned to one of her detectives to enter and begin to search while she continued down to the end of the passage, where another door was before them. It too was locked, and she turned to him to request that he open this one too. He did so, and again the room was flooded with a bright light. It revealed what appeared to be a photographic studio. It was full of equipment, lights, a camera, a couch, with a backdrop that appeared to be something like a forest scene. As she turned to him to ask what this was about, she heard the shout, ‘Mam! Come and see this.’
She turned and moved quickly back down the passageway to his bedroom. She went in and saw that both her detectives were standing staring at the wall. As she went into the room and turned to look her mouth fell open, because there were hundreds of photos of Mary Dinnet, dressed in a range of different dresses, and poses. Her detectives pointed to the end of the wall and there were two photographs of a sleeping Shona Cameron. ‘My God!’ She looked around again. ‘So, where are they?’
Donald Beam was standing by the doorway. He looked into the room and knew that he would have no way of getting out of this, but he wasn’t going to make it easy for them.
Jane went over and stood in front of him. She was a little taller than him, so she looked slightly down at him, and when she asked again where they were she received no answer, apart from his eyes; they showed a certain defiance. ‘What have you done with them Mr Beam?’ she asked again.
‘I don’t know what you are speaking about,’ he replied, while avoiding her eyes and looking down at his feet.
Jane felt herself becoming angry, but she knew that she would need to keep her temper. ‘Right, well, I think we know they have been here, so Donald Beam I am arresting you on the abduction and imprisonment of Mary Dinnet and Shona Cameron. Anything you have to say will be used in evidence… Dave, handcuff him and let’s get him back to station.’ Dave called for one of the uniformed officers, who cuffed him and marched the man out of the house. He was placed in the back of one of the police cars. While one officer remained with him, the other returned to the house.
Jane and Dave stood gazing around them, while the two detectives were searching the cupboards. Nothing, nothing at all.
Jane called for the police handlers, and requested that they start to search the barns and out buildings. ‘Dave, radio through to headquarters will you and get a scenes of crime unit out, I think we might need forensics to help us. Also get them to arrange for an ambulance to standby. God, do you think he caught them phoning us, and has killed them? Please God not.’
They returned to the kitchen where again they looked about. There was no physical sign of children being here. They opened the cupboards and found no evidence of children’s clothes. They returned to the child’s bedroom and in one of the cupboards hung a number of pretty dresses; they recognised them as the ones that Mary was wearing in the photographs. There were also pyjamas in a drawer. ‘What’s he done with them, Dave?’ She went to the door of the house, where she noticed that there was not only a sturdy lock, but on the outside of the door were two bolts and a padlock. ‘Obviously he wanted to make sure that anyone in the house was not going to leave.’
‘The windows are all locked tight as well,’ Dave added.
‘Okay, let’s you and I take him back to headquarters, and we will book him in and then start to interview him, put him under pressure to see if he will tell us what he has done with them.’ She shouted to the others, ‘You two keep searching,’ and then she turned to the two uniformed officers ‘and you two see if you can assist with the dog handlers.’ The snow was falling in large flakes, covering everything, and any tracks would have been covered by now. Damn and blast it! We need more bodies, because if those children are out in this overnight, they will freeze to death.’
Chapter 39
19th December - Aberdeen
Carol Mathieson was just about to dish up her two children’s supper when the phone rang. She swore, as this was the worst time to take calls, and it
was more than likely it would be her mother phoning for a chat. She never got the timings right for the best time to call her. She half considered ignoring it, but then thought better of it. It would only annoy her mother more, as she would know she would be home from work by now. She rushed out to the hallway to where the phone sat on the small table. She picked it up and waited to hear her mother’s voice booming down it, but instead it was the duty sergeant from work. He was telling her that there was an urgent request for her to take her team out to a house in Deeside where they have discovered the two missing children had been held. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck contract. ‘Do you mean Mary Dinnet?’ She had worked on the case last year when the girl first went missing, and her heart had gone out to her mother.
‘Aye, that’s right, and the other one from Elgin. Chief Inspector Lewis is bringing the man in as we speak, but apparently there is no sign of the girls. And to make matters worse, the weather is atrocious out that way. Snowing heavy and drifting so you’ll need a four by four,’ he told her.
‘Right, can you give Neil Green a call and ask him to meet me at Queen Street? He’s got a Range Rover so I think that would get us there with no problems. I’ll sort things out here and be there as soon as I can.’ She hung up and swore, this was her husband’s late night in the office and he wasn’t due home for another hour at least. She would have to call on her neighbour, Edna, who helped out in an emergency. She rushed out of her front door and went through the small gate that separated the two properties’ gardens.. She knocked on the door and her elderly neighbour answered. ‘Edna, can you do me a huge favour? Les is still at work and I’ve just been called out on a job, it’s an emergency, sorry.’