by Hylton Smith
“I think that time is critical, and I don’t quite know how to put this – should Gilbert have seen this himself?”
“Oh shit, you’re right. My head doesn’t seem to be where it should be at the moment. Get on your way before I change my mind.”
Renton confessed to Stephanie that he felt like an air traffic controller who was confined to two dimensions. “I’m losing grip on where we are, because we’ve got so many moving targets. There’s one exception – forensics seem to be at a standstill. Listen Steph, we can’t afford any more time on these internet threads. I know we might miss something, but it’s a question of priorities. Ben’s right, our best shots lie with him and Sam at the moment. I’d like you to check something out which may just help Adams, in case he runs in to trouble getting information out of London. Can you find out if Hendricks’ company – Kingston Allied Investments, has seen a change of shareholders recently? I will pay a visit to Clive Donoghue to see what he’s up to.”
While on his way he was alerted to an incoming call. It was Frank.
“A rather unfortunate state of affairs, don’t you think Inspector? My enquiries have yielded little, hence my call. One of my people has visited the Mission and determined that an altercation occurred between two other associates of mine. I now know of the death of the manager, rather sad I must say. I have to assume that you know more of the whereabouts of these two people than I do. Can you confirm that?”
“I am beginning to get annoyed about your fickleness in sticking to your declaration over communication. You terminated this conduit, don’t you remember?”
“You sound prickly Inspector Renton. I am merely asking if you can tell me anything about two missing persons, as a worried member of the public.”
“You just choose to ring me when you feel it’s necessary, what’s in this for me?”
“Very well, in that case it is you who should begin to worry about specific members of the public again. Unless you can tell me whether you have my colleague with the walking impediment, you will have another case to investigate.”
“Ok, enough of this crap; we are holding him because he will be charged with mortally wounding the manager of the Mission. He has to face this accusation – that is the law. I’m afraid you’ll have to get by without him for a long time.”
“Ah, the law, that noble sentiment which deludes itself that justice is seen to be delivered. I used to believe that too. My rules now work differently. I assume then that you have Friend in custody too, well that is fine for now. However, unless you release the person with the limp, I will issue warning of the consequences on both the internet and your precious internal database. Think hard Inspector.”
Jack Renton scolded himself for not keeping his temper under control. He kept the indiscretion to himself. It was getting late, so he skipped his visit to forensics and went home.
Chapter 16
After a sleepless night the last face he wanted to see was that of Bradstock. Before he was subjected to more scatter-brained ideas, he took the initiative.
“I had another call from Frank late last night. He knows we have two of his people held in custody. I’m afraid he has issued a threat to resume his original agenda unless we release the one with the limp. Despite me telling him that the police can’t bargain with anyone other than legal representatives over releasing a suspect, let alone a self-confessed killer, he sees it as simple arithmetic. He is going to start posting stuff again, including the Intranet. It looks like your boys in London are in for another testing time.” He was ready for a tirade when he disclosed that Adams and Gibson were not going to be present, and would miss his touch of genius in propelling the investigation forward.
“Well, that’s all I need Jack. You were absolutely right to tell this moron we aren’t going to do any deals with him. Let me know if you need any further resource as a contingency against his prosecution of this threat. I’m terribly sorry to leave like this but if he is about to infiltrate our system again the London people will need my guidance to be at hand.”
“I’ll run you to the airport or the train Sir.”
“No, not at all, just call me another taxi. You need to prepare for what he is going to throw at you. I’d rather take the train, as it takes forever to get from Heathrow to the city, and it is impossible to do any work on the damned aircraft these days with the number of less savoury characters on board; it is akin to a cattle truck in the sky.”
“Well, good luck with the I.T. boys Sir. I’ll keep you up to date on things at this end.”
*
He sat back in his chair and shook his head, but gave Stephanie the good news.
“Yeah, that’s great Sir, but I have just had confirmation that Clyde Hendricks’ business did have a re-shuffle of shares, but not a partial one. The transfer of the entire stock is now owned by ‘The High Road Group’ and was finalised well before Hendricks’ termination. In fact, if Greg Watson’s estimated time of death of the headless woman is correct, and the victim is Martha Blake, her brother had sold out the business before she died. You don’t look too pleased Sir; surely this is better news than simply getting rid of that wanker Bradstock for a few days.” He smiled and nodded.
“That’s not a word which fits with your new smart image. Have you told Adams?”
“No, I’m just going to do it now.” She returned to her desk to see there was an image on her screen. It was a photograph of a section of Hadrian’s Wall. The accompanying message stated that a barely competent detective would be able to figure out which section it was, and that Inspector Renton would fit that description. It ended with what would be revealed at the location, if it was not discovered first by a member of the public, promising the sixth corpse. ‘This one missed out in becoming part of the composite found in Tynemouth Priory because it was particularly special. Circumstances have altered and so must the consequences’.
The mood changed abruptly and Renton asked Stephanie if she could use Google Earth to recognise any landmarks which fitted with the image. He asked uniform to provide a car to take him when they had the coordinates. He also requested both Watson and Donoghue to join him. He paused for a minute or so, mentally debating whether to inform Bradstock, and chose not to at this stage.
It didn’t take long to narrow the choice to one of two sites. The proximity of a river and the outline of a fort suggested it was either Corbridge Roman Town or Chester’s Fort near Chollerford. The latter had a better fit to Frank’s image, and it was less likely to attract attention. The sack was found at the deepest point of one of the corner excavations from the past. The weather was atrocious, blinding rain mixed with sleet. It was carefully lifted out by the additional uniformed support, and then Donoghue proceeded to loosen the tie with tongs. The body parts were wrapped in muslin but there were just two of them. When the first was unwrapped it indicated what they could expect from the second. The right-hand side of a female body had been sawn and separated from the other half, having one leg, one arm, half a head and no heart. The surprise was that the second package was from another person. It was the left side. The revelation of two hearts in this one seemed to be symbolic to Renton, as Watson proceeded carefully, talking into his recorder. The whole scene became utterly grotesque as the two parts were placed alongside one another without the shielding of the muslin. They hurriedly took photographs before re-wrapping the parts in the muslin to avoid evidence degradation by the elements. One of the young uniformed officers wobbled away from the gruesome apparition and apologised for throwing up into the ancient fort. The recovery vehicle had arrived and the evidence was taken away. Renton stayed with Donoghue, whose team was expected to arrive imminently. He wanted to stay in case there was any forensic optimism left behind. He thought this might be the case, because this had not been planned, and therefore executed in a very short time.
*
Ben Adams pondered the news from Stephanie. Apart from Hendricks’ surrendering his company earlier than Kennedy had indicated
, it began to throw more doubt on the whole situation. He decided on caution and kept this information to himself for now. He rang Stephanie back and asked her to check out the registered name of the occupier next door to Hendricks.
“Do it from there, I don’t want any more enquiries to go through the London force. Get back to me as soon as you can.”
“Ok, the Boss says I should let you know there are another two bodies courtesy of Frank. Well, two half-bodies actually. He’s at Chollerford right now and we’re kind of short-handed. He asked if it was possible to bring Sam back as soon as you can.”
“Jesus. Another two murders; why has Frank’s sick mind flared up again? Never mind Steph, if you can get me the information I want on Hendricks’ neighbour I’ll come back myself. Sam needs to get through his list even if all it does is eliminate the names on it. I’ll feel a bit safer checking out the London connection from a distance. It smells of corruption.”
*
Renton’s mental fortitude was under siege. A new attack came from an unexpected source. Jane had been trying to reach him on his mobile for some time, but it was switched off. When she finally got through, with the help of the Newcastle station, she was livid.
“So, it seems that if it’s not to do with work, it decreases in priority. I’m just ringing to let you know your son has had an accident. He was in a crash in a cross-country bike race and has a lot of injuries. His left leg is broken and he’s punctured a lung. The doctors are also worried about his spine. They can’t see any evidence of serious damage from the scans, but his reflexes aren’t responding normally. They are doing more tests. If you have the time he’s in Edinburgh General, although he wouldn’t want to drag you away from your work.” The tone of bitterness struck at an already weakened ability to rationalise what was actually going on. He felt like an observer of life from a distant perch, without any real means of effecting control. His response was badly measured.
“Jane, I’m on my way. I didn’t even know he was in a damned bike race. This is why I wanted to take the job in statistics. I can only….”
“Oh right, it’s probably my fault then for talking you out of it. The only reason you didn’t know he was in a bike race is because you don’t care enough. I thought we were seeing a new Jack Renton a couple of years ago, but old habits die hard. Anyway, Daniel’s welfare is the most important thing on my mind at present. I suppose we’ll see you soon, unless something more urgent crops up.”
“Jane I’m sorry. Can we….” The disconnect click rang loudly in his mind as well as his ears. He informed Stephanie and was relieved that Adams had already decided to come back. He also made an impulse call to Bradstock.
“I’ve just had some bad news about my son, he’s got critical injuries, and is hospitalised in Edinburgh. I have to take some compassionate leave. You mentioned extra resourcing before you left for London. Can you consider doing that now Sir?”
“Of course I can. You had better just get to the hospital. Leave it with me and I’ll sort it out with Adams.” He left and headed up the A-68 at an excessive speed, until he began to recover control of the conflicting emotions which were repetitively coursing through his mind and stomach simultaneously.
*
Adams needed no further encouragement to head for home. Stephanie’s checks through council and electoral registry channels had delivered the information he wanted. The occupier turned out to be Howard Freeman, the very person Carl Kennedy claimed to have put Hendricks in touch with the casino, about the loan request. Adams could no longer believe that D.C.I. Gilbert didn’t know this, maybe he didn’t want to know. He concluded that the Frankenstein enquiry only needed to know how these irregularities connected to Martha Blake, if indeed she was relevant to Frank’s antics in Tynemouth. He returned Stephanie’s call and asked her to begin a similar search for Martha’s son.
“Hendricks said his name was Dermot, but we can’t take that as solid in view of your recent findings. Let’s start with Blake and his date of birth registration. There can’t be many in this district of London. Thanks Steph, I hope this isn’t going to interfere with your romantic commitment.”
“Get a life Sir, or even a romantic commitment yourself. You could do with a makeover too. I think there’s only Angela in forensics, who rates your fashion sense.” He laughed awkwardly and thought, ‘Angela, I’d never have guessed’.
*
Sam Gibson had hit a jackpot of sorts. His trail of the one remaining name of the genitalia-free corpse had led him from Manchester itself to Greater Manchester, Salford to be precise. Coincidences like this were the staple diet of a ferret like Sam. Brett Driscoll was still officially missing but the officers on the case agreed off the record that he had probably been whacked by the mob. Not only that, he had worked for the people running businesses for the Midwest arm of the Colony, amongst which was the casino operations of the North West. He was able to get a recent photo of Driscoll. His intuition to connect this man to Carl Kennedy went in a tangential direction, to the young London officer’s assertion that Hendricks had not reported Martha Blake missing. He spoke to the officer by phone and asked if he would take a look at an uploaded photo of Driscoll. He had no hesitation in identifying him as the person who posed as Hendricks that day. The address given became more important now, but Sam was certain they had the identity of Frank’s thirty-three year-old victim from the Priory. When he passed this on to Adams, he was instructed to come back to Newcastle. He was annoyed about this until he heard of Renton’s plight and Adams’ declaration of corruption in the Capital.
“Sam, we now know that the neighbour of Hendricks’ is Howard Freeman, the very guy who set him up.”
“Shit, that does make a difference, I’m on my way.” There was a general feeling that the case was beginning to crack open. It was not shared by Jack Renton, who was staring at his son. Daniel had physically cracked open.
Chapter 17
There was more tension between Jane and Renton. After a long and tearful vigil in the intensive care unit, he said he was going back to Newcastle, and would return in the morning.
“I can’t say that it surprises me after all these years. You run away from any situation you can’t handle, other than chasing the scum of society. I can keep you up to date with Daniel’s condition by text, and that would avoid me having to get annoyed at the unobtainable message. You know, you’d be able to take the text at your convenience.”
“Listen just for a moment Jane.”
“No, you listen, we’re through for good this time Jack. Daniel and I just get in your way and somehow we always feel guilty about it. We’ve had enough. Maybe you were right, I shouldn’t have talked you out of the statistics job, but I did it because I knew you wouldn’t be happy. I really need to look for my own happiness now, and I think Daniel feels the same. We’ve been let down too many times, and whereas he could brush this off when he was a nipper, he’s now an adult. Of course there’s the moments when you are his hero, but it’s the bits in between which hurt him most. I don’t think you should come to the house any more. It shouldn’t be a big sacrifice as you don’t come much anyway.”
“All I wanted to say was that I came up here without giving much thought to practical things like clean clothes. I wanted to go and collect them and drive back immediately, then stay for as long as it takes to get Daniel back to good health. I’m on indefinite compassionate leave, and my absence is being covered. If it bothers you I’ll just go into the city here and buy some new stuff.”
“Do what you like Jack. This is about Daniel. It doesn’t change my view of the rest.”
Renton was rudderless and walked into the high streets of Edinburgh. He bought a few casual clothes suitable for killing time in the hospital. He knew Jane was right about the stats job, and he couldn’t even trust himself to stick it out if he re-applied for it. For the first time he could remember, he called Adams and said he wanted no incoming calls until further notice. Ben tried to be helpful by givin
g him a summary of the recent success, but he was cut off.
“No exceptions Ben. I’ll call you when things change.”
*
Bradstock had allocated two detectives from Durham to help Adams cover the ground. He was delighted with the new leads, and also felt they had made a breakthrough in plugging the dam with respect to Frank getting on to the Intranet system again. The new recruits were young detective constables, which suited Adams. He informed Stephanie they were to report to her, while he and Sam tracked down the son of Martha Blake.
“Another two toy-boys for you Steph, be careful with them – they are inexperienced. I must say you do look ravishing again today.”
“Piss off Sir. You might just change your mind when you meet my friend, who doesn’t yet qualify as my boyfriend. You’ve been dying to ask that question, haven’t you?”
“Touchy aren’t we, yes I was little bit curious. Now, I’m going to forensics to catch up with Donoghue on the latest two bodies.”
“Not Angela then?”
He shook his fist at her and said he’d be calling on Greg Watson as well. He didn’t get much from Donoghue other than they had a lot of samples to test. However, Watson immediately declared that they had missed something at the discovery site.
“It’s not surprising because it was raining hard, and we wanted the bodies back here as soon as we could, to avoid important clues being washed away. There wasn’t any point in putting up a tent. Anyway, both bodies were incomplete. The first one, a female with the heart missing, was also without a finger. The second, with two hearts, also a female was missing a toe. Does that ring any bells?”
Adams reacted immediately. “They’re the victims whose finger and toe were given to us by Frank, well actually by Friend.”
“Indeed they are. However before you get too excited, I can’t tell you whether these people had the respective digits amputated before or after death. The appendages and the half-bodies had been frozen for some time, and this has resulted in my calculations estimating a similar time period for both. What is not in doubt is the approximate time of death of each person. They were terminated around the same time as the first two from Frank’s second video, the armless and legless young men. They were also butchered with the same accuracy and precision; I hesitate to use the word care.”
