When the Guilty Cry

by M J Lee

  As she spoke another text came in from Emily.

  Chrissy says the address Jones called is registered as Holdern Farm, Moor Lane, Carrington. Does it help?

  Ridpath looked back towards the coroner’s room again. He could hear the faint sound of a woman’s voice coming from inside. ‘Try to keep them here as long as you can, Sophia.’

  ‘But the coroner asked me to take them to the hospice.’

  ‘It’s important they don’t leave.’

  She frowned. ‘OK, but what will I say?’

  ‘I don’t know, just keep them here.’

  He ran towards the door.

  ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘Carrington,’ he shouted over his shoulder.

  Chapter 94

  In the car, Ridpath raced down to the M60, speed dialling Claire Trent’s number. Luckily, she answered immediately.

  ‘Boss, it’s Ridpath.’

  ‘I thought you were in Jane Ryder’s inquest this morning?’

  ‘It’s a long story, and I don’t have time. I want you to trust me. I need a team to go to Holdern Farm on Moor Lane in Carrington immediately.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I believe our abducted woman, Patricia Patterson, is being held there.’

  There was a long silence on the end of the phone. ‘Have you told DCI Turnbull?’

  ‘Not yet, boss, I don’t know where he is.’

  ‘Call him.’

  ‘Boss, he won’t believe me. You have to trust me on this one. I’m sure she’s being held there.’

  ‘This is not the chain of command, Ridpath. I’m about to go into a meeting with the assistant chief constable.’

  ‘Boss, it’s the only chance we have of saving Patricia Patterson. Please, they could have killed her already.’

  Another long silence. Ridpath heard voices in the background.

  ‘Right, I’ll call out a PTU team and go with them myself. If this goes wrong, it’s on your head, Ridpath.’

  ‘Understood, boss.’

  ‘Where are you now?’

  ‘On my way there. I’ll message you the address.’

  ‘Wait! Don’t go in on your own, wait for backup. That is an ord—’

  Ridpath switched off his phone. He accelerated down the motorway, past the Didsbury, Sale and Stretford turnoffs, the wide road blurring as he drove as fast as he could. Why had it taken him so long to work it out? Why had he missed it when it was obvious?

  He exited off the M60 via the Carrington Spur, barely slowing down as the approached the roundabout. The road changed now, becoming narrow and winding, with a strange mixture of farms, equestrian centres, factories and electrical power stations on either side. At the first set of lights, he texted the address to Claire Trent.

  The answer pinged on his phone as he accelerated past United’s training centre.

  Do not go in. That is an order.

  The satnav took him right, left and right again, before he drove up to a large barred gate. Behind it a large sign proudly stated: Hordern Farm. Home of heritage pigs and chickens. To his left, he could see a large field dotted with small huts where black-spotted sows and their young rooted around with their snouts.

  On the right, two large barns painted black, the sound of a cock crowing loudly coming from within. In front of him, an old decaying house and other outbuildings.

  He checked the message again.

  Sorry, boss.

  Arming himself with a truncheon from the boot, he approached the barred gate.

  The farm appeared empty and deserted, with no signs of life. Ridpath stopped and listened for any unusual sounds, but heard nothing except the wind rustling through the trees, the pigs grunting, a barn door banging, wood against wood, and the muffled call of a cock crowing.

  He lifted the latch, the gate squeaking loudly as he went in.

  Chapter 95

  ‘Paul, I need you to get a team out to Hordern Farm in Carrington immediately.’

  ‘What? Why?’

  ‘Ridpath just phoned it in. He thinks Patricia Patterson is being detained there.’

  ‘He’s lost the plot. You should have seen him this morning. Jane Ryder turned up alive at the inquest.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘She’s alive. His stories about the backpack and links to the killings were all bollocks.’

  ‘He didn’t tell me.’

  ‘Why would he? His whole investigation fell to pieces this morning.’

  Another long silence.

  ‘Boss, it’s a wild goose chase. Another one of Ridpath’s fantasies.’

  ‘If you’re right, Paul, it’ll be the end of him. But I still need you to send a team to Hordern Farm. I promised we would check it out.’

  ‘Boss, it’s a waste of time.’

  ‘Have you found Patricia Patterson yet?’

  ‘No, but I think she’s had an argument with her girlfriend and has gone away for some breathing space. No doubt we’ll hear she’s been living it up in some spa in the Lake District for the last week.’

  ‘You may be right, Paul, but I still need you to send a team there.’

  ‘Boss, let me call the local nick and ask them to send a squad car to take a look. My team are sorting out Ridpath’s mess, and we’re finally making progress. If I take them off it now to chase one of Ridpath’s stupid hunches then we’re going to lose time and momentum.’

  There was a long pause.

  The voice when it came had a core of steel in it. ‘DCI Turnbull, I am giving you a direct order. Send a team immediately to support DI Ridpath at Hordern Farm.’

  ‘I want my objections to be noted in the log, boss.’

  ‘Duly noted. I am going there myself with a tactical unit.’

  ‘This is a waste of time and resources.’

  ‘I will be the judge of that, DCI Turnbull. Just follow my orders.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am,’ he finally grunted.

  Chapter 96

  Ridpath stood in front of the house, checking all the windows for signs of movement.

  Nothing.

  Should he go and wait for backup? He glanced over his shoulder; the road was empty save for his car. What about Patricia Patterson? What if she were in trouble?

  He strode towards the door, banging on it with his fist. ‘Police, open up.’

  No answer.

  He banged again, longer and louder this time.

  Still no response.

  He tried the door, feeling the handle turn in his hand. The door swung open.

  ‘Hello. Police, anybody here?’

  He stepped forward and stopped to listen.

  The ticking of a clock on a mantelpiece. A slow drip of water into a sink in the kitchen. The sound of silence everywhere else.

  ‘This is the police. Is anybody here?’

  He glanced down at the stone floor. At his feet were a few splashes of something wet. He knelt down to look at it more closely. Was it blood?

  Outside, the sound of sirens approaching rapidly cut through the silence. He stood up, took one last look around and strode out of the farmhouse.

  Two tactical unit vans were arriving at speed, sirens blaring, followed by a unmarked car with a single flashing blue light on the roof.

  The vans slid to a halt on the wet road surface. Armed coppers poured out of the rear of the vehicles and immediately began to form up. The door of the unmarked car opened and Claire Trent came running out towards the barred gate.

  ‘I told you not to go inside,’ she shouted.

  ‘I thought I heard a shout. Preservation of life, ma’am.’

  She looked at him dubiously but shouted at the lead Tactical Unit officer. ‘Clear the place. We’re looking for a woman. Be careful, possible armed presence.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am.’

  He went back to his men and briefed them. They formed into two groups. One went to the house and the second to the outbuildings and barns.

  More cars arrived as the Police Tactical Unit stood outside the
house, Heckler and Koch rifles at their shoulders, ready to enter.

  Emily Parkinson and Dave Connor exited from one vehicle, followed by DCI Turnbull from another. They ran towards where Claire Trent and Ridpath were standing beside the gate.

  ‘Anything?’ asked Turnbull.

  ‘Nothing so far,’ answered Claire Trent.

  As she spoke, one tactical team rushed into the house while the other began going through each of the outbuildings. Through their radios, Ridpath could hear the words:

  ‘Living Room. Clear.’

  ‘Kitchen. Clear.’

  ‘Bedroom. Clear.’

  ‘Cellar. Clear.’

  On another radio, team two was declaring the outbuildings cleared one by one.

  The lead sergeant ran back from the house. ‘The place is empty, ma’am. Signs of recent occupation, but nobody here at the moment.’

  ‘Nobody?’

  ‘Definitely empty, ma’am.’

  The second group leader ran back from the outbuildings. ‘All clear, ma’am.’

  ‘Empty?’

  ‘Some chickens and pigs, but that’s it. Nothing else.’

  Turnbull smiled. ‘What did I tell you, Claire?’

  The detective superintendent began to turn towards Ridpath when a shout came from the furthest outbuilding. ‘Got something.’ Followed ten seconds later by, ‘Jesus Christ.’

  Chapter 97

  ‘Have you ordered the taxi yet, Sophia?’

  ‘Not yet, Mrs Challinor.’

  ‘Why not? Jane and her father are waiting to go to see Mrs Ryder at the hospice.’

  Sophia scratched her head. ‘Ridpath asked me to keep them here.’

  ‘Why?’

  The young assistant shrugged her shoulders. ‘He didn’t say.’

  ‘And where is he?’

  ‘I don’t know. He left here in a hurry. He was on the phone to Claire Trent when he ran down the stairs.’

  Mr Ryder popped his head out of the door. ‘Are we ready to leave yet?’

  ‘Not yet, Sophia is contacting a driver.’

  ‘If we don’t get there before one thirty I’m afraid my wife will be out cold. They usually give her the afternoon pills at that time and she falls asleep straight afterwards. Jane, I mean Barbara, so wants to talk to her.’

  ‘Make the call, Sophia,’ Mrs Challinor ordered.

  ‘But, Coroner—’

  ‘No buts, Sophia, just do it.’

  She turned back to Mr Ryder. ‘While we’re waiting for the car, let me explain the procedures we will follow from now. The most important thing is for Jane to get a DNA test…’

  Her voice faded as she entered her office and closed the door behind her. Though not before staring at Sophia pointedly and indicating the phone on the desk.

  ‘Sorry, Ridpath,’ Sophia whispered as she picked up the phone and dialled the number. ‘I’d like a car to go to St Jude’s Hospice, please.’

  Chapter 98

  Ridpath ran towards the policeman’s voice. He was followed by Claire Trent, Dave Connor and Emily, with Turnbull taking his time behind.

  Another shout. ‘In here.’

  The voice seemed to be muffled, as if coming from below ground. Ridpath ran into the outbuilding furthest away from the farmhouse. A large wooden box had been pushed to one side to reveal steps leading down into an underground cellar.

  A man’s voice from below. ‘Down here.’

  Ridpath stumbled down the steps and was met at the bottom by one of the tactical officers.

  ‘It’s in there, weirdest bloody thing I’ve ever seen.’

  They were in a large underground cellar with three doors leading from it. The constable was pointing to the door on the left.

  Claire Trent came down the steps. ‘What’s going on? What have you found?’

  Ridpath pushed open the door. Inside, against one wall, was an altar with a depiction of a crucified Jesus above it. This Jesus was haggard and drawn, the ribs clearly defined and the marks of torture on his body, blood seeping from open wounds.

  On the altar itself, a human hand lay palm upwards on a single square of white linen, next to two silver chalices. The walls were painted bright white except for six streaks of vivid red where blood had been splashed like arterial spray.

  ‘Oh my God,’ said Claire Trent, ‘what kind of hell is this?’

  ‘You need to come and see this, boss.’ Emily Parkinson was at the doorway.

  She led them to the room across the cellar. Inside, a naked female body lay on a low table, the stump of its right arm missing a hand.

  ‘It’s Patricia Patterson, boss, I recognise her from her photo. And there’s also these.’ She pointed to a shelf on the left-hand side.

  Four large clear-glass jars sat on the shelf. Inside each one, a human hand floated in embalming fluid.

  Chapter 99

  Jane Ryder took a seat next to her adopted mother’s bed. She took out what looked like a pencil case and laid it on the side table.

  ‘Is it really you, Jane? After all these years. You’ve come back.’

  ‘It’s me, Maureen. I promise, it’s me.’

  ‘Your hair looks so different. I used to love your blonde hair.’

  The voice was weak and faltering, each word struggling to escape from her throat.

  ‘I dyed it black, Mum. It’s more fitting that way. Yellow hair is a sign of evil, of bewitchment.’ She took her mother’s hand, seeing its translucency, feeling the paper thinness stretched over the bones. ‘But it is me, the person you called Jane. I’ve changed my name. I’m Barbara now, it’s how I’m known to God.’

  ‘Barbara? I prefer Jane, it suits you more.’

  Mr Ryder hurried to his wife’s side. ‘Don’t tax yourself too much, dear. It’s great to have our Jane back, isn’t it?’

  The old woman nodded slowly. ‘It is so good to see you. We thought you had died long ago, taken from us.’

  Jane tilted her head to the left and stared at her mother. ‘I think you’re right, I did die, and I was taken from you in 2009, but I was reborn straightaway. I became me, the person you see in front of you.’

  ‘Tell Maureen what you did in all those years, Jane, tell her like you told me.’

  ‘I’m sure she doesn’t want to hear my story.’

  The old woman lifted her head a few inches off the pillow. ‘I want to hear. All those nights lying in bed listening to the wind howling outside, I wondered what had become of you, hoping against hope you would return to us.’

  ‘I met Matthew, the man they called Adam Jones, at the festival, and he opened my eyes to the world, to all its lies, corruption, stealing, dishonesty and cruelty. I’d seen it before at the children’s home, of course, and with you, but I didn’t understand it, nor did I understand what I was supposed to do.’

  ‘What do you mean, Jane?’ asked Mr Ryder.

  The answer was cold and unfeeling. ‘Please call me Barbara, that is my name now.’ She turned back to stare into Maureen Ryder’s eyes. ‘I mean, this woman who called herself my mother, the one lying in bed. She was part of the cruel system which oppressed me, and all the other children who suffered the terrible torture of being in her care.’

  ‘But it was at Daisy House she first saw you, Jane, I mean Barbara, when she was volunteering there at the weekends. It was when she fell in love with you.’

  Jane’s face changed in an instant. ‘It was where she grew to hate me, not love me. Oh, you pretended not to notice the marks on my arms when you came home from work, believing the lies I had another fall.’

  ‘But… but it’s what you told me.’

  ‘It’s what you wanted to believe, what everybody wanted to believe. But this woman, the one you call your dear wife, inflicted them on me every day of my life.’ She prodded her chest twice with her right hand and then fought to regain control of herself and her emotions, taking three deep breaths. ‘But Matthew, the prophet, showed me the light, showed me how to exorcise the demons inside; to tak
e an eye for an eye.’ She held up the old woman’s right hand. ‘Mark 9.23. “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.” All those who hurt us, we helped them avoid hell. That was our mission in life, what our prophet Matthew revealed to us when God spoke to him.’

  Chapter 100

  ‘Right, clear the area, I want a full forensic team down here as soon as possible. This is a crime scene.’ Claire Trent instantly took control. ‘Sergeant, get your men to search the rest of the farm. Check if any other surprises are waiting for us out there.’

  ‘Roger that, ma’am.’ He ran up the stairs and Ridpath heard shouting as he gave orders to his men.

  ‘Dave, I want you to canvas the local area. Find out what people knew about this farm. See if they know when everybody left.’

  ‘Right, boss.’

  ‘Emily, I need you to discover all you can about this place. Who owns it? When was it bought? Names of people who lived here. Anything and everything you can find out. Got it?’

  ‘On it, boss.’

  ‘Paul, you need to stay here and take control of the crime scene. Make sure the technicians go over it with a fine-tooth comb. I want so much forensic evidence we’ll be processing it for the next six months. And get Dr Schofield down here right away. We need him to certify this woman is dead.’

  As she was speaking, the Tactical Unit sergeant returned and ran down the stairs.

  ‘In the pig field, one of my men, well…’

  ‘Out with it, man.’

  ‘He thinks he’s found a human skull.’

  Ridpath’s phone pinged with a message.

  Sorry, Ridpath. Couldn’t hold them any longer. The Ryders have left for the hospice already.

  ‘Shit.’

  ‘What is it, Ridpath?’

  ‘I think we have another problem, boss.’

  Chapter 101

  ‘What are you saying, Barbara? I don’t understand.’