“This is getting creepy now. I’ve never heard of anything like it.” Julie shuddered.
Les rubbed her arm. “It’s highly unusual, but we’ll get him. He’s too cocky, and he’s bound to slip up sooner or later.”
“Let’s hope he does. I’d die on the spot if anybody went through my house.” Julie sighed.
“Cal, could you arrange for a locksmith to change all the locks at my house? The bastard took the key with him.”
“Will do, boss.”
The others dispersed while Adam printed off several images he’d taken of his house and added them to the board.
“That’s not normal!” Cal said, coming up behind him. “What kind of monster can fill a bowl with turd, like that?”
“I’ve got no idea. It looks like he’s saved all his waste up for a month.” Adam shook his head as though trying to dislodge the memory. “I had to pull the lot out with my hands. It wouldn’t flush away.”
“Whoa, boss!” Cal gagged.
Adam chuckled. “How do you think I felt? Oh, and Frances intends to come in later, just for a couple of hours.”
“Are you sure she’s up to it?”
“She insisted. I’ll take her for a drive out, maybe visit Sally Kemp and Catherine Bailey, give them an update.”
Cal answered the internal phone as it rang. “Okay, hang on a minute.” He held the handset to his chest. “Someone’s left an envelope for you downstairs.”
“Okay, I’ll run down now.”
PC Ryan Duncan held an envelope up for Adam when he got down to the front desk.
“Oh, cheers, Dunc. Who dropped it off?”
“I don’t know. I just found it sitting there.” He pointed to the side of the counter.
“That’s odd.”
“Not really, we’ve been flat tack already this morning. They may have got tired of waiting.”
“No problem. Thanks, mate.”
Adam opened the envelope as he jogged up the stairs back to the office, but stopped in his tracks as he pulled out the contents. His stomach dropped.
Stuffing the papers back into the envelope, he marched through the open area to his office and slammed the door. Once he was safely behind his desk, he opened the envelope again.
Several sheets of paper were folded together. The top sheet showed an image of a little girl eating an ice-cream. But, it was the caption that caused his blood to run cold.
Could Mary Pitt be the missing toddler, Bella Sullivan?
Page after page of newspaper articles followed with details of Dennis Kidd’s trial and subsequent murder. The mention of Child #1 had been highlighted in yellow and the words this is Amanda written in ink at the side of the paper. The article also mentioned a baby born of incest, which was highlighted too, and the words this is Mary written beside it, in carefully printed handwriting.
More articles showed Andrew’s arrest and death, and stated his daughter had gone to live with her aunt. Mary and Amanda had been written, in the same handwriting, beside it.
Finally, there were clippings of the original abduction of three-year-old Bella Sullivan.
He picked up the phone and dialled his wife. She answered almost immediately.
“Amanda. We have a problem.”
Chapter 34
Amanda almost flaked out on the spot. Nobody knew she was Child #1. The police had been careful to keep her name out of the news.
When Andrew came back on the scene, he confessed to Amanda he had kidnapped Mary from her abusive, drug-addicted, adoptive parents. He told her how he took the child to France with fake documents. He returned a couple of years later, met and married Judith who treated Mary as her own. But Judith became sick which, when added to the news of their dad’s release, caused Andrew to flip out and murder their childhood abusers one by one.
Poor Mary had had to deal with the death of her mother at the same time her father went missing, and Amanda didn’t want to add to the girl’s distress. How could an eleven-year-old girl cope with the knowledge she was born of such awful circumstances, so Amanda made the decision to keep Andrew’s confession to herself.
After Adam arrested Andrew, she worried her brother’s mental state might drop her in the poop, so she eventually confided the truth to Adam, which was overheard by Holly and Sandra. Only four of them in the whole world knew the truth, and she would trust each of them with her life.
How could somebody else work out the truth?
“So, what are they demanding?” Amanda said.
“They haven’t, yet.”
“This can’t be happening, Adam. We can’t allow Mary to discover the truth. It’ll ruin her. She’s already been through much more than she should’ve.”
“Well, at this stage nobody else knows about the letter. We just need to wait and see what happens from here.”
“I don’t want you losing your job. If push comes to shove, I’ll say I told nobody,” she said.
“If push comes to shove, we act shocked. How can they prove Andrew told you?” Adam argued.
“Why would they send this evidence to you and not your boss?”
“To mess with my mind. Amanda, check the cupboard under the stairs. I think this might be the handiwork of Miles Muldoon again.”
She reached the cupboard in a couple of strides and stared at an empty space instead of the treasured box she’d kept there. She gasped. “Oh, no, Adam. He’s taken the box.”
“That explains everything, then. He’s found everything he needed in that fucking box.”
She couldn’t talk. Her mind was in chaos. “I—I’m sorry, Adam,” she eventually uttered.
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. When I get my hands on Muldoon, God help him. I’ll call you later.”
She hung up, and sat down on the sofa in a daze.
Then she hit redial. “Can you come over, Sandra? I need you urgently.”
***
When Frances turned up, Adam called her into his office.
Cal, who’d been standing with her, opened his mouth to speak but Adam cut him off. “Not now, Cal.” He slammed the office door.
“What was that all about?” Frances asked.
“Sit down.”
He walked around the desk and shoved the envelope towards her. “Look at this.”
She gasped, her eyes racing over the pages. “How?”
“Somebody left this for me in reception today.”
“Who?”
“Good question. It just appeared on the counter.”
“Can’t we look at the CCTV?”
“I don’t want to make a scene. If I do then everyone will ask what’s in the envelope and I can’t allow that to happen.”
“Fuck. Any idea who would do this?”
“It was Muldoon. He took a box belonging to Amanda that had all her childhood details in it. I haven’t a clue how he connected it to Mary, but he did.”
“This is terrible. What are you gonna do about it?”
“I can’t do anything right now. I have to hope his taunting is just aimed at me. Proving he’s a better detective than I am, maybe?”
Frances bit her lip. “What the hell is wrong with this maniac?”
Cal tapped on the door. His closed face told Adam he was offended with him for snapping at him earlier.
“Put that lot away,” he said to Frances. “Come in, Cal.”
The usually bubbly young man now spoke with tight lips. “DCI Williamson is on the phone.”
“Okay, I’ll take it. Put him through.”
Cal stomped back to his desk. Moments later Adam’s desk phone rang.
“Good morning, sir.”
“Stanley, we need to talk.”
“If it’s about the extra surveillance on Sally Kemp’s house, I tried to call you, sir, but—”
“It’s not, although I’m instructing you to cancel that with immediate effect.”
“What is it, then?”
“I need to meet with you urgently. I ha
ve several meetings I can’t get out of, but I can fit you in at three this afternoon.”
“As you know, I’m actually in the middle of an urgent case at the moment, sir. Can you tell me what it is you need to see me about?”
“Just be here. 3.00pm on the dot.”
“Will do, sir.”
“What was that all about?” Frances asked, once he’d hung up.
“He puffed his mouth out and shook his head. “I’ve got no bloody idea. I’ve been summoned to HQ at three o’clock.” He rubbed his face with both hands. “I’ll be glad when today’s over, I can tell you that much.”
Frances smiled, uncomfortably.
He pushed his seat back. “Come on. Let’s go for a drive. Someone must know more than they’re telling us.”
He walked out of his office just as Cal hung up the phone. “There were no useable fingerprints collected from your house, boss. But the hair and the faeces are a match for Muldoon.”
“Thanks, Cal. And I’m sorry about before. This case is getting under my skin.” He smiled awkwardly.
Cal shrugged, his face tight and inexpressive. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
Adam rolled his eyes as he turned back to Frances. “Okay, we’re off to see Sally Kemp and Catherine Bailey. Call me if anything else comes up.”
As they left the building, Adam turned to Frances. “How did the meeting with the funeral director go?”
“Okay, I think. I’m crap at that kind of thing so Val took over. I don’t care what kind of casket he has. Nothing will bring him back.”
“I know, but some people find that kind of thing a comfort.”
“I guess. This is something Val needs to do for her son. Whatever she wants is fine by me.”
As they approached the car, Adam pressed the key fob to open it. “That’s very selfless of you, Frances. I’m sure it means a lot to Val. When is the funeral?”
“Next Tuesday at 11.00am. Do you think you can make it?”
“Of course, I can make it. I may not have known Steve very well, but I’ll be there for you.”
“Thanks, Adam.”
Chapter 35
They arrived at the Kemp household a few minutes later.
Sally opened the door with tears in her eyes. “Come in, come in. I was about to call you, detective. I just found an envelope that had been shoved through the door.”
Adam raised his eyebrows at Frances and stepped inside the entrance hall. He followed a visibly shaken Sally through to the lounge.
She handed him an envelope that looked similar to the one he’d received. His heart thrashed about in his chest as he opened it up.
He found two photographs inside, and Adam breathed a sigh of relief that they had nothing to do with Mary.
An image showed a man lying in bed, with Sally sitting on a chair beside him. On closer inspection, he could tell the photograph had been taken through a diamond-leaded window.
“Is this your dad?”
She nodded. “Taken from outside Daddy’s bedroom last night.”
“Are you sure the photos were taken last night?”
“I’m positive,” she snapped, gasping for breath. “Look at the blouse I’m wearing. I only bought it a couple of days ago. I wore it for the first time yesterday.”
In the second image, Sally stood over her father, wiping his mouth.
Adam replaced the images in the envelope and handed it to Frances. “We’ll need to take these with us.”
Sally nodded.
“Did you notice one of our cars outside last night?” Frances asked.
“Yes. Just after these photos were taken, I took the officer a flask of tea before going to bed. I didn’t see anything, but I reckon he was still there. He could’ve fucking attacked me.” Her tone escalated with every word spoken, and she gripped Frances’ outstretched hand.
“Okay, okay. Calm down,” Frances said. “He didn’t hurt you, and, like you said, he could have if he wanted to.”
Sally nodded.
“It’s strange the officer didn’t see him though. Is your father’s room at the back of the house?”
Sally nodded. “Yes. There are two windows, but the angle of this photograph means he took it from the side window.”
“Can you show us before we go?”
“Yes. I would prefer you didn’t go inside his room.”
“From outside will do for now.”
“Okay. Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t even ask you what you’re here for.”
Frances looked at Adam to take it from there.
“We have bad news, I’m afraid. The DCI cancelled the surveillance.”
“Really? So Miles could just walk in here and slice us to ribbons for all you care?”
“That’s not entirely fair. It’s not up to me, Sally. But like Detective Frances said, if he wanted to, he would’ve done it already.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“But we’re no closer to finding him although he’s been taunting us all weekend, and now he’s doing the same to you. Can you think of anybody at all who might be hiding him?”
“Honestly, I can’t. He wasn’t that close to anybody except me, and of course Lana. Albeit briefly.”
“Hopefully he’ll slip up before too long.” Adam turned to leave. “Can you show us to your father’s window?”
They walked out the front door and down the left-hand side of the detached house.
“He took the photo from here.” Sally pointed to a narrow diamond-leaded window.
Adam glanced through it at the frail man in the bed. He didn’t appear to have moved since the photograph was taken.
A chubby, dark–haired nurse, sitting beside him, turned to see what they were up to. Sally waved at her, and she smiled and turned to face her patient again.
“Look.” Frances crouched down beside the square of soil below the window.
A clear set of men’s size nine or ten footprints faced the window.
Adam took a number of photographs on his phone. “I’ll get someone over to take an impression of these prints, too.” He put the phone back in his pocket.
“Okay, thanks, detectives. I know I sounded petulant in there, but I truly appreciate your vigilance and I’m sure you’ll catch Miles soon.”
Adam wasn’t so sure.
*
At the gym, the receptionist told them Catherine Bailey had taken some time off work, so they drove to Catherine’s brother’s house opposite the park.
Two small girls played with a tea set in the front garden beside the scruffy caravan that, considering the flat tyres with weeds growing through the wheels and the back half of the caravan, must have been there for years.
“Hello, young ladies. Is your mummy home?”
The girls jumped to their feet and ran inside without saying a word.
Catherine Bailey appeared at the front door, wiping her hands on a towel. “Oh, hi. I hope it’s good news.”
“I’m afraid not. We know Miles is still in the area, but he’s proving very difficult to pin down. We wondered if you’d experienced any unexplained occurrences. Anything at all?”
“Not that I know of. But there are five adults and three kids staying in this tiny house. I don’t know if I’d recognise any unexplained occurrences if I fell over them. I want to go home and get back to work. What do you think?”
“I think it’s safer if you stay here for a while longer. I’m sure we’ll catch up with him soon.”
“I’ll give it two more days and then I’m going home. If I stay here much longer, you might have another murder to investigate.”
Adam smiled. “I’ll keep you informed of any developments, Catherine. In the meantime, have you had a chance to think of anybody, no matter how vague, who might help to hide Miles?”
“No. I’m sorry. He didn’t have many friends like I’ve already said. All he did was work when we were together.”
“Okay. If you think of anything at all, I’d appreciate you getting
in touch.”
“Without a doubt. I want him caught more than anybody. Believe me.”
They called in to Pinevale Publishing on their way back to the station. The young receptionist, with the drawn on eyebrows, recognised them as they entered.
“Ah, detectives. I was just thinking about you.”
“Intriguing. And why’s that?”
“I’ve been telling my boss, Julia Rothwell, about all the developments.”
“Is she here, then?”
“Afraid not, sorry. She’s gone out to meet with a client.”
“Has she heard anything from Miles, do you know?”
“No, nothing. She’s as baffled as we are.”
“And I suppose you’ve heard nothing either?”
She shook her head. Her fine blonde hair shimmied. “Sorry.”
They turned to leave.
“Oh, detective,” she called. “Do you know when Lana’s funeral is being held?”
Adam shook his head. “I’ve not heard anything, I’m sorry. I’ll ask my assistant to find out.”
“I’d appreciate that. Thanks.”
Adam nodded and they headed for the door.
He turned to Frances as they approached the car. “I feel like we’re just kicking tyres. We’ve got absolutely nothing to go on.”
“We know who it is. The fact he’s in hiding isn’t our fault and someone has got to know where he is. His face is plastered all over the news, so surely it’s just a matter of time before somebody recognises him.”
***
Amanda burst into tears when she opened the front door.
“Hey, hey. What’s happened?” Sandra rushed in, dropped her bag and coat in the hall, and pulled Amanda into her arms.
After a couple of minutes, Sandra stepped back and scanned the younger woman’s face. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
Amanda shook her head and nodded to the kitchen. “There’s someone here, changing the locks. Let’s go in the lounge.”
She closed the door and told Sandra about the envelope Adam had received.
“Blimey. What a mess,” she said.
“What if he tells someone else? What if they take her off us? The poor girl will be distraught.”
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