Two Victims

by Helen H. Durrant

  “I think we’ll find that she’s on her own, has no family, few friends and won’t be missed,” Howe said. “We also believe that she was mixed up with the trafficking gang in some way.”

  “You’re saying she’d escaped from them?”

  “It appears so, and they won’t give up until she’s found. This gang is ruthless. They bring girls into the country and sell them into the sex trade and slavery. That’s probably what those foreign girls were there for. They also have another lucrative sideline — hiring young girls, particularly runaways, to work for peanuts in sleazy backstreet clubs.” He shook his head. “I’m sure I don’t have to spell it out for you, DCI King. You’ll already know about the grooming gangs that operate locally.”

  “Grooming gangs?” Megan exclaimed. “Is that what Nicu is involved in?”

  “That’s what we suspect,” Howe told her. “Should he contact you again, or any of your friends, please be sure to let me know.” He handed her a card.

  Rachel had heard enough. She needed to have a word with Megan. Her daughter was a bloody liability at times. “Is that it? Can we go now?”

  Howe nodded. “If you recall anything else, Megan, contact me.”

  * * *

  As soon as they were outside the station, Rachel tackled her daughter. “Do you realise the danger you were in? It could have been you they targeted. You swan about, trusting complete strangers . . . You can’t carry on like that, Megan. It’s a dangerous world out there.”

  “Give it a rest, Mum. Nothing happened, and Ruby will be fine.”

  “You can’t know that. Do you know where she lives?”

  Megan shrugged. “No idea. I’ve never really spoken to her that much, even though she’s always around.”

  “I don’t want you staying out all night again. Got it?”

  “I’m eighteen,” Megan said. “I can please myself.”

  Rachel groaned. This was going to be some fight. Her daughter was stubborn and independent — both traits she got from her. “While you live under my roof and I keep you fed and clothed, you obey my rules, understand?” Listen to me! There were times when Rachel opened her mouth and heard her own mother. She’d not been the perfect teen herself, but she’d always known where to draw the line.

  “In that case, I’ll stay with Dad, he’s cool about me going out.”

  “He won’t be so cool when I tell him what happened.”

  She’d had enough. Rachel took her mobile from her pocket and rang the station. “Hold the fort, Elwyn. Something’s come up at home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Don’t stop working because of me,” Megan sneered. “You don’t usually let what happens to us interfere.”

  “Now you’re really being stupid. I love my job, but you and Mia have always come first.”

  “In your dreams!” Megan snapped. “One call from work and you drop us in a heartbeat.”

  “Save it, Megan. We need to get home anyway. Your dad has a guest coming for tea and he wants us all there.”

  “Why? Who is it?”

  “I’ll tell you and Mia once we get home. But you behave, okay? Not a word out of place and mind your manners.”

  “Ah, a woman,” Megan said. “Dad’s seeing someone. I worked that out a couple of weeks ago. You must think I’m daft. He’s been using the aftershave again, and dressing up.”

  Rachel hadn’t noticed a thing. “Well, I must go around with my eyes closed,” she said.

  “Because you don’t have time for us, simple as that.”

  They drove the rest of the way in silence. Megan could be a pain in the backside when she chose. But that didn’t stop Rachel trying to protect her. The girl had no idea how dangerous Manchester could be.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Get yourself sorted,” Rachel told Megan back at home.

  “Do we have to dress up?”

  “Neat and tidy will do, and go easy on the make-up.”

  Rachel spotted Mia’s school bag in the hall and went upstairs to her youngest daughter’s room. She smiled at her. “We’re having tea with your dad. He’s got a surprise for us.”

  Still in her uniform, Mia was doing her homework at her desk. “Do I have to come? Ella’s mum said she’d take us for a burger later.”

  Ella was Mia’s best friend, and the two of them were practically inseparable.

  “It’s a bit special,” Rachel said. “There’s someone your dad wants us to meet.”

  “Belinda?”

  Rachel rolled her eyes. These kids were something else! “How do you know her name?”

  “Megan told me. Meggy reckons she’s that woman from the farm shop in the village.”

  “Bellamy’s?”

  “She works there, apparently.”

  “Well, your dad wants us there, sweetie. He’s cooking something special. Sorry about Ella, but I’m sure she’ll understand.”

  “Will it be lamb?”

  Alan did the best roast lamb ever, with all the trimmings. Rachel laughed. “Probably. He’ll be wanting to impress her.”

  “Okay. Can’t miss that, can I? I’ll ring Ella and tell her.”

  Back in the hall, Rachel picked the post up off the table. A load of rubbish mostly, but one envelope caught her eye. Her name and address were handwritten, and inside was a cream and silver invitation card. She was invited to the opening night of a new rooftop bar in a tower block in Spinningfields. Rachel read the address again. The block was one of the new ones Jed McAteer had built. Had the invite come from him? If so, what was his game?

  She’d read about the bar in the local paper. It was fast becoming the go-to place for the rich and famous, the venue in which to be seen. None of that impressed Rachel, but what did pique her curiosity was why he’d invited her. Surely he knew lots of women who’d jump at the chance. It was unsettling. She didn’t want Jed McAteer in her life, not in any capacity. But Rachel was a realist, and she knew that sooner or later he was bound to make contact and want to talk about Mia. This was a conversation she was determined to avoid at all costs. Mia was too young and too happy to be saddled with the truth right now.

  In less than an hour, Rachel was showered and ready in a pale green fitted dress, whose colour went well with her red hair. Studying her reflection in the full-length mirror, Rachel wondered if she’d chosen wisely. Elwyn had said she’d put a bit of weight on, but the woman staring back at her from the mirror was stick thin. Missed meals, the stress of the job, it all added up to a metabolism working at full tilt.

  But it did mean she could stuff her face without it making a jot of difference, which was something to be grateful for. Alan was a great cook. Whatever he served them tonight, lamb or something else, she knew it would be delicious.

  “Mum!” Mia shouted up the stairs. “You ready?”

  Rachel stepped into a pair of heels and went to join her girls. “Put this in your pocket for me.” She handed Megan her mobile.

  Megan rolled her eyes. “Can’t you leave it behind for even one meal?”

  “No, I can’t,” Rachel said. “We’re dealing with a murder at work and things change fast. I need to be in the loop. And don’t turn it off.”

  Megan replied with a huge yawn.

  “You should try spending a few nights at home,” Rachel said.

  Megan muttered something. “Please don’t bring that up. Not tonight.”

  “What’re you talking about?” Mia asked.

  “Nothing you need to bother about.” Rachel nudged Megan. “My silence costs, young lady. You behave, I keep my mouth shut, okay?”

  “Agreed, but please don’t leave us alone with dad and his girlfriend. I’m having a hard enough time staying awake as it is.”

  “You’re one cheeky brat, aren’t you?” Rachel grinned. “We’ll eat, make some friendly small talk and then leave them to it. And no smart remarks. Your dad will be as nervous as hell, so go easy on him. Got that?”

  There was a white sports car parked on Alan’s drive. Rachel eye
d the gleaming paintwork. “Works in the farm shop, you said. You sure about that?”

  “She’s served me in there more than once,” Mia said.

  “Well you don’t buy one of those on a shop-worker’s wages.”

  Alan greeted her with the usual kiss on the cheek and ushered the three of them inside.”

  “This is okay? You’ve nothing else on?”

  Rachel shook her head.

  “I had Ade round today. He’s still on about the extension,” Alan said.

  “Thought we’d shelved that one,” Rachel said.

  “We have — that’s if you don’t mind. It suits me to leave things as they are for now.”

  “I was never keen in the first place. Too much money and upheaval.”

  They were still standing in the hallway. Rachel smiled. “Can we come through then, and meet your guest?”

  “Sorry. I’m a bit nervous. I want this to go right. It means a lot.”

  Rachel patted his arm. “Stop stressing, we’re all fine.”

  He really was twitchy. This woman must be important.

  “Homework done?” Alan asked Mia. “Finished that tricky bit?”

  “Yeah, Dad, everything’s cool.”

  “Megan?”

  “Calm down,” Rachel said. “We’re not going to rock the boat. Get me a drink and introduce us.”

  The three of them followed him into the sitting room. Belinda was standing at the window, looking out at the back garden.

  She turned and smiled. “Lovely views you’ve got from here.”

  Rachel couldn’t recall seeing her before. Mind you, she hardly ever shopped locally. “Yes, we’re very lucky.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Rachel and these are the kids, Megan and Mia. Nice to meet you.” She smiled.

  “And you too. I’m surprised we haven’t met before now. I have the shop, the farm, and I’m also involved in a lot of stuff locally.”

  Rachel suddenly realised who this woman was — Belinda Bellamy. Her family owned the farm up in the hills above Poynton. Over the years, they had turned the place into a thriving business. They were well-known locally, and had to be worth a fortune.

  “It’s my job, Belinda,” Rachel explained. “It takes up all of my time and then some.”

  “A bit like mine.” Belinda laughed. “Getting up at the crack of dawn to milk the cows is no fun, believe me.”

  Rachel shuddered inwardly. She couldn’t think of anything worse, particularly on icy winter mornings. Belinda seemed nice enough, but no great beauty. She was plump. Her blonde hair hung in dishevelled waves around her face. She wasn’t wearing any make-up and her clothes were old. She was nothing like the sort of woman Rachel had imagined Alan going for.

  He appeared in the doorway. “I’ve done lamb. It’s from Belinda’s shop. She reared the animal herself.”

  “Lambing was good this year,” Belinda said. “All our ewes produced. I picked this one specially for tonight.”

  “Do you do the slaughtering yourselves?” Rachel asked rather tentatively.

  “Yes, we’re all kitted out. The meat we sell is all home-grown and forms a large part of our business. I did that one myself.”

  Poor lamb, thought Rachel and wondered if she’d be able to actually eat the creature. Images of the little thing running and jumping around the fields mingled with ones of Belinda catching and butchering the beast.

  “Haven’t you ever been married?” Rachel asked.

  “I almost did, many years ago, but he got on the wrong side of my father. Chased him off with a shotgun he did, bless him.” This was said rather wistfully, whether for the suitor or the dad Rachel wasn’t quite sure. “He was a cantankerous old sod, but I still miss him.”

  “You run the farm on your own?” Rachel asked.

  “I’m an only child, so yes. What’ll happen when I can’t manage it anymore is anyone’s guess. I’m a little old now to produce offspring.”

  Rachel hoped she meant that, and wasn’t looking at Alan as father material. He’d had the snip years ago. Rachel wondered if he’d told Belinda.

  “You lost your parents too, Alan tells me,” Belinda said.

  Rachel took a slug of the wine Alan handed her. This wasn’t something she usually spoke about. “They were both killed in a car crash a couple of years ago. It was a devastating time. I miss them a lot.”

  The conversation was taking a bad turn. She was saved by her mobile ringing in Megan’s pocket.

  A scowling Megan handed it over and Rachel went into the hallway to take Elwyn’s call.

  “Amy’s spotted something important on the CCTV from Ashton Old Road,” he began. “Agnes is clearly seen outside the Grapes, walking away from Akerman and dragging the suitcase behind her. Akerman remains outside the pub, watching her. He looks angry, but he doesn’t give chase. He waits a few minutes and then walks off in the opposite direction. We then picked Agnes up a few metres further on. She is talking to someone in a white van that pulled up beside her. The van drives away but there is no longer any sign of Agnes.”

  “Did you see where she went?”

  “The CCTV quality is poor and it was raining. It looks like the driver pulled her in on the side of the van that’s away from the camera. The suitcase was left on the pavement.”

  Rachel had a bad feeling. Elwyn could be right. “What did Akerman do?”

  “We pick him up further down the road, still going in the opposite direction. He goes into a kebab shop and spends a good fifteen minutes talking to the bloke in there. Whoever picked Agnes up, it wasn’t him.”

  Rachel had been so sure Akerman was their killer. “Did you get the registration?”

  “Yes, already checked it out. It’s fake.”

  “Damn! Get the images of that van printed, and see if you can pick it up again. We need to know where that van went, Elwyn.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Day Three

  The team gathered in the incident room early the following morning. Rachel had already studied the CCTV and satisfied herself that the information it yielded was limited, but it did appear to rule out Akerman.

  “I’ll speak to Akerman again,” she said. “Despite what I’ve just watched, I still want an alibi for the time between when he left Agnes and her body being found on that building site. A few minutes buying a kebab isn’t good enough. He was close to Agnes. He will know things about her life that we’ll find useful.” She looked at Jonny. “Do we know who McAteer bought that site from yet?”

  “The shops belonged to a company called ‘Lion Industrial.’ They were all rented out. There have been a variety of different tenants over the years,” Jonny said.

  “Who owns this Lion Industrial?”

  “It was quite hard to work out. The company has a list of directors as long as your arm, and they’ve all come and gone, except for a man called Ronan Blake. He is also down as being the person the shopkeepers and tenants in the flats paid their rent to.”

  Rachel frowned. The name was familiar, but she couldn’t think where from. “Has he been involved for a while?” she asked.

  “He has been a Lion director for twenty years.”

  Rachel nodded. “More research, Jonny. I want the names of all the people who’ve had an interest in that company. I’ve nothing to back it up, but I have a gut feeling that there’s a link between that site and the deaths of our unknown female and Agnes. It’s vital that we find the identity of our unknown.” Rachel looked at Amy. “She was two months dead and had given birth. Agnes was a nurse, who helped people in need. A young girl asked Elwyn and I about Agnes on the street outside the health centre. She was wearing similar clothing to that of our unknown. Have you discovered anything else about Agnes that might help us?”

  Amy shook her head. “She appears to have been just an ordinary woman.”

  “I doubt there’s any such thing,” Rachel said. “You and Jonny get back there. Knock on a few doors around the centre. Go round the shops and find out who the young girl
with the pink hair is. Shouldn’t be too hard. With hair like that, she couldn’t pass unnoticed.” She turned to Jonny. “Do we know what Ronan Blake is up to now?” He shook his head. “Find out. Get a full background and we’ll pay him a visit.”

  “What about Akerman?” Elwyn asked. “Looks like he was telling the truth.”

  “Even so, the man bothers me. I still have the feeling that he knows more than he’s telling us. We’ll interview him again. See if a night in the cells has softened him up.”

  * * *

  Don Akerman wasn’t happy. When the detectives entered the interview room, he was pacing up and down, his fists clenched. As soon as he saw them, he yelled, “I want out! You’ve no right to keep me here. I’ve done nowt.”

  “Very soon,” Rachel said. “Meanwhile, I need you to tell me about Agnes. What sort of woman was she?”

  On hearing the name, he stopped pacing and sat down. After a pause, he said quietly, “She was kind. Always happy to give folk the benefit. She took me on.” He looked away, embarrassed. “I’m no catch, and Agnes had a lot going for her.”

  “She helped people from the hostel,” Rachel said, “including some young women. Do you know where they came from?”

  He looked from one detective to the other, apparently unsure of what to say. “They were patients, I think. She even had one of them sleeping on her couch. Poor kid had nowhere to go.”

  He knew more, Rachel was sure of it. “Do you know where this girl worked?”

  “Some place in town, a bar, I think. Agnes went down there one night. Took them to task about conditions.” He lowered his eyes. “She reckoned the owner wasn’t paying enough, and she was worried about their lack of freedom.”

  “What d’you mean, lack of freedom?” Elwyn asked.

  “They worked and lived at that club, and rarely went anywhere else.”

  “Do you know the names of any of these girls?” Rachel asked.

  He shrugged. “No idea.”

  Rachel stiffened. “Are you sure?”

  “Told you, didn’t I?”

  Rachel wondered if the girl who’d slept on Agnes’s sofa was the one DS Howe was looking for. “And the bar?”