Charlie backed off, studied the blood as it dripped from Chloe’s face, the enhanced lump across her cheekbone, and the telltale tears she attempted unsuccessfully to hide. He’d bled her of her spirit. He stepped back from Chloe and watched with pleasure as she crumpled to the ground. Power and aggression mingled in his smirk. He slowed at the end of the alley. “That was just a taster of what’s to come if you or that fat cow tries to fuck with me again, Chlo.” Then he was gone.
“Thank you for coming in, Miss Soren.” Albie dragged a chair away from the desk and gestured to Elsie to sit. “Can we get you a tea, or coffee perhaps?” Elsie glanced at a cup filled with grey liquid and shook her head. Instead she concentrated on the painful descent into the plastic chair.
“Firstly, Miss Soren, can you explain why you’re here?” He gestured to the recorder. She cleared her throat, winced at the pinch of the chair on her thighs, and addressed the microphone.
“I’m the anonymous caller from earlier. I know I should’ve come in before, but I was scared.” PC Watts smiled and nodded for her to continue.
“It was what happened to Chloe’s poor sister. That’s what changed my mind. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
“Take your time, Miss Soren. Tell us what happened.”
“I like to keep my eyes open. You have to be a good citizen, right? It’s always the same. Empty flats are like magnets to scum. It only took a couple of days before they swarmed. Drinking, causing damage. Drugs and god knows what else.”
Albie raised his hand to silence her and tried to stop his involuntary foot tapping. “Can we get to the incident you witnessed two nights ago, Miss Soren?” Elsie frowned, stared towards the top righthand corner of the room, and raised her eyebrows before nodding as if receiving instructions from an invisible source.
“She was there then, Chloe’s sister, pulling the boards off the windows and climbing through to the flat.” Albie pressed down on his knee to keep his leg still.
“Who was she with?”
“First she was alone. It was when she climbed out and ran along the balcony that the other two turned up. That’s when it got nasty. Her boyfriend, the one Chloe’s always on about, Charlie I think his name is. He started slapping her about, but she fought back, put up a good fight until that tall, skinny bloke grabbed her. He’s the one that carried her back into the flat.” Elsie caught the look in Albie’s eyes and lowered her gaze.
Albie placed his hands on the desk, and in one movement pushed the chair back and stood over her. He focussed his glare on her thinning scalp. “And you didn’t think this was important enough to report at the time?”
Elsie concentrated on the grey marbled piece of gum stuck to the leg of the desk. Her response was a bare whisper. “I told you, I’m not a grass.”
“A girl was raped and a police officer badly injured, and that’s your response, ‘I’m not a grass.’” He shook his head in disbelief and made for the door.
“He was there as well, the other day…Had some girl with him.”
Albie stopped, took two strides towards Elsie, and crouched, meeting her red veined stare. “Who was there, Elsie?”
“You know. That caretaker’s son. The one that’s come home, lost his job apparently. Chloe reckons he’s a good-looking bloke. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, just thought he was helping his dad out.”
“Did you see the girl? Do you know who she is?”
“I’ve seen her around. Trouble that one. Don’t know who she is though.”
Albie began to pace.
“What do you mean trouble?” PC Watts asked, trying to ignore Albie’s growing impatience. “Would you recognise her if you saw her again?”
“Drugs. That’s the kind of trouble she was in. I really don’t know how her friend put up with her. It was probably because of the boys.”
“Boys?”
“You know, that nice young woman who was looking after the boy I found in the lift, her friend.”
Before PC Watts could respond, Albie slammed his fist against the wall, leaned into the door, and left the room.
The waiting room was empty when Elsie was finally released from the stark, claustrophobic interview room. She looked at the large clock face hung on the wall. Time had stood still. Fancy displaying such a useless item in a waiting room! A soft laugh escaped her lips. She waited for what seemed like ten minutes, then headed towards the small dated foyer and out though the double doors. At the top of the worn stone steps, she stopped and scanned the street.
Chloe leaned against a rounded stone column that jutted out from the side of the building, one leg bent back, her foot resting on the base of the concrete column for balance. Elsie studied her, unnoticed. Her hair, matted at the back, was clumped together in a gooey mess. White tracks had etched a trail through a thin coating of dirt ground into her face. She stared ahead, unperturbed by the noise and movements which surrounded her. Elsie noticed Chloe wince as she used hesitant fingers to dab a reddened swelling on her cheekbone, then pressed the swell of flesh forming under her eye. Thick inflamed welts were visible on the inside of her arm, as was the gouged trail up her inner thigh that disappeared under the hem of her tight micro skirt.
Elsie negotiated the steps and made a slow painful decent.
“Chloe, what on earth has happened to you?”
Chloe pushed off the column. Tears threatened as she yanked at the tiny piece of cloth she called a skirt.
“Come here.” Elsie opened her arms like a giant teddy bear. Chloe hesitated, but only for a moment before being drawn into her crushing embrace. And in that moment, she let herself become a child again. Elsie wrapped one hand around the back of Chloe’s head. She grimaced as Elsie studied the dark, sticky blood that clung to her fingers. “We’re going to report this. Come on.” A new sense of lawfulness bubbled inside her for the first time since her mother’s death. Chloe resisted. But her own strength was futile in the grip of this gentle giant.
“No.” She struggled to wriggle from her grip. “He’s probably watching us now.”
Elsie loosened her hold and made a casual observation of people around them.
“What do you mean watching us? Do you know the person who did this to you?”
Chloe nodded. “We must go home. He’s threatened both of us, Elsie. This isn’t a game. He means what he says.” She looked up into Elsie’s eyes, her own filled with terror. “Please, can we go now?!” Chloe helped Elsie down the last few steps away from the police station. Elsie’s only thought now was to protect this vulnerable child in her care.
53
Josie paced the length of the corridor. The quick of her nails bled from constant chewing. She checked her phone for the sixth time in as many minutes. What more could she do? She sniffed and wiped her cheek on the cuff of her grubby, grit-marked shirt. No texts or missed calls. Her father should have made contact by now. She held back an involuntary hiccup and tried to control the sobs that threatened to escape the depths of her heart. How would she tell him? It would destroy her father. Irene had been his life, he adored his wife. A cool clammy sheen of sweat coated her face, and droplets crept down her neck and across her collar bone. She bent forward and sipped refreshing bubbles of water from the fountain. She caught some in the palm of her hand and splashed her face and the back of her neck. Josie pressed her Pin into her phone screen and scrolled through her contacts. She hesitated, stared at the screen, then pressed connect.
“Josie, is that you?”
“Yes, I’m sorry. I didn’t know who else to call.”
“What’s wrong? You sound distant.”
Her grip on the phone tightened. The whites of her knuckles protruded, and she had to make a conscious effort to relax her hold.
“It’s my mum, Olivia. She’s dead.” Her words hung on the air. “Josh has a few scrapes and bruises. They’re patching him up now. I don’t know what to do. Dad’s not answering his phone and…there’s nobody else.” Sobs of realisation bubbled in the ba
ck of her throat. Her stomach ached from all the crying.
“I’m on my way. Stay put, Josie, and keep trying your dad.”
Josie leant into the wall and slid down until she hunched to the floor. Her shoulders shook, and the inevitable loss of control overwhelmed her. Hysterical laughter exploded like a volcanic eruption from the depths of her soul and the laughter dissolved into silent sobs.
Frustration was the emotion of the day, Albie decided after he received a call from his boss. The caretaker’s son had done a disappearing act, and as a result of a direct order from above, he’d been asked to leave the estate and return to the car park of his least favourite place. He viewed the dull concrete building with disgust. Hundreds of windows, each shielded from the sun by dark blinds, looked down on him like eyes wearing sun glasses. He detested the place, and yet in the last few days he’d spent more time here than at work. Nurse Coot looked over the rim of her glasses, smiled, and pointed towards the children’s ward without him opening his mouth. That wouldn’t happen unless he was becoming a fixture and fitting, he thought. Albie followed the signs as he slipped his identity card inside his jacket pocket and waited for a wheelchair user to navigate the corner.
Josie sat on the end chair. Her bent body shook and her hair covered her face. Her blond head was buried in a woman’s comforting embrace. People scurried around him while he took his time to absorb the scene. Trapped by obligation, he fought back the anger that simmered in his thoughts and continued along the corridor towards the oblivious pair.
“Josie.” He crouched in front of her on the floor and placed a comforting hand between her shoulder blades. Neither woman acknowledged his presence.
“Josie, it’s DS Edwards. I need to talk to you about the attack.”
“Selfish bastard.” Olivia spat between clenched teeth. “Her mother’s dead and her son’s been hurt. A little tact wouldn’t go amiss. Have you any ideas what she’s been through?”
Albie rose to his feet, moved to her right, and dropped into the seat next to her. He tilted his head and leaned in like a passionate lover.
“Lovely sentiment, Liv. You’ve probably forgotten, but I have a killer to catch. I’m not blessed with enough time to practise civility. I’ll leave the empathy to you.”
He rose. “Now let me do my job.” He knelt before the woman’s unresponsive body. “Josie, you can help me find this monster. But you need to talk to me”
Olivia leant closer, coaxed her to raise her head, and whispered in her ear.
“You need to listen to his questions. You could be a great help.”
“When you went to meet your mother and Josh, did you recognise the car? The person driving? Anything? Did your day follow a pattern of any sort? Was anybody aware of where you were going?”
Albie watched as she struggled to lift her face in alignment with his. Her eyes, puffy and red, were empty of life. She opened her mouth to speak, but her voice had given up. The wobble of her bottom lip sent her into a silent hysterical meltdown. He’d lost her.
Albie clasped her shoulders in the firm grip and shook her.
“Josie this is important. You must talk to me now if we’re to have any chance of catching this maniac. Josie?”
“That’s enough.” Olivia grabbed the arm closest to her and shoved him off balance. She stood and stooped over him. “I think we need to talk.” Not waiting for a reply, she headed for the double doors knowing that Albie would follow.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked squeezing her shoulders as tightly as he had held Josie’s. “This is a murder investigation. You’ve no right to interfere. If I don’t get some information from her now, the chances are we can forget finding her mother’s killer.”
Olivia inhaled and held her breath, self-control sifting through her like sand in a timer. She raised her eyes to his and whispered.
“Listen to yourself. You’re scaring her. You’re forcing her to retreat inside herself. She’s been exposed to her fourth traumatic experience in as many days.” She kept eye contact, desperate to be understood. “Albie, her mother is dead, and her son is hurt. She’s losing her grip on reality, and you are about to tip her over the edge.”
He released her shoulders and walked backwards in the direction of the waiting room. “I don’t have time for this hearts and flowers crap.”
Olivia followed. “Wait, let me speak to her first.” He shook his head and continued through the doors. She caught up with him. “Albie, please.” She held onto his shirt sleeve. “At least let me try. What harm can it do?”
Olivia’s frown pinched two lines above her nose and she begged for him to listen with her pout. Manipulation was a game she played well.
“You’ve got ten minutes before I take her to the station. I won’t change my mind, so you can cut the sweet and innocent act.”
Olivia mirrored Albie’s actions and knelt before Josie’s slumped body and tried to think of ways to engage her enough to want to respond to her questions. She covered her trembling hand with her own and began in a whisper.
“DS Edwards is right, you know. He does need some answers to questions, otherwise the person who committed these horrendous crimes will have a greater opportunity to keep the police at arm’s length.” She paused in hope of a reaction, an acknowledgment, perhaps, of Olivia’s presence. Her grip tightened around Josie’s elbows.
“I can’t begin to know how you are feeling. All the awful events, they have one link. You, Josie. You’re the person who can help catch this monster.” She leant forward and help her empty gaze. “Do you want someone else to die? Because it will happen. Talk to DS Edwards. Give him a chance, but you must talk now.” Olivia waited. The motion of the second hand on the wall clock announced that time was almost up. She released Josie’s hand and leant on a chair as she began to stand.
“Okay, I’ll talk to him.” Her whispered voice rooted Olivia to the spot. Josie raised her head and continued, “I’ll answer any questions.” Olivia patted her shoulder and gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile and went in search of Albie.
54
Tanya leaned against Albie’s black BMW and reread the text messages she’d received within seconds of each other.
FRANK’S OUT OF DANGER…ALL GOOD :)
BE BACK SOON, TRYING TO GET JOSIE TO TALK.
Tanya looked at her phone. It was 6.30. She’d waited an hour already. She drained the last of the tepid water from the bottle, checked the car doors were locked, and headed to the main entrance. She threw the empty bottle at a bin and missed. Her knee clicked as she crouched to pick it up and place it in the bin. Straightening, she continued. Only one door was in use. Most people using the main doors were polite enough to take turns, so an unexpected shoulder barge knocked her off balance. No apology from the man responsible. He kept his head bowed, hands deep in pockets. He didn’t even respond when she shouted after him to be careful. She watched him rush across the forecourt and into a blue ford in the car park two rows up from Albie’s BMW. An uneasy flutter nagged her stomach. A hunch, nothing more. At most a hint of recognition. “Bloody rude man,” she said under her breath before continuing inside to find Albie.
“Anything, Sarge?” Tanya jogged to keep up. Two of her strides were the equivalent of one of Albie’s.
“Dark blue Ford Estate.”
“And the driver?” Tanya slipped into the passenger seat.
“Vague. Either a large man or a well built woman. Short dark hair or a dark hat. She was in shock, still is.”
“So what now?”
“There’s just something I want to follow up.” Albie merged in with the flow of rush hour traffic.
“Are you willing to share?”
Albie didn’t have to look to see the sarcasm on her face when it dripped so easily from her mouth.
“Josie recognised the car as a similar type and make of car our Mister Lansbury senior drives. Although she couldn’t be certain.”
A shiver played up Tanya’s spine,
her throat tightened, and her voice hitched. “Sarge. That’s it. That’s who that bloke reminded me of in the hospital.”
“What bloke?”
“Oh, some guy in a hurry. He barged into me on his way out. Got into a dark car. Definitely an Estate.”
Tanya rifled through her handbag until she found her notebook and started to scribble as Albie indicated towards the estate.
Nick rubbed his temple with his finger. Pressure had built throughout the day. If he was really honest, the dull thud had started a while ago in anticipation of release. He glanced across the wide chasm of the quadrant to the empty flats. The gang had started to use them as dens for all kinds of illegal practices. He watched the blond guy on the corner exchange something with a young girl. The girl, although well-developed, was a gangly adolescent. She giggled as he pushed her against the balcony, moved in to kiss her, and groped her breast. She squealed and wriggled from his grasp. He laughed, tipped his head back, and caught the dregs from a beer can in his open mouth.
“Next time, Kels. I’ll have ya next time,” he shouted after the retreating figure.
Nick shoved his hands in his pockets. He would have to wait until morning until he could get into the flats again. The kids that hung around outside appears with the sunset like vampires. His pace quickened as he got closer to home. He hoped the latest images waiting for him on his laptop would help him settle. His heart rate increased, and an intense need raged in the pit of his stomach as he fumbled to unlock the door with clammy hands. Nick took the stairs two at a time. He slowed at the top at the sight of his bedroom door ajar.
The Voyeur Page 21