The Under Ground (Strong Women Book 4)

by Sarah Till

  Ellis moved. His hand twitched then he opened his eyes.

  “Fucking hell! What happened?”

  Before I could offer my version of what happened, he checked his arm out and hung it limply by his side, easing himself from the ground with the other arm. We limped halfway to the yellow ribbon then we were joined by two policemen who were shouting that the area was to be evacuated. I looked at one of them and stopped short.

  “It’s my house.”

  The policemen dragged us in another direction and soon we were in the back of a blue van which contained first aid equipment, what looked like a bank of computers and two more men in black suits.

  “Renn and Lorenzo.”

  The words of explanation spilled from the mouth of the larger of the two.

  “Jinny Munro.” I answered him calmly, although Ellis was beginning to look ill, making me panic inside. “And this is my partner, Ellis Brunel.”

  The men looked at each other.

  “We’ll get you to the hospital in a moment. But first, can you remember anything about the explosion?”

  Ellis shook his head.

  “Not much really, we were just going on holiday. I switched off the gas at the mains, so it’s not that. We had just heard a funny noise in the cellar, and I locked the door, I suppose it could have caused some kind of build-up of....”

  Lorenzo interrupted.

  “Yes, yes. But it seems that this was no accident. We think it’s deliberate. We were posted here with two other operatives to make sure no harm came to you. It appears that someone has infiltrated.” He fiddled with a few switches and footage of our unexploded home flashed onto the screen. I already felt nostalgic for it. “No one fitting the profile of the suspects has been anywhere near the property today.”

  I found myself urgently wanting to scour the CCTV footage for Swiss Steve or John Baxter or even Sandra. After all, who would suspect a middle-aged gangster, a tube security officer or a little old lady of blowing up a Central London residence? Ellis was looking paler and paler by the second and I decided that it would wait. The ambulance staff collected us, and we lay side by side silently in the box. I smiled slightly at the notion that it was the second time this week, and in my life that I had been in an ambulance. Ellis turned to me. His face was bruised and swollen.

  “It was them, wasn’t it?”

  I nodded silently. I waited a few minutes then spoke.

  “El, do we have enough money to get a private room at the hospital so we can be together? I don’t want to be on my own. I feel...”

  He looked at the roof of the ambulance.

  “Lonely. Of course, Jinny. We’ll be together.”

  We were admitted and it was confirmed that Ellis indeed had a badly fractured arm. I sat with him while it was set and held his other hand while the nurse and doctor reconnected his shoulder socket. He screamed and I cried relentlessly. Eventually, and with a huge bribe, the staff found us a two-bed room and we climbed into the starched sheets, thankful that his broken arm and a few bruises were the worst of the injuries. I pushed my bed towards his and we both dozed. As I drifted in and out of sleep, I could see the police guard outside the door of the small room. A nurse breezed in and out and checked our vital signs. She explained that we would be observed for head injuries due to the nature of the blast. Eventually, a dark-suited man ambled into the room, followed inevitably by DI Payne. They both smiled slightly as I stared at them.

  “What’s happened to my house? What about all my things? Has it been made secure? I mean, I've got stuff in there that’s worth a lot of money. Jewellery, my clothes.”

  I tried to remember which parts of the house remained, but my memory was like a fuzzy ball of cotton wool. I knew the lounge was exposed to daylight but as far as I could recall the bedrooms were intact. DI Payne stepped forward.

  “It’s all been secured. It might be best to remove your valuables and put them in storage.”

  I smirked as Ellis stirred.

  “He’s fine.” I pointed to Ellis and pushed my jaw forward in the direction of DI Payne. “But thanks for asking.”

  He reddened and looked flustered.

  “I did ask the nursing staff before I came to see you. Anyway, this is Mr Pointon. He’s with the terror division. He’d like to ask you a few questions. Is that OK?”

  I shrugged.

  “Might as well now you’re here.”

  They sat down in unison on the hard-backed chairs and Mr Pointon produced a small Dictaphone.

  “If I may?” I nodded and he switched on the machine. I immediately felt intense boredom enter my whole being, a feeling of having been here before, having told this story so many times that it was a mere recital. He readied himself and began. “So, did you notice anything unusual in your home before you left?”

  I lifted my eyes heavenward.

  “Yes. We heard a noise in the cellar and went to shut the door, I thought I heard footsteps previous to that but with all the goings on lately, I never know if I’m coming or going. If what I hear is real or not. Isn’t that right, DI Payne?”

  Payne shot me a dark look and Mr Pointon persisted.

  “As I understand it, you are aware of the connection between your mother’s death and the suspect we have in detention. Are you also aware of the connection between your assault and the same suspect?”

  I sighed. Silently, I lamented the fact that they still persisted on this route.

  “I am only aware of what you have told me. I have no evidence myself to that effect. In fact...”

  Payne interjected quickly.

  “Mrs Munro believes that all this is perpetrated by family members. She is convinced that her brother and her ex-husband are in league. There doesn’t seem to be any firm evidence to support this, but she remains convinced.”

  Mr Pointon nodded.

  “All right. Have you anything to say about that, Mrs Munro. About why you believe this to be true?”

  I stared incredulously at them.

  “I was bloody there when they drugged me. I collapsed in their lounge. I identified my ex-husband on the CCTV, dragging me into the toilets at Victoria station. And, to top it all, my brother, as you put it, didn’t let me know he was my brother until he was trying to murder me. And he married my mother to get her money.”

  Mr Pointon looked confused.

  “Your brother married your mother?”

  I laughed.

  “Brother from a different mother. You know, my dad had an affair and he’s my brother from that union. Then he hunted out my mother and married her so that he and Sandra could get the house and the money.”

  Payne sighed.

  “Yes, yes, all this is true, about the brother and the mother, but just because he was after her money doesn’t automatically make him her killer. And we have CCTV footage of him miles away at the time of the crime. As I said before ,Virginia, you had placed the blame on these two before any of this came to light. On the day of your mother’s death, you insinuated that you thought it was John Baxter who had killed her. Then you told us two days later you thought it could have been your ex-husband as he’d had an affair with your mother.”

  Mr Pointon looked confused.

  “OK. Hold it there. I think we can safely say that there is a conflict of opinion here. I’ll note your concern, Mrs Munro and see what has been investigated. I am sorry to say, though, that this does look like a terrorist attack. It is clear, even at this early stage, that a large amount of explosives were used to blow up your home and whoever did it was careful to make sure that you were inside it.”

  I sighed.

  “A bomb?”

  They looked at each other. Mr Pointon shook his head.

  “Yes. It seems so. We have had a team following you for most of today, and two people outside your house. But no one fitting the profile has entered the area. Unless they were already in the house.”

  The noise of DI Payne’s foot tapping was irritating me.

  “I
don’t think there was someone in the house all night, do you? We might have heard something.” Then another thought struck me. “What profile, anyway? What does that mean?”

  Mr Pointon perked up.

  “Well, we know that it can’t have been the person we have in custody. So, we would be looking for one of his accomplices. Someone possibly of South Asian appearance, maybe carrying a backpack.”

  He looked at me hopefully and I marvelled at his expression.

  “Isn’t that slightly stereotypical, Mr Pointon? I mean, if you were a terrorist, would you send someone looking like a terrorist to bomb somewhere? Would you, really?”

  He looked at his notes and shuffled the papers.

  “No, I wouldn’t but that’s what has happened before, and there doesn’t seem to be any variation.”

  My temper was rising and Ellis stirred in the bed next to me.

  “You always get them, do you, these terrorists? The ones with the profiles, they always get caught, do they? And charged?”

  He shifted a little nervously.

  “Well, no, we have a list of wanted people...”

  I sat bolt upright right now.

  “So, how do you know you are looking for the right profile? Or the right kind of terrorist? How do you know that it isn’t someone completely different, with a completely different background? Seems to me that you’ve been playing lucky dip with this list and come up trumps. What if someone planted that seed?”

  Mr Pointon leaned forward.

  “It’s my job to know. I understand what you are getting at, Mrs Munro, but do you really think that Mr Baxter is so clever that he can fool the whole of the Metropolitan Police Force and MI5?”

  I leaned back and smiled.

  “Well, it took you long enough to find out he was my brother, didn’t it? He managed to get the events of my mother’s death over to you clearly enough yet conveniently forgot to mention that, didn’t he? What else did he forget to mention, I wonder?”

  The two men looked at each other. Payne’s face turned beetroot purple and he stood up.

  “Look, Virginia, we’ve been through this. Mr Baxter has perfect character references. He’s never been in any trouble, he isn’t known to us, he’s a good, devoutly religious man running a church organisation. Practically the whole village sing his praises and tell stories of what a lovely couple he and your mother were. What do you want from us?”

  I folded my arms.

  “The village didn’t know that he’s my brother though, did they? All the time he’s getting Swiss Steve on side, and Jupe and Shiralee, he’s forgotten to mention the fact that he really is family. All the time he’s using my mum’s money to convert the church and the farm into some kind of cult for young people, he’s forgotten to tell you that he’s got a huge grudge against her and, consequently, me because my father stayed with us.”

  Mr Pointon looked confused again.

  “Who’s Swiss Steve?”

  DI Payne's face crumpled; he stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked exasperated. I settled in for the long haul.

  “My ex-husband. Ex-bank robber. Ex-murderer. Only DI Payne here would rather let sleeping dogs lie. Wouldn’t you?”

  The look on Payne’s face told me that he would like me to shut up, but now he had to explain himself. Mr Pointon looked at him expectantly.

  “Well, obviously there is the matter of Mr Munro’s past and he is indeed known to us. But as you know, Mrs Munro, there is no evidence to suggest that Mr Munroe was implicated in the crime you refer to.”

  I nodded.

  “Yes, that’s why he got away with it at the time. But what am I? Dog shit on your shoe?” Both men looked shocked. “I’m telling you that I know he did it. I was there when he brought in the bloodstained clothes. I even know where they are. That’s if they haven’t been blown up by your Al-Qaeda mates. I was there when he fell to pieces. Well, for some of the time, because that’s why I separated from him. Because I didn’t care to live with a murderer. I didn’t actually know for sure that he’d been shagging my mother then, but that made two reasons and when I realised, I divorced him. Is that enough evidence?”

  Mr Pointon looked stunned.

  “Are you willing to testify this?”

  I smiled.

  “Oh, yes. What have I got to lose? All three of them have had a go at me. Why wouldn’t I?”

  I knew full well why I wouldn’t; the same reason that I hadn’t before. Because of the effect it would have on my children. But again, what did I have to lose? The last words I heard from Jupiter were ‘Fuck off’ and Shiralee preferred to side with their murdering father rather than believe me, because he had the dollar. So, there we had it. Payne paced about.

  “But that doesn’t change anything. We have no evidence about this crime. Your mother’s murder and your assault. Except these links with a terror plot. It makes sense.” I realised now that he was speaking more to convince himself than anything else. “What evidence do we have?”

  I hunched up and laughed.

  “Well, I identified Swiss Steve at the station, as I was there when I was drugged at the cottage. They all say this didn’t happen. You seem to be prepared to believe a couple who had clearly been defrauding my mother, and a murderer, over me. That’s how I see it. Oh, and all this in the name of John Baxter’s sanctimony. It nearly had me fooled for a moment. I actually felt sorry for him at first, but liars always slip up. It can sometimes take years and years but in the end they always slip up. And on top of all that, you’ve arrested someone else for it.”

  Mr Pointon looked at Payne, who held his hands up and shrugged his shoulders. Mr Pointon leaned forward and touched my arm gently.

  “Look, Virginia, if I may, I need to be honest with you. Until I entered this room, I was convinced that we were looking at a major terror alert and that, by arresting our suspect this week we had broken a terror cell. After the explosion, I was more convinced of it and thought that this may be a retribution attack. I promise that the information you have given us will be acted upon, but for the time being we will continue to follow this line of enquiry.”

  I could have sworn Payne shot me a peevish look of victory. Mr Pointon stood up and backed out of the room. Before he had a chance to leave, I delivered my parting shot.

  “You have broken a terrorist cell. But you won't acknowledge what I am saying because it's too close to home. Too British. I expect John and Sandra's crimes will be dismissed as crimes of passion, even though they really are terrorists of the worst kind.”

  Both men blinked at me and for an instant I saw a glimmer of recognition in DI Payne's expression.

  “We’ll leave a guard

  I retreated back into my mind. No, I didn’t have anywhere to go. Except the cottage, and that was clearly out of the question.

  “We’ll book into a hotel. Our insurance covers temporary accommodation. I’ll let you know which one when we are discharged.”

  They nodded and left. I looked at Ellis, who had been silently lying on his side, facing away from the policemen, for the whole time. I touched him.

  “I know you’re awake.”

  He turned over. His face was badly bruised and he had a red scratch on his cheek.

  “I heard what you said. It’s about time. You would really go to court and stand up to Steve, wouldn’t you?”

  I nodded. I nearly told him that what he knew was only the tip of the sordid iceberg, that there was much more to the evil story. Only the sad look in his eyes and the way he clutched onto my hand stopped me. Maybe another time.

  “Yes, I need to get it all out of my system.” I looked into his bloodshot eyes. “Sorry about the holiday.”

  He rolled over onto his back.

  “Lots of time left, Jin, lots of time. We need to get better first. And you do know that they’ll find out who did this, don’t you?”

  Although I had explained to the police about the footsteps and the noises, I had convinced myself that it was after all
a stray cat or the boiler making noises. Now I realised what Ellis was thinking.

  “You don’t mean that there was someone down there?”

  He nodded.

  “There must have been. That door was shut. Someone must have opened it. The noises were still going on down there when the door was shut. Then the house blew up. Even if it was the boiler, would it make so much of an explosion?” I thought hard.

  “But what if there was a build-up of gas?”

  He shook his head.

  “No. I’ve got one of those alert boxes that detect gas or carbon monoxide. There was no gas. I reckon whoever blew the house up was still down there. And they’ll find them when they start to clear it up. I expect they’ll have to make it safe first.”

  My sighs grew heavier. For the first time in my life, I hoped that someone I knew was dead. I immediately felt guilty but then I thought about my mother. John had killed her and now he was dead. A fleeting hope that he wasn’t with her in heaven rushed through my soul before I gripped onto reality. I still held Ellis’ hand and squeezed it a little.

  “Would I be horrible to say that I’d be glad if it’s John?”

  He squeezed back.

  “No, Jinny. Not after what he’s put you through. I was rather hoping it’d Steve myself though, since we’re being honest.”

  I gulped and turned to him.

  “Why Steve?”

  I saw a stray tear drip from his eye and slide down his face.

  “I think you still love him. You’re still attached to him. Everything is about Steve. How unfair it is, how he slept with your mother, how he stole your children. You’re still having a relationship with him, even though he’s not there. We even live in the house where you lived with him. Not that I would mind that, but quite often I feel like he’s in the room with us. I just heard you say that his bloody clothes from the murder are still in that house. How could you live with that and not tell me? Or at least get rid of them?”

  I reeled inside at his outburst and swallowed hard.