by A L Fraine
Jon raised an eyebrow at the additional emergency vehicles and wondered the same. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I was just told to get here.”
“Great, so you’re in the dark as much as I am. Perfect.”
“For now. I’m going to head in and see what’s going on, and I promise I will come back and tell you as much as I can. Okay?”
Despite still being unhappy, she seemed to calm down.
“Okay, thank you.”
“No problem,” he said.
“Sit tight,” Kate added as they signed in without issue and started to make their way closer to the house. As they closed in on the front garden, Jon spotted DI Taylor, and their eyes met.
The reaction was instant.
Tommy’s expression turned to one of fury, and he strode over. “Oh no. No, no, no. No, you don’t. You’re not coming in here and taking over. No way.”
Jon raised his hands. “We were just told to come,” he said.
“By who? I know I don’t want you here.”
“By DC Mizaki,” Jon replied.
“Oh, well then, if a DC said so, then I guess I should just shut my mouth, right? Piss off. No. You’re not coming in—”
“What did you find?” Kate asked, cutting him off.
“None of your beeswax, Irish. This one’s mine.”
“I think it’s Ellie’s, really,” Jon said.
“Don’t get smart.”
“I’ll try not to. I wouldn’t want to confuse you.”
Tommy’s eyes bugged at the comment. He went to say something, but Kate spoke up again.
“Are there bodies in the wall?”
The question brought Tommy up short. He turned to Kate. “What?”
“Bodies? Are there some in the walls?”
“How did you…?”
“We’ve been investigating a house in Newdigate, where we found eight bodies, bagged up and stuffed in a hollow wall. The case led us to talk to Ellie.”
Tommy seemed to tremble with barely restrained rage. His mouth worked as if he was trying to form a sentence but didn’t know where to start. “Damn it,” he said finally.
“It is, isn’t it?” Jon said.
“You still shouldn’t be here.”
“Do I have to pull rank on you, DI Taylor?” Jon asked.
“I’ll be sure to report this, you know.”
“Please do, but this is our case. You just happened to stumble onto it. It’s no biggy, really. These things happen. Now, if it’s okay with you, I think we’ll go and have a look.”
“Do what the fuck you want,” Tommy snapped and stormed off up the garden path and back onto the street.
“Told you it was bodies in the wall,” Kate said.
“Yeah, you did. So, what do you want? A gold star?”
“Yes please, and a sticker,” Kate replied with a bright smile. They were directed to a nearby tent, where they pulled on some forensics suits before they made their way inside. Work lights had been set up, lighting up the hallway as people moved around, coming and going from the basement. Jon could hear talking and loud voices coming from below. What was going on?
As they neared the stairs leading down, an officer stopped them. “Can I help?”
“DC Mizaki called us in,” Jon explained.
“Well, things are a little crowded down there for now. I think you might need to wai—”
“Jon, Kate, good to see you,” Ellie said, appearing at the top of the basement stairs. “I thought I heard your voices outside.”
“Yeah, had a run in with Inspector Twat,” he said quietly.
Ellie smirked. “Come down. I’ve got something interesting to show you.”
“Sure,” Jon said, and they followed her down into the basement. They were clustered mainly around the far wall where the freestanding metal shelves had been. But the shelves had been moved, and what Jon saw was bizarre.
“Is that… is that a false wall?”
“It is,” Ellie said. “And if you hadn’t been to see Mark Cooper when you did, we might never have found it.”
“What? What happened?” Kate asked.
“We were doing that sweep of the house I mentioned. The Forensic officers that were down here heard what sounded like a phone ringing, but it was coming from behind that wall.”
“Oh, shite.”
“So we got everyone down here, and once we started looking, we discovered the false wall and broke through. That’s when Mark called again, and we found the phone.”
“Just a phone?” Kate asked.
“Hold your horses, I’m getting there,” Ellie replied.
Jon gave Kate a look. “That told you, you eager beaver.”
“Sure did.”
“Once we were in there, we started to hear noises. Banging and a voice behind the next wall. It was a fresh wall, too. The cement had only just dried.”
“You mean…” Jon started.
“Someone is behind that wall, and they’re alive.”
“Oh my god,” Kate said.
“Can we have a look?” Jon asked, and Ellie nodded, letting them through. It was a very tight space, and although it was lit up, shadows played across the walls as the team moved. Police officers and firemen were working hard to knock out the bricks and get to the person behind.
They’d made good progress, but there was a wooden partition behind the bricks, keeping the victim hidden from view.
Jon could hear her though. He could make out the soft pleas for help that came from within.
Keen to help, Jon started to muck in with the effort to free whoever was trapped, and Kate did the same. It was simple, drudge work, but they all worked together to get it done.
It seemed to take forever, but after what felt like an age, they could finally get to the wooden partition wall and set to work on freeing that too. The scene that greeted them as they lifted the wood away was like something from a nightmare.
A young woman of about twenty years of age was trussed up behind the wall, sandwiched between bodies in black bags. The girl was alive but in a hell of a state. She simply collapsed into the arms of the officers, firemen and paramedics as they freed her.
Ellie recognised her right away as Helen.
Jon watched in mute horror as the girl was brought out, placed on a bright orange plastic board, and assessed by the paramedics before she was eventually moved. No one really said much as they watched this latest victim of this sick and twisted killer. All Jon wanted was for her to live. She needed to survive, not only because she was a key witness, but to hopefully put a stop to the string of murders that the killer had got away with so far.
A short time later, once the girl was wrapped in blankets and made ready, she was removed from the house to be taken to the closest hospital for treatment.
The mood in the room was sombre, but their work had only just begun, as forensics set to work taking down the rest of the wall and removing the bodies from it.
“Polly’s going to see her being taken out,” Kate said.
“I think she deserves some kind of explanation. I’ll go and talk to her.”
This would be a long afternoon.
25
It was late by the time Jon got home. Night had fallen, and he was in something of a mess from all the dust floating around that basement.
They’d found four more bodies in the wall, all of them bagged and in a fairly advanced state of decay and decomposition. They’d been removed from the property reasonably quickly, leaving them with the remains of the hidden space.
It was cleverly done, and behind the shelves, the concealed door into the hidden partition was almost invisible. He almost dare not think what might have happened to Helen if he hadn’t been to see Mark and caused him to ring Helen’s phone. Would the Forensics team have found the hidden door? Would they have freed Helen in time to save her? These were disturbing questions, but they were probably not worth worrying about. They had found the girl. She was alive and safe in the hands of t
he NHS, and that was all that mattered as far as he was concerned.
But even with this discovery, until they found out if Helen knew anything, until she told them what she knew, they were still no closer to catching this killer. But they’d have to wait. Helen was dehydrated, starving and delirious. She’d be no use to them until she was feeling better.
He had his suspicions regarding the case, but that’s all they were, with no solid evidence to back up anything.
Jon sat in his car and leant back, closing his eyes as he tried to relax. He was tired. Helping free Helen from the wall had been hard, back-breaking work, and he was paying for it now. All he wanted to do was to get inside, have something to eat, and get to bed. His planned trip to the shops would have to wait until tomorrow, or whenever it was that he finally got some time to himself.
Right now, he felt like just ordering a pizza or something and being done with it.
With a grunt and a supreme effort of will, he opened the door to the car and got out, making for the house. At the gate to his tiny front garden, getting a funny feeling, he paused and looked around. The road was lined with cars and vehicles of all kinds, but he couldn’t see anything wrong or out of place. He also couldn’t see Ariadne anywhere, which was something of a relief.
He could do without her turning up tonight, he thought as he dismissed his feelings of being watched, and moved to the door, fumbling with his keys before finally opening it.
“Hey, Pilgrim, I’ve got a message for you.”
Jon turned, suddenly alert and tense. A man barrelled into him, tackling him full in the chest and throwing him into the front hallway of his house. He hit the floor with a crunch that took his breath away as he struggled against his attacker. The man sat up, practically on top of him, and tried to reach for him, but Jon fought back, pushing the man’s hands and arms away from his neck.
“Get off me,” Jon yelled.
“Stop fighting it,” the man hissed through his teeth as he tried again and pushed in. Jon’s strength was failing him. The man finally got both hands around his neck and squeezed.
“No,” Jon gasped as he pulled on the man’s arms and hands, trying to pry them off.
“Vassili says ‘hi’, by the way,” the man said as spittle flew from his mouth. “You took his life, now he takes yours. It’s only right, yeah?”
“Not today.” Jon grunted and brought his knee up into the man’s groin. His grip loosened, and he bent closer. Jon threw a keen right hook, born from his desperation to live, and caught him right on the jaw. He let go and fell into the hallway wall.
Jon turned, coughing and gasping, sucking air into his lungs as he crawled away into his front room, away from his attacker. He felt weak and didn’t really know where he was going, but anywhere was better than in the hallway at this point.
“Oi, where you going?” the man called out.
Terrified, Jon twisted onto his back in time to see the man get back to his feet and wipe the blood off of his chin. He had a cracked lip from the punch, but didn’t seem otherwise incapacitated by it.
“Impressive hit,” the man said.
“I have more where that came from,” Jon threatened him.
“And I just need to get this done,” the man said. He reached for something at the small of his back and pulled out a knife that glinted in the street light that filtered through the open door.
Aaah, shit, Jon thought. He was unarmed and in no state for a knife fight. He could see this going only one way, and he didn’t like his odds at all.
“Now, hold up,” Jon said. “Let’s talk about this. What’s Vassili paying you?”
“None of your bloody business.”
“I’ll double it,” Jon said, with no idea if he could actually afford such a thing or not. Not that he had any intention of paying this man, of course.
The man paused, his eyebrows raised.
“Yes, okay. I’ll pay you. Please, just, put the knife away.”
The man smiled. “Nice try, but if I don’t do this, Vassili will find me and make me pay in blood.”
“He’s in prison,” Jon said, desperate to find an angle that worked.
“So what? He knows people, dangerous people who’d kill me if I pulled out.”
“But we can work this out.”
“No fuckin’ way,” the man declared, and raised the dagger as he lunged for him.
Glass shattered as something zipped into the room. Blood flew from the man’s leg, just above the knee. He dropped and yelled in pain as he clutched his thigh.
Jon could see blood flowing freely over the man’s hands as he gripped his wound. “What the hell? Arrgh, what did you do? Ugh. Christ, it hurts.”
Stunned, Jon just stared at the man in utter bewilderment. What had just happened to him? This was crazy. If he didn’t know better, he’d guess that the man had just been shot. But who would do that? No sooner had he thought about it than the answer hit him like a tonne of bricks.
It was obvious, he thought as he pushed himself up into a sitting position on the floor, his whole body aching from the day's work and the fight.
A moment later, he heard footsteps that sounded all too familiar, and he knew who was coming. Sure enough, the dark-haired beauty, Aridane, stalked into the room wearing a long red and black dress with a generous slit up her right leg, revealing pale flesh.
She smiled at him as she walked in. She was followed by another woman who was the polar opposite of Ariadne. She wore flat leather boots, black jeans and a black top, which was topped off by a black balaclava and shades. He couldn’t see her face. In fact, he couldn’t see any skin at all as she picked the knife up in a gloved hand before pointing a suppressed gun at the man on the floor. She didn’t fire though, she just held him at gunpoint, and the man cowered away from her.
“Ariadne, I might have known you’d show up,” Jon said, looking up at her.
She smiled at him as she crouched, the slit on her dress parting as she dropped down, revealing more leg. “Seriously, Jon,” she said, her voice sarcastic, “there’s no need to thank me, it was my pleasure to save you, really.”
Jon grimaced. He didn’t like this situation at all. “Thank you,” he muttered.
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“What are you doing here?” he asked, honestly curious.
“Saving your cute ass, I thought that would be obvious.”
“But, how?” Had his mind not been spinning from the fight, he could probably have worked it out for himself, but frankly, he was a mess.
“It’s simple, Jon. I saw that man threaten you the other day, so I guessed it would only be a matter of time before he showed up again. He knew your name and where you lived, so I knew this was no idle threat. This man had done his homework, and you don’t do that if you aren’t serious. Good thing I took the threat seriously, don’t you think?”
“I guess. Who’s your friend?”
“This?” Ariadne asked, waving at the woman in black. “You can call her Solitaire. She’s just hired help. Someone who knows their way around a gun, that’s all. No one you should concern yourself with. She was just doing what needed to be done.” Ariadne looked over at Solitaire and nodded. Solitaire nodded back and approached the man on the floor.
“Get up,” she said.
Jon’s attacker spat back at her. So Solitaire hit him across the face with her gun. The man grunted and spat blood to the floor. She put the gun to his head.
“Get up, and limp out, or we carry you out.”
The man gritted his bloody teeth in barely restrained fury. “Fine,” he said, and struggled to his feet while Solitaire watched dispassionately. As he got to his feet, Ariadne stood and walked over to him, her head held high and imperious as she grabbed him by the jaw. Her nails dug into his cheeks.
“We’re watching you, David Letov. You and Vassili’s other contacts. Jon is not to be harmed, and if I see you or your friends within a hundred metres of him ever again, you will not li
ve to see the next day. Got it? Oh, and say hi to your nephew, Pavel, for me.”
David’s eyes bugged as Ariadne revealed what she knew about him. As she let go, the man shivered, clearly scared. Solitaire jabbed her gun into his back and followed him as he hopped out of the room and then the house.
Moments later, Jon made out the sound of a sliding van door slamming shut not too far away.
“I’m so sorry you had to see that, Jon,” she said with a sigh. “This life can be a messy business, sometimes. But, you know that, don’t you.”
“Yeah, I do. Thanks, by the way,” Jon said again, honestly grateful for her intervention.
She put her hand to her chest, over the cleavage that the fitted dress was doing its best to keep in place. “My, my, actual, honest to goodness gratitude. This is a momentous day, Jon. I’m flattered.”
“You did just save my life,” Jon said with a shrug.
Ariadne grinned and crouched down again, offering her hand. He took it, and she gripped his arm with her other hand as he got to his feet. “I did save you, didn’t I,” she said with a smile, that went from warm to icy cold suddenly. “Which means you owe me, Jon. You owe me your life. Remember that.”
Jon blinked as a horrible sinking feeling opened up deep inside him as her words sunk in. Oh crap. But as that realisation grew, he considered the situation. Had she set him up, somehow? Was all this a ruse? Was that man honestly from Vassili, or was he sent here by her? Or maybe she’d just taken advantage of the situation and turned it to her favour? Whatever the case, she’d played him masterfully, and he’d walked smiling into her trap, just as he’d known he would.
Ariadne’s smile was suddenly full of warmth again. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek before he could do much to resist. Pulling back, she winked. “Now, I really must fly. I have work to attend to. I’ll see you around, Jon,” she said and swanned out of his house, shutting the front door behind her.
Jon just stared out from the front room into the hallway, where she’d gone, and then looked down at the patch of blood that had pooled on the old carpet, possibly staining it for good.