Dead Reckoning: The Freeman Files Series: Book 14

by Ted Tayler

  John slowed and turned into the estate entrance.

  “No Land Rover Defender in sight,” he said. “I guess the Vauxhall is the wife’s car?”

  Gus jumped out of the vehicle and ran to the front door. It was just after eleven o’clock, and the house was in darkness. Gus kept ringing the bell and waited on the doorstep, praying Blessing was still alive.

  “Who is it?”

  Corinne Wallington wasn’t opening the door to strangers.

  “Gus Freeman, Corinne. We met this afternoon.”

  Corinne opened the door.

  “Are you looking for Oscar?” she asked.

  “Do you know where he is?” asked Gus.

  “I haven’t seen him since he left this afternoon. He told me something needed his attention at the manor house, but I discovered he'd packed a bag and taken it with him when I went upstairs later this evening. He’s not answering his phone. I have no idea what he’s up to.”

  “Where would he go if he was running, Corinne?” asked Gus.

  “What do you mean? Why would he be running?”

  “We need to speak to him urgently. He has one of my colleagues with him. We found her car abandoned on the outskirts of Tilshead.”

  Corinne shook her head. The news about her husband had come as a shock, Gus could tell. They were wasting time stood on her doorstep.

  “Am I in danger, Gus?” Corinne asked.

  “Where are the boys?”

  “Patrick, our eldest, shares a house in Salisbury with two friends from university. I could take Charles with me and stay there until this is over.”

  “That sounds a good idea. I’m sorry, I can’t tell you more, Corinne,” said Gus. “We’ve got people looking for Oscar at ports and airports. Our aim now is to search the most likely areas on the Plain he might have gone after taking my colleague hostage.”

  “Good luck with that,” said Corinne. “He knows the Plain like the back of his hand.”

  “Where were your married quarters, Corinne?”

  “We were at Upavon when we first moved here, and then when the boys came along, we moved to a bigger house at Bulford. I can give you the addresses.”

  Gus left Corinne Wallington to wake her son and try to explain what the heck was going on. Once he was back in the Land Rover, John Ferris set off towards Bulford Camp. Gus checked his phone. Still no reply from the SIB contact.

  “How do we get onto the camp to check whether Wallington is there?” asked Suzie.

  “Come to that, how does he have free rein to come and go four years after he retired?” said Gus.

  “We won’t get to Bulford before half-past eleven, Gus,” said John. “Upavon is ten miles further on. Time is ticking.”

  “Perhaps I should call Geoff Mercer,” said Gus. “He can get people to Upavon. Then, if he’s got people closer to Bulford already, we can get these addresses searched while we’re driving.”

  Gus cursed.

  “What’s up?” asked Suzie.

  “Have you got a signal on your phone? Mine’s dead.”

  “Me too,” said Suzie.

  “Make that three,” said John. “Reception comes and goes out here. We’ll get back in service before you know it.”

  Gus hoped John was right. They continued to head towards Bulford.

  When the ringtone on his phone suddenly rang out, it made him jump.

  “Gus Freeman.”

  “Jamie Barnes-Trewick here. Sorry I didn’t reply earlier. I hope I didn’t wake you?”

  “No chance, we’re on our way to Bulford. One of my detectives is missing. We believe a suspect in a murder case took her hostage.”

  “Blimey, I was with Blessing earlier. I stopped her car because she was trespassing. When she explained what she was doing, I stayed with her until we’d driven to Durrington and back. Blessing said what she’d learned had solved a mystery. I reunited her with her car, and she was driving back to the main road, heading home. That was half-eight, give or take.”

  “She didn’t get home, Jamie. We found her car on the Worton side of Tilshead. Based on the evidence we’ve gathered so far, Oscar Wallington took her.”

  “The name rings a bell. Wasn’t he one of ours?”

  “He left Bulford Camp four years ago and is the estate manager at a place between Chitterne and Warminster. We suspect he murdered a guy called Kendal Guthrie in 2015, and Blessing worked it out.”

  “Blessing didn’t mention the guy’s name. I got called away to a suspicious fire in derelict married quarters at Upavon and walked in the door just this minute. I told her the Plain was dangerous.”

  Gus heard Jamie smack a hard surface with his hand.

  “You okay, Jamie?” he asked.

  “I remember who Wallington is now. He set up dozens of urban warfare scenarios. Wallington wrote the manual. If he’s running, he won’t want baggage. He’ll ditch Blessing and get moving. I know where he’s taken her, Gus. It’s Copehill Down, three miles from where you found her car. Thank goodness I got your message and didn’t wait until morning. The place will get lit up at 0545 in the morning. The major exercise on the Plain starts at 0900 hours because the heavy artillery disturbs the locals. But the assessors insisted they upgrade the Copehill exercise to a dawn raid. I can get there with a team to start a house to house search for Blessing in twenty minutes via The Packway and the A360. Where are you now?”

  “We just drove through Shrewton, so we should arrive there a few minutes ahead of you.”

  “Leave it to the experts, Gus,” said Jamie.

  “We need to head back to Tilshead, John,” said Gus. “Then we’re going to Copehill Down.”

  “I know the area well,” said Suzie. “I’ve ridden around that town a hundred times. Stop at the garage, and I’ll pick up my car.”

  When John Ferris reached the training site, the place was in darkness. Suzie’s Golf was parked five yards ahead of the Land Rover. Gus and his daughter had gone on ahead.

  “Typical,” said John. He grabbed a torch, got out, and made his way forward to the site perimeter. Behind him, he could hear the sound of vehicles approaching at speed. The cavalry had arrived.

  John spotted Gus and Suzie twenty yards ahead.

  “Wait, you two,” he shouted. “Although you’ve ridden around the perimeter, Suzie, do you have any idea how many houses are here, let alone cargo containers?”

  “It’s difficult to tell in the dark,” said Gus.

  “They have a variety of detached, semi-detached and terraced properties to match every eventuality. Jackie and I counted eighty properties when we rode these tracks. They added more since those days. Your RMP colleague will know what’s required. Unless you stumble on Blessing in the first house, it will take hours working alone.”

  Gus and Suzie reluctantly walked back to the Golf and the Land Rover.

  “You must be Gus Freeman,” said a voice. Suzie watched as a handsome young man in fatigues trotted towards them. Was it possible to have shoulders that broad?

  “Jamie BT, your SIB contact. My guys are sweeping the town sector by sector. We’ll check every house, every room, every container.”

  “It’s already gone midnight,” said Gus.

  “I want to find Blessing alive as much as you do, Gus,” said Jamie.

  “Wallington’s killed once,” said Gus. “He could have done it again.”

  “Not giving up yet,” said Jamie. “Can I ask a question?”

  “Of course,” said Gus.

  “Why did Wallington kill this farmer Blessing mentioned? The guy who owned Glenhead Farm.”

  “The motive was unclear,” said Gus. “Guthrie had a go at several people in the bar with Wallington that night. One witness told us Guthrie said something that appeared to faze Wallington, but we haven’t learned what that could have been yet.”

  “I may be able to help,” said Jamie. “The fire I went to investigate in Upavon was at a property once occupied by Wallington and his wife. The damage wasn’t grea
t. My guess is he was destroying evidence. Those properties have been unused for several years.”

  “Did SIB ever investigate Wallington during his time at Bulford Camp?” asked Gus.

  “A rookie recruit went AWOL back in 1997,” said Jamie. “Wallington was one of his trainers.”

  A green flare lit up the sky.

  “They’ve found her,” he cried. “Follow me, but watch where you’re going.”

  Jamie set off towards the far corner of the site. Gus struggled to match the young man’s pace. John shone his torch ahead of them to guide them towards the sector that fired the flare.

  Blessing Umeh was sitting on the back step of an Army ambulance. Jamie sat on one side, with a medic tending to her on the other. She looked dazed.

  “I’m sorry, guv,” she said when she spotted Gus. “I listened to my gut instinct, and it landed me in big trouble.”

  “Don’t worry about that now, Blessing,” said Gus. “I’m just relieved you’re alright.”

  “Your colleague was bound, gagged, and semi-conscious when we found her, sir,” said a young soldier who stood nearby. “Someone had placed an ISIS target between her and the door. When the raid started at dawn, the first guy through the door would have killed her.”

  Gus left the medic to continue caring for Blessing. There appeared to be no permanent damage done, thank goodness. He called Geoff Mercer with the news.

  “What a relief, Gus,” said Geoff. “I’ll call off the people I have on standby and step up the hunt for Oscar Wallington. Any clue where he might run?”

  “His wife has family in County Armagh, near Portadown.”

  “Did he do a tour of Northern Ireland?” asked Geoff.

  “In the late Eighties, yes,” said Gus.

  “We must make sure we catch him before he leaves the country. Kenneth will insist on getting in touch, too. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight.”

  “Good morning, more like,” said Gus.

  John and Suzie came across to speak to him.

  “Dad’s going to wait to drive Blessing back to the farm,” said Suzie. “I can take you to Blessing’s Micra. Do you think you can cope driving that to Worton?”

  Gus gave her a look that was wasted in the semi-darkness.

  “I’d like to chat to Jamie before we leave,” said Gus. “He was about to tell me something before the flare went up.”

  “Jamie BT is busy,” said Suzie. Gus looked across the street to the ambulance. The SIB contact and his Detective Constable seemed unaware there was anyone else in this urban warfare setting.

  “Funny how things work out sometimes, isn’t it?” said Gus.

  Suzie laughed, and Jamie looked up. He left Blessing and came over.

  “Sorry, Gus. I was going to tell you about Wallington. He came under scrutiny for allegedly carrying out brutal initiation ceremonies. A Private John Winslow, nineteen, disappeared one night several days after this hazing was thought to have taken place. Winslow was reported as Absent Without Leave the following morning. We searched for him in the local area and his home town of Chester, but he never surfaced. Wallington always protested his innocence. He got posted to Kosovo eighteen months later, and then he switched to Afghanistan in 2001. After he returned to Bulford, he resumed his duties as a trainer, retiring in 2011. An audit in 2012 revealed that training and complaint documentation records for 1997 had ben altered, possibly removed. Does that help at all?”

  “I should say so. What do you know about Durrington Down?” asked Gus.

  “It’s between my camp and Larkhill. Why?”

  “Three years ago, the MoD decided they didn’t need five farms they’d acquired half a century ago. Guthrie bid for all five. Because of Larkhill’s proximity to Durrington Down Farm, Guthrie told an audience in the Traveller’s Rest that when the Army withdrew from Germany, they would need married quarters for families of returning soldiers.”

  “It makes perfect sense,” said Jamie. “The ground there isn’t great for farming. That was one reason for buying the farms in the first place. So, you’re thinking Wallington realised if Guthrie was successful with his bid, he could start building on the lower reaches of Durrington Down and discover something Wallington wanted to remain hidden?”

  “I suggest you call someone at Swinton Barracks at Tidworth, rustle up a few Royal Engineers, and start digging, Jamie,” said Gus.

  “Can I leave that until morning?” asked Jamie. “It’s been a long day.”

  “You can say that again,” said Gus.

  Gus and Suzie walked across to the ambulance where John Ferris was waiting to drive Blessing home.

  “All clear?” asked Gus.

  “The medics have told her she could go home and rest up,” said John.

  “Take a couple of days, Blessing,” said Gus. “I’ll see you on Monday morning.”

  “I’ve learned my lesson, guv,” said Blessing.

  “I’m glad to hear it. When you get back to the office, I need you to teach the others what you know about dead reckoning. I believe the basic elements are direction and distance. Am I right?”

  “There was no logic behind it, guv,” said Blessing. “I asked myself, what would you do, and went with my gut.”

  EPILOGUE

  Security at Bournemouth Airport arrested Oscar Wallington as he queued to board an EasyJet flight to Belfast International.

  When they searched his Land Rover Defender in the Long Stay car park, they found a twelve-inch long iron bar hidden in a compartment under the driver’s seat.

  Engineers working under the guidance of Jamie Banks-Trewick recovered the remains of Private John Winslow from a gully near the boundary of land belonging to the farm on Durrington Down. John Winslow died from blunt force trauma to the skull.

  Blessing Umeh attended St Peter’s Church, Englishcombe, on Sunday, the second of September. Her parents, Kelechi and Maryam accompanied her, but Ekene Kanu was indisposed.

  Blessing sent Ekene a selfie on Friday evening taken in the orchard at Worton Farm, where she was entertaining a visitor keen to help her recover from her ordeal.

  Jamie BT was a great kisser. Ekene Kanu was surplus to requirements.

  Gus Freeman had driven to the Old Police Station office first thing on Thursday morning, explained what had happened, and sent the rest of the team home until Monday.

  “There’s no point getting our files updated before Blessing can provide her invaluable contribution,” he said. “We deserve a break. Make the most of it. Who knows what our next case will bring?”

  You have just finished reading ‘Dead Reckoning,’

  the fourteenth book in the series featuring ‘The Freeman Files’.

  The fifteenth book in the series ‘A Normal November’ will follow.

  Feel free to Tweet about any of my books, and please tell your friends about them. Every writer likes to receive a review; it’s our lifeblood. If you can, then please do.

  About The Author

  Ted Tayler is the international best-selling author of the Freeman Files and Phoenix series:

  “Gus Freeman’s cold case investigations are carried out with reasoned deduction rather than bursts of frantic action. His intuitive detection skills and the strong Crime Review Team he nurtures soon become an irresistible force. In each book, romance, humour, and country life intersperse with an unsolved murder.”

  “The core message in my Phoenix novels is that justice is failing today. The Phoenix believes criminals should pay for their crimes; the current system fails to deliver the correct punishment. His fellow Olympus agents help redress the balance.”

  “Life is all about balance. Good and evil, love and loss, laughter, and tears. I think of myself as a storyteller, and with each successive book, I hope I get better at it. Readers tell me it feels like we’re across the table from one another, and I’m chatting with them. There are more stories left to tell.”

  Ted Tayler lives in West Wiltshire, England, where many of his stories are based
. Born in 1945, Ted’s been married to Lynne since 1971. They have three children and four grandchildren.

  Acknowledgements

  The love and support of my family; without them, this would have been impossible.

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  Thanks again for reading. Until the next time.

  The Final Straw

  An only child, unloved and unwanted by his parents, Colin Bailey, is a bitter, emotionally damaged young man. He’s hell-bent on exacting revenge on anyone who has stopped him becoming the person he believes was his destiny. What sets Colin apart is his intellect and meticulous planning. Detective Phil Hounsell pursues his man relentlessly while trying to avoid the small town in which he works sliding further and further into the grip of two rival gangs.

  A devastating event in Colin’s life provides the final straw that herald’s a bloodbath. Can Phil prevent it from happening, or will he, too, be a victim? This tale of revenge spans two decades, yet the police are chasing shadows; it builds in pace and tension to a thrilling climax against the backdrop of a quiet West Country town.

  Unfinished Business

  The sequel to the award-winning ‘The Final Straw’ sees Colin Bailey return to the UK after a decade abroad. With a new name and a new face, he still has scores to settle. His meticulous planning takes him ingeniously across Scotland and the North of England, ticking names off his list with the police completely baffled.