Chapter 26: Chapter 26

SIXTY-FOUR

Stan’s designer suit was creased and he filled the small room with the smell of stale sweat. The tape had been rolling for a couple of minutes. Jacob leaned back in the plastic chair, creaking with every small movement. The man removed his glasses and placed them on the table. She could tell he was tired. The length of his stubble and the greasy bit of hair he had showed he hadn’t seen a bathroom that morning. ‘What were you doing after five in the afternoon yesterday, Mr North?’

‘Not what you think I was doing.’ The man shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

‘So enlighten me.’ Gina threw her pen to the table and folded her arms.

‘You think you have me all worked out? You haven’t. I had no intention of hurting the girl. I went back to the farm shop. You showed me a photo of a girl the other day.’

‘Simone Duxford?’ Jacob pulled the photo from the file and slid it across the table.

He nodded. ‘That’s her.’

‘You recognised her, didn’t you?’ Gina unfolded her arms.

He nodded again. ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’

‘I couldn’t.’ The man leaned his head in his hands and sweat began to roll down his forehead. ‘I didn’t want my wife to know.’

‘Know what?’ He looked away.

‘We’re going to find out, Mr North. You need to tell us how you were involved or you could be charged with obstructing an officer in the course of their duties.’

‘I had sex with her.’ He rubbed his temples as tears began to run down his face. ‘She was out of it, on something. I went to the shop, the farm shop, and Mr Hanley served me. This was back in December last year. I bought a holly wreath for my wife, as you do. I remember feeling sorry for him. He and his wife were caring for a relative in a wheelchair who looked totally incapable of doing anything for herself. I gave them a twenty-pound tip. They had her at the back of the shop, and she was calling away. I saw the red-haired girl leave through the back door. I swear, I’d never seen anyone so captivating, so beautiful. She had this almost translucent skin and looked so pure. The woman in the wheelchair began screaming, reciting the same noises over and over again. It made me jump and I’m embarrassed to say, slightly uncomfortable. Anyway, at that point, I left the shop.’ The man wept into his hands.

‘Go on, Mr North.’

‘I’ve never done anything like this in my life and I’m so ashamed. For all my years of marriage, I’ve not once cheated on my wife, except for this one time. The girl was outside, it was dark. She basically offered it to me on a plate, said she needed to feel something and she could tell I’d noticed her. She beckoned me over to a shed at the back of the car park. She pulled down her thick tights and hitched up her denim

skirt. I stupidly followed. I remember her kissing me and cupping me, rubbing and gyrating against me. I wanted her so badly. She wanted me. I never assaulted her. I even asked her if I could see her again. The way things were at home, with Elizabeth, I’d have left in an instant, but she just pulled her tights up and told me to leave.’

‘She was young enough to be your daughter. She was eighteen.’ Gina watched as he breathed a sigh of relief. Gina could tell that he hadn’t been sure.

‘I haven’t done anything wrong then?’

‘If you say so, Mr North.’ Maybe he hadn’t legally been out of order with Simone but there was always that moral question that would haunt him. He hadn’t known her age. She looked younger than her years. He couldn’t have been sure. ‘So, why were you chasing Elisa Stanford through the woods yesterday?’

‘That really wasn’t what it looked like. I only went back to the shop this week to see if the new girl remembered the red- haired girl. I couldn’t ask her when I got there. I don’t know why. Maybe I thought she’d link her death to me. Anyway, it played on my mind and when I saw her walking alongside the road, I pulled over. It wasn’t planned. I just had to ask if she knew anything. I thought if I said something to you, you’d think I did it. I didn’t mean to chase her. She got scared and ran. I kept telling her to stop. I just wanted to explain myself. I messed the whole thing up.’

‘You left her in the woods, unconscious, with a head injury!’

‘I called Bryn Tilly, asked him to check on something at the house. I hoped he’d find her and he did. I didn’t leave her.’ He wiped a tear from his eye.

‘How well do you know the Hanleys?’

‘I don’t.’ Gina kept her gaze on him. ‘I’ve seen them once, that time when I bought the wreath.’

‘Interview terminated at fifteen twenty.’ Gina checked the time and she was running short of it. She glanced back at Stan, his head in his hands. He knew his wife would end up finding out his sordid little secret. She wondered if he was truly ashamed. She felt he was more likely upset that he’d been found out. A message from Wyre flashed up on her phone.

We have the warrant and all units are on standby. We are in position to take the farm shop at the same time.

She nodded and closed her notebook. They had to get to Clover Farm.

SIXTY-FIVE

As Miley shook violently, the boss dragged her from her room, into Jackie’s room. The delicate crepe-like skin on the back of her legs began to peel away as he pulled her faster.

Jackie was sitting in the middle of the room with her legs splayed out. The smell hit Miley and almost made her heave. Her friend Jackie hadn’t been washed or changed all day, she could tell. Jackie rocked back and forth, shouting meaningless words.

‘You need to deal with her now,’ he yelled.

The shakes began to build up again and the spasms caused her to arch her back. Her body jerked and foam began to seep from her mouth as she heaved. Hell, that’s where she was, and things weren’t set to get better. Her heart rate sped and she scratched. ‘I need my medicine, please.’

‘There is no more medicine and you don’t need any more.

Look at you. Do your job and take care of Jackie.’

Do her job! She couldn’t even move, let alone work. The moths began to crawl from the walls. ‘Get them away from me.’ It was all happening again and Miley didn’t know how much more she could take as his shouting mixed with her screaming. His words sounded like a record being played backwards and she could barely make them out. Help Jackie,

she needed to help Jackie. As she tried to sit up, spasms flashed through her body.

‘You’re just another useless piece of shit, like your stupid friend, Erin. Did I tell you she was dead? Poor, stupid, little Erin. I gave you an opportunity and like her, you blew it. What thanks do I get for taking you off the streets? Nothing. A big fat nothing.’

Through her warped vision she saw him standing over her, his head backlit by the sunshine flooding through the window. As her eyes focused, she noticed the deep creases that gave him a harsh look. Through his thin lips, a curl developed at one side as he grinned. His green-eyed stare met hers. She looked away. As she inhaled, she caught the smell of washing powder coming from his casual shirt. She’d forgotten what it was like to feel clean. He used the same powder as her mum, she recognised the smell and tried to breathe it in again. Her abdomen felt like it was being sliced apart. She leaned to the side and screamed as she avoided the moths that came for her. They’re not real, they’re not real. Imagine they’re beautiful butterflies. The shivers were coming again. She braced herself as the biggest tremble she’d ever felt in her life travelled through her body. The moths were around her, they were in her, scratching away under her skin. She jerked and coughed as she gasped for air. She couldn’t breathe properly. The light room became speckled, like it had filled with murky pond water.

‘Good for nothing,’ he yelled as he kicked her in the side. ‘A good for nothing junkie. Why couldn’t you be more like Simone?’ He turned to Jackie. ‘Our lovely granddaughter. She came to find us and she loved you so much.’ He kneeled beside Miley as she jerked and writhed in pain. ‘You were never going to be Simone. I’ll make sure you have a dignified

send off and then I’ll go looking for your replacement. Give up. Death is inevitable. It will be less painful if you don’t fight it, then you can be at peace.’

She coughed and gasped as he kneeled on the floor until she closed her eyes and floated off into another world with a smile on her face. Don’t fight it.

She was back at home, sitting at the dinner table, contemplating whether to do her English literature essay. She had to write a critique on Jane Eyre. As she walked along the corridors of Mr Rochester’s old house, dare she enter the attic and face her own ghost? She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and reopened them. She was back at the dinner table. Her mother Julia, scooping potatoes from a pan onto her and Roy’s plate. She would leave Jane Eyre until the weekend. She wanted to go to the park with Stacey. She wanted to write silly messages under the slide and play around. She wanted to pinch one of Roy’s cans of beer from the fridge so that they could drink it together and giggle the evening away. Her homework could wait. Life was too short. ‘You know, your mother would be so much happier if you left,’ Roy said, smiling as he shovelled mashed potatoes into his mouth.

A flash of pain filled her head and her family were gone. The grey-black speckles filled her eyes. She was gone, just like Roy had wanted.

SIXTY-SIX

Gina stepped out of Jacob’s air-conditioned car into the sweltering heat with the warrant in her hand. A couple of police cars pulled up behind her. The ambulance came up the windy country road, ready for any casualties.

The house stood on a slight hill, with brown patchy fields stretching way into the horizon. The heat had made the usually lush landscape look almost post-apocalyptic. The sun was just coming over the house and Gina felt sweat begin to absorb into the waistband of her grey trousers. The house itself was quite large, five windows spanning the upstairs, three windows and a bay on the downstairs level. She tried to get a look inside. Whether it was the glare or the dirt, she had no chance of seeing much.

‘Follow me.’ She beckoned to Jacob. Two further officers followed behind, another two waited with their car. Wyre and O’Connor had gone and led the search of the farm shop.

The weed-sprouted path led the way through the dead- looking garden to the main door in the centre of the house. A gargoyle with a metal ring in its mouth stared back at Gina. She almost wanted to smile at the irony. Weren’t gargoyles meant to warn evil off? In this case, if they were right, evil had been residing in the building. Vulnerable girls had been invited

in with the promise of work, food, a warm bed. She lifted the heavy ring and tapped it several times. There was no sound. She lifted the letterbox and peered in.

‘Mr Hanley? We have a warrant to search the premises. Open up.’ A thudding noise came from inside. ‘There’s someone in there.’

Wyre walked up to the farm shop and stopped to read the notice that had been pinned to the door.

Closed due to unforeseen circumstances. The management.

Wyre banged on the door. ‘Mr Hanley, open up. We have a warrant to search the premises.’ She placed her ear by the door and listened. A shuffling noise came from behind the wooden panels. She held her hands over her eyes and peered through the small window. ‘I heard something.’ She stepped aside and an officer stepped in with an enforcer.

‘Shall I?’

She glanced towards O’Connor. ‘Do it.’

After three smashes against the door, it finally rattled as it sprang open. Wyre flinched and held a hand to her chest. The rat scurried along the floor and escaped behind the French dresser stacked with chutneys, its tail disappearing into the darkness. ‘If nothing else, I think environmental health need to come and check this place out.’

O’Connor followed her closely. They both stopped and listened, adjusting their stab vests as they approached. She led them behind the counter and through to a small staff room. At

the end of the room was a small bathroom with a toilet, a shower and a washbasin. Wellies lined the walls. The side door was covered in cobwebs and insects. Spiders hung from the frame, waiting patiently for passing flies. Between the bathroom and the staffroom was a set of stairs.

‘Mr Hanley. We have a warrant to search the premises,’ O’Connor called. There was no reply.

With every step Wyre took, another creak interrupted the silence. Her heart began to pound slightly as she reached the top. She bent down and peered round the wall, nothing. She flinched as the office phone beeped with a message. With a gloved hand, she pressed the red button to listen to the message. She checked her watch against the displayed time. It had only been left ten minutes before.

‘All right, Dad. I’ve just finished my contract in Spain and I’m finally coming home to meet my daughter. That’s the good news. No need to pick me up at the airport, I’ve booked a taxi. Get some beers in and give Mum a kiss from me—’

The message ended. The caller had run out of time. ‘That must be Mr Hanley’s son,’ Wyre whispered. ‘Mr Hanley,’ she called out. No one answered. ‘There’s no one here.’

More officers followed and began searching the smaller rooms. She gazed out of the window as another officer entered the shed at the back of the car park. The officer exited the shed and headed towards the car. She opened the top drawer. It contained a photo of Simone and a small tea light candle in a holder that said thinking of you on the side. She pictured Mr Hanley getting the photo of Simone out and lighting a candle in her memory. She pulled her phone from her pocket and

dialled Gina. ‘Hi, guv. There’s no one here but I just found a photo of Simone in one of the desk drawers. Thought I’d let you know. Mr Hanley’s son, Gareth, just left a message on the shop answerphone to say he was coming back to visit them, and Simone. He has no idea that she’s dead as yet.’ She paused. ‘If Hanley’s not here, he must be there.’

SIXTY-SEVEN

Gina placed her phone back in her pocket, stretched in her stab vest and allowed the officer with the enforcer to step forward. She’d given enough warning. She’d called through the letterbox, telling the occupants that they had a warrant but no one had answered. Several bangs later, a section of the door caved in. Gina pushed her arm through the gap and opened the door from the inside before she and Jacob stepped over the threshold. Dust motes filled the sunlit stairway and the sun shining through the window at the top of the stairs almost blinded her.

To the left was a dining room. She crept forward, heart hammering against her ribcage. She gulped a mouth full of air and tried to swallow but her throat refused. She needed to swallow quickly, either that or she might choke. She loosened her shirt and coughed slightly. Now was not the time to have an anxious episode. Sweat beads formed along her hairline and began to stream down her forehead. As she stepped closer to the kitchen table, a flashback to her last case almost caused her to stumble. An image of her being dragged under her own table by her masked attacker filled her mind. Clenching her fists and swallowing again, she took a step back. Just like she’d been told, slow breath in, hold, slow breath out.

‘You okay, guv?’ Jacob whispered. The other officers turned right by the door and entered the lounge.

Gina felt her blood pumping hard, the dust motes turning into the speckles a person sees just before they pass out. It was hot, so hot. She inhaled sharply. Not now, not today. ‘I’m fine.’ She crept towards the kitchen and opened the door as she continued to breathe in and out. Flies buzzed around a cracked Belfast sink. The dark oppressive wood on the cupboard doors made the room feel dingier than it really was. The stink of rotten food and onion skins filled her nostrils. ‘Mr Hanley,’ she called. He wasn’t downstairs. She proceeded back towards the main door. She was going up. ‘Mr Hanley. Christina or should I call you Miley? You call yourself Miley now. Just shout if you can hear me.’ She crept up another step, listening for a noise, any noise.

A woman began murmuring and shouting incoherently. ‘Mrs Hanley?’ Gina took another step.

‘Guv, you have to come out,’ their most recent recruit, PC Kapoor, called as she slammed through what was left of the front door. Crying came from the right side of the building.

‘You go back out,’ she said to Jacob. She beckoned to Kapoor to back her up. The young woman crept up the stairs, crossing Jacob as he ran back down.

‘Mr Hanley, stay right there,’ she heard Jacob shouting.

Gina hurried up, passing a small bathroom. She gently pushed the first door. The smell hit her. A slop bucket sat in the corner of the room. A pile of several sheets that had once been white sat on top of an old torn mattress. Carpet fibres were dug up all over the room and she saw a couple of beetles making their way towards the skirting board. She remembered

the cast skins that forensics had found. The girl cried out and another woman kept shouting the same incoherent sound over and over again. She heard Jacob shouting outside but she couldn’t make out what was being said over the noise.

‘The next room,’ she whispered as Kapoor trod gently behind her. There were two more doors but it was obvious that the screaming was coming from the door she and Kapoor waited behind.

‘Mr Hanley, don’t jump. Please let Miley get back into the bedroom,’ she heard Jacob saying.

‘We have a hostage situation,’ Gina said. Sweat filled her eyes. Every time she brushed it away, more replaced it, almost clouding her vision. She untied her stab vest and threw it to the floor.

‘Guv?’

She knew she was putting herself in danger but she couldn’t work in the heat. It was sending her mad and her heartbeat erratic. ‘I’ll be okay.’ Her hand rested on the door handle. If she pressed it down, would she alarm the girl’s captor? If she didn’t, would she miss her chance to save her? Her mind flashed to Julia Dawson. More than anything, she wanted to find Christina and reunite the family. ‘What do I do, what do I do?’ she whispered.

Kapoor wiped her head with her sleeve and returned a nervous smile.

‘Mum.’ Gina listened to the girl choking on her own tears as she forced her words out.

She had to get into the room. Gently pressing the door handle, she gave Kapoor the nod, letting her know that they

were going in. Another officer hung back on the stairs. As Jacob called out again, Gina opened the door.

‘You don’t have to do this, Mr Hanley. Come down so we can talk about it,’ Jacob said.

‘This was never meant to happen,’ the man yelled as he stood on the ledge, the other side of the window.

Jackie Hanley kept repeating the same sound as she sat on the floor in the middle of the room.

Gina nodded to Kapoor who knelt down to see if Mrs Hanley was okay. The sick woman was gripping a knitted doll and strands of wool were tangled in her hair and around her legs as the doll unravelled with every movement. Christina was sitting on the window ledge, her legs dangling outside with Mr Hanley’s hand snaked around her waist, squeezing her as she screamed. The girl turned, gazing at Gina as if trying to focus. Gina held her finger to her mouth and watched as tears slipped down the girl’s cheeks.

‘You have to let the girl go. Let her get back in the bedroom,’ Jacob called. ‘We can talk about this. I know you don’t mean to hurt her.’

‘I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I didn’t hurt Simone. I loved Simone. Jackie loved Simone being here. I tried to help her, took her in and paid her to look after her grandmother. The drugs took her, not me.’

‘And you don’t want to hurt the girl. You didn’t hurt Simone so please let the girl go. She’s scared. Please step back into the room.’ She could tell Jacob was running out of ideas. If William Hanley jumped, depending on how he fell, he might make it. He may break a leg or even both. He may fall badly and end his own life. From what she remembered, the outside

of the building was slightly larger at the bottom. Mr Hanley probably had a plinth about a foot long to stand on. He was a big man and by the way he was holding the girl, she could tell he was jittery.

Gina stepped past Jackie and Christina tried to reach back to grab her hand, but the girl had no strength and her hand dropped before Gina could grab it.

‘I am never going with you. You can all go to hell. I’ve lost my granddaughter, when my son finds out what happens, I’ll lose him too. I’m not losing my freedom. You think I don’t know that you’re trying to come here, be all sympathetic, telling me we can talk about it? Like hell. There will be no talking.’

‘No, please let me go,’ Christina whimpered. Mr Hanley turned and caught a glimpse of Gina creeping up behind him. Their gazes locked. She felt her heart almost beating out of her chest as she realised he was going. He propelled them both from the window, letting go of the girl once his feet left the plinth. Gina’s eyes met Christina’s as she reached out and grabbed the girl’s desperate hands. She heard a thud as Mr Hanley hit the stone porch, face first.

Christina sobbed as her weak sweaty hands began to slip out of Gina’s. Jacob and the two officers linked hands below them. It wasn’t ideal but it had been all they could probably think of given the time in which they had to react. However hard she tried, it was no good. Kapoor pushed in and leaned out, grabbing Christina’s wrist, just below where Gina was holding. As Kapoor held onto the girl, Gina inched forward and grabbed her other wrist. Between them, they slowly pulled the lifeless girl up and through the window, laying her on the floor. Pale and clammy, Christina jerked and screamed before

shaking and passing out. ‘Get a paramedic up here,’ Gina called as she held the girl. ‘We have a vulnerable adult and an unconscious girl.’

Footsteps stormed the house and filled the room.

She watched as another paramedic inspected Mr Hanley’s body. They would never hear his full version of events. She did know that the house would give up his secrets. Once forensics came in and examined everything, they would have a clearer picture of what had happened to Erin. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed that Christina had stopped moving.

A young female paramedic darted in and knelt before the girl. Gina crawled across the floor and sat beside her, stroking her hair. ‘It’s okay. You’re okay now. Wake up.’ Gina couldn’t feel a pulse. ‘Wake up,’ she yelled.

‘Could you please move back, Inspector?’ the paramedic asked.

Another paramedic entered and helped Jaqueline Hanley out of the room, slowly steering her towards the stairs while trying to unravel the woollen doll from her.

‘Your mum loves you very much and she just wants you home safely,’ Gina whispered, feeling a tear welling in the corner of her eye.

‘Inspector, I need you to get back.’

Gina hit the door frame knowing in her heart that they had been too late for Christina. Her phone went. ‘Smith?’ She paused and looked up at Kapoor. ‘I’ve got to get back to the station. Our fake Mrs Hanley is being discharged from hospital and then being brought back to the station for interview.’ She gazed back at Christina as the paramedic tended to her. She so wanted to stay with her and will her

through whatever was happening, but she had no option but to hurry back.

Another officer ran out of the house, holding a passport. ‘Look what we found in the bedroom.’