Two Victims

by Helen H. Durrant

  McAteer got to his feet. “Do as your mum tells you. Despite what you might think, she does know best.”

  “Keep in touch, and let me know when you’re coming back.”

  McAteer bent down and kissed her cheek. He wished with all his heart that things were different. He longed to be a proper father to her, but Rachel wasn’t ready for that.

  “Take care, Mia. Be good.”

  They walked off in opposite directions, Mia towards her home and McAteer to his car. He was grateful for the time with Mia. He’d been lucky to get out of his office without being seen by Kenton’s people. He needed to hurry. There was a private jet waiting for him at an airfield on the east coast. By the end of the day, he would be out of the country.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  “The arrest of Nicu Bogdan will be a joint effort between us and Kenton’s people,” Rachel told the team. She saw Elwyn’s look of puzzled surprise. She’d have a word later. “In the interest of solving this case, we’ve called a truce. Kenton has finally agreed to share what he knows, and in return, we include him.” That might satisfy the others, but Elwyn would want to know what had brought about this sudden change of heart.

  “Are we to assume that Bogdan is the head man?” Jonny asked.

  Rachel couldn’t hide it any longer. She’d have to tell them. Kenton’s people would know the truth anyway.

  “No. DCI Kenton has evidence that the person organising the current spate of people trafficking in Manchester is Jed McAteer.”

  There was a silence. Rachel could only guess at what was going on in Elwyn’s head.

  “A nationwide call has gone out for his arrest,” she continued. “Up until half an hour ago, DCI Kenton thought McAteer was in his office in the city. But that wasn’t the case. I’ve just learned that he has in fact been missing since ten this morning. He could be anywhere by now.”

  “He knows we’re onto him then?” Jonny said. “Did the new evidence come from Leonora Blake?”

  “Yes, as well as other intelligence Kenton has gathered. He has been working on the trafficking racket for a year or more. When he got wind of McAteer’s involvement, he had him watched. All was fine until earlier today, when he gave them the slip.”

  “And just when Kenton’s getting somewhere, we blunder in,” Elwyn commented. “I’m not surprised he didn’t take to us.”

  Rachel smiled. “We’re on the right footing now. We move forward together, arrest Bogdan and get a statement. From our point of view, we are interested in what he can tell us about Agnes. Did he know her, or visit the health centre, for example? We might have helped crack the trafficking case but we’re no further forward with our own.”

  “Akerman told us that Agnes went to that club and complained on behalf of the girls. Danulescu wouldn’t have liked that, or Leonora. Perhaps her death was down to them after all,” Elwyn said.

  Rachel shrugged. “It’s a neat fix. But I don’t think that’s how it was. The method strongly suggests that Agnes and Jess were both killed by a different person. We get Nicu Bogdan and we do our best to find out.”

  “Ruby knows more than she’s told us,” Elwyn said. “Once she knows that Nicu is in custody and no longer a threat, she’ll be more likely to talk to us. I reckon she’s our best bet.”

  “I just hope someone talks to us, Elwyn. These two murders are turning out to be the most difficult cases I’ve ever had to solve. There is little in the way of meaningful forensics, no witnesses and no motive that we can find.”

  No motive. The words struck a chord. That was wrong. There had to be one. But whatever it was, it had nothing to do with the trafficking. Agnes helped those girls because they went to her in trouble. What did she get in return? And why keep their care under the radar? She’d delivered at least one infant without the knowledge of the midwifery team or the doctor. Roxanne Buckley said it was because she feared being discovered, but would Agnes really risk her career because a young girl was afraid? Rachel decided to have another word with Roxanne as soon as possible.

  * * *

  The plain clothes and uniformed officers were all positioned inside the apartment in good time. To give it some authenticity, a handful of young officers were hanging around in the corridor, posing as punters. Seven p.m. came and went but there was no sign of Nicu. Shannon had said he always turned up with the key, and then came later to collect. What had gone wrong? Had someone told him?

  “It’s the waiting that does my head in,” Rachel whispered to Elwyn. “Where the hell is he?”

  “Anything could have happened. Chances are he’s heard about Leonora and McAteer and decided to do one himself.”

  “Let’s hope you’re wrong. Leonora’s locked up and Jed’s probably skipped the country by now.”

  Suddenly they heard a cheer from the corridor outside the apartment. They were on. A key in the lock, followed by a voice with a foreign accent warning the pretend punters to hang on.

  A flurry of activity ensued. Nicu Bogdan had come alone and was quickly arrested. Heavily outnumbered, he didn’t put up much of a fight.

  “I’m taking him to Salford,” Kenton said, appearing at the apartment door. “We’ll do the interview tomorrow — say ten in the morning?”

  “Things have changed between us, haven’t they?” Elwyn whispered. “You still haven’t told me what happened.”

  “For the last year, he’s been delving into Jed’s businesses as well as his background. In among it all, he came across my name, and that’s why he was reluctant to let us in. We had a talk, and I convinced him that I can be trusted.”

  “And he accepted that at face value?”

  Rachel gave him a long, hard look. “Well, I can be trusted, absolutely. This is my job. I wouldn’t risk that for Jed.”

  “I know that, but how did you convince him? He seems like the sceptical type to me.”

  “I simply told him the truth. He knew most of it anyway.”

  “That’s you, me, McAteer and now Kenton who know about it.”

  Rachel nodded. “That’s about the size of it.”

  “And that doesn’t bother you?”

  “What can I do, Elwyn? He’s promised it will go no further. I have no alternative but to trust him.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Day Seven

  The following morning Rachel left home and drove straight to Salford police station. Kenton was waiting for her in his office.

  “He’s a cool one alright. So far, he hasn’t said a word. We’ve arranged a duty solicitor, and they’re having a chat at the moment.”

  “What are you hoping Nicu will tell you?” Rachel asked.

  “We’ve got a lot from Leonora Blake. She’s told us about the routes and the contacts they use abroad. I’m hopeful that Nicu will fill in a few gaps nearer to home, like the clubs and so on that take the girls here in this country. That way we stand a chance of rescuing some of them.”

  “What if he won’t talk?” Rachel asked.

  “Then we’ll throw the book at him and he’ll go down for a long time. In McAteer’s absence, he could find himself being charged with the lot.”

  Rachel remembered the interview with Leonora Blake. “Will you offer him a deal?”

  “No. He will talk and suffer the consequences. Do you think he can help with your cases?” Kenton asked.

  “I’ve been thinking about that and I’m not sure. He may have known both Agnes Moore and Jess, but I doubt he killed them. I need another word with Ruby and then I’ll have a better picture.”

  “Okay, let’s get started. Let’s see what the young man will tell us.”

  Kenton led the way to the interview room, where Nicu Bogdan sat, slumped and sullen, next to his solicitor.

  “I am innocent. I don’t know what I’m doing here,” he said on seeing the detectives.

  Kenton and Rachel sat down opposite the accused man and his solicitor. Introductions dispensed with, Kenton got straight to
it. “McAteer has fled the country and left you to take the rap.” He gave a rare smile. “What d’you think about that then? Not fair, is it?”

  Nicu looked at Rachel. “Is that right?”

  “I’m afraid it is. You are in a lot of trouble. My advice is to tell us what you know and hope it will help you later on.”

  He was silent for a moment. “I didn’t kill anybody.”

  “But people have been killed, Nicu,” Rachel told him. “Danulescu and Blake were shot by a sniper. Do you know anything about that?”

  He shook his head. “Mac will have hired someone for the job. Nothing to do with me.”

  “Tell me about Ruby Wood,” Rachel asked. “You’ve spent a lot of time and energy over the last few days trying to find her. Why’s that?”

  “Mac wanted her silenced,” he said. “She knew his name. A loose word reaching the wrong ear and the game was up.”

  “What about a woman called Agnes Moore? Did you know her?”

  “Oh her,” he said, “that interfering woman from the clinic. She tried to take the girls away. Tempted them with the promise of money and freedom.”

  “Where was the money coming from?” Rachel asked.

  “Some scam she was running.”

  Was Nicu telling the truth? There had to be a reason why Agnes was murdered, and Rachel was convinced it had nothing to do with the club. What, then, was the scam?

  “Do you know anything about this scam?” she said.

  “Ruby wouldn’t say.”

  * * *

  After more questions, Kenton gave Nicu a break. Rachel decided to leave him to it and make her way to the hospital. Her best bet was Ruby. With luck, her health would have improved and she’d be up to talking.

  “Any more trouble?” Rachel asked the officers on guard.

  “No, ma’am, though I have an idea she wants out. Didn’t like it much when I wouldn’t let her go downstairs to the shop.”

  Rachel went into the room. “So, you want to leave us, Ruby. Speak to me and I’ll arrange something for you.”

  Ruby looked at her suspiciously. “What sort of something?”

  “A place to stay where you’ll be safe. But you must help me first.”

  Ruby gave a brief nod.

  “Mac has left the country and Leonora is in custody. So is Nicu. There’s no need for you to be scared anymore.” Rachel let this sink in before she went on. “I want you to tell me about Agnes Moore. That day you were looking for her, how was she going to help you, Ruby?”

  “I wanted her to find me somewhere to stay. I was trying to get away from Nicu.”

  Rachel nodded. “If Agnes had still been alive, she would have kept you safe, I’m sure.”

  “You know nothing!” Ruby retorted. “Agnes only helped if there was a profit in it for her.”

  “I don’t understand. What profit would she make out of you, Ruby?”

  “I was going to tell her I was pregnant again.”

  What did she mean? “I know she helped pregnant girls. She was a nurse, that’s understandable. But that’s more likely to cost her than bring her a profit.”

  Ruby met Rachel’s eyes and held her gaze. “You won’t like it. One of the other girls at the club said it was horrific.”

  “Just tell me, Ruby.”

  “It was the babies. Agnes sold them and gave the girls a cut. Go to her pregnant, and she’d help you out.”

  “You’re telling me that Agnes was selling babies?” Rachel couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. It made no sense. That wasn’t the impression she’d got of Agnes at all. But if it was true, how had she got away with it?

  Ruby shrugged. “You sound shocked. A lot of the girls working in the club got pregnant, call it a hazard of the job. They gave us the pill but sometimes it didn’t suit, or we’d forget to take it. Leo didn’t give a toss, said it was our problem and to get it sorted. A lot of the girls went to Agnes for that. She might have been a grasping old witch, but she offered us a way out. For a fee she’d terminate the pregnancy, and for a few she offered an alternative. She’d provide a safe place to stay away from the club to see out the pregnancy. She said that the babies would go to good homes and we’d get paid. Agnes told us that there were couples out there desperate to have children. She promised that no one would find out. Who’d give a toss about us in any case?”

  “How many girls were involved?” Rachel asked.

  Ruby shook her head. “I’ve no idea about the numbers, but there was a fair few over time.”

  “Did the girls benefit?”

  “Not really. They got a few hundred but no more than that.”

  “Do you remember a girl called Jess?” Rachel asked.

  Ruby nodded. “She had a little boy, but then she got ill. She kept going to Agnes for treatment, causing trouble. I don’t know what happened, but suddenly she wasn’t around anymore.”

  “Jess was killed, murdered. Do you know if Agnes was responsible?” Rachel asked.

  “Agnes helped us because of the money. Each baby sold for thousands. She was hard, but she wasn’t a killer.”

  “Oh, Ruby, why didn’t you tell someone about this? We could have stepped in, put a stop to it.”

  “I was too busy trying to stay alive. I got pregnant three months ago. I went to Agnes and she offered me the same deal. I even stayed at her flat for a while. But I lost the baby, and after that Agnes didn’t want to know. I was so desperate to leave that club I pretended to be pregnant again and went back to Agnes.”

  “Do you know if anyone was helping Agnes?” Rachel asked.

  “I never met anyone else, but there must have been. Agnes couldn’t have done it all on her own.”

  Ruby had been through a lot in her short life. She was so young and had no one to look out for her. “You need help, Ruby, time to recover and adjust. I’ll arrange for social services to come and see you. First off, you need a place to live. You can’t go back on the streets.” Rachel gave her a stern look. “Run away, and I’ll haul you back myself. You stay here and accept the help you’re offered.”

  Rachel felt utterly drained. What the girl had told her was truly awful. Infants sold, their mothers fobbed off and left to cope. She doubted they’d ever be able to trace them all.

  Ruby was right about Agnes needing help. The woman had been holding down a full-time job, and she’d seen to the girls in her spare time. There had to be someone else involved. But who had killed her? A disgruntled customer, one of the girls, or her accomplice?

  Rachel rang Jude Glover on her way to the car park. She needed the forensic results from those flakes of skin Jude had found on Agnes’s clothing.

  “Jude, we’re desperate. We’ve got no one in the frame for Agnes or Jess. How is it going with the DNA from those skin flakes you found?”

  “It’s slow, Rachel. I can’t promise anything soon. It might be an idea to ask at the health centre for a list of patients with the condition. Psoriasis isn’t particularly common.”

  She was right, but that would require a warrant. Lorraine Hughes wasn’t going to divulge such information without a fight. “Thanks, Jude.”

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Rachel returned to the station in a foul mood. She’d been up for hours and felt as if she’d already put in a full day’s work.

  “I’ve just had a harrowing conversation with Ruby,” she told Elwyn. Making a reviving pot of coffee, she related the sordid details. “I can’t imagine what it must be like to carry a child for months and then give it up. Agnes helped them, but that was simply so she could take full advantage of those vulnerable girls. Why did none of them complain, Elwyn? Why didn’t they come to us for help?”

  “They didn’t have much choice. As Ruby said, pregnant girls disappeared from the club. Agnes was the only alternative.”

  Rachel took out her mobile. “I went to Salford first thing, and then to the hospital. I haven’t even spoken to my kids this morning. Mia was asleep when I got in last night and Meggy was out
. I’m a crap mother, Elwyn. I need to give my priorities a good looking at.” Neither girl picked up. “They have their faces permanently stuck in these bloody things, but when I ring . . .”

  “They’ll be busy, and you’re a fine mother. You’re upset, that’s all. Who wouldn’t be? Want me to relay this to the team?” Elwyn said.

  “Please. I need to think, look at what we’ve got with fresh eyes. We’ve wasted a lot of time searching in the wrong place for the wrong motive.”

  There was a knock on her door.

  “You’re a hard one to pin down,” Stuart Knight began. “I’ve got some info you should know about. It’s that young couple who came in with a complaint. I took the details but after seeing the notes on your incident board, I thought you should take a look.”

  That scam Jonny had mentioned. “Oh? Why do I need to know about it?”

  “This couple, they knew Agnes Moore for a start.”

  Rachel sat up. “Did you take a statement?”

  He nodded. “It’s not particularly detailed. Only that they’d given Agnes Moore a large amount of money and got nothing in return. Whatever she was supposed to sell them was not forthcoming.”

  Rachel knew very well what it was. “Where do I find this couple?”

  Knight passed her the file. “Their address is in there. They were very cut up about it. They’d parted with their life savings, apparently.”

  Rachel’s first thought was that it served them right, but she said nothing to Knight. “Thanks, I’ll follow it up.”

  The couple, Colin and Rosemary Lovatt, lived in Collyhurst on the outskirts of Manchester. Rachel went out into the incident room. “Elwyn, we’ve got something. Get your coat, we’re off out.”

  “Where’re we going?”

  “Collyhurst. I think we’ve found two of Agnes’s customers. They paid over the money but never received the goods. Can you believe they were about to buy a baby and now have the cheek to consider themselves victims of a con.”

  Elwyn looked through the file. “Why haven’t we heard of them before now?”

  “Knight was investigating the complaint. He saw the stuff on our board and realised we needed to know.”