by N. M. Brown
“Correct. Which is odd, right?” McQueen frowned. Young children were kept in the dark when it came to puberty, sex and pregnancy until they were the right age. Wendell was taken when she was six, so not sex education, and yet she knew enough to try an abortion…? “How would she know what was happening to her body?” He asked rhetorically. “Unless it was her captive, trying?”
“That could be the case, but we’re speculating.” Hale shook his head. Get stuck on one idea with no proof and you could miss the truth entirely. “Wendell’s abortion attempted made her lose a lot of blood and could have caused her death. This we know. We know she’d been held in bad conditions for ten years, but liveable because she survived.”
“She had help.” McQueen conclude. “The other missing children perhaps?” He guessed.
Hale grunted. “Well, I’d be very surprised if all these kids went missing due to different reasons.” Looking over the files that were stack, McQueen could see the sheer magnitude of this case registering in Hale’s eyes. “Anything else?” Hale asked.
“No other bodies; not found in the past or present… yet.” He remembered how Cassi had said she’d investigate John and Jane Does. “Cassi said she’d looked so there may be some more bodies. If Wendell could survive ten years, some other children might have been looked over because they’d grown. Some might even be alive.” McQueen stipulated but he knew it was a pipe dream and Hale gave him a look for saying so.
“But why did she die?” Hale asked drawing McQueen back to the real problems at hand. “Was it because she was pregnant? If her captives didn’t want her that way; why didn’t they take precautions? Spoiling the merchandise is a rookie mistake and from the looks of it, whoever has been taking these kids has been doing so for a while.”
McQueen nodded and began to pace, finding the repetitive action soothed his thoughts. “You’re right. Killing her because she was pregnant would be a waste. She would still be worth something and I’d dare say, the baby would be too. Plus, traffickers take care of their stock and wouldn’t dump her were she’d be found.” No, taken by traffickers didn’t make sense. “This is all just going around in circles.” McQueen sighed. “Multiple kids taken over multiple years. All we can do is speculate. It’s a question of where would so many children be undiscovered…”
Just as McQueen ticked his mind over, trying to think of all the possibilities, he collided with a short, curvy body.
“Cassi?” McQueen yelped in surprise. Her classic pink parker was hung by the front entrance, and McQueen realised he hadn’t even noticed it’d been raining.
“Cassi, what brings you here?” Hale asked, drawing up beside them. Clutched in her hands were three manila files , drawing the Detectives hungry eyes.
“Hi McQueen, Jackson.” Cassi greeted. “I was looking through the online database all last night; searching for unidentified bodies, aged in their early to late teens and found a few matches; three in fact. Two boys and one girl.” She placed the three files on McQueen's desk.
Quickly thumbing to the first pagein interest, McQueen held back his disappointment as he was greeted by a thin, crisp piece of paper with little to no writing on it. “Not much to go on.” He mused.
“Sorry, it was all that was in their files. Being Jane and John Doe’s, there was little forensic measures done, and the autopsies were quick.” Cassi grabbed the witness chair and sat beside McQueen’s desk. “My first find was a boy believed to be around nine, while my second was older, around thirteen. One had his throat cut, the other was beaten to death. The coroner described both cases ‘… an act of true human depravity.’” Cassi sighed before continuing. “Not much else was done. Photographs were taken of their faces, but one was were too disfigured to identify the other was run through the system but nothing poped up. Their teeth were rotten, so no dental records and DNA gave no results. No witnesses, no grieving families asking for news… their files were tucked away as cold cases.”
Hale sat too, make note as Cassi talked; questions that he thought needed further investigation. “So, how do you know these are a part of our case?”
Pulling out two pages from the boy’s files she handed them each a portrait drawing. Both were rough and missing defining features, but you could see key aspects: sloping nose, square jaws and cheek height.
“Why this wasn’t done when they were first found, I don’t know, but I won’t rant to you as I did to my superiors. I called in a favour for some quick, basic reconstructive sketches from their autopsy photos. This is what they looked like before they were attacked.” Cassi sniffed, holding back her anger.
McQueen admited Cassie, she was a blend of Hale and himself; Hale’s work ethic and hissense of justice. Her standards were high, and this had been a disgusting oversight.
Lifting to show the portrait sketch underneath, Cassi continued. “I also asked for each sketch to be scaled back in age. The result was mostly guess work, but after we compared them against your files McQueen, two matches came up: Adam Slightly and Charlie Tootles".
McQueen blinked in awe, the two cases already popping into his head. “Adam went missing aged six from his families back garden while Charlie, aged five went to sleepover at his neighbour’s house and didn’t make it there. It was never known what happened to them.”
“It’s a sound theory.” Hale nodded. “Their age of disappearance is on track and the violent deaths is like Wendell. DNA will be needed to confirm, but this is more evidence we need. What about the girl you mentioned?”
Cassi opened another file and passed it over. “The girl in question is Nibea Tembec, known as Nibs. She, like the boys was savagely beaten and disfigured, but she, however, was identified.”
“If she was identified – like Wendell – why isn’t she with these other cases?” McQueen asked. Another child had gone missing, later found but wasn’t linked back to these cold cases. It didn’t make sense. “Surly they could see that wherever she’d been, these other children had been there too?”
“Unfortunately, not. It’s because she was identified she was put separately.” Cassi explained. “Nib’s was fortunate to have a family still looking for her. She went missing age five – like your other kids – and was found dead aged fifteen. However, the family thought they knew who had taken Nibs; a distance cousin with a record for child pornography. When Nib’s was found, she was also pregnant. They insisted this cousin had done it and had DNA run.”
“The case was re-opened, the focus put on this cousin and slowly it was distanced from our cases.” Hale summarised following along. "With a solitary suspect in mind already, the case was spun on its own course."
“So, was it the cousin?” McQueen asked, trying to find the link.
“No. The DNA didn’t match, and Nib’s file quickly went cold.” Cassi opened the last file. On one side held two toxicology reports and the other was a DNA cross-examination with two names, ‘Nibea Tembec,’ and ‘Wendall Dalton.’
"And this?” McQueen asked, not wanting to get his hopes up.
“This is you link between Nib’s and Wendell. With the two body to compare…” Cassi extended a finger and pointed out the key information. “The toxicology reports show that they both had the same drug in their system at death. It has similar metabolic structure to narcotics; making the user slow and mellow. It wasn’t flagged so I don’t know the street name, but it’s potent and addictive.”
“That’s perfect.” McQueen said. This was proof that whoever took the girls was using the same drug. One person to look for was easier than multiple and if a drug was involved, they could find its source.
“It will help, yes, but it’s not why I rushed up here.” Cassi continued, seemingly pleased with what she had found. “I took this preliminary DNA report from Nib’s file and Wendell's, as well as the two foetuses. This is a matching markers.” Cassi’s pointed finger dug into the papers surface, bending it.
“They’re siblings?” McQueen asked, confused. Wendall as a blue eyed, Caucasian,
while from Nib’s photo, she was of a strong Caribbean background.
“No.” Cassi went on to explain. “Their unborn children share the same DNA.” McQueen looked at Cassi in shock, but his smile grew as. “Both girls were sexually assaulted by the same man. Nib’s parents had the unidentified DNA still on her file. A full DNA run through will prove it without a doubt, but the preliminary markers are too distinct to be a coincidence.”
“Both Wendall and Nibs were in the same location and raped by the same person.” Hale chipped in. “Is the DNA of the father on our system?”
“No.” Cassi answered sadly, “However, if you find a suspect…” The good doctor didn’t need to finish that sentence, McQueen knew. DNA was massive evidence. It could make and break this case, at least regarding who raped the girls. If they found the man responsible, they could find everything else: the killer, the children, the drug supplier.
“Thank you, Cassi. This is exactly what we needed.” Hale smiled, clapping her on the back.
Cassi just blushed and stood. “It was nothing. Just my job-,” But she was suddenly interrupted by a booming voice that shouted over the room, drawing everyone’s attention. McQueen didn’t think his case could get much more complicated, but that was far from the truth.
“McQueen! Hale!” That’s all the Chief said but the tone was clear; in my office in five or there will be Hell to pay.
◆◆◆
“Sir?” McQueen asked, closing the office door behind himself. Once again, only the Chief’s desk light was on, making the room gloomy and sullen. Their boss might have wanted them in his office at once, but he seemed to take a moment to collect his thoughts. That, or he hadn’t heard them enter. He was sat in his chair, his gaze locked onto one of his many bookshelves. It was too dark to read any of the titles, but McQueen thought they would be dull biographies more than anything.
He still had so many questions about his boss; why did he look so old and wasn’t retired? When had he be promoted to Chief? No one he’d spoken to could remember, some acting like he’d always been there. McQueen knew so little about his boss and yet he knew without a doubt he’d do anything the man said. He had that aura about him.
Eventually, the Chief turned to face theman, his gravel voice snapping them to attention. “The case I gave you has been cold for years. Decades even. Every now and again another missing child is added to the fray, but often our efforts are too late.” The Chief continued to speak at his books rather than Hale or McQueen. “But, not more.”
“Yes, Sir. The death of Wendall has put fire back into the case-,” McQueen started, but the Chief was shaking his head.
“There has been another disappearance. A little boy by the name of Johnny Bell was reported missing twenty minutes ago by his family. They say he was in his room when he went to bed and wasn’t there in the morning.” McQueen stilled as he absorbed this news. Another. Another child was missing in Rippling. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
But Hale, was all business. “Why do you think this case is related to the current one, Sir?”
The Chief didn’t smile or answer straight away. Instead he slowly leant back on his giant chair, behind his giant desk and once settled, he spoke.
“That, Detectives, is for you to find out. And, Detectives...” The Chief spoke in a low tone, his face cast in shadow. “Be careful.”
IX
Dirty little secret always put Echo in a good mood.
She was feeling refreshed and perky, giving herself one last check over as she left her attic apartment. She miht have even had a skip in her step though she'd never admit it.
Dressed in a green velvet dress, some wicked heels and a rich plum lipstick she’d nabbed of a drunk girl in the bathrooms at Elphyne, Echo was ready. With smouldering, dark eyes, she looked acorss the guests that congregated in the late hours. She could feel their excitement sizzle across her skin while a thrill travelled up her spine. Cardinal House was alive with sin and debauchery.
After Anna’s drunk episode at Elphyne, Echo had a taxi driver carry her up to the apartment. She didn’t carry dead weight and now, hours later, Anna was still sleeping it off, her snores the only sign she was still alive. Not every poor morsel made it out of Elphyne , but then there were more precious things you could lose in that place than your life. Leaving the sleeping princess behind, Echo wandered down the grand stairs enjoying a slow meander to each room.
Gala’s Banquet Hall was first, where she watched naked babes peel grapes and gorge on fresh ham. Unlike some his siblings, the Sin of Glutony was one of the more influential Sins; fast food wasn’t an idea born of virtues and thus, Gala was never in much need to ‘feed’ at home. He’d rather spend his time accumulating expensive wines or top-of-the-line patisseries; things that people would kill over.
“Evening Gala.” She smiled at the slightly rotund man. “Nice night?”
“Evening child.” He answered, stroking an overly affectionate customer who was lazily drinking wine while draped across his lap.
His skin was starting to take on a rosy flush and his shoes were already off. Light coloured hair, pale skin and simply cut suits, Gala blended well with the guests. However, throw on some Roman robes and light a few candles, he could have been a Grecian Basileus in ancient times. In fact, Echo was sure he had been one once upon a time.
“Tonight, has been as always.” He answered, enjoying a peeled grape as it was fed to him. “How is your … friend? Have you not finished with it?” He asked, finding the word ‘friend’ troubling.
Echo rolled her eyes and smiled. “Really Gala, you know me, she is just a means to an end.” She answered knowing her pride would be flaring. “An end I actually-,”
“An end?” Gala sucked his teeth, “Good, good. We’re sure whatever you’ve been doing was… meddlesome, but we’re glad you’re done. You’re pet projects are troublesome at best, and not what you’re best at.” Echo’s stomach drop but Gala didn’t notice and continued. “Be a dear and fetch me another bottle of the Bordeaux. The nineteen-fourteen bottle and take a glass yourself. I am not my brother, but even I can tell you’re being a bore.” Slender fingers popped another skinless grape into his mouth and Gala was finished.
Rolling her shoulders Echo tried to shake off Gala’s words; ‘pet project.’ Clearly, they had no idea what she had planned. The intricate details, the preparation: a devout believer didn’t fall for anything. It took a large push to send them to Hell and that was what Echo would do. Yet…
‘That should keep her busy,’ had those words not been uttered from their lips. They’d wanted her to focus on Anna and that took time … wasn’t that want they meant. Stepping away slowly, Echo stiffened her upper lip. She had jobs to do.
Wandering further across the second floor she passed Nic’s Dream Room, his door closed and silent, while Twilight's Boudoir was open, men and woman alike inspecting each other in the mirrors. Soon enough, they would be leaving with different chins, different arms, biceps, bank accounts, car or lover; whatever they fancied. Whatever they envied more in another. But even watching to poor souls fall into the downward spiral of self-loathing couldn’t shake her awake.
It wasn’t until she paused at the top of the stairs, her eyes trailing to the last locked door did shefind a strange understanding. Bris, Sin of Pride, daughter of Lucifer, was the one Sin who knew exactly where to poke to make Echo feel, and she was feeling fear. Fear that Gala had meant more; that they all looked down at her in pity as she tried to damn mortals to Hell. Fearful that Archer was angry or worse, thought she was no longer of any use. It was the same feeling she felt creeping under her skin when she’d faced Sydney in the basement. It was the fear that she wasn’t worthy, had never been worthy…
“Echo.” A dopy eyed Nic suddenly greeted, causing Echo to start with shock. “Going somewhere?”
“Hi-… I mean yes-… downstairs.” Echo stammered, blinking awake. Did Nic think her useless too. He never asked for her help, never asked for her skills wi
th beverages. Did he think all she did was little pet projects too?... “What can I do for you Nic?” She asked, forcing the words out in an even tone.
