by K Leitch
‘Ah Frank,’ said Carla, ‘ever the opportunist… actually this has shaken him up pretty badly I think…given him a sense of his own mortality. He was even talking about how it was probably time for him to be settling down with a good woman…’
‘Bloody hell,’ exclaimed Maggie, ‘are you sure the mad woman didn’t give him a crafty head injury while you weren’t looking? That man’s been a danger to single women everywhere for years…it’ll be the end of an era when he settles down.’
‘How’s Duncan today Maggie?’ asked Helen gently.
Maggie’s eyes welled up as they always did when talking about Duncan these days. ‘Oh…you know, still in a lot of pain of course, but apart from the superficial wounds…which I know are awful…he didn’t suffer anything life threatening…she was too intent on keeping him alive for the big finish…which thank god she was prevented from doing.’
Duncan’s wounds as Maggie had said were, thankfully, not life threatening…they were just extremely painful and pretty disfiguring. He was going to need several skin grafts to repair the damage that the studded leather strap had done…a large chunk of flesh had been gouged out of his cheek on one side…that was going to leave a scar that would be with him for the rest of his life. Not to mention the ones that would be left all over his stomach and legs. His fingers had been shattered and the doctors weren’t yet able to tell whether he would regain full use of his hands…but he was alive, and for that Maggie would be eternally grateful.
What couldn’t be fixed by the doctors was his despair…apart from those sweet words that he had spoken to Maggie in the ambulance, he had not spoken to her. He turned his damaged face away from her when she went to visit him, as if he was desperate for her not to look at his monstrous image. Maggie was heartbroken for him…but also determined that she would be there for as long as it took…whether he wanted her there or not.
Helen took Maggie’s hand. ‘He’s in great pain sweetheart…give him time, he’ll come round.’
The girls all nodded and thought for a moment about the horrors that Duncan must have suffered.
‘I meant to ask you Carla,’ said Tracy after a moment, ‘you said there was another body in that freezer…who the hell was that?’
‘Gregory Webb…her dad,’ said Carla shortly, ‘who by all accounts was an awful man…but I don’t suppose for one minute that he deserved that. The one I feel most sorry for is Daniel…her son, that poor boy, if you could have seen the state of him. I mean how does anyone recover from that…to be that scared of his own mother.’
‘At least now he’s got away from her,’ said Tracy, ‘I mean at least now there’s a chance he might find a nice loving family who will help him to forget all of this.’
‘Ha!’ said Maggie cynically, ‘more like he’ll end up being abused in some awful care home or something,’ there was a collective gasp from the girls. ‘Well you know I’m probably right…life has a habit of shitting on you when you’re down…anything else is just wishful thinking.’
Helen caught Tracy’s eye and they shared a look, all the girls were worried about Maggie. The last few weeks had been awful for her, first walking in on her mother and Thomas. Then having to break the news to an hysterical Jerry, who had come back from London to find that not only had his ‘man’ left him…Tiny had handed in his resignation whilst they had been in London, but without a clue about his girlfriend’s betrayal. He had blamed the whole thing on Maggie…calling her an unnatural daughter and a frigid bitch, before collapsing in tears. Maggie’s tender heart had pushed all his insults to one side and she had set about trying to comfort him before sending him on his way, but his words had hit home, chipping away yet more of her self confidence. And then of course the events in the barn…Tracy was seriously worried that Maggie was heading for some sort of breakdown. She had spoken to Helen on the phone before coming to the hospital this evening, they had decided to have a word with Carla once Maggie had left…see what she thought.
Carla was desperate to get out of hospital so that she could carry on the hunt for Vanessa. There had been no trace of her since the Rosie incident, but Carla had a gut feeling that she was still around…she just didn’t seem to be able to keep away.
‘I can understand why she would want to ‘get back’ at Tracy maybe,’ Helen was saying, ‘and I suppose she never liked the friendship between Giles and me, or Tracy for that matter. And of course you arrested her Carla so in her warped mind she needed to wreak her revenge on you, but why hasn’t she done anything to Maggie… and for that matter what had Mrs Binworthy ever done to her, why did she deserve to have her cat killed…it doesn’t make sense.’
‘I think she just didn’t like her,’ said Carla simply, ‘remember they were both on the WI committee, and I could see Mrs Binworthy rubbing Vanessa up the wrong way…let’s face it she rubs most people up the wrong way, and Vanessa has the most enormous chip on her shoulder…’
‘Oh don’t talk about chips,’ interrupted Tracy, ‘I am on the worst diet in the world…no carbs…no bread, no chips, no crisps…nothing nice at all! It is so hard…I am really struggling I can tell you.’
‘How long have you been doing it?’ asked Maggie, blatantly looking her over for signs of weight loss.
‘Oh I only started this morning…what?’ she asked as the girls burst out laughing. ‘Well it is hard ok…and I started with such enthusiasm, but then you mentioned chips,’ she finished pointing at Carla and giggling.
Just then an enormous bouquet of flowers, followed by James came into the room. He kissed them all hello and then went over to Carla, taking her face in his hands and brushing her mouth with gentle kisses.
‘Hello beautiful,’ he whispered, ‘I had to sneak these past the nurses,’ he said indicating the flowers. ‘They are against the rules apparently, but I thought, fuck the rules…my girl’s a hero…and she’s getting flowers.’
Carla smiled up at him, ‘Careful sweetheart…I may have to arrest you.’
James just gave her an interested look and then turned to Maggie.
‘I popped in on Duncan on my way here Maggs…bloody hell he is in a right state. I brought him in a radio…thought he wouldn’t want to miss the match on Saturday…’
Maggie jumped up, ‘Oh is he awake? I’d better get back there then…don’t want him to think I’ve abandoned him do I?’
With that she said her goodbyes, promising to pop in on Carla the next day and sped out of the door.
The girls all just looked at each other; it was Helen that broke the silence.
‘You see?’ she asked the others, ‘it’s not my imagination is it; she is all over the place at the moment. One minute she’s laughing and joking like the old Maggie, the next she is all bitter and twisted, talking about children being abused in care homes and life shitting on you when you’re down. That’s not Maggie; she has always been a cup half full sort of person. I think she’s just had too much to deal with, emotionally I mean…she’s not coping.’
Carla nodded, ‘I agree,’ she said, ‘I mean let’s face it, it would challenge anyone’s sanity what she’s been through…but what can we do? Do we try and persuade her to see a professional…a therapist I mean, or what?’
‘Well I was thinking about that and I thought… what about her sister?’ said Tracy. ‘She absolutely adores her, I think one of the reasons she was marrying Thomas was so that Ruth would come over for the wedding…maybe she could help.’
‘Bloody brilliant idea,’ Carla said smiling, ‘I think I’ve got her number somewhere at home…um, in my chequered address book,’ she told James. ‘Shall I call her? See if she can speak to Maggs.’
‘That sounds like a plan,’ said Helen, ‘but maybe you could even persuade her to come over, even though the wedding’s off…you know surprise Maggie, that would cheer her up, definitely…and then they would have time for a proper chat…’
‘Yes! That would be perfect,’ said Carla excitedly, ‘I have been trying to think of a way to
say thank you to Maggie…er, for saving my life, you know. What would be better than bringing her sister to her…Tracy darling you are a genius…’
‘Er…excuse me…what about me, I’m a genius too…I thought about the bringing her over bit,’ said Helen laughing.
‘You are both geniuses,’ said Carla taking both of them by the hand, ‘how exciting, I can’t wait to make it happen.’
CHAPTER 60 – CARLA
It was another week before Carla was allowed home, and a further week before she gingerly walked into her office at the station to a spontaneous round of applause. She did a couple of awkward little bows and then headed for the sanctuary of her office.
Frank and Jay were both in there looking at some CCTV footage. Someone in Harrow had reportedly spotted Vanessa in a coffee shop so the boys were trawling through tapes of the street in the hope of catching a glimpse of her…nothing so far.
Jay had called her a couple of times while she had been in hospital. He had been wracked with guilt that he hadn’t been around when it had all kicked off.
He had gone home that evening a few weeks before to find that Gina, his wife had left him. She had taken all her stuff, cleaned out the joint bank account and disappeared…probably back to the States Jay thought.
‘She just didn’t like it over here much,’ he had said to Carla, ‘you know the weather, the food…she was always complaining and wanting to go home. I told her go a couple of times, even looked out some flight times for her…she could have stayed with my mom and dad until I got back, but she always sort of came around then…said she could put up with it a bit longer, you know…I thought she was ok…’
Carla could tell that Jay was devastated, she told him to take some time off to sort himself out, but he seemed determined to carry on working. It was probably better for him to keep busy.
He was due to fly back to the States himself soon, he was just waiting for the trial dates and then he was off, but while he was here there was no harm in making use of him Carla thought.
Finding Vanessa had become a sort of obsession with Carla. She thought about pretty much nothing else, she followed up every line of enquiry, and was constantly in touch with other constabularies around the country. Unfortunately so far there was nothing…Vanessa had disappeared again.
She had contacted all Vanessa’s old acquaintances, from her time as a prostitute in Maidstone, until her dealings with the brewery as landlady of The Bull. Not a thing, no one had seen or heard of her after her disappearance three years ago…or if they had, like Giles, they were now dead.
Carla couldn’t suppress the feeling that she had, that Vanessa was still close by. She could feel her watching her…she knew she hadn’t finished with the people of Kenley Village.
Life goes on though, and as the days past the hunt lost some of its urgency for most of her colleagues. Not for Carla though, but inevitably she had to put it to one side to deal with more pressing things.
Kerry Webb was due in court this week, it had taken a while to get together the mass of evidence against her, and what they had found made scary reading.
Her father had died of strangulation according to the coroner; there were still the imprints of hand marks around his neck. Quite small hands… obviously he had pushed his daughter around one too many times.
The genitals found in the freezer were a match for the victims found here in England; obviously she hadn’t been able to keep her gruesome trophies from the men in Florida or if she had they hadn’t been found yet.
Larry Pincher’s throat had been cut, using the same knife that had been used to torture her victims…including Duncan.
The jars of white powder Frank had found in the shed turned out to be plant food…where ever she had been getting the Rohypnol from was still a mystery. But it was well known to the police that most drugs were available on the ‘Buttercup’ estate, if you had the money and you knew who to ask.
They had psychiatric reports from Watlingham Park hospital going back years, stating that Kerry Webb was a dangerous maniac…or words to that effect. ‘Why she had ever been discharged from the hospital was a worry,’ thought Carla, ‘maybe these deaths might have been prevented.’
Carla, Jay and Frank were going to court to watch Kerry being charged with eight counts of murder, and to make sure that she was remanded in custody.
Jay and Frank had gone ahead to get some coffees, and Carla was just about to leave when her phone rang, she debated whether to leave it, but then with an exasperated sigh she answered it.
There was an American detective on the other end trying to get hold of Jay.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Carla, ‘but he’s not here right now. Can I pass on a message…I’m Detective Inspector Right…I’ve been working with Detective Travers.’
‘Oh hi Ma’am…this is Detective Mollohan, I’ve worked with Jay on homicide over here in Florida for the last five or six years. I need to get hold of him Ma’am…it’s pretty urgent, could you get him to call me as soon as he can…as I said it’s urgent?’
‘Of course Detective, I’ll tell him as soon as I see him.’
‘Thank you kindly Ma’am, I appreciate it,’ said Detective Mollohan before ringing off.
‘Hmm,’ thought Carla intrigued, she grabbed her coat and made her way down to the car park. Frank and Jay were already in the car waiting for her.
Carla passed on the message to Jay as soon as she got in.
‘Bloody hell…Teddy Mollohan, what does he want I wonder?’
‘Well he did say it was urgent,’ said Carla blowing on her coffee, ‘so perhaps you’d better see what he wants before we go in…we’ve got at least half an hour yet.’
Jay got out of the car and punched in some numbers on his mobile phone.
‘Teddy,’ he said into it a few moments later, ‘what’s up buddy? what, what do you mean…slow down buddy. I don’t understand… no it’s not possible. You were there, we met her at the house…are you sure, absolutely…there’s no mistake? But I just don’t get…it doesn’t make any sense.’
Carla and Frank only heard this much of the conversation but it was soon apparent that Jay was in distress, he leaned heavily on the car.
‘I don’t know where she is…no…she left me. Oh I don’t know…a couple of weeks ago, she cleaned me out…took everything. I thought she’d gone back to the States…who the fuck is she then, do we know that…do we know anything… aw shit…fucking hell…’
Jay threw his phone across the car park and began kicking the side of the car. Frank got out and tried to stop him…but he was in a terrible state…furiously angry about something…angry and upset.
Finally Frank managed to get hold of him; Carla came round trying to get him to look at her.
‘What is it Jay…you have to tell us…is it your wife?’ she began.
‘MY WIFE…MY FUCKING WIFE,’ Jay shouted at the top of his voice, ‘I don’t even know who my wife is…she isn’t Gina Coker that’s for sure…because some builders have just dug up Gina Coker’s body. Medical examiner figures she’s been dead a couple of years…so who the fuck is the woman I married…who is she?’
Carla and Frank just stared at Jay in bewilderment; he was making no sense at all.
‘What do you mean your wife has been dead for years?’ said Frank, ‘you said she had come over here with you…Jay, mate what the hell is going on?’
Jay took a deep breath and tried to calm down, ‘I married a girl called Gina Coker…’ he said shakily lighting himself a cigarette, ‘or at least I thought I did. Remember I told you I met her after her gran had been killed in a robbery that had gone wrong?’ Frank and Carla nodded.
‘Well,’ Jay continued, ‘she was…well really great actually, and so after an appropriate amount of time I asked her out and…well we got married. I never thought for one minute she wasn’t who she said she was. They lived, her gran and her, miles from anywhere…far, far out in the sticks. I suppose no one would have noticed what old Maisy C
oker’s granddaughter even looked like…she had only been staying with her for a couple of weeks before the murder. Oh my god…I am such a fucking idiot…there was no robbery was there…shit…how could I not have known…’
Jay had started to get emotional again; Carla took his arm and guided him back to the car.
‘Right we have to get to court, I think you should stay here…no, no arguments Jay, you are too upset. Why don’t you phone back Detective Mollohan…see what else you can find out, and while you’re at it get hold of a recent photo of Gina…or whoever she is, we may need to circulate it. I know you think she’s gone back to the States…but for all we know she could still be in the country…ok?’
Jay nodded, threw down his cigarette and headed back into the station.
Ten minutes later Carla and Frank watched grimly as Kerry Webb was charged with eight counts of murder, one of abduction and attempted murder and two of GBH.
Kerry looked like a pathetic shrunken old lady, who twitched and muttered to herself and was obviously in a state of shock as she pleaded guilty to all charges; she was placed on remand at a secure unit for the mentally ill until a date became available to try her case.
It was all over in about fifteen minutes…after over three years of killing and torturing…it seemed a bit of an anti-climax.
Jay had spoken more calmly to his partner in Florida, and was full of determination to find his errant ‘wife’ by the time Carla and Jay got back to the station.
‘It’s all so obvious now,’ he was saying, ‘she came upon this remote farm house, no one there except an old crippled lady and her granddaughter. Maybe she watches the house for a while, makes sure no one ever comes by, and when she feel it’s safe to do so, she kills them both…sets up the ‘robbery’ then calls the police pretending to be the grieving granddaughter… hey presto…new identity, house and farm to inherit. She had all the right papers…you know birth certificate, school records…she must have looked pretty much like the granddaughter…she had a passport…wow that bitch is clever…you have to give her that.’
