Their Fatal Secrets

by JANICE FROST

“So that only leaves Corinna Masters.” PJ looked up. “Hey, Ava. How did your meeting with Beth Upton go?”

  Before Ava had a chance to reply, Neal summoned the three of them into his office.

  Neal rubbed at his eyes. “Right. Ruby Kennedy. Ash is as certain as he can be that she had extensive ante-mortem injuries. She was dead when she went into the water . . .” His voice tailed off.

  “Any evidence of sexual assault, sir?” asked Ava.

  “None.” Neal picked up the copies of the report that had been lying on his desktop. The contents seemed to seep through the thin manila envelope and contaminate the very air. He gave them a few moments to read it.

  “There is some good news. Forensics have found traces of DNA under Ruby’s fingernails.” Their faces brightened. “That’s solid evidence. All we need to do now is find out who it belongs to. That’s what we’re good at, people, is it not?” He managed a thin-lipped smile.

  “That’s great, sir,” Ava said immediately.

  Neal looked at his colleagues. “So, what else do we have? Where are we with locating the other women on Leanne’s list?”

  Tom told him. “So, three out of four of the women whose names were highlighted on Leanne’s list are known to be deceased. One committed suicide, one accidentally drowned, and one was brutally murdered. The fourth, Alyssa Ballard, is now living in Australia having emigrated five years ago and we’re, er,” Tom glanced at PJ, “working on establishing the whereabouts of Corinna Masters.”

  “Get in touch with Nottingham again and request a copy of the witness statement for Michaela’s drowning. I’d like to review it and if possible speak with the SIO in charge of that case. I want to know if anyone involved in that investigation suspected foul play, or if anything about the incident didn’t ring true.”

  “Yessir.” Ava and PJ chorused.

  “Ava, what did Beth Upton have to say?”

  “Leanne was afraid of Seth Conway. She was convinced that he was going to kill her. I think we can now be certain that Leanne was killed because of something she’d discovered about these women, sir.”

  “I agree.” Neal rubbed his chin. “I’m wondering if the names on Leanne’s list may be women she knew personally. We need to build up a profile of each of these young women and find out what they had in common. We are looking for a link between them and Leanne. The most obvious one, of course, is that they all had mental health issues.”

  Tom made a face. “Our interview with Tina Jackson didn’t yield much info. And from what Leanne’s colleagues at the Trust said, she was a pretty private person. Even this Beth, who claims to have been a friend, doesn’t seem to know a lot about her.”

  “There must have been someone she was close to,” said PJ. “What about when she was in prison? And do we know much about what she did between her release from prison and getting the job at the Trust?”

  Neal nodded. “These are all gaps that need to be filled in. Leanne’s mother mentioned an anger management group. Tom, any luck on following that up?” Tom shook his head. “Contact CAMHS, the Child Adolescent Mental Health Service and obtain access to any records they may have on Leanne and the others. Get a warrant, if necessary. And see what we can find out about this abusive boyfriend Tina Jackson alluded to.” Neal took a breath. “Okay, that’s all for now. Back to work, everyone.”

  ‘Yessir!’

  Chapter Twelve

  Jess reached for Mitch’s warm, familiar body but the sheets on his side of the bed were cold and empty. Then she remembered their row. She lay on her back, staring at the ceiling, wondering if this was the end of their relationship. She realised she was hoping it wasn’t.

  This disheartening start set a pattern for the rest of her day. She got to work and was sent off on a course that was unrelated to her job. She spent much of her morning staring out of the window, morbidly dissecting her relationship with Mitch. Was he too controlling, or had she really been raging at Leanne’s killer?

  Later, she drove to Tesco’s to do some grocery shopping. There was a hint of summer in the air, and Jess began to feel more cheerful. She emerged from the supermarket and the day turned blacker still. Her front tyres were completely flat. She peered closer. Someone had slashed them with a knife. Then, when she went to unlock the car door she discovered that it was already open. She always checked at least twice that she’d locked it, and today had been no exception. Jess looked around nervously. The cars around her took on a sinister air as if any one of them could be harbouring a crazed tyre slasher ready to jump out on her with a knife. A meerkat in the back window of the car parked in front of her grinned menacingly.

  Jess checked the back seat of the car. She opened the boot, slowly, warily. Everything looked normal. But her day was about to get even worse. Her phone rang. As soon as Pam spoke, Jess knew something was terribly wrong.

  “Is that you, Jess? Oh, Jess, Bunty’s gone missing.”

  Jess sat on the edge of the back seat. “Oh, Pam.”

  Pam sounded as if she was starting to hyperventilate.

  Jess heard a man’s voice in the background. “Pam?” she said, “Is someone with you?”

  “Hello. Jess?” The voice was loud in her ear. “My name’s Henry. I’m a friend of Pam’s. I’m afraid she’s too upset to speak at the moment.”

  “Please, just tell her to try not to worry. I can’t come right now — my car’s been vandalised and I can’t move it. Tell her I’ll see her as soon as I can.” The man promised to relay her message. At least Pam wasn’t alone.

  Jess called the AA. She was beginning to get the jitters. First the grisly organ incident, then Pam’s mugging and now this. Was it just a run of bad luck? Or was it something more? It was all very strange. Jess’s first thought was that Mitch had slashed her tyres in an act of spite, then she felt ashamed for thinking so badly of him. Then she thought of Pam’s ex, Michael Hollings, but that made no sense at all. They’d never even met. Then there was the anonymous note, the threat underpinning all the rest.

  As she waited, Jess’s fingers hovered over Ava’s number. Then, reluctant to bother her again, she put her phone away.

  The AA man advised her to report the matter to the police. Jess wasn’t going to bother. She spoke to one of the security team at the store reception desk about the CCTV covering the area where she’d been parked. The camera was broken. Regrettably.

  “It happens from time to time,” the store manager said, apologetically. “Wanton vandalism. Can’t understand what sort of kick a person gets out of it.”

  “You should get them fixed,” Jess said, irritably.

  “We’ll keep a note of the incident,” the manager assured her, “in case the police need to refer to it in the future.”

  By the time she was able to drive again, Jess was feeling utterly riled. She bought some flowers for Pam and drove slowly home.

  When she finally knocked on Pam’s door, Henry answered, and greeted her with a reassuring smile and a firm handshake. “I’m sorry to be meeting you for the first time on such an occasion.”

  “How is she?” Jess asked quietly.

  “Bearing up well. If it had been my Boris, I’d be a quivering wreck. Pam is a very brave woman.” Henry sounded slightly camp. He was lean and sharp-featured, a dapper, albeit slightly eccentric dresser. For some reason, Jess had been expecting a much older man. Henry didn’t look a day over fifty.

  “I’m fine.” Pam appeared at her kitchen door accompanied by a dog that could only be Boris. “Henry and Boris have been looking after me.”

  “I’m so sorry, Pam. Have you told the police?”

  Pam gave a little sniff. “Yes. Fat lot of good it did. They took down a description and said they’d contact the dog warden and ask her to look out for her. Henry and I have just got back from tying flyers to lampposts and distributing them around the local area.” She looked shattered, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Jess gave her a hug. “And what about you?” Pam asked. “Henry told me you said something abo
ut your car being vandalised.”

  Jess explained about her tyres. Pam looked thoughtful. “I’m beginning to think that all these horrible things that have been happening this week are more than just coincidence.” Jess said nothing. She didn’t know how much Pam had told Henry of the week’s events.

  “What horrible things?” So he knew nothing. At a nod from Pam, Jess went ahead and told him. “But this is shocking,” he declared. “Why didn’t you tell me about all this, Pam? I wish I’d been there when that guy mugged you.”

  Pam touched his arm. “Bless you. It’s probably just as well you weren’t, though. You were bad enough when that boy threw a stone at Bunty. I thought you were going to throttle him.”

  “He would have deserved it,” Henry replied. Pam squeezed the arm.

  Jess handed Pam the flowers. “I got these for you. I’ll just have a bite to eat, then I’ll go out and look for Bunty. I’m sure Magda will too if she’s not working.”

  “Bless you. Henry, Boris and I are going out again too, when we’ve had a little rest. Maybe Boris will be able to pick up Bunty’s scent.”

  Jess went downstairs. As soon as she was inside her flat, she found herself making for the kitchen and the cupboard where she kept her glasses. She hadn’t told Pam and Henry about the note she’d found — when? She pulled it from her pocket and the menacing words leapt out at her. She returned to the hallway and double checked that she’d locked the door. Someone had broken into her car. What was to stop them breaking into her home? She’d always thought people were being melodramatic when they said a break-in was a kind of violation. Now she thought she understood what they meant.

  Tomorrow, she’d see again about having the locks changed, at least on the main entrance door. Jess ate a simple meal of pasta and salad and then grabbed her coat. She knocked on Magda’s door but there was no answer. Magda worked as a care assistant and her hours were long and irregular.

  Outside, Jess zipped up her thin jacket. It was that time of year between late Spring and early summer when the evening air can be chilly. Jess suspected it was as much nerves as cold that made her shivery. For the next hour and a half, she traipsed around the streets, covering all the routes that she normally walked with Bunty. Now and again she called out the dog’s name.

  Jess also searched the west common and told the dog walkers there about Bunty’ disappearance. After two hours, she was thoroughly tired and disheartened. She looked at the grazing ponies. Had they seen a stray chocolate Labrador? The ponies grazed on.

  As the light began to fade, Jess became tense and jumpy. She turned into her own street, and saw Pam, Henry and Boris coming towards her.

  Pam grasped Jess’s hand. “Thank you so much for looking for Bunty all this time. Henry, Boris and I are going to search again. I’ve given Boris one of Bunty’s toys to help him catch her scent.” Jess looked down and saw a grey fluffy rabbit hanging from Boris’s mouth.

  “I hope you find her,” Jess said, without much hope. “Goodnight, everyone.”

  Inside her flat, Jess was still uneasy. Afraid of the gaping darkness behind the doors, she left lights on in every room. Twice she had to stop herself rechecking the locks on the outside door. She wondered if Henry would be staying the night at Pam’s. She didn’t like to think of her friend being alone, especially if they failed to find Bunty.

  Unable to concentrate on reading or watching TV, Jess went to bed, but couldn’t sleep. She lay awake, alert to the slightest noise. Around midnight she dozed off but woke again at one. At about one thirty she thought she heard the sound of the front door scraping open. Her first thought was that it might be Magda returning from a late shift. Then she remembered about Pam and Henry’s search and sat up. She heard the door scrape shut again. Strange. It suddenly occurred to her that there had been no voices. Not only voices, but no steps on the stairs, no clicking sound as Magda struggled with the tricky lock on her door. Jess sat in the dark and wondered what to do. She didn’t want to get out of bed. She didn’t want to open the door. She certainly didn’t want to go downstairs to check the outside door. But she wouldn’t get a minute’s sleep unless she did.

  At last, Jess reluctantly pushed aside the covers and padded across the room into her hall. At least it wasn’t dark here. She’d been too jumpy to turn out the light. She unlocked the door and stepped into the dimly lit landing.

  “Magda? You there?” No reply. Jess had a feeling that something wasn’t right. Bad things come in threes, so they say. Two bad things had happened today and although it was gone midnight, Jess was sure the day wasn’t over yet.

  “Magda?” Jess heard the fear in her own voice. Gradually her eyes began to adjust to the dark in the foyer. She looked around, blinking, and her eyes made out a shape stretched out by the main door.

  When Jess realised what it was, her screams reverberated around the whole house.

  Magda was the first to reach her, followed by Pam and Henry. Bunty lay on the mat just inside the door, unmoving. Her chocolate brown fur was matted and her legs extended stiffly from her inert body. Jess could see froth around the dog’s half-open mouth. Jess looked up at Pam, her eyes wide.

  “Ees Bunty, no?” Magda’s voice was a hoarse whisper. Jess nodded. Henry stepped over the dog and threw the door wide open. He looked up and down the street as if expecting to see Bunty’s killer running off. Jess knew he would see no one.

  Jess had her arm round Pam, whose face was buried in her shoulder. “I’m so, so sorry,” Jess said.

  Henry stepped back inside and tried to persuade Pam to go back upstairs, but she pushed him away. She sank to her knees beside her beloved pet. Henry made a move to stop her but Jess shook her head. Pam needed a last moment with Bunty.

  “What happen to her?” Magda said.

  “Looks like poison,” said Henry.

  Magda shook her head. “Who would do such thing to poor, dumb animal?”

  They stood for a couple of minutes until Jess asked Pam if she was ready to go back to her flat.

  “What about Bunty?” Pam asked. “We can’t just leave her here.”

  “I’ll get a blanket from my flat. Magda and I will cover her and put her under the stairs. I think we’d better inform the police in the morning.” Jess thought of the bag of rotting organs. It was hard not to read that event as a warning of what was to follow. Eventually Pam nodded, and Henry led her, still sobbing, upstairs.

  Jess and Magda stared at the dead animal. Jess sighed. “I’ll fetch that blanket.”

  Together, she and Magda wrapped it around Bunty as best they could. The dog, already stiff with rigor, was too heavy to lift, so they ended up dragging her across the floor. Jess thanked Magda.

  “What time did you get home?”

  “Only one hour ago!” Magda said. “I hear door open, then a leetle while later I hear you scream.”

  “I thought it was you coming home from work.”

  “I have evening off. I go to pub with Paulo.” Paulo was Magda’s boyfriend. Jess looked towards Magda’s door. “He not here. Early sheeft at hospital.” Paulo, a qualified accountant, was working as a hospital porter. Magda yawned. “We go to bed now, yes?”

  “Yes,” Jess agreed, catching the yawn. Magda closed her door and Jess stood for a few moments, staring at the doormat where poor Bunty had been dumped. She had been afraid of this from the moment she heard that Bunty had disappeared. The police would assume that Pam’s ex had ratcheted up his attempts to terrorise her. Jess hoped he could prove his innocence, for she was certain that Bunty’s killer was someone with a far more sinister agenda. Her thoughts returned to the note. Bad things will happen to those you care about.

  The following morning, Jess was woken by a loud knocking at her door. It was Pam, accompanied by Henry and the same police constable who had come in answer to their call about the bag of offal.

  “I hope we didn’t wake you, Jess.”

  Jess stood in her Minions pyjamas, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

&nbs
p; “I called the police first thing. Didn’t sleep a wink last night, thinking of how much poor Bunty must have suffered.”

  “I think it would have been quite quick,” Henry said, and Pam glared at him. Clearly this wasn’t the first time he had tried to reassure her.

  “People who hurt animals hurt people too, you know,” Pam said, now glaring at the police officer. Jess was reminded of Mitch’s words about psychopaths. This certainly counted as an escalation.

  “I can assure you, your pet’s death will be properly investigated, Mrs Hollings,” the officer replied. “If she was deliberately harmed, the person responsible could face a big fine or even a sentence.” This seemed to upset Pam even more. Whatever the punishment, it would never be enough. Jess stood in her doorway, shivering. She excused herself and disappeared into her flat to put some clothes on. By the time she joined the others in the hallway, Pam seemed to have calmed down. Jess gave a statement to the officer.

  “I’d like to take a statement from this Magda too,” the PC said.

  “She’ll be at work. She’s a carer. She often leaves at six in the morning. I’ll give you her mobile number if you like.” Jess turned to leave. It was time to get ready for work. As she crossed the hallway to her flat, she heard the words ‘vet’ and ‘autopsy’ and a lump rose in her throat. She hoped Henry was right and Bunty had gone quickly and without suffering.

  She just had time for a shower. It was a chilly morning and steam condensed on the shower door and swirled around her in the cubicle. Being unable to see through the glass made her uneasy, and she opened the door to let it escape. After stepping out of the cubicle, she opened the small window above her washbasin and then closed it again, feeling rattled. Was this how it was going to be from now on? Feeling unsafe in her own home? How many times would she have to check the locks every day?

  She wished she hadn’t quarrelled with Mitch, and wondered why he hadn’t been in touch. Why she hadn’t been in touch with him. Her whole life was a mess. A cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal restored some perspective. Leanne was dead, the victim of a deranged and cruel killer. Pam’s loss and her own boyfriend problems paled in comparison. But Jess couldn’t shake the feeling that things were going to get worse.