He flicked on his torch. “If there’s anything ’ere we’ll find it. Mind on the job, and let’s get cracking.”
It helped, Toby found, to think in those terms. In fact, it took his mind off things more than lying in the safety of his own bedroom. At least there was, in some small measure, an element of taking back control.
They found nothing, however. Two hours of searching and not so much as a shred of bonfire ash, let alone the charred bones of a sacrifice, had been found. The cold damp of an October night had soaked both men through, and Sid stood up holding his lower back.
“You sure it was here?”
“Hundred percent.”
Deep in thought, Sid headed off along the path leading back to the house. “Come on lad, keep up, it’s bloody horrible out here.”
Toby hurried behind. Here was Sid, his sergeant – a man forty years his senior who should have retired by now – and him, the supposed bright young thing, leaner and fitter and better educated, feeling like a schoolboy by comparison. Those bastards had stripped him of so much more than his badge. Rage ignited inside him. How much fear and pain did they have to cause? Did they really get off on it? Lousy bastards. If it was the last thing he did he’d make sure every last one of them got banged up for life.
And it probably would be the last thing he did, too.
As they approached, footfalls soft on the turf, the back of the house lay waiting in darkness. Wordlessly they began shining torches into each ground floor room.
“Yup, they’ve flitted,” said Toby. “Everything’s covered in dust sheets.”
“No sign of life, that’s for sure,” Sid agreed. “God, that’s knackered me, has that little jaunt. I could do with a pint.”
They sat down next to each other on the wet patio floor, staring into the impenetrable gloom. Spectral outlines of shrubs bordered the lawns, the fog floating in a ghostly-white layer above the grass.
“Aye, it really is odd,” Sid repeated. “How that fog came down so bloody quick. There was nothing when we got here, did you notice? I mean, not even high up. I remember looking up at the stars. I’m into astronomy, did you know? Oh, yes. I know my Pisces from my Aquarius.”
Toby laughed.
“I’m just kidding you, lad. Serious now. I saw the north star. It was a clear sky up there when we got out of the car.”
“Even odder how fast this lot have fucked off. Like, how did they even know we got that woman? It was only a few hours ago. They’ve managed to clear out a house this size in hours making me look like a liar. Again. It was here, you do believe me, don’t you?” He shook his head. “Times like this I wish I still smoked. I’d kill for one right now.”
They sat in silence, both thinking.
And then it occurred to him. “Holy crap! Of course. The nasty little witch rang her solicitor, didn’t she?”
“And?”
“Solicitors.”
“Not with you, lad.”
“Sid, think about it – police, lawyers, teachers, journalists, nurses, even bloody paediatricians. How many are bound into this? If Scutts was in it then why not the solicitor she rang?”
“So her solicitor tipped off Mullins, you reckon?”
“It’s a fair guess.”
After a while Sid said, “And there’s serious money here – no doubt enough to pay a team of people to get everything sorted expediently. Okay.” He heaved himself up. “If I get arthritis after tonight it’s your bloody fault.”
“Where are we going?” said Toby. “We’ve got nothing on them – nothing.”
“No, but you’re going to have to face the music some time. There’s a whole cavalry after you, lad, and I can’t fend them off forever.”
***
In sombre mood they walked up the gravel driveway, through the side gate, and onto the unlit lane at the front.
Toby kept his head down, trying to hold himself together. At least Sid had believed him earlier tonight and taken his phone call - trusting him enough to pass on the information about Sandi, so that within minutes of him detaining the woman the local police had arrived.
However, the officer who turned up had also been on the cusp of having him arrested too, which is where, thank God, his two closest allies had pulled rank. As Sandi was being led away, spitting and screeching like a harpy, Callum had finally burst in. After a few seconds of wild-eyed indecision, he had then instructed the officer to back off.
“We’ll sort this out, officer. You can take that lowlife back to her cesspit and leave DC Harbour to us.”
The officer looked from Toby to Callum, and back again. “There’s a tape just come in you need to know about. I cannot—”
“Officer!”
“Alright. But I’m telling you his is a seriously high profile and I’ve had orders—”
“I know. And it’s in hand.”
Callum had a command of presence that few possessed; people didn’t argue with him for long, and the officer had eventually, reluctantly acquiesced.
After the police had gone, Toby grabbed the nearest chair and stayed there, staring out of the window, waiting for the inevitable. Callum had bought him some time, that was all. Behind him, Becky was crying and several nurses, who had miraculously appeared when the police did, were now busy fussing around the new mother.
Misery hung over him like a wet rag in winter, as he sat, unaware of what had been about to happen to Molly, oblivious, at that point, of what would have happened to her had he not arrived when he did.
Even when Noel appeared, he could only turn and nod briefly, as the other man rushed over to Becky. She and Molly were safe and that was all that mattered; except he was probably going to be sent down for a very, very long time now. Amy had cited rape via one of the most aggressive solicitors in Leeds; and on top of that he had just been told there was footage of him physically murdering a local homeless man. A tape had been sent less than an hour ago, the remains of the man’s body found dumped in a local graveyard. Everyone else wore masks except himself, the hand that had held his down airbrushed from existence. He was finished.
Hours passed, daylight fading from the rooftops. Streetlights reflected in amber blurs on the wet streets and shadow people hurried under umbrellas towards their cars. It took a long time for any awareness of his immediate surroundings to resurface, for the voices filtering in to make any sense.
“How’s Ruby?” Becky was saying. “Please, please tell me she’s going to be okay. Have you rung yet?”
Noel’s voice, “She’s in a coma but she’s stable. All her vitals are good and it looks like she’ll come round. God knows how she predicted what would happen to Molly, though. She knew. She’s incredible.”
Toby tuned in and glanced round. “Noel, what made you call me? I’m not even supposed to be on duty – I’ve been suspended. Set up, to be honest.”
Becky’s mouth fell open. “What?”
Noel looked from Toby to Becky and back again. “Well, after what happened on the ward, I called both Becky and Callum but got no reply. Honestly, I was calling them every other minute. But it wasn’t until that dozy plonker, Ewan, finally told me Amanda had been wanting to speak to me for three days and she gave me Ruby’s message, that it started to fit together. As it turned out, it really would all have been too late if it wasn’t for you, Toby. You’re a walking miracle.”
Becky interrupted. “Hang on, I left countless messages for all of you, and I asked the staff to call as well – loads of times.”
Everyone shook their heads. No one had had a message – either text or voicemail.
Becky frowned. “So how did you know where to look, Tobes?”
“I’m a detective, Becky.”
She smiled. “Oh, yes.”
His smile in response was weak. He looked down at the floor, blinking repeatedly. “Pregnant lady, attempted murder of her patient; she’s not answering her phone and nor is her husband – tear-arse to hospital and hope to God she’s there.”
She
reached over to him. “Come here and give me a hug because I bloody need it and so do you.”
“We’re all safe, that’s what matters,” said Callum. “It’s just a damn good thing Noel got through to you, Toby, because if it wasn’t for police radio I’m guessing I wouldn’t have had your calls either and I’d be on me way to bloody Ipswich by now – that’s where they were sending me next.”
“How does that work, though?” Noel said. “Really? How does what they do block communications and send you all over the country like that? Some kind of dark arts to screw us up?”
“Well, they didn’t get Molly, and we nabbed the old bitch who tried to kill Ruby so they’re the ones who screwed up,” said Toby. “God, I’m glad Ruby’s okay.”
“It was a sorry sight - her being lifted into the ambulance like that,” said Noel. “You get attached to people, you know? Shouldn’t, but we do. Oh, and I also spoke to Isobel. I had to tell her someone attempted to murder Ruby and to make sure Alice was safe. It wasn’t difficult to persuade her of the gravity – she was in bits about Judy Harper. Do you know about that yet, Becky?”
Becky nodded. “I was the last person to see her. I’d only just had the call from her husband when the contractions started. Shock, I suppose.”
“Oh, God. Alice’s psychologist! Another bloody coincidence?”
Gripping Callum’s hand, Becky said, “Isobel will guard that girl with her life, I’m sure of it. She knows what’s been going on. I’m so upset about Judy, though, and Ruby – I really am.” She turned to Callum. “Where they hell have you been, anyway?”
He looked as if he’d aged ten years, Toby thought, with dark shadows under red-rimmed eyes.
“Excuse my language but fuck knows. I’ve been sent on every wild goose chase imaginable. I get messages telling me to help with investigations only to turn up and find they’ve never heard of me. Other times it’s cases I didn’t really need to be involved in and I was like a spare prick at a party. Honestly, I was beginning to think I was jinxed – like someone didn’t want me to be at home with my new wife. Thought it must be my ex.”
They all laughed.
“We’re laughing,” said Noel. “But you probably were jinxed.”
“And I definitely am,” said Toby.
They all looked at him.
And then he told them. Everything. Blurting it out so they knew: Amy’s weird behaviour in the cottage, the powerful persuasion to use the Ouija board, the S & M party at her parents’ house; the rape allegations, and finally the gruesome snuff movie industry they seemed to be part of, and his own face on camera as he was forced to plunge a knife into the heart of a man who’d just had his throat cut in front of him.
“My God – so it’s not just about perversions and black magic and helping each other up the greasy pole, it’s big business too?”
Toby nodded. “Yes, and I’m up to my neck in it.”
“You are a bit,” said Callum. “This calls for Sid. I’ll see how he’s got on with reading the riot act to the old witch trying to hurt my child, and then we’ll go looking for them, shall we?”
Noel shook his head. “Cal, they are absolutely bloody everywhere. Even in the church trying to disband it. It’s like there’s a curse on the entire area.”
“No, honestly mate, you’ve got to stop all this witchcraft and curse stuff. I get that these people believe in it and it helps them get what they want, that they’re okay with not having any kind of conscience; but what I won’t buy into is all this dark arts mumbo-jumbo.”
Noel looked into his eyes. “And I hope you never have to, mate, I really do. All I can tell you is when they come looking for you they are everywhere, even in your head. Isn’t that right, Toby?”
Toby’s shadow had spilled across the floor into the shape of an ogre. The four of them stared at it. “It’s been like that for a while now,” he said. “But there’s only ever been one of them before – now look – one, two, three, four.”
***
Chapter Thirty-One
Jasmine Cottage
Two weeks later
The knock on the door came at one in the morning. Callum answered to find Toby standing on the step holding a white cat. “Bloody hell mate, what are you doing here?”
The wind blew a swirl of leaves into the hall. “Is this yours?”
“Yeah.” He took Louie from him. “It’s whipping up a bit tonight. Come on in and get warm. Becky’s going to be made up about this damn cat,” he said, wandering into the kitchen. “He’s been gone over two months. Where d’you find him?”
“Here on the mat waiting to come in.”
“Well, I’ll be buggered.” With the cat under his arm he shook some biscuits into his dish. “Turns up just like that after all this time – makes you wonder where he’s been.” They stood watching the cat guzzle hungrily. “Fancy a brew, mate, or something stronger?”
“Stronger.”
He poured them both a large glass of whisky. “Down the hatch.”
Gasping at the burn they immediately chased it with another.
“How’s Becky? Did she stay long at the hospital after I left?”
“Are you kidding? The minute she could stand up we got her out of there. She discharged herself. Probably the tender loving midwife she had put her off.”
Toby laughed as they drew up chairs and sat next to the range.
“So how come they let you out? I thought you’d been sewn up like the proverbial kipper? I didn’t think I’d see you again. Not ’til we met up at a coppers’ nursing home, dribbling soup and swearing at the telly, anyway.”
“Neither did I. They put me on anti-depressants and suicide watch.”
“The bloody lawyers wouldn’t tell us anything and Becky rang every day.”
“You’re a lucky bastard having her, you know that don’t you?”
“Yes, mate, I do. I’ll tell you something else as well – I’m never leaving her alone as much as that ever again. I just didn’t think anything of it at the time. It was like a slow dawning – every single request seemed so genuine, I just can’t get my head round it.”
“No, well, you’ll not get your head round this one either. One minute I was sitting in my cell facing a life sentence, the next the door was opened and I was told I could go. Case dropped.”
“How come?”
Toby shrugged. “Legals phoned to say the allegations had been withdrawn. I don’t know what happened to the incriminating tapes either. Apparently the whole lot mysteriously vanished – every shred of evidence against me. Anyhow, it came from on high that I was free to go.”
“By who, do you know? And why? ’Cos I just don’t get it”
“No, I don’t either. All I know is what I told you – case dropped, evidence gone, top brass tell me I’m good to go. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever find out who’s up to what, who’s in this bloody racket and why I’m out. The only thing I can say for sure is it’s the best offer I’ve had in a while and I’m taking it.”
“Bloody hell. I mean I’m chuffed to bits for you but it’s very, very suspicious.”
“All I can come up with is Mullins won’t want his name in court… I honestly don’t know.”
“Beats me how you got tangled up with that Amy. I mean, how come you went into the woods with her and she managed to tape you at it, you daft git?”
“I know, I know…stop. The only thing I can say in my defence is that it felt like I was acting, going through the motions but with no control – like it was happening to someone else – a kind of waking dream.”
“As in hypnosis? I can get my head round that one. Yeah, I could see how that might have happened.”
“Yeah, suppose. But the violent rape I was accused of – well, I’ve seen the incriminating evidence and I just do not remember being that person or even being there. But it is me. No one could watch that tape and say that isn’t me because it is.”
“Were you drugged?”
“I think it was
sex magic.”
“Sex magic? What?”
“Yeah, honest…I think that’s what it was.”
“Bloody hell, you lucky bastard. How come you get sex magic and all I get is lousy motorway driving and Premier Inns?”
They both laughed, but Toby’s smile clouded over quickly. “They’ll keep the tapes though, won’t they, Cal? All it takes is a threat to leak those onto social media and anytime they want to call in a favour or get someone in the force to do something for them… Anyway, the thing is, I don’t know who I’m working with anymore. I know jack shit.”
“You’re theirs. They did actually recruit you, then? Fucking hell.”
“Yes. And the only way out I can think of is to get the hell away from here. I couldn’t ever have a family or even a relationship without putting them in danger. And if I want to keep my integrity I’ll have to resign – become an invisible person on the backstreets or go on the run – and even then they’d catch up with me.”
Callum narrowed his eyes, looking at him intensely. “Where is she now, our giggling Amy? In fact, where’s the whole family?”
“Sid and I had a good look round their place, and it could only have been hours after they’d gone, but I’m telling you there wasn’t a shred of evidence they’d ever even been there. And Noel said Mullins cleared his desk that afternoon and vanished without a word.”
“Like that Ida woman, then – just disappeared into thin air?”
“Seems so. Beats me how they can pack up so fast – how they see things coming and just move on.”
“We’ll not find them either. Not when it’s underground and they’ve got serious money and connections.”
“They must have one hell of a network at the ready, to transport them into another life at the click of their fingers like that – across continents even.”
Magda: A Darkly Disturbing Occult Horror Trilogy - Book 3 Page 22