by Carla Kovach
Gina agreed. They just had to work out how that was going to happen but it had to happen soon. Kapoor was being held somewhere and Vincent’s bungalow could easily be the place.
Vincent looked each way, checked his watch and dropped his cigarette to the ground before stamping on it.
‘Who’s he looking for?’ She grabbed the binoculars from the back seat and stared through the trees at Vincent. He checked his watch again before slamming his door.
54
Thursday, 28 January
Madison lay on the bed half listening to the television that had been left on in Alice’s bedroom. She glanced at the digital alarm clock. It was way past one in the morning but she was sure she’d heard Alice talking on the phone.
Alice peered around the bedroom door. ‘You’ve woken up?’
Madison rubbed her throbbing head as she propped herself up. All the painkillers she’d taken at the hospital had long worn off. ‘Do you have any paracetamol? I know there’s none in my apartment. Why didn’t I think to get some from Nanna’s place when we popped by? She’s got boxes of them lurking around.’
‘You’ve had a lot on your mind. Besides, I do have some painkillers but they’re codeine based so they will make you sleepy.’ Alice placed a hand on Madison’s forehead and smiled.
Madison forced a mock laugh. ‘Durr, have you seen the time. Sleepy – who cares?’
‘I’ll go and grab a couple.’ A round of gunshot firing came from the television and several bodies blew up into the air on the black and white screen. ‘What on earth are you watching?’
‘I’m not.’ Madison switched to love songs set on a radio channel. ‘That’s better.’
Alice left the room and Madison could just about hear her rifling through the kitchen cupboards before she came back in. ‘Here, take these.’
She took the two white tablets from her friend and swallowed them down with a gulp of water. ‘I had the weirdest dream.’
‘I’m not at all surprised. When I came in you were twitching and muttering away.’
‘I dreamed I was at uni, sitting at the back of the lecture theatre and there was a line of men with no faces sitting in the front row. They all turned around at the same time and their faces were flat – as in no features. I don’t know who attacked me. I might never know, but he’s out there and I think my dream meant he could be anyone.’ She exhaled. ‘But I feel I know him, or I’ve seen him around but I never got a look at his face. I wish I could say I’d looked into his eyes but it happened so quickly. I didn’t see a thing.’
As Alice sat on the cheap mattress, Madison almost rolled into her and winced as she held her head. ‘Sorry.’
Lifting a hand, Madison brushed away her apology. ‘I did what I had to do. I ran and I’m still alive.’
‘You know, I spoke to Tyrone earlier and he agrees that you and Amber could be connected. I suppose you have similar features, you go to the same uni. We’ve visited Tyrone together at his place so there’s another match in the places that we’ve all been to. Ty said something that breaks the mould though and you’re not going to believe this. I wanted to wake you, to tell you.’
Madison could feel her eyelids getting heavier as the codeine-based painkillers began to work their way into her system. ‘What?’
‘The police visited Ty a few hours ago to follow up on the statements of everyone living in his block and they said someone else was missing, another woman. He said she was a policewoman. She’s the anomaly. I don’t think it’s uni or the block but… there’s something that we’re not figuring out, that’s what Ty said.’
A snort came from Madison as she fought to stay awake. Her hand reached over to Alice’s. ‘Don’t leave me alone. I’m so tired.’ She yawned and closed her eyes.
In her half dreamy state, Madison heard Alice’s phone buzz and she left the room.
‘I can be over in a few minutes. I’ll meet you there.’
‘Alice, where are you going? Did you just give me painkillers? I can’t…’ Her speech was slurring and her thoughts jumbled. Her body felt as though it was gently sinking into the warm mattress. So inviting and unwilling to let her go. The exhaustion had caught up with her.
Seconds later, the front door closed and Alice hadn’t responded. ‘Alice, where…’ Her friend had gone and she was drifting into a sleep that she couldn’t fight any longer.
Back to that scary dream. Those blank faces in the front row of the lecture room appeared again. This time, she walked down the steps while the whole audience stared at her, then she turned from the stage area to get a better look. Each figure now had a walking stick and a sickly grin with sharp animalistic teeth. She wanted to wake up, run away but her feet were stuck to the ground and the crowd had disappeared. All the lights went out plunging the room into darkness, then they clicked back on.
Only one faceless figure remained, the only person in the auditorium. ‘Madison, I’m back.’
55
Gina had been shivering for a while now. The snow had thankfully stopped falling but more was predicted. They had been staring at Vincent Jordan’s bungalow through that same crack in the trees for well over three hours now. Since earlier, when it looked like he was waiting for someone, not a thing had happened. His lights had all gone off about an hour ago.
‘Nothing. Not a thing and it’s bloody freezing.’ Wyre wrapped her arms around herself after having a quick swig of water. ‘I’d do almost anything for a hot chocolate.’
‘Light on behind us.’ As Gina turned, the car rocked. She could just about see through the icy back window. ‘The attic room. That’s Tyrone’s apartment.’
‘Are we watching him now?’
‘We’re watching everyone. I’m prepared to change strategies if anyone is deemed to be acting suspiciously.’ Gina paused. ‘Light’s off again.’
‘Let’s hope he’s gone back to bed.’ Wyre began to sniff; her nose beginning to run. She grabbed a small pack of tissues from her pocket. ‘I hope Kapoor isn’t cold like this.’
Gina had been thinking that exact same thing all evening, along with all manner of other disturbing things. ‘I can’t stop thinking about her. I keep imagining her trapped and bound, just like Amber had been. It sickens me to think of her lips being glued and—’ She paused, imagining a knife plunging into their colleague’s heart. ‘We have to do something. Vincent’s in bed. Let’s head over and take a look. We might be able to see through a window or hear something.’ A flash of light came from behind the bungalow. ‘What was that?’
Wyre reached for her gloves. ‘I’ll grab the torch.’
Barely making a sound, both detectives crept out of the car and stealthily made their way through the trees, staying off the road that led to Vincent’s bungalow.
‘Ouch, rabbit hole ahead.’ Wyre bent over to rub her ankle then continued. After leaving a footprint trail in the snow, Wyre stopped in Vincent’s garden, remaining in the darkness of a tall conifer. The light behind the bungalow flicked off and all was silent.
Gina led the way around the edge of the garden. ‘If he comes out, we just needed to follow up on our interview and I don’t care that it’s the middle of the night, okay?’
Wyre nodded and followed.
‘I can hear muffled voices. Listen.’ They both stopped.
Wyre scrunched her brow. ‘Sounds like there’s a few people. What the hell is going on? Should we call for backup?’
‘Send a message to Jacob. Get someone down here just in case. It can’t hurt.’
As Wyre tapped away, Gina walked up to the dark windows but could see nothing at all. Either the windows were blacked out or the curtains were closed. The light in the hall flicked on. ‘Keep back.’ It looked like Vincent was walking back and forth through his bungalow. They ducked under the window as more lights went on. The tiniest crack in the curtains became visible as the light flooded through. Vincent might see them if he came closer. Gina flinched as the window cracked open. A cigarette butt flew out and
fizzled in the snow until it had been extinguished.
Somewhere in the house, Gina could hear a woman’s voice, not clear enough to make out if it could be Kapoor or anyone else. Vincent cleared his throat and pulled the stiff window closed again and the light went back out.
‘That was close.’ Wyre pulled her phone back out of her pocket and hit send on the message that she’d typed out for backup.
‘I heard a woman’s voice. It might be Kapoor. We have to get around the back, see what’s going on.’ Gina pushed her way through the bushes, cracking and crunching as she moved slowly. ‘They’re going to hear us. Damn.’ As she reached the end, she caught sight of two figures who began to scarper towards the back of the garden. Gina gave one last push through the bushes. ‘Police, stop.’ They continued to run. Vincent stood in his back doorway, illuminated by the security light as it flickered back on. She turned to Wyre. ‘You go after them.’
‘On it.’ Wyre burst from behind her. Being fitter, Gina was sure that Wyre would catch up with whoever was out there.
‘Vincent Jordan, what’s going on here?’
The man scurried inside and locked his door.
‘Open up. We have reason to believe that a police officer’s life may be in danger which would give me reasonable grounds to enter.’ She felt the slamming of her heart in her chest.
He glared through the window in the top of the back door. His wide eyes almost looking bloodshot in the corners. ‘You haven’t got a warrant.’
‘I don’t need one if a life might be at risk.’
He opened the door and took a couple of steps forward. ‘You’re not coming in. Get away from my door.’
‘Stand back, Mr Jordan.’
He began to seethe and took another step forward. ‘Just get the hell away from my house. I said you’re not coming in.’
‘Don’t step any closer.’
He ignored her warning, lifted his hand and went to grab her. Just in time, she blocked his arm and twisted him around, before grabbing his other arm and cuffing him. ‘Attempted assault on a police officer.’
Seconds later, she heard Wyre scrambling back through the bottom of the garden. ‘What happened here, guv?’
‘He stepped towards me in an aggressive manner, then went to grab me so I cuffed him.’
‘I wasn’t going to grab you.’ The man kicked the wall a couple of times.
‘There will be plenty of opportunity to tell your side of the story down at the station.’ She turned to Wyre. ‘I gather you lost them?’
‘I hate to admit it, but, yes. I recognised one of them, it was Tyrone Heard. At least we can bring him in later.’
‘I think I just heard a car pull up in the distance. It’s probably uniform and DS Driscoll. I’m going in.’ She swallowed as she stepped into the kitchen, the cheesy smell cloying in her throat and her heart pounding at the thought of what she might find. ‘Jhanvi?’ She took another step and listened for an answer.
56
As PC Smith caught up, Vincent Jordan was left in his capable hands. Gina stepped across the crumby kitchen that they’d only recently visited and it still smelled of cheese and beer and all manner of sickly greasy things that were now coating the insides of Gina’s nostrils. She only hoped that the smell of death wouldn’t be coming next but she’d heard a woman’s voice. Her stomach dropped. It may have just been the voice of one of his visitors but she knew Vincent Jordan had something to hide. It’s possible that the something he was hiding was PC Kapoor. She stepped into the dark hallway, snapped on a pair of gloves and turned on the lights. Glancing back, she nodded over her shoulder at Wyre to stay close. ‘The room we saw him going into, it was this way.’
Gina took a right, past the front door and along another corridor that led to a room at the end of the bungalow. The same room that Vincent had flicked his cigarette out of the window.
‘Jhanvi, it’s Gina and Paula. Jhanvi?’ Gina listened for any kind of response but none could be heard. A shuffling sound came from the room ahead. Taking another step, her foot crunched on something below, broken glass. She spotted what looked like an ornament that had been smashed. ‘Jhanvi?’
‘She has to be here.’ Wyre swallowed.
Gina pushed open the door to the room and pressed the light switch as she hurried through. ‘Police. DI Harte.’ Her shoulders slumped as she stared at an old workbench covered in a mini plastic filing cabinet containing what looked like compartments for screws and DIY oddments.
Wyre took a step forward and placed a hand on one of the slide-out boxes. Gina nodded. ‘Tablets. Lots of them. Looks like Ecstasy.’
‘Where the hell is Kapoor? Check the rest of the building and get some officers in here. This all needs to be bagged up and Vincent Jordan needs to go down to the station right now. Jhanvi?’ Gina left the room and burst into what looked like a cupboard – nothing but clutter, coats and a vacuum. The next room – a scattering of porn magazines next to a filthy mattress on the floor. She hurried back towards the front door and burst into the living room. Again, no Jhanvi. She ran out of the bungalow where Wyre was instructing uniform on what to do next. She jogged to the back of the garden and peered through the shed windows and then the old crumbling garage at the bottom of the garden – nothing.
A flurry of snow shook from the trees as the wind blustered away. They’d caught a drug dealer, nothing more. He had to know something. He had to have seen something or someone. She walked around the back of the garage and leaned against the wall, shivering with her eyes closed. The general noise of everything around her and her thoughts were overwhelming.
‘Guv?’
She opened her eyes. ‘She’s not here, Jacob. Where is she? We’re too late. I know we are. What the hell is happening to Jhanvi right now?’ She clenched her fists and followed him back.
‘Quick update. We’ve found the Collinses, guv. A witness was driving back from his girlfriend’s place in Bridgnorth in Shropshire and he spotted a man pulling a woman from the country road into a caravan, which he thought was suspicious. Police over that way headed over and confirmed that the couple were a Mr and Mrs Collins.’
‘Was Kapoor with them?’
He shook his head. A snowflake landed on his eyebrow. She could see the darkness under his eyes. They were all tired but the night’s work had just begun. ‘It will take a few hours to get them back to us as police there are processing them but they will be brought back to Cleevesford.’
Gina’s phone rang. ‘DI Harte,’ she answered.
‘This is PC Eagleton. We’re at the scene of the Collinses’ caravan. They have been taken to the station in response to the ANPR that was out for them. Your colleague suggested that we give you a call if there was anything else.’
‘What is it?’
‘We’ve found a phone on Mrs Collins with what looked like abusive messages on it.’
‘What phone number have they been sent to?’ Gina gazed at Jacob. ‘Grab a pen.’
He did as asked and waited for her to read out the number. Jacob flicked through a few of his notes. ‘That’s the number, guv. We have found out who NoName is.’
‘You say that phone was on Mrs Collins’s person?’
PC Eagleton verified her statement. ‘It was also a burner phone with only that number stored in it. No other numbers have been stored or called on this phone from what we can see, no incoming calls either.’
‘Thank you.’ As the call ended, the messages whirled through Gina’s thoughts. ‘Can you access the system on your phone and read the messages from NoName out?’
Jacob pulled his phone from his pocket and began to log in. He pressed a few buttons and scrolled before reading them out loud. ‘“NoName: I need to speak to you. Please, Amber. Amber: What we did wasn’t right and you lied to me. Don’t message me again. NoName: Don’t do this to me. Answer your phone. I need to talk to you. NoName: Why aren’t you answering? NoName: There’s someone else, isn’t there? Amber: You’re stressing me. NoName: Me stres
sing you. Amber: I can’t stand this any more. I’m turning the phone off. NoName: Don’t do that. You can’t ignore me. NoName: Why won’t you pick up? NoName: Just answer your phone. NoName: Stuck-up bitch. There are plenty of others who’d like to have what you have. NoName: Amber, I’m sorry about the last message. I didn’t mean it.” That’s the lot, guv.’
‘So they have a phone taken from Mrs Collins that shares the same messages as Amber’s phone. Where are Madison’s messages or even something that links to Kapoor? So far, I’m seeing an obsession with one person and why did Mrs Collins have this phone? Was she toying with Amber after finding out about her husband’s affair? Maybe we’re reading too much into this. Damn, we need to speak to them. Like always, people are as closed as clams, not caring whether they send us on a stupid little merry dance while our colleague could be being stabbed through the heart as we speak.’
As they reached the bungalow, PC Smith came out with several bags of tablets. The creases at his eyes told her his emotions were strained. His partner hadn’t been found. All they’d found was drugs. During any ordinary raid, this would have been a great result but now, all everyone wanted was Kapoor to be found and that hadn’t happened even though their two main suspects were now in custody.
She shook her head. ‘What are we missing?’ Jacob and PC Smith stood in silence, both of them looking as clueless as she felt. ‘We have to go back to the start. Go back to basics. What holes in our investigation haven’t we plugged? What questions have yet to be answered? Jacob, we’ll head back to the station and deal with Vincent Jordan while we wait for the Collinses to arrive and Smith, we will find her.’ She instantly regretted offering him that reassurance. No one could guarantee anything at this point.
Wyre ran towards them. ‘Guv, Tyrone Heard is in a police car and they’re taking him to the station now. He was found trying to sneak past the police back into his apartment.’