‘Shit…’
He went up the next lot, kept going until he was four floors up where he reached the emergency exit access to the roof. Before he went through, he stopped to hear where Fallows was. The level below.
Without waiting for her, he pushed the bar in and opened the door, went outside into the hot sun. It was so bright he had to cover his eyes with a palm to see what was out there. It was pretty flat in most areas, but noticed a long, angled window, which he recognised was the skylight giving natural light for the shoppers down below. Other areas contained cubed-shaped ducting probably used for HVAC systems.
A few moments later, Fallows barged through the door, red-faced and panting heavily, her blonde hair all over the place.
‘Linda,’ he said, going back to her. ‘You okay?’
‘Where – where are we going to go?’
‘We’ll hide up here for a while…’
She shook her head. ‘No, Mack. We can’t. Max is right behind us. We need to hide.’
82
Tuesday Late Morning
Roof top of The Cornmill Shopping Centre,
Town Centre
Byrd was two floors from the top before he stopped hearing Fallows’ shoes slapping inside the stairwell, meaning she wasn’t in the stairwell anymore. He was tired, his lungs gasping for air, his arms and legs burning. After a few exhausting seconds later, he reached the top level, seeing an open emergency exit door swinging gently in the breeze.
He burst out onto the roof, the light almost blinding him in the process. For a second, he shielded himself, feeling very vulnerable if Dilton had waited at the door and decided to attack him.
Fortunately, no attack came.
He stopped and glared around in all directions.
No sign of Fallows and Dilton. He absorbed the ducting lines and small metal items. To the right, he noticed a handrail at the edge, which, as he followed, ran the whole perimeter of the roof.
He took a few quiet steps away from the open door, pulled a baton from his pocket, fully extended it, and held it tightly in his right hand. Deciding to take a right, he tiptoed across the roof, scanning everything around him, trying to hear for movement.
As he stepped into the centre of the space, he realised the roof was bigger than he first thought. The view of Darlington beyond the handrails was admirable, to say the least. Further along, he came across a small shed made from brick, with a thick door on the front of it. There was a keycode panel at head height beside it, so wherever they’d gone, it wasn’t through there. He backed away, turned, and moved along the railing, looking carefully through all the ducting lines.
Then he had an idea.
He lowered to the ground, his head still pounding from the crash minutes earlier and looked along the floor of the roof. The ducting sections, he realised, didn’t reach the floor, instead were supported by metal brackets an inch off the deck.
Bingo.
There they were, roughly forty metres over to the right, hiding behind a large section of the ducting.
He stood, battling against his own spinning head, and slowly made his way over. He plucked his phone from his pocket and called Tanzy.
‘Max…’
‘Hey, Ori. They’re on the roof. I’ve got them cornered. Where are you?’
‘Still outside. I can’t fucking move. I think they’ve broken my knee. Ambulance is here.’
‘Leonard. Cornty. Where are they?’ he whispered, not wanting to be heard.
‘Inside the Cornmill looking for you.’
‘Send them up. Staircase near the toilets. It goes to the roof.’
He took a quick, sharp breath, and moved over to the ducting ahead of him, slowly and carefully rounding the edge of it.
Dilton and Fallows edged away when they saw him, taking a few steps back towards the railings.
‘Linda,’ Byrd said. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘There’s a lot of things you don’t understand, Max,’ she replied, stepping in front of Dilton, as if somehow protecting him.
‘Please explain.’ Byrd stepped closer, but with each step, Dilton and Fallows backed away, getting close to the handrail on the edge of the roof. There were a few feet between them. Dilton noticed the baton in Byrd’s hands.
‘I don’t need to explain anything to you…’
Before Byrd replied, Dilton pushed Fallows into Byrd and made a run for it. Byrd deflected Fallows' slap, knocking her to one side, and went after him. Dilton was quick, but Byrd equalled him, if not, quicker.
‘Stop!’ Byrd shouted, panting.
Dilton ran along the side of the handrail until he reached the edge. For a moment, when he disappeared, Byrd thought he’d gone over the side, but when he reached it, he realised there was another roof next to it, roughly two feet lower, a small access ladder between them.
‘Stop!’ Byrd screamed, but Dilton didn’t slow.
Up ahead, was a large dome-like set of windows. Byrd recognised it as the huge skylight above the escalators near Primark.
Dilton reached it and jumped on top, then started moving up it.
‘Mackenzie, don’t!’ Byrd yelled, not knowing if it was safe. ‘Get off there.’
It would be engineered to withstand the weight of snow over the whole area but not necessarily the concentrated weight of a man.
Dilton ignored him, going higher.
‘Max, leave him alone,’ Fallows cried somewhere behind him.
Byrd ignored her plea and arrived at the base of the glass dome skylight. ‘Fuck it,’ he muttered, and raised his right leg, climbing on to it. Dilton was nearly at the top, and Byrd had noticed he’d slowed, almost coming to a stop.
Byrd carefully went up, keeping his weight on the PVC framework, avoiding any contact with the glass, just in case. It wasn’t long before Dilton stopped and turned to him.
‘Why?’ Dilton asked.
Byrd frowned. ‘Why what, Mackenzie?’
‘Why are you chasing me?’
‘Because killing people is illegal.’
‘I’m doing you a favour. Can’t you see that?’
‘Well, whatever you’re doing… it’s against the law. You need to come with me.’
Byrd finally stopped on the angled pane, three metres from Dilton. He glanced right and left, realising he didn’t really have anywhere to go.
‘I’m going nowhere. There’s so much more work to do…’ he said, scowling at Byrd.
‘Please, Mackenzie. You need to—’
Dilton lifted his right foot and stomped hard onto the glass he was standing on. The rectangular pane was large, roughly a metre by two metres.
‘No,’ Byrd begged, holding his palms out. ‘Don’t do that.’
Dilton lifted his leg and did it again, the sound of it startled Byrd, knowing what could happen if the glass went through. He looked below for a second, noticed the sea of people watching them from below, their faces glaring up in horror at the crazy guy standing above them.
‘Do not do—’
Dilton did it again, this time harder.
The pane of glass crunched. A multitude of paper-thin cracks shot off in all directions away from where he stomped his foot for the third time. A few seconds later the glass collapsed in on itself and Dilton disappeared through it.
The loud thud of his body hitting the handrail of the escalator below was sickening. His body literally folding in two and blood cascaded in several directions, followed by the screams of innocent shoppers.
Byrd immediately turned away, clamping his eyes closed, not wanting to see the mess below.
Slowly, he lowered himself off the dome and turned to see where Fallows was.
She was gone.
83
Tuesday Late Morning
The Cornmill, Darlington
Byrd tried calling Fallows’ mobile but it was switched off. On his way back down, he phoned Tanzy, who was in the rear of an ambulance with a paramedic looking at his knee. He said he’d heard the screams inside but didn’t kno
w what had happened.
Byrd filled him in and ended the call. He stepped out of the toilets and ran along towards JD Sports, his frantic footsteps bouncing off the shiny, tiled floor towards the mass of people standing near the glass handrail, gobsmacked by Dilton’s body below. A couple of people were physically sick at the sight of it.
‘I need everyone out!’ Byrd shouted, his head high, projecting his voice.
A couple of people turned but most were fixated on Dilton’s broken body below.
‘Everyone out…’
To his right, he saw Leonard, glaring wide-eyed down at the mess. Leonard looked up after hearing Byrd’s voice and ran over.
‘Jesus, Max! What happened?’
Byrd quickly told him, then added, ‘We need everyone out. Call for back-up. We need this shit cleaned up ASAP.’
Leonard nodded, took out his radio.
Byrd scanned the area, noticed Cornty on the other side, trying to get people to move. Weaver was near him doing the same.
‘What a fucking mess,’ muttered Byrd to himself.
A little while later, after the security staff of nearby shops had joined in to help the police clear the place, The Cornmill was empty. It was eerie, Byrd thought, standing at the glass handrail in silence, looking up at where Dilton had fallen.
Down below, the senior forensics, Tallow and Hope, were there in the white, overall clearing the place the best they could. They’d taken photos of the whole scene, and as usual, Tallow had taken a video for his analysis later.
The undertakers had been called to collect what was left of the body, and Peter Gibbs, the lead coroner, had also been informed about what had happened and turned up quickly. The colour had drained from his face as he approached Byrd.
‘My goodness…’ he said, raising a palm to his mouth.
There was no need for a police investigation, which Byrd knew, but he’d reached out to the security officer of The Cornmill to see if there was any cameras on the roof, just in case. Only Byrd knew what had really happened but seeing camera footage would eliminate the unlikely suggestion that Byrd had pushed him.
He also wanted to see which direction Fallows had run off in. She must have slipped past Cornty and Leonard. He planned to ask Jennifer Lucas about it later.
But for now, they had more pressing matters.
They needed to search the house where Dilton had been staying. They say to understand someone, especially a killer, it was best to start off in a place they spent a lot of their time because often, there were clues which hadn’t been fully covered.
Byrd, after dealing with Fuller shouting in his face back in town, had kept his cool and told Weaver, Leonard, and Cornty to go to Church Grove to find the house which he was staying in. Before heading over himself, he went back to the ambulance to see Tanzy who was sat on a trolley with his leg bandaged up.
‘What’s the damage, Ori?’ he asked him through the open rear doors.
A female paramedic with blonde hair in her thirties said, ‘Excuse me,’ and veered around Byrd, climbed into the back of the van and grabbed a small kit bag, then thanked him when she jumped back out.
‘They said it could be bad, Max,’ replied Tanzy, physically in pain. ‘Won’t know until I get an x-ray. It could be just bruised. Where’s Fallows?’
‘I don’t know. Fuller isn’t a happy man.’
Tanzy sighed, waved his hand. ‘He’s never happy, Max. It’s the way he is.’
Byrd made a fair enough face. ‘They taking you now?’
Tanzy nodded. ‘Checking if anyone else needs any help before we go. Make me a promise, Max…’
‘What is it?’
‘Catch that bitch.’
‘I’ll do what I can, Ori.’
As Byrd turned, he stopped when Tanzy said, ‘Never a dull day in Darlington, is there?’
Byrd smiled, agreeing with him with a shake of his head.
By the time Byrd had reached Church Grove in his battered X5 which, fortunately, was still driveable, the police had managed to locate the house that Dilton and Fallows had been staying in. They’d asked some of the neighbours where the bald man lived with the blue Focus. It wasn’t hard.
Cornty and Leonard had kicked the door in and Weaver had followed, then with overshoes and gloves on, they searched the house until Byrd arrived, which wasn’t long after.
Byrd pulled into the street and spotted Leonard’s Insignia and two marked Peugeots over in the left corner in front of a nice-looking semi-detached house. Byrd got out, locked the door, and walked towards the house, feeling the stares of nosy neighbours from all directions, standing behind curtains, peeping out to see what was happening.
Byrd stepped through the broken red door that was open a few inches and called out.
Leonard appeared at the top of the stairs with a serious look on his face. ‘Come up here, boss. There’s something you need to see.’
84
Tuesday Early Afternoon
Church Grove, Darlington
Byrd followed Leonard into a small room at the end of the short, narrow landing. Once he was inside, it was obvious Dilton had used it as an office. There was a desk against the wall to the right, and above it, dozens of photos and bits of paper randomly pinned to the wall.
Byrd looked at it, seeing photos of Danny Walters, Jane Ericson, Rachel Hammond, and lastly, DS Phil Stockdale. Next to each photograph, there was information and details about them that Dilton had noted when watching them over the last couple of weeks. Stuck on the bottom of each photo, there was a yellow post-it note, a single word on each of them. The word, fire was under Walters, Air under Ericson, Water under Hammond, and lastly, Earth under Stockdale.
Pulling his eyes away from the wall, Byrd noticed an envelope in Leonard’s hand.
In the centre of it, in scribbled handwriting, it said FAO Max Byrd / Orion Tanzy.
‘What is it?’ Cornty asked, stepping into the room. Byrd turned it over, peeled away the sticky flap, and reached inside, pulling out multiple sheets of A-4 paper.
Byrd dropped them onto the desk and sat down to look. The first page was a printed letter to Byrd and Tanzy.
To Max and Orion,
Firstly, I want to apologise for what I’ve done. The way I killed Danny, Jane, and Rachel, I must admit, wasn’t pleasant. I’m glad you found Phil before he ran out of air. I left you the message at the end of my fourth video in the hope you would find him. He seemed like a genuine man caught up in something wrong, but I hoped he learned his lesson for what he did. By now, I’m sure he’s confessed to what he’s done and is paying the price in prison for a long time, so either way, justice is served.
I came across the website which I know you’re now aware of. www.attheend.com – it’s pure evil. The people who did those despicable things needed to pay the price.
Yes, I admit, taking an eye for an eye isn’t the way it should be, but after I witnessed what they’d done and what they said, it sickened me. So, I got them back.
By now, I’m either dead or arrested. So this is my way of saying sorry for what’s happened. The games online that the players and watchers were involved in will go on, and I wanted to stop it, wanted to stop them from taking innocent girls and torturing them for money. It’s wrong. I won’t accept it.
Now, as you know, I’m not in a position to stop this anymore. This, now, is up to you Max / Orion, to finish this. If you look on my computer (username RCarl20 and password Dilton) – another apology about the RCarl20 and Roger Carlton. I was obsessed with a character growing up, and this Carlton guy, in my head, has been with me ever since – and look at the program that is currently running (LocateIP). It’s a special tracking program from the US. It was expensive, but if it works, it’ll be worth it to save them. So far, I haven’t been able to locate the source of where these games are taking place. It could be anywhere in the world. Judging by the missing four girls, I have an idea it’s somewhere in Darlington.
Go on to the program and see if
it’s worked. I’m hoping it’s found the location of where the website originates from. Once it reaches 100%, their location will come up. You need to find them and stop them from causing more harm to innocent families.
Keep up the good work.
Best wishes,
Mackenzie Dilton.
‘Jesus,’ Byrd whispered.
‘What is it?’ Leonard said.
Byrd handed the letter over to Leonard, who started to read it. Cornty leaned in to read it too.
Byrd logged on to the computer and the program appeared. The current search bar had reached 97%, slowly crawling across the screen. Under the number, it stated Location not yet found… in bold lettering.
‘Come on…’ he said, looking above the monitor at the notes on the wall.
‘Bloody hell,’ Leonard said behind him. ‘He’s trying to stop it.’
‘In other words,’ Cornty said, pushing his lips out, ‘he’s a hero then…’
‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ countered Leonard, who placed the paper on the desk and looked at the screen.
‘It’s nearly a hundred, then we’ll know,’ Byrd said.
Leonard and Cornty both nodded, watching the bar crawl across.
‘I’m gonna check on Weaver,’ Cornty said, edging back and leaving the room. Weaver was downstairs, checking through the cupboards in the kitchen.
‘Hey,’ Cornty said.
It took her by surprise and she jumped.
‘Jeez… you got me there,’ she said, placing a palm on her chest. ‘What have you found?’
Cornty explained.
‘We’ll nail them!’ she said positively.
Back upstairs, a little over fifteen minutes later, the bar had reached one hundred percent. It stated search complete and gave them an IP Address and coordinates. Byrd, from the right side of the desk, grabbed a pen and piece of scrap paper, and made a note of them. He then went on to Google and typed in the coordinates that the program had given and pressed ENTER.
The location came up.
‘Bingo…’ said Leonard, leaning over him.
No One's Safe: DI Max Byrd & DI Orion Tanzy book 3 Page 28