by K Leitch
It turned out to be a hire car, belonging to a company in Redbank, Harris Car Hire, Carla grabbed her coat.
‘Right Frank let’s get down there and see if they’ve got a name and address for us. From what Rosie said it seems like she’s had a few different cars so this may not be the only hire shop she’s used. Mandy I want to know where that car goes after she drops Rosie off…we must be able to pick it up somewhere.’
With a resigned nod Mandy went back to her screens. The team were at full stretch with half of them following up on the murders and hunting for missing Larry Pincher, who despite Carla’s predictions, still hadn’t turned up, so Carla was a bit irritated that Jay had not come in this morning. Frank had called him a couple of times but no reply.
‘I’ll go over there later if he doesn’t show up…I expect he’s had another row with that wife of his…very turbulent relationship by all accounts,’ he added a little smugly.
‘Well I don’t care what sort of domestic problems he’s got,’ said Carla crossly, ‘he knows we’re up against it at the moment…it’s bloody inconsiderate, and I will tell him so when I see him.’
Frank said nothing and soon they were pulling up in front of a seedy looking hire company. Carla went into the office, which was more of a porta cabin really, and waited for the young girl at the desk to get off the phone.
‘Yeh?’ she said looking up at Carla once she’d finished her conversation.
Carla showed her badge. ‘Police,’ she said abruptly, really she had no time to waste on ignorant people this morning. ‘I’m DI Right and this is DS Hill…we’d like some information about the woman that hired a white Skoda Fabia yesterday, registration number DA14 YTE.’
The girl looked at her insolently chewing some gum for a moment or two before turning to her screen and keying in the information.
‘Yeh,’ she said eventually, ‘that was a Ms Faye Pinner, she took the car for one day, brought it back this morning.’
Carla and Frank exchanged a look; Faye Pinner was the name of Vanessa’s sister…the sister she had brutally murdered three years earlier.
‘Has it been cleaned yet?’ said Frank.
The girl shook her head. ‘No it’s not due to go out today so it won’t be cleaned until later,’ she said.
‘Right,’ said Carla, ‘we will need to get a SOCO team to have a look at it I’m afraid, we have reason to believe that it was used to abduct a young girl yesterday. Don’t let anybody near it until the team come to collect it ok?’
‘Well I don’t know about that,’ the girl began hotly, ‘I should speak to my manager really…’
‘Well you do that, and tell him to give me a ring at the Kenley police station…Detective Inspector Carla Right ok. In the meantime can we have the keys for the car please…’ Carla held out her hand, and the girl heaved a theatrical sigh and went and took a bunch of keys from behind her and gave them to Carla.
‘Thank you,’ said Carla as they went out.
There was nothing obvious in the car…hopefully the forensics team would be able to pick up some finger prints or hairs or something to link Vanessa to the car.
The licence she had used was a very good fake in the name of her dead sister; and the address was the house that she had lived in, in Sevenoaks Kent. So basically they had come to a dead end, unless Mandy could pick something up on the CCTV footage, for now there was nothing more that they could do.
Reluctantly Carla turned her attention back to finding missing school boy Larry Pincher. Something hadn’t felt right when they had gone round to Daniel’s house, Carla wasn’t completely convinced that Larry wasn’t there. Even if Dulcie and Daniel were away, he could be hiding in the shed or something, but she had definitely had the distinct feeling that she was being watched the whole time that they had been looking round the outside of the house. Then of course there had been the face at the window…was it her imagination or maybe it was Larry’s face that she had seen. She decided to give it one more try…her mobile rang, it was Tracy phoning to check up on Rosie.
‘Oh she’s back to her usual self this morning,’ said Carla, ‘honestly Tracy it was such a nice change to have cuddly loving Rosie back just for one night…maybe I should get her kidnapped on a regular basis,’ she laughed.
Tracy, who knew just how terrified Carla had been, tutted at her, ‘That might be just a bit drastic love…but seriously I am so relieved that she has come through it ok. You know some kids might have been knocked for six by this, thank goodness Rosie is made of sterner stuff.’ She paused for a minute and then said, ‘Carla I know you are completely bogged down with everything at the moment but I had Duncan on the phone last night, worried about Maggie.’
‘Why…what’s up?’ asked Carla digging into her bag for her sandwiches…if she was going to have a gossip with Tracy she might as well have her lunch.
‘Well it seems she found Thomas having sex with another woman…’
‘Oh my god…that’s awful, oh poor Maggs…’
‘Yes but that’s not the worst of it Carla,’ interrupted Tracy, ‘the other woman was her mother!’
‘Fuck me…no way,’ exclaimed Carla spitting out half her sandwich, ‘shit that’s awful…poor Maggs. Have you spoken to her?’
Tracy sighed, ‘Yes I went round after Duncan called me last night…oh Carla she is in such a state. At first she was all jokey you know putting on a brave face, but then she started crumbling right in front of me. I’ve never seen her so bad before, I know she went to pieces after Greg left…but it’s her mum she’s upset about Carla. How could any mother do that, to her own daughter, I just don’t understand it.’
‘Oh Fiona Crabtree always was one selfish bitch,’ said Carla angrily, ‘and what about Thomas… what the bloody hell was he thinking of…’
‘Well as to that,’ interrupted Tracy, ‘I’m not that surprised that he’s cheated,’ she went on to tell Carla about what she had seen at the hospital. ‘The thing that got me was how blatant he was…it was as if he didn’t care whether he got caught or not…like it was his right or something …what a knob.’
‘Oh an absolute prick of the first order,’ agreed Carla, ‘but if I’m completely honest with you I have always thought he was a twat…just too good looking if you know what I mean. How was Maggie when you left her, have you spoken to her today?’
‘Yes I rang her this morning,’ said Tracy, ‘and Helen is spending the day with her. The wedding’s off of course, but Maggie is insisting that the party will be going ahead…celebrating her lucky escape, she says.’
‘Ha typical Maggs,’ laughed Carla, she ended the call soon after that with a promise that she would call Maggie as soon as she had a moment. She ate the rest of her sandwich, but her appetite had gone. She was feeling really guilty if truth be told, she had been so focused on work that she was neglecting all the people around her that she loved. James was still angry with her for not answering her phone…god she was angry with herself for that one, and how was it that her daughter had found it easier to talk to a thirty year old stranger than she did her own mother. And now Maggie, lovely Maggie, who had been her friend forever was in trouble and needed her and she hadn’t even noticed…something was going to have to give before she lost everyone.
She decided to pop round to Maggie’s on the way to Daniel Rushton’s house; let her know she was thinking about her.
Carla was shocked at how unkempt Maggie looked when she answered the door to her knock an hour or so later, she had never seen her anything but groomed to perfection. Her hair was lank and greasy; she had dark circles under her eyes and a nasty stain of something… nasty…on her top.
She pulled her into a hug and couldn’t help noticing how bony she felt, ‘Oh darling I am so sorry…it must have been so awful for you…’ she began.
‘Yes,’ interrupted Maggie hugging her back, ‘it was awful…but to be honest Carla I was having such a lot of doubts about Thomas, that in some ways it’s a bit of a relief. Now I can c
ancel the wedding…and it’s all that bastard’s fault. I have sent all the outstanding bills to him, and the best of it is that I don’t have to see his smug twatty face ever again…or hers for that matter,’ she added more quietly.
Carla hugged her again. ‘Fancy a coffee?’ she asked changing the subject; Maggie smiled gratefully and followed her through to the kitchen.
‘Did Tracy tell you about what she saw at the hospital?’ Maggie asked when they were both sitting, ‘about Thomas I mean, and that nurse.’
Carla nodded, ‘He is a total shitbag Maggie,’ she said, ‘thank goodness you found out now, instead of years down the line. I wish it hadn’t been in such a way, but…’ she trailed off not knowing what to say.
‘It’s alright love,’ said Maggie smiling, ‘there is no easy way to talk about your friend walking in on her fiancé performing very thorough cunnilingus on her mother.’ She laughed at Carla’s embarrassment, ‘Well you know me sweety I like to call a spade a spade…and there’s no getting around it.’
‘What happened? You know after you’d walked in on them.’ Carla asked.
‘Oh pandemonium…as you would expect,’ said Maggie almost wearily. ‘Thomas was shouting that Mother had led him on and Mother was basically pretty unrepentant…seemed to think it was my fault for not keeping him satisfied. She has a very adaptable conscience my mother, by the time she’d finished talking, I think she had convinced herself that she had been doing me a favour. She was absolutely flabbergasted that I wanted her to leave anyway,’ Maggie finished sadly.
Carla went round and hugged her, ‘I know it sounds trite darling but “this too will pass”, you will get beyond this, you may even, in time, be able to forgive your mother. You are the strongest person I have ever known Maggie… you’re my hero, do you know that, and I know that you will come through this.’ Carla was crying herself by now and for a couple of moments the girls just cried and hugged.
‘Right,’ said Maggie after a while, ‘enough of this, I want to hear about what happened with Rosie, Tracy tells me it’s that fucking Vanessa…is that true?’
‘Yes looks like it…but we’ve come to a complete dead end, oh we’ve put out a national alert and circulated the latest picture of her…you wouldn’t believe what she looks like at the moment Maggs, so very different from the Vanessa we knew. Anyhow I’ve still got a serial killer at large and now a bloody missing school boy as well. Although I’m not convinced, I still think he is just hiding out at his mates house…which reminds me, Duncan’s seeing that Dulcie isn’t he?’ Maggie nodded pulling a face. ‘Well do you know if she’s gone on holiday or anything…we went round to her place yesterday to see if we could find the Pincher boy, and the place was locked up tight…like they had gone away.’
‘Oh no I don’t think that’s right,’ said Maggie shaking her head. ‘I know for a fact that Duncan is seeing her tonight. He’s going to dump her actually, but you didn’t get that from me, at last he’s seen her for what she is…and not before time if you ask me,’ she finished with a satisfied look on her face.
Carla gave her a look, ‘Maggie Wendover have you got a crush on our Duncan?’ she asked looking deeply into her eyes.
‘No…of course not…as if…no,’ stuttered Maggie.
‘You bloody have! I knew it…no wonder you were so bitchy about desperate Dulcie…ha! It all makes sense now,’ she laughed.
‘Carla I’m telling you I haven’t…ok I do like him, and he is a lovely friend…’
‘Oh that’s bullshit and you know it…you are smitten, I know you Maggs. What about him, does he fancy you?’
‘Oh I don’t know,’ said Maggie her smile fading. ‘I know he likes me and we have a laugh, but…anyway it’s too soon after…you know Mumgate.’
Carla burst out laughing. ‘Well at least your path will be clear if he’s dumping Dulcie tonight… poor old Duncan I bet he’s dreading it.’
Maggie nodded, ‘I’m just so glad he’s come to his senses. I just get the feeling that beneath all that makeup and giggling there is a seriously twisted piece of work lurking.’ She went on to tell Carla about what had happened at Goodwood. ‘I am certain of what I heard Carla…but she just looked so completely innocent that I began to doubt myself…but there was no one else around, who else could it have been?’
‘Oh I think you’re right,’ said Carla nodding, ‘I got just that impression when I went round about Daniel. Oh she comes over as all sweetness and light…but her son Daniel shrunk away from her when she tried to put her arm around him, and he looked like he might faint with terror when I suggested that he might have had a friend round…obviously that is not allowed, poor kid. No I agree Dulcie is one mean cow...how the hell did he meet her anyway?’ she asked.
‘Oh I think she used to work with him or something…you know when he had his business, it was something like that anyway. They lost touch when she got married, her marriage went pear shaped and she got back in touch with him…on Facebook of all places…all a bit desperate if you ask me,’ said Maggie smirking.
When Carla left a while later she felt a lot better…her old friend was still alive and kicking and eventually she would be back to her normal, immoral self again.
She decided to go back to the office first before heading out to the Rushton’s house. It might be a good idea to take Frank with her, and she wanted to see if Jay had shown his face yet.
Before she had even taken off her coat, Mandy brought her an update on the Kerry Webb investigation. Kent social services had finally got back with information about Kerry’s son. He had been taken into care countless times during his short life, the last time about four and a half years ago. The last set of foster parents had applied to adopt the boy, but it had been vetoed by Kerry who was able to convince the ‘powers that be’ at the time that she was completely recovered and able to care of her child. The boy’s name was Daniel.
CHAPTER 51
Duncan had got as far as dialling Dulcie’s number a couple of times to cancel their date for this evening, but he stopped himself each time… he might as well get this over and done with and then he could turn his attention to more important matters. Like Maggie for instance, she needed his support at the moment and he couldn’t give her one hundred percent if he was worrying about Dulcie all the time.
So he smiled resignedly when Dulcie’s little red car pulled up in front of the pub later to pick him up, and greeted her with a peck on the cheek. Dulcie seemed oblivious to his distant mood and kept up a steady stream of chatter all the way to the restaurant, which turned out to be at the end of a tiny road, with only a couple of shops and a few houses nearby.
They were shown to their table and given some menus to look at. Duncan waited until they had their drinks before he took a deep breath and told Dulcie that he needed to talk to her.
Dulcie looked at him through narrowed eyes for a moment, as if she had guessed what he was about to say. Then her brow cleared and she gave a trill of laughter.
‘Oh how funny,’ she said, ‘I need to talk to you too…what’s the bet that we were planning on saying the same thing.’
Duncan looked warily at her before saying, ‘Well I hope that’s the case Dulcie, because it will make this a lot easier…um it’s just that…’
‘This isn’t working out?’ interrupted Dulcie smiling, ‘you’re a lovely person, but we’re just not right for one another…was that what you were going to say?’
‘Well…um…yes,’ stammered Duncan red-faced.
‘Snap!’ said Dulcie, ‘It’s no problem Duncan… I’ve known it wasn’t going to work out for ages now. I was going to tell you tonight…how funny is that?’ She went into a peel of laughter that was a bit over the top and had other customers in the restaurant peering round to see where the manic laugh was coming from. Duncan let out a relieved sigh once the laughter had died down, he smiled at Dulcie, ‘I have enjoyed your company Dulcie and I hope you meet Mr Right eventually. Phew, now that’s out of the way, let’s enjo
y our evening together…we can still be friends I hope?’
‘Oh of course Duncan,’ said Dulcie with a shrug picking up her menu, ‘I think I’m going to push the boat out tonight and have the fillet steak…what about you? And I think we should get you a bottle of wine…what do you think… I’m driving remember.’
CHAPTER 52 –CARLA
It was pretty late by the time Carla and Frank arrived at the Rushton house. Once again it was in complete darkness and locked up tight, but Carla noticed almost immediately that the little red Volkswagen was not parked on the drive as it had been the other day.
The initial reason for coming to the house was to look for Larry Pincher but as Carla wandered round to the back of the house she began to feel a real sense of unease…something was not right here, there was something…a memory that was at the edge of her consciousness that was screaming at her, and she knew it put Dulcie Rushton right in the centre of this whole mystery. Events had taken a more urgent feel, as little bits of information regarding Kerry Webb and Dulcie Rushton were being pieced together. The fact that Kerry had a son of about the same age and that her son was called Daniel, and then there was the fact that Kerry had worked for a graphic design company before she moved to the States. Duncan’s company that had gone under had been a graphic design company, and he had met Dulcie when she had worked there a few years earlier, until she had left supposedly to get married, and then there was the fact that Duncan had been approached by her on Facebook.
Carla had tried to ring Duncan to ask whether he thought Dulcie and Kerry could be one and the same person, but he wasn’t answering his phone…she had tried the pubs main phone and had got through to Martha.
‘Oh Carla m’darling how lovely to hear you; was it Duncan you were wanting…oh no sorry he’s out tonight…yes, yes darling I’ll tell him…he’s out with that Dulcie woman, truth be told Carla I can’t stand the woman, funny eyes…too close together I’m thinking…what’s that…oh I can’t remember, what was it now…what was it…B.B Graphics was it…or no G.G Graphics no that’s not right so…yes that’s it D.B Graphics…that’s the fella, D.B Graphics…ok, ok, yes don’t you be worrying I’ll tell him…ok so…ok bye.’
