The Rules of Murder

by The Rules of Murder (retail) (epub)

  As Dani and Easton stepped out, a uniformed PC idled over.

  ‘DI Stephens and DS Easton,’ Dani said as she shook the officer’s hand.

  ‘PC Khan,’ she said.

  ‘Sophie was found here?’ Dani asked.

  ‘She was wandering down the street from over that way,’ Khan said, pointing the opposite way to which Dani and Easton had arrived. ‘She collapsed outside here. Mr Ali called the police.’ Khan indicated the grocery store behind her.

  ‘He’s inside?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Khan said.

  ‘Easton, you go and speak to him. Khan, you can come with me.’

  Khan beamed at that.

  ‘Do you know the area well?’ Dani said as they began to walk.

  ‘Kind of,’ Khan said. ‘We were first response because we’d just been to another call at the prison, but I’m based at Smethwick.’

  Which was a bit of a shame. Someone who knew the area inside out might have been better able to quickly pinpoint where Sophie had likely come from.

  ‘OK, that’s not a problem,’ Dani said. ‘We’ll have to use our instincts.’

  Dani kept her eyes busy as they slowly walked. ‘CCTV up there,’ she said, pointing to the cameras high up on a pole. ‘And another further down.’

  ‘Yeah. I spotted those,’ Khan said. ‘I advised DC Grayling when we spoke on the phone earlier.’

  Which was helpful; if they could at least narrow down where Sophie had entered Butler Street, they could begin to trace where she’d come from. And could they even get images of Curtis coming and going?

  They’d soon walked past the shops and found themselves with a row of terraced houses either side of them that stretched away into the near distance. Farther up ahead was a large roundabout connecting to the Birmingham ring road. The multiple lanes there were clogged with heavy traffic.

  ‘Surely she couldn’t have come this far,’ Dani said. ‘A young woman in broad daylight, shoeless, face bruised, grimy clothes, covered in filth. Someone else would have stopped her, would have alerted the police, before she’d got to the shops. And how would she have got across that carriageway without anyone raising the alarm?’

  ‘I think you’re right,’ Khan said.

  Dani stopped and turned around.

  ‘Which means she came from one of the roads between here and the shops.’

  Khan nodded. Dani began to walk back. At each side street they passed, she stopped and peered down. The first street was residential with small terraced houses on both sides, running in a straight line as far as the eye could see. Cars were jammed together on both sides of the road, providing just enough space for traffic to move in between. As on Butler Street, Dani spotted a CCTV tower on the pavement a hundred yards down. That wasn’t the street they were looking for.

  They kept on going. The next street was much the same as the previous one, but the third street was markedly different. The terraces on this one continued only for half a dozen houses before commercial properties took over: small offices, warehouses.

  ‘She’s more likely to have been kept somewhere big and quiet, than in one of the terraces,’ Khan said.

  Dani agreed. Plus, as they headed down, Dani noticed there was no CCTV here on the street itself, albeit some of the businesses had their own systems installed to keep watch over their premises.

  The buildings they passed were a concoction of different businesses, in various states of repair. More than one property was decrepit and clearly abandoned. Some looked abandoned but were in fact in full use. Some looked new and fresh, even.

  ‘Do you think it’s one of these closed-down places?’ Khan asked.

  ‘Not one we’ve passed yet,’ Dani said. ‘All the ones I’ve seen have security fences, padlocked gates. From what I’ve heard of the state of Sophie, do you think she could have made it past obstacles like that?’

  ‘She was running for her life, so who knows?’ Khan said. ‘Or there could be back entrances?’

  A fair point, and one which made a bit more of an impression when they came to another side street that was nothing more than an alleyway between two rows of commercial properties. With no through road, it appeared its only use was for access and dumping rubbish, judging by the lack of anything other than industrial bins.

  Dani paused at the entrance to the alleyway and looked all around. In years gone by this was an area thriving with industry, and even today, despite huge changes in the economic landscape within the Midlands and further afield, the businesses here had good access to the ring road and out of the city – yet it was also incredibly quiet. A perfect place for keeping out of sight and out of mind.

  Dani was about to move off down the alley to further investigate when she spotted something on the ground. She bent down and took a plastic glove from one pocket and a small evidence bag from another. She reached out with her gloved hand and picked up the loose strands of dyed blonde hair, dark brown near the roots. Dani rubbed her finger across the hair and then stared at the red residue on her fingers.

  She placed the hairs in the bag then looked up to Khan who seemed far more anxious now than moments before.

  ‘Come on,’ Dani said.

  She straightened up and the two of them headed down the alley. Distant banging, music from tinny radios, the whir of machinery wafted over from nearby buildings, but there was no sign of anyone at all within the alley. They came to a set of rusted loading doors that were open several inches. Not a particularly secure way to leave a building, whether it was in use or otherwise. Dani tried to open the doors further, but they were wedged in position, the sliding mechanism all but failed for good.

  ‘What is that smell?’ Khan said, holding her nose.

  Dani already knew, and the thoughts running through her mind now made her insides curdle.

  She slipped in through the gap, and spotted the van, back doors open, a few yards away in the darkened space. Dani reached for her phone.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ‘I’m going to have to start charging you for call outs,’ Tariq said when he arrived suited and booted with his team of FSIs.

  ‘Believe me, I’d call you less if I could,’ Dani said.

  ‘At least there’s no body this time, I suppose.’

  Dani didn’t say anything to that. However positive it was that Sophie was alive, she wasn’t sure this was a time to feel lighthearted, though she certainly understood why others tried to make light of horrible situations like this. It wasn’t as though anybody actually enjoyed prodding and cataloguing dead bodies and bloody crime scenes.

  Not anyone Dani knew on the right side of the law, anyhow.

  With the situation under control, Dani didn’t stay at the warehouse much longer. She’d already seen enough. The FSIs would once again do their painstaking work, and hopefully find the evidence to allow the police to tie Curtis to the scene. Dani had no real use there.

  She re-congregated with Easton by the grocery store. He was already standing by her car waiting for her and had learned nothing much of interest from the shopkeeper. They were soon on their way to the hospital where word had come through that Sophie was able to take visitors, but at nearly five p.m. on a Friday afternoon, the traffic, so close to the city centre, was grinding to a halt in nearly every direction.

  ‘Don’t look so glum,’ Easton said, breaking what had been an increasingly uncomfortable silence as they sat at a standstill with less than half a mile to go to their destination.

  Dani hadn’t thought she was looking glum, more pensive.

  ‘We’re closing in on him,’ Easton said. ‘He knows that too.’

  ‘Which could just make him more ruthless. Or disappear altogether.’

  ‘No. We’re going to corner him.’

  She hoped he was right, though she wasn’t feeling quite so confident herself any more.

  ‘Do you think he was staying there, at the warehouse?’ Easton asked.

  ‘I saw nothing to suggest that. No clothes, no food w
aste other than in the van. No mattresses or anything like that.’

  ‘We need to figure out who owns that building and how it links to Curtis.’

  ‘Yeah, but it looked pretty damn abandoned to me. Most likely he was simply squatting there.’

  Another silence followed as they finally started to crawl forwards. Dani’s mind wouldn’t rest at all.

  ‘I can’t help but think about what Sophie’s been through,’ Dani said.

  ‘She’s still alive. That’s the main thing.’

  ‘But you didn’t see that place,’ Dani said, as another wave of bile rose up inside her. ‘He had her chained in there. There was filth and blood everywhere. What on earth was he doing?’

  Dani really didn’t want to think about Sophie’s ordeal, about how terrified she must have been, yet it was the only thing that she was now thinking about. Why had Curtis done that to her? He could have left her at Drifford House. He could have killed her at any point. Why did he keep her alive but imprisoned like that?

  The dashboard on Dani’s car lit up with an incoming call. Jason.

  ‘Aren’t you going to answer that?’ Easton said after a few seconds.

  Dani shook her head.

  ‘Don’t worry about me,’ Easton said. ‘I’ll close my ears if you two want to say sweet nothings to each other.’

  Easton smirked.

  Dani really wasn’t in the mood. The call, just like the last Jason had made twenty minutes ago, went unanswered. She expected he was home from his business trip by now, and that was the reason he was calling, to check where she was. After the abrupt end to their call last night, Jason had confirmed via text their plans to go to a newly opened bistro after work. Dani hadn’t seen him all week, and until a few hours ago she’d been longing for him to return. But she felt jaded now, and as much as she wanted Jason to be there with her, to hold her and hug her, she really wasn’t sure she was in the mood for nice food and wine tonight any more.

  They arrived at the horrendously busy hospital and spent several minutes navigating their way around until eventually they found the corridor off from A&E where Sophie was being kept. Along the way they’d passed by a waiting area where Dani had spotted Sophie’s parents huddled together on a bench, hands entwined as they stared at the floor. Both of them looked shell-shocked, relief not yet properly taking hold. Dani and Easton spent a couple of minutes talking to them. They’d been allowed to see Sophie earlier, but their poor daughter had been too drugged up at that point to enter into any kind of coherent conversation with them.

  Despite the earlier call, Dani and Easton had to wait for nearly an hour before they finally got the go-ahead to see Sophie from the consultant in charge of the ward.

  ‘She’s only been awake a few minutes,’ he said, as they stood outside the door to Sophie’s room. His trepidation was apparent, but it’d also been made quite clear to him how serious the investigation was, and how urgent it was for the police to speak to Sophie in order to help catch the man who’d kidnapped her. ‘She’s likely to be confused, incoherent. If you need me at all, I’ll be right outside.’

  Easton thanked him before he and Dani stepped into the room and Dani closed the door softly behind her. As she looked over to the figure in the bed she had to hold back a gasp. Dani had seen plenty of pictures of Sophie these last few days. One in particular, which had been splashed all over the media, was ingrained in Dani’s brain, and showed a smiley, carefree teenage girl, flowing blonde hair, lovely skin, bright and vibrant eyes. The young woman in the bed was unrecognisable. Her hair was matted and bushy. Her face was pulpy and swollen; her skin was blotchy; one eye was nearly closed it was so bruised.

  ‘Sophie?’ Dani said as she stepped forward. Sophie was upright in the bed, eyes closed, though she stirred at the sound of Dani’s voice. ‘My name’s DI Stephens, from the police.’

  Sophie groaned as she forced open her eyes a little. Dani sat in the plastic chair next to the bed. Easton remained standing and went over to the window where the curtains were open, letting in a swathe of natural light.

  Dani was trying really hard to keep her emotions in check. Not just because of the thoughts of what Sophie had been through, but because of the rush of raw memories that were now filling Dani’s head as she recalled her own period of hospitalisation following Ben’s attack. Just the smell of the place, the sound of the machines and monitors, was enough to take her back to that dark time.

  ‘Sophie, I know you’ve been through hell,’ Dani said. ‘We only need a few moments of your time today.’

  Sophie’s better eye opened a little further. She shuffled in the bed and grimaced in pain.

  ‘I want… my… mum. Dad.’

  ‘They’re here,’ Dani said. She wondered whether she should reach out for Sophie’s hand. Would that give her more comfort and strength to talk? She didn’t. ‘We’ll get them to come back in as soon as we’re finished. Is that OK?’

  Sophie nodded. Kind of.

  ‘You wouldn’t believe how much they’ve missed you,’ Dani said.

  A tear escaped Sophie’s eye.

  ‘Sophie, do you know what happened to you? Who took you?’

  Her face quivered in terror, though she shook her head.

  ‘You didn’t know him?’

  Another more definite shake this time. She wasn’t lying, and this was what the police had always thought. There was no prior link between Sophie and Curtis. Nor between Oscar and Curtis. What the hell was going on?

  ‘But you would recognise him?’

  A nod. Easton came over and pulled out his phone. He held it out, the screen showing an image of Damian Curtis.

  ‘Is this him?’ Dani asked.

  Sophie’s face trembled now. She glanced at the picture then looked down, but she said nothing.

  ‘Is that the man who took you?’ Dani asked.

  ‘Y-Yes,’ Sophie said.

  ‘His name is Damian Curtis. Do you know that name?’

  A head shake.

  ‘Do you know why he took you? What did he want?’

  ‘He… wants to kill them. He wants to kill them all.’

  Dani’s heart skipped a beat at the connotations of that statement. What had Curtis told her?

  ‘But he didn’t kill you, Sophie. Why?’

  She was sobbing now. Dani’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She didn’t bother to take it out. Was it Jason again?

  ‘Sophie? He killed Oscar,’ Easton said. ‘You were there. Do you know why he did that?’

  Sophie looked even more shocked now. Did she not know that Oscar was dead?

  A few minutes of awkward and confused conversation followed. Dani had hundreds of questions for Sophie, mostly revolving around what she knew of Curtis’s plans, where he now was, how they could find him and stop him from killing again. But it was clear enough that Sophie wasn’t up to all of that yet. She’d been punished enough.

  ‘Sophie?’ Easton said.

  Dani’s phone was ringing again. She resisted the urge to take it out.

  ‘I… just want… my mum.’

  ‘OK, Sophie. We’ll go and get your parents,’ Dani said. ‘Thank you for your time. You’re one hell of a brave woman.’

  For the first time Sophie’s eyes met Dani’s. She really wasn’t sure what the look meant, but it was far from positive.

  Dani got to her feet and she and Easton headed out. Dani took a deep breath as soon as she stepped out into the corridor, as though she’d just been through an ordeal herself.

  ‘Go and get her parents,’ she said to Easton.

  He scooted off as Dani took her phone out. The last calls hadn’t been from Jason at all but from DC Constable. He’d left a message too. Dani didn’t bother to listen to it, just phoned him straight back as she watched Easton wander off down the corridor.

  ‘Did you get my message?’ Constable asked.

  ‘I’ve not listened to it.’

  ‘McNair gave me the list for witness protection to sort through.’


  ‘You’re hitting some roadblocks?’

  ‘Yes and no, but with McNair’s help I’m dealing with it.’

  ‘So what was it then?’

  ‘We identified all of the people from Curtis’s trial, but McNair suggested we also look over his other records, including his arrest records, to see which other people are in there who could be relevant.’

  ‘Sounds sensible.’

  ‘Did you already know, then?’

  Dani frowned. ‘Know what?’

  ‘The arresting officer the night of the car crash…’ Dani held her breath as her brain whirred. ‘It was Jason.’

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I’m still angry as I sit in my van outside the house in Harborne. Angry at Sophie, angry at myself, angry at the police. I watched them outside the warehouse. Like cockroaches clustering and roaming and invading. That was my space. Mine and Sophie’s. Now she’s gone, and that place is gone too. The police have taken over, and I can never go back.

  All because I trusted her.

  When I saw the empty van, I knew I didn’t have time to clean that place up. I had to believe that as soon as Sophie was found, the police would descend. And I was right.

  Now it’s time to get my own back on them all. The police think they’re running the show here. I’m about to show them how wrong they are.

  I watch him walking away from me. He didn’t even glance at my van as he walked past. This might be my biggest challenge yet, quite literally, I realise. The guy is tall and muscled and in his prime, so I need to be careful, yet I remain confident that he’ll be no match when the time comes. He turns a corner further down the road and heads away towards the high street. Fetching bread and milk, or some wine to share with his loved one tonight perhaps. Will she be back before or after the show I wonder?

  This time the phrase the more the merrier really might be apt after all.

  I check in the side mirror. The pavement outside is quiet. I open the van door and step into the sun-drenched street. I backtrack away from the van and just a few houses further along the road I open the gate and head up the drive. This could well be my easiest entry yet. The front door is aged and has two locks, but I know he didn’t use the deadbolt, just the far easier to pick mortice lock. But I don’t need to even do that this time. This house is on a busier street than the others I’ve been to recently, so I’ve made sure I’m even more prepared. Of course I always scope out beforehand; I like to roam around the homes of my tormenters when they’re not there. It gives me a great sense of power. For this house, I’ve gone a step further still.