Traitor in the House

by Caz Finlay

  ‘Exactly,’ Natalie said.

  ‘Send me what you can then please, Nat. And thanks.’

  ‘No problem. I hope you catch the bastard anyway, Leigh, even if it’s nothing to do with Melanie.’

  ‘Thanks, Nat. I’ll give you a call soon.’

  ‘Bye, Leigh.’

  Leigh put down the receiver and leaned back in her chair. Her brain had kicked into overdrive as she started to formulate ideas about this whole new angle on the case. She felt the adrenalin starting to course around her body as she considered the implications and possible connections to the trafficking case. If there was a connection, why was the killer now targeting women from Liverpool, and in particular from the Sunnymeade children’s home?

  Chapter Twelve

  Joey Parnell walked up the steps of the small wine bar in Birkdale. He winced and held his ribs as he pulled open the heavy glass door. He was still in considerable pain from the kicking Michael Carter had given him a few nights before. He hated that cunt and one day soon he would kill the arrogant fucker, his cock of a brother and his stuck-up bitch of a wife too. Joey walked through the empty bar towards the small table at the back where the man he worked for was sitting, cradling a glass of whisky.

  ‘Have a seat,’ his boss, whom Joey was only ever allowed to refer to as JB, said.

  Joey sat down opposite him, noting the other glass on the table but not reaching out for it until he was given permission to.

  ‘What the hell has happened to you?’ JB snapped with a frown as he stared at Joey’s bruised face.

  Joey touched his lip gingerly and winced. ‘That cunt Michael Carter and his firm paid me a visit. Don’t worry, I’ll pay him back.’

  JB’s face turned bright red and he brought his fist crashing down onto the table. ‘You’re lucky that’s all you’ve got, you stupid little prick! Didn’t I teach you how to dispose of a body properly? How to clean it to make sure there was no evidence left?’ he scowled.

  Joey felt his heart jump into his throat. ‘I did clean it, Boss. There was no trace of anything!’ he insisted, hoping he was right.

  ‘Really? You didn’t notice that she had a tooth embedded in her fucking arm?’ he hissed.

  ‘A tooth? No! Whose tooth?’ he asked as he unconsciously ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth checking for any missing teeth, despite knowing there were none.

  ‘A child’s tooth. But not just any child. Hers!’ JB spat.

  Joey looked at his boss and watched the vein throbbing in his temple. This was bad. ‘She didn’t have a kid,’ he insisted.

  ‘Well, it seems she did, Joseph. So now not only is this a murder investigation, it has also become a hunt for a child who up until yesterday didn’t even exist. And all because you are a stupid fucking cretin! So, forgive me if I don’t give a rat’s arse about you getting a bit of a slap from Michael Carter. I did not bring you back here so you could start a fucking squabble with the Carters. You’re being paid to do a job, not to mess about trying to exact your petty revenge over something that happened over twenty years ago.’

  ‘I am doing my job, Boss,’ Joey pleaded. ‘I overlooked the tooth—’

  ‘Because you got careless and cocky!’ he snarled.

  Joey looked down at his hands. God, he hated fucking up, especially when working for JB. ‘Yes. But it won’t happen again. I’ll make sure this next one is thoroughly checked before I dump her.’

  ‘You’d fucking better. And leave the Carters alone!’

  ‘But they started it—’

  ‘They started it? What are you? Twelve? You’re a bloody disgrace,’ he spat. ‘Haven’t you screwed up enough? How could you not notice that she had a child’s tooth?’ he spat in disgust.

  The insult stung, but Joey shrugged it off. ‘She hid it, Boss. I didn’t see it. Besides, it was just a tooth. It was probably just something to remind her of her kid. She must have had it with her all along. It’s not a big deal. It’s not like it could tie us to anything.’

  ‘Fortunately for you!’ JB snapped. ‘If you screw up like that again, it will be your teeth they’ll be picking out of something with a pair of tweezers! So, do me a favour, and concentrate on the job I’m paying you for.’

  ‘Okay, Boss. But you did say I could set the security firm up again. It’s the perfect cover—’

  ‘Set your poxy little firm up, or don’t, I don’t really care. But if you draw any unnecessary attention to me and what we’re doing, then you’ll regret it, Joey.’

  Joey swallowed. His boss didn’t have to spell out what would happen to him. He knew.

  ‘So, tell me where we’re at. Did you get any information at all from the last one?’ JB asked.

  Joey shrunk back in his seat, knowing that his answer to this question was not the one his boss was going to want to hear. ‘No. She said she didn’t know where it was, and if she did, she wouldn’t give it up.’

  He leaned forward, both fists on his desk now, as his face turned purple with rage. ‘You promised me you were good at this, Joey. That’s three of those little whores you’ve tortured and killed now, and we’re no closer to finding out where this bloody memory card is. What the hell have I been paying you for if you can’t get me answers?’ he snarled. ‘Do you have any idea what would happen if that were to fall into the wrong hands?’

  ‘I know, Boss. But you told me not to keep them at the house for more than two weeks. You said people would start looking for them. So, I did what you said and once the two weeks was up, I got rid of them. And I did everything you told me to so there was no evidence on the bodies.’

  ‘I know what I said, you ignorant little turd, but I assumed that two weeks would be enough for you to get the information you needed from them. I thought you were a professional?’

  Joey swallowed again. ‘I am. But if someone doesn’t know anything, no amount of torture will make them talk. They were babbling all kinds of nonsense at the end, but not one of them could tell me where that memory card was.’

  His boss scowled at him and sat back in his chair. ‘Maybe I should have approached one of your competitors to help me out instead,’ he snorted. ‘I bet Michael or Sean Carter could have got those whores to talk.’

  Joey frowned but didn’t respond.

  ‘But I don’t suppose they go in for that line of work?’ He grinned at Joey then, a twinkle in his eyes. ‘It takes someone with a certain skill set to be able to torture a woman like that, doesn’t it, Joseph?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And I’m not sure those Carter boys have the stomachs for it.’

  ‘Pair of pussies,’ Joey spat.

  His boss started to laugh then and poured himself and Joey a glass of whisky. ‘When this is all over, you can tell me how much they screamed,’ he said, the glint in his eye all too evident to Joey, who understood the reason for it better than most. ‘So, you still have number four. Is she talking?’

  Joey shook his head. ‘She says she knows nothing about it. But I’ve only had her for a week. Give me a bit longer?’

  JB scowled. ‘And then what? What’s your next move then? Tell me how you’re going to get this memory card for me.’

  Joey took the glass of Scotch and downed it in one. His boss’s mood could change at the drop of a hat and he wanted to get out of there before it changed again. ‘Simon Jones. He’s the key to all of this. He’s the one who said one of the girls had the card, but it looks like he was just trying to throw the heat onto them.’

  ‘No shit!’ JB said with a shake of his head.

  ‘He’s been on the missing list for two months now, but I’ll find him, boss,’ Joey went on.

  ‘And how are you intending to do that?’ JB asked as he sipped his whisky, his eyes burning into Joey’s all the while.

  ‘His ex-girlfriend has moved back to Liverpool. I’ve been keeping tabs on her. He’s made contact once and it’s only a matter of time before he does it again.’

  ‘And we’re just going to wait for this
to happen?’ JB asked.

  Joey nodded but sensed he was about to get another bollocking.

  ‘So your plan is for you to hang around scratching your balls and wait for Simon to fall into your lap, is it? Do you think I have time for that? I’m a very busy man, Joey, and I want this whole mess dealt with. If you don’t come through with something for me soon, I’ll be forced to take my services elsewhere.’

  Joey’s heart began to race as he realised the threat implicit in that statement. ‘I’ll sort it, Boss,’ he assured him.

  ‘Use the ex-girlfriend as bait if you have to. But find me that bloody card or you’ll be on a general population wing in HMP Walton faster than you can blink. And when that lot find out what you’ve done … well, I don’t have to spell it out for you, Joseph, but you’ll be shitting via a bag within the week.’

  Joey felt the bile rise in his throat, as he always did when he thought about going back to prison.

  ‘I’ll find the card,’ he said, with more confidence than he felt.

  ‘You better had. Now get out of here before someone sees you,’ he barked.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Grace walked into Sophia’s Kitchen and noticed Stacey sitting near the bar. It had been three days since she’d offered her a job as a waitress and initial reports were that she’d been an excellent addition to the team. She hadn’t put one foot wrong yet, and providing there were no major calamities between now and the end of the week, she would be offered a permanent contract.

  Grace walked over to her. The restaurant was quiet after the lunchtime rush and Stacey was reading the Liverpool Echo.

  Grace walked up and stood beside her. ‘Hi, Stacey. How’s it going?’

  Stacey looked up and blinked and Grace noticed the tears in her eyes. ‘Oh, hi, Grace,’ she said as she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand and sat up straight on the stool.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Grace asked.

  Stacey glanced back at the newspaper. ‘I was just reading an article about that girl they found last week. I knew her, that’s all.’

  Grace frowned. This was certainly an interesting development. ‘Oh? How?’

  ‘We went to the same children’s home. She was a couple of years younger than me and we weren’t really friends. But I remember her…’ Stacey shook her head and wiped another tear from her cheek.

  Grace put an arm around the younger woman’s shoulder. ‘Why don’t you come on into the back.’

  ‘My break finishes in a minute,’ Stacey said with a sniff.

  ‘That’s okay. I’m sure they can manage without you for a little longer. Come on.’

  Stacey slipped off the bar stool before following Grace into the back of the restaurant. Grace saw Lena as they passed. ‘I just need to speak to Stacey about something. Can you manage without her for half an hour?’

  Lena flashed her megawatt smile. ‘Of course. No problem, Grace,’ she replied as she walked away with a swish of her flaming red hair.

  Stacey was sitting in the chair opposite Grace with a glass of brandy in her hand when Grace finally asked her the question that had been bothering her for the past ten minutes. ‘So, how did you know Nerys Sheehan?’

  Stacey took a sip of her brandy and then placed the glass on Grace’s desk. ‘I didn’t know her that well, really. I spent a couple of years at Sunnymeade when Danny went to prison. I was fifteen when Nerys arrived and she was probably about eleven or twelve then. I didn’t have that much to do with the younger kids, I didn’t have much to do with anyone to be honest, but I remember her because she had an unusual name and she used to try and run away all the time. There were plenty of kids who tried to leg it, but she was persistent. She thought of all kinds of ingenious ways to get out of the place – but they always found her. Poor kid. I think she was one of the ones who really suffered there, if you know what I mean?’ Stacey sniffed.

  Grace assumed that Stacey was alluding to the allegations of physical and sexual abuse that had dogged the place in the years before it had finally been closed down by the council amid a huge court case involving the warden and his wife. ‘Were you ever targeted in there?’

  Stacey stared at Grace and picked up her glass, taking another sip of the brandy. ‘Once. I’d only been there for a couple of months. He cornered me in the kitchen late one night when I’d sneaked downstairs for a drink. I had a sore throat and I couldn’t get to sleep.’ She shook her head. ‘Anyway, he put his hand up my nightie, but thankfully the caretaker came in and disturbed him. He acted like nothing had happened and then he told me to get to bed and patted me on the backside.’ She shuddered. ‘God, he was a vile creep. I don’t know how him and his wife managed to get away with what they did for so long. But everyone in that place was terrified of them, especially him.’

  ‘But it never happened again?’ Grace asked.

  Stacey shook her head. ‘Never. The next day Luke paid a surprise visit to Sunnymeade. He used to visit and take me out to the cinema or shopping every other Saturday, but he’d never visited on a weekday before. I wouldn’t have even seen him if I hadn’t been sent home from school early because I had tonsillitis. Anyway, I saw him coming out of the office and he pretended he was there to see me. Whatever he’d said or done, that creep left me alone after that.’

  ‘How did Luke know what had happened?’ Grace asked.

  ‘Tony, the caretaker, I assume. Luke and Danny both had reputations even back then, and I think Tony was a little in awe of them.’

  Grace nodded.

  ‘Anyway, did you know her too?’ Stacey sniffed.

  Grace’s mind was racing with questions and Stacey’s question threw her. ‘Who?’ she asked.

  ‘Nerys?’

  ‘Oh, no.’ Grace shook her head. ‘But she used to work at a place I know of, that’s all. Do you remember anything else about her? Anyone she was close to? Any visitors?’

  ‘She was always hanging around with this other kid. I always thought he was a bit odd, but I suppose he was just quiet. No one really liked him – no one except Nerys and a couple of the other young girls anyway.’

  ‘What was his name?’

  Stacey sucked on her top lip and appeared deep in thought. ‘God, I can’t remember. Maybe Steven? Or Stuart?’

  ‘When was the last time you saw Nerys?’

  ‘It would have been the day I left that God-awful shit-hole, on my sixteenth birthday. She gave me a hug and I remember thinking how sad and small she looked. I’m sure she’d have climbed into my backpack and snuck out of there if she could. I almost wanted to stuff her in there and see if she’d fit. If I had, maybe she wouldn’t have ended up on the front page of the Echo.’

  ‘Do you think what happened to her had anything to do with the home?’ Grace asked.

  Stacey paused briefly before answering. ‘Not directly. Collins and his wife are in prison, aren’t they? But who knows? I don’t doubt that being in that place and what she went through there played a huge part in the path she chose in life, don’t you? I’m not sure anyone got out of there unscathed,’ she said as she looked down and started picking her fingernails.

  ‘Not even you?’ Grace said quietly.

  Stacey looked up and held Grace’s gaze. ‘Not even me,’ she said with a resigned smile. Then she picked up the glass of brandy and downed the last of her drink before standing. ‘I think I’ve bored you enough with my childhood stories. I’d better get back to work before Lena comes looking for me.’

  ‘It was nice chatting, Stacey.’

  Stacey smiled. ‘Yeah. It was. Thanks, Grace.’ She indicated the empty glass on the desk.

  Grace sat back in her chair and closed her eyes after Stacey left her office. Despite what she had told Leigh about no longer wanting to be involved in the murder investigation, she couldn’t stop thinking about the case. And now Stacey’s disclosure had stoked her interest even further. There was something she was missing, she was sure of it. She wondered if the police had identified Nerys’s childhood fri
end, Stuart or Steven. Had they spoken to him and ruled him out? Did they even know about him? Grace shook her head. This was none of her business. It was for the police to deal with, and despite her obvious issues with Merseyside’s finest, she knew that they were perfectly capable of cracking the case without her assistance – even if it might take a little longer. Would that mean another young woman murdered in the meantime? Three women in just over a month, with the time between each murder growing shorter. Had the killer already identified his next victim? Was she already in danger – already silently pleading for someone to come and rescue her?

  Grace shuddered, remembering the time a couple of years earlier when she had been kidnapped, held prisoner and almost raped. Her kidnappers had intended to kill her, of that she’d had no doubt. Fortunately, her ordeal had lasted only eight hours. Her disappearance had been noted and Michael had pulled out all of the stops to find her, but it had felt like a lifetime and it had left an indelible mark. She was still prone to bouts of claustrophobia in small, dark spaces and, due to the disgusting condition of the flat where she was held, the smell of stale food or weed made her gag. Was there some poor woman out there going through a similar ordeal, or about to? And was there a possibility that Grace could help to stop that happening?

  Grace opened her eyes and scanned the room, looking for something that might perhaps jolt her brain into activity. She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something she wasn’t seeing. She suddenly realised why Leigh enjoyed her job so much. There was something fascinating about taking a collection of obscure and seemingly unconnected, insignificant clues and piecing them together to solve a crime. She imagined that the feeling when you did was incredibly satisfying and addictive.