Hunted on the Fens

by Joy Ellis

  * * *

  Joseph hung back after the others had filed out. ‘Do you think maybe it’s time to go visit an old friend of yours? An old Carborough friend?’

  In his mind, Joseph saw thick greying hair, piercing and intelligent eyes and the impressive straight-backed frame of Archie Leonard, one-time godfather of the Carborough. In his time Archie had controlled everything illegal in Greenborough, but he had done so in a strangely old-fashioned way. He had fought with Nikki more times than she could remember, but over the years they had formed an alliance, built on a grudging respect. Archie didn’t like the drug-fuelled, mindlessly violent misfits that tried to rule the estate any more than the police. Hence, on occasions he had helped Nikki, and one time in particular, helped her big-style.

  ‘No. I don’t think so.’

  Joseph blinked in surprise. Nikki’s negative reply shocked him, and he looked at her in confusion. ‘Why? If anyone could help us to find Stephen Cox, it’s Archie.’

  ‘Not this time, Joseph. We need to sort this out for ourselves.’ She threw him an odd look, but one he knew not to question.

  ‘Right, then I’ll go see if Vinnie Silver has finished out at Cloud Fen.’

  She nodded and left it at that, saying only, ‘And I have to see the superintendent with an update. Let me know about the techies and what they find.’

  It was Joseph’s turn to nod, then he left, closing the door behind him. There was still puzzlement on his face.

  Sitting at his desk, he suddenly had a vision of Hannah Galena’s funeral service.

  At the back, keeping a respectful distance away from the sea of police officers, sat a smartly dressed man and woman, with a teenage boy crammed uncomfortably between them. It was one of Archie Leonard’s sons and his wife. But it was the boy that Joseph knew best. Mickey was one of the few success stories to come out of the Carborough, proof that a leopard could change its spots if it was given the right opportunities and shown love and care. Peter and Fran Leonard had taken him in to save him from social services, and the boy had blossomed. Joseph had grinned at the lad from where he sat close to the front of the chapel, and the boy had responded with a bigger grin and a cheeky salute.

  Joseph smiled. It had been good to see the kid again, and from the few words they had grabbed after the service, Mickey clearly remembered Sergeant Joe from the days when the Carborough was in turmoil.

  The smile faded. He had believed that Peter and his wife were there as a token representation of Archie and his whole family. But thinking about it, even if the entire Fenland Constabulary had been in attendance, nothing would have stopped Archie turning up in person. Unless he hadn’t wanted to.

  He frowned. If Nikki had fallen out with the old man, surely he would have known about it? But there had been a definite blanking of his idea to go visit. He leaned back, tipping the front legs of his chair off the floor. So why hadn’t Archie been at Nikki’s daughter’s funeral?

  Joseph suddenly lurched forward, and his thoughts dispersed instantly into the blue.

  Funerals. Chapels. Crematoriums. Oh shit! If Snipe were trying to get at them in ways that would hurt, he would know about Nikki’s daughter’s death. Hannah’s passing had been too recent for Nikki to organise a proper stone memorial yet, but she had arranged for a temporary engraved plaque to be hung on the wall of remembrance.

  Joseph flipped his computer awake and brought up Google. In seconds he had contact details for the Greenborough Crematorium.

  He briskly introduced himself and asked the young receptionist if she would be kind enough to check on one of the memorial plaques for him. He gave her the name of Nikki’s daughter then added, ‘and should there be any damage, vandalism, or anything at all out of the ordinary, please be sure not to touch anything, but come back and tell me immediately.’

  The woman, who told him her name was Hayley, seemed delighted and full of self-importance to be given a task that meant helping the police. ‘I can take the telephone with me, Detective Sergeant Easter. It’s cordless with a good range, and the Garden of Remembrance is not far from the office.’

  He heard the click-clack of her heels on concrete and her short breaths as she hurried across the paths.

  ‘I’m here now. I just need to check the location number of her plaque.’ There was a moment’s silence, then she came back, ‘Ah, yes, here we are, number 238, Hannah Galena.’

  Joseph waited anxiously, hearing only the whisper of a breeze as it passed over the mouthpiece of the receiver. ‘Is everything okay?’ he asked.

  ‘It looks fine to me.’

  Joseph let out a sigh of relief.

  ‘Although . . .’

  He tensed again. ‘What’s the problem?’

  ‘I’m not sure, sergeant.’ The voice was soft and a little uncertain. ‘There are flowers here, red roses, with the young woman’s name on. I know that shouldn’t sound unusual, but flowers are always left in the chapel’s ante-room. These are wall plaques, so there are no vases or containers for plants or flowers here.’ She paused. ‘These are propped up against the wall, and I think there’s a written card on them. Shall I . . . ?’

  ‘No! Don’t touch it!’ Joseph shouted.

  ‘Oh dear, uh, well, what . . . ? Oh no!’

  The last stunned cry sent a spike of fear down Joseph’s back. ‘What’s happened? Are you alright? Hayley?’

  From the other end, Joseph heard a whimper, then a sob. ‘My hand! Something sticky . . . oh, it hurts! Help me!’

  ‘Okay, Hayley. Just hang on, I’ll get help and I’m on my way.’

  Joseph grabbed his mobile and phoned for an ambulance. He had no idea what had happened but he knew it wasn’t good. He then looked back at his computer screen and thankfully saw a second number for the crematorium. He swiftly briefed them of what had occurred and asked for their help. ‘An ambulance is on its way for Hayley, and don’t let anyone near those flowers! No one must touch them or the card. It’s imperative, okay?’

  He closed the phone and yelled across to Niall, who was just about to take a bite out of a triple-size sandwich. ‘With me! Now.’

  * * *

  They reached the Garden of Remembrance in less than ten minutes, just a moment or two after the paramedics. Together they ran to where they could see a small crowd gathered around a hunched figure sitting on the ground and rocking backwards and forwards with pain.

  One of the green-clad ambulance crew was trying to calm her, while the other endeavoured to attend to her injured right hand.

  ‘Acid burns by the look of it.’ The puzzled paramedic looked around. ‘Was she attacked? What on earth happened?’

  Joseph didn’t answer. He moved swiftly to where a sombrely dressed young man was standing staring down at an innocent-looking bouquet of flowers that lay on the concrete path. ‘Okay, son, stand away now. I’ve got it.’ He pulled out his phone and rang for assistance. ‘I need specialist help and a SOCO, as fast as you can, and tell them we are dealing with a deliberate attack using a small quantity of a Hazchem Class 8 corrosive. I have no idea what it is, but it’s dangerous.’

  He turned to Niall. ‘Go grab an armful of those metal stands with name cards on them and put them around the flowers. Form a temporary barrier and don’t let a soul get close, okay?’

  Leaving Niall in charge of the lethal bouquet, Joseph ran back to the sobbing girl and the paramedics. After telling her who he was, adding a few soothing words and a promise to follow the ambulance to the hospital, he turned to one of the paramedics. ‘Do you know what she touched?’ he asked.

  The medic looked at Joseph with real concern on his face. ‘Hell, I’m hoping I’m wrong, but I’ve seen something like this before, an industrial accident with something called hydrofluoric acid. It’s wicked bloody stuff and we need to get her to the emergency department fast.’ He lowered his voice so that the young woman couldn’t hear him. ‘My partner is beginning irrigation and we’ll keep it up all the way to the hospital, but the thing is, once this
stuff starts burning through tissue, it doesn’t stop.’

  Granite-faced, Joseph stood back and allowed the medics to get their patient into the ambulance. He gritted his teeth together tightly and wished to high heaven that he had not asked the girl to check the memorial. He should have come himself. After all, he knew they were dealing with a bloody psycho. What was he thinking? He should never have put that kid in such a position. He let out a groan of frustration. Now there was every chance she would be scarred for life, and if the acid was as dangerous as the paramedic had suspected . . . he didn’t allow himself to think any further.

  As soon as help arrived and the Garden of Remembrance was sealed off, Joseph gave Niall his car keys and as they drove to the hospital, he rang Nikki. It was not the easiest thing to explain, and not least his reason for getting the crematorium staff to go look for signs of vandalism in the first place.

  ‘Are you trying to think like Snipe?’ asked Nikki, her voice cracking with emotion.

  ‘Not at all. I was actually thinking about Archie Leonard and Hannah’s funeral.’ He gave up trying to explain, knowing it wasn’t working. ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter now, it was a shot in the dark and I happened to hit on something that Snipe would consider hurtful to you.’

  ‘Just a lucky guess?’

  ‘I’d call it a very unlucky one for Hayley, the kid who got burnt. And now I’m going to have to live with the fact that I handled the situation unbelievably badly. Like a total bloody imbecile.’ He looked miserably out of the windscreen. ‘We are just approaching the hospital now. I’ll ring you when I know how the girl is.’

  ‘Don’t bother. I’m on my way. I’ll meet you in A & E.’

  The phone went dead.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, while Niall was endeavouring to make the vending machine work, Nikki and Joseph sat outside the emergency department. To his surprise, Nikki had not laid into him with all guns blazing. If she had, he would have accepted it without question. He believed that he deserved the bollocking of the century. Instead she had asked him exactly what he had said to the receptionist and listened carefully.

  ‘You are certain that you made it perfectly clear that she should touch nothing, just report what she saw?’

  ‘Absolutely. But even so, that’s no excuse, I should have gone myself.’

  ‘Why? You were only working on a vague hunch and asking the officials there to check for . . . for what? What did you expect they might find? Something dangerous?’

  ‘Of course not. Just graffiti, I guess. I think maybe I expected the word “compensation” to be daubed across the plaque in spray paint.’

  ‘Exactly. So you had no idea that there was any danger there.’ She shook her head. ‘For heaven’s sake, Joseph, you are the last one to put someone else at risk. You aren’t a bloody clairvoyant. Plus you didn’t ask the girl to look at the card, did you?’

  ‘I expressly told her not to.’

  ‘Well, there you go, and finally, you did it because if you were right, you were fearful that I’d have to face seeing my lovely daughter’s memorial plaque desecrated. Am I correct?’

  Joseph didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. Of course he wanted to save her from any more pain.

  ‘So stop beating yourself up and get a grip.’ Her words were brusque, but he detected the undertone of another softer emotion beneath them.

  ‘I wonder how Hayley is?’

  ‘Looks like we’re about to find out.’

  Joseph looked up and saw a tall, thin man with a hooked nose and narrow glasses approaching them. He was somewhere around forty, and wore khaki chinos, a navy shirt and a worried expression. He hurriedly told them that he was a speciality lead consultant. ‘The medics were right about the acid. It is hydrofluoric, and it’s one of the most powerful acids we ever have to treat.’

  Joseph’s heart sank, but the doctor was still talking.

  ‘We’ve set up an IV line and are using special solutions to try to neutralise it, but once the flesh has begun to disintegrate, the damn stuff eats down to the bone.’ He looked at them angrily. ‘Our job has been made worse by the fact that whoever did this secreted the stuff in a sticky gel base, making irrigation almost impossible.’

  ‘So how is she? Can you help her?’ Joseph asked miserably.

  ‘She’s in a lot of pain. Luckily she only grasped it with her thumb and forefinger, although in trying to get rid of it she spread it to her palm and the fingertips of her other hand. I’m sorry, but she will have a lot of scarring and loss of function in the hand that is worst affected.’

  ‘What the devil is this evil stuff used for?’ asked Nikki. ‘I’ve never heard of it.’

  ‘Etching metal amongst other things. Hell, it can etch titanium, so can you imagine what it does to human flesh? Thank God she didn’t touch her face, poor kid.’ He frowned at them. ‘What kind of person does something like this?’

  ‘The same kind of person who spikes baby food with broken glass,’ growled Nikki.

  ‘Can I see her?’ asked Joseph, not knowing what the hell he was going to say to her.

  ‘Not just yet. The pain relief hasn’t really kicked in and she’s badly shocked. The thing about hydrofluoric is that initially it seals off the nerve endings. Some patients feel no pain at all when they first come into contact with it, but later . . .’ He gave a long, low whistle. ‘Later, it’s pure agony. Anyway, her fiancé and her mother are on their way in, but I’ll let you have a few minutes before they get here.’ He tilted his head in a birdlike fashion. ‘Sorry, but I have to get back in there. I’ll call you when she’s more comfortable.’

  They spent another ten minutes sitting, drinking coffee and trying to get their heads around what had happened. Then they saw the consultant beckoning to them.

  ‘Just a few minutes, officers. She’s calmer now, but still very upset.’

  I bet she is, thought Joseph, and she probably hates my guts!

  ‘I’m so sorry, Sergeant’

  Whatever he had expected, it was not an apology.

  ‘You told me not to touch anything. But I did.’ She stared at her hand, which was mercifully covered with sterile dressings. ‘Now look what’s happened.’ Tears filled her already sore, red eyes.

  Joseph made to reassure her that it wasn’t her fault, but Nikki gave him a cautionary glance. He changed his words for a promise to catch who ever had hurt her.

  Nikki spoke gently to her, reassuring her that she had done nothing wrong and that they had suspected nothing more than graffiti or minor vandalism.

  After a few more words, Joseph promised to visit later that evening to see how she was, and they turned to leave.

  ‘Sergeant Easter?’

  Joseph looked back at the pale figure lying on the trolley.

  ‘I wouldn’t have touched them at all,’ she looked imploringly at him, ‘but they were only flowers.’

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Joseph left his car for Niall to drive back and went with Nikki. Before he climbed into her vehicle he said, ‘I’ve just had a text from Vinnie on my disposable phone. He wants us to meet him, but not at the police station. I’ve suggested the cafe car park on the junction of Washdyke Road.’

  ‘So he’s found something?’

  ‘I suppose he has.’

  Five minutes later they pulled into the rough parking area that backed the transport cafe known simply as Susie’s Place. Joseph saw a familiar figure leaning against the side of a mud-splattered Land Rover.

  ‘Vinnie! Don’t you ever clean that thing? It hasn’t rained for two weeks.’

  ‘No time, mate. I keep getting calls from neurotic coppers asking for my help.’

  Joseph went up to his old army comrade and gave him a bear hug. Vinnie responded by clapping him heartily on the shoulders.

  ‘Good to see you, man, and we appreciate you making the trip.’ Joseph turned to where Nikki stood watching the reunion with mild amusement.

  ‘This is my boss, DI Nikki Ga
lena. Boss, this is Vinnie Silver.’

  Vinnie smiled appreciatively at Nikki and raised an eyebrow to Joseph. ‘Why didn’t any of our senior officers look like that? They were all hairy arses with bad breath, as I recall. I see now why you joined the police force.’ He gave Nikki a wide, white smile and said, ‘Pleased to meet you, ma’am.’

  Nikki was far from being disapproving of Vinnie’s outspoken comments, though they verged on being offensive. She smiled back and stuck out a hand. ‘Likewise. But I’ll pass on the man-hug bit if it’s all the same.’ She turned towards the back entrance to the cafe and all trace of humour fell away. ‘Let’s go get a coffee. Right now, we need to talk.’

  * * *

  Vinnie Silver was around six foot four, strongly built and obviously took care of his body. He wasn’t quite muscle-bound, but the seams of his denim shirtsleeves were taut and clearly in danger. His face epitomised the word rugged, and Nikki decided that he would look good on the back of a horse, or maybe felling a giant Redwood with a small axe.

  She stared at him while Joseph paid for the coffees, and decided that the best thing about Vinnie was that he looked honest. Through and through. And although he was obviously a silver-tongued rogue where women were concerned, it was almost impossible to take offence.

  Vinnie accepted his drink and looked up. This time his face was serious and his voice was low. ‘I’m not sure what you guys have done to warrant it, but you are being monitored by one mother of a surveillance system. It’s not super-sophisticated, but it’s certainly clever.’

  ‘The thing is,’ breathed Joseph quietly, ‘we don’t know what we’ve done.’

  ‘Then I guess you are in big trouble.’