First to Die

by Alex Caan

  *

  The front door was smashed in when Kate arrived at Esther Lake’s flat. The lights were all on, with Esther on the sofa. Kate let the medics in, who attended to her, trying to wake her.

  Kate looked around the flat, her heart hammering the further in she went. She couldn’t find Zain anywhere. She tried calling him, and heard his cell phone ring. She found it under the fridge, the door was open, and there were traces of blood on the floor in front of it.

  She should have mobilised more quickly, got the back-up team in the squad car to help Zain. Instead she was left with not only Esther unable to help them, but with Zain missing as well.

  Kate put an alert out, and called her team back to work. They would need all their resources, it was going to be a long night. She just hoped she could find Zain before anything serious happened to him.

  *

  Zain opened his eyes. He could see light, coming in through holes. He tried to move. But he couldn’t. Maybe the space he was in was too cramped? He shifted himself, but his body didn’t follow the thought process. Only his eyes were moving. His body was locked.

  He lay staring out of one of the holes. He tried to open his mouth, tried to make a noise. Nothing came out, not even a guttural plea.

  He closed his eyes. And then he heard it. It was a woman’s voice.

  ‘Help me,’ it said. It was rough, as though said by a full mouth, or someone not used to speaking.

  Zain tried to answer, but he couldn’t. The voice came again. Followed by a banging. It was gentle, but it was definitely real.

  Chapter Seventy-Eight

  Kate watched as the paramedics worked on Esther. They had managed to flush her system of the drugs her ex-husband had given her. When Kate explained to her what had happened, Esther didn’t believe her.

  ‘He wouldn’t do something like that,’ she said. ‘You don’t know Nathan. He’s different from other men.’

  ‘We know,’ said Kate, looking at her meaningfully. ‘You alluded to it, didn’t you? When you spoke to DS Brennan earlier? You said he was dead to you in a way. And that’s true isn’t it? Nathan really is gone.’

  ‘If you know that, how can you suspect him of doing something like this?’

  ‘And Natasha? What about her?’ Esther looked at her, as if not understanding. Then she nodded.

  Michelle had managed to collate the evidence for her. Nathan entering the Seven Dials club had at first looked normal dressed in jeans and a jacket, carrying a backpack and wearing a baseball cap. Only his face looked odd. His eyebrows were definitely shaped, and his skin had a smooth look, one that could only be achieved using make-up. When Michelle brought up images of the woman with Mark Lynch, doing biometric scans against points of the body, she had seen that the results were similar to Nathan’s. He must have changed clothes in the club, and released the wig he was wearing under his cap.

  Michelle had then run through the details of the bereavement group, and found the fake ID that Nathan had used. Calling himself Natasha Mace, he had made one fatal error. When ordering the mobile phone he’d used, he had paid with Nathan Lake’s credit card. Michelle found the link, and she had her proof. Tracing Natasha’s mobile, Nathan was in all the wrong places. On 5 November he was in Earl’s Court, St James’s Park and Waterloo. Two nights ago he was on Piccadilly, near the Ritz where Dr Lewis was killed.

  ‘She went to so much trouble to remove the batteries of their phones and hide the location of her victims,’ Michelle had said. ‘And yet she made no effort to conceal her own identity, despite all of that. She doesn’t care about getting caught.’

  Kate acknowledged that Michelle had been referring to Nathan as Natasha. Kate liked the respect, but still, murderers weren’t exempt from justice because they were transitioning. And he hadn’t completed the process yet, so she felt OK about using his original name.

  ‘I think you’re right,’ said Kate. ‘He’s done what he set out to do. Seek revenge on the people that killed his child.’

  And now Kate needed to know where he was, and what exactly his plans were for Zain.

  Esther was still groggy. She watched Kate’s mouth as she spoke, as though she couldn’t hear her voice, couldn’t comprehend.

  ‘Do you have any idea where Nathan might have taken DS Harris?’

  A shake of the head.

  ‘How long has he been staying with you?’

  ‘For a few months now. He lost his job when he started to become who he is. We lost so much together, I couldn’t say no to him. So I let him stay.’

  ‘What did he do while he was here?’

  ‘Nothing. He would go out a lot. I think he spent a lot of time in Soho. I went to a club with him a couple of times. It just didn’t work out though. I couldn’t bear to look at him like that. Not that I had a problem with who he was. It was more the way he was. He was so . . . happy . . . I hated him for that. How could he be? I was never going to be again.’

  ‘Was he close to anyone in particular? Any friends we might be able to approach and ask about his whereabouts?’

  ‘I don’t know them. There must have been. And there was the support group. He went to a bereavement group, to help with . . . you know the details of that already. What happened to us, how we lost . . .’

  ‘I need your help to find him, Esther. Can you please have a think? Exactly where do you think he might be? Are there any places you and he might know, especially secluded places? Anything that can help, please.’

  Kate could hear the desperation in her own voice. She felt panic and déjà vu. She was going to try and rescue Zain again, and he had played roulette with his life so many times already that this might be the one time he lost. She couldn’t let that happen; this couldn’t be the one that finally destroyed him.

  Esther looked back blankly. Whatever her ex-husband had or hadn’t done, it seemed as though she really was totally unaware. Kate was frustrated, knowing there was nothing else she could do to find Zain.

  *

  Zain tried to move towards the voice, his whole being attempting to shift towards the woman. She was asking for help, over and over again. She was banging, not loudly, but loud enough. He wanted to help her, his instinct was to do that. It was his calling. He had a massive saviour complex; it didn’t take a therapist to tell him that.

  And the fact he couldn’t was killing him. The effort inside was terrible, as he pushed with everything he had. The only thing that moved was water in his eyes, leaking out of the sides, the only testament to just how much he was trying.

  The woman kept asking for help. And then she started to scream.

  Zain heard the footsteps, pacing around them. Stopping nearby, and then a voice, telling the woman to shut up. Zain couldn’t place it, the voice was a hoarse whisper.

  She screamed louder, and Zain heard a chain being uncoiled, like a steel snake and a lock being positioned to be opened. The hinges to a door creaked, and the screams grew louder. Then a slap, a struggle, he heard grunts and shouts, someone cried out in pain.

  Then silence.

  Chapter Seventy-Nine

  Kate was briefing her assembled team, including her core members, plus SO19 and various DCs and PCs from the PCC office. They were trying to keep warm, stamping feet, rubbing hands and drinking hot drinks from flasks.

  ‘The suspect’s name is Nathan Lake but he may also be using the name Natasha Mace,’ Kate was saying. ‘He is twenty-eight, five foot seven. Pictures are being sent to you all by my colleague, Michelle Cable. It is not spam or a virus, so please open the texts or WhatsApp message or email you receive from her. I also believe that the suspect is armed and extremely volatile. He isn’t armed with a gun, but has used a knife, and more than that, is in possession of a deadly neurotoxin. There is no known cure for this neurotoxin, so do not get near the suspect, or you will be putting yourself at severe risk. We have no idea where he may have taken DS Zain Harris, but we’re scanning CCTV in this neighbourhood. We are tracking the suspec
t’s van and you have the registration number, or will have when it is sent to you.’

  She didn’t know what else to tell them, only that Zain and Nathan couldn’t have gone far, there was only a fifteen-minute window roughly between Zain entering Esther’s flat and Kate and the paramedics arriving. She told them to spread out, and start their search in quadrants, reporting in when they had cleared a section, so that nobody repeated a search and wasted time in the same place.

  *

  ‘Can you see? That’s the van that was parked outside Esther’s flat.’

  Michelle was talking Kate through the CCTV route Nathan had taken. There was no official vehicle registered to his name, but Esther told them about a white van he had recently hired. Michelle had caught it on camera, at first just a glimpse from a block of flats across the road, and then more clearly on Mile End Road. The number plate was a fake, which was confirmation in Kate’s mind.

  ‘Where did it go?’

  ‘It went down Mile End Road, until it got to Regents Canal. It then took a right down this side street, Kingston Street. There are no cameras, and from there I don’t know.’

  Kate was getting updates from Stevie and the other officers under her command, who were out scouring the streets of Stepney Green and Whitechapel, trying to work out where Nathan had gone. They didn’t really have a sense of where to go, but they, along with everyone else that was part of the police team, kept moving. Not giving Nathan any more time to put distance between him and them.

  Rob was helping, having returned from Rochester. The family there seemed to have coped much better than Esther and Nathan Lake. They had two other children, and had been given thirteen years with the child who had died, at least. That was how they saw it.

  Kate called Rob, told him where he should go, and took herself out to the main Stepney Green common. SO19 were waiting for her, Stevie in uniform as one of them. Kate was dressed in her usual outfit. Fitted, one-colour and smart, she felt authoritative in the grey suit. Until she saw the body armour Stevie was wearing.

  ‘You picked the wrong night to abandon me,’ Kate told her.

  ‘I thought it best one of us is embedded with them, to keep us live on all fronts.’ Stevie didn’t have her helmet on, but was wearing the black outfit and her Heckler and Koch was just as loaded and ready as the others.

  ‘Good luck. I think we may have found his approximate location.’

  Rob called while she was updating Stevie.

  ‘We followed the back roads through, and I think we’ve found them. You’d better make your way over here, boss. Could get tricky.’

  *

  Kate parked her car, with SO19 in an ARU van behind her. They had turned off a small cobble street, with a warehouse on one side, student accommodation on the other. Next to the student halls was an open yard, full of haulage trucks. Behind it was a row of offices and buildings, with metal grilles guarding the windows. The main gates to the yard were open.

  Kate could see the white van Michelle had identified earlier. It was parked between the trucks, at an angle, with no consideration. Definitely someone in a rush.

  ‘You brought the terminator with you, boss?’ said Rob.

  ‘I’d watch that mouth of yours DS Pelt, I’ve got toys and I’m not afraid to use them on you,’ said Stevie. She indicated the Heckler and Koch over her shoulder. Rob put his hands up in mock surrender.

  ‘What do we do now?’ he asked.

  Kate surveyed the location, and the possible places Zain may have been taken.

  ‘We spread out, and we start searching. Stevie, I need you and SO19 to stay here, until we know where they are and whether we need you.’

  ‘Not wanting to question you boss, but the suspect has a lethal weapon on him that has no cure. He’s pretty much armed and dangerous, I think you’re going to need me.’

  Kate thought about it and agreed. The rest of SO19 had to stay put though. There was too much risk involved, and the last time she had used SO19, Zain had nearly ended up being shot. She didn’t want to give them the opportunity to revisit that scenario.

  *

  Zain breathed in the silence. It was heavy, and he could hear his heart crashing in his ears. He still couldn’t move. And then he heard them. Footsteps, slowly approaching him. He couldn’t tell who they belonged to.

  He heard the chains falling first. He was in a box, and it too was chained and locked he realised. The woman must be in something similar. With a thud the final part of chain lock fell onto the floor. A key was turned in the lock, and then the lid was pulled back.

  His eyes saw into the dim light that poured in from the outside. It felt comforting and it felt good that he was now free. He still couldn’t move. The woman came into view, smiling at him.

  And then she spoke, but her voice seemed odd. It was much deeper than he would have expected.

  ‘This is the end game Detective. I am going to join my son now. And I’m taking you with me.’

  Zain didn’t understand, but he knew this was wrong. And he heard himself start yelling, only the sound echoed and bounced inside his head.

  Chapter Eighty

  Kate crept between tightly packed trucks, the air thick with grease and tyres. She could hear Stevie breathing behind her, as the two of them took small steps. While they were between the vehicles, they had cover. Once they broke, they would be exposed. And there was a distance of about eight metres where the ground was clear, to where the outhouses were.

  Michelle had texted to say the outhouses were all empty, abandoned. Awaiting demolition, to be replaced by flats. The surrounding land had been leased to a haulage firm that used it to park its lorries overnight.

  ‘Which one?’ said Stevie.

  She was referring to the doors they could enter by. Other teams of two would be going in with them. Kate decided to take the door dead centre to them. She pointed to it, and she and Stevie began moving forwards.

  Stevie raised her Heckler and Koch, looking out of the vision scope, while Kate ran to the door, and tried to open it. It didn’t budge, and she motioned Stevie over. The two women stood either side of it. There were metal grilles over the door, and a rusted lock which lay loose.

  ‘It’s this one,’ said Kate.

  The lock had obviously been broken. Kate messaged Rob, and he joined her, with other members of SO19.

  ‘I go in first,’ Kate told them. ‘None of you makes a move until I say so.’

  She creaked open the door. It was so old and broken that there was no way to do it silently. She started to make her way in, followed by her team. There was no time to plan this properly. She was acutely aware of Zain and of the TTX2, how lethal it was, and how quickly it could be given to him.

  Inside there was complete darkness, but in the distance she heard voices. She guided her team towards them.

  *

  Zain was on his knees, his hands tied behind his back. A needle poised at his neck. He didn’t understand who had taken him. It was a man, but he was wearing distinctive make-up. His eyes were kohled and his lips red, with blush on his cheeks. He had tied Zain’s hands and feet, and then injected him with something that had made his body wake up. It felt like molten mercury was running through his veins, and he had cried out in pain. He felt weak, but he could at least now speak.

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter anymore.’

  ‘It does to me. What is that? In the syringe? Is that what killed Julian Leakey?’ Zain swallowed hard.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘How did you get it?’

  ‘Please, don’t. I want to meet my son today. I don’t want to explain to you.’

  ‘Your son?’

  ‘Robert. My little boy. My poor wee boy, I want him to know that he was worth more than all of them.’

  Robert? The Lake’s son? It clicked then.

  ‘Nathan?’

  ‘That’s who I once was.’

  ‘I’m sorry for what happened to him. No one should have to suf
fer that.’

  Zain looked into the green eyes that were lined in black. He thought they looked beautiful, which felt a bit weird given the situation he was in. Nathan’s eyes filled with the start of tears, but he shook his head, and moved Zain’s head to face forward.

  ‘What are you planning on doing? Killing me like the others?’

  ‘Not yet. You are my guarantee. I need to finish this. This syringe contains the right amount of toxin. The same amount I gave to Julian Leakey.’ Zain looked sideways and saw the syringe centimetres from his neck.

  ‘You see I made a mistake with her. With Leanne.’

  Leanne? The woman he had heard, was that Leanne Birch?

  ‘What sort of mistake?’

  ‘I wanted her to suffer. I wanted them all to suffer. And I was thinking how to do it. And for Leanne, I gave her low levels of TTX. Her body froze, it became zombified. Unable to move, but still her brain functioned. And I wanted her to slowly starve to death. To suffer, like my baby did.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘I got the dose wrong. I’m no scientist.’

  ‘No, but Mark Lynch was. Why did you kill him?’

  ‘Poor Mark. He had been through so much. He couldn’t cope. I met him at my bereavement group, and when I found out what he did . . .’

  ‘Why did he help you?’

  ‘He understood my pain, really understood it. He was also going through his own issues. And so we became friends. Good friends, fast friends. Those intense relationships where you lose your sense of everything, and you do crazy things you wouldn’t even do for family.’

  Zain looked around, trying to work out where Leanne was. He couldn’t see her, but he could see the two metal boxes, one of which he’d been in. They were empty fridge freezers as far as he could tell, not plugged in.

  ‘Were you lovers?’ he asked.

  Nathan pulled Zain’s head roughly forward.

  ‘Enough questions.’