Stalker on the Fens

by Joy Ellis

  STALKER ON THE FENS

  A gripping crime thriller full of twists

  (DI NIKKI GALENA BOOK 5)

  JOY ELLIS

  First published 2016

  Joffe Books, London

  www.joffebooks.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The spelling used is British English except where fidelity to the author’s rendering of accent or dialect supersedes this.

  ©Joy Ellis

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  http://www.joffebooks.com/contact/

  THERE IS A GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH SLANG IN THE BACK OF THIS BOOK FOR US READERS.

  AVAILABLE NOW

  DI Nikki Galena Book 1

  CRIME ON THE FENS

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/CRIME-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01H98SG5G/

  https://www.amazon.com/CRIME-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01H98SG5G/

  A NEW CRIME THRILLER WITH A COMPELLING DETECTIVE WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO AVENGE HER DAUGHTER

  DI Nikki Galena Book 2

  SHADOW OVER THE FENS

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/SHADOW-gripping-crime-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01HHA49SY/

  https://www.amazon.com/SHADOW-gripping-crime-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01HHA49SY/

  TWO BRUTAL KILLERS ARE LOOSE ON THE FENS BUT WHO CAN DI NIKKI GALENA TRUST?

  Detective Nikki Galena’s friend and neighbour meets a tragic end but there’s more to his death than meets the eye . . .

  And someone terrible from DS Joseph Easter’s past is back . . .

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  EPILOGUE

  The DI Nikki Galena books

  Character List

  Glossary of English Slang for US readers

  DEDICATION

  For Ian Wibberley

  With thanks for your help, expertise and patience. It can’t have been easy!

  Well done, Big Wibbs

  PROLOGUE

  ‘Another bloody dead end!’

  Detective Inspector Nikki Galena slammed the car door and glared back at the peeling paintwork of the shabby, terraced house. ‘Did you see their faces? Their body language?’

  Detective Sergeant Joseph Easter slipped his notebook back into his pocket and turned the key in the ignition. ‘I didn’t have to. The atmosphere was thick enough to choke on. But you can hardly blame them. That bastard isn’t just threatening them, he’s targeting their families as well. Think how you’d feel if something happened to one of your loved ones and you thought you could have prevented it? I totally understand why they don’t want to talk to us.’

  Nikki took a deep breath and then let out a long sigh. ‘I don’t know. How the hell are we expected to get people to cooperate when they are terrified out of their wits? There has to be someone who will stand up to Stephen Cox and just give us something we can use against him. He’s back in the area with a vengeance, and he’s into everything! Not just drugs, but money laundering, people trafficking. You name it and if it’s illegal, Cox crawls to the surface.’

  Joseph was perplexed. ‘I cannot understand why he’d want to come within a hundred miles of this place. Police and villains throughout Greenborough want him gone. And considering the Leonard family has a contract out on him, well, it beats me.’

  ‘I’m beginning to think that monster is superhuman. We knock him down, and he gets up again.’

  ‘And if he really is back, he’s stronger than ever.’

  ‘But can we bloody nail him? Can we . . . ?’ Her next words were torn away from her as an earth-jarring thump shook the car.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ Joseph gripped the steering wheel. He stared, open-mouthed, at a dust cloud that was beginning to rise up from behind the buildings at the end of the narrow cul-de-sac.

  ‘Oh my God! That’s the main road! The dual carriageway through the centre of town! Back up, Joseph! Get us out of this rabbit warren!’

  As Joseph revved the engine and jammed it into reverse, Nikki grabbed her radio.

  The voice from the control room sounded taut, hyped up. ‘We’ve already got it, ma’am. Reports are flooding in. Massive RTC at the Blackmoor Cross traffic lights. Articulated lorry versus pedestrians.’

  ‘We’re located in the Carborough Estate, just behind it. It felt like an explosion!’

  ‘Eyewitnesses say that the vehicle has crashed into that restoration project on the north side of the carriageway, next to the college.’

  It was term time. The sixth form college would be heaving with kids. Thank God the truck had missed the school. Then with a dawning horror, she visualised the location more clearly. What should have been a row of sturdy, Tudor buildings, were at present an unstable mass of wood and brick, encased in a cocoon of scaffolding and supported by a framework of acrow posts. Her mouth went dry and she said, ‘Show us attending, control. We are one minute away.’

  Ahead of them was a double line of stationary vehicles. ‘Shit! We’ll never get through this.’

  ‘There’s a space over there. Ditch the car. We’ll do better on foot.’

  Joseph spun the car into the impossibly small space and killed the engine.

  Together they leapt out, and skirting hot exhaust pipes and bonnets, raced toward the scene.

  * * *

  The usual hubbub of the market town of Greenborough had been replaced by the scream of cutting gear and the shriek of sirens and two-tones. The air that usually had the salty smell of ozone from the tidal river, mixed with hotdogs and fresh baked bread, reeked of diesel fumes and the dry, choking clag of brick dust.

  ‘Over here!’ Nikki called out to a green-clad paramedic, then knelt back down beside the terrified woman and murmured, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay. The ambulance is here. Try to keep calm, they’ll help you.’ She squeezed the woman’s hand reassuringly, then as the medic dropped to one knee and began his assessment of her injuries, Nikki moved on deeper into the devastation that an hour ago had been a prestigious rebuilding project.

  ‘Ma’am!’ Joseph appeared out of the gloom, his clothes covered in dust. A tall fire officer accompanied him, picking his way through the rubble to keep up. Nikki vaguely recognised the man and nodded briefly. ‘Any idea what happened?’

  His expression was grim. ‘Don’t quote me, Inspector, but the doctor who came out from A&E reckons that lorry was being driven by a dead man. He’s pretty sure that the driver had a catastrophic heart attack and died at the wheel.’

  Nikki let out a long, slow breath. ‘How many fatalities so far?’
<
br />   ‘Four at present, including the lorry driver, but,’ he shrugged, ‘God alone knows what the final count is going to be. We’ve managed to secure the wagon, it’s all this bloody debris from the building that’s the problem now. I wondered if you’d deploy some of your . . .’

  Before he could finish, Nikki’s radio crackled with her call sign. ‘Ma’am, we’ve had an unconfirmed report of a problem with a damaged building in Ironworks Passage. Are you in the area?’

  ‘Affirmative, control. DS Easter and I are about a hundred yards from there. Show us responding. Roger and out.’

  The fire officer growled, ‘This is far worse than we first thought. I’d better come with you.’

  When they got there Nikki looked along the passage, a cut-through from the college to the market square. ‘Doesn’t look too badly damaged.’

  The fireman appeared to believe otherwise. ‘Careful, ma’am. I’m not sure how stable these walls are, and it’s a very narrow alley here. If they come down on us, we’ll all be brown bread.’ The fire chief went ahead, casting a professional eye over the structures on either side of them. Broken glass crunched underfoot. ‘Luckily this is the back of the shops and storehouses and not the front. Damn great sheets of plate glass would have been lethal.’

  ‘Look.’ Joseph pointed ahead of them to a large gaping hole in the brickwork of one of the old buildings. ‘I guess that’s what they are talking about. What is this place?’

  Nikki moved towards the opening. ‘It’s a storeroom for the pub, I think. The wall has collapsed, and part of the floor by the look of it. You can see into the cellar.’

  ‘Don’t worry, ma’am, I’ll get a team down here to check it out.’ The fire officer’s radio spluttered with static. ‘Damn! The signal’s crap down here. I need to get away from these high buildings.’ He moved back the way they had come in and called out as he went. ‘And don’t go down there, it’s far too dangerous.’

  Nikki looked at Joseph, raised one eyebrow and said softly, ‘Oh dear, the man says it’s far too dangerous. You reckon?’

  Together they stared into the darkness of the cellar. The debris from the collapsed wall had formed an almost gentle slope of rubble, down to the floor.

  Joseph stepped forward and frowned. ‘If someone was working down there they may need urgent assistance.’ He looked at her, his frown changing to a wicked grin, ‘And apart from that, don’t you just hate being bossed around by Trumpton? Shall I go first?’

  Nikki was about to return his smile when she heard a noise. It was a whimper, a small animal-like cry. ‘Joseph! Someone is down there! Come on.’ Supporting each other, they inched down the landslide of crumbling wall. ‘For God’s sake, be careful. If someone is hurt we could make things a whole lot worse for them if we start an avalanche.’

  ‘I’m almost there.’ He held out his hand to her. ‘Yes, it’s safe down here. There’s solid ground.’

  Nikki stepped down beside him and they stared around into the shadows. ‘Hello? It’s the police! Where are you? Are you hurt?’

  There was nothing but an eerie silence, broken occasionally by the ominous creaking of the damaged building. Nikki felt an insidious shiver of fear creep down her backbone. The dim, shadowy basement was crushingly claustrophobic, and she feared she was about to be buried alive. And that was not all. Even though they had only been down there for a matter of moments, dark memories of an old case rose from the past.

  ‘Hello?’ Joseph’s voice brought her back to the present, and they stood side by side and waited. There was a trickling sound as a small shower of debris slid to the floor, and then something else. Another whimper.

  ‘Damn! I can’t see where it’s coming from.’ Nikki slowly moved forward, desperately wishing she had thought to bring the torch from the car.

  ‘Look! Over there! I think it’s a woman! She’s partially protected by that upright timber post.’ Joseph began to ease his tall frame over a pile of broken beer crates and splintered shelving, then Nikki heard him curse as he found his way blocked.

  Nikki moved around the other way. ‘Okay, Joseph. It’s clearer this way.’ As she fought her way to the half-buried figure she spoke as calmly as she could manage. ‘Hang on in there! We’re near you now! We’ve got you.’ After a moment or two she was able to slide down beside the unmoving woman. A pale hand protruded from beneath a lump of masonry. Nikki felt for a pulse, then sighed with relief. It was weak, but hell, it was a pulse.

  ‘Ma’am,’ Joseph held out something to her. ‘It’s not much use, but take my Maglite.’

  ‘Thanks.’ She reached out and grasped the small metal pocket torch. ‘Do you think you can get back to the street? The radios won’t work in this hellhole and we really need help here.’

  ‘Yes, of course. On my way.’

  ‘Tell them she’s semi-conscious. Suspected crush injuries, and her legs . . .’ Nikki shone the slim beam of light towards them, saw the white shard of bone protruding from the bloodied flesh, and bit hard on her lip. ‘Just get the medics, and hurry.’

  As he began to extricate himself from the chaos, Nikki leaned closer to the woman, talking softly to her. ‘I’m Nikki, I’m a police officer. Can you tell me your name?’

  There was the slightest hint of a murmur, the cold fingers moved and an eyelid flickered in the torchlight.

  Nikki gently brushed a swathe of blood-soaked hair from the girl’s face, and gasped in horror. ‘Helen! Oh my God! Helen!’ She swung round towards the disappearing figure of Joseph Easter and screamed, ‘Hurry! For heaven’s sake, hurry!’

  CHAPTER ONE

  ONE YEAR LATER

  ‘Okay, which one?’ Nikki held up two dresses on hangers and glared at Joseph.

  ‘The blue one. Definitely.’

  ‘Why? What’s wrong with the black one?’

  ‘If you want to wear the black one, why ask me?’

  ‘I don’t want to wear the black one, I just . . .’ Nikki sank down on the sofa next to him. ‘I don’t want to go. I hate parties!’

  ‘We can’t let her down, now can we?’

  Joseph sounded so calm and reasonable that Nikki wanted to hit him. ‘Look at you! A smart suit, shiny shoes and you manage to look like you’ve just stepped onto a red carpet. It’s so easy for you.’

  ‘Actually it’s not.’ He sat back and sighed, ‘I hate social gatherings as much as you. Small talk is not my thing, and if you throw too much alcohol into the equation, the conversations get mind-numbingly inane.’

  ‘More like insane,’ grumbled Nikki. ‘Maybe it’s the job. When we were beat bobbies we saw too much “Whoopee, it’s Friday night! Let’s get hammered!” and then had to clear up the aftermath.’

  ‘And as I recall, most of it finished up splashed across our boots.’ Joseph pulled a face. ‘Happy days!’

  ‘I never saw the point in spending a fortune on overpriced drinks, then barfing them up in the gutter an hour later.’ Nikki looked down at the two dresses. ‘You really think the blue one?’

  ‘Absolutely.’ He grinned at her then tapped his wristwatch. ‘And we should be leaving in five minutes, Cinderella.’

  ‘Oh Lord! Well, at least I’m showered. Won’t be a minute.’ Nikki jumped up and ran upstairs to her bedroom. ‘I still don’t want to go,’ she called back down.

  As she hunted for some shoes that would match, she heard Joseph’s footsteps on the stairs. She realised he was sitting on the top step so that he could continue talking to her. ‘You don’t have to sit out there, Joseph. I am decent.’

  ‘I’m fine here. You keep moving. We don’t want to be too late arriving.’ There was a silence and then she heard him say, ‘And I think you are right about the job. It changes things, your priorities — what’s important to you and what isn’t.’

  Nikki stood in front of the mirror and frowned at herself. The woman who looked back was not DI Nikki Galena, but some stranger in a posh frock. ‘I really don’t get out enough,’ she muttered to herself, then called out,
‘I agree. Sometimes I feel guilty if I’m doing anything remotely like enjoying myself.’

  ‘Me too. It’s a case of “Why am I standing here with a glass in my hand and laughing with my friends, when some old lady is being mugged or a child is being abused.” We have to have some down time, but it’s not easy to find a balance.’

  ‘You surprise me, Joseph,’ Nikki said. ‘You are so,’ she struggled for the right words, ‘so centred and in control of yourself. You have a sense of peace about you, even in grim situations.’

  ‘Ever heard about the swan? All serene on the surface, and paddling like hell under the water.’

  ‘Rubbish. You know exactly how to control your emotions. Not like me — Detective “Shout first, think later” Galena.’ She gathered up her bag and stepped out onto the landing. ‘Will I do?’

  Joseph stood up, an appreciative smile on his face. ‘Very nicely indeed, ma’am. It will be a pleasure and an honour to escort you.’

  ‘If I thought you were taking the piss, DS Easter, I’d clock you one with this bloody handbag.’

  ‘You look great, and I mean it. Now let’s go put on a show for Helen, shall we?’

  * * *

  As they drove along the lanes that led from Cloud Fen, Joseph asked, ‘So what has Helen called her new clinic?’

  ‘Newlands. I think it’s after her grandparents’ old home. Childhood memories, and all that.’

  ‘And it’s on the Westland Waterway? That’s one classy address! I took a statement down there after a robbery. It had river frontage, three storeys, and it was seriously upmarket.’

  Nikki let out a groan. ‘Tell me about it. I am going to feel totally out of place! And can you imagine the kind of people who will be there? Weirdos and oddballs! No, worse! Rich weirdos and oddballs.’

  Joseph laughed. ‘Helen is an aromatherapist, not a Voodoo priestess! Her clients will be ordinary people like you and me. And she’s your friend, Nikki. She’d be devastated if you weren’t at her opening party.’