by Joy Ellis
‘Shame, ma’am, you missed the big finale.’ Jessie was white, but smiling. ‘Eve was incredible.’
Nikki stared at her mother. ‘Was she indeed?’
‘And now I suppose I have to be taken down to the station and held for questioning.’
‘Yes, you probably do. It’s customary when you’ve just shot someone.’
‘Just saved my life, more like,’ said Jessie shakily.
‘And in front of some very reliable witnesses,’ added the policeman who had taken Jessie out of the room. ‘It was the most clear-cut case of self-defence I’ve ever seen. He came in with intent, ma’am. A hand gun and a knife were taken off him.’
Nikki looked at her mother. ‘Are you alright?’
‘Is he as bad as I believe he is, Nikki?’ She nodded towards the conservatory.
‘Probably worse. He’s an assassin and a terrorist. He’s wanted right across the continent, and I have never met a more ruthless man in all my years on the job.’
‘Then maybe I should have killed the bastard.’ For a second a sparkle danced in Eve’s eyes, and Nikki wasn’t sure if she meant what she had just said or was joking.
‘Can I go home now?’ Jessie looked like a small schoolgirl who had been kept in for detention.
Nikki sighed. ‘Not just yet, Jess, although you certainly can’t stay here. We still have the matter of finding the mole.’
Joseph laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘I’m sure one of our many new grasses can be convinced to drop whoever it is in the doo-doo, don’t you?’
‘I hope so.’
‘And, Nikki?’ Joseph whispered in her ear, so that no one else could hear, ‘Why don’t I ring Cat and ask her to take Jessie back with her for the night? I’m sure the threat ended when Eve turned Annie Oakley.’
‘Good idea. Get her minders to look after her until you’ve arranged that.’ Nikki rubbed her temples and groaned. ‘And we still have Ryan Ruddick in the back of my car. We have to deal with those boys tonight.’
‘The night is yet young.’ Joseph pulled a face, ‘To be honest, I’m dying to know what the hell those young men got up to with Dina Jarvis, aren’t you?’
‘Too right. I just need to make sure that our wailing assassin gets the very best treatment, prior to being locked up.’ Nikki turned to one of the armed officers. ‘This man is probably the most devious and deadly criminal you’ll ever have the misfortune to meet. Treat him accordingly. Don’t be fooled by the fact that he has just been apprehended by a senior citizen in fluffy slippers, okay? He needs the highest level of maximum security. Are we clear on that?’
‘Ma’am, we’ve already had a heads-up from Interpol about him. Be assured, Mr Fabian won’t be able to look anywhere without seeing a gun trained on him.’
Nikki went back to where Eve was talking to Joseph. ‘I’m so sorry it came to this, Eve. I never believed that anyone would make the connection with you.’
Joseph shook his head. ‘Well, I certainly didn’t. It had to have been our damned insider, didn’t it?’
‘We need to find him, or her, and fast.’ Nikki turned to Eve. ‘Do you want the medics to check you over? That must have been one hell of a scary moment.’
‘I’m fine, honestly. A stiff drink would be good, but I guess we’d better get the formalities over with first.’ She smiled. ‘And before you ask, the gun is completely official, so don’t worry about that.’
‘I’m glad to hear it.’ Nikki squeezed her mother’s arm, and whispered, ‘Thank you. You really were amazing.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
An hour later, Nikki and Joseph sat opposite Ryan Ruddick in the only free interview room. Greenborough was stretched to capacity, but at least Freddie Carver had been transferred to another station with larger custody facilities.
‘I’m tired, Ryan, and I really want to go home at some point tonight. Do you think you could explain, clearly and succinctly, what the hell happened with Dina Jarvis?’
Ryan sat forward. ‘It all happened because of my younger brother, Clive. He had problems. Well, er, one very embarrassing problem really.’
Nikki had to sit on her hands to stop herself shaking him. ‘Just say it, Ryan. It’s simpler in the long run.’
‘He couldn’t . . . do it.’ Ryan shifted around in his chair then finally sighed and told them the story.
‘He saw the doctor and had tests, but they all came back okay, so the doc said it was probably just nerves. He needed to relax and chill and not worry. But the kid did worry. He’d got a girlfriend, but she started to come on too strong, and he finished up ditching her. He was almost twenty years old and he was getting ill over it.’
Joseph nodded. ‘I’m sure the pressure was pretty intolerable for a lad of that age.’
‘And girls can be quite cruel in that department. I wanted to help him because I thought if anyone else took the piss out of him, he’d really crack up.’ Ryan exhaled. ‘I went with him to the doc, and he said that maybe some stimulation might help, so I bought him some really dirty magazines. But they didn’t help. The only one who finished up with them under his bed was Denis.’
Nikki had a nasty idea of where this was going, but decided to wait to be told.
‘I told Dina, and she knew how worried I was, so . . .’ He raised his eyes to the ceiling. ‘She wondered if it would get him going if we let him watch us, kind of, making out, you know?’
‘I get the picture, thank you.’
‘Well, two years back, the old barn was not in the state it is now. Dad had only just built the new one and got all the new grading equipment, so my brothers and I dragged a couple of old sofas in there, and we had a beat-up old billiard table, so we took that in too, and we’d go there after work and play some music and have a few beers. Basically get out from under Mum’s feet.’
‘And you took Dina there too?’
‘Several times. It wasn’t exactly luxury, but we did get some privacy. Anyway, as the doc had said Clive needed sort of “encouraging,” Dina said we should try something a bit, well, a bit more . . .’
‘Naughty? Raunchy?’
Ryan looked really embarrassed now. ‘I sent for some stuff from the Internet. Leather face masks with eye holes, and some other kinky stuff. I think they call it bondage gear? Dina thought it was great and couldn’t wait to try it. I wasn’t so sure, but if it helped . . . it was only meant to be a bit of fun, and a kind of therapy for Clive.’
If you believe that, my boy, you’d believe anything, thought Nikki.
‘But we all had too much to drink and Dina, well, I don’t know if it was because most of her life she had been so sheltered, but she really got into it.’ He stared at the table. ‘It all got a bit wild. She said that she could take us all, and she meant it.’
‘And this is the sweet girl that everyone believed was a virgin?’
‘The silly thing is, she was that sweet girl. She was kind and caring and wonderful to be with, but she had another side to her. She loved sex and she was almost insatiable.’
Joseph reached into his pocket and drew out the photocopy of Keel’s diary. He flattened it out on the table in front of them. He pointed to the night creatures. ‘Three men wearing black leather face masks with only the eyes showing. Our young voyeur was watching sex games! Only he didn’t understand. He thought something terrible was happening to her. Did you know you were being watched?’
‘We heard something, and Denis ran out. As he was buck naked he couldn’t exactly give chase, but he was pretty sure it was Keel Chandler.’
‘It was, and we believe he was so traumatised by what he thought he had witnessed, that he can’t even speak about it two years on.’
‘Oh shit.’ Ryan slowly shook his head from side to side.
‘Indeed. So what happened then?’
‘We got dressed, and I drove her to where I always left her, a little way off from her home, and she walked the rest of the way.’
‘You drove when you’d been drinking?’<
br />
‘I know, but I had to get her home or her brother would have gone apeshit.’
‘How did she seem?’
‘She was on an all-time high. She told me that I had to keep the masks and the kinky stuff, because she couldn’t wait to do it again.’
‘And that was the last time you saw her?’ asked Joseph.
‘Yes, although she rang me later that night and said she had some exciting news for me. She had made a decision about something but didn’t want to tell me over the phone. But I never saw or heard from her again.’
‘Did you have any idea what she meant?’
Ryan clasped his hands tightly together. ‘It could have been to do with the offer of an audition?’
‘I sense an “or?”’
‘Or, there was a chance she was pregnant.’ He looked crestfallen. ‘I told you how demanding she was? Well, I didn’t always get the chance to take precautions.’
Nikki glanced at Joseph. That opened up all sorts of possibilities.
‘No one else knows that, and I’d be obliged if you could keep it just between us?’ Ryan asked solemnly. ‘As to the rest, my brothers will confirm everything. Denis’s version might be a bit more colourful, and probably overegged, but he was always jealous of what Dina and I had together.’
‘As would quite a few other suitors, if they’d known what she was really like,’ muttered Nikki.
‘Maybe one of them did, and he didn’t like it.’ Ryan’s voice was full of emotion. ‘All I know is, Dina would never have run away. Someone took her. And maybe they took my baby too, but I’m beginning to think I’ll never know the truth about that.’
‘Don’t be so sure. We are learning more every day.’ Nikki looked at the young man long and hard. ‘And I do not give up easily.’
Ryan nodded. ‘I’d like you to believe that I am deeply ashamed of what I have told you, and I wish I’d had the courage to tell you about her a whole lot earlier.’
‘So do I, but better late than never. Now stay put while we check a few details with your brothers, and then we’ll get you home. Your parents will be beside themselves.’
‘Oh dear, what do I tell them?’
‘I’d advise the truth, but maybe a slightly sanitised version? Personally, I’d skip the masks and the gangbang, so as to save your mother from having a heart attack.’ Nikki stood up and walked to the door. After Joseph had left, she turned back and whispered, ‘And Clive’s problem? Did your cure work?’
‘Oh, um, yes, it did.’
‘Well, I never!’
* * *
Nikki found her mother in a different interview room and clad in a paper suit.
‘Not exactly Chanel, is it?’
Nikki smiled at the tall, upright woman who had kept her long, lustrous brunette hair well into her late sixties. ‘You cut a pretty good figure in anything, Eve, even a disposable paper suit.’
‘I didn’t look too good earlier though.’ She gave a half smile. ‘Your villain must have wondered what the hell was going on, being threatened by a harridan with paint on her face.’ The grin widened. ‘But he underestimated me, didn’t he?’
‘Big mistake. I bet he’s now seen the error of his ways.’ Nikki sat down. ‘They are almost through with you, but you can’t go back there tonight, so come home with me. I’ve got some clothes that will fit you, although the trousers might be a bit half-mast.’
‘Then I can pretend they are fashionable cut-offs.’
‘If we are lucky, Joseph might rustle up something for us to eat too.’
‘I’d like that. Oh, and I’ve left a telephone number with your superintendent. He can call it if he needs to, regarding my ownership of the gun. The party concerned will also confirm that I still have a certain “status” within my old department.’
Nikki tilted her head to one side. Every day another little snippet of information surfaced about her mysterious mother. She wondered what else was hidden behind that rather beautiful face. ‘Considering you were essentially running a safe house, with two protection officers in-situ twenty-four seven, and you apprehended an armed intruder, whatever transpires here will just be routine paperwork. I doubt the super will be making any calls to your shadowy men in dark suits. And you only shot to disable, not to kill.’ Nikki stood up. ‘I have some loose ends to tie up, then as soon as you are free to go, we’ll head home.’
‘What a day!’
Nikki laughed. ‘We don’t make a bad team, do we? I chuck Fat Man Carver in a ditch, and you shoot his hired assassin!’
‘Must run in the blood.’
‘You could be right.’
Nikki caught up with Joseph in the CID room. ‘I’m taking Eve home to Cloud Fen tonight.’
‘Excellent. I was going to suggest that too. And luckily, I took a homemade chilli con carne out of the freezer this morning. There will be plenty for three. Stop at my place on your way home.’
‘My hero.’
‘I think you and your mother deserve that accolade today, don’t you? I’m just the catering corps.’
‘An army marches on its stomach, doesn’t it?’
‘Yours certainly does,’ Joseph chuckled. ‘Now what’s left to do tonight?’
‘Have you checked with the hospital regarding Dominic?’
He nodded. ‘Mmm. Just done it. Still no change, I’m afraid.’
‘Well, he’s hanging on, I suppose.’ Nikki sniffed. ‘So tomorrow we have two jobs to do. Find a grass who is willing to free this station of its bloody mole, and start all over again with the men who lusted after Dina Jarvis.’ Nikki suddenly laughed. ‘I suppose we had better not tell them what their pure and chaste little maiden really got up to?’
‘Absolutely not!
‘Shame, I’d love to have seen their faces.’
* * *
In the lonely cottage close to the marsh, the shadows had eaten all the light. She recalled a poem that her mother used to read to her, and it was not one that warmed or soothed. It had scared her as a child, and it was scaring her now. It was about wicked shadows marching up the stairs to consume the terrified child lying in its narrow bed. She wondered what her mother could have been thinking of to read her such a thing.
Could she hear that tramp, tramp, tramp, now?
Her heart beat faster. There was definitely something.
Was it his voice calling to her? It was! Very faintly, close to her ear she heard him whispering. He was telling her that they would be together again soon.
Tears filled her eyes and she looked around hopefully, but she was still alone. It must have been the wind, or those insidious, gathering shadows.
At least she was no longer hungry. Food no longer mattered. As she had crawled under the filthy cover that evening, she had come to a decision. Tomorrow she would take all of the tablets that she had found, and then she would finally fall asleep and never wake again.
Then the wicked shadows could do whatever they wanted, because she would never be frightened again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Joseph was already in his office when Nikki and Eve arrived.
‘What time did you get in?’
‘Not sure. Early. Couldn’t sleep.’
Nikki thought he looked tired and preoccupied, but there was also something about him that made her ask, ‘Have you come up with something on Dina?’
Joseph gathered up some paperwork from his desk. ‘I think I have.’
‘And?’ she almost shouted.
‘Give me a few more minutes, and as soon as the team is in, I’ll explain. I could use their input to tie up the loose ends in my supposition.’
Nikki nodded. ‘Right, that just gives me time to sort out Eve and get someone to take her home.’
‘How was last night after you two left Knot Cottage?’
Nikki gave him a rather sad smile. ‘I think it was quite hard for her. I mean she knew it was my father’s home, but she had never seen it before. They were incredibly disciplined about what was a
cceptable in their relationship, and Eve never encroached into Dad’s home life. Up until yesterday, she has always found an excuse not to visit me at Cloud Cottage Farm.’
‘Life does deal out some painful situations.’
‘Still, she seems fine today. At least that first trip is done with, now I feel I can invite her whenever I want, and I think she’ll say yes.’
‘It’s another big step forward, isn’t it?’ Joseph smiled at her warmly.
‘She’s an amazing woman.’
‘So is her daughter. Now, if you’d just leave me to finish this.’
* * *
Thirty minutes later the whole team had gathered in the CID office.
‘Ma’am? DC Ben Radley is still here. Can he sit in on this with us?’ Cat asked.
‘More the merrier. He’s welcome.’ Nikki stood up and told them what had transpired the night before. She did not mention Jessie Nightingale, or the fact that she was at present ensconced in Cat’s flat with her two protection officers. ‘As you all know, we are unlucky enough to have someone among us who is, or was, on Freddie Carver’s payroll. If it makes you feel any better, so does Fenchester nick, and a couple of other stations in the area. I want him found. There will be no more secrecy about what we know. I want him or her to know that we are actively trying to hunt them down. If any of you has a snout, or knows anyone connected to Carver who might be coaxed into revealing our mole, then lean on them hard. This situation has to be resolved, and quickly.’ She drew in a long breath. ‘Now I’m going to hand over to Joseph who, due to an attack of insomnia, has apparently singlehandedly cracked the Dina Jarvis mystery.’ She threw him a smile and sat down.
‘Thanks.’ Joseph stood up and walked to the front of the room. ‘Last night, after talking with the Ruddick brothers, I realised that our whole idea of Dina was flawed. She was far from what we believed. She had fooled everyone around her with a simple lie — that she was a virgin. For six months she had been having a steamy affair with Ryan Ruddick, and who is to say that he was her first? Two other people knew about their relationship, and that was Ryan’s brothers, Clive and Denis. Clive would never have mentioned it to anyone, but I’m not so sure about Denis. He was eaten up with jealousy because, like so many other men around Dina, he fancied her too.’
