She stopped, and took a few more sips of water.
‘He made me go outside with him, to the slaughterhouse. He had chained Ethan’s wrist to one of the supporting timber posts in the middle of the floor. It looked as if they’d been fighting – Ethan’s nose looked broken––’
‘Hardly a fair fight,’ said Kay. ‘Was your husband injured in any way?’
‘Not that I could see.’
‘Go on.’
‘When I asked him what he was going to do, he… he changed. There was this look in his eyes that I’ve seen before, when he threatened me that time and I think Ethan saw it, too. Adrian didn’t say anything – he got some plastic ties that we use to secure the food pellet sacks and wound one around Ethan’s wrists before he unchained him. He told me to start up the plane – I’d flown it down from my parents’ place that morning––’
‘Stop there,’ said Kay. ‘You own an aircraft?’
‘No – my parents own it. I just fly it now and again. I either drive up or get the train and then fly back. We were going to go over to France the next day.’
Kay scribbled a note to contact West Mercia Police in Shropshire to seize the aircraft for a forensic examination as she realised that Helen’s story explained why they’d been unable to find any such aircraft registered or hidden locally.
‘How did you get Ethan into the aircraft?’
‘Adrian… He threatened to kill the others if Ethan didn’t do what he was told. I think he knew he was going to die, but he was too weak to run away by then…’ She broke off, and dabbed the tissue at the corner of her eyes.
Kay clenched her jaw at the abject cruelty of what she was hearing. ‘Keep going.’
‘When Ethan got in the aircraft, Adrian put the other plastic tie around his ankles, and then hit him.’ Helen swallowed. ‘He kept hitting him, beating him around the head until he passed out. Then he told me to get in and get the plane up in the air. I was terrified – I’ve never flown at night before, but Adrian said all I had to do was get us up high enough over the reservoir so he could push him out. He said it would be a fitting end for a paratrooper.’
‘You knew what Ethan did?’
‘Yes. I overheard him telling the others one day. I didn’t put two and two together at the time – I didn’t know he would try to use what he knew back then to help them escape.’
‘Would you have told Adrian if you did?’
‘I don’t know. I suppose so.’
‘What happened once you were up in the air?’
‘It’s only a small aircraft. Adrian was sat between me and Ethan, who was passed out and leaning against the passenger door. I was trying really hard to get my bearings and read the instruments – taking off was a nightmare. Adrian got out his mobile phone – he said he was going to film the moment he pushed Ethan out the door so he could show the others, to show them what happens to people who try to escape. We were only up a few hundred metres when suddenly Ethan came to – he lashed out at Adrian before he had a chance to react, and I screamed. I thought I was going to lose control. Adrian somehow managed to lean over Ethan while he had him in a headlock, and opened the door. He – he pushed him out.’ She closed her eyes. ‘He managed to twist around and cling to the door frame, but Adrian kicked his hands so he lost his grip. I can still hear him screaming. I… I can’t sleep at night.’
Kay heard Gavin shift in his seat next to her, and turned to see the detective constable’s face paler then she’d ever seen.
‘Helen, what happened after you landed the plane?’
The woman used her shirtsleeve to wipe at her eyes. ‘Adrian was angry – he said that Ethan should have been dropped over the water so his body wouldn’t be found. He took one of the vans we use to get around the far side of the property – we don’t use it on the roads, so it isn’t registered. He said he knew of a track north of Maitland’s place and we were sure that Ethan had dropped somewhere near there. He was gone for nearly two hours, but when he came back he said he couldn’t risk trying to move the body. He left him there, and told me to fly the plane back to Mum and Dad’s first thing in the morning. I got the train back the next day.’
‘Where’s the van, Helen?’
‘He said he took it somewhere on the Isle of Sheppey and set light to it so it couldn’t be traced back to us. It wasn’t registered anyway – he only used it to transport stuff around the farm.’
‘Who killed Shelley?’
‘Adrian, of course. He was livid that having to deal with Ethan meant that she’d got away. He spent days hunting her down, going back to Maidstone where he’d first convinced her to come and work for us. He said she didn’t have anywhere else to go, and we couldn’t risk her talking to anyone.’
‘Why the hell did he hack off her feet?’
‘For the same reason he killed Ethan. To warn the others.’
‘How many more slaves are you holding at the farm?’
‘Four now. There were seven originally, but one man got too sick to work about six months ago. Adrian took him away.’
Kay shivered at the woman’s words. ‘You said he chopped off Shelley’s feet “to warn the others”,’ she said. ‘What do you mean? What did he do?’
‘He threw them down the cellar steps and told them that’s what happened to people who ran away.’
‘What cellar?’ said Gavin. ‘Where have you been keeping these poor people?’
‘Under the slaughterhouse,’ said Helen. She ran a hand through her hair, defeated. ‘It’s an old nineteenth-century grain store, you see. There’s a hatch in the floor under one of the boning tables. Saves us having them ever leave the slaughterhouse and being seen by anyone.’
Kay pushed back her chair. ‘Interview suspended at seven forty-five. Gavin, with me.’
She rushed from the room, pulling out her mobile phone as she ran along the corridor, the detective constable at her heels.
‘Where are you going, guv?’
‘Back to the farm, Piper. There are four people trapped under a barn without food or water, and Adrian Peverell will know by now that his wife is in custody. He’s got nothing to lose.’
Chapter Fifty-Two
Kay lowered her mobile phone to her lap, and watched the darkened countryside pass the speeding car’s window.
Since Helen’s confession, she’d been liaising with DCI Sharp and Headquarters to provide sufficient manpower to go to the Peverells’ farm and apprehend Adrian – and locate the rest of the slaves he and his wife were keeping in captivity.
Uniformed patrols had already visited the homes of their four employees, carrying out the arrests as the men and women had been having dinner or watching television in comfort while their unpaid counterparts tried to survive in squalor, starving.
Helen’s solicitor was already working to ensure his client received more lenient charges than her husband, arguing that she had lived in fear of her life.
Kay was having none of it.
She wanted both of them to be incarcerated for as long as possible, to know what it was like to have their freedom taken away. Even then, they would be living in better conditions than the people they enslaved.
‘Are you all right?’ said Barnes, shifting up a gear and guiding the car around a sharp bend. ‘You’ve been quiet ever since you finished that last call.’
‘I should’ve put two and two together when I saw Adrian this morning,’ she said. ‘The sores on his cheeks, I mean. I put it down to acne or something like that, but it’s an allergic reaction, isn’t it?’
Barnes choked out a sardonic laugh. ‘Bloody hell, you’re right. I didn’t realise either. It’s the glue, right? The glue he used to fix the fake beard to his face when he was approaching those homeless people in Maidstone. It’s why we didn’t recognise him when we saw him on the CCTV footage talking to Jeremy.’
‘Exactly.’
Her detective sergeant slowed the vehicle as they approached the Peverells’ farm and glanced over. ‘It wouldn�
��t have saved Shelley, guv. She was long gone by the time we heard from Jeremy.’
‘I know.’ Her eyes snapped to the radio clipped to the dashboard as it spat to life and the drivers of the patrol vehicles called in their positions. ‘God, I hope we’re not too late to save the others.’
‘Adrian’s car was found an hour ago out on the main road between Sevenoaks and Hildenborough, guv – do you think he’s still in the area? He could be anywhere by now.’
‘He’s violent, and vindictive, Ian. I don’t think he’s going to let those people go free. He could’ve made his way back to the farm by any number of footpaths that cross this countryside, and he knows the area better than us. At least we’ve got patrols out at the Maitland and Ditchens farms in case he turns up there.’
‘Do you think he’ll threaten them if he does?’
‘Yes – it’s why I authorised the use of Tasers if necessary. I’m not taking any chances with this bastard.’
‘Here we go.’
Barnes swung the car into the entrance to the farm behind a patrol car travelling from the opposite direction, and parked next to the house as floodlights blinked to life around the farmyard.
‘If we were anywhere else, I’d think he was overcautious with his security,’ he said.
‘Helen said there are cameras all over the place, too – on the back of the outbuildings as well, in case any of the slaves try to make a break for it over the fields.’
‘Bloody hell. They’re monsters,’ said Barnes as a uniformed officer crossed to the house and began to hammer his fist against the front door.
Moments later, two more officers joined him, brandishing a ram that they smashed through the lock before all three disappeared into the building.
‘Put your stab vest on,’ said Kay. ‘I’m not taking any chances given those knives he’s got in the slaughterhouse.’
She fastened her own over her jacket, then got out of the car, her eyes sweeping the floodlit yard.
Save for the six uniformed officers and Barnes, the farmyard was deserted.
The wind caught her hair and sent a blue plastic tarpaulin tumbling over the concrete hardstanding outside the outbuilding that housed the rabbits.
She held her breath as she scanned the yard for any sign of life.
The doors to the slaughterhouse were wide open, a padlock lying on the ground beside the right-hand one, its metal surface catching in the light. The space beyond the doors was pitch-black, and as the wind direction shifted, she caught the stench of something that sent a chill crawling through her veins.
She peered over her shoulder at a shout from the house.
‘He’s not in here, ma’am.’
‘Guv, that’s petrol,’ said Barnes as he moved to her side.
Kay lowered her chin and murmured a command into her radio. ‘I want everyone to spread out around the slaughterhouse – move slowly, stay in the shadows where you can. Suspect is believed to have spilled petrol, and is considered a threat.’
She turned down the volume as the responses were called back, and greeted PC Dave Morrison as he joined her.
‘Ma’am, you should move back. With the dust from the food and straw that’s stored in that building, it’s highly combustible.’
‘There are at least four people trapped in the cellar underneath the building,’ said Kay. ‘I’m not going anywhere. Get onto control and tell them we’re going to need the fire brigade here just in case.’
‘Will do, guv.’
Morrison moved a short distance away and relayed her message while she contemplated her options.
If she had her team rush into the building, Adrian could harm the captives before they had a chance to reach them.
She could smell petrol, but they had no idea where it had been spilled, or in what quantity.
Until she knew where he was, she couldn’t contemplate staging a rescue in case he attacked a member of her team.
She had to assume he had armed himself with the knives used to butcher the rabbits, and she had no idea whether he had access to firearms as well – Helen had clammed up shortly after telling them about the cellar, and her solicitor was holding out until he knew what sort of charges were going to be brought against his client before persuading her to talk any further.
‘Kay – it’s him,’ said Barnes.
Her attention snapped back to the doors of the slaughterhouse as a figure emerged from the gloom.
Adrian Peverell cast a formidable figure as he moved forward, brandishing a long blade in his right hand that he pointed at her.
‘You stand back,’ he shouted. ‘All of you, stand back.’
‘Calm down, Adrian,’ said Kay, holding up her hands. ‘We just need you to let us see that those people are alive and well.’
In response, Adrian started to laugh. As he raised his left hand, two of the officers emerged from the shadows, battens raised, each shouting at him to drop his weapon.
Instead, his left hand twitched, and the flare from a naked flame illuminated his face.
‘Shit,’ said Barnes. ‘He’s got a cigarette lighter. He’s going to burn the whole bloody place down.’
‘Adrian, please – let’s talk.’ Kay heard her voice shake, desperation clawing at her nerves.
Behind the farmer, buried within the depths of the slaughterhouse, she heard a woman scream.
‘What do we do?’ said Barnes out of the side of his mouth.
‘Keep him talking. Dave, are you still there?’
‘Yes, guv,’ said a voice behind her.
‘Can any of your officers get between him and the barn?’
‘I’ll see if they can try.’
‘Do it. Slowly and quietly. Use whatever force necessary.’
‘Guv.’
Kay exhaled, hoping her height would go some way to mask the actions of the police sergeant behind her as he relayed her instructions under his breath.
She focused on the man moving from one foot to the other only a few metres away from where she stood.
‘Adrian, we know what happened here. We know what happened to Ethan and Shelley. Don’t make it worse for yourself.’
He waved the flaming cigarette lighter towards her. ‘That bitch. I knew she wouldn’t keep quiet. I knew I should’ve dealt with her years ago.’
He kicked at a pile of empty sacks in front of the doors, then threw back his head and screamed at the night sky.
The cigarette lighter wavered before the flame went out, and Kay heard the scratch of metal before fire shot out from the end once more.
‘He’s lost it,’ said Barnes. ‘You’re not going to talk him down from this. Is he on something?’
‘Helen didn’t mention drug use.’
‘Great, we’ve got a psychopath on our hands, then.’
‘Adrian, can you put out that lighter?’ said Kay, keeping her voice even despite her colleague’s prognosis. ‘Can you show us those people inside are all right?’
The man cackled and moved a few steps closer towards her. He thrust his hand behind him, using the lighter to point at the slaughterhouse, his face glistening with sweat under the floodlights.
‘I’ll burn the lot of them! That’s what I’ll do.’ His face lost its manic expression for a moment, his mouth downturned. ‘It’s all over, anyway. All gone.’
‘Let them go, Adrian. Please.’
The lighter went out again, and she saw anger and frustration flit across his features in the glare of the floodlights.
His thumb moved, but it was several moments before the spark wheel worked and a flame appeared.
‘His hands are sweaty,’ said Morrison. ‘He can’t keep a grip on the spark wheel properly.’
‘Where the hell are your men?’ Barnes hissed.
‘Adrian, put that out,’ said Kay. ‘We can work through this, trust me. Let’s get those people to safety, and then we can talk.’
‘No!’ Adrian took a step backwards, thrusting the leaping flame in the direction of the
barn while he kept his eyes locked on her. ‘They’ll tell you everything. Just like that bitch, Shelley. I warned her, don’t tell anyone, I said, otherwise you’ll pay. I told her!’
A shadow moved behind him, moments before Kay realised it was one of Morrison’s officers advancing from his position beside one of the open doors.
She held her breath.
If Adrian turned around – if he took another step backwards – he would see the constable and panic, or worse.
‘Adrian!’ Barnes held up his hands. ‘Come on, please. She’s right, you’re only making this worse. We don’t want you to get hurt. Put out the flame and walk over here.’
The man snarled, began to turn towards the barn – and then dropped the cigarette lighter, his whole body convulsing.
He dropped to the floor, unable to break his fall, twitching in agony where he lay.
Within a few seconds, it was over.
‘Get that away from him!’ Kay rushed towards the open doors and kicked at the cigarette lighter, sending it flying towards the concrete expanse of the yard, and away from the slaughterhouse.
Turning to the police constable, she saw the Taser he held outright in front of him, ready to discharge it once more if he had to.
She stepped forward, addressing the prone man on the ground. ‘Adrian, you have been Tasered. If you threaten my officers or try to harm anyone, my officer will discharge the Taser again. Do you understand?’
Peverell nodded, his face still contorted as he rubbed at his arms.
At the sound of running feet, she spun around to see Barnes and Morrison running towards her.
‘Get this bastard into custody, and make sure there’s a twenty-four-hour suicide watch placed on his cell.’ She glared at the man who was now getting to his feet, aided by another officer. ‘I want him put away for a long time.’
Chapter Fifty-Three
Kay’s grip tightened on the handle of the umbrella as a vicious wind whipped off the town and buffeted the group of mourners clustered around the open grave.
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