DARK HOUSES a gripping detective thriller full of suspense

by Helen H. Durrant

  * * *

  “If you don’t mind me saying, you are getting too involved with the DI.”

  “I do mind, Scarlett. It’s none of your business. We’re friends — well, sort of friends. He talks to me. We have stuff in common. It’s nothing else, despite what folk might think.”

  “The truth is, you’ve got the hots for him but he’s not interested. Admit it — it’s not a sin, you know.”

  Grace didn’t reply. Scarlett Seddon was irritating her. Goodness knows what she said to the others when she was out. She might be bright but she needed to tone it down or she’d end up antagonising everyone.

  “Springbank House.” Grace nodded at the imposing Victorian building. “I’ll park outside.”

  Edna Rowcroft let them in. Her only comment was, “I hope you’re looking after Neville.”

  “Could we have a word with Doctor Fielding?” Scarlett asked.

  They followed her down the corridor and into a sitting room. She pointed to a sofa and left.

  “She doesn’t approve of what we’ve done.” Scarlett nudged Grace. “Does my head in. Do-gooders and their misguided notions.”

  “Despite what they might think we had no choice but to arrest him, did we? Dakin took part in those murders. The evidence is stacking up. What we have to determine now is whether he’s mad or bad,” said Grace.

  “And get him to tell us who he was with,” Scarlett said. “All this nonsense about not knowing his name. It’s a joke.”

  Fielding came into the room.

  “Do you have any news?” he said.

  “We know that Dakin wasn’t taking his usual medication. What we don’t know is how long for. Instead, he’d been taking crystal meth — in tablet form. What we need to know is how a drug like that would affect someone like Neville.”

  Grace had put it as simply as she could. She hoped the doctor’s explanation would be equally clear.

  “Crystal meth in tablet form . . .” he repeated thoughtfully. “That wouldn’t do Neville any good at all. It would amplify the hallucinations. It would make the voices he hears appear more real. He would be living entirely in a world of his imagination.”

  “Or someone else’s,” Scarlett said. “Is that possible? Would he do as he was told — even if it was something really bad?”

  Fielding’s eyebrows rose.

  “It is possible. If the dosage was large enough and Neville felt afraid. In any event he’d certainly have erratic mood swings. Yes — he could become violent.”

  “So he could be controlled? Someone else could dictate his actions?” Grace asked.

  “Yes, I suppose they could. In Neville’s head this someone else you speak of would be the voice made real. Under the drug’s influence he would no longer understand the difference between good and bad. He would be susceptible to any orders he was given — wise or not.”

  “Currently we are presuming that there was someone influencing him. Do you have any idea who that might be?” Scarlett asked.

  “He stayed here as an in-patient before he went to live alone.”

  “Did he have visitors?” Grace added.

  “I don’t recall any. Even when he was doing well, Neville didn’t trust people. And generally people didn’t like Neville very much.”

  “Any phone calls, enquiries about his wellbeing?” Grace said.

  Fielding shook his head.

  “So he had no contact at all with the outside world?”

  “That’s right. He spoke to people here, other patients. The carers quite liked him — Edna particularly.”

  “Do you keep a log of visitors and the phone calls made to patients?” Grace asked.

  “Visitors, yes — but as I said before, Neville didn’t have any.”

  “Thank you, Doctor. We will have to interview Neville again. Given what we know about the drugs he took it would be helpful if you were his appropriate adult this time,” Grace said.

  Fielding nodded. “I’ll be pleased to help.”

  Chapter 22

  “What have we got?” Speedy asked the team.

  “The crystal meth would have made Dakin even worse. To para-phrase Fielding, he’d be a pushover. He’d do anything he was told.”

  “Laycock is in the clear,” Speedy said.

  “To be honest, I never really thought it was him,” Grace said.

  “So who are we looking for? We have nothing. No visual evidence, no DNA. This man isn’t a phantom. He’s flesh and blood, and he’ll have made mistakes.” Speedy was at the end of his tether.

  “He only needs to make one,” Grace said. “We just have to find it.”

  “Has anyone heard from the hospital?” Scarlett asked. “The DI’s wife is evidence, don’t forget.”

  “She’s a lot more than that and she’s his ex-wife,” Grace said. “I’m reluctant to ring and ask. I can’t face hearing the answer.”

  “Has Greco not rung in?”

  “No, Craig. He has better things to think about.”

  “What about the kid? Do you need to go?” Speedy asked.

  “I’ve organised my mum to help, so it’s fine.”

  “I think I might have found something.” George looked up from her computer.

  “Go on,” Speedy said.

  “Naturally I searched the database for murders with a similar MO. I concentrated on the poker and the burning — it’s pretty unique. But I got nothing. Now I’ve widened the criteria. During the last five years there have been three other instances where a number of young women were murdered. A single male perpetrator was caught in each case. In one of those instances, it was presumed that another had got away, but there was no evidence. There were eight girls murdered in total. In all cases, the one that was apprehended had been receiving treatment for a psychiatric illness. When tested, the one who was caught was found to have been taking crystal meth instead of their usual medication. They were all deemed unfit to plead and sent to secure institutions. Like I said, in only one of those cases did the investigating officers think it likely that there was someone else — the brains if you like. And they thought he was the one that had done the planning.”

  “And he was never caught. Where were these?” Grace asked.

  “Three women on the South Coast, two in Nottingham and another three in Carlisle. But here is the clincher.” She paused, checking her data again. “In each run of killings, the final woman taken was always someone close to the SIO. The wife of a DCI, the daughter of another and in Carlisle, the wife of a DI.”

  “That is some coincidence!” Speedy exclaimed.

  “Well, it’s not, is it? It has to be him — our killer. He’s taken Suzy so this run is finished. How did he kill the other women, George?” Grace said.

  “They were all restrained, the first three to chairs. They had their throats cut. The next two were poisoned and the last three had arteries opened and bled to death.”

  Speedy winced. “This is some sick bastard. Anything else?”

  “He tortured and sexually assaulted them all before killing them. But it’s interesting about the last victim,” George said.

  “The one close to the senior investigating officer?”

  “Yes, Grace. In all cases, the mode of killing was an overdose of morphine administered by injection.”

  “Are there any details on there that we can use?”

  “No — and believe me, I’ve looked very carefully. He’s clever and he’s clean. There were never any fingerprints, DNA or anything else left behind.”

  “So this person is still a phantom?” Speedy shook his head. This just got worse.

  “And the killings? They just stopped?” Grace looked at George’s screen.

  “Looking at the different locations, it appears he moved on. He must have that kind of job,” George said.

  “So now he’ll be planning to move again. Someone should tell Greco. The bit about the morphine is important.”

  “I’ll ring the hospital,” Scarlett said. “I’m less inv
olved than the rest of you.”

  The office phone rang. The team looked at one another. No one wanted to hear the bad news. Finally Grace picked it up.

  “Is there any news on Suzy?”

  “Who is this?” Grace asked.

  “Jill Brayshaw from Oldston College. I work with Suzy. Only, Stephen was in here looking for her. I didn’t realise at the time but she has left her mobile on charge in the staffroom. If she’s still missing there might be something on it that will help.”

  “Don’t touch it. Leave it plugged in and I’ll come and collect it. Thank you for letting us know.”

  Grace turned to the others. “Suzy left her mobile at college. Given that she was seeing this maniac, what’s the betting they rang each other or texted.”

  “Are you alright to go get it?”

  “Yes, Speedy, and I won’t be long.”

  As Grace left the office, the phone rang again. This time it was Natasha Barrington.

  “Sergeant Quickenden,” she began. “I need you to come to the Duggan as soon as you can. We have a situation and a member of your team should be present.”

  “Want to tell me more?”

  “Not over the phone. It’s delicate and . . . rather upsetting. Just get over here.”

  “Okay. I’ll leave right away.”

  “I’ll print all this out and give you copies,” George told the team.

  Speedy didn’t tell them about the phone call. He was puzzled and worried. He had an awful feeling that this wasn’t going to be good.

  * * *

  “It’s been plugged in all this time and I never even noticed,” Jill Brayshaw explained.

  “Did you know Suzy was seeing someone else?”

  “I had my suspicions. The usual stuff — hair, make-up, buying new clothes. And she was never off that thing.” She nodded at the mobile.

  “Did you meet him?”

  Jill shook her head. “Suzy never actually said anything. There was plenty of teasing, but she never came clean.”

  “Did you ever see him from the window or when he came to pick her up?”

  “No. I never saw them together. I don’t think it’d been going on for very long. Is she okay? We haven’t heard anything since she disappeared.”

  She didn’t know. “Suzy was kidnapped,” Grace said gently. “She’s been hurt and has been taken to hospital. Stephen is with her.”

  “I’d no idea.” Jill Brayshaw sat down. “Did he have anything to do with it? The man she was seeing?”

  Grace nodded. She unplugged the phone and turned it on. “Suzy’s kidnap is part of a much larger enquiry,” she explained.

  It was an iPhone. She needed the pin number.

  “I don’t suppose you know the pin for this?” Grace said. Jill Brayshaw shook her head.

  Grace could give it to the techies to crack, but that would take time. She had one of these herself. Her pin was Holly’s date of birth. It was worth a try. “Do you know when Matilda’s birthday is?”

  “April, I think. The second — same as my gran’s.”

  Grace tapped in the four digits. It was wrong. The pin wasn’t based on the day, month and year — perhaps the year alone? Aware that she only had so many goes to get this right, she tried again. It worked!

  “You’ve done it?” Jill looked impressed.

  “Us mothers, we’re all the same,” Grace smiled. “She used Matilda’s birth year. I do something similar.”

  Grace scanned down the list of calls. There were dozens. Grace recognised Greco’s number. Next she studied the texts. There were several — all signed ‘X.’ That had to be him.

  “Thanks. I’ll tell Stephen to let you know how she’s doing,” Grace said.

  Back in her car, Grace rang the station. “George, can you find out who owns a particular mobile for me?” She gave her the number.

  “You do realise it’s probably a pay-as-you-go?”

  “It’s worth checking anyway. Is Speedy there?”

  “No, he’s gone out. He didn’t say where or why.”

  “Have we heard from the boss?”

  “No. And no one has rung him either.”

  “Okay. Ring me back when you get the info on that number.”

  Grace knew that Greco had no one in Oldston other than Suzy and his daughter. Her parents lived in Norfolk, so even if he’d told them, they wouldn’t be here yet. He’d be at the hospital all alone. She didn’t want to intrude but she decided to go and find out for herself how Suzy was.

  Parking at Oldston General was always a problem, but Grace knew a back street only a few yards from a side entrance. She went straight to A&E.

  “You’ll have to speak to a doctor,” the receptionist said to Grace.

  “Is she in one of the cubicles?”

  The woman shook her head.

  Perhaps she’d been transferred to another department — intensive care or somewhere else. She might even be on the operating table. But where was Greco?

  Chapter 23

  Grace decided to wait. She took a seat in A&E and had another look at the phone. Most of the texts the killer had sent to Suzy gave very little away. There were load of flirty messages and some making plans to meet. Then she found one that was interesting. In this one he was having a right moan. Apparently he’d been asked to work late and wasn’t going to be able to see her. He wrote that there had been a break-in and his team were needed. He also said he hated having to work in a coverall. He wrote that one day he’d get a job in the city and go to work in a proper suit instead.

  Did that mean he was a cop, or even a CSI? The wording of the text gave that impression.

  Grace’s phone rang. It was Greco.

  “Stephen! How are you? How’s Suzy?” Grace got to her feet and began pacing up and down. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to intrude but I knew you’d be on your own. I’m at the hospital. I can meet you if you tell me what ward you’re on.”

  “It’s good of you, but I’m not there.”

  “Where are you?”

  “At the Duggan. Have you got anything else?”

  “I might have. It’s something I found literally just this minute. Why have you gone to the Duggan? I don’t understand. Have they found something?”

  “I’ve got to go. Keep me informed,” he said. He hadn’t answered her question.

  “Before you go, I have to tell you something. It’s likely that Suzy was given an overdose of morphine. Tell the doctors treating her. It’s important.”

  He rang off.

  Grace’s mobile rang again, earning her a stern look from one of the nurses.

  “George, what have you got?”

  “It’s a pay-as-you-go. Not registered to anyone and used to call only one number.”

  Grace knew which number — Suzy’s. “You were right – pity. Thanks, George. I’ll be back shortly.”

  “You haven’t told me how she is,” George said.

  “Because I can’t,” Grace’s voice wavered. “No one will tell me and Greco isn’t here. Is Speedy back yet?”

  “No.”

  “Look, I’m off to the Duggan. I won’t be long. Tell Speedy when he comes back.”

  Greco shouldn’t be there. He should be with his wife. Something was wrong. Why would no one tell her anything? Why would he go to the Duggan? What had he found out? Her stomach churned. Something told her this was going to be a bumpy ride.

  * * *

  “You can’t go in there,” Natasha Barrington told Greco. “You know that. You shouldn’t even be here,” she said kindly. “Look — I’ll get you a cup of tea. Go and sit down in my office until it’s over, then I’ll come and talk to you.”

  “I want to know everything. Don’t hold back because it’s Suzy.”

  “We’ll see,” she replied.

  “Will anyone from the team attend?”

  “Sergeant Quickenden is here. He’s speaking to Roxy at present. I asked him to come so he could be with you. Shall I send him in?”

  “O
kay,” Greco agreed. “But I don’t want him in there when . . .”

  “I understand. It’ll just be me and my staff.”

  He didn’t want anyone seeing what was about to happen to Suzy. How could he work with Speedy again knowing he had been present at her post-mortem? It was a private, intimate thing. She would be lying there exposed and vulnerable. Her body would be opened up, examined and photographed. Greco started to weep. He was lost, stumbling through a nightmare.

  “Doctor Barrington said you were here.”

  It was Speedy, holding two mugs of tea.

  “She told me. I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know what to say. I hoped we’d found her in time. We did everything we could — got her to the hospital fast. It’s all so awful. Should you be here?”

  “I don’t know where I should be. I can’t believe what’s happened. I can’t believe she’s gone.”

  “We will get him. He’ll have slipped up somewhere. He’s done it before, sir.” Speedy told him about George’s research.

  “I’m not sure that helps. We still don’t know who he is.”

  “George is trawling through the other case notes. There might be something.”

  “Has Dakin said anything?”

  “Not when I left. He’s incapable of saying anything coherent.”

  “When today is over, you’ll have to take this on. Look at the report and deal with any issues. I won’t be allowed to get involved. I know I have no right to ask, but I want you to keep me in the loop. You have to get this bastard, Speedy. I’m relying on you.”

  * * *

  Grace pulled into the Duggan car park. Speedy’s car was here. Perhaps he’d come to pick up Greco. Whatever the reason, she had other things to think about. She’d checked the date on the text. It was two weeks ago. She rang George.

  “A break-in. I’m presuming it was local. I need to know who attended. In fact, anything you can find. And I need it quick.”

  He’d mentioned a coverall and he’d attended that incident — if it not something he’d invented. She waited in her car. She didn’t want to go inside until she had something. Speedy and Greco were both in there and she wanted something concrete to tell them. Suzy’s phone was a start, but on its own it wasn’t enough. Grace checked all the images while she waited, but there was nothing helpful. There were plenty of Matilda and some of the house but none of her new boyfriend.