Abandoned

by Lee Shepherd

  ***

  Charles had been extremely busy, painstakingly punishing Messenger for his sins. He started again by taking out his Stanley knife and cutting the man’s Achilles tendons as he had done with Jim before to stop him from running on the off chance he was to wriggle free. He then removed the tape that covered Messenger’s mouth so he could speak. Despite pain and fear, Messenger tried to remain calm and in control.

  ‘You won’t get away with this you know!’ he spat at Charles. ‘You are going to get caught for what you’ve done. My team know exactly where we are and will already be on their way.’

  Charles laughed at Messenger’s attempt to try and intimidate and scare him, as he had done many times when he was a youngster. He swung his arm and heavily slapped Messenger with the back of his hand. ‘SHUT THE FUCK UP! Nobody knows you’re here, you piece of shit. It’s just you, me and him upstairs! You have committed many a sin, Chief Inspector, and the Good Lord has deemed it your time to be judged.’

  Charles was totally absorbed in his warped state of justice, with vengeance very much at the forefront of his thoughts. He picked up the Stanley knife once more and prised open Messenger’s jaw with his hand. Grabbing his tongue with his other hand, he proceeded to slice the end of his tongue off with the blade so he could not offer any more bullshit. Messenger screamed but, with nobody around to hear, Charles just laughed at the man.

  ‘That’s just the beginning…’ he taunted Messenger.

  He grabbed the pliers he had packed and started to remove Messenger’s teeth one by one. After he became bored of extracting his teeth Charles reached for the blow torch he had brought; removing Messenger’s boots, he fired up the torch and proceeded to take it to the soles of his feet. As the stench of burning flesh filled the air, Charles then decided he was going to mutilate the man’s genitals, just as he had with Jim. He took the torch away from Messenger’s feet and kindly offered him a few minutes respite — he didn’t want him passing out due to the pain.

  ***

  Georgie breathed a sigh of relief as Taylor approached her, as she had been worrying all day about him being hurt by either Charles Lee or Chief Inspector Messenger.

  ‘I take it there is no sign of them then?’ she asked him.

  ‘No, they have totally vanished, Georgie, and I don’t know what to do or where to go from here. I was kind of hoping that you may be able to offer some of your expert advice, as I’m at a dead end.’

  Georgie tried to suggest maybe he left it alone now, as the news was out about Charles and it was probably only a matter of time before the police located him and placed him in custody. Taylor was having none of it; although he had put in a lot of hard work and effort in the hunt for Charles, he desperately still wanted to be the one that brought not only him into custody, but also to be the one that placed Messenger under arrest and read him his rights before informing him of the charges brought against him — including the attempted murder of his witness. He could not leave the Chief Inspector to be brutally murdered by Charles Lee; Messenger needed to be brought to justice! Taylor now detested the man he had previously admired, and badly wanted him to pay for his crimes.

  Georgie, sensing that Taylor had no intention of giving up, suggested that he re-trace Charles’ previous crimes, starting at the place where Amber was found. When Taylor informed her that he had already done so, and that he had been to the practice, Georgie said something that immediately grabbed his attention:

  ‘Maybe you should go right back to the very beginning, and go over every little piece of evidence we have, and see if we are missing something.’

  ‘What did you just say?’

  ‘I said, you should go back to the beginning.’

  Before she could finish her sentence, he leapt out of his seat excitedly. ‘You’re brilliant, Georgie!’ he exclaimed.

  She hadn’t a clue of what he meant and shouted after him, ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN?’

  He raced down the long corridor and made his way to the exit, shouting over his shoulder, ‘THE BEGINNING, GEORGIE. JIM BEATTIE’S FARM, WHERE THE MURDERS STARTED!’

  Georgie finally clicked. Oh yes, she thought to herself, Haywood farm would be abandoned now, and a perfect place to take Messenger!

  ***

  As Taylor ran out of the building and through the carpark towards where he was parked, he now realised that he was heading blindly into the unknown, unarmed and alone. Knowing full well the extremities Charles was capable of, he realised that he couldn’t place himself at such a high risk — he needed some back up for support. Knowing who he could trust, he called the officer who had given him the information on Charles and instructed him to send a team of his staff to oversee the armed response unit who would accompany them to Haywood farm, and stressed that he wanted Charles alive. He then raced out of the car park but, without any lights or sirens in his hire car, he had to weave in and out of traffic as he headed out of Carlisle and continued the twelve miles to Haywood farm. Taylor’s heart raced with nervous anticipation and fear of what he was about to walk into, but carried on regardless; he was determined that today would be the day it would all come to an end.

  ***

  Charles was now burning through Messenger’s trousers with the blow torch. Charles’ smile grew as the trousers tore and the smell of burning flesh permeated the air. The flame singed the Chief Inspector’s pubic hair and blistered his genitals. Messenger desperately tried to pull away from the flame and wriggle free but it was to be no use; his restraints held out and he had to undergo this agonising torture that was befalling him.

  Charles was so engrossed in his work that he failed to hear Taylor’s car coming up the lane towards the farm over the stifled screaming coming from Messenger. As Taylor exited the vehicle at the rear of the farm, he spotted Charles’ hidden Volvo in the barn and knew he must be inside. He steadied his nerves; he was still alone with no back up in sight.

  He contemplated waiting a bit longer, but decided against it and headed towards the back door. He quietly, nervously tried the handle, trying to remain unnoticed, but the door was locked. He looked over to the broken window where Charles had let himself in; as he carefully opened it he could hear Messenger’s cries coming from within the house and realised he was not too late. He tried to remain as silent as possible as he climbed through the window and set foot inside the dining room.

  It suddenly dawned on him at this stage that Charles would undoubtedly have some form of weapon at his disposal, and he knew he was using it to great effect at that moment — the piercing screams became unbearable to listen to. Taylor frantically scanned the room for any kind of object that he could use against Charles in the eventuality that he came under attack. He eventually settled on a large brass fire poker, as he made his way towards the hallway and nearer to where he had just heard the screams.

  The screaming subsided slightly as the detective neared the entrance to the sitting room, as Charles had removed the blow torch from what was once Messenger’s genitals. He could hear Charles saying something to Messenger, but couldn’t quite make out what was being said, so he cautiously made his way closer to the door to get a clearer picture of what he was saying.

  He heard Charles quietly saying something to Messenger before speaking out in a loud tone, ‘BUT THERE WERE FALSE PROPHETS ALSO AMONG THE PEOPLE, EVEN AS THERE SHALL BE FALSE TEACHERS AMONG YOU, WHO PRIVILY SHALL BRING IN DAMNABLE HERESIES, EVEN DENYING THE LORD THAT BROUGHT THEM, AND BRING UPON THEMSELVES SWIFT DESTRUCTION. AND MANY SHALL FOLLOW THEIR PERNICIOUS WAYS; BY REASON OF WHOM THE WAY OF TRUTH SHALL BE EVIL SPOKEN OF. AND THROUGH COVETNOUS SHALL THEY WITH FEIGNED WORDS MAKE MERCHANDISE OF YOU: WHOSE JUDGEMENT NOW OF A LONG TIME LINGERETH NOT, AND THEIR DAMNATION SLUMBERETH NOT!’

  Taylor didn’t have a clue what any of what he had just heard meant, but he knew it wasn’t good, and knew at that moment that he had to act, and fast, as by the sound of things Charles was preparing to kill the Chief Inspector. He decided in that instance to make his presence k
nown and try and reason with Charles before it was too late. Taylor raised the poker aloft and threw open the sitting room door.

  Charles looked up, startled, as he was just about to slice open Messenger’s throat like he had done to his Social worker, Brian Jenkins.

  ‘PLEASE, CHARLES — STOP!’

  Charles stared right through him with blood-crazed eyes.

  ‘I know why you are doing this, but please, let me do this the right way and take him in before it is too late and I won’t be able to help you.’

  Taylor knew what Charles had done, and rightly hated him because of this, but he also knew what it was that had driven him to this, and pleaded again for him to stop. It was at this point that they all heard the approaching sirens becoming louder and clearer, indicating the ever nearing presence of back up and the armed response unit.

  Charles didn’t know whether to stay and finish the job or to try and make a run for it, as he knew in that moment that everything he loved and held dear was going to be lost forever when the details finally emerged of what he had done. He angrily paced the floor with his hands on each side of his head, one still containing the knife.

  Taylor again tried to reason with him, and stated that killing Messenger wouldn’t undo all the wrongs he had done to him, and informed Charles that no matter what he decided to do, he would still be arresting him and taking him into custody today.

  Messenger, sensing he was going to make it out alive, looked at Charles first, then Taylor, and smirked as if to say, ‘I’m going to walk away from this.’

  Taylor thought to himself that he possibly would; due to the torture and mental anguish he had received, he would probably be deemed too unfit to stand trial due to his mental state after undergoing this traumatic ordeal. He had to think fast as he could hear the screeching brakes of several police vehicles coming to a halt just outside of the farm. Taylor looked over where Messenger was sat partially grinning, and he made his decision.

  ‘FUCK IT, FINISH HIM, CHARLES, BUT MAKE IT QUICK — IN ABOUT THIRTY SECONDS WE ARE GOING TO BE SURROUNDED BY ARMED RESPONSE.’

  Charles needed no further encouragement, and Messenger just looked at Taylor in complete shock and disbelief as Charles grabbed him by his hair and ran his blade right through Messenger’s jugular and across his throat. Taylor held his ex-boss’ gaze throughout. Taylor, hearing the shouts of ‘ARMED POLICE’ as the team entered the house, politely asked Charles to drop the knife, turn around and place his hands behind his back.

  Charles was slightly hesitant. Taylor sensed the urgency.

  ‘Please, Charles. Just do as I ask before they storm in here and place a bullet in your forehead for what you’ve done!’

  Charles decided to do as the detective had asked and dropped the blade, then turned his back to him and sank to his knees. He offered his hands to Taylor, who quickly placed cuffs on the man.

  ‘DON’T SHOOT. We’re coming out and I have the suspect in custody! I REPEAT, DON’T SHOOT!’

  Taylor proceeded to escort Charles out of the farm towards the waiting crowd of police officers, detectives, and of course, the Armed Response Unit. He insisted that he be the one to bring him into the station, and assured Charles that no harm would come to him. Over the next forty-eight hours that Charles was kept in in custody at Carlisle police station, the only person Charles would speak to was Taylor, as he somewhat trusted him and agreed that he would speak to him, and him alone, if they wanted to know the whereabouts of the two missing girls.

  ***

  A media frenzy was gathering outside, as news of the suspect being detained was released to the nation, with reporters desperately trying to be the first ones to discover who the mystery suspect was.

  Charles opened up to Taylor about everything, and went into great length in describing the horrific abuse he had been subjected to as a child growing up on the Beatties’ farm. He stipulated, though, that Edna never played any part in any of the abuse, and lived in fear of her husband so therefore never spoke up about any of the goings on at the farm.

  Taylor sympathised somewhat with Charles regarding his reasoning for going after Jim, Brian and Chief Inspector Messenger. He could not, however, understand his reasons for targeting the three girls, after he had admitted that he did indeed abduct and kill the other two. Taylor could only sit and listen in disgust as Charles broke down and explained in graphic detail what he had done to the girls; he heard all about Charles’ misguided logic and anger at his mother for giving him up and abandoning him to the life he had to endure. Charles explained that he’d never intended to commit any of his despicable crimes, and it wasn’t until after his chance encounter with Jim towards the end of last year that all these strong feelings of hate and resentment towards her, that he must have locked away deep in his subconscious for all these years, had resurfaced and engulfed and consumed his every waking thought.

  Fighting through the tears he went on to state how deeply ashamed he was of himself, and hadn’t realised in doing what he had done he was no better than the men who had abused him until after killing Jim. Killing the three girls was the only thing he regretted in all of this. He then co-operated fully in helping Taylor and his staff locate the missing bodies of Lucy Mitchell and Sarah Davidson so that the parents could finally lay their daughters to rest.

  He thought of his own daughters; they would now never want anything to do with him ever again. He then thought of his wife, the woman he had loved and lied to for all these years about his real background and upbringing. Maybe if he had just been honest with her from the start he might have been able to lay all his demons to rest without the need for any of this to have happened. But he knew it was too late, and that the damage was irreversible, and knew once again he would be abandoned and left alone by the ones he loved.

  ***

  With Messenger dead, and Taylor reinstated by the new interim Chief Inspector, he thought it about time that Georgie brought in their witness after she had been released from the hospital. The witness managed to provide enough evidence of Messenger’s involvement in the paedophile network to tarnish his reputation for good, even after his death, and she also managed to identify and make statements about lots of other high-ranking officials. One by one, the police arrested and charged numerous men involved in the systematic abuse of young children spanning over a total of thirty years.

  After extensive psycho evaluation Charles was diagnosed as having a psychotic personality disorder, along with schizophrenia — probably brought on by the traumas of losing his parents Vicky and William McMullen at such a young age, being abused at the farm, and the death of his friend and commanding officer, Marcus Lancaster, not to mention his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It was ruled that Charles was not of sound mental health when he had committed his crimes; he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and detained indefinitely at Berkshire Broadmoor Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he would stay for the remainder of his life, with no chance of ever being released.

  ***

  Now the case had finally been brought to an end, Georgie decided that the time was now right for her to return home and leave Taylor. He’d been promoted to the position of Chief Inspector after Messenger’s demise, and was doing a fantastic job in his new role. They warmly embraced as though they had been friends for years as they said their goodbyes; a lot had happened over such a relatively short period of time. Taylor once again thanked her for all her help and repeated how he could have never done it without her support.

  ‘You were pretty awesome yourself, mister!’ she told him. ‘I suppose I’ll miss you. I’ll definitely keep in touch from time to time to see how you’re getting on, Chief Inspector!’

  They very nearly came close to a kiss as they embraced but both stopped themselves, knowing what happened the last time.

  Georgie whispered in his ear, ‘We’ll always have the memory of our night together.’

  They finally ended their embrace. Taylor could only smile as he watched her
walk away, get into her car, and drive out of his life.

  ***

  A month had passed since Charles had been admitted to Broadmoor and the media circus was starting to die down; journalists were beginning to run out of stories to tell regarding Charles’ background, the abuse and, of course, his victims. It was at this point that Rebecca finally felt the time was right to visit Charles.

  She could barely look him in the eye as she sat and explained that, since what he had done had come to light, she and the girls had received nothing but abuse from everybody they had encountered. He had made their lives unbearable, with even so-called close friends turning their backs on them. She went on to say how the girls had disowned him for what he had done and put them through, and never wished to see him again for the rest of their lives; they couldn’t bear the thought that their father, the man they loved and idolised, was actually a monster. She then told him that this would be the last time he would ever see her or the girls as she couldn’t take any more. She was going to stay with distant relatives in Canada and start a new life for her and the girls, and possibly assume new identities to escape being linked to him.

  Charles could not find any words to say to his wife and just sat there in tears, ashamed of what he had done, of what he had put them through. He knew that she meant every word of what she had just told him; he would never see her again. She just had one last question to ask him before she got up and turned to leave.