Dead Secret

by Noelle Holten

  She had arranged to speak to Kate this evening about the case, but with everything that was going on she called her instead.

  ‘I thought we were speaking later. Everything okay?’

  ‘It is and it isn’t.’ Maggie took a deep breath. ‘I’ve had a bit of a bollocking and there have been some new developments so, for now, I can’t contact you about work stuff outside of office hours. I have a meeting tomorrow morning, but after that, I’ll call you and fill you in on everything. Sorry to be so vague, but I’ve been warned—’

  ‘Well, that’s so un-Maggie – since when do you worry about following the rules?’ Kate laughed but there was a slight edge to her words.

  ‘You’re right. But this could affect other people and their futures … including yours … so I’ve no choice at the minute. Promise to bring you up to speed tomorrow.’

  ‘Ah, okay. How about early afternoon? About 1pm if you’re done with your meeting. I’ve a few things to take care of here tomorrow morning myself – does that work?’

  ‘Perfect. If anything changes, I’ll let you know.’

  The pair chatted for a few minutes before saying their goodbyes. Something in Kate’s voice caught Maggie’s attention but she couldn’t place her finger on it. Was it excitement? Maggie knew that Kate didn’t like to be pressured, so she would tell her when the time was right. Those might be the errands she had to do.

  Maggie all of a sudden felt anxious. What if Kate took the uni job offered in Ireland and wasn’t coming back? As if he knew that Maggie had been speaking about Kate, Salem trotted down the stairs and sat at Maggie’s feet. She leaned over and petted his head.

  ‘Hey you. Are you hungry? Where’s your partner in crime?’ Salem meowed. ‘Still outside then?’ She laughed and stood up, Salem following closely at her feet.

  ‘Would I be able to feed this guy or do you need to do anything else?’ The forensic team looked like they were packing up.

  ‘All done here. We’ll see ourselves out and keep you updated.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Maggie reached up and grabbed two bowls. When she started opening the cat food, Scrappy burst through the flap and skidded across the floor – nearly knocking Salem over. ‘Careful, Scraps. One day Salem might shove you back.’ She laughed as she dished out the food and placed it on the floor.

  What a night. Tomorrow could be just as trying. She had wanted to wait for her brother to return, but her eyelids were heavy and she eventually gave in. She left Andy a note about where to go to have his prints taken. Her bed called and she wasn’t about to ignore the pull.

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  ‘I’m going into Stafford to visit Mark in the hospital.’ Lucy was gathering her things together and would leave a note for Vicki, who was coming by to work on the backlogged referrals they had been receiving since the decision to push back the opening of the haven had been made.

  Ronnie took out her phone and began to type. ‘Can I tag along?’

  Lucy was surprised that Ronnie would want to, but the company would be welcome. Stafford County Hospital was a forty-minute drive and Lucy hated driving alone. Patrick used to drive her everywhere – when he managed to stay sober. Driving alone always made her dwell on her past.

  ‘If you’re sure?’

  Ronnie nodded and waited while Lucy grabbed her bag and threw on a light jacket. ‘Do you need to bring a coat? I can lend you one.’ Lucy noticed the bulge in Ronnie’s bag.

  Ronnie opened her satchel and pulled out a hoodie, catching a few items that nearly fell out and stuffing them back in her bag. Lucy didn’t recognize the top – it must be one that Ronnie brought with her.

  ‘Ready?’ Lucy grabbed the gate fob, locked the doors behind her, and Ronnie followed her out to the car.

  Ronnie placed her satchel in the footwell and held it tightly by the strap. Lucy guessed it must bring her some kind of comfort, as she was rarely without it.

  Lucy shot glances at Ronnie as they drove to the hospital. She had wanted to talk but Ronnie was fixated on the fields, closing her eyes now and again, and Lucy was sure she caught her smiling as they passed one of the old, abandoned farms.

  Lucy reached over and turned on the radio – not too loud – as she noticed Ronnie fidget with her hearing aids. When they arrived at the hospital, she found a parking space as close to the doors as possible. A habit of hers since she had taken up driving again.

  Inside the hospital, Lucy and Ronnie took the lift to the third floor. Mark was still drifting in and out of consciousness; although he had stabilized after he collapsed at Lucy’s place, the doctors were still concerned about how it had happened and the after-effects that were still problematic. Tests were ongoing and Lucy hoped he would be his usual self in a few days, as he seemed to be on the mend.

  ‘You don’t have to come in with me if you don’t want to. I wouldn’t want to trigger any memories linked to the day. I know you’re still affected even if you won’t admit it. See over there?’ Lucy pointed to the waiting area. ‘You can sit there if you’d prefer and here …’ She reached into her bag and pulled out a handful of change. ‘Grab a coffee. I won’t be too long. The toilets are just over there if you need them.’

  Ronnie took the change and mouthed ‘Thank you’ before heading to the waiting area. Lucy watched and waited before going into Mark’s room.

  ‘Hey you!’ She plastered a smile on her face, even though Mark’s eyes were closed. She tried to keep her voice as upbeat as possible despite feeling quite the opposite when she saw how fragile Mark looked lying there. ‘Just wanted to pop in and see how you are. Everyone has been asking about you – Maggie, Sarah, Vicki, Kat – the usual suspects. You know Vicki has a soft spot for you and even Sharon sounded a little concerned when I rang her – so you had better get well soon with all these ladies wanting your attention.’ She felt her voice quiver; she was getting emotional and her mobile ringing was a welcome escape.

  Shit, I forgot to turn this off, I’ll take it outside … Lucy left Mark’s room and walked towards the lifts. She glanced at the waiting area and saw Ronnie glued to her phone.

  ‘Hello? Everything okay?’ It was Vicki, and she knew Lucy wouldn’t want to be disturbed when she was at the hospital, so it must be something important.

  ‘Is Ronnie with you?’

  ‘Yes, she just …’ Lucy turned to look but Ronnie was no longer sitting where she had last seen her. ‘Oh – she must have gone to the toilets. Why, what’s up?’

  ‘I was tidying up and I know you told me not to bother, but I thought it would be a nice surprise and—’

  The loud beeps emanating from Mark’s room and the nurses running in distracted her. ‘Sorry, Vicki – I need to go. Something is happening with Mark.’ Lucy ended the call and ran towards Mark’s room. They wouldn’t let her back in, but she stood on her tiptoes and glanced over the team working on Mark. ‘What’s happening? I was just in there and he was fine.’

  Lucy noticed a pillow on the floor and some dark, black markings on the hand that lay limply down the side of the bed. She mentally made note so she could ask about them later.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ Lucy tapped the woman just inside the door on the shoulder.

  ‘I’m sorry. We can’t say at the moment.’ The nurse inclined her head.

  Lucy watched as the doctors worked on Mark. She needed to find Ronnie – but she didn’t want to go anywhere until she found out what had happened. Minutes later, police officers arrived on the floor and were speaking to the nurses. She noticed one of them point to her and then they headed her way.

  What the hell was going on?

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  ‘There’s been a match on those prints from your house – Joe Clayton – mean anything to you?’ Nathan waited while Maggie tried to place the name.

  ‘Nothing – what’s his history?’

  ‘Long-time drug user, burglary, robbery, theft – all acquisitive to support his habit, I guess. Previous organized crime connection
s but he was small-time – probably cut loose when his habit became too risky to have him involved.’

  ‘Has he been arrested?’

  ‘They’re just going out now. DCI Meechan sent one of his sidekicks.’ Nathan’s nostril’s flared. It was clear to Maggie that he didn’t take too kindly to being pushed aside. No one on the team had raised any issues with investigating the case when they had been asked, so why outsiders had to come in now and try to take over was beyond their understanding.

  ‘Why? I get that I couldn’t be involved but—’

  ‘The other print was matched to someone else, that’s why.’

  Maggie waited for Nathan to explain when it finally dawned on her. ‘No way. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’

  ‘Hastings’s print. It was a match. And we’re assuming he didn’t pay you any social calls in the last few weeks.’ Nathan’s radio crackled and he leaned over to his shoulder and listened. Maggie caught a few of the words.

  ‘Needles … eye … dead … severed finger …’

  ‘What the hell! C’mon let’s go!’ Maggie stood and grabbed her coat. Nathan grabbed her arm.

  ‘You’re not going anywhere. You’re the victim in this case, no matter what else is happening in terms of our own investigation. Kat …’ Nathan gestured for her to join them. ‘Head over to Oldbury Road. The guy who broke into Maggie’s house has been found dead. One of Meechan’s people is already there. I’ll let him know you’re on your way.’ Nathan wrote out the address and handed it to Kat. ‘Update me as soon as you can.’

  Kat took the piece of paper and Maggie caught her eye before she left. Kat nodded her understanding. She knew exactly what was wanted.

  ‘I guess I’ll carry on cross-referencing the prison tatts with anyone connected to Hastings. So far, no luck other than Craig Nolan and a few of his crew, but there could be thousands.’

  ‘Keep digging,’ Nathan instructed.

  Maggie returned to her desk, took out her mobile phone and texted Kat.

  Let me know when you arrive.

  * * *

  Be my eyes – tell me what you see. Between us of course ;)

  She was placing Kat in a difficult position, but she knew Kat wouldn’t have an issue telling her to fuck off if she felt Maggie was crossing any boundaries that she was not comfortable crossing herself. She waited for a reply.

  Twenty-five minutes later and her mobile rang.

  ‘You inside?’

  ‘You’ve got some fucking cheek, Maggie. But yeah, I’m in. Looks like Dr Blake is finishing up and they’re bagging the body.’

  ‘What can you see?’

  ‘He’s got a needle in his eye and one in each arm. There is drug paraphernalia everywhere – the place is a dump – surprised the stench in here didn’t kill him first. Smells like a shithole. Hang on …’ Maggie could hear Kat mumbling to someone.

  ‘Sorry. Dr Blake said this guy had two dots – just below his eye. They also found a severed thumb – looks like he was trying to hide it from someone – it was rammed in a small box and shoved deep in the back, underneath the sink. Fucking disgusting.’

  ‘How were the two dots placed? Can you take a pic and send it to me?’ Maggie waited while Kat took a photo. Her phone pinged and she opened the message.

  ‘Thanks for that. Why two dots? Who is number three? Hastings wouldn’t cut off his own thumb and then go looking for it – that doesn’t make any sense. Wonder if the vic knows Craig Nolan.’ Maggie was thinking out loud. It often helped her piece things together. ‘Whoever did this left their signature and wanted us to know it was them.’

  ‘We don’t know who the severed thumb belongs to, but Dr Blake said she would get it processed as quick as possible.’

  ‘It has to be Hastings’s. The thumb print found in my house was his, along with Joe Clayton’s – so who sent Joe to my house and why did they want him to speak to Julie Noble?’

  ‘Have you spoken to her?’

  ‘Not yet. I’ll do that now. I’ll speak to you when you get back.’

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Maggie ended the call with Kat and scrolled through her numbers, hitting connect when she found Julie Noble.

  ‘I knew you’d come crawling back, though I didn’t expect to hear from you for a while.’

  ‘Not a social call. Can we talk off the record, please?’

  ‘Depends on what it’s about.’

  Maggie clenched her teeth. ‘I’m not saying anything more until you tell me that it won’t go any further. If I tell you that I’ll speak to the Comms Department and my bosses to make sure that you get to break the story – if there is one – will you help?’

  ‘I love that you think you have so much influence, but fine. Off the record. What do you have?’

  ‘Your source – the one we spoke about. What were you giving him in exchange?’

  ‘Money. What does anyone ever want in these situations? Fifty to a hundred pounds depending on what I got. I’d drop it in the bin on the corner of Ridland Hill and Kingstone. I was told to place the money in a McDonald’s bag and drop it in the bin. Very cloak and dagger. I watched him collect it once – he was a drug addict for sure – in a rush when he collected the money. I haven’t heard from him since you found the device. Why are you asking me this?’

  ‘Wait – you knew who he was? You lied when you said he was an anon source – even after you knew I had been burgled?’ Maggie swallowed.

  ‘Would you have told me? Come on, Maggie. Neither of us would risk our career for the other. If I thought anyone would come to any harm, I probably would have told you.’

  ‘You’re fucking unbelievable,’ Maggie snorted. ‘Someone did come to harm. Never mind. Enough of this back-and-forth shit. None of this conversation makes it to the news, okay? I’ll confirm when you can release some details – we should know soon enough, as Dr Blake is pushing the results through.’

  ‘Really? Must have something to do with your big murder enquiry – not an accidental overdose – Interesting. Gotta go.’

  ‘Wait. Julie? Hello?’ Maggie looked at the screen, and Julie had hung up on her. She hoped Julie kept her word and didn’t spread this all over the news just yet. But she wouldn’t hold her breath.

  They were getting closer. Maggie could feel it in her bones. She hoped that the conference call with Kate shortly would put everything into perspective.

  Chapter Seventy

  Maggie had set up the equipment in the briefing room after DI Rutherford agreed to have Kate give the team an update on the victimology information she had collated via a conference call. Once everyone was seated, she began the call.

  When Kate appeared, there were a few waves in the room and from Kate herself.

  ‘So lovely to see you all. I’m not going to waste any time here, as I know time is of the essence. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts on your persons of interest and on victimology. If you’re ready, I’ll just make a start?’

  ‘Thanks, Dr Moloney. Whenever you’re ready,’ DCI Meechan acknowledged.

  ‘I’ve had a brief update on the latest discovery, so have quickly thrown together my views on victimology in this case, which I will talk you through now and let you draw your own conclusions.’

  Maggie noted that she had her points already written on those big white sheets of paper she seemed to always have to hand and tacked up on the wall behind her.

  ‘I put the victims in the order they were found – though we know Mark is a bit of an anomaly; I’ll expand on that shortly. So, we have: Tim, Sophia, Mark, the recent murder – Joe I believe his name was and you’ll see I have added DCI Hastings and his daughter Olivia on the end. I’ll explain why in a moment. Each murder or attempted murder victim has the dots, which you have said started out similar to a common prison tattoo often found on gang or members of organized crime syndicates.’

  ‘Wait. Mark? DAHU Mark? How is he involved in this? He’s not dead too, is he?’ Maggie covered her mouth with h
er hand.

  ‘Ah sorry. I thought you’d have all been informed by now. An attempt was made on Mark’s life earlier today. Someone tried to suffocate him. He’s okay – but three dots …’ Kate stepped aside and pointed at the board, ‘like this, were discovered on his hand.’

  Maggie jotted down the picture.

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout but you caught me off guard. So, Mark survived – was that deliberate do you think?’

  ‘No. I think the killer had been interrupted rather than any desire to let Mark live – he was meant to be the third victim – the killer either knows of a connection between all these people that we don’t, or Mark knew something. His situation was improving each day – it was only a matter of time before he could reveal what he knew.’

  ‘What was Mark working on when he collapsed?’ Maggie wracked her brains to try and remember if Lucy had mentioned anything in their conversations.

  ‘I may be able to answer that.’ All eyes turned to Kat. ‘I was speaking to a few people at the DAHU and they had nothing significant going on. Mark was helping Lucy with a domestic abuse case that ended up on her doorstep. Around the time we found Tim, in fact.’

  ‘Thanks, Kat.’

  Maggie watched as Kate noted the information on her big whiteboard.

  ‘Looking at your persons of interest, the Deputy Chief Exec at the college, Mr Dodd.’ Kate picked up a red marker and crossed him off the board. ‘I think you can rule him out. Even if he had confronted Hastings about the caution, what’s his motive for everyone else? Also, from the information you passed on to me, doesn’t he have an alibi for one of the murders?’

  The team had learned that he had been out of town when Sophia Hastings was killed. A family emergency took him to Manchester, and when they looked at the timings, there was no way he could have made it back in time to murder Tim. The motivation wasn’t there. The timeline didn’t fit.